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10,444,102	Science and technology of the Song dynasty	1,171,150,620	Aspect of Chinese history	[ "10th century in science", "11th century in science", "12th century in science", "13th century in science", "History of engineering", "History of science and technology in China", "Military history of the Song dynasty", "Naval history of China", "Song dynasty", "Technology in the Middle Ages" ]	The Song dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; 960–1279 CE) invented some technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations. The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineering had a long tradition in China. The Song engineer Su Song admitted that he and his contemporaries were building upon the achievements of the ancients such as Zhang Heng (78–139), an astronomer, inventor, and early master of mechanical gears. The application of movable type printing advanced the already widespread use of woodblock printing to educate and amuse Confucian students and the masses. The application of new weapons employing the use of gunpowder enabled the Song to ward off its militant enemies—the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin with weapons such as cannons—until its collapse to the Mongol forces of Kublai Khan in the late 13th century. Notable advances in civil engineering, nautics, and metallurgy were made in Song China, as well as the introduction of the windmill to China during the thirteenth century. These advances, along with the introduction of paper-printed money, helped revolutionize and sustain the economy of the Song dynasty. ## Polymaths and mechanical engineering ### Polymaths Polymaths—that is, people knowledgeable across an encyclopaedic range of topics—such as Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and Su Song (1020–1101) embodied the spirit of early empirical science and technology in the Song era. Shen is famous for discovering the concept of true north and magnetic declination towards the North Pole by calculating a more accurate measurement of the astronomical meridian, and fixing the calculated position of the pole star that had shifted over the centuries. This allowed sailors to navigate the seas more accurately with the magnetic needle compass, also first described by Shen. Shen was made famous for his written description of Bi Sheng, the inventor of movable type printing. Shen was also interested in geology, as he formulated a theory of geomorphology and climate change over time after making observations of strange natural phenomena. Using contemporary knowledge of solar eclipses and lunar eclipses, he theorized that the sun and moon were spherical in shape, not flat, while expanding upon the reasoning of earlier Chinese astronomical theorists. Along with his colleague Wei Pu in the Bureau of Astronomy, Shen used cosmological hypotheses when describing the variations of planetary motion, including retrogradation. One of Shen's greatest achievements, aided by Wei Pu, was correcting the lunar error by diligently recording and plotting the moon's orbital path three times a night over a period of five years. Unfortunately Shen had many political rivals at court who were determined to sabotage his work. The court fully accepted their corrections to lunar and solar error, but only partially adopted Shen and Wei's corrected plotting of the planetary orbital paths and various speeds. Su Song, one of Shen Kuo's political rivals at court, wrote a famous pharmaceutical treatise in 1070 known as the Bencao Tujing, which included related subjects on botany, zoology, metallurgy, and mineralogy. This treatise included many medicinal applications, including the use of ephedrin as a pharmaceutical drug. He also was the author of a large celestial atlas of five different star maps, and his extensive written and illustrative work in cartography helped solve a heated border dispute between the Song dynasty and its Khitan neighbor of the Liao dynasty. However, Su was most famous for his hydraulic-powered astronomical clock tower, crowned with a mechanically driven armillary sphere, which was erected in the capital city of Kaifeng in the year 1088. Su's clock tower employed the escapement mechanism two centuries before it was applied in clocks of Europe. Su's clock tower also featured the earliest known endless power-transmitting chain drive in the world, as outlined in his horological treatise of 1092. The cases of these two men display the eagerness of the Song in drafting highly skilled officials who were knowledgeable in the various sciences which could ultimately benefit the administration, the military, the economy, and the people. Intellectual men of letters like the versatile Shen Kuo dabbled in subjects as diverse as mathematics, geography, geology, economics, engineering, medicine, art criticism, archaeology, military strategy, and diplomacy, among others. On a court mission to inspect a frontier region, Shen Kuo once made a raised-relief map of wood and glue-soaked sawdust to show the mountains, roads, rivers, and passes to other officials. He once computed the total number of possible situations on a game board, another time the longest possible military campaign given the limits of human carriers who would bring their own food and food for other soldiers. Shen Kuo is also noted for improving the designs of the inflow clepsydra clock for a more efficient higher-order interpolation, the armillary sphere, the gnomon, and the astronomical sighting tube; increasing its width for better observation of the pole star and other celestial bodies. Shen Kuo also experimented with camera obscura, only a few decades after the first to do so, Ibn al-Haytham (965–1039). ### Odometer and south-pointing chariot There were many other important figures in the Song era besides Shen Kuo and Su Song, many of whom contributed greatly to the technological innovations of the time period. Although the mechanically driven mile-marking device of the carriage-drawn odometer had been known in China since the ancient Han dynasty, the Song Shi (compiled in 1345) provides a much greater description and more in-depth view of the device than earlier Chinese sources. The Song Shi states: > The odometer. [The mile-measuring carriage] is painted red, with pictures of flowers and birds on the four sides, and constructed in two storeys, handsomely adorned with carvings. At the completion of every li, the wooden figure of a man in the lower storey strikes a drum; at the completion of every ten li, the wooden figure in the upper storey strikes a bell. The carriage-pole ends in a phoenix-head, and the carriage is drawn by four horses. The escort was formerly of 18 men, but in the 4th year of the Yongxi reign period (987) the emperor Taizong increased it to 30. In the 5th year of the Tian-Sheng reign-period (1027) the Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong presented specifications for the construction of odometers as follows: [...] What follows is a long dissertation made by the Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong on the ranging measurements and sizes of wheels and gears. However, the concluding paragraph provides description at the end of how the device ultimately functions: > When the middle horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 1 li and the wooden figure in the lower story will strike the drum. When the upper horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 10 li and the figure in the upper storey will strike the bell. The number of wheels used, great and small, is 8 inches (200 mm) in all, with a total of 285 teeth. Thus the motion is transmitted as if by the links of a chain, the "dog-teeth" mutually engaging with each other, so that by due revolution everything comes back to its original starting point. In the Song period (and once during the earlier Tang period), the odometer device was combined with the south-pointing chariot device, which was probably first invented by the ancient Chinese mechanical engineer Ma Jun (200–265). The south-pointing chariot was a wheeled vehicle that may, in some cases, have incorporated complex differential gears. (These are used now in nearly all modern automobiles to apply equal amounts of torque to wheels rotating at different speeds while turning.) The differential gears could have been used to keep a mechanically operated pointer aiming in a fixed direction, to the south, compensating for whatever turns the chariot made. Other arrangements of gears could also have been used for the same purpose. The device used mechanical dead reckoning, rather than the magnetism of a compass, in order to navigate and find one's directional bearings. Yan Su (燕肃; c. 961–1040), the Divisional Director in the Ministry of Works, recreated a south-pointing chariot device in 1027, and his specifications for creating the device were provided in the Song Shi. This is of little surprise, as Yan was somewhat of a polymath like Shen Kuo and Su Song, improving the design of the clepsydra clock, writing on mathematical harmonics, theory about tides, etc. The Song Shi text records that it was the engineer Wu Deren who combined the south-pointing chariot and odometer in the year 1107: > In the first year of the Da-Guan reign period (1107), the Chamberlain Wu Deren presented specifications of the south-pointing carriage and the carriage with the li-recording drum (odometer). The two vehicles were made, and were first used that year at the great ceremony of the ancestral sacrifice. The text then went on to describe in full detail the intricate mechanical design for the two devices combined into one. (See the article on the south-pointing chariot). ### Revolving repositories Besides clockwork, hydraulic-powered armillary spheres, odometers, and mechanical compass vehicles, there were other impressive devices of mechanical engineering found during the Song dynasty. Although literary references for mechanical revolving repositories and book cases of Buddhist temples trace back to at least 823 during the Tang dynasty, they came to prominence during the Song dynasty. The invention of the revolving book case is considered to have happened earlier, and is credited to the layman Fu Xi in 544. Revolving bookcases were popularized in Buddhist monasteries during the Song dynasty under the reign of Emperor Taizu, who ordered the mass printing of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka scriptures. Furthermore, the oldest surviving rotating book case dates to the Song period (12th century), found at the Longxing Monastery of Zhengding, Hebei province. However, there were nine prominently known revolving repositories during the Song period, and one of them was even featured in an illustration of Li Jie's book Yingzao Fashi ('Treatise on Architectural Methods') of 1103. The rotating repository of 1119 in Kaifu Temple near Changsha had five wheels which all turned together, and the revolving repository at Nanchan Temple of Suzhou featured a brake system of some sort (sinologists are still uncertain how this operated, since the earliest known curve brake bands appear in the time of Leonardo da Vinci in Europe). A later Muslim traveler Shah Rukh (son of the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur) came to Ming dynasty China in 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, and described a revolving repository in Ganzhou of Gansu province that he called a 'kiosque': > In another temple there is an octagonal kiosque, having from the top to the bottom fifteen stories. Each story contains apartments decorated with lacquer in the Cathayan manner, with ante-rooms and verandahs...It is entirely made of polished wood, and this again gilded so admirably that it seems to be of solid gold. There is a vault below it. An iron shaft fixed in the center of the kiosque traverses it from bottom to top, and the lower end of this works in an iron plate, whilst the upper end bears on strong supports in the roof of the edifice which contains this pavilion. Thus a person in the vault can with a trifling exertion cause this great kiosque to revolve. All the carpenters, smiths, and painters in the world would learn something in their trades by coming here! ### Textile machinery In the field of manufacturing textiles, Joseph Needham (1900–1995) wrote that the Chinese invented the quilling-wheel by the 12th century, and wrote the mechanical belt drive was known since the 11th century. Qin Guan's book Can Shu (Book of Sericulture) of 1090 described a silk-reeling machine with an oscillating 'proto-flyer', as the apparatus of the main reel of which the silk is bound is wound and powered by treadle motion. In this device the ramping arm of the flyer was activated simultaneously by a subsidiary belt drive. This machine was portrayed in an illustration of the Geng Zhi Tu book of 1237, and again a more elaborate illustration was provided in a 17th-century book. Qin Guan's 1090 book stated that: > The pulley (bearing the eccentric lug) is provided with a groove for the reception of the driving belt, an endless band which responds to the movement of the machine by continuously rotating the pulley. An endless rope or cord may have been used in Du Shi's device of waterwheels that powered bellows of the blast furnace in the 1st century (see Wind Power below). ## Movable type printing Printing technology in the form of movable type was invented by Bi Sheng (毕升; 990–1051) in the 11th century. The work of Bi Sheng was written of by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays (Mengxi Bitan). Movable type, alongside woodblock printing, increased literacy with the mass production of printed materials. This meant that parents could encourage sons to learn to read and write and therefore be able to take the imperial examination and become part of the growing learned bureaucracy. Movable type printing was further advanced in Joseon era Korea, where Bi Sheng's baked clay characters were scrapped for metal type characters in 1234. The movable type of Bi Sheng was later improved upon by Wang Zhen (1290–1333), who invented wooden movable type c. 1298, and Hua Sui (1439–1513), who invented bronze movable type in China in 1490; yet the Koreans had metal movable type before Hua Sui, and even Wang Zhen had experimented with tin-metal movable type. Although movable type and woodblock printing would remain the dominant types of printing methods for centuries, the European printing press (employing the Hellenistic screw-press) was eventually adopted by East Asian countries. For printing, the mass production of paper for writing was already well established in China. The papermaking process had been perfected and standardized by the Han dynasty court eunuch Cai Lun (50–121) in 105, and was in widespread use for writing even by the 3rd century. The Song dynasty was the world's first government in history to issue paper-printed money—the banknote (see Jiaozi and Huizi). Toilet paper had been in general use in China since the 6th century, paper bags for preserving the flavor of tea leaves by the 7th century, and by the Song dynasty government officials who had done a great service were rewarded by the court with gifts of paper-printed money wrapped in paper envelopes. During the Song dynasty, independent and government sponsored industries were developed to meet the needs of a growing population that had reached over 100 million. For example, for the printing of paper money alone, the Song court established several government-run mints and factories in the cities of Huizhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Anqi. The size of the workforce employed in these paper money factories was quite large, as it was recorded in 1175 that the factory at Hangzhou alone employed more than a thousand workers a day. ## Gunpowder warfare ### Flamethrower Advances in military technology aided the Song dynasty in its defense against hostile neighbors to the north. The flamethrower found its origins in Byzantine-era Greece, employing Greek fire (a chemically complex, highly flammable petrol fluid) in a device with a siphon hose by the 7th century. The earliest reference to Greek Fire in China was made in 917, written by Wu Renchen in his Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms. In 919, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the 'fierce fire oil' that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu in his Wuyue Beishi, hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire (see also Pen Huo Qi). Lin Yu mentioned also that the 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from one of China's maritime contacts in the 'southern seas', Arabia (Dashiguo). In the Battle of Langshan Jiang in 919, the naval fleet of the Wenmu King from Wuyue defeated a Huainan army from the Wu state; Wenmu's success was facilitated by the use of 'fire oil' ('huo you') to burn their fleet, signifying the first Chinese use of gunpowder in a battle. The Chinese applied the use of double-piston bellows to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and downstroke), lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame. This device was featured in description and illustration of the Wujing Zongyao military manuscript of 1044. In the suppression of the Southern Tang state by 976, early Song naval forces confronted them on the Yangtze River in 975. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction. ### Fire lance Although the destructive effects of gunpowder were described in the earlier Tang dynasty by a Daoist alchemist, the earliest-known existent written formulas for gunpowder come from the Wujing Zongyao text of 1044, which described explosive bombs hurled from catapults. The earliest developments of the gun barrel and the projectile-fire cannon were found in late Song China. The first art depiction of the Chinese 'fire lance' (a combination of a temporary-fire flamethrower and gun) was from a Buddhist mural painting of Dunhuang, dated circa 950. These 'fire-lances' were widespread in use by the early 12th century, featuring hollowed bamboo poles as tubes to fire sand particles (to blind and choke), lead pellets, bits of sharp metal and pottery shards, and finally large gunpowder-propelled arrows and rocket weaponry. Eventually, perishable bamboo was replaced with hollow tubes of cast iron, and so too did the terminology of this new weapon change, from 'fire-spear' ('huo qiang') to 'fire-tube' ('huo tong'). This ancestor to the gun was complemented by the ancestor to the cannon, what the Chinese referred to since the 13th century as the 'multiple bullets magazine erupter' ('bai zu lian zhu pao'), a tube of bronze or cast iron that was filled with about 100 lead balls. In 1132, at the siege of De'an, Song Chinese forces used fire lances against the rival Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. ### Gun An early known depiction of a gun is a sculpture from a cave in Sichuan, dating to 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped bombard, firing flames and a cannonball. However, the oldest existent archaeological discovery of a metal barrel handgun is the Heilongjiang hand cannon from the Chinese Heilongjiang excavation, dated to 1288. The Chinese also discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed cannonball shells with gunpowder. Written later by Jiao Yu in his Huolongjing (mid 14th century), this manuscript recorded an earlier Song-era cast-iron cannon known as the 'flying-cloud thunderclap eruptor' (fei yun pi-li pao). The manuscript stated that: > The shells are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of 'magic' gunpowder. They are sent flying towards the enemy camp from an eruptor; and when they get there a sound like a thunder-clap is heard, and flashes of light appear. If ten of these shells are fired successfully into the enemy camp, the whole place will be set ablaze... As noted before, the change in terminology for these new weapons during the Song period were gradual. The early Song cannons were at first termed the same way as the Chinese trebuchet catapult. A later Ming dynasty scholar known as Mao Yuanyi would explain this use of terminology and true origins of the cannon in his text of the Wubei Zhi, written in 1628: > The Song people used the turntable trebuchet, the single-pole trebuchet and the squatting-tiger trebuchet. They were all called 'fire trebuchets' because they were used to project fire-weapons like the (fire-)ball, (fire-)falcon, and (fire-)lance. They were the ancestors of the cannon. ### Land mine The 14th century Huolongjing was also one of the first Chinese texts to carefully describe to the use of explosive land mines, which had been used by the late Song Chinese against the Mongols in 1277, and employed by the Yuan dynasty afterwards. The innovation of the detonated land mine was accredited to one Luo Qianxia in the campaign of defense against the Mongol invasion by Kublai Khan, Later Chinese texts revealed that the Chinese land mine employed either a rip cord or a motion booby trap of a pin releasing falling weights that rotated a steel flint wheel, which in turn created sparks that ignited the train of fuses for the land mines. ### Rocket Furthermore, the Song employed the earliest known gunpowder-propelled rockets in warfare during the late 13th century, its earliest form being the archaic fire arrow. When the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng fell to the Jurchens in 1126, it was written by Xia Shaozeng that 20,000 fire arrows were handed over to the Jurchens in their conquest. An even earlier Chinese text of the Wujing Zongyao ("Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques"), written in 1044 by the Song scholars Zeng Kongliang and Yang Weide, described the use of three spring or triple bow arcuballista that fired arrow bolts holding gunpowder packets near the head of the arrow. Going back yet even farther, the Wu Li Xiao Shi (1630, second edition 1664) of Fang Yizhi stated that fire arrows were presented to Emperor Taizu of Song (r. 960–976) in 960. ## Civil engineering In ancient China, the sluice gate, the canal lock, and flash lock had been known since at least the 1st century BCE (as sources then alluded that they were not new innovations), during the ancient Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE). During the Song dynasty that the pound lock was first invented in 984 by the Assistant Commissioner of Transport for Huainan, the engineer Qiao Weiyue. During his day, the Chinese became concerned with a barge traffic problem at the Shanyang Yundao section of the Grand Canal, as ships often became wrecked while passing the double slipways and were robbed of the tax grain by local bandits. The historical text of the Song Shi (compiled in 1345) stated that in 984: > Qiao Weiyue also built five double slipways (lit. dams) between Anbei and Huaishi (or, the quays on the Huai waterfront). Each of these had ten lanes for the barges to go up and down. Their cargoes of imperial tax-grain were heavy, and as they were passing over they often came to grief and were damaged or wrecked, with loss of the grain and peculation by a cabal of the workers in league with local bandits hidden nearby. Qiao Weiyue therefore first ordered the construction of two gates at the third dam along the West River (near Huaiyin). The distance between the two gates was rather more than 50 paces (250 ft) and the whole space was covered over with a great roof like a shed. The gates were 'hanging gates'; (when they were closed) the water accumulated like a tide until the required level was reached, and then when the time came it was allowed to flow out. He also built a horizontal bridge to protect their foundations. After this was done (to all the double slipways) the previous corruption was completely eliminated, and the passage of the boats went on without the slightest impediment. This practice became widespread, and was even written of by the Chinese polymath scientist Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays (1088). Shen Kuo wrote that the establishment of pound lock gates at Zhenzhou (presumably Kuozhou along the Yangtze) during the Tian Sheng reign period (1023–1031) freed up the use of five hundred working laborers at the canal each year, amounting to the saving of up to 1,250,000 strings of cash annually. He wrote that the old method of hauling boats over limited the size of the cargo to 300 tan of rice per vessel (roughly 21 long tons/21,000 kg), but after the pound locks were introduced, boats carrying 400 tan (roughly 28 long tons/28,000 kg) could then be used. Shen wrote that by his time (c. 1080) government boats could carry cargo weights of up to 700 tan (49.5 long tons/50,300 kg), while private boats could hold as much as 800 bags, each weighing 2 tan (i.e. 113 long tons/115,000 kg). Shen Kuo also noted that proper use of sluice gates at irrigation canals was the best means of achieving success in the silt fertilization method. However, agricultural and transportation needs had the potential to conflict with one another. This is best represented in the Dongpo Zhilin of the governmental official and famous poet Su Shi (1037–1101), who wrote about two decades before Shen Kuo in 1060: > Several years ago the government built sluice gates for the silt fertilization method, though many people disagreed with the plan. In spite of all opposition it was carried through, yet it had little success. When the torrents on Fan Shan were abundant, the gates were kept closed, and this caused damage (by flooding) of fields, tombs, and houses. When the torrents subsided in the late autumn the sluices were opened, and thus the fields were irrigated with silt-bearing water, but the deposit was not as thick as what the peasants call 'steamed cake silt' (so they were not satisfied). Finally the government got tired of it and stopped. In this connection I remember reading the Jiayipan of Bai Juyi (the poet) in which he says that he once had a position as Traffic Commissioner. As the Bian River was getting so shallow that it hindered the passage of boats he suggested that the sluice gates along the river and canal should be closed, but the Military Governor pointed out that the river was bordered on both sides by fields which supplied army grain, and if these were denied irrigation (water and silt) because of the closing of the sluice gates, it would lead to shortages in army grain supplies. From this I learnt that in the Tang period there were government fields and sluice gates on both sides of the river, and that irrigation was carried on (continuously) even when the water was high. If this could be done (successfully) in old times, why can it not be done now? I should like to enquire further about the matter from experts. Although the drydock had been known in Ptolemaic Egypt since the late 3rd century BCE (by a Phoenician; not used again until Henry VII of England in 1495), the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo wrote of its use in China to repair boats during the 11th century. In his Dream Pool Essays (1088), Shen Kuo wrote: > At the beginning of the dynasty (c. 965) the two Zhe provinces (now Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu) presented (to the throne) two dragon ships each more than (60.00 m/200 ft) in length. The upper works included several decks with palatial cabins and saloons, containing thrones and couches all ready for imperial tours of inspection. After many years, their hulls decayed and needed repairs, but the work was impossible as long as they were afloat. So in the Xi-Ning reign period (1068 to 1077) a palace official Huang Huaixin suggested a plan. A large basin was excavated at the north end of the Jinming Lake capable of containing the dragon ships, and in it heavy crosswise beams were laid down upon a foundation of pillars. Then (a breach was made) so that the basin quickly filled with water, after which the ships were towed in above the beams. The (breach now being closed) the water was pumped out by wheels so that the ships rested quite in the air. When the repairs were complete, the water was let in again, so that the ships were afloat once more (and could leave the dock). Finally the beams and pillars were taken away, and the whole basin covered over with a great roof so as to form a hangar in which the ships could be protected from the elements and avoid the damage caused by undue exposure. ## Nautics ### Background The Chinese of the Song dynasty were adept sailors who traveled to ports of call as far away as Fatimid Egypt. They were well equipped for their journeys abroad, in large seagoing vessels steered by stern-post rudders and guided by the directional compass. Even before Shen Kuo and Zhu Yu had described the mariner's magnetic needle compass, the earlier military treatise of the Wujing Zongyao in 1044 had also described a thermoremanence compass. This was a simple iron or steel needle that was heated, cooled, and placed in a bowl of water, producing the effect of weak magnetization, although its use was described only for navigation on land and not at sea. ### Literature There were plenty of descriptions in Chinese literature of the time on the operations and aspects of seaports, maritime merchant shipping, overseas trade, and the sailing ships themselves. In 1117, the author Zhu Yu wrote not only of the magnetic compass for navigation, but also a hundred-foot line with a hook that was cast over the deck of the ship, used to collect mud samples at the bottom of the sea in order for the crew to determine their whereabouts by the smell and appearance of the mud. In addition, Zhu Yu wrote of watertight bulkhead compartments in the hulls of ships to prevent sinking if damaged, the for-and-aft lug, taut mat sails, and the practice of beating-to-windward. Confirming Zhu Yu's writing on Song dynasty ships with bulkhead hull compartments, in 1973 a 78-foot (24 m) long, 29-foot (8.8 m) wide Song trade ship from c. 1277 was dredged from the water near the southern coast of China that contained 12 bulkhead compartment rooms in its hull. Maritime culture during the Song period was enhanced by these new technologies, along with the allowance of greater river and canal traffic. All around there was a bustling display of government run grain-tax transport ships, tribute vessels and barges, private shipping vessels, a multitude of busy fishers in small fishing boats, along with the rich enjoying the comforts of their luxurious private yachts. Besides Zhu Yu there were other prominent Chinese authors of maritime interests as well. In 1178, the Guangzhou customs officer Zhou Qufei, who wrote in Lingwai Daida about the Arab slave trade of Africans as far as Madagascar, stated this about Chinese seagoing ships, their sizes, durability at sea, and the lives of those on board: > The ships which sail the southern sea and south of it are like houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky. Their rudders are several tens of feet long. A single ship carries several hundred men, and has in the stores a year's supply of grain. Pigs are fed and wine fermented on board. There is no account of dead or living, no going back to the mainland when once the people have set forth upon the caerulean sea. At daybreak, when the gong sounds aboard the ship, the animals can drink their fill, and crew and passengers alike forget all dangers. To those on board everything is hidden and lost in space, mountains, landmarks, and the countries of foreigners. The shipmaster may say 'To make such and such a country, with a favourable wind, in so many days, we should sight such and such a mountain, (then) the ship must steer in such and such a direction'. But suddenly the wind may fall, and may not be strong enough to allow of the sighting of the mountain on the given day; in such a case, bearings may have to be changed. And the ship (on the other hand) may be carried far beyond (the landmark) and may lose its bearings. A gale may spring up, the ship may be blown hither and thither, it may meet with shoals or be driven upon hidden rocks, then it may be broken to the very roofs (of its deckhouses). A great ship with heavy cargo has nothing to fear from the high seas, but rather in shallow water it will come to grief. The later Muslim Moroccan Berber traveler Ibn Battuta (1304–1377) wrote in greater detail about Chinese sailing vessels than Zhou Qufei. He noted that in and around the seas of China, only the distinct Chinese junks were used to sail the waters. He noted that the largest type of Chinese ships boasted a total of twelve sailing masts, while the smaller ones had three. On Chinese ships and their crews, Ibn Battuta stated: > The sails of these vessels are made of strips of bamboo, woven into the form of matting. The sailors never lower them (while sailing, but simply) change the direction of them according to whether the wind is blowing from one side or the other. When the ships cast anchor, the sails are left standing in the wind. Each of these ships is worked by 1,000 men, 600 sailors and 400 marines, among whom there are archers and crossbowmen furnished with shields, and men who throw (pots of) naptha. Each great vessel is followed by three others, a 'nisfi', a 'thoulthi' and a 'roubi' (f endnote: a pinnace, a small boat fitted with a rudder, and a rowing boat). These vessels are nowhere made except in the city of Zayton (Quanzhou) in China, or at Sin-Kilan, which is the same as Sin al-Sin (Guangzhou). Ibn Battuta then went on describing the means of their construction, and accurate depictions of separate bulkhead compartments in the hulls of the ships: > This is the manner in which they are made; two (parallel) walls of very thick wooden (planking) are raised, and across the space between them are placed very thick planks (the bulkheads) secured longitudinally and transversely by means of large nails, each three ells in length. When these walls have thus been built, the lower deck is fitted in, and the ship is launched before the upper works are finished. The pieces of wood, and those parts of the hull, near the water(-line) serve for the crew to wash and to accomplish their natural necessities. On the sides of these pieces of wood also the oars are found; they are as big as masts, and are worked by 10 or 15 men (each), who row standing up. Although Ibn Battuta had mentioned the size of the sailing crew, he described the sizes of the vessels further, as well as the lavish merchant cabins on board: > The vessels have four decks, upon which there are cabins and saloons for merchants. Several of these 'mysria' contain cupboards and other conveniences; they have doors which can be locked, and keys for their occupiers. (The merchants) take with them their wives and concubines. It often happens that a man can be in his cabin without others on board realizing it, and they do not see him until the vessel has arrived in some port. The sailors also have their children in such cabins; and (in some parts of the ship) they sew garden herbs, vegetables, and ginger in wooden tubs. The Commander of such a vessel is a great Emir; when he lands, the archers and the Ethiops (i.e. black slaves, yet in China these men-at-arms would have most likely been Malays) march before him bearing javelins and swords, with drums beating and trumpets blowing. When he arrives at the guesthouse where he is to stay, they set up their lances on each side of the gate, and mount guard throughout his visit. ### Paddle-wheel ships During the Song dynasty there was also great amount of attention given to the building of efficient automotive vessels known as paddle wheel craft. The latter had been known in China perhaps since the 5th century, and certainly by the Tang dynasty in 784 with the successful paddle wheel warship design of Li Gao. In 1134, the Deputy Transport Commissioner of Zhejiang, Wu Ge, had paddle wheel warships constructed with a total of nine wheels and others with thirteen wheels. However, there were paddle wheel ships in the Song that were so large that 12 wheels were featured on each side of the vessel. In 1135 the famous general Yue Fei (1103–1142) ambushed a force of rebels under Yang Yao, entangling their paddle wheel craft by filling a lake with floating weeds and rotting logs, thus allowing them to board their ships and gain a strategic victory. In 1161, gunpowder bombs and paddle wheel crafts were used effectively by the Song Chinese at the Battle of Tangdao and the Battle of Caishi along the Yangtze River against the Jurchen Jin dynasty during the Jin–Song Wars. The Jurchen invasion, led by Wanyan Liang (the Prince of Hailing), failed to conquer the Southern Song. In 1183, the Nanjing naval commander Chen Tang was given a reward for constructing ninety paddle wheel craft and other warships. In 1176, Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162–1189) issued an imperial order to the Nanjing official Guo Gang (who desired to convert damaged paddle wheel craft into junk ships and galleys) not to limit the number of paddle wheel craft in the navy's dockyards, since he had high esteem for the fast assault craft that won the Chinese victory at Caishi. However, paddle wheel craft found other uses besides effective assaults in warfare. The Arab or Persian Commissioner of Merchant Shipping for Quanzhou, the Muslim Pu Shougeng (who served from 1250 to 1275) noted that paddle wheel ships were also used by the Chinese as tugboats for towing. ## Metallurgy The art of metallurgy during the Song dynasty built upon the efforts of earlier Chinese dynasties, while new methods were incorporated. The Chinese of the ancient Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) figured out how to create steel by smelting together the carbon intermediary of wrought iron and cast iron by the 1st century BCE. However, there were two new Chinese innovations of the Song dynasty to create steel during the 11th century. This was the "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel, while the other was a precursor to the modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast. The per capita iron output rose sixfold between 806 and 1078, and by 1078 Song China was producing 127,000,000 kg (125,000 long tons; 127,000 t) in weight of iron per year. The historian Donald B. Wagner points out that this estimate was based upon the total number of government tax receipts on iron from the various iron-producing prefectures in the empire. In the smelting process of using huge bellows driven by hydraulics (i.e. large waterwheels), massive amounts of charcoal were used in the production process, leading to a wide range of deforestation in northern China. However, by the end of the 11th century the Chinese discovered that using bituminous coke could replace the role of charcoal, hence many acres of forested land and prime timber in northern China were spared by the steel and iron industry with this switch of resources to coal. This massive increase in output of the iron and steel industry in China was the result of the Song dynasty's needs for military expansion, private commercial demands for metal products such as cooking utensils found in the market and a wide variety of agricultural tools, and by new canals linking major centers of iron and steel production to the capital city's bustling market. The many uses for manufactured iron products in the Song period included iron for weapons, implements, coins, architectural elements, musical bells, artistic statues, and components for machinery such as the hydraulic-powered trip hammer, which had been known since the 1st century BCE during the ancient Han dynasty, and used extensively during the Song. Due to the enormous amount of production, the economic historian Robert Hartwell noted that Chinese iron and coal production in the following 12th century was equal to if not greater than England's iron and coal production in the early phase of the Industrial Revolution during the late 18th century. However, the Chinese of the Song period did not harness the energy potential of coal in ways that would generate power mechanically, as in the later Industrial Revolution that would originate in the West. There were certain administrative prefectures during the Song era where the Chinese iron industry was mostly concentrated. For example, the poet and statesman Su Shi wrote a memorial to the throne in 1078 that specified 36 ironwork smelters, each employing a work force of several hundred people, in the Liguo Industrial Prefecture (under his governance while he administered Xuzhou). ## Wind power The effect of wind power was appreciated in China long before the introduction of the windmill during the Song period. It is uncertain when the ancient Chinese used their very first inflatable bellows as wind-blowing machines for kilns and furnaces. They existed perhaps as far back as the Shang dynasty (1600–1050 BCE), due to the intricate bronze casting technology of the period. They were certainly used since the advent of the blast furnace in China from the 6th century BCE onwards, since cast-iron farm tools and weapons were widespread by the 5th century BCE. In 31, the Han dynasty governmental prefect and engineer Du Shi (d. 38) employed the use of horizontal waterwheels and a complex mechanical gear system to operate the large bellows that heated the blast furnace in smelting cast iron. Bellows continued in use for purposes of metallurgy, but other sources of wind power were discovered and harnessed. The Han dynasty artisan Ding Huan (fl. 180) not only pioneered the invention of the cardan suspension, but also the rotary fan, which could be used as a simple air conditioner. This employed seven wheels, each about 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and manually powered, but by the Tang dynasty (618–907) palaces featured water-powered rotary fans for air conditioning, and in the Song dynasty, states Needham, "the refrigerant effects of artificial draught seem to have been appreciated ever more widely." There was also an intricate Chinese rotary fan winnowing machine depicted in Wang Zhen's agricultural treatise of the Nong Shu of 1313 (although the earliest depiction of a winnowing machine was from a Han dynasty tomb model dated from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century). After these innovations, the windmill was finally introduced to China in the early 13th century via the Jin dynasty in northern China, during the late Song dynasty. The Persian scholar Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari wrote c. 850 that the earlier Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab was murdered in 644 by the technician Abu Lu'lu'a, who claimed to construct mills driven by the power of wind. More reliable than this account were the windmills of the Banu Musa brothers (850 to 870), while there are also several authors confirming the windmills of Sistan (Iran), written of by Abu Ishaq al-Istakhri and Abu al-Qasim ibn Hauqal. The northern Chinese under the rule of the Jurchen Jin dynasty became acquainted with the windmills of the Islamic world in the early 13th century. This is seen in an account of the Shu Zhai Lao Xue Cong Tan (Collected Talks of the Learned Old Man of the Shu Studio), written by Sheng Ruozi. It read: > In the collection of the private works of the 'Placid Retired Scholar' (Zhan Ran Ju Shi), there are ten poems on Hechong Fu. One of these describes the scenery of that place [...] and says that 'the stored wheat is milled by the rushing wind and the rice is pounded fresh by hanging pestles. The westerners (i.e. Turks) there use windmills (feng mo) just as the people of the south (i.e. the Southern Song) use watermills (shui mo). And when they pound they have the pesltes hanging vertically'. Here Sheng Ruozi quotes a written selection about windmills from the 'Placid Retired Scholar', who is actually Yelü Chucai (1190–1244), a prominent Jin and Yuan statesman (after the Jin fell in 1234 to the Mongols). The passage refers to Yelü's journey to Turkestan (modern Xinjiang) in 1219, and Hechong Fu is actually Samarkand (in modern Uzbekistan). Afterwards, the Chinese applied the 'fore-and-aft' sail riggings of typical Chinese junk ships to horizontal windmills. These windmills were used to operate the square-pallet chain pumps used in Chinese irrigation since the ancient Han dynasty. Windmills of this nature were still in use during modern times in Tianjin and along the Yangtze River. The first European to view Chinese windmills was Jan Nieuhoff, who spotted them in Jiangsu while traveling along the Grand Canal in 1656, as part of the Dutch embassy to Beijing. The first European windmills written of were those of Dean Herbert of East Anglia in 1191, who competed with the mills of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. After the windmill, wind power applications in other devices and even vehicles were found in China. There was the 'sailing carriage' that appeared by at least the Ming dynasty in the 16th century (although it could have been known beforehand). European travelers to China in the late 16th century were surprised to find large single-wheel passenger and cargo wheelbarrows not only pulled by mule or horse, but also mounted with ship-like masts and sails to help push them along by the wind. ## Archaeology During the early half of the Song dynasty (960–1279), the study of archaeology developed out of the antiquarian interests of the educated gentry and their desire to revive the use of ancient vessels in state rituals and ceremonies. This and the belief that ancient vessels were products of 'sages' and not common people was criticized by Shen Kuo, who discussed metallurgy, optics, astronomy, geometry, and ancient music measures in addition to archeology. His contemporary Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze. In accordance with the beliefs of the later Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886), some Song gentry—such as Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129)—valued archaeological evidence over historical works written after the fact, finding written records unreliable when they failed to match with the archaeological discoveries. Hong Mai (1123–1202) used ancient Han dynasty era vessels to debunk what he found to be fallacious descriptions of Han vessels in the Bogutu archaeological catalogue compiled during the latter half of Huizong's reign (1100–1125). ## Geology and climatology Shen Kuo also made hypotheses in regards to geology and climatology in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088. Shen believed that land was reshaped over time due to perpetual erosion, uplift, and deposition of silt, and cited his observance of horizontal strata of fossils embedded in a cliffside in the Taihang Mountains as evidence that the area was once the location of an ancient seashore that had shifted hundreds of miles east over an enormous span of time. Shen also wrote that since petrified bamboos were found underground in a dry northern climate zone where they had never been known to grow, climates naturally shifted geographically over time. ## See also - History of science and technology in China - List of Chinese discoveries - List of Chinese inventions - List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China - Science and technology of the Han dynasty
666,280	Compulsory figures	1,172,934,385	Element in a figure skating competition	[ "Figure skating elements", "History of sports" ]	Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For approximately the first 50 years of figure skating as a sport, until 1947, compulsory figures made up 60 percent of the total score at most competitions around the world. These figures continued to dominate the sport, although they steadily declined in importance, until the International Skating Union (ISU) voted to discontinue them as a part of competitions in 1990. Learning and training in compulsory figures instilled discipline and control; some in the figure skating community considered them necessary to teach skaters basic skills. Skaters would train for hours to learn and execute them well, and competing and judging figures would often take up to eight hours during competitions. Skaters traced compulsory figures, and were judged according to their smoothness and accuracy. The circle is the basis of all figures. Other elements in compulsory figures include curves, change of foot, change of edge, and turns. Skaters had to trace precise circles while completing difficult turns and edges. The simple "figure eight" shape was executed by connecting two circles; other figures included the three turn, the counter turn, the rocker turn, the bracket turn, and the loop. Since 2015 with the founding of the World Figure Sport Society and the World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships & Festival on black ice more skaters are training and competing in figures. More coaches are learning the new methods developed by World Figure Sport to teach them to skaters, as some skaters and coaches believe that figures give skaters an advantage in developing alignment, core strength, body control, and discipline. The World Figure Sport Society conducts workshops, festivals and world competitions in compulsory (now known as fundamental figures), special, creative, free, flying figures, and fancy skating ## History ### Early history Tracing figures in the ice is the oldest form of figure skating, especially during its first 200 years of existence when it was a recreational activity practiced mostly by men. Combined skating, or "patterns of moves for two skaters around a common center marked by a ball and later an orange placed on the ice", had a "profound historical significance" to the sport that eventually manifested itself in ice dancing, pair skating, and synchronized skating, and dominated the sport for 50 years in England during the 18th century. The Art of Skating, one of the earliest books about figure skating, was written by Robert Jones in 1772 and described five advanced figures, three of which were illustrated with large color plates. Jones' limited body of figures, which emphasized correct technique, were the accepted and basic repertoire of figures in 18th-century England. The Edinburgh Skating Club, one of the oldest skating clubs in the world, described combined figures and those done by multiple skaters; interlocking figure eights were the most important. According to writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, the Edinburgh Skating Club required prospective members to pass proficiency tests in what became compulsory figures. The London Skating Club, founded in 1830 in London, also required proficiency tests for members and pioneered combined skating, which contributed to the evolution of school figures. Artistic skating in France, which was derived from the English style of figure skating and was influenced by ballet, developed figures that emphasized artistry, body position, and grace of execution. Jean Garcin, a member of an elite group of skaters in France, wrote a book about figure skating in 1813 that included descriptions and illustrations of over 30 figures, including a series of circle-eight figures that skaters still use today. George Anderson, writing in 1852, described backward-skating figures, including the flying Mercury and the shamrock, as well as the Q figure, which became, in its various forms, an important part of the repertoire of skating movements for the rest of the 1800s. Anderson also described two combined figures, the salutation (already described by Jones) and the satellite. By the 1850s, the most important figures (eights, threes, and Qs) were developed and formed the basis for figure skating at the time. In 1869, Henry Vandervell and T. Maxwell Witham from the London Skating Club wrote System of Figure Skating, which described variations of the three turn (the only figure known before 1860), the bracket (first done on roller skates), the rocker, the Mohawk, the loop, the Q, and other figures. The Mohawk, renamed in Canada to the C Step in 2020, a two-foot turn on the same circle, most likely originated in North America. Figure skating historian James Hines called grapevines, which was probably invented in Canada, "the most American of all figures". The Viennese style of figure skating, as described by Max Wirth's book in 1881, described connecting figures, which ultimately led to modern free skating programs. In 1868, the American Skating Congress, precursor to U.S. Figure Skating, adopted a series of movements used during competitions between skaters from the U.S. and Canada. Until 1947, for approximately the first 50 years of the existence of figure skating as a sport, compulsory figures made up 60 percent of the total score at most competitions around the world. Other competitions held in the late 19th and early 20th centuries included special figures, freeskating, and compulsories, most of the points they earned going towards how they performed the same set of compulsory moves. The first international figure skating competition was in Vienna in 1882; according to Kestnbaum, it established a precedent for future competitions. Skaters were required to perform 23 compulsory figures, as well as a four-minute freeskating program, and a section called "special figures", in which they had to perform moves or combinations of moves that highlighted their advanced skills. Compulsory figures were an important part of figure skating for the rest of the 19th century until the 1930s and 1940s. The first European Championships in 1891 consisted of only compulsory figures. In 1896, the newly formed International Skating Union (ISU) sponsored the first annual World Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg. The competition consisted of compulsory figures and free skating. Skaters had to perform six compulsory moves so that judges could compare skaters according to an established standard. Compulsory figures were worth 60 percent of the competitors' total scores. Special figures were not included in World Championships, although they were included as a separate discipline in other competitions, including the Olympics in 1908. The early Olympics movement valued and required amateurism, so figure skating, almost from its beginnings as an organized sport, was also associated with amateurism. Athletes were unable to support themselves financially, so as Kestnbaum put it, "thus making it impossible for those who had to earn a living by other means to attain the same level of skill as those who were independently wealthy or who practiced professions that allowed for flexible scheduling". According to Kestnbaum, this had implications for attaining proficiency in complusory figures, which required long hours of practice and purchasing time at private rinks and clubs. In 1897, the ISU adopted a schedule of 41 school figures, each of increasing difficulty, which was proposed by the British. They remained the standard compulsory figures used throughout the world in proficiency testing and competitions until 1990, and U.S. Figure Skating continued to use them as a separate discipline in the 1990s. After World War II, more countries were sending skaters to international competitions, so the ISU cut the number of figures to a maximum of six due to the extended time it took to judge them all. ### Demise in 1990 and Modern Renaissance in 2015 Compulsory figures began to be progressively devalued in 1967 when the values of both compulsory figures and free skating were changed to 50 percent. In 1973, the number of figures was decreased from six to three, and their overall weight was decreased to 30 percent, to make room for the introduction of the short program. Hines states that the decrease in the importance of compulsory figures was due to "the unbalanced skating" of women skaters such as Beatrix "Trixi" Schuba of Austria, whom Hines called "the last great practitioner of compulsory figures". Schuba won several medals in the late 1960s and early 1970s based upon the strength of her figures, despite her lower results in free skating. As Hines states, "she could not be defeated under a scoring system that gave preference to figures". Hines also credited television coverage of figure skating, which helped to increase the popularity of the sport, with the eventual demise of compulsory figures. Television audiences were not exposed to the compulsory figures segments of competitions, so they did not understand why the results contradicted what they saw in free skating segments. Sports writer Sandra Loosemore agreed, stating that television was "the driving force" for the rule changes regarding figures in 1968 and the years following. Figures were not broadcast on television because they were not exciting enough, so viewers "found it incomprehensible that competitions could be won by skaters who had built up huge leads in the figures portion of the event but gave mediocre performances in the part of the competition shown on TV". In 1973, the ISU lowered the value of compulsory figures from 50% to 40% and decreased the number of figures skaters were required to perform. In 1977, the number of types of figures skaters could choose to perform decreased even more, down to six figures per competition. Loosemore attributed the decrease in the importance of figures to a "lack of public accountability" from the judges of international competitions and other discrepancies in judging, which Loosemore called "dirty judging". She speculated that television coverage of the sport, which brought more attention to how it was judged, was also responsible and "since figures competitions weren't televised, fans could not be certain that the judges were on the level". Loosemore also speculated that "the relative scarcity of rinks and practice ice for figures in Europe as compared to North America" ultimately made the difference in the removal of figures from competitions. Kestnbaum agreed, stating that the elimination of figures was motivated by finances, countries with an affluent middle class or government-supported training for athletes having more of a competitive advantage over less affluent and smaller countries with fewer ice rinks and resources to spend the time necessary to train for proficiency in figures. By the late 1970s and into the 1980s, there were discussions about eliminating them from international competitions. In 1988, the ISU voted to remove compulsory figures from international single skating competitions, for both men and women, starting in the 1990–1991 season. Of 31 voting national associations, only the U.S., Canada, Britain, and New Zealand voted against the decision. The last two seasons that compulsory figures were competed at an international competition were in 1989 and 1990; only two figures were skated and they were worth only 20 percent of the competitors' overall scores. Željka Čižmešija from Yugoslavia skated the last compulsory figure in international competition, at the World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 7 March 1990. The U.S. created a separate track for figures instead of immediately eliminating them as most other countries did and was the last skating federation to include figures at its national championships, at the 1999 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Its governing council, due to dwindling participation in figures since the ISU ended them in international competitions, finally voted to end them, even at the lower levels of its competitions and for their proficiency tests, in the summer of 1997. Canada also voted to end figures for their proficiency tests in 1997. According to Loosemore, the U.S.' decision to replace the remaining figure proficiency test requirements for competition eligibility in the mid-1990s with moves in the field to test skating proficiency "killed figures as a separate competition discipline". Sports writer Randy Harvey of the Los Angeles Times predicted that the free skate would become the focus in international competitions. Hines, quoting Italian coach Carlo Fassi, predicted in 2006 that the elimination of figures would result in younger girls dominating the sport, a statement Hines called "prophetic". According to Loosemore, after figures were no longer required, most skaters stopped doing them, resulting in rinks cutting back on the amount of time they offered to skaters who wanted to continue to practice them and a reduction in the number of judges capable of scoring them. Despite the apparent demise of compulsory figures from figure skating, coaches continued to teach figures and skaters continued to practice them because figures gave skaters an advantage in developing alignment, core strength, body control, and discipline. Proponents stated that figures taught basic skating skills, insisting that if skaters did not become proficient in figures, they would not be able to perform well-done free skating programs. American champion and figure skating writer John Misha Petkevich disagrees, stating that the skills needed for proficiency in figures were different than what was needed for free skating, and that the turns and edges learned in figures could be learned in free skating as easily and efficiently. A renaissance happened in figures when the World Figure Sport Society held the inaugural World Figure Championship & Festival on black ice in Lake Placid, New York, which was also endorsed by the Ice Skating Institute, in 2015. The World Figure Sport Society brought the 2016 World Figure Championship on black ice to Toronto, Canada and has held continuous World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships & Festivals on black ice in the following locations: 2017–2019 in Vail, Colorado, 2020 in Plattsburgh, New York, and in Brasher Falls, New York in 2021 and 2022. Many figure and fancy skating compositions are competed with sequestered judging to avoid bias. Skating artists compete many types of figures including fundamental (previously known as compulsory or school), special, creative, free, and flying figures which when combined creates fancy skating to music. ## Execution of figures Compulsory figures, also called school figures, are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". Compulsory figures are also called "patch", a reference to the patch of ice allocated to each skater to practice figures. Figure skating historian James Hines reports that compulsory figures were "viewed as a means of developing technique necessary for eliter skaters". He states, "As scales are the material by which musicians develop the facile technique required to perform major competitions, so compulsory figures were viewed as the material by which skaters develop the facile required for free-skating programs". Hines also states that although compulsory figures and free skating are often considered as "totally different aspects of figure skating", historically they were not, and insisted that "spirals, spread eagles, jumps, and spins were originally individual figures". Skaters were required to trace these circles using one foot at a time, demonstrating their mastery of control, balance, flow, and edge to execute accurate and clean tracings on the ice. The compulsory figures used by the International Skating Union (ISU) in 1897 for international competitions consisted of "two or three tangent circles with one, one and a half, or two full circles skated on each foot, in some with turns or loops included on the circles". The patterns skaters left on the ice, rather than the shapes the body made executing them, became the focus of artistic expression in figure skating into the 20th century. The quality of the figures, along with the skater's form, carriage, and speech in which they were executed, was emphasized, not the intricacy of unique designs of the figures themselves. The highest quality figures had tracings on top of each other; their edges were placed precisely, and the turns lined up exactly. The slightest misalignment or shift of body weight could cause errors in the execution of figures. American figure skating champion Irving Brokaw insisted that form was more essential to the production of figures than the tracings themselves because the skater needed to find a comfortable and natural position in which to perform them. He expected skaters to trace figures without looking down at them because it gave "a very slovenly appearance", and recommended that they not use their arms excessively or for balance like tightrope walkers. Brokaw wanted skaters to remain upright and avoid bending over as much as they could. Brokaw also thought that the unemployed leg, which he called the "balance leg", was as important as the tracing leg because it was used as much in the execution of a figure as the tracing leg. The balance leg also should be bent only slightly, since he believed bending it too much removed its usefulness and appeared clumsy. Writer Ellyn Kestnbaum notes that skaters who were adept at performing compulsory figures had to practice for hours to have precise body control and to become "intimately familiar with how subtle shifts in the body's balance over the blade affected the tracings left on the ice". She adds that many skaters found figures and their visible results calming and rewarding. Sports writer Christie Sausa insists that training in figures "helps create better skaters and instills discipline, and can be practiced over a lifetime by skaters of all ages and abilities". The German magazine Der Spiegel declared in 1983 that compulsory figures stifled skaters' creativity because not much about figures had changed in 100 years of competitions. ### Figure elements All compulsory figures had the following: circles, curves, change of foot, change of edge, and turns. The circle, the basis of all figures, was performed on both its long and short axes. Skaters had to trace precise circles, while completing difficult turns and edges. Most figures employ "specific one-foot turns not done in combination with other one-foot turns". Each figure consisted of two or three tangent circles. Each circle's diameter had to be about three times the skater's height, and the radii of all half-circles had to be approximately the same length. Half-circles and circles had to begin and end as near as possible to the point in which the long and short axes intersected. The figure's long axis divided it longitudinally into equal-sized halves, and the figure's short axes divided the figures into equal-sized lobes. Curves, which are parts of circles, had to be performed with an uninterrupted tracing and with a single clean edge, with no subcurves or wobbles. Brokaw insists that curves had to be done on all four edges of the skate while skating both backwards and forwards. He states, "It is the control of these circles that gives strength and power, and the holding of the body in the proper and graceful attitudes, while it is the execution of these large circles, changes of edges, threes and double-threes, brackets, loops, rockers and counters, which makes up the art of skating". Curves also included the forced turn (or bracket) and the serpentine. A change of foot, which happened during the short time the skater transferred weight from one foot to the other, was allowed in the execution of figures, but had to be done in a symmetrical zone on each side of the long axis. Skaters could choose the exact point in which they placed their foot in this zone, although it typically was just after the long axis, with the full weight of the body on the skate. It was at this point that tracing began. A change of edge happened at the point in which the long and short axes intersected. Its trace had to be continuously and symmetrically traced and could not be S-shaped. The edge change had to be as short as possible, and could not be longer than the length of the skate blade. Turns were skated with a single clean edge up to and after the turn, but with no double tracings, no skids or scrapes, or no illegal edge change either before, during, or after a turn. The turns' cusps had to be the same size, and the entry into and out of a turn had to be symmetrical. The simple "figure eight" shape was executed by connecting two circles "about three times the height of the skater with one circle skated on each foot". The figure eight has four variations: inside edges, outside edges, backward, and forward. A turn added at the halfway point of each circle increased the level of complexity. Other figures included three-lobed figures with a counter turn or a rocker turn, which were completed at the points where the lobes touched. Counters and rockers had to be executed symmetrically, with no change of edge, with the points of their turns either pointing up or down or lying along the figure's long axis, and could not be beaked or hooked. Brackets, like threes, had to be skated on a circle, their turns' points either pointing up or down or lying along the figure's long axis. Skaters also performed a group of smaller figures called loops. The diameter of the loop's circular shape had to be about the height of the skater, and they could not have any scrapes or points on the ice. The place in which the skater entered into or exited out of the crossing of both the loop tracing and the center of the loop had to sit on the figure's long axis, where the loop was divided into symmetrical halves. The center of the loop figure to the place in which the skater entered into or exited out of the loop's crossing had to measure five-sixths of the circle's diameter. The loop's length had to be about one-third of the distance from the place in which the skater entered into or exited out of the loop's crossing of the loop tracing to the figure's short axis. The loop's width had to be about two-thirds of its length. The Q figure begins at the tail of the figure, on the skater's outside edge. It can also begin on any of the four edges, and the direction in which it can be skated can be reversed. When the circle is skated first, it is called a reverse Q. Altered forms of the Q figure often do not look like the letter "q", but "simply employ a serpentine line and a three turn". United shamrocks, spectacles (shapes that trace the shape of eyeglasses), and united roses are alterations of the basic Q figures. Since the goal of figures is drawing an exact shape on the ice, the skater had to concentrate on the depth of the turn (how much the turn extends into or out of the circle), the integrity of the edges and cusps (round-patterned edges leading into or out of the circle), and its shape. There were three types of three turns: the standard three, the double three, and the paragraph double three. The three turn had to be skated on a circle, its turns' points either pointing up or down or lying along the figure's long axis. For the double three, the points of both threes had to be directed towards the center of each circle, and had to divide the circle into three equal curves. The middle curve had to divide the circles into halves by the figure's long axis. The paragraph double three, which was executed at the highest levels of competition, was done by tracing "two circles with two turns at each circle, all on one foot from one push-off". The paragraph double three was difficult to accomplish because the shape and placement of the turns had to be perfectly symmetrical, the turns had to be done on a true edge with no scrapes on the ice, and the circles had to be the same size and exactly round. All combined compulsory figures are illustrated below: ## Judging Der Spiegel compared judging compulsory figures to the work of forensic scientists. After the skaters completed tracing figures, the judges scrutinized the circles made, and the process was repeated twice more. According to Randy Harvey, compulsory figures took five hours to complete at U.S. National Championships and eight hours at World Championships. At the 1983 European Championships, the compulsory segment began at 8 am, and lasted six hours. The ISU published a judges' handbook describing what judges needed to look for during compulsory figure competitions in 1961. Skaters were judged on the ease and flow of their movement around the circles, the accuracy of the shapes of their bodies, and the accuracy of the prints traced on the ice. Judges took note of the following: scrapes, double tracks that indicated that both edges of their blades were in contact with the ice simultaneously, deviations from a perfect circle, how closely the tracings from each repetition followed each other, how well the loops lined up, and other errors. In 2015, a new era of judging figures was ushered in with the founding of the World Figure Sport Society. World Figure Sport created sequestered judging to avoid judging bias which easily occurred in previous times. Skating artists are now judged at the World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships on black ice by judges ranking all the figure compositions that are skated and etched into the ice. Judges only enter the ice after the competitors leave and rank the technically strongest to weakest figure compositions. This new era has produced the most iconic images and videos of the figure patterns of all types being performed and competed in world competition in the history of figure skating.
394,194	David Lewis (Canadian politician)	1,170,864,450	Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician (1909–1981)	[ "1909 births", "1981 deaths", "20th-century Canadian lawyers", "Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford", "Belarusian Jews", "Belarusian anti-communists", "Canadian King's Counsel", "Canadian Rhodes Scholars", "Canadian anti-communists", "Canadian atheists", "Canadian people of Belarusian-Jewish descent", "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation", "Companions of the Order of Canada", "Deaths from cancer in Ontario", "Deaths from leukemia", "Foreign-born Canadian politicians", "Jewish Canadian politicians", "Jewish atheists", "Jewish socialists", "Lawyers in Ontario", "Lewis family (Canada)", "McGill University alumni", "Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario", "NDP and CCF leaders", "New Democratic Party MPs", "People from Svislach", "People from Volkovyssky Uyezd", "Polish emigrants to Canada", "Politicians from Montreal", "Politicians from Toronto", "Presidents of the Oxford Union", "Western Federation of Miners people" ]	David Lewis CC QC (born David Losz; June 23 or October 1909 – May 23, 1981) was a Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1936 to 1950 and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. In 1962, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP), in the House of Commons of Canada, for the York South electoral district. While an MP, he was elected the NDP's national leader and served from 1971 until 1975. After his defeat in the 1974 federal election, he stepped down as leader and retired from politics. He spent his last years as a university professor at Carleton University, and as a travel correspondent for the Toronto Star. In retirement, he was named to the Order of Canada for his political service. After suffering from cancer for a long time, he died in Ottawa in 1981. Lewis's politics were heavily influenced by the Jewish Labour Bund, which contributed to his support of parliamentary democracy. He was an avowed anti-communist, and while a Rhodes Scholar prevented communist domination of the Oxford University Labour Club. In Canada, he played a major role in removing communist influence from the labour movement. In the CCF, he took the role of disciplinarian and dealt with internal organizational problems. He helped draft the Winnipeg Declaration, which moderated the CCF's economic policies to include acceptance of capitalism, albeit subject to stringent government regulation. As the United Steelworkers of America (USW)'s legal counsel in Canada, he helped them take over the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (Mine-Mill). His involvement with the USW also led to a central role in the creation of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956. The Lewis family has been active in socialist politics since the turn of the twentieth century, starting with David Lewis's father's involvement in the Bund in Russia, continuing with David, and followed by his eldest son, Stephen Lewis, who led the Ontario NDP from 1970 until 1978. When David was elected the NDP's national leader in 1971, he and Stephen became one of the first father-and-son-teams to simultaneously head Canadian political parties. ## Early life ### The Bund and Jewish life in the Pale David Losz was born in the Russian Empire sometime after Svisloch's first snowfall in October 1909 to Moishe Losz and his wife Rose (née Lazarovitch). His official birth date of June 23 was the one he gave the immigration officer when he arrived in Canada. Lewis's political activism began in the shtetl he lived in until 1921. Svisloch was located in the Pale of Settlement, the westernmost region of the Russian Empire, in what is now Belarus. After World War I, it became a Polish border town, occasionally occupied by the Soviet Union during the Polish-Soviet War of the early 1920s. Jewish people were in the majority, numbering 3,500 out of Svisloch's 4,500 residents. Unlike many of the other shtetls in the Pale, it had an industrial economy based on tanning. Its semi-urban industrial population was receptive to social democratic politics and the labour movement, as embodied by the Jewish Labour Bund. Moishe (or Moshe) Losz was Svisloch's Bund Chairman. The Bund was an outlawed socialist party that called for overthrowing the Tsar, equality for all, and national rights for the Jewish community; it functioned both as a political party and labour movement. Lewis spent his formative years immersed in its culture and philosophy. The Bund's membership, although mostly ethnically Jewish, was secular humanist in practice. Moishe and David were influenced by the Bund's political pragmatism, embodied in its maxim that "It is better to go along with the masses in a not totally correct direction than to separate oneself from them and remain a purist." David would bring this philosophy to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and New Democratic Party (NDP); in clashes between the parties' "ideological missionaries and the power pragmatists when internal debates raged about policy or action", he was in the latter camp. When the Russian Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War were at their fiercest, in the summer of 1920, Poland invaded, and the Red Russian Bolshevik army counter-attacked. The Bolsheviks reached the Svisloch border in July 1920. Moishe Losz openly opposed the Bolsheviks and would later be jailed by them for his opposition. When the Polish army recaptured Svisloch on August 25, 1920, they executed five Jewish citizens as "spies". Unsafe under either regime and with his family's future prospects bleak, Moishe left for Canada in May 1921, to work in his brother-in-law's Montreal clothing factory. By August, he saved enough money to send for his family, including David and his siblings, Charlie and Doris. David Lewis was a secular Jew, as was Moishe. However, his maternal grandfather, Usher Lazarovitch, was religious and, in the brief period between May and August 1921 before David emigrated, gave his grandson the only real religious training he would ever receive. David did not actively take part in a religious service again until his granddaughter Ilana's Bat Mitzvah in the late 1970s. In practice, the Lewis family, including David, his wife Sophie, and their children Janet, Nina, Stephen, and Michael, were atheists. ### Early life in Canada The family came to Canada by boat and landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Autumn 1921. They then went by rail to Montreal to meet Moishe Lewis. David Lewis was a native Yiddish speaker and understood very little English. He learned it by buying a copy of Charles Dickens' novel The Old Curiosity Shop and a Yiddish-English dictionary. A Welsh teacher at Fairmount Public School, where Lewis was a student, helped him learn English but also passed on his Welsh accent. Lewis entered Baron Byng High School in September 1924. He soon became friends with A.M. (Abe) Klein, who became one of Canada's leading poets. He also met Irving Layton, another future prominent Canadian writer, to whom he acted as a political mentor. Baron Byng High School was predominantly Jewish because it was in the heart of Montreal's non-affluent Jewish community, and was ghetto-like because Jews were forbidden from attending many high schools. Besides poets, at high school, Lewis met Sophie Carson, who eventually became his wife. Klein, their mutual friend, introduced them. Carson came from a religious Jewish family. Her father did not approve of Lewis, because he was a recent immigrant to Canada, and in Carson's father's opinion had little to no possibility of success. After high school, Lewis spent five years at McGill University in Montreal: four in arts and one in law. While there, he helped found the Montreal branch of the Young People's Socialist League. He gave lectures sponsored by this anti-communist socialist club, and was its nominal leader. One of his favourite professors was Canadian humorist, and noted Conservative party proponent, Stephen Leacock, whom Lewis liked more for his personality than for his discipline, economics. In his third year, Lewis founded The McGilliad campus magazine. It published many of his anti-communist views, though the December 1930 issue included an article he wrote expressing his approval of the Russian Revolution and calling for a greater understanding of the Soviet Union; throughout his career, he would attack communism, but would always have sympathy for the 1917 revolutionaries. Also at McGill, Lewis met and worked with prominent Canadian socialists like F. R. Scott, Eugene Forsey, J. King Gordon, and Frank Underhill. He would work with all of them again in the 1940s and 50s in the CCF. ## Rhodes Scholarship and Oxford With Scott's encouragement, Lewis applied for a Rhodes Scholarship during his first year at law school. The interviews for the Quebec representative were conducted in Montreal. The examining board included the then-president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), Sir Edward Beatty. In response to a question about what he would do if he became prime minister, Lewis stated that he would nationalize the CPR. Despite this answer and his socialist views in general, his responses to the board's cross-examination satisfied them that he was not a communist, and they awarded him the scholarship. ### Political involvement When David Lewis entered Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1932, he immediately took a leadership role in the university's socialist-labour circles. Michael Foot, the future leader of the British Labour Party, mentioned in an interview that Lewis was, > the most powerful socialist debater in the place. I don't think with any rival ... He had a very powerful influence indeed amongst students, partly because he had so much more experience than the rest of us but partly because he had brilliant debating powers. I mean one of the best I've ever heard. If you talk of tough political debates, well, he was absolutely unbeatable ... I knew him [at Oxford] when I was a Liberal [and] he played a part in converting me to socialism. When Lewis came to Oxford, the Labour Club was a tame organization adhering to Christian activism, or genteel socialist theories like those expressed by R.H. Tawney in his book The Acquisitive Society. Lewis's modified Bundist interpretation of Marxism, which Smith labels "Parliamentary Marxism", ignited renewed interest in the club after the disappointment of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government. The Oxford newspaper Isis noted Lewis's leadership ability at this early stage in his career. In its February 7, 1934, issue, while Lewis was president, they wrote of the club: "The energy of these University Socialists is almost unbelievable. If the Socialist movement as a whole is anything like as active as they are, then a socialist victory at the next election is inevitable." In February 1934, British fascist William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) visited Oxford. Lewis and future Ontario CCF leader Ted Jolliffe organized a noisy protest by planting Labour Club members in the dance hall where Joyce was speaking and having groups of two and three of them leave at a time, making much noise on the creaking wooden floors. They were successful in drowning out Joyce, and he did not complete his speech. Afterward, a street fight erupted between Joyce's Blackshirt supporters and members of the Labour Club, including Lewis. Lewis prevented the communists from making inroads at Oxford. Ted Jolliffe stated "there was a difference between his speeches at the Union and his speeches at the Labour Club. His speeches at the Union had more humour in them; the atmosphere was entirely different. But his speeches at the Labour Club were deadly serious ... His influence at the Labour Club, more than anyone else's, I think, explains the failure of the Communists to make headway there. There were so many naive people around who could have been taken in." He increased the Labour Club's membership by three quarters by the time he left. In accordance with Bundism, Lewis rejected violent revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Bund insisted that the revolution should be through democratic means, as Marx had judged possible in the late 1860s, and that democracy should prevail afterward. Influenced by Fabianism, Lewis became an incrementalist in his approach to replacing non-socialist governments. As Lewis biographer Cameron Smith points out: > So what he ended up with was a modified Bundist interpretation of Marxism. Call it, if you will, Parliamentary Marxism. It was a Marxian analysis of economics and a parliamentary approach to politics. And if David were forced to choose, he would have chosen Parliamentary over Marxism. Lewis was a prominent figure in the British Labour Party, which, in emphasizing parliamentary action and organizational prowess, took an approach similar to the Bund's. Upon his 1935 graduation, the party offered him a candidacy in a safe seat in the British House of Commons. This left Lewis with a difficult decision: whether to stay in England or go home to Canada. If he had stayed in England, he likely would have been a partner in a prominent London law firm associated with Stafford Cripps and become a cabinet minister the next time Labour formed a government. Cripps, then a prominent barrister and Labour Party official, was grooming Lewis to be Prime Minister. Lewis's other choice was to return to Montreal and help build the fledgling Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), with no guarantee of success. A personal note from J. S. Woodsworth, dated June 19, 1935, asked Lewis to take this latter option; in the end, he did. ### Oxford Union Besides his political involvement, Lewis was active with the Oxford Union, probably the most prestigious and important debating club in the English-speaking world. His first debate, in January 1933, was on the resolution "That the British Empire is a menace to International good will"; Lewis was one of the participants for the "Aye" side. They lost. The February 9, 1933, debate brought Lewis some level of early prominence. The resolution was "That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King or Country" and was so controversial that it was news around the British Empire and beyond. Lewis again spoke for the "Aye" side. They won overwhelmingly and caused a newspaper uproar throughout the Empire. The Times of London entered the fray by pooh-poohing those who took the Union and their motion seriously. Lewis became a member of the Union's Library Committee on March 9, 1933, and its treasurer in March 1934. After two failed attempts, he was narrowly elected president in late November 1934. He was president during the Hilary term, from the beginning of January until the end of April 1935. The Isis commented that "... David Lewis ... will be, beyond question, the least Oxonian person ever to the lead the Society. In appearance, background, and intellectual outlook he is a grim antithesis to all the suave, slightly delicate young men who for generations have sat on the Union rostrum ..." ## CCF National Secretary ### Return to Canada Sophie Carson had accompanied Lewis to Oxford, and they wed August 15, 1935, shortly after their return. The wedding took place in his parents' home; though a rabbi officiated, most traditional Jewish practices were not observed. In 1935, David Lewis became the National Secretary of the CCF. As Smith puts it: > Into this political whirlwind stepped David. A centralist in a nation that was decentralizing. A socialist in a country that voted solidly capitalist. A campaigner for a party with no money, facing two parties each of which was big, powerful, and affluent. A professional, in a party of amateurs who mostly thought of themselves as a movement, not a party. An anti-Communist at a time when Canadian Communists were about to enter their heyday. A publicist seeking a unified voice for a party riven with dissent. An organizer whose leader, J.S. Woodsworth, really didn't believe in the organization, thinking that the CCF should remain a loosely knit, co-operative association and believed this so implicitly that when it came time to appoint Lewis full-time to the job of the national secretary [in 1938] he resisted, fearing the CCF would lose its spontaneity. > > That Lewis not only survived but prevailed is a testament to his skill and perseverance. Most of the founders of the CCF – including Woodsworth, Tommy Douglas, M. J. Coldwell, and Stanley Knowles, – were informed by the Social Gospel, to which Lewis, with his Marxist socialism balanced by the Bund's democratic principles, felt an affinity. Both the Bund and the Social Gospel were focused on the material present rather than the afterlife. Both called on people to change their environment for the better rather than hoping that God might do it for them. Social justice, the brotherhood of man, and moral self-improvement were common to both. It became obvious after the October 1937 Ontario election that the CCF needed an image change; it was seen by the electorate as too far left. F. R. Scott pointed this out to Lewis in a letter, recommended moderating some of the party's policies, and advised that "... in the political arena we must find our friends among the near right." In August 1938, Lewis quit his job at the Ottawa law firm of Smart and Biggar to work full-time as the CCF National Secretary. His starting salary was \$1,200 per year, a low sum of money, even at that time, for a job with so much responsibility. ### Trying to create an organization As National Secretary, Lewis emphasized organization over ideology and forging links to unions. He worked to moderate the party's image and downplay the Regina Manifesto's more radical language, which seemed to scare off moderate voters. The offending language included "No CCF government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning". Lewis, federal leader M.J. Coldwell, and Clarie Gillis would spend the next 19 years trying to modify this declaration, finally succeeding with the 1956 Winnipeg Declaration. At the 1944 CCF convention, Lewis won a concession "that even large business could have a place in the party – if they behave." Rather than opposing all private enterprise, Lewis was concerned with preventing monopoly capitalism. He passed a resolution reading "The socialization of large-scale enterprise, however, does not mean taking over every private business. Where private business shows no signs of becoming a monopoly, operates efficiently under decent working conditions, and does not operate to the detriment of the Canadian people, it will be given every opportunity to function, to provide a fair rate of return, and to make its contribution to the nation's wealth." This resolution allowed for a mixed-economy that left most jobs in the private sphere. Lewis did not share the desire of some members to keep the CCF "ideologically pure", and adhered to the Bundist belief that "it was better to go along with the masses in a not totally correct direction than to separate oneself from them and remain 'purist'." However, the CCF was as much a movement as it was a political party, and its own members frequently undermined it with radical proclamations. Lewis criticized the British Columbia CCF for such comments, saying "... what we say and do must be measured by the effect which it will have on our purpose of mobilizing people for action. If what we say and do will blunt or harm our purpose ... then we are saying and doing a false thing even if, in the abstract, it is true ... When, in heaven's name are we going to learn that working-class politics and the struggle for power are not a Sunday-school class where the purity of godliness and the infallibility of the Bible must be held up without fear of consequences." David Lewis was the party's "heavy", which did not help his popularity among CCF members, but after witnessing what he considered to be the European left's self-destruction in the 1930s, he was quick to end self-immolating tactics or policies. He would tolerate some criticism of the party by its members, but when he believed that it rose to self-mutilation, he suppressed it ruthlessly. This was most apparent when Lewis attacked and discredited Frank Underhill and his handling of Woodsworth House. Early in Lewis's career, Underhill was one of his mentors; this did not matter when Woodsworth House was stricken with financial difficulties in the late 1940s. Lewis was quick to blame and then discharged Underhill and the rest of the Woodsworth executive of their responsibilities. It was an unfortunate event that cost the CCF in the academic and intelligentsia world. To sum up Lewis's reign, discipline and solidarity were paramount. There had to be limited to discussion and tolerance of dissenting views. ### Make this your Canada In 1943, Lewis co-wrote Make this Your Canada with F. R. Scott, then the CCF's National Chairman. The book's main argument was that national economic planning had proven itself during wartime with the King government's imposition of wage and price controls through the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. Lewis and Scott further argued that its wartime success could translate to peacetime, and that Canada should adopt a mixed economy. They also called for public ownership of key economic sectors, and for the burden to be placed on private companies to demonstrate that they could manage an industry more effectively in the private sector than the government could in the public sector. The book also outlined the history of the CCF up to that time and explained the party's decision-making process. By Canadian standards, the book was popular, and sold over 25,000 copies in its first year of publication. ### 1943 Cartier by-election Lewis first ran for the CCF in the 1940 federal election in York West. He placed a distant third, receiving 8,330 fewer votes than the second-place Liberal candidate, Chris J. Bennett. Despite his poor showing in his first election, the party asked Lewis to run in the 1943 by-election in the Montreal, Quebec, federal riding of Cartier, made vacant by the death of Peter Bercovitch. Lewis's opponents included Fred Rose of the communist Labor–Progressive Party. It was a vicious campaign, immortalized by A. M. Klein in an uncompleted novel called Come the Revolution. The novel was broadcast in the 1980s on Lister Sinclair's Ideas programme on CBC Radio One. If the Communist rhetoric could be believed, "Lewis was a Fascist done up in brown." Rose won and became the only (as of 2013), Communist, to sit in the House of Commons. Lewis placed fourth. The sizable Jewish vote mostly went to Rose. The leftist "common front" punished Lewis by supporting Rose, who was seen to be of the community; Lewis lived in Ottawa at the time. It took Lewis many years to recover from this campaign, and its reverberation coloured Lewis's decision on where to run. ### 1945 elections: disappointment and defeat The Canadian federal and the Ontario elections of 1945 were possibly the most crucial to Canada in the 20th century. They took place at the beginning of the welfare state, and the elections would set the course of political thought to the end of the century and beyond. The year was a disaster for the CCF, both nationally and in Ontario. It never fully recovered, and in 1961 would dissolve and become the New Democratic Party. As NDP strategist and historian Gerald Caplan put it: "June 4, and June 11, 1945, proved to be black days in CCF annals: socialism was effectively removed from the Canadian political agenda." The anti-socialist crusade by the Ontario Conservative Party, mostly credited to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) special investigative branch's agent D-208 (Captain William J. Osborne-Dempster) and the Conservative propagandists Gladstone Murray and Montague A. Sanderson, diminished the CCF's initially favourable position: the September 1943 Gallup poll showed the CCF leading nationally with 29 percent support, with the Liberals and Conservatives tied for second place at 28 percent. By April 1945, the CCF was down to 20 percent nationally, and on election day it received only 16 percent. Another factor in the CCF's defeat was the unofficial coalition between the Liberal Party of Canada and the communist Labor-Progressive Party. It guaranteed a split in the left-of-centre vote. Lewis ran in Hamilton West instead of the CCF-friendly Winnipeg North riding that had elected CCF and Labour Party candidates since the 1920s and had a substantial Jewish population. Historians and activists disagree on Lewis's reasons for doing so, but Caplan suggests that the shock of the Cartier election probably made him reluctant to fight another intense campaign against a Jewish Communist candidate. Whatever his reasons, he was soundly defeated. In the 1949 federal election, Lewis ran again in the Hamilton area, in the riding of Wentworth. He lost again, placing a relatively distant third. ### Fighting Communist influence The 1945 defeats were partially the result of an alliance between the Liberals and the communist Labor–Progressive Party (LPP). The LPP focused in on CCF-held seats, deliberately splitting the vote, and declared a "Liberal–Labour" coalition on May 29, 1944. They declared open warfare on the CCF in 1944, with spokesman John Weir stating in the LPP's Canadian Tribune newspaper that "a resounding defeat of the CCF at the polls must be [their] the main objective." The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) supported the CCF, but the Trades and Labour Congress (TLC) refused to officially endorse them. This lack of unity between the two main Canadian umbrella labour organizations hurt the CCF, and was part of the Liberal–Communist alliance: TLC president Percey Berough was a Liberal, and vice-president Pat Sullivan was a Communist. In the Ontario provincial election, the communists urged trade union members to vote for the right-wing Conservative George Drew rather than the CCF. Lewis and Charles Millard, of the Canadian Congress of Labour, decided to purge organized labour's decision-making bodies of communists. Their first target was the Sudbury, Ontario, CCF riding association and its affiliated International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (Mine-Mill) Local 598. However, Local 598 was not under Communist control: out of 11,000 dues-paying members, fewer than 100 were communists. Over the next twenty years, a fierce and ultimately successful battle was waged by Millard's United Steel Workers of America (USW) to take over Local 598. The attacks on the Sudbury CCF were even more costly, at least in terms of voter support. Sudbury's Bob Carlin was one of the few CCF Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to survive the Drew government's 1945 landslide victory. Carlin had been part of Ted Jolliffe's team that had orchestrated the CCF's 1943 breakthrough but was first and foremost a union man. He was a long-time labour organizer, going back to 1916 and the predecessor to the Mine-Mill: the Western Federation of Miners. Carlin was loyal to his union, in whose service he had spent ten years, and to the men and woman who helped build it, regardless of their political affiliation; this made him unpopular with the CCF establishment in both Toronto and Ottawa. Millard, Jolliffe, and Lewis did not directly accuse Carlin of being a communist. Instead, they attacked him for not dealing with communists in Local 598, which was built by both communists and CCFers (with the latter firmly in control of the executive). Lewis and Jolliffe made the case to expel him from the Ontario CCF caucus at a Toronto special meeting of the CCF executive and the legislative caucus on April 13, 1948. In essence, Carlin became a casualty of Steel's plans to raid Mine-Mill. The CCF lost the seat in the 1948 Ontario election, placing fourth. The Conservatives won the seat and Carlin, as an independent, finished a close second. It was not until the CCF became the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Mine-Mill versus USW war was over, in 1967, that another social democrat – Elie Martel in Sudbury East – was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the city. Lewis and Millard's crusade to limit communist influence received an unexpected boost from the Soviet Union, in Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 denunciation of Stalinism. In his "Secret Speech", On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, delivered to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his cult of personality and his regime for "violation of Leninist norms of legality". When the excesses of Stalin's regime were exposed, it caused a split in the communist movement in Canada and permanently weakened it. By the end of 1956, the LPP's influence in the trade union movement and politics was spent. ## Private labour law practice Lewis resigned as national secretary in 1950 and moved to Toronto to practise law in partnership with Ted Jolliffe. He became the chief legal advisor to the USW's Canadian division, and assisted them in their organizing efforts and battles with the Mine-Mill union. Lewis focused on his law practice for the next five years. In his first year, he paid more in income tax than he had earned annually as CCF National Secretary. He bought his first house, in the Bathurst Street – St. Clair Avenue West area of Toronto, during this period. After his father Moishe died in 1951, his mother Rose moved into the 95 Burnside Drive Lewis home from Montreal. This is the home where his son Stephen Lewis would spend his teenage years, and the other three children would grow up. ### Winnipeg Declaration and the New Party Although he gave-up day-to-day running of the party's organization, he stayed on the national executive as the English-speaking vice-president from 1950 to 1954. After four years of comparatively limited involvement with CCF internal politics, Lewis became the party's national chairman, by winning the election to replace Percy Wright. He, along with Lorne Ingle, the person that replaced him as national secretary in 1950, became the main drafters of the 1956 Winnipeg Declaration, which replaced the Regina Manifesto. The lead-up to the August 1956 CCF convention had Lewis working full-time in his labour practice, including work on the merger of the Canadian Congress of Labour and the Trades and Labour Congress to form the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), and putting in long hours organizing the committee that wrote the Declaration. He collapsed in his office in May 1956; after administering several tests for a possible cardiac condition, the doctors concluded that Lewis collapsed of exhaustion. He stayed in bed for a week and recovered enough to help the Declaration pass ten weeks later. The Winnipeg convention was the CCF's swan song. Even with the Declaration's modified tone, which removed state planning and nationalization of industry as central tenets of the party's platform, the CCF suffered a crippling defeat in the 1958 federal election, which became known as the "Diefenbaker sweep". It was obvious to Lewis, Coldwell and the rest of the CCF executive that the CCF could not continue as it was, and, with the co-operation of the CLC, they started exploring how to broaden its appeal. ### CCF President In 1958, Lewis worked closely with the CLC's president, Claude Jodoin, and the CLC's executive vice-president Stanley Knowles to merge the labour and social-democratic movements into a new party. Coldwell did not want to continue as the party's national leader, because he lost his parliamentary seat in the election. Lewis persuaded him to stay on until the new party was formed. Lewis was elected party president at the July 1958 convention in Montreal, which also endorsed a motion for the executive and National Council to "enter into discussions with Canadian Labour Congress" and other like-minded groups to lay the groundwork for a new party. ### Leadership succession crisis By 1960, progress was being made in creating a new party, but Lewis had to again act as the disciplinarian. Since Coldwell lost his seat, he was constantly considering resignation but was repeatedly dissuaded by the party. With Coldwell lacking a seat, the CCF caucus chose Hazen Argue as its leader in the House of Commons. During the lead-up to the 1960 CCF convention, Argue was pressing Coldwell to step down. This leadership challenge jeopardized plans for an orderly transition to the new party. Lewis and the rest of the new party's organizers opposed Argue's manoeuvres, and wanted Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas to be the new party's first leader. To prevent their plans from derailing, David Lewis attempted to persuade Argue not to force a vote at the convention on the question of the party's leadership. He was unsuccessful. There was a split between the parliamentary caucus and the party executive on the convention floor. Coldwell quit and Argue replaced him as a leader. In July 1961, the CCF became the New Democratic Party (NDP). They elected Tommy Douglas as their leader by a convincing 1391 to 380 margin over Argue. Six months later, Argue quit the party and crossed the floor to join the Liberals. In the mid-1970s, David Lewis reflected on this incident and he concluded that he had not handled the leadership transition well: > I, as president of the CCF, was very much in the wrong in trying to get a unanimous vote for Tommy. It arose out of a tradition we had had – no one opposed Woodsworth, no one had opposed Coldwell. They were chosen. I met with Hazen and tried to dissuade him from being a candidate. It was wrong. This attitude produced bitterness around the Hazen-Douglas contest. ## 1962–1971: Member of Parliament for York South Two days after the end of the NDP's 1961 founding convention, Tommy Douglas wrote a letter to Sophie Lewis, David's wife, telling her that David must run in the next election. Lewis decided to run in his home riding of York South, which was concurrently held provincially, in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, by the NDP's Ontario leader, Donald C. MacDonald. Diefenbaker's government had to call an election sometime in 1962, so there was time to plan Lewis's campaign. He had two campaign managers: his son Stephen and Gerry Caplan. One of their main strategies was to gain votes in the riding's affluent Jewish enclave in the Village of Forest Hill. Lewis, however, was perceived by the Jewish community as an outsider because he did not take part in community events or belong to a synagogue. His opposition to the creation of the state of Israel, a result of his Bundist politics, also did not sit well with the mostly Zionist community. It took extra effort on Stephen's and Caplan's parts to convince community members that David was a legitimate Jewish voice and that he would not harm their businesses. Besides resistance from the Jewish community, in his role as party national vice-president David Lewis had to tackle the impending doctors' strike in Saskatchewan, the result of the CCF government's implementation of Medicare. He called the province's doctors "blackmailers" for suggesting such a strike. Lewis also appeared on one of the NDP's few national television spots. He appeared on the national CTV Television Network with Walter Pitman to present the NDP's platform on a planned economy, in a conversation-style election broadcast. On June 18, 1962, Lewis was elected in York South, and finally became an MP. Since Tommy Douglas lost in his seat, Lewis was considered the front-runner to become house leader until Douglas entered the house in an October by-election. \\|- \\|New Democratic Party \\|David Lewis \\|align="right"\\|19,101\\|\\|align="right"\\|40.42 \\|Liberal \\|Marvin Gelber \\|align="right"\\|15,423 \\|\\|align="right"\\|32.64 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|William G. Beech \\|align="right"\\|12,552\\|\\|align="right"\\|26.56 Lewis's first term as MP was a short one, as Diefenbaker's minority government was defeated in the April 8, 1963, general election. Lewis lost in Forest Hill, as his support among its Jewish community evaporated and returned to the Liberals, who were seen as best able to contain the Social Credit Party, which was perceived to be anti-Semitic. This was only a temporary set-back. With Diefenbaker in opposition (and unlikely to resurrect the coalition in Quebec that gave him his majority in 1958) and Social Credit a diminished force, Lewis returned to the House of Commons in the 1965 general election. He was re-elected in the 1968 election, and became the NDP leader in the House of Commons after Douglas lost his seat. At the 1969 Winnipeg National Convention, Douglas announced that he intended to step down as leader by 1971, which meant that Lewis became the de facto leader in the interim. The October 1970 Quebec FLQ Crisis put Lewis in the spotlight, as he was the only NDP MP with any roots in Quebec. He and Douglas were opposed to the October 16 implementation of the War Measures Act. The Act, enacted previously only for wartime purposes, imposed extreme limitations on civil liberties, and gave the police and military vastly expanded powers for arresting and detaining suspects, usually with little to no evidence required. Although it was only meant to be used in Quebec, since it was federal legislation, it was in-force throughout Canada. Some police services, from outside of Quebec, took advantage of it for their own purposes, which mostly had nothing even remotely related to the Quebec situation, as Lewis and Douglas suspected. Sixteen of the 20 members of the NDP parliamentary caucus voted against the implementation of the War Measures Act in the House of Commons. They took much grief for being the only parliamentarians to vote against it. Lewis stated at a press scrum that day: "The information we do have, showed a situation of criminal acts and criminal conspiracy in Quebec. But, there is no information that there was unintended, or apprehended, or planned insurrection, which alone, would justify invoking the War Measures Act." About five years later, many of the MPs who voted to implement it regretted doing so, and belatedly honoured Douglas and Lewis for their stand against it. Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield went so far as to say that, "Quite frankly, I've admired Tommy Douglas and David Lewis, and those fellows in the NDP for having the courage to vote against that, although they took a lot of abuse at the time....I don't brood about it. I'm not proud of it." ## Leader of the NDP Stephen Lewis was coming into his own during this period. In 1963, at the age of 26, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Following the engineered 1970 resignation of Donald C. MacDonald, Stephen was elected leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. During the early-to-mid-1970s, the father-and-son-team led the two largest sections of the NDP. In February 1968, Stephen Lewis, as a supposed representative of the Ontario NDP legislative caucus, asked the 63-year-old Tommy Douglas to step down as leader so that a younger person could take over. Donald C. MacDonald stated that Lewis was not representing the caucus, but acting on his own. Though Douglas was taken aback by the suggestion, his defeat in the ensuing election bolstered Stephen's case and on October 28, 1969, Douglas announced that he would step down as leader before the NDP's 1971 convention. David Lewis ran to succeed Douglas as national leader. The 1971 leadership convention was a tumultuous affair. A new generation of NDP activists known as The Waffle proposed many controversial resolutions, including nationalization of all natural resource industries and support for Quebec Sovereignty. It took the combined efforts of the NDP establishment—and the sizable trade union delegation—to vote down these resolutions, which caused many bitter debates and sharply divided the convention. Lewis, as the leading establishment figure, won the party's leadership on April 24 in a surprisingly close race that required four ballots before he could claim victory over the Waffle's James Laxer. Laxer had been prominently featured in media coverage leading up to and during the convention. Lewis's perceived heavy-handedness in dealing with The Waffle at this and previous conventions made him many enemies, as had his involvement in most of the CCF and NDP's internal conflicts during the previous 36 years. Many members who had felt his wrath as party disciplinarian plotted their revenge against him. At his first press conference after winning the leadership, Lewis stated that he was not beholden to the Waffle, as they were soundly defeated at the convention, and that he made no promises to them. He also warned the party's Quebec wing that they could continue to theorize about possible self-determination resolutions, but that come election time they must pledge themselves to the party's newly confirmed federalist policy. He did not purge the Waffle from the NDP, but left it to his son Stephen to do in June 1972, when the party's Ontario wing resolved to disband the Waffle or kick its members out of the party if they did not comply with the disbanding order. David Lewis led the NDP through the 1972 federal election, during which he uttered his best-known quotation, calling Canadian corporations "corporate welfare bums", a term also used in the title of his 1972 book Louder Voices: The Corporate Welfare Bums. This election campaign also employed the first dedicated plane for the NDP leader's tour, dubbed "Bum Air" by reporters, because it was a slow, twin-engine, turbo-prop driven Handley Page Dart Herald. In previous campaigns, the party's leader, Tommy Douglas, had to use commercial Air Canada flights to get around during the election, with few people in his entourage. The 1972 election returned a Liberal minority government and elected the greatest number of NDP MPs until the 1980 election, and left the NDP holding the balance of power until 1974. The NDP propped up Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government in exchange for the implementation of NDP proposals such as the creation of Petro-Canada as a crown corporation. Lewis wanted to topple the government in a vote of no-confidence as early as possible because he saw no strategic advantage to support the Trudeau government: he believed that Trudeau would get the credit if a program was well-received and that the NDP would be vilified if it was unpopular. In hindsight, Lewis's no-win evaluation of the situation appears correct: the party would not be rewarded for its efforts by the electorate. In the 1974 election, the NDP were reduced to 16 seats. Lewis lost his seat, leading him to resign as party leader in 1975. It was revealed immediately after the election that he had been battling leukemia for about two years; he had reportedly kept everyone, including his family, unaware of his condition. ## Final years Lewis became a professor at the Institute of Canadian Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa during this time. In 1978, as a travel correspondent for The Toronto Star, Lewis visited Svisloch one last time, and noted that, "not one Jew now lives there." The Holocaust wiped out the town's Jewish community, and with it his extended family. He completed the first volume, of a planned two, of his memoirs, The Good Fight: Political Memoirs 1909–1958 in 1981. He died of leukemia shortly thereafter, on May 23, 1981, in Ottawa. He is the father of Stephen Lewis, a former Ontario NDP leader and was the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa post-political career. His other son, Michael Lewis, was a former Ontario NDP Secretary and a leading organizer in the NDP. He is also the father of Janet Solberg, president of the Ontario NDP in the 1980s. His other twin daughter is Nina Libeskind, the wife and business partner of architect Daniel Libeskind. Stephen's son, broadcaster Avram (Avi) Lewis, is his grandson. In 2010, his granddaughter-in-law Naomi Klein, gave the inaugural David Lewis Lecture, sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. ## Awards and honours In December 1976, Lewis was named as a Companion of the Order of Canada and was invested into it on April 20, 1977. He was appointed to the highest level of the Order of Canada in "recognition of the contributions he has made to Labour and social reform and the deep concern he has had over the years for his adopted country." David Lewis Public School in Scarborough, Ontario is named in his honour. ## Electoral record Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election. \\|- \\|Progressive Conservative \\|LENNARD, Frank Exton Jr. \\|align="right"\\|16,443 \\|Liberal \\|HICKS, Henry Arnott \\|align="right"\\| 13,312 \\|Co-operative Commonwealth \\| LEWIS, David \\|align="right"\\| 11,638 \\|Independent \\|GILES, Charles \\|align="right"\\|562 \\|- \\|Progressive Conservative \\|LENNARD, Frank Exton Jr. \\|align="right"\\|16,443 \\|Liberal \\|HICKS, Henry Arnott \\|align="right"\\| 13,312 \\|Co-operative Commonwealth \\| LEWIS, David \\|align="right"\\| 11,638 \\|Independent \\|GILES, Charles \\|align="right"\\|562 ### York South \\|- \\|New Democratic Party \\|David LEWIS \\|align="right"\\|19,101 \\|Liberal \\|Marvin GELBER \\|align="right"\\|15,423 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|William G. BEECH \\|align="right"\\|12,552 \\|- \\|Liberal \\|Marvin GELBER \\|align="right"\\| 21,042 \\|New Democratic Party \\|David LEWIS \\|align="right"\\| 17,396 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|William G. BEECH \\|align="right"\\|9,648 \\|- \\|New Democratic Party \\|David LEWIS \\|align="right"\\|21,693 \\|Liberal \\|Marvin GELBER \\|align="right"\\| 18,098 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|Maxwell ROTSTEIN \\|align="right"\\| 6,427 \\|- \\|New Democratic Party \\|David LEWIS \\|align="right"\\|12,357 \\|Liberal \\|Ron BARBARO \\|align="right"\\|11,693 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|Cy TOWNSEND \\|align="right"\\|4,499 \\|- \\|New Democratic Party \\|David LEWIS \\|align="right"\\|14,225 \\|Liberal \\|Lucio APPOLLONI \\|align="right"\\|9,551 \\|Progressive Conservative \\|John M. OOSTROM \\|align="right"\\| 6,401 \\|Unknown \\|Keith CORKHILL \\|align="right"\\|172 ### 1971 leadership convention results Held in Ottawa, Ontario on April 24, 1971. ## Archives There is a David Lewis fonds at Library and Archives Canada. Archival reference number is R6773.
9,549	Edgar Allan Poe	1,171,866,715	American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)	[ "1809 births", "1849 deaths", "19th-century American dramatists and playwrights", "19th-century American essayists", "19th-century American male writers", "19th-century American non-fiction writers", "19th-century American novelists", "19th-century American poets", "19th-century American short story writers", "19th-century pseudonymous writers", "American crime writers", "American detective fiction writers", "American fantasy writers", "American horror writers", "American literary critics", "American male dramatists and playwrights", "American male essayists", "American male non-fiction writers", "American male novelists", "American male poets", "American male short story writers", "American mystery writers", "American people of English descent", "American science fiction writers", "American speculative fiction writers", "American writers of Irish descent", "Burials at Westminster Hall and Burying Ground", "Edgar Allan Poe", "Epic poets", "Ghost story writers", "Hall of Fame for Great Americans inductees", "Literary theorists", "Novelists from Maryland", "Novelists from Massachusetts", "Novelists from New York (state)", "Novelists from Pennsylvania", "Novelists from Virginia", "Poe family (United States)", "Pre-computer cryptographers", "Recreational cryptographers", "Romantic poets", "Surrealist writers", "United States Army soldiers", "United States Military Academy alumni", "University of Virginia alumni", "Unsolved deaths in the United States", "Weird fiction writers", "Writers from Baltimore", "Writers from Boston", "Writers from Philadelphia", "Writers from Richmond, Virginia", "Writers from the Bronx", "Writers of American Southern literature", "Writers of Gothic fiction" ]	Edgar Allan Poe ( Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. Poe was born in Boston, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when his mother died the following year, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he was with them well into young adulthood. He attended the University of Virginia but left after a year due to lack of money. He quarreled with John Allan over the funds for his education, and his gambling debts. In 1827, having enlisted in the United States Army under an assumed name, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife in 1829. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declared a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and parted ways with Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose, and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, but she died of tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845, he published his poem "The Raven" to instant success. He planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn, later renamed The Stylus. But before it began publishing, Poe died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, aged 40, under mysterious circumstances. The cause of his death remains unknown, and has been variously attributed to many causes including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide. Poe and his works influenced literature around the world, as well as specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. He and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums. The Mystery Writers of America present an annual Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. ## Early life and education Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. He had an elder brother, Henry, and a younger sister, Rosalie. Their grandfather, David Poe, had emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, around 1750. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died a year later from pulmonary tuberculosis. Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, a successful merchant in Richmond, Virginia, who dealt in a variety of goods, including cloth, wheat, tombstones, tobacco, and slaves. The Allans served as a foster family and gave him the name "Edgar Allan Poe", although they never formally adopted him. The Allan family had Poe baptized into the Episcopal Church in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son. The family sailed to the United Kingdom in 1815, and Poe attended the grammar school for a short period in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, where Allan was born, before rejoining the family in London in 1816. There he studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817. He was subsequently entered at the Reverend John Bransby's Manor House School at Stoke Newington, then a suburb 4 miles (6 km) north of London. Poe moved with the Allans back to Richmond in 1820. In 1824, he served as the lieutenant of the Richmond youth honor guard as the city celebrated the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette. In March 1825, Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt died, who was said to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, leaving Allan several acres of real estate. The inheritance was estimated at \$750,000 (). By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his expansive wealth by purchasing a two-story brick house called Moldavia. Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the University of Virginia in February 1826 to study ancient and modern languages. The university was in its infancy, established on the ideals of its founder Thomas Jefferson. It had strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol, but these rules were mostly ignored. Jefferson enacted a system of student self-government, allowing students to choose their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, and report all wrongdoing to the faculty. The unique system was still in chaos, and there was a high dropout rate. During his time there, Poe lost touch with Royster and also became estranged from his foster father over gambling debts. He claimed that Allan had not given him sufficient money to register for classes, purchase texts, and procure and furnish a dormitory. Allan did send additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased. Poe gave up on the university after a year but did not feel welcome returning to Richmond, especially when he learned that his sweetheart Royster had married another man, Alexander Shelton. He traveled to Boston in April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper writer, and started using the pseudonym Henri Le Rennet during this period. ## Military career Poe was unable to support himself, so he enlisted in the United States Army as a private on May 27, 1827, using the name "Edgar A. Perry". He claimed that he was 22 years old even though he was 18. He first served at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month. That year, he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry titled Tamerlane and Other Poems, attributed with the byline "by a Bostonian". Only 50 copies were printed, and the book received virtually no attention. Poe's regiment was posted to Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, and traveled by ship on the brig Waltham on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted tradesman who prepared shells for artillery, and had his monthly pay doubled. He served for two years and attained the rank of Sergeant Major for Artillery, the highest rank that a non-commissioned officer could achieve; he then sought to end his five-year enlistment early. He revealed his real name and his circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard, who would allow Poe to be discharged only if he reconciled with Allan. Poe wrote a letter to Allan, who was unsympathetic and spent several months ignoring Poe's pleas; Allan may not have written to Poe even to make him aware of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829, and Poe visited the day after her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, Allan agreed to support Poe's attempt to be discharged in order to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Poe was finally discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a replacement to finish his enlisted term for him. Before entering West Point, he moved to Baltimore for a time to stay with his widowed aunt Maria Clemm, her daughter Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe. In September of that year, Poe received "the very first words of encouragement I ever remember to have heard" in a review of his poetry by influential critic John Neal, prompting Poe to dedicate one of the poems to Neal in his second book Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems, published in Baltimore in 1829. Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October 1830, Allan married his second wife Louisa Patterson. The marriage and bitter quarrels with Poe over the children born to Allan out of extramarital affairs led to the foster father finally disowning Poe. Poe decided to leave West Point by purposely getting court-martialed. On February 8, 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing to attend formations, classes, or church. He tactically pleaded not guilty to induce dismissal, knowing that he would be found guilty. Poe left for New York in February 1831 and released a third volume of poems, simply titled Poems. The book was financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, many of whom donated 75 cents to the cause, raising a total of \$170. They may have been expecting verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had written about commanding officers. It was printed by Elam Bliss of New York, labeled as "Second Edition", and including a page saying, "To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated". The book once again reprinted the long poems "Tamerlane" and "Al Aaraaf" but also six previously unpublished poems, including early versions of "To Helen", "Israfel", and "The City in the Sea". Poe returned to Baltimore to his aunt, brother, and cousin in March 1831. His elder brother Henry had been in ill health, in part due to problems with alcoholism, and he died on August 1, 1831. ## Publishing career After his brother's death, Poe began more earnest attempts to start his career as a writer, but he chose a difficult time in American publishing to do so. He was one of the first Americans to live by writing alone and was hampered by the lack of an international copyright law. American publishers often produced unauthorized copies of British works rather than paying for new work by Americans. The industry was also particularly hurt by the Panic of 1837. There was a booming growth in American periodicals around this time, fueled in part by new technology, but many did not last beyond a few issues. Publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised, and Poe repeatedly resorted to humiliating pleas for money and other assistance. After his early attempts at poetry, Poe had turned his attention to prose, likely based on John Neal's critiques in The Yankee magazine. He placed a few stories with a Philadelphia publication and began work on his only drama Politian. The Baltimore Saturday Visiter awarded him a prize in October 1833 for his short story "MS. Found in a Bottle". The story brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy, a Baltimorean of considerable means who helped Poe place some of his stories and introduced him to Thomas W. White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. In 1835, Poe became assistant editor of the 'Southern Literary Messenger, but White discharged him within a few weeks for being drunk on the job. Poe returned to Baltimore, where he obtained a license to marry his cousin Virginia on September 22, 1835, though it is unknown if they were married at that time. He was 26 and she was 13. Poe was reinstated by White after promising good behavior, and he returned to Richmond with Virginia and her mother. He remained at the Messenger until January 1837. During this period, Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500. He published several poems, book reviews, critiques, and stories in the paper. On May 16, 1836, he and Virginia held a Presbyterian wedding ceremony performed by Amasa Converse at their Richmond boarding house, with a witness falsely attesting Clemm's age as 21. ### Philadelphia In 1838, Poe relocated to Philadelphia, where he lived at four different residences between 1838 and 1844, one of which at 532 N. 7th Street has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark. That same year, Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely reviewed. In the summer of 1839, he became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. He published numerous articles, stories, and reviews, enhancing his reputation as a trenchant critic which he had established at the Messenger. Also in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though he made little money from it and it received mixed reviews. In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal called The Stylus, although he originally intended to call it The Penn, since it would have been based in Philadelphia. He bought advertising space for his prospectus in the June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post: "Prospectus of the Penn Magazine, a Monthly Literary journal to be edited and published in the city of Philadelphia by Edgar A. Poe." The journal was never produced before Poe's death. Poe left Burton's after about a year and found a position as writer and co-editor at Graham's Magazine, a successful monthly publication. In the last number of Graham's for 1841, Poe was among the co-signatories to an editorial note of celebration of the tremendous success the magazine had achieved in the past year: "Perhaps the editors of no magazine, either in America or in Europe, ever sat down, at the close of a year, to contemplate the progress of their work with more satisfaction than we do now. Our success has been unexampled, almost incredible. We may assert without fear of contradiction that no periodical ever witnessed the same increase during so short a period." Around this time, Poe attempted to secure a position in the administration of John Tyler, claiming that he was a member of the Whig Party. He hoped to be appointed to the United States Custom House in Philadelphia with help from President Tyler's son Robert, an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick Thomas. Poe failed to show up for a meeting with Thomas to discuss the appointment in mid-September 1842, claiming to have been sick, though Thomas believed that he had been drunk. Poe was promised an appointment, but all positions were filled by others. One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, or tuberculosis, while singing and playing the piano, which Poe described as breaking a blood vessel in her throat. She only partially recovered, and Poe began to drink more heavily under the stress of her illness. He left Graham's and attempted to find a new position, for a time angling for a government post. He returned to New York where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror before becoming editor of the Broadway Journal, and later its owner. There Poe alienated himself from other writers by publicly accusing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism, though Longfellow never responded. On January 29, 1845, Poe's poem "The Raven" appeared in the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation. It made Poe a household name almost instantly, though he was paid only \$9 for its publication. It was concurrently published in The American Review: A Whig Journal under the pseudonym "Quarles". ### The Bronx The Broadway Journal failed in 1846, and Poe moved to a cottage in Fordham, New York, in the Bronx. That home, now known as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, was relocated in later years to a park near the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road. Nearby, Poe befriended the Jesuits at St. John's College, now Fordham University. Virginia died at the cottage on January 30, 1847. Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful woman" stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife. Poe was increasingly unstable after his wife's death. He attempted to court poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior. There is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail the relationship. Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster. ## Death On October 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and why he was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord help my poor soul". All of the relevant medical records have been lost, including Poe's death certificate. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for death from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera, carbon monoxide poisoning, and rabies. One theory dating from 1872 suggests that Poe's death resulted from cooping, a form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder. ### Griswold's memoir Immediately after Poe's death, his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote a slanted high-profile obituary under a pseudonym, filled with falsehoods that cast Poe as a lunatic, and which described him as a person who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned in passionate prayers, (never for himself, for he felt, or professed to feel, that he was already damned)". The long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune, signed "Ludwig" on the day that Poe was buried in Baltimore. It was further published throughout the country. The obituary began, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." "Ludwig" was soon identified as Griswold, an editor, critic, and anthologist who had borne a grudge against Poe since 1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death. Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he included in an 1850 volume of the collected works. There he depicted Poe as a depraved, drunken, drug-addled madman and included Poe's letters as evidence. Many of his claims were either lies or distortions; for example, it is seriously disputed that Poe was a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, including John Neal, who published an article defending Poe and attacking Griswold as a "Rhadamanthus, who is not to be bilked of his fee, a thimble-full of newspaper notoriety". Griswold's book nevertheless became a popularly accepted biographical source. This was in part because it was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted, and in part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof were later revealed as forgeries. ## Literary style and themes ### Genres Poe's best-known fiction works are Gothic horror, adhering to the genre's conventions to appeal to the public taste. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. Many of his works are generally considered part of the dark romanticism genre, a literary reaction to transcendentalism which Poe strongly disliked. He referred to followers of the transcendental movement as "Frog-Pondians", after the pond on Boston Common, and ridiculed their writings as "metaphor—run mad," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake". Poe once wrote in a letter to Thomas Holley Chivers that he did not dislike transcendentalists, "only the pretenders and sophists among them". Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For comic effect, he used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an attempt to liberate the reader from cultural conformity. "Metzengerstein" is the first story that Poe is known to have published and his first foray into horror, but it was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the popular genre. Poe also reinvented science fiction, responding in his writing to emerging technologies such as hot air balloons in "The Balloon-Hoax". Poe wrote much of his work using themes aimed specifically at mass-market tastes. To that end, his fiction often included elements of popular pseudosciences, such as phrenology and physiognomy. ### Literary theory Poe's writing reflects his literary theories, which he presented in his criticism and also in essays such as "The Poetic Principle". He disliked didacticism and allegory, though he believed that meaning in literature should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface. Works with obvious meanings, he wrote, cease to be art. He believed that work of quality should be brief and focus on a specific single effect. To that end, he believed that the writer should carefully calculate every sentiment and idea. Poe describes his method in writing "The Raven" in the essay "The Philosophy of Composition", and he claims to have strictly followed this method. It has been questioned whether he really followed this system, however. T. S. Eliot said: "It is difficult for us to read that essay without reflecting that if Poe plotted out his poem with such calculation, he might have taken a little more pains over it: the result hardly does credit to the method." Biographer Joseph Wood Krutch described the essay as "a rather highly ingenious exercise in the art of rationalization". ## Legacy ### Influence During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic. Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him "the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America", suggesting—rhetorically—that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink. Poe's caustic reviews earned him the reputation of being a "tomahawk man". A favorite target of Poe's criticism was Boston's acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was often defended by his literary friends in what was later called "The Longfellow War". Poe accused Longfellow of "the heresy of the didactic", writing poetry that was preachy, derivative, and thematically plagiarized. Poe correctly predicted that Longfellow's reputation and style of poetry would decline, concluding, "We grant him high qualities, but deny him the Future". Poe was also known as a writer of fiction and became one of the first American authors of the 19th century to become more popular in Europe than in the United States. Poe is particularly respected in France, in part due to early translations by Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work in Continental Europe. Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" The Mystery Writers of America have named their awards for excellence in the genre the "Edgars". Poe's work also influenced science fiction, notably Jules Verne, who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket called An Antarctic Mystery, also known as The Sphinx of the Ice Fields. Science fiction author H. G. Wells noted, "Pym tells what a very intelligent mind could imagine about the south polar region a century ago". In 2013, The Guardian cited Pym as one of the greatest novels ever written in the English language, and noted its influence on later authors such as Doyle, Henry James, B. Traven, and David Morrell. Horror author and historian H. P. Lovecraft was heavily influenced by Poe's horror tales, dedicating an entire section of his long essay, "Supernatural Horror in Literature", to his influence on the genre. In his letters, Lovecraft described Poe as his "God of Fiction". Lovecraft's earlier stories express a significant influence from Poe. A later work, At the Mountains of Madness, quotes him and was influenced by The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Lovecraft also made extensive use of Poe's unity of effect in his fiction. Alfred Hitchcock once said, "It's because I liked Edgar Allan Poe's stories so much that I began to make suspense films". Many references to Poe's works are present in Vladimir Nabokov's novels. Like many famous artists, Poe's works have spawned imitators. One trend among imitators of Poe has been claims by clairvoyants or psychics to be "channeling" poems from Poe's spirit. One of the most notable of these was Lizzie Doten, who published Poems from the Inner Life in 1863, in which she claimed to have "received" new compositions by Poe's spirit. The compositions were re-workings of famous Poe poems such as "The Bells", but which reflected a new, positive outlook. Poe has also received criticism. This is partly because of the negative perception of his personal character and its influence upon his reputation. William Butler Yeats was occasionally critical of Poe and once called him "vulgar". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted to "The Raven" by saying, "I see nothing in it", and derisively referred to Poe as "the jingle man". Aldous Huxley wrote that Poe's writing "falls into vulgarity" by being "too poetical"—the equivalent of wearing a diamond ring on every finger. It is believed that only twelve copies have survived of Poe's first book Tamerlane and Other Poems. In December 2009, one copy sold at Christie's auctioneers in New York City for \$662,500, a record price paid for a work of American literature. ### Physics and cosmology Eureka: A Prose Poem, an essay written in 1848, included a cosmological theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80 years, as well as the first plausible solution to Olbers' paradox. Poe eschewed the scientific method in Eureka and instead wrote from pure intuition. For this reason, he considered it a work of art, not science, but insisted that it was still true and considered it to be his career masterpiece. Even so, Eureka is full of scientific errors. In particular, Poe's suggestions ignored Newtonian principles regarding the density and rotation of planets. ### Cryptography Poe had a keen interest in cryptography. He had placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger, inviting submissions of ciphers which he proceeded to solve. In July 1841, Poe had published an essay called "A Few Words on Secret Writing" in Graham's Magazine. Capitalizing on public interest in the topic, he wrote "The Gold-Bug" incorporating ciphers as an essential part of the story. Poe's success with cryptography relied not so much on his deep knowledge of that field (his method was limited to the simple substitution cryptogram) as on his knowledge of the magazine and newspaper culture. His keen analytical abilities, which were so evident in his detective stories, allowed him to see that the general public was largely ignorant of the methods by which a simple substitution cryptogram can be solved, and he used this to his advantage. The sensation that Poe created with his cryptography stunts played a major role in popularizing cryptograms in newspapers and magazines. Two ciphers he published in 1841 under the name "W. B. Tyler" were not solved until 1992 and 2000 respectively. One was a quote from Joseph Addison's play Cato; the other is probably based on a poem by Hester Thrale. Poe had an influence on cryptography beyond increasing public interest during his lifetime. William Friedman, America's foremost cryptologist, was heavily influenced by Poe. Friedman's initial interest in cryptography came from reading "The Gold-Bug" as a child, an interest that he later put to use in deciphering Japan's PURPLE code during World War II. ## In popular culture ### As a character The historical Edgar Allan Poe has appeared as a fictionalized character, often in order to represent the "mad genius" or "tormented artist" and in order to exploit his personal struggles. Many such depictions also blend in with characters from his stories, suggesting that Poe and his characters share identities. Often, fictional depictions of Poe use his mystery-solving skills in such novels as The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. ### Preserved homes, landmarks, and museums No childhood home of Poe is still standing, including the Allan family's Moldavia estate. The oldest standing home in Richmond, the Old Stone House, is in use as the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, though Poe never lived there. The collection includes many items that Poe used during his time with the Allan family, and also features several rare first printings of Poe works. 13 West Range is the dorm room that Poe is believed to have used while studying at the University of Virginia in 1826; it is preserved and available for visits. Its upkeep is overseen by a group of students and staff known as the Raven Society. The earliest surviving home in which Poe lived is at 203 North Amity St. in Baltimore, which is preserved as the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. Poe is believed to have lived in the home at the age of 23 when he first lived with Maria Clemm and Virginia and possibly his grandmother and possibly his brother William Henry Leonard Poe. It is open to the public and is also the home of the Edgar Allan Poe Society. While in Philadelphia between 1838 and 1844, Poe lived at at least four different residences, including the Indian Queen Hotel at 15 S. 4th Street, at a residence at 16th and Locust Streets, at 2502 Fairmount Street, and then in the Spring Garden section of the city at 532 N. 7th Street, a residence that has been preserved by the National Park Service as the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site. Poe's final home in Bronx, New York City, is preserved as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage. In Boston, a commemorative plaque on Boylston Street is several blocks away from the actual location of Poe's birth. The house which was his birthplace at 62 Carver Street no longer exists; also, the street has since been renamed "Charles Street South". A "square" at the intersection of Broadway, Fayette, and Carver Streets had once been named in his honor, but it disappeared when the streets were rearranged. In 2009, the intersection of Charles and Boylston Streets (two blocks north of his birthplace) was designated "Edgar Allan Poe Square". In March 2014, fundraising was completed for construction of a permanent memorial sculpture, known as Poe Returning to Boston, at this location. The winning design by Stefanie Rocknak depicts a life-sized Poe striding against the wind, accompanied by a flying raven; his suitcase lid has fallen open, leaving a "paper trail" of literary works embedded in the sidewalk behind him. The public unveiling on October 5, 2014, was attended by former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky. Other Poe landmarks include a building on the Upper West Side, where Poe temporarily lived when he first moved to New York City. A plaque suggests that Poe wrote "The Raven" here. On Sullivan's Island in Charleston County, South Carolina, the setting of Poe's tale "The Gold-Bug" and where Poe served in the Army in 1827 at Fort Moultrie, there is a restaurant called Poe's Tavern. In the Fell's Point section of Baltimore, a bar still stands where legend says that Poe was last seen drinking before his death. Known as "The Horse You Came in On", local lore insists that a ghost whom they call "Edgar" haunts the rooms above. ### Photographs Early daguerreotypes of Poe continue to arouse great interest among literary historians. Notable among them are: - "Ultima Thule" ("far discovery") to honor the new photographic technique; taken in November 1848 in Providence, Rhode Island, probably by Edwin H. Manchester - "Annie", given to Poe's friend Annie L. Richmond; probably taken in June 1849 in Lowell, Massachusetts, photographer unknown ### Poe Toaster Between 1949 and 2009, a bottle of cognac and three roses were left at Poe's original grave marker every January 19 by an unknown visitor affectionately referred to as the "Poe Toaster". Sam Porpora was a historian at the Westminster Church in Baltimore, where Poe is buried; he claimed on August 15, 2007, that he had started the tradition in 1949. Porpora said that the tradition began in order to raise money and enhance the profile of the church. His story has not been confirmed, and some details which he gave to the press are factually inaccurate. The Poe Toaster's last appearance was on January 19, 2009, the day of Poe's bicentennial. ## List of selected works Short stories - "The Black Cat" - "The Cask of Amontillado" - "A Descent into the Maelström" - "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - "The Fall of the House of Usher" - "The Gold-Bug" - "Hop-Frog" - "The Imp of the Perverse" - "Ligeia" - "The Masque of the Red Death" - "Morella" - "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" - "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" - "The Oval Portrait" - "The Pit and the Pendulum" - "The Premature Burial" - "The Purloined Letter" - "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" - "The Tell-Tale Heart" - "Loss of Breath" Poetry - "Al Aaraaf" - "Annabel Lee" - "The Bells" - "The City in the Sea" - "The Conqueror Worm" - "A Dream Within a Dream" - "Eldorado" - "Eulalie" - "The Haunted Palace" - "To Helen" - "Lenore" - "Tamerlane" - "The Raven" - "Ulalume" Other works - Politian (1835) – Poe's only play - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) – Poe's only complete novel - The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) – Poe's second, unfinished novel - "The Balloon-Hoax" (1844) – A journalistic hoax printed as a true story - "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846) – Essay - Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848) – Essay - "The Poetic Principle" (1848) – Essay - "The Light-House" (1849) – Poe's last, incomplete work ## See also - Edgar Allan Poe and music - List of coupled cousins - USS E.A. Poe
10,885,179	Deutschland-class battleship	1,168,124,775	Battleship class of the German Imperial Navy	[ "Battleship classes", "Deutschland-class battleships", "World War I battleships of Germany", "World War II battleships of Germany" ]	The Deutschland class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the last vessels of that type to be built in Germany. The class comprised Deutschland, the lead ship, Hannover, Pommern, Schlesien, and Schleswig-Holstein. The ships closely resembled those of the preceding Braunschweig class, but with stronger armor and a rearranged secondary battery. Built between 1903 and 1908, they were completed after the launch of the revolutionary British all-big-gun battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906. As a result, they were obsolescent before entering service. The ships nevertheless saw extensive service in the High Seas Fleet, Germany's primary naval formation, through the late 1900s and early 1910s, when they were used for training, which included overseas cruises. Following the start of World War I in July 1914, the German fleet adopted a strategy of raids on the British coast, which the five Deutschland-class ships supported. These operations culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where all five ships saw action, despite their marked inferiority to British dreadnoughts. Regardless, they intervened to protect the battered German battlecruisers from their British counterparts, allowing them to escape. In the confused night actions, Pommern was torpedoed and sunk by a British destroyer. After the battle, the four surviving ships were removed from front-line service and used for coastal defense through mid-1917. Thereafter, Hannover alone remained on patrol duty, while the rest were used as barracks or training ships. After Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles permitted the postwar navy to retain several old battleships for coastal defense, including the four Deutschland-class ships. Deutschland was broken up in 1920–1922, but the remainder were modernized and returned to active service in the mid-1920s. Their activities mirrored those of the pre-war period, including overseas training cruises and extensive fleet maneuvers. Hannover was decommissioned in 1931 and was to be converted into a target vessel, although this was never done. She was eventually broken up in 1944–1946. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein remained in service for training duties through the 1930s into the Nazi-era Kriegsmarine (War Navy). Both ships saw limited duty during World War II, including bombardment of Polish forces during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the occupation of Denmark and invasion of Norway in April 1940. Both ships were sunk near the end of the war. ## Design In 1900, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, the State Secretary for the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office), secured the passage of the Second Naval Law, an amendment to the First Naval Law of 1898. The previous law had called for a total strength of nineteen battleships by 1 April 1904, which was reached with the five Wittelsbach-class battleships, but the new law increased the projected battle fleet to a total of thirty-eight. The first tranche of vessels—the Braunschweig class—introduced the 28 cm (11 in) gun, marking a significant increase in firepower over earlier German battleships. The naval command had intended to build ten battleships of the Braunschweig type, starting with the 1901 fiscal year with two ships built per year, but they ultimately only built five. During construction of the Braunschweigs, a series of minor improvements were incorporated into subsequent designs. By the time work began on the second vessel of the 1903 fiscal year, which became SMS Deutschland, a more significantly altered design had been prepared. A series of changes were made to the secondary and tertiary batteries for what became Deutschland, the lead ship of the new class. The designers discarded the wing turrets that the Braunschweigs had used for some of their secondary guns; the turrets had required support structures whose elimination saved weight and allowed the designers to place the secondary battery entirely in casemates in a more efficient arrangement. Removing the turrets freed up deck space that was used to add another pair of 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and place the forward set of four in protective embrasures. Deutschland and her sister ship Hannover were designed for use as flagships for the fleet and a squadron, respectively, which required additional accommodation spaces. After Deutschland, which mixed sets of fire-tube and water-tube boilers, the remaining four members of the class received a uniform set of water-tube boilers. These were lighter, and the weight savings were passed on to the armor layout in the form of a slightly thicker armor belt and a strengthened upper deck. The Deutschland design was criticized in Germany at the time the ships were being built, as the trend in all the major navies pointed to battleships armed with all-big-gun batteries; indeed, work on what would become the design for the Nassau class of dreadnought battleships had already begun in 1903. Tirpitz insisted on building the Deutschlands because they were the largest design that could fit in Germany's existing naval infrastructure, most significantly the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Widening the canal and improving harbor facilities would be excessively expensive and Tirpitz sought to avoid another budgetary fight with the Reichstag so soon after the passage of the 1900 law. As a result, the Deutschland-class battleships were rendered obsolescent almost immediately by the commissioning of the British HMS Dreadnought in December 1906. ### General characteristics The Deutschland-class ships were 125.9 m (413 ft 1 in) long at the waterline and 127.6 m (418 ft 8 in) overall. They had a beam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in) and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in) forward. The ships were designed to displace 13,191 metric tons (12,983 long tons) normally, and displaced up to 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons) at full load. Their hulls were built with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, to which steel hull plates were riveted. The hull was divided into twelve watertight compartments, although Pommern had thirteen compartments. Their hulls included a double bottom that ran for 84 percent of the length of the ship. Because Deutschland and Hannover were completed as flagships, they had an enlarged superstructure aft to house the larger command staffs they typically carried. Deutschland had a larger forward conning tower that incorporated a central fire-control position; Pommern received the same conning tower, but the other three ships had shorter towers without the fire-control room. All five members of the class were fitted with short military masts with lighter poles atop them that were fitted with spotting tops. The ships handled less easily than the preceding Braunschweig-class ships, though they suffered less marked weather helm. Their metacentric height was 0.98 m (3 ft 3 in). Steering was controlled with a single rudder. The ships' crews numbered 35 officers and 708 enlisted men. When one of them was a flagship, the crew was augmented with an admiral's staff. A squadron commander's staff consisted of 13 officers and 66 enlisted men, while a divisional commander had a staff of 2 officers and 23 enlisted men. After she became a training ship in 1935, Schlesien's crew consisted of 29 officers and 559 enlisted men, plus up to 214 cadets. Schleswig-Holstein differed somewhat; her crew as a training ship numbered 31 officers and 565 men and up to 175 cadets. Deutschland and her sisters carried several smaller vessels, including two picket boats, one admiral's barge, two launches, one pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and two dinghies. The boats were handled with a pair of large cranes amidships; Deutschland had hers located further forward than the other members of the class. ### Machinery Deutschland and her sisters were equipped with three triple-expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller; the outer screws were three-bladed and 4.80 m (15 ft 9 in) in diameter, while the center shaft used a four-bladed screw that was 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) in diameter. Each engine was placed in its own engine room. Deutschland was fitted with eight water-tube boilers and six fire-tube boilers, but the rest of the vessels received twelve water-tube models, all of which were coal-fired. These were divided into three boiler rooms, each of which was ducted into a funnel. Deutschland's engines were rated at 16,000 metric horsepower (15,781 ihp; 11,768 kW), while the other four ships' engines were rated at 17,000 metric horsepower (16,767 ihp; 12,503 kW). The design speed for all of the ships was 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), though on trials all five ships exceeded both figures, Deutschland reaching 17,000 metric horsepower (17,000 ihp; 13,000 kW) for 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h; 21.4 mph) and the other members of the class making 17,696 to 19,330 metric horsepower (17,454 to 19,066 ihp; 13,015 to 14,217 kW) for 18.5 to 19.1 knots (34.3 to 35.4 km/h; 21.3 to 22.0 mph). Schleswig-Holstein was the fastest member of the class on her trials. Deutschland was designed to carry 700 t (690 long tons; 770 short tons) of coal and the other members could carry 850 t (840 long tons; 940 short tons), though other spaces could be utilized as fuel storage, which increased fuel capacity to 1,540 t (1,520 long tons; 1,700 short tons) for Deutschland and 1,750 t (1,720 long tons; 1,930 short tons) for the other four vessels. This provided a maximum range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Electrical power was supplied from four turbo generators that provided 260 kilowatts (350 hp) each at 110 volts. ### Armament The ships carried the same main battery as the preceding Braunschweig class. The primary armament comprised four 28 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns in hydraulically operated twin turrets. The turrets were placed on the centerline, one forward and one aft. The DrL C/01 turrets allowed the guns to depress to −4 degrees, and elevate to +30 degrees, which enabled a maximum range of 18,800 meters (61,700 ft). The guns fired 240-kilogram (530 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 820 meters per second (2,700 ft/s). Ammunition storage amounted to 85 shells per gun. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 17 cm SK L/40 quick-firing guns, all of which were mounted in casemates. Five were placed on either side in the upper deck and the remaining four were located a deck above in the superstructure, one on each corner. The guns fired 64-kilogram (141 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s). These guns were chosen as they used the largest shell that could be reasonably handled without machinery. The guns could elevate to 22 degrees, which allowed a maximum range of 14,500 m (15,900 yd). Their rate of fire was approximately one shot every nine to ten seconds, and each gun was supplied with 130 shells. For defense against torpedo boats, the ships carried a tertiary battery of twenty-two 8.8 cm SK L/35 quick-firing guns. These were placed in casemates in hull sponsons, in embrasures in the superstructure, or in open mounts. The guns fired 7 kg (15.4 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 770 m/s (2,526 ft/s), and could be elevated to 25 degrees for a maximum range of 9,090 m (9,940 yd). The ammunition allotment for each gun was 130 shells. The ships were temporarily fitted with four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) machine cannon, but these were quickly removed. They were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, and 16 torpedoes. The tubes were all placed below the waterline, one in the bow, one in the stern, and two on each broadside. These torpedoes were 5.15 m (16.9 ft) long and carried a 147.5 kg (325 lb) TNT warhead. They could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the weapons had a range of 3,000 m (9,800 ft). At an increased speed of 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph), the range was reduced to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). ### Armor The Deutschland-class ships were equipped with Krupp cemented armor. Deutschland had a slightly different arrangement in the belt armor and the citadel in the superstructure. Deutschland's belt was 225 mm (8.9 in) at the waterline and tapered to 140 mm (5.5 in) on the lower edge. Her sister ships' belts were increased in thickness to 240 mm (9.4 in) at the waterline and down to 170 mm (6.7 in) on the bottom edge. In all five ships, this section of armor extended from the forward barbette to the aft one. On either end, the belt was reduced to 100 mm (3.9 in). In all ships, the belt was backed by a layer of teak that was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. Above the belt was a strake of armor that protected the casemate guns; in Deutschland, this was 160 mm (6.3 in) thick, while on the other four ships the armor was 170 mm thick. All members of the class were fitted with cork cofferdams, a common practice at the time intended to prevent uncontrolled flooding in the event of shell hits. All five ships had an armored deck that was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick. The deck sloped downward at the sides to connect with the lower edge of the belt, which provided a second layer to contain shell fragments from hits that penetrated the belt. The sloped section was 97 mm (3.8 in) in the bow and stern sections where the belt was thinner, and reduced to 67 mm (2.6 in) behind the main section of belt. Their forward conning towers were protected by 300 mm (12 in) on the sides and 80 mm on the roofs, while the rear conning towers had 140 mm (5.5 in) worth of armor on the sides. The main battery gun turrets had armored sides that were 280 mm (11 in) thick and roofs that were 50 mm (2 in) thick. The barbettes that held the turrets were armored with 250 mm (9.8 in) thick steel. ### Modifications The ships of the Deutschland class were modified several times over their long careers. Modifications to the ships' masts were made between 1909 and 1914, shifting positions for searchlights and adding a fully enclosed spotting top to the fore mast. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein had eight oil-fired boilers installed in place of eight of their coal-fired boilers in late 1915. Deutschland had two of her 8.8 cm guns removed in late 1916 and a pair of 8.8 cm guns in anti-aircraft mountings were installed. Beginning in 1917, some of the ships began to be partially or fully disarmed so the guns could be used ashore during the war. Deutschland was completely disarmed in late 1917 and Schleswig-Holstein was reduced to just four 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns and four 8.8 cm SK L/30 guns in 1918. Schlesien was similarly re-armed for training duties. As the ships were returned to active service in the early 1920s, they received a series of modernizations and alterations to their armament. Hannover, which had not been disarmed, carried her original battery of 28 cm and 17 cm guns, though her 8.8 cm battery had been reduced to eight weapons by the time she was recommissioned in 1921. All six of her torpedo tubes were removed at that time. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were modernized in the mid-1920s, which included the re-installation of their 28 cm batteries, but in place of their 17 cm guns they each received fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns, along with eight 8.8 cm guns as on Hannover. They had large tubular fore masts installed, which had large spotting tops. Schlesien had her two forward funnels merged, while Schleswig-Holstein had hers similarly modified in 1928. Schlesien had her forward sponsons plated over. In 1930 and 1931, the ships were modified again. Hannover had a pair of above-water 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes fitted and four of her 8.8 cm guns were replaced with 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. A tubular mast like her sisters' was installed, and she had her bow sponsons plated over. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein each lost two of their 15 cm guns, received four of the 50 cm torpedo tubes, and exchanged all of their 8.8 guns for four 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns. Both ships had another pair of 15 cm guns removed in 1935; Schlesien received four 2 cm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft guns at that time and Schleswig-Holstein received four the next year. Also in 1936, Schleswig-Holstein had her sponsons removed. As part of her conversion into a training ship, Schlesien had her remaining coal-burning boilers removed in 1938 and the boiler room became an accommodation space and training room for the cadets. The uptake from that boiler room was removed, leaving just two straight funnels. After the start of World War II in September 1939, both ships underwent a series of changes to their armament, particularly to their anti-aircraft batteries. Schleswig-Holstein received another eight 2 cm guns that year. In February 1940, Schlesien received four 3.7 cm (1.5 in) L/83 anti-aircraft guns. In April, the ship had her remaining ten 15 cm guns removed, while Schleswig-Holstein lost three of hers. In August, Schlesien had her 3.7 cm guns taken off to strengthen the anti-aircraft defenses of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein was almost completely disarmed, retaining only her 28 cm guns. The following year, Schlesien received four 8.8 cm guns, four 3.7 cm guns, and three 2 cm guns. By 1943, Hannover had been reconstructed for her planned role as a target ship, which involved removing most of her superstructure and all of her guns, though the turrets remained. Schlesien had the 3.7 cm guns returned that year, and in 1944, a pair of 4 cm (1.6 in) Bofors guns were added, along with sixteen more 2 cm guns, bringing the total to twenty barrels. Later that year, the 8.8 cm guns were replaced with six 10.5 cm anti-aircraft guns, her 4 cm battery was increased to seven or ten guns, and her 2 cm battery altered to either eighteen or twenty-two guns. Schleswig-Holstein was under refit to be similarly equipped, but work was not completed before her loss; she was slated to receive six of the 10.5 cm guns, ten 4 cm guns, and twenty-six of the 2 cm guns in addition to the four 3.7 cm weapons. ## Construction ## Service history After Deutschland entered service in 1906, she replaced the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm II as the fleet flagship, a role she held until 1913, when the new dreadnought Friedrich der Grosse took her place. With the commissioning of the rest of the class, the Home Fleet was reorganized as the High Seas Fleet in 1907. The vessels were assigned to I Battle Squadron and II Battle Squadron during this period, ultimately being concentrated in II Squadron along with three of the Braunschweig-class ships by the early 1910s as the Nassau and Helgoland-class battleships filled the ranks of I Squadron. Hannover served as the flagship of I Squadron and later as the flagship of the deputy commander of II Squadron. The ships' peacetime careers were fairly uneventful, consisting primarily of routine fleet training. Squadron and fleet exercises typically took place in April and May every year, a major fleet cruise generally followed in June and July, after which the fleet assembled for the annual large-scale maneuvers in late August and September. The major fleet cruises typically went to Norwegian waters in company with Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht, though in 1908 and 1909, the fleet embarked on long-distance cruises out into the Atlantic, making visits to mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, and the Azores. These came at the insistence of the fleet commander of the time, Prince Heinrich, who foresaw the need to operate at greater distances. During the summer cruise in July 1914, the fleet remained off Norway owing to the July Crisis that resulted in the start of World War I. ### World War I Following the start of the war, the German fleet adopted a strategy of raids on the British coast to try to draw out portions of the British Grand Fleet where they could be defeated in detail. The battlecruisers of I Scouting Group conducted the raids while the battle squadrons of the High Seas Fleet stood by in support; these included the raid on Yarmouth in November 1914, the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December, and bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. All five members of the class operated with the fleet during this period, though the anticipated battle failed to materialize during these operations. While not conducting fleet operations, the ships of II Squadron also patrolled the mouth of the river Elbe to support the light forces defending the German Bight; they also conducted training exercises in the relative safety of the Baltic Sea. In February 1915, Deutschland became the flagship of II Squadron. In late May 1916, the Germans planned another operation to draw out the British fleet, which resulted in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June. During the operation, the ships were commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Franz Mauve. Being significantly slower than the rest of the German line of battle, the ships of II Squadron saw no action during the first stages of the engagement. Toward the end of the fleet battle on the evening of 31 May, the five Deutschland-class ships came to the aid of the mauled battlecruisers of I Scouting Group, when Mauve placed his ships between them and their counterparts in the British Battle Cruiser Fleet. In the growing darkness, the Germans had difficulty making out their targets and failed to score any hits; the British managed to hit three of the Deutschlands. Pommern was forced briefly to haul out of line. Mauve then disengaged his ships, ending their only clash with British capital ships during the battle. As the German fleet withdrew overnight, II Squadron took up positions toward the rear of the German line. British light forces repeatedly clashed with the German fleet, and in one of these night actions, Pommern was hit by a torpedo from the destroyer HMS Onslaught, detonating one of her ammunition magazines and destroying the ship. The German experience at Jutland demonstrated that pre-dreadnoughts had no place in a fleet action with dreadnoughts, and so the Deutschlands spent the rest of 1916 on coastal defense duty in the Elbe and occasionally in the Danish straits. In August 1917, II Battle Squadron was disbanded and most of the ships were reduced to secondary duties, being partially disarmed to free up guns for use ashore. Deutschland and Schleswig-Holstein became barracks ships and Schlesien served as a training ship. Hannover remained in active service for guard duty in the straits. ### Inter-war years Following Germany's defeat in the war, the fleet was significantly reduced in size by the Treaty of Versailles, which permitted the Germans to retain six battleships of the Braunschweig and Deutschland classes, and another two in reserve. Deutschland was discarded in 1920 and was broken up by 1922, but the other three members of the class were kept by the postwar navy, which was reorganized as the Reichsmarine (Navy of the Realm). All three ships were heavily modernized in the early 1920s to prepare them for active service. Hannover was the first member of the class to return to service, in 1921, becoming the fleet flagship, a role she alternated with Braunschweig. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein remained out of service until the middle of the decade, when they were rearmed; Schleswig-Holstein became the flagship on her recommissioning in 1926. Hannover was modernized again in the late 1920s after Schlesien recommissioned to take her place. Throughout the 1920s, the ships took part in a training routine similar to that of the prewar years, including training exercises throughout the year and long-range training cruises that went as far as the Mediterranean Sea. The ships frequently went to Norwegian waters, as they had done under the Imperial government. Hannover was decommissioned in September 1931 and saw no further service, though there were plans to convert her into a target ship. Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien remained on active duty into the early 1930s, but by 1933, the new heavy cruiser Deutschland had been commissioned, and so Schlesien was decommissioned to be converted into a dedicated training ship. Schleswig-Holstein followed for a similar rebuilding in 1935–1936. The two ships spent the rest of the decade training naval cadets, including a lengthy voyage to North and South America for Schlesien in 1936–1937. During this period, Germany came under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, which set upon a rearmament strategy and an aggressive foreign policy that led to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. ### World War II Schleswig-Holstein steamed to the Free City of Danzig in late August 1939, and was moored off the Polish military depot at Westerplatte on the morning of 1 September. She opened fire on the base in Westerplatte, firing the first shots of World War II. The initial German attack was repulsed, leading to heavy fighting that Schleswig-Holstein supported for the next week, and culminating in the Polish garrison's surrender on 7 September. Later that month, Schlesien joined her sister in bombarding Polish positions along the coast, including the Hel Fortified Area. The ships returned to training duties after the Polish campaign, and in early 1940, Schlesien was used as an icebreaker in the Baltic Sea. Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien then participated in the occupation of Denmark and invasion of Norway, respectively, in April 1940. Neither vessel saw action during the operations. Afterward, Schleswig-Holstein was again removed from front-line service and used as a training ship, while Schlesien resumed her ice-breaking duties. In March 1941, Schlesien escorted mine-layers in the Baltic. After returning from this operation at the end of the month, she became a stationary training ship in Gotenhafen. Schleswig-Holstein was briefly reactivated in early 1942 for ice-breaker service in the Baltic, and in May she accidentally collided with a shipwreck in the Gulf of Riga, forcing a return to Gotenhafen for repairs. The ship was thereafter reduced to training duties. Hannover was broken up in Bremerhaven between 1944 and 1946. In mid-1944, Schlesien's and Schleswig-Holstein's anti-aircraft armament was considerably strengthened to allow them to be used as air defense ships in the port of Gotenhafen. Schleswig-Holstein was attacked by RAF bombers in December 1944, and although she was sunk in shallow water, her weapons could still be used. After a fire permanently disabled the ship, her crew was sent ashore to assist in the defense of Marienburg. Schlesien provided fire support for German troops in the vicinity of Gotenhafen between 15 and 21 March 1945. In April, Schlesien was moved to Swinemünde to restock her ammunition supply as well as evacuate 1,000 wounded soldiers from the front. On 3 May she struck a mine outside Swinemünde; the following day she was scuttled by her crew in shallow water. Both ships were broken up in situ after the war.
54,249,587	Robert Howard Hodgkin	1,170,926,214	British historian	[ "1877 births", "1951 deaths", "Academics of the University of Oxford", "Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford", "Anglo-Saxon studies scholars", "British Army personnel of World War I", "British Army personnel of the Second Boer War", "British historians", "English Quakers", "Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford", "Hodgkin family", "People educated at Leighton Park School", "People educated at Repton School", "People from Newcastle upon Tyne", "Provosts of The Queen's College, Oxford", "Quaker writers", "Royal Northumberland Fusiliers officers" ]	Robert Howard "Robin" Hodgkin FSA (24 April 1877 – 28 June 1951) was an English historian. He taught at Queen's College, Oxford, from 1900 to 1937 and served as its provost from 1937 until 1946. He was particularly known for his 1935 work, A History of the Anglo-Saxons, and for his 1949 book, Six Centuries of an Oxford College. Born at the family house Benwell Dene in Newcastle upon Tyne, Hodgkin was the son of the banker and historian Thomas Hodgkin, and was part of a so-called "Quaker dynasty" with many accomplished relatives. From 1896 to 1899, he attended Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with first-class honours in the Final School of Modern History. The following year, he volunteered to serve in the Northumberland Fusiliers—which he would rejoin during the First World War—ultimately leading to him being forced to leave the Society of Friends. Hodgkin was appointed a lecturer of modern history at Queen's in 1900. He was made a fellow in 1904, a tutor in 1910, and, from 1928 to 1934, he held the post of university lecturer in modern history. From 1936 to 1937, he filled two terms as pro-provost when B. H. Streeter fell ill, resumed teaching in April, and retired towards the end of the year. Retirement lasted less than a week, however, for Streeter (now returned to his duties) died in a plane crash, and Hodgkin was asked to take on the role permanently. He served for nine years, all during the Second World War or its prelude. As a teacher, Hodgkin was remembered by a student for being "suggestive rather than purely instructive", offering signposts for "the roads and tracks" but "leav[ing] his pupils to explore for themselves". As provost, he was remembered for his dedication, for shepherding it through the wartime years, and for two important works: the reconstruction of the college's grand library, and his book on the college's history. ## Early life and education Robert Howard Hodgkin was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 24 April 1877, at the family house Benwell Dene. His mother was Lucy Hodgkin (born Lucy Anna Fox), and his father was Thomas Hodgkin, a banker and historian of Europe in the Middle Ages. Robert Hodgkin was the sixth of seven surviving children, following Violet (b. 1869), John (b. 1871, but died the year after), Edward (b. 1872), Elizabeth ("Lily," b. 1873), Ellen ("Nelly," b. 1875), and followed by George (b. 1880). "The Hodgkins", said a friend of a relative, "are a Quaker dynasty with all that that implies". Among others, Robert Hodgkin was related to the painter Sir Howard Hodgkin, the namesake of Hodgkin's lymphoma Thomas Hodgkin, and Alan Hodgkin, winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Hodgkin left Benwell Dene in 1887, aged ten, to spend the first of four years at the preparatory Seabank School, in Alnmouth, though several months of his first year were spent at home recovering from bronchitis. By all accounts, Hodgkin's first years at school were unhappy. "School at Alnmouth was not a bit a happy time", one sister later recalled; "when he was old he used to say that it did seem strange that the hardest lessons you had to learn came at the very beginning of life." Another noted that "he hated it too much to talk about it", and that when older, he stated "The one thing to be said for it was that all later miseries seemed nothing by comparison". Hodgkin's wife, meanwhile, termed him a "home lover" for whom the time at Seabank was "more or less unhappy". Hodgkin would pray for the school to burn down, and one year his prayers were answered, in a fashion, when an outbreak of scarlet fever led to all the boys being sent home. The situation improved slightly when Hodgkin's brother George, three and a half years his junior, entered Seabank, and (as his sister wrote), "Robin became resigned". Around 1890, Hodgkin's father rented Chollerton Farmhouse in Chollerton, Northumberland, as a holiday home. The following September, Hodgkin enrolled at Repton, where he spent two terms, much of it in the school's sanatorium. The frequent ill health, one sister wrote, was possibly one reason for Hodgkin's unhappiness at school. In any event, his doctor advised that he attend a school further south. This brought Hodgkin (as well his younger brother) to the Quaker Leighton Park School, where he stayed from 1892 until 1895. In 1894, meanwhile, Hodgkin and his sisters Lily and Ellen were taken by their father to Italy and Austria, where they spent time in Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples, Ravenna, and Vienna. Their homes, too, were changing: at the end of 1893, the family sold Benwell Dene and took a five-year lease on the keep at Bamburgh Castle, and from 1900 to 1913, resided at Barmoor Castle. Hodgkin's wife later suggested that the time spent along the Northumbrian coast while at Seabank and Bamburgh influenced Hodgkin's interest in England and English history. In Hodgkin's first year at Bamburgh, his father became acquainted with Arthur Smith, a teacher at Balliol College at the University of Oxford who had his holiday home nearby. It was arranged for Hodgkin to live and be coached by Smith for a term before taking the Balliol entrance exam. He attended Balliol from 1896 to 1899. His friends there included his cousins Ted Backhouse and Henry (Tommy) Hodgkin, James (Jimmy) Palmer, later the Bishop of Bombay, F. F. Urquhart, A. W. Pickard-Cambridge, a poet named Carré, and others by the names of Tawney and Beveridge. His best friend was Richard Denman, and at one point, along with two others, they worked their way on a cargo steamer to Saint Petersburg before travelling along the Volga and exploring the Caucasus, stopping in Tiflis in Georgia, and eventually leaving for home from Odesa in Ukraine. Hodgkin, Denman, and Urquhart were members of the Balliol hockey team, which Hodgkin captained. Hodgkin and another friend, Kenneth Swan, were part of the short-lived "Romance Society" at Balliol, which met once a fortnight to hear and discuss short stories written by its members; they also played hockey and tennis, and enjoyed Sunday teas at the home of the Smiths. In 1899, Hodgkin was proxime, or runner-up, for the Stanhope essay prize, behind Robert Rait, and in Trinity term obtained first-class honours in the Final School of Modern History. Hodgkin took a free year upon leaving Balliol. During the year he wrote a biography of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, which was published in Rait's 1902 book Five Stuart Princesses. He also spent time studying German in Dresden. ### Second Boer War Despite his Quaker roots, Hodgkin supported the Second Boer War, volunteering as a lieutenant with the 1st V.B. Northumberland Fusiliers from 1900 to 1906. That year, he wrote to the Quaker magazine The Friend, claiming many members of the movement—known as the Society of Friends—shared his views but hid behind the Quakers' pacifist stance, "bringing on the Society the shadow of hypocrisy". His father also supported the war, rankling other Quakers, and causing John Wilhelm Rowntree to write to Rufus Jones in indignation, claiming that "[y]ou would hardly believe your eyes if you came over here. Thos. Hodgkin's son a Lieutenant, though still a nominal Quaker, heads a procession to burn Kruger in effigy, T. Hodgkin makes the speech and Lily [Lucy?] Hodgkin lights the faggots ... the spirit of war, stalks the land naked, unashamed & our leading Quaker gives his benediction!" Not all agreed; Caroline Stephen wrote to Robert Hodgkin's mother that there was "much of nobleness ... much that appeals to all one's best feelings" in what he had done. Hodgkin was ultimately forced to leave the Society of Friends in 1903 because of his military service in the Second Boer War. The severance was "a blow to him and to all of us", his sister later wrote, since he had been "a loyal if not an enthusiastic Friend" since his time at Leighton Park. ## Career After school, Hodgkin competed unsuccessfully for various prize fellowships, and was considering a business career when, in 1900, Queen's College, Oxford, offered him a lectureship in modern history. On 19 May 1904, he was elected to a fellowship at the college, and, in 1910, had also become a tutor. Though second in command to Edward Armstrong as a tutor, Hodgkin was responsible for much of the history teaching. George William Rendel, a pupil of Hodgkin from 1908 to 1911, credited Hodgkin with a pedagogical approach that was "suggestive rather than purely instructive", and that would "signpost[] the roads and tracks" and then "leave his pupils to explore for themselves". ### First World War Before the First World War, Hodgkin had a small number of students, and would socialise with them over meals, tennis, and walks on Shotover. After Britain declared war in August 1914, Hodgkin began volunteering at a YMCA embarkation camp in the New Forest; over Michaelmas term, he watched the college population gradually dwindle as its members were accepted for service, while awaiting the result of his own application to rejoin the Northumberland Fusiliers. Accepted on 11 December and commissioned a temporary captain in the Seventh Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, he was posted to the battalion headquarters in Alnwick. Because Hodgkin was deemed medically unfit for foreign service, his four years of service were primarily spent in coastal defence, split nearly equally between Northumberland (1915), Herne Bay in Kent (1916–1917), and (from 1917 to 1919) the War Office in London, where he served in the General Staff for Operations. Other than the first year, he was able to spend the time with his family. Following the war, Hodgkin was a staunch supporter of the League of Nations Union. ### Return to Queen's College Demobilised in January 1919, Hodgkin returned with his family to Oxford, where he found substantially more students and consequentially more demands on his time. Norman Sykes, who joined Queen's as a student in 1920, recalled that "[t]he protracted tenure of the Provostship by Magrath meant the disappearance of hospitality from the Provost's lodgings"; he looked instead to Hodgkin for "generous and hospitable entertainment". Hodgkin's health, meanwhile, never particularly robust, also became more of an issue, with frequent colds and flu during the winters, and recurring migraines that would last for several days. For years, Hodgkin spent vacations working on a history of Anglo-Saxon England; his initial idea had been to write a life of Alfred the Great for the Heroes of the Nations series, but it quickly blossomed into something larger. In October 1927, a month after the death of his daughter, he began a sabbatical year with time spent at the British Museum and at libraries and museums in Germany and Denmark. The sabbatical "spared the ordeal", his wife later wrote, "of living for that first year of our loss in an empty house". Upon his return, in 1928 Hodgkin was appointed university lecturer in modern history, a post he held until 1934. Owing in large part to the sabbatical, Hodgkin finally finished A History of the Anglo-Saxons, his first major work, in 1933; the following two years were spent refining it and collecting illustrations, leading to the book's publication in the spring of 1935. From 1935 to 1936, Hodgkin took a second sabbatical. Most of the time was spent in a cottage in Broad Campden, although two spring months were spent in Palestine, where his eldest son was working, and his second son visiting during a break between graduation and work. Among others, Hodgkin met Arthur Grenfell Wauchope and George Antonius. Once returned to Queen's College following the 1936 summer vacation, Hodgkin spent two terms as pro-provost, filling in for an ill B. H. Streeter. Hodgkin's diligence and success in the role came as a surprise to some of his colleagues, who had understood him to prefer the human side of college work to the business side; his disapproval of those who were distracted during meetings caused some comparisons to poachers turned gamekeepers. In February 1937, Hodgkin was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and in April he stepped down from the provostship upon Streeter's return. Hodgkin had spent around two years looking for a retirement home; his wife later wrote "the country within a forty mile radius of Oxford is dotted with houses that we looked over, and in several cases came near to buying". During his 1935–1936 sabbatical he received a notice in the morning post that an Ilmington house, Crab Mill, would be auctioned "unless previously disposed of", and upon looking it over Hodgkin purchased it outright, along with eleven surrounding houses and cottages, for some £11,250 (). Hodgkin retired around August 1937 (effective 29 September), moving to Crab Mill. ### Provostship Shortly before Hodgkin's retirement was set to go into effect, Streeter died in a plane crash. The fellows of the college had only three weeks to pick a successor. Hodgkin was seen as a logical choice as the senior official fellow at the time, and had demonstrated his abilities when filling in the previous year. Although he supported electing Oliver Franks, Hodgkin let colleagues know that he would be unable to refuse if chosen. Hodgkin was unofficially selected at a meeting on 22 September, his retirement went into effect on the 29th, and he was officially elected provost on 5 October; his six days spent as an ordinary fellow set a record for brevity, Crab Mill went from retirement home to weekend retreat, and the Hodgkins moved into the provost's lodgings. The new post interrupted plans for a second volume of A History of the Anglo-Saxons, which contemporaries such as F. M. Powicke and V. J. K. Brook either lamented or justified by Hodgkin's contributions as provost. Only the first two of Hodgkin's nine years as provost were not during the Second World War, and even then, the first two years were spent under its encroaching shadow. Much of the first two years was spent socialising, with guests, and in committees. He also began collecting material for a work on the history of the college. Britain's declaration of war on Germany created a dual life for the college, with students conscripted and buildings requisitioned. It also added the duties of the Ilmington Home Guard, with Hodgkin doing drills and spending some nights in makeshift dugouts in the hills, watching for Germans. Hodgkin also joined the Hebdomadal Council during the war years. The college celebrated the six-hundredth anniversary of its founding in 1940, with more muted celebrations than had first been planned. Hodgkin's time as provost was remembered for two major works, and for his dedication to the college. First, he began the reconstruction of the library, which, the fellow Ughtred Shuttleworth Haslam-Jones wrote, was "one of the finest buildings in Oxford" once "restored to its former glory". Haslam-Jones termed Hodgkin a "wise ruler" in his oversight of the project, as of the university, setting general principles and delegating authority, while investing himself neither too much nor too little in the details. Hodgkin's second major work was his undertaking of a written history of the college, finished in retirement. Especially during the war years, too, when the college was missing much of its population, Hodgkin—who probably saw his office as a trusteeship—was credited with preserving the continuity and traditions of the college. ### Retirement Hodgkin retired for the second time in 1946, and was named an honorary fellow. He was 68 at the time and could have held the post for another two years, but was at least partially spurred on to retire by the desire to have Franks replace him. "The College has never had a more devoted or self-effacing Head", wrote Brook, "[a]nd even at the end, he timed his resignation to suit what he thought were the interests of the College." Hodgkin was disappointed when Franks left only two years later to take up the post of British ambassador to the United States. Hodgkin returned to Crab Mill in retirement, spending time with his family, and completing his book on the history of Queen's College. The book came "into being more rapidly that his Anglo-Saxons", wrote Godfrey Elton, "partly perhaps because he had shed his early inhibitions, but chiefly no doubt because, even more than the Anglo-Saxons, it was a labour of love". It was in press in the spring of 1949, when Hodgkin received news that the sole manuscript had been destroyed in a fire at the printers. A week later, Hodgkin—who had declared "I can never re-write it" but also been offered help by a former pupil to do so—burst into tears upon finding out that the book had been set up in type before the fire, and had thus survived. He also continued to have thoughts of writing a second volume of A History of the Anglo-Saxons and, more so, a family history, although he started neither. ## Personal life On 6 August 1908, Hodgkin proposed to Dorothy Forster Smith, the daughter of Hodgkin's Balliol instructor. The engagement was facilitated by Hodgkin's sister Violet, who invited the unsuspecting Smith, summering at the nearby family house, to Barmoor. Astonished by the proposal, Smith responded with tears; only three days later did she agree to a trial engagement, although the two married on 15 December. The service was held at St Cross Church and conducted by Albert David. Hodgkin had continued living at Barmoor for the past seven years, but the family moved to Oxford in February 1909, purchasing Mendip House on Headington Hill following "a twenty-four hour dash south and frantic interviews with house agents and the owner". The family remained at Mendip for eight years, although Hodgkin spent only leaves there during the war years. Upon their return to Oxford in 1919, they purchased 20 Bradmore Road, formerly the home of the scholar and historian Henry Francis Pelham, a friend of Hodgkin's father; the Hodgkins kept the house until 1936, although they kept a place in Oxford by signing a three-year lease on a flat in Belsyre Court. The Hodgkins had three children, all born at Mendip. Their first son, Thomas Lionel Hodgkin (b. 1910), became a Marxist historian of Africa. In 1937, he married Dorothy Crowfoot, who under her married name would win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A second son, Edward Christian Hodgkin ("Teddy," b. 1913), became a deputy and foreign editor at The Times; a younger daughter, Elizabeth ("Betty," b. 1915), died at the age of eleven, during an emergency operation on her appendix. The death particularly affected both Robert and Edward Hodgkin; for the former, wrote his wife, "I think there was never a time in the years that followed when the joy of her lovely life and the sorrow of her loss were not as present to him as all the happiness that came to him from his two sons and from his grandchildren." For Edward Hodgkin, meanwhile, who went from being a "devoted" brother to being told of her death "awkwardly and curtly, in his first term at Eton", and left to grieve away from his family, the death left what his obituary termed "a wound that was never completely healed". Hodgkin's father died suddenly in 1913, aged 81. The lease at Barmoor also over, his mother moved to Treworgan, a house along the coast near Falmouth, Cornwall. Hodgkin's younger brother George died in 1918, and his elder brother Edward in 1921. The latter death left Hodgkin "the only 'man of the family'", in his wife's words, and the family's "protector", in his sister's; he subsequently took on responsibility for the family affairs, quipping that "[a]ccounts are a nice change from Alfred". Following the First World War and until his mother's death in 1934, Hodgkin, who had spent time in Cornwall during holidays as a child (including at Glendurgan), visited Treworgan two or three times a year with his children. Hodgkin lost sight in one eye in November 1943, which he discovered upon waking; his wife attributed this, and other health ailments, to his frequent bicycling when wartime petrol rationing prevented the use of a car. He died on 28 June 1951, at the age of 74, at Crab Mill; his wife died in 1974. Crab Mill later became a retirement home for his son and daughter-in-law. ## Publications ### A History of the Anglo-Saxons A History of the Anglo-Saxons was first published in 1935. The two-volume work traced the Anglo-Saxons from their first mentions to the death of Alfred the Great in 899. Noting Hodgkin's father, Charles Wendell David wrote that "[b]eing of the present generation, [Robert Hodgkin's] work necessarily rests more largely on the researches of specialists and is correspondingly more solidly based, but it still has the sweep and roominess and charm with which the elder Hodgkin has made his readers familiar." Reviewers praised Hodgkin's use of archaeological and philological developments, as well as studies of aerial photography and toponymy. T. D. Kendrick praised Hodgkin's "enviable skill in writing", and how the "volumes tell their tale with such clarity, such vigour, and such humour that the reader finds himself anxious to compliment him on the sustained interest of this very long book before paying tribute to the soundness of the author's judgement and the vast trustworthy knowledge that he possesses of all aspects of his subject". Though it was intended for the more general reader, Francis Peabody Magoun wrote that it "becomes overnight the first history to put in the hands of the serious beginning student of any aspect of English life before the death of Alfred". This balance was criticised by one reviewer, however, who suggested that the book created "a real danger" that it would be used by students as "a heaven-sent labour-saving device", without necessarily doing "full justice to the theories and opinions which he summarises and discusses". Kemp Malone claimed that Hodgkin "writes a somewhat pedestrian but a readable prose", but added "[a]ll in all, his is by far the best general work that we have on the earliest centuries of English culture." According to another reviewer, "Hodgkin deals fearlessly—it might be said ruthlessly—with much of the interpretation of historians treating of this period, who wrote so late as two generations ago." A second edition, predominantly a corrected version of the first, followed in 1939. Reginald Ralph Darlington wrote that "the appearance of a second edition within four years bears witness to its wide appeal", and Kendrick wrote that the work "is now to be regarded as one of the established great books of our age". A year after Hodgkin's 1951 death, a third edition was published. It was little changed, except for a 48-page appendix on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial authored by Rupert Bruce-Mitford, the assistant keeper of British and Medieval Antiquities of the British Museum. The appendix, Magoun wrote, "is in effect a second interim report which summarizes material scattered through the literature of the intervening years" since Bruce-Mitford's 1946 publication of a report on the find. ### Six Centuries of an Oxford College Hodgkin's second book, Six Centuries of an Oxford College: A History of the Queen's College, 1340–1940, was published in 1949. The book, wrote one reviewer, told "every thing that is of real significance for the college, from the issue of the Founder's cumbrous statutes to some considerations of the effects of the war of 1939–1945 on the collegiate ideal". Another reviewer wrote that Hodgkin linked "skilfully, and always in close relationship to national history, the varying fortunes of the university and the college and tells of the great men, from John Wyclif to Oliver Franks, whom it has produced or harboured. It is not every college which can boast of two cardinals, one of whom was poisoned by his own chaplain!" According to the first reviewer, the work included "pleasant anecdotes, some shrewd personal judgements and a slight air of nostalgia in the later chapters".
870,173	Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel	1,172,106,789	Rail tunnel in Seattle, Washington, United States	[ "1500 V DC railway electrification", "1990 establishments in Washington (state)", "Bus rapid transit in Washington (state)", "Busways", "Link light rail", "Railroad tunnels in Seattle", "Sound Transit Express", "Trolleybus transport in the United States", "Tunnels completed in 1990", "Underground rapid transit in the United States" ]	The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT), also referred to as the Metro Bus Tunnel, is a 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km) pair of public transit tunnels in Seattle, Washington, United States. The double-track tunnel and its four stations serve Link light rail trains on the 1 Line as it travels through Downtown Seattle. It runs west under Pine Street from 9th Avenue to 3rd Avenue, and south under 3rd Avenue to South Jackson Street. 1 Line trains continue north from the tunnel to Northgate station and south through the Rainier Valley past Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Angle Lake station as part of Sound Transit's light rail network. The DSTT was used only by buses from its opening in 1990 until 2005, and shared by buses and light rail from 2009 until 2019. Bus routes from King County Metro and Sound Transit Express left the tunnel north via Interstate 5, south via the SODO Busway, or east via Interstate 90. It was owned by King County Metro and shared with Sound Transit through a joint-operating agreement signed in 2002; Sound Transit assumed full ownership in 2022. The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel was one of two tunnels in the United States shared by buses and trains, the other being the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel in Pittsburgh, and was the only one in the United States with shared stations. Though proposals for a rapid transit tunnel under 3rd Avenue were introduced in the 1910s and 1920s, planning for the modern bus and rail Metro Bus Tunnel only began in 1974. The King County Metro Council approved the bus tunnel proposal in November 1983, but construction did not begin until March 1987. The tunnel between Convention Place and Westlake stations was built using the cut-and-cover method, closing Pine Street for 19 months and disrupting access to the retail core. The segment from Westlake to the International District was bored with two tunnel-boring machines, heading north from Union Station and finishing within a month of each other. Tests of normal buses and the Breda dual-mode buses built specifically for tunnel routes began in March 1989; tunnel construction was declared complete in June 1990, at a cost of \$469 million. Light rail tracks were installed in anticipation of future rapid transit service through the tunnel, but were later found to be poorly insulated and unusable for Link light rail. Soft openings and public previews of the five tunnel stations were held from August 1989 to September 1990, with regular bus service beginning on September 15, carrying 28,000 daily passengers in its first year of operation. For the next several years, until June 2004, service in the tunnel was provided exclusively by dual-mode buses, which ran as trolleybuses in the tunnel – like the city's extensive trolleybus system – and as diesel buses on surface streets and freeways. The tunnel was closed on September 24, 2005, for modification to accommodate both buses and Sound Transit's Central Link (now the 1 Line) light rail trains with shared lanes and platforms. The roadway was lowered by 8 inches (20 cm) and other improvements were made to prepare for light rail service. New hybrid electric buses were moved into the tunnel to replace the Breda fleet, as the overhead wire was replaced for light rail trains. The tunnel reopened on September 24, 2007, and light rail service began on July 18, 2009. A stub tunnel, branching from the main tunnel, was constructed under Pine Street to allow light rail trains to stop and reverse direction; it was later used as the first segment of a light rail extension to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington that opened in 2016. Convention Place station was closed permanently on July 21, 2018, to make way for an expansion of the Washington State Convention Center that would also restrict bus access to the tunnel. On March 23, 2019, bus service in the tunnel ceased and its remaining seven routes were moved to surface streets. ## Route and stations The 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km), 18-foot-diameter (5.5 m) tunnel is used by the 1 Line between Westlake and International District/Chinatown stations. Entrances at several tunnel stations are built into nearby buildings with variable-message signs over the stairs and elevators leading to the mezzanines. A total of 11 wheelchair-accessible elevators connect the tunnel stations to the surface. The deepest of the tunnel stations are 60 feet (18 m) below street level and consist of two side platforms, two tracks, and a former bus passing lane in the middle. Since 2019, the stations have also had signs with numbered exits to aid in rider wayfinding. As part of the city's public art program that began in 1973, the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and its stations were furnished with \$1.5 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) in artwork by 25 artists commissioned by King County Metro. The northern portal, formerly accessible to buses at street level from Olive Way, and from Interstate 5 via an express lane ramp, was the former Convention Place station at the intersection of 9th Avenue and Pine Street near the Washington State Convention Center. Until its closure in 2018, Convention Place was the only bus-exclusive station in the tunnel, and consisted of four sheltered platforms in a sunken, open-air layover space below street level. Buses entered the tunnel from 9th Avenue and passed under the historic Camlin Hotel, before joining the University Link Tunnel used by light rail trains headed north for three blocks under Pine Street to Capitol Hill station. The DSTT enters Westlake station under Pine Street between 3rd and 6th avenues, located between the Westlake Center shopping mall and Westlake Park. The station features a two-block-long mezzanine with exits to Pine Street and several retailers, including the Westlake Center, the former The Bon Marché flagship store, and the Nordstrom Building, as well as the former King County Metro customer service center. The area around the station is known as the Westlake Hub, with connections to the South Lake Union Streetcar and the Seattle Center Monorail as well as the King County Metro and Sound Transit buses. Leaving Westlake Station, the bored set of twin tunnels turn south under Century Square to follow 3rd Avenue and its transit mall through the central business district, parallel to the shoreline of Elliott Bay. Three blocks south of Pine Street, buses and trains enter University Street station, located between Union and Seneca streets adjacent to Benaroya Hall and 1201 Third Avenue in the financial district. The station has a split mezzanine, with entrances to 2nd Avenue and University Street accessible from the north half, and an entrance to Seneca Street from the south half. From University Street, the tunnel continues under 3rd Avenue for five blocks, entering the Pioneer Square neighborhood and historic district. At this point, 3rd Avenue passes several of Seattle's skyscrapers, including the historic Seattle Tower, Safeco Plaza, the Fourth and Madison Building and the Wells Fargo Center. Within University Street station, the tunnel passes over the century-old Great Northern Tunnel with a clearance of 15 feet (5 m). Pioneer Square station is located between Cherry Street and Yesler Way, with four entrances to nearby streets and Prefontaine Place serving two mezzanines. The station serves the administrative centers of the Seattle and King County governments, located within walking distance of Seattle City Hall, the Seattle Municipal Tower, the King County Courthouse and the King County Administration Building, as well as other major buildings, including Smith Tower, Columbia Center and the Alaska Building. From Pioneer Square, the tunnel travels down a 5.5% grade to cross 4.5 feet (1.4 m) under the Great Northern Tunnel at a 45-degree angle near the intersection of 4th Avenue South and South Washington Street, briefly descending below sea level, before turning cardinal south into the International District neighborhood. International District/Chinatown station, the southernmost tunnel station, is partially open-air and located immediately below a public plaza at Union Station. The station has connections to Amtrak and Sounder commuter rail at King Street Station a block to the west, accessible through the Weller Street Bridge, as well as the First Hill Streetcar on Jackson Street, stopping east of 5th Avenue South. Other attractions near the station include Lumen Field to the west and Uwajimaya a block to the southeast. South of the station, the light rail tracks and bus lanes were formerly separated by railway signals at an underground bus layover and staging area next to the tunnel comfort room for bus drivers. The southern portal of the tunnel is located under the intersection of Airport Way and 5th Avenue South at the western terminus of the former Interstate 90 express lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. Until bus operations ceased, southbound routes continued from the tunnel in separated lanes on the SODO Busway, while eastbound buses used a set of ramps that traveled onto the Interstate 90 express lanes. The eastbound ramps will be retrofitted for the East Link light rail service that begins in 2025 on the 2 Line. ## Service The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is part of the "Third Avenue Transit Spine", the busiest transit corridor in Seattle, serving a combined average of 54,000 weekday riders with bus stops on the surface. The tunnel has a theoretical capacity of 40 trains per hour per direction with a minimum of 90-second headways, carrying 22,000 passengers per hour per direction, but is only able to carry 12,000 per hour per direction in 4-car light rail vehicles with current systems in place. Prior to the start of Link light rail service, the DSTT could serve up to 145 buses during the afternoon rush hour. As of 2012, the DSTT carried 52,600 daily riders, of which 10,000 are on light rail. The tunnel carries a segment of the 1 Line, which runs from Northgate station through Downtown Seattle and the Rainier Valley, and terminates at Angle Lake station near Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Trains serve all downtown tunnel stations 20 hours a day every day; during regular weekday service, trains run roughly every six to 10 minutes during rush hour and midday operation, respectively, with longer headways of 15 minutes in the early morning and 20 minutes at night. During weekends, 1 Line trains arrive every 10 minutes during midday hours and every 15 minutes during mornings and evenings. Light rail service from Westlake to International District/Chinatown takes approximately seven minutes. Prior to the cessation of bus service in March 2019, the DSTT was served by seven bus routes that stopped at all four tunnel stations as well as stops near the former Convention Place station. At each station, bus routes were divided into three bays labeled with their general direction. Bay A was served by three routes heading north toward Northgate and the University District and east to Kirkland via State Route 520; Bay C was served by three routes heading south through the SODO Busway toward the Rainier Valley and Renton; and Bay D was served by a single route, Sound Transit Express route 550, heading east to Mercer Island and Bellevue via Interstate 90. During closures of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, tunnel buses were rerouted onto 2nd and 4th Avenues between Yesler Way and Pine Street, and Stewart Street and Olive Way between 2nd and Boren Avenues. Metro also runs a special route, the Route 97 Link Shuttle, between all Link light rail stations during service disruptions. ## Operations The DSTT is open for 20 hours on weekdays and Saturdays, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am the following day, and for 18 hours on Sundays, from 6:00 am to midnight. At the time of its opening in 1990, the Metro Bus Tunnel only operated from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturdays, with no Sunday service; the operating hours were temporarily extended into weekday nights from 1998 to 2000 at the request of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, but were cut after the passage of Initiative 695 and subsequent loss of motor vehicle excise tax revenue. Preparations for Link light rail service restored late-night and full weekend hours for the tunnel, introduced in June 2009 after Sound Transit Express route 550 moved all of its trips into the tunnel. Coordination between trains in the tunnel is managed by the Link Light Rail Operations Control Center (OCC), located at the King County Metro Communication and Control Center in SoDo. The OCC controls vehicle movements (and formerly operations between buses and trains) by using on-board radio-frequency identification tags installed on tunnel buses and light rail vehicles, their locations tracked by passing over induction loops embedded in the tunnel roadway. Signals at each station indicate when a driver can proceed through the tunnel. Within the DSTT, speed limits are set at 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) in stations and staging areas and 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) between stations. During joint operations, Light rail trains and buses were required to wait in the tunnels between stations until the platform was cleared of vehicles ahead; buses were mandated to keep a minimum of six seconds of separation between each other. During joint bus–rail operations, two types of vehicles were used in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel: Sound Transit's Kinkisharyo-Mitsui light rail vehicles and King County Metro's New Flyer diesel-electric hybrid buses. The New Flyer buses, dubbed "tunnel buses" by King County Metro, were ordered in 2004 to replace a fleet of Breda dual-mode electric trolleybuses whose overhead wire was to be removed in the tunnel's renovation for light rail; 59 of the dual-mode Breda coaches were converted into fully electric trolleybuses between 2004 and 2007 and moved to surface routes, where they continued to operate for more than a decade before being fully replaced in 2016. The New Flyer low-floor, 61-foot-long (19 m) articulated buses feature a "hush mode" that allowed buses to operate solely on stored electric power within the tunnel, minimizing emissions and noise. ## History ### Previous subway proposals Several proposals for a cut-and-cover subway tunnel under 3rd Avenue in Downtown Seattle were presented to the City of Seattle by predecessors of the Seattle Planning Commission throughout the 20th century. The first major proposal was part of urban planner Virgil Bogue's "Plan for Seattle" in 1911, as Route 1 of a proposed rapid transit network. Route 1 ran southeast on 3rd Avenue from a circular ring around a proposed civic center in the Denny Regrade neighborhood to King Street Station, paralleled to the west by a subway on 1st Avenue known as Route 17; stations on the line were to have additional entrances from department stores and other major businesses on 3rd Avenue. The plan was supported by City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson and the Municipal League among others, but opposed by businesses fearing it would shift the commercial district further north, and by the three daily newspapers published in Seattle. A special municipal election for the comprehensive plan was held on March 5, 1912, in which Seattle voters rejected it by a 10,000-vote margin. Although Bogue's proposal was ultimately rejected, some elements of the plan were independently studied by others, including a rapid transit subway in Downtown Seattle. In 1920, City Engineer Arthur H. Dimmock published a report recommending a rapid transit system for the city of Seattle, centered around a cut-and-cover subway tunnel under 3rd Avenue from Virginia Street to Yesler Way. The line was to connect to surface and elevated lines at Dexter Avenue, Olive Way and South Jackson Street, serving the neighborhoods of Fremont, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, and North Delridge in West Seattle. The proposal, which was expected not to be acted upon for at least 15 years, gained little support, and was called a project of "purely academic interest" by Mayor Hugh M. Caldwell, who doubted that any rapid transit proposal would be seriously considered during his term. The Seattle City Planning Commission proposed its own rapid transit system in 1926, centered on an elevated line over Western Avenue with a possible parallel subway under 3rd Avenue from Yesler Way to Pike Street. The Seattle Traffic Research Commission published a report in 1928 recommending a subway under 2nd Avenue from King Street Station to Pike Street as part of a longer rapid transit line serving the University District and Fremont. In the late 1950s, the Seattle Transit Commission proposed building a rapid transit system on the existing right-of-way used by Interstate 5 between Tacoma, Seattle and Everett, with a two-station subway under 5th Avenue in Downtown Seattle. The most significant rapid transit proposal came as part of the Forward Thrust initiatives of the late 1960s, which was centered around a downtown subway under 3rd Avenue. The subway would be fed by lines from Ballard, Lake City, the University District, Capitol Hill, Bellevue, and Renton, combining for a planned minimum headway of 1.5 minutes at rush hour, 2.5 minutes during midday, and five minutes at all other times. The stations on 3rd Avenue were to be situated at South Jackson Street and 5th Avenue South, James and Cherry streets, Seneca and Spring streets, and Pike and Pine streets, all planned to open by 1985 and operated by the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle. Seattle voters were asked to provide \$385 million (equivalent to \$ in dollars), to supplement a \$765 million grant (equivalent to \$ in dollars) from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA), during a municipal election on February 13, 1968, narrowly passing the bond by 50.8%, but falling short of the required 60 percent supermajority. A second attempt on May 19, 1970, with an adjusted \$440 million local contribution (equivalent to \$ in dollars) and \$881 million federal grant (equivalent to \$ in dollars), failed to pass with only 46% approval amid a local recession caused by layoffs at Boeing; the earmarked funds intended for the Forward Thrust rapid transit project were instead allocated to Atlanta, to build its rapid transit system. ### Bus tunnel proposal and approval The concept of a downtown bus tunnel was first proposed in 1974 during discussions between Governor Dan Evans and Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman about regional transportation projects in response to the proposed extension of Interstate 90 into Seattle via a third floating bridge crossing Lake Washington. Metro Transit later commissioned a study into the bus tunnel, released the following July, which determined that it would not be able to adequately meet the rush hour demand of downtown bus ridership by 1980. The study suggested that a double-decked tunnel with automated guideway transit to complement bus service, running from Union Station to the Seattle Center, would be able to meet projected demand at an estimated cost of \$450 million. Ultimately, the plan was rejected because of the high cost of ventilation for diesel buses that would use the tunnel. The bus tunnel proposal resurfaced in 1979, outlining a tunnel from South Jackson Street to Pine Street that would carry 200 buses an hour in each direction at a cost of up to \$350 million with the option of conversion for electric rail transit in the future. The tunnel was suggested by Metro officials and engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff as a solution to worsening downtown traffic, and was better received than alternative concepts. The proposal gained further support from Metro Transit in its long-term "Metro 1990" plan, adopted in 1981, as a transit mall or tunnel under 3rd Avenue carrying buses that could be converted for a light rail system. The Puget Sound Council of Governments (PSCOG), a regional planning agency, endorsed Metro Transit's proposal and integrated the tunnel into its proposed light rail line connecting Seattle to Snohomish County. The Metro Transit Committee debated the inclusion of the bus tunnel in the project's environmental impact assessment well into 1983, Seattle members opposing the tunnel in favor of a transit mall and suburban members supporting a bus tunnel that would be converted to a light rail system. On September 22, UMTA requested that a preferred alternative be declared by the end of November, which prompted the Metro Council to expedite its decision. Metro Council Executive Director Neil Peterson favored the tunnel alternative, while the Seattle City Council and Mayor Charles Royer preferred the transit mall, but stated that a tunnel would be a long-term solution to downtown congestion. The Seattle City Council reversed its decision on their preferred alternative, voting unanimously on October 17 in favor of an electric-only transit tunnel. Along with Mayor Royer, they were willing to compromise on Peterson's proposed dual-mode buses to serve suburban commuters where trolleybuses were not feasible. The Metro Council approved the downtown bus tunnel by a unanimous vote on November 3, 1983, estimating a cost of \$300 million to build a five-station tunnel under 3rd Avenue and Pine Street to be completed in 1989 along with the conversion of 3rd Avenue into a landscaped transit mall. ### Planning, funding and design Metro unveiled its preliminary plans for the bus tunnel in January 1984, selecting five sites for stations along 3rd Avenue and Pine Street: at Union Station, the King County Courthouse, between Seneca and Union streets, at the Westlake Mall, and near the Washington State Convention Center. The Burlington Northern Railroad opposed Metro's preference for the tunnel to cross the existing Great Northern Tunnel by going under it, the agency stating that passing over would require a cut-and-cover tunnel that would disrupt City Hall Park. The following month, Metro announced that it would use a fleet of 200 dual-mode buses for the first decade of tunnel operations, with an eventual switch to subway trains. The bored tunnel would be able to carry 180 buses an hour in each direction, serving either a wide island platform or two smaller side platforms that would be dug out from the surface. In April, Metro published the draft environmental impact statement for the tunnel project, estimating a cost of \$387 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) and a completion date of June 1989. The cost of the project drew criticism at public hearings for using a significant portion of Metro's capital budget, a total of \$840 million from sales tax revenue approved by voters in 1980, as well as potential disruption to business during the cut-and-cover construction of the stations and Pine Street segment of the tunnel. UMTA ranked Metro's bus tunnel project as first among transit projects favored to receive federal funding in 1985, despite its reliance on unproven dual-mode buses. Metro tested a prototype Renault PER 180 dual-mode trolleybus in 1983, describing it as problematic after finding it exceeded freeway axle load limits by 2 short tons (1.8 t) and having to replace several parts after several mechanical failures. Congress later appropriated \$20 million to the City of Seattle for the bus tunnel project in October 1984, allowing for right-of-way acquisition to begin, but the funds were withheld until restrictions on new transit projects were lifted by the United States Senate the following May. The Downtown Transit Project subcommittee unanimously approved Metro recommendations that would reduce the number of bus tunnel stations from six to five, saving \$35 million, as well as opting for tunnel boring machines for the 3rd Avenue segment to minimize surface-level disruptions that would be present from cut-and-cover excavation. Stations would be located at Union Station south of Jackson Street, under 3rd Avenue and James Street, under 3rd Avenue and University Street, at the Westlake Mall and at 9th Avenue and Pine Street near the Washington State Convention Center. The Metro Council approved the station sites and use of tunnel-boring machines in July 1985, proceeding with final design by approving a \$25.9 million contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff for engineering work related to the project. In March 1986, the federal government offered Metro a contract committing \$195 million in UMTA funding toward the bus tunnel, requiring that a decision on whether to move forward with the project be made by December 31. A month later, the King County Council asked Metro to consider delaying construction of the bus tunnel while waiting for assurance on federal funding being able to cover half of the \$395 million cost of the project; the council was scheduled to begin awarding contracts for utility relocation along 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in preparation for tunnel construction. On May 15, the Reagan administration signed a contract with Metro to commit \$197 million of the \$395 million required for the bus tunnel project, assuming re-authorization of a mass transit grant program by Congress, while also extending the deadline for a final decision to September 1987. Hours later, the Metro Council awarded the first construction contract for utility relocation, with construction set to begin in July. The Metro Council accepted the UMTA contract during their June 5 meeting, allowing for bidding on tunnel construction to begin. The tunnel construction contract was awarded to the joint venture of Guy F. Atkinson Construction and Dillingham Construction in late September for \$44.16 million, beating seven competing bids with an estimate far lower than the approximately \$61 million predicted by Metro engineers. The contract for the dual-mode trolleybuses was awarded by the Metro Council to Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie in October, consisting of an order for 236 buses at a cost of \$133 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars); it was approved by UMTA in November. ### Construction Construction on the bus tunnel project began with partial closures of 3rd Avenue in July 1986 for utility relocation, narrowing traffic to one lane in either direction and restricting traffic to buses and emergency vehicles during rush hour. To prepare for extended periods of service disruption on 3rd Avenue, Metro Transit also moved its electric trolleybus routes onto 1st Avenue. Excavation of the 3rd Avenue tunnel segment began with the ceremonial launch of the "Mighty Mole", a 140-short-ton (130 t), 129-foot-long (39 m) tunnel boring machine (TBM), on March 6, 1987. The TBM, designed by Robbins Company of Kent, Washington, and built by Nicholson Manufacturing in Seattle, began digging the western tunnel from Union Station the following May. A second, identical "Mighty Mole" TBM began digging the parallel eastern tunnel on June 29. During tunnel boring under 3rd Avenue between Spring Street and Madison Street on October 21, a small earthflow damaged a water main and caused pavement on 3rd Avenue to drop 8 inches (20 cm), shutting down water in the nearby Seattle City Light and 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza buildings. While repairing the broken water main, electricians working on damaged high-voltage cables caused a small power outage that affected eight downtown buildings on the night of October 28, but were able to restore power by the following morning. Work on the western tunnel was briefly interrupted in November, when the TBM hit an unexpectedly large pocket of loose sand under Madison Street that had to be stabilized with grout to prevent damage to the adjacent Seattle City Light building. Boring on both tunnels was stopped in early January 1988, when a pocket of wet sand was encountered 300 feet (91 m) before the planned 90-degree turn onto Pine Street. Metro and tunnel contractors Atkinson/Dillingham, who had scheduled tunnel excavation for completion in mid-January, closed 3rd Avenue between Pike and Pine streets and installed 40 drilled wells to remove water from the sand pocket in February. Digging resumed on the western tunnel on March 14, and the TBM reached Westlake station on April 9, completing the first of the two tunnels. The eastern tunnel was completed a month later on May 18, allowing for parts of the TBMs to be salvaged and the steel outer shells to be buried in the tunnel. The Pine Street segment of the tunnel was planned to be dug cut-and-cover from the surface. In preparation for utility relocation work on Pine Street, Metro moved 36 bus routes serving the corridor to other east–west streets in February 1987. On April 27, excavation of the tunnel began with the closure of Pine Street, and its offramp to Interstate 5, to automobile traffic between 3rd Avenue and Boren Avenue. Workers finished digging in late August, allowing the project to progress to concrete pouring for the roadway. Pine Street was briefly re-opened for the Christmas shopping season beginning November 1 at the request of downtown merchants, with a temporary surface laid over backfill for automobiles and pedestrians. On January 4, the street was closed to automobile traffic once again, along with the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street and the Pike Street offramp of I-5, to install utility lines and a permanent roadway. Pine Street was fully reopened to traffic on November 1, 1988, coinciding with the completion of Westlake Park and the Westlake Center shopping mall, a year ahead of schedule. By October 1988, Metro reported that 53% of major construction was complete and anticipated that the tunnel would be completed in May 1990 and opened for service in September 1990. Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and City Council members Paul Kraabel and George Benson recommended a limited opening of the tunnel for the 1990 Goodwill Games to be held in July, but Metro rejected the proposal so that the safety systems of the tunnel could be tested adequately before service began. Testing in the bus tunnel began with a ceremonial first run on March 15, 1989, first with a diesel bus and then one of the Breda dual-mode trolleybuses operating in diesel mode, as the overhead trolley wires had not yet been installed. Wooden planks and steel plates covered slots in the concrete roadway where rails would be installed later. Local media were given a tour the next day. By January 1990, the tunnel stations were declared "nearly complete", with only minor work still left for contractors. Murals and other interactive art installations were placed in the nearly complete stations from December 1989 onward, as part of a \$1.5 million arts program. Tunnel construction was finished on June 7, 1990, leaving Metro to test safety systems and train personnel for regular service to begin in September. The initial cost of the tunnel project was estimated in 1984 to be \$334.6 million, but the final costs rose 56% over budget to a total of \$468.7 million (equivalent to \$ in dollars); the project's cost overruns were blamed on unanticipated soil conditions on the approach to Pine Street from 3rd Avenue, complaints and payouts to downtown businesses disrupted by tunnel construction, and the death of an electrician during construction. Excavated dirt from the project was used as fill for runway expansion at Paine Field in nearby Everett. #### South African granite scandal A minor scandal involving the bus tunnel project emerged in late 1988, over the discovery that granite to be used by Metro in the tunnel's stations had been sourced from South Africa. The Verde Fontaine granite was quarried in South Africa, which had been under Apartheid rule at the time, but was cut and finished in Italy, allowing for it to be approved despite the Metro Council's ongoing boycott of South African goods. The Verde Fontaine granite was selected for use as benches and interior walls in Westlake and Pioneer Square stations by architecture firm TRA; Metro was unaware that Verde Fontaine was only quarried in South Africa. The granite's origin was discovered by an activist from the Black Contractors Coalition in late 1988, who notified Metro and members of the Metro Council. Metro determined that replacing the 24,000 square feet (2,200 m<sup>2</sup>) of granite would cost \$500,000 and delay both stations but would not delay the planned 1990 opening and would be covered by contingency funds in the project's budget. During a press conference on January 25, 1989, Metro Director Alan Gibbs confirmed that the granite had been quarried in South Africa and announced that an investigative report would be delivered to the Metro Council Transit Committee the following week. The announcement was met with calls from King County Councilman Ron Sims to fire the responsible Metro officials who knowingly allowed the purchase. Metro's ban on South African goods was stricter than the federal sanctions, which only prohibited importation of specific materials such as steel, coal, uranium and agricultural products, and was used by UMTA to threaten to pull its funding for the bus tunnel project. A report by the Metro Council Rules Committee delivered in March stated that the granite's origin was discovered in early 1988, and was authorized by tunnel superintendent David Kalberer with the assumption that only a small amount would be used to furnish University Street station. Kalberer, who received praise for his work on the project before the scandal, admitted that the failure to consult the Metro Council's tunnel subcommittee before signing off on the deal was his mistake. Metro Director Alan Gibbs resigned on February 23 as a result of the scandal and was succeeded by technical director Richard Sandaas in September. The granite was rejected by Metro and was returned to the supplier in Italy. Before this discovery, in September 1987, African-American rights groups had forced tunnel contractor Atkinson/Dillingham to return 36 steel beams from South Africa used for temporary shoring at Pioneer Square station. This led Metro Director Alan Gibbs to propose a ban on South African materials by Metro for its projects, which was adopted by a resolution of the Metro Council on September 17. ### Opening and bus-only operation Regular service in the bus tunnel began on September 15, 1990, on five routes serving the University District, North Seattle, and Renton. The limited service was the result of delays in the manufacturing of dual-mode buses from Breda, which were fully delivered in 1991. The opening was preceded by soft openings of each individual station, beginning with Westlake station in August 1989, and ending with Convention Place station the day before the beginning of service. A ceremonial walk and run was held on September 9, 1990, and attracted 5,000 participants. In its first year of operations, the bus tunnel carried 28,000 daily passengers on 688 scheduled bus trips. The tunnel reduced the number of buses operated on 3rd Avenue at peak hours from 190 to 86, with 20 Metro routes using the tunnel. The Seattle Times called it a "qualified success", commenting that the tunnel was like a "mini-subway system". The paper's editorial board also requested that Metro expand tunnel hours to keep buses running for late-night workers and entertainment events held on weekends. On December 9, 1991, the SODO Busway opened, extending bus service from the tunnel into SODO and moving southbound routes off Interstate 5. Direct access from Interstate 90 to the bus tunnel was opened in February 1992 as part of a reversible express lane system for the new floating bridge. The first use of the tunnel by Sound Transit buses began on September 18, 1999, with the takeover of Metro's Seattle–Bellevue express route, which was renumbered from 226 to 550. To operate buses in the tunnel, Sound Transit leased 20 dual-mode buses from Metro, repainted them in the agency's colors, and contracted with Metro to operate the route along with other Sound Transit Express routes in King County. ### Renovation for light rail From the outset, the bus tunnel was intended to be converted for light rail trains at some point in the future. Metro approved the addition of tracks to the bus tunnel in 1988, appropriating half of the \$5 million used to install them during tunnel construction, the remainder coming from federal sources. To save \$1.5 million in costs, Metro eliminated most of the rail's electrical insulation, which would later render them unusable for rail service. A regional transit authority was formed in the early 1990s to build and operate a light rail system that would use the bus tunnel within Downtown Seattle. The authority, later named Sound Transit, gained voter approval in November 1996 to build a \$3.9 billion system between Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Downtown Seattle, and the University District. In 1998, Sound Transit found that the rails in the tunnel would need to be replaced at a cost of up to \$110 million and require a full closure for two years. The plan would also require the purchase of new hybrid electric buses to replace the Breda fleet, as the electrical systems were incompatible. Convention Place station would have to be abandoned as it was too shallow to support a northern extension under Interstate 5. Sound Transit approved its route for the light rail project, named Central Link (now the 1 Line), in November 1999, including four of the five stations in the downtown transit tunnel (excluding Convention Place). King County Executive Ron Sims proposed transferring ownership of the tunnel, along with \$130 million in debt and liabilities for maintenance and operations, from King County Metro to Sound Transit in 2004. The two agencies signed an agreement in May 2000 that formally transferred ownership and responsibility for the tunnel to Sound Transit, in exchange for \$195.6 million paid to King County Metro. Metro would retain ownership of Convention Place station and other assets, while Sound Transit would convert the tunnel to rail operation after 2004. Sound Transit underwent a funding crisis in 2001 after the Central Link light rail project was found to be over budget and would not be able to open until 2009, three years later than planned. The light rail project was truncated to Westlake station in Downtown Seattle and to Tukwila, the sections north of downtown and south to the airport being deferred to a later date. The King County Council called for a new agreement to be negotiated with Sound Transit adding requirements for an adopted plan for light rail service to Northgate, and for a study into new riders that light rail would bring to the tunnel over a conventional bus network. In early 2002, Sound Transit also explored, and ultimately rejected, a proposal to build a parallel, rail-only tunnel under 5th Avenue that would cost \$1 billion. Sound Transit and the King County Council signed a new joint-operations agreement in June 2002, leaving King County Metro as owners of the tunnel and Sound Transit responsible for paying part of the tunnel's debt service at an estimated cost of \$65 million. The agreement would allow for buses and light rail trains to share the tunnel and its stations beginning in 2009, after a two-year closure for renovations. A separate agreement signed in May 2003 selected King County Metro as the operator of the light rail line. Metro began testing a fleet of new hybrid diesel-electric buses in 2002, intending to use them in the bus tunnel before and after the conversion to joint bus-rail operations. The first few of a planned fleet of 235 hybrid diesel-electric articulated buses began operating on tunnel bus routes in June 2004. The Breda dual-mode trolleybuses were removed from the tunnel in January 2005 and would later be refurbished into electric-only trolleybuses for use on the city's trolleybus network. The last day of trolleybus operation in the tunnel was January 24, 2005, with only a single dual-mode bus in service on the final day. In February 2004, Sound Transit announced that it would begin the closure and renovation of the bus tunnel in September 2005, two years earlier than scheduled, to save money and reduce construction delays. Construction of a stub tunnel under Pine Street near Convention Place station, to be used for light rail train storage and turnback, as well as a future extension to Capitol Hill, began in January 2005. The bus tunnel was closed on September 24, 2005, moving the tunnel's 21 routes and 140 buses per hour to surface streets. 3rd Avenue was converted to a "transit-priority corridor" during peak periods, restricting general traffic to one-block travel. The \$82.7 million construction contract for the transit tunnel renovation was awarded to Balfour Beatty in August 2004, 12 percent below Sound Transit's estimates. The majority of the cost was paid by Sound Transit and supplemented by \$8.1 million from King County Metro. As part of the renovations, the tunnel's roadway was lowered by eight inches (20 cm) to allow for level boarding, required by the Americans with Disabilities Act; as a result, Metro added strobe lights to bus mirrors, which were lowered to head height, and added warning signs. New electrical, mechanical, and emergency systems were installed, along with a new communications system connecting to a joint-operations center. The project ended up costing \$94 million in total, 3.4 percent over the budget set in 2004. During the closure, Metro found that average travel time through downtown increased only 11 percent during the afternoon peak period, and ridership on popular routes only dropped slightly. ### Joint bus and train operations The tunnel reopened to service on September 24, 2007, with tunnel routes modified to group common destinations together. Initially, the reopened tunnel was in use only on weekdays, with Saturday operation not yet reinstated. Stations were given new entrance signs, lighting fixtures, electronic passenger information signs, and restored paint. The peak bus-only restrictions on 3rd Avenue remained in place after the reopening, along with the skip-stop service that Metro implemented on the street. The tunnel was temporarily closed for nine days in December after a computer glitch disrupted the tunnel's new emergency-control system, which was repaired and replaced. The tunnel had remained closed on weekends after its reopening, but Saturday operation was reinstated and Sunday operation was introduced in May 2009. Simulated light rail testing in the tunnel also began on May 20, 2009, with two-car trains operating alongside in-service buses, making it the first joint bus and rail tunnel with stations in the United States; the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel, a joint bus and rail tunnel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had already been in operation but lacked underground stations. Service on the Central Link light rail line began on July 18, 2009, operating from Westlake station in the tunnel to Tukwila International Boulevard station near the airport. Light rail service was extended north from Westlake to University of Washington station (via Capitol Hill station) on March 19, 2016, coinciding with the moving of several bus routes out of the tunnel to accommodate increased train frequencies. The ramp from International District/Chinatown station to the Interstate 90 express lanes was closed in September 2018 as part of preparations for East Link construction. ### End of bus service In November 2015, King County Metro signed a \$147 million agreement to sell Convention Place station to the Washington State Convention Center for redevelopment. The convention center plans to build a new expansion on the property, necessitating the closure of the station and transit tunnel to buses earlier than planned. In 2017, Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation announced that the tunnel would become rail-only in 2019, two years sooner than the planned switch in 2021 to coincide with the opening of the Northgate Link Extension. Convention Place station was permanently closed on July 21, 2018, and was replaced with a set of bus stops on 9th Avenue and a new tunnel access ramp. Bus service in the tunnel ended on March 23, 2019, with a ceremonial trip by a preserved Breda dual-mode bus at 1 a.m. The remaining 830 bus trips through the tunnel, serving approximately 37,000 riders on seven routes, were redirected onto surface corridors on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th avenues. Metro and the city government also increased surface street capacity for buses by introducing all-door boarding for all 3rd Avenue and Westlake Avenue routes at 31 stops, improving signal timing, and adding a new northbound bus lane on 5th and 6th avenues. During early 2020, Sound Transit built connections to East Link at International District/Chinatown station. Over a ten-week period that began in January 2020, four-car trains ran on a single track within the tunnel, with through-passengers transferring at Pioneer Square station via a temporary center platform, reducing frequency to 13–15 minutes. The tunnel was also closed for four weekends until work was completed in late March, after a week-long delay in testing. Frequency restrictions brought on by the project remained due to the coronavirus pandemic and local shutdowns. Sound Transit originally planned to assume full ownership of the tunnel in 2020, but later delayed plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic and issues with station escalators. The 36 escalators serving the downtown tunnel stations, which suffered from breakdowns and lengthy repairs, are planned to be repaired under a new contractor to replace Kone. Sound Transit took over maintenance operations on January 1, 2021, and signed a contract with Schindler Group. The full transfer of ownership was approved by Sound Transit on October 27, 2022, at no cost due to an agreement with Metro to pay off \$87 million of remaining debt incurred from its construction. As part of the transfer, \$96 million has been budgeted for upgrades to elevators and escalators, fixing utilities and station elements, and cleaning soiled artwork. In September 2022, ORCA card readers were removed from the platforms and new signage and tactile markings added for fare paid zones. Sound Transit plans to replace all 58 escalators and elevators in the transit tunnel over a nine-year period beginning in 2023 at a cost of \$134 million. In addition to wear and age, some pieces of equipment are also due for replacement because of flooding and rainwater seepage. As of June 2023, 56 of the 58 elevators and escalators in the tunnel stations are in operation.
210,880	Crater (constellation)	1,172,481,235	Constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere	[ "Constellations", "Constellations listed by Ptolemy", "Crater (constellation)", "Southern constellations" ]	Crater is a small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is the latinization of the Greek krater, a type of cup used to water down wine. One of the 48 constellations listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy, it depicts a cup that has been associated with the god Apollo and is perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. There is no star brighter than third magnitude in the constellation. Its two brightest stars, Delta Crateris of magnitude 3.56 and Alpha Crateris of magnitude 4.07, are ageing orange giant stars that are cooler and larger than the Sun. Beta Crateris is a binary star system composed of a white giant star and a white dwarf. Seven star systems have been found to host planets. A few notable galaxies, including Crater 2 and NGC 3981, and a famous quasar lie within the borders of the constellation. ## Mythology In the Babylonian star catalogues dating from at least 1100 BC, the stars of Crater were possibly incorporated with those of the crow Corvus in the Babylonian Raven (MUL.UGA.MUSHEN). British scientist John H. Rogers observed that the adjoining constellation Hydra signified Ningishzida, the god of the underworld in the Babylonian compendium MUL.APIN. He proposed that Corvus and Crater (along with the water snake Hydra) were death symbols and marked the gate to the underworld. Corvus and Crater also featured in the iconography of Mithraism, which is thought to have been of middle-eastern origin before spreading into Ancient Greece and Rome. Crater is identified with a story from Greek mythology in which a crow or raven serves Apollo, and is sent to fetch water, but it delays its journey as it finds some figs and waits for them to ripen before eating them. Finally, it retrieves the water in a cup and takes back a water snake, blaming it for drinking the water. According to the myth, Apollo saw through the fraud, and angrily cast the crow, cup, and snake into the sky. The three constellations were arranged in such a way that the crow was prevented from drinking from the cup, and hence seen as a warning against sinning against the gods. Phylarchus wrote of a different origin for Crater. He told how the city of Eleusa near Troy was beset by plague. Its ruler Demiphon consulted an oracle which decreed that a maiden should be sacrificed each year. Demiphon declared that he would choose a maiden by lottery, but he did not include his own daughters. One nobleman, Mastusius, objected, forcing Demiphon to sacrify his daughter. Later, Mastusius killed Demiphon's daughters and tricked the ruler in drinking a cup containing a mixture of their blood and wine. Upon finding out the deed, the king ordered Mastusius and the cup to be thrown into the sea. Crater signifies the cup. ### In other cultures In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Crater are located within the constellation of the Vermillion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què). They depict, along with some stars from Hydra, Yi, the Red Bird's wings. Yi also denotes the 27th lunar mansion. Alternatively, Yi depicts a heroic bowman; his bow composed of other stars in Hydra. In the Society Islands, Crater was recognized as a constellation called Moana-'ohu-noa-'ei-ha'a-moe-hara ("vortex-ocean-in-which-to-lose-crime"). ## Characteristics Covering 282.4 square degrees and hence 0.685% of the sky, Crater ranks 53rd of the 88 constellations in area. It is bordered by Leo and Virgo to the north, Corvus to the east, Hydra to the south and west, and Sextans to the northwest. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Crt". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of six segments (illustrated in infobox). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −6.66° and −25.20°. Its position in the southern celestial hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers south of 65°N. ## Features ### Stars The German cartographer Johann Bayer used the Greek letters alpha through lambda to label the most prominent stars in the constellation. Bode added more, though only Psi Crateris remains in use. John Flamsteed gave 31 stars in Crater and the segment of Hydra immediately below Crater Flamsteed designations, naming the resulting constellation Hydra et Crater. Most of these stars lie in Hydra. The three brightest stars—Delta, Alpha, and Gamma Crateris—form a triangle located near the brighter star Nu Hydrae in Hydra. Within the constellation's borders, there are 33 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. Delta Crateris is the brightest star in Crater at magnitude 3.6. Located 163 ± 4 light-years away, it is an orange giant star of spectral type K0III that is 1.0–1.4 times as massive as the Sun. An ageing star, it has cooled and expanded to 22.44 ± 0.28 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 171.4 ± 9.0 as much power as the Sun from its outer envelope at an effective temperature of 4,408 ± 57 K. Traditionally called Alkes "the cup", and marking the base of the cup is Alpha Crateris, an orange-hued star of magnitude 4.1, that is 141 ± 2 light-years from the Sun. With an estimated mass 1.75 ± 0.24 times that of the Sun, it has exhausted its core hydrogen and expanded to 13.2 ± 0.55 times the Sun's diameter, shining with 69 times its luminosity and an effective temperature of around 4600 K. With a magnitude of 4.5, Beta Crateris is a binary star system, consisting of a white-hued giant star of spectral type A1III and a white dwarf of spectral type DA1.4, 296 ± 8 light-years from the Sun. Much smaller than the primary, the white dwarf cannot be seen as a separate object, even by the Hubble Space Telescope. Gamma Crateris is a double star, resolvable in small amateur telescopes. The primary is a white main sequence star of spectral type A7V, that is an estimated 1.81 times as massive as the Sun, while the secondary—of magnitude 9.6—has 75% the Sun's mass, and is likely an orange dwarf. The two stars take at least 1150 years to orbit each other. The system is 85.6 ± 0.8 light-years away from the Sun. Epsilon and Zeta Crateris mark the Cup's rim. The largest naked eye star in the constellation, Epsilon Crateris is an evolved K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K5 III. It has about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 44.7 times the Sun's radius. The star is radiating 391 times the solar luminosity. It is 366 ± 8 light-years distant from the Sun. Zeta Crateris is a binary star system. The primary, component A, is a magnitude 4.95 evolved giant star with a stellar classification of G8 III. It is a red clump star that is generating energy through the fusion of helium at its core. Zeta Crateris has expanded to 13 times the radius of the Sun, and shines with 157 times the luminosity of the Sun. The secondary, component B, is a magnitude 7.84 star. Zeta Crateris is a confirmed member of the Sirius supercluster and is a candidate member of the Ursa Major Moving Group, a collection of stars that share a similar motion through space and may have at one time been members of the same open cluster. The system is located 326 ± 9 light-years from the Sun. Variable stars are popular targets for amateur astronomers. Their observations provide valuable contributions to understanding star behaviour. Located near Alkes is the red-hued R Crateris, a semiregular variable star of type SRb and a spectral classification of M7. It ranges from magnitude 9.8 to 11.2 over an optical period of 160 days. It is 770 ± 40 light-years distant from the Sun. TT Crateris is a cataclysmic variable; a binary system composed of a white dwarf around as massive as the Sun in close orbit with an orange dwarf of spectral type K5V. The two orbit each other every 6 hours 26 minutes. The white dwarf strips matter off its companion, forming an accretion disk which periodically ignites and erupts. The star system has a magnitude of 15.9 when quiescent, brightening to 12.7 in outburst. SZ Crateris is a magnitude 8.5 BY Draconis type variable star. It is a nearby star system located about 42.9 ± 1.0 light-years from the Sun, and is a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group. HD 98800, also known as TV Crateris, is a quadruple star system around 7–10 million years old, made up of two pairs of stars in close orbit. One pair has a debris disk that contains dust and gas orbiting them both. Spanning the distance between 3 and 5 astronomical units from the stars, it is thought to be a protoplanetary disk. DENIS-P J1058.7-1548 is a brown dwarf less than 5.5% as massive as the Sun. With a surface temperature of between 1700 and 2000 K, it is cool enough for clouds to form. Variations in its brightness in visible and infrared spectra suggest it has some form of atmospheric cloud cover. HD 96167 is a star 1.31 ± 0.09 times as massive as the Sun, that has most likely exhausted its core hydrogen and begun expanding and cooling into a yellow subgiant with a diameter 1.86 ± 0.07 times that of the Sun, and 3.4 ± 0.2 times its luminosity. Analysis of its radial velocity revealed it has a planet with a minimum mass 68% that of Jupiter, which takes 498.9 ± 1.0 days to complete an orbit. With the orbital separation varying between 0.38 and 2.22 astronomical units, the orbit is highly eccentric. The stellar system is 279 ± 1 light-years away from the Sun. HD 98649 is a yellow main sequence star, classified as a G4V, that has the same mass and diameter as the Sun, but has only 86% of its luminosity. In 2012, a long-period ( 4951 days) planet companion, at least 6.8 times as massive as Jupiter, was discovered by radial velocity method. Its orbit was calculated to be highly eccentric, swinging out to 10.6 astronomical units away from its star, and hence a candidate for direct imaging. BD-10°3166 is a metallic orange main sequence star of spectral type K3.0V, 268 ± 10 light-years distant from the Sun. It was found to have a hot Jupiter-type planet that has a minimum mass of 48% of Jupiter's, and takes only 3.49 days to complete an orbit. WASP-34 is a sun-like star of spectral type G5V that has 1.01 ± 0.07 times the mass and 0.93 ± 0.12 times the diameter of the Sun. It has a planet 0.59 ± 0.01 times as massive as Jupiter that takes 4.317 days to complete an orbit. The system is 432 ± 3 light-years distant from the Sun. ### Deep-sky objects The Crater 2 dwarf is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located approximately 380,000 light-years from the Sun. NGC 3511 is a spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on, of magnitude 11.0, located 2° west of Beta Crateris. Located 11' away is NGC 3513, a barred spiral galaxy. NGC 3981 is a spiral galaxy with two wide and perturbed spiral arms. It is a member of the NGC 4038 Group, which, along with NGC 3672 and NGC 3887, are part of a group of 45 galaxies known as the Crater Cloud within the Virgo Supercluster. RX J1131 is a quasar located 6 billion light-years away from the Sun. The black hole in the center of the quasar was the first black hole whose spin has ever been directly measured. GRB 011211 was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected on December 11, 2001. The burst lasted 270 seconds, making it the longest burst that had ever been detected by X-ray astronomy satellite BeppoSAX up to that point. GRB 030323 lasted 26 seconds and was detected on 23 March 2003. ### Meteor showers The Eta Craterids are a faint meteor shower that takes place between 11 and 22 January, peaking around January 16 and 17. ## See also - Crater (Chinese astronomy)
406,754	Interstate 182	1,115,155,247	Interstate highway in Tri-Cities, Washington	[ "Auxiliary Interstate Highways", "Interstate Highways in Washington (state)", "Transportation in Benton County, Washington", "Transportation in Franklin County, Washington" ]	Interstate 182 (I-182) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It serves as a connector from I-82 to the Tri-Cities region that crosses the Columbia River on the Interstate 182 Bridge between Richland and Pasco. I-182 is 15 miles (24 km) long and entirely concurrent with U.S. Route 12 (US 12); it also intersects State Route 240 (SR 240) and US 395. Business leaders in the Tri-Cities began lobbying for a freeway in 1958 after early alignments for I-82 were routed away from the area. I-182 was created by the federal government in 1969 as a compromise to the routing dispute, which allowed for direct access to the Tri-Cities and a bypass for other traffic. The new freeway would also include construction of a bridge between Richland and Pasco, proposed since the 1940s at the site of an earlier cable ferry that ran until 1931. Construction on I-182 was scheduled to begin in 1971, but was delayed by opposition from conservation groups, disputes over interchange locations, and a federal freeze on highway funding in 1980. The first section to be built, over the Yakima River west of Richland, began construction in late 1980 and opened to traffic three years later. The Interstate 182 Bridge opened in November 1984 and linked to a longer section opened a month earlier in Pasco connecting to the existing US 12 bypass. The final sections of the freeway, between I-82 and Richland, opened to traffic in March 1986. ## Route description The freeway begins at a trumpet interchange with I-82 and US 12, located near Badger Mountain southwest of Richland. The I-182/US 12 concurrency travels through the Goose Gap in the Horse Heaven Hills and continues northeast into suburban Richland, cutting between housing subdivisions and big-box stores around the Queensgate Drive interchange. It then crosses over the Yakima River and intersects SR 240, beginning a short concurrency along the southern outskirts of central Richland while following the Tri-City Railroad. At the following interchange with George Washington Way, SR 240 splits from the freeway and travels southeast towards Kennewick. From Richland, I-182 passes a golf course and crosses the Columbia River on the Interstate 182 Bridge, officially named the Lee–Volpentest Bridges, which carries six lanes and a section of the Sacagawea Heritage Trail on twin 1,950-foot-long (590 m) concrete spans. The freeway then enters Franklin County and passes through the suburban neighborhoods of western Pasco as it bends southeast after an interchange with Broadmoor Boulevard. It then passes Gesa Stadium, a minor league ballpark, at North Road 68 and reaches an interchange with US 395, which connects to downtown Kennewick via the Blue Bridge. I-182 continues concurrently with US 12 and US 395 around the south side of the Columbia Basin College campus and utilizes an eastbound collector–distributor lane until its next interchange at 20th Avenue, near the entrance to the Tri-Cities Airport. The freeway passes between residential areas and a golf course before crossing over a railyard owned by the BNSF Railway north of Pasco's Amtrak station. At a cloverleaf interchange with SR 397 northeast of Pasco, US 395 splits off to travel north towards Spokane. I-182 ends southeast of the interchange, while the roadway continues as US 12 towards Burbank and Walla Walla. As a component of the Interstate Highway System, the entire 15-mile (24 km) corridor of I-182 is listed as part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility; it is also part of the state government's Highway of Statewide Significance program, recognizing its connection to major communities. The freeway is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey of traffic volume that is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic. Average traffic volumes on the highway in 2016 ranged from a minimum of 11,000 vehicles at the I-82 interchange to a maximum of 67,000 vehicles at its eastern interchange with SR 240. The corridor is served by several bus routes operated by Ben Franklin Transit and has two park-and-ride facilities. ## History ### Predecessor highways and crossings The Tri-Cities region gained its first overland connection in July 1888 with the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway's permanent bridge over the Columbia River between Kennewick and the new town of Pasco. A road bridge was opened nearby in October 1922 and became part of the Inland Empire Highway (State Road 3), a state highway created in 1913 to connect Ellensburg to the Palouse and Spokane. The Inland Empire Highway was incorporated into the national numbered highway system created in 1926, which divided it between several routes. The Tri-Cities section was part of US 410, an east–west route that connected Aberdeen to Lewiston, Idaho. Richland's sole Columbia River crossing was the Timmerman ferry, a cable ferry that ran from 1894 to 1931, but an alternate existed using the Yakima River bridge and a route through Kennewick. A fixed bridge north of the city was proposed in the 1940s and 1950s in response to job growth at North Richland's Hanford Site under the jurisdiction of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The bridge was never funded for study, but the AEC built a four-lane bridge across the Yakima River to connect Richland to Kennewick in 1951 that replaced an earlier bailey bridge and helped relieve Hanford traffic. ### I-82 routing dispute I-82 was added to the Interstate Highway System in October 1957 by the federal government, which allocated approximately 132 miles (212 km) for the corridor from Ellensburg, Washington, to Pendleton, Oregon. The initial proposal from the federal government, which was approved by the Washington State Highway Commission in January 1958, would follow the Yakima Valley but bypass the Tri-Cities by turning south near Prosser or Mabton to cross the Columbia River near Boardman, Oregon. After the route was shifted east in 1958 to cross the Columbia River on the existing Umatilla Bridge, business leaders in the Tri-Cities began lobbying for a longer freeway to directly serve the area. In 1961, the state government ordered a feasibility study to examine a modified route that would serve the Tri-Cities, including the use of the Hanford Site to bypass the Yakima Valley. The study came in response to a lobbying effort from the Tri-Cities with support from Walla Walla leaders. The study initially concluded that a Tri-Cities alignment would be unable to stay within the maximum mileage from the federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) for the project, but a re-study was ordered in January 1962. The results of the second study were unveiled by the Washington State Highway Commission in May 1963, including a route that would turn south at Kiona on the outskirts of the Tri-Cities. The commission instead chose a route that would turn south in Prosser, which sparked another round of requests the following year from the newly-formed Benton–Franklin Counties Good Roads Association. The association received support from local politicians, businessmen, and the Tri-City Nuclear Industrial Council among other groups. A separate feasibility study begun in 1965 recommended a longer alignment through southern Richland and northern Pasco that would continue along Lake Wallula towards Pendleton. This study was endorsed by the commission and the regional BPR office in December 1967 but remained opposed by Oregon groups. ### Planning and opposition I-182 was proposed by the federal government in late 1968 as a compromise between the Washington and Oregon highway commissions, which allowed the Interstate system to serve the Tri-Cities without a great impact to direct traffic bound for Oregon. Its designation and general route, from I-82 in Prosser to US 12 (which replaced US 410 in 1967) east of Pasco, was approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials on June 23, 1969. The Washington State Highway Commission also approved the general corridor for I-182 on July 22; the state legislature codified the highway as State Route 182 in 1971. Construction on the 35-mile (56 km) freeway was scheduled to begin as early as 1971 if engineering work was accelerated, but was delayed by limited funding and disputed routing decisions. The new freeway would use part of the Pasco Bypass, which opened on June 11, 1965, as part of US 410. Other sections were redesigned through route revisions prompted by local requests, particularly in Pasco after the governments of Richland and Benton County approved a tentative design for two interchanges in October 1970. The state's proposed alignment north of the Tri-Cities Airport was abandoned in favor of a southern route around the Columbia Basin College campus connecting to the Pasco Bypass. A proposed interchange on the east side of the proposed Columbia River bridge in western Pasco was also moved to Road 100 by the state highway commission. An environmental impact statement (EIS) under the newly-enforceable National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was ordered for the project in early 1971 following protests from local conservation groups, such as the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society and Rattlesnake Hills chapter of the Sierra Club. They raised concerns on the impact of the proposed Columbia River bridge on wildlife, particularly waterfowl around nearby Columbia Point in the Yakima River Delta. They were joined by landowners protesting the routing of I-182 through farmland west of Richland, but were overruled by the Richland city council's endorsement of the Goose Gap corridor in April 1971. The conservationists and landowners threatened to file a lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Highways for violating the NEPA, but halted their plans to sue after negotiations with the state following delays in bidding for the Kiona section in early 1973. The state government promised to not commit to a Richland-area route as a result of these negotiations. ### Route changes and funding The routing of I-182 also remained affected by the unresolved routing of I-82 between Prosser and Oregon; among the options considered were a full route through the Tri-Cities towards the Wallula Gap as well as routes in the Horse Heaven Hills with a north–south version of I-182 through Kennewick. A cross-state compromise was reached in late 1973, which allowed for I-82 to be routed through the Horse Heaven Hills to the southwest of the Tri-Cities and towards the Umatilla Bridge; a truncated version of I-182 would then run from an interchange near Badger Mountain to Pasco. The first freeway interchange built to Interstate Highway standards on the truncated section of I-182 was a full cloverleaf interchange at Oregon Avenue (now SR 397). It began construction in 1971 and opened in July 1973 as part of \$2 million in improvements (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) to the Pasco Bypass funded by the state. The Federal Highway Administration (successor to the BPR) granted full approval to the corridor for I-182 in December 1976 and estimated its full cost at \$90 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars); the EIS for the project and the Prosser–Oregon section of I-82 had been approved in October and the federal government found no significant impacts. The general design of I-182, including its interchanges and proposed location, were approved the following year after several public hearings and consultation with local governments. The Richland city government attempted to shift the location of the SR 240 interchange to the west side of the Yakima River, but withdrew those plans amid criticism from other local officials. In 1978, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners attempted to shift the Road 100 interchange east by 1,200 feet (370 m) to align with the existing road, which was opposed by local landowners who sought an angled interchange at Road 116 to serve future housing development. Following a study and several public hearings, the county commissioners voted the following year to confirm that the interchange location would follow Road 100; the vote was later upheld in a 1983 decision by the Washington Supreme Court following several appeals by opponents. The state government estimated that 37 homes, several warehouses, an adult movie theater, and part of a local golf course would need to be demolished or relocated to make way for the freeway. Construction of I-182 was originally planned to be completed by 1979, but reduced revenue from the state's gas tax, meant to match the federal government's 90 percent contribution to Interstate construction funding, pushed back the start of construction by several years. Completion of I-182 was also delayed by a federal freeze on highway funding with major cutbacks on projects that had not begun construction ordered by the Carter administration in early 1980 due to a national inflation crisis. Washington received \$55 million out of its requested \$228 million allocation (equivalent to \$ million out of \$ million in dollars) for 1980, which caused planning delays on I-182 and other projects around the state. In June, former governor Albert D. Rosellini, as a member of the Washington State Transportation Commission, proposed earmarking all remaining federal funds to complete I-90 between Seattle and Bellevue while deferring other projects, but the commission rejected his proposal following public outcry. The federal government released \$150 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) of Washington's 1981 allocation in October 1980, which allowed for bidding to construct I-182 to begin amid the wait for more funding. The state legislature passed a law in March 1982 that would allow WSDOT (successor to the highways department) to sell short-term municipal bonds in order to resume stalled projects, including I-182, until the federal government would be able to allocate more funds. A five-cent national gas tax increase in 1983 allowed for \$16 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) in restored funds to be allocated to Washington, which was earmarked for I-82, I-182, and I-90. ### Construction Construction on I-182 was divided into three sections: the 7.6-mile (12.2 km) western half from I-82 to Road 100 in western Pasco with four interchanges, the 5.4-mile (8.7 km) eastern half from Road 100 to US 395 near the Columbia Basin College, and the existing Pasco Bypass carrying US 12 and US 395. In October 1980, construction on the first project in the western segment, the 824-foot (251 m) Yakima River Bridge (officially the R.C. Bremmer Bridge), began with the relocation of a nearby electrical line and railroad. The longer Columbia River Bridge broke ground on July 8, 1981, following three attempts to solicit construction bids, and was scheduled to be complete within three years. Bidding on the Richland section of I-182 between the Yakima and Columbia rivers was delayed due to a months-long land dispute with the owner of a gravel pit on the site of a proposed interchange. The dispute was resolved with a tentative payment agreement in July 1981, which allowed construction to begin in April 1982. The section also included the partial closure of the city-owned Sham-Na-Pum golf course at Columbia Point, which was reconfigured to allow for continued play until its planned redevelopment into a shopping mall. The westbound span of the Yakima River Bridge opened for temporary use by two-way traffic in September 1983. Construction on the east side of the river near Pasco began in early 1982; grading work on the West Pasco section was completed by the end of the year. The first overpass on I-182, which carried US 12 (now Kennedy Road) west of Richland, opened to traffic in April 1983. In April 1984, a section of SR 240 was rerouted onto the new lanes of I-182 in Richland in preparation for further work on the George Washington Way interchange. US 12 was redirected to a loop ramp at the Columbia Basin College interchange in June 1984, which caused complaints due to its slower speeds compared to the direct ramp that was to be demolished for the interchange. A 5-mile (8.0 km) section in Pasco between Road 100 and Columbia Basin College was completed in September 1984 but remained unopened for another month due to delays in light installation. The Interstate 182 Bridge over the Columbia River, officially named the Lee–Volpentest Bridges, was dedicated on November 27, 1984. It cost \$28 million (equivalent to \$ million in dollars) to construct and was the first major bridge in the state to use post-tensioned cast-in-place concrete. The north span of the bridge was initially opened to two-way traffic while work was completed on the south span, which took until 1986. The bridge's opening triggered new housing development in western Pasco, primarily to serve Hanford workers who saw large reductions in their commuting distance. Paving of the westernmost section of I-182, between I-82 and Richland, began in July 1985 under the M.A. Segale Construction Company as part of the final phase of major construction for the freeway. The section was paved by the end of the year, but the freeway remained closed to traffic due to cold weather delaying final preparations for use. The Richland section between US 12 and George Washington Way was opened on January 8, 1986, following an additional delay while new signs were reinstalled after they had been knocked over in a windstorm. The I-82 interchange opened on March 27 and marked the full completion of I-182; the highways were opened on an accelerated schedule to be used as a detour during a long-term closure of the nearby Blue Bridge for re-decking. ### Later projects The completion of I-182 triggered plans for new commercial and residential development at its interchanges in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly Kennedy Road (now Queensgate Drive) in Richland, Road 100 (renamed Broadmoor Boulevard in 1996) in western Pasco, and Road 68 in Pasco. The Queensgate Drive interchange was rebuilt from 2001 to 2005 at a cost of \$2.3 million to add a westbound auxiliary lane on I-182 and a loop ramp for southbound traffic. Construction began in July 2001, and the loop ramp opened to traffic in October of that year; it was followed by the auxiliary lane, which was completed in November 2005. A second phase to add a matching ramp and auxiliary lane for eastbound traffic was left unfunded with a projected cost of \$4.6 million. The city of Richland later replaced the east half of the interchange with a roundabout that opened in August 2018. The Broadmoor Boulevard interchange gained a westbound loop onramp in 2009, shortly after the city of Pasco completed improvements to the Road 68 loop ramps. ## Exit list
15,442	INS Vikrant (1961)	1,172,549,907	Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy	[ "1945 ships", "Majestic-class aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy", "Military and war museums in India", "Ships built by Harland and Wolff", "Ships built in Belfast", "World War II aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom" ]	INS Vikrant (from Sanskrit vikrānta, "courageous") was a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. The ship was laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy during World War II, but was put on hold when the war ended. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961. Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy and played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. In its later years, the ship underwent major refits to embark modern aircraft, before being decommissioned in January 1997. She was preserved as a museum ship in Naval Docks, Mumbai until 2012. In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and scrapped in November 2014 after final clearance from the Supreme Court. ## History and construction In 1943 the Royal Navy commissioned six light aircraft carriers in an effort to counter the German and Japanese navies. The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was the result. Serving with eight navies between 1944 and 2001, these ships were designed and constructed by civilian shipyards as an intermediate step between the full-sized fleet aircraft carriers and the less expensive but limited-capability escort carriers. Sixteen light fleet carriers were ordered, and all were laid down as what became the Colossus class in 1942 and 1943. The final six ships were modified during construction to handle larger and faster aircraft, and were re-designated the Majestic class. The improvements from the Colossus class to the Majestic class included heavier displacement, armament, catapult, aircraft lifts and aircraft capacity. Construction on the ships was suspended at the end of World War II, as the ships were surplus to the Royal Navy's peacetime requirements. Instead, the carriers were modernized and sold to several Commonwealth nations. The ships were similar, but each varied depending on the requirements of the country to which the ship was sold. HMS Hercules, the fifth ship in the Majestic class, was ordered on 7 August 1942 and laid down on 14 October 1943 by Vickers-Armstrongs at High Walker on the River Tyne. After World War II ended with Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, she was launched on 22 September, and her construction was suspended in May 1946. At the time of suspension, she was 75 per cent complete. Her hull was preserved, and in May 1947 she was laid up in Gareloch off the Clyde. In January 1957, she was purchased by India and was towed to Belfast to complete her construction and modifications by Harland & Wolff. Several improvements to the original design were ordered by the Indian Navy, including an angled deck, steam catapults, and a modified island. Local "knowledge" in Belfast was that some of the trolley buses being decommissioned at the time left Belfast on Vikrant, to test the new steam catapult on the way to India. ## Design and description Vikrant displaced 16,000 t (15,750 long tons) at standard load and 19,500 t (19,200 long tons) at deep load. She had an overall length of 700 ft (210 m), a beam of 128 ft (39 m) and a mean deep draught of 24 ft (7.3 m). She was powered by a pair of Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two propeller shafts, using steam provided by four Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of 40,000 indicated horsepower (30,000 kW) which gave a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph). Vikrant carried about 3,175 t (3,125 long tons) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), and 6,200 mi (10,000 km) at 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). The air and ship crew comprised 1,110 officers and men. The ship was armed with sixteen 40-millimetre (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns, but these were later reduced to eight. At various times, its aircraft consisted of Hawker Sea Hawk and STOVL BAe Sea Harrier jet fighters, Sea King Mk 42B and HAL Chetak helicopters, and Breguet Br.1050 Alizé anti-submarine aircraft. The carrier fielded between 21 and 23 aircraft of all types. Vikrant's flight decks were designed to handle aircraft up to 24,000 lb (11,000 kg), but 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) remained the heaviest landing weight of an aircraft. Larger 54 by 34 feet (16.5 by 10.4 m) lifts were installed. The ship was equipped with one LW-05 air-search radar, one ZW-06 surface-search radar, one LW-10 tactical radar and one Type 963 aircraft landing radar with other communication systems. ## Service The Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier was commissioned as INS Vikrant on 4 March 1961 in Belfast by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. The name Vikrant was derived from the Sanskrit word vikrānta meaning "stepping beyond", "courageous" or "bold". Captain Pritam Singh Mahindroo was the first commanding officer of the ship. Two squadrons were to be embarked on the ship - INAS 300, commanded by Lieutenant Commander B. R. Acharya which had British Hawker Sea Hawk fighter-bombers and INAS 310, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Mihir K. Roy which had French Alizé anti-submarine aircraft. On 18 May 1961, the first jet landed on her deck. It was piloted by Lieutenant Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, who later served as admiral and Chief of the Naval Staff of India from 1984 to 1987. Vikrant formally joined the Indian Navy's fleet in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 3 November 1961, when she was received at Ballard Pier by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In December of that year, the ship was deployed for Operation Vijay (the code name for the annexation of Goa) off the coast of Goa with two destroyers, and . Vikrant did not see action, and patrolled along the coast to deter foreign interference. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Vikrant was in dry dock refitting, and did not see any action. In June 1970, Vikrant was docked at the Naval Dockyard, Bombay, due to many internal fatigue cracks and fissures in the water drums of her boilers that could not be repaired by welding. As replacement drums were not available locally, four new ones were ordered from Britain, and Naval Headquarters issued orders not to use the boilers until further notice. On 26 February 1971 the ship was moved from Ballard Pier Extension to the anchorage, without replacement drums. The main objective behind this move was to light up the boilers at reduced pressure, and work up the main and flight deck machinery that had been idle for almost seven months. On 1 March, the boilers were ignited, and basin trials up to 40 revolutions per minute (RPM) were conducted. Catapult trials were conducted on the same day. The ship began preliminary sea trials on 18 March and returned two days later. Trials were again conducted on 26–27 April. The navy decided to limit the boilers to a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch (2,800 kPa) and the propeller revolutions to 120 RPM ahead and 80 RPM astern, reducing the ship's speed to 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). With the growing expectations of a war with Pakistan in the near future, the navy started to transfer its ships to strategically advantageous locations in Indian waters. The primary concern of Naval Headquarters about the operation was the serviceability of Vikrant. When asked his opinion regarding the involvement of Vikrant in the war, Fleet Operations Officer Captain Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani told the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda: > ...during the 1965 war Vikrant was sitting in Bombay Harbour and did not go out to sea. If the same thing happened in 1971, Vikrant would be called a white elephant and naval aviation would be written off. Vikrant had to be seen being operational even if we didn't fly any aircraft. Nanda and Hiranandani proved to be instrumental in taking Vikrant to war. There were objections that the ship might have severe operational difficulties that would expose the carrier to increased danger on operations. In addition, the three Daphne-class submarines acquired by the Pakistan Navy posed a significant risk to the carrier. In June, extensive deep sea trials were carried out, with steel safety harnesses around the three boilers still operational. Observation windows were fitted as a precautionary measure, to detect any steam leaks. By the end of June, the trials were complete and Vikrant was cleared to participate on operations, with its speed restricted to 14 knots. ### Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 As a part of preparations for the war, Vikrant was assigned to the Eastern Naval Command, then to the Eastern Fleet. This fleet consisted of INS Vikrant, the two Leopard-class frigates and , the two Petya III-class corvettes and , and one submarine, . The main reason behind strengthening the Eastern Fleet was to counter the Pakistani maritime forces deployed in support of military operations in East Bengal. A surveillance area of 18,000 square miles (47,000 km<sup>2</sup>), confined by a triangle with a base of 270 mi (430 km) and sides of 165 mi (266 km) and 225 mi (362 km), was set up in the Bay of Bengal. Any ship in this area was to be challenged and checked. If found to be neutral, it would be escorted to the nearest Indian port, otherwise, it would be captured, and taken as a war prize. In the meantime, intelligence reports confirmed that Pakistan was to deploy a US-built Tench-class submarine, PNS Ghazi. Ghazi was considered as a serious threat to Vikrant by the Indian Navy, as Vikrant's approximate position would be known by the Pakistanis once she started operating aircraft. Of the four available surface ships, INS Kavaratti had no sonar, which meant that the other three had to remain in close vicinity 5–10 mi (8.0–16.1 km) of Vikrant, without which the carrier would be completely vulnerable to attack by Ghazi. On 23 July, Vikrant sailed off to Cochin in company with the Western Fleet. En route, before reaching Cochin on 26 July, Sea King landing trials were carried out. After the completion of the radar and communication trials on 28 July, she departed for Madras, escorted by Brahmaputra and Beas. The next major problem was operating aircraft from the carrier. The commanding officer of the ship, Captain (later Vice Admiral) S. Prakash, was seriously concerned about flight operations. He was concerned that aircrew morale would be adversely affected if flight operations were not undertaken, which could be disastrous. Naval Headquarters remained stubborn on the speed restrictions, and sought confirmation from Prakash whether it was possible to embark an Alizé without compromising the speed restrictions. The speed restrictions imposed by the headquarters meant that Alizé aircraft would have to land at close to stalling speed. Eventually the aircraft weight was reduced, which allowed several of the aircraft to embark, along with a Seahawk squadron. By the end of September, Vikrant and her escorts reached Port Blair. En route to Visakhapatnam, tactical exercises were conducted in the presence of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command. From Vishakhapatnam, Vikrant set out for Madras for maintenance. Rear Admiral S. H. Sharma was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and arrived at Vishakhapatnam on 14 October. After receiving the reports that Pakistan might launch preemptive strikes, maintenance was stopped for another tactical exercise, which was completed during the night of 26–27 October at Vishakhapatnam. Vikrant then returned to Madras to resume maintenance. On 1 November, the Eastern Fleet was formally constituted, and on 13 November, all the ships set out for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To avoid misadventures, it was planned to sail Vikrant to a remote anchorage, isolating it from combat. Simultaneously, deception signals would give the impression that Vikrant was operating somewhere between Madras and Vishakhapatnam. On 23 November, an emergency was declared in Pakistan after a clash of Indian and Pakistani troops in East Pakistan two days earlier. On 2 December, the Eastern Fleet proceeded to its patrol area in anticipation of an attack by Pakistan. The Pakistan Navy had deployed Ghazi on 14 November with the explicit goal of targeting and sinking Vikrant, and Ghazi reached a location near Madras by the 23rd. In an attempt to deceive the Pakistan Navy and Ghazi, India's Naval Headquarters deployed Rajput as a decoy—the ship sailed 160 mi (260 km) off the coast of Vishakhapatnam and broadcast a significant amount of radio traffic, making her appear to be Vikrant. Ghazi, meanwhile, sank off the Visakhapatnam coast under mysterious circumstances. On the night of 3–4 December, a muffled underwater explosion was detected by a coastal battery. The next morning, a local fisherman observed flotsam near the coast, causing Indian naval officials to suspect a vessel had sunk off the coast. The next day, a clearance diving team was sent to search the area, and they confirmed that Ghazi had sunk in shallow waters. The reason for Ghazi's fate is unclear. The Indian Navy's official historian, Hiranandani, suggests three possibilities, after having analysed the position of the rudder and extent of the damage suffered. The first was that Ghazi had come up to periscope depth to identify her position and may have seen an anti-submarine vessel that caused her to crash dive, which in turn may have led her to bury her bow in the bottom. The second possibility is closely related to the first: on the night of the explosion, Rajput was on patrol off Visakhapatnam and observed a severe disturbance in the water. Suspecting that it was a submarine, the ship dropped two depth charges on the spot, on a position that was very close to the wreckage. The third possibility is that there was a mishap when Ghazi was laying mines on the day before hostilities broke out. Vikrant was redeployed towards Chittagong at the outbreak of hostilities. On 4 December, the ship's Sea Hawks struck shipping in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar harbours, sinking or incapacitating most of the ships present. Later strikes targeted Khulna and the Port of Mongla, which continued until 10 December, while other operations were flown to support a naval blockade of East Pakistan. On 14 December, the Sea Hawks attacked the cantonment area in Chittagong, destroying several Pakistani army barracks. Medium anti-aircraft fire was encountered during this strike. Simultaneous attacks by Alizés continued on Cox's Bazar. After this, Vikrant's fuel levels dropped to less than 25 per cent, and the aircraft carrier sailed to Paradip for refueling. The crew of INS Vikrant earned two Maha Vir Chakras and twelve Vir Chakra gallantry medals for their part in the war. ### Later years Vikrant did not see much service after the war, and was given two major modernisation refits—the first one from 1979 to 1981 and the second one from 1987 to 1989. In the first phase, her boilers, radars, communication systems and anti-aircraft guns were modernised, and facilities to operate Sea Harriers were installed. In the second phase, facilities to operate the new Sea Harrier Vertical/Short Take Off and Land (V/STOL) fighter aircraft and the new Sea King Mk 42B Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) helicopters were introduced. A 9.75-degree ski-jump ramp was fitted. The steam catapult was removed during this phase. Again in 1991, Vikrant underwent a six-month refit, followed by another fourteen-month refit in 1992–94. She remained operational thereafter, flying Sea Harriers, Sea Kings and Chetaks until her final sea outing on 23 November 1994. In the same year, a fire was also recorded aboard. In January 1995, the navy decided to keep Vikrant in "safe to float" state. She was laid up and formally decommissioned on 31 January 1997. ### Squadrons embarked During her service, INS Vikrant embarked four squadrons of the Naval Air Arm of the Indian Navy: ## Commanding officers ## Museum ship Following decommissioning in 1997, the ship was earmarked for preservation as a museum ship in Mumbai. Lack of funding prevented progress on the ship's conversion to a museum and it was speculated that the ship would be made into a training ship. In 2001, the ship was opened to the public by the Indian Navy, but the Government of Maharashtra was unable to find a partner to operate the museum on a permanent, long-term basis and the museum was closed after it was deemed unsafe for the public in 2012. ## Scrapping In August 2013, Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, Commander-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, said the Ministry of Defence would scrap the ship as she had become very difficult to maintain and no private bidders had offered to fund the museum's operations. On 3 December 2013, the Indian government decided to auction the ship. The Bombay High Court dismissed a public-interest lawsuit filed by Kiran Paigankar to stop the auction, stating the vessel's dilapidated condition did not warrant her preservation, nor were the necessary funds or government support available. In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction to a Darukhana ship-breaker for . The Supreme Court of India dismissed another lawsuit challenging the ship's sale and scrapping on 14 August 2014. Vikrant remained beached off Darukhana in Mumbai Port while awaiting the final clearances of the Mumbai Port Trust. On 12 November 2014, the Supreme Court gave its final approval for the carrier to be scrapped, which commenced on 22 November 2014. On 7 April 2022, an FIR against an ex-MP Kirit Somaiya, his son Neil, and others was registered, on charges of alleged cheating and criminal breach of trust linked to the collection of funds up to Rs. 57 crore for restoring the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. The Trombay Police booked them under Section 420 (cheating and dishonesty including delivery of property) and Section 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and Section 34 (common intentions) of the Indian Penal Code. According to the complaint, the father and son duo collected the money in 2013-14 in the name of restoring Vikrant, but the funds collected were spent on personal use. Somaiya was leading the front of attacking the government's intent of commercializing the decommissioned ship by handing it to private players. ## Legacy In memory of Vikrant, the Vikrant Memorial was unveiled by Vice Admiral Surinder Pal Singh Cheema, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command at K Subash Marg in the Naval Dockyard of Mumbai on 25 January 2016. The memorial is made from metal recovered from the ship. In February 2016, Bajaj unveiled a new motorbike made with metal from Vikrant's scrap and named it Bajaj V in honour of Vikrant. The navy has named its first home-built carrier INS Vikrant in honour of INS Vikrant (R11). The new carrier is built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, and will displace 40,000 t (44,000 short tons). The keel was laid down in February 2009 and she was launched in August 2013. The ship was commissioned on 2 September 2022 by PM Narendra modi ## In popular culture The decommissioned ship featured prominently in the film ABCD 2 as a backdrop while it was moored near Darukhana in Mumbai. ## See also
26,114,615	Masako Katsura	1,167,014,262	Japanese billiards player	[ "1913 births", "1995 deaths", "20th-century American women", "American carom billiards players", "American sportspeople of Japanese descent", "American sportswomen", "Japanese carom billiards players", "Japanese sportswomen", "Place of death unknown", "Sportspeople from Tokyo" ]	Masako Katsura (桂マサ子, Katsura Masako, ; 7 March 1913 – 1995), nicknamed "Katsy" and sometimes called the "First Lady of Billiards", was a Japanese carom billiards player who was most active in the 1950s. Katsura blazed a trail for women in the sport by competing and placing among the best in the male-dominated world of professional billiards. First learning the game from her brother-in-law and then under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama, Katsura became Japan's only female professional player. In competition in Japan, she took second place in the country's national three-cushion billiards championship three times. In exhibition she was noted for 10,000 points at the game of straight rail. After marrying a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer in 1950, Katsura emigrated to the United States in 1951. There she was invited to play in the 1952 U.S.-sponsored World Three-Cushion Championship, ultimately taking seventh place at that competition. Katsura was the first woman ever to be included in any world billiards tournament. Her fame cemented, Katsura went on an exhibition tour of the United States with eight-time world champion Welker Cochran, and later with 51-time world champion Willie Hoppe. In 1953 and 1954, she again competed for the world three-cushion crown, taking fifth and fourth places respectively. Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years. She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958, and went on a one-week exhibition engagement the following year with Harold Worst, but did not compete in any professional tournaments. In 1959, she made two television appearances on ABC's You Asked for It, and one on the CBS primetime television hit What's My Line? Katsura returned to competition in 1961, playing a challenge match for the World Three-Cushion title against Worst, then reigning world champion, and was defeated by him. Katsura disappeared from the sport thereafter, only making a brief impromptu appearance in 1976. She moved back to Japan around 1990 and died in 1995. She lived her full life. Masako Katsura's cause of death was getting aged. She is remembered not only for her skill and success as a player but also for her grace, style, and determination in the face of adversity. ## Life and career ### Early years Masako Katsura was born on 7 March 1913 in Tokyo. Little is known about Katsura's childhood in Japan. Katsura had three sisters and a brother. Their father died when Katsura was 12 years old and she went to live with her elder sister and her sister's husband, Tomio Kobashi, who owned a billiard parlor. By 13 she was spending time in her brother-in-law's billiard room, and by 14 she was working as a billiard attendant there. Kobashi was a fine player and taught Katsura the fundamentals of various carom billiards games. Katsura also had a billiard table at home, bought by her family after she showed intense interest in the sport. Katsura practiced diligently, and began competing against Japanese men and beating them. At just 15, Katsura won the women's championship straight rail tournament of Japan. "Then I turned professional and began touring with a sister all over Japan, China and Formosa", said Katsura in a 1959 interview. Katsura's two younger sisters, Noriko and Tadako, also won the women's straight rail championship in other years. In 1937, Katsura met Kinrey Matsuyama, who had won Japan's national three-cushion championship multiple times. Matsuyama was also U.S. national champion in 1934, was the runner-up three other times and had four second-place finishes in world competition at 18.2 balkline prior to World War II. Matsuyama was impressed with Katsura and began teaching her top level play. By 1947, Katsura was a long-established billiard star in Japan—the country's only female professional player. ### Marriage and titles in Japan During 1947 Katsura caught the eye of American serviceman Vernon Greenleaf (no relation to the pool and carom billiards champion Ralph Greenleaf), a master sergeant in the U.S. Army's Quartermaster Corps who had been in the armed services for 22 years. Katsura and Greenleaf first met in a Tokyo service club where she was giving billiard exhibitions. Greenleaf began taking lessons from Katsura and was quickly smitten with her. They were married on 30 November 1950, but never had any children. At the time of their marriage Katsura already boasted two second-place finishes at Japan's national three-cushion championship; one from the year prior to their wedding. She claimed the runner-up spot for a third time the year of her marriage. About that time she accomplished the lofty feat of scoring 10,000 contiguous points at straight rail in an exhibition by the balls around the table 27 times over about 4+1⁄2 hours. She stopped at 10,000 points only because it was a benchmark round number. In later years she said that her high run in three-cushion billiards (number of points scored consecutively in a single inning) was 19. ### Immigration to the U.S. In 1951 Greenleaf was transferred to a U.S. post from Haneda Air Base in Tokyo. He and Katsura, who spoke little English, set sail for the United States on the USS Breckinridge, debarking in San Francisco at the end of December 1951, just a few months before the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards tournament was scheduled to begin in that city on 6 March. Katsura had been conditionally invited to play at the world championship after Cochran, whose billiard parlor was hosting the tournament, had heard of her brilliance from Matsuyama. Cochran was an 8-time world champion having won the world crown at three-cushion billiards in 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1944 and 1945, and at 18.2 balkline, in 1927 and 1934. Cochran sent his son, W. R. (Dick) Cochran, a naval officer stationed in Japan, to investigate and received back a glowing report that said (possibly to Cochran's annoyance), "this girl is better than you are!" Though the decision was ultimately in the hands of the Billiard Congress of America as tournament sponsor, they gave Cochran the option to invite her. After Katsura arrived in the U.S., she gave a private exhibition for Cochran, who wanted to make sure she was as good as reported before finalizing the invitation. At that meeting she clicked off runs of 300 and 400 at straight rail, made in the words of Cochran "almost unbelievable shots" after switching to balkline, and showed high competence at three-cushion, consistently scoring. Cochran made the invite "final" and stated: "She's the most marvelous thing I ever saw... She's liable to beat anybody, even Willie Hoppe... I could not see any weak spots... She's going to give lots of those players fits." As a warm-up for the competition Katsura gave a number of billiard exhibitions during February 1952. ## 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards tournament ### First woman to compete for a world title Katsura's participation in the 1952 World Three-Cushion Billiards title marked the first time that a woman had competed for any world billiards title. This was only ten years after Ruth McGinnis became the first woman to have ever been invited to play in any men's professional billiard championship (the New York State Championship of 1942). The defending champion was the then 64-year-old internationally renowned Willie Hoppe, who would retire later that year with 51 world titles to his name between 1906 and 1952 in three forms of carom billiards, three-cushion, (four sub-disciplines of) balkline and cushion caroms. Before the tournament, speculation had it that when Hoppe met Katsura in the championship in the to 50 points format, he would defeat her with Katsura still needing at least 40. After seeing her play, Hoppe said "she has a fine stroke and can make shots with either hand. I look forward to playing with her." The public was fascinated by the novelty of a woman player. Life magazine reported that "San Franciscans who did not know a cue from a cucumber crowded in to see her... Katy [sic]... stole the show." ### Tournament roster The 10 champions slated to play in the round robin format tournament were Katsura, her mentor, Matsuyama, favorite and defending champion Willie Hoppe, Mexican champion Joe Chamaco, Herb Hardt of Chicago, New York's Art Rubin, Los Angeles' Joe Procita, Ray Kilgore of San Francisco, Jay Bozeman of Vallejo and Binghamton's Irving Crane. The championship between the invitees was to take place at Cochran's 924 Club, with 45 total games to be played (each player to play every other once) over the 17-day tournament ending on 22 March 1952. The tournament was reported to have "The greatest billiard field since before World War II". First place earned a \$2,000 purse (today \$), plus thousands in exhibition fees. Following behind to eight places were prizes of \$1,000, \$700, \$500, \$350, \$300, \$250 and \$250 respectively. ### Detail of play On the second day of the competition, 7 March 1952, Katsura drew Irving Crane for her first match. They made quite a contrast as Crane was the tallest player at the tourney, while Katsura was described by reporter Curley Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner as "so small and doll-like she looks like a figurine in her flowing, gold-satin gown." Crane's main discipline was straight pool, at which he won numerous championships, including six world titles. The match was close, but Crane prevailed 50 to 42 in 57 . On 10 March, Katsura defeated Herb Hardt 50 to 42 in 58 innings. Katsura was significantly behind at one point but counted 15 points in five innings to take the lead. On 11 March, she lost to Chamaco, 50 to 35, but the following day Katsura upset Procita 50–43 in 63 innings, with runs of six, five and four. "Spectators exclaimed 'brilliant' and 'sensational' at some of her shots." On 14 March, Katsura faced the undefeated Hoppe, losing 50 to 31 in 36 innings. Though Hoppe was a darling of the public, the crowd of more than 500 spectators was clearly rooting for Katsura throughout. The next day she faced her mentor, Matsuyama, considered the contender with the best shot at beating Hoppe. Matsuyama edged out his protégé with a close 50 to 48 finish in 51 innings. By the 21st inning Matsuyama held a 29–21 lead. Katsura battled back, the score 43–42 in her favor by inning 33, but Matsuyama ran three in the 46th inning, and Katsura could not close the gap. Mentor and protégé alike posted high runs of six in the match. On 18 March Katsura trounced Art Rubin 50–28 in 58 innings. but was handed a worse defeat in her next match on 20 March, losing to Bozeman 50 to 18 in 52 innings. In her last match on 21 March, Katsura pulled off a 50–46 win against Kilgore in 61 innings. This was the biggest upset of the tournament. Kilgore, the "Giant Killer", was the only player other than Matsuyama who was considered to have a fighting chance at dethroning Hoppe. Between this win and her earlier win over Procita, Katsura had beaten the only two players in the tournament that had won their matches against Hoppe. That evening a separate exhibition match between Katsura and Kilgore was featured on KRON-TV, with commentary provided by Cochran. The next day the tournament concluded with Hoppe repeating as champion as he had so many times before. Katsura took seventh place, ahead of Procita at eighth place, Chamaco at ninth and Rubin at tenth. Above her were Crane at sixth, Rubin at fifth, Kilgore at fourth, Bozeman at third and Matsuyama as runner-up. Following the competition, Jay Bozeman, said "We've found it hard to believe that a woman could actually step into the best billiard championship in the world and hold her own. Miss Katsura is one of the finest players I've faced in a world's tournament", while Welker Cochran, five-time holder of the Billiards World Crown, predicted: "Given another two or three years of American competition and she will be the world's champion.... Masako has opened a new field for women. Her presence has made the game attractive to women for the first time. She has the power of a man and strokes beautifully. Her maneuvers with the cue ball are fantastic. All she needs is a bit more experience and she will be unbeatable." ## Exhibition tours Soon after the 1952 championship, Cochran announced he was coming out of a seven-year retirement to play an exhibition tour with Katsura. "Millions of fans want to see this charming first lady of billiards" he said, "now some of them can." The duo previewed their tour with a three-day engagement at the Garden City Parlor in San Jose starting on 18 April 1952. Thereafter, they planned stops in Kansas City (2–3 May); Chicago (5–11 May); Detroit in mid-May; and on to tentative stops in Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach. The format was to be a 100-point straight-rail match, followed by a 50-point three-cushion game played under tournament conditions with trick or "fancy" shots to follow. Katsura stated prior to departing: "I hope my tour will convince women that billiards is not only a man's game. Women can play just as well as men." Billiards champion Tex Zimmerman (Cochran's partner in the 924 Club) and well known pool hustler Danny McGoorty had a hand in organizing the tour. In preparation, they played up Katsura's exoticness and her physical attractiveness. Tex Zimmerman's wife sewed tight-fitting kimono for Katsura, slit up the side, which she wore during her exhibitions with high heels. Katsura was a tiny woman, weighing between 88 and 96 pounds. and standing 5 feet tall—just about the height of a standard cue stick. McGoorty later mused: "Masako was cute! She was thirty-nine years old but she looked twenty-nine. She hopped around that table on her high heels, giving the fans a little smile, and everybody loved her." It was Katsura's playing ability, though, rather than her other charms, that made her a phenomenon. When Cochran returned from his tour with Katsura he told McGoorty, who was a world class player in his own right, "you will have trouble with her." When they finally got a chance to play, the match drew crowds. "They could have sold seats in the toilet!" McGoorty exclaimed. After the match, McGoorty confirmed Cochran's prediction: > I had trouble with her. I played hard and I threw her all the dirtiest stuff I knew, and I was lucky to win five out of the ten games. If you had the slightest idea of easing up on her because she was only a cute little girl, you were dead. She would murder you. I found out damn quick you could not leave her an open shot. If you did she would take those balls away from you and stick them right up your pooper. The killer instinct—that broad had it, and never mind the little smile. A number of pre-booked stops on the tour suffered from lack of attendance. Cochran was very bitter about it. NEA sports editor, Harry Grayson indicated that the game was in general decline, and said that Cochran "traces the decline of championship and exhibition billiards to manufacturers taking the stars off the payroll during the depression." In a previous exhibition tour by Cochran and Hoppe in 1945, they had sold out in 13 cities. Despite some lackluster stops, upon her return to California, Katsura continued to play exhibition matches with the game's greats. Katsura and Kilgore put on a week-long exhibition in San Francisco in January 1953, where they seesawed back and forth. On 12 January, Katsura beat Kilgore in their first match with runs of seven and ten, but lost to him in their second. The total points scored by the two at that time was 349 for Katsura to Kilgore's 379. Katsura started another exhibition series with Cochran at his club in February 1953 and, tuning up for the 1953 world tournament, to start on 26 March, went on a nationwide tour with Willie Hoppe in the latter part of February 1953. The 30-day tour of the northeastern U.S. included Chicago, Boston and other locations. Her husband accompanied her to provide translation. In their multiple-day exhibition match in Chicago, it was reported in the midst that Katsura had unsurprisingly won only one out of four matches against Hoppe, often pegged as the greatest player of all time. ## 1953–1954 ### 1953 World Three-Cushion tournament With Hoppe retired as of 1952, there was excitement over who would take the 1953 world three-cushion crown, to be held in Chicago at the Chicago Town Club in the Sheraton Hotel. Eleven competitors were slated to play, many repeats of the prior year, including Chamaco, Katsura, Matsuyama, Bozeman, Kilgore, Procita and Rubin. New to the field were Harold Worst of Grand Rapids, Hollywood's John Fitzpatrick, Mel Lundberg of Minneapolis and Ezequiel Navarra of Argentina. Navarra was considered the favorite by experts, having won championships that year in Cuba, Colombia, Peru and Argentina and having just come off an exhibition tour with Cochran in which Navarra averaged a formidable 1.16, scoring 1,295 three-cushions in 1,120 innings over the length of the tour. In Katsura's first match she defeated Lundberg 50–44, in 71 innings. Thereafter she: lost to Matsuyama 50 to 37 in 39 innings; lost to Rubin, 50–37, in 52 innings; beat Fitzpatrick 50–38 in 50 innings, undefeated to that point; beat Chamaco 50 to 44, in 56 innings with a high run of eight; upset favorite Navarra 50 to 40 in 43 innings; followed by a loss to Kilgore, 50 to 41, in 42 innings; and a loss to Harold Worst 50 to 42, in 52 innings; but then defeated Bozeman 50–48 in 60 innings in her last match. When the dust had settled, Katsura shared fifth place with Matsuyama, each having won and lost five matches. The winner of the world crown was Kilgore with an eight-win, two-loss record. Navarra and Bozeman tied for second. ### Exhibitions and death of Matsuyama After the 1953 championship wrapped up, Katsura and Matsuyama gave an exhibition together in Long Beach, California (advertisement at right). The format was 100 points at balkline, followed by a race to 40 at three-cushion and then a trick shot exhibition. Katsura crushed her teacher, 100–11 and 100–3 at balkline, but Matsuyama won both the three-cushion matches, 40–34 and 40–39. This was Katsura and Matsuyama's last close interaction. After returning to Japan, Matsuyama suffered a heart attack and died on 20 December 1953. He had had plans to move to Honolulu with his family, become an American citizen, and purchase a billiard parlor. His eldest son, Hideo, 18, was attending a San Francisco high school at the time. He was said to have taught all of Japan's top players, among which Katsura was the star pupil. Next, Katsura played a five-day, 600 point three-cushion exhibition series with Ray Kilgore in San Francisco, 12–17 March 1953. At the end Kilgore was the winner with a final score of 600 to 547. Kilgore said: "She played really remarkable billiards and I played a little over my head." The next week Katsura faced Kilgore again in another exhibition at Welker Cochran's room, beating him 50–33 in 45 innings. ### 1954 World Three-Cushion tournament The 1954 World Three-Cushion tournament was held in Buenos Aires with only 8 contestants: Katsura; Ray Miller of Jackson, Michigan; Harold Worst; Argentinian brothers Juan and Ezequiel Navarra; Welker Cochran, who had come out of retirement; Chamaco; and defending champion, Kilgore. As usual, Katsura was the sole female contestant. In her first round she was victorious over Miller, 60–47 in 76 innings, then beat Chamaco 60–55, but followed with a loss to Ezequiel Navarra 60–28 in 48 innings. Katsura then beat his brother, Juan Navarra, 60–52 in 77 innings in her last match to take fourth place overall. On the last day Harold Worst and Ezequiel Navarra ended in a tie with a playoff to be held initially to 60 points, later raised to a 350 point format, at which Worst ultimately prevailed on 25 October 1954. ## 1955–1961 ### Hiatus and exhibition Little was seen of Katsura for the next few years. She made 30 exhibition appearances in 1958 but had been in "virtual retirement" for about five years. During this break the second of Katsura's two billiards instruction books came out in Japan: 撞球上達法 (1956) ("Improve Your Billiards"). An earlier primer, 撞球入門 ("Introduction to Billiards"), was published in 1952. In 1959 it was announced that Katsura and Harold Worst would compete in a one week exhibition match to 1,200 points, beginning 9 February at Randolph Recreations in Chicago. Worst and Katsura moved their show to Philadelphia next where they played six matches at three-cushion billiards to 50 points, and thereafter went to exhibit in New York. ### TV spots On 1 March 1959, Katsura appeared on CBS' popular primetime television show, What's My Line? The show was in the format of a guessing game, in which a panel attempted to determine the line (occupation), or in the case of a famous "mystery guest", the identity of the contestant. After she signed in using Japanese characters on a chalk board, show officials listed Katsura's occupation for the audience as "Professional Billiard Player (World's Women's Champion)". Panelist Arlene Francis was successful in guessing Katsura's occupation, though she admitted that she had read about her but said she had never seen her picture. Later that month Katsura made a guest appearance on ABC's You Asked For It, going behind the scenes of westerns to show how television productions set up and filmed a covered wagon rolling over and crashing on cue. She appeared again on You Asked For It in a 25 November 1960 broadcast, this time operating in her bailiwick, demonstrating trick shots for the camera. ### 1961 title match with Worst By 1961 and for a few years prior, there was no longer an organized world three-cushion championship. Accordingly, Harold Worst, the reigning champion since 1954, issued a challenge match to Katsura to defend his title, with the match to take place 13–18 March of that year at the Pantlind Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a purse of \$2,000. The preceding year Worst had issued a similar title-defending challenge to Joe Chamaco of Mexico, which also took place in Grand Rapids at the same venue. Worst even took unsuccessful legal action to block an Argentinian three-cushion tournament, billed as a "world title" event, that was scheduled to overlap the dates of his title match with Katsura. Worst defeated Katsura in six out of seven matches, with total three-cushions scored between them, respectively, of 350 and 276. Meanwhile, Chamaco claimed the world crown as well, after winning the tournament in Argentina. ## After 1961 Little was heard from Katsura for many years after the 1961 world championship. McGoorty lamented her retirement, stating various theories that he had heard bandied about in billiard circles, such as that her husband (who died in June 1967) kept her from playing for various reasons. In 1976 Katsura made an impromptu appearance at Palace Billiards in San Francisco. She borrowed a cue from someone present and proceeded to run 100 points at straight rail without problem. Prolific pool and billiard author Robert Byrne wrote that after Katsura finished that 100-point run, "without a miss she smiled and bowed to the applauding crowd, stepping away from the spotlight, and disappeared forever from the American billiard stage." Katsura returned to Japan in or about 1990 to live with her sister, Noriko, where she said she planned to live out her days. Katsura died in 1995. In September 2002 a memorial tournament for Katsura, billed as Katsura Memorial: The First Ladies Three Cushion Grandprix, was held in Japan and aired on SKY PerfecTV! ## Legacy On 7 March 2021, Katsura was featured in a Google Doodle on the search engine's home page, as part of its celebration of International Women's Day.
294,177	Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll	1,171,397,941	British princess, sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert	[ "1848 births", "1939 deaths", "19th-century English painters", "19th-century English women artists", "20th-century English painters", "20th-century English women artists", "4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards", "8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)", "Alumni of the Royal College of Art", "Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)", "British feminists", "British princesses", "Burials at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore", "Canadian viceregal consorts", "Children of Queen Victoria", "Companions of the Order of the Crown of India", "Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St John", "Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire", "Dames Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order", "Daughters of monarchs", "Duchesses of Argyll", "English women painters", "English women sculptors", "House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)", "Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert", "Members of the Royal Red Cross", "People associated with the Royal National College for the Blind", "Princess Louise Fusiliers", "Royal reburials", "Wives of knights", "Women of the Victorian era" ]	Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (Louisa Caroline Alberta; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939), was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In her public life, she was a strong proponent of the arts and higher education and of the feminist cause. She was an influential supporter of the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science, the forerunner to Queen Margaret University, becoming the institution’s first Patron in 1891 until 1939. Her early life was spent moving among the various royal residences in the company of her family. When her father died in December 1861, the court went into a long period of mourning, to which with time Louise became unsympathetic. She was an able sculptor and artist, and several of her sculptures remain today. She was also a supporter of the feminist movement, corresponding with Josephine Butler, and visiting Elizabeth Garrett. Before her marriage, Louise served as an unofficial secretary to the Queen from 1866 to 1871. The question of Louise's marriage was discussed in the late 1860s. Suitors from the royal houses of Prussia and Denmark were suggested, but Victoria did not want her to marry a foreign prince, and therefore suggested a high-ranking member of the British aristocracy. Despite opposition from members of the royal family, Louise fell in love with John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, the heir of the Duke of Argyll. Victoria consented to the marriage, which took place on 21 March 1871. After a happy beginning, the two drifted apart, possibly because of their childlessness and the Queen's constraints on their activities. In 1878, Lorne was appointed Governor General of Canada, a post he held 1878–1884. Louise was viceregal consort, starting a lasting interest in Canada. Her names were used to name many features in Canada, including Lake Louise and the province of Alberta. Following her mother's death in 1901, she entered the social circle established by her elder brother, the new king, Edward VII. Louise's marriage with Lorne survived thanks to long periods of separation; they reconciled in 1911, and Louise was devastated by Lorne's death in 1914. After the First World War she began to retire from public life, undertaking few public duties outside Kensington Palace, where she died at the age of 91. ## Early life Louise was born on 18 March 1848 at Buckingham Palace, London. She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her birth coincided with revolutions which swept across Europe, prompting the queen to remark that Louise would turn out to be "something peculiar". The queen's labour with Louise was the first to be aided with chloroform. Albert and Victoria chose the names Louisa Caroline Alberta. She was baptized on 13 May 1848 in Buckingham Palace's private chapel by John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Though she was christened Louisa at the service, she was invariably known as Louise throughout her life. Her godparents were Duke Gustav of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her paternal great-great-uncle, for whom Prince Albert stood proxy); the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen (for whom her great-aunt Queen Adelaide stood proxy); and the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her first cousin once-removed, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy). During the ceremony, the Duchess of Gloucester, one of the few children of King George III who was still alive, forgot where she was, and suddenly got up in the middle of the service and knelt at the queen's feet, much to the queen's horror. Like her siblings, Louise was brought up with the strict programme of education devised by her father, Prince Albert, and his friend and confidant, Baron Stockmar. The young children were taught practical tasks, such as cooking, farming, household tasks and carpentry. From her early years, Louise was a talented and intelligent child, and her artistic talents were quickly recognised. On his visit to Osborne House in 1863, Hallam Tennyson, the son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, remarked that Louise could "draw beautifully". Because of her royal rank, an artistic career was not considered. However, the queen first allowed her to attend art school under the tutelage of the sculptor Mary Thornycroft, and later (1863) allowed her to study at the National Art Training School, now The Royal College of Art. Louise also became an able dancer, and Victoria wrote, after a dance, that Louise "danced the sword dance with more verve and accuracy than any of her sisters". Her wit and intelligence made her a favourite with her father, with her inquisitive nature earning her the nickname "Little Miss Why" from other members of the royal family. ## Secretary Louise's father, Prince Albert, died at Windsor on 14 December 1861. The queen was devastated, and ordered her household to move from Windsor to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The atmosphere of the royal court became gloomy and morbid in the wake of the prince's death, and entertainments became dry and dull. Louise quickly became dissatisfied with her mother's prolonged mourning. For her seventeenth birthday in 1865, Louise requested the ballroom to be opened for a debutante dance, the like of which had not been performed since Prince Albert's death. Her request was refused, and her boredom with the mundane routine of travelling between the different royal residences at set times irritated her mother, who considered Louise to be indiscreet and argumentative. The queen comforted herself by rigidly continuing with Prince Albert's plans for their children. Princess Alice was married to Prince Louis, the future Grand Duke of Hesse, at Osborne House on 1 July 1862. In 1863, Edward, the Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The queen made it a tradition that the eldest unmarried daughter become her unofficial secretary, a position which Louise filled in 1866 following the marriage of her elder sister Helena, despite the queen's concern that she was indiscreet. Louise, however, proved to be good at the job: Victoria wrote shortly afterwards: "She is (and who would some years ago have thought it?) a clever dear girl with a fine strong character, unselfish and affectionate." However, when Louise fell in love with her brother Leopold's tutor, the Reverend Robinson Duckworth (14 years her senior), between 1866 and 1870, the queen reacted by dismissing Duckworth in 1870. He later became Canon of Westminster Abbey. Louise was bored at court, and by fulfilling her duties, which were little more than minor secretarial tasks, such as writing letters on the queen's behalf; dealing with political correspondence; and providing the queen with company, she had more responsibilities. She also undertook her share of public and philanthropic duties, for example inaugurating the new North Eastern Hospital for Children in 1867 and launching the ship HMS Druid in 1869. ## Marriage ### Suitors As a daughter of the queen, Louise was a desirable bride; more so as she is regarded as the queen's most beautiful daughter by both contemporary and modern biographers. However, she was accused by the press, without substantiation, of romantic affairs. This, coupled with her liberalism and feminism, prompted the queen to find her a husband. The choice had to suit Victoria as well as Louise, and the queen insisted that her daughter's husband should live near her, a promise which had also been extracted from the husband of Helena, Louise's sister. Various suitors were proposed by the leading royal houses of Europe: Princess Alexandra proposed her brother, the Crown Prince of Denmark, but the queen was strongly opposed to another Danish marriage that could antagonise Prussia at a time of diplomatic tension over the Schleswig-Holstein question. Victoria, Louise's eldest sister, proposed the tall and rich Prince Albert of Prussia, but Queen Victoria disapproved of another Prussian marriage that would have been unpopular in England. Prince Albert was also reluctant to settle in England as required. William, Prince of Orange, was also considered a suitor, but because of his extravagant lifestyle in Paris, where he lived openly with a lover, the queen quickly vetoed the idea. Louise viewed marriage to any prince as undesirable, and announced that she wished to marry John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, heir to the Dukedom of Argyll. No marriage between a daughter of a monarch and a British subject had been given official recognition since 1515, when Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, married King Henry VIII's sister Mary. Louise's eldest brother, the Prince of Wales, was strongly opposed to a marriage with a non-mediatized noble. Furthermore, Lorne's father, George Campbell, was an ardent supporter of William Ewart Gladstone, and the Prince of Wales was worried that he would drag the royal family into political disputes. Nevertheless, the opposition was crushed by the queen, who wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1869: > That which you object to [that Louise should marry a subject] I feel certain will be for Louise's happiness and for the peace and quiet of the family ... Times have changed; great foreign alliances are looked on as causes of trouble and anxiety, and are of no good. What could be more painful than the position in which our family were placed during the wars with Denmark, and between Prussia and Austria? ... You may not be aware, as I am, with what dislike the marriages of Princesses of the Royal Family with small German Princes (German beggars as they most insultingly were called) ... As to position, I see no difficulty whatever; Louise remains what she is, and her husband keeps his rank ... only being treated in the family as a relation when we are together ... The queen averred that Louise's marriage to a subject would bring "new blood" into the family, while all European princes were related to each other. She was convinced that this would strengthen the royal family morally and physically. ### Engagement and wedding Louise became engaged to the Marquess of Lorne on 3 October 1870 while they were visiting Balmoral. Lorne was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and accompanied Louise, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley and Queen Victoria's lady-in-waiting Lady Ely on a drive. Later that day, Louise returned and announced to the queen that Lorne had "spoken of his devotion" to Louise, and she accepted his proposal in the knowledge of the queen's approval. The queen later gave Lady Ely a bracelet to mark the occasion. The Queen found it difficult to let go of her daughter, confiding in her journal that she "felt painfully the thought of losing her". The new breach in royal tradition caused surprise, especially in Germany, and Queen Victoria wrote to the Queen of Prussia that princes of small impoverished German houses were "very unpopular" in Britain and that Lord Lorne, a "person of distinction at home" with "an independent fortune" was "really no lower in rank than minor German Royalty". Victoria settled an annuity on Louise shortly before her marriage. The ceremony was conducted at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on 21 March 1871, and the crowd outside was so large that, for the first time, policemen had to form chain barriers to keep control. Louise wore a wedding veil of Honiton lace that she designed herself, and was escorted into the chapel by her mother, and her two eldest brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. On this occasion, the usually severe black of the queen's mourning dress was relieved by the crimson rubies and blues of the Garter star. Following the ceremony, the queen kissed Louise, and Lorne – now a member of the royal family, but still a subject – kissed the queen's hand. The couple then journeyed to Claremont in Surrey for the honeymoon, but the presence of attendants on the journey, and at meal times, made it impossible for them to talk privately. The short four-day visit did not pass without an interruption from the queen, who was curious about her daughter's thoughts on married life. Among their wedding gifts was a maplewood desk from Queen Victoria, now at Inveraray Castle. Following her marriage, Louise continued her charitable and artistic interests. In 1871, the Ladies Work Society was founded in South Audley Street, promoting the making and sale of needlework and embroidery for poverty relief: Louise became its president, and designed some of their products. The couple's official place of residence was Rosneath House in Dumbartonshire. ## Viceregal consort of Canada In 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli nominated Lorne to be Canada's Governor General, and he was duly appointed by Queen Victoria. Louise thus became his viceregal consort. As viceregal consort, she used her position to support the arts and higher education and the cause of female equality, although she said "the subject of Domestic Economy lies at the root of the – highest life of every true woman." But her stay in Canada was unhappy as a result of homesickness, dislike of Ottawa and a bad sleighing accident. ### Inauspicious arrival On 15 November 1878, the couple left Liverpool and arrived in Canada for the inauguration at Halifax on 25 November. Louise became the first royal to take up residence in Rideau Hall, officially the queen's royal residence in Ottawa. However, the hall was far from the splendour of British royal residences, and, as each viceregal couple decorated the hall with their own furnishings, and thus took them when they departed, the Lornes found the palace sparse in décor upon their arrival. Louise put her artistic talents to work and hung many of her watercolour and oil paintings around the hall, also installing her sculpted works. Though the news that a daughter of the queen would be viceregal consort of Canada first saw a "thrill of joy burst upon the Dominion", it being felt that the princess would be a strong link between Canadians and their sovereign, the arrival of the new governor general and his wife was not initially welcomed by the Canadian press, which complained about the imposition of royalty on the country's hitherto un-regal society. Relations with the press further deteriorated when Lorne's private secretary, Francis de Winton, threw four journalists off the royal train. Although the Lornes had no knowledge of de Winton's action, it was assumed by the press that they did, and they earned an early reputation for haughtiness. Louise was horrified by the negative press, and when she heard about reports of "a nation of flunkies" at the viceregal court, taking lessons in "the backward walk," Louise declared that she "wouldn't care if they came in blanket coats!" (A reference to the ubiquitous capote.) Eventually the worries of a rigid court at Rideau Hall and the "feeble undercurrent of criticism" turned out to be unfounded as the royal couple proved to be more relaxed than their predecessors. ### Canadian entertainments Louise's first few months in Canada were tinged with sadness as her favourite sister Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, died on 14 December 1878. Although homesick over that first Christmas, Louise soon grew accustomed to the winter climate. Sleighing and skating were two of her favourite pastimes. In Canada, as the monarch's direct representative, Lorne always took precedence over his wife, so that at the Opening of the Parliament of Canada on 13 February 1879, Louise was ranked no differently from others in attendance. She had to remain standing with the MPs, until Lorne asked them to be seated. In order for Lorne to meet every Canadian member of Parliament, he held bi-weekly dinners for 50 people. However, some of the Canadian ladies responded negatively to the British party. One of her ladies-in-waiting reported that some had an I'm as good as you' sort of manner when one begins a conversation." Court entertainments were open; anyone who could afford the clothing to attend functions was simply asked to sign the visitor's book. Louise's first state ball was given on 19 February 1879, and she made a good impression on her guests when she ordered the silk cordon, separating the viceregal party from the guests, be removed. However, the ball was marred by various mishaps, including a drunken bandsman nearly starting a fire by pulling a curtain over a gas lamp. The open house practice was criticized by guests who complained about the low social status of other guests. One attendee was horrified to find the attendee's grocer dancing in the same set. One of her works as a sculptor is the statue of Queen Victoria, which now stands in front of the Royal Victoria College, Montreal, now the Strathcona Music Building of McGill University. Lorne's father, The Duke of Argyll, arrived with two of his daughters in June, and in the presence of the family, Louise caught a 28-pound (13 kg) salmon. The women's success at fishing prompted the Duke to remark that fishing in Canada required no skill. ### Sleigh accident and Bermuda visit Louise, Lorne, and two attendants, were hurt in a sleigh accident on 14 February 1880. The winter was particularly severe, and the carriage in which they were traveling overturned, throwing the coachman and footman from the sleigh. The horses then panicked, and dragged the overturned carriage over more than 400 yards (370 m) of ground. Louise was knocked unconscious when she hit her head on the iron bar supporting the roof, and Lorne was trapped underneath her, expecting "the sides of the carriage to give way at any moment". Eventually, as they overtook the sleigh ahead, the horses calmed, and the occupant of that sleigh, Princess Louise's aide-de-camp, ordered an empty carriage to convey the injured party back to Rideau Hall. The doctors who attended Louise reported she was severely concussed and in shock, and that "it was a wonder her skull was not fractured". Louise's ear had been injured when her earring caught on the side of the sleigh, tearing her ear lobe in two. The press played down the story on instructions from Lorne's private secretary, an act that was described by contemporaries as "stupid and ill advised". For example, one New Zealand newspaper reported, "Excepting immediately after the blow, the princess was perfectly sensible during the whole time..." Knowledge of Louise's true condition might have elicited sympathy from the Canadian people. As it was, one Member of Parliament wrote: "Except the cut in the lower part of the ear I think there was no injury done worth mentioning." Therefore, when Louise cancelled her immediate engagements, people thought she was malingering. News of the accident was also played down in Britain and in letters home to the anxious Queen Victoria. Princess Louise left Canada for England in 1881 while her husband remained in Canada until 1883. She played a major role in the development of the nascent tourism industry of the colony of Bermuda, 770 nautical miles (1,430 km) south-east of Nova Scotia. In 1883, because of her fragile health, she spent the winter in Bermuda (arriving on 29 January 1883 from Charleston, South Carolina, aboard HMS Dido, popularising a trend for wealthy North Americans to escape to Bermuda's relatively mild climate during the winter months. Her visit brought such attention to Bermuda that a palatial hotel, which opened in 1885, intended to cater to these new visitors, was named after her; the Princess Hotel was built on the shore of Hamilton Harbour, in the parish of Pembroke (the Princess herself having occupied Inglewood, the home of JH Timingham, in Paget Parish, during her visit). ### Continued interest in Canada After returning to Britain in 1883, Louise continued to take an interest in Canada. During the North-West Rebellion of 1885 she sent a certain Dr. Boyd medical supplies and a large fund of money for distribution. Her express instructions were that assistance was to be rendered to friend and foe indiscriminately. To fulfill her wishes, Boyd accompanied the Militia Medical Staff under Dr. Thomas Roddick to the sites of the Battle of Fish Creek and the Battle of Batoche to help give medical treatment to the wounded, including the Métis opposition. In 1905, the province of Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. In the province, there is Lake Louise, and Mount Alberta is named in her honour. ## Queen Victoria's last years ### Family conflict Louise returned to Britain with her husband on 27 October 1883. Queen Victoria had allocated them apartments at Kensington Palace, and the couple took up official residence in the suite that was to remain Louise's home for the rest of her life. Louise resumed public duties in Britain, for example, opening St George's Gardens, Bloomsbury on 1 July 1884. and Lorne his political career, campaigning unsuccessfully for the Hampstead seat in 1885. In 1896, he won the South Manchester seat, entering parliament as a Liberal. Louise, unlike Lorne and his father, was in favour of Irish Home Rule, and disappointed when he defected from Gladstonian Liberalism to the Liberal Unionists. Relations between Louise and Lorne were strained, and, despite the queen's attempts to keep them under one roof, they often went their separate ways. Even when he accompanied Louise, he was not always received with favour at court, and the Prince of Wales did not take to him. Out of all the royal family, Lorne was the only one to be identified closely with a political party, having been a Gladstonian liberal in the House of Commons. Louise's relationship with the two sisters closest to the queen, Beatrice and Helena, was strained at best. Beatrice had married the tall and handsome Prince Henry of Battenberg in a love match in 1885, and they had four children. Louise, who had a jealous nature, had grown accustomed to treating Beatrice with pity on account of the queen's constant need for her. Beatrice's biographer, Matthew Dennison, claims that in contrast to Beatrice, Louise remained strikingly good looking throughout her forties. Louise and her husband were no longer close, and rumours spread about Lorne's alleged homosexuality. Thus, Beatrice was enjoying a satisfying sexual relationship with her popular husband, which Louise was not. Louise may have considered Prince Henry a more appropriate husband for herself. Certainly, following Prince Henry's death in 1896, Louise wrote that: "he [Henry] was almost the greatest friend I had—I, too, miss him more than I can say". In addition, Louise attempted to champion her late brother-in-law by announcing that she was his confidante and that Beatrice, a mere cipher, meant nothing to him. ### Rumours regarding Louise From late 1865 to mid 1866, the royal family was guarded by 150 Scots Fusiliers. Officially, this was to protect the family from Fenian threats, but it was whispered by members of high society that Louise had fallen pregnant by Walter Stirling, the tutor of her brother Leopold. According to Louise's biographer, Lucinda Hawksley, her son Henry was born in 1866 and shortly after the Queen's lawyers were summoned to her residence. The Queen's obstetrician Frederick Locock and his wife adopted a son named Henry, immediately after the meeting. The boy supposedly grew up with other royal children and claimed to have been Louise's child. DNA testing has been sanctioned by Henry's descendants, but courts ruled the claims unfounded. Further rumours spread that Louise was having an affair with Arthur Bigge, later Lord Stamfordham, the queen's assistant private secretary. Beatrice mentioned the rumours to the queen's physician, calling it a "scandal", and Prince Henry claimed to have seen Bigge drinking Louise's health at dinner. Louise denied the rumour, claiming that it was started by Beatrice and Helena to undermine her position at court. However, on Henry's death, relations between the sisters sporadically improved, and it was Louise, rather than the queen, who was the first to arrive at Cimiez to be with the widowed Beatrice. Nevertheless, Louise's jealousy did not evaporate completely. James Reid, the queen's physician, wrote to his wife a few years later: "Louise is as usual much down on her sisters. Hope she won't stay long or she will do mischief!" Rumours of affairs did not concern only Bigge. In 1890, the sculptor Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm died in Louise's presence at his studio in London, leading to rumours that the two were having an affair. According to historian Lucinda Hawksley, the two had a long-lasting love affair. Boehm's assistant, Alfred Gilbert, who played a central role in comforting Louise after Boehm's death, and supervised the destruction of Boehm's private papers, was rapidly promoted as a royal sculptor. Louise was also romantically linked to fellow artist Edwin Lutyens; her equerry, Colonel William Probert; and an unnamed music master. However, Jehanne Wake, Louise's biographer, argues that there is no substantial evidence to suggest that Louise had sexual relationships with anyone other than her husband. During Victoria's last years, Louise carried out a range of public duties, such as opening public buildings, laying foundation stones, and officiating at special programmes. Louise, like her eldest sister Victoria, was more liberally minded, and supported the suffragist movement, completely contrary to the queen's views. Louise privately visited Elizabeth Garrett, the first British woman openly to qualify as a physician. Queen Victoria deplored the idea of women joining professions, especially medicine, and described the training of female physicians as a "repulsive subject". ### Louise as unconventional royal Louise was determined to be seen as an ordinary person and not as a member of the court. When travelling abroad, she often used the alias "Mrs Campbell". Louise was known for her charity towards servants. On one occasion, the butler approached her and requested permission to dismiss the second footman, who was late getting out of bed. When she advised that the footman be given an alarm clock, the butler informed her that he already had one. She then went so far as to suggest a bed that would throw him out at a specified time, but she was told this was not feasible. Finally, she suggested that he might be ill, and when checked, he was found to have tuberculosis. The footman was therefore sent to New Zealand to recover. On another occasion, when she visited Bermuda, she was invited to a reception and chose to walk rather than be driven. She became thirsty along the way and stopped at a house, where she asked a Black woman named Mrs McCarthy for a glass of water. Owing to the scarcity of water, the woman had to go some distance to obtain it, but was reluctant because she had to finish her ironing. When Louise offered to continue the ironing, the woman refused, adding that she was in a great hurry to finish so that she could go and see Princess Louise. Realising that she had not been recognised, Louise enquired whether McCarthy would recognise her again. When the woman said that she would have thought so, but was admittedly unsure, Louise replied: "Well take a good look at me now, so you can be sure to know me tomorrow at St. Georges." The princess clung to her privacy, and enjoyed not being recognised. Louise and her sisters had another disagreement after the death of the queen's close friend, Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill. Determined not to put her mother through more misery, Louise wanted the news to be broken to the queen gradually. When this was not done, Louise voiced sharp criticism of Helena and Beatrice. One month later, on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. In her will, the queen bequeathed Kent House, on the Osborne Estate, to Louise as a country residence, and gave Osborne Cottage to Louise's youngest sister, Beatrice. Louise and Beatrice were now neighbours both at Kensington Palace and Osborne. ## Later life ### Edwardian period Upon Queen Victoria's death, Louise entered the social circle of her brother, the new King Edward VII, with whom she had much in common, including smoking. She had an obsession with physical fitness, and if she was sneered at for this, she would retort by saying: "Never mind, I'll outlive you all." Meanwhile, Louise's husband, 9th Duke of Argyll since 1900, took his seat in the House of Lords. The Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, offered him the office of Governor-General of Australia that year, but the offer was declined. Louise continued her sculpture, and in 1902, designed a memorial to the colonial soldiers who died in the Boer War. In the same year, she began a nude study of a married woman suggested by the English painter Sir William Blake Richmond. Louise spent much of her time at Kent House, and she frequently visited Scotland with her husband. Financial pressures did not disappear when Lorne became Duke, and Louise avoided inviting the King to Inveraray, Argyll's ancestral home, because the couple were economising. When Queen Victoria had visited the house before Lorne became Duke of Argyll, there were seventy servants and seventy-four dogs. By the time of Edward VII's accession, there were four servants and two dogs. The Duke of Argyll's health continued to deteriorate. He became increasingly senile, and Louise nursed him devotedly from 1911. In these years Louise and her husband were closer than they had been before. In spring 1914 Louise stayed at Kensington Palace while her husband remained on the Isle of Wight. He developed bronchial problems followed by double pneumonia. Louise was summoned on 28 April 1914, and he died on 2 May. Following his death, Louise had a nervous breakdown and suffered from intense loneliness, writing to a friend shortly afterwards: "My loneliness without the Duke is quite terrible. I wonder what he does now!" ### Last years Louise spent her last years at Kensington Palace, occupying rooms next to her sister Princess Beatrice. She made occasional public appearances with the royal family, such as at the Cenotaph at Whitehall on 11 November 1925. However, her health deteriorated. In 1935, she greeted her nephew, King George V, and his wife, Queen Mary, at Kensington Town Hall during their Silver Jubilee celebrations, and was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Kensington. Her last public appearance occurred in 1937, at the Home Arts and Industries Exhibition. Between these occasions, her great nephew, King Edward VIII, abdicated on 11 December 1936. In December 1936, Louise wrote to the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, sympathising with him about the crisis. Following the accession of Edward's brother King George VI, she became too ill to move around, and was confined to Kensington Palace, affectionately called the "Auntie Palace" by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. She developed neuritis in her arm, inflammation of the nerves between the ribs, fainting fits, and sciatica. Louise occupied herself by drafting prayers, one of which was sent to Neville Chamberlain, reading "Guide our Ministers of State and all who are in authority over us ... " ## Death Princess Louise died at Kensington Palace on the morning of 3 December 1939 at the age of 91, wearing the wedding veil she had worn almost 70 years earlier. Following a simple funeral, owing to the war, her remains were cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 8 December 1939. Her ashes were quietly placed in the Royal Vault at St. George's Chapel on 12 December 1939, with many members of the British royal family and Argyll family present. Her ashes were moved to the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore near Windsor, on 13 March 1940. Louise's will stated that if she died in Scotland she should be buried at the Campbell mausoleum in Kilmun next to her husband; if in England, at Frogmore near her parents. Her coffin was borne by eight NCOs of her own regiment, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Her estate was probated as £239,260, 18 shillings and sixpence, with her debts including 15 shillings for cigarettes. ## Legacy Louise bestowed her name on four Canadian regiments: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) in Hamilton, Ontario; the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards in Ottawa, Ontario (later the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards – inactive since 1965); the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) in Moncton, New Brunswick; and the Princess Louise Fusiliers in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Queen Elizabeth II later recalled that Louise and her sister Beatrice would talk until they stunned their audience with their output of words. The province of Alberta in Canada is named after her. Although the name "Louise" was originally planned, the princess wished to honour her dead father, so the last of her given names was chosen. Lake Louise in Alberta is also named after her, as is Mount Alberta. Although her time in Canada was not always happy, she liked the Canadian people and retained close links with her Canadian regiments. Back at home, she gained a reputation for paying unscheduled visits to hospitals, especially during her later years. Her relationship with her family was generally close. Although at times she bickered with the queen, and her sisters Helena and Beatrice, the relations did not remain strained for long. She retained a lifelong correspondence with her brother Arthur and was one of King Edward VII's favourite sisters. Of all her siblings, she was closest to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and Princess Alice, and she was devastated by their deaths in 1884 and 1878 respectively. Among the younger generations of the family, Louise's favourite relatives were the Duke and Duchess of Kent, her grandnephew and his wife. At the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937, Louise lent the Duchess the train that she designed and wore for the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902. A war hospital in Erskine, Scotland, is named after Louise. It took her name as she was the first patron of the unit. It was originally called Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers. The name changed over the years to Erskine Hospital and then just Erskine. The charity has grown to become the biggest ex-service establishment in the country. ### Art practice Louise had artistic training from childhood, first with Susan Durant from 1864, then Mary Thornycroft from 1867, and further lessons with Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm. She also then attended National Art Training School. Like many women artists in the nineteenth century, Louise had to make do with training intended for industrial designers and art teachers rather than fine artists. There was no training from the nude model, as there was for male art students. Louise was the most artistically talented of Queen Victoria's daughters and was a prolific artist and sculptor. When Louise sculpted a statue of the queen, portraying her in Coronation robes, the press claimed that her tutor, Sir Edgar Boehm, was the true creator of the work. The claim was denied by Louise's friends, who asserted her effort and independence. The work was intended to be exhibited in 1887, but production was delayed until 1893. A memorial to her brother-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg, and a memorial to the colonial soldiers who fell during the Second Boer War, reside at Whippingham Church on the Isle of Wight, and another statue of Queen Victoria remains at McGill University in Montreal, as well as the statue of Queen Victoria on the north side of Lichfield Cathedral. #### Selected works of art ##### Works on paper - Queen Victoria, 1881. Pencil on paper, 36.9 x 24.0 cm (sheet of paper). Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 980422. ##### Sculpture - Princess Beatrice, 1864. Marble, 55.0 x 29.0 x 23.0 cm. Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 53351. - Prince Arthur, 1869. Marble, 61.5 x 33.0 x 26.0 cm. Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 31662. - Prince Leopold,1869. Marble, 43.4 x 29.0 x 19.0 cm. Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 34511. - Queen Victoria, 1887. Bronze, 61.5 x 46 x 41 cm. Leeds Museums and Galleries, Temple Newsam House. - Self Portrait, n.d. Terracotta, 63.5 cm. National Portrait Gallery, London. - Memorial to Mary Ann Thurston Grade II listed monument in Kensal Green Cemetery. Thurston was nanny to Queen Victoria's children 1845–67. - Memorial to the Colonial Forces of the Second Boer War, erected 1905, St Paul's Cathedral, London ## Titles, styles, honours and arms ### Titles and styles - 18 March 1848 – 21 March 1871: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise - 21 March 1871 – 24 April 1900: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne - 24 April 1900 – 3 December 1939: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll ### Honours British honours - 21 January 1865: Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (first class) - 1 January 1878: Companion of the Order of the Crown of India - 7 August 1885: Member of the Royal Red Cross - 10 February 1904: Royal Family Order of King Edward VII - 3 June 1911: Royal Family Order of King George V - 3 June 1918: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire - 12 June 1926: Dame Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St John - 11 May 1937: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Foreign honours - 8 January 1866: Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel #### Honorary military appointments - 3 July 1911: Honorary Colonel, 5th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards (which became 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards in 1936) - 1913: Colonel-in-Chief, Kensington Regiment (Princess Louise's) - 22 June 1914: Colonel-in-Chief, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) - 15 April 1930: Colonel-in-Chief, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) - 14 August 1936: Colonel-in-Chief, The Princess Louise Fusiliers #### Honorary roles - President of the Women's Education Union from 1871 - Patron of the Girls' Day School Trust, 1872–1939 - Patron of the Ladies Lifeboat Guild, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1923–39 ### Arms In 1858, Louise and the three younger of her sisters were granted use of the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony and differenced by a label of three points argent. On Louise's arms, the outer points bore cantons gules, and the centre a rose gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V. ## Ancestry
475,452	Bob Feller	1,168,750,591	American baseball pitcher (1918-2010)	[ "1918 births", "2010 deaths", "American League All-Stars", "American League ERA champions", "American League Pitching Triple Crown winners", "American League strikeout champions", "American League wins champions", "Baseball players from Cuyahoga County, Ohio", "Baseball players from Iowa", "Cleveland Indians announcers", "Cleveland Indians players", "Deaths from cancer in Ohio", "Deaths from leukemia", "Major League Baseball broadcasters", "Major League Baseball pitchers", "Major League Baseball players with retired numbers", "National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees", "People from Gates Mills, Ohio", "People from Van Meter, Iowa", "United States Navy chiefs", "United States Navy personnel of World War II" ]	Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians between 1936 and 1956. In a career spanning 570 games, Feller pitched 3,827 innings and posted a win–loss record of 266–162, with 279 complete games, 44 shutouts, and a 3.25 earned run average (ERA). His career 2,581 strikeouts were third all-time upon his retirement. A prodigy who bypassed baseball's minor leagues, Feller made his debut with the Indians at the age of 17. His career was interrupted by four years of military service (1942–1945) as a United States Navy Chief Petty Officer aboard USS Alabama during World War II. Feller became the first pitcher to win 24 games in a season before the age of 21. He threw no-hitters in 1940, 1946, and 1951, and 12 one-hitters, both records at his retirement. He helped the Indians win a World Series title in 1948 and an American League-record 111 wins and the pennant in 1954. Feller led the American League in wins six times and in strikeouts seven times. In 1946 he recorded 348 strikeouts, the most since 1904 and then believed to be a record. An eight-time All-Star, Feller was ranked 36th on Sporting News's 1999 list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was named the publication's "greatest pitcher of his time". He was a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Baseball Hall of Fame member Ted Williams called Feller "the fastest and best pitcher I ever saw during my career." Hall of Famer Stan Musial believed he was "probably the greatest pitcher of our era." He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 on his first ballot with the then fourth highest percentage of votes. He was elected the inaugural President of the Major League Baseball Players' Association and both organized and participated in barnstorm exhibition games which featured players from both the Major and Negro leagues. Feller died at the age of 92 in 2010. ## Early life Feller played primarily as a shortstop or outfielder, emulating Rogers Hornsby's batting stance. From the age of 15, he began to pitch for the Oakviews after a starting pitcher was injured; while doing so, Feller continued to play American Legion baseball. His catcher during this period was Nile Kinnick, who later won the Heisman Trophy in 1939 and became a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. A student at Van Meter High School, Feller was a starting pitcher for the school's baseball team. During this time, he continued to play on the Farmers Union team in the American Amateur Baseball Congress, and had 19 wins and four losses for Farmers Union one season. He also was the starting center for the high school basketball team. By the age of 16, Feller possessed what critics judged a high quality fastball; major league scouts traveled to Dayton, Ohio to watch him in the annual national baseball tournament. After the game, several big league clubs offered signing bonuses with their contract offers, but he had already been signed to a professional contract with the Cleveland Indians. ## Professional career ### Teenage phenomenon (1936–1941) In 1936, Feller was signed by Cy Slapnicka, a scout for the Indians, for one dollar and an autographed baseball. While scouting Feller, Slapnicka said, "This was a kid pitcher I had to get. I knew he was something special. His fastball was fast and fuzzy; it didn't go in a straight line; it would wiggle and shoot around. I didn't know then that he was smart and had the heart of a lion, but I knew that I was looking at an arm the likes of which you see only once in a lifetime." Feller was assigned to the Fargo-Moorhead Twins and was to report there after finishing the high school semester. Slapnicka was later named general manager of the Indians and transferred Feller's contract from Fargo-Moorhead to the New Orleans Pelicans. He was planning to add Feller, along with outfielder Tommy Henrich, to the major league roster after a few exhibition and semi-pro games, without either playing for a farm club. By doing so, the Indians would be in violation of Major League Baseball's rule stating that, at the time, only minor league teams could sign amateur baseball players to contracts. After a three-month investigation, concluding in December 1936, about whether the Indians broke any Major League Baseball rules by signing Feller, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis disagreed with the argument presented by Slapnicka and Indians president Alva Bradley, but awarded both Feller and Henrich free agency and required the club to pay a \$7,500 fine, . Landis made the decision partly due to the testimony of Feller and his father, who wanted his son to play for Cleveland and who had also told Landis he would take the issue to court. Feller elected to remain with the Indians but Henrich joined the New York Yankees. Sports columnist Joe Williams wrote, "For \$7500 the Cleveland Indians received \$500,000 [] worth of publicity. ... I feel pretty sure Mr. Alva Bradley, president of the Indians, will admit this is the cheapest investment he ever made in publicity." Feller joined the Indians and made his Major League debut on July 19, 1936, in a relief appearance against the Washington Senators. A month later on August 23, Feller made his first career start against the St. Louis Browns. Indians manager Steve O'Neill had Denny Galehouse warmed up in the bullpen in case the 17-year-old Feller had early troubles, but he struck out all three batters he faced in the first inning, and recorded 15 strikeouts in earning his first career win. His strikeout total was the highest for a (starting) pitching debut. Three weeks later, he struck out 17 batters, tying a single-game strikeout record previously set by Dizzy Dean, in a win over the Philadelphia Athletics. He finished the season with a 5–3 record, having appeared in 14 games; he had 47 walks and 76 strikeouts in 62 innings. Feller's fame reached such a level that when he returned to Van Meter for his senior year of high school, the governor of Iowa greeted him. His record-setting rookie year made him, according to baseball writer Richard Goldstein, "the best-known young person in America, with the possible exception of Shirley Temple." Feller's entrance to the big leagues was later described: > It is difficult to imagine now what a marvel Feller was when he burst upon the scene in 1936, a callow youth of 17. Many athletes are great. Bob Feller was seminal. In the long-ago time, unlike nowadays, it was unheard of for teenagers to succeed in the big top of athletics. Children politely waited their turn in the sunshine. Perhaps in all the world only Sonja Henie had previously excelled at so young an age in any sport that mattered, and, after all, she was but a little girl wearing tights and fur trim, performing dainty figure eights. Feller dressed in the uniform of the major league Cleveland Indians, striking out – fanning! – American demigods ... in the only professional team sport that mattered then in the United States. As the 1937 season began, Feller appeared on the cover of the April 19, 1937 issue of Time magazine. In his first appearance of the season on April 24, Feller suffered an injury to his elbow while throwing a curveball. He spent April and May healing the arm, and in May graduated from high school; the ceremony aired nationally on NBC Radio. In mid-May, the Indians considered ending Feller's season early. "We're not taking any chances on that arm and we're not going to allow him to pitch again until the last trace of soreness has disappeared", said Slapnicka. On May 18, Feller appeared in his first game since April 24 but did not record an out. He did not pitch again until June 22, when he recorded two innings, then returned to normal pitching duties on July 4. On October 2, 1938, Feller was the starting pitcher of a season-ending double-header against the Detroit Tigers. Detroit's Hank Greenberg was two home runs short of Babe Ruth's then-single-season record of 60 home runs. By the ninth inning, Feller had recorded 16 strikeouts, one fewer than the MLB record in a nine-inning game. He tied the record when he struck out Detroit's Pete Fox and, when he struck out Chet Laabs for the fifth time that day, broke the record, to set the modern major league record of 18. Greenberg went 1–4 with a double, then 3–3 in the nightcap, all singles. He later said of the game, "Feller's curve was jumping wickedly and with that and his fast ball, he was murder." Feller did not earn a win, however, as the Indians lost, 4–1. "It was one of those days when everything feels perfect, your arm, your coordination, your concentration, everything. There was drama in the air because of Greenberg's attempt to break Ruth's record, and the excitement grew even greater when my strikeouts started to add up", Feller said. For the 1938 season, Feller led all pitchers with 208 walks and 240 strikeouts. In 1939, Feller received his first career Opening Day start, against the Tigers, after a match against the Browns was rained out. He won the game 5–1, allowing three hits. On Mother's Day, Feller pitched against the Chicago White Sox with his family in attendance. One pitch was fouled off by Marv Owen into the seats and into the face of Feller's mother; he went on to win the game. Feller finished the 1939 season leading the AL in wins (24), complete games (24) and innings pitched (296.2), and led the majors for a second consecutive year in both walks (142) and strikeouts (246). Opening Day of the 1940 season featured a no-hitter from Feller against the Chicago White Sox. Feller was assisted by Indians second baseman Ray Mack when he made a diving play to record the final out. This is the only no-hitter to be thrown on Opening Day in major league history. However, he followed his no-hitter with a six-run, three-inning performance in his next start, in a game against the Detroit Tigers. By the end of the season, he had a 27–11 record, with his win total the best in the majors that season, and a career-high for Feller. He accomplished the pitching triple crown for the 1940 season, as he led the AL in ERA (2.61), wins (27) and strikeouts (261) (the latter two led the entire majors). Feller also led the majors with 31 complete games and 320.1 innings pitched, and won the Sporting News Player of the Year Award. Feller later assessed his first few years in the majors: "I relied on the catcher too much. It's swell to have a good catcher calling 'em for you, but the pitcher should take responsibility on his own shoulders." To publicize Feller's extraordinary pitching speed, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball commissioned sports film analysis pioneer and former major leaguer Lew Fonseca to pit Feller's fastball against a motorcycle in a "100 mph" speed trial. The test was conducted in Chicago's Lincoln Park, with Feller in street shoes, suit pants, dress shirt, and tie, pitching without a mound on an asphalt roadway. He was required to hit a target 12 inches (300 mm) in diameter from 60 feet 6 inches (18.44 m) away, "as control is as important as speed". The still accelerating Harley-Davidson passed Feller going 86 mph (138 km/h), yet even with a generous head start the ball beat the bike to the target by several feet. Feller's throw was calculated at the time to have reached 98.6 mph (158.7 km/h), later raised to 104 mph (167 km/h) using updated measuring methods. Feller again led the majors in wins (25), strikeouts (260), innings pitched (343), and walks (194) for the 1941 season. His six shutouts were an AL-best on the season. That year, Joe DiMaggio talked about Feller's pitching ability, stating "I don't think anyone is ever going to throw a ball faster than he does. And his curveball isn't human." Feller appeared in the May 12, 1941, edition of Life, which said: "... he is unquestionably the idol of several generations of Americans, ranging in age from 7 to 70. They represent every city, town and village in the land, speak of him familiarly as 'Bob', and talk about him by the hour, with enthusiasm." ### Military service (1941–1945) The United States entered World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Feller heard about the bombing while returning from a visit to his terminally ill father at Des Moines to Chicago where he was to sign a new Indians contract. Two days later, he volunteered for the United States Navy, becoming the first American professional athlete to enlist. Originally he tried to enlist as a fighter pilot but failed hearing tests. Feller attended basic training at Norfolk Naval Base and served as a physical fitness instructor there. He also pitched in baseball games hosted by the military. Although he had received a military exemption owing to his father's failing health, he wanted to serve in combat missions. Feller said, "I told them I wanted to ... get into combat; wanted to do something besides standing around handing out balls and bats and making ball fields out of coral reefs." Feller was assigned to USS Alabama; he had hoped to serve on USS Iowa, but it would not be commissioned for another six months after Alabama, joining the fleet February 22, 1943. Shortly before Feller left for combat, his father died of brain cancer in early January 1943. Five days later, he married Virginia Winther, whom he had met while in Florida for spring training; she was a student at Rollins College. After the marriage, Feller returned to service as Gun Captain aboard Alabama and kept his pitching arm in shape by throwing near a gun turret. Feller and the Alabama crew spent most of 1943 in the British Isles along with USS South Dakota, but in August were reassigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations. Feller's first taste of direct combat was at Operation Galvanic in November 1943. Alabama also served during Operation Flintlock while primarily being used as an escort battleship in 1944. Feller participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea before his combat duty ended in January 1945; he spent the rest of the war at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station as an instructor. When the war ended, Feller was discharged as a Chief Petty Officer on August 22, 1945. He was decorated with six campaign ribbons and eight battle stars while serving on missions in both the Pacific and North Atlantic, and was made an honorary member of the Green Berets later in life. #### Baseball during Naval service (1942, 1945) Feller pitched for the Norfolk Naval Station's Bluejackets baseball team, which went 92–8 in 1942, and later for the Naval Station Great Lakes team. In 1945, from early spring to late summer, Feller's naval duties were again at Great Lakes Naval station, where he replaced Mickey Cochrane as manager of the baseball program, as well as performed as an active pitcher for the team. ### Return to Cleveland (1945–1948) Upon arrival in Cleveland after his discharge, Feller was honored with a civic luncheon on August 24, 1945, at the Carter Hotel. Feller said to the thousand-plus crowd: "The real heroes didn't come home." Later that day, the city held a parade and Feller was the starting pitcher in the Indians' game against the Detroit Tigers. Feller allowed four hits in the game and earned a win in the Indians' 4–2 victory. "I was so tired from all the receptions I didn't know if I could finish the game", Feller said. For the 1945 season, he appeared in nine games and notched a 5–3 record with 59 strikeouts and 2.50 ERA. Before the 1946 season, Feller signed a \$37,500 () contract for that year, including a bonus for attendance, as the Indians felt many were attending baseball games primarily to see him; he was offered \$100,000 by Jorge Pasquel to play in the Mexican League, but declined to leave the States again. Feller recorded his second career no-hitter on April 30, 1946, against the New York Yankees. He allowed five walks and struck out 11 Yankees. Feller said of the game, "The no-hitter on opening day in Chicago is the one that gets all the attention. But my no-hitter at Yankee Stadium was against a much better team than the White Sox. There was no comparison. I had to pitch to Tommy Henrich, Charlie Keller and Joe DiMaggio in the ninth inning to get the Yankees out." At one point during the season (as he thought he might be nearing Rube Waddell's AL record for strikeouts of 344), Feller claims he confirmed Waddell's total with the AL office. In his last appearance of the season he fanned five Detroit Tigers on September 29 to set what was then believed to be the then-AL single-season strikeout record of 348. Later research into box scores for Waddell's 1904 pitching appearances credited him with five additional strikeouts, moving the mark to 349 and bumping Feller from the top spot. Feller's tally proved the highest for 62 years, until passed by Sandy Koufax's then record 382 in 1966. During the 1946 season Feller registered career-highs in strikeouts (348), games started (42), games pitched (48), shutouts (10), complete games (36), and innings pitched (377.1)–– all major league bests that season. Feller finished 26–15 with an ERA of 2.18, the latter a career-low. Nearly 20 years later, Feller recalled, "For the 1946 season, though, the Indians were so thin in pitching that [player-manager] Boudreau decided I was to pitch every fourth day, regardless of rainouts, open dates, or anything else." Feller began 1947 by setting up a barnstorming tour, pitting his own selected team against a Negro league baseball team led by Satchel Paige. Feller's team included Stan Musial and Phil Rizzuto, while Paige's included Buck O'Neil and Hilton Smith. They played in 22 games across the United States, and at the conclusion of the tour, each player had made nearly as much money as the St. Louis Cardinals made as a team for their 1946 World Series win. Against the St. Louis Browns, in Feller's second start of the season, he extended his major league record for one-hitters when he recorded his ninth one-hit game in a shutout win on April 22. In a June 13 game against the Philadelphia Athletics, having already amassed 10 strikeouts through four innings, Feller fell from the mound, which rain had made slippery, and injured his back. "My fastball was never the same after that", Feller said. He ended the season as the AL leader in wins (20) and shutouts (5), and led the majors in strikeouts (196) and innings pitched (299). ### World Series champion (1948) In 1948, the Indians had one of their finest seasons, though Feller experienced a season that had a considerable number of downs as well as ups. Feller was selected to represent the AL All-Stars for the seventh time in his career in the 1948 All-Star Game, but declined to play, feeling that his performance did not warrant selection as an All-Star. At one point he was winless for a month, and by July 22, his record was 9–12. Lou Boudreau, the Indians' player-manager, declared "we sink or swim with Feller", and continued to pick him. Feller proceeded to go 10–3 for the remainder of his appearances to finish the season with a record of 19–15, a league-leading 164 strikeouts, and a 3.56 ERA. The Indians won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox to determine the team to represent the AL in the World Series; it was the first time the team had won the pennant since the 1920 season. Feller started Game One of the 1948 World Series against the NL-champion Boston Braves. In the eighth inning, Feller and Boudreau appeared to have picked off the Braves' Phil Masi as he attempted to steal a base, but umpire Bill Stewart ruled he was safe. Masi scored the only run of the game on a Braves single. Despite surrendering just two hits on 85 pitches for the game, Feller and the Indians lost 1–0. Later, photographs showed that Boudreau had tagged Masi out by two feet. Feller said, "Stewart was the only guy in the park who thought he was safe." Feller was again named the starter in Game Five, which set an attendance record; the 86,288 fans at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland was the then-largest attendance at a baseball game. The Braves put up three runs in the top of the first inning. The Indians came back to tie the game, but by the seventh inning, the Braves regained the lead for good and Feller was removed from the game. He finished having allowed eight hits and seven earned runs. Lemon won Game Six and gave the Indians their second World Series championship. After the Indians returned to Cleveland and were given a victory parade, Feller said, "This is as good as being President." ### Later years (1949–1956) After taking a pay cut to start the 1949 season, Feller pitched on Opening Day against the St. Louis Browns. During the game, he injured his shoulder and missed the rest of April. His performances were mixed during the rest of the season, and he finished the year with a 15–14 record and a 3.75 ERA. Before the 1950 season, Feller suggested to Indians management he take a pay cut, and did so. Indians general manager Hank Greenberg said, "He himself made the suggestion. In fact, he offered to take more than the 25 per cent maximum pay cut allowed. There was absolutely nothing to it. We all agreed quickly on the figure after Bob showed up yesterday." In a win over the Detroit Tigers in the second game of a doubleheader, Feller became the 53rd pitcher to win 200 games. Throughout the year, players noted that his velocity had returned, and, winning games with finesse rather than power, he was again effective. He finished the year with 16 wins and a 3.43 ERA. On July 1, 1951, Feller recorded his third career no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers. "I was depending on my slider and I didn't begin to think of a no-hitter until about the seventh inning. I tried to keep it in the back of my mind, bearing down and concentrating on one hitter at a time", Feller said. Feller was the third pitcher, after Larry Corcoran and Cy Young, to record three career no-hitters. He became the first pitcher of the 1951 season to reach 20 wins after he pitched a shutout against the Washington Senators on August 21. Along with Early Wynn and Mike Garcia, Feller reached the 20-win mark during the season; they were the first trio of pitchers on the same staff to earn 20 wins since 1931. The Cleveland starting rotation was so strong that future Hall of Famer Bob Lemon's 17 wins was the only time in an eight-year stretch he didn't win 20. Feller went 22–8 in 1951, leading the AL both in wins and with a .733 win percentage. He was named the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year. Feller started the 1952 season with three wins in his first five starts; one of the losses was an April 23 one-hitter against Bob Cain, who also allowed only one hit. Feller struggled for the rest of the season, and after an argument with an umpire over a strike call in late August, manager Al López shut Feller down for the season, finishing 9–13 and a 4.74 ERA. He improved the following year, winning 10 games and losing 7 in 25 starts after Lopez gave him extra days of rest between appearances. The Indians won 111 regular-season games during 1954, breaking an AL record previously held by the 1927 New York Yankees. The 35-year-old Feller finished 13–3 on the year, earning his 250th pitching victory in a May 23 win and his 2,500th career strikeout in a win on June 12. The Indians played against the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series, getting swept in four games. Unlike the 1948 Series, Feller did not make an appearance. Indians manager Al López said of not starting Feller, "I know Feller wanted to start one of the games in the 1954 World Series (when the Indians were swept by the New York Giants), though we never really talked about it ... If we had won the first or second game in New York, I was going to start Feller in Cleveland in the fourth game. But when we didn't (win either game in New York), why in the hell was I going to pitch Feller? He was the fifth starter on the club at that time, and wasn't the Feller he'd been (earlier in his career)." In 1955, Feller spent part of the season as a starter, then was moved to the bullpen later in the season. He went 4–4 in 25 appearances. During the off-season, he became chairman of the Ohio March of Dimes and served as player representative for the American League. He worked with National League representative Robin Roberts throughout the off-season, discussing the possibility of player arbitration and pensions with baseball owners; he then became president of the Major League Baseball Players' Association. In the 1956 season, Feller started four games and appeared in 15 others, and finished with an 0–4 record and career-worst 4.97 ERA. The Indians held "Bob Feller Night" on September 9, and he appeared in his last major league game on September 30. After the season, speculation mounted regarding whether Feller would retire as a player. In December 1956, Feller told The Plain Dealer: "I will return to Cleveland later this week and plan to confer with Hank Greenberg before Christmas. I hope to reach a decision at that time." Greenberg had also offered Feller his release or a job with the Indians in their front office. Greenberg said, "We sincerely want Feller to remain with us. As far as I'm concerned, there will always be a job waiting for Bob in the Cleveland organization." On December 28, Feller officially retired from the Indians as a player to continue his work selling insurance. Announcing his retirement, Feller said, "I could have gone with a couple other ball clubs, but anything I might have done with them would have taken the edge off the success I have had with the Cleveland club the last 20 years." He continued, "What if I did pitch another year, so what? I would have to come to the decision I am making now, some time." He spent his entire career of 18 seasons with the Indians, being one of "The Big Four" in the Indians' pitching rotation in the 1950s, along with Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. Feller shares the Major League record of 12 one-hitters with Nolan Ryan, and was the first pitcher to win 20 or more games before the age of 21. He ended his career with 266 wins, 2,581 strikeouts and 279 complete games. Over the course of his career, he led the AL in strikeouts seven times and walks four times. Upon his retirement, Feller was number three all-time in strikeouts, behind only Walter Johnson and Cy Young, and held the major league record for most walks in a career (1,764), and holds the 20th-century record for most walks in a season (208 in 1938). The Indians retired his jersey number, 19, on December 27, 1956. As a hitter, Feller posted a .151 batting average (193-for-1282) with 99 runs, 28 doubles, 13 triples, 8 home runs, 99 RBI and 100 bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded a .963 fielding percentage. In 1962, Feller was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, along with Jackie Robinson. Both were the first to be elected on their first ballot appearance since the original induction class of 1936. At the time of his induction, only Ty Cobb (98.2%), Babe Ruth (95.1%), and Honus Wagner (95.1%) had a higher percentage of ballot votes. In 2010, after Feller had been admitted to hospice, a reporter released a story recalling a 2007 interview with an aged Feller where he brought up Feller's candid assessment of Robinson as a ballplayer. "They overhyped Jackie Robinson. He was a good baserunner. He was a fair hitter. He was an average second baseman. He was not as good a ballplayer as Larry Doby. There were a lot of better black ballplayers than Jackie Robinson," said Feller. ## Dispute with Commissioner Chandler Throughout his career, Feller played exhibition games during the off-season, playing in towns unaccustomed to seeing major league ballplayers. His exhibition tours often featured other big leaguers and Negro league players, like Satchel Paige, who was also a teammate of Feller's with the Indians. Other players included Stan Musial, Mickey Vernon, and Jeff Heath. During a barnstorming tour in 1945, Feller pitched against Jackie Robinson after he had been signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. He told a reporter in Los Angeles that he believed Robinson was too muscle-bound to succeed against pitching in the major leagues, although Robinson recorded two hits off Feller. Players had to notify the Commissioner of Baseball, A.B. "Happy" Chandler, before participating in exhibition games and were not allowed to begin games before the conclusion of the major-league season. Feller wrote to Chandler, challenging the league's limit on the number of games that were allowed to be played and proposing an increase; the Commissioner agreed to Feller's proposal. To minimize travel time, Feller employed airplanes, such as two Douglas DC-3s in 1947, to transport players from town to town. Feller's involvement, as well as that of other major league players, was the subject of meetings between the Commissioner and AL and NL presidents. In 1947, Feller announced that he would pitch in the Cuban winter league during the off-season, but Commissioner Chandler ruled no major-leaguer could play in Cuba. Feller said he would donate his profits from playing in the Cuban winter league to the American Major League players' pension fund: "I want to prove I'm not going to Cuba for any selfish interest but because there is a principle involved and that is the right of any ball player to work at his chosen profession". Feller also believed it was "grossly unfair" that major leaguers who were U.S. citizens could not play in winter leagues but Latin Americans were permitted. Indians owner and president Bill Veeck said, "I have no comment on Bob's outside activities. I don't know whether they've hurt him or not. But I do know this. The great majority of the people of Cleveland think they've hurt him." Feller's barnstorming business savvy and endorsement details made him one of the wealthiest players of his time but he claimed his off-season exhibitions and barnstorming were necessary to pay for increased medical expenses for his family. His first wife developed anemia after giving birth to their second child when she was given the wrong type of blood during transfusions; she subsequently became addicted to the prescribed medication for her condition. Feller was trying to make up lost earnings as a result, since he missed out on \$125,000 or more in salary when he served in the Navy; he missed more than three major league seasons. Feller's biographer John Sickels suggested: "They were trying to make money, but part of it was also, he felt that the black players weren't necessarily getting a fair chance and that he wanted to sort of showcase it. And seeing those, I think, those exhibition games helped people realize that the Negro league players were just as good as the Major League players." ## Records Feller, who averaged over 25 wins for the three seasons preceding his military service and won 26 his first year out, estimated that the nearly four years he missed while in the U.S. Navy cost him at least 100 career wins. Given his proven performance on both sides of his hitch it is likely that Feller would have finished his career with more than 350 wins and perhaps 3,800 strikeouts. The always plain-speaking Feller said, "I know in my heart I would have ended up a lot closer to 400 than 300 if I hadn't spent four seasons in the Navy. But don't take that as a complaint. I'm happy I got home in one piece." There are numerous claims of how fast Feller could actually throw a ball. All are inherently dubious (due to the extremely inaccurate means of measuring used), and none can be proven valid. Best estimates are at least 98 mph and quite possibly several miles an hour over 100 mph. Among them is footage of a Feller fastball being clocked by Army ordnance equipment (used to measure artillery shell velocity) and registering at 98.6 mph (158.7 km/h). However, this took place in the later years of his career and the speed of the ball was measured as it crossed the plate (whereas later methods measure the speed as it leaves the pitcher's hand). With primitive equipment, Feller was at one point measured at 105 mph (169 km/h). Feller once mentioned that he was clocked at 104 mph (167 km/h) at Lincoln Park in Chicago. He also is credited with throwing the second fastest pitch ever officially recorded, at 107.6 mph (173.2 km/h), in a game in 1946 at Griffith Stadium. Feller said a 1974 test involving Nolan Ryan would be evaluated when he threw the ball rather than when it reached home plate, and as columnist Milton Richman wrote, Feller said "Sandy Koufax had the best live fast ball he ever saw." Although subjective, an extremely telling assessment of just how hard Feller was to hit – even for a left-handed hitter, who had an advantage compared to right-handers – was the tribute from Ted Williams, regarded by many as the greatest hitter in baseball history. He confessed, "Three days before he pitched I would start thinking about Robert Feller, Bob Feller. I'd sit in my room thinking about him all the time. God I loved it ... Allie Reynolds of the Yankees was tough, and I might think about him for 24 hours before a game, but Robert Feller: I'd think about him for three days." Feller was ranked 36th on The Sporting News's list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and also the publication's "greatest pitcher of his time" as well as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Each year, American Legion Baseball presents the "Bob Feller Pitching Award" to the pitcher "with the most strikeouts in regional and national competition." ## Later life Feller was elected the inaugural president of the Major League Baseball Players' Association in 1956. As president, he appeared before Congress to speak about baseball's reserve clause. Feller was the first player to get a franchise to agree to a share of game receipts when he was the starting pitcher for Indians' games. He was also the earliest player to incorporate himself (as Ro-Fel, Inc.). He was also one of the first players to work for the right of a player to enter free agency. Feller and his wife, Virginia Winther, had three sons, Steve, Martin, and Bruce. The couple divorced in 1971; from the divorce settlement, Virginia received the house she and Feller had built. Virginia died on May 6, 1981, in her home in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In retirement, Feller lived with his second wife, Anne (née Thorpe), in Gates Mills, a suburb of Cleveland. Feller is credited with being the first baseball star to sign autographs at baseball memorabilia conventions, and was such a frequent guest at such events that one ESPN writer speculated that he had signed more autographs than any other person. In 1990, Feller received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In June 2009, at the age of 90, Feller was one of the starting pitchers at the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame Classic, which replaced the Hall of Fame Game at Cooperstown, New York. Feller was treated for leukemia in August 2010. By October, Feller was fitted with a pacemaker and was diagnosed with pneumonia and thrush, an infection of the mucous membrane lining the mouth and throat. He was transferred on December 8 from the Cleveland Clinic to hospice care. On December 15, Feller died of complications from leukemia at 92. ## Legacy Of Feller's death, Mike Hegan, Indians broadcaster and son of former Feller teammate and battery mate Jim Hegan, stated, "The Indians of the 40s and 50s were the face of the city of Cleveland and Bob was the face of the Indians. But, Bob transcended more than that era. In this day of free agency and switching teams, Bob Feller remained loyal to the city and the team for over 70 years. You will likely not see that kind of mutual loyalty and admiration ever again." In 2010, the "Cleveland Indians Man of the Year Award" was renamed the "Bob Feller Man of the Year Award". On Opening Day of the 2011 season, the Indians invited Feller's widow, Anne, to present a silent first pitch. During pregame introductions, Cleveland players wore a No. 19 jersey in honor of Feller. For the entire 2011 season the players' uniforms were outfitted with an outline of Feller's pitching motion. The organization also made a permanent memorial of the press-box seat that Feller used in later life. The Bob Feller Museum opened in Feller's birthplace, Van Meter, Iowa, on June 10, 1995. Designed by Feller's son Stephen, on land donated by Brenton Banks, the museum had two rooms that contained Feller memorabilia and items from his own collection. The Feller bat used by Babe Ruth when he made his last public appearance at Yankee Stadium is at the museum. Feller said a teammate had stolen the bat and eventually it was purchased by the Upper Deck sports card company for \$107,000. Feller later offered the company \$95,000 in return for the bat. Following Feller's death in 2010, the museum faced serious funding issues. In 2015, with family approval, the Bob Feller Museum was donated to the city of Van Meter for use as the city hall. Some artifacts remain on permanent exhibit and can be viewed free of charge. In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award was created to honor the life of Feller. The award recognizes "individuals that possess the values, integrity, and dedication to serving our country that Bob Feller himself displayed." ## See also - DHL Hometown Heroes - Major League Baseball titles leaders - TSN Pitcher of the Year (1951) - List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders - List of Major League Baseball annual strikeout leaders - List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders - List of Major League Baseball career wins leaders - List of Major League Baseball no-hitters - List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise - List of Major League Baseball single-game strikeout leaders
155,571	If (magazine)	1,171,016,448	American science-fiction magazine	[ "Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States", "Magazines disestablished in 1974", "Magazines disestablished in 1986", "Magazines established in 1952", "Magazines established in 1986", "Magazines published in New York City", "Science fiction magazines established in the 1950s" ]	If was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. The magazine was moderately successful, though for most of its run it was not considered to be in the first tier of American science fiction magazines. It achieved its greatest success under editor Frederik Pohl, winning the Hugo Award for best professional magazine three years running from 1966 to 1968. If published many award-winning stories over its 22 years, including Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Harlan Ellison's short story "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". The most prominent writer to make his first sale to If was Larry Niven, whose story "The Coldest Place" appeared in the December 1964 issue. If was merged into Galaxy Science Fiction after the December 1974 issue, its 175th issue overall. ## 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 undergoing its first boom, but World War II and its attendant paper shortages led to the demise of several titles. By the late 1940s, the market began to recover. From a low of eight active magazines in 1946, the field expanded to 20 in 1950, and a further 22 had commenced publication by 1954. If was launched in the middle of this second publishing boom. ### Origins and 1950s Ifs origins can be traced to 1948 and 1949, when Raymond Palmer founded two magazines while working at Ziff-Davis in Chicago: Fate and Other Worlds. Fate published articles about occult and supernatural events, while Other Worlds was a science fiction magazine. The two were sufficiently successful to attract the notice of James L. Quinn, a New York publisher. When Ziff-Davis moved to New York City in late 1950, Paul W. Fairman, a prolific writer, went with them, and was soon in touch with Quinn, who decided to found a pair of magazines modelled after Palmer's. One was a nonfiction magazine entitled Strange; the other was If. The first issue of If was dated March 1952, with Fairman as editor; it featured stories by Richard Shaver, Raymond Palmer, and Howard Browne, all writers who were regulars of the Ziff-Davis magazines. By the time the third issue reached the news stands, the disappointing sales figures for the first issue were in, and Quinn decided to let Fairman go. Quinn persevered with himself as editor. His first issue was dated July 1952, and he continued as editor on the masthead for some years. Quinn brought in Ed Valigursky as the art editor; he designed striking covers, including some wraparound artwork—an unusual feature—which helped improve circulation. Quinn began searching for a replacement editor: writer Lester del Rey turned down the job (a decision he is reported to have later regretted), but Quinn was able to engage Larry T. Shaw, an active science fiction fan who had sold a few stories. Shaw joined in May 1953 as associate editor and soon began writing editorials (beginning with the September 1953 issue) and assisting with story selection. The magazine's quality quickly improved and soon Quinn felt able to switch to a monthly schedule, instead of bimonthly. Shaw left after only a year, and Quinn resumed full editorial responsibilities. In late 1953, Quinn decided to run a competition for short fiction from new writers. The competition was only open to college students who had not sold a story before. The first prize was \$1,000, the second prize \$500, with five runner-up prizes of \$100 each. Entries came in from writers who were later to become well known, including Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, and Andrew J. Offutt, whose story "And Gone Tomorrow", about a man unexpectedly sent a hundred years into the future, won first prize and appeared in the December 1954 issue of If. The only other one of the seven announced winners who had a career as a science fiction writer was Leo P. Kelley. Quinn decided to move If to a monthly schedule with the March 1954 issue, perhaps because the competition had increased readership. It reverted to a bimonthly schedule with the June 1956 issue, as circulation dropped again. In 1957, American News Company, by far the largest magazine distributor, was liquidated. Almost all the science fiction magazines had to find a new distributor, and the smaller independent companies remaining in the market often demanded monthly publication and a larger format from the magazines they took on. Many of the magazines did not have the advertising revenue required to support these changes, and within two or three years, many of them had disappeared: the number of science fiction magazines being published dropped from a high of 46 in 1953 to less than a dozen by the end of the decade. For a while If was hard to find on the news stands, but it survived. Quinn did try the slick format (using glossy paper, unlike the cheaper paper used for pulps and digests) for a companion magazine, Space Age, which he launched in November 1958; the experiment was unsuccessful, however. In an attempt to improve If'''s circulation, Quinn hired writer Damon Knight, whose first issue was October 1958. Circulation failed to increase, though this was at least partly due to the problems with distribution, and by early 1959, Quinn decided to sell the magazine. Knight's last issue was his third, dated February 1959. ### Early 1960s Ifs new owner was Robert Guinn, of Galaxy Publishing. The change of ownership was abrupt and led to a delay in publication, with the first issue under new editorship not appearing until July 1959. The editor was Horace Gold, who was also the editor of Galaxy Science Fiction; Galaxy had gone from a monthly to a bimonthly schedule at the start of 1959, and If and Galaxy appeared in alternate months for the next few years. In a 1975 retrospective article, Gold commented that his policy with If was to experiment, using new writers who had not yet established themselves. In the judgement of science fiction historian Mike Ashley, the effect was that If became the weaker of the two magazines, printing stories that were of lower quality than those Gold selected for Galaxy. Frederik Pohl took over the editorship of both If and Galaxy in 1961. Gold had had a car accident with sufficiently severe health consequences to prevent him from being able to continue as editor. Pohl, who had been intermittently helping Gold with editorial duties for some time prior to the car accident, is first listed as editor of If on the masthead of the November 1961 issue, and as editor of Galaxy for the December 1961 issue, but he had been acting as editor of both magazines since at least midyear. Pohl paid one cent per word for the stories he bought for If, whereas Galaxy paid three cents per word, and like Gold, he regarded Galaxy as the leading magazine of the two, whereas If was somewhere he could work with new writers, and try experiments and whims. This developed into a selling point when a letter from a reader, Clayton Hamlin, prompted Pohl to declare that he would publish a new writer in every single issue of the magazine, though he was also able to attract well-known writers. When Pohl began his stint as editor, both magazines were operating at a loss; despite If's lower budget, Pohl found it more fun to edit, and commented that apparently the readers thought so, too; he was able to make If show a profit before Galaxy, adding, "What was fun for me seemed to be fun for them." In April 1963, Galaxy Publishing brought out the first issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, another science fiction magazine, also edited by Pohl. The magazine published some well-received material and was profitable, but Guinn, the publisher and owner, decided in 1967 that it would be better to have Galaxy resume a monthly schedule; both Worlds of Tomorrow and Galaxy were bimonthly at that time, while If was monthly. With the August 1967 issue Worlds of Tomorrow was merged with If, though it was another year before Galaxy actually switched to a monthly schedule. By this time, If had become monthly again, starting with the July 1964 issue (though the schedule had an initial hiccup, omitting September 1964). The circulation rose from 64,000 in 1965 to 67,000 in 1967; the modest 5% increase was exceeded only by Analog among the other science fiction magazines, and If won the Hugo Award for best professional SF magazine three years running during this period. However, in March 1969, Robert Guinn sold all four of his magazines, including Galaxy and If, to Arnold Abramson at Universal Publishing and Distribution Corporation (UPD). Pohl was in Rio de Janeiro when he heard the news, and decided to resign his position as editor rather than continue under the new management. He had been considering a return to a writing career for some time and the change in ownership precipitated his decision to leave. ### Decline and merger with Galaxy The new editor was Ejler Jakobsson, though Pohl continued to be listed as editor emeritus on the masthead until the July–August 1970 issue. Much of the editorial work was actually done by Judy-Lynn Benjamin, who was hired by Pohl in 1969 as an editorial assistant. The new regime failed to impress readers, and circulation dropped from over 67,000 for the year ending October 1968 to under 45,000 the following year, a drop of over 30%. If went bimonthly in May 1970, as Abramson attempted to juggle the frequency of publication of several of his titles to maximize profits; the page count and price were also adjusted more than once over the next year, again increasing profitability. Abramson also began a British distribution of If, reprinted with a separate cover, priced in British currency. Circulation figures of the time show an increase of about 6,000 copies, but if this includes sales in the UK is not clear. In May 1973, Judy-Lynn Benjamin (Judy-Lynn del Rey since her 1971 marriage to Lester del Rey) resigned. She was briefly replaced by Albert Dytch, but within four months, Dytch in turn left, and in August 1973, James Baen joined UPD. He was made managing editor of If with effect from the January 1974 issue, and full editor one issue later; Jakobsson was listed as editor emeritus until the August 1974 issue. Baen had little opportunity to work with If, however, as financial problems at UPD combined with the increasing cost of paper (a consequence of the rising price of oil) led to a decision to combine If with Galaxy. Despite the fact that in 1974, If's circulation had exceeded Galaxy's for the first time, Galaxy was retained and If was merged with it beginning with the January 1975 issue. In 1986, an attempt was made to revive If as a semiprofessional magazine. The only issue, dated September–October 1986, was edited by Clifford Hong. ## Contents and reception The first issue of If, dated March 1952, went on sale on 7 January of that year. The lead story was Howard Browne's "Twelve Times Zero", a murder mystery with a science fictional resolution; other stories were from Ray Palmer, Richard Shaver, and Rog Phillips, all writers associated with the Ziff-Davis magazines. Browne was the editor of Ziff-Davis's Amazing Science Fiction, a leading magazine of the time, and had given Fairman his start in the field in the late 1940s. Fairman was familiar with Ziff-Davis's stable of writers, and his preference for them was a reflection of his experience, though this did not necessarily serve the magazine well—he referred to the acquisition of Browne's story as "the scoop of the century" and spoke in glowing terms of him in an introductory note despite the fact that Browne was reputed to detest science fiction. In addition to the fiction and the editorial by Fairman, it had a letter column, a profile of Wilson Tucker, a selection of science news, a guest editorial by Ken Slater, a well-known British fan, and an approving review of the TV show Tales of Tomorrow. After Quinn dismissed Fairman and engaged Larry Shaw, the magazine improved significantly, and published several well-received stories, including James Blish's "A Case of Conscience" in the September 1953 issue, later to become the first part of Blish's Hugo Award-winning novel of the same name, about a Jesuit priest on a planet of aliens who have no religion but appear free of sin. The dominant science fiction magazines of the 1950s American market were Astounding, Galaxy, and Fantasy and Science Fiction, but If was in the next rank in terms of quality: SF historian Frank M. Robinson, for example, describes If as the "most major of the minors". Well-known writers who appeared in If in the 1950s include Harlan Ellison and Arthur C. Clarke: the original short story version of Clarke's novel The Songs of Distant Earth appeared in the June 1958 issue. Isaac Asimov's widely reprinted story "The Feeling of Power" appeared in February 1958. The period under Pohl is regarded as the magazine's heyday; the three consecutive Hugo Awards won from 1966 to 1968 broke a long period in which the award had been monopolized by Analog (the name to which Astounding changed in 1960) and Fantasy and Science Fiction. Frank Robinson commented that "Pohl was the only one who was surprised when he won three Hugos in a row for editing IF. It had been fun, and the fun had showed." Niven's "Neutron Star" appeared in October 1966, and Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" appeared in March 1967; both won Hugo Awards. Pohl also managed to secure a new Skylark novel, Skylark DuQuesne, from E.E. Smith; the series had been started in the 1920s and was still popular with readers. Pohl also bought A.E. van Vogt's "The Expendables"; the story was van Vogt's first sale in 14 years and attracted long-time readers to the magazine. Another coup was the serialization of three novels by Robert A. Heinlein, including the award-winning The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which ran in five parts from December 1965 to April 1966. Pohl's policy of publishing a story by a new writer in every issue led to a series called "If-firsts"; the first one, Joseph L. Green's "Once Around Arcturus", about the courtship between a man and woman of different planets, appeared in the September 1962 issue. Several of the writers featured in the If-first series, which were published from 1962 through 1965, became well-known, including Alexei Panshin; the most prominent was Larry Niven, whose first story, "The Coldest Place", appeared in December 1964. Niven later remarked that the story was immediately outdated; the plot relied on the discovery that the dark side of Mercury was the coldest place in the universe, but space probes had recently discovered that Mercury did in fact rotate asynchronously. Gardner Dozois also made his first sale to If, with "The Empty Man", about a man possessed by an alien, in the September 1966 issue, and Gene Wolfe's "Mountains Like Mice", about an abandoned group of colonists on Mars, appeared in the May 1966 issue. Technically this was not Wolfe's first sale, as he had already had "The Dead Man" published in the October 1965 issue of Sir!, but "Mountains Like Mice" had been written earlier. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes the late 1960s as If's "heyday": Galaxy was considered the senior magazine for most of the fifteen years the two magazines were stablemates. If's covers during the 1960s were typically action-oriented, showing monsters and aliens; and several of the stories Pohl published were directed at a younger audience. For example, Blish's Welcome to Mars, serialized under the title The Hour Before Earthrise in July to September 1966, was about a teenage genius whose antigravity device stranded him and his girlfriend on Mars. Ashley has suggested that If was attempting to acquire readership from the many new fans of science fiction who had been introduced to the genre through television, in particular via the popular 1960s shows Doctor Who and Star Trek. If also ran a friendly letter column, with more fan-oriented discussions than the other magazines, and between 1966 and 1968 a column by Lin Carter introduced readers to various aspects of science fiction fandom. These features are also likely to have appealed to a younger audience. ## Bibliographic details If was a digest-sized magazine throughout its life. It began at 164 pages and with only the fifth issue, November 1952, dropped to 124 pages. The page count increased again to 134 pages with the July 1959 issue, and to 164 pages with the September 1965 issue; it stayed at this length until the September–October 1970 issue. The page count was then increased to 180 with the June 1971 issue, and reduced to 164 for the last issue, December 1974. It was priced at 35 cents to begin with, and increased to 40 cents with the March 1963 issue, to 50 cents with the December 1964 issue, to 60 cents with the August 1967 issue, and finally to 75 cents with the September–October 1970 issue. With the April 1972 issue, UPD began using card stock for the covers, rather than paper, and continued to do so until the magazine ceased publication. The magazine was bimonthly until the March 1954 issue, which was followed by April 1954, inaugurating a monthly period that ran until June 1955. This was followed by August 1955, resuming a bimonthly schedule that ran until July 1964, with only one irregularity, when the February 1959 issue was followed by July 1959. After July 1964, If ran a monthly schedule until April 1970, with three omissions: there were no issues dated September 1964, June 1969, or August 1969. From May–June 1970, the issues were bimonthly and bore the names of two months. This bimonthly sequence ran through the last issue at the end of 1974. The date the magazine printed on the cover reverted to a single month with the June 1971 issue, though the contents page still used two months to identify the issue. The volume numbering began with six issues to a volume: there were three errors on the magazine contents page, with volume 8 number 1 incorrectly printed as volume 7 number 6; volume 9 number 3 printed as volume 8 number 6; and volume 10 number 1 printed as volume 10 number 6. Volume 14, which began in March 1964, ran through the end of the year, with seven numbers; the remaining volumes had 12 numbers each except for volume 19 which had 10 and volume 22 which had 8. Several British editions of If were produced. In 1953 and 1954, Strato Publications reprinted 15 issues, numbering them from 1 to 15; another 18 were reprinted between 1959 and 1962, with the issue numbers started at 1 again. Between January and November 1967 a UK edition appeared from Gold Star Publications; these were identical to the US edition dated ten months previously. Between 1972 and 1974, 15 of the UPD editions of If were imported, renumbered and repriced for UK distribution. The numbering, inexplicably, ran from 1 to 9, and then 11, 1, 13, 3, 4 and 5. The editorial succession at If was as follows: - Paul W. Fairman: March–September 1952. - James L. Quinn: November 1952 – August 1958. From May 1953 to March 1954, Larry T. Shaw was Associate Editor; he wrote editorials for at least three issues, beginning with September 1953, and generally did most of the editorial work. - Damon Knight: October 1958 – February 1959. - H.L. Gold: July 1959 – November 1961. - Frederik Pohl, January 1962 – May 1969. - Ejler Jakobsson: October 1969 – January/February 1974 - Jim Baen: March/April–December 1974. - Clifford Hong: September/November 1986. Eight selections of stories from If have been published. Two were edited by Quinn: The First World of If (1957) and The Second World of If (1958); four by Pohl: The Best Science Fiction from If (1964), The If Reader of Science Fiction (1966), The Second If Reader of Science Fiction (1968), and Worlds of If (1986); and two by Jakobsson, both published as by "The Editors of If": The Best from If (1973) and The Best from If Vol II (1974). In addition, two anthologies drew all their contents from If without mentioning the magazine: The 6 Fingers of Time and 5 Other Science Fiction Novelets (1965) and The Frozen Planet and Other Stories'' (1966). Both were edited by Samuel H Post, who was not credited.
25,341,765	Parks and Recreation (season 1)	1,158,571,076	null	[ "2009 American television seasons", "Parks and Recreation (season 1) episodes", "Parks and Recreation seasons" ]	The first season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network between April 9 and May 14, 2009. Produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, the series was created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who served as executive producers with Howard Klein. The season stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, and Aubrey Plaza. The comedy series focuses on Leslie Knope (Poehler), the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The season consisted of six 22-minute episodes, all of which aired at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Daniels and Schur conceived the show when NBC officials asked Daniels to produce a spin-off of his comedy series The Office, on which Schur was a writer. During development, the creators decided the new show would be a stand-alone series, though it would share the mockumentary style of The Office. Like that show, Parks and Recreation encouraged improvisation among its cast members. Early test screenings were poor, and many critics and industry observers were skeptical about the show's chances of success. The first season received generally mixed reviews, and several commentators found it too similar to The Office. The premiere episode was watched by 6.77 million viewers, but the viewership declined almost every week in the Nielsen ratings. A season low of 4.25 million viewers watched the final episode, "Rock Show". Despite the low rating, "Rock Show" received the best reviews of the season and convinced some critics that the series had finally found the right tone. ## Cast ### Main - Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Pawnee parks department, who has not let politics dampen her sense of optimism; her ultimate goal is to become President of the United States. She has a strong love for her home town of Pawnee, and desires to use her position to improve it. - Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, a nurse who begins a friendship with Leslie after they collaborate to turn an empty pit next to Ann's house into a park. She slowly becomes more involved in the Pawnee government as a result of her friendship with Leslie. - Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner with the Pawnee municipal government. He has long been disillusioned with government after being unable to achieve his career ambitions. Leslie harbors a strong crush on Mark due to a romantic encounter they had several years ago, but Mark does not return her feelings. Mark assists Leslie with her plan to turn the pit next to Ann's house into a park, despite believing that the plan has no chance of success. - Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Leslie's self-absorbed and underachieving subordinate. While he is an employee at the parks department, he cares little about his job, and instead focusing on his entrepreneurial ambitions. He takes great pride in his personal appearance and regularly pursues women despite being married. - Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, the cynical director of the parks department and Leslie's boss. He holds very negative views on politics and government, and regularly works to make his department as inefficient as possible. This leads him to butt heads with Leslie on a number of occasions, as her philosophy regarding politics is the polar opposite. Despite ideological differences, both he and Leslie have a large amount of respect for one another. - Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, an apathetic young intern at the parks department. She cares little for her internship, and often shows annoyance at having to complete tasks. Due to her rebellious and emotionless attitude, she is often annoyed by her co-workers, especially Leslie. ### Recurring - Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, Ann's boyfriend and lead singer of a band called "Mouse Rat". Before the start of the series, Andy falls into the pit next to Ann's house and breaks both his legs. Andy is shown to be immature and lazy, expecting Ann to pamper him non-stop while his legs are broken. - Jim O'Heir as Jerry Gergich, an incompetent and widely ridiculed employee at the parks department. - Retta as Donna Meagle, the no-nonsense office manager at the parks department. - Pamela Reed as Marlene Griggs-Knope, Leslie's mother. Marlene is a successful politician and figure in Pawnee's school system. Due to her success, Leslie constantly strives to impress her mother, despite the fact that Marlene has low expectations regarding her daughter's success. Marlene is also significantly less optimistic when it comes to politics, and is not above making under-the-table deals to get what she wants. ### Guest stars - Alison Becker as Shauna Malwae-Tweep, a newspaper journalist for The Pawnee Journal. - Brian Huskey as Morgan, a sex offender who expresses interest in the park for dubious reasons. - Jim Meskimen as Martin Housely, an MC at many special events around Pawnee. - Lennon Parham as Kate Speevak, a mother who opposes the construction of Leslie's park. - Phil Reeves as Paul Iaresco, the Pawnee city manager who supports Leslie's plan for a new park. - Ian Roberts as Ian Winston, an angry citizen who complains about lewd behavior in one of Pawnee's parks. - Cooper Thornton as Dr. Harris, Ann's boss at Pawnee's hospital. - Jama Williamson as Wendy Haverford, a surgeon and Tom's attractive wife. ## Episodes <sup>†</sup> denotes an extended episode. ## Production ### Crew Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios produced the first season of Parks and Recreation; series creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur were executive producers with Howard Klein. Dana Gould, Morgan Sackett and Amy Poehler produced, and Tucker Cawley and Norm Hiscock served as consulting producers. Daniel J. Goor was the executive story editor for the season, and Rachel Axler was a story editor. Dean Holland, an editor on The Office, also worked as an editor on Parks and Recreation's first season. Mike Scully, a former executive producer and show runner for The Simpsons, joined Parks and Recreation as a consulting producer starting with the episode "Boys' Club". Cawley left the show at the end of the first season to create the short-lived ABC sitcom Hank, starring Kelsey Grammer. Gould left to focus on his stand-up career. The other producers all returned for the second season. Allison Jones, who worked as a casting director for The Office, served in the same capacity for Parks and Recreation, along with Nancy Perkins, for whom the character Ann Perkins was named. The pilot episode was directed by Greg Daniels, and the season finale was directed by Michael Schur, his debut in the position. Other directors included Seth Gordon, director of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; Jeffrey Blitz, who had directed numerous episodes of The Office; Michael McCullers, co-writer of the first two Austin Powers films, who directed Poehler in the comedy film Baby Mama; and Beth McCarthy Miller, a longtime television director who worked with Poehler on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Daniels and Schur wrote the pilot episode, and the rest of the season's episodes were written by Axler, Goor, Hiscock, Cawley and Alan Yang. ### Cast A principal cast of six actors received star billing in the show's first season. Poehler portrayed the lead character, Leslie Knope, the naive but well-meaning, eager-to-please deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Poehler said, upon reading the script provided by Michael Schur, "it took me five minutes to realize Leslie Knope was the best character ever written for me". She also felt it took a few episodes before she started "feeling my groove" with the character, but came to realize the cast was extremely talented and "would eventually become like family". Other stars in the cast included Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, a sarcastic parks department employee, and Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, a nurse who befriends Leslie and tries to help her turn a giant construction pit into a park. Daniels and Schur intended to cast Ansari and Jones (who previously appeared in The Office as Karen Filippelli) from the series' earliest stages of development, but the ultimate Parks and Recreation concept did not coalesce until they learned Poehler would be available to star. After her recruitment, the general concept of the series was established and the script for the pilot episode was written. Nick Offerman portrayed Ron Swanson, the director of the parks and recreation department. Offerman had previously auditioned for a part on The Office, and Schur was impressed with his comedic talents and wanted to cast him, but then Offerman became unavailable because he appeared on Will & Grace, a show starring his wife, Megan Mullally. Schur said, "I just wrote his name down on a post-it note and stuck it to my computer and said, 'Someday, I'm going to figure out what to do with that guy.'" Aubrey Plaza played April Ludgate, a sarcastic and uninterested college intern. The part was written specifically for Plaza. After meeting her, casting director Allison Jones told Schur, "I just met the weirdest girl I've ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show." Schur confirmed this story, saying "Aubrey came over to my office and made me feel really uncomfortable for like an hour, and immediately I wanted to put her in the show." Although the writers were not immediately sure what direction her character would take. Rounding out the main cast was Paul Schneider, best known for his work in independent films such as Lars and the Real Girl and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He was cast as Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner and Leslie's unrequited love interest. She still harbors feelings for Mark from a one-night sexual encounter years ago. Schneider said that early in the season he was insecure in the role because he was still trying to figure out the character's motivations. Chris Pratt played Andy Dwyer, Ann's well-intentioned but lazy and simple-minded boyfriend. Although Pratt appeared in every episode of season 1, he was credited as guest star until the second season, when he was promoted to the main cast. Andy was originally supposed to appear only in the first season, but the producers liked Pratt so much that, almost immediately after casting him, they decided to make Andy a regular character if the show was renewed. Jim O'Heir and Retta made regular appearances as Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle, two fellow employees at the Pawnee parks and recreation department. The personalities of the two characters did not become developed until the second season, but Schur said the Parks and Recreation staff liked the actors, so they decided to include them in the show and "figured we'd work it out later". Pamela Reed made several appearances as Marlene Griggs-Knope, Leslie's mother and an important figure in the Pawnee school system. Seth Gordon, who directed Reed in her first episode, "Canvassing", said she improvised a great deal during her audition, creating many elements that helped define Marlene's character. Jama Williamson appeared in "Rock Show" as Wendy, the attractive surgeon wife of Tom Haverford. Wendy would make numerous appearances in season 2, during which it was revealed that the Haverfords have a green card marriage. Eric Edelstein guest starred in two season 1 episodes, "Canvassing" and "Boys' Club", as Lawrence, a disgruntled neighbor of Andy's. ### Conception Immediately after Ben Silverman was named co-chairman of NBC's entertainment division in 2007, he asked Greg Daniels to create a spin-off of The Office, the half-hour comedy Daniels adapted from the British comedy of the same name, created by Ricky Gervais. The idea of an Office spin-off stemmed from a subplot from the show's third season that followed characters in an office branch in Stamford, Connecticut, separate from the show's other characters, who were in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Silverman felt it could have served as its own series and began asking Daniels about the possibility of a spinoff. Daniels resisted the idea for several years out of fears of diluting the quality of The Office, but Silverman eventually insisted upon a new show. Daniels co-created Parks and Recreation with Michael Schur, who had been a writer on The Office. Like Daniels, Schur had previously worked on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The two spent months considering ideas for the new series and debating whether to make it a stand-alone show rather than a spin-off, with many of those conversations taking place at Norm's Diner in Van Nuys. According to Daniels, they eventually abandoned the original spin-off plan because they "couldn't find the right fit". Daniels and Schur considered two "frontrunner ideas" about a family show done as a mockumentary, and a "mockumentary version of The West Wing", which they felt could make the new show focus on the public sector in the same way that The Office was about the private sector. They also considered a series about a local government official trying to rebuild a political career following a humiliating public spectacle, but ultimately abandoned the idea. However, it was ultimately incorporated into the backstory for Ben Wyatt, the character played by Adam Scott who was added late in the second season. Daniels and Schur specifically sought to avoid making a political show about a "hypocrite running for office" or "bureaucrat who just makes everything impossible", which they felt were clichéd and overdone stereotypes. After Poehler agreed to play the lead, they decided the show would revolve around an optimistic bureaucrat in small-town government. Schur said they sought to portray a "very optimistic kind of can-do spirit type person in the middle of (a) really Byzantine world (and) frustrating world". The idea was partly inspired by the portrayal of local politics on the HBO drama series The Wire, as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the 2008 United States presidential election. Schur said they wanted to focus on government's involvement in people's lives at a "very micro level" because, during the Great Recession, there was a great deal of discussion and speculation about "a new Great Depression-era intervention in people's lives". The writing staff was also drawn to the idea of building a show around a female relationship, namely Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins. Reports that Daniels and Schur were developing a show together led to press speculation that it would, in fact, be a spin-off of The Office. The producers insisted their new series would be entirely independent. Nevertheless, their concept for it shared several elements with The Office, particularly the mockumentary approach, which allows the actors to look at and directly address the camera. The new show would also include documentary-style interviews, in which the characters speak one-on-one with the camera crew about the day's events. Again as with The Office, the new series would be scripted but improvisation would be encouraged among the actors. Schur said the writers considered an idea in which a broken copy machine from the Scranton setting of The Office ended up in the government offices of Parks and Recreation, thus jokingly making the copy machine the spun-off character from The Office, but the idea was ultimately abandoned. Indiana was identified as a setting for the show because, Daniels said, "it's a Midwestern state that people don’t hear about much (and) didn't have a lot of stereotypes attached to it". The series was scheduled as a mid-season replacement and rushed into production to meet the premiere date of April 9, 2009. As a result, when the series was featured at a panel during the January 2009 television critics press tour, NBC did not have a finished episode to screen, only a copy of the pilot script available for review. Some of the parts were still not cast and the series, which did not yet have a name, was referred to as The Untitled Amy Poehler Project or TUAPP. The name Public Service was considered, but ultimately rejected because network officials did not want to be accused of mocking the idea. In a commercial that aired during NBC's Super Bowl coverage in February, it was announced that the series would be called Parks and Recreation. ### Writing The show's writers spent time researching local California politics and attending Los Angeles City Council meetings. Schur said they observed that many community hearings were attended only by those opposed, often angrily, to the proposals under consideration. This confirmed his existing impression: "I've been to some community meetings in my life, and it is often this feeling of utter sparseness. That nobody cares." The depiction of public hearings in several Parks and Recreation episodes was inspired by this perspective, which was also the basis for the entire "Canvassing" episode. Schur asked urban planners in Claremont, California, whether efforts to turn a construction pit into a park could realistically take several months or longer. They told him that was entirely plausible, and that they had recently broken ground on a park that had been in various planning stages for 18 years. Schur said the pit project was conceived as a device to bring all the characters together, which was partially inspired by the way various characters in The Wire were brought together to work toward a common goal or project. The writers originally envisioned the pit becoming a park only in the series finale, although those plans were later changed and the pit was filled in during the second season. The Pawnee residents vocally opposed to Leslie's park proposal were based on real-life California residents the show's producers encountered who fought the construction of parks in their hometowns. One such group, the Committee for a Better Park, was actually opposed to parks in general, and the deceptiveness of their name and mission inspired the producers' writing for those characters. The Parks and Recreation staff worked with a number of consultants familiar with local government work, including Scott Albright, a California city planner who provided feedback for the Mark Brendanawicz character. Inspiration for Ron Swanson came from an encounter Schur had in Burbank with an elected official, a Libertarian who favored minimal government and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job." Daniels and Schur wrote the script for the pilot episode in mid-2008. The original script portrayed Leslie and Mark as slightly less likable than they appeared in the final draft. For example, in the premiere episode, Mark asks Ron to greenlight the park because he is inspired by Leslie's optimism and wants to help her. In the original script, Mark intervened because he was attracted to Ann and wanted an excuse to keep seeing her. The characters were made more likable in response to feedback the episode received from focus groups and press tour screenings. The first-season episodes were written and developed relatively quickly after each other, and Schur said the staff was treating the entire six-episode season as if it was one television pilot. When the season concluded, the writers had not decided what would happen with the developing romantic plotlines between Leslie and Mark, or Mark and Ann. Parks and Recreation involves a mixture of written dialogue and comedic improvisation. In one example from the pilot episode, Aziz Ansari's character attempts to flirt with Rashida Jones's when she speaks at a parks and recreation public forum. Ansari continued to improvise long after completing his scripted dialogue. In the season's final episode, "Rock Show", Andy goes through a list of the previous names of his rock band. About half the band names used in the episode came directly from the script, but after actor Chris Pratt made up one on the spot, the directors encouraged him to keep improvising. Pratt said he went through about 200 fake band names during the take. ### Filming Parks and Recreation faced early production delays because Poehler was pregnant when she signed on; filming had to be postponed until she gave birth. Principal photography began on February 18, 2009. The show was filmed in Southern California, and the construction pit featured throughout the season was dug by the episode's producers at an undeveloped property in Van Nuys, a district of Los Angeles. The producers went door-to-door in the neighborhood, seeking residents' permission for the dig. The pit was guarded 24 hours a day, and paparazzi regularly came to the set to take photos of the actors during filming. The exterior of the Pawnee government building, and several of the hallway scenes, were shot at Pasadena City Hall. The parks and recreation department interiors, as well as the Town Hall courtyard, were filmed on a sound stage. The set's windows were outfitted with water systems to simulate falling rain, and the windowsills included fake pigeons. Scenes set in playgrounds and elsewhere outdoors were filmed on location in Los Angeles, and the public forum scenes in the premiere episode were filmed in one of the city's middle schools. Schur said the Parks and Recreation producers approach each episode as if they are filming a real documentary. They typically shoot enough for a 35- or 40-minute episode, then cut it down to 22 minutes, using the best material. Due to the improvisational acting and hand-held camerawork, a great deal of extra footage is shot that must be discarded for the final cut. According to Poehler, "For every show, there could probably be a second show of stuff we've edited out." The original cut of the 22-minute pilot was 48 minutes long. The producers film about nine pages of the script each day, a large amount by U.S. television standards. Although the series shares a mockumentary style with The Office, Daniels and Schur sought to establish a slightly different tone in the camera work of the pilot episode. The one-on-one interviews, for example, sometimes feature two separate camera angles on the same person; the footage is intercut to create the final version of the scene. This technique was inspired by The Five Obstructions, a 2003 experimental documentary directed by Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth, which Daniels watched at the suggestion of actor Paul Schneider. Parks and Recreation also makes frequent use of the jump cut technique. For instance, one scene in the pilot episode repeatedly jump cuts between brief clips in which Leslie seeks permission from Ron to pursue the pit project. Early in the season, editor Dean Holland developed a technique that would be used throughout the series. During a scene in "The Reporter" in which Leslie reacts to quotes read to her by the journalist, Poehler improvised a number of jokes, many of which were ultimately going to be cut from the episode. Holland thought they were all funny, so he created a brief montage intercutting several of the lines. The producers sought to lend authenticity to the fictional Pawnee setting by incorporating real-life Indiana elements. They contacted the Bloomington–based Upland Brewing Company and asked for empty beer bottles and labels to be used as background props. The six episodes of the first season aired Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. The premiere was shown between two season 5 episodes of The Office: "Dream Team" and "Michael Scott Paper Company". "The Reporter" was originally supposed to be the season's second episode, but the schedule was changed and "Canvassing", originally planned as the third episode, was shown second instead. ## Reception ### Reviews The first season of Parks and Recreation started to receive criticism before the premiere episode aired. According to a March 18, 2009, report that was leaked to television journalist Nikki Finke, focus groups responded poorly to a rough-cut version of the pilot. Many focus group members felt the show was a "carbon copy" of The Office. Some found it predictable, slow-paced and lacking in character development, and felt the beginning of the episode needed to better explain the setting and plot. Some viewers said the show lacked strong male characters, particularly a "datable" lead. On the other hand, viewers said the show's portrayal of government bureaucracy was "very believable" and had the potential to generate amusing situations. While Poehler's character drew mixed comments, the actress herself was "well liked". The early feedback left many critics and industry observers skeptical about the show's chances of success. In response to the leak, Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said the feedback on rough cuts is usually negative, even with ultimately successful shows. Schur said that the pilot had been completely re-edited at least four times since the focus groups described in the report were held. The first season received generally mixed to negative reviews. Many critics said the series was too similar to The Office and its mock documentary style. In particular, several commentators said the naive and well-meaning Leslie Knope character too closely resembled The Office protagonist Michael Scott, the well-intentioned but dimwitted manager of a paper company sales office. Maureen Ryan, television reviewer for the Chicago Tribune, said Parks and Recreation surpassed the Friends spin-off Joey as the "worst example of NBC's tendency to extend its franchises well beyond what is desirable or logical." Daniels said of the comparisons between Leslie Knope and Michael Scott, "My sense is that if we had built 'Parks and Recreation' around a 90-year-old Maasai warrior people would still have said, 'He reminds me of Michael Scott'. There was just no way to escape it." Poehler acknowledged that there was some validity to the comparisons, but felt that the series overcame them with the production of "Rock Show": "I think it was something we had to work through in the beginning, and I’m kind of hoping we’re on the other side of that and people will start to judge the show on its own, for what it is and realize it’s just a completely different world in a similar style." Salon.com writer Jonah Weiner said of the first season, "Each episode wound up more or less the same way, with the humiliation of Poehler's quixotic, adorably doofy bureaucrat". Some critics said the show's characters and overall tone were too mean-spirited in the early episodes. While reviewers praised various cast members in individual episodes, some said the supporting characters in general needed to be more fully developed and provided with better material. Several wrote that some of the subplots were too predictable and risked becoming stale, such as Leslie's long-standing crush on Mark and the question of whether Andy and Ann would keep dating. Others said Leslie was too unintelligent and ditzy. Schur said that was not the intention of the writers, and the feedback prompted changes to the character in the second season. Years after the first season ended, Schur said he believed much of the early criticism stemmed from the fact that audiences were not yet familiar with the characters, and he believed viewers who revisited the episodes enjoyed them more because they had gotten to know the characters better as the series progressed. Not all reviews were negative. Several commentators said the show had potential, and pointed out that early episodes of The Office had been flat before the series found its footing. The finale, "Rock Show", received the best reviews of the season. Several commentators declared that Parks and Recreation had finally found the right tone both generally and for the Leslie Knope character in particular. Several reviewers, even those who did not enjoy the show, applauded Poehler's comedic abilities and said her talent, timing and likability helped elevate the series above some of its flaws. Reviewers also said they particularly liked Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, and Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer. Some commentators approved of the Pawnee setting as offering a good opportunity to satirize small-town government and politics. Parks and Recreation went on to run for seven seasons over the span of six years. Looking back after the show's run concluded, most critics agreed that the first season was the worst of the series. In a 2015 recap of the show's best episodes, Oliver Lyttelton and Jessica Kiang of IndieWire wrote, "Famously, Parks & Rec didn’t come flying out of the gate. It began with an uneven, rushed, truncated first season that saw the writers visibly struggling with how to make Leslie Knope work, and finding it tricky to stand apart from The Office." Nate Jones of Vulture.com, revisiting the first season following the series finale, noted the tone of the series was darker and more cynical, and the characters, particularly Leslie Knope, were not yet clearly defined or developed. Jones wrote: "Like a lot of early comedy episodes, the jokes are fine, but the series' worldview is hard to pin down, and, true to myth, the tone never really coalesces until the finale." In a 2015 article for Forbes, Allen St. John suggests the changes made in the second season saved the show: "In season two, the writers turned down the snark and the show immediately improved. Leslie was still overly enthusiastic, but beneath all that energy was a core of competence and good intentions." Ethan Alter, senior writer with Yahoo! Entertainment, suggested the Mark Brendanawicz character was poorly conceived and a major problem for the show during its first season: "From the pilot, it's clear that Schneider is the odd man out in an ensemble that's taking some time to gel anyway." In a 2015 article, Grantland writer Sam Donsky said the first season of Parks and Recreation was his favorite season, though he acknowledged this was a minority opinion. Donsky said he preferred the darker tones, felt the character had more leeway, and preferred the series when it was "not worrying about being likable". ### Ratings Parks and Recreation's premiere was seen by 6.77 million viewers. Media outlets described this as a solid result, comparable to the average Nielsen ratings for 30 Rock, another Thursday-night show on NBC. However, viewership declined almost every week over the rest of the season, culminating in a season low of 4.25 million viewers for the final episode. The average first season viewership was 5.45 million viewers per episode. The Office experienced similarly poor ratings during its first season and later became a success. However, the low viewership presented a greater challenge for Parks and Recreation because NBC now trailed CBS, ABC and Fox in the ratings, and the move of comedian Jay Leno from The Tonight Show to a variety show in NBC's 10 p.m. weeknight slot left less room on the network's primetime schedule. Retta said acting during the first season was stressful because it was unclear how long the show would stay on the air, due to the poor reviews and ratings. Likewise, Chris Pratt said there was a constant feeling among the Parks staff that the show could be canceled at any time: "At the end of season one Parks and Rec, you hug the people really, really fucking tight because you just don't know." ## Home media The first season of Parks and Recreation was released on DVD in the United States on September 8, 2009. The DVD included all six episodes, as well as an "Extended Producer's Cut" of the season finale, "Rock Show". The disc also included cast and crew commentary tracks for each episode, as well as about 30 minutes of deleted scenes.
3,719,774	Italian War of 1542–1546	1,166,500,381	Conflict between the Ottoman Empire & France vs the Holy Roman Empire & England	[ "1540s conflicts", "1540s in France", "1540s in Italy", "1540s in the Holy Roman Empire", "1542 in Italy", "1546 in Italy", "16th-century military history of France", "16th-century military history of Spain", "16th-century military history of the Kingdom of England", "Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor", "Francis I of France", "Henry II of France", "Henry VIII", "Italian War of 1542–1546", "Italian Wars", "Suleiman the Magnificent", "Wars involving England", "Wars involving France", "Wars involving Spain", "Wars involving the Holy Roman Empire", "Wars involving the Ottoman Empire" ]	The Italian War of 1542–1546 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive fighting in Italy, France, and the Low Countries, as well as attempted invasions of Spain and England. The conflict was inconclusive and ruinously expensive for the major participants. The war arose from the failure of the Truce of Nice, which ended the Italian War of 1536–1538, to resolve the long-standing conflict between Charles and Francis—particularly their conflicting claims to the Duchy of Milan. Having found a suitable pretext, Francis once again declared war against his perpetual enemy in 1542. Fighting began at once throughout the Low Countries; the following year saw the Franco-Ottoman alliance's attack on Nice, as well as a series of maneuvers in Northern Italy which culminated in the bloody Battle of Ceresole. Charles and Henry then proceeded to invade France, but the long sieges of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Saint-Dizier prevented a decisive offensive against the French. Charles came to terms with Francis by the Treaty of Crépy in late 1544, but the death of Francis's younger son, the Duke of Orléans—whose proposed marriage to a relative of the Emperor was the foundation of the treaty—made it moot less than a year afterwards. Henry, left alone but unwilling to return Boulogne to the French, continued to fight until 1546, when the Treaty of Ardres finally restored peace between France and England. The deaths of Francis and Henry in early 1547 left the resolution of the Italian Wars to their successors. ## Prelude The Truce of Nice, which ended the Italian War of 1536–1538, provided little resolution to the long conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France; although hostilities had ended, giving way to a cautious entente, neither monarch was satisfied with the war's outcome. Francis continued to harbor a desire for the Duchy of Milan, to which he held a dynastic claim; Charles, for his part, insisted that Francis comply at last with the terms of the Treaty of Madrid, which had been forced on the French king during his captivity in Spain after the Italian War of 1521–26. Other conflicting claims to various territories—Charles's to Burgundy and Francis's to Naples and Flanders, among others—remained a matter of contention as well. Negotiations between the two powers continued through 1538 and into 1539. In 1539, Francis invited Charles—who faced a rebellion in the Low Countries—to travel through France on his way north from Spain. Charles accepted, and was richly received; but while he was willing to discuss religious matters with his host—the Protestant Reformation being underway—he delayed on the question of political differences, and nothing had been decided by the time he left French territory. In March 1540, Charles proposed to settle the matter by having Maria of Spain marry Francis's younger son, the Duke of Orléans; the two would then inherit the Netherlands, Burgundy, and Charolais after the Emperor's death. Francis, meanwhile, was to renounce his claims to the duchies of Milan and Savoy, ratify the treaties of Madrid and Cambrai, and join an alliance with Charles. Francis, considering the loss of Milan too large a price to pay for future possession of the Netherlands and unwilling to ratify the treaties in any case, made his own offer; on 24 April, he agreed to surrender the Milanese claim in exchange for immediate receipt of the Netherlands. The negotiations continued for weeks, but made no progress, and were abandoned in June 1540. Francis soon began gathering new allies to his cause. William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, who was engaged in the Guelders Wars, a dispute with Charles over the succession in Guelders, sealed his alliance with Francis by marrying Francis's niece, Jeanne d'Albret. Francis sought an alliance with the Schmalkaldic League as well, but the League demurred; by 1542, the remaining potential French allies in northern Germany had reached their own understandings with the Emperor. French efforts farther east were more fruitful, leading to a renewed Franco-Ottoman alliance; Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to distract Charles from Ottoman advances in Hungary, encouraged the Franco-Imperial rift. On 4 July 1541, however, the French ambassador to the Ottoman court, Antoine de Rincon, was killed by Imperial troops as he was travelling near Pavia. In response to Francis's protests, Charles denied all responsibility, promising to conduct an inquiry with the assistance of the Pope; he had by now formed plans for a campaign in North Africa, and wished to avoid further entanglements in Europe. By the end of September, Charles was in Majorca, preparing an attack on Algiers; Francis, considering it impolitic to attack a fellow Christian who was fighting the Muslims, promised not to declare war for as long as the Emperor was campaigning. The Imperial expedition, however, was entirely unsuccessful; storms scattered the invasion fleet soon after the initial landing, and Charles had returned to Spain with the remainder of his troops by November. On 8 March 1542, the new French ambassador, Antoine Escalin des Eymars, returned from Constantinople with promises of Ottoman aid in a war against Charles. Francis declared war on 12 July, naming various injuries as the causes; among them was Rincon's murder, which he proclaimed "an injury so great, so detestable and so strange to those who bear the title and quality of prince that it cannot be in any way forgiven, suffered or endured". ## Initial moves and the Treaty of Venlo The French immediately launched a two-front offensive against Charles. In the north, the Duke of Orléans attacked Luxembourg, briefly capturing the city; in the south, a larger army under Claude d'Annebault and Francis's eldest son, the Dauphin Henry, unsuccessfully besieged the city of Perpignan in northern Spain. Francis himself was meanwhile in La Rochelle, dealing with a revolt caused by popular discontent with a proposed reform of the gabelle tax. By this point, relations between Francis and Henry VIII were collapsing. Henry—already angered by the French refusal to pay the various pensions, which were owed to him under the terms of past treaties—was now faced with the potential of French interference in Scotland, where he was entangled in the midst of an attempt to marry his son to Mary, Queen of Scots, that would develop into the open warfare of the "Rough Wooing". He had intended to begin a war against Francis in the summer of 1543, but negotiating a treaty to that effect with the Emperor proved difficult; since Henry was, in Charles's eyes, a schismatic, the Emperor could not promise to defend him against attack, nor sign any treaty which referred to him as the head of the Church—both points upon which Henry insisted. Negotiations continued for weeks; finally, on 11 February 1543, Henry and Charles signed a treaty of offensive alliance, pledging to invade France within two years. In May, Henry sent Francis an ultimatum threatening war within twenty days; and, on 22 June, at last declared war. Hostilities now flared up across northern France. On Henry's orders, Sir John Wallop crossed the Channel to Calais with an army of 5,000 men, to be used in the defense of the Low Countries. The French, under Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, had captured Lillers in April; by June, d'Annebault had taken Landrecies as well. Wilhelm of Cleves openly joined the war on Francis's side, invading Brabant, and fighting began in Artois and Hainaut. Francis inexplicably halted with his army near Rheims; in the meantime, Charles attacked Wilhelm of Cleves, invading the Duchy of Jülich and capturing Düren. Concerned about the fate of his ally, Francis ordered the Duke of Orléans and d'Annebault to attack Luxembourg, which they took on 10 September; but it was too late for Wilhelm, as he had already surrendered on 7 September, signing the Treaty of Venlo with Charles. By the terms of this treaty, Wilhelm was to concede the overlordship of the Duchy of Guelders and County of Zutphen to Charles, and to assist him in suppressing the Reformation. Charles now advanced to besiege Landrecies, seeking battle with Francis; the French defenders of the town, commanded by Martin du Bellay, repulsed the Imperial attack, but Francis withdrew to Saint-Quentin on 4 November, leaving the Emperor free to march north and seize Cambrai. ## Nice and Lombardy On the Mediterranean, meanwhile, other engagements were underway. In April 1543, the Sultan had placed Hayreddin Barbarossa's fleet at the disposal of the French king. Barbarossa left the Dardanelles with more than a hundred galleys, raided his way up the Italian coast, and in July arrived in Marseilles, where he was welcomed by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, the commander of the French fleet. On 6 August, the joint Franco-Ottoman fleet anchored off the Imperial city of Nice and landed troops at Villefranche; a siege of the city followed. Nice fell on 22 August, although the citadel held out until the siege was lifted on 8 September. Barbarossa was by this point becoming a liability; on 6 September, he had threatened to depart if he were not given the means with which to resupply his fleet. In response, Francis ordered that the population of Toulon—except for "heads of households"—be expelled, and that the city then be given to Barbarossa, who used it as a base for his army of 30,000 for the next eight months. Yet Francis, increasingly embarrassed by the Ottoman presence, was unwilling to help Barbarossa recapture Tunis; so the Ottoman fleet—accompanied by five French galleys under Antoine Escalin des Aimars—sailed for Istanbul in May 1544, pillaging the Neapolitan coast along the way. In Piedmont, meanwhile, a stalemate had developed between the French, under the Sieur de Boutières, and the Imperial army, under Alfonso d'Avalos; d'Avalos had captured the fortress of Carignano, and the French had besieged it, hoping to force the Imperial army into a decisive battle. During the winter of 1543–44, Francis significantly reinforced his army, placing Enghien in command. D'Avalos, also heavily reinforced, advanced to relieve Carignano; and, on 11 April 1544, Enghien and d'Avalos fought one of the few pitched battles of the period at Ceresole. Although the French were victorious, the impending invasion of France itself by Charles and Henry forced Francis to recall much of his army from Piedmont, leaving Enghien without the troops he needed to take Milan. D'Avalos's victory over an Italian mercenary army in French service at the Battle of Serravalle in early June 1544 brought significant campaigning in Italy to an end. ## Danish participation (1542–1543) Emperor Charles V's refusal to recognize Christian of Holstein as King of Denmark, led to the Danish-French alliance in 1541. Denmark declared war on the Netherlands, at that time under Charles's rule. The only military actions of Denmark, were to blockade The Sound and the Belt to Dutch shipping. Despite a Danish fleet being stationed on the coast of the Netherlands, no offensives were carried out. A peace treaty was signed, between Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire, in 1544 at Speyer; Charles acknowledged Christian III as king of Denmark and free passage through the Sound was ensured. ## Invasion of France On 31 December 1543, Henry and Charles had signed a treaty pledging to invade France in person by 20 June 1544; each was to provide an army of no less than 35,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry for the venture. Against this Francis could muster about 70,000 men in his various armies. The campaign could not begin, however, until Henry and Charles had resolved their personal conflicts with Scotland and the German princes, respectively. On 15 May, Henry was informed by Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, that, after his raids, Scotland was no longer in a position to threaten him; he then began to make preparations for a personal campaign in France—against the advice of his council and the Emperor, who believed that his presence would be a hindrance. Charles had meanwhile reached an understanding with the princes at the Diet of Speyer, and the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg had agreed to join his invasion of France. By May 1544, two Imperial armies were poised to invade France: one, under Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, north of Luxemburg; the other, under Charles himself, in the Palatinate. Charles had gathered a combined force of more than 42,000 for the invasion, and had arranged for another 4,000 men to join the English army. On 25 May, Gonzaga captured Luxembourg and moved towards Commercy and Ligny, issuing a proclamation that the Emperor had come to overthrow "a tyrant allied to the Turks". On 8 July, Gonzaga besieged Saint-Dizier; Charles and the second Imperial army soon joined him. Henry, meanwhile, had sent an army of some 40,000 to Calais under the joint command of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. This force consisted of 36,000 infantry (including 8,000 Landsknecht) and 6,000 cavalry (including another 2,000 German mercenaries). It was organized into three armies, one of 16,000 and two of 13,000 each. By western continental standards, the army was obsolescent; it had little heavy cavalry and a shortage of both pike and shot, the bulk of its troops being armed with longbows or bills. The few cuirassiers and arquebusiers, the latter only accounting for single digit percentages of the host, were mostly foreign mercenaries. Henry hired additional arquebusiers from Italy, but still only 2,000 of the 28,000 soldiers who besieged Boulogne that year were equipped with firearms. While Henry continued to squabble with the Emperor over the goals of the campaign and his own presence in France, this massive army moved slowly and aimlessly into French territory. Finally, Henry decided that the army was to be split. Norfolk, ordered to besiege Ardres or Montreuil, advanced towards the latter; but he proved unable to mount an effective siege, complaining of inadequate supplies and poor organization. Suffolk was ordered to attack Boulogne; on 14 July, Henry crossed to Calais and moved to join him. A siege of Boulogne began on 19 July—despite the protests of the Emperor, who insisted that Henry should advance towards Paris. Charles himself, on the other hand, was still delayed at Saint-Dizier; the city, fortified by Girolamo Marini and defended by Louis IV de Bueil, Count of Sancerre, continued to hold out against the massive Imperial army. On 24 July, Charles captured Vitry-en-Perthois, from which French forces had harassed his supply lines; finally, on 8 August, the defenders of Saint-Dizier, running low on supplies, sought terms. On 17 August, the French capitulated, and were permitted by the Emperor to leave the city with banners flying; their resistance for 41 days had broken the Imperial offensive. Some of Charles's advisers suggested withdrawing, but he was unwilling to lose face and continued to move towards Châlons, although the Imperial army was prevented from advancing across the Marne by a French force waiting at Jâlons. The Imperial troops marched rapidly through Champagne, capturing Épernay, Châtillon-sur-Marne, Château-Thierry, and Soissons. The French made no attempts to intercept Charles. Troops under Jacques de Montgomery, Sieur de Lorges, sacked Lagny-sur-Marne, whose citizens had allegedly rebelled; but no attempt was made to engage the advancing Imperial army. Paris was gripped by panic, although Francis insisted that the population had nothing to fear. Charles finally halted his advance and turned back on 11 September. Henry, meanwhile, was personally directing the besiegers at Boulogne; the town fell in early September, and a breach was made into the castle on 11 September. The defenders finally surrendered a few days later. ## Treaty of Crépy Charles, short on funds and needing to deal with increasing religious unrest in Germany, asked Henry to continue his invasion or to allow him to make a separate peace. By the time Henry had received the Emperor's letter, however, Charles had already concluded a treaty with Francis—the Peace of Crépy—which was signed by representatives of the monarchs at Crépy in Picardy on 18 September 1544. The treaty had been promoted at the French court by the Emperor's sister, Queen Eleanor, and by Francis's mistress, the Duchess of Étampes. By its terms, Francis and Charles would each abandon their various conflicting claims and restore the status quo of 1538; the Emperor would relinquish his claim to the Duchy of Burgundy and the King of France would do the same for the Kingdom of Naples, as well as renouncing his claims as suzerain of Flanders and Artois. The Duke of Orléans would marry either Charles's daughter Mary or his niece Anna; the choice was to be made by Charles. In the first case, the bride would receive the Netherlands and Franche-Comté as a dowry; in the second, Milan. Francis, meanwhile, was to grant the duchies of Bourbon, Châtellerault, and Angoulême to his son; he would also abandon his claims to the territories of the Duchy of Savoy, including Piedmont and Savoy itself. Finally, Francis would assist Charles against the Ottomans—but not, officially, against the heretics in his own domains. A second, secret accord was also signed; by its terms, Francis would assist Charles with reforming the church, with calling a General Council, and with suppressing Protestantism—by force if necessary. The treaty was poorly received by the Dauphin, who felt that his brother was being favored over him, by Henry VIII, who believed that Charles had betrayed him, and also by the Sultan. Francis would fulfill some of the terms; but the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1545 rendered the treaty moot. ## Boulogne and England The conflict between Francis and Henry continued. The Dauphin's army advanced on Montreuil, forcing Norfolk to raise the siege; Henry himself returned to England at the end of September 1544, ordering Norfolk and Suffolk to defend Boulogne. The two dukes quickly disobeyed this order and withdrew the bulk of the English army to Calais, leaving some 4,000 men to defend the captured city. The English army, outnumbered, was now trapped in Calais; the Dauphin, left unopposed, concentrated his efforts on besieging Boulogne. On 9 October, a French assault nearly captured the city, but was beaten back when the troops prematurely turned to looting. Peace talks were attempted at Calais without result; Henry refused to consider returning Boulogne, and insisted that Francis abandon his support of the Scots. Charles, who had been appointed as a mediator between Francis and Henry, was meanwhile drawn into his own disputes with the English king. Francis now embarked on a more dramatic attempt to force Henry's hand—an attack on England itself. For this venture, an army of more than 30,000 men was assembled in Normandy, and a fleet of some 400 vessels prepared at Le Havre, all under the command of Claude d'Annebault. On 31 May 1545, a French expeditionary force landed in Scotland. In early July, the English under John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, mounted an attack on the French fleet, but had little success due to poor weather; nevertheless, the French suffered from a string of accidents: d'Annebault's first flagship burned, and his second ran aground. Finally leaving Le Havre on 16 July, the massive French fleet entered the Solent on 19 July and briefly engaged the English fleet, to no apparent effect; the major casualty of the skirmish, the Mary Rose, sank accidentally. The French landed on the Isle of Wight on 21 July, and again at Seaford on 25 July, but these operations were abortive, and the French fleet soon returned to blockading Boulogne. D'Annebault made a final sortie near Beachy Head on 15 August, but retired to port after a brief skirmish. ## Treaty of Ardres By September 1545, the war was a virtual stalemate; both sides, running low on funds and troops, unsuccessfully sought help from the German Protestants. Henry, Francis, and Charles attempted extensive diplomatic maneuvering to break the deadlock; but none of the three trusted the others, and this had little practical effect. In January 1546, Henry sent the Earl of Hertford to Calais, apparently preparing for an offensive; but one failed to materialize. Francis could not afford to resume a large-scale war, and Henry was concerned only for the disposition of Boulogne. Negotiations between the two resumed on 6 May. On 7 June 1546, the Treaty of Ardres—also known as the Treaty of Camp—was signed by Claude d'Annebault, Pierre Ramon, and Guillaume Bochetel on behalf of Francis, and Viscount Lisle, Baron Paget and Nicholas Wotton on behalf of Henry. By its terms, Henry would retain Boulogne until 1554, then return it in exchange for two million écus; in the meantime, neither side would construct fortifications in the region, and Francis would resume payment of Henry's pensions. Upon hearing the price demanded for Boulogne, the Imperial ambassador told Henry that the city would remain in English hands permanently. During the treaty negotiations, two Protestant mediators—Han Bruno of Metz and Johannes Sturm—were concerned that Henry's war in Scotland was a stumbling block. The sixteenth article of the treaty made Scotland a party to the new peace, and Henry pledged not to attack the Scots again without cause. This gave Scotland a respite from the War of the Rough Wooing, but the fighting would recommence 18 months later. ## Aftermath Exorbitantly expensive, the war was the costliest conflict of both Francis's and Henry's reigns. In England, the need for funds led to what Elton terms "an unprecedented burden of taxation", as well as the systematic debasement of coinage. Francis also imposed a series of new taxes and instituted several financial reforms. He was not, therefore, in a position to assist the German Protestants, who were now engaged in the Schmalkaldic War against the Emperor; by the time any French aid was to be forthcoming, Charles had already won his victory at the Battle of Mühlberg. As for Suleiman, the conclusion of the Truce of Adrianople in 1547 brought his own struggle against the Habsburgs to a temporary halt. Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547; on 31 March, Francis followed. Henry's successors continued his entanglements in Scotland; when, in 1548, friction with the Scots led to the resumption of hostilities around Boulogne, they decided to avoid a two-front war by returning the city four years early, in 1550. Francis, meanwhile, was succeeded by his son Henry II, whose ambitions in Italy and hostility towards Charles soon led to the Italian War of 1551–1559.
12,037,553	History of Stoke City F.C.	1,170,641,615	History of an English football club	[ "History of Stoke-on-Trent", "History of association football clubs in England", "Stoke City F.C." ]	Stoke City Football Club has its origins in Stoke Ramblers, a team formed by former pupils of the Charterhouse School whilst they were apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway. The club dropped the Ramblers from their name, becoming Stoke Football Club and in 1888 they were founding members of the Football League. In 1925, the club's name was changed for the final time to Stoke City Football Club when Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. The club moved in 1997 to the Britannia Stadium, a 28,383 all-seater stadium; having spent 119 years at the Victoria Ground. In the 2007–08 season, Stoke won promotion from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, and as of 2008–09 are playing in the top flight (currently Premier League) for the first time since the 1984–85 season, when they were relegated with a total of 17 points, a record low unsurpassed for 21 years. Stoke's only major trophy was the 1972 Football League Cup, won when they beat Chelsea 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 97,852. The club have also won the Football League Trophy twice, in 1992 and 2000. In terms of league achievement the closest Stoke have come to winning the title was in the 1946–47 season where a final day defeat cost Stoke top spot. ## 1863–1888: early years It is claimed that Stoke Ramblers was formed in 1863 when former pupils of Charterhouse School formed a football club while they were apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway works in Stoke-on-Trent. However, Stoke Ramblers' first documented match was five years later, on 17 October 1868, at the club's original home, the Victoria Cricket Club ground against E.W May's XV, the 15-a-side match ended in a 1–1 draw. In the game, the club's first goal was scored by Henry Almond, Stoke's founder and captain. Stoke played four further fixtures in 1868, recording their first victory with a 2–0 win against Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1875, to cope with rising attendances, the club switched to a ground at Sweetings Field, not far from the Victoria Cricket Ground. At this time, the only fixtures were friendly matches; this changed in 1877 when the Staffordshire Football Association was formed and created a new competition, the County Cup, which Stoke won in the inaugural season, beating Talke Rangers 1–0 in the final. In an earlier round, Stoke had recorded what is still the club's record victory, a 26–0 triumph over Mow Cop. Stoke retained the County Cup in the following season with a 2–1 win over Cobridge and established themselves as the largest club in the area. In 1878, the club merged with Stoke Victoria Athletic Club and became known as Stoke Football Club. They moved from Sweetings Field to the Athletic Club ground, which soon became known as the Victoria Ground. It was around this time that the club adopted their red and white striped kit. Stoke entered the newly formed Birmingham Association Cup in 1881, although they were beaten 8–0 by Aston Villa in the first round. In the 1882–1883 season, Stoke reached the final of the Staffordshire Senior Cup but were beaten 3–2 by West Bromwich Albion. The club decided to enter the FA Cup for the first time in the 1883–84 season; the competition itself had been founded 12 years earlier. The threat of a rival football association, the British FA, forced the Football Association to legalise professionalism in 1885; Stoke subsequently turned professional in August of that year. The club were defeated again in the FA Cup in 1885–86 after a replay defeat to Crewe Alexandra. The club's first victory in the competition came in the 1886–87 season with a 10–0 win over Caernarfon Wanderers at the Victoria Ground. ## 1888–1900: founder members of the Football League Stoke became one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888. Stoke's manager, Harry Lockett, represented the club at a meeting in London, where the league's formation was discussed. Lockett played an instrumental role in its inception and became the league's first secretary; however he resigned from his role of manager in August 1890, in order to concentrate on his league responsibilities. Stoke struggled in their first two seasons in the league, 1888–89 and 1889–90, finishing in last place on both occasions. The club failed to secure re-election to the league at the end of its second season, instead being replaced by Sunderland. As a consequence, Stoke started 1890–91 in the Football Alliance; they finished the season as champions. The Football League was expanded to include fourteen clubs in 1891–92, which ensured Stoke were re-elected to the league, where they remained for the rest of the decade. In 1897, Stoke appointed Horace Austerberry, who in 1898–99 became the first manager to lead the club to the semi-final of the FA Cup. ## 1900–1919: financial problems and rebirth Stoke suffered financial problems around 1900, which ultimately led to the loss of the club's Football League status in 1908. "Historical Football Kits" says that, "In 1908, having finished in mid-table, Stoke went into liquidation and resigned from the League. Ironically this galvanised local businessmen, the clergy (the Victoria Ground was owned by the Church of England) and supporters to form a new limited company and purchase the old club's assets." The club moved to the Birmingham & District League after its demotion. In 1909, the club opted to field teams in two league competitions, one in the Birmingham & District League and the other in the Southern League; Stoke won the latter in their first year in the competition. Stoke continued to participate in both leagues until 1915, when their application for election back into the Football League was approved. However, the outbreak of the First World War meant the league was suspended for four years; it recommenced in August 1919. During this time, Stoke entered the Lancashire Primary and Secondary leagues. ## 1919–1930: yo-yo years The club became owners of the Victoria Ground in 1919. The Butler Street stand was constructed shortly afterward, increasing the overall capacity of the ground to 50,000. Following the restart of the Football League, Stoke achieved promotion from the Second Division in the 1921–22 season under the stewardship of Arthur Shallcross, although this was followed by relegation in the 1922–23 season. Unable to prevent the club's bad form, Shallcross resigned in March 1923. Tom Mather was appointed manager later in 1923, although Stoke were unable to mount another promotion challenge. They were instead relegated from the Second Division four years later in the 1925–26 season. The club's stay in Third Division North was brief, as Stoke won the championship during their first season in that league. In 1925, Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status, and this led the club to change its name to Stoke City Football Club. ## 1930–1938: emergence of The Wizard of Dribble The 1930s saw the début of the club's most celebrated player, Stanley Matthews. Matthews, who grew up in Hanley, was an apprentice at the club and made his first appearance, aged 17, in March 1932 against Bury. By end of the decade, Matthews had established himself as an England international and one of the best footballers of his generation. Matthews won his first England cap in 1934, making him the first Stoke player in 30 years to play for England. Stoke achieved promotion from the Second Division in the 1932–33 season as champions, but Matthews only featured in 15 games, although he did score his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win against local rivals Port Vale. By 1934, the club's average attendance had risen to over 23,000, which allowed the club manager, Tom Mather, more transfer funds. Despite this, the core of the side consisted of young local players, such as Matthews, Tommy Sale and Freddie Steele. Mathers resigned from his post in May 1935 to take the managerial job at Newcastle United, ending his 12-year tenure. Bob McGrory was appointed as the club's manager shortly afterward; he had previously played for the club for 14 years. In the 1935–36 season, the club finished fourth in the Football League First Division, nine points adrift of champions Sunderland. This was followed by two successive mid-table finishes, in 1936–37 and 1937–38. The club recorded its record league win, 10–3, over West Bromwich Albion in February 1937, in which Steele scored five goals. In April of that year, the club achieved its largest league crowd—51,373 against Arsenal. Steele's 33 league goals in the 1936–37 season remains a club record in 2007. ## 1938–1950: World War II and title challenge By 1938, rumours purported that Stanley Matthews wanted to leave Stoke to further his career. This led to a meeting at Kings Hall, attended by three thousand people with a further thousand outside. Matthews opted to stay with Stoke and helped the club to finish in seventh place in the 1938–39 season. The outbreak of the Second World War prevented further progress as the league was suspended for six years. After resumption of the FA Cup, 33 fans died and 520 were injured during a sixth round away game against Bolton Wanderers when the crush barriers gave way on the terraces. At this time, the side was predominantly composed of local players who had come through the club's youth system, including Matthews, Sale, Steele and John McCue, all in their prime, as well as the newly discovered Neil Franklin, regarded as the country's best centre-half. In the 1946–47 season, Stoke mounted a serious title challenge: the club needed a win in their final game of the season to win the First Division title, but a 2–1 defeat to Sheffield United gave the title to Liverpool. Stanley Matthews left the club three games before the end of the 1946–47 season to join Blackpool at the age of 32 for a fee of £11,500. The team subsequently failed to mount a title challenge in the following two seasons, 1947–48 and 1948–49, finishing 15th and 11th respectively. ## 1950–1960: relegation and Second Division frustrations The 1950s did not start well for the club; having avoided relegation in the 1950–51 and 1951–52 seasons, Stoke succumbed in 1952–53, finishing second from bottom. Bob McGrory resigned as the club's manager in February 1952 after 17 years in the role. His successor, Frank Taylor, consolidated the club's position in the Second Division but was unable to mount a sustained challenge for promotion, although Stoke came close in the 1954–55 season, missing by two points. Taylor's failure to deliver promotion led to his dismissal in June 1960, after a 17th-place finish in the 1959–60 season. ## 1960–1977: the Waddington years By 1960 Stoke were struggling to attract supporters to the Victoria Ground, with the average attendance dropping below 10,000 for the first time in 40 years. Tony Waddington was appointed as the club's manager in June 1960. He joined the club in 1952 as a coach, before being promoted to assistant manager in 1957. In his first season in charge, 1960–61, Stoke finished 18th in the Second Division. Crowds were still low; a match against Preston North End attracted 8,409 in 1961. However, Waddington pulled off a significant coup by enticing Stanley Matthews—now 46 years old—back to the club, 14 years after he had left. A crowd of 35,974 witnessed Matthews' return to the club, only a fortnight after the poor crowd against Preston. The return of Matthews helped Stoke to rise to eighth position in 1961–62. Promotion was achieved in the next season, when Stoke finished as champions. In their first season back in the First Division, 1963–64, Waddington guided Stoke to a mid-table finish. Matthews remained influential, as he helped the club to the Football League Cup final in 1964, although this ended in a 4–3 defeat to Leicester over two legs. Waddington relied upon experience; Dennis Viollet, Jackie Mudie, Roy Vernon, Maurice Setters and Jimmy McIlroy were players signed in the later stages of their careers. Matthews was awarded a knighthood for services to football in the 1965 New Year's Honours list. This was followed by his final, league appearance for the club against Fulham in February 1965, shortly after his 50th birthday. It ended a career spanning 33 years, including 19 years' service to his home town club. Gordon Banks, England's 1966 World Cup winning goalkeeper, joined Stoke from Leicester in 1967 for £52,000. Regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world, Banks proved to be a shrewd signing for Waddington as he helped the club maintain stability in the First Division. However, Banks was forced to quit top-level football in 1972, after losing an eye in a road accident. The club won its first significant trophy on 4 March 1972, in the League Cup Final. Stoke beat favourites Chelsea 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 97,852 spectators. Before this victory, Stoke had progressed through 11 games to reach the final. This included four games with West Ham United in the semi-final; the two-legged match was played twice. Stoke fared well in the FA Cup; the club progressed to the semi-final stage in both the 1970–71 and 1971–72 seasons. However, on both occasions Stoke lost to Arsenal in a replay. Waddington was presented with a dilemma as both George Eastham and Peter Dobing retired not long after the club's League Cup win. Waddington responded by paying £240,000 to Chelsea for the services of Alan Hudson in early 1974. This was followed by Geoff Salmons' arrival from Sheffield United for £160,000, in the same year. Waddington later paid a world record fee for a goalkeeper, £325,000, to sign Peter Shilton from Leicester City. The new personnel brought added impetus to Waddington's side, and Stoke were close to winning the League title in 1974–75, but an end of season slump led to a fifth-place finish, four points off the champions, Derby. The 1970s also saw Stoke compete at European Level for the first time in its history. Stoke qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1972–73 as a result of their League Cup triumph. In the first round, Stoke played Kaiserslautern of Germany: Stoke won the first leg 3–1 at the Victoria Ground, with a crowd of over 22,000. However, the club lost the second leg 4–0, therefore losing 5–3 on aggregate. Stoke qualified for the UEFA Cup two years later, due to their fifth-place finish in the First Division in the 1973–74 season. In the 1974–75 competition, Stoke were again knocked out at the first stage. Stoke drew both legs against Dutch side Ajax, 1–1 and 0–0 respectively, but went out due to the away goals rule. The Butler Stand roof was blown off in a storm in January 1976. The ground damage meant the club's next home game against Middlesbrough had to be played at Vale Park, the home of local rivals Port Vale. The repair bill, in the region of £250,000, put the club in financial trouble, which was eased by the sale of Alan Hudson, Mike Pejic and Jimmy Greenhoff for a combined sum of £440,000. With the team depleted, relegation proved inevitable in the 1976–77 season. Waddington, after a spell of 17 years in charge, left the club after a 1–0 home defeat in March 1977. ## 1977–1990: from First Division to Third George Eastham, who had previously been Waddington's assistant, was appointed as manager in March 1977, but the club's slide into the Second Division in 1976–77 season proved unstoppable. Eastham did not last long, leaving in January 1978 after only 10 months in charge. The club's misery was compounded by a defeat to non-league Blyth Spartans in the FA Cup shortly afterwards. Alan Durban, arriving from Shrewsbury Town, was selected as the club's new manager in February 1978. Durban achieved promotion to the First Division in his first full season, 1978–79, with a third-place finish. After consolidating the club's position in the First Division, Durban left for Sunderland in 1981. Richie Barker, Durban's successor, was appointed manager in 1981. He signed Mickey Thomas from Brighton and Hove Albion and Mark Chamberlain from Port Vale, as he set about building a side for the 1982–83 season. Thomas was signed for £200,000 and made over 60 appearances for the club, but was sold to Chelsea for £75,000 in 1984. Winger Chamberlain, a £135,00 signing, proved successful as he made eight appearances for England during his stay at Stoke. Barker's spell in charge was short-lived; he was sacked in his second season, 1983–84. The club's new manager, Bill Asprey, decided to bring back veteran Alan Hudson, and the decision paid off as Stoke improved during the second half of the 1983–84 season and avoided relegation on the final day. The next season, referred to as The Holocaust Season by fans, proved to be disastrous. Stoke finished the season with only 17 points and just three wins, which would be the lowest points total in the top flight of English football (under the "three points for a win" system) for 21 years until the record was broken by Sunderland in the 2005–06 season. Mick Mills was appointed player-manager for the 1985–86 season, following Asprey's departure in April 1985 due to ill health. His first task was to consolidate following the club's relegation in the previous season, which he achieved with a mid-table finish in the Second Division. The team reached fourth place in 1986–87, his second season in charge, including a 7–2 win over Leeds United, but the team's form tailed off towards the end of the season, culminating in an eighth-place finish. Mills was unable to sustain a challenge for promotion and was sacked in November 1989, following a poor start to the 1989–90 season after spending £1m on players. His successor, Alan Ball, became the club's fifth manager in 10 years. Peter Coates became the club's chairman in 1989, following numerous changes of chairmanship during the 1980s. Ball struggled in his first season in charge, 1989–90, and his Stoke side were relegated to the third tier of English football after finishing bottom of the Second Division. The start of the 1990–91 season in the Third Division marked the first time Stoke had played at this level in 63 years. Ball kept his job for the start of this campaign but departed in February 1991 in the midst of an indifferent season that saw Stoke finish in their lowest league position of 14th. ## 1990–1997: two spells under Lou Macari Ball's successor, Lou Macari, was appointed in May 1991, prior to the start of the 1991–92 season. The improvement was immediate, as Stoke narrowly missed out on promotion in his first season in charge, finishing fourth in the Third Division. He also clinched a cup for the club; the Football League Trophy was won with a 1–0 victory against Stockport County at Wembley; Mark Stein scored the only goal of the game. The following season, 1992–93, promotion was achieved from the third tier, with Stoke finishing as league champions. Stein, a £100,000 purchase from Oxford United, scored 26 goals during the season as Stoke amassed a total of 93 points. Macari left in October 1993 to take over as manager of Scottish side Celtic, and Stein also departed in a £1.5m move to Chelsea. Joe Jordan's tenure in charge was short; he left the club less than a year after joining. Following Jordan's departure, Stoke opted to reappoint Lou Macari only 12 months after he had left. Despite the optimism surrounding his return, only a mid-table finish was attained in the 1994–95 season. The 1995–96 season started poorly, but the signing of striker Mike Sheron turned around the club's campaign. Stoke eventually finished fourth but were defeated in the play-off semi-final by Leicester City. The following season, 1996–97, saw Mark Stein return from Chelsea on loan, partnering Sheron in attack. The season started well, with Stoke in fourth place at Christmas, but a poor second half of the season saw the club drop to an eventual 12th place. Sheron was sold in 1997 for a club record fee of £2.5m. Macari left the club at the end of the season, his last game in charge the final league game at the Victoria Ground in a match against West Bromwich Albion. ## 1997–2008: the Britannia Stadium The 1997–98 season saw Stoke move to its new ground, the 28,000 all-seater Britannia Stadium, after 119 years at the Victoria Ground, the longest time spent at a ground by any team in Britain at that time. Chic Bates, Macari's assistant, was appointed manager for the club's inaugural season in the new ground. Bates struggled as his side slipped from a play-off place towards the relegation zone, with the club's bad run culminating in a 7–0 home defeat to Birmingham City. Bates was replaced by Chris Kamara in January 1998. Kamara could not improve the club's fortunes, and he left in April. Alan Durban, Stoke's manager two decades earlier, took charge for the remainder of season. Durban was unable to keep the club up, with a 23rd-place finish consigning Stoke to relegation from the First Division. Brian Little, formerly manager of Aston Villa, took charge for the 1998–99 season, and Stoke began the season impressively, holding first place until December with six straight wins. The team's form tailed off in the latter stages of the season, leading to Little's departure at the end of the season. His successor, Gary Megson, was only in the job for four months. Megson was forced to depart following a takeover by Stoke Holding, an Icelandic consortium that purchased a 66 per cent share in Stoke City F.C. for £6.6m. The club's new owners appointed the club's first foreign manager, Icelander Gudjon Thordarson, in November 1999. Stoke won the Football League Trophy in the 1999–2000 season with a 2–1 win over Bristol City in April 2000 before a crowd of 75,057 at Wembley. Disappointment followed a month later, as Stoke were defeated against Gillingham in the play-off semi-finals, consigning themselves to another year in the third tier. They reached the play-offs again in the 2000–01 season with a fifth-place finish, but this time Walsall halted Stoke's progress at the semi-final stage. Thordarson achieved promotion at the third attempt in 2001–02; another fifth-place finish ensured a play-off spot. Cardiff City were defeated in the semi-final before a 2–0 win against Brentford at the Millennium Stadium secured promotion. Despite achieving the goal of promotion, Thordarson was sacked by Gunnar Gíslason, only five days after the club won the play-off final. A campaign calling for Thordarson's reinstatement was organised by fans, but it proved unsuccessful. Steve Cotterill was drafted in as Thordarson's replacement before the start of the 2002–03 season. Cotterill quit in October 2002, after only four months in charge, to take the role of Howard Wilkinson's assistant at Sunderland. The club were close to unveiling George Burley as their new manager after Cotterill's departure; however, a last minute charge of heart led the former Ipswich manager to decline the club's offer. The club acted swiftly and Tony Pulis was appointed as Stoke's new manager shortly afterwards. Pulis steered Stoke clear of relegation with a 1–0 win over Reading on the final day of the season that kept the club in the First Division. The club's position in the league was consolidated in 2003–04. Pulis was sacked at the end of the 2004–05 season, following a disagreement between himself and the club's owners. Dutch manager Johan Boskamp was named as Pulis' successor on 29 June 2005, only a day after Pulis was sacked. Boskamp broke the club's transfer record in signing Sambegou Bangoura for a fee in the region of £1m. Another significant addition was the signing of Belgium international Carl Hoefkens, who subsequently won the Fans' Player of the Year Award for the 2005–06 season. Despite his spending on new players, Boskamp's side was inconsistent and only a mid-table finish was achieved. The season was marred by a feud between Boskamp and the club's director of football, John Rudge, which escalated to the point where Boskamp threatened to quit. Boskamp left at the end of the 2005–06 season, amidst a takeover by former chairman Peter Coates. On 23 May 2006, Coates completed his takeover of Stoke City, marking the end of Gunnar Gíslason's chairmanship of the club. Coates chose former manager Tony Pulis as Boskamp's successor in June 2006. Pulis took Stoke close to a play-off place, however an eventual eighth-place finish was achieved in the 2006–07 season. In June 2007, chairman Peter Coates purchased the Britannia Stadium outright from the City Council for a fee in the region of £6m. ## 2008–2018: ten years in the Premier League Stoke won automatic promotion to the Premier League on the final day of the 2007–08 season, finishing in second place in the Championship. On 18 July 2008, the club broke their transfer record to purchase striker Dave Kitson for £5.5 million from Reading. A 3–1 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the 2008–09 season saw Stoke written off by many media outlets as relegation certainties. The following weekend, the Britannia Stadium hosted its first ever top-flight game, against Aston Villa, with a home win courtesy of Mamady Sidibe's injury-time goal from a Rory Delap throw-in, giving Stoke City their first ever Premier League points. The club went on to record a 12th-place finish in their first season back in the Premier League. A much cited aspect of the team's style of play has been the utilisation of Delap's long throw to create goal-scoring opportunities. Pulis signed Robert Huth and Tuncay Şanlı from Middlesbrough for a combined fee in the region of £10 million, in a bid to establish the club in the Premier League prior to the 2009–10 season. This feat was achieved comfortably as the club finished in 11th place, thereby securing a third season in the Premier League. Pulis bolstered his squad for 2010–11 season with the club record £8 million signing of Kenwyne Jones. A 3–0 win over West Bromwich Albion in the 2010–11 season gave Stoke two new records: The largest away win in the Premier League and largest top division away win since 1982 and also the first time since the 1983–84 season Stoke have won three top-flight matches in a row. Manager Pulis hailed the new records as "A Fantastic Achievement". For the second season running Stoke made it to the quarter-final of the FA Cup after overcoming Cardiff City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion. They met West Ham United in the quarters and won 2–1 thus earning a place in the FA Cup Semi-final for only the fourth time in their history. It was also their first trip to the New Wembley Stadium when they took on Bolton Wanderers for a place in the final. Stoke comfortably beat Bolton 5–0 clinching a first FA Cup Final appearance in their 148-year history. However, they lost the final 1–0 to Manchester City. By reaching the final, Stoke qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Despite a strong season, with an 8th-place finish in sight, defeat at home to Wigan Athletic in the final game meant that Stoke finished 13th in the 2010–11 season. On 28 July 2011, Stoke beat Hadjuk Split 2–0 over two legs in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. It was Stoke's first appearance in Europe in 37 years. Stoke would go on progress past FC Thun in the Play-off round gaining entrance into the group stage where Stoke were handed a tough draw against Besiktas, Dynamo Kyiv and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Stoke finished second in the group and were handed a glamour tie against Spanish giants Valencia in the round of 32, following the draw manager Pulis stated that he is relishing the prospect of taking on one of Europe's top clubs. Stoke lost both legs 1–0 to end their European campaign. Pulis received criticism from some supporters after he fielded a weakened team in the second leg. Stoke ended the 2011–12 season in 14th position in what was perceived to be a disappointing season. The 2012–13 season saw Stoke make little progress, finishing in 13th position. Pulis subsequently left the club by mutual consent on 21 May 2013. He was replaced by another Welsh manager, Mark Hughes. Hughes led Stoke to a ninth-place finish in 2013–14, their highest position in the Premier League and best finish since 1974–75. Stoke again finished in ninth position in 2014–15, which ended with a 6–1 victory against Liverpool. Despite breaking their transfer record twice (on Xherdan Shaqiri and then Giannelli Imbula), in 2015–16, Stoke did not make any progression and finished in ninth position for a third season running. Stoke declined in 2016–17, finishing in 13th position. The decline continued in 2017–18 under Mark Hughes and he was sacked in January 2018 with the club in the relegation zone. The board chose Paul Lambert to try and keep Stoke up but he managed just two wins in 15, ending Stoke's ten-year spell in the Premier League. ## 2018–present: return to the Championship The board appointed Derby County manager Gary Rowett for the 2018–19 season with his task to mount a quick return to the Premier League. However despite spending over £30 million on new players, performances were very underwhelming and Rowett lost his job in January 2019. They then decided to appoint a manager from the lower leagues, Luton Town's Welsh manager Nathan Jones. Jones only won three of the remaining matches of the season, drawing eleven of them including four consecutive 0–0 draws as Stoke ended in 16th position. Jones was allowed to bring in ten new players for the 2019–20 season in order to fit his preferred 'diamond' formation. These changes failed to improve the team and they went on to have their worst start to a league campaign not winning any of their first ten matches. Jones was sacked in November 2019 with the side bottom of the Championship table and he was replaced by Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill. Results began to improve under O'Neill and the side began to pull away from danger until the season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stoke won four of the remaining nine matches to avoid relegation and finish in 15th position, finishing eight points clear of the relegation zone. Due to the pandemic the entire 2020–21 season was played without supporters and Stoke finished in 14th position. In 2021–22 Stoke made a positive start to the season but a poor second half of the campaign saw the team fall out of play-off contention and they again finished in 14th. A slow start to the 2022–23 season marked the end for O'Neill's time in charge and he was dismissed in August 2022, with Sunderland boss Alex Neil replacing him. ## Books [Stoke City](Category:History_of_association_football_clubs_in_England "wikilink") [History of Stoke-on-Trent](Category:History_of_Stoke-on-Trent "wikilink") [History](Category:Stoke_City_F.C. "wikilink")
44,539,921	Frozen II	1,173,765,356	2019 film by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee	[ "2010s American animated films", "2010s English-language films", "2019 3D films", "2019 computer-animated films", "3D animated films", "American 3D films", "American animated fantasy films", "American animated feature films", "American computer-animated films", "American musical fantasy films", "American sequel films", "Animated drama films", "Animated films about royalty", "Animated films about sisters", "Animated films set in Scandinavia", "Animated films set in forests", "Animated musical films", "Films directed by Chris Buck", "Films directed by Jennifer Lee (filmmaker)", "Films produced by Peter Del Vecho", "Films scored by Christophe Beck", "Films with screenplays by Jennifer Lee (filmmaker)", "Frozen (franchise) mass media", "IMAX films", "Walt Disney Animation Studios films", "Walt Disney Pictures animated films" ]	Frozen 2 (stylized as Frozen II) is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the studio, it is the sequel to Frozen (2013). The film was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, produced by Peter Del Vecho, and written by Lee, Buck, Marc Smith, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez. It stars the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Groff. Set three years after the first film, Frozen II follows sisters Anna and Elsa, iceman Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and the snowman Olaf as they travel to an enchanted forest to unravel the origin of Elsa's magical power. The film was greenlit in March 2015 after a company debate about whether it would be perceived as inferior to the original. It used more-complex, enhanced animation technology than Frozen, and was an interdepartmental collaboration. Anderson-Lopez and Lopez returned as the film's songwriters, and Christophe Beck again composed the score. The film was translated into 46 languages and was accompanied by Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II, a documentary series. Frozen II premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on November 7, 2019, and was released in the United States on November 22. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and earned \$1.450 billion worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the third-highest-grossing film of 2019, the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time. It also held the title of the highest-grossing worldwide opening of all time for an animated film for 3 years. Frozen II received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 92nd Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. A sequel is in development. ## Plot King Agnarr of Arendelle tells his daughters Elsa and Anna that their grandfather, King Runeard, forged a treaty with the neighboring tribe of Northuldra by building a dam in the Enchanted Forest (their homeland). A fight occurred, resulting in Runeard's death and enraging the forest's classical elements of earth, fire, water, and air. The elements disappeared, and a wall of mist trapped everyone in the forest; Agnarr barely escaped, helped by an unknown savior. Three years after her coronation, Elsa celebrates autumn in the kingdom with Anna, the snowman Olaf, the iceman Kristoff, and Kristoff's reindeer Sven. One night, Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling her. She follows it, unintentionally awakening the elemental spirits and forcing everyone in the kingdom to evacuate. The Rock Troll colony arrives, and Grand Pabbie tells them that Elsa and the others must set things right by uncovering the truth about the past. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven follow the mysterious voice, and travel to the Enchanted Forest. The mist parts at Elsa's touch, while the air spirit appears as a tornado, catching everyone in its vortex before Elsa stops it by forming ice sculptures. She and Anna discover that the sculptures are images from their father's past, and encounter the Northuldra and a troop of Arendellian soldiers who are still in conflict with one another. When the fire spirit appears, Elsa discovers that it is an agitated magical salamander and calms it. Elsa and Anna arrange a truce between the soldiers and the Northuldra after discovering that their mother, Queen Iduna, was a Northuldran who had saved Agnarr (an Arendellian). They later learn about a fifth spirit, who will unite the people with the magic of nature. Elsa, Anna, and Olaf continue north, leaving Kristoff and Sven behind. They find their parents' wrecked ship and a map with a route to Ahtohallan, a mythical river said to explain the past. Elsa sends Anna and Olaf to safety and continues alone. She encounters and tames the Nøkk, the water spirit who guards the sea to Ahtohallan. Elsa discovers that the voice calling to her is the memory of young Iduna's call; her powers are a gift from nature because of Iduna's selfless saving of Agnarr, and Elsa is the fifth spirit. She learns that the dam was built as a ruse to reduce Northuldran resources, because of Runeard's contempt for the tribe's connection with magic and his intention to eliminate them and incorporate their region into the kingdom. Elsa learns that Runeard began the conflict by murdering the unarmed Northuldran leader in cold blood. She sends this information to Anna before she becomes frozen (causing Olaf to fade away) when she ventures into the most dangerous part of Ahtohallan. Upon discovering the truth, Anna concludes that the dam must be destroyed for peace to be restored. She awakens the earth giant Jötunn, and lures them towards the dam. The giants hurl boulders, destroying the dam and sending a flood down the fjord towards the kingdom. Elsa is released and rides the water spirit to Arendelle, where she freezes the flood and saves the kingdom. As the mist disappears, she rejoins Anna and revives Olaf. Anna accepts Kristoff's marriage proposal. Elsa explains that she and Anna are the bridge between the people and the magical spirits. Anna then becomes Queen of Arendelle; Elsa becomes the protector of the Enchanted Forest, who visits Arendelle since peace has been restored. In a post-credits scene, Olaf visits Elsa's ice palace and recounts the events to Marshmallow (a snow monster created by Elsa as palace guard) and the Snowgies, miniature snowmen inadvertently generated by Elsa on Anna's nineteenth birthday. ## Voice cast - Kristen Bell as Anna, princess of Arendelle and Elsa's younger sister, who becomes queen of Arendelle after Elsa's abdication - Hadley Gannaway and Livvy Stubenrauch as young Anna - Idina Menzel as Elsa, former queen of Arendelle and Anna's older sister, who has magical ice powers - Mattea Conforti and Eva Bella as young Elsa - Josh Gad as Olaf, a snowman created by Elsa - Jonathan Groff as Kristoff, an ice harvester and Anna's boyfriend. Groff also voices Sven, Kristoff's reindeer and several other reindeers Frozen II also features Martha Plimpton as the Northuldra chief Yelena and Sterling K. Brown as the Arendelle lieutenant Mattias. Jason Ritter voices Ryder, a member of Northuldra; and Rachel Matthews voices Honeymaren, Ryder's sister who also resides in the Enchanted Forest. Evan Rachel Wood voices Iduna (Elsa and Anna's mother), and Delaney Rose Stein voices the young Iduna. Alfred Molina voices Agnarr (Elsa and Anna's father), and Jackson Stein voices young Agnarr. Jeremy Sisto voices Runeard (Agnarr's father and Elsa and Anna's grandfather); Ciarán Hinds voices the Rock Troll head Pabbie; and Aurora is "the voice" (a call to Elsa). Alan Tudyk voices a guard, a Northuldran leader, and an Arendellian soldier. Paul Briggs reprised his role in the post-credits scene as Marshmallow, a snow monster created by Elsa. ## Production ### Conception Producer Peter Del Vecho said on March 31, 2014, that he, Chris Buck, and Jennifer Lee collaborated well, and he envisioned another Frozen-related project. The following month, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn said that a sequel would not be immediately forthcoming because the studio was focusing on a Broadway musical adaptation of Frozen. In a May 2014 CNBC interview with David Faber, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company would not force the development of a sequel, because it was concerned about not living up to the first film. Iger said that the Frozen franchise "is something that is kind of forever for the company", similar to The Lion King. On June 10, 2014, Lee confirmed that Walt Disney Studios CCO John Lasseter had authorized her and Buck to explore a possible sequel. While working on the short film Frozen Fever (2015), they realized that they missed the characters. Meanwhile, Del Vecho had been asked by fans about Frozen's future. Lee, Buck, and Del Vecho discussed the possibility of a sequel. Buck later said, "The one thing that we did right away was to figure out what would be satisfying for Anna and Elsa at the end of the movie." They decided on ending the sequel with Anna becoming the queen of Arendelle, while Elsa would be "free". ### Development Iger, Lasseter, and actor Josh Gad announced at Disney's March 12, 2015, annual shareholders' meeting in San Francisco that Frozen II, a full-length sequel, was in development; Buck and Lee would return as directors, and Del Vecho as producer. The production team traveled to Norway, Finland, and Iceland for background research; they decided to make Elsa a "mythic hero" with magic ice powers and Anna a "fairytale hero" who lives in a magical world but has no magic powers. They concluded that the first film successfully combined the two elements. Allison Schroeder was hired to assist Lee with the script in August 2018 after Lee succeeded Lasseter as Disney Animation's CCO; Lee was credited as the film's screenwriter, and Schroeder was credited with additional screenplay material. The film's story contributions were made by Lee, Buck, Marc Smith, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez. Overall, the budget was approximately \$150 million. Voice recording began in September 2017, although Menzel started a couple of weeks later due to a concert tour. That month, Gad announced his role in the sequel with Buck, Lee, Del Vecho, and Lasseter. In July 2018, Variety reported that Wood and Brown were in talks to join the cast. Their roles were later disclosed as Iduna and Lieutenant Destin Mattias. Wood was cast because her voice resembled Menzel and Bell's. The voice of Agnarr was changed from Maurice LaMarche to Molina. The Voice's four-note call, derived from the Latin sequence "Dies irae", is delivered in a manner resembling the Scandinavian music form kulning. Frozen II's first completed scenes were shown at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2019, where Becky Bresee and effects-animation head Marlon West said that the film was "still in production, with seven weeks of animation to be completed and 10 weeks of special effects". The filmmakers collaborated with Sámi experts on the depiction of the Northuldra tribe with Verdett, an advisory group which was the result of an agreement between the Walt Disney Company, the transnational Saami Council, and the Sámi parliaments of Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Anderson-Lopez confirmed that Elsa would have no female love interest in the film, despite some fans' desire for one. Lee later explained to The New York Times reporter Maureen Dowd that Elsa's main audience did not seem ready for such a relationship. Lee said in a press conference that Frozen II would not acquire elements from the television series Once Upon a Time's non-canonical Frozen storyline: > No, that's not canon. We didn't see it. So I kinda made a point of certain things not to see so it wouldn't affect us that way. Frozen I and Frozen II to me are one complete story and that's really where we stay. So glad they had fun with that. I think they had a lot of fun with the characters. Frozen II underwent significant revisions after its first test screening in San Diego; Disney Animation discovered that although adults liked the film, children found it hard to follow. The production team realized they needed to clarify the identity of the Voice and the point of Elsa's transformation, and add more comedy and shots of Bruni (the fire salamander). A scene of expository dialogue in which the lead characters explained to the people trapped in the Enchanted Forest why they had come there was replaced with Olaf's humorous recap of Frozen. Due to the changes, the animators needed to create 61 new shots and redo another 35. An undisclosed number of shots were cut from the finished film; about a dozen animators and artists worked for two months on an elaborate resurrection scene for Olaf before it was cut. The last major animation scene completed before the production team locked the picture was "Show Yourself", the musical number in which Elsa enters Ahtohallan and learns all the secrets she has been seeking. According to Del Vecho, the scene "required all of the resources at the studio" to get the film done on time. Lopez said that the first draft of "Show Yourself" was very different from its final version. Megan Harding directed an official documentary series on the production of Frozen II, which depicted the process of Del Vecho and Lopez determining The Voice's identity. Once the production team settled on Queen Iduna, the lyrics of "Show Yourself" finally began to come together, but then the studio's artists, designers, and animators needed to quickly figure out how to stage the dramatic culmination of Elsa's journey towards becoming the Snow Queen. The film was edited by Jeff Draheim. ### Animation About 800 people, 80 of them animators, were involved in the production of Frozen II. Tony Smeed and Becky Bresee were the film's heads of animation; Hyun-Min Lee replaced Bresee as supervising animator for Anna, while Wayne Unten again served as supervising animator for Elsa as he had done on Frozen. Steve Golberg was the supervising animator for visual effects. Scott Beattie was the director of cinematography layout, while Mohit Kallianpur was the director of cinematography lighting. Frozen II made use of advancements in technology, artistic performance, and skeletal animation. Before the animation began, Unten showed scenes of superheroes like Frozone to Elsa's animators as examples of what to avoid. Creating the personal flurry effect was so difficult for the animators that the directors had Elsa put a permafrost coating on Olaf in Frozen II instead. Elsa's graceful movements were modeled on Frozen and modern dance, particularly Martha Graham's work. In accordance with Disney's preference for a different style for each film and the directors' and production designer's artistic vision, the multi-departmental animation team was instructed to reconstruct the characters so they were slightly different in tone and style from Frozen. They differed in "very subtle ways", with a "through line from the first movie to the second". As well as making the Enchanted Forest vegetation autumnal, the effects team applied two internally developed applications (Vegetation Asset and Fire Tree) to enhance the film's vegetation and fire animation. Lighting and special effects were applied to glacial ice, spirit magic, and memory. The first step for the animation team was to study the screenplay and understand the characters. Blocking (creating key poses) was next, followed by effects and layout. Effects were proposed for layout before animation process to choreograph the dam-collapse scene. Although Frozen's greatest difficulty for Frozen was the winter snow, Frozen II is set in fall; its main challenge was how to consistently depict the wind and "pass that downstream". Frozen II's animation software was influenced by the software in several other Disney films. Anna's hair was animated with Quicksilver, developed for Moana (2016) to deal with wind; for Elsa's hair, the lighting software Beast was used. A vocal coach instructed the animators on how a singer would breathe. The animators then spent about eight months creating Nøkk, which has a liquid appearance, with effects supervised by Erin Ramos. Jötunns had a long rigging process to avoid making rocks distracting. The water simulation was intended to be more realistic than in Moana. To create Gale, the wind spirit, a tool called Swoop was developed. They later received real-time feedback from the supervisors, directors, and producer. ### Design Costume and character designs underwent several revisions before they were finalized. According to designer Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay, the process was the most intricate of any animated film. Technological advancements allowed the designer to create more-detailed outfits, with extra beads and sequins. The team used Marvelous Designer, a computer-generated imagery program, to drape each character's clothing. Anna's outfit was inspired by the Norwegian folk bunad, worn during the 1840s and 1850s. Typically made of wool, it had decorative embroidery. Anna lost the pigtail braid she had in Frozen because she is three years older in Frozen II, and it was replaced by a braid across the back of her head. Aging Elsa three years was inspired by artists Alexander McQueen and Elie Saab. Saab's designs had long trains and cumbersome floor-length hemlines; the designers instead created a tailored coat with a double-panel cape and epaulettes, highlighting Elsa's strength. The animation team used a curve-based method for the intricate embroidery. A program interpreted two-dimensional visual designs as line strokes, rendering them as curves. This allowed quick changes, minimizing manual work during design modifications. It also supported free-form stitching with threads of various widths, colors, and densities, crucial to the production of a variety of embroidery styles. ### Music Lopez and Anderson-Lopez returned from Frozen to write songs for the sequel, and Christophe Beck returned as composer. The soundtrack album was released on November 15, 2019, after the release of Panic! at the Disco's version of one of the film's songs, "Into the Unknown". The seven-song album also contains a remix of "Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People" from Frozen. Beck said that the score conveys Elsa and Anna's emotional growth, "matured and introduc[ing] more sophisticated musical concepts and thematic elements". He wanted it to reflect the film's complex, intense imagery. Anderson-Lopez described the album's theme as a "meta-story". Although Harding sent a camera crew to the Lopez home in Brooklyn to document their songwriting and composing, the composers found the crew intrusive and did most of their work off-camera. ## Thematic analysis The indigenous Sámi people were historically associated with reindeer, and identified with the animals' strength. Trude Fonneland wrote that a female divinity emphasized female contributions with themes including unity, courage, hope, friendship, and truth. Elsa attempted to send Anna away because she was concerned about her sister's safety. In animation, female characters embody female images as a whole. The film's female characters are emotionally diverse, motivated by social status and awakening of feminism. The elegant, noble Elsa wants to be free and live a normal life, and Anna is dreamy, cheerful and enthusiastic; both acted to defend their kingdom from danger. Frozen II has been interpreted as a critique of colonialism and as advocating reparation. Before Elsa and Anna were born, their grandfather King Runeard built a dam for the Northuldra tribe. Ostensibly a gift, the dam weakens the tribe's magical power. Runeard's plot fails after he murders the leader of Northuldra and war breaks out. The forest spirits which preside over Northuldra shroud it in an impenetrable mist, preventing anyone from leaving or entering. The Northuldra are modeled on the Sámi people, indigenous to Scandinavia and northwestern Russia, who experienced discrimination as pagans reputed to be skilled in magic and witchcraft. In 1609, King Christian IV of Denmark wrote that the Sámi were adept at magic, and no mercy should be granted in cases involving Sámi sorcery. Nordic missionaries confiscated or destroyed religious items and sites and built churches to supplant Sámi shamanism. The Northuldra dam reflects Sámi history. A hydroelectric power station was built on the Altaelva river in Norway from 1979 to 1981; the controversial Virdnejávr Dam flooded a Sámi village, disrupting traditional hunting and herding. Slate critic Inkoo Kang said that although Frozen II was obviously influenced by Sámi history, the Northuldra may also be interpreted as representing displaced Native Americans; Arendelle can be seen as representing the United States' colonial past, evocative of the embellished life of Pocahontas. The Northuldra are presented in an appealing way, romanticized as a people with magical power who live in harmony with the spiritual and physical worlds. While Elsa attempts to find out who was calling her, Anna destroys the dam to make amends to the Northuldra for Arendelle's mistakes. Elsa's last-minute intervention prevents the destruction of the kingdom, but Anna destroys the dam in the belief that Elsa is dead. According to Kang, the film promotes reparations for past atrocities. Matt Goldberg wrote that the symbolism of the film's ending is undercut by having Elsa save Arendelle, instead of rebuilding the kingdom elsewhere. Racial issues in Frozen II are mitigated by making Elsa and Anna half Northuldran, and their mother is depicted as a heroine who saved their father (King Agnarr) from death during the battle. Jennifer Baldwin described Frozen II as a film about trauma, transformation, and faith communities' more-active role in environmental repair. Environmental trauma is caused by the dam, which weakens the elemental spirits. Olaf describes the forest as a place of transformation, including venturing into the unknown, befriending the spirits and the indigenous Northuldra, and confronting trauma. Elsa gains the trust of the spirits, each leading her closer to the truth and her transformation into one of the elements. Anna employs the giants (symbolic of the earth) to break the dam (symbolic of trauma and mistrust) and gains her own strength, independent of her relationship with Elsa. According to Baldwin, this encourages the audience to adopt more sustainable practices, make amends, and work together to preserve the natural world. The film can introduce young children to environmental issues, such as climate change. Sociologist Lauren Dundes describes Elsa's relationship with the mythological horse Nøkk and concludes that "her skills as a horse whisperer do not threaten men's ascendancy ... These themes show how Disney balked at modernizing Elsa, retreating to outdated conceptions of gender roles". Nia Kurniawati wrote that Frozen II's feminist message was subtle and realistic. ## Marketing and release Disney released the first trailer for Frozen II on February 13, 2019. Viewed 116.4 million times in its first 24 hours, it was the second-most-viewed animated film trailer in that time period. At the release of the preview poster, American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson commented that "water crystals have hexagonal 'six-fold' symmetry" (shown correctly in Frozen) but the poster had a four-sided snowflake. Lee replied that it was not really a snowflake; the four sides represented the four elemental spirits and its center represented Elsa, the fifth spirit. Disney partnered with 140 other brands worldwide to promote Frozen II, the highest number of brands for a Disney animated film. They marketed Frozen II in the U.S. through internal and external partners, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, McDonald's, and Lego. To support the film's marketing campaign, the lead voice cast made several public and televised appearances; these included a "Friendsgiving" stunt night on ABC, introductions on The Masked Singer, and a Women of Impact program on Nat Geo Wild. In November 2019, the lead voice cast's schedules were so full that Bell said: "Time [was] not there". The 103-minute Frozen II premiered on November 7, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The film was originally scheduled for general release on November 27, but it was moved up five days. On January 17, 2020, a sing-along version of the film was released. It was localized by Disney Character Voices International into 45 languages by its original theatrical release date; Frozen had been translated into 41 languages. The success of Frozen's localized versions led to the release of an album with all versions of "Let It Go", and Jikŋon 2 (a Northern Sami version) was released to honor the people's contributions. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Frozen II for digital download on February 11, 2020, and on Blu-ray and DVD on February 25. At the same time, a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Ultimate Collector's Edition, and 4KUHD Blu-ray steelbook edition was released. Special features include a sing-along audio recording of the film, an Easter-based short film hosted by Olaf, and a presentation of the Nordic mythology on which the Enchanted Forest is based. It also contains a behind-the-scenes feature, child-friendly activities and contests, musical clips, 29 translated versions of "Into the Unknown", as well as deleted music and scenes. The film, initially scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on June 26, 2020, was moved up to March 15 in the United States and March 17 in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ### Documentary series Megan Harding (who had directed a 2014 making-of ABC television special about Frozen) reached out to Disney Animation about documenting the production of Frozen II; with the company's cooperation, Harding, working with Lincoln Square Productions, commuted from New York City to Burbank, California and shot 1,300 hours of footage in 115 days between December 2018 and the November 2019 world premiere. She edited the footage down to six episodes, about 35 to 45 minutes long. Disney Animation knew that Harding intended to take a "fearless" and "honest look" at the filmmaking process; her crew was asked to leave only once, when the production team wanted to decide the mysterious voice's identity. The documentary series, Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II, was released on June 26, 2020. ## Reception ### Box office Frozen II earned \$477.4 million in the United States and Canada and \$976.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of \$1.453 billion. It was the third-highest-grossing film of 2019, the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time. On December 15, 2019, Frozen II passed the \$1 billion mark at the global box office. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as \$599 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it second on their list of 2019's "Most Valuable Blockbusters". According to Disney (who did not consіder the 2019 Lion King remake an anіmated fіlm but a live-action reboot), Frozen II is the hіghest-grossing anіmated fіlm (surpassing Frozen). Frozen II's box-office success was attributed to its release date near Thanksgiving. According to Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, the film was "perfectly positioned to play well into 2020." The film was released with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and 21 Bridges on November 22, 2019, in 4,440 theaters: 2,500 in 3D, 800 in the premium large format (including 400 in IMAX), and 235 in D-Box/4D. Frozen II earned \$41.8 million on its first day, including \$8.5 million from Thursday night previews. The film debuted earning \$130 million, the highest opening for an animated film that month. Its second weekend earnings dropped by 34 percent to \$85.6 million (with a record \$125 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend) and followed by another \$34.7 million the third weekend. By December 29, the film's domestic earnings topped \$400 million. Frozen II left theaters by March 19, 2020, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2019 in the United States and Canada, at which point the film industry became significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide, Frozen II earned \$228.2 million in its opening weekend in 37 markets, for a global debut total of \$358.5 million: the highest for an animated title, surpassing the 2019 remake of The Lion King. That record would last for four years until the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April 2023. The film had the best all-time opening of an animated film in the United Kingdom (\$17.8 million) and France (\$13.4 million); the biggest start for a Pixar or Disney Animation title in China (\$53 million), Japan (\$18.2 million), Germany (\$14.9 million) and Spain (\$5.8 million), and the third-biggest opening of any film in South Korea (\$31.5 million). The film earned \$11.4 million in its second week in the United Kingdom, bringing its total gross there to \$35.3 million. By January 5, 2020, the film's offshore gross had exceeded \$875.3 million. As of July 2021, its top international markets were Japan (\$122.6 million), China (\$122.3 million), South Korea (\$95.5 million), the United Kingdom (\$69.7 million), Germany (\$60.6 million), and France (\$53.9 million). ### Critical response Frozen II has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of , lower than Frozen's rating out of reviews. The former's critical consensus reads, "Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Frozen II a score of 64 out of 100 score based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews", whereas Frozen received a higher 75 score out of 48 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A− (lower than Frozen's A+) on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak rated it 4.5 out of five stars on the film's opening day. Reviews were moderately positive, critics praising the film's craftsmanship, delivery, and themes. The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis called the narrative a "pink world of adventure and aspirational uplift", and Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com noted its frank, compelling depiction of issues which were understandable by audiences of all ages. Dargis cited Frozen II's engaging visual imagery, balanced by romance and history, and Minow noted the film's autumnal palette. Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Simran Hans (The Guardian), and Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter) praised the film. Travers, who enjoyed reconnecting with the characters, called the animation stunning and referred to the music as "tantalizing earworms". Hans compared the film's narrative to real-world efforts to mitigate climate change. McCarthy praised its "catchy songs", "easy-to-like characters", and "astonishing backdrops", with humor and a plot driven by "female empowerment galore". Frozen II's narrative, music, and focus were criticized. In The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson noted that the sequel was not innovative and criticized the film's flawed narrative and low-quality music in comparison with Frozen. In an Empire review, Ben Travis said that the narrative relied too much on mythology and hazy backstories. Minow criticized the film's excessively detailed narrative, and Observer writer Oliver Jones said that the film's energy and originality were overly focused on the sisters. Reviewers for the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post cited Frozen II's complicated story and dark tone. ### Accolades At the 92nd Academy Awards, Frozen II received a nomination for Best Original Song. The film's other nominations include eight Annie Awards (winning two), a British Academy Film Award, two Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. ## Sequel On February 8, 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that another installment of Frozen is in the works. Gad confirmed shortly thereafter that he would return as the voice of Olaf. In June of the same year, Jennifer Lee revealed that she would not be returning to direct.
5,689,862	Banksia scabrella	1,143,827,796	Species of woody shrub in the family Proteaceae from Western Australia	[ "Banksia taxa by scientific name", "Eudicots of Western Australia", "Plants described in 1981" ]	Banksia scabrella, commonly known as the Burma Road banksia, is a species of woody shrub in the genus Banksia. It is classified in the series Abietinae, a group of several species of shrubs with small round or oval inflorescences. It occurs in a number of isolated populations south of Geraldton, Western Australia, with the largest population being south and east of Mount Adams. Found on sandy soils in heathland or shrubland, it grows to 2 m (7 ft) high and 3 m (10 ft) across with fine needle-like leaves. Appearing in spring and summer, the inflorescences are round to oval in shape and tan to cream with purple styles. Banksia scabrella is killed by fire and regenerates by seed. Originally collected in 1966, B. scabrella was one of several species previously considered to be forms of Banksia sphaerocarpa, before it was finally described by banksia expert Alex George in his 1981 revision of the genus. Like many members of the Abietinae, it is rarely seen in cultivation; however, it has been described as having horticultural potential. ## Description Banksia scabrella grows as a low shrub to 2 m (6.6 ft) in height and 3 m (9.8 ft) across, with a spreading habit. Its lateral branches are low and often rest on the ground. The small linear leaves measure 0.8 to 2.8 cm in length and 0.1 cm in width and are crowded along the stems. George recorded flowering as occurring in spring and summer (September to January), but The Banksia Atlas recorded the species in bloom in April. Flowers occur in "flower spikes", or inflorescences, made up of hundreds of small flowers, or florets, densely packed around a woody axis. Quite conspicuous, they are terminal (occurring on the ends of branches) or on short side branchlets. Round or oval in shape, the cream or tan inflorescences are 3 to 6 cm (1.2 to 2.4 in) high and 7–9 cm (2.8–3.5 in) wide. The individual flowers are light yellow or cream, with the styles and upper floral parts purple. The perianths measure 2.7 to 3.5 cm (1.1 to 1.4 in), while the pistils 3.4 to 4.5 cm (1.3 to 1.8 in) in length and are curved at the apex. The inflorescences fade to grey as they age and the old flowers do not fall off. Up to 80 follicles develop on one spike, and remain closed until opened after a bushfire. Oval-shaped, they measure 1.8–2.8 cm (0.71–1.10 in) in length, by 0.5–0.9 cm (0.20–0.35 in) high, and0.6–0.8 cm (0.24–0.31 in) wide. They open to release a dark brown oval seed 1.3–1.5 cm (0.51–0.59 in) long, 0.4–0.5 cm (0.16–0.20 in) wide with a papery dark 'wing' 1.4–2.4 cm (0.55–0.94 in) wide. Seedlings have narrowly obovate bright green cotyledons 1.2–1.4 cm (0.47–0.55 in) long by 0.3–0.4 cm (0.12–0.16 in) wide, and the leaves which develop immediately afterward are linear and scattered, and the stem is hairy. ## Taxonomy First collected on 4 September 1966, southeast of Walkaway, Banksia scabrella was described by Alex George in his 1981 revision of the genus Banksia. He gave it the epithet scabrella, a diminutive of the Latin adjective scaber "rough", referring to the leaves. George placed B. scabrella 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. He initially thought its closest relative to be Banksia leptophylla, which is found in the same region, and later felt it to be B. lanata, which has similarly coloured inflorescences but longer smooth leaves. It was one of several new species previously regarded as a form of Banksia sphaerocarpa. In 1996, botanists 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 retained. It further resolved into four subclades, so Thiele and Ladiges split it into four subseries. Banksia scabrella appeared in the third of these, initially called the "telmatiaea clade" for its most basal member. As with George's classification, B. lanata and two subspecies of B. leptophylla emerged as close relatives of B. scabrella, but there was some question over the relationships between all five forms in the clade. This clade became the basis for a new subseries Leptophyllae, which Thiele defined as containing species with "indurated and spinescent common bracts on the infructescence axes", and seedling stems which were densely arachnose (covered in fine hair). Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement was not accepted by George, and was largely discarded by him in his 1999 arrangement. B. ser. Abietinae was restored to George's 1981 circumscription, and all of Thiele and Ladiges' subseries were abandoned. The placement of B. scabrella 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. Abietinae : : : : B. sphaerocarpa (3 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) A 2002 study by American botanists Austin Mast and Tom Givnish concurred with Alex George's observations in that molecular analysis mapped out scabrella as one of a clade containing B. lanata, both subspecies of B. leptophylla and B. telmatiaea, with B. grossa as a more distant relative. 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. scabrella is placed in B. subg. Spathulatae. ## Distribution and habitat Banksia scabrella is found in two disjunct areas of scattered populations; the first discovered being southeast of the small town of Walkaway south of Geraldton, while a more populous cluster is found southeast of Mount Adams in Western Australia. The average annual rainfall over its range is around 450 mm (18 in). It has been placed on the Declared Rare and Priority Flora List, where it is classified as a "Priority Four – Rare" taxon; although it is rare, it is not currently threatened by any identifiable factors. These taxa require monitoring every 5 to 10 years. Many stands are populous, and number over 100 plants. However, over half the known population of B. scabrella is found on road verges. Found in deep pale yellow or white sand in kwongan scrubland and heathland, B. scabrella grows on flat areas or gentle slopes and is found in association with B. leptophylla and a dwarf form of B. attenuata. ## Ecology Most Proteaceae and all Banksia species, including B. scabrella, have proteoid roots, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These roots are particularly efficient at absorbing nutrients from nutrient-poor soils, such as the phosphorus-deficient native soils of Australia. B. scabrella is highly susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback. Killed by fire, the species regenerates from seed afterwards. The resultant seedlings have been recorded flowering two or three years after bushfires, although records are few. No pollinators were recorded during observations for the Banksia Atlas, although banksia flowerheads in general play host to a variety of birds, mammals and insects. The region between Geraldton and Gingin is a rich one for Abietinae banksias, and nine species occur there. Despite this, there is little overlap in range and habitat; Banksia scabrella is unusual in its co-occurrence with B. leptophylla. It is also associated with the endangered heath shrub Leucopogon marginatus. Burma Road Nature Reserve is one of the few protected conservation areas in its range; there, Banksia scabrella is found most commonly in (and forms a prominent part of) a mallee sedgeland, which is dominated by the cord rush Ecdeiocolea monostachya as a ground cover, and the mallee Eucalyptus eudesmoides as an emergent species. It is found occasionally in acacia scrub-heath, and rarely in acacia thickets and banksia woodland. An assessment of the potential impact of climate change on this species found that its range is unlikely to contract and may actually grow, depending on how effectively it migrates into newly habitable areas. ## Cultivation Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 14 to 16 days to germinate. Rarely cultivated, Banksia scabrella flowers in 3 to 5 years from seed. Information is limited on its reliability, but it has been grown successfully in South Australia. It is fast-growing but ultimately untidy in habit, and would benefit from regular pruning. Some forms in the wild have a more compact habit, and are more promising for horticulture.
1,249,630	Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria	1,172,911,891	1639 opera by Claudio Monteverdi	[ "1640 operas", "Italian-language operas", "Operas", "Operas based on classical mythology", "Operas based on the Odyssey", "Operas by Claudio Monteverdi" ]	Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (SV 325, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season. The story, taken from the second half of Homer's Odyssey, tells how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars Ulisse, king of Ithaca, finally returns to his kingdom where he finds that a trio of villainous suitors are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and a staunch friend Eumete, Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom. Il ritorno is the first of three full-length works which Monteverdi wrote for the burgeoning Venetian opera industry during the last five years of his life. After its initial successful run in Venice the opera was performed in Bologna before returning to Venice for the 1640–41 season. Thereafter, except for a possible performance at the Imperial court in Vienna late in the 17th century, there were no further revivals until the 20th century. The music became known in modern times through the 19th-century discovery of an incomplete manuscript score which in many respects is inconsistent with the surviving versions of the libretto. After its publication in 1922 the score's authenticity was widely questioned, and performances of the opera remained rare during the next 30 years. By the 1950s the work was generally accepted as Monteverdi's, and after revivals in Vienna and Glyndebourne in the early 1970s it became increasingly popular. It has since been performed in opera houses all over the world, and has been recorded many times. Together with Monteverdi's other Venetian stage works, Il ritorno is classified as one of the first modern operas. Its music, while showing the influence of earlier works, also demonstrates Monteverdi's development as a composer of opera, through his use of fashionable forms such as arioso, duet and ensemble alongside the older-style recitative. By using a variety of musical styles, Monteverdi is able to express the feelings and emotions of a great range of characters, divine and human, through their music. Il ritorno has been described as an "ugly duckling", and conversely as the most tender and moving of Monteverdi's surviving operas, one which although it might disappoint initially, will on subsequent hearings reveal a vocal style of extraordinary eloquence. ## Historical context Monteverdi was an established court composer in the service of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua when he wrote his first operas, L'Orfeo and L'Arianna, in the years 1606–08. After falling out with Vincenzo's successor, Duke Francesco Gonzaga, Monteverdi moved to Venice in 1613 and became director of music at St Mark's Basilica, a position he held for the rest of his life. Alongside his steady output of madrigals and church music, Monteverdi continued to compose works for the stage, though not actual operas. He wrote several ballets and, for the Venice carnival of 1624–25, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda ("The Battle of Tancred and Clorinda"), a hybrid work with some characteristics of ballet, opera and oratorio. In 1637 fully-fledged opera came to Venice with the opening of the Teatro San Cassiano. Sponsored by the wealthy Tron family, this theatre was the first in the world specifically devoted to opera. The theatre's inaugural performance, on 6 March 1637, was L'Andromeda by Francesco Manelli and Benedetto Ferrari. This work was received with great enthusiasm, as was the same pair's La Maga fulminata the following year. In rapid succession three more opera houses opened in the city, as the ruling families of the Republic sought to express their wealth and status by investing in the new musical fashion. At first, Monteverdi remained aloof from these activities, perhaps on account of his age (he was over 70), or perhaps through the dignity of his office as maestro di capella at St. Mark's. Nevertheless, an unidentified contemporary, commenting on Monteverdi's silence, opined that the maestro might yet produce an opera for Venice: "God willing, one of these nights he too will step onto the stage." This remark proved prescient; Monteverdi's first public contribution to Venetian opera came in the 1639–40 carnival season, a revival of his L'Arianna at the Teatro San Moisè. L'Arianna was followed in rapid succession by three brand new Monteverdi operas, of which Il ritorno was the first. The second, Le nozze d’Enea con Lavinia ("The Marriage of Aeneas to Lavinia"), was performed during the 1640–41 carnival; Monteverdi's music is lost, but a copy of the libretto, of unknown authorship, survives. The last of the three, written for the 1642–43 carnival, was L'incoronazione di Poppea ("The Coronation of Poppea"), performed shortly before the composer's death in 1643. ## Creation ### Libretto Giacomo Badoaro (1602–1654) was a prolific poet in the Venetian dialect who was a member of the Accademia degli Incogniti, a group of free-thinking intellectuals interested in promoting musical theatre in Venice—Badoaro himself held a financial interest in the Teatro Novissimo. Il ritorno was his first libretto; he would later, in 1644, write another Ulysses-based libretto for Francesco Sacrati. The text of Il ritorno, originally written in five acts but later reorganised as three, is a generally faithful adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, Books 13–23, with some characterisations altered or expanded. Badoaro may have been influenced in his treatment of the story by the 1591 play Penelope by Giambattista della Porta. The libretto was written with the express purpose of tempting Monteverdi to enter the world of Venetian opera, and it evidently captured the elderly composer's imagination. Badoaro and Monteverdi used a classical story to illustrate the human condition of their own times. The Monteverdi scholar Ellen Rosand has identified 12 versions of the published libretto that have been discovered in the years since the first performance. Most of these appear to be 18th-century copies, possibly from a single source; some are literary versions, unrelated to any theatrical performances. All but one of the 12 identify Badoaro as the author, while the other gives no name. Only two refer to Monteverdi as the composer, though this is not significant—composers' names were rarely given on printed librettos. The texts are all generally the same in each case, and all differ from the one surviving copy of Monteverdi's musical score, which has three acts instead of five, a different prologue, a different ending, and many scenes and passages either omitted or rearranged. Some of the libretto copies locate the opera's first performance at Teatro San Cassiano, although Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo is now generally accepted as the opening venue. ### Composition It is not known when Monteverdi received the libretto from Badoaro, but this was presumably during or before 1639 since the work was being prepared for performance in the 1639–40 carnival. In keeping with the general character of Venetian opera, the work was written for a small band—around five string players and various continuo instruments. This reflected the financial motives of the merchant princes who were sponsoring the opera houses—they demanded commercial as well as artistic success, and wanted to minimise costs. As was common at the time, precise instrumentation is not indicated in the score, which exists in a single handwritten manuscript discovered in the Vienna National Library in the 19th century. A study of the score reveals many characteristic Monteverdi features, derived from his long experience as a composer for the stage and of other works for the human voice. Rosand believes that rather than casting doubts on Monteverdi's authorship, the significant differences between the score and the libretto might lend support to it, since Monteverdi was well known for his adaptations of the texts presented to him. Ringer reinforces this, writing that "Monteverdi boldly reshaped Badoaro's writing into a coherent and supremely effective foundation for a music drama", adding that Badoaro claimed that he could no longer recognise the work as his own. Contemporaries of the composer and the librettist saw an identification between Ulysses and Monteverdi; both are returning home—"home" in Monteverdi's case being the medium of opera which he had mastered and then left, 30 years earlier. ### Authenticity Before and after the publication of the score in 1922, scholars questioned the work's authenticity, and its attribution to Monteverdi continued to be in some doubt until the 1950s. The Italian musicologist Giacomo Benvenuti maintained, on the basis of a 1942 performance in Milan, that the work was simply not good enough to be by Monteverdi. Apart from the stylistic differences between Il ritorno and Monteverdi's other surviving late opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, the main issue which raised doubts was the series of discrepancies between the score and the libretto. However, much of the uncertainty concerning the attribution was resolved through the discovery of contemporary documents, all confirming Monteverdi's role as the composer. These documents include a letter from the unknown librettist of Le nozze d'Enea in Lavinia, which discusses Monteverdi's setting of Il ritorno. There is also Badoaro's preface to the Il ritorno libretto, addressed to the composer, which includes the wording "I can firmly state that my Ulysses is more indebted to you than ever was the real Ulysses to the ever-gracious Minerva". A 1644 letter from Badoaro to Michelangelo Torcigliani contains the statement "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria was embellished with the music of Claudio Monteverdi, a man of great fame and enduring name". Finally, a 1640 booklet entitled Le Glorie della Musica indicates the Badoaro-Monteverdi pairing as the creators of the opera. In the view of conductor and instrumentalist Sergio Vartolo, these findings establish Monteverdi as the principal composer "beyond a shadow of a doubt". Although parts of the music may be by other hands, there is no doubt that the work is substantially Monteverdi's and remains close to his original conception. ## Roles The work is written for a large cast—thirty roles including small choruses of heavenly beings, sirens and Phaecians—but these parts can be organised among fourteen singers (three sopranos, two mezzo-sopranos, one alto, six tenors and two basses) by appropriate doubling of roles. This approximates to the normal forces employed in Venetian opera. In the score, the role of Eumete changes midway through Act II from tenor to soprano castrato, suggesting that the surviving manuscript may have been created from more than one source. In modern performances the latter part of Eumete's role is usually transposed to a lower range, to accommodate the tenor voice throughout. ## Synopsis The action takes place on and around the island of Ithaca, ten years after the Trojan Wars. English translations used in the synopsis are from Geoffrey Dunn's version, based on Raymond Leppard's 1971 edition, and from Hugh Ward-Perkins's interpretation issued with Sergio Vartolo's 2006 recording for Brilliant Classics. Footnotes provide the original Italian. ### Prologue The spirit of human frailty (l'humana Fragilità) is mocked in turn by the gods of time (il Tempo), fortune (la Fortuna) and love (l'Amore). Man, they claim, is subject to their whims: "From Time, ever fleeting, from Fortune's caresses, from Love and its arrows...No mercy from me!" They will render man "weak, wretched, and bewildered." ### Act 1 In the palace at Ithaca, Penelope mourns the long absence of Ulysses: "The awaited one does not return, and the years pass by." Her grief is echoed by her nurse, Ericlea. As Penelope leaves, her attendant Melanto enters with Eurimaco, a servant to Penelope's importunate suitors. The two sing passionately of their love for each other ("You are my sweet life"). The scene changes to the Ithacan coast, where the sleeping Ulisse is brought ashore by the Phaecians (Faeci), whose action is in defiance of the wishes of gods Giove and Nettuno. The Phaecians are punished by the gods who turn them and their ship to stone. Ulysses awakes, cursing the Phaecians for abandoning him: "To your sails, falsest Phaeacians, may Boreas be ever hostile!" From the goddess Minerva, who appears disguised as a shepherd boy, Ulisse learns that he is in Ithaca, and is told of "the unchanging constancy of the chaste Penelope", in the face of the persistent importunings of her evil suitors. Minerva promises to lead Ulisse back to the throne if he follows her advice; she tells him to disguise himself so that he can penetrate the court secretly. Ulisse goes to seek out his loyal servant Eumete, while Minerva departs to search for Telemaco, Ulisse's son who will help his father reclaim the kingdom. Back at the palace, Melanto tries vainly to persuade Penelope to choose one of the suitors: "Why do you disdain the love of living suitors, expecting comfort from the ashes of the dead?" In a wooded grove Eumete, banished from court by the suitors, revels in the pastoral life, despite the mockery of Iro, the suitors' parasitic follower, who sneers: "I live among kings, you here among the herds." After Iro is chased away, Ulisse enters disguised as a beggar, and assures Eumete that his master the king is alive, and will return. Eumete is overjoyed: "My long sorrow will fall, vanquished by you." ### Act 2 Minerva and Telemaco return to Ithaca in a chariot. Telemaco is greeted joyfully by Eumete and the disguised Ulisse in the woodland grove: "O great son of Ulysses, you have indeed returned!" After Eumete goes to inform Penelope of Telemaco's arrival a bolt of fire descends on Ulisse, removing his disguise and revealing his true identity to his son. The two celebrate their reunion before Ulisse sends Telemaco to the palace, promising to follow shortly. In the palace, Melanto complains to Eurimaco that Penelope still refuses to choose a suitor: "In short, Eurymachus, the lady has a heart of stone." Soon afterwards Penelope receives the three suitors (Antinoo, Pisandro, Anfinomo), and rejects each in turn despite their efforts to enliven the court with singing and dancing: "Now to enjoyment, to dance and song!" After the suitors' departure Eumete tells Penelope that Telemaco has arrived in Ithaca, but she is doubtful: "Such uncertain things redouble my grief." Eumete's message is overheard by the suitors, who plot to kill Telemaco. However, they are unnerved when a symbolic eagle flies overhead, so they abandon their plan and renew their efforts to capture Penelope's heart, this time with gold. Back in the woodland grove, Minerva tells Ulisse that she has organised a means whereby he will be able to challenge and destroy the suitors. Resuming his beggar's disguise, Ulisse arrives at the palace, where he is challenged to a fight by Iro, ("I will pluck out the hairs of your beard one by one!"), a challenge he accepts and wins. Penelope now states that she will accept the suitor who is able to string Ulisse's bow. All three suitors attempt the task unsuccessfully. The disguised Ulisse then asks to try though renouncing the prize of Penelope's hand, and to everyone's amazement he succeeds. He then angrily denounces the suitors and, summoning the names of the gods, kills all three with the bow: "This is how the bow wounds! To death, to havoc, to ruin!" ### Act 3 Deprived of the suitors' patronage, Iro commits suicide after a doleful monologue ("O grief, O torment that saddens the soul!") Melanto, whose lover Eurimaco was killed with the suitors, tries to warn Penelope of the new danger represented by the unidentified slayer, but Penelope is unmoved and continues to mourn for Ulisse. Eumete and Telemaco now inform her that the beggar was Ulisse in disguise, but she refuses to believe them: "Your news is persistent and your comfort hurtful." The scene briefly transfers to the heavens, where Giunone, having been solicited by Minerva, persuades Giove and Nettune that Ulisse should be restored to his throne. Back in the palace the nurse Ericlea has discovered Ulisse's identity by recognising a scar on his back, but does not immediately reveal this information: "Sometimes the best thing is a wise silence." Penelope continues to disbelieve, even when Ulisse appears in his true form and when Ericlea reveals her knowledge of the scar. Finally, after Ulisse describes the pattern of Penelope's private bedlinen, knowledge that only he could possess, she is convinced. Reunited, the pair sing rapturously to celebrate their love: "My sun, long sighed for! My light, renewed!" ## Reception and performance history ### Early performances Il ritorno was first staged during the 1639–40 Venice carnival by the theatrical company of Manelli and Ferrari, who had first brought opera to Venice. The date of the Il ritorno première is not recorded. According to Carter the work was performed at least ten times during its first season; it was then taken by Manelli to Bologna, and played at the Teatro Castrovillani before returning to Venice for the 1640–41 carnival season. From markings in the extant score, it is likely that the first Venice performances were in five acts, the three-act form being introduced either in Bologna or in the second Venice season. A theory offered by Italian opera historian Nino Pirrotta that the Bologna performance was the work's première is not supported by subsequent research. The opera's revival in Venice only one season after its première was very unusual, almost unique in the 17th century, and testifies to the opera's popular success—Ringer calls it "one of the most successful operas of the century". Carter offers a reason for its appeal to the public: "The opera has enough sex, gore and elements of the supernatural to satisfy the most jaded Venetian palate." The venue for Il ritorno's première was at one time thought to be the Teatro Cassiano, but scholarly consensus considers it most likely that both the 1639–40 and 1640–41 performances were at the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo. This view is supported by a study of the performance schedules for other Venice operas, and by the knowledge that the Manelli company had severed its connection with the Teatro Cassiano before the 1639–40 season. The Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo, owned by the Grimani family, would also be the venue for the premières of Monteverdi's Le nozze d'Enea and Poppea. In terms of its staging Il ritorno is, says Carter, fairly undemanding, requiring three basic sets—a palace, a seascape and a woodland scene—which were more or less standard for early Venetian opera. It did, however, demand some spectacular special effects: the Phaecian ship turns to stone, an airborne chariot transports Minerva, a bolt of fire transforms Ulisse. After the Venice 1640–41 revival there is no record of further performances of Il ritorno in Venice, or elsewhere, before the discovery of the music manuscript in the 19th century. The discovery of this manuscript in Vienna suggests that at some time the opera was staged there, or at least contemplated, perhaps before the Imperial court. The Monteverdi scholar Alan Curtis dates the manuscript's arrival in Vienna to 1675, during the reign of the Emperor Leopold I who was a considerable patron of the arts, and opera in particular. ### Modern revivals The Vienna manuscript score was published by Robert Haas in 1922. Publication was followed by the first modern performance of the opera, in an edition by Vincent d'Indy, in Paris on 16 May 1925. For the next half-century performances remained rare. The BBC introduced the opera to British listeners with a radio broadcast on 16 January 1928, again using the d'Indy edition. The Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola prepared his own edition, which was performed in Florence in 1942, and Ernst Krenek's version was shown in Wuppertal, Germany, in 1959. The first British staging was a performance at St. Pancras Town Hall, London, on 16 March 1965, given with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Frederick Marshall. The opera entered a wider repertory in the early 1970s, with performances in Vienna (1971) and Glyndebourne (1972). The Vienna performance used a new edition prepared by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, whose subsequent partnership with the French opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle led to the staging of the opera in many European cities. Ponnelle's 1978 presentation in Edinburgh was later described as "infamous"; at the time, critic Stanley Sadie praised the singers but criticised the production for its "frivolity and indeed coarseness". In January 1974 Il ritorno received its United States première with a production mounted by the Opera Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center, on the basis of the Harnoncourt edition. Led by conductor Alexander Gibson, the cast included Frederica von Stade as L'humana Fragilità and Penelope, Claude Corbeil as Il Tempo and Antinoo, Joyce Castle as La Fortuna, Barbara Hocher as Amore and Melanto, Richard Stilwell as Ulisse, Donald Gramm as Nettuno, WIlliam Neill as Giove, Carmen Balthrop as Minerva, David Lloyd as Eumete, R. G. Webb as Iro, Howard Hensel as Eurimaco, Paul Sperry as Telemaco, Dennis Striny as Pisandro, and John Lankston as Anfinomo. More recently the opera has been performed at the New York Lincoln Center by New York City Opera, and at other venues throughout the United States. A 2006 Welsh National Opera production by David Alden, designed by Ian McNeil, featured neon signs, stuffed cats, a Neptune in flippers and a wet suit, Minerva in the form of the aviator Amelia Earhart, and Jupiter as a small-time hustler, an interpretation defended by the critic Anna Picard – "the gods were always contemporary fantasies, while an abandoned wife and a humbled hero are eternals." The German composer Hans Werner Henze was responsible for the first two-act version, which was produced at the Salzburg Festival on 11 August 1985, with divided critical reaction. Two-act productions have since become increasingly common. The South African artist and animator William Kentridge devised a version of the opera based on the use of puppets and animated film, using around half of the music. This version was shown in Johannesburg in 1998 and then toured the world, appearing at the Lincoln Center in 2004 and at the Edinburgh Festival in 2009. ## Music According to Denis Arnold, although Monteverdi's late operas retain elements of the earlier Renaissance intermezzo and pastoral forms, they may be fairly considered as the first modern operas. In the 1960s, however, David Johnson found it necessary to warn prospective Il ritorno listeners that if they expected to hear opera akin to Verdi, Puccini or Mozart, they would be disappointed: "You have to submit yourself to a much slower pace, to a much more chaste conception of melody, to a vocal style that is at first or second hearing merely like dry declamation and only on repeated hearings begins to assume an extraordinary eloquence." A few years later, Jeremy Noble in a Gramophone review wrote that Il ritorno was the least known and least performed of Monteverdi's operas, "quite frankly, because its music is not so consistently full of character and imagination as that of Orfeo or Poppea." Arnold called the work an "ugly duckling". Later analysts have been more positive; to Mark Ringer Il ritorno is "the most tender and moving of Monteverdi's operas", while in Ellen Rosand's view the composer's ability to portray real human beings through music finds its fullest realisation here, and in Poppea a few years later. The music of Il ritorno shows the unmistakable influence of the composer's earlier works. Penelope's lament, which opens Act I, is reminiscent both of Orfeo's Redentemi il mio ben and the lament from L'Arianna. The martial-sounding music which accompanies references to battles and the killing of the suitors, derives from Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, while for the song episodes in Il ritorno Monteverdi draws in part on the techniques which he developed in his 1632 vocal work Scherzi musicale. In typical Monteverdi fashion the opera's characters are vividly portrayed in their music. Penelope and Ulisse, with what is described by Ringer as "honest musical and verbal declamation", overcome the suitors whose styles are "exaggerated and ornamental". Iro, perhaps "the first great comic character in opera", opens his Act 3 monologue with a wail of distress that stretches across eight bars of music. Penelope begins her lament with a reiteration of E flats that, according to Ringer, "suggest a sense of motionless and emotional stasis" that well represents her condition as the opera begins. At the work's end, her travails over, she unites with Ulisse in a duet of life-affirming confidence which, Ringer suggests, no other composer bar Verdi could have achieved. Rosand divides the music of Il ritorno into "speech-like" and "musical" utterances. Speech, usually in the form of recitative, delivers information and moves the action forward, while musical utterances, either formal songs or occasional short outbursts, are lyrical passages that enhance an emotional or dramatic situation. This division is, however, less formal than in Monteverdi's earlier L'Orfeo; in Il ritorno information is frequently conveyed through the use of arioso, or even aria at times, increasing both tunefulness and tonal unity. As with Orfeo and Poppea, Monteverdi differentiates musically between humans and gods, with the latter singing music which is usually more profusely melodic—although in Il ritorno, most of the human characters have some opportunity for lyrical expression. According to the reviewer Iain Fenlon, "it is Monteverdi's mellifluous and flexible recitative style, capable of easy movement between declamation and arioso, which remains in the memory as the dominant language of the work." Monteverdi's ability to combine fashionable forms such as the chamber duet and ensembles with the older-style recitative from earlier in the century further illustrate the development of the composer's dramatic style. Monteverdi's trademark feature of "stilo concitato" (rapid repetition of notes to suggest dramatic action or excitement) is deployed to good effect in the fight scene between Ulisse and Iro, and in the slaying of the suitors. Arnold draws attention to the great range of characters in the opera—the divine, the noble, the servants, the evil, the foolish, the innocent and the good. For all of these "the music expresses their emotions with astonishing accuracy." ## List of musical items The following is a list of the "scenes" into which the libretto is divided. Each separate scene is typically a mixture of musical elements: recitative, arioso, arietta and sometimes ensemble, with occasional instrumental interludes. ## Recording history The first recording of the opera was issued in 1964 by Vox, a version which incorporated substantial cuts. The first complete recording was that of Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien in 1971. Raymond Leppard's 1972 Glyndebourne version was recorded in a concert performance in the Royal Albert Hall; the following year the same Glyndebourne cast was recorded in a full stage performance. Leppard's third Glyndebourne version was issued in 1980, when the orchestration with strings and brass drew critical comment from Denis Arnold in his Gramophone review: "Too much of the music left with a simple basso continuo line in the original has been fully orchestrated with strings and brass, with the result that the expressive movement between recitative, arioso and aria is obscured." (For further details, see Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Raymond Leppard recording).) Much the same criticism, says Arnold, may be levelled at Harnoncourt's 1971 recording. Among more recent issues is the much praised 1992 René Jacobs performance with Concerto Vocale, "a recording that all serious Monteverdians will wish to return to frequently", according to Fenlon. Jacobs's version is in the original five-act form, and uses music by Luigi Rossi and Giulio Caccini for some choruses which appear in the libretto but which are missing from Monteverdi's score. More than thirty years after his first issue, Harnoncourt's 2002 version, with Zurich Opera, was recorded live in DVD format. While the quality of the vocal contributions were praised, Harnoncourt's "big-band score" and bold instrumentation were highlighted by Gramophone critic Jonathan Freeman-Attwood as a likely source of future debate. ## Editions Since the publication of the Vienna manuscript score in 1922 the opera has been edited frequently, sometimes for specific performances or recordings. The following are the main published editions of the work, to 2010. - Robert Haas (Vienna, 1922 in the series Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich) - Vincent d'Indy (Paris, 1926) - Gian Francesco Malipiero (Vienna, 1930 in Claudio Monteverdi: Tutte le opere) - Luigi Dallapiccola (Milan, 1942) - Ernst Krenek (Wuppertal, 1959) - Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Vienna, 1971) - Raymond Leppard (London, 1972) - Hans Werner Henze (Salzburg, 1985) - Alan Curtis (London, 2002)
25,257,248	Dance in the Dark	1,163,891,593	2010 single by Lady Gaga	[ "2009 songs", "2010 singles", "Body image in popular culture", "Interscope Records singles", "Lady Gaga songs", "Song recordings produced by Fernando Garibay", "Song recordings produced by Lady Gaga", "Songs written by Fernando Garibay", "Songs written by Lady Gaga" ]	"Dance in the Dark" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), The Fame Monster (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). It is about a woman who prefers to have sex in the dark as she is insecure in her body. Having met such women while working on the MAC AIDS Fund, Gaga said that the song is not about freedom, but rather the assurance that she understood their feelings. A Europop track, it contains retro and new wave music influences, and begins with a stuttering introduction. It includes a spoken interlude, where Gaga lists famous dead people. Interscope Records intended "Dance in the Dark" to be the third single from The Fame Monster, but Gaga insisted on "Alejandro", which was released in April 2010. Some months later, Universal Music France issued "Dance in the Dark" to French radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country. Critics praised the song for its chorus and theme, although some found it a formulaic production. Retrospective reviewers ranked the song as one of Gaga's best. "Dance in the Dark" reached the top ten of charts in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, as well as the US Dance/Electronic Digital Song. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Gaga performed "Dance in the Dark" as the opening song of The Monster Ball Tour. In the first leg of the tour, Gaga appeared behind a scrim-lit screen, and in the revamped shows, she performed it on a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene. Other events where she performed the song included the 2010 BRIT Awards—dedicated to Gaga's close friend, Alexander McQueen, who had committed suicide a few days earlier—and at her Las Vegas residency, Enigma. A remix of the song appeared on her album The Remix (2010). ## Background and release Lady Gaga and Fernando Garibay wrote, produced and arranged "Dance in the Dark"; they were also responsible for instrumentation. Garibay solely handled programming. Jonas Westling, Dan Parry and Christian Delano were the recording and tracking engineers. The song was recorded at Metropolis Studios in London. Gaga told the Los Angeles Times that the inspiration behind "Dance in the Dark" came from an intimate experience between two people in a bedroom. The song is about a girl who prefers to have sex in the dark as she feels self-conscious about her body. Gaga explained, "She doesn't want her man to see her naked. She will be free, and she will let her inner animal out, but only when the lights are out." While working on the Mac AIDS Fund, she realized that women her age do not express such insecurities, fearing that their boyfriends would not love them if they did so. Gaga added that she herself struggled with issues of body image and self-doubt. > All of these new things entering my life are changing the way I view my purpose, but 'Dance in the Dark' in particular is about me wanting to live—but also, the song isn't called 'Dance in the Light'. I'm not a gospel singer trying to cross people over. What I'm saying is, 'I get it. I feel you, I feel the same way, and it's OK.' I hope and pray that I can inspire some sort of change in people subliminally through the show. They're singing 'Dance in the Dark,' but they're dancing and they're free, they're letting it out. But the songs are not about freedom, they're about [the fact that] I get it. I feel the way you feel. "Dance in the Dark" was released as a promotional single from the extended play (EP) The Fame Monster—the reissue of Gaga's debut studio album, The Fame (2008)—on November 9, 2009, when it became available to purchase on iTunes Store in Belgium. According to MTV News, Interscope Records initially planned "Dance in the Dark" as the EP's third single, but Gaga preferred "Alejandro", which was released on April 20, 2010. Universal Music France issued "Dance in the Dark" on August 25, 2010, to French radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country. In March of that year, Gaga released her first remix album entitled The Remix, which included the Monarchy Stylites rendition of the song. ## Music and lyrics "Dance in the Dark" is a Europop track which infuses influences of retro and new wave music in its composition. Author Robin James in the book Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism recognized synth-pop elements in the song, which was influenced by Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" (1987). Paul Lester of the BBC and Tony Hardy of Consequence called it an R&B production; Hardy also found dance elements in the song. "Dance in the Dark" begins with a stuttering introduction and orgasmic groans, followed by Gaga singing the song. Musicologist Alexandra Apolloni found that "Dance in the Dark" was one of many songs where Gaga uses a "technologically-imposed vocal stutter". She cited author Daniel Goldmark's opinion that using stutter in American popular music was a way to demonstrate abnormality. For Apolloni, such vocal instabilities complement moments where "bodily vocal labor is audible", a result of Gaga physically manipulating her voice. Apolloni saw moments of "vocal ugliness and abjection" in the song, which she interpreted as Gaga vocally expressing pain and pleasure, eliciting a real' (albeit totally performed) non-technological body". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine noted influences from 1980s music in "Dance in the Dark", writing, "The song isn't a cautionary tale per se, but a call to arms to misfits everywhere." Analyzing the song's music, Michael Cragg of The Guardian found it "a glorious juxtaposition of textures: the harsh, stuttering vocal meshing with that glacial riff, while the processed vocals of the verses burst into the sunshine of the chorus". He wrote about its "robotic" spoken interlude, which he believed is "eventually washed away by a warm synthetic breeze". The interlude references famous dead people: Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Sylvia Plath, JonBenét Ramsey, Liberace, Jesus, Stanley Kubrick, and Diana, Princess of Wales. The lyrics of the song refer to vampires and werewolves: "Run run her kiss is a vampire grin/The moon lights her way while she's howlin' at him". Gaga explained that the lines conveyed how people rely on external motivations to cope with internal anxiety: "She doesn't feel free without the moon". Gaga said the song discusses self-insecurity common among men and women at any age. Sociologist Mathieu Deflem believed the lyrics "I'm a free bitch, baby!" exemplified Gaga's response to sexism in her music where she confirms her strength as a woman. ## Critical reception and accolades "Dance in the Dark" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Some called it "campy", single-worthy and an album highlight. Praise focused on the song's suitability for workout, and extravagant and club-friendly production. Reviewers also positively compared Gaga to Madonna and noted the references to famous people. Michael Hubbard of MusicOMH highlighted the spoken-word lyrics referencing Princess Diana: "You will never fall apart Diana, you're still in our hearts / Never let you fall apart / Together we'll dance in the dark." Nick Levine from Digital Spy found that the song "makes you want to dance with your top off in a grotty German bondage basement". "Dance in the Dark" received a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. The song was ranked as one of Gaga's best by the Official Charts Company, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Vulture and Glamour. It was cited as a "cult favorite" by Vulture. The song's chorus—called "one of Gaga's most lustrous" by Rolling Stone and "deliciously outrageous, sky-scraping" by Vulture—was praised for "pierc[ing] through the mesh of synths like a laser". Other plaudits focused on the song's theme. Glamour argued that its topic about body insecurities and sound (describing it as "one of Gaga's brightest efforts: booming and industrial yet incredibly haunting") made it her most emotionally impactful song to date. Elena Gorgan of Softpedia believed Gaga, through the song, was unafraid of pushing boundaries and changing what people view as "normal". Some reviews were less enthusiastic, calling the song "slightly too disposable" and finding the dance and R&B production formulaic. Adam White of The Independent liked the beginning, but found that the song "gradually declines into something more middle-of-the-road than it first appears". Hubbard added that "after a stuttering intro of orgasmic groans it becomes a little bit Gaga-by-numbers, which is a shame given the standard of the early tracks". ## Chart performance In late 2009, "Dance in the Dark" charted on the Hungarian Mahasz Single Top 10 lista, the UK Singles Chart and the Canadian Hot 100 at number 9, number 89 and number 88, respectively, for one week. The song debuted at number 43 on the Australian Singles Chart, later peaking at number 24. It entered the French Digital Singles Chart at number 40 and peaked at number 30. In the US, "Dance in the Dark" peaked at number 22 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in August 2010 and number 9 on Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs in October 2010. It reached number two on the Polish Dance Top 50 in October 2010. ## Live performances Gaga performed "Dance in the Dark" as the opening song of The Monster Ball Tour (2009–2011). During the original 2009 leg of the tour, the show began as Gaga appeared behind a giant, green laser-lit video screen featuring scrim lights, in a futuristic silver jeweled jumpsuit with bulbs on it. Wearing matching eye makeup and a mask, she sang "Dance in the Dark" while surrounded by dancers in white balaclavas and jumpsuits. The scrim was lifted during the performance. "Dance in the Dark" was again the opening song in the revamped 2010–2011 shows of The Monster Ball Tour. Gaga performed the song in a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene, with flickering neon signs displaying the words "ugly", "sexy" and "liquor", fire escape stairwells and a broken yellow taxi. For Katrin Horn, a postdoctoral fellow in American studies, the "Dance in the Dark" performance helped highlight a recurring theme in Gaga's work from the tour's beginning—"pop culture's obsession with both decay and beauty, or more precisely the decay of beauty"—as the song is dedicated to famous dead people who had struggled with their reputation when they were alive. Gaga sang "Telephone", the second single from The Fame Monster, and "Dance in the Dark" at the Brit Awards on February 16, 2010, at Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Inspired by the recent death of her friend, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, she changed the concept of her performance at the last minute to pay tribute to him. Gaga said, "I wanted to do a very, very forward performance, something that I felt was a true representation of the future." Her performance of "Dance in the Dark", described as more restrained compared to her previous ones by The Wall Street Journal, began as she got up from her piano while the disco groove of the song was heard. Wearing a lace bodysuit and a large bouffant wig, Gaga took to a giant keytar and performed a techno rendition of the track. In 2015, Liv Moss of Official Charts Company called it one of the "biggest, best and weirdest" performances in the history of Brit Awards. The following year, Daniel Welsh of HuffPost UK cited it as one of Gaga's 15 most memorable performances on television. Gaga sang "Dance in the Dark" on her 2018–2020 Las Vegas residency show, Enigma. The song was preceded by an interlude, which introduced her alien counterpart, named Enigma. Gaga was sent through a future simulation by the character, and reappeared on stage in a fluorescent green jacket to perform "Dance in the Dark". ## Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Fame Monster. Recording and postproduction locations - Recorded at Metropolis Studios, London, Englandand Paradise Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California - Audio mixing at Sarm Studios, London, England - Audio mastering at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, California Personnel - Lady Gaga – producer, instrumentation and arrangement - Fernando Garibay – producer, instrumentation, programming and arrangement - Jonas Westling – recording engineer - Dan Parry – recording engineer - Christian Delano – recording engineer - Robert Orton – mixer - Gene Grimaldi – mastering engineer ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Release history ## Rina Sawayama cover On June 29, 2020, Japanese-British singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama released a cover of "Dance in the Dark" as part of Spotify's Spotify Singles series. Produced by Clarence Clarity, the song was included in Sawayama's remix EP Sawayama Remixed (2020). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sawayama recorded her cover at her home studio, instead of Electric Lady Studios in New York City, where Spotify Singles are generally recorded. It is an electropop track with influences of nu metal. Robin Murray of Clash and Brendan Wetmore of Paper Mag reviewed the song positively. Murray described Sawayama's take on the original as "seismic". Wetmore opined that "Sawayama's voice somehow rivals even Lady Gaga's level of theatricality". He felt that her rendition was "almost painting a picture of an animated Disney love story", because of "how much the track evokes the feeling of listening to pop's greatest hitmakers of the late '90s, the golden era of the Disney ballad." ## Literary sources [2009 songs](Category:2009_songs "wikilink") [2010 singles](Category:2010_singles "wikilink") [Body image in popular culture](Category:Body_image_in_popular_culture "wikilink") [Interscope Records singles](Category:Interscope_Records_singles "wikilink") [Lady Gaga songs](Category:Lady_Gaga_songs "wikilink") [Song recordings produced by Fernando Garibay](Category:Song_recordings_produced_by_Fernando_Garibay "wikilink") [Song recordings produced by Lady Gaga](Category:Song_recordings_produced_by_Lady_Gaga "wikilink") [Songs written by Fernando Garibay](Category:Songs_written_by_Fernando_Garibay "wikilink") [Songs written by Lady Gaga](Category:Songs_written_by_Lady_Gaga "wikilink")
24,270,377	Elias Abraham Rosenberg	1,058,009,744	Merchant and fortune teller	[ "1810s births", "1887 deaths", "19th century in Hawaii", "American Jews", "American expatriates in the Hawaiian Kingdom", "Russian Jews", "Year of birth uncertain" ]	Elias Abraham Rosenberg (Hebrew: אליאס אברהם רוזנברג; Hawaiian: Eliaka Apelahama Loselabeka; c. 1810 – July 10, 1887) was a Jewish immigrant to the United States who, despite a questionable past, became a trusted friend and adviser of King Kalākaua of Hawaii. Regarded as eccentric, he lived in San Francisco in the 1880s and worked as a peddler selling illegal lottery tickets. In 1886, he traveled to Hawaii and performed as a fortune-teller. He came to Kalākaua's attention, and endeared himself to the king with favorable predictions about the future of Hawaii. Rosenberg received royal appointments to several positions: kahuna-kilokilo (royal soothsayer), customs appraiser, and guard. He was given lavish gifts by the king, but was mistrusted by other royal advisers and satirized in the Hawaiian press. Rosenberg and Kalākaua often held long conversations and enjoyed drinking alcohol together; Rosenberg told the king Bible stories and encouraged him to revive traditional Hawaiian religion, an idea that fascinated Kalākaua but angered his political rivals. In June 1887, Rosenberg returned to California, possibly owing to poor health or fear of unrest in Hawaii; a short time after arriving in San Francisco, he died in a local hospital. Soon after his departure from Hawaii, the June 1887 Constitution—which curtailed royal power—was forced upon Kalākaua. A Torah scroll and yad presented to the king by Rosenberg remained in the royal collection. These artifacts were later exhibited with other royal treasures and eventually donated to Temple Emanu-El in Honolulu. ## San Francisco Few details are definitively known about Rosenberg's life before he traveled to Hawaii. He is believed to have been a Russian Jew born c. 1810, and possibly lived in Australia and England. He was married and divorced three times, and had several children. By the early 1880s, Rosenberg lived in San Francisco, California, where he was a well-known figure, regarded as an eccentric, an "adventurer", and a "curio". There he worked as a peddler and, in 1884, served as a director for the Chebra Beth Abraham benevolent society. He illegally sold lottery tickets for a time, but ceased the practice after he attracted attention from the San Francisco Police Department. These problems might have led to his move to Hawaii. ## Hawaii Rosenberg traveled from San Francisco to Hawaii, possibly on a whaler, arriving in Oahu sometime before December 1886. At that time, Hawaii was a predominantly Christian kingdom; Christian missionaries had successfully converted a large segment of the population after traditional Hawaiian religion was suppressed by the monarchy. In the 1880s, however, King Kalākaua encouraged the revival of Hawaiian traditions, hoping to inspire nationalistic sentiment. He revived traditional Hawaiian music and dance, including hula, and observed some practices of Hawaiian religion. Kalākaua became a powerful king, unconstrained by political factors. In Hawaii, Rosenberg was known for his long white beard and his personality, which was described by those who knew him as charming and witty. He cast optimistic horoscopes for anyone who asked, and soon became popular with Hawaiians. He was nicknamed "Rosey", owing to his cheery attitude and witty remarks. After Rosenberg became well known, he came to the attention of King Kalākaua, who granted him a royal audience. Rosenberg was present at a birthday celebration for King Kalākaua at ʻIolani Palace in November 1886. Rosenberg's fame led to satire: he regularly appeared in a Hawaiian Gazette gossip column, which mockingly called him "Holy Moses", and was satirized by a troupe of amateur minstrels at the Hawaii Opera House. In February 1887, he paid for a notice to be placed in The Honolulu Advertiser, in which he claimed to have lost a letter that was sent to him by Queen Victoria. There has been speculation that the advertisement was a hoax designed by Rosenberg to lend himself prestige. King Kalākaua trusted Rosenberg's skill as a fortune teller, perhaps because the way Rosenberg chanted in Hebrew reminded him of ancient Hawaiian rites. In January 1887, the king—who had become increasingly autocratic and was facing several scandals—granted Rosenberg a private audience at the palace. The king and Rosenberg became close, and routinely visited each other for several days at a time and held long conversations. During the audiences, Rosenberg told Bible stories and read from the Talmud. He began to teach the king basic Hebrew, and gave him an ornate Torah and yad that he had brought with him to Hawaii. He also claimed to have found references to Hawaii in ancient Hebrew texts, a statement that encouraged the king to restore aspects of Hawaiian religion. The king had previously sought instruction from several people he regarded as prophets and had established a society dedicated to the revival of native Hawaiian traditions. Finally, the king declared Rosenberg his kahuna-kilokilo, a royal soothsayer. Rosenberg was granted a room in the palace to use for fortune telling, which the king made sure was stocked with alcohol, as they enjoyed drinking together. In late January, the king appointed Rosenberg as a customs appraiser in Honolulu, although the appointment was controversial; by mid-February he was fired by the head of customs. One month later, Rosenberg was reappointed by order of the king and the following month the head of customs resigned. Archibald Scott Cleghorn, the king's brother-in-law, was appointed as the new head of customs. Between March and May 1887, Rosenberg was paid \$300, ostensibly for working as a guard at the Customs Office, although it was alleged that Rosenberg's position was a sinecure. On June 1, the king gave Rosenberg a gold medal, a silver cup, and \$260. The cup and the obverse of the medal were inscribed with the words "His Majesty Kalākaua I to Abraham Rosenberg". The reverse side of the medal featured a profile of the king; a gold crown on the rim attached the coin to a blue ribbon. The following week, the king made a payment of \$100 to a local jeweler, but it is not known whether it was for the gifts given to Rosenberg. Some royal advisers, who were angered by the trust the king placed in Rosenberg, regarded him with suspicion. For example, Walter M. Gibson, the Prime Minister of Hawaii, noted that King Kalākaua withheld most of the specific details of his conversations with Rosenberg from him. Kalākaua was stripped of much of his power by the June 1887 Constitution, which significantly weakened the Hawaiian monarchy. ## Return to San Francisco and death Rosenberg left Hawaii on June 7, 1887, booking steerage class passage on the steamer Australia. Some reports state that he left owing to health issues, although others suggest that Rosenberg departed the island because he was concerned about political unrest. He left three weeks before the king signed the June Constitution. Rosenberg returned to San Francisco, but was hospitalized within a month of his return, and died on July 10, 1887. He spoke of King Kalākaua on his deathbed, whispering the king's name with his dying breath. He was buried at the cemetery of Congregation Sherith Israel in the San Francisco Peninsula; brief death notices were published in Hawaii- and San Francisco-based newspapers. Rosenberg left a will in which he requested that his body be cremated using quicklime. Most of his estate was left to his children; the will stated that his Torah and yad were to be given to his son Adolph, but this was not done as they remained in Hawaii. ## Legacy In 1888, the Torah and yad Rosenberg left with King Kalākaua were included in an exhibition of royal possessions at a bazaar held by King Kalākaua's wife, Queen Kapiolani. After King Kalākaua's death in 1891, his stepson David Kawānanakoa inherited the items. When Kawānanakoa's wife, Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa, inherited them after David's death, she loaned them to members of the Hawaiian Jewish community on religious holidays. Her granddaughter, Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, later acquired the items. The yad was bequeathed to Temple Emanu-El in 1959, and formally dedicated for use in Torah readings the next year. The Torah was lost in the 1940s, but was recovered in 1972 when a Honolulu attorney found the scroll in the possessions of a recently deceased client and donated it to the temple. The Torah had been damaged and could not be used in services, but the temple later installed a plaque describing Rosenberg below a glass display case housing the Torah and yad. Although Rosenberg's Torah was a prized possession of the royal family, there were no recorded Jewish religious services in Hawaii until years after his death. The first Jewish temple in Hawaii was not built until 70 years after Rosenberg presented the Torah to King Kalākaua. Although Rosenberg styled himself as "Rabbi Rosenberg"—and the king promised him a plot of land for a synagogue—there is no evidence that he was a rabbi. William DeWitt Alexander advanced a negative view of Rosenberg in a late 19th-century history of Hawaii, characterizing him as an accomplice to what he saw as the king's "efforts to revive heathenism". A 2008 article in Honolulu magazine also advanced an unfavorable characterization of Rosenberg: a writer for the publication described him as a "smooth talker" and compared him to the 19th-century industrialist Claus Spreckels, arguing that each was a "huckster basking in the rays of Kalākaua's power". A more positive description was offered in the Canadian Jewish Chronicle in 1938 by Harry Rubenstein, who compared Rosenberg to the Baal Shem Jewish mystics of the 1700s.
6,890,967	Gold dollar	1,132,612,374	U.S. one-dollar coin (1849–1889)	[ "1849 introductions", "Goddess of Liberty on coins", "United States dollar coins", "United States gold coins" ]	The gold dollar or gold one-dollar piece is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre. The Type 1 issue has the smallest diameter (0.5 inch =12.7mm) of any United States coin minted to date. A gold dollar coin had been proposed several times in the 1830s and 1840s, but was not initially adopted. Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion caused by the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, and the gold dollar found a ready place in commerce. Silver again circulated after Congress in 1853 required that new coins of that metal be made lighter, and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal coins vanished from circulation because of the economic disruption caused by the American Civil War. Gold did not again circulate in most of the nation until 1879; once it did, the gold dollar did not regain its place. In its final years, it was struck in small numbers, causing speculation by hoarders. It was also in demand to be mounted in jewelry. The regular issue gold dollar was last struck in 1889; the following year, Congress ended the series. Damaged common date gold dollars tend to be worth anywhere from melt value to about US\$110 (as of 2017); common dates of higher circulated grades sell for about US\$200 while rarer coins in high grades can be worth up to many thousands. ## Background In proposing his plan for a mint and a coinage system, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1791 proposed that the one-dollar denomination be struck both as a gold coin, and as one of silver, representative of the two metals which he proposed be made legal tender. Congress followed Hamilton's recommendation only in part, authorizing a silver dollar, but no coin of that denomination in gold. In 1831, the first gold dollar was minted, at the private mint of Christopher Bechtler in North Carolina. Much of the gold then being produced in the United States came from the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia, and the dollars and other small gold coins issued by Bechtler circulated through that region, and were now and then seen further away. Additional one-dollar pieces were struck by August Bechtler, Christopher's son. Soon after the Bechtlers began to strike their private issues, Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury became an advocate of having the Mint of the United States ("Mint", when described as an institution) strike the one-dollar denomination in gold. He was opposed by the Mint Director, Robert M. Patterson. Woodbury persuaded President Andrew Jackson to have pattern coins struck. In response, Patterson had Mint Second Engraver Christian Gobrecht break off work on the new design for the silver one-dollar coin and work on a pattern for the gold dollar. Gobrecht's design featured a Liberty cap surrounded by rays on one side, and a palm branch arranged in a circle with the denomination, date, and name of the country on the other. Consideration was given to including the gold dollar as an authorized denomination in the revisionary legislation that became the Mint Act of 1837. The Philadelphia newspaper Public Ledger, in December 1836, supported a gold dollar, stating that "the dollar is the smallest gold coin that would be convenient, and as it would be eminently so, neither silver nor paper should be allowed to take its place." Nevertheless, after Mint Director Patterson appeared before a congressional committee, the provision authorizing the gold dollar was deleted from the bill. ## Inception In January 1844, North Carolina Representative James Iver McKay, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, solicited the views of Director Patterson on the gold dollar. Patterson had more of Gobrecht's pattern dollar struck to show to committee members, again advising against a coin that if issued would be only about a half inch (13 mm) in diameter. He told Treasury Secretary John C. Spencer that the only gold coins of that size in commerce, the Spanish and Colombian half-escudos, were unpopular and had not been struck for more than twenty years. This seemed to satisfy the committee as nothing more was done for the time, and when a gold dollar was proposed again in 1846, McKay's committee recommended against it. Even before 1848, record amounts of gold were flowing to American mints to be struck into coin, but the California Gold Rush vastly increased these quantities. This renewed calls for a gold dollar, as well as for a higher denomination than the eagle (\$10 piece), then the largest gold coin. In January 1849, McKay introduced a bill for a gold dollar, which was referred to his committee. There was much discussion in the press about the proposed coin; one newspaper published a proposal for an annular gold dollar; that is, with a hole in the middle to increase its small diameter. McKay amended his legislation to provide for a double eagle (\$20 gold coin) and wrote to Patterson, who replied stating that the annular gold dollar would not work, and neither would another proposal to have dollar piece consisting of a gold plug in a silver coin. Nevertheless, Gobrecht's successor as chief engraver, James B. Longacre, prepared patterns, including some with a square hole in the middle. McKay got his fellow Democrat, New Hampshire Senator Charles Atherton, to introduce the bill to authorize the gold dollar and the double eagle in the Senate on February 1, 1849—Atherton was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. McKay introduced a version into the House on February 20; debate began the same day. The dollar was attacked by congressmen from the Whig Party, then in the minority, on the grounds that it would be too small, would be counterfeited and in bad light might be mistakenly spent as a half dime, the coins being similar in size. McKay did not respond substantively, but stated that if no one wanted these denominations, they would not be called for at the Mint, and would not be coined. Pennsylvania Representative Joseph Ingersoll, a Whig, spoke against the bill, noting that Patterson opposed the new denominations, and that the idea had been repeatedly turned down, whenever considered. Another Whig, Massachusetts's Charles Hudson, related that Patterson had sent a real and a counterfeit gold dollar to his committee and the majority of members had been unable to tell the difference. McKay made no answer to these claims, but others did, including New York Congressman Henry Nicoll, who assured the House that the counterfeiting allegations were greatly exaggerated. The point was, he indicated, that the double eagle and gold dollar were wanted by the public, and, in the case of the gold dollar could help money circulate in small communities where banknotes were not accepted. Connecticut Representative John A. Rockwell, a Whig, tried to table the bill, but his motion was defeated. The bill passed easily, and met only minimal opposition in the Senate, becoming law on March 3, 1849. ## Preparation The officers at the Philadelphia Mint, including Chief Coiner Franklin Peale, were mostly the friends and relations of Director Patterson. The outsider in their midst was Chief Engraver James B. Longacre, successor to Gobrecht (who had died in 1844). A former copper-plate engraver, Longacre had been appointed through the political influence of South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. When Longacre began work on the two new coins in early 1849, he had no one to assist him. Longacre wrote the following year that he had been warned by a Mint employee that one of the officers (undoubtedly Peale) planned to undermine the chief engraver's position by having the work of preparing designs and dies done outside Mint premises. Accordingly, when the gold coin bill became law, Longacre apprised Patterson that he was ready to begin work on the gold dollar. The Mint Director agreed, and after viewing a model of the head on the obverse, authorized Longacre to proceed with preparation of dies. According to Longacre, > The engraving was unusually minute and required very close and incessant labor for several weeks. I made the original dies and hubs for making the working dies twice over, to secure their perfect adaptation to the coining machinery. I had a wish to execute this work single handed, that I might thus silently reply to those who had questioned my ability for the work. The result, I believe, was satisfactory. ## Original design The Type 1 gold dollar depicts a head of Liberty, facing left, with a coronet or tiara on her head bearing her name. Her hair is gathered in a bun; she is surrounded by 13 stars representing the original states. The reverse features the date and denomination within a wreath, with the name of the nation near the rim. Contemporary reviews of the Type 1 design were generally favorable. The New York Weekly Tribune on May 19, 1849 described the new dollar as "undoubtedly the neatest, tiniest, lightest, coin in this country ... it is too delicate and beautiful to pay out for potatoes, and sauerkraut, and salt pork. Oberon might have paid Puck with it for bringing the blossom which bewitched Titania." Willis' Bank Note List stated that "there is no probability of them ever getting into general circulation; they are altogether too small." The North Carolina Standard hoped that they would be struck at the Charlotte Mint and circulated locally to eliminate the problem of small-denomination bank notes from out of state. Coin dealer and numismatic author Q. David Bowers notes that the head of Liberty on the Type 1 dollar is a scaled-down version of that on the double eagle, and "a nicely preserved gold dollar is beautiful to behold". ## Modifications Mint records indicate the first gold dollars were produced on May 7, 1849; Longacre's diary notes state instead that the first were struck on May 8. A few coins in proof condition were struck on the first day, along with about 1,000 for circulation. There are five major varieties of the 1849 gold dollar from Philadelphia, made as Longacre continued to fine-tune the design. Mintmarked dies were sent by Longacre's Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint to the branch mints at Charlotte, Dahlonega (in Georgia), and New Orleans; coins struck at the branches resemble some of the types issued from Philadelphia, depending on when the dies were produced. Of the coins struck at the branch mints in 1849, only pieces struck at Charlotte (1849-C) exist in multiple varieties; most are of what is dubbed the "Closed Wreath" variety. Approximately five of the 1849-C Open Wreath are known; one, believed the finest surviving specimen, sold at auction for \$690,000 in 2004, remaining a record for the gold dollar series as of 2013. One of the changes made during production was the inclusion of Longacre's initial "L" on the truncation of Liberty's neck, the first time a U.S. coin intended for full-scale production had borne the initial of its designer. All issues beginning in 1850 bear the Closed Wreath. Beginning in 1854, the gold dollar was also struck at the new San Francisco Mint. The continued flow of gold from California made silver expensive in terms of gold, and U.S. silver coins began to flow out of the country for melting in 1849, a flow that accelerated over the next several years as the price of the metal continued to rise. By 1853, a thousand dollars in silver coin contained \$1,042 worth of bullion. As silver coins vanished, the gold dollar became the only federal coin in circulation between the cent and the quarter eagle (\$2.50 piece). As such, it was struck in large numbers and widely circulated. According to Bowers in his book on the denomination, "the years 1850 to 1853 were the high-water mark of the gold dollar, the glory years of the denomination when the little gold coins took the place of half dollars and silver dollars in everyday transactions." This time came to an end in 1853 when Congress passed an act reducing the weight of most silver coins, allowing new issues of them to circulate. As early as 1851, New York Congressman William Duer alleged that Patterson had made the gold dollar too small in diameter on purpose to provoke criticism. Patterson retired that year after 16 years in his position, and under his successor, George N. Eckert, annular gold dollar and half dollar patterns were struck. Public Ledger reported that although gold dollars would not be struck in annular form, gold half dollars would be, to help fill the need for change. With the new Pierce administration, Thomas M. Pettit took office as Mint Director on March 31, 1853. In April, Treasury Secretary James Guthrie wrote to Pettit that there were complaints that the gold dollar was too small, often lost or mistaken for a small silver coin, and enquired about reports that the Mint had experimented with annular dollars. Pettit replied, stating that none had been preserved, but enclosed a silver piece of equivalent size. He noted that while there would be technical difficulties in the production of the annular dollar, these could be overcome. In a letter dated May 10, Pettit proposed an oval-shaped holed piece, or an angular-shaped coin, which would lessen the production problems. Pettit died suddenly on May 31; Guthrie did not let the issue fall, but queried Pettit's replacement, James Ross Snowden, concerning the issue on June 7. As U.S. coins were required to bear some device emblematic of liberty, the secretary hoped that artists could be found who could find some such design for an annular coin. The Act of February 21, 1853, that had lightened the silver coins also authorized a gold three-dollar piece, which began to be produced in 1854. To ensure that the three-dollar piece was not mistaken for other gold coins, it had been made thinner and wider than it would normally be, and Longacre put a distinctive design with an Indian princess on it. Longacre adapted both the technique and the design for the gold dollar, which was made thinner, and thus wider. An adaptation of Longacre's princess for the larger gold coin was placed on the dollar, and a similar agricultural wreath on the reverse. The idea of making the gold dollar larger in this way had been suggested in Congress as early as 1852, and had been advocated by Pettit, but Guthrie's desire for an annular coin stalled the matter. In May 1854, Snowden sent Guthrie a letter stating that the difficulties with an annular coin, especially in getting the coins to eject properly from the press, were more than trivial. Nevertheless, the Type 2 gold dollar (as it came to be known) proved unsatisfactory as the mints had difficulty in striking the new coin so that all details were brought out. This was due to the high relief of the design—the three Southern branch mints especially had trouble with the piece. Many of the Type 2 pieces quickly became illegible, and were sent back to Philadelphia for melting and recoinage. On most surviving specimens, the "85" in the date is not fully detailed. The Type 2 gold dollar was struck only at Philadelphia in 1854 and 1855, at the three Southern branch mints in the latter year, and at San Francisco in 1856, after the design was designated for replacement. To correct the problems, Longacre enlarged the head of Liberty, making it a scaled-down version of the three-dollar piece, and moved the lettering on the obverse closer to the rim. This improved the metal flow and design sharpness so much that early numismatic scholars assumed the reverse was also altered, though in fact no change was made and the Type 2 and Type 3 reverses are identical. ### Design of Type 2 and 3 dollars The Type 2 and 3 gold dollars depict Liberty as a Native American princess, with a fanciful feathered headdress not resembling any worn by any Indian tribe. This image is an inexact copy of the design Longacre had made for the three-dollar piece, and is one of a number of versions of Liberty that Longacre created based on the Venus Accroupie or Crouching Venus, a sculpture then on display in a Philadelphia museum. For the reverse, Longacre adapted the "agricultural wreath" he had created for the reverse of the three-dollar piece, composed of cotton, corn, tobacco, and wheat, blending the produce of North and South. This wreath would appear, later in the 1850s, on the Flying Eagle cent. Art historian Cornelius Vermeule deprecated the Indian princess design used by Longacre for the obverses of the Types 2 and 3 gold dollar, and for the three-dollar piece, "the 'princess' of the gold coins is a banknote engraver's elegant version of folk art of the 1850s. The plumes or feathers are more like the crest of the Prince of Wales than anything that saw the Western frontiers, save perhaps on a music hall beauty." ## War years The gold dollar continued to be produced in the late 1850s, though mintages declined from the figures of two million or more each year between 1850 and 1854. Only about 51,000 gold dollars were produced in 1860, with over two-thirds of that figure at Philadelphia, just under a third at San Francisco, and 1,566 at Dahlonega. Roughly a hundred are known of the last, creating one of the great rarities from Dahlonega in the series. The other candidate for the rarest from that mint is the 1861-D, with an estimated mintage of 1,000 and perhaps 45 to 60 known. Two pairs of dies were shipped from Philadelphia to Dahlonega on December 10, 1860; they arrived on January 7, 1861, two weeks before Georgia voted to secede from the Union, as the American Civil War began. Under orders from Governor Joseph E. Brown, state militia secured the mint, and at some point, small quantities of dollars and half eagles were produced. Records of how many coins were struck and when have not survived. Since dies crack in time, and all the mints were supplied with them from Philadelphia, coining could not last, and in May 1861, coins and supplies remaining at Dahlonega were turned over to the treasury of the Confederate States of America, which Georgia had by then joined. Gold coins with a total face value of \$6 were put aside for assay. Normally, they would have been sent to Philadelphia to await the following year's meeting of the United States Assay Commission, when they would be available for testing. Instead, these were sent to the initial Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama, though what was done with them there, and their ultimate fate, are unknown. The rarity of the 1861-D dollar, and the association with the Confederacy, make it especially prized. Dahlonega, like the other two branch mints in the South, closed its doors after the 1861 strikings. It and the Charlotte facility never reopened; the New Orleans Mint again struck coins from 1879 to 1909, but did not strike gold dollars again. After 1861, the only issuance of gold dollars outside Philadelphia was at San Francisco, in 1870. The outbreak of the Civil War shook public confidence in the Union, and citizens began hoarding specie, gold and silver coins. In late December 1861, banks and then the federal Treasury stopped paying out gold at face value. By mid-1862, all federal coins, even the base metal cent, had vanished from commerce in much of the country. The exception was the Far West, where for the most part, only gold and silver were acceptable currencies, and paper money traded at a discount. In the rest of the nation, gold and silver coins could be purchased from banks, exchange agents, and from the Treasury for a premium in the new greenbacks the government began to issue to fill the gap in commerce and finance the war. ## Final years, abolition, and collecting Since gold did not circulate in the United States (except on the West Coast) in the postwar period, much of the production of coins of that metal in the United States was double eagles for export. Accordingly, although 1,361,355 gold dollars were struck in 1862—the last time production would exceed a million—the mintage fell to 6,200 in 1863 and remained low for the rest of the coin's existence, excepting 1873 and 1874. The Mint felt it improper to suspend coinage of a coin authorized by Congress, and issued proof coins (generally a few dozen to the tiny numismatic community) from specially-polished dies, also producing enough circulation strikes so that the proof coins would not be unduly rare. In 1873 and 1874, old and worn gold dollars held by the government were melted and recoined, generating large mintages of that denomination. This was done in anticipation of the resumption of specie payments, which did not occur until the end of 1878. Once specie again circulated at face value, the gold dollar found no place in commerce amid large quantities of silver coinage, either released from hoarding or newly struck by the Mint. The government expected that the resumption of specie payments would cause the dollar and other small gold coins to circulate again, but the public, allowed to redeem paper currency, continued to use it as more convenient than coins. In the 1870s and 1880s, public interest grew in the low-mintage gold dollar. Collecting coins was becoming more popular, and a number of numismatists put aside some gold dollars and hoped for increases in value. The Mint most likely channeled its production through some favored Philadelphia dealers, though proof coins could be purchased for \$1.25 at the cashier's window at the Philadelphia facility. Banks charged a premium for circulation strikes. They were popular in the jewelry trade, mounted into various items. The coins were often exported to China or Japan, where such jewelry was made. The dollars were often damaged in the process; the Mint refused to sell into this trade and did its best to hinder it. Nevertheless, Mint officials concluded that jewelers were successful at getting the majority of each issue. Proof mintages exceeded 1,000 by 1884, and remained above that mark for the remainder of the series, numbers likely inflated by agents of jewelers, willing to pay the Mint's premium of \$0.25 per coin. Another use for the gold dollar was as a holiday gift; after its abolition the quarter eagle became a popular present. James Pollock, in his final report as Mint Director in 1873, advocated limiting striking of gold dollars to depositors who specifically requested it. "The gold dollar is not a convenient coin, on account of its small size, and it suffers more proportionately from abrasion than larger coins." His successors called for its abolition, with James P. Kimball, before he left office in 1889, writing to Congress that except as jewelry, "little practical use has been found for this coin". Later that year, the new director, Edward O. Leech, issued a report stating that the gold dollar "is too small for circulation, and ... [is] used almost exclusively for the purposes of ornament. The last year in which the gold dollar was struck was 1889. Congress abolished the gold dollar, along with the three-cent nickel and three-dollar piece, by the Act of September 26, 1890. A total of 19,499,337 gold dollars were coined, of which 18,223,438 were struck at Philadelphia, 1,004,000 at New Orleans, 109,138 at Charlotte, 90,232 at San Francisco and 72,529 at Dahlonega. According to an advertisement in the February 1899 issue of The Numismatist, gold dollars brought \$1.80 each, still in demand as a birthday present and for jewelry. That journal in 1905 carried news of a customer depositing 100 gold dollars into a bank; the teller, aware of the value, credited the account with \$1.60 per coin. In 1908, a dealer offered \$2 each for any quantity. As coin collecting became a widespread pastime in the early 20th century, gold dollars became a popular specialty, a status they retain. The 2014 edition of R.S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins rates the least expensive gold dollar in very fine condition (VF-20) at \$300, a value given for each of the Type 1 Philadelphia issues from 1849 to 1853. Those seeking one of each type will find the most expensive to be a specimen of the Type 2, with the 1854 and 1855 estimated at \$350 in that condition; the other two types have dates valued at \$300 in that grade. ## Gold Sacagawea dollar In 1999, the Philadelphia Mint struck 39 Sacagawea dollars (dated 2000 and the "W" mint mark of the West Point Mint) in 22 karat gold. The Mint planned to sell gold Sacagawea dollars to collectors, but this plan was halted after Congressmen questioned the Mint's authority to strike dollars with a composition other than the one authorized. Twenty-seven of these coins were destroyed soon after they were minted, and the remaining 12 flew on Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-93. Afterwards the coins were displayed at various private events before being transferred to United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. The coins were publicly displayed for the first time at the American Numismatic Association's World's Fair of Money in 2007. Afterwards they were returned to Fort Knox. ## Commemorative gold dollars The gold dollar had a brief resurrection during the period of early United States commemorative coins. Between 1903 and 1922 nine different issues were produced, with a total mintage of 99,799. These were minted for various public events, did not circulate, and none used Longacre's design.
455,616	Flower Drum Song	1,163,305,765	Musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein premiered in 1958	[ "1958 musicals", "Asian-American issues", "Asian-American plays", "Broadway musicals", "Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction", "Musicals based on novels", "Musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein", "Musicals set in San Francisco", "Tony Award-winning musicals" ]	Flower Drum Song was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. It was adapted for a 1961 musical film. After their extraordinary early successes, beginning with Oklahoma! in 1943, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written two musicals in the 1950s that did not do well and sought a new hit to revive their fortunes. Lee's novel focuses on a father, Wang Chi-yang, a wealthy refugee from China, who clings to traditional values in San Francisco's Chinatown. Rodgers and Hammerstein shifted the focus of the musical to his son, Wang Ta, who is torn between his Chinese roots and assimilation into American culture. The team hired Gene Kelly to make his debut as a stage director with the musical and scoured the country for a suitable Asian – or at least, plausibly Asian-looking – cast. The musical, much lighter-hearted than Lee's novel, was profitable on Broadway and was followed by a national tour. After the release of the 1961 film version, the musical was rarely produced, as it presented casting issues and fears that Asian-Americans would take offense at how they are portrayed. When it was put on the stage, lines and songs that might be offensive were often cut. The piece did not return to Broadway until 2002, when a version with a plot by playwright David Henry Hwang (but retaining most of the original songs) was presented after a successful Los Angeles run. Hwang's story retains the Chinatown setting and the inter-generational and immigrant themes, and emphasizes the romantic relationships. It received mostly poor reviews in New York and closed after six months but had a short tour and has since been produced regionally. ## Background ### Novel C.Y. Lee fled war-torn China in the 1940s and came to the United States, where he attended Yale University's playwriting program, graduating in 1947 with an M.F.A. degree. By the 1950s, he was barely making a living writing short stories and working as a Chinese teacher, translator and journalist for San Francisco Chinatown newspapers. He had hoped to break into playwriting, but instead wrote a novel about Chinatown, The Flower Drum Song (originally titled Grant Avenue). Lee initially had no success selling his novel, but his agent submitted it to the publishing house of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. The firm sent the manuscript to an elderly reader for evaluation. The reader was found dead in bed, the manuscript beside him with the words "Read this" scrawled on it. The publishing house did, and bought Lee's novel, which became a bestseller in 1957. Lee's novel centers on Wang Chi-yang, a 63-year-old man who fled China to avoid the communists. The wealthy refugee lives in a house in Chinatown with his two sons. His sister-in-law, Madam Tang, who takes citizenship classes, is a regular visitor and urges Wang to adopt Western ways. While his sons and sister-in-law are integrating into American culture, Wang stubbornly resists assimilation and speaks only two words of English, "Yes" and "No". Wang also has a severe cough, which he does not wish to have cured, feeling that it gives him authority in his household. Wang's elder son, Wang Ta, woos Linda Tung, but on learning that she has many men in her life, drops her; he later learns she is a nightclub dancer. Linda's friend, seamstress Helen Chao, who has been unable to find a man despite the shortage of eligible women in Chinatown, gets Ta drunk and seduces him. On awakening in her bed, he agrees to an affair, but eventually abandons her, and she commits suicide. Impatient at Ta's inability to find a wife, Wang arranges for a picture bride for his son. However, before the picture bride arrives, Ta meets a young woman, May Li, who with her father has recently come to San Francisco. The two support themselves by singing depressing flower drum songs on the street. Ta invites the two into the Wang household, with his father's approval, and he and May Li fall in love. He vows to marry her after she is falsely accused by the household servants of stealing a clock, though his father forbids it. Wang struggles to understand the conflicts that have torn his household apart; his hostility toward assimilation is isolating him from his family. In the end, taking his son's advice, Wang decides not to go to the herbalist to seek a remedy for his cough, but walks to a Chinese-run Western clinic, symbolizing that he is beginning to accept American culture. ### Genesis of the musical Rodgers and Hammerstein, despite extraordinary early successes, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel and South Pacific, had suffered back-to-back Broadway relative failures in the mid-1950s with Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream. While Oklahoma! had broken new ground in 1943, any new project in the late 1950s would have to compete with modern musicals and techniques, like the brutal realism in West Side Story, and with other Broadway musical hits such as The Music Man, My Fair Lady and The Pajama Game. Rodgers and Hammerstein had made it their rule to begin work on their next musical as soon as the last opened on Broadway, but by the start of 1957, six months after Pipe Dream closed, the pair had no new stage musical in prospect. They had, however, been working since 1956 on the popular television version of Cinderella, which was broadcast on CBS on March 31, 1957. Rodgers was still recovering from an operation for cancer in a tooth socket, and he was drinking heavily and suffering from depression. In June 1957, Rodgers checked himself into Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, and he remained there for twelve weeks. According to his daughters, Mary and Linda, this did not put a stop to his drinking. Hammerstein, meanwhile, was in Los Angeles at the filming of South Pacific. While at the commissary, he met longtime friend, Joe Fields, who mentioned that he was negotiating for the rights to The Flower Drum Song. Intrigued by the title, Hammerstein asked for a copy of the novel, and decided that it had potential as a musical – the lyricist described it as "sort of a Chinese Life with Father". Hammerstein consulted with Rodgers, and they agreed to make it their next work, to be written and produced in association with Fields. Hammerstein began work in mid-1958. In July, however, he fell ill and was hospitalized for a month. This forced him to hurry his writing, as the production team had hoped to have the show in rehearsal by the start of September; this was postponed by two weeks. In interviews, however, Hammerstein pointed out that he had, when necessary, written songs for previous shows while in rehearsals for them. The musical retained Lee's "central theme – a theme coursing through much 20th-century American literature: the conflict between Old World immigrants and their New World offspring". Hammerstein and Fields shifted the focus of the story, however, from the elder Wang, who is central to Lee's novel, to his son Ta. They also removed the darker elements of Lee's work, including Helen Chao's suicide after her desperate fling with Ta, added the festive nightclub subplot and emphasized the romantic elements of the story. According to David Lewis in his book about the musical, "Mr. Hammerstein and his colleagues were evidently in no mood to write a musical drama or even to invest their comedic approach with dramatic counterpoint of the sort that Jud Fry had given Oklahoma! ... [They] took the safest commercial route by following the eldest son's search for love – the most popular theme at the time with Broadway audiences." Lewis notes that Chao's role, though diminished in the musical, nevertheless gives it some of its darkest moments, and she serves much the same purpose as Jud Fry: to be, in Hammerstein's words, "the bass fiddle that gives body to the orchestration of the story". Though the new story was less artistically adventurous than the earlier Rodgers and Hammerstein hits, it was innovative, even daring in its treatment of Asian-Americans, "an ethnic group that had long been harshly caricatured and marginalized in our mainstream pop culture." ### 1958 plot Act I: Wang Ta, a young Chinese-American man living in his father's house in San Francisco's Chinatown, discusses the problems of finding a wife with his aunt, Madam Liang ("You Are Beautiful") before hurrying off on a blind date. Nightclub owner Sammy Fong arrives with an offer for Ta's immigrant father, Master Wang, a very old-fashioned Chinatown elder. Sammy's picture bride has just arrived from China, illegally, but the shy Mei Li is clearly the wrong girl for Sammy, who already has an assertive girlfriend, a characteristic he likes. Sammy offers to sign the contract over to the Wang family: this would free Sammy from the contract and arrange a suitable wife for Ta. Sammy has taken the liberty of bringing the girl and her father with him; Wang is charmed ("A Hundred Million Miracles") and invites them to live in his home on the understanding that if the proposed marriage falls through, Fong will still be bound to marry Mei Li. Ta's blind date proves to be the thoroughly Americanized Linda Low, who we will learn is Sammy Fong's girlfriend and a stripper at his club. On the date with Ta ("I Enjoy Being a Girl"), Linda lies to Ta about her career and family. Ta, knowing that Chinese-Americans with college degrees find it hard to get a job befitting their education, plans to go to law school, postponing the likely career struggle by three years. The impetuous Ta asks Linda to marry him. She agrees, but she needs family consent and lies, saying that she has a brother who will approve the marriage. Ta returns home and meets Mei Li, who is immediately attracted to him ("I Am Going to Like It Here"), though Ta is unimpressed. That changes when Ta sees her in a Western dress ("Like a God"). Linda comes to Madam Liang's graduation party from citizenship school with Linda's "brother" (actually the comedian from Sammy's nightclub) and presents herself as Ta's intended, with her "brother" giving his consent for the marriage. The extroverted, Americanized woman is not what Wang has in mind for his elder son, and Wang and Ta argue. Sammy Fong arrives and quickly penetrates Linda's scheme: Linda, frustrated by the five years she has been seeing Sammy, is determined to marry someone, and if Sammy won't step forward, she will settle for Ta. Sammy quickly strikes back by inviting the Wangs, Mei Li and her father to watch the show at his "Celestial Bar" ("Fan Tan Fannie"). Linda does her striptease, realizing too late who is sitting at the best table. Sammy's special guests storm out, except for Ta, who is so humiliated that he does not know what to do. He is led away by childhood friend Helen Chao, a seamstress who fits Linda's costumes for her, and whose love for Ta is unrequited. Linda, goaded beyond endurance when Sammy raises his glass to her, dumps a champagne bucket over his head. Act II: The drunken Ta spends the night at Helen's apartment ("Ballet"). In the morning, Mei Li delivers Master Wang's coat for Helen to mend and is distressed to see Ta's dinner jacket there. Mei Li jumps to conclusions and leaves horrified. Ta leaves the lonely Helen, totally oblivious to her attempts to interest him. Wang wants the bar and its "evil spirits" shut down; his sister-in-law informs him that free enterprise cannot be shut down, and the two wonder at the foibles of the younger generation ("The Other Generation"). Ta arrives home to admit that his father was right, Mei Li is the girl for him. But now, Mei Li wants nothing to do with him, and the Lis leave the Wang home. Sammy Fong and Linda decide to get married ("Sunday"), but when he goes to the Three Family Association (a benevolent association) to announce Linda as his bride, he finds Mei Li and her father there, and the elders insist that he honor his betrothal to the immigrant girl. Ta brings Mei Li a wedding gift of a pair of his mother's earrings that she wore on her wedding day and tries unsuccessfully to hide the fact that he is now deeply in love with her. The wedding procession moves down San Francisco's Grant Avenue with the bride, heavily veiled, carried on a sedan chair ("Wedding Parade"). Sammy drinks from the traditional wedding goblet, then offers the goblet to his new bride. Unveiled, Mei Li confesses to Sammy's mother that she cannot marry Sammy as she is an illegal alien – a tactic she learned by watching American television. The contract is void, and that gives both Sammy and Ta the opportunity to marry their true loves, Linda and Mei Li. ### Casting and tryouts According to Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest, Rodgers, Hammerstein and Fields had hoped to engage Yul Brynner as director. Brynner, who had gained fame in the team's 1951 hit, The King and I, was an accomplished director. However, he was busy starring in The Sound and the Fury, and they could not negotiate his release from Twentieth-Century Fox. Instead, they hired actor and dancer Gene Kelly, who had never directed on stage before. Kelly felt that the work would not be one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's best, but "as long as I crammed the show brim-full of every joke and gimmick in the book, I could get it to work". The three producers sought Chinese, or at least Asian, actors to fill the cast, an idea that was, at the time, considered "very risky". In the 1950s, there were relatively few Asian-American actors; Rodgers believed that Asians avoided acting because of shyness. Critics note, in any case, that Asian-Americans "had found few opportunities in mainstream theatre." Joshua Logan recommended a young Japanese actress, Miyoshi Umeki, whom he had discovered and cast the previous year opposite Marlon Brando in the film Sayonara (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar); she was cast as Mei Li. They cast Keye Luke, well known as Charlie Chan's Number One Son, as Master Wang. Rodgers and Hammerstein considered young talent from The King and I who might fit the parts, and came up with teenager Patrick Adiarte, a Filipino-American who had played several of the young princes as he grew up, before finishing as the crown prince, Chulalongkorn. A talented dancer, he was cast as Wang San, Ta's thoroughly Americanized younger brother. Pat Suzuki, a Japanese-American who had been interned during World War II, was a recent arrival in New York who had made strong positive impressions for her singing on such television programs as The Tonight Show (with Jack Paar) and The Ed Sullivan Show. She became the first Linda Low, as Ta's nightclub love interest was renamed. The team found it difficult to fill the remaining places in the company with Asian performers, especially in the chorus. Four other shows with Asian themes had opened or were in rehearsal in New York, and the demand for the few Asian actors was strong. Kelly and the show's choreographer, Carol Haney, journeyed to cities across the country to seek out talent. Agents were sent to other cities; in Honolulu, they found nightclub singer and native Hawaiian Ed Kenney, who would originate Wang Ta. Meanwhile, in New York, the three producers were visiting dance schools. An advertisement in New York Chinatown newspapers received one response. No formal audition was held in San Francisco's Chinatown, and the only find was Forbidden City nightclub comedian Goro "Jack" Suzuki (who soon changed his name to Jack Soo), who was cast as Frankie Wing, comedian at Sammy Fong's Celestial Bar. The role of Fong proved difficult to cast. Initially, it was given to Larry Storch, a nightclub comic, but during the Boston tryouts, it was given to another Caucasian, Larry Blyden, who was married to Carol Haney, the show's choreographer. The role of Madam Liang, Master Wang's sister-in-law, fell to Juanita Hall, a light-skinned African American who had played a Tonkinese (Vietnamese) woman, Bloody Mary, in South Pacific. Another African-American performer, Diahann Carroll, was considered for the cast but not hired. Rodgers later wrote, "what was important was that the actors gave the illusion of being Chinese. This demonstrates one of the most wonderful things about theatre audiences. People want to believe what they see on a stage, and they will gladly go along with whatever is done to achieve the desired effect. Ask them to accept Ezio Pinza as a Frenchman [in South Pacific], Yul Brynner as Siamese and they are prepared to meet you nine tenths of the way even before the curtain goes up." When rehearsals began in September 1958, Hammerstein was absent, still recuperating from his surgery. Rodgers was present, but kept falling asleep. Hammerstein was told by his son James that Kelly was ineffective as a director, and began attending rehearsals. A number of changes were made to the songs. "My Best Love", a song for Master Wang, was at first thought better suited to his sister-in-law, but when Juanita Hall could not make it work, the song was cut entirely. Rodgers and Hammerstein transformed a song entitled "She Is Beautiful" into "You Are Beautiful". The team decided to include a song for Sammy Fong to explain to Mei Li that they should not wed. In the span of a few hours, they wrote the lyrics and music to "Don't Marry Me". Once the songs were finalized, Robert Russell Bennett, who had orchestrated several of the creators' most successful previous shows, did the same for the score of Flower Drum Song. The musical opened for tryouts on October 27, 1958, at Boston's Shubert Theatre. The audience gave it an enthusiastic response, causing Rodgers to leave his seat repeatedly and race to the back of the theatre, looking for someone to hug. The Boston critics thought well of the work, stating that after the show was polished, it was likely to be a hit. Shortly after the Boston opening, Fields suffered a heart attack, and, after his release from the hospital, he had to return to New York to recuperate. Author C. Y. Lee, who had quietly watched the rehearsals, recalled that, at the Boston performances, Hammerstein would have a secretary mark on the script any sound of the chairs squeaking, as indicating that the audience was restless. Hammerstein rewrote some of the book to expand the focus from Ta himself to the romantic relationships of the two couples. ## Productions ### Original Broadway production After the Boston tryouts, Flower Drum Song opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on December 1, 1958. Sets were designed by Oliver Smith, costumes by Irene Sharaff and lighting by Peggy Clark. C.Y. Lee sat in the audience on the first night; he later stated that he had been nervous and was "bowled over" by the positive audience reaction. The show attracted considerable advance sales; even when these were exhausted, sales remained strong and sellouts were the norm. Cast album sales were similar to previous Rodgers and Hammerstein hits. The show received six Tony Award nominations, but won only one Tony (Best Conductor and Musical Director, for Salvatore Dell'Isola). It was overshadowed that year by Redhead, which though it received only slightly better reviews than Flower Drum Song and had a considerably shorter run, dominated the Tony Awards in the musical categories. Flower Drum Song ran for 600 performances, a longer run than any of the shows with which it had competed for Asian performers. Midway through the run, Larry Blyden left the show and was replaced in the role of Sammy Fong by Jack Soo, with Larry Leung assuming the role of Frankie Wing. The production returned \$125,000 profit to its backers on an investment of \$360,000. Attendance began to decline in December 1959, though it continued to draw at above the 70% of capacity level which a Broadway play then needed to meet expenses. With the summer approaching, generally a bad time for attendance, it was decided to close the show, and the last Broadway performance was given on May 7, 1960. In his autobiography, Rodgers wrote of the effect the success of Flower Drum Song had on his state of mind: > The entire experience of working on Flower Drum Song was rewarding in many ways, not the least of which was that it convinced me that I had overcome all traces of my depression. My only thought was to keep on doing what I was doing, and I saw nothing in the future that could stop me. ### Subsequent productions The show opened in London's Palace Theatre on March 24, 1960, and ran for 464 performances. Fewer Asian performers were used in London; the West End production starred Yau Shan Tung as Mei Li, Kevin Scott as Ta, George Minami as Wang, Harriet Yamasaki ("Yama Saki") as Linda Low, Tim Herbert as Sammy Fong and Ida Shepley as Madam Liang. The production used Haney's choreography, Bennett's orchestrations and the Broadway set and costume designs, but was directed and supervised by Jerome Whyte. Both the production and the London cast album were well received. Following the closure of the Broadway production, a U.S. national tour began on May 10, 1960, in Detroit. Four of the New York leads, Hall, Soo, Kenney and Luke, joined the tour. By this time, Hammerstein was in his final illness (he died in August 1960), and none of the three producers accompanied the show on the road. After three weeks in Detroit, the show moved to Los Angeles, where the premiere attracted a star-studded audience, including three Scandinavian princesses. San Francisco gave the show a rapturous reception when it opened at the Curran Theatre on August 1. Lee and Fields, both present for the local premiere, were given ovations. Geary Street, on which the theatre is located, was decorated with Chinese lanterns, and a marching band of "Chinese girl musicians" played outside. The tour continued to be successful, spending 21 weeks in Chicago alone. It closed on October 14, 1961, in Cleveland, a month before the film of the musical opened. Lewis calls the 1961 film version of Flower Drum Song, starring Umeki, Soo, Hall and Suzie Wong star Nancy Kwan, "a bizarre pastiche of limping mediocrity". He comments that since the 1958 version of the musical was rarely revived, the film "would in future years come to stand for the stage musical it so crassly misrepresented" and would serve as the version that academics and latter-day theatre critics would judge when they analyzed the musical. The film was the only Hollywood adaptation of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical to lose money. Nevertheless, it was nominated for five Academy Awards and featured choreography by Hermes Pan. As early as mid-1961, the musical was licensed for local productions. That summer, the San Diego Civic Light Opera filled the 4,324-seat Balboa Park Bowl to overflowing for a highly successful run of the musical. It was less successfully revived by that company five years later; though it still attracted large crowds, local critics complained that Hammerstein's view of Asians was outdated. Other early productions included successful revivals by the St. Louis Municipal Opera in 1961 and 1965 and revivals in the San Francisco area in 1963 and 1964, both times with Soo as Sammy Fong. The musical proved difficult to produce for amateur and school groups, however, because it requires a cast either Asian or made up as Asian. Even professional companies found it difficult to round up an entire cast of Asian singer-dancer-actors. By the late 1960s, the musical was rarely staged, and was often relegated to dinner theater productions. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which licenses the partnership's works, believes that the work's loss of popularity was due in part to increased racial sensitivity in the U. S. after the civil rights movement. In addition, producers found the show to be thinly plotted, and the songs not integrated as organically with the characters and story, as compared with Rodgers and Hammerstein's most popular musicals. Flower Drum Song came to be seen by some as stereotypical and patronizing towards Asians, and that it was "inauthentic, even offensive in its relentlessly upbeat picture of a big-city Chinatown". In 1983, the announcement that it would be produced in San Francisco started a furor; the producers pointedly stated that the show would be set in the 1930s and would have "a greater sensitivity toward the Chinese immigration problems at that time". They added a scene in which Mei Li listens apprehensively to a radio broadcast warning about the dangers to the United States caused by Asian immigration. Many lines of dialogue were cut, and producer Fred Van Patten stated that "[w]hat we've done is cut things in the show that Asians said to make white people laugh." The song "Chop Suey" was deleted, as was Master Wang's line that all white men look alike (based on a line in C. Y. Lee's novel, in which Wang states that all foreigners look alike). The author gave a rare public interview to defend his novel and the musical adaptation. The production, which had been scheduled for a three-week run, closed early. A well-attended production in Oakland in 1993 adhered strictly to the 1958 script, though part of the ballet was cut for lack of rehearsal time; a more heavily censored 1996 production in San Mateo also did well at the box office. ### 2002 revival In 1996, while attending the successful revival of The King and I, Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang considered whether other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows could be revived and decided to work on Flower Drum Song. To Chinese Americans, the musical "represented political incorrectness incarnate. But [Hwang] had a secret soft spot for the movie version. 'It was kind of a guilty pleasure ... and one of the only big Hollywood films where you could see a lot of really good Asian actors onscreen, singing and dancing and cracking jokes.'" Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, announced that an unnamed "Asian playwright" had approached him about revising Flower Drum Song. Chapin called the musical "a naive, old fashioned, anti-feminist story with a truly great score. ... It's one that ... needs changes." Rodgers' will urged his heirs to do what they believed he would have agreed to (Hammerstein's instructions are unknown), but during her lifetime, his widow Dorothy had refused to countenance major changes in the plays. Hwang's involvement was soon revealed, and in 1997, C. Y. Lee announced that the rewrite had his approval. Hwang was given a free hand with dialogue; he was not allowed to change lyrics. Hwang was inexperienced at writing musicals, and the producers hired veteran Robert Longbottom to direct the production and collaborate on the new script, "really a new musical which has a pre-existing score." Only the character names, the San Francisco Chinatown setting and some of the relationships were retained, but the pair sought to be faithful to the spirit of both Lee's novel and the musical's original concept of old-world and older generation values struggling with new-world temptations and the desires of the younger generation. This concept is reflected in the struggle for survival of Wang's Chinese opera company, as it competes with the more modern, Americanized night club run by Ta. The role of Mei-li (as spelled in the revision) was expanded. The character of Madam Liang was changed "from the wise-owl aunt" to a "savvy career woman" in show business. Chinatown is portrayed as a more gritty and difficult place for new immigrants, and the pursuit of material success is given a more cynical face, especially in Act II. The song "The Other Generation" was deleted; "My Best Love", which had been cut in tryouts in 1958, was restored in its place, and "The Next Time It Happens" was imported from Pipe Dream. New orchestrations were by Don Sebesky and music director David Chase. According to The New York Times, Hwang "has reshaped the story to elucidate two of his own abiding thematic interests: the idea of the theater as a prism for society and the generational clashes of diversely assimilated immigrants." In September 2000, after development through a series of workshops, the new version was presented at two well-attended workshops for potential backers. The show failed to raise enough money for an immediate Broadway run, but Hwang hoped that an extended Los Angeles run would lead to raising additional funds. The revival was originally planned for the 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, but to save money he moved it to the nearby 739-seat Mark Taper Forum. Producer Gordon Davidson engaged an all-Asian cast, including Broadway star Lea Salonga as Mei-li. When it finally opened on October 14, 2001, the production received rave reviews from the Los Angeles critics. The show regularly sold out and was so popular it became the first show at the Taper to extend its scheduled run. It finally closed on January 13, 2002. The success of the Los Angeles run sparked sufficient investment to move the show to Broadway. Half the cast was dismissed after the Los Angeles run for unstated reasons. Mary Rodgers later commented that Randall Duk Kim replaced Tzi Ma as Wang because she had admired Kim's performance as the Kralahome in the 1996 revival of The King and I, but Kim was unavailable for the Los Angeles run. Hwang considerably altered and trimmed his long script during Broadway rehearsals and previews; "The Next Time It Happens" was removed from the show. During the runup to the Broadway opening, the show received mostly positive publicity. Opening night at the Virginia Theatre on October 17, 2002, was attended by veterans of the film and 1958 production. Though it received warm applause from the audience, the critics mostly panned it. Attendance was near-capacity during the first month of the run, but then dropped off precipitously. The producers hoped the show could hold out long enough to get a boost from the Tony Awards (though nominated for three, including best book, it won none), but in February, they announced that the show would close on March 16, 2003, after 169 performances. The show's backers lost their entire investment. The production was directed and choreographed by Longbottom, with scenic design by Robin Wagner, costume design by Gregg Barnes and lighting design by Natasha Katz. Critic Karen Wada, in her afterword to the published script, blamed "the sluggish economy, post-September 11 jitters, the New York Times mixed review, and unusually bitter winter weather" for the unexpectedly short run. Lee also felt that the influential Times review had hurt the show's acceptance, but commented that Hwang added some dialogue to Act II after the Los Angeles run that Lee felt slowed the show down. The closing was followed by a national tour that garnered mixed reviews, although Hwang stated that it was well received in every city except New York. Subsequent productions have favored the Hwang script, although the older version remains available for license and has received occasional revivals, including a 2006 staged concert as part of Ian Marshall Fisher's Lost Musicals series. A review in London's The Times compared this production with "the much grander production of Show Boat currently docked at the Albert Hall" and judged that "Flower Drum Song makes the more stimulating experience." #### 2002 plot Prologue: In 1960, Wu Mei-li, a performer in Chinese opera, flees China with a flower drum after her father dies in prison for defying the Communists ("A Hundred Million Miracles"). Act I: On arrival in the United States, Mei-li goes to the Golden Pearl Theatre in San Francisco's Chinatown, where little-attended Chinese opera is presented by her father's old friend Wang Chi-yang and Wang's foster brother Chin. One night a week, Wang's son Ta turns the theater into a nightclub, starring the very assimilated Linda Low, a Chinese-American stripper from Seattle. Linda's constant companion is a gay costume designer, Harvard (so named by his success-obsessed Chinese parents). The nightclub is profitable; the Chinese opera is not. Mei-li joins the opera company ("I Am Going to Like It Here") and is soon attracted to the indifferent Ta, who favors Linda. Mei-li is fascinated by Linda, who urges her to adopt the American lifestyle ("I Enjoy Being a Girl"). Linda is soon signed by talent agent Rita Liang, who pushes Wang to turn the theater into a club full-time ("Grant Avenue"), and he reluctantly opens Club Chop Suey. Ta slowly is becoming attracted to Mei-li, who now serves as a waitress, but he has competition from fortune cookie factory worker Chao, whom Mei-li met on the slow journey from China, and who is rapidly becoming discontented with America. Wang is also unhappy, despite the club's success, and it is no consolation the crowd is having a good time – after all, in the old country, no crowd ever came to his theater expecting to enjoy themselves. Outraged at Harvard's poor acting skills, Wang takes the stage in his place, his stage instincts take over ("Gliding Through My Memories"), and he is soon an enthusiastic supporter of the change, taking the stage name Sammy Fong. Linda advises Mei-li to put on one of her old stripper dresses to attract Ta, but the stratagem backfires, since Ta is attracted to Mei-li because of her wholesomeness. Ta and Mei-li quarrel; she takes her flower drum and leaves Club Chop Suey. Act II: Several months pass, and Club Chop Suey has become even flashier ("Chop Suey"). Ta can not forget Mei-li, and his uncle Chin (a janitor under the new regime) advises Ta to pursue her ("My Best Love"). He finds her in a fortune cookie factory working alongside Chao. Mei-li tells Ta that she and Chao have decided to return to China together, or at least to Hong Kong, then administered by the British. Meanwhile, Wang now finds himself attracted to Madam Liang, and the two have dinner together, though they decide not to marry ("Don't Marry Me"). They marry anyway. Linda announces that she is leaving for Los Angeles, as Wang's "Sammy Fong" act has effectively taken over the show, and she has received a better offer. Ta intercepts Mei-li at the docks and persuades her to remain in America; Ta leaves Club Chop Suey and the two become street performers as Chao departs for Hong Kong. Harvard announces his intention to return home and attempt a reconciliation with his disappointed parents. Despite his irritation at Ta, Wang allows him to marry Mei-li at the club (which now features Ta's Chinese opera one day a week), as the company celebrates how Chinese and American cultures have converged to create this happy moment (Finale: "A Hundred Million Miracles"). ## Critical reception ### Original productions Of the seven major New York newspaper drama reviewers, five gave the show very positive reviews. For example, New York Journal American critic John McClain stated, "Flower Drum Song is a big fat Rodgers and Hammerstein hit, and nothing written here will have the slightest effect on the proceeds." The New York Daily Mirror termed it, "Another notable work by the outstanding craftsmen of our musical theatre ... a lovely show, an outstanding one in theme and treatment." Less enthusiastic, however, was the longtime New York Times critic, Brooks Atkinson, who repeatedly described it as merely "pleasant". UPI's drama critic, Jack Gaver, scored it as "well north of Me and Juliet and Pipe Dream" but "well south" of Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific and even the team's first flop, Allegro. Ward Morehouse applauded Suzuki for having "a brassy voice and the assurance of a younger Ethel Merman" and termed the production "an excellent Broadway show" though "[p]erhaps it doesn't belong in the same world ... as The King and I and Carousel." Critic Kenneth Tynan, in The New Yorker magazine, alluded to the show The World of Suzie Wong in dismissing Flower Drum Song with the spoonerism, "a world of woozy song". When the national tour of the show visited the city of its setting, most San Francisco reviewers gave the show very positive reviews, though the Oakland Tribune critic described the musical as one "which has little by way of witty dialogue, outstanding songs or vigorous choreography". Nevertheless, she called the touring production superior to the Broadway one. ### 2002 revival Michael Phillips of the Los Angeles Times called the show "wholly revised and gleefully self-aware ... a few tons short of a mega-musical – no fake helicopters here, no power ballads saccharine enough to stop Communism in its tracks." The Hollywood Reporter thought the revival was, "while not perfect, an exhilarating accomplishment". Variety called it "a bold theatrical operation, an artistic success". Critics reviewing the New York production generally gave it poor reviews. Ben Brantley of The New York Times applauded the creative team's "honorable intentions" in bringing back a work thought to be "terminally out-of-date", but felt both the new Mei-li and the show in general lacked personality. Howard Kissel of the New York Daily News termed it "an entertaining, albeit vulgar revival", and Clive Barnes of the New York Post found it no more memorable than the earlier version. The review in Talkin' Broadway is scathing, criticizing Hwang's use of the songs and characters, and the orchestrations, and commenting: "Hwang's book lacks much of the charm, warmth, and wit of the original, and never takes the high road where the low road will do. ... Hwang felt it necessary to reduce the original, uniquely colorful story into just another backstager with a love triangle and lame jokes." Michael Kuchwara commented in his lukewarm review for Associated Press: "Then there's Linda Low's gay confidante, Harvard. Talk about stereotypes. If you are going to perpetuate one at least give him better jokes." On the other hand, both USA Today and Time magazine gave it positive reviews. The CurtainUp review was mostly positive and observed that Hwang and Longbottom "were able to keep numbers like 'Chop Suey' and milk it for its razzle-dazzle fun while using its condescending stereotyping as a springboard to satirize attitudes towards Asians." Brantley disagreed, writing, "because the show's satiric point of view is so muddled, there's no verve in such numbers, no joy in the performing of them." In 2006, David Lewis compared the original script to Hwang's version: > History never completely goes away. Hwang's champions are unlikely to fade away, either, in rhetorical defeat. Dick and Oscar and Joe mined C. Y. Lee's novel for the generational conflict and for the three women who substantiated Ta's honorable search for love. Those themes, like it or not, still resonate today. ## Music and recordings Rodgers and Hammerstein sought to give the new work an Eastern flavor, without using existing oriental music. According to Ben Brantley in his review of the 2002 Broadway revival, the use by Rodgers "of repetitive Eastern musical structures gives the numbers a sing-song catchiness that, for better or worse, exerts a sticky hold on the memory." The most oriental-sounding song in the work is "A Hundred Million Miracles", which provides the eight-note drumbeat which is the musical signature of the work from overture to curtain. Hammerstein wrote Mei Li's first act song, "I Am Going to Like It Here", in a Malaysian poetic form called pantoum in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next. One critic thought that the 2001 version's orchestrations "boast more Asian accents and a jazzier edge than the original", but another felt that they "pale in comparison" to Bennett's typically lilting sound. As with many of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals, the work features a ballet at the start of the second act, choreographed in the original production by Carol Haney. The ballet dramatizes the confused romantic longings of Wang Ta towards the women in his life, and ends as he awakens in Helen Chao's bed. Thomas Hischak, in his The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, notes that the ballets in Oklahoma! and Carousel (choreographed by Agnes de Mille) broke new ground in illustrating facets of the characters beyond what is learned in songs and dialogue, but describes the ballet in Flower Drum Song as "pleasant but not memorable". Although Hischak describes Rodgers as "the greatest waltz composer America has ever seen", Flower Drum Song was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical not to feature one. Several of the characters are given "I am" songs that introduce them to the audience, allowing the character to express his dreams or desires and for onlookers to establish empathy with the character. Linda Low, for example, expresses her self-confidence with "I Enjoy Being a Girl"; we learn Mei Li's hopes with the quieter "I Am Going to Like It Here". Although not a formal musical number, the brief "You Be the Rock, I'll Be the Roll", sung and danced by Linda and by Wang San, Ta's Americanized teenage brother, was described by Lewis as "virtually the first self-consciously rock and roll ditty ever sung" in a Broadway musical. Patrick Adiarte, who originated the role of Wang San, however, saw it as "corny stuff ... put in there to get a laugh". Helen Chao's sad "Love, Look Away" is described by Lewis as "arguably the most tautly crafted blues song Dick and Oscar ever wrote". Having decided that record companies were profiting more from the sales of their cast albums than they were, Rodgers and Hammerstein formed their own record company to produce the cast recording for the original production of Flower Drum Song. The album sold a relatively modest 300,000 copies, compared with sales of over a million copies for Rodgers and Hammerstein's next and final musical, The Sound of Music. Still, it was certified as a gold record for having at least a million dollars in sales, and it spent 67 weeks in the U.S. Top 40, three of them at number 1, and also did well in the UK when the show opened there in 1960. The original cast album is relatively complete, even including parts of the Wedding Parade, though it does not include the ballet. In 1960, the London cast recording was released. According to Hischak, the individual performers do not sing as well as the New York cast; the London recording's strong points are the nightclub numbers. The 1961 album from the film uses a larger orchestra and, according to Hischak, has a fuller sound than the Broadway recording. It features dubbing by the opera singer Marilyn Horne ("Love, Look Away") and band singer B. J. Baker (for Linda Low's songs). A cast album for Hwang's revision was released in 2002 featuring strong performances from Lea Salonga as Mei-li and Jose Llana as Wang Ta. This was nominated for a Grammy, though it did not win. Hischak notes that it is unfair to compare the later version with its earlier predecessors, as Hwang's version "has some of the dark corners and richness of a musical play". ## Musical numbers (original version) Act I - Overture - You Are Beautiful – Ta and Madam Liang - A Hundred Million Miracles – Mei Li, Dr. Li, Wang, Madam Liang and Liu Ma - I Enjoy Being a Girl – Linda and Company - I Am Going to Like It Here – Mei Li - Like a God – Ta - Chop Suey – Madam Liang, Wang and Ensemble - Don't Marry Me – Sammy Fong and Mei Li - Grant Avenue – Linda and Ensemble - Love, Look Away – Helen - Fan Tan Fannie – Frankie and Girls - Gliding Through My Memories – Frankie and Girls - Finale: Grant Avenue – Linda and Girls Act II' - Ballet - Love, Look Away (Reprise) – Helen - The Other Generation – Madam Liang and Wang - Sunday – Linda and Sammy Fong - The Other Generation (Reprise) – Wang San and Children - Wedding Parade – Mei Li and Dancers - Finale – Company The 2002 revival restored "My Best Love", a song that was cut from the original production, which is sung by Chin. "The Other Generation" was cut from the revival. ## Cast The principal casts of major productions of the musical (and of the film) have been as follows: \*Linda Low's singing voice was dubbed by B. J. Baker, and Chao's "Love, Look Away" was dubbed by Marilyn Horne. Dashes indicate roles cut from 2002 production. The 2002 production also featured Alvin Ing as Chin, Allen Liu as Harvard and Hoon Lee as Chao. ## Awards and nominations ### Original Broadway production ### 2002 Broadway revival
40,003,580	Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar	1,117,341,184	United States commemorative coin	[ "Cultural depictions of Thomas Jefferson", "Cultural depictions of William McKinley", "Currencies introduced in 1903", "Early United States commemorative coins", "Louisiana Purchase", "Louisiana Purchase Exposition", "United States gold coins", "World's fair commemorative coins" ]	The Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar is a commemorative coin issue dated 1903. Struck in two varieties, the coins were designed by United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber. The pieces were issued to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in 1904 in St. Louis; one variety depicted former president Thomas Jefferson, and the other, the recently assassinated president William McKinley. Although not the first American commemorative coins, they were the first in gold. Promoters of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, originally scheduled to open in 1903, sought a commemorative coin for fundraising purposes. Congress authorized an issue in 1902, and exposition authorities, including numismatic promoter Farran Zerbe, sought to have the coin issued with two designs, to aid sales. The price for each variety was \$3, the same cost whether sold as a coin, or mounted in jewelry or on a spoon. The coins did not sell well, and most were later melted down. Zerbe, who had promised to support the issue price of the coins, did not do so as prices dropped once the fair (rescheduled for 1904) closed. This drop, however, did not greatly affect Zerbe's career, as he went on to promote other commemorative coins and become president of the American Numismatic Association. The coins also recovered, regaining their issue price by 1915; they are now worth between a few hundred and several thousand dollars, depending on condition. ## Background Much of the area near the Mississippi River was explored by French explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claimed the entire area drained by the river for France, naming it Louisiana for Louis XIV. Although most French territory in the Western Hemisphere was lost in the French and Indian War (1756–1763), the Mississippi basin did not pass to the victors in that war (primarily the British) as it had been secretly transferred to Spain by the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau. Napoleon came to power in 1799. Dreaming of a renewed French empire, he secured the return of the Louisiana territory from Spain via the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso the following year, and through other agreements. These pacts were initially secret, and newly inaugurated American President Thomas Jefferson learned of them in 1801. Fearing that the port of New Orleans would be closed to American shipping, he sent former Virginia senator James Monroe to France to assist American Minister Robert Livingston in purchasing the lower Mississippi; Congress appropriated \$2 million for the purpose. When the Americans met with Napoleon, they found that the emperor desired to sell the entire territory, much of which was unmapped and unexplored by white men; Napoleon was faced with defeat in revolting Haiti and feared that the British would attempt to capture New Orleans, meaning he would lose Louisiana with no compensation. After some haggling, they agreed on a price of 60 million francs, plus 20 million more to pay claims by American citizens against France—a total of some \$15 million, which paid for some 828,500 square miles (2,146,000 km<sup>2</sup>) of land. The treaty was signed on April 30, 1803, and, although there was some question as to whether there was constitutional power for such a purchase, the American Senate ratified the treaty on October 20, 1803. The United States took formal possession two months later. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, and today forms much of the center of the country. Desirous of honoring the centennial of the purchase, Congress passed authorizing legislation for an exposition; the bill was signed by President William McKinley on March 3, 1901. McKinley was assassinated in September of that year. ## Preparation The Louisiana Purchase Exposition dollar was authorized by Congress on June 28, 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed an appropriations bill that included a \$5,000,000 rider to subsidize the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The bill in question authorized 250,000 gold one-dollar pieces to be paid over to the exposition organizers as part of the appropriation, upon their posting a bond that they would fulfill the requirements of the legislation. The bill did not specify the wording or design to be placed on the coins, leaving that to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, in their encyclopedia of commemorative coins, suggested that the decision to have multiple designs was "through some unrecorded agreement". The legislation was ambiguous enough to permit such an interpretation, and numismatist Farran Zerbe urged the Mint to strike more than one type of coin, stating that sales would be increased if this was done. Zerbe was not only a collector (he would serve as president of the American Numismatic Association from 1908 to 1910), but he also promoted numismatics with his traveling exhibition, "Money of the World". He was involved in the distribution of commemorative coins from the Columbian half dollar of 1892 to the Panama-Pacific issue of 1915, and would be the sole distributor of Louisiana Purchase dollars. On August 12, 1902, Treasury Secretary Leslie M. Shaw wrote to former Missouri governor David R. Francis, one of the promoters of the exposition, enquiring what design exposition officials would like to see on the reverse of the coins. Although Francis's response is not extant, Mint authorities originally determined upon an olive branch surrounding a numeral "1". This was apparently disliked by the Director of the Mint, George E. Roberts, for on October 2, 1902, Philadelphia Mint Superintendent John Landis wrote to him, enclosing cardboard impressions of the original and revised proposed reverses. The new design had the value spelled out and the letter stated that the changes were being made at Roberts's suggestion. On October 13, Barber went to Washington (where the director's office was located) to confer with Roberts about the design. Roberts considered the olive branch "too conspicuous", given the size of the coin and the lettering, and asked that the branch be reduced in size. This apparently was done. By September 1902, work upon the dies for the obverses, showing the heads of McKinley and Jefferson, being worked upon by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, was well-advanced. In December 1902, the Philadelphia Mint struck 75,080 gold dollars. These were dated 1903, a violation of normal Mint practice to have the date of striking on the coin. This was not unprecedented; the 1900-dated Lafayette dollar had been struck in December 1899. It is not known which gold dollar was first struck. In January 1903, an additional 175,178 pieces were coined; the excess of 258 over the authorized mintage was set aside for testing by the annual Assay Commission. There is no difference between those pieces struck in 1902 and those minted in 1903. Fifty thousand pieces were sent to the St. Louis sub-treasury on December 22, 1902, to await the organizing committee's compliance with other parts of the law, most likely relating to the required posting of a bond. The first 100 specimens of each design were struck in a proof finish. These were mounted on cardboard with presentation certificates and presented to favored insiders and Mint officials; they were not available to the public. The certificates were signed by Superintendent Landis, and by Rhine R. Freed, Chief Coiner of the Philadelphia Mint. The coin was placed inside a holder with wax paper window, secured into place with heavy string with that mint's seal. These were the first commemorative gold coins struck by the United States. ## Design Barber took the design for the Jefferson obverse from the former president's Indian Peace Medal, created by engraver John Reich, who used a bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon as his model. The chief engraver modeled the McKinley obverse after his own design for the fallen president's medal issued by the Mint. Barber's medal had been modeled from life; McKinley had sat for the chief engraver. The reverse, for both coins, contains the denomination, a commemorative inscription, and an olive branch above the anniversary dates. Coin dealer B. Max Mehl deemed the issue "the most attractive of all of our commemorative gold dollars". Others disagreed; Swiatek and Breen criticized the pieces, stating that Jefferson's "facial features, inaccurately rendered by Charles E. Barber, have acquired a resemblance to Napoleon Bonaparte, the other party in the Louisiana Purchase transaction." Stating that McKinley was recognizable by his bow tie, they note of the reverse, "the olive branch—if that is the plant intended—may refer to this 828,000 square mile territory's acquisition by peaceful means". Numismatic historian Don Taxay criticized Reich's medal, stating that it "is hardly elegant, with Jefferson hunched unpleasantly in the circle as though placed there by a modern Procrustes". Taxay noted that Barber's rendition of McKinley for that medal had attracted the insult of "deadly" from the chief engraver's longtime enemy, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Art historian Cornelius Vermeule criticized the Louisiana Purchase Exposition dollar and the Lewis and Clark Exposition dollar issued in 1904–1905: "the lack of spark in these coins, as in so many designs by Barber or [Assistant Engraver George T.] Morgan, stems from the fact that the faces, hair, and drapery are flat and the lettering is small, crowded, and even." He did not believe that the problems he saw were due to the small size of the dollar, stating that the gold dollar of the Panama-Pacific issue, by Charles Keck, is far more beautiful. Vermeule noted that contemporary accounts saw the 1903 issue as an innovation; a 1904 article in the American Journal of Numismatics stated that they "indicate a popular desire for a new departure from the somewhat monotonous types of Liberty which have characterized our money ... If this tendency could make itself felt on the regular coinage, it would give a new zeal to collectors." Beginning in 1909 with the Lincoln cent, the Mint would depict an actual person on the circulating coinage; this would become more common with the 1932 Washington quarter. ## Distribution, aftermath, and collecting The fair at St. Louis opened on April 30, 1904, a year later than originally planned. It was one of the largest World's Fairs in area, set over 1,272 acres (515 ha) in Forest Park. There were 15 major buildings and a host of smaller exhibits, and it is doubtful if many attendees saw more than a fraction of the attractions—seeing everything in the Agricultural Building alone required a walk of 9 miles (14 km). Twenty million people attended the exposition, which inspired the popular song, "Meet Me in St. Louis". The coins were sold at \$3 each. They were available in a case of issue, or could be purchased mounted in spoons and various sorts of jewelry. Some were mounted with solder, which has impaired their present-day numismatic value; others were sold with mountings that did not damage the coin. Zerbe had thought of these varied ways of selling the coin, and many of the sales at the fair were in this manner. No additional charge was made for these adornments. Zerbe also promoted the pieces to the numismatic community. Although the \$3 price was not high by later standards, triple face value was considered excessive by many coin collectors, and the coins did not sell well. Efforts by Zerbe to promote the pieces included proposing that the government produce a billion-dollar gold piece to be exhibited at the fair, and co-ordinating sales with the vendors of near-worthless replicas of tiny gold pieces struck privately in California in pioneer days, which were half price with the purchase of a dollar coin. Thomas L. Elder, a dealer coming into prominence at that time, spoke out against Zerbe, calling him a huckster whose advertising was misleading and who was bringing discredit upon coin dealers. The organizers, including Zerbe, promised to support the \$3 issue price against the possibility of price drops on the secondary market. Prices of the Columbian half dollar and Lafayette dollar had fallen and remained below their issue prices. By November 1903, only about 10,000 of the gold pieces had been sold, including sales to the fair's promoters and others interested in it. According to numismatist Q. David Bowers, fairgoers likely accounted for several thousand coins, but the bulk of the distribution was to coin dealers and collectors. Zerbe sold them at his coin exhibit for years afterwards; coin dealer B. Max Mehl bought thousands from Zerbe at just over face value. These were sold in Mehl's mail order sales through the 1920s. Despite efforts by Zerbe which Bowers finds "enthusiastic or even heroic", only about 35,000 were sold to the public; the remaining 215,000 were returned to the Mint and melted around 1914. Numismatist David M. Bullowa in 1938 noted that the Mint kept no records of how many of each variety was melted, but that he thought that about 10% more of the McKinley issue was sold. Bowers, writing about a half century later, opined to the contrary; that in his experience and in grading service reports, the Jefferson coin was slightly more prevalent. Swiatek, in his 2012 book, prints statistics showing the number of pieces examined by the numismatic grading services, indicating more Jefferson dollars than McKinley. Despite Zerbe's statement that he would support the issue price of the coins at \$3, he did not do so and the price of the dollars fell to about \$2 by late 1905. Their market price again reached \$3 by about 1915, and thereafter continued to rise. The 2014 edition of R.S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book) lists both the Jefferson and the McKinley variety at prices ranging from \$500 in Almost Uncirculated (AU-50) condition to \$2,150 in near pristine MS-66 condition, though the Jefferson is more expensive in some intermediate grades. Zerbe stated in 1905 that he "was the only man to sell 50,000 dollars at \$3 apiece". In 1923, he wrote in an article that the Louisiana Purchase dollars had always sold for \$3 or more "for the particular reason that the one in charge of their sale felt a price protection obligation to every purchaser." He did not, however, identify himself as "the one in charge of their sale". ## References and bibliography ### Books ### Other sources [Louisiana Purchase Exposition](Category:Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition "wikilink") [Currencies introduced in 1903](Category:Currencies_introduced_in_1903 "wikilink") [Early United States commemorative coins](Category:Early_United_States_commemorative_coins "wikilink") [United States gold coins](Category:United_States_gold_coins "wikilink") [Cultural depictions of William McKinley](Category:Cultural_depictions_of_William_McKinley "wikilink") [Cultural depictions of Thomas Jefferson](Category:Cultural_depictions_of_Thomas_Jefferson "wikilink") [Louisiana Purchase](Category:Louisiana_Purchase "wikilink") [World's fair commemorative coins](Category:World's_fair_commemorative_coins "wikilink")
5,047,207	Posting system	1,153,715,856	Baseball player transfers between Japan and the United States	[ "History of baseball", "Major League Baseball labor relations", "Nippon Professional Baseball" ]	The posting system (ポスティングシステム, posutingu shisutemu) is a baseball player transfer system that operates between Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). Despite the drafting of the United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, unveiled in 1967 to regulate NPB players moving to MLB, problems began to arise in the late 1990s. Some NPB teams lost star players without compensation, an issue highlighted when NPB stars Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano left to play in MLB after using loopholes to void their existing contracts. A further problem was that NPB players had very little negotiating power if their teams decided to deal them to MLB, as when pitcher Hideki Irabu was traded to an MLB team for which he had no desire to play. In 1998, the Agreement was rewritten to address both problems; the result was dubbed the "posting system". Under this system, when an NPB player is "posted", his NPB team notifies the MLB Commissioner, with the posting fee based on the type of contract a player signs and its value. The fee is a flat 25% of the value of a minor-league contract; for MLB contracts, the fee is based on the value of the contract that the posted player eventually signs. The player is then given 30 days to negotiate with any MLB team willing to pay the NPB team's posting fee. If the player agrees on contract terms with a team before the 30-day period has expired, the NPB team receives the posting fee from the signing MLB team as a transfer fee, and the player is free to play in MLB. If no MLB team comes to a contract agreement with the posted player, then no fee is paid, and the player's rights revert to his NPB team. The current process replaced one in which MLB held a silent auction during which MLB teams submitted sealed, uncapped bids in an attempt to win the exclusive negotiating rights with the posted player for a period of 30 days. Once the highest bidding MLB team was determined, the player could then only negotiate with that team. Up to the end of the 2017–18 posting period, 23 NPB players had been posted using the system. Of these, 12 signed Major League contracts, four signed minor-league contracts, five were unsuccessful in attracting any MLB interest, and two could not come to a contract agreement during the 30-day negotiation period. The five highest-profile players that have been acquired by MLB teams through the posting system are Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, and Shohei Ohtani. The first three attracted high bids of \$13.125 million, \$51.1 million, and \$51.7 million respectively. Tanaka was the first player posted under a revised procedure that was in place from 2013 to 2017; he was posted for the maximum \$20 million allowed under the new rules. Ohtani was the first player posted under the current procedure; his posting fee of \$20 million was grandfathered in under the previous agreement. However, since its implementation the posting system has been criticized by the media and baseball insiders from both countries. ## History The first instance of a Japanese-born player playing in Major League Baseball was in 1964, when the Nankai Hawks, an NPB team, sent three exchange prospects to the United States to gain experience in MLB's minor league system. One of the players, pitcher Masanori Murakami, was named the California League Rookie of the Year while playing for the Fresno Giants (the San Francisco Giants' Class-A team). Giants executives were impressed with his talent and on September 1, 1964 Murakami was promoted, thus becoming the first Japanese player to play in MLB. After Murakami put up good pitching statistics as a reliever, Giants executives sought to exercise a clause in their contract with the Hawks that, they claimed, allowed them to buy up an exchange prospect's contract. NPB officials objected, stating that they had no intention of selling Murakami's contract to the Giants and telling them that Murakami was merely on loan for the 1964 season. After a two-month stalemate the Giants eventually agreed to send Murakami back to the Hawks after the 1965 season. Thus, after pitching one more season for the Giants, Murakami returned to Japan to play for the Hawks. This affair led to the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, also known as the "working agreement", between MLB and NPB, which was basically a hands-off policy. ### Complications MLB and NPB officials created the posting system as a combined reaction to three cases in the 1990s, involving NPB players who moved to MLB. The first of these occurred in the winter of 1994 when pitcher Hideo Nomo, with the help of agent Don Nomura, became the second Japanese-born player to play in MLB, 30 years after Murakami. Nomo, who was not yet eligible for free agency in Japan, was advised by Nomura that the Japanese Uniform Players Contract's reserve clause limited the Kintetsu Buffaloes' control over him to Japan only. Nomo utilized this loophole by voluntarily retiring from NPB to terminate his contract with the Buffaloes, circumvent its reserve clause and play in MLB. He announced his retirement from NPB in late 1994 and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 1995, where he won the National League Rookie of the Year award. The following year, the Dodgers signed Nomo to a three-year, \$4.3 million contract. In early 1997, after months of negotiations, the San Diego Padres signed a working agreement with the Chiba Lotte Marines that gave the Padres exclusive signing rights to another Nomura client, Hideki Irabu. Although both Irabu and Nomura stated that Irabu would only sign with the New York Yankees, neither the Padres nor the Marines consulted Irabu before finalizing their deal. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) sided with Irabu, stating that the arrangement unfairly disregarded a player's expressed wishes. However, MLB's executive council ruled that the Padres had not violated any existing rule, and therefore legally held the rights to Irabu. Following this decision, Irabu contemplated a number of different options, including playing in NPB until he became a free agent, and taking the matter to the U.S. judicial system. By May, however, the Padres gave in and traded Irabu to the Yankees, who signed him for \$12.8 million over four years. The final incident occurred in 1998, when Alfonso Soriano was unable to leave the Hiroshima Toyo Carp due to contract restrictions. Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule, and the Carp denied him a salary increase from \$45,000 (the league's minimum) to \$180,000 per year. Like Nomo and Irabu, Soriano hired Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's NPB contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in MLB. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano and send letters to MLB teams demanding that they cease all negotiations with him. NPB officials claimed that after the Nomo case they had privately amended the Player Contract to give NPB teams the right to prohibit a player from signing a new contract anywhere after voluntarily retiring. Since MLB officials were not consulted and they did not agree to any changes, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that MLB would recognize Soriano as a free agent on July 13, 1998, and the Carp backed down. He signed a 5-year, \$3.1 million contract with the New York Yankees the same year. ### Resolution In 1998, Orix BlueWave general manager Shigeyoshi Ino rewrote the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, when he drafted the "posting system". Selig and NPB Commissioner Hiromori Kawashima signed this new agreement in December 1998. It sought to address each of the problems brought up by the Nomo, Irabu and Soriano cases, by requiring MLB teams to place "bids" for NPB players. These bids became the basis of transfer fees that are paid as compensation to NPB teams whose star players sign with MLB. NPB players are also allowed to negotiate with MLB teams over the terms of their new contracts. Through the 2013 season, the agreement was in effect on a year-to-year basis, terminable at the option of either the MLB Commissioner or the NPB Commissioner provided notice to terminate is given by June 18 of any given year. A new agreement between MLB and NPB, with significantly different rules, was announced on December 16, 2013 and took effect immediately; it continued through the 2016 MLB and NPB seasons. The agreement was extended for an additional season during negotiations for a new agreement. The current posting agreement was reached after the 2017 MLB and NPB seasons. The agreement runs through October 31, 2021, the expiration date of MLB's current collective bargaining agreement. Not all of the provisions applied immediately—for example, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters were allowed to set a \$20 million posting fee, the maximum allowed under the previous agreement, for two-way star Shohei Ohtani, whom they posted shortly after approval of the new agreement. Since the end of the 2018 NPB and MLB seasons, posting fees have been based on the type of contract a player signs and the deal's value. For players signed to MLB contracts, the posting fee is based on the amount of guaranteed money in the initial contract: - 20% of the first \$25 million - 17.5% of the next \$25 million - 15% of any amount above \$50 million For players signed to minor-league contracts, the fee is a flat 25% of the contract's value. The system only applies to players currently under contract with a Japanese team, although players who have nine or more years of playing service with NPB are exempt. It does not apply to free agents or to amateur players who have never played in NPB. Mac Suzuki, Micheal Nakamura, Kazuhito Tadano, and Junichi Tazawa are the only Japanese players to have debuted in MLB without having played in NPB. The system does not work in reverse; it does not regulate MLB players, such as Alex Cabrera, who moved to NPB. ## Process When a player under contract with a Nippon Professional Baseball team wishes to play in Major League Baseball, he must notify his current team's management and request that they make him available for posting during the next posting period (November 1 – March 1 through the 2013 season, and November 1 – February 1 in the current agreement). The NPB team can reject this request, and the player will not be posted. However, if the team consents, the player is presented to the MLB Commissioner, who then notifies all MLB teams of the posted player. In the original process, MLB held a four-day-long silent auction during which interested MLB teams submitted sealed bids in U.S. dollars to the Commissioner's Office. After the allotted four days passed, the Commissioner closed the bidding process and notified the posted player's NPB team of the highest bid amount but not who the bidding team was. The NPB team then had four days to either accept or reject the non-negotiable bid amount. If the bid was rejected, the NPB team retained rights to the player. If it was accepted, the successful MLB team was granted the exclusive rights to negotiate with the player for 30 days. If the player and the MLB team agreed on contract terms before the 30-day period expired, the NPB team received the bid amount as a transfer fee within five business days. The player was then free to play for his new MLB team in the coming season. The transfer fee was not included when calculating an MLB team's total payroll, which is subject to a luxury tax when it exceeds \$155 million. If the MLB team could not come to a contract agreement with the posted player, then no fee was paid and the rights to the player reverted to his NPB team. A player could request to be posted again in subsequent years, and the process would be repeated with no advantage to the club that had won the bidding the previous year. Under the current process, the NPB team notifies the MLB Commissioner of a posting, with the posting fee determined by the value of the contract that a posted player eventually signs with an MLB organization. Once the MLB Commissioner announces the posting, the player has 30 days to sign with an MLB team. Unlike the past system, in which only the team that won the bidding process had negotiating rights, the current system allows the posted player to negotiate with any MLB team willing to pay the posting fee. As in the previous process, if the player signs with an MLB team during the negotiating window, the signing team will pay the posting fee; otherwise, his rights revert to his NPB team. Also mirroring the past system, an unsuccessfully posted player can request a posting in a later year, with the process repeated. ## List of postings Of the 64 Japanese-born players who have played in MLB, 22 have entered the league using the posting system. Since the system's creation in 1998, the 28 players that have used it have experienced a range of success. Of these 28, sixteen were immediately signed to Major League contracts and one player who drew no bids on his first posting was signed to a Major League contract on his second posting. These contracts range from \$1.4 million to \$155 million. Of the remaining twelve, four were signed to Minor League contracts, three were unable to reach a contract agreement and six were unsuccessful in drawing bids from any Major League clubs (one player failed to draw bids during two separate postings). The following tables outline each posting and its outcome. ## Criticism Since its implementation in late 1998 the posting system has been heavily criticized. Ichiro Suzuki's agent remarked that "the player literally gets zero advantage from [the posting system]... the Japanese teams benefit by holding the players hostage". Don Nomura called the process a "slave auction". Much of the criticism of the system stems from its forcing NPB players to negotiate their contracts solely with the MLB team that submitted the highest bid. The Japan Times columnist Marty Kuehnert believes that since no other team is allowed to submit competitive counter-offers, negotiations result in salaries below the player's market value. Kuehnert also believes the system fosters a "take-it-or-leave-it" situation; if the team and the player have not finalized contract negotiations by the end of a 30-day period, the team can make a low offer knowing that the player's only other option is to play in Japan for another year. It has been suggested that this is a violation of the Anti-Monopoly Act, a Japanese antitrust law that prohibits parties from signing an international agreement or contract that "contains such matters as constitute an unreasonable restraint of trade or unfair business practices". The Japan Professional Baseball Players Association (JPBPA) was not consulted before the system was implemented by NPB club owners, and did not subsequently ratify it. Since its introduction JPBPA has expressed many concerns, likening the process to "human trafficking". Agreeing that the system takes unfair advantage of NPB players, the MLBPA offered to help JPBPA fight the posting system in court. However, according to one JPBPA official, the Japanese court process is too long and involved; therefore, the "problem can't be helped". Yomiuri Giants club representative Hidetoshi Kiyotake has expressed dislike of the system, because it enables Major League Baseball to poach players from Japan. By using the posting system, he says, Japanese teams make a profit in the short term, but by allowing Japan's best players to be sold to MLB, NPB teams and Japanese baseball suffer in the longer term. When Giants pitcher Koji Uehara asked to be posted in 2005, Kiyotake denied his request, saying: "We don't recognize the posting system. I've said from the beginning that this is out of the question." In the middle of the 2012–13 posting season, MLB approached NPB seeking to change the way MLB teams bid for the right to negotiate with NPB players. Instead of using a silent auction in which teams bid blindly, MLB would prefer its teams to participate in a traditional, open auction where the bids are known and teams can knowingly outbid each other. Such a change would likely lower the price of the transfer fees paid to NPB teams. MLB and the players' unions agree that they'd prefer to see the players receive more money for the transfer rather than the teams. The Japan Times columnist Jason Coskrey also believed that these talks provided the JPBPA an opportunity to voice their concerns about the posting system and attempt to gain more leverage for themselves during the posting process. The new agreement, as noted, was announced on December 16, 2013, with most of the changes desired by MLB and players from both leagues. ### 2006–07 controversy The posting system was criticized by MLB insiders and by the U.S. media, after the controversial 2006–07 posting period. Before the posting of the period's first player, Daisuke Matsuzaka, in early November 2006, there was speculation that he might draw bids as high as \$30 million—more than twice the previous record bid that Ichiro Suzuki had garnered in 2000–01. After his silent auction was closed, it was revealed that Matsuzaka had drawn a bid of \$51.1 million, shocking American and Japanese baseball executives. The Boston Red Sox's winning bid was more than \$11 million higher than the next largest. With the negotiations between Matsuzaka and the Red Sox at a stalemate as the negotiation period neared its close, The Washington Post's Dave Sheinin questioned both parties' intentions. Sheinin believed that the Red Sox had foreseen the contractual stalemate and had submitted a high bid simply to deny the New York Yankees an opportunity to negotiate with Matsuzaka. However, after Matsuzaka's agent Scott Boras threatened to take Matsuzaka back to NPB if his price was not met, Sheinin theorized that Boras intentionally wanted to hinder contract negotiations. ESPN The Magazine's Tim Kurkjian described the situation as "the most obvious game of chicken ever." Sheinin suggested that, should the negotiations fail, Boras could take legal action on the grounds that the requirement of MLB teams to pay large transfer fees to NPB teams artificially depressed the player's personal contract. Boras did not believe that the transfer fee should affect the player's compensation. Despite the negotiation difficulties, the Boston Red Sox eventually signed Matsuzaka. The team paid approximately \$103.1 million in total, including the transfer fee and contract, to acquire the pitcher. Kurkjian believes that with fees and contracts this high, small-market teams could not afford to compete with large-market teams for the rights to negotiate with some posted Japanese players. Kurkjian blames the posting system's use of a blind bidding system as the cause of Matsuzaka's "outrageous offer." He also postulates that Matsuzaka's high bid amount helped to inflate the bids for Kei Igawa who was posted two weeks later, perpetuating the problem further. After winning the negotiation rights to Igawa, Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman told reporters that "the posting system, clearly with what took place this winter, might not necessarily be the best system". Kurkjian claims that other MLB executives already believe that a traditional free agent structure, where the highest bidder wins, would be better than the current system. Cashman and Yankees team president Randy Levine met with NPB team officials in early 2007 to discuss the posting system, among other things. These meetings did not result in any immediate changes. ## See also - Baseball in Japan - Transfer in association football
3,051,575	Australian green tree frog	1,170,205,959	Species of amphibian	[ "Amphibians described in 1790", "Amphibians of New Guinea", "Amphibians of New South Wales", "Amphibians of Queensland", "Amphibians of South Australia", "Amphibians of Western Australia", "Amphibians of the Northern Territory", "Frogs of Australia", "Litoria", "Taxa named by John White (surgeon)" ]	The Australian green tree frog (Ranoidea caerulea/Litoria caerulea), also known as simply green tree frog in Australia, White's tree frog, or dumpy tree frog, is a species of tree frog native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in the United States and New Zealand, though the latter is believed to have died out. It is morphologically similar to some other members of its genus, particularly the magnificent tree frog (R. splendida) and the white-lipped tree frog (R. infrafrenata). Larger than most Australian frogs, the Australian green tree frog reaches 10 cm (4 in) or more in length. Its average lifespan in captivity, about 16 years, is long compared with most frogs. Docile and well suited to living near human dwellings, Australian green tree frogs are often found on window sills or inside houses, eating insects drawn by the light. The green tree frog screams when it is in danger to scare off its foe, and squeaks when it is touched. Due to its appearance and behavioural traits, the green tree frog is a popular exotic pet throughout the world. The skin secretions of the frog have antibacterial and antiviral properties that may prove useful in pharmaceutical preparations and which have rendered it relatively immune to the population declines being experienced by many species of amphibian. It is a common species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "least concern". ## Taxonomy The Australian green tree frog is a member of the family Hylidae and is placed in the subfamily Pelodryadinae, which is endemic to Australia and New Guinea and includes over 100 species in the genera Ranoidea and Nyctimystes. The common name of the species, "White's tree frog", is in honour of John White's first description in 1790. The green tree frog was the first Australian frog to be scientifically described; the original specimen found its way into the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, but was destroyed when the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London was bombed in World War II. The species was originally called the "blue frog" (Rana caerulea) despite its green colour. The specimens White sent to England were damaged by the preservative and appeared blue. The colour of the frog is caused by blue and green pigments covered in a yellow layer; the preservative destroyed the yellow layer and left the frog with a blue appearance. The specific epithet, caerulea, which is Latin for blue, has remained. This frog is sometimes referred to as Pelodryas caerulea in the scientific literature. In Australia, the frog is also known more simply as the "green tree frog", but that name is often given to the most common green arboreal species in a region, such as the American green tree frog (Hyla cinerea). A 2020 study showed that Litoria caerulea is actually a species complex that includes recently identified species such as Litoria mira, which is endemic to New Guinea. ## Description The green tree frog is a plump, rather large tree frog, and can grow up to 11.5 cm (4.5 in) in length, with fully grown females being slightly larger than males. A distinctive fatty ridge is seen over the eye, and the parotoid gland is moderately large. The iris is golden and has a horizontally slit pupil, and the tympanum (a skin membrane similar to an eardrum) is visible just behind the eye. The limbs are short and robust, and large adhesive discs are at the end of the digits which provide grip while climbing. The fingers are about one-third webbed, and the toes nearly three-quarters webbed. The dorsal colour depends on the temperature and nature of the environment, ranging from brownish- or greyish-green to bright emerald green. The frog occasionally has small, irregularly shaped white spots on its back. Males have a greyish, wrinkled vocal sac under the throat, while the throat of females is white. The ventral surface in both sexes is creamy-white and rough in texture. This frog is similar in appearance to the magnificent tree frog (R. splendida), which inhabits only north-western Australia. Older members of that species have very large parotoid glands, which cover the entire top of their heads and droop over their tympana. The parotoid gland of the green tree frog is much smaller, and it also lacks the yellow speckling on the back and the yellow markings on the hand, groin, and thigh. It can be distinguished from the white-lipped tree frog(giant tree frog N. infrafrenatus) by the distinct white stripe that species has along the edge of the lower jaw and extending to the shoulder, which is not present in the green tree frog. Some arboreal hylid frogs, e.g. the Australian green tree frog (Litoria caerulea), benefit from two hygroscopically-enabled hydration processes; transcutaneous uptake of condensation on their skin and reduced evaporative water loss. Their wiping behavior spreads hygroscopic secretions from the parotoid gland across their skin, facilitating both methods. L. caerulea'''s skin structure, the hygroscopic coating and an advantageous temperature gradient combine to boost condensation and moisture uptake. The tadpoles' appearance changes throughout their development. When newly hatched, they are 8 mm (0.3 in) long and when fully developed, 44 mm (1.7 in). They are initially mottled with brown, and increase in pigmentation (to either green or brown) during development. Their undersides are initially dark, but later become lighter in hue. The eggs are brown and are wrapped in a clear jelly; they are 1.1 to 1.4 mm (0.043 to 0.055 in) in diameter. The call is a low, slow brawk-brawk-brawk, repeated many times. For most of the year, the frogs call from high positions, such as trees and gutters, but during the breeding season, they descend to near the ponds and pools, where they breed. Like many frogs, green tree frogs call not only to attract a mate, but also to advertise their location outside the mating season. They are particularly vocal after rain, but the reasons for this are unclear. They emit a stress call when they are in danger, such as when being attacked by a predator or when a person steps on the log in which one is concealed. ## Distribution and habitat The green tree frog is native to northern and eastern regions of Australia and to the lowlands of New Guinea. Distribution is limited mostly to areas with warm, wet tropical climates. Its range spans from Irian Jaya to Port Moresby, and is most abundant on Daru Island. The IUCN suggests "scattered locations" in both New Guinea and Indonesia. In Australia, its range extends from the Kimberley region of Western Australia through the Northern Territory and Queensland to north and central New South Wales and the extreme northeasterly part of South Australia. Its total extent of land occupancy is around 4,078,600 square kilometres (1,574,800 sq mi). The species has been introduced to both the United States and New Zealand. In the United States, it is restricted to two regions within Florida, where it was possibly introduced through the pet trade. Only small populations have been found there, and whether they have caused any ecological damage as an invasive species is unknown. In New Zealand, several individuals were liberated in various locations in 1897 and 1899, and a further accidental introduction was made in the 1940s. No sightings have been reported of this species since the 1950s. Depending on their location, green tree frogs occupy various habitats. They prefer moist forests but are not strictly limited to tropical rainforests. They are often found in the canopy of trees near water bodies, but also occupy terrestrial habitats well away from water. They favour old stands of Eucalyptus, where the trees have hollows in which water collects. They are common along inland waterways and can survive in swamps (among the reeds) or in grasslands in cooler climates. Green tree frogs are little troubled by the presence of humans and often live in close association with them. They sometimes stray inside houses and are found in such places as sinks and toilets. They can also be found on outside windowsills at night, eating insects attracted to the light, and they may gather under outdoor lighting for the same reason. They sometimes occupy tanks (cisterns), downpipes (downspouts), and gutters, as these have high humidity and are usually cooler than the external environment. They may be drawn to the downpipes and tanks during the mating season because the fixtures amplify their calls. Green tree frogs seem to have homing abilities, being able to return to locations from which they were caught from a considerable distance after being displaced. ## Ecology and behaviour Australian green tree frogs are very docile and unafraid of humans. They are nocturnal and come out in early evenings to call (in spring and summer) and hunt for food. During the day, they find cool, dark, and moist areas, such as tree holes or rock crevices, in which to sleep. They are not a rainforest species, but make use of the rain that falls almost daily and collects on leaves and in crevices, to keep themselves moist. Their skin exudes a waxy coating that helps prevent evaporation. In dry periods, they avoid desiccation by concealing themselves in a cool spot, perhaps by burrowing, and enveloping themselves in a cocoon made of shed skin and mucus. The diet of the green tree frog consists mainly of insects such as moths, cockroaches, and locusts. They also eat spiders and can include smaller frogs and even small mammals (including bats) among their prey. Frog teeth are not suited to cutting up prey, so the food item must be small enough to fit inside its mouth. Many frogs flick out their sticky tongues at prey and the victim sticks to the tip and is drawn back into the mouth and consumed. A green tree frog uses this technique for smaller prey; for larger items, however, it pounces, then pushes the prey into its mouth with its hands. The frog has a few native predators, among them snakes and birds. Since the European settlement of Australia, non-native predators have been introduced, primarily dogs and cats. The species has an average life expectancy in captivity of 16 years, but some have been known to live over 20 years. ## Reproduction Breeding occurs between November and February. During the mating season, the males call from slightly elevated positions close to the still-water sources in which they choose to breed. Clumps of between 200 and 2000 eggs are laid which initially float, but sink within 24 hours. The development of the tadpoles takes about six weeks, after which they undergo metamorphosis and leave the water as juvenile frogs. ## As pets The green tree frog is one of the most popular pet frogs throughout the world. Its docile nature and long life expectancy make it an attractive choice for exotic pet owners. It is also one of the easier frogs to maintain; its diet is broad and it has a strong resistance to disease. One problem commonly associated with keeping this species as a pet is overfeeding; green tree frogs tend to become obese if overfed. In the wild, exertion of energy is required for a frog to capture its prey. However, in captivity, they are usually given live feed in a confined space. This lessens the activity needed for feeding, resulting in weight gain. An overweight member of the species deposits fat layers over the top of the head and body, giving it a "dumpy" appearance, thus the name "dumpy tree frog". The rover fireflies of the genus Photinus (including the common eastern firefly of North America) are poisonous to these frogs, and an incident has been reported in which a firefly was fed to a green tree frog, which subsequently died. ## Conservation Australian law gives protected status to the green tree frog—along with all Australian fauna—under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the green tree frog's conservation status as being of "least concern", given its broad range, its large total population, and its tolerance of a variety of habitat types. The population trend seems to be stable, and any decline in numbers is not likely to be at a fast enough rate to justify listing it in a more threatened category. In suburban areas, this frog is threatened by pollution and by predation by domestic animals. Also, some of the frogs have been found to be infected with the chytrid fungus which causes the fatal amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. The frog's status in New Guinea is poorly studied, but in 2002, some 75,000 individuals were exported from Indonesia as part of the pet trade, and this may impact populations in some locations. The frog is present in a number of protected areas in New Guinea, and it has been successfully bred in some Australian zoos. Overall, the main threat to this species is the potential for a widespread disease epidemic. ## Use in research Although frogs have lungs, they absorb oxygen through their skin; for this to occur efficiently, the skin must be moist. A disadvantage of moist skin is that pathogens such as molds and bacteria can thrive on it, increasing the chance of infection. To counteract this, frogs secrete peptides that destroy these pathogens. The secretion from the paratoid gland of the green tree frog contains 25 caerins, a group of peptides with antibacterial and antiviral properties. The caerins produced by frogs of this species from different geographical localities have subtle but reproducible differences. The secretions also contain caeruleins, which have the same physiological effects as CCK-8, a digestive hormone and hunger suppressant. These caeruleins now have a number of clinical applications. Several peptides from the skin secretions of the green tree frog have been found to destroy HIV without harming healthy T cells. The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the causal agent of chytridiomycosis, is causing declines in many species of amphibians, but the secretions produced by the green tree frog and certain other Australian species of frog (Litoria chloris and Litoria genimaculata) are protective against this fungus. The peptides inhibit the growth of the fungus in vitro'' and these frog species are believed not to be in decline. Green tree frogs are sometimes used as model animals in research. The structure of their toe pads was used to investigate the microstructure and properties of the epithelium that allows the animals to adhere to wet surfaces.
26,903	Solar System	1,173,802,652	The Sun and objects orbiting it	[ "Planetary science", "Planetary systems with eight confirmed planets", "Solar System", "Space science" ]	The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. The largest of such objects are the eight planets, in order from the Sun: four terrestrial planets, named Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars; and four giant planets, including two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, and two ice giants, named Uranus and Neptune. The terrestrial planets have a definite surface and are mostly made of rock and metal. The gas giants are mostly made of hydrogen and helium, while the ice giants are mostly made of volatile substances such as water, ammonia, and methane. In some texts, these terrestrial and giant planets are called the inner Solar System and outer Solar System planets respectively. The Solar System was formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. Over time, the cloud formed the Sun and a protoplanetary disk that gradually coalesced to form planets and other objects. That is the reason why all eight planets have an orbit that lies near the same plane. In the present day, 99.86% of the Solar System's mass is in the Sun and most of the remaining mass is contained in the planet Jupiter. Six planets, the six largest possible dwarf planets and many other bodies have natural satellites or moons orbiting around them. All giant planets and a few smaller bodies are encircled by planetary rings, composed of ice, dust and sometimes moonlets. There are an unknown number of smaller dwarf planets and innumerable small bodies orbiting the Sun. These objects are distributed in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper belt, the scattered disc that lies beyond Neptune's orbit and at even further reaches of the Solar System (in which case they are classified as extreme trans-Neptunian objects). There is consensus among astronomers on the classification of the following nine objects as dwarf planets: the asteroid , the Kuiper-belt objects Pluto, , , , and , and the scattered-disc objects , , and . Many small-body populations, including comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust clouds, freely travel between the regions of the Solar System. The solar wind, a stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the Sun, creates a bubble-like region known as the heliosphere. The heliopause is the point at which pressure from the solar wind is equal to the opposing pressure of the interstellar medium; it extends out to the edge of the scattered disc. The Oort cloud, which is thought to be the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere. Beyond these is the end of the Solar System. The Solar System belongs to the Milky Way, and the closest star to the Solar System (except for the Sun) is named Proxima Centauri at a distance of 4.2441 light-years away. ## Formation and evolution The Solar System formed 4.568 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud. This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably birthed several stars. As is typical of molecular clouds, this one consisted mostly of hydrogen, with some helium, and small amounts of heavier elements fused by previous generations of stars. As the region that would become the Solar System, known as the pre-solar nebula, collapsed, conservation of angular momentum caused it to rotate faster. The center, where most of the mass collected, became increasingly hotter than the surrounding disc. As the contracting nebula rotated faster, it began to flatten into a protoplanetary disc with a diameter of roughly 200 AU (30 billion km; 19 billion mi) and a hot, dense protostar at the center. The planets formed by accretion from this disc, in which dust and gas gravitationally attracted each other, coalescing to form ever larger bodies. Hundreds of protoplanets may have existed in the early Solar System, but they either merged or were destroyed or ejected, leaving the planets, dwarf planets, and leftover minor bodies. Due to their higher boiling points, only metals and silicates could exist in solid form in the warm inner Solar System close to the Sun, and these would eventually form the rocky planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Because metallic elements only comprised a very small fraction of the solar nebula, the terrestrial planets could not grow very large. The giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) formed further out, beyond the frost line, the point between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where material is cool enough for volatile icy compounds to remain solid. The ices that formed these planets were more plentiful than the metals and silicates that formed the terrestrial inner planets, allowing them to grow massive enough to capture large atmospheres of hydrogen and helium, the lightest and most abundant elements. Leftover debris that never became planets congregated in regions such as the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, and Oort cloud. The Nice model is an explanation for the creation of these regions and how the outer planets could have formed in different positions and migrated to their current orbits through various gravitational interactions. Within 50 million years, the pressure and density of hydrogen in the center of the protostar became great enough for it to begin thermonuclear fusion. The temperature, reaction rate, pressure, and density increased until hydrostatic equilibrium was achieved: the thermal pressure counterbalancing the force of gravity. At this point, the Sun became a main-sequence star. The main-sequence phase, from beginning to end, will last about 10 billion years for the Sun compared to around two billion years for all other phases of the Sun's pre-remnant life combined. Solar wind from the Sun created the heliosphere and swept away the remaining gas and dust from the protoplanetary disc into interstellar space. As helium accumulates at its core the Sun is growing brighter; early in its main-sequence life its brightness was 70% that of what it is today. The Solar System will remain roughly as it is known today until the hydrogen in the core of the Sun has been entirely converted to helium, which will occur roughly 5 billion years from now. This will mark the end of the Sun's main-sequence life. At that time, the core of the Sun will contract with hydrogen fusion occurring along a shell surrounding the inert helium, and the energy output will be greater than at present. The outer layers of the Sun will expand to roughly 260 times its current diameter, and the Sun will become a red giant. Because of its increased surface area, the surface of the Sun will be cooler (2,600 K (2,330 °C; 4,220 °F) at its coolest) than it is on the main sequence. The expanding Sun is expected to vaporize Mercury as well as Venus, and render Earth uninhabitable (possibly destroying it as well). Eventually, the core will be hot enough for helium fusion; the Sun will burn helium for a fraction of the time it burned hydrogen in the core. The Sun is not massive enough to commence the fusion of heavier elements, and nuclear reactions in the core will dwindle. Its outer layers will be ejected into space, leaving behind a dense white dwarf, half the original mass of the Sun but only the size of Earth. The ejected outer layers will form what is known as a planetary nebula, returning some of the material that formed the Sun—but now enriched with heavier elements like carbon—to the interstellar medium. ## Structure and composition The word solar means "pertaining to the Sun", which is derived from the Latin word sol, meaning Sun. The Sun is the dominant gravitational member of the Solar System, and its planetary system is maintained in a relatively stable, slowly evolving state by following isolated, gravitationally bound orbits around the Sun. ### Orbits The planets and other large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, known as the ecliptic. Smaller icy objects such as comets frequently orbit at significantly greater angles to this plane. Most of the planets in the Solar System have secondary systems of their own, being orbited by natural satellites called moons. Many of the largest natural satellites are in synchronous rotation, with one face permanently turned toward their parent. The four giant planets have planetary rings, thin bands of tiny particles that orbit them in unison. As a result of the formation of the Solar System, planets and most other objects orbit the Sun in the same direction that the Sun is rotating. That is, counter-clockwise, as viewed from above Earth's north pole. There are exceptions, such as Halley's Comet. Most of the larger moons orbit their planets in prograde direction, matching the planetary rotation; Neptune's moon Triton is the largest to orbit in the opposite, retrograde manner. Most larger objects rotate around their own axes in the prograde direction relative to their orbit, though the rotation of Venus is retrograde. To a good first approximation, Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun. These laws stipulate that each object travels along an ellipse with the Sun at one focus, which causes the body's distance from the Sun to vary over the course of its year. A body's closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, whereas its most distant point from the Sun is called its aphelion. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits. Kepler's laws only account for the influence of the Sun's gravity upon an orbiting body, not the gravitational pulls of different bodies upon each other. On a human time scale, these additional perturbations can be accounted for using numerical models, but the planetary system can change chaotically over billions of years. The angular momentum of the Solar System is a measure of the total amount of orbital and rotational momentum possessed by all its moving components. Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the angular momentum. The planets, dominated by Jupiter, account for most of the rest of the angular momentum due to the combination of their mass, orbit, and distance from the Sun, with a possibly significant contribution from comets. ### Composition The overall structure of the charted regions of the Solar System consists of the Sun, four smaller inner planets surrounded by a belt of mostly rocky asteroids, and four giant planets surrounded by the Kuiper belt of mostly icy objects. Astronomers sometimes informally divide this structure into separate regions. The inner Solar System includes the four terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt. The outer Solar System is beyond the asteroids, including the four giant planets. Since the discovery of the Kuiper belt, the outermost parts of the Solar System are considered a distinct region consisting of the objects beyond Neptune. The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a low-mass star that contains 99.86% of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally. The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the giant planets, account for 99% of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90%. The remaining objects of the Solar System (including the four terrestrial planets, the dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets) together comprise less than 0.002% of the Solar System's total mass. The Sun is composed of roughly 98% hydrogen and helium, as are Jupiter and Saturn. A composition gradient exists in the Solar System, created by heat and light pressure from the early Sun; those objects closer to the Sun, which are more affected by heat and light pressure, are composed of elements with high melting points. Objects farther from the Sun are composed largely of materials with lower melting points. The boundary in the Solar System beyond which those volatile substances could coalesce is known as the frost line, and it lies at roughly five times the Earth's distance from the Sun. The objects of the inner Solar System are composed mostly of rocky materials, such as silicates, iron or nickel. Jupiter and Saturn are composed mainly of gases with extremely low melting points and high vapor pressure, such as hydrogen, helium, and neon. Ices, like water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide, have melting points up to a few hundred kelvins. They can be found as ices, liquids, or gases in various places in the Solar System. Icy substances comprise the majority of the satellites of the giant planets, as well as most of Uranus and Neptune (the so-called "ice giants") and the numerous small objects that lie beyond Neptune's orbit. Together, gases and ices are referred to as volatiles. ### Distances and scales The astronomical unit [AU] (150,000,000 km; 93,000,000 mi) would be the distance from the Earth to the Sun if the planet's orbit were perfectly circular. For comparison, the radius of the Sun is 0.0047 AU (700,000 km; 400,000 mi). Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (10<sup>−5</sup> %) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly one millionth (10<sup>−6</sup>) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 astronomical units (780,000,000 km; 480,000,000 mi) from the Sun and has a radius of 71,000 km (0.00047 AU; 44,000 mi), whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is 30 AU (4.5×10<sup>9</sup> km; 2.8×10<sup>9</sup> mi) from the Sun. With a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between its orbit and the orbit of the next nearer object to the Sun. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 AU farther out from the Sun than Mercury, whereas Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus. Attempts have been made to determine a relationship between these orbital distances, like the Titius–Bode law and Johannes Kepler's model based on the Platonic solids, but ongoing discoveries have invalidated these hypotheses. Some Solar System models attempt to convey the relative scales involved in the Solar System on human terms. Some are small in scale (and may be mechanical—called orreries)—whereas others extend across cities or regional areas. The largest such scale model, the Sweden Solar System, uses the 110-metre (361 ft) Avicii Arena in Stockholm as its substitute Sun, and, following the scale, Jupiter is a 7.5-metre (25-foot) sphere at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, 40 km (25 mi) away, whereas the farthest current object, Sedna, is a 10 cm (4 in) sphere in Luleå, 912 km (567 mi) away. If the Sun–Neptune distance is scaled to 100 metres (330 ft), then the Sun would be about 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter (roughly two-thirds the diameter of a golf ball), the giant planets would be all smaller than about 3 mm (0.12 in), and Earth's diameter along with that of the other terrestrial planets would be smaller than a flea (0.3 mm or 0.012 in) at this scale. ### Interplanetary environment The outermost layer of the Solar atmosphere is the heliosphere, which permeates much of the Solar planetary system. Along with light, the Sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles (a plasma) called the solar wind. This stream of particles spreads outwards at speeds from 900,000 kilometres per hour (560,000 mph) to 2,880,000 kilometres per hour (1,790,000 mph), filling the vacuum between the bodies of the solar system. The result is a thin, dusty atmosphere, called the interplanetary medium, which extends to at least 100 AU (15 billion km; 9.3 billion mi). Beyond the heliosphere, large objects remain gravitationally bound to the sun, but the flow of matter in-between solar systems (the interstellar medium) homogenizes the distribution of micro-scale objects . The interplanetary medium is home to at least two disc-like regions of cosmic dust. The first, the zodiacal dust cloud, lies in the inner Solar System and causes the zodiacal light. It may have been formed by collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by gravitational interactions with the planets; a more recent proposed origin is the planet Mars. The second dust cloud extends from about 10 AU (1.5 billion km; 930 million mi) to about 40 AU (6.0 billion km; 3.7 billion mi), and was probably created by collisions within the Kuiper belt. Activity on the Sun's surface, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, disturbs the heliosphere, creating space weather and causing geomagnetic storms. Coronal mass ejections and similar events blow a magnetic field and huge quantities of material from the surface of the Sun. The interaction of this magnetic field and material with Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles into Earth's upper atmosphere, where its interactions create aurorae seen near the magnetic poles. The largest stable structure within the heliosphere is the heliospheric current sheet, a spiral form created by the actions of the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium. ## Habitable region The primary characteristic of the solar system enabling the presence of life is the heliosphere and planetary magnetic fields (for those planets that have them). These magnetic fields partially shield the Solar System from high-energy interstellar particles called cosmic rays. The density of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium and the strength of the Sun's magnetic field change on very long timescales, so the level of cosmic-ray penetration in the Solar System varies, though by how much is unknown. Earth's magnetic field also stops its atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and as a result the solar wind causes their atmospheres to gradually bleed away into space. The zone of habitability of the Solar System is conventionally located in the inner Solar System, where planetary surface or atmospheric temperatures admit the possibility of liquid water. Habitability might also be possible in subsurface oceans of various outer Solar System moons. ## Sun The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses), which comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System, produces temperatures and densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. This releases an enormous amount of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation peaking in visible light. Because the Sun fuses hydrogen into helium at its core, it is a main-sequence star. More specifically, it is a G2-type main-sequence star, where the type designation refers to its effective temperature. Hotter main-sequence stars are more luminous. The Sun's temperature is intermediate between that of the hottest stars and that of the coolest stars. Stars brighter and hotter than the Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, make up about 75% of the stars in the Milky Way. The Sun is a population I star; it has a higher abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance) than the older population II stars. Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, whereas stars born later have more. This higher metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun's development of a planetary system because the planets form from the accretion of "metals". ## Inner Solar System The inner Solar System is the region comprising the terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt. Composed mainly of silicates and metals, the objects of the inner Solar System are relatively close to the Sun; the radius of this entire region is less than the distance between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. This region is also within the frost line, which is a little less than 5 AU (750 million km; 460 million mi) from the Sun. ### Inner planets The four terrestrial or inner planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely of refractory minerals such as the silicates—which form their crusts and mantles—and metals such as iron and nickel which form their cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact craters and tectonic surface features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus). #### Mercury Mercury (0.307–0.588 AU (45.9–88.0 million km; 28.5–54.7 million mi) from the Sun) is the closest planet to the Sun. The smallest planet in the Solar System (), Mercury has no natural satellites. The dominant geological features are impact craters or basins with ejecta blankets, the remains of early volcanic activity including magma flows, and lobed ridges or rupes that were probably produced by a period of contraction early in the planet's history. Mercury's very tenuous atmosphere consists of solar-wind particles trapped by Mercury's magnetic field, as well as atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Its relatively large iron core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained. Hypotheses include that its outer layers were stripped off by a giant impact, or that it was prevented from fully accreting by the young Sun's energy. There have been searches for "Vulcanoids", asteroids in stable orbits between Mercury and the Sun, but none have been discovered. #### Venus Venus (0.718–0.728 AU (107.4–108.9 million km; 66.7–67.7 million mi) from the Sun) is close in size to Earth () and, like Earth, has a thick silicate mantle around an iron core, a substantial atmosphere, and evidence of internal geological activity. It is much drier than Earth, and its atmosphere is ninety times as dense. Venus has no natural satellites. It is the hottest planet, with surface temperatures over 400 °C (752 °F), mainly due to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The planet has no magnetic field that would prevent depletion of its substantial atmosphere, which suggests that its atmosphere is being replenished by volcanic eruptions. A relatively young planetary surface displays extensive evidence of volcanic activity, but is devoid of plate tectonics. It may undergo resurfacing episodes on a time scale of 700 million years. #### Earth Earth (0.983–1.017 AU (147.1–152.1 million km; 91.4–94.5 million mi) from the Sun) is the largest and densest of the inner planets, the only one known to have current geological activity, and the only place in the universe where life is known to exist. Its liquid hydrosphere is unique among the terrestrial planets, and it is the only planet where plate tectonics has been observed. Earth's atmosphere is radically different from those of the other planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain 21% free oxygen. The planetary magnetosphere shields the surface from solar and cosmic radiation, limiting atmospheric stripping and maintaining habitability. It has one natural satellite, the Moon, the only large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System. #### Mars Mars (1.382–1.666 AU (206.7–249.2 million km; 128.5–154.9 million mi) from the Sun) is smaller than Earth and Venus (). It has an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide with a surface pressure of 6.1 millibars (0.088 psi; 0.18 inHg); roughly 0.6% of that of Earth but sufficient to support weather phenomena. Its surface, peppered with volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, and rift valleys, such as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have persisted until as recently as 2 million years ago. Its red color comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil. Mars has two tiny natural satellites (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be either captured asteroids, or ejected debris from a massive impact early in Mars's history. ### Asteroid belt Asteroids except for the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies and are composed mainly of refractory rocky and metallic minerals, with some ice. They range from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres in size. Asteroids smaller than one meter are usually called meteoroids and micrometeoroids (grain-sized), with the exact division between the two categories being debated over the years. As of 2017, the IAU designates asteroids having diameter between about 30 micrometres and 1 metre as micrometeroids, and terms smaller particles "dust". The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU (340 and 490 million km; 210 and 310 million mi) from the Sun. It is thought to be remnants from the Solar System's formation that failed to coalesce because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter. The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands, possibly millions, of objects over one kilometre in diameter. Despite this, the total mass of the asteroid belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth of that of Earth. The asteroid belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely pass through without incident. #### Ceres Ceres (2.77 AU (414 million km; 257 million mi) from the Sun) is the largest asteroid, a protoplanet, and a dwarf planet. It has a diameter of slightly under 1,000 km (620 mi) and a mass large enough for its own gravity to pull it into a spherical shape. Ceres was considered a planet when it was discovered in 1801, but as further observations revealed additional asteroids, it became common to consider it as one of the minor rather than major planets. It was then reclassified again as a dwarf planet in 2006 when the IAU definition of planet was established. #### Pallas and Vesta Pallas (2.77 AU from the Sun) and Vesta (2.36 AU from the Sun) are the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt, after Ceres. They are the other two protoplanets that survive more or less intact. At about 520 km (320 mi) in diameter, they were large enough to have developed planetary geology in the past, but both have suffered large impacts and been battered out of being round. Fragments from impacts upon these two bodies survive elsewhere in the asteroid belt, as the Pallas family and Vesta family. Both were considered planets upon their discoveries in 1802 and 1807 respectively, and then like Ceres generally considered as minor planets with the discovery of more asteroids. Some authors today have begun to consider Pallas and Vesta as planets again, along with Ceres, under geophysical definitions of the term. #### Asteroid groups Asteroids in the asteroid belt are divided into asteroid groups and families based on their orbital characteristics. Kirkwood gaps are sharp dips in the distribution of asteroid orbits that correspond to orbital resonances with Jupiter. Asteroid moons are asteroids that orbit larger asteroids. They are not as clearly distinguished as planetary moons, sometimes being almost as large as their partners (e.g. that of 90 Antiope). The asteroid belt includes main-belt comets, which may have been the source of Earth's water. Jupiter trojans are located in either of Jupiter's L<sub>4</sub> or L<sub>5</sub> points (gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing a planet in its orbit); the term trojan is also used for small bodies in any other planetary or satellite Lagrange point. Hilda asteroids are in a 2:3 resonance with Jupiter; that is, they go around the Sun three times for every two Jupiter orbits. The inner Solar System contains near-Earth asteroids, many of which cross the orbits of the inner planets. Some of them are potentially hazardous objects. ## Outer Solar System The outer region of the Solar System is home to the giant planets and their large moons. The centaurs and many short-period comets also orbit in this region. Due to their greater distance from the Sun, the solid objects in the outer Solar System contain a higher proportion of volatiles, such as water, ammonia, and methane than those of the inner Solar System because the lower temperatures allow these compounds to remain solid. ### Outer planets The four outer planets, also called giant planets or Jovian planets, collectively make up 99% of the mass known to orbit the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are together more than 400 times the mass of Earth and consist overwhelmingly of the gases hydrogen and helium, hence their designation as gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are far less massive—less than 20 Earth masses () each—and are composed primarily of ices. For these reasons, some astronomers suggest they belong in their own category, ice giants. All four giant planets have rings, although only Saturn's ring system is easily observed from Earth. The term superior planet designates planets outside Earth's orbit and thus includes both the outer planets and Mars. The ring–moon systems of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are like miniature versions of the Solar System; that of Neptune is significantly different, having been disrupted by the capture of its largest moon Triton. #### Jupiter Jupiter (4.951–5.457 AU (740.7–816.4 million km; 460.2–507.3 million mi) from the Sun), at , is 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets put together. It is composed largely of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's strong internal heat creates semi-permanent features in its atmosphere, such as cloud bands and the Great Red Spot. The planet possesses a 4.2–14 Gauss strength magnetosphere that spans 22–29 million km, making it, in certain respects, the largest object in the Solar System. Jupiter has 95 known satellites. The four largest, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa, are called the Galilean moons: they show similarities to the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism and internal heating. Ganymede, the largest satellite in the Solar System, is larger than Mercury; Callisto is almost as large. #### Saturn Saturn (9.075–10.07 AU (1.3576–1.5065 billion km; 843.6–936.1 million mi) from the Sun), distinguished by its extensive ring system, has several similarities to Jupiter, such as its atmospheric composition and magnetosphere. Although Saturn has 60% of Jupiter's volume, it is less than a third as massive, at . Saturn is the only planet of the Solar System that is less dense than water. The rings of Saturn are made up of small ice and rock particles. Saturn has 145 confirmed satellites composed largely of ice. Two of these, Titan and Enceladus, show signs of geological activity; they, as well as five other Saturnian moons (Iapetus, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, and Mimas), are large enough to be round. Titan, the second-largest moon in the Solar System, is bigger than Mercury and the only satellite in the Solar System to have a substantial atmosphere. #### Uranus Uranus (18.27–20.06 AU (2.733–3.001 billion km; 1.698–1.865 billion mi) from the Sun), at , has the lowest mass of the outer planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits the Sun on its side; its axial tilt is over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. This gives the planet extreme seasonal variation as each pole points toward and then away from the Sun. It has a much colder core than the other giant planets and radiates very little heat into space. As a consequence, it has the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. Uranus has 27 known satellites, the largest ones being Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda. Like the other giant planets, it possesses a ring system and magnetosphere. #### Neptune Neptune (29.89–30.47 AU (4.471–4.558 billion km; 2.778–2.832 billion mi) from the Sun), though slightly smaller than Uranus, is more massive () and hence more dense. It radiates more internal heat than Uranus, but not as much as Jupiter or Saturn. Neptune has 14 known satellites. The largest, Triton, is geologically active, with geysers of liquid nitrogen. Triton is the only large satellite with a retrograde orbit, which indicates that it did not form with Neptune, but was probably captured from the Kuiper belt. Neptune is accompanied in its orbit by several minor planets, termed Neptune trojans, that either lead or trail the planet by about one-sixth of the way around the Sun, positions known as Lagrange points. ### Centaurs The centaurs are icy comet-like bodies whose orbits have semi-major axes greater than Jupiter's (5.5 AU (820 million km; 510 million mi)) and less than Neptune's (30 AU (4.5 billion km; 2.8 billion mi)). These are former Kuiper belt and scattered disc objects that were gravitationally perturbed closer to the Sun by the outer planets, and are expected to become comets or get ejected out of the Solar System. While most centaurs are inactive and asteroid-like, some exhibit clear cometary activity, such as the first centaur discovered, 2060 Chiron, which has been classified as a comet (95P) because it develops a coma just as comets do when they approach the Sun. The largest known centaur, 10199 Chariklo, has a diameter of about 250 km (160 mi) and is one of the only few minor planets known to possess a ring system. ## Comets Comets are small Solar System bodies, typically only a few kilometres across, composed largely of volatile ices. They have highly eccentric orbits, generally a perihelion within the orbits of the inner planets and an aphelion far beyond Pluto. When a comet enters the inner Solar System, its proximity to the Sun causes its icy surface to sublimate and ionise, creating a coma: a long tail of gas and dust often visible to the naked eye. Short-period comets have orbits lasting less than two hundred years. Long-period comets have orbits lasting thousands of years. Short-period comets are thought to originate in the Kuiper belt, whereas long-period comets, such as Hale–Bopp, are thought to originate in the Oort cloud. Many comet groups, such as the Kreutz sungrazers, formed from the breakup of a single parent. Some comets with hyperbolic orbits may originate outside the Solar System, but determining their precise orbits is difficult. Old comets whose volatiles have mostly been driven out by solar warming are often categorised as asteroids. ## Trans-Neptunian region Inside the orbit of Neptune is the planetary region of the Solar System. Beyond the orbit of Neptune lies the area of the "trans-Neptunian region", with the doughnut-shaped Kuiper belt, home of Pluto and several other dwarf planets, and an overlapping disc of scattered objects, which is tilted toward the plane of the Solar System and reaches much further out than the Kuiper belt. The entire region is still largely unexplored. It appears to consist overwhelmingly of many thousands of small worlds—the largest having a diameter only a fifth that of Earth and a mass far smaller than that of the Moon—composed mainly of rock and ice. This region is sometimes described as the "third zone of the Solar System", enclosing the inner and the outer Solar System. ### Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt is a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but consisting mainly of objects composed primarily of ice. It extends between 30 and 50 AU (4.5 and 7.5 billion km; 2.8 and 4.6 billion mi) from the Sun. It is composed mainly of small Solar System bodies, although the largest few are probably large enough to be dwarf planets. There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt objects with a diameter greater than 50 km (30 mi), but the total mass of the Kuiper belt is thought to be only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass of Earth. Many Kuiper belt objects have satellites, and most have orbits that take them outside the plane of the ecliptic. The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into the "classical" belt and the resonant trans-Neptunian objects. The latter have orbits whose periods are in a simple ratio to that of Neptune: for example, going around the Sun twice for every three times that Neptune does, or once for every two. The classical belt consists of objects having no resonance with Neptune, and extends from roughly 39.4 to 47.7 AU (5.89 to 7.14 billion km; 3.66 to 4.43 billion mi). Members of the classical Kuiper belt are sometimes called "cubewanos", after the first of their kind to be discovered, originally designated 1992 QB<sub>1</sub>; they are still in near primordial, low-eccentricity orbits. #### Pluto and Charon The dwarf planet Pluto (with an average orbit of 39 AU (5.8 billion km; 3.6 billion mi) from the Sun) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt. When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the ninth planet; this changed in 2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of planet. Pluto has a relatively eccentric orbit inclined 17 degrees to the ecliptic plane and ranging from 29.7 AU (4.44 billion km; 2.76 billion mi) from the Sun at perihelion (within the orbit of Neptune) to 49.5 AU (7.41 billion km; 4.60 billion mi) at aphelion. Pluto has a 2:3 resonance with Neptune, meaning that Pluto orbits twice round the Sun for every three Neptunian orbits. Kuiper belt objects whose orbits share this resonance are called plutinos. Charon, the largest of Pluto's moons, is sometimes described as part of a binary system with Pluto, as the two bodies orbit a barycenter of gravity above their surfaces (i.e. they appear to "orbit each other"). Beyond Charon, four much smaller moons, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra, orbit Pluto. #### Others Besides Pluto, astronomers generally agree that at least four other Kuiper belt objects are dwarf planets, and additional bodies have also been proposed: - Makemake (45.79 AU average from the Sun), although smaller than Pluto, is the largest known object in the classical Kuiper belt (that is, a Kuiper belt object not in a confirmed resonance with Neptune). Makemake is the brightest object in the Kuiper belt after Pluto. Discovered in 2005, it was officially named in 2009. Its orbit is far more inclined than Pluto's, at 29°. It has one known moon. - Haumea (43.13 AU average from the Sun) is in an orbit similar to Makemake, except that it is in a temporary 7:12 orbital resonance with Neptune. Like Makemake, it was discovered in 2005. Uniquely among the dwarf planets, Haumea possess a ring system, two known moons named Hiʻiaka and Namaka, and rotates so quickly (once every 3.9 hours) that it is stretched into an ellipsoid. It is part of a collisional family of Kuiper belt objects that share similar orbits, which suggests a giant collision took place on Haumea and ejected its fragments into space billions of years ago. - (43.69 AU average from the Sun) is the second-largest known object in the classical Kuiper belt, after Makemake. Its orbit is significantly less eccentric and inclined than those of Makemake or Haumea. It possesses a ring system and one known moon, Weywot. - (39.40 AU average from the Sun) is in the same 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune as Pluto, and is the largest such object after Pluto itself. Its eccentricity and inclination are similar to Pluto's, but its perihelion lies about 120° from that of Pluto. Thus, the phase of Orcus's orbit is opposite to Pluto's: Orcus is at aphelion (most recently in 2019) around when Pluto is at perihelion (most recently in 1989) and vice versa. For this reason, it has been called the anti-Pluto. It has one known moon, Vanth. ### Scattered disc The scattered disc, which overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends out to near 500 AU, is thought to be the source of short-period comets. Scattered-disc objects are believed to have been perturbed into erratic orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune's early outward migration. Most scattered disc objects (SDOs) have perihelia within the Kuiper belt but aphelia far beyond it (some more than 150 AU from the Sun). SDOs' orbits can also be inclined up to 46.8° from the ecliptic plane. Some astronomers consider the scattered disc to be merely another region of the Kuiper belt and describe scattered-disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects". Some astronomers also classify centaurs as inward-scattered Kuiper belt objects along with the outward-scattered residents of the scattered disc. #### Eris and Gonggong `(67.78 AU average from the Sun) is the largest known scattered disc object, and caused a debate about what constitutes a planet, because it is 25% more massive than Pluto and about the same diameter. It is the most massive of the known dwarf planets. It has one known moon, Dysnomia. Like Pluto, its orbit is highly eccentric, with a perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly Pluto's distance from the Sun) and an aphelion of 97.6 AU, and steeply inclined to the ecliptic plane at an angle of 44°.` `(67.38 AU average from the Sun) is another dwarf planet in a comparable orbit to Eris, except that it is in a 3:10 resonance with Neptune. It has one known moon, Xiangliu.` ## Farthest regions The point at which the Solar System ends and interstellar space begins is not precisely defined because its outer boundaries are shaped by two forces, the solar wind and the Sun's gravity. The limit of the solar wind's influence is roughly four times Pluto's distance from the Sun; this heliopause, the outer boundary of the heliosphere, is considered the beginning of the interstellar medium. The Sun's Hill sphere, the effective range of its gravitational dominance, is thought to extend up to a thousand times farther and encompasses the hypothetical Oort cloud. ### Edge of the heliosphere The Sun's stellar-wind bubble, the heliosphere, a region of space dominated by the Sun, has its boundary at the termination shock, which is roughly 80–100 AU from the Sun upwind of the interstellar medium and roughly 200 AU from the Sun downwind. Here the solar wind collides with the interstellar medium and dramatically slows, condenses and becomes more turbulent, forming a great oval structure known as the heliosheath. This structure has been theorized to look and behave very much like a comet's tail, extending outward for a further 40 AU on the upwind side but tailing many times that distance downwind. Evidence from the Cassini and Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft has suggested that it is forced into a bubble shape by the constraining action of the interstellar magnetic field, but the actual shape remains unknown. The outer boundary of the heliosphere, the heliopause, is the point at which the solar wind finally terminates and is the beginning of interstellar space. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath at 94 and 84 AU from the Sun, respectively. Voyager 1 was reported to have crossed the heliopause in August 2012, and Voyager 2 in December 2018. The shape and form of the outer edge of the heliosphere is likely affected by the fluid dynamics of interactions with the interstellar medium as well as solar magnetic fields prevailing to the south, e.g. it is bluntly shaped with the northern hemisphere extending 9 AU farther than the southern hemisphere. Beyond the heliopause, at around 230 AU, lies the bow shock, a plasma "wake" left by the Sun as it travels through the Milky Way. ### Detached objects `(with an average orbit of 520 AU from the Sun) is a large, reddish object with a gigantic, highly elliptical orbit that takes it from about 76 AU at perihelion to 940 AU at aphelion and takes 11,400 years to complete. Mike Brown, who discovered the object in 2003, asserts that it cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper belt because its perihelion is too distant to have been affected by Neptune's migration. He and other astronomers consider it to be the first in an entirely new population, sometimes termed "distant detached objects" (DDOs), which also may include the object , which has a perihelion of 45 AU, an aphelion of 415 AU, and an orbital period of 3,420 years. Brown terms this population the "inner Oort cloud" because it may have formed through a similar process, although it is far closer to the Sun. Sedna is very likely a dwarf planet, though its shape has yet to be determined. The second unequivocally detached object, with a perihelion farther than Sedna's at roughly 81 AU, is , discovered in 2012. Its aphelion is only about half that of Sedna's, at 458 AU.` ### Oort cloud The Oort cloud is a hypothetical spherical cloud of up to a trillion icy objects that is thought to be the source for all long-period comets and to surround the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (around 1 light-year (ly)) from the Sun, and possibly to as far as 100,000 AU (1.87 ly). It is thought to be composed of comets that were ejected from the inner Solar System by gravitational interactions with the outer planets. Oort cloud objects move very slowly, and can be perturbed by infrequent events, such as collisions, the gravitational effects of a passing star, or the galactic tide, the tidal force exerted by the Milky Way. ### Boundaries Much of the Solar System is still unknown. The Sun's gravitational field is estimated to dominate the gravitational forces of surrounding stars out to about two light-years (125,000 AU). Lower estimates for the radius of the Oort cloud, by contrast, do not place it farther than 50,000 AU. Most of the mass is orbiting in the region between 3,000 and 100,000 AU. Despite discoveries such as Sedna, the region between the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, an area tens of thousands of AU in radius, is still virtually unmapped. Learning about this region of space is difficult, because it depends upon inferences from those few objects whose orbits happen to be perturbed such that they fall closer to the Sun, and even then, detecting these objects has often been possible only when they happened to become bright enough to register as comets. Objects may yet be discovered in the Solar System's uncharted regions. The furthest known objects, such as Comet West, have aphelia around 70,000 AU from the Sun. ## Galactic context The Solar System is located in the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 100,000 light-years containing more than 100 billion stars. The Sun resides in one of the Milky Way's outer spiral arms, known as the Orion–Cygnus Arm or Local Spur. The Sun lies about 26,660 light-years from the Galactic Center (where the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A\* is located), and its speed around the center of the Milky Way is about 220 km/s, so that it completes one revolution every 240 million years. This revolution is known as the Solar System's galactic year. The solar apex, the direction of the Sun's path through interstellar space, is near the constellation Hercules in the direction of the current location of the bright star Vega. The plane of the ecliptic lies at an angle of about 60° to the galactic plane. The Solar System's location in the Milky Way is a factor in the evolutionary history of life on Earth. Its orbit is close to circular, and orbits near the Sun are at roughly the same speed as that of the spiral arms. Therefore, the Sun passes through arms only rarely. Because spiral arms are home to a far larger concentration of supernovae, gravitational instabilities, and radiation that could disrupt the Solar System, this has given Earth long periods of stability for life to evolve. However, the changing position of the Solar System relative to other parts of the Milky Way could explain periodic extinction events on Earth, according to the Shiva hypothesis or related theories, but this remains controversial. The Solar System lies well outside the star-crowded environs of the Galactic Center. Near the center, gravitational tugs from nearby stars could perturb bodies in the Oort cloud and send many comets into the inner Solar System, producing collisions with potentially catastrophic implications for life on Earth. The intense radiation of the Galactic Center could also interfere with the development of complex life. Stellar flybys that pass within 0.8 light-years of the Sun occur roughly once every 100,000 years. The closest well-measured approach was Scholz's Star, which approached to 52+23 −14 kAU of the Sun some 70+15 −10 kya, likely passing through the outer Oort cloud. ### Celestial neighborhood The Solar System is surrounded by the Local Interstellar Cloud, although it is not clear if it is embedded in the Local Interstellar Cloud or if it lies just outside the cloud's edge. Multiple other interstellar clouds also exist in the region within 300 light-years of the Sun, known as the Local Bubble. The latter feature is an hourglass-shaped cavity or superbubble in the interstellar medium roughly 300 light-years across. The bubble is suffused with high-temperature plasma, suggesting that it may be the product of several recent supernovae. The Local Bubble is a small superbubble compared to the neighboring wider Radcliffe Wave and Split linear structures (formerly Gould Belt), each of which are some thousands of light-years in length. All these structures are part of the Orion Arm, which contains most of the stars in the Milky Way that are visible to the unaided eye. The density of all matter in the local neighborhood is 0.097±0.013 M<sub>☉</sub>·pc<sup>−3</sup>. Within ten light-years of the Sun there are relatively few stars, the closest being the triple star system Alpha Centauri, which is about 4.4 light-years away and may be in the Local Bubble's G-Cloud. Alpha Centauri A and B are a closely tied pair of Sun-like stars, whereas the closest star to Earth, the small red dwarf Proxima Centauri, orbits the pair at a distance of 0.2 light-year. In 2016, a potentially habitable exoplanet was found to be orbiting Proxima Centauri, called Proxima Centauri b, the closest confirmed exoplanet to the Sun. The next closest known fusors to the Sun are the red dwarfs Barnard's Star (at 5.9 ly), Wolf 359 (7.8 ly), and Lalande 21185 (8.3 ly). The nearest brown dwarfs belong to the binary Luhman 16 system (6.6 ly), and the closest known rogue or free-floating planetary-mass object at less than 10 Jupiter masses is the sub-brown dwarf WISE 0855−0714 (7.4 ly). Just beyond at 8.6 ly lies Sirius, the brightest star in Earth's night sky, with roughly twice the Sun's mass, orbited by the closest white dwarf to Earth, Sirius B. Other stars within ten light-years are the binary red-dwarf system Luyten 726-8 (8.7 ly) and the solitary red dwarf Ross 154 (9.7 ly). The closest solitary Sun-like star to the Solar System is Tau Ceti at 11.9 light-years. It has roughly 80% of the Sun's mass but only about half of its luminosity. The nearest and unaided-visible group of stars beyond the immediate celestial neighborhood is the Ursa Major Moving Group at roughly 80 light-years, which is within the Local Bubble, like the nearest as well as unaided-visible star cluster the Hyades, which lie at its edge. The closest star-forming regions are the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud, the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and the Taurus molecular cloud; the latter lies just beyond the Local Bubble and is part of the Radcliffe wave. ### Comparison with extrasolar systems Compared to many extrasolar systems, the Solar System stands out in lacking planets interior to the orbit of Mercury. The known Solar System also lacks super-Earths, planets between one and ten times as massive as the Earth, although the hypothetical Planet Nine, if it does exist, could be a super-Earth beyond the Solar System as we understand it today. Uncommonly, it has only small rocky planets and large gas giants; elsewhere planets of intermediate size are typical—both rocky and gas—so there is no "gap" as seen between the size of Earth and of Neptune (with a radius 3.8 times as large). As many of these super-Earths are closer to their respective stars than Mercury is to the sun, a hypothesis has arisen that all planetary systems start with many close-in planets, and that typically a sequence of their collisions causes consolidation of mass into few larger planets, but in case of the Solar System the collisions caused their destruction and ejection. The orbits of Solar System planets are nearly circular. Compared to other systems, they have smaller orbital eccentricity. Although there are attempts to explain it partly with a bias in the radial-velocity detection method and partly with long interactions of a quite high number of planets, the exact causes remain undetermined. ## Humanity's perspective Humanity's knowledge of the Solar System has grown incrementally over the centuries. Up to the Late Middle Ages–Renaissance, astronomers from Europe to India believed Earth to be stationary at the center of the universe and categorically different from the divine or ethereal objects that moved through the sky. Although the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos had speculated on a heliocentric reordering of the cosmos, Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person known to have developed a mathematically predictive heliocentric system. Heliocentrism did not triumph immediately over geocentrism, but the work of Copernicus had its champions, notably Johannes Kepler. Using a heliocentric model that improved upon Copernicus by allowing orbits to be elliptical as well as circular, and the precise observational data of Tycho Brahe, Kepler produced the Rudolphine Tables, which enabled accurate computations of the positions of the then-known planets. Pierre Gassendi used them to predict a transit of Mercury in 1631, and Jeremiah Horrocks did the same for a transit of Venus in 1639. This provided a strong vindication of heliocentrism and Kepler's elliptical orbits. In the 17th century, Galileo publicized the use of the telescope in astronomy; he and Simon Marius independently discovered that Jupiter had four satellites in orbit around it. Christiaan Huygens followed on from these observations by discovering Saturn's moon Titan and the shape of the rings of Saturn. In 1677, Edmond Halley observed a transit of Mercury across the Sun, leading him to realize that observations of the solar parallax of a planet (more ideally using the transit of Venus) could be used to trigonometrically determine the distances between Earth, Venus, and the Sun. Halley's friend Isaac Newton, in his magisterial Principia Mathematica of 1687, demonstrated that celestial bodies are not quintessentially different from Earthly ones: the same laws of motion and of gravity apply on Earth and in the skies. The term "Solar System" entered the English language by 1704, when John Locke used it to refer to the Sun, planets, and comets. In 1705, Halley realized that repeated sightings of a comet were of the same object, returning regularly once every 75–76 years. This was the first evidence that anything other than the planets repeatedly orbited the Sun, though Seneca had theorized this about comets in the 1st century. Careful observations of the 1769 transit of Venus allowed astronomers to calculate the average Earth–Sun distance as 93,726,900 miles (150,838,800 km), only 0.8% greater than the modern value. Uranus, having occasionally been observed since antiquity, was recognized to be a planet orbiting beyond Saturn by 1783. In 1838, Friedrich Bessel successfully measured a stellar parallax, an apparent shift in the position of a star created by Earth's motion around the Sun, providing the first direct, experimental proof of heliocentrism. Neptune was identified as a planet some years later, in 1846, thanks to its gravitational pull causing a slight but detectable variation in the orbit of Uranus. In the 20th century, humans began their space exploration around the Solar System, starting with placing telescopes in space. Since then, humans have landed on the Moon during the Apollo program; the Apollo 13 mission marked the furthest any human has been away from Earth at 400,171 kilometers (248,655 mi). All eight planets have been visited by space probes. This began with Pioneer 10's encounter with Jupiter, and Pioneer 11's encounter with Saturn. The remaining gas giants were first visited by the Voyager spacecraft, one of which (Voyager 1) is the furthest object made by humankind and the first in interstellar space. In addition, probes have also returned samples from comets and asteroids, as well as flown through the Sun's corona and made fly-bys of Kuiper belt objects. Six of the planets (all but Uranus and Neptune) have or had a dedicated orbiter. ## See also - List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System - List of Solar System objects by size - Lists of geological features of the Solar System - List of Solar System extremes - Outline of the Solar System
62,609,355	History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II	1,152,255,785	Ghetto in Poland	[ "1941 establishments in Poland", "1942 disestablishments in Poland", "Ghettos in Lublin District", "Luftwaffe bases", "Ryki County", "War crimes of the Wehrmacht" ]	Thousands of Jews lived in the towns of Dęblin and Irena [pl] in central Poland before World War II; Irena was the site of the Polish Air Force Academy from 1927. In September 1939, the town was captured during the German invasion of Poland and the persecution of Jews began with drafts into forced labor and the establishment of a Judenrat ("Jewish Council"). A ghetto was established in Irena in November 1940. It initially consisted of six streets and was an open ghetto (the Jews were not allowed to leave without permission, but non-Jews could enter). Many ghetto inhabitants worked on labor projects for Dęblin Fortress (a German Army base), the railway, and the Luftwaffe. Beginning in May 1941, Jews were sent to labor camps around Dęblin from the Opole and Warsaw ghettos. Conditions in the ghetto worsened in late 1941 due to increased German restrictions on ghetto inhabitants and epidemics of typhus and dysentery. The first deportation was on 6 May 1942 and took around 2,500 Jews to Sobibór extermination camp. A week later, two thousand Jews arrived from Slovakia and hundreds more from nearby ghettos that had been liquidated. In October that same year, the Irena ghetto was liquidated; about 2,500 Jews were deported to Treblinka extermination camp while some 1,400 Jews were retained as inmates of forced-labor camps in the town. Unusually, the labor camp operated by the Luftwaffe—employing, at its peak, about a thousand Jews—was allowed to exist until 22 July 1944, less than a week before the area was captured by the Red Army. One of the last Jewish labor camps in the Lublin District, it enabled hundreds of Jews to survive the Holocaust. Some survivors who returned home were met with hostility, and several were murdered; all left by 1947. ## Background Dęblin and Irena [pl] (Yiddish: מאדזשיץ, Modzhitz) are located 70 kilometers (40 mi) northwest of Lublin in Poland, at the confluence of the Vistula and Wieprz rivers and at an important junction on the Lublin–Warsaw rail line. Local Jews supported the January Uprising in 1863. By the end of the nineteenth century, the area was a center of Hasidic Judaism; most Jews followed the Modzitz dynasty, named after the town of Irena, and there were also Gur Hasidim. Modzitz Rebbe Yisrael Taub settled in the town in 1889. Other Jews were Bundists or Zionists. Many Jews made their living as peddlers, shopkeepers, or artisans (especially in leatherwork and metalwork) and later participated in the development of the town as a summer resort. In 1927, the civilian population of Dęblin and Irena was 4,860, including 3,060 Jews. Beginning in 1927, Dęblin housed the Polish Air Force Academy, whose airfield was one of the largest in Poland. In 1936 and 1937, there were some incidents in which non-Jewish merchants vandalized their Jewish competitors' shops. ## German invasion During the German invasion of Poland which started World War II in Europe, the Luftwaffe bombed Dęblin between 2 and 7 September 1939, targeting the military airfield, Polish Army ammunition stores, and a nearby bridge over the Vistula. Most Polish soldiers left the town on 7 September; on 11 September the remaining Polish forces detonated the ammunition and withdrew. The German Army arrived on 12 or 20 September. Many residents, both Jews and other residents of the area, had fled to escape the aerial bombardment. In the following weeks, most returned at the urging of the Germans. The Jews found that their properties had been ransacked and plundered. They were conscripted into forced-labor units that cleared up the bomb damage and repaired some of the buildings, and the Jewish community was forced to pay a fine of 20,000 zlotys. During the German occupation, Dęblin and Irena became part of the Lublin District of the General Governorate occupation region. In late 1939, Jews were required to wear armbands with the Star of David, and some were conscripted for forced labor in Janiszów, Bełżec, and Pawłowice. At the end of the year, the German occupiers forced Jews to form a Judenrat ("Jewish Council"), as an interface between the Jewish community and Nazi demands. The Judenrat was formed later than others in the region and had its offices on Bankowa Street. The first Judenrat officials worked to reduce the impact of German demands and warned residents of searches. According to the Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, the first chair of the Judenrat, Leizer Teichman, was dismissed in early 1941; survivors reported that he and his secretary were deported to Wąwolnica with their families after trying to bribe policemen. The Judenrat was run temporarily by Kalman Fris, who resigned after a few months and was replaced by Vevel Shulman in August and then a Konin native named Drayfish in September 1941. According to Israeli historian David Silberklang, "Szymon Drabfisz" was the first chair and Teichman the second. ## Ghetto A Nazi ghetto was established in Irena in November 1940 or early 1941, probably on the orders of Kurt Lenk, the region's new land commissioner. Some Jews were forced to move from their homes to the ghetto. The motive was probably to keep Jews away from the two nearby military installations, a Luftwaffe airfield and a German Army base, which were filled with troops in preparation for the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. The decree establishing the ghetto was not formally issued until 1942. Until 1942, Irena was an open ghetto (there was no physical fence, although the penalty for unauthorized departure was death) consisting of six streets. Its boundaries were initially Okólna Street, the Irenka River, Bankowa, and Staromiejska Streets. Staromiejska Street was removed from the ghetto in September 1942; its residents moved to Bankowa. Initially, non-Jews were allowed to enter and perhaps live in the ghetto, so many of the Jews were able to survive by trading material goods for food with them. A Polish-language secular school, run by Aida Milgroijm-Citronbojm, instructed 70 to 100 pupils. The Jewish Ghetto Police maintained order in the ghetto, and on the outside it was guarded by a Sonderdienst ("Special Services") unit consisting of local Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police. The Sonderdienst unit was known for beating, humiliating, and killing ghetto inmates. In late 1941, non-Jewish Poles were banned from entering the ghetto, resulting in waste piling up and typhus and dysentery epidemics. The sick were treated at a thirty-bed hospital run by Isaar Kawa, a doctor from Konin; with the help of non-Jewish doctors, medicines were imported from Warsaw. Simultaneously, new restrictions were imposed by the Germans: the use of stoves was banned, winter clothing confiscated, and fuel imports forbidden. More Jews began to leave the ghetto to obtain essentials, resulting in twenty young women being discovered outside the ghetto and killed. Because conditions were better in Lublin District than in Warsaw, some Jews fled to towns there including Irena; twenty Jews were executed for being unregistered refugees. The Judenrat's leadership was altered again as Drayfish was executed, accused of filing complaints with the Puławy County administration; he was replaced by the businessman Yisrael Weinberg. In March 1941, 3,750 Jews lived in the ghetto, including 565 who were not from the area. These consisted mainly of Jews expelled from Puławy and the German-annexed Reichsgau Wartheland, as well as some Jews who had come to live with relatives to avoid being trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto. Overcrowding was severe; there were 7–15 people per room. More Jews arrived in May 1941: 1,000 from the ghettos at Warsaw, Częstochowa, and Opole, although they were not housed in the ghetto but at work sites in the area. On 13 and 14 May 1942, two transports totalling 2,042 Slovak Jews arrived from Prešov. Although they brought food with them, they were unused to the harsh conditions and many died of typhus due to the poor sanitation. More than 2,000 Jews were brought to Irena from nearby towns, having survived the liquidation of their communities because they had been selected to work. These included 300 people from Ryki, 300 from Gniewoszów and Zwoleń, and a group from Stężyca. Other Jews had entered the ghetto after escaping roundups in Baranów, Ryki, Gniewoszów, and Adamów (from early October). In August, 5,800 Jews were reported to be living in the ghetto, of whom only 1,800 were from Dęblin. ## Forced labor Until late 1942, Jews earned wages as forced laborers, except those who were conscripted by the municipality for tasks such as street cleaning or snow clearing. Some Jews worked for German companies such as Schwartz and Hochtief, contracted by the Wehrmacht to do construction on the military bases in the town. The Ostbahn contracted Schultz to improve the railway between Lublin and Warsaw, a project which employed 300 Jews beginning in June 1941. Working conditions at this site were very harsh with Jews forced to work twelve hours each day. However, most Jews worked for the German Army or the Luftwaffe; women and children grew food for the military. Dęblin Fortress, which had been taken over by the German Army and where around 200 Jews from the ghetto worked, was the site of Stalag 307, a camp for Soviet prisoners of war, from 10 July 1941. An estimated 80,000 Soviet prisoners were imprisoned there; all died within a few months of starvation and disease. The Jews who worked there saw prisoners held in worse conditions than their own. The Jews from Dęblin and Irena tried to take the best jobs; 200 of the Slovak deportees ended up working for the municipality. An additional 200 of the Slovaks worked for the Schultz firm following an expansion. Survivors recalled that although German soldiers supervising the forced laborers tended to treat them relatively well, some ethnic Polish supervisors beat Jews, and the Ukrainian guards at the railway project were especially harsh, threatening prisoners with death. In May 1941, in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe commissioned the firm Autheried to improve the airfield. They recruited 200 Jewish workers in Opole, many of whom were Austrian Jews who had been deported from Vienna in February 1941 and wanted to escape the harsh conditions in Opole. These Jews, as well as another four hundred recruited in Irena and the Lipowa 7 camp in Lublin, and 500 ethnic Polish workers, worked twelve hours a day levelling the runway and building roads, walls, air-raid shelters, and earth fortifications. They also built a barbed-wire-enclosed complex adjacent to the runway for craftsmen to work in. Following the completion of the project in October, the workers were dispersed to various projects around the town, an action which may have been related to the typhus epidemic. Some of the Jews from Vienna stayed at the airfield, having obtained permits to work on gravel transportation and building fuel tanks; they were the nucleus for the later labor camp. After the first deportation from the Irena ghetto on 6 May 1942, additional Jews tried to secure permits, often obtained through bribery, to avoid deportation. By October 1942, the camp had 543 legal residents. At this point there were five forced-labor camps around Dęblin: the Luftwaffe camp, the fortress, the train station (300 Jews), Lipova Street (200 Jews and ethnic Poles), and another near the municipal boundary (300 Jews). ## Deportation, murder, and liquidation ### First deportation The first deportation was on 6 May 1942, to clear space for the Slovak deportees who arrived a week later. A force composed of German and Ukrainian police and a few German SS and Ukrainian SS auxiliaries ordered Jews to assemble in the main square at 09:00. According to Yad Vashem, the Blue Police also participated. Probably because the Luftwaffe was seeking permission to recruit more laborers, the Jews had to wait for five hours. At 14:00, 1,000 Jews who already had work assignments were separated, and local employers began recruiting an additional 200–500 Jews. Forty or fifty people were killed trying to cross over to the working group. Around 2,300 to 2,500 Jews from Dęblin—mainly the elderly and families with small children—were marched to the Dęblin train station (some 2.5 km (1.6 mi) away) at 18:00 and sent to Sobibór extermination camp. The victims were beaten, and those who could not keep up were shot. Only late in the night were the Jews selected for labor allowed to return home. Every family was affected. After the deportation, the bodies of the dead were collected at the synagogue and removed from the ghetto in carts. During the next two days, more than four thousand Jews from north Puławy County—200 from Bobrowniki (6 May), 1,800 from Ryki (7 May), 125 from Stężyca (7 May), 1,500 from Baranów (8 May) and 500 from Łysobyki (8 May)—were also marched to Dęblin and deported to Sobibór. This was half of a countywide extermination action in Puławy County—the first in a series of systematic, countywide deportations in the Lublin District as part of Operation Reinhard. The county's administrator, Alfred Brandt [de] ordered it shortly after Sobibór became operational; he was present in Dęblin during the deportation. ### Second deportation The next deportation, which coincided with the liquidation of the two remaining ghettos in Puławy (Opole and Końskowola), took place on 15 October 1942; the previous day, all workers had been ordered to remain at their workplaces. Under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Grossman, gendarmes, Luftwaffe soldiers, and police auxiliaries rounded up the remaining Jewish population. Many Jews tried to avoid the roundup and enter the Luftwaffe camp, which at that time had 543 official residents. Some were turned away by the Jewish police there. Israeli historian Talia Farkash estimates that about 500, including 60–90 young children, managed to get in, mostly by paying bribes. Silberklang's estimate is that 1,000 Jews entered the camp, including 280 women and 100 children. The Jewish elder, Hermann Wenkert, later claimed that if he had allowed non-registered Jews entry, and they were discovered, everyone in the camp would have been killed. Instead, he bribed the Germans to obtain legal permits for an additional 400 Jews, which were mostly given to the wives and children of current residents. Many of the Slovak Jews, not knowing what to expect, had lingered in the ghetto while packing their bags. About 215 to 500 Jews were shot and killed by the Ukrainians and Germans while the houses were being cleared. Between 2,000 and 2,500 people were deported to Treblinka extermination camp; mostly the Slovaks. Members of the Judenrat, Jewish police, and their families, about 100 in total, were retained to clean up the ghetto. Perhaps another 100 Jews were hiding without permission in the ghetto. On 28 October, the remaining Jews were sent to the Schultz labor camp, and the ghetto was officially liquidated. Either on that day or within the next few weeks, 1,000 people were removed from the labor camps, including the 200 workers at Dęblin Fortress and 200 to 500 of the Luftwaffe's workers. They were deported to Końskowola or Treblinka. After this, Farkash estimates that there were about 1,400 Jews were still alive in the labor camps around Irena. Estimates of the number at the Luftwaffe camp range from 1,000 to 2,000, with another 300 at a railway camp near the passenger station, and 120 at another camp near the railway loading station. During May or July 1943, most of the remaining prisoners in the railway camps were deported to Poniatowa concentration camp via the transit ghetto in Końskowola; the rest were deported in late 1943. Hundreds of Jews were still alive in the remaining labor camps in Puławy County, but they were murdered during Operation Harvest Festival (2–3 November 1943). This operation also killed the prisoners of Poniatowa but did not affect the Jews at the Luftwaffe camp in Irena, who were unaware of it. Following Operation Harvest Festival, there were ten labor camps for Jews in the Lublin District with more than 10,000 Jews still alive. ## Luftwaffe camp ### Camp leader The camp leader (German: Lagerälteste) at the Luftwaffe camp was Hermann Wenkert, a Jewish lawyer from Vienna who had been deported to Opole in 1941 and came to Irena with the volunteers. According to Wenkert's account, soon after his arrival he happened upon Eduard Bromofsky, an Austrian Luftwaffe officer with whom Wenkert had served during World War I. Bromofsky convinced the commander of the camp to promote Wenkert to his position. Even after Bromofsky was reassigned, the relationships that Wenkert had cultivated with the German authorities enabled him to retain his position. Wenkert populated the administration with other Viennese Jews, insisted on extra rations for himself and his family, and had his family transferred from Opole to Irena. Because of his close association with the German authorities and use of his position for personal benefit, some survivors considered him to be a collaborator. When it was possible, Wenkert negotiated with the authorities and paid bribes to avoid punishment; he also consulted respected prisoners in cases where the matter had not come to German attention. However, when he thought there was no other option and the survival of the camp was in the balance, Wenkert turned Jews accused of wrongdoing over to the Germans even though he knew that this would result in their deaths. In general, German-speaking Jews had a more positive impression of him than the local Jews, who spoke Yiddish. According to Silberklang, both views of Wenkert may be true: that he tried to secure benefits for himself personally while also working to keep the other Jewish prisoners alive. ### Conditions Conditions were relatively good compared to other camps. Residents received food rations of about 1,700 kilocalories daily (enough to live), weekly baths, and medical care, and were allowed to practice their religion. The presence of 100 young children—whose existence was justified as increasing the productivity of their parents—was particularly unusual and not matched elsewhere in the Lublin District after Operation Harvest Festival. Aida Milgroijm-Citronbojm continued the Polish-language school that she had run in the ghetto. The SS, who did not know about the children's existence, periodically conducted surprise inspections of the camp, during which the children had to hide. According to Farkash, Wenkert's positive relationship with the camp command was partially responsible for the good conditions. Wenkert managed to get religious Jews exempted from working on Shabbat and allowed a chevra kadisha society to operate, burying the dead according to Jewish law. In 1943, about 80 Jews (including Wenkert) received kosher food for the week of Passover. The camp had three German commanders, all at the rank of sergeant major: Kattengel (through March 1943), Dusy, and Rademacher (during the last two months). Although Kattengel was distrusted because he roamed the camp with a dog and whip, both Dusy and Rademacher were described positively by survivors. Dusy even arranged for one woman to receive treatment at a German hospital after she was badly injured. Wiszniewski, a local Volksdeutscher, was the lead foreman of the Jewish laborers and did not mistreat them. Autheried engineer Kozak brought food to the Jews he worked with. The Slovak Jews at the camp were the last major group to survive of the almost 40,000 Slovak Jews deported to the Lublin District in 1942. The Jews remaining in Prešov hired couriers (non-Jews from the Polish–Slovak border) to travel to the camp regularly until it was dissolved, carrying letters and bringing valuables and money. A committee was formed in the camp to distribute these among the Slovak Jews. Cases of theft by Polish Jews led to friction between the two communities. Despite the relatively good conditions, some Jews tried to escape because they feared that the camp would be liquidated. The Luftwaffe camp command imposed collective punishment to deter escapees. Both theft and possessing foreign currency were punishable by hanging. Punishment could be excessive and arbitrary—nine Jews were executed by firing squad for causing an accidental fire—but less so than other Nazi camps. Reports of the Home Army from that time often described the local ethnic Polish population as hostile to "Jewish bands" which stole food and resources from Polish peasants; said reports, according to Zimmerman, therefore can be seen as reflecting "the eerie distance of mere observers". According to Farkash, in 1943, Wenkert allowed a group of Jewish partisans seeking refuge from a hostile unit of the Polish Home Army resistance group into the camp. Most Jews who tried to escape were captured, and others returned to the camp. Several members of the Kowalczyk peasant family were honored as Righteous Among the Nations for sheltering nine Jews who had escaped from the Łuków ghetto and the Dęblin camp on their farm in Rozłąki [pl], from late 1943 to mid-1944. Árpád Szabó, a Hungarian military doctor, was similarly recognized for smuggling a Slovak Jewish couple from the camp to Hungary. ### Liquidation The camp was liquidated on 22 July 1944, the same day that the Red Army reached Lublin. At the time of the deportation, some 800 to 900 Jews were still alive, of whom 400 to 600 were from Dęblin or Irena, 40 from Vienna, and 70 to 80 from Slovakia. Two or three transports departed from Irena on 17 and 22 July. (Silberklang reports a third on 20 July). Since no one was willing to volunteer, the first transport carried about 200 people who had few connections in the camp, including single adults and fifteen children between three and six years of age. On the orders of camp security officer Georg Bartenschlager, the fifteen children were shot and killed upon their arrival in Częstochowa. The rest of the prisoners, including Wenkert and 33 young children, departed on the second transport with Rademacher, the German camp commander, who carried a letter of protection from the airfield commander. About fifty Jews escaped from the camp during the evacuation, but most were killed. The second transport arrived in Częstochowa on 25 July; the young children were kept separated for two and a half days but were not killed. The reason for this is not clear, but likely involved negotiations with Bartenschlager. In Częstochowa, the Jews worked at the four Hugo Schneider AG plants. Some were deported to Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen in January 1945 while others were liberated by the Red Army. About half survived. According to Farkash, the airfield camp in Irena is a "singular case" in the Lublin district and possibly in the entirety of occupied Poland. One unusual aspect of the camp was that it was run from start to finish by the Luftwaffe rather than the SS, although during 1943 and 1944, the SS tried to expand its role. According to Silberklang, being run by the Wehrmacht helped to ensure the camp's survival. However, other camps (such as three in Zamość county) were run by the Luftwaffe and were still liquidated before the end of 1943. Another reason was the importance of Jewish workers at Dęblin to the German war effort, which was continually emphasized by Wenkert in his dealings with the Germans. Overall, luck played a major role in the fortuitous combination of Jewish leadership, relatively friendly Germans, and the evacuation of the camp to Częstochowa rather than Auschwitz-Birkenau. Ninety-nine percent of the Jews from Lublin District were killed in the Holocaust, but hundreds from Dęblin and Irena survived the war. ## Aftermath Dęblin was liberated by the 1st Polish Army by 27 July 1944. In 1945, Alfred Brandt was convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes by a Soviet military tribunal near Słupsk and executed by firing squad. Some of the Jewish survivors, who attempted to return home in January 1945, were told by the local Milicja Obywatelska police chief that it was illegal for them to settle in the town. In March 1945, survivors Łaja, Gitla and Fryda Luksemburg were murdered with the involvement of local police. Other Jews received threatening letters. Following the 1946 Kielce pogrom, a meeting in Dęblin was held to commemorate the victims. Locals interrupted the meeting with anti-semitic slogans. By 1947, no Jews remained in the town, which is still the case in the twenty-first century. As of 2011, the Dęblin Synagogue [pl] was in poor condition and being considered for demolition. A memorial plaque about the Irena ghetto was unveiled in Dęblin in 2015. Ignaz Bubis, a former prisoner of the ghetto, was the chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany from 1992 to 1999.
28,015,430	Miniopterus griveaudi	1,170,236,026	Bat in the family Miniopteridae from the Comoros and Madagascar	[ "Bats of Africa", "Mammals described in 1959", "Miniopteridae" ]	Miniopterus griveaudi is a bat in the genus Miniopterus found on Grande Comore and Anjouan in the Comoros and in northern and western Madagascar. First described in 1959 from Grande Comore as a subspecies of the mainland African M. minor, it was later placed with the Malagasy M. manavi. However, morphological and molecular studies published in 2008 and 2009 indicated that M. manavi as then defined contained five distinct, unrelated species, and M. griveaudi was redefined as a species occurring on both Madagascar and the Comoros. With a forearm length of 35 to 38 mm (1.4 to 1.5 in), M. griveaudi is a small Miniopterus. It is usually dark brown, but sometimes reddish. The tragus (a projection inside the ear) is narrow and ends in a rounded tip. The uropatagium (tail membrane) appears virtually naked. In the skull, the palate is concave and the rostrum (front part) is rounded. The species occurs up to 480 m (1,570 ft) above sea level on Madagascar, often in karstic areas. In the Comoros, it reaches 890 m (2,920 ft) and roosts in lava tubes as well as shallower caves. Females collected on Grande Comore in November were pregnant, but data on reproduction is limited and suggests individual and inter-island variation. ## Taxonomy In 1959, David Harrison described a small Miniopterus from the island of Grande Comore as a subspecies, Miniopterus minor griveaudi, of the mainland African species M. minor. The name griveaudi honors Paul Griveaud, who collected the specimens on which Harrison based his description. This classification remained for the next few decades; in 1992, for example, Javier Juste and Carlos Ibáñez recognized five subspecies, including griveaudi, within M. minor, ranging from São Tomé to Madagascar. In their 1995 review of Madagascar bats, Randolph Peterson and colleagues recognized the small Malagasy Miniopterus as a separate species, Miniopterus manavi, with griveaudi as a subspecies. In 2007, Juste and colleagues re-examined the relationships of the M. minor group using DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene. They found that griveaudi from Grande Comoro, manavi from Madagascar, and M. minor newtoni (currently Miniopterus newtoni) from São Tomé were not closely related; however, the representatives of "manavi" used in their study were misidentified specimens of M. majori. In another molecular study, published in 2008 and using both cyt b and mitochondrial D-loop sequences, Nicole Weyeneth and colleagues found that examined specimens of "Miniopterus manavi" actually grouped in two, distantly related clades—one including specimens from Madagascar, Anjouan, and Grande Comore, and the other occurring on Madagascar and Anjouan only. The next year, Steven Goodman and colleagues further explored the relationships of the bats known as "Miniopterus manavi" using cyt b sequences and morphological comparisons. They found five species within "M. manavi", which are not each other's closest relatives, forming an example of convergent evolution. Up to four species of the group may occur in a single locality. Miniopterus griveaudi, now recognized as a full species, was found to occur on Grande Comore, Anjouan, and northern and western Madagascar, and M. manavi was restricted to the eastern margin of Madagascar's Central Highlands. Three other species were newly described: Miniopterus aelleni on Anjouan and in northern and western Madagascar; Miniopterus brachytragos in northern and western Madagascar only; and Miniopterus mahafaliensis in southwestern Madagascar. Cyt b sequences suggest that M. griveaudi occupies an isolated position among African and Malagasy Miniopterus. ## Description Miniopterus griveaudi is a small, dark brown Miniopterus species. M. aelleni is similar in color, but M. manavi is darker and M. brachytragos and M. mahafaliensis are lighter. The upperparts are occasionally reddish brown; this color variant occurs more often in the Comoro populations than on Madagascar. In the Comoros, individual colonies or groups sometimes consist exclusively of one color variant, but there is no apparent genetic differentiation between the two forms. The head is usually somewhat lighter than the body and the hairs of the underparts have buffish tips. The tragus (a projection on the inner side of the outer ear) is straight and narrow and ends in a rounded tip. Other species have differently shaped tragi. The wing membrane is also brown, but the uropatagium (tail membrane) is lighter. The wing membrane and uropatagium are attached to the upper leg at the same level, near the ankle. The uropatagium is sparsely covered with thin hairs that are virtually invisible to the naked eye. In contrast, M. manavi, M. mahafaliensis, and M. brachytragos have densely covered uropatagia and that of M. aelleni is sparsely, but visibly haired. There are some differences in measurements among the island populations; animals from Grande Comore are generally smallest, those from Anjouan are intermediate, and those from Madagascar are largest. The animal has a karyotype of 46 chromosomes, with a total of 50 major arms on the autosomes (non-sex chromosomes). The X chromosome is submetacentric (with one arm slightly longer than the other) and the Y chromosome is small and acrocentric (with one very short and one long arm). The karyotype is conserved among species of Miniopterus; the number of chromosomes and arms is identical in M. griveaudi, the Malagasy M. aelleni and M. gleni, and even the Asian M. fuliginosus. In the skull, the rostrum (front part) is rounded. The central groove in the nasal depression (the lowered area at the nose) is relatively broad in comparison to M. manavi. The frontal bones (part of the skull roof) bear a well-developed sagittal crest (a crest that provides support for muscles of the head). Further back on the braincase, the lambdoid crest (another such crest) is also prominent. The middle part of the palate is concave, as in M. brachytragos and M. mahafaliensis, but unlike in M. aelleni and M. manavi, which have a flat palate. At the palate's back margin is a long, robust posterior palatal spine. ## Distribution and ecology On Madagascar, the distribution of M. griveaudi extends along the western lowlands north to Ankarana in the far north of the island, and on eastern Madagascar south to the vicinity of Daraina. It is found up to 480 m (1,570 ft) above sea level and often occurs in karstic areas. Its range extensively overlaps that of M. aelleni, which is regularly found in the same forests and caves. Although some ecological and behavioral data has been published on "Miniopterus manavi", the recognition of several cryptic species within this group, which may occur in the same places, renders the association of these data with any of the species now recognized uncertain; however, species of Miniopterus generally feed on insects. Miniopterus griveaudi was assessed as "Data Deficient" on the IUCN Red List in 2008, but the account predates the recognition of the species on Anjouan and Madagascar. Miniopterus griveaudi is known from 15 to 670 m (49 to 2,198 ft) altitude on Grande Comore and 5 to 890 m (16 to 2,920 ft) on Anjouan. In the Comoros, it roosts in caves, both lava tubes and shallower structures; it was found to share one cave on Grande Comore with another bat, Rousettus obliviosus. Individuals of M. griveaudi have been found to leave a Grande Comore cave at sunset. Flying M. griveaudi have mostly been recorded in forests, but this may reflect a lack of survey effort in open areas. In caves, individuals either group in large groups of more than 50 bats without reproductive activity or in smaller groups of at most five reproductively active bats. Limited data on reproduction show some notable variation between individuals and islands. In two caves surveyed on Grande Comore in November 2006, all females were pregnant with single embryos with crown-rump lengths of 14 to 19 mm (0.55 to 0.75 in), but none of the males were reproductively active. In another cave, none of the bats examined at the same time—all males—were reproductively active. None of the bats captured in one of the caves in April 2007 showed signs of reproductive activity. On Anjouan, no bats were reproductively active in two caves surveyed in late November 2006. Although specimens of M. griveaudi differ by only 0.6% in their cyt b sequences, analysis of D-loop data does show some differentiation between the island populations. These data suggest that the species originated on Madagascar, where a large, stable population persists, and independently colonized Grande Comore and Anjouan; subsequently, the Grande Comore and Anjouan populations came into contact, resulting in inter-island gene flow.
4,749,922	Youngstown Ohio Works	1,128,950,696	US baseball team	[ "1902 establishments in Ohio", "1907 disestablishments in Ohio", "Baseball teams disestablished in 1907", "Baseball teams established in 1902", "Defunct baseball teams in Ohio", "Defunct minor league baseball teams", "Ohio-Pennsylvania League teams", "Sports in Youngstown, Ohio" ]	The Youngstown Ohio Works baseball team was a minor league club that was known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League in 1905, and for launching the professional career of pitcher Roy Castleton a year later. A training ground for several players and officials who later established careers in Major League Baseball, the team proved a formidable regional competitor and also won the 1906 league championship. During its brief span of activity, the Ohio Works team faced challenges that reflected common difficulties within the Ohio–Pennsylvania League, including weak financial support for teams. Following a dispute over funding, the team's owners sold the club to outside investors, just a few months before the opening of the 1907 season. The club's strong record and regional visibility spurred the growth of amateur and minor league baseball in the Youngstown area, and the community's minor league teams produced notable players throughout the first half of the 20th century. In the late 1990s, this tradition was rekindled, with the establishment of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team based in neighboring Niles, Ohio. ## Formation and league championship The Ohio Works team was organized in Youngstown, in 1902, under the sponsorship of Joseph A. McDonald, superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company. In 1905, the club joined the Class C Division, Ohio–Pennsylvania League, which was founded that year in Akron, Ohio, by veteran ballplayer Charlie Morton. The league's Ohio members included clubs from Akron, Barberton, Bucyrus, Canton, Kent, Lima, Massillon, Mount Vernon, Newark, Niles, Steubenville, Washington, Wooster, Youngstown, and Zanesville, while Pennsylvania was initially represented by teams from Braddock, Butler, Homestead, and Sharon. Within the first two weeks of the season, clubs from Lancaster and McKeesport also joined the league. Only eight of the original 21 participating clubs finished the 1905 season. These included clubs from Akron, Homestead, Lancaster, Newark, Niles, Sharon, Youngstown, and Zanesville. The name, "Youngstown Ohio Works", became officially associated with the Youngstown team when it joined the Ohio–Pennsylvania League. From the outset, the Youngstown ball club was managed by ex-major leaguer Marty Hogan, a former outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns. The team opened the 1905 season with an unexpected 4–1 loss to the Canton Protectives, inspiring a local newspaper to comment that the Youngstown team made "as many errors as hits while Canton fielded almost perfectly and hit opportunely". The Ohio Works club gained steam and began to win games. On May 11, 1905, the Youngstown team garnered controversy when The Akron Times-Democrat reported that the Ohio Works' sponsors provided player salaries that nearly doubled those offered by other clubs in the Ohio–Pennsylvania League. In a report on the outcry in Akron, The Youngstown Daily Vindicator warned that, "if the Youngstown backers keep adding and force the other clubs to add to the salaries, it is a question of only a short time until independent baseball will be an impossibility". The newspaper article concluded that the large salaries provided by the Ohio Works's sponsors placed a special burden on teams based in "smaller cities". Competition among league participants was intense, and games were often raucous affairs. On July 16, 1905, a riot broke out during a contest with a team in neighboring Niles, Ohio. According to a newspaper account, the trouble began when two female fans became involved in a "hair-pulling fight". At one point, two "well-known men" were arrested for "taking an umbrella from a woman and breaking it after she had been annoying them with it". Finally, dozens of fans swarmed into the field, where they "pushed around the umpire and interfered with the defensive play of the Youngstown fielders". In September 1905, the Youngstown Ohio Works won the first league championship, though sources disagree on the club's final record. This confusion may be due to the disorganized nature of the new league, with its sprawling roster of teams. According to the Spalding Guide (1906), "The failure to furnish official reports was probably due to the clubs being new to a league". Baseball researcher Jim Holl summarizes the varied accounts as follows: "The Reach Guide (1906) credits Youngstown with an 84–32 won–lost record where the Spalding Guide of the same year list a 90–35 record. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1993) tells a third story, giving Youngstown an 88–35 mark". Despite this uncertainty over the club's record, its championship status was not in dispute, and the team became popularly known as "the Champs". This moniker, however, was not officially connected to a Youngstown-based ball club until 1907, when it became the legal name of the Ohio Works' local successors. ## Final season By the outset of the 1906 season, the Ohio–Pennsylvania League had trimmed down to a more manageable eight teams. Departing teams included franchises from Barberton, Braddock, Bucyrus, Butler, Canton, Homestead, Kent, Lima, Massillon, McKeesport, Mount Vernon, Niles, Steubenville, Washington, and Wooster. At the same time, the league attracted new teams from New Castle, Pennsylvania, and Mansfield, Ohio. The Ohio Works team opened with 16 players, three of whom had been part of the club during the 1905 season. The team's lineup included William J. Maloney of Bradford, Kentucky; Will M. Thomas of Morristown, Pennsylvania; Tommy Thomas of Piqua, Ohio; Lee Fohl of Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Louis Schettler of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; "Dotty" Freck of Columbus, Ohio; A. C. McClintock of Columbus; Roy Castleton of Salt Lake City, Utah; Lewis Groh of Rochester, New York; John Kennedy of Youngstown, Charles Crouse of Detroit, Michigan; Roy Chase of Andover, Ohio; Forrester J. Dressner of Garrettsville, Pennsylvania; Harry Schwartz of Cleveland, Ohio; and Roy Gould of Middlesex, Pennsylvania. Other players associated with the club during the 1906 season were Edward Hilley, Curley Blount, and Charles McCloskey. The Youngstown club kicked off the 1906 season with an exhibition game against a Cleveland team, emerging as victors in a close contest of 3–4. "Up till the closing minutes it looked like the visiting team, the Cleveland Leaders, would stow the contest away in their bat-bags and leave the field on top", the Vindicator reported. "The finish was exciting, and 400 fanatics who took chances on pneumonia had a chance to warm up and go home in good spirits.". The paper stated that, at the top of the first inning, the Cleveland team was leading by one point, when "the Youngstown gentlemen got busy in the most approved style". According to the Vindicator, Ohio Works player Curley Blount "stepped in front of a slow pitched ball and was sent to third", while A. C. McClintock "stole second with all hands asleep". At this point, the paper added, "[Charles] McCloskey took another base hit and Blount and McClintock scored". The Vindicator'''s summary of the game called attention to pitcher Roy Castleton, "who struck out all three batters in the tenth and got one in the ninth". The paper described McClintock and McCloskey (the "two Macs") as the Youngstown club's "star hitters". Early in the season, as the Ohio Works team prepared for a second game with the Zanesville Moguls (close rivals in the 1905 championship games), the club manager, Hogan, spoke confidently on their chances of capturing the league pennant. "If the boys go through the season as they are playing now, we will have no trouble winning out", he said to a reporter with The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. "Our pitchers are in good condition and are holding the opposing batsmen to few hits. It is the pitching staff that has saved many a game for us. We have no .350 batters on the club, but any man on it is liable to step in and break up a game". A local newspaper confirmed Hogan's assessment of the team, observing that only one player, outfielder Will Thomas, had worked up a batting average of .306. Nevertheless, as Hogan predicted, the team defeated the Moguls, with a final score of 11–8. The game's highlights included the pitching of "Long John" Kennedy, who kept the Moguls to seven hits, and the batting of Edward Hilley, who "unloosened a drive to middle field that permitted him to go all the way around". Hogan's overall confidence in the club was rewarded. The Youngstown team closed the season with an 84–53 record and won its second consecutive Ohio–Pennsylvania League championship. The star of the Ohio Works team was a gangling, left-handed pitcher named Roy Castleton, a Utah native who went on to pitch for the New York Highlanders and Cincinnati Reds. On August 17, 1906, Castleton gained national recognition when he pitched a perfect game against rival Akron, shutting them out at 4–0. With Castleton's assistance, the Youngstown Ohio Works claimed its third consecutive Ohio state pennant, a prize distinct from the league championship. ## Dissolution In the wake of the Ohio Works' second league championship, steps were taken to incorporate the club. Sporting Life noted in December 1906 that the team's backers, Joseph and Thomas McDonald (superintendent and assistant superintendent, respectively, of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company) were compelled to invite additional investors because of planned (and costly) improvements at the steel plant. "The incorporators of the club will be Thomas McDonald, Joseph McDonald, Thomas Carr, Thomas Carter and Marty Hogan", the paper stated. "Manager Hogan will be given even more control of the team next season than he has had. Heretofore he has had the entire control of the team and transacted most of the business". At some point, disagreements over funding evidently arose between the McDonald brothers and Hogan. On February 18, 1907, the Zanesville Signal reported that Hogan had received permission from "the Messrs. McDonald" (Joseph and Thomas) to negotiate a \$3,000 deal for the sale of the team, including its players, to a group of Zanesville investors. The following day, Hogan was quoted as saying, "Youngstown couldn't or didn't raise enough money to cover a sparrow's blanket". The ball club manager's evident frustration during this period was reflected in comments published in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator almost a week after the team's sale. When questioned on his widely publicized decision to resign as manager of the Youngstown club before the opening of the 1907 season, Hogan reportedly said that he had received "the short end of the deal". No reference was made to the club's sale. The former Ohio Works manager was apparently not the only observer to suggest that Joseph McDonald engaged in "unsportsmanlike tactics". A feature story, that appeared in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator in 1920, stated that McDonald took deliberate steps in 1907 to replace the Ohio Works team with a more seasoned club from Homestead, Pennsylvania. The new club became known officially as the "Youngstown Champs". Rumors of McDonald's supposed strategy apparently angered local baseball fans. According to the 1920 feature article, the Youngstown media highlighted the Champs' unexpected loss to the amateur Rayen Athletics in 1907. At this point McDonald's relationship with the club was less direct. According to Sporting Life, the Youngstown franchise had been "declared forfeit" in early 1907, on the recommendation of the Akron club; it was subsequently "awarded" to a recently established baseball company. "This was only a formality to make legal the actions taken by Magnate [Joseph] McDonald when they turned over the old franchise to the newly organized company in Youngstown", the paper reported. In any event, the Youngstown Champs went on to win the Ohio–Pennsylvania League championship. Meanwhile, former Ohio Works players in Zanesville quickly regained their momentum. In March 1907, the new club was admitted into the Pennsylvania–Ohio–Maryland League, a Division D league. By the close of the 1907 season, the club had seized the championship of the eight-team P-O-M league. In 1908, Hogan's final season as manager, the team was christened as the Zanesville Infants and joined the Central League. Further research is needed to determine the Zanesville Infants' league ranking at the close of the 1908 season, but available information shows that the team neither won the championship nor placed as a runner-up. With the exception of a few notable figures, the progress of former Ohio Works players is difficult to track. After leaving the club at the end of the 1906 season, Roy Castleton went on to pitch for the New York Highlanders and Cincinnati Reds. Lee Fohl, another noteworthy alumnus, managed the Cleveland Indians between 1915 and 1919. Fohl later served as manager of the St. Louis Browns and Boston Red Sox. Although Fohl was often criticized as a manager, sports journalist John J. Ward (writing in August 1924) credited him, to a large extent, for the early successes of the Red Sox, an underdog that briefly challenged the New York Yankees and Washington Senators before slipping to seventh place in the eight-team American League. Former major leaguer Billy Phyle, who played for the Ohio Works team during the 1905 season, went on to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1906. A fourth ex-team member, Louis Schettler, played for the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1910 season. Schettler (a Pittsburgh native) eventually settled in Youngstown, where he died in 1960. Much is known about the subsequent career of the team's ex-manager. In 1909, Marty Hogan moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he signed future Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Coveleski to his first professional contract. In 1909, the Lancaster Red Roses worked up a 75–39 record, seizing the championship of the Tri-State League. As Spalding's Baseball Guide (1910) reported: "Lancaster, under manager Marty Hogan, won its first pennant in the league, and the top rung of the ladder was only gained by the hardest kind of fighting". Hogan went on to manage clubs in Zanesville and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In 1913, during a stint in Zanesville, the manager signed pitcher Sam Jones to his first professional contract. In the mid-1910s, Hogan permanently resettled in Youngstown, where he died in 1923, several months after being injured in an automobile accident. ## Legacy The Youngstown Ohio Works team gave several members a "shot" at the major leagues, and played an indirect role in launching the career of Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans. On September 1, 1903, Evans, a reporter at The Youngstown Daily Vindicator'', was assigned to cover a game between the Ohio Works and the Homestead Library Athletic Club that was held in Youngstown. Evans took his first step toward a legendary career when club manager Hogan offered him \$15 to fill an umpire vacancy. (In 1905, Evans received a major career boost from Youngstown native Jimmy McAleer, who recommended Evans to the American League.) The story of the Ohio Works team proved to be an early chapter in Youngstown's long history of amateur and minor league baseball. In the 1930s and 1940s, the city was a frequent host of the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) championship. NABF officials praised the community for the condition of its sandlot baseball diamonds, which they rated as among the best in the country. During the first half of the 20th century, Youngstown-based teams provided experience and exposure to future major league players such as Everett Scott, Floyd Baker, and Johnny Kucab. Today, the Youngstown–Warren area is home base to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team that competes in the Class A New York–Penn League.
69,704,182	G-8 and His Battle Aces	1,164,299,108	American air-war pulp magazine (1930–1944)	[ "Aviation magazines", "Magazines disestablished in 1932", "Magazines disestablished in 1944", "Magazines established in 1930", "Magazines established in 1933", "Magazines published in New York City", "Pulp magazines", "World War I in popular culture" ]	G-8 and His Battle Aces was an American air-war pulp magazine published from 1930 to 1944. It was one of the first four magazines launched by Popular Publications when it began operations in 1930, and first appeared for just over two years under the title Battle Aces. The success of Street & Smith's The Shadow, a hero pulp (a magazine with a lead novel in each issue featuring a single character), led Popular to follow suit in 1933 by relaunching Battle Aces as a hero pulp: the new title was G-8 and His Battle Aces, and the hero, G-8, was a top pilot and a spy. Robert J. Hogan wrote the lead novels for all the G-8 stories, which were set in World War I. Hogan's plots featured the Germans threatening the Allied forces with extraordinary or fantastic schemes, such as giant bats, zombies, and Martians. He often contributed stories to the magazines as well as the lead novel, though not all the short stories were by him. The cover illustrations, by Frederick Blakeslee, were noted for their fidelity to actual planes flown in World War I. The magazine originally appeared monthly, but changed to bimonthly during World War II, ceasing publication in 1944. Pulp historian Lee Server suggests that it was Hogan's writing that allowed the magazine to last as long as it did, since by the last issue, in June 1944, the aircraft portrayed had long been obsolete. ## Publication history In the summer of 1927, Aviation Stories and Mechanics was launched. It was the first magazine to specialize in fiction about flying, and pulp historian Robert Sampson suggests that Charles Lindbergh's recent flight across the Atlantic was part of the reason for public interest in aviation. A number of similarly formatted titles focused on flying appeared soon after, including Air Stories and Wings. The first magazine to concentrate on aerial warfare was Dell Magazine's War Birds, which appeared in early 1928. In 1930 Popular Publications was started by Harry Steeger and Harold Goldsmith; they launched four pulp magazines that year, one of which was Battle Aces, with the first issue dated October 1930. It published stories about war in the air: in a contemporary writers' magazine, Steeger declared the requirements for submissions were "scorching action, close plot, and dramatic situations. Dogfights and binges are good color, but don't rely on them to sell the story". Pulp historian Ed Hulse comments that Steeger's earlier experience as a pulp editor with Dell Magazines "had not gone to waste", and lists Battle Aces as "[one of] the most enjoyable air-war pulps of the Thirties". It initially sold about 80% of the 100,000 copies printed; the other three pulps started by Popular were selling in the 40-60% range. Despite this initial success it only lasted two years, ceasing publication with the December 1932 issue. In 1931, rival publisher Street & Smith launched The Shadow, a hero pulp magazine featuring a lead novel in every issue about The Shadow, a mysterious crimefighter. Battle Aces ceased publication in December 1932, but Steeger had noticed the success of The Shadow (as had other publishers) and decided to launch his own single-character pulps, including The Spider, about another crime-fighter. To come up with another title Steeger approached Robert J. Hogan, one of his favorite authors. Hogan had recently begun selling to the pulps, and many of his stories were about war in the air, so it was natural for him to propose that the new magazine would be an air-war pulp. Steeger relaunched Battle Aces, under the new title G-8 and His Battle Aces, with the first issue dated October 1933. The magazine changed to bimonthly publication in early 1941 and ceased in 1944, with the last issue dated June of that year. By that time World War II's aircraft were far more advanced than the ones Hogan and Blakeslee were depicting, and pulp historian Lee Server comments that it was only because of Hogan's "readable prose and great imagination" that G-8 and His Battle Aces lasted as long as it did. During its last year of publication, a few issues were published as a special british edition. ## Contents and reception Every issue of the revived magazine contained a lead novel by Hogan, about G-8, a top pilot who was also a spy. The character was named after a ranch in Colorado where Hogan stayed one summer. In the magazine G-8 fought the Germans in World War I in every issue, with a cast of villains that included Herr Stahlmaske, whose scarred face was hidden by a steel mask; Chu Lung, an Asian helping the Germans; and Herr Grun, a voodoo priest. Many of the plots involved science fiction or the supernatural: in the first issue, for example, the Germans have discovered a species of giant bat with poisonous breath, and Herr Doktor Krueger, another of G-8's antagonists, is planning to attack the Allies with the deadly essence of their poison. The cover, by Frederick Blakeslee, shows G-8 riding one of the giant bats. Other plots featured rockets, beast-men, wolf-men, zombies, mummies, and Martians. G-8 had two sidekicks, Nippy Weston and Bull Martin, who debuted in the first novel and appeared regularly thereafter. Later, Hogan's widow, Betty Nevin, recalled that the fantastic elements were probably included to ensure enough variety in the plots to support a long series. Pulp historian Robert Weinberg describes the novels as "straight formula...[they] varied little in content or style from month to month". There are many similarities between the series and the plots of stories by Donald E. Keyhoe about Captain Philip Strange, which appeared in the rival magazine Flying Aces; Hulse comments that "it is very difficult to believe that Robert J. Hogan wasn't directed to plagiarize the series for his G-8 and His Battle Aces novels", though Hulse adds that Hogan's work is not as strong as Keyhoe's. Hogan was paid between \$700 and \$1,000 for each novel; he was also selling stories to other magazines at the same time, and between late 1935 and early 1936 also wrote seven novels for The Mysterious Wu Fang, another Popular title. At Hogan's peak he was writing about two million words per year, or perhaps more—a greater output than any other pulp author. In addition to the novels, each issue contained short stories, usually including one by Hogan. These were straightforward air-war stories with no fantastic elements. The early issues also contained reminiscences by famous World War I pilots of both sides. The cover art was almost always by Blakeslee, whose work is described by pulp art expert George Hocutt as "a delight to critical readers" because of its accuracy; according to Hocutt, Blakeslee's depictions of the fantastic elements in the G-8 plots always included faithful representations of the original World War I fighter planes. In the June 1936 issue, Popular Publications printed a credo of their work in G-8 and His Battle Aces. Pulp historian Robert Lesser calls it a pulp oath: it starts by asking why so many of their fellow Americans are bored with their lives, and then asserts: "Not to swell our chests, nor to in any way inflate our heads, the publishers of G-8 and His Battle Aces wish to point with pride. We are staging a war against boredom—a peacetime battle which fortunately, does not call for the use of lethal weapons...we believe we are giving [our readers] a thrill. That in the reading of this magazine, some small refuge has been found from the relentless forces of boredom. To all of you who have written...may your reading thrills increase, and may your cares be cast by the wayside." ## Bibliographic details Battle Aces published 27 issues on a regular monthly schedule between October 1930 and December 1932. Each issue was pulp format, 128 pages, and priced at 20 cents. There were six volumes of four numbers each and a final seventh volume of three numbers. When the title changed to G-8 and His Battle Aces, the volume numbering restarted at 1/1; this sequence ran to 27 volumes of four issues with a final volume of two issues. The new version of the magazine was published on a regular monthly schedule from its first issue in October 1933 until April 1941, after which it became bimonthly until the final issue in June 1944. The price was cut to 15 cents when the title changed, and to 10 cents with the March 1936 issue; the page count dropped from 128 to 112 pages in October 1935, rising to 114 pages in August 1941 before dropping again towards the end of the run, with the final issues being only 82 pages long. Although Hulse writes that Steeger edited Battle Aces, the bibliographer Phil Stephensen-Payne records Eugene A. Clancy as the editor. Both agree that Steeger was the editor after the title changed to G-8 and His Battle Aces.
24,806,127	John Treloar (museum administrator)	1,167,492,224	Australian archivist and museum director (1894–1952)	[ "1894 births", "1952 deaths", "Australian Army officers", "Australian Army personnel of World War II", "Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire", "Australian War Memorial", "Australian military historians", "Australian military personnel of World War I", "Australian public servants", "Military personnel from Melbourne", "Museum administrators" ]	John Linton Treloar, OBE (10 December 1894 – 28 January 1952), commonly referred to during his life as J. L. Treloar, was an Australian archivist and the second director of the Australian War Memorial (AWM). During World War I he served in several staff roles and later headed the First Australian Imperial Force's (AIF) record-keeping unit. From 1920 Treloar played an important role in establishing the AWM as its director. He headed an Australian Government department during the first years of World War II, and spent the remainder of the war in charge of the Australian military's history section. Treloar returned to the AWM in 1946, and continued as its director until his death. Treloar's career was focussed on the Australian military and its history. Prior to World War I he worked as a clerk in the Department of Defence and, after volunteering for the AIF in 1914, formed part of the Australian Army officer Brudenell White's staff for most of the war's first years. He was appointed commander of the Australian War Records Section (AWRS) in 1917. In this position, he improved the AIF's records and collected a large number of artefacts for later display in Australia. Treloar was appointed the director of what eventually became the AWM in 1920, and was a key figure in establishing the Memorial and raising funds for its permanent building in Canberra. He left the AWM at the outbreak of World War II to lead the Australian Government's Department of Information, but was effectively sidelined for much of 1940. In early 1941 he was appointed to command the Australian military's Military History and Information Section with similar responsibilities to those he had held during World War I. He attempted to intervene in the management of the AWM during his absence, however, to the increasing frustration of its acting director. Treloar worked intensely in all his roles and suffered periods of ill-health as a result. Following the war, he returned to the Memorial in 1946 but his performance deteriorated over time, possibly due to exhaustion. He died in January 1952. Treloar continues to be regarded as an important figure in Australian military history. His principal achievements are seen as gathering and classifying Australia's records of the world wars and successfully establishing the AWM. The street behind the Memorial and its main storage annex were named in Treloar's honour following his death. ## Early life Treloar was born in Port Melbourne, Victoria, on 10 December 1894. His father was a sales representative for Carlton & United Breweries and his mother was a strict Methodist. Treloar was educated at Albert Park State School and became a trained Sunday school teacher. He was not able to attend university, but sought self-education in Melbourne's museums and libraries. Treloar also participated in his school's cadet unit, and believed that the military offered a means to follow his ambition for a career in a field other than small business. He was also a capable footballer, cricket player, and athlete and was invited to train with the South Melbourne Football Club. He took his father's advice to wait until he was 21 before playing senior games, however, and instead took a job with the Department of Defence after he left school in 1911. In this position he worked as a clerk for Brudenell White, who was later a leading Australian staff officer of World War I and the commander of the Australian Army during the early months of World War II. ## World War I On 16 August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Treloar enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and became a staff sergeant working for White in the headquarters of the 1st Division. He landed at Anzac Cove with the rest of the 1st Division's Headquarters during the morning of 25 April 1915, and subsequently participated in the Gallipoli Campaign. Treloar's duties were mainly clerical, and included typing reports, orders and dispatches from senior officers. He frequently worked from 7 am to midnight, and this took a toll on his health. He contracted typhoid in late August, and was evacuated to Egypt on 4 September. Treloar came close to dying from this disease, and was returned to Australia to recuperate. He arrived in Melbourne on 4 December 1915. During his convalescence, Treloar resumed a pre-war friendship with Clarissa Aldridge and the couple became engaged. Treloar's older brother William also enlisted in the AIF during April 1915, and was one of the few members of the Mesopotamian Half Flight to survive captivity after being captured by Turkish forces. When he recovered his health, Treloar returned to the military. An attempt to rejoin Brudenell White's staff was unsuccessful, and he instead was posted to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) with the rank of lieutenant. In February 1916, Treloar was assigned to No. 1 Squadron AFC in Egypt and served as its equipment officer until July 1916, when he was transferred to France to become White's confidential clerk in the headquarters of I Anzac Corps. At the time of the Battle of Pozières in late July Treloar was in charge of the corps headquarters' Central Registry, which was responsible for communications within the headquarters as well as distributing orders to its subordinate units. During his staff roles Treloar gained a good understanding of military record-keeping. In May 1917, he was selected by White to command the newly established Australian War Records Section (AWRS), and was promoted to the rank of captain. At the time he knew nothing of the Section's role, and was unable to find any information about it. Treloar assumed command of the AWRS on 16 May 1917. At this time the Section comprised four enlisted soldiers and occupied two rooms in the British Public Record Office's (PRO) building in London. Established upon the urging of the official Australian war correspondent Charles Bean, the unit was responsible for gathering records to serve as source material for the official histories that were to be written after the war. At this stage Australia did not have a national archive or public records office, and the AWRS was the first organisation set up to preserve any Commonwealth Government records. Treloar's first challenge was to improve the quality of the war diaries kept by AIF units. These diaries were meant to be maintained by each element of the AIF as a record of its activities for later use by historians, but at the time most units recorded few details. To this end, Treloar met with many of the officers responsible for units' war diaries and frequently provided written advice and feedback on the quality of the records submitted to the Section; these methods had previously been used by the Canadian military. Treloar also sought to motivate relevant personnel by demonstrating that the diaries were valued and would be important in ensuring that their unit received recognition for its achievements after the war. In August 1917 the AWRS expanded its activities to include collecting artefacts from the French battlefields. Its tasks increased further in September when it took over responsibility for supervising the official war artists as well as producing and keeping records of non-official publications such as regimental magazines. Individual soldiers were encouraged to contribute artefacts and records, and the AWRS provided museum labels to combat units to encourage them to record the significance and origins of items they submitted. The AWRS established field offices in France and Egypt, and reached a strength of about 600 soldiers and civilians in November 1918. From November 1917 until August 1918 the war correspondent Henry Gullett commanded the AWRS subsection in Cairo; in this role he reported directly to Treloar. As a result of the AWRS' expansion, in March 1918 its headquarters moved from the PRO building to a larger office on Horseferry Road opposite the main offices of the AIF Administrative Headquarters. As commander of the AWRS, Treloar worked enthusiastically and at times had to be ordered to take holidays. He told Bean that he was motivated "to do something really worthwhile for Australia" by bringing together the records covering Australia's role in the war. He actively pursued records and artefacts covering a wide range of the AIF's activities. Bean was impressed by Treloar's achievements, but believed that the young man was pushing himself too hard and was in danger of a breakdown. Although they shared accommodations in London for a period in 1918, the two men were not close. Treloar was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 3 June 1918 for "services in connection with the war" and was promoted to major in December 1918. While this promotion recognised his achievements as commander of the AWRS, it was mainly intended to improve his status when he attended meetings of the War Trophies Commission; the British representative on this commission was a major general. Treloar arranged for Clarissa Aldridge to travel to Britain in 1918, and they were married in London on 5 November. The couple eventually had two daughters and two sons. Following the war, Treloar continued to organise the records the AWRS had collected. In the months after the war the Section was assigned a large number of soldiers to assist with this task. The AWRS also continued to gather artefacts, and by February 1919 it had a collection of over 25,000 items; Treloar regarded this as "a good collection" but still not sufficient. He sought to collect records and memorabilia relevant to all aspects of Australia's experience in World War I, including material concerning the worst aspects of the Australian military. In doing so, Treloar deliberately did not make judgments on the historical value of the records and items submitted to the AWRS as he believed that this task should be left to others. On 3 June 1919 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for "valuable services rendered in connexion with the war". Treloar arrived back in Australia on 18 July 1919. The large quantity of artefacts and records which the AWRS had gathered were also returned to Australia in 1919, though work on organising them into an archive was not completed until 1932. The Australian War Museum was formed in 1919 on the basis of the Section's collection, and Treloar joined the museum at some stage during the year. Henry Gullett was appointed the War Museum's first director on 11 August 1919 after Bean turned down the position so that he could focus on editing and writing the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Treloar was appointed the museum's deputy director on the same date. Bean, Gullet and Treloar were subsequently the key figures in the establishment of the AWM. ## Establishing the War Memorial Treloar became the acting director of the Australian War Museum in 1920 after Gullett resigned from the position and became head of the Australian Immigration Bureau. Gullet later wrote the official history of Australia's involvement in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Treloar was 26 years of age at the time he became director of the museum and was responsible for the difficult task of establishing the institution. He was delighted to have been appointed to the role, and gave Bean a commitment that he would do his best. Between 1920 and 1922 Treloar personally undertook much of the work associated with developing the museum's first major exhibition, which opened in Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building on Anzac Day 1922. This included writing the captions to all items placed on display. He has been criticised for not delegating this work, but it reflected a desire to ensure that inaccuracies in the captions did not detract from other aspects of the museum given that they would be closely read by veterans and other knowledgeable visitors. Steve Gower, the director of the AWM from 1996 to 2012, judged that Treloar was probably correct to handle the captions himself given their importance. During this period the staff of the Australian War Museum were also responsible for providing administrative support for a program to distribute captured German equipment as war trophies to the Australian states. Treloar was a member of the committee overseeing this effort, and the associated administrative load came close to overwhelming him. Treloar continued to expand the Australian War Museum's collections during the 1920s. For instance, in 1921 he wrote to all the Australian Victoria Cross recipients of World War I or their families to ask that they donate their wartime diaries or other personal items. The museum also actively sought the wartime diaries and letters written by other members of the AIF; Treloar hoped that these records would allow a psychological study to be conducted on the men who had joined the AIF. Taking up an idea of Bean's, Treloar oversaw the development of several dioramas depicting key Australian battles of the war and engaged professional artists to make the models. Several of the dioramas produced in the 1920s remain on display in the AWM and are among its most popular exhibits. Treloar also oversaw the completion of the artworks which had been commissioned from the official war artists during World War I and, in collaboration with Bean, ordered additional works. The institution was renamed the "Australian War Memorial Museum" in 1923, most likely on Treloar's suggestion. During its early years the AWM existed in a parlous state, and Treloar raised funds and advocated construction of a permanent building to house its records and collection of artefacts. Treloar and Bean convinced the museum's governing committee that it needed to raise funds so that the museum was not entirely dependent on Government funding for its permanent building. To this end, Treloar established a sales section in the museum in 1921 and recruited salesmen to sell books, reproductions of artworks and photographs as well as surplus items from the collection such as German helmets and rifle cartridges. The Government was slow to commit to building a permanent home for the museum's collection, however, and Treloar considered resigning in July 1922 to take up a position in the Department of Immigration. He ultimately decided against doing so, however. In mid-1923 he was temporarily released from the museum and travelled to London as the secretary of Australia's contribution to the British Empire Exhibition. He returned to Australia in early 1925. During Treloar's absence the museum moved to Sydney, where its collection was housed in the Sydney Exhibition Building from April 1925. The institution's title was also simplified to the "Australian War Memorial" during this year. The Australian War Memorial Act was passed by the Parliament of Australia in September 1925, establishing the institution as the national memorial to Australians killed during World War I. This act specified that the Memorial would be overseen by a twelve-person Board of Management whose members were appointed by the Governor General of Australia. Treolar reported to this board, but it generally allowed him to run the Memorial as he saw fit. Treloar travelled to London again in 1927 to work on the British Empire Exhibition scheduled for that year, but returned after a few months when it was cancelled. On 8 December 1927 Treloar and the rest of the War Memorial's staff were appointed permanently to their positions; prior to this date they had been employed under temporary arrangements and Treloar had technically been a member of the Army's headquarters. Treloar took a brief leave of absence in 1931 to help organise the Empire Exhibition that was planned for Sydney. The construction of a permanent building for the Memorial was delayed by the Great Depression. In January 1924 the Commonwealth Government's Cabinet approved a proposal to construct the War Memorial at the foot of Mount Ainslie in Canberra. An architectural competition was subsequently held, and Treloar was responsible for selecting the final designs to be considered after the judging panel had reduced the number of entries from 69 to 29. None of these designs met all the necessary criteria, but two of the architects responsible for highly placed designs agreed to collaborate to produce a final design. Plans for the Memorial building were approved by the Commonwealth Parliament in 1928, but funds for construction work were not available due to the impact of the Great Depression. Work finally began on the building in 1933, and it was completed in 1941. Until 1935, Treloar and the Memorial's administrative staff were located in Melbourne and the collection was split between Sydney and Melbourne. In that year, Treloar, along with 24 other Memorial staff, moved into the uncompleted building in Canberra and the Memorial in Sydney was closed to enable the collection to be relocated. Treloar continued to seek commercial opportunities to raise funds for the Memorial during the 1920s and 1930s. As well as selling guidebooks, reproductions of artworks and surplus items, the Memorial raised substantial amounts of money from placing an admission fee on Will Longstaff's painting Menin Gate at Midnight when it went on display in 1929. This painting proved so popular that Treloar engaged ex-servicemen to sell reproductions of it door to door. In 1931 Treloar ensured that the Memorial took over responsibility for the publication and distribution of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 when the project suffered financial difficulties due to poor sales. As sales continued to be slow, Treloar actively promoted the series to RSL branches and members of the Australian Public Service; a scheme he developed in which public servants purchased the books through regular pay deductions proved particularly successful. Treloar also engaged more salesmen to sell the series to households. These efforts led to a large increase in sales, and Bean remarked that not only had Treloar been more successful in selling the books than Angus & Robertson, its original publisher, but that "he would do better than [the department store] David Jones selling shirts". This sales work was in addition to Treloar's regular duties as the Memorial's director, and he received an honorarium for it. Treloar would typically work for six days each week, and normally stayed until late at night. In accordance with his Methodist beliefs, he did not work on Sundays. He continued to expand the Memorial's collections by encouraging individuals to donate letters and diaries to supplement the official records. Treloar also placed an emphasis on safeguarding the collection; in 1933 he personally investigated the theft of the German cruiser Emden'''s bell from the Memorial in Sydney after the New South Wales Police broke off its investigation. With Treloar's assistance the bell was recovered later that year. In May 1937 Treloar was among the senior public servants who were awarded a Coronation Medal to mark King George VI's accession to the throne. Despite his enthusiasm, Treloar became frustrated by the repeated delays in opening the Memorial during the 1930s and believed that it would not be as successful as he had hoped. As a result, he began actively looking for a new career at the end of 1938, starting by applying to be the secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club. ## World War II Shortly before the outbreak of World War II Treloar wrote to the members of the AWM's board to with proposals for how the Memorial should respond to another major war. This letter suggested that if hostilities occurred, the Memorial should suspend most of its activities and reorient its focus to become a memorial to all the wars in which Australia had taken part rather than just World War I. He further proposed that the Memorial building be used as a store and for government offices during the war, and that its staff establish a war records section similar to the AWRS. These proposals "ran counter to all that had been planned in the preceding years" and were rejected by the AWM board in October 1939. The board did decide, however, to offer the Department of Defence assistance with collecting records and artefacts. Accordingly, work continued on the Memorial throughout World War II, though in February 1941 the board decided to extend its scope to include the new war. Treloar left his position at the Memorial for the duration of World War II. In September 1939 Treloar's close friend Henry Gullett, who at the time was the Minister for Information, appointed him the inaugural secretary of the Department of Information (DOI). The DOI was the first of 17 new Australian Government departments to be established during the war, and was responsible for both censorship and disseminating government propaganda. Treloar's appointment as the secretary of the department was a significant promotion. While his decision to seek and take up the role reflects his ambition, Treloar was concerned that it was beyond his skills and experience. Treloar ran the DOI in line with traditional Australian Public Service practices and took steps to prevent its work from being politicised. To achieve this, he implemented tight internal controls over the department's procedures and information dissemination functions and instructed subordinates to not defend the government from criticism. He remained the departmental secretary after Gullett was moved to a different ministry in March 1940, but lost status when Keith Murdoch was appointed to the new position of Director-General of Information in June that year. Murdoch's appointment was part of a government campaign to generate public support for increased armaments production following the fall of France, and he placed a stronger emphasis on generating propaganda. Treloar was troubled by the use of the DOI's photographers to produce publicity photographs instead of images with historical value. Gullet was killed in the Canberra air disaster on 13 August 1940. Treloar regained full control of the DOI in December that year when Murdoch resigned, though its photographers were still mainly tasked with taking publicity photos. At some point in 1940 or early 1941, Treloar requested that he be appointed to command the War Records Section, which formed part of the Second Australian Imperial Force's administrative headquarters. The Cabinet agreed to this during February 1941. Treloar's responsibilities in this role were to coordinate and control the collection of material to be included in the AWM as well as to supervise the official war artists and photographers; these duties were similar to those he and Bean had undertaken during World War I. Treloar was appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel, but primarily worked for the AWM which reimbursed the Army for his salary and allowances. This arrangement gave Treloar less influence with the Army than he had enjoyed as head of the AWRS during World War I. General Thomas Blamey, the commander of the AIF, subsequently redesignated the War Records Section the Military History and Information Section (MHIS) on the grounds that its original name had not adequately described the unit's role. In contrast to the DOI's propaganda activities, the MHIS focused on collecting records, images and items that would be useful to historians. After assuming his new position, Treloar was sent to AIF Headquarters in the Middle East where Australian forces were engaged in the North African Campaign. While en route to the Middle East he visited Malaya. Conditions in North Africa proved more challenging than those in World War I, however, as the combat was fast-moving and the Australian troops felt less motivation to collect artefacts than those of the First AIF. Treloar was supported by a small staff, but fell out with his second in command who questioned both how he administered the unit and his personal efficiency. He also lacked a patron in the AIF and was handicapped by his relatively junior rank. Due to his absence from the Memorial, Treloar had only limited input into the design of its galleries and he was unable to attend its official opening in November 1941. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, most elements of the AIF were returned to Australia. While MHIS teams accompanied the 6th and 7th Divisions when they departed the Middle East in early 1942, Treloar remained in Egypt until May that year as he was initially unable to secure space on board ships for the Section's extensive collections. He eventually reached Australia in mid-1942 and was based in Melbourne for the remainder of the war. At the time, the front line of the Pacific War was in the islands just to the north of Australia. As Treloar argued in a letter to Blamey, Australia had the "opportunity and responsibility to provide the world with the most nearly complete and authoritative 'source' record" of the fighting. Blamey accepted this view, and in July 1942, the MHIS was renamed the Military History Section (MHS) in recognition of its emphasis on military history rather than propaganda. On 26 June 1942 Treloar received a Mention in Despatches for his service in October 1941. The MHS continued the MHIS' role of facilitating the production of high-quality paper records and photographs of the war and collecting the resulting documents and images. The section had two field teams in April 1943 (one in Australia and the other in New Guinea), and was expanded to nine teams by the end of 1944. Treloar also focused on the official war artist program, and succeeded in fostering a high-quality collection from a range of artistic styles. He placed a relatively low emphasis on collecting artefacts, however, and did not visit New Guinea even though it was the main Australian battlefield for most of the Pacific War. This concerned Bean, who wrote an unanswered letter to Treloar in July 1943 offering to help organise the collection of more items. In August 1943 Treloar's son Ian was reported missing while serving as a Royal Australian Air Force warrant officer attached to the Royal Air Force. It was determined after the war that he had been killed in action. Treloar's other son, Alan, served in the Second AIF and won a Rhodes Scholarship after the war. By early 1944 Treloar was overworked and unhappy to be in Melbourne instead of at the Memorial. He was also uncomfortable with the way in which Bean and the AWM's acting director Arthur Bazley were running the Memorial in his absence, and sought to intervene in its management. This degree of intervention frustrated Bazley, and led to increasing conflict between the two men who had worked together since 1917. Their relationship worsened in 1945, and the Memorial's board was eventually forced to make a ruling on what Bazley and Treloar's responsibilities were. In 1946, Bazley left the Memorial to take a job in the Department of Immigration due to continuing tensions with Treloar. One of Treloar's duties throughout much of the war was to compile and edit service annual books, which were compilations of articles written by military personnel and published by the AWM. He first proposed this in mid-1941 as an equivalent of The Anzac Book, which was a collection of anecdotes written by Australian soldiers during the Gallipoli Campaign. The first of these books, entitled Active Service, was printed during late 1941 and early 1942 and eventually sold 138,208 copies. Seventeen service annual books were produced during and after the war, with combined sales of 1,907,446 copies. These books were sold at a profit and earned the Memorial large amounts of money. Treloar's editorial role came on top of his full-time duties as head of the MHS and was one of the main causes of his exhaustion and anxiety in the final years of the war. ## Post-war years Treloar returned to the AWM on 2 September 1946 and was formally discharged from the Army in 1947. At the time he believed he was suffering from bad health, but wanted to resume his work at the Memorial rather than enter hospital. Clarissa Treloar remained in Melbourne and their daughter Dawn moved to Canberra and took up a position in the Memorial's library. Treloar continued to work long hours in the years after the war. He lived in a cubby hole next to his office and signed the attendance book between walking from bed to his desk. Bean later claimed that Treloar had personally managed all areas of the Memorial other than its library. While Dawn provided him with company, family members and AWM staff believed that Treloar was lonely and did not have a social life. His letters to the official artists engaged by the AWM were frequently relaxed, however, and he became friends with Leslie Bowles and William Dargie. Although Treloar was a teetotaler and non-smoker, he occasionally shared wine and cigarettes with Dargie. The main challenges for the Memorial in the post-war years were integrating the World War II collections with those from World War I and securing funding to expand its building. Treloar did not seek to increase the Memorial's holdings of World War II artefacts beyond supporting the completion of works commissioned from the official war artists. As a result, the Memorial's collection of World War II memorabilia was inferior to that assembled during and after World War I, and many of its best-known items such as the bomber G for George were acquired as donations from the Government rather than through Treloar's efforts. It was not until October 1948 that the Government agreed to fund an expansion of the AWM after lobbying by Treloar and the Memorial's board. Treloar experienced difficulties managing the Memorial and its staff in the years after World War II. Although the AWM was able to recruit new staff, it struggled to retain them due to housing shortages in Canberra and the way in which the Memorial was run. Treloar's working style contributed to these problems; although he was personally friendly and took an interest in the wellbeing of his employees, he did not delegate tasks and it was difficult for AWM staff to meet with him in person to discuss their responsibilities. This made it difficult for staff to complete urgent tasks, and contributed to delays in key projects such as the construction of the Memorial's Hall of Memory. Tom Hungerford, who worked for the AWM between 1948 and 1949, wrote in his memoirs that Treloar was "most dedicated, most incredibly hard-working, most unfailingly kind and most ineffectual". Treloar increasingly obsessed over relatively minor details and gained a reputation for indecisiveness. Treloar's work patterns took a toll on his health, and the deterioration in his performance after 1946 was possibly the result of exhaustion. Despite this, the Memorial's board did not intervene in the institution's management and allowed Treloar to remain in his position. In January 1952, Dawn found him ill in bed after noticing that he had not signed the attendance book. Treloar was subsequently admitted to the Canberra Community Hospital where he died on 28 January as a result of an intestinal haemorrhage. His funeral was held two days later at Reid Methodist Church in Canberra, and he was subsequently buried in the returned soldiers section of Woden Cemetery. Treloar's death left the AWM in a state of crisis. Due to his close control over the Memorial, none of its staff knew what his plans had been and it was unclear how to continue key tasks such as completing the Roll of Honour, classifying and displaying items collected during World War II and managing the Memorial's finances. In addition, two fifths of the AWM's staff positions were vacant as Treloar had chosen to delay filling these vacancies. Jim McGrath, who had been the Memorial's Assistant Director (Administration) since May 1951, became acting director when Treloar was hospitalised and was confirmed in this position on 15 May 1952; Bazley had also applied for this job but lost to McGrath despite having Bean's support. Under the direction of Bean, who had been appointed the Chairman of the Memorial's Board in June 1951, McGrath established a committee to develop strategies for both completing and further developing the Memorial. Bean also personally reviewed the Memorial's collection of World War I artefacts during 1952 and 1953, and found that the register of these items was inadequate and it was not possible to locate many of them. He attributed this to the movement of the collection between Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra and the changes of directorship during periods in which Treloar was absent. ## Legacy Following his death, Treloar was praised for the personal sacrifices he had made to establish the AWM, as well as for the high quality of the Memorial. The Memorial's storage and display annex at Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, was subsequently named the Treloar Resource Centre in his honour and a commemorative plaque was located outside the AWM's archival research centre until 1985. In 1956 the street behind the Memorial's main building was named Treloar Crescent. In addition, the AWM named a grant it provided to researchers the 'John Treloar Grant'. Treloar continues to be regarded as an important figure in Australian military history. The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History'' states that "there is little doubt that the Australian War Memorial would have foundered had it not been for Treloar's tireless and selfless labours, which almost certainly shortened his life" and that he was "Australia's first great museum professional". The collection of World War I records he organised is still used by historians and researchers, and is labelled an "archival record of remarkable detail and accessibility" in his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry. In 1993 Alan Treloar published the diary his father had kept during World War I. No book-length biography of Treloar has been completed, though a historian at the AWM began work on one.
5,689,713	Banksia dentata	1,173,746,056	Tree species	[ "Banksia taxa by scientific name", "Eudicots of Western Australia", "Flora of New Guinea", "Flora of Queensland", "Flora of the Northern Territory", "Plants described in 1782", "Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus the Younger", "Trees of Australia", "Trees of New Guinea", "Trees of the Maluku Islands" ]	Banksia dentata, commonly known as the tropical banksia, is a species of tree in the genus Banksia. It occurs across northern Australia, southern New Guinea and the Aru Islands. Growing as a gnarled tree to 7 m (23 ft) high, it has large green leaves up to 22 cm (8.7 in) long with dentate (toothed) margins. The cylindrical yellow inflorescences (flower spikes), up to 13 cm (5.1 in) high, appear between November and May, attracting various species of honeyeaters, sunbirds, the sugar glider and a variety of insects. Flowers fall off the ageing spikes, which swell and develop follicles containing up to two viable seeds each. Banksia dentata is one of four Banksia species collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, and one of the four species published in 1782 as part of Carolus Linnaeus the Younger's original description of Banksia. Within the genus, it is classified in the series Salicinae, a group of species from Australia's eastern states. Genetic studies show it is a basal member within the group. Banksia dentata is found in tropical grassland known as savanna, associated with Pandanus and Melaleuca. It regenerates from bushfire by regrowing from its woody base, known as a lignotuber. ## Description The tropical banksia is generally a small tree which grows to around 4 m (13 ft) or sometimes up to 7 m (23 ft) tall, with a rough stocky trunk, spreading crown, and crooked branches. The dark grey bark is not flaky but tesselated in texture and appearance. Initially covered in reddish hair that wears away, branchlets become smooth and grey with age. The large green leaves are scattered along the stems, and more crowded at the branchlet tips. They are 9–22 cm (3.5–8.7 in) long and 2–9 cm (0.79–3.54 in) wide, obovate in shape with mucronate tips. The dentate (toothed) margins are lined irregularly with 0.1–1.3 cm (0.039–0.512 in) long teeth, separated by u-shaped sinuses. The leaves are undulate (wavy) with white undersurfaces, the midrib raised underneath and depressed above. The cylindrical yellow inflorescences (flower spikes), arise from one- to three-year-old branches. Appearing between November and May, they are 10 to 13 cm (3.9 to 5.1 in) high and 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) wide. Newly opened flower spikes smell like corn. All flower parts are pale yellow; the perianth is 2.5–3.2 cm (0.98–1.26 in) long, including a 0.5 cm (0.20 in) long limb. After anthesis, the pistil is 3.1–4.6 cm (1.2–1.8 in) long. Flower parts soon fall off ageing spikes, which develop into irregular-cylindrical infructescences. The oval follicles are 1.5–2 cm (0.59–0.79 in) long, 0.4–0.8 cm (0.16–0.31 in) high and 0.5–0.8 cm (0.20–0.31 in) wide. Pale green and furry when young, they become smooth and pale brown with age. The follicles open spontaneously with maturity. They contain two seeds each, between which lies a woody dark brown separator of similar shape to the seeds. Measuring 1.8–2.1 cm (0.7–0.8 in) in length, the seed is obovate, and composed of a dark brown 1.1–1.4 cm (0.4–0.6 in) wide membranous 'wing' and obovate seed proper which measures 1.0–1.2 cm (0.4–0.5 in) long by 0.5–0.8 cm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. The seed surface can be smooth or covered in tiny ridges. The bright green cotyledons are obovate, measuring 1.6–1.9 cm (0.63–0.75 in) long by 0.8–1.1 cm (0.31–0.43 in) wide. At the base of each are two pointed auricles around 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. The cotyledons arise from a 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) high smooth hypocotyl that is 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) in diameter. The subsequent seedling leaves are opposite initially, arising 3–4 mm above the cotyledons. Each is roughly linear in shape, measuring 2.5–2.7 cm (0.98–1.06 in) long and 0.4–0.5 cm (0.16–0.20 in) wide, with two to three serrations ("teeth") on the upper quarter to third of the leaf margin's length. The leaf undersurface is covered with white hair. Successive leaves become more obovate and are 3–7 cm (1.2–2.8 in) long and 0.8–1.2 cm (0.31–0.47 in) wide, with dentate margins and mucronate tips. Seedling stems are hairy. ## Taxonomy Specimens of Banksia dentata were collected from the vicinity of the Endeavour River somewhere between 17 June and 3 August 1770 by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, naturalists on the Endeavour during Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Solander coined the (unpublished) binomial name Leucadendrum (later Leucadendron) dentatum in Banks' Florilegium. However, the formal description of the species was not published until April 1782, when Carolus Linnaeus the Younger described the first four Banksia species in his Supplementum Plantarum. Linnaeus distinguished them by their leaf shapes, and named them accordingly. Thus this species' dentate (toothed) leaf margins saw it given the specific name dentata, the Latin adjective for "toothed". Banksia dentata is monotypic, and no subspecies are recognised. Though not closely studied, reports suggest it does not vary significantly over its range. Robert Brown recorded 31 species of Banksia in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, and in his taxonomic arrangement, placed the taxon in the subgenus Banksia verae, the "True Banksias", because the inflorescence is a typical Banksia flower spike. By the time Carl Meissner published his 1856 arrangement of the genus, there were 58 described Banksia species. Meissner divided Brown's Banksia verae, which had been renamed Eubanksia by Stephan Endlicher in 1847, into four series based on leaf properties. He placed B. dentata in the series Quercinae (the oak-like banksias). In 1870, George Bentham published a thorough revision of Banksia in his Flora Australiensis. In Bentham's arrangement, the number of recognised Banksia species was reduced from 60 to 46. Bentham defined four sections based on leaf, style and pollen-presenter characters. Banksia dentata was placed in section Eubanksia alongside B. marginata and a broadly defined B. integrifolia. In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his Revisio Generum Plantarum, rejected the generic name Banksia L.f., on the grounds that the name Banksia had previously been published in 1776 as Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to the genus now known as Pimelea. Kuntze proposed Sirmuellera as an alternative, referring to this species as Sirmuellera dentata. For the same reason, James Britten transferred the species to the genus Isostylis as Isostylis dentata in 1905. These applications of the principle of priority were largely ignored, and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940. Commonly known as the tropical banksia, B. dentata is known locally as swamp banksia, and guibuk by the indigenous people in Kakadu National Park. Its local name in the Nunggubuyu language of eastern Arnhem Land is rilirdili. Other names from the same region include Enindurrkwa in the Enindhilyagwa language of Groote Eylandt, and gulpu in the Rirratjingu language of Yirrkala. Frederick Manson Bailey reported in 1913 that the indigenous people of Cape Bedford knew it as kabir. ### Placement within Banksia The current taxonomic arrangement of the genus Banksia is based on botanist Alex George's 1999 monograph for the Flora of Australia book series. In this arrangement, B. dentata is placed in Banksia subgenus Banksia, because its inflorescences take the form of Banksia's characteristic flower spikes, section Banksia because of its straight styles, and series Salicinae because its inflorescences are cylindrical. There has been debate on which species it is most closely related to. Alf Salkin had noted that B. dentata displays characteristics which are primitive within the genus. Unlike southern banksias, it has small juvenile leaves and broad dentate adult leaves. Alex George concluded initially that its affinities lay with Banksia integrifolia on account of their similar inflorescences. In a morphological cladistic analysis published in 1994, Kevin Thiele placed it in the newly described subseries Acclives along with B. plagiocarpa, B. robur and B. oblongifolia within the series Salicinae. These four species all have follicles which point slightly upwards towards the apex of the flower spike. It was held to be most closely related to B. robur on account of its large undulate leaves. Salkin had also noted that the seedling leaves of B. dentata, B. robur and B. oblongifolia were all similar and roughly linear, suggesting a close relationship. However, this subgrouping of the Salicinae was not supported by George; he discounted a close relationship with B. robur, which he felt was too distinctive. B. dentata's placement within Banksia according to Flora of Australia is as follows: Genus Banksia : Subgenus Isostylis : Subgenus Banksia : : Section Oncostylis : : Section Coccinea : : Section Banksia : : : Series Grandes : : : Series Banksia : : : Series Crocinae : : : Series Prostratae : : : Series Cyrtostylis : : : Series Tetragonae : : : Series Bauerinae : : : Series Quercinae : : : Series Salicinae : : : : B. dentata – B. aquilonia – B. integrifolia – B. plagiocarpa – B. oblongifolia – B. robur – B. conferta – B. paludosa – B. marginata – B. canei – B. saxicola Since 1998, American botanist Austin Mast and co-authors have been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae, which then comprised genera Banksia and Dryandra. Their analyses suggest a phylogeny that differs greatly from George's taxonomic arrangement. Banksia dentata resolves as an early offshoot within the Salicinae. In 2007, Mast and Thiele rearranged the genus Banksia by merging Dryandra into it, and published B. subg. Spathulatae for the taxa having spoon-shaped cotyledons; thus B. subg. Banksia was redefined as encompassing taxa lacking 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, B. dentata is placed in B. subg. Spathulatae. ## Distribution and habitat Across northern Australia, Banksia dentata has been recorded as far west as the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges in the western Kimberley through the Northern Territory and extending south to Nitmiluk Gorge and into Queensland, where it is found on the Cape York Peninsula to as far south as Cooktown. Off the coast, it has been recorded from Groote Eylandt and the Wessel Islands, as well as Melville and Bathurst Islands. It also extends onto the Aru Islands, where it is found around Trangan, and New Guinea, where it ranges in the south from Merauke east to Port Moresby, and around Bulolo and Mount Mau. It is the only Banksia species not endemic to Australia. As much of its range is in remote and poorly surveyed country, it is possible that it is found more widely than has been recorded. Pollen samples indicate it has been present on the Torres Strait Islands over the past 8000 years, though it has not been a prominent component of the island flora. Banksia dentata generally grows on sandy soils in savanna woodland or shrubland, along freshwater swamps, watercourses, floodplains or other seasonally wet areas. It has also been found on rocky outcrops, of quartzite or sandstone, to an elevation of around 500 m (1,600 ft) in Australia, and up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in New Guinea. In New Guinea it is restricted to areas which have a distinct dry season. Banksia dentata is often found with Melaleuca and Pandanus species. On Cape York, it is a dominant component in a low scrub known as "wet desert" due to its resemblance to arid scrub yet occurring in a monsoon climate. On phosphorus-poor soils, Banksia dentata is found with Melaleuca saligna and Thryptomene oligandra. On Melville Island it is a dominant component of Banksia low woodland, forming part of a 3–6 m (9.8–19.7 ft) high canopy with Melaleuca viridiflora; the understory is composed of sedges such as Fimbristylis, Sorghum intrans, Eriachne, Germainia grandiflora and the restiad Dapsilanthus spathaceus, as well as suckering shrubs Lophostemon lactifluus and Syzygium eucalyptoides. This community grows in wet areas, with a grey topsoil with high moisture and gravel content but low sand. ## Ecology Banksia dentata responds to bushfire by resprouting from its woody lignotuber although, unlike other members of the Salicinae, it lacks dormant buds at its base. It was described by amateur botanist and banksia enthusiast Alf Salkin as resembling an "upturned parsnip". Plant communities where it is found are subject to periodic bushfires, and it can become more dominant if fires occur often. Salkin had noted that its tropical position might mean that B. dentata was a key species in the transition from rainforest to open habitat in the ancestry of the genus. One adaptation to a drier sunnier climate was a thick intermediate layer under the epidermis in the leaf architecture. This layer, the hypodermis, contains large vacuoles that are filled with a phenolic compound, and seems to serve to reduce the intensity of sunlight reaching the mesophyll. Numerous nectar-feeding insects are attracted to the flower spikes, which in turn attract honeyeaters, silvereyes and sunbirds, many of which consume both nectar and insects. The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) forages among the flower spikes and is a probable pollinator. The common blossom bat (Syconycteris australis) feeds on nectar. B. dentata has been recorded as a host plant for the mistletoe species Amyema benthamii, Decaisnina angustata and D. signata. ## Cultivation The tree's gnarled bark, large green leaves, and yellow flower spikes are attractive horticultural features. B. dentata is vulnerable to cold winters in cultivation in Melbourne and recovers over the hotter months of summer. It has not been able to be grown in colder climates, such as those of Canberra. Flowering occurs around 5 to 8 years from seed. Plants can be pruned hard, and do best on a sandy slightly acid soil of pH 5.5–6.5. They can be vulnerable to borers. Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 32 to 40 days to germinate. Banksia dentata was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1822. Banksia dentata is used as a nectar source in the honey bee industry. Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory would light old seed cones and use them as firebrands, these lasting for up to two hours. The nectar was consumed by indigenous people. A hot smoking flower spike was used to cauterise leprosy sores, and people suffering from diarrhea would squat over smoking cones in the hope this would relieve their symptoms. The thin woody spikes that did not develop follicles were used as nasal ornaments by aboriginal women, and flower spikes were used as combs.
1,404,676	Fantastic (magazine)	1,093,665,599	American fantasy and science fiction magazine, 1952–1980	[ "Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States", "Fantasy fiction magazines", "Magazines disestablished in 1980", "Magazines established in 1952", "Science fiction digests", "Science fiction magazines established in the 1950s" ]	Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by the publishing company Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and the company quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease publication of their other science fiction pulp, Fantastic Adventures. Within a few years sales fell, and Howard Browne, the editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. Browne lost interest in the magazine as a result and the magazine generally ran poor-quality fiction in the mid-1950s, under Browne and his successor, Paul W. Fairman. At the end of the 1950s, Cele Goldsmith took over as editor of both Fantastic and Amazing Stories, and quickly invigorated the magazines, bringing in many new writers and making them, in the words of one science fiction historian, the "best-looking and brightest" magazines in the field. Goldsmith helped to nurture the early careers of writers such as Roger Zelazny and Ursula K. Le Guin, but was unable to increase circulation, and in 1965 the magazines were sold to Sol Cohen, who hired Joseph Wrzos as editor and switched to a reprint-only policy. This was financially successful, but brought Cohen into conflict with the newly formed Science Fiction Writers of America. After a turbulent period at the end of the 1960s, Ted White became editor and the reprints were phased out. White worked hard to make the magazine successful, introducing artwork from artists who had made their names in comics, and working with new authors such as Gordon Eklund. His budget for fiction was low, but he was occasionally able to find good stories from well-known writers that had been rejected by other markets. Circulation continued to decline, however, and in 1978, Cohen sold out his half of the business to his partner, Arthur Bernhard. White resigned shortly afterwards, and was replaced by Elinor Mavor, but within two years Bernhard decided to close down Fantastic, merging it with Amazing Stories, which had always enjoyed a slightly higher circulation. ## Publishing history In 1938, Ziff Davis, a Chicago-based publisher looking to expand into the pulp magazine market, acquired Amazing Stories. The number of science fiction magazines grew quickly, and several new titles appeared over the next few years, among them Fantastic Adventures, which was launched by Ziff Davis in 1939 as a companion to Amazing. Under the editorship of Raymond Palmer, the magazines were reasonably successful but published poor-quality work; when Howard Browne took over as editor of Amazing in January 1950, he decided to try to move the magazine upmarket. Ziff Davis agreed to back the new magazine, and Browne put together a sample copy, but, when the Korean War broke out, Ziff Davis cut their budgets and the project was abandoned. Browne did not give up, and in 1952 received the go-ahead to try a new magazine instead, focused on high-quality fantasy, a genre which had recently become more popular. The first issue of Fantastic, dated Summer 1952, appeared on March 21 of that year. ### Early years Sales were very good, and Ziff Davis was sufficiently impressed after only two issues to move the magazine from a quarterly to a bimonthly schedule, and to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest-size to match Fantastic. Shortly afterwards the decision was taken to eliminate Fantastic Adventures: the March 1953 issue was the last, and the May–June 1953 issue of Fantastic added a mention of Fantastic Adventures to the masthead, though this ceased with the following issue. Payment started at two cents per word for all rights, but could go up to ten cents at the editor's discretion; this put Fantastic in the second echelon of magazines, behind titles such as Astounding and Galaxy. The experiment with quality fiction did not last. Circulation dropped, which led to budget cuts, and in turn the quality of the fiction fell. Browne had wanted to separate Fantastic from Amazing's pulp roots, but now found he had to print more science fiction (sf) and less fantasy in order to attract Amazing's readers to its sister magazine. Fantastic's poor results were probably a consequence of an overloaded sf-magazine market: far more magazines appeared in the early 1950s than the market was able to support. Ziff Davis sales staff were able to help sell Fantastic and Amazing along with the technical magazines that it published, and the availability of a national sales network, even though it was not focused solely on Fantastic, undoubtedly helped the magazine to survive. In May 1956, Browne left Ziff Davis to become a screenwriter. Paul W. Fairman took over as editor of both Fantastic and Amazing. In 1957, Bernard Davis left Ziff Davis; it had been Davis who had suggested the acquisition of Amazing in 1939, and he had stayed involved with the sf magazines throughout the time he spent there. With his departure Amazing and Fantastic stagnated; they were still issued monthly, but drew no attention from the management of Ziff Davis. ### Mid-1950s to late 1960s In November 1955, Ziff Davis hired an assistant, Cele Goldsmith, who began by helping with two new magazines under development, Dream World and Pen Pals. She also read the slush piles for all the magazines, and was quickly given more responsibility. In 1957, she was made managing editor of both Amazing and Fantastic, doing administrative chores and reading unsolicited manuscripts. At the end of 1958, she became editor, replacing Fairman, who had left to become managing editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Goldsmith—who became Cele Lalli when she married in 1964—stayed as editor for six and a half years. Circulation dropped for both Amazing and Fantastic: in 1964, Fantastic had a paid circulation of only 27,000. In 1965, Sol Cohen, who at that time was Galaxy's publisher, set up his own publishing company, Ultimate Publishing, and bought both Amazing and Fantastic from Ziff Davis. Cohen had decided to make the magazines as profitable as possible by filling them only with reprints. This was possible because Ziff Davis had acquired second serial rights for all stories they had published, and since Cohen had bought the backfile of stories he was able to reprint them using these rights. Using reprints in this way saved Cohen about a year between the two magazines. Lalli decided that she did not want to work for Cohen, and stayed with Ziff Davis. Her last issue was June 1965. Cohen replaced Lalli with Joseph Wrzos, who used the name "Joseph Ross" on the magazines. Cohen had met Wrzos at the Galaxy offices not long before; Wrzos was teaching English full-time, but had worked for Gnome Press as an assistant editor in 1953–1954. Cohen also launched a series of reprint magazines, drawing from the backfile of both Amazing and Fantastic, again using the second serial rights he had acquired from Ziff Davis. The first reprint magazine was Great Science Fiction; the first issue, titled Great Science Fiction from Amazing, appeared in August 1965. By early 1967 this had been joined by The Most Thrilling Science Fiction Ever Told and Science Fiction Classics. These increased the workload on Wrzos, though Cohen made the selection of stories, and Wrzos found himself able to work on Fantastic and Amazing only part-time. Cohen hired Herb Lehrman to help with the other magazines. Although Cohen felt that his deal with Ziff Davis gave him the reprint rights he needed, the newly formed Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) received complaints about Cohen's refusal to pay anything for the reprints. He was also reportedly not responding to requests for reassignment of copyright. SFWA organized a boycott of Cohen's magazines; after a year Cohen agreed to pay a flat fee for the reprints, and in August 1967 he agreed to a graduated scale of payments, and the boycott was withdrawn. `Harry Harrison had been involved in the negotiations between SFWA and Cohen, and when the agreement was reached in 1967 Cohen asked Harrison if he would take over as editor of both magazines. Harrison was available because SF Impulse, which he had been editing, had ceased publication in early 1967. Cohen agreed to phase out the reprints by the end of the year, and Harrison took the job. Cohen added Harrison's name to the masthead of two issues of Great Science Fiction, although Harrison had had nothing to do with that magazine, but the reprints in Fantastic and Amazing continued and Harrison decided to quit in February 1968. He recommended Barry Malzberg as his replacement. Cohen had worked with Malzberg at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and felt Malzberg would be more cooperative than Harrison. Malzberg, however, turned out to be just as unwilling as Harrison to work with Cohen if the reprints continued, and soon regretted taking the job. In October 1968 Cohen refused to pay for a cover that Malzberg had commissioned; Malzberg insisted, threatening to resign if Cohen did not agree. Cohen contacted Robert Silverberg, then the president of SFWA, and told him (falsely) that Malzberg had actually resigned. Silverberg recommended Ted White as a replacement. Cohen secured White's agreement and then fired Malzberg; White took over in October 1968, but because there was a backlog of stories Malzberg had acquired, the first issue on which he was credited as editor was the June 1969 issue.` ### 1970s to present Like his immediate predecessors, White took the job on condition that the reprints would be phased out. It was some time before this was achieved: there was at least one reprinted story in every issue until the end of 1971. The February 1972 issue contained some artwork reprinted from 1939, and after that the reprints ceased. Fantastic's circulation was about 37,000 when White took over; only about 4 percent of this was subscription sales. Cohen's wife filled the subscriptions from their garage, and according to White, Cohen regarded this as a burden, and never tried to increase the subscription base. Despite White's efforts, Fantastic's circulation fell, from almost 37,000 when he took over as editor to less than 24,000 in the summer of 1975. Cohen was rumored to be interested in selling both Fantastic and Amazing; among other possibilities, both Roger Elwood, at that time an active science fiction anthology editor, and Edward Ferman, the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, approached Cohen with a view to acquiring the titles. Nothing came of it, however, and White was not aware of the possible sales. He was working at a low salary, with unpaid help from friends to read unsolicited submissions—at one point he introduced a 25-cent reading fee for manuscripts from unpublished writers; the fee would be refunded if White bought the story. White sometimes found himself at odds with Cohen's business partner, Arthur Bernhard, due to their different political views. White's unhappiness with his working conditions culminated in his resignation after Cohen refused his proposal to publish Fantastic as a slick magazine, with larger pages and higher quality paper. White commented in an article in Science Fiction Review that he had brought to the magazines "a lot of energy and enthusiasm and a great many ideas for their improvement ...Well, I have put into effect nearly every idea which I was allowed to follow through on ... and have spent most of my energy and enthusiasm." Cohen was able to persuade him to stay for another year; in the event White stayed for another three. White was unable to completely halt the slide in circulation, though it rose a little in 1977. That year Cohen lost \$15,000 on the magazines, and decided to sell. He spent some time looking for a new publisher—editor Roy Torgeson was one of those interested—but on September 15, 1978, he sold his half of the business to Arthur Bernhard, his partner. White renewed his suggestions for improving the format of the magazine: he wanted to make Fantastic the same size as Time, and believed he could avoid the mistakes that had been made by other sf magazines that had tried that approach. White also proposed an increase in the budget and asked for a raise. Bernhard not only turned down White's ideas, but also stopped paying him: White responded by resigning. His last official day as editor was November 9; the last issue of Fantastic under his control was the January 1979 issue. He returned all submissions to their authors, saying that he had been told to do so by Bernhard; Bernhard denied this. Bernhard brought in Elinor Mavor to edit both Amazing and Fantastic. Mavor had previously edited Bill of Fare, a restaurant trade journal, and was a long-time science fiction reader, but she had little knowledge of the history of the magazines. She was unaware, for example, that she was not the first woman to edit them, and so adopted a male pseudonym—"Omar Gohagen"—for a while. She suggested a campaign to increase circulation, and went so far as to gather information about costs while on a trip to New York in 1979. Bernhard decided instead to merge the two magazines. Circulation was continuing to drop; the figures for the last two years are not available, but sf historian Mike Ashley estimates that Fantastic's paid circulation may have been as low as 13,000. Bernhard felt that since Fantastic had never been profitable, whereas Amazing had made money, it was best to keep Amazing. Until the March 1985 issue, Amazing included a mention of Fantastic on the spine and on the contents page. In 1999, the fiction magazine formerly known as Pirate Writings revived the Fantastic title and Cele Goldsmith-era logotype for several issues, ultimately unsuccessfully, though this was not intended as a continuation of the original magazine. In August 2014, Warren Lapine, former editor of Absolute Magnitude, Realms of Fantasy, and Weird Tales, revived the Fantastic logotype of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination as a free webzine. ## Contents and reception ### Browne and Fairman The first issue of Fantastic was impressive, with a cover that sf historian Mike Ashley has described as "one of the most captivating of all first issues"; the painting, by Barye Phillips and Leo Summers, illustrated Kris Neville's "The Opal Necklace". The fiction included some stories by well known names; in particular, Raymond Chandler's "Professor Bingo's Snuff" would have caught readers' eyes—the story had appeared the year before in Park East magazine, but would have been new to most readers. It was a short mystery in which the fantasy element was invisibility, achieved by magical snuff. Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury also contributed stories, and the issue led with "Six and Ten Are Johnny", by Walter M. Miller. The rear cover reprinted Pierre Roy's painting "Danger on the Stairs", which depicted a snake on a staircase; it was an odd choice, but subsequent back covers were more natural fits for a fantasy magazine. The quality of the fiction continued to be high for the first year; sf historian Mike Ashley comments that almost every story in the first seven issues was of high quality, and historian David Kyle regards it as an "outstandingly successful experiment". Science fiction bibliographer Donald Tuck dissents, however, regarding the first few years as containing "little of note", and James Blish wrote a contemporary review of the second issue which found it lacking: Blish dismissed three of the seven stories in the Fall 1952 issue as being essentially crime stories written for the sf market, and commented that of the remaining four, only two were "reasonably competent and craftsmanlike". Other well-known writers appeared in the early issues, including Shirley Jackson, B. Traven, Truman Capote and Evelyn Waugh. Mickey Spillane had written a story called "The Woman With Green Skin", but had been unable to sell it; Browne offered to buy it on condition that he had permission to rewrite it as he wished. This was agreed and Browne scrapped Spillane's text completely, writing a new story called "The Veiled Woman" and publishing it as by Spillane in the November–December 1952 issue. The issue sold so well it was reprinted, with over 300,000 copies sold. The emphasis was on fantasy, and much of it was "slick" fantasy—the sort of genre fiction that the upmarket slick magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post, were willing to buy. Some science fiction appeared as well in the first couple of years, including Isaac Asimov's "Sally", which portrays a world in which cars have been given robotic brains and are intelligent. In 1955 it was decided to move the focus from fantasy to sf: in Browne's words, "Stories of straight fantasy were largely eliminated and straight science-fiction substituted, cover subject matter became of a scientific nature, the words "science fiction" appeared under the title, interior artwork was tightened up to replace the loose, 'arty' kind of drawing we had been using." Sales rose 17% within two issues. Browne was uninterested in science fiction, however, and the quality of the fiction soon dropped, with a small stable of writers producing much of Fantastic's fiction under house names over the next couple of years. By the start of 1956 the fiction in Fantastic was, in the opinion of sf historian Mike Ashley, "[in] a trough of hack predictability", but there was some inventiveness evident from newer writers such as Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison and Randall Garrett. Although Browne had been unable to make Fantastic successful by specializing in fantasy, he was still interested in the fantasy genre, and experimented in the December 1955 issue with the theme of wish fulfilment. He dropped the words "Science Fiction" from the cover, and published five stories, all of which dealt with male fantasies in one form or another. The cover showed a man walking through a wall to find a woman undressing; the art was by Ed Valigursky and illustrated Paul Fairman's "All Walls Were Mist". Reader reaction, according to Browne, was almost entirely favorable, and he continued to publish occasional stories on the wish-fulfilment theme. The experiment was repeated with the October 1956 issue, which again ran without "Science Fiction" on the cover, and contained stories on the theme of "Incredible Powers". Once again the cover illustrated a male fantasy: this time it showed a man materializing in a bath house where women were showering. Browne had left Ziff Davis by the time this issue appeared, but Browne's plans for a magazine around these themes were well advanced, and Fairman, who by this time was editing both Fantastic and Amazing, was given Dream World to edit as well. It ran for three quarterly issues, starting in February 1957, but proved too narrow a market to succeed. Fairman devoted the July 1958 issue of Fantastic to the Shaver Mystery—a lurid set of beliefs propounded by Richard Shaver in the late 1940s that told of "detrimental robots", or "deros", who were behind many of the disasters that befell humanity. Most of these stories had run in Amazing, though the editor at that time, Ray Palmer, had been forced to drop Shaver by Ziff Davis when the stories began to attract ridicule in the press. Fantastic's readers were no kinder, complaining vigorously. ### Goldsmith When Goldsmith took over as editor, there was some concern at Ziff Davis that she might not be able to handle the job. A consultant, Norman Lobsenz, was brought in to help her; Lobsenz's title was "editorial director", but in fact Goldsmith made the story selections. Lobsenz provided blurbs and editorials, read the stories Goldsmith bought, and met with Goldsmith every week or so. Goldsmith was not a long-time sf reader, and knew little about the field; she simply looked for good quality fiction and bought what she liked. In Mike Ashley's words, "the result, between 1961 and 1964, was the two most exciting and original magazines in the field". New writers whose first story appeared in Fantastic during this period included Phyllis Gotlieb, Larry Eisenberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Thomas M. Disch, and Piers Anthony. The November 1959 issue was dedicated to Fritz Leiber; it included "Lean Times in Lankhmar", one of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. Goldsmith published another half-dozen stories in the series over the next six years, along with other similar (and sometimes imitative) fiction such as early work by Michael Moorcock, and John Jakes' early stories of Brak the Barbarian. This helped to invigorate the nascent sword and sorcery subgenre. Goldsmith obtained an early story by Cordwainer Smith, "The Fife of Bodidharma", which ran in the June 1959 issue, but shortly thereafter Pohl at Galaxy reached an agreement to get first refusal on all Smith's work. During the early 1960s Goldsmith managed to make Fantastic and Amazing, in the words of Mike Ashley, "the best-looking and brightest" magazines around. This applied both to the covers, where Goldsmith used artists such as Alex Schomburg and Leo Summers, and the content. Ashley also describes Fantastic as the "premier fantasy magazine" during Goldsmith's tenure—at that time the only other magazine focused specifically on fantasy fiction was the British Science Fantasy. Goldsmith's tastes were too diverse for Fantastic to be limited to genre fantasy, however, and her willingness to buy fiction she liked, regardless of genre expectations, allowed many new writers to flourish on the pages of both Amazing and Fantastic. Writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny and Thomas M. Disch sold regularly to her at the start of their careers Le Guin later commented that Goldsmith was "as enterprising and perceptive an editor as the science fiction magazines ever had". Not all Goldsmith's choices were universally popular with the magazine's subscribers: she regularly published fiction by David R. Bunch, for example, to mixed reviews from the readership. ### Reprint era Wrzos persuaded Cohen that both Amazing and Fantastic should carry a new story in every issue, rather than running nothing but reprints; Goldsmith had left a backlog of unpublished stories, and Wrzos was able to stretch these out for some time. One such story was Fritz Leiber's "Stardock", another Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story, which appeared in the September 1965 issue; it was subsequently nominated for a Hugo Award. The reprints were well received by the fans, because Wrzos was able to find good quality stories that were unavailable except in the original magazines, meaning that to many of Fantastic's readers they were fresh material. Wrzos also reprinted "The People of the Black Circle", a Robert E. Howard story from Weird Tales, in 1967, when Howard's Conan stories were becoming popular. In addition to the backlog of new stories from the Ziff Davis era, Wrzos was able to acquire some new material. He was especially glad to acquire "For a Breath I Tarry", by Roger Zelazny; however, he had to wait for Cohen's approval for his acquisitions. Cohen, perhaps uncertain because of the story's originality, delayed until it appeared in the British magazine New Worlds before agreeing to publish it. Wrzos commented years later that he would "never forgive him [Cohen] his timidity at that time". Wrzos bought Doris Piserchia's first story, "Rocket to Gehenna", and was the first editor to acquire a story by Dean Koontz. He had to work with Koontz to improve it, and the delay this caused, in addition to the slow publishing schedule for new material, meant that Koontz appeared in print with "Soft Come the Dragons", in the August 1967 Fantasy & Science Fiction, before "A Darkness in My Soul" appeared in the January 1968 Fantastic. After Wrzos's departure, Harrison and Malzberg had little opportunity to reshape the magazine as between them they only took responsibility for a handful of issues before Ted White took over. However, Harrison did print James Tiptree's first sale, "Fault", in the August 1968 issue; again the slow schedule meant that this was not Tiptree's first appearance in print. Harrison added a science column by Leon Stover, but was unable to change Cohen's position on the reprints, and so could not print much new fiction. When Malzberg took over from Harrison he published John Sladek, Thomas M. Disch, and James Sallis, all of whom were associated with New Wave science fiction, but his tenure was too short for him to have a significant impact on the magazine. ### White and Mavor White was only able to offer his writers one cent per word, which was substantially lower than the leading magazines in the field—Analog Science Fiction and Fact paid five cents, and Galaxy and Fantasy & Science Fiction paid three. Most stories would only be submitted to White once the higher-paying markets had rejected them, but among the rejects White was sometimes able to find experimental material that he liked. For example, Piers Anthony had been unable to sell an early fantasy novel, Hasan; White saw a review of the manuscript and promptly acquired it for Fantastic, where it was serialized starting in the December 1969 issue. White also took care to establish relationships with newer writers. White bought Gordon Eklund's first story, "Dear Aunt Annie", it appeared in the April 1970 issue and was nominated for a Nebula Award. Eklund was unwilling to become a full-time writer, despite this success, because of the financial risks, so White agreed to buy anything Eklund wrote, on condition that Eklund himself believed it was a good story. The result was that much of Eklund's fiction appeared in Amazing and Fantastic over the next few years. In addition to experimental work, White was able to obtain material by some of the leading sf writers of the day, including Brian Aldiss and John Brunner. White also acquired some early work by writers who became better known in other fields: Roger Ebert sold two stories in the early 1970s to Fantastic; the first, "After the Last Mass", appeared in the February 1972 issue; and in 1975 White bought Ian McEwan's second story, "Solid Geometry". It was included in First Love, Last Rites, McEwan's first short story collection, which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976. White had been an active science fiction fan before he became professionally involved in the field, and although he estimated that only 1 in 30 readers were active sf fans, he tried to use this fan base to help by urging the readership to give him feedback and to help with distribution by checking local newsstands for the magazines. White wanted to introduce established artists from outside the sf field, such as Jeff Jones, Vaughn Bodē, and Steve Hickman; however, the company was saddled with cheap artwork acquired from European magazines to be used for the cover and he was instructed to make use of them. He commissioned a comic strip from Vaughn Bodé, but was outbid by Judy-Lynn Benjamin at Galaxy; he subsequently told his readers that he'd signed up Bodé again for interior artwork, but this never materialized. Instead a four-page comic strip by Jay Kinney appeared in December 1970; a second strip, by Art Spiegelman, was planned, but never published. Eventually White was allowed to commission original cover art; he published early work by Mike Hinge, and Mike Kaluta made his first professional sale to Fantastic. He tried to hire Hinge as art director, but this fell through and White filled the role himself, sometimes using the pseudonym "J. Edwards". Because of poor distribution, Fantastic was never able to benefit from the increasing popularity of the fantasy genre, though White was able to publish several stories by well-known writers in the field, including a sword and sorcery novella by Dean R. Koontz, which appeared in the October 1970 issue, and an Elric story by Michael Moorcock in February 1972. A revival of Robert E. Howard's character Conan, in stories by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, was successful at increasing sales; the first of these stories appeared in August 1972, and White reported that sales of that issue were higher than for any other issue of Amazing or Fantastic that year. Each Conan story, according to White, increased sales of that issue by 10,000 copies. White also published several of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, and added "Sword and Sorcery" to the cover in 1975. In the same year a companion magazine, Sword & Sorcery Annual, was launched, but the first issue was the only one to appear. The quality of the magazine remained high even as the financial stress was mounting in the late 1970s. White acquired cover artwork by Stephen Fabian and Douglas Beekman, and stories by some of the new generation of sf writers, such as George R. R. Martin and Charles Sheffield. White departed in November 1978, but the first issue of Fantastic under Elinor Mavor's editorial control was April 1979. Because White had returned unsold stories she had very little to work with and was forced to fill the magazine with reprints. This led to renewed conflict with the sf community, which she did her best to defuse. At a convention in 1979 she met Harlan Ellison, who complained about the reprint policy; she explained that it was temporary and was able to get him to agree to contribute stories, publishing two pieces by him in Amazing over the next three years. The January 1980 issue of Fantastic (Mavor's fourth issue) was the last to contain reprinted stories. Once the reprints had been phased out, Mavor was able to find new writers to work with, including Brad Linaweaver and John E. Stith, both of whom sold their first stories to Fantastic. The last year of Fantastic showed "a steady improvement in content", according to Mike Ashley, who cites in particular Daemon, a serialized graphic story, illustrated by Stephen Fabian. However, at the end of 1980 Fantastic's independent existence ceased, and it was merged with Amazing. ## Publication details ### Editors The list below gives the person who was acting as editor. In some cases, such as at the start of Cele Goldsmith's stint, the official editor was not the same person; details are given above. - Howard Browne (Summer 1952 – August 1956). - Paul Fairman (October 1956 – November 1958). - Cele Goldsmith (December 1958 – June 1965). Goldsmith used her married name, Cele G. Lalli, from July 1964. - Joseph Ross (September 1965 – November 1967). - Harry Harrison (January 1968 – October 1968). - Barry N. Malzberg (December 1968 – April 1969). - Ted White (June 1969 – January 1979) - Elinor Mavor (April 1979 – October 1980) ### Other bibliographic details The title changed multiple times, and was frequently inconsistently given between the cover, spine, indicia, and masthead. The following table shows which issues appeared from which publisher. A British edition published by Thorpe & Porter ran for eight bimonthly issues from December 1953 to February 1955; the issues were not dated on the cover. These correspond to the US issues from September/October 1953 to December 1954, and were numbered volume 1, numbers 1 through 8. Fantastic was digest-sized throughout its life. The page count began at 160 but dropped to 144 with the September/October 1953 issue, and then again to 128 pages with the very next issue, November/December 1953. The July 1960 issue had 144 pages, but apart from that one issue the page count stayed at 128 until September 1965, when it increased to 160. In January 1968 it went back down to 144 pages, and it dropped to 128 pages from February 1971 through the end of its run. The first issue was priced at 35 cents; thereafter the price went up as follows: 50 cents in May 1963, 60 cents in December 1969, 75 cents in July 1974, \$1.00 in October 1975, \$1.25 in April 1978, and finally \$1.50 from April 1979 until the last issue. ### Derivative anthologies Three anthologies of stories from Fantastic have been published. Note that Time Untamed contains stories that were published in Fantastic during its reprint years, but which did not necessarily first appear there.
54,456,757	Katana Zero	1,166,013,416	2019 video game	[ "2019 video games", "Action games", "Cyberpunk video games", "Devolver Digital games", "Dystopian video games", "GameMaker Studio games", "Hack and slash games", "Indie games", "MacOS games", "Neo-noir video games", "Nintendo Switch games", "Organized crime video games", "Platform games", "Science fiction video games", "Single-player video games", "Video games about ninja", "Video games developed in the United States", "Windows games", "Xbox One games" ]	Katana Zero is a 2019 platform game created by the indie developer Justin Stander. Set in a dystopian metropolis, the neo-noir storyline follows Subject Zero, a katana-wielding assassin with amnesia who can slow down time and predict the future. Zero unravels his past while completing assassination contracts. Katana Zero features side-scrolling hack-and-slash gameplay in which the player attempts to kill all enemies in a level without being hit, using Zero's abilities to manipulate time, dodge attacks, and take advantage of environmental hazards. In-between levels, the story is told in sequences where the player converses with non-player characters through dialogue trees. Stander began working on Katana Zero in 2013. He had previously developed freeware games, such as Tower of Heaven (2009), and conceived Katana Zero as his first commercial game. Using GameMaker Studio 2, Stander sought to make a difficult story-driven game that did not force the player to wait through dialogue and cutscenes. He focused on attention to detail and looked to films such as Sin City (2005) and John Wick (2014) for story inspiration. The development was prolonged and Stander worked mostly alone, although he recruited artists to design the visuals as well as musicians Bill Kiley and Thijs "LudoWic" Lodewijk to compose the synthwave soundtrack. Katana Zero was published by Devolver Digital for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows on April 18, 2019. It sold 500,000 copies in less than a year and received positive reviews. Critics praised the gameplay—which they favorably compared to Devolver's Hotline Miami (2012)—and the visuals, writing, and music. The story divided reviewers, while the unresolved ending was criticized. Several critics cited Katana Zero as one of the best games of 2019 and it was nominated for numerous year-end accolades. Ports for Xbox One and Amazon Luna were released in 2020 and 2021, downloadable content is in development, and Stander intends to continue the fictional universe in future games. ## Gameplay Katana Zero is a 2D platform and hack-and-slash game presented from a side-scrolling perspective. Controlling the player character, the katana-wielding assassin Subject Zero, the single player completes assassination contracts for a psychiatrist. Zero can run, jump, wall kick, pick up and throw items, attack using his katana, and dodge. Zero's ability to slow down time and predict the future allows the player to activate a slow motion effect, enabling them to predict enemy movement easier, although use is limited by a meter that gradually refills. The game features eleven levels, which use Zero's precognition as a framing device; the player's attempts to complete each level are presented as possible scenarios Zero has foreseen. Levels are split into several rooms, and the player must kill every enemy in a room using their sword, throwable objects, such as lamps and pots, or environmental hazards, such as lasers. Aside from occasional bosses, each enemy dies in a single hit. Certain levels feature unique game mechanics, such as a stealth mission in a nightclub, a motorcycle chase, and an alternate player character. Any damage results in instant death for Zero, requiring the player to restart from the most recent checkpoint. Katana Zero has been frequently compared to Hotline Miami (2012), as both feature levels filled with enemies, one-hit kills, and require players to determine their chosen route strategically. Outside the main game, there are two additional game modes: hard mode features more difficult levels with new enemy varieties, reworked bosses, and additional challenges; and speedrun mode challenges the player to complete every level in the fastest time possible, with the options to modify enemy behavior and skip cutscenes. ### Story and dialogue Katana Zero follows a neo-noir-style storyline, with psychological horror and black comedy elements, set in a dystopian metropolis after a war. Subject Zero is an amnesiac veteran with precognitive abilities. He assassinates drug dealers for his psychiatrist, who acts as his handler. The news media ascribes these killings to a serial killer known as the Dragon. Zero experiences recurring nightmares of a child, who he identifies as himself, in a hut. A scientist runs in, warns the child to hide, and is shot moments later by a soldier. He discusses his nightmares with the psychiatrist, who supplies him with a drug as treatment. Zero also befriends a young girl living next door to his apartment, and becomes attached to her. In-between levels, the player converses with non-player characters (NPCs), such as the psychiatrist, the girl, and a Russian psychopath antagonist named V, who admires Zero's lethality. In a real-time dialogue tree system, the player chooses responses during conversations and can interrupt an NPC's dialogue at any time. Their decisions determine how much exposition is presented and how Zero is characterized; for example, Zero comes across as rude if the player repeatedly interrupts. Although they do not change the overall plot, players' dialogue choices can affect certain events, and one boss fight can only be activated by making specific decisions. Zero and the psychiatrist's relationship becomes strained as the psychiatrist grows increasingly disagreeable and Zero suspects he is withholding information about the assassinations. After the Dragon, a separate swordsman with clairvoyant abilities similar to Zero's, dismembers and abducts V, Zero learns about his own past as a supersoldier and that the drug he had been taking, Chronos, both gave him his abilities and causes users in withdrawal to become trapped within their minds. Zero, tired of being manipulated, kills the psychiatrist. The girl goes missing and the story ends on a cliffhanger. A flashback reveals Zero's nightmare is a memory from the war, that he is the soldier and not the child, and that the Dragon was his comrade. ## Development ### Conception Katana Zero was developed over six years by the indie game creator Justin Stander under the studio name Askiisoft. It was Stander's first commercial game; his previous projects, such as Tower of Heaven (2009), had been smaller freeware games. After seeing the success of Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV (2010), Stander concluded audiences only pay attention to indie games if they are being sold. Cavanagh, like Stander, had started off making freeware games, but none were as successful as VVVVVV. Katana Zero originated from Stander's desires to create a larger project that could be sold commercially and tell a story. He began working on it in 2013 as a hobby during his sophomore year at McGill University. He used the GameMaker Studio 2 game engine and spent the first two years building simple prototypes. The game was a means of expression for Stander outside schoolwork and he spent most of his time at college developing it. After Stander graduated in 2015, he developed Katana Zero full time. He worked on multiple projects alongside it as a precaution since he felt the chances of success were slim. The total budget was US\$60,000, which Stander noted was quite small for a game of Katana Zero's scope. He stated: "Most of it was just not paying myself at all and cutting down costs in my own life to do nothing but work on the game." Stander worked largely on his own, although he recruited help for the art and music. The game was initially developed for personal computers (macOS and Windows). Stander decided to develop a Nintendo Switch version immediately after the system was unveiled because he saw it as a good console for indie games. GameMaker made it easy to port Katana Zero and the long development meant it was already well optimized. ### Design One of Stander's goals was to make killing feel exciting and satisfying. He considered many modern games too forgiving, with enemies less powerful than the player. Finding it difficult to die in games such as Payday: The Heist (2011), Stander decided it would be easy to die in Katana Zero. He wanted the game to be difficult but fair and for the player to recognize and take responsibility for their mistakes. He continued his style of design—short levels filled with instant-death scenarios—from Tower of Heaven and Pause Ahead (2013). The one-hit-kill gameplay was frequently compared to another Devolver Digital-published game, Hotline Miami. Stander said he only played Hotline Miami once and did not remember its gameplay, but acknowledged it may have subconsciously influenced him. He named Samurai Gunn (2013), which he felt used one-hit kills effectively, as the bigger influence. Stander wanted Katana Zero to feel cinematic and sought to subvert expectations: "As soon as you think you understand how this game is going to play out, then I just try to completely shift it on you... as soon as [you're] comfortable in [something], I try to shift things up. And I do that several times throughout the game. I really mess with the player." To maintain variety, he incorporated many enemy types, environmental traps, alternate level pathways, and set pieces. A minecart pathway inspired by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) took over a month to create. Stander looked to indie games that feature "tight, fast-paced, instant death combat" for inspiration, such as Trilby: The Art of Theft (2009) and Gunpoint (2013). The art style was inspired by the neon lighting aesthetics associated with the 1980s. Recruiting artists proved challenging; Stander called himself "a terrible artist", and for two years no artists worked on the game. He found artists through the online independent developer community TIGSource, but said it was difficult to recruit high-quality pixel artists who would commit to the project. Many would only work on it for weeks or days before quitting for various reasons, such as other commitments or feeling their style did not match. Stander used the neon lighting to blend the artists' different styles. He considered being able to get an artist team to finish the game mere chance and credited the artists with motivating him to finish. Stander focused on attention to detail and said adding a single mechanic, such as a gun turret, would require him to alter many different systems, such as the lighting, to maintain cohesion. Production value was important, as Stander wanted the engine to feel flawless. He said this meant "no bugs. Everything needs to feel like an extension of the player. When you play it, you should always feel like this is exactly what I wanted to do and that is what the character did." When developing small freeware games, he could scrutinize minute details, which would result in him spending a year to make a short, 20–30 minute game. Adapting this mentality to a full-length commercial game contributed to the prolonged development; Stander originally expected development to last a year or two. His focus on particulars demoralized him, to the point he made little progress for a year. ### Writing Stander said telling a story was a large part of his motivation to develop Katana Zero, wanting to celebrate his favorite tropes and provide his own spin on them. The script is credited to Stander and Eric Shumaker, with additional writing by Sterling Nathaniel Brown and Ian Goldsmith Rooney. As Stander developed Katana Zero focusing on one element at a time, he only had a basic plot summary by the time he finished outlining all the levels. Elements Stander conceived early on included a protagonist who was "sort of trapped in their situation, because those always make for good main characters in action games", and a disagreeable psychiatrist who players would dislike. Katana Zero is a pastiche of the films Stander enjoyed. He was inspired by the Eastern culture of samurai cinema and wanted a vulnerable yet lethal protagonist similar to those from Korean revenge thrillers. Film influences included Oldboy (2003) Sin City (2005), Drive (2011), and John Wick for their "invincible-yet-human" protagonists and "stylistic violence set over a dark, grimy, neon coated setting", as well as Seven Samurai (1954) and the films of Quentin Tarantino. The story structure was inspired by Hotline Miami, in which the player character is directed to kill by mysterious phone calls, and its themes include drug addiction and mental health. Stander hesitated to deal with such topics as they had never affected him, but after some research, felt he could treat them respectfully. Stander said the script was rewritten around 30 times. Stander allowed the player to interrupt any line of spoken dialogue because many of the action games he grew up playing "would grind to a halt as the protagonist and the second banana argued about politics, or when the villain deigned to deliver a winding monologue". He considered this one of the biggest problems with cutscenes, as they strip players of their agency. Additionally, Stander felt an assassin like Zero would not wait to listen to a villain justify their schemes. He was conscious speedrunners would skip all the dialogue and included in-game consequences for interrupting constantly to create a sense of realism. He adopted a show-don't-tell approach to convey as much of the story, themes, and characters as possible through just visuals. A level in which the player controls the Dragon was intended to show the character's lethality without words. The dialogue tree system originated from Stander's concept for a role-playing video game (RPG) that centered on limitlessness, allowing the player to interact with any object and fight any NPC. He wanted every action to have repercussions, which he likened to the Grand Theft Auto games. Although he never developed the RPG, Stander reincorporated the dialogue system in Katana Zero to keep the pacing consistent. Difficulty arose from finding the right timing between interrupting and responding. Playtesters would choose the wrong response if they interrupted too late, or unintentionally interrupt by taking too much time to respond. Stander resolved the problem using "coyote time", a trick in game development in which developers provide the player a brief interval to make their decision even if the on-screen window of opportunity has passed. Stander kept the stakes for each dialogue choice minimal to reduce tension and make choosing a response feel natural. He noted "even the ones that seem big will peter out or resolve themselves", similar to Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series, such as an instance in which a decision will cause the player to temporarily lose their sword. However, he said "the way the story is told is entirely dependent on [the player's] choices", noting worldbuilding and character relationships can change depending on the dialogue options. For example, Zero's relationship with the psychiatrist suffers if the player ignores his orders, which can lead to alternate story paths in which Zero learns information he was not supposed to. Stander used graphical effects to emphasize major decisions, such as moving or colored text and character animations. He accomplished this by programming the script to affect other areas of the game upon reaching certain points. His initial intention was only to add polish, but he began to experiment and added elements such as distortion effects and screen-shaking. ### Music Katana Zero's synthwave score, which blends Chicago house, electronic music, and synth-pop, was composed by Bill Kiley and Thijs "LudoWic" Lodewijk, with additional music by Stander. Kiley had collaborated with Stander in the past and Stander recruited him to work on Katana Zero at the beginning of development. Lodewijk, who had never composed a video game, became involved in 2015, after Stander found his YouTube channel and recruited him to write a single track. Stander then asked if he could use music from Lodewijk's "jams" (improvised recording sessions Lodewijk had uploaded to his channel); the jam that first drew Stander's attention to Lodewijk, "Jam \#12", was used as the boss theme. Lodewijk composed a track specifically for Stander after joining the project, but Stander told him to compose as he normally would. Kiley and Lodewijk looked to 1980s electronic music for inspiration since the game's themes—including drug use and the effect of war on a nation's spirit—were relevant in the 1980s in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. They originally worked separately, as Stander wanted Kiley to write muted music for story-driven scenes and Lodewijk to write energetic music for the main levels. According to Kiley, "As the project progressed we gleefully broke this rule and ended up writing music for levels and story scenes all over the place." Kiley and Lodewijk attempted to reflect Zero's changing psyche and moods in their music, such as when Zero experiences Chronos withdrawal and snorts cocaine in a limousine. Kiley drew influence from the work of Gary Numan, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Vangelis, and sought to evoke the feelings of 1980s action films. Stander sent Kiley and Lodewijk screenshots, concept art, and notes describing the atmosphere he was aiming for, occasionally alongside an existing piece of music for reference. Lodewijk explained they would send their initial composition to Stander, leading to a series of exchanges that resulted in the final track. Some tracks ended up in different levels than intended, and for certain levels and dream sequences, Lodewijk wrote two tracks for Stander to blend in-game. Lodewijk composed most tracks in a single take, "[letting the music] go and sort of adjust[ing] it as it [went] along". He drew inspiration from Nine Inch Nails, as he and Stander were fans of their dark and industrial tone. Lodewijk did not set out to make dark music, but noted his tracks were often somber, even when he attempted to compose happy music. Kiley said he composed using the same monitors Richard "Disasterpeace" Vreeland used to compose Fez (2012), while Lodewijk used vintage synthesizers and drum machines such as the Akai MPC. While he did edit some tracks using his computer, Lodewijk described his process as "old-fashioned" and estimated 95% of his music was composed using vintage synths. Stander attempted to synchronize the music with the gameplay by having Zero turn on a Walkman at the beginning of each level, changing the music when Zero takes his earbuds out to talk to an NPC, and slowing down the music when the player uses Chronos. ## Release Katana Zero made its first public appearance at PAX West in Seattle in September 2015. Adult Swim Games obtained the publication rights, and a teaser trailer was released in December. The game was scheduled for a late 2016 release, but was delayed to 2017 and eventually to March 2019. Stander announced he had "amicably parted ways" with Adult Swim in December 2018, and revealed Devolver Digital had acquired the publication rights the following month. Devolver helped Stander localize the game, translating it to ten languages. Stander was impressed by Devolver's software testing process for catching bugs he did not notice. Katana Zero was released on April 18, 2019, as a downloadable game on GOG.com, Humble Bundle, Nintendo eShop, and Steam. The Switch version was temporarily banned in Australia after it was refused classification by the International Age Rating Coalition in April, due to its depiction of graphic violence and drug use. Devolver Digital resubmitted the game to the Australian Classification Board, which cleared it for a May release with an R18+ rating. Devolver released an Xbox One version on October 15, 2020, offered to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and an Amazon Luna version on December 9, 2021. A PlayStation 4 version was rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in March 2021, but has not been released as of September 2022. ### Sales Katana Zero was Devolver's most-preordered Switch game, sold over 100,000 copies within a week of release, and became Devolver's second-fastest-selling Switch game behind Enter the Gungeon (2017). It was the second-bestselling eShop game during the month following its release behind the Switch version of Cuphead (2017), which was released on the same day. Katana Zero sold 500,000 copies in less than a year and generated US\$5 million in revenue. In contrast, the average indie game generates around US\$16,000. Stander said Katana Zero was most successful on Switch and Steam; sales were originally strongest on Switch, but the Steam version gradually sold more since it went on sale often. ## Reception Katana Zero received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregate website Metacritic, and a "Mighty" approval rating from OpenCritic. Critics considered Katana Zero stylish and well designed. IGN said it "refines the tried and true one-hit-kill formula in a manner that makes it feels fresh, exciting, and innovative", while Nintendo Life and Nintendo World Report considered it a standout in the Nintendo eShop library. Destructoid's reviewer said Katana Zero was "bleak, beautiful, bloody, and brilliant" and changed how he viewed video games. Critics praised the 16-bit visuals. They enjoyed the retro VHS aesthetic and visual effects—though some wrote their intensity could induce headaches—as well as the amount of detail in the sprites and animations. IGN found the lighting effects impressive and said they worked with the "slick neon aesthetic and fantastic sprite work" to give the game personality. GameSpot appreciated that Katana Zero did not use a retro aesthetic simply for nostalgia, and alongside Polygon found the detailed sprite work and smooth animations added emotional weight. The soundtrack was acclaimed. Destructoid called it an "audial delight" and Nintendo Life's reviewer said the music overshadowed the rest of the game at points. He felt the soundtrack had a clear focus but remained "willing to experiment with obscure genres" and complimented the composers for doing something original in contrast to the "cliché" chiptune style prevalent in indie games. IGN said the soundtrack was excellent and fitting, and PC Gamer liked how it was contextualized in the world. Although reviewers praised the writing, they were divided on the story. Destructoid noted it was difficult to discuss since much is left to the player's interpretation. Shacknews praised the plot twists, and GameSpot said the story did a good job balancing graphic violence with "delicately quiet character moments and some heartfelt relationships". Some commended how the story provided context for the slow-motion game mechanic, and others thought it had heart. However, PC Gamer found the plot generic dystopian fiction with stock characters, while Game Informer felt it had interesting ideas but "most of them just cryptically meander without reaching any crescendo". Multiple reviewers disliked the ending, which they called abrupt, and felt teased story moments lacked payoffs. GameSpot found this problematic since a sequel was not guaranteed. The dialogue system was considered creative and innovative. Reviewers said the branching dialogue paths and alternate story scenarios added replay value. The graphical effects used to emphasize dialogue were praised for adding emotional weight to conversations. Destructoid and Nintendo Life said the dialogue system helped make the story interesting, and Polygon wrote it helped the player build an emotional connection with Zero. Minor criticism came from IGN, which said many story deviations felt superficial, leading to later choices feeling inconsistent with those made earlier. Nonetheless, IGN said the dialogue system was entertaining and encouraged multiple playthroughs. Critics enjoyed the fast, fluid gameplay, which they frequently compared to Hotline Miami. Rock, Paper, Shotgun and IGN said the influences were obvious, but this was not a problem. IGN said the controls were "empoweringly flexible" and Nintendo Life said it felt great to learn them. Reviewers frequently compared Katana Zero to a puzzle game, requiring the player to strategize and plan. They said this made completing each level feel satisfying, with Game Informer considering the trial-and-error process of polishing movements "the most entertaining part of [the game]". Conversely, Polygon felt the gameplay, while good, did not live up to the presentation, and that the puzzle-like design made the game feel limited. The short length was noted, but IGN and Nintendo Life said it worked in the game's favor since it meant there was no filler. Reviewers said the player character's abilities were static and limited. While Gamer Informer said this was a problem, USgamer found the game was "all about playing with those scant toys", and PC Gamer felt they were "adaptable enough to make the combat encounters varied". GameSpot, USgamer, Destructoid, and IGN felt the gameplay stayed interesting with its set pieces and variety of enemy types, though Game Informer disagreed. IGN's reviewer said the Chronos slow motion mechanic was his favorite element since it was powerful but still limited, and Nintendo Life described the process of balancing Chronos use throughout the levels as exciting. Destructoid praised how enemies never reset to their original position after deaths, although Game Informer considered this an annoyance. ### Accolades Katana Zero was among the top 50 highest-rated games on Metacritic in 2019, and was named one of the best games of 2019 by USgamer (#1), Thrillist (#21), and Red Bull. IGN nominated it for "Best Action Game" and "Best Video Game Music/Soundtrack" during its Best of 2019 Awards. For his work on the game, Stander was included in Forbes' 2020 30 Under 30 list. ## Downloadable content and future On April 25, 2019, a week after Katana Zero's release, Stander announced he was working on free downloadable content (DLC). He wanted the DLC's quality to be on par with the main game's, and its size expanded considerably during development. It was three times its originally-planned size by February 2020, and six times by March 2021. However, the expansions did not change Stander's plans to release the DLC for free. The DLC will be slightly more than half the size of the base game and will introduce new game mechanics, enemies, and story elements. Stander described it as "more like Katana 1.5" than DLC. He said the DLC will resolve some plot threads and continue the worldbuilding, but will not complete the story. Stander plans to continue the story beyond the DLC and has its conclusion planned. In May 2020, he said some of his future games would connect to its fictional universe.
208,533	History of the British penny (1714–1901)	1,156,659,640	null	[ "History of British coinage" ]	The penny of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901, the period in which the House of Hanover reigned, saw the transformation of the penny from a little-used small silver coin to the bronze piece recognisable to modern-day Britons. All bear the portrait of the monarch on the obverse; copper and bronze pennies have a depiction of Britannia, the female personification of Britain, on the reverse. During most of the 18th century, the penny was a small silver coin rarely seen in circulation, and that was principally struck to be used for Maundy money or other royal charity. Beginning in 1787, the chronic shortage of good money resulted in the wide circulation of private tokens, including large coppers valued at one penny. In 1797 industrialist Matthew Boulton gained a contract to produce official pennies at his Soho Mint in Birmingham; he struck millions of pennies over the next decade. After that, it was not until 1825 that pennies were struck again for circulation, and the copper penny continued to be issued until 1860. By the late 1850s, the state of the copper coinage was deemed unsatisfactory, with quantities of worn oversized pieces, some dating from Boulton's day, still circulating. They were replaced by lighter bronze coins beginning in 1860; the "Bun penny", named for the hairstyle of Queen Victoria on it, was issued from then until 1894. The final years of Victoria's reign saw the "Veiled head" or "Old head" pennies, which were coined from 1895 until her death in 1901. ## Silver penny (18th century) At the start of King George I's reign in 1714, the English penny had been struck from silver for about a thousand years. The Hanoverian dynasty in Britain began during the time that Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint. Newton had in 1702 considered the issuance of a copper penny, but no action was taken. Silver at this time came to the Royal Mint only as the by-product of mining for other substances, and from chance deposits and windfalls—the scandal-plagued South Sea Company in 1723 was obliged to send a large quantity of silver bullion to the Mint's premises in the Tower of London. Nevertheless, so little was sent overall that MP John Conduitt, Newton's successor as Master, wrote in 1730 that since December 1701, "no silver has been imported to the Mint but what was forced thither". Only small quantities of silver pennies were struck in the early years of George's reign; it and the silver twopence were unpopular in any case because of their small size. The change in dynasty did not affect the form of the silver penny—a 12 mm diameter coin weighing 0.5 gram. George's pennies had the inscription GEORGIVS DEI GRA continuing onto the other side with MAG BR FR ET HIB REX and the date, around the crowned "I". The representation of George was by John Croker or his assistant Samuel Bull; they had designed the busts of William III and of Queen Anne that had appeared on earlier pennies. The Roman numeral I on the coins dated from the reign of James II, and was at first intended to denote the King's initial in Latin (IACOBUS) but was kept a Roman numeral when the twopence, threepence, and fourpence were given Arabic numerals under William III and Mary. Pennies were minted in 1716, 1718, 1720, 1723, 1725, 1726 and 1727, the last of these the date of George's death and of the accession of his son, George II. The major purpose for the silver penny in the 18th century was as Maundy money. Most silver pennies after 1727 were likely used for that purpose; the mintages were enough to provide for this, but not enough for general circulation. In some years, the Maundy money may have been composed entirely of pennies, though there are accounts of the twopence, threepence, and groat being used as well. At times, there were gaps in the dating as enough for several years was struck at once, to be held against need. There were enough silver pennies in circulation that Maundy recipients could spend their gifts. By 1727, the price of silver guaranteed that pennies were struck at a loss. When other regal coins began use of a bust showing George II as an older man in 1740–1743, the penny remained unaltered. Brian Robinson, in his book on the Royal Maundy, suggested that a new bust for a coin issued only in small quantities would not have been worth the 12 weeks' work it would have taken a Mint engraver to create new dies. In any event, between 1727 and 1816, silver cost too much for there to be much coinage of it. George II's pennies had a left-facing bust of him and the inscription GEORGIVS II DEI GRATIA continuing onto the other side with MAG BRI FR ET HIB REX and the date around the crowned "I". Pennies were minted in 1729, 1731, 1732, 1735, 1737, 1739, 1740, 1743, 1746 and 1750, and between 1752 and 1760. No pennies were issued dated 1733 or 1744, likely because the year in Britain still began on 25 March, and Maundy Thursday did not occur during those twelve-month periods. Into the reign of King George III (1760–1820), the silver penny continued to be used mostly as a Maundy piece. Pennies similar to those of previous reigns, but bearing George III's head and the inscription GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA, were struck in 1763, 1766, 1770, 1772, 1776, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1784 and 1786. A new bust of the King was introduced to the penny in 1792, and was struck dated that year, 1795, and 1800. The third, laureated bust of the king with an unchanged obverse inscription was on the silver penny in 1817, 1818 and 1820. George III's first reverse, used until 1780, showed the crowned "I" in high relief, with the inscription MAG BRI FR ET HIB REX. A modification was made in 1781, with the relief of the central "I" on the reverse lowered, likely because part of the outline of the I had been visible on the King's head on the other side of the coin. This second reverse, used until 1786, was similar but in lower relief, the "I" being much flatter; the third reverse, used in 1792 only, was completely redesigned with a much smaller "I" under a smaller crown with the inscription running around the crown, with the same legend as before. The fourth reverse, used in 1795 and 1800 was similar to the first but with a redesigned crown. The fifth reverse, used from 1817, showed the crowned "I" with the inscription BRITANNIARUM REX FID DEF and the date. From 1817, the diameter of the coin was reduced from 12 to 11 millimetres, although the weight remained the same at .5 grams. ## Copper penny (1797–1860) ### Soho issues (1797–1807) With little silver coined in the second half of the 18th century, the burden of small change fell on the copper coinage, of which the highest denomination before 1797 was the halfpenny. Many official halfpennies were melted down clandestinely and lightweight counterfeits were made with the copper. In 1787, the Mint found that at most eight percent of "halfpennies" in circulation were genuine. A withdrawal of the existing copper coinage was deemed impractical due to transport difficulties. The Government would not accept copper coinage for taxes, and the small merchants who accumulated large stocks of real and dubious copper coin sought relief. Areas of the country not near the capital were sometimes short of coppers, since new issues could only be purchased at the Mint's office at the Tower of London, in packets of 5 or 10 shillings. The small change shortage made it difficult, by the late 1780s, for employers to pay workers. The gap was filled, beginning in 1787, by private minters and companies, who issued copper halfpenny and penny tokens. Although not money in a legal sense, they served that purpose, and rapidly spread across the country. Many of the manufacturers of these tokens were found in Birmingham, where industrialist Matthew Boulton struck large numbers of tokens and also constructed the Soho Mint, the first to be powered by steam. He aggressively lobbied for a contract to strike official copper coins. In 1797, the government gave Boulton a contract to strike 480 tonnes of copper pennies and 20 tonnes of copper twopences. The first official British coins of those denominations to be made of copper, they were also the first official British coins to be struck by steam rather than by muscle power. The large size of the coins, combined with the thick rim where the inscription was incuse (i.e. punched into the metal rather than raised from it), led to the coins being nicknamed "cartwheels". The design was by Boulton's employee Conrad Küchler. The obverse of the cartwheel coinage is a laureated right-facing bust of George III, with the inscription GEORGIUS III D G REX, while the reverse showed Britannia seated on a rock, facing left, holding an olive branch and trident with the inscription BRITANNIA 1797. Although Britannia had long appeared on the halfpenny and farthing, the 1797 coinage was the first time she was depicted ruling the waves, an allegory for Britain's status as a maritime power. The word SOHO may be seen in fine print on the face of the rock just below the shield. Boulton's pennies and twopences were meant to contain their face value in copper, i.e. they weighed one and two ounces each (penny – 28.3 grams, diameter 36 millimetres). In English measure, the penny was just over 1.4 inches in diameter, so that 17 pennies side by side would measure two feet. Boulton obtained a copy of the Royal Society's standard foot to get the measurement right. Even though pennies were struck first, reserving the twopences for later, the existing Soho Mint had trouble stamping such large pieces of copper, and Boulton built a new mint at Soho, where by 1799, each press was striking 60 pennies a minute. The 1,250 tonnes of "cartwheels" struck at Soho between 1797 and 1799 (all pieces were dated 1797) exceeded the total copper coinage by the Royal Mint in the 18th century. Boulton was given a further contract in 1799, but only halfpennies and farthings were struck then. In 1805, Boulton gained another contract. By then, the price of copper had risen; in 1797, a pound of copper had coined 16 pence of coins, and in 1799 that amount of metal had made 18 pence-worth, but it took 24 of the 1806 pennies to weigh a pound. The pennies were issued dated 1806 or 1807; they weigh 18.9 grams (2⁄3 ounces) and measure 34 millimetres (one-and-a-third inches) in diameter. These were more conventionally designed, also by Küchler, with a right-facing bust of the King and the same inscription as on the obverse of 1797 pennies. The reverse shows the seated Britannia facing left, with olive branch and trident and the inscription BRITANNIA. There is one unique penny coin known which is dated 1808, but this is thought to have been a proof. A total of 150 tonnes of copper were used to make the 1806 and 1807 pennies. ### Regal issues (1825–1860) Finding its premises at the Tower of London too cramped and unsuited to the new technology, the Mint moved to a new building on Tower Hill, and first struck coins there (for the East India Company) in 1811. The coinage was made by steam power, with equipment supplied by Boulton's firm. At the beginning of the Great Recoinage of 1816, only gold and silver coins were produced; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nicholas Vansittart, deemed there to be enough official coppers in commerce to serve. Thus, it was not until after the death of George III in 1820 and the accession of his son George IV that the copper coinage was recommenced. Coinage of pennies and halfpennies resumed in 1825 after the first farthings of the new reign were minted in 1821. The new pennies were authorised by an Order in Council of 14 November 1825, and were made current by a proclamation of 30 January 1826. George IV's pennies were struck in only three years (1825, 1826, 1827) and most of the final year's mintage is believed to have been sent to Tasmania. The obverse of George IV's pennies shows a left-facing laureated head engraved by William Wyon. This was the second portrait of George IV, and was adopted after the King expressed a dislike for the one engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci, which was never used on the penny. The penny is inscribed GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA and the date, while the reverse shows a right-facing seated Britannia with a shield and trident, inscribed BRITANNIAR REX FID DEF. The penny at this time weighed 18.8 grams and had a diameter of 34 millimetres, the same as Boulton's 1806–1807 pennies. The pennies of King William IV (1830–1837) are similar to those of his predecessor, also being engraved by William Wyon, based on a model by Sir Francis Chantrey. King William's head faces right, with the obverse inscribed GULIELMUS IIII DEI GRATIA, while the reverse is identical to the George IV penny. Pennies were minted in 1831, 1834 and 1837. An 1836 penny has been reported but not confirmed. The pennies of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) form one of the most intricate denominations of British coinage, both before and after the transition from copper to bronze pennies in 1860. A number of specialist books have been published on the many varieties of Victorian pennies. The final years of the copper penny, from 1839 to 1860, saw a portrait of the Queen by William Wyon, usually dubbed the "Young Head". It had a reverse largely unchanged from King William's but for changing an X to a G, thus REX became REG, short for Regina (queen), denoting the fact that the monarch was now a woman. Thus, the legend on Victorian copper pennies was VICTORIA DEI GRATIA/BRITANNIAR REG FID DEF. Copper pennies were issued for all years between 1839 and 1860 except 1840, 1842, 1850, and 1852. The Heaton Mint, of Birmingham, had been founded with equipment from the wound-up Soho Mint. Beginning in the early 1850s, it supplied large quantities of blanks for pennies to the Royal Mint, and at times was called upon to strike pennies, though its mint mark H would not appear on pennies until 1874. These contracts were because of the needs of Ireland (where counterfeits and tokens were common) and the colonies; the large quantities struck between 1797 and 1807 by Boulton ensured there were no shortages in England, Scotland and Wales. ## Bronze penny (from 1860) By 1857, both the Royal Mint and the public were dissatisfied by the state of the copper coinage. Much of it was worn or defaced by advertisements, and 14 percent of the pennies in commerce were Boulton's 1797 cartwheels. The fact that pennies of different specifications circulated side by side precluded the weighing of quantities of copper coin to ascertain the value. In addition to the pennies struck since 1806, there were Boulton's 1797 coppers and also, to a different standard, coppers struck for Ireland, which had been legal tender since 1826. Each sort of penny was deemed too heavy for daily use. The copper coins were so heavy that Charles Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby had Mr Mantalini contemplate suicide by drowning himself in the Thames, his pockets filled with halfpennies. Thomas Graham, the Master of the Mint, in 1859 persuaded William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the state of the copper currency demanded a lighter, more durable replacement. Bronze was selected as harder and less subject to oxidation. It was a material with which the Mint had experience, having recently struck bronze coins for the Canadian colonies, and it had been used in France since 1852. Gladstone told the House of Commons that were an old and a new penny placed side by side, no one unacquainted with them would dream they represented the same value. Parliament passed legislation in 1860 that allowed the penny to be struck from an alloy of metals. The act required that Britannia appear on the coin, as the design was felt to symbolise Britain as ruler of the waves, and to omit her would be seen as abandoning that role. The Mint in 1860 awarded a contract for 1,720 tonnes of bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings to James Watt & Co of Birmingham, a contract that would not be completed until 1863. Heaton's was also called upon to supply dies and coins, especially as Watt's prepared to execute its huge contract. Although there were calls for a public competition, William Wyon's son, Leonard Charles Wyon was chosen to execute the new design. Both the Queen and Prince Albert took a keen interest in the work, and repeated visits by Wyon to Buckingham Palace and Osborne House were necessary before Victoria gave her approval. There is a tale that the Queen returned the penny sent her for final approval by post, but a postman opened the parcel, throwing away the coin in disgust when he realised all that was inside was a penny. The new bronze pieces were made current by a proclamation dated 17 December 1860, and public reaction was positive, both for Wyon's designs and for the weight, which had been halved. The new coins were widely distributed through post offices, and in 1861, the Mint began the recall of the old copper pieces, paying a small premium and for the transport. The old copper coins soon vanished from towns; progress in rural areas was more gradual. The pre-1860 copper penny was demonetised after 1869 in Britain (though accepted at full face value by the Mint until 1873) and in 1877 for the colonies—roughly a quarter of the copper coinage struck by the Royal Mint between 1821 and 1856 had been sent overseas, with Ceylon the leading recipient. The obverse of the new penny read VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D. The Mint had intended to render it with the abbreviation BRIT, and some after the coins' release argued it should have done, but Gladstone had intervened to invoke the rule that the last consonant of a Latin abbreviation should be doubled to indicate the plural. The coin is dubbed the "Bun Head penny" or "Bun penny" for the Queen's hairstyle. The reverse depicts Britannia, wearing flowing robes, a breastplate and helmet, and grasping a trident. Her right hand grips a shield, on which is seen the combined crosses of the Union Jack. A ship sails out to sea on her right, and a lighthouse, supposedly the old Eddystone Lighthouse, is seen behind her on her left. The denomination, ONE PENNY, appears for the first time on the base-metal piece. There are many varieties of the Bun penny, as several non-identical dies were prepared (especially in 1860) the design was tweaked a number of times over its 35 years, and the dies were sometimes used in different combinations. The 2017 edition of Spink & Son's Coins of England & the United Kingdom chronicles 13 obverses, 14 reverses and a large number of die combinations. Differences include the number of leaves on Victoria's wreath and whether the border is beaded or toothed. An "H" below the date on 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881 and 1882 pennies indicates that the coin was produced at Heaton's in Birmingham. When production at the Royal Mint was stopped for a complete reconstruction in 1882, Heaton's, pursuant to contract, produced 50 tonnes of pennies, halfpennies and farthings. Pennies of the Bun type were issued in all years between 1860 and 1894. Joseph Edgar Boehm's "Jubilee head" of the Queen was placed on the gold and silver coinage in 1887 but was not adopted for the bronze, with the Bun head continuing. Boehm's rendering proved unpopular, and in 1893 was replaced with the "Veiled head" or "Old head", by Thomas Brock, and engraved by Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint George William de Saulles. The new penny design was introduced in 1895, the new version being authorised by a proclamation dated 11 May of that year. Victoria is seen as an elderly woman, wearing a diadem partially eclipsed by a veil. She wears a necklace with a pendant, an earring, and the Garter Riband with Star. The inscription became VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP, as the title of Empress of India had been added to the Queen's titles in 1876. The reverse was modified by de Saulles, with the most significant change the deletion of the ship and lighthouse. The new design was struck each year from 1895 to 1901, the year in which Victoria died. Coins depicting her and dated 1901 continued to be struck until King Edward VII's coinage was ready in May 1902. ## Mintages Total mintage by date and mint mark. "H" is for Heaton Mint, Birmingham. ### King George IV 1820–1830 Laureate Bust - 1825 \~ 1,075,200 - 1826 \~ 5,913,000 - 1827 \~ 1,451,520 ### King William IV 1830–1837 Laureate Bust - 1831 \~ 806,400 - 1834 \~ 322,560 - 1837 \~ 174,720 ### Queen Victoria 1837–1901 Copper: Young Bust (W.W. on truncation) - 1839 \~ Only in proof - 1841 \~ 913,920 - 1843 \~ 483,830 - 1844 \~ 215,040 - 1845 \~ 322,560 - 1846 \~ 483,840 - 1847 \~ 430,080 - 1848 \~ 161,280 - 1849 \~ 268,800 - 1851 \~ 432,224 - 1853 \~ 1,021,440 - 1854 \~ 6,720,000 - 1855 \~ 5,273,866 - 1856 \~ 1,212,288 - 1857 \~ 752,640 Young Bust - 1858 \~ 1,559,040 - 1859 \~ 1,075,200 - 1860 \~ 32,256 Bronze: Laureate and Draped Bust – 'L.C.Wyon' (Beaded border) - 1860 \~ 5,053,440 Laureate and Draped Bust – 'L.C.Wyon' (Toothed border) - 1860 \~ Unknown - 1861 \~ 36,449,280 Laureate and Draped Bust (Toothed border) - 1861 \~ Unknown - 1862 \~ 50,534,400 - 1863 \~ 28,062,700 - 1864 \~ 3,440,640 - 1865 \~ 8,601,600 - 1866 \~ 9,999,360 - 1867 \~ 5,483,520 - 1868 \~ 1,182,720 - 1869 \~ 2,580,480 - 1870 \~ 5,695,022 - 1871 \~ 1,290,318 - 1872 \~ 8,494,572 - 1873 \~ 8,494,200 - 1874 \~ 5,621,865 - 1874H \~ 6,666,240 - 1875 \~ 10,691,040 - 1875H \~ 752,640 - 1876H \~ 11,074,560 - 1877 \~ 9,624,747 - 1878 \~ 2,764,470 - 1879 \~ 7,666,476 - 1880 \~ 3,000,831 - 1881 \~ 2,302,362 - 1881H \~ 3,763,200 - 1882H \~ 7,526,400 - 1883 \~ 6,327,438 - 1884 \~ 11,702,802 - 1885 \~ 7,145,862 - 1886 \~ 6,087,759 - 1887 \~ 5,315,085 - 1888 \~ 5,125,020 - 1889 \~ 12,559,737 - 1890 \~ 15,330,840 - 1891 \~ 17,885,961 - 1892 \~ 10,501,671 - 1893 \~ 8,161,737 - 1894 \~ 3,883,452 Veiled Bust - 1895 \~ 5,395,830 - 1896 \~ 24,147,156 - 1897 \~ 20,752,620 - 1898 \~ 14,296,836 - 1899 \~ 26,441,069 - 1900 \~ 31,778,109 - 1901 \~ 22,205,568 ## See also - 1844 Victoria One Penny Model
320,401	Barton Fink	1,171,655,730	1991 film by the Coen brothers	[ "1990s American films", "1990s English-language films", "1990s buddy comedy films", "1990s psychological thriller films", "1990s serial killer films", "1991 black comedy films", "1991 films", "1991 independent films", "20th Century Fox films", "American black comedy films", "American buddy comedy films", "American independent films", "American neo-noir films", "American satirical films", "American serial killer films", "Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles", "Films about Jews and Judaism", "Films about screenwriters", "Films directed by the Coen brothers", "Films scored by Carter Burwell", "Films set in 1941", "Films set in Los Angeles", "Films set in New York City", "Films set in a movie theatre", "Films set in hotels", "Films set on the United States home front during World War II", "Films shot in California", "Palme d'Or winners", "Postmodern films", "Surreal comedy films", "Working Title Films films" ]	Barton Fink is a 1991 American period black comedy psychological thriller film written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a film studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie Meadows, the insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle. The Coens wrote the screenplay for Barton Fink in three weeks while experiencing writer's block during the writing of Miller's Crossing. They began filming soon after Miller's Crossing was finished. The film is influenced by works of several earlier directors, particularly Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and The Tenant (1976). Barton Fink had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1991. In a rare sweep, it won the Palme d'Or as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Turturro). Although the film was a box office bomb, only grossing \$6 million against its \$9 million budget, it received positive reviews and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Prominent themes of Barton Fink include the writing process; slavery and conditions of labor in creative industries; superficial distinctions between high culture and low culture; and the relationship of intellectuals with "the common man". The diverse elements of the film have led it to defy efforts at genre classification, with the work being variously referred to as a film noir, a horror film, a Künstlerroman, and a buddy film. It contains various literary allusions and religious overtones, as well as references to many real-life people and events – most notably the writers Clifford Odets and William Faulkner, of whom the characters of Barton Fink and W. P. Mayhew, respectively, are often seen as fictional representations. Several features of the film's narrative, particularly an image of a woman at the beach which recurs throughout, have sparked much commentary, with the Coens acknowledging some intentional symbolic elements while denying an attempt to communicate any single message in the film. ## Plot In 1941, up-and-coming Broadway playwright Barton Fink accepts a contract from Capitol Pictures in Hollywood to write film scripts for a thousand dollars per week. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Fink settles into the cheap Hotel Earle. His room's only decoration is a small painting of a woman on the beach, arm raised to block the sun. Fink is assigned to a wrestling film by his new boss Jack Lipnick, but he finds difficulty in writing for the unfamiliar subject. He is distracted by sounds coming from the room next door, and he phones the front desk to alert them of the disturbing sounds. His neighbor, Charlie Meadows, the source of the noise, visits Fink to apologize. During their conversation, Fink proclaims his affection for "the common man", and Meadows describes his life as an insurance salesman. Still unable to proceed beyond the first lines of his script, Fink consults producer Ben Geisler for advice. Irritated, the frenetic Geisler takes him to lunch and orders him to consult another writer for assistance. Fink accidentally meets the novelist W. P. Mayhew in the bathroom. They briefly discuss movie-writing and arrange a second meeting later in the day. Fink later learns from Mayhew's secretary, Audrey Taylor, that Mayhew suffers from alcoholism and that Taylor ghostwrote some of his scripts. With one day left before his meeting with Lipnick to discuss the film, Fink phones Taylor and begs her for assistance. Taylor visits him at the Earle and they have sex. Fink awakens the next morning to find that Taylor had been violently murdered. Horrified, he summons Meadows and asks for help. Meadows is repulsed but disposes of the body and orders Fink to avoid contacting the police. After Fink has a meeting with an unusually supportive Lipnick, Meadows announces to Fink that he is going to New York for several days, and asks him to watch over a package he is leaving behind. Soon afterwards, Fink is visited by two police detectives, who inform him that Meadows's real name is Karl "Madman" Mundt. Mundt is a serial killer whose modus operandi is beheading his victims. Stunned, Fink places the box on his desk without opening it and he begins writing feverishly. Fink produces the entire script in one sitting and he goes out for a night of celebratory dancing. Fink returns to find the detectives in his room, who inform him of Mayhew's murder and accuse Fink of complicity with Mundt. As the hotel is suddenly engulfed in flames, Mundt appears and kills the detectives with a shotgun, after which he mentions that he had paid a visit to Fink's parents and uncle in New York. Fink leaves the still-burning hotel, carrying the box and his script. Shortly thereafter he attempts to telephone his family, but there is no answer. In a final meeting with Lipnick, who has been conscripted by the United States Army Reserve to serve as a colonel in the Second World War, Fink's script is lambasted as "a fruity movie about suffering", and he is informed that he is to remain in Los Angeles; although Fink will remain under contract, Capitol Pictures will not produce anything he writes until he "grows up a little". Dazed, Fink wanders onto a beach, still carrying the package. He meets a woman who looks just like the one in the picture on his wall at the Earle, and she asks about the box. He tells her he does not know what it contains nor who owns it. She then assumes the pose from the picture. ## Cast - John Turturro as Barton Fink - John Goodman as Charlie Meadows / Karl "Madman" Mundt - Michael Lerner as Jack Lipnick - Judy Davis as Audrey Taylor - John Mahoney as W. P. "Bill" Mayhew - Tony Shalhoub as Ben Geisler - Jon Polito as Lou Breeze - Steve Buscemi as Chet - David Warrilow as Garland Stanford - Richard Portnow as Detective Mastrionotti - Christopher Murney as Detective Deutsch - Frances McDormand as Stage Actress (uncredited) ## Production ### Background and writing In 1989, film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen began writing the script for a film eventually released as Miller's Crossing. The many threads of the story became complicated, and after four months they found themselves lost in the process. Although biographers and critics later referred to it as writer's block, the Coen brothers rejected this description. "It's not really the case that we were suffering from writer's block," Joel said in a 1991 interview, "but our working speed had slowed, and we were eager to get a certain distance from Miller's Crossing." They went from Los Angeles to New York and began work on a different project. In three weeks, the Coens wrote a script with a title role written specifically for actor John Turturro, with whom they'd been working on Miller's Crossing. The new film, Barton Fink, was set in a large, seemingly abandoned hotel. This setting, which they named the Hotel Earle, was a driving force behind the story and mood of the new project. While filming their 1984 film Blood Simple in Austin, Texas, the Coens had seen a hotel which made a significant impression: "We thought, 'Wow, Motel Hell.' You know, being condemned to live in the weirdest hotel in the world." The writing process for Barton Fink was smooth, they said, suggesting that the relief of being away from Miller's Crossing may have been a catalyst. They also felt satisfied with the overall shape of the story, which helped them move quickly through the composition. "Certain films come entirely in one's head; we just sort of burped out Barton Fink." While writing, the Coens created a second leading role with another actor in mind: John Goodman, who had appeared in their 1987 comedy Raising Arizona. His new character, Charlie, was Barton's next-door neighbor in the cavernous hotel. Even before writing, the Coens knew how the story would end, and wrote Charlie's final speech at the start of the writing process. The script served its diversionary purpose, and the Coens put it aside: "Barton Fink sort of washed out our brain and we were able to go back and finish Miller's Crossing." Once production of the first film was finished, the Coens began to recruit staff to film Barton Fink. Turturro looked forward to playing the lead role, and spent a month with the Coens in Los Angeles to coordinate views on the project: "I felt I could bring something more human to Barton. Joel and Ethan allowed me a certain contribution. I tried to go a little further than they expected." As they designed detailed storyboards for Barton Fink, the Coens began looking for a new cinematographer, since their associate Barry Sonnenfeld – who had filmed their first three films – was occupied with his own directorial debut, The Addams Family. The Coens had been impressed with the work of English cinematographer Roger Deakins, particularly the interior scenes of the 1988 film Stormy Monday. After screening other films he had worked on (including Sid and Nancy and Pascali's Island), they sent a script to Deakins and invited him to join the project. His agent advised against working with the Coens, but Deakins met with them at a café in Notting Hill and they soon began working together on Barton Fink. ### Filming Filming began in June 1990 and took eight weeks (a third less time than required by Miller's Crossing), and the estimated final budget for the film was US\$9 million. The Coens worked well with Deakins, and they easily translated their ideas for each scene onto film. "There was only one moment we surprised him," Joel Coen recalled later. An extended scene called for a tracking shot out of the bedroom and into a sink drain "plug hole" in the adjacent bathroom as a symbol of sexual intercourse. "The shot was a lot of fun and we had a great time working out how to do it," Joel said. "After that, every time we asked Roger to do something difficult, he would raise an eyebrow and say, 'Don't be having me track down any plug-holes now.'" Three weeks of filming were spent in the Hotel Earle, a set created by art director Dennis Gassner. The film's climax required a huge spreading fire in the hotel's hallway, which the Coens originally planned to add digitally in post-production. When they decided to use real flames, however, the crew built a large alternative set in an abandoned aircraft hangar at Long Beach. A series of gas jets were installed behind the hallway, and the wallpaper was perforated for easy penetration. As Goodman ran through the hallway, a man on an overhead catwalk opened each jet, giving the impression of a fire racing ahead of Charlie. Each take required a rebuild of the apparatus, and a second hallway (sans fire) stood ready nearby for filming pick-up shots between takes. The final scene was shot near Zuma Beach, as was the image of a wave crashing against a rock. The Coens edited the film themselves, as is their custom. "We prefer a hands-on approach," Joel explained in 1996, "rather than sitting next to someone and telling them what to cut." Because of rules for membership in film production guilds, they are required to use a pseudonym; "Roderick Jaynes" is credited with editing Barton Fink. Only a few filmed scenes were removed from the final cut, including a transition scene to show Barton's movement from New York to Hollywood. (In the film, this is shown enigmatically with a wave crashing against a rock.) Several scenes representing work in Hollywood studios were also filmed, but edited out because they were "too conventional". ### Setting There is a sharp contrast between Fink's living quarters and the polished, pristine environs of Hollywood, especially the home of Jack Lipnick. The spooky, inexplicably empty feel of the Hotel Earle was central to the Coens' conception of the film. "We wanted an art deco stylization," Joel explained in a 1991 interview, "and a place that was falling into ruin after having seen better days." Barton's room is sparsely furnished with two large windows facing another building. The Coens later described the hotel as a "ghost ship floating adrift, where you notice signs of the presence of other passengers, without ever laying eyes on any." In the film, residents' shoes are an indication of this unseen presence; another rare sign of other inhabitants is the sound from adjacent rooms. Joel said: "You can imagine it peopled by failed commercial travelers, with pathetic sex lives, who cry alone in their rooms." Heat and moisture are other important elements of the setting. The wallpaper in Barton's room peels and droops; Charlie experiences the same problem and guesses heat is the cause. The Coens used green and yellow colors liberally in designing the hotel "to suggest an aura of putrefaction." The atmosphere of the hotel was meant to connect with the character of Charlie. As Joel explained: "Our intention, moreover, was that the hotel function as an exteriorization of the character played by John Goodman. The sweat drips off his forehead like the wallpaper peels off the walls. At the end, when Goodman says that he is a prisoner of his own mental state, that this is like some kind of hell, it was necessary for the hotel to have already suggested something infernal." The peeling wallpaper and the paste which seeps through it also mirror Charlie's chronic ear infection and the resultant pus. When Barton first arrives at the Hotel Earle, he is asked by the friendly bellhop, Chet, (Steve Buscemi) if he is "a trans or a res" – transient or resident. Barton explains that he isn't sure but will be staying "indefinitely." The dichotomy between permanent inhabitants and guests reappears several times, notably in the hotel's motto, "A day or a lifetime," which Barton notices on the room's stationery. This idea returns at the end of the film, when Charlie describes Barton as "a tourist with a typewriter." His ability to leave the Earle (while Charlie remains) is presented by critic Erica Rowell as evidence that Barton's story represents the process of writing itself. Barton, she says, represents an author who is able to leave a story, while characters like Charlie cannot. In contrast, the offices of Capitol Pictures and Lipnick's house are pristine, lavishly decorated, and extremely comfortable. The company's rooms are bathed in sunlight and Ben Geisler's office faces a lush array of flora. Barton meets Lipnick in one scene beside an enormous, spotless swimming pool. This echoes his position as studio head, as he explains: "...you can't always be honest, not with the sharks swimming around this town ... if I'd been totally honest, I wouldn't be within a mile of this pool – unless I was cleaning it." In his office, Lipnick showcases another trophy of his power: statues of Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology who declared war on the gods of Mount Olympus and was severely punished. Barton watches dailies from another wrestling film being made by Capitol Pictures; the date on the clapperboard is December 9, two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Later, when Barton celebrates the completed script by dancing at a USO show, he is surrounded by soldiers. In Lipnick's next appearance, he wears a colonel's uniform, which is really a costume from his company. Lipnick has not actually entered the military but declares himself ready to fight the "little yellow bastards." Originally, this historical moment just after the United States entered World War II was to have a significant impact on the Hotel Earle. As the Coens explained: "[W]e were thinking of a hotel where the lodgers were old people, the insane, the physically handicapped, because all the others had left for the war. The further the script was developed, the more this theme got left behind, but it had led us, in the beginning, to settle on that period." #### The Picture The picture in Barton's room of a woman at the beach is a central focus for both the character and camera. He examines it frequently while at his desk and after finding Audrey's corpse in his bed he goes to stand near it. The image is repeated at the end of the film, when he meets an identical-looking woman at an identical-looking beach, who strikes an identical pose. After complimenting her beauty, he asks her: "Are you in pictures?" She blushes and replies: "Don't be silly.” The Coens decided early in the writing process to include the picture as a key element in the room. "Our intention," Joel explained later, "was that the room would have very little decoration, that the walls would be bare and that the windows would offer no view of any particular interest. In fact, we wanted the only opening on the exterior world to be this picture. It seemed important to us to create a feeling of isolation." Later in the film, Barton places into the frame a small picture of Charlie, dressed in a fine suit and holding a briefcase. The juxtaposition of his neighbor in the uniform of an insurance salesman and the escapist image of the woman on the beach leads to a confusion of reality and fantasy for Barton. Critic Michael Dunne notes: "[V]iewers can only wonder how 'real' Charlie is. ... In the film's final shot ... viewers must wonder how 'real' [the woman] is. The question leads to others: How real is Fink? Lipnick? Audrey? Mayhew? How real are films anyway?" The picture's significance has been the subject of broad speculation. The Washington Post reviewer Desson Howe said that despite its emotional impact, the final scene "feels more like a punchline for punchline's sake, a trumped-up coda." In her book-length analysis of the Coen brothers' films, Rowell suggests that Barton's fixation on the picture is ironic, considering its low culture status and his own pretensions toward high culture (speeches to the contrary notwithstanding). She further notes that the camera focuses on Barton himself as much as the picture while he gazes at it. At one point, the camera moves past Barton to fill the frame with the woman on the beach. This tension between objective and subjective points of view appears again at the end of the film, when Barton finds himself – in a sense – inside the picture. Critic M. Keith Booker calls the final scene an "enigmatic comment on representation and the relationship between art and reality." He suggests that the identical images point to the absurdity of art which reflects life directly. The film transposes the woman directly from art to reality, prompting confusion in the viewer; Booker asserts that such a literal depiction therefore leads inevitably to uncertainty. Many critics noted that "The Law of Non-Contradiction", an episode of the Coen-produced TV series Fargo based on their eponymous 1996 film, features a reference to the picture, as the episode's main character Gloria sits at the beach in shot and position similar to the picture's. The episode's themes were also compared to Barton Fink's. ## Genre The Coens are known for making films that defy simple classification. Although they refer to their first film, Blood Simple (1984), as a relatively straightforward example of detective fiction, the Coens wrote their next script, Raising Arizona (1987), without trying to fit a particular genre. They decided to write a comedy but intentionally added dark elements to produce what Ethan calls "a pretty savage film." Their third film, Miller's Crossing (1990), reversed this order, mixing bits of comedy into a crime film. Yet it also subverts single-genre identity by using conventions from melodrama, love stories, and political satire. This trend of mixing genres continued and intensified with Barton Fink (1991); the Coens insist the film "does not belong to any genre." Ethan has described it as "a buddy movie for the '90s." It contains elements of comedy, film noir, and horror, but other film categories are present. Actor Turturro referred to it as a coming of age story while literature professor and film analyst R. Barton Palmer calls it a Künstlerroman, highlighting the importance of the main character's evolution as a writer. Critic Donald Lyons describes the film as "a retro-surrealist vision.” Because it crosses genres, fragments the characters' experiences, and resists straightforward narrative resolution, Barton Fink is often considered an example of postmodernist film. In his book Postmodern Hollywood, Booker says the film renders the past with an impressionist technique, not a precise accuracy. This technique, he notes, is "typical of postmodern film, which views the past not as the prehistory of the present but as a warehouse of images to be raided for material." In his analysis of the Coens' films, Palmer calls Barton Fink a "postmodern pastiche" which closely examines how past eras have represented themselves. He compares it to The Hours (2002), a film about Virginia Woolf and two women who read her work. He asserts that both films, far from rejecting the importance of the past, add to our understanding of it. He quotes literary theorist Linda Hutcheon: the kind of postmodernism exhibited in these films "does not deny the existence of the past; it does question whether we can ever know that past other than through its textualizing remains.” Certain elements in Barton Fink highlight the veneer of postmodernism: the writer is unable to resolve his modernist focus on high culture with the studio's desire to create formulaic high-profit films; the resulting collision produces a fractured story arc emblematic of postmodernism. The Coens' cinematic style is another example; when Barton and Audrey begin making love, the camera pans away to the bathroom, then moves toward the sink and down its drain. Rowell calls this a "postmodern update" of the notorious sexually suggestive image of a train entering a tunnel, used by director Alfred Hitchcock in his film North by Northwest. ## Style Barton Fink uses several stylistic conventions to accentuate the story's mood and give visual emphasis to particular themes. For example, the opening credits roll over the Hotel Earle's wallpaper, as the camera moves downward. This motion is repeated many times in the film, especially pursuant to Barton's claim that his job is to "plumb the depths" while writing. His first experiences in the Hotel Earle continue this trope; the bellhop Chet emerges from beneath the floor, carrying a shoe (which he has presumably been polishing) suggesting the real activity is underground. Although Barton's floor is presumably six floors above the lobby, the interior of the elevator is shown only while it is descending. These elements – combined with many dramatic pauses, surreal dialogue, and implied threats of violence – create an atmosphere of extreme tension. The Coens explained that "the whole movie was supposed to feel like impending doom or catastrophe. And we definitely wanted it to end with an apocalyptic feeling." The style of Barton Fink is evocative and representative of films of the 1930s and 1940s. As critic Michael Dunne points out: "Fink's heavy overcoat, his hat, his dark, drab suits come realistically out of the Thirties, but they come even more out of the films of the Thirties." The style of the Hotel Earle and atmosphere of various scenes also reflect the influence of pre-World War II film-making. Even Charlie's underwear matches that worn by his filmic hero Jack Oakie. At the same time, camera techniques used by the Coens in Barton Fink represent a combination of the classic with the original. Careful tracking shots and extreme close-ups distinguish the film as a product of the late 20th century. From the start, the film moves continuously between Barton's subjective view of the world and one which is objective. After the opening credits roll, the camera tilts down to Barton, watching the end of his play. Soon we see the audience from his point of view, cheering wildly for him. As he walks forward, he enters the shot and the viewer is returned to an objective point of view. This blurring of the subjective and objective returns in the final scene. The shifting point of view coincides with the film's subject matter: film-making. The film begins with the end of a play, and the story explores the process of creation. This metanarrative approach is emphasized by the camera's focus in the first scene on Barton (who is mouthing the words spoken by actors offscreen), not on the play he is watching. As Rowell says: "[T]hough we listen to one scene, we watch another. ... The separation of sound and picture shows a crucial dichotomy between two 'views' of artifice: the world created by the protagonist (his play) and the world outside it (what goes into creating a performance)." The film also employs numerous foreshadowing techniques. Signifying the probable contents of the package Charlie leaves with Barton, the word "head" appears 60 times in the original screenplay. In a grim nod to later events, Charlie describes his positive attitude toward his "job" of selling insurance: "Fire, theft and casualty are not things that only happen to other people." ### Symbolism Much has been written about the symbolic meanings of Barton Fink. Rowell proposes that it is "a figurative head swelling of ideas that all lead back to the artist." The proximity of the sex scene to Audrey's murder prompts Lyons to insist: "Sex in Barton Fink is death." Others have suggested that the second half of the film is an extended dream sequence. The Coens, however, have denied any intent to create a systematic unity from symbols in the film. "We never, ever go into our films with anything like that in mind," Joel said in a 1998 interview. "There's never anything approaching that kind of specific intellectual breakdown. It's always a bunch of instinctive things that feel right, for whatever reason." The Coens have noted their comfort with unresolved ambiguity. Ethan said in 1991: "Barton Fink does end up telling you what's going on to the extent that it's important to know ... What isn't crystal clear isn't intended to become crystal clear, and it's fine to leave it at that." Regarding fantasies and dream sequences, he said: > It is correct to say that we wanted the spectator to share in the interior life of Barton Fink as well as his point of view. But there was no need to go too far. For example, it would have been incongruous for Barton Fink to wake up at the end of the film and for us to suggest thereby that he actually inhabited a reality greater than what is depicted in the film. In any case, it is always artificial to talk about "reality" in regard to a fictional character. The homoerotic overtones of Barton's relationship with Charlie are not unintentional. Although one detective demands to know if they had "some sick sex thing," their intimacy is presented as anything but deviant, and cloaked in conventions of mainstream sexuality. Charlie's first friendly overture toward his neighbor, for example, comes in the form of a standard pick-up line: "I'd feel better about the damned inconvenience if you'd let me buy you a drink.” The wrestling scene between Barton and Charlie is also cited as an example of homoerotic affection. "We consider that a sex scene," Joel Coen said in 2001. ### Sound and music Many of the sound effects in Barton Fink are laden with meaning. For example, Barton is summoned by a bell while dining in New York City; its sound is light and pleasant. By contrast, the eerie sustained bell of the Hotel Earle rings endlessly through the lobby, until Chet silences it. The nearby rooms of the hotel emit a constant chorus of guttural cries, moans, and assorted unidentifiable noises. These sounds coincide with Barton's confused mental state and punctuate Charlie's claim that "I hear everything that goes on in this dump." The applause in the first scene foreshadows the tension of Barton's move west, mixed as it is with the sound of an ocean wave crashing – an image which is shown onscreen soon thereafter. Another symbolic sound is the hum of a mosquito. Although Fink's producer insists that these parasites don't live in Los Angeles (since "mosquitos breed in swamps; this is a desert,") its distinctive sound is heard clearly as Barton watches a bug circle overhead in his hotel room. Later, he arrives at meetings with mosquito bites on his face. The insect also figures prominently into the revelation of Audrey's death; Barton slaps a mosquito feeding on her corpse and suddenly realizes she has been murdered. The high pitch of the mosquito's hum is echoed in the high strings used for the film's score. During filming, the Coens were contacted by an animal rights group who expressed concern about how mosquitoes would be treated. The score was composed by Carter Burwell, who has worked with the Coens since their first film. Unlike earlier projects, however – the Irish folk tune used for Miller's Crossing and an American folk song as the basis for Raising Arizona – Burwell wrote the music for Barton Fink without a specific inspiration. The score was released in 1996 on a compact disc, combined with the score for the Coens' film Fargo. Several songs used in the film are laden with meaning. At one point Mayhew stumbles away from Barton and Audrey, drunk. As he wanders, he hollers the folk song "Old Black Joe." (1853) Composed by Stephen Foster, it tells the tale of an elderly slave preparing to join his friends in "a better land." Mayhew's rendition of the song coincides with his condition as an oppressed employee of Capitol Pictures, and it foreshadows Barton's own situation at the film's end. When he finishes writing his script, Barton celebrates by dancing at a United Service Organizations (USO) show. The song used in this scene is a rendition of "Down South Camp Meeting," a swing tune. Its lyrics (unheard in the film) state: "Git ready (Sing) / Here they come! The choir's all set." These lines echo the title of Barton's play, Bare Ruined Choirs. As the celebration erupts into a melee, the intensity of the music increases, and the camera zooms into the cavernous hollow of a trumpet. This sequence mirrors the camera's zoom into a sink drain just before Audrey is murdered earlier in the film. ## Sources, inspirations, and allusions Inspiration for the film came from several sources, and it contains allusions to many different people and events. For example, the title of Barton's play, Bare Ruined Choirs, comes from line four of Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare. The poem's focus on aging and death connects to the film's exploration of artistic difficulty. Later, at one point in the picnic scene, as Mayhew wanders drunkenly away from Barton and Audrey, he calls out: "Silent upon a peak in Darien!" This is the last line from John Keats's sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer." (1816) The literary reference not only demonstrates the character's knowledge of classic texts, but the poem's reference to the Pacific Ocean matches Mayhew's announcement that he will "jus' walk on down to the Pacific, and from there I'll ... improvise.” Other academic allusions are presented elsewhere, often with extreme subtlety. For example, a brief shot of the title page in a Mayhew novel indicates the publishing house of "Swain and Pappas." This is likely a reference to Marshall Swain and George Pappas, philosophers whose work is concerned with themes explored in the film, including the limitations of knowledge and nature of being. One critic notes that Barton's fixation on the stain across the ceiling of his hotel room matches the protagonist's behavior in Flannery O'Connor's short story "The Enduring Chill. Critics have suggested that the film indirectly references the work of writers Dante Alighieri (through the use of Divine Comedy imagery) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (through the presence of Faustian bargains). Confounding bureaucratic structures and irrational characters, like those in the novels of Franz Kafka, appear in the film, but the Coens insist the connection was not intended. "I have not read him since college", admitted Joel in 1991, "when I devoured works like The Metamorphosis. Others have mentioned The Castle and 'In the Penal Colony,' but I've never read them." ### Clifford Odets The character of Barton Fink is loosely based on Clifford Odets, a playwright from New York who in the 1930s joined the Group Theatre, a gathering of dramatists which included Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. Their work emphasized social issues and employed Stanislavski's system of acting to recreate human experience as truthfully as possible. Several of Odets' plays were successfully performed on Broadway, including Awake and Sing! and Waiting for Lefty (both in 1935). When public tastes turned away from politically engaged theater and toward the familial realism of Eugene O'Neill, Odets had difficulty producing successful work, so he moved to Hollywood and spent 20 years writing film scripts. The Coens wrote with Odets in mind; they imagined Barton Fink as "a serious dramatist, honest, politically engaged, and rather naive." As Ethan said in 1991: "It seemed natural that he comes from Group Theater and the decade of the thirties." Like Odets, Barton believes that the theatre should celebrate the trials and triumphs of everyday people; like Barton, Odets was highly egotistical. In the film, a review of Barton's play Bare Ruined Choirs indicates that his characters face a "brute struggle for existence ... in the most squalid corners." This wording is similar to the comment of biographer Gerald Weales that Odets' characters "struggle for life amidst petty conditions." Lines of dialogue from Barton's work are reminiscent of Odets' play Awake and Sing!. For example, one character declares: "I'm awake now, awake for the first time." Another says: "Take that ruined choir. Make it sing." However, many important differences exist between the two men. Joel Coen said: "Both writers wrote the same kind of plays with proletarian heroes, but their personalities were quite different. Odets was much more of an extrovert; in fact he was quite sociable even in Hollywood, and this is not the case with Barton Fink!" Although he was frustrated by his declining popularity in New York, Odets was successful during his time in Hollywood. Several of his later plays were adapted – by him and others – into films. One of these, The Big Knife (1955), matches Barton's life much more than Odets'. In it, an actor becomes overwhelmed by the greed of a film studio which hires him and eventually commits suicide. Another similarity to Odets' work is Audrey's death, which mirrors a scene in Deadline at Dawn, (1946) a film noir written by Odets. In that film, a character awakens to find that the woman he bedded the night before has been inexplicably murdered. Odets chronicled his difficult transition from Broadway to Hollywood in his diary, published as The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets. (1988) The diary explored Odets' philosophical deliberations about writing and romance. He often invited women into his apartment, and he describes many of his affairs in the diary. These experiences, like the extended speeches about writing, are echoed in Barton Fink when Audrey visits and seduces Barton at the Hotel Earle. Turturro was the only member of the production who read Odets' Journal, however, and the Coen brothers urge audiences to "take account of the difference between the character and the man." The Coen brothers have stated that although the character of Fink is based on Odets, the character's appearance with "stand-up hair and glasses" is based on that of George S. Kaufmann. ### William Faulkner Some similarities exist between the character of W.P. Mayhew and novelist William Faulkner. Like Mayhew, Faulkner became known as a preeminent writer of Southern literature and later worked in the film business. Like Faulkner, Mayhew is a heavy drinker and speaks contemptuously about Hollywood. Faulkner's name appeared in the Hollywood 1940s history book City of Nets, which the Coens read while creating Barton Fink. Ethan explained in 1998: "I read this story in passing that Faulkner was assigned to write a wrestling picture... That was part of what got us going on the whole Barton Fink thing.” Faulkner worked on a wrestling film called Flesh, (1932) which starred Wallace Beery, the actor for whom Barton is writing. The focus on wrestling was fortuitous for the Coens, as they participated in the sport in high school. However, the Coens disavow a significant connection between Faulkner and Mayhew, calling the similarities "superficial," "As far as the details of the character are concerned," Ethan said in 1991, "Mayhew is very different from Faulkner, whose experiences in Hollywood were not the same at all." Unlike Mayhew's inability to write due to drink and personal problems, Faulkner continued to pen novels after working in the film business, winning several awards for fiction completed during and after his time in Hollywood. ### Jack Lipnick Lerner's Academy Award-nominated character of studio mogul Jack Lipnick is a composite of several Hollywood producers, including Harry Cohn, Louis B. Mayer and Jack L. Warner – three of the most powerful men in the film industry at the time in which Barton Fink is set. Like Mayer, Lipnick is originally from the Belarusian capital city Minsk. When World War II broke out, Warner pressed for a position in the military and ordered his wardrobe department to create a military uniform for him; Lipnick does the same in his final scene. Warner once referred to writers as "schmucks with Underwoods," leading to Barton's use in the film of an Underwood typewriter. At the same time, the Coens stress that the labyrinth of deception and difficulty Barton endures is not based on their own experience. Although Joel has said that artists tend to "meet up with Philistines," he added: "Barton Fink is quite far from our own experience. Our professional life in Hollywood has been especially easy, and this is no doubt extraordinary and unfair." Ethan has suggested that Lipnick – like the men on which he is based – is in some ways a product of his time. "I don't know that that kind of character exists anymore. Hollywood is a little more bland and corporate than that now." ### Cinema The Coens have acknowledged several cinematic inspirations for Barton Fink. Chief among these are three films by Polish-French film-maker Roman Polanski: Repulsion, (1965) Cul-de-Sac (1966) and The Tenant (1976). These films employ a mood of psychological uncertainty coupled with eerie environments that compound the mental instability of the characters. Barton's isolation in his room at the Hotel Earle is frequently compared to that of Trelkovsky in his apartment in The Tenant. Ethan said regarding the genre of Barton Fink: "[I]t is kind of a Polanski movie. It is closer to that than anything else." By coincidence, Polanski was the head of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, where Barton Fink premiered. This created an awkward situation. "Obviously," Joel Coen said later, "we have been influenced by his films, but at this time we were very hesitant to speak to him about it because we did not want to give the impression we were sucking up." Other works cited as influences for Barton Fink include the film The Shining, (1980) produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and the comedy Sullivan's Travels, (1941) written and directed by Preston Sturges. Set in an empty hotel, Kubrick's film concerns a writer unable to proceed with his latest work. Although the Coens approve of comparisons to The Shining, Joel suggests that Kubrick's film "belongs in a more global sense to the horror film genre". Sullivan's Travels, released the year in which Barton Fink is set, follows successful director John Sullivan, who decides to create a film of deep social import – not unlike Barton's desire to create entertainment for "the common man." Sullivan eventually decides that comedic entertainment is a key role for film-makers, similar to Jack Lipnick's assertion at the end of Barton Fink that "the audience wants to see action, adventure." Additional allusions to films and film history abound in Barton Fink. At one point a character discusses "Victor Soderberg"; the name is a reference to Victor Sjöström, a Swedish director who worked in Hollywood under the name Seastrom. Charlie's line about how his troubles "don't amount to a hill of beans" is a probable homage to the film Casablanca. (1942) Another similarity is that of Barton Fink's beach scene to the final moment in La Dolce Vita (1960), wherein a young woman's final line of dialogue is obliterated by the noise of the ocean. The unsettling emptiness of the Hotel Earle has also been compared to the living spaces in Key Largo (1948) and Sunset Boulevard. (1950) ## Themes Two of the film's central themes – the culture of entertainment production and the writing process – are intertwined and relate specifically to the self-referential nature of the work (as well as the work within the work). It is a film about a man who writes a film based on a play, and at the centre of Barton's entire opus is Barton himself. The dialogue in his play Bare Ruined Choirs (also the first lines of the film, some of which are repeated at the end of the film as lines in Barton's screenplay The Burlyman) give us a glimpse into Barton's self-descriptive art. The mother in the play is named "Lil," which is later revealed to be the name of Barton's own mother. In the play, "The Kid" (a representation of Barton himself) refers to his home "six flights up" – the same floor where Barton resides at the Hotel Earle. Moreover, the characters' writing processes in Barton Fink reflect important differences between the culture of entertainment production in New York's Broadway district and Hollywood. ### Broadway and Hollywood Although Barton speaks frequently about his desire to help create "a new, living theater, of and about and for the common man," he does not recognize that such a theater has already been created: the films. In fact, he disdains this authentically popular form. On the other hand, the world of Broadway theater in Barton Fink is a place of high culture, where the creator believes most fully that his work embodies his own values. Although he pretends to disdain his own success, Barton believes he has achieved a great victory with Bare Ruined Choirs. He seeks praise; when his agent Garland asks if he has seen the glowing review in the Herald, Barton says "No," even though his producer had just read it to him. Barton feels close to the theater, confident that it can help him create work that honors "the common man." The men and women who funded the production – "those people," as Barton calls them – demonstrate that Broadway is just as concerned with profit as Hollywood; but its intimacy and smaller scale allow the author to feel that his work has real value. Barton does not believe Hollywood offers the same opportunity. In the film, Los Angeles is a world of false fronts and phony people. This is evident in an early line of the screenplay (filmed, but not included in the theatrical release); while informing Barton of Capitol Pictures' offer, his agent tells him: "I'm only asking that your decision be informed by a little realism – if I can use that word and Hollywood in the same breath." Later, as Barton tries to explain why he is staying at the Earle, studio head Jack Lipnick finishes his sentence, recognizing that Barton wants a place that is "less Hollywood." The assumption is that Hollywood is fake and the Earle is genuine. Producer Ben Geisler takes Barton to lunch at a restaurant featuring a mural of the "New York Cafe," a sign of Hollywood's effort to replicate the authenticity of the East Coast of the United States. Lipnick's initial overwhelming exuberance is also a façade. Although he begins by telling Barton: "The writer is king here at Capitol Pictures," in the penultimate scene he insists: "If your opinion mattered, then I guess I'd resign and let you run the studio. It doesn't, and you won't, and the lunatics are not going to run this particular asylum." Deception in Barton Fink is emblematic of Hollywood's focus on low culture, its relentless desire to efficiently produce formulaic entertainment for the sole purpose of economic gain. Capitol Pictures assigns Barton to write a wrestling picture with superstar Wallace Beery in the leading role. Although Lipnick declares otherwise, Geisler assures Barton that "it's just a B picture." Audrey tries to help the struggling writer by telling him: "Look, it's really just a formula. You don't have to type your soul into it.” This formula is made clear by Lipnick, who asks Barton in their first meeting whether the main character should have a love interest or take care of an orphaned child. Barton shows his iconoclasm by answering: "Both, maybe?” In the end, his inability to conform to the studio's norms destroys Barton. A similar depiction of Hollywood appears in Nathanael West's novel The Day of the Locust (1939), which many critics see as an important precursor to Barton Fink. Set in a run-down apartment complex, the book describes a painter reduced to decorating film sets. It portrays Hollywood as crass and exploitative, devouring talented individuals in its neverending quest for profit. In both West's novel and Barton Fink, protagonists suffer under the oppressive industrial machine of the film studio. ### Writing The film contains further self-referential material, as a film about a writer having difficulty writing (written by the Coen brothers while they were having difficulty writing Miller's Crossing). Barton is trapped between his own desire to create meaningful art and Capitol Pictures' need to use its standard conventions to earn profits. Audrey's advice about following the formula would have saved Barton, but he does not heed it. However, when he puts the mysterious package (which might have contained her head) on his writing desk, she might have been helping him posthumously, in other ways. The film itself toys with standard screenplay formulae. As with Mayhew's scripts, Barton Fink contains a "good wrestler" (Barton, it seems) and a "bad wrestler" (Charlie) who "confront" each other at the end. But in typical Coen fashion, the lines of good and evil are blurred, and the supposed hero in fact reveals himself to be deaf to the pleadings of his "common man" neighbor. By blurring the lines between reality and surreal experience, the film subverts the "simple morality tales" and "road maps" offered to Barton as easy paths for the writer to follow. However, the film-makers point out that Barton Fink is not meant to represent the Coens themselves. "Our life in Hollywood has been particularly easy," they once said. "The film isn't a personal comment." Still, universal themes of the creative process are explored throughout the film. During the picnic scene, for example, Mayhew asks Barton: "Ain't writin' peace?" Barton pauses, then says: "No, I've always found that writing comes from a great inner pain." Such exchanges led critic William Rodney Allen to call Barton Fink "an autobiography of the life of the Coens' minds, not of literal fact." Allen's comment is itself a reference to the phrase "life of the mind," used repeatedly in the film in wildly differing contexts. ### Fascism Several of the film's elements, including the setting at the start of World War II, have led some critics to highlight parallels to the rise of fascism at the time. For example, the detectives who visit Barton at the Hotel Earle are named "Mastrionatti" and "Deutsch” – Italian and German names, evocative of the regimes of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Their contempt for Barton is clear: "Fink. That's a Jewish name, isn't it? ... I didn't think this dump was restricted.” Later, just before killing his last victim, Charlie says: "Heil Hitler”. Jack Lipnick hails originally from the Belarusian capital city Minsk, which was occupied from summer 1941 by Nazi Germany, following Operation Barbarossa. "[I]t's not forcing the issue to suggest that the Holocaust hovers over Barton Fink," writes biographer Ronald Bergan. Others see a more specific message in the film, particularly Barton's obliviousness to Charlie's homicidal tendencies. Critic Roger Ebert wrote in his 1991 review that the Coens intended to create an allegory for the rise of Nazism. "They paint Fink as an ineffectual and impotent left-wing intellectual, who sells out while telling himself he is doing the right thing, who thinks he understands the 'common man' but does not understand that, for many common men, fascism had a seductive appeal." However, he goes on to say: "It would be a mistake to insist too much on this aspect of the movie..." Other critics are more demanding. M. Keith Booker writes: > Fink's failure to "listen" seems intended to tell us that many leftist intellectuals like him were too busy pursuing their own selfish interests to effectively oppose the rise of fascism, a point that is historically entirely inaccurate ... That the Coens would choose to level a charge of irresponsibility against the only group in America that actively sought to oppose the rise of fascism is itself highly irresponsible and shows a complete ignorance of (or perhaps lack of interest in) historical reality. Such ignorance and apathy, of course, are typical of postmodern film... For their part, the Coens deny any intention of presenting an allegorical message. They chose the detectives' names deliberately, but "we just wanted them to be representative of the Axis world powers at the time. It just seemed kind of amusing. It's a tease. All that stuff with Charlie – the "Heil Hitler!" business – sure, it's all there, but it's kind of a tease." In 2001, Joel responded to a question about critics who provide extended comprehensive analysis: "That's how they've been trained to watch movies. In Barton Fink, we may have encouraged it – like teasing animals at the zoo. The movie is intentionally ambiguous in ways they may not be used to seeing.” ### Slavery Although subdued in dialogue and imagery, the theme of slavery appears several times in the film. Mayhew's crooning of the parlor song "Old Black Joe" depicts him as enslaved to the film studio, not unlike the song's narrator who pines for "my friends from the cotton fields away." One brief shot of the door to Mayhew's workspace shows the title of the film he is supposedly writing: Slave Ship. This is a reference to a 1937 movie written by Mayhew's inspiration, William Faulkner, and starring Wallace Beery, for whom Barton is composing a script in the film. The symbol of the slave ship is furthered by specific set designs, including the round window in Ben Geisler's office which resembles a porthole, as well as the walkway leading to Mayhew's bungalow, which resembles the boarding ramp of a watercraft. Several lines of dialogue make clear by the film's end that Barton has become a slave to the studio: "[T]he contents of your head", Lipnick's assistant tells him, "are the property of Capitol Pictures.” After Barton turns in his script, Lipnick delivers an even more brutal punishment: "Anything you write will be the property of Capitol Pictures. And Capitol Pictures will not produce anything you write." This contempt and control is representative of the opinions expressed by many writers in Hollywood at the time. As Arthur Miller said in his review of Barton Fink: "The only thing about Hollywood that I am sure of is that its mastication of writers can never be too wildly exaggerated.” ### "The Common Man" During the first third of the film, Barton speaks constantly of his desire to write work which centers on and appeals to "the common man." In one speech he declares: "The hopes and dreams of the common man are as noble as those of any king. It's the stuff of life – why shouldn't it be the stuff of theater? God damn it, why should that be a hard pill to swallow? Don't call it new theater, Charlie; call it real theater. Call it our theater." Yet, despite his rhetoric, Barton is totally unable (or unwilling) to appreciate the humanity of the "common man" living next door to him. Later in the film, Charlie explains that he has brought various horrors upon him because "you don't listen!" In his first conversation with Charlie, Barton constantly interrupts Charlie just as he is saying "I could tell you some stories," demonstrating that despite his fine words he really is not interested in Charlie's experiences; in another scene, Barton symbolically demonstrates his deafness to the world by stuffing his ears with cotton to block the sound of his ringing telephone. Barton's position as screenwriter is of particular consequence to his relationship with "the common man." By refusing to listen to his neighbor, Barton cannot validate Charlie's existence in his writing – with disastrous results. Not only is Charlie stuck in a job which demeans him, but he cannot (at least in Barton's case) have his story told. More centrally, the film traces the evolution of Barton's understanding of "the common man": At first he is an abstraction to be lauded from a vague distance. Then he becomes a complex individual with fears and desires. Finally he shows himself to be a powerful individual in his own right, capable of extreme forms of destruction and therefore feared and/or respected. The complexity of "the common man" is also explored through the oft-mentioned "life of the mind." While expounding on his duty as a writer, Barton drones: "I gotta tell you, the life of the mind ... There's no road map for that territory ... and exploring it can be painful. The kind of pain most people don't know anything about." Barton assumes that he is privy to thoughtful creative considerations while Charlie is not. This delusion shares the film's climax, as Charlie runs through the hallway of the Earle, shooting the detectives with a shotgun and screaming: "Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind!!" Charlie's "life of the mind" is no less complex than Barton's; in fact, some critics consider it more so. Charlie's understanding of the world is depicted as omniscient, as when he asks Barton about "the two lovebirds next door," despite the fact that they are several doors away. When Barton asks how he knows about them, Charlie responds: "Seems like I hear everything that goes on in this dump. Pipes or somethin'." His total awareness of the events at the Earle demonstrate the kind of understanding needed to show real empathy, as described by Audrey. This theme returns when Charlie explains in his final scene: "Most guys I just feel sorry for. Yeah. It tears me up inside, to think about what they're going through. How trapped they are. I understand it. I feel for 'em. So I try to help them out." ### Religion Themes of religious salvation and allusions to the Bible appear only briefly in Barton Fink, but their presence pervades the story. While Barton is experiencing his most desperate moment of confusion and despair, he opens the drawer of his desk and finds a Gideon Bible. He opens it "randomly" to Daniel 2, and reads from it: "And the king, Nebuchadnezzar, answered and said to the Chaldeans, I recall not my dream; if ye will not make known unto me my dream, and its interpretation, ye shall be cut in pieces, and of your tents shall be made a dunghill.” This passage reflects Barton's inability to make sense of his own experiences (wherein Audrey has been "cut in pieces"), as well as the "hopes and dreams" of "the common man." Nebuchadnezzar is also the title of a novel that Mayhew gives to Barton as a "little entertainment" to "divert you in your sojourn among the Philistines.” Mayhew alludes to "the story of Solomon's mammy," a reference to Bathsheba, who gave birth to Solomon after her lover David had her husband Uriah killed. Although Audrey cuts Mayhew off by praising his book (which Audrey herself may have written), the reference foreshadows the love triangle which evolves among the three characters of Barton Fink. Rowell points out that Mayhew is murdered (presumably by Charlie) soon after Barton and Audrey have sex. Another Biblical reference comes when Barton flips to the front of the Bible in his desk drawer and sees his own words transposed into the Book of Genesis. This is seen as a representation of his hubris as a self-conceived omnipotent master of creation, or alternatively, as a playful juxtaposition demonstrating Barton's hallucinatory state of mind. ## Reception ### Box office performance The film opened in the United States on eleven screens on August 23, 1991, and earned \$268,561 during its opening weekend. During its theatrical release, Barton Fink grossed \$6,153,939 in the United States. That the film failed to recoup the expenses of production amused film producer Joel Silver, with whom the Coens would later work in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994): "I don't think it made \$5 million, and it cost \$9 million to make. [The Coen brothers have] a reputation for being weird, off-center, inaccessible. ### Critical reception On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 65 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Twisty and unsettling, the Coen brothers' satirical tale of a 1940s playwright struggling with writer's block is packed with their trademark sense of humor and terrific performances from its cast." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. The Washington Post critic Rita Kempley described Barton Fink as "certainly one of the year's best and most intriguing films." The New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it "an unqualified winner" and "a fine dark comedy of flamboyant style and immense though seemingly effortless technique." Critic Jim Emerson called Barton Fink "the Coen brothers' most deliciously, provocatively indescribable picture yet." Some critics disliked the enigmatic plot and ambiguous ending. Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum warned of the Coens' "adolescent smarminess and comic-book cynicism," and described Barton Fink as "a midnight-movie gross-out in Sunday-afternoon art-house clothing." John Simon of The National Review described Barton Fink as "asinine and insufferable." In a 1994 interview, Joel dismissed criticism of unclear elements in their films: "People have a problem dealing with the fact that our movies are not straight-ahead. They would prefer that the last half of Barton Fink just be about a screenwriter's writing-block problems and how they get resolved in the real world." Talk show host Larry King expressed approval of the movie, despite its uncertain conclusion. He wrote in USA Today: "The ending is something I'm still thinking about and if they accomplished that, I guess it worked.” In a 2016 interview, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman said after being asked which film he would want with him on a deserted island, "A movie I really love is Barton Fink. I don't know if that's the movie I'd take to a desert island, but I feel like there's so much in there, you could watch it again and again. That's important to me, especially if that was the only movie I'd have with me for the rest of my life." Barton Fink was ranked by Greg Cwik of IndieWire as the Coens' fifth best film. It was voted the 11th best film of the 1990s in a poll of The A.V. Club contributors, and was described as "one of [the Coens'] most profound, and painful" works. ### Awards and nominations Winning three major awards at the Cannes Film Festival was extremely rare, and some critics felt the jury was too generous to the exclusion of other worthy entries. Worried that the triple victory could set a precedent which would undervalue other films, Cannes decided after the 1991 festival to limit each movie to a maximum of two awards. ## Formats The film was released in VHS home video format on March 5, 1992, and a DVD edition was made available on May 20, 2003. The DVD contains a gallery of still photos, theatrical trailers, and eight deleted scenes. The film is also available on Blu-ray Disc, in the UK, in a region-free format that will work in any Blu-ray player. ## Possible sequel The Coen brothers have expressed interest in making a sequel to Barton Fink called Old Fink, which would take place in the 1960s. "It's the summer of love and [Fink is] teaching at Berkeley. He ratted on a lot of his friends to the House Un-American Activities Committee," said Joel Coen. The brothers have stated that they have had talks with John Turturro about reprising his role as Fink, but they were waiting "until he was actually old enough to play the part." Speaking to The A.V. Club'' in June 2011, Turturro suggested the sequel would be set in the 1970s, and Fink would be a hippie with a large Jewfro. He said "you'll have to wait another 10 years for that, at least."
1,866,464	Ian Johnson (cricketer)	1,164,122,363	Australian cricketer (1917–1998)	[ "1917 births", "1998 deaths", "Australia Test cricket captains", "Australia Test cricketers", "Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire", "Australian World War II pilots", "Australian cricket administrators", "Australian cricketers", "Australian rules football commentators", "Australian sports journalists", "Australian television presenters", "Cricketers from Melbourne", "D. G. Bradman's XI cricketers", "People educated at Wesley College (Victoria)", "People from North Melbourne", "Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air", "Royal Australian Air Force officers", "Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II", "South Melbourne cricketers", "The Invincibles (cricket)", "Victoria cricketers" ]	Ian William Geddes Johnson, CBE (8 December 1917 – 9 October 1998) was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a capable lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of 18.51 runs per dismissal. He captained the Australian team in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five, with a further five drawn. Despite this record, he is better known as the captain who lost consecutive Ashes series against England. Urbane, well-spoken and popular with his opponents and the public, he was seen by his teammates as a disciplinarian and his natural optimism was often seen as naive. Aged 17, Johnson made his first-class cricket debut for Victoria in the 1935–36 season but did not establish a permanent place in the team until 1939–40. His career was interrupted by the Second World War; he served with the Royal Australian Air Force as a pilot and later as a flight instructor. He returned to cricket after his discharge and was selected to tour New Zealand with the Australian team, making his Test debut. Johnson was part of Don Bradman's Invincibles team; undefeated on tour in England in 1948. He was a regular member of the national side until poor form saw him left out of the Australian squad for the 1953 tour of England. Johnson was appointed Australian captain following Lindsay Hassett's retirement. The appointment was not universally popular; some teammates and supporters felt Keith Miller had a better claim to the position. In his first series as captain, Australia was defeated by a strong English team on home soil. The tour of the West Indies that followed was a cricketing and diplomatic triumph for Johnson. Australia won the Test series comfortably and Johnson's astute public relations skills helped avoid a repeat of the crowd disturbances that had marred England's visit to the islands 12 months before. However, his Australian team then went on to lose the 1956 Ashes series in England. Johnson's Test career ended with Australia's first Test tour of the Indian subcontinent, which occurred during the voyage back to Australia. Australia lost the one-off Test against Pakistan, the first between the two nations, before claiming the series against India. On his return to Australia, he retired from all forms of cricket at age 39. After retirement, Johnson worked for a time as a sports commentator, including covering the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. In 1957 he was appointed Secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, one of the most prestigious positions in Australian sport. He would remain in the role for 26 years, overseeing the development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and playing a key role in the organisation of the Centenary Test in 1977. In 1956 he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to cricket; this was twice upgraded: to OBE in 1977 and to CBE in 1982. ## Early years Johnson was born in North Melbourne, an inner suburb of Melbourne, on 8 December 1917. His father, William Johnson—a wine and spirit grocer—was a keen cricketer who played one first-class match for Victoria in 1924–25 before serving as a selector for the Australian Test team. As a schoolboy, Ian Johnson excelled at a variety of sports. He participated in athletics and Australian rules football, as well as playing as a wicket-keeper for Middle Park State School. In 1936, he became the Victorian amateur squash champion. However, he found his vocation in cricket. In 1934–35, aged only 16, and still a schoolboy at Wesley College, Johnson played his first match for the South Melbourne Cricket Club First XI. He was given the opportunity to play first-class cricket the following season, playing Tasmania—not then involved in the Sheffield Shield competition—just 23 days past his seventeenth birthday. He scored 34 and 26 and took two wickets in each innings as Tasmania won by six wickets. He was retained for the next game, scoring 15 runs in his only innings and taking 3 wickets for 40 runs (3/40) in the Tasmanian first innings and 1/27 in the second. He did not play first-class cricket again for three years, finally returning to the Victorian side to play another two games against Tasmania in 1938–39, making his highest first-class score to date, 88 runs, in the second game. He secured his place in the Victorian team in the 1939–40 season, making his Sheffield Shield debut against South Australia in Adelaide in November 1939. Batting at number five, Johnson scored 33 runs in the first innings and 41 in the second, but was unable to take a wicket. That season, Johnson scored 313 runs at an average of 26.08 and took 13 wickets at an average of 39.92. In a season truncated because of the Second World War, Johnson played five matches in 1940–41, scoring 292 runs at an average of 32.44 and taking 25 wickets at 27.60. Johnson's cricket career was interrupted by the war and he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1941. He flew Bristol Beaufighters with No. 22 Squadron RAAF and, by 1944, was serving as a Flight Lieutenant in the South West Pacific theatre. In June 1945, Johnson was awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air for his work as a flight instructor with No. 11 Elementary Flying Training School, based at Benalla in rural Victoria. He was discharged in December 1945 and resumed his first-class cricket career in the 1945–46 season. ## Test career ### Debut and early Test career Following his discharge from service, Johnson returned to first-class cricket in the 1945–46 season, winning a place on the Australian tour of New Zealand. The only Test match—the first between the two nations—was played at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Johnson scored 7 not out and he was not needed to bowl as New Zealand collapsed for an aggregate of just 96 runs in their two innings; Australia won by an innings and 103 runs. Test cricket resumed in Australia with the visit of the English team in 1946–47. Before the Test matches started, the touring team played Victoria in a warm-up match. Johnson took 4 wickets for 38 runs in the English second innings but was unable to prevent the tourists from winning by 244 runs. He was included in the Australian team for the First Test at Brisbane, scoring 47 runs in the Australian total of 645. Once again Johnson was not given an opportunity to bowl as Australia won the match by an innings and 332 runs. Johnson took his first Test wicket with only his third delivery in Test cricket, dismissing Len Hutton caught behind down the leg side in the Second Test in Sydney. Making use of the breeze, in one 11 over stretch Johnson conceded only three runs—including eight maidens, taking one wicket. Johnson went on to take 6 wickets for 42 runs in the innings as England were bowled out for 255. Johnson, batting as a nightwatchman, joined Sid Barnes at the wicket late on the second day of the match, batting through until stumps. He was dismissed the next day having scored 7 runs in an Australian total of 659. In the English second innings Johnson took another two wickets; England were dismissed for 371 runs and lost the Test by an innings and 33 runs. Johnson met with less success in the Third Test in his home town of Melbourne. Batting at number six, Johnson was dismissed by Norman Yardley for a golden duck and, in the second innings, run out, again without scoring, giving him an unwanted pair. With the ball, Johnson took one wicket in the English first innings. In the second innings Australia were not able to dismiss England and the match was drawn; Johnson failed to take a wicket. Johnson returned to form with the bat in the Fourth Test at Adelaide. Unable to take a wicket in England's first innings, during the Australian first innings he made 52 runs. He dismissed Hutton again in the second innings, his only wicket of the match. The match finished in a draw, giving the Australians an unbeatable two–nil lead in the Test series and therefore retaining The Ashes. Johnson was injured and could not play in the Fifth and final Fifth Test in Sydney. A weak Indian team toured Australia for the first time in 1947–48, to play five Tests against an Australian team led by Don Bradman. The Indian team was weakened by withdrawals of their first-choice captain Vijay Merchant, as well as Rusi Modi and Mushtaq Ali. Furthermore, Fazal Mahmood had become a Pakistani, following the partition of India. Johnson played in the first four Tests, taking 16 wickets at an average of 16.31 runs per wicket. The Third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) saw Johnson's best performance of the series, 4/59 in the first innings and 4/35 in the second. Australia won the series 4–0. ### Bradman's Invincibles Johnson was a member of Don Bradman's Australian team touring England in 1948. Known as the Invincibles, the Australian team was the first side to remain unbeaten through an entire English tour. Johnson started the tour well, taking 7/42 in an early tour match against Leicestershire, followed by 5/53 against Surrey. Against Essex, Johnson took 6/37 in the second innings. Earlier in the match Australia had scored 721 runs in a single day; Johnson made 9. Having earned selection for the First Test at Trent Bridge, Johnson took only one wicket in the match; Australia won the Test by eight wickets. He had more success in the Second Test at Lord's taking three wickets in the first innings as Australia won the match by 409 runs. Johnson failed to take a wicket in a rain-affected Third Test at Old Trafford, and was replaced after the Fourth Test, having taken only seven wickets in the series at an average of 61.00. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that while Johnson had started the tour well, he was not as effective in English conditions as Australian. > [Johnson] was not so troublesome to batsmen in Tests as when at home, principally because of the difference in pace of the pitches and his inability to bowl round the wicket, an almost essential part in the make-up of an off-spinner in England. False expectation against Johnson in Australia usually cost a batsman his wicket, but on slower English pitches there was time to change a stroke and still keep the ball out of the stumps, even though beaten by flight. Nonetheless, Johnson played an important role in maintaining the Australian team's unbeaten record, bowling more overs than anyone other than Bill Johnston—allowing Bradman to rest Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall, his fast bowling pair, for the important matches. ### Decline in form During the Test series in South Africa in 1949–50, Johnson took 18 wickets at an average of 24.22—only Bill Johnston, with 23, took more. Against a South African team weakened following the Second World War, the Australians started the series with a win in the First Test at Ellis Park at Johannesburg. The Australians won the match by an innings and 83 runs; Johnson made 66 and took 3/37 and 3/54. His best performance was in the Third Test at Kingsmead in Durban; 5/34 including the wicket of Dudley Nourse as South Africa was dismissed for 99. Australia, having made only 75 in their first innings, scored 336, including 151 not out by Neil Harvey, to win the match by five wickets. Australia won the series—Lindsay Hassett's first as captain—four Tests to nil. Freddie Brown and his English team toured Australia in 1950–51 to compete for the Ashes in a five Test series. Australia won the series four Tests to one; however Wisden reports that while "Australia held a slight superiority ... the difference between the teams was markedly less than revealed by statistics". Johnson had a "mediocre series", taking only seven wickets at an average of 44.42. His best performance was in the Third Test, when he took three wickets in the England first innings. He followed this by scoring 77 runs in a 150 run partnership with Keith Miller, who went on to score 145 not out. Johnson took another wicket in the English second innings and Australia won the Test by an innings and 13 runs. England's victory in the Fifth Test in Melbourne ended Australia's unbeaten run of 29 Tests since 1938. The next summer, the West Indian team visited Australia to play five Tests. The series was billed as the "unofficial cricket championship of the world", following the West Indian victory against England in 1950. However, the Australians won the series comfortably, 4–1. Johnson had another lean series, taking only eight wickets at an average of 32.75. When the South Africans toured in 1952–53, Johnson was selected for Australia ahead of Queenslander Colin McCool. His selection was unpopular with a parochial Gabba crowd; when Gil Langley—who had replaced another Queenslander, Don Tallon—fumbled a stumping chance against John Watkins, they cheered loudly. Johnson was omitted from the side for the remainder of the series and was not included in the Australian squad to tour England in 1953. ## Captaincy ### Selection While the Australian team lost the Ashes for the first time in twenty years, Johnson spent the winter of 1953 calling Australian rules football matches for local radio station 3AW and writing columns for The Argus newspaper. Later that year, the Victorian Cricket Association appointed him to succeed the retired Hassett as captain of Victoria. In the middle of the season, at a mutual friend's New Year's Eve party, Hassett approached Johnson to discuss his form. Taking a confrontational approach, Hassett said to Johnson, "The problem is that you are not getting stuck in. You're not trying." When Johnson protested, Hassett continued "If you have got any brains, you will start taking this game seriously. Because if you do you will end up captaining Australia next year." The other contender for the vacant national captaincy position was Keith Miller, the fast-bowling all-rounder and captain of New South Wales. Miller had led his team to victory in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield and was recognised as an intuitive captain. Based solely on cricketing merit, Miller, a regular selection at international level, was seen as the superior candidate. However, inter-state rivalries and a perception that Miller would be a poor disciplinarian saw him passed over. This perception was partly based on an incident when Miller, as captain of New South Wales, allowed his teammate Sid Barnes to serve drinks on the field dressed in a three-piece suit rather than standard cricket whites. Johnson, on the other hand, was part of the cricket establishment: he was an alumnus of the exclusive Wesley College and the son of a former Test selector. He had also returned to form, taking 37 wickets in the 1953–54 Sheffield Shield—more than any other player—at an average of 16.37. In what cricket writer Dick Whitington speculated was a vote split between the New South Wales and Victorian factions, the Australian Board of Control appointed Johnson as Australian captain. His appointment was not universally applauded. > There is strong feeling amongst cricket enthusiasts that horse trading on a state basis rather than objective evaluation of cricket skills has dominated selectors' discussions. The operating principle seems to have been "you look after my man and we'll look after yours." ### Ashes defeat Johnson's first challenge as captain was the Ashes series against England in 1954–55. In his first match as captain—the First Test at the Gabba in Brisbane—he led his team to victory, defeating England by an innings and 154 runs. It was to be the only Australian victory in the series. Injured, Johnson was unable to play in the Second Test in Sydney. With Miller also injured, Arthur Morris was asked to lead the Australian team against an English fast bowling attack including Frank Tyson and Brian Statham. Tyson, who took ten wickets in the match, was instrumental in England winning the Test by 38 runs. Johnson and Miller returned for the Third Test in Melbourne but were unable to prevent another English victory, this time by 128 runs. The Test was marred by controversy; Melbourne newspaper, The Age, alleged that the pitch had been watered during the course of the match, in contravention of the laws of cricket. Following an enquiry, the Victorian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Cricket Club issued a statement denying any watering of the playing area during the match; however Wisden reported that "large cracks were evident on Saturday yet on Monday these had closed and for a time the surface behaved more kindly to batsmen". Certainly, Johnson felt the pitch had been changed to his disadvantage: "It was like losing the toss twice over". Johnson and Test debutant Len Maddocks shared a partnership of 54 runs to help Australia fight back in their first innings. Tyson ended the Australian resistance, taking 7/27 in the Australian second innings—England won the match by 128 runs. England won the Fourth Test at Adelaide by five wickets and therefore retained the Ashes. With the Fifth and final Test ending in a draw, England won the series 3–1. Wisden attributed England's victory to "superb fast bowling by Tyson and Statham [that] turned the scales so that finally the Australian batsmen were completely humbled". Losing three successive Tests saw the selectors of the Australian team subjected to harsh criticism. In the four Tests that Johnson played, he claimed 12 wickets at 20.25 and had a batting average of 58.00—inflated because of a series of not out innings; his highest score for the series was 41. ### Caribbean success In March 1955, Johnson led Australia's first Test tour of the West Indies. The Australian Board of Control was concerned about the team's relations with the West Indian public. Against a background of rising anti-colonial feeling and resentment, England's tour of the West Indies the year before had been marred by riots and violent disturbances. With the White Australia policy in place at the time, the Australians feared an unpleasant reception from the Caribbean public. However, the Australian team proved very popular throughout the West Indies; Wisden reported that "much credit belonged to the tact displayed by Ian Johnson, who proved a most able captain". Johnson cultivated a relaxed manner with the locals; in one instance at Sabina Park in Jamaica, he stopped to pick up a toddler who had run onto the playing field during the change of innings. Smiling and chatting to the boy, he then carried him safely off the ground. Teammate Alan Davidson claimed, "Ian did the best PR job of any captain I've ever seen". As well as being popular, the Australian team was successful on the field, winning the series three Tests to nil. The series was dominated by batsmen; in the five Test matches played the Australians scored 12 centuries while for the West Indies, Clyde Walcott alone scored five centuries—including centuries in both innings in the Tests at Sabina Park and Queens Park Oval. Johnson injured his foot while batting during the Sabina Park Test and was unable to bowl or field for the remainder of the match. In his place, Miller led the Australians to a nine-wicket victory. The Second Test at Queens Park Oval was a high scoring draw; Johnson scored 66 runs and took a single wicket. Johnson met with success in the Third Test at Bourda in Georgetown, Guyana. He took 7/44 in the West Indian second innings—still the best-ever innings analysis by an Australian captain—and Australia won the Test by eight wickets. A major rift between Johnson and Miller—erstwhile rivals for the Australian captaincy—developed during the Fourth Test, played at Kensington Oval in Barbados. During the third day, Miller, bowling fast-medium swingers, had dismissed Everton Weekes and Collie Smith in quick succession to leave the West Indies at 6/147 with Denis Atkinson and Clairmonte Depeiaza batting. Johnson, thinking that the two batsmen would be vulnerable to express pace, asked Miller to increase his bowling speed. When Miller refused, Johnson remonstrated with him: "I'll say who bowls and what they bowl". With Miller refusing to bowl as directed, Johnson replaced him in the attack with Ray Lindwall. Walking off the field at the end of the day's play and continuing in the dressing room, Miller provoked Johnson, telling him he "couldn't captain a team of schoolboys", among other insults. Finally Johnson responded, asking "If you want to go on like that why don't we go around the back and thrash it out?" The much larger Miller declined the offer and the pair travelled back to the team hotel together. The next day, Atkinson and Depeiaza batted throughout the entire day's play. Their partnership of 347 runs for the seventh wicket is still a world record. In the Fifth and final Test, the Australians scored 758 runs in their only innings—including maiden Test centuries for Benaud and Ron Archer, centuries for Miller and Colin McDonald, and a double century for Neil Harvey—to win the match by an innings and 83 runs. Overall, despite the team's victory in the series, Johnson's on-field contribution was inconsistent. While he took 14 wickets in the Test series, seven came in just one innings. His inconsistent form saw internal team tensions develop over whether his place in the team was justified; Wisden claimed that "some malcontents called him 'myxomatosis' because he only bowled when the rabbits were in". > Ian was starting to wane as a player. He was always confident in his own ability but things were getting hard for him. And I do think players need to realise when they are playing that one season too many. Donald Bradman wrote to Prime Minister Robert Menzies after the tour, recommending an honour for Johnson in recognition of his contribution to the tour's success. The next year, both Johnson and Miller were appointed as Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). ### "Lakered" Johnson led his Australian team to England in 1956. The team's visit to England coincided with what was described by Wisden as "the wettest of all summers in memory". The poor weather gave the Australian team little chance to develop their confidence and Johnson used the early matches of the tour to allow his batsmen and bowlers to experiment in the unfamiliar conditions. In one of these early matches, Surrey defeated Australia by ten wickets; the first time Australia had lost to county opposition since 1912. In parallel with later events in the Old Trafford Test, off-spinner Jim Laker took all ten wickets in the Australian first innings; Laker and left-arm spinner Tony Lock took 19 of the 20 Australian wickets that fell in the match. While Johnson was successful with the ball, taking 6 wickets for 168; his preconceived tactics saw him allow Lindwall—his main fast bowler—only two overs in Surrey's first innings and attempt to turn Alan Davidson into a spin bowler. Cricket writer Ray Robinson said of Johnson's tactics throughout the tour, "I have not met one good cricketer or cricket judge who is not mystified by them". The manner of this loss severely dented Australia's confidence against spin for the remainder of the tour. The First Test, at Nottingham, was affected by rain and, despite England declaring twice, the match ended in a draw. Injuries to Lindwall and Davidson meant an under-strength Australian team was forced to take the field in the Second Test at Lord's. In what Wisden described as a "triumph of teamwork", the Australians won the match by 185 runs. Johnson was unlucky to lose the toss in the Third Test at Leeds, because Lock and Laker were able to take maximum advantage of a pitch conducive to spin. The duo took 18 of the 20 Australian wickets and England won the match by an innings and 42 runs. The Fourth Test at Manchester proved controversial. The Old Trafford pitch had little grass, perhaps as a result of earlier wet weather. Again, Johnson lost the toss and England chose to bat first. Johnson and his spinning partner, Richie Benaud were unable to exploit the spin-friendly conditions and the English made 459 runs. In reply, the Australians could not come to grips with the conditions; Laker took nine of the ten wickets, Lock the other, as Australia were brushed away for just 84. Amid wild weather, the Australians were asked to follow-on. A determined batting performance was not enough to prevent an English victory by an innings and 170 runs. Laker's performance was historic. He took 10/53, the first time in a Test match a bowler had taken all ten wickets in an innings. With his 9/37 in the first innings, he had captured 19 wickets for the match, still a world record in first-class cricket. Wisden reported that the Australians were "extremely bitter over the condition of the pitch". Former Test cricketer and journalist Bill O'Reilly wrote "This pitch is a complete disgrace" while Colin McDonald later said, "England cheated: if by cheating you include the practise of preparing wickets to suit your own purpose." Johnson was generous towards the victors. Playing down the discontent felt by the Australians, he said: "When the controversy and side issues of the match are forgotten, Laker's wonderful bowling will remain." The media reported that Australia had been "Lakered". The Fifth and final Test was drawn and Australia lost the series two Tests to one. Australia had now lost three Ashes series in a row, the last two with Johnson as captain. His own form was modest; he took only six wickets in the Tests at an average of over 50 runs per wicket. His performance with the bat was worse, scoring just 61 runs at an average of only 7.62. Once again, Johnson's place in the team was questioned. Acerbic cricket pundit Sid Barnes—a former teammate—joked that Johnson was "Australia's non-playing captain". Bill Ferguson, the Australian team's scorer, was also critical: "Had Johnson been told by his friends in the press that he was, in fact, a passenger, he might have pondered on the advisability of standing down. [...] There would have been no shame in standing down." Writing after the tour, Miller—a tour selector—stated "Privately I thought that [Johnson] was not a form selection. On the other hand, I did not think it wise to change skippers in midstream." > I was over the hill, no doubt about it. So were [Miller] and [Lindwall]. But even though I wasn't performing well, I still thought I was important to the side. ### Home and retirement On the return journey from England, the Australians toured India and Pakistan for the first time, with mixed results. On a matting pitch, unfamiliar to the Australians, Johnson's team lost the inaugural Test against Pakistan at Karachi. Responding to the loss, a cartoon drawn by Norman Mitchell of the Adelaide News newspaper suggested island planters might be able to scrape together a team that would be a match for the Australians. Returning to turf pitches in India, the Australians restored some pride. Johnson was the highest scorer in the Australian team's victory by an innings and five runs in the First Test at Nehru Stadium in Madras. Due to injury, both Johnson and Miller missed the drawn Second Test at Brabourne Stadium at Bombay; Lindwall skippered the side. Johnson returned for the Third Test at Eden Gardens, Calcutta for what would ultimately prove to be his final Test. The Australians won the match by 94 runs, giving them a 2–0 series win. S. K. Gurunathan, summing up in the Indian Cricket Almanack, wrote: "The Australians showed themselves to be a superior side even when their batting failed". When the team finally arrived home, Johnson announced his retirement from all cricket at the age of 39. In all, he played 45 Tests, capturing 109 wickets at an average of 29.19, including three five-wicket hauls. He scored exactly 1,000 runs, making him one of only fourteen Australians to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. In all first-class cricket, Johnson had taken 619 wickets and scored 4,905 runs. His record as the Australian captain was mixed; he had captained Australia in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five. However, he was better known as the first captain to lead Australia to successive Ashes defeats in the 20th century. Reviewing Johnson's time as captain, Wisden said, "Unfortunately for him, he took over in the mid-1950s, when Australian cricket was decidedly inferior to England's for the first time since before the Bradman era" but "he was a fine cricketer and, in some respects, a visionary". ## Personal life In 1942, aged 24, Johnson married 19-year-old Lal Park, the daughter of former Test cricketer Roy Park. They were married for 56 years and had two sons, Bill and Bob. After the war, when cricket commitments allowed, Johnson worked as a salesman. Immediately following his retirement, Johnson spent some time as one of the first television sporting commentators in Australia, covering the 1956 Summer Olympics, held in his home town of Melbourne. He wrote a book; Cricket at the Crossroads, published in 1957. The following year, Johnson was chosen from a group of 44 candidates for the position of secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club. The position—previously held by Test cricketers Hugh Trumble and Vernon Ransford—is one of the most prestigious jobs in Australian cricket. During a time of "dramatic change", he helped to maintain the Melbourne Cricket Ground's ("MCG") pre-eminence as a sporting arena. Johnson managed the club and the ground through some major redevelopment, keeping a balance between the competing interests of Australian rules football and cricket. For services to sports administration, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1976. He played a leading part in organising the Centenary Test, held at the MCG in 1977. For 20 years, he served as a member of the Victorian state parole board. After serving Melbourne Cricket Club for 26 years, he retired to spend more time at his home in the southern Melbourne suburb of Albert Park and his holiday house in Torquay. In 1982, his OBE was upgraded, when he was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to cricket. He died in Melbourne in 1998 following a long illness. ## Style and personality Unusually for an Australian, Johnson bowled off-spin rather than the wrist spin normally associated with countrymen of his day. Johnson had an atypical bowling action, with a "rather staccato swing" of his bowling arm. He bowled with a high degree of flight, causing opposing batsmen difficulties in judging where the ball would land. Making intelligent use of the wind, Johnson was able to make his deliveries float away from the batsman, changing from his standard off-break. According to E. W. Swanton, Johnson was "probably the slowest bowler to achieve any measure of success in Test cricket". His action was compared to a corkscrew; writer Ray Robinson saying that "to coax turn from firm Australian pitches he twisted the ball almost hard enough to screw a doorknob off". There were doubts about the legality of his bowling action; his English rival, Trevor Bailey claimed Johnson threw every delivery. Johnson was never no-balled for throwing, having played cricket in front of umpires from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, India and Pakistan. > [Johnson was] at his best on dry crumbling wickets—the wet ones made him too slow. It always looked like he could be hit by a fast-footed batsman. That he wasn't may be put down to his straight ball, which was hard to detect, and often left the striker down the wicket. A most intelligent bowler, always scheming. Jack Pollard described Johnson as a "dour middle order batsman". He had a sound defence and when necessary could hit the ball with power. Bradman was full of praise for Johnson's batting after the Invincibles tour in 1948: "Splendid batsman—most valuable about number 7", also describing him as a "very good slip field". As captain, Johnson was noted for his public relations skills and his gift for public speaking. He was optimistic by nature, with a belief in "guts and determination". However, he was seen as insensitive at times; Bill Johnston took offence when Johnson attempted to rouse him during a practise session: "Just cos you are one of the old blokes in the side doesn't mean you don't have to bloody well put in you know." At times his optimism could appear artless and naive. Ian Craig—his successor as Australian captain—was critical of Johnson's attitude during the 1956 tour of England: "I don't think [Johnson] was ever realistic about the situation. [...] I supposed he felt obliged to make rallying speeches, but the team knew what was going on." Pat Crawford felt "Johnson couldn't get anything out of the players, whereas the guys would have busted a gut for [Miller]". He was seen by some of his teammates as "dictatorial" with Benaud and Harvey particularly resenting Johnson's insistence on the entire touring party attending every lead-in match before 1956 Test series in England. Johnson was sportsmanlike; on one occasion in South Africa, when Eastern Province batsman Ray Connell was bowled after the ball deflected from his head, Johnson replaced the bails, allowing him to continue batting. During the Adelaide Test in 1950–51 he "walked", ensuring that the unlucky John Warr took at least one wicket for the series. > I got the faintest of faint touches and Godfrey [Evans] went up, half-heartedly. John followed him, but the umpire said not out. Well I saw John's shoulders sag, and he looked so crestfallen that on the spur of the moment I nodded to the umpire and walked. Johnson was not above some gamesmanship, resorting to time-wasting tactics to avoid defeat in the final Test of the 1956 series against England. He was willing to have some fun on occasion; when in the West Indies he convinced a local pilot to allow him to fly the plane carrying the Australian team between Trinidad and nearby Tobago, to the later displeasure of the Australian Board of Control. Normally diplomatic, in a newspaper article in South Africa, Johnson was blunt with his hosts about race relations in the country: "I am certain that the average man-in-the-street avoids the problem too much for, at the moment, you're living in a fool's paradise". Urbane, courteous and popular with opposition players and spectators, Colin Cowdrey described Johnson as "an astute leader and fine ambassador for cricket". ## Test match performance
969,943	Common toad	1,169,960,666	Species of amphibian	[ "Amphibians described in 1758", "Amphibians of Europe", "Articles containing video clips", "Bufo", "Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus" ]	The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (Bufo bufo, from Latin bufo "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, parts of Scandinavia, and some Mediterranean islands), in the western part of North Asia, and in a small portion of Northwest Africa. It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from a common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps. Although toads are usually solitary animals, in the breeding season, large numbers of toads converge on certain breeding ponds, where the males compete to mate with the females. Eggs are laid in gelatinous strings in the water and later hatch out into tadpoles. After several months of growth and development, these sprout limbs and undergo metamorphosis into tiny toads. The juveniles emerge from the water and remain largely terrestrial for the rest of their lives. The common toad seems to be in decline in part of its range, but overall is listed as being of "least concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is threatened by habitat loss, especially by drainage of its breeding sites, and some toads get killed on the roads as they make their annual migrations. It has long been associated in popular culture and literature with witchcraft. ## Taxonomy The common toad was first given the name Rana bufo by the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758. In this work, he placed all the frogs and toads in the single genus Rana. It later became apparent that this genus should be divided, and in 1768, the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti placed the common toad in the genus Bufo, naming it Bufo bufo. The toads in this genus are included in the family Bufonidae, the true toads. Various subspecies of B. bufo have been recognized over the years. The Caucasian toad is found in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus and was at one time classified as B. b. verrucosissima. It has a larger genome and differs from B. bufo morphologically and is now accepted as Bufo verrucosissimus. The spiny toad was classified as B. b. spinosus. It is found in France, the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb and grows to a larger size and has a spinier skin than its more northern counterparts with which it intergrades. It is now accepted as Bufo spinosus. The Gredos toad, B. b. gredosicola, is restricted to the Sierra de Gredos, a mountain range in central Spain. It has exceptionally large paratoid glands and its colour tends to be blotched rather than uniform. It is now considered to be a synonym of Bufo spinosus. B. bufo is part of a species complex, a group of closely related species which cannot be clearly demarcated. Several modern species are believed to form an ancient group of related taxa from preglacial times. These are the spiny toad (B. spinosus), the Caucasian toad (B. verrucosissimus) and the Japanese common toad (B. japonicus). The European common toad (Bufo bufo) seems to have arisen more recently. It is believed that the range of the ancestral form extended into Asia but that isolation between the eastern and western species complexes occurred as a result of the development of the Central Asian Deserts during the Middle Miocene. The exact taxonomic relationships between these species remains unclear. A serological investigation into toad populations in Turkey undertaken in 2001 examined the blood serum proteins of Bufo verrucosissimus and Bufo spinosus. It found that the differences between the two were not significant and that therefore the former should be synonymized with the latter. A study published in 2012 examined the phylogenetic relationships between the Eurasian and North African species in the Bufo bufo group and indicated a long evolutionary history for the group. Nine to thirteen million years ago, Bufo eichwaldi, a recently described species from south Azerbaijan and Iran, split from the main lineage. Further divisions occurred with Bufo spinosus splitting off about five million years ago when the Pyrenees were being uplifted, an event which isolated the populations in the Iberian Peninsula from those in the rest of Europe. The remaining European lineage split into Bufo bufo and Bufo verrucosissimus less than three million years ago during the Pleistocene. Very occasionally the common toad hybridizes with the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) or the European green toad (Bufo viridis). ## Description The common toad can reach about 15 cm (6 in) in length. Females are normally stouter than males and southern specimens tend to be larger than northern ones. The head is broad with a wide mouth below the terminal snout which has two small nostrils. There are no teeth. The bulbous, protruding eyes have yellow or copper coloured irises and horizontal slit-shaped pupils. Just behind the eyes are two bulging regions, the paratoid glands, which are positioned obliquely. They contain a noxious substance, bufotoxin, which is used to deter potential predators. The head joins the body without a noticeable neck and there is no external vocal sac. The body is broad and squat and positioned close to the ground. The fore limbs are short with the toes of the fore feet turning inwards. At breeding time, the male develops nuptial pads on the first three fingers. He uses these to grasp the female when mating. The hind legs are short relative to other frogs' legs and the hind feet have long, unwebbed toes. There is no tail. The skin is dry and covered with small wart-like lumps. The colour is a fairly uniform shade of brown, olive-brown or greyish-brown, sometimes partly blotched or banded with a darker shade. The common toad tends to be sexually dimorphic with the females being browner and the males greyer. The underside is a dirty white speckled with grey and black patches. Other species with which the common toad could be confused include the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) and the European green toad (Bufo viridis). The former is usually smaller and has a yellow band running down its back while the latter has a distinctive mottled pattern. The paratoid glands of both are parallel rather than slanting as in the common toad. The common frog (Rana temporaria) is also similar in appearance but it has a less rounded snout, damp smooth skin, and usually moves by leaping. Common toads can live for many years and have survived for fifty years in captivity. In the wild, common toads are thought to live for about ten to twelve years. Their age can be determined by counting the number of annual growth rings in the bones of their phalanges. ## Distribution and habitat After the common frog (Rana temporaria), the edible frog (Pelophylax esculentus) and the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris), the common toad is the fourth most common amphibian in Europe. It is found throughout the continent with the exception of Iceland, the cold northern parts of Scandinavia, Ireland and a number of Mediterranean islands. These include Malta, Crete, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands. Its easterly range extends to Irkutsk in Siberia and its southerly range includes parts of northwestern Africa in the northern mountain ranges of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A closely related variant lives in eastern Asia including Japan. The common toad is found at altitudes of up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in the southern part of its range. It is largely found in forested areas with coniferous, deciduous and mixed woodland, especially in wet locations. It also inhabits open countryside, fields, copses, parks and gardens, and often occurs in dry areas well away from standing water. ## Behaviour and lifecycle The common toad usually moves by walking rather slowly or in short shuffling jumps involving all four legs. It spends the day concealed in a lair that it has hollowed out under foliage or beneath a root or a stone where its colouring makes it inconspicuous. It emerges at dusk and may travel some distance in the dark while hunting. It is most active in wet weather. By morning it has returned to its base and may occupy the same place for several months. It is voracious and eats woodlice, slugs, beetles, caterpillars, flies, spiders, earthworms and even small mice. Small, fast moving prey may be caught by a flick of the tongue while larger items are grabbed with the jaws. Having no teeth, it swallows food whole in a series of gulps. It does not recognise its prey as such but will try to consume any small, dark coloured, moving object it encounters at night. A research study showed that it would snap at a moving 1 cm (0.4 in) piece of black paper as if it were prey but would disregard a larger moving piece. Toads seem to use visual cues for feeding and can see their prey at low light intensities where humans are unable to discern anything. Periodically, the common toad sheds its skin. This comes away in tattered pieces and is then consumed. In 2007, researchers using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to survey Loch Ness, Scotland, observed a common toad moving along the bottom of the lake at a depth of 324 feet (99 m). They were surprised to find that an air-breathing animal could survive in such a location. The annual life cycle of the common toad is divided into three periods: the winter sleep, the time of mating and feeding period. ### Predators and parasites When attacked, the common toad adopts a characteristic stance, inflating its body and standing with its hindquarters raised and its head lowered. Its chief means of defence lies in the foul tasting secretion that is produced by its paratoid glands and other glands on its skin. This contains a toxin called bufagin and is enough to deter many predators although grass snakes seem to be unaffected by it. Other predators of adult toads include hedgehogs, rats, mink, and even domestic cats. Birds that feed on toads include herons, crows and birds of prey. Crows have been observed to puncture the skin with their beak and then peck out the animal's liver, thus avoiding the toxin. The tadpoles also exude noxious substances which deter fish from eating them but not the great crested newt. Aquatic invertebrates that feed on toad tadpoles include dragonfly larvae, diving beetles and water boatmen. These usually avoid the noxious secretion by puncturing the tadpole's skin and sucking out its juices. A parasitic fly, Lucilia bufonivora, attacks adult common toads. It lays its eggs on the toad's skin and when these hatch, the larvae crawl into the toad's nostrils and eat its flesh internally with lethal consequences. The European fingernail clam (Sphaerium corneum) is unusual in that it can climb up water plants and move around on its muscular foot. It sometimes clings to the toe of a common toad and this is believed to be one of the means by which it disperses to new locations. ### Reproduction The common toad emerges from hibernation in spring and there is a mass migration towards the breeding sites. The toads converge on certain ponds that they favour while avoiding other stretches of water that seem eminently suitable. Adults use the same location year after year and over 80% of males marked as juveniles have been found to return to the pond at which they were spawned. They find their way to these by using a suite of orientation cues, including olfactory and magnetic cues, but also visual cues help guide their journeys. Toads experimentally moved elsewhere and fitted with tracking devices have been found to be able to locate their chosen breeding pond when the displacement exceeded three kilometres (two miles). The males arrive first and remain in the location for several weeks while the females only stay long enough to mate and spawn. Rather than fighting for the right to mate with a female, male toads may settle disputes by means of the pitch of their voice. Croaking provides a reliable sign of body size and hence of prowess. Nevertheless, fights occur in some instances. In a study at one pond where males outnumbered females by four or five to one, it was found that 38% of the males won the right to mate by defeating rivals in combat or by displacing other males already mounted on females. Male toads generally outnumber female toads at breeding ponds. A Swedish study found that female mortality was higher than that of males and that 41% of females did not come to the breeding pond in the spring and missed a year before reproducing again. The males mount the females' backs, grasping them with their fore limbs under the armpits in a grip that is known as amplexus. The males are enthusiastic, will try to grasp fish or inanimate objects and often mount the backs of other males. Sometimes several toads form a heap, each male trying to grasp the female at the base. It is a stressful period and mortality is high among breeding toads. A successful male stays in amplexus for several days and, as the female lays a long, double string of small black eggs, he fertilises them with his sperm. As the pair wander piggyback around the shallow edges of the pond, the gelatinous egg strings, which may contain 1,500 to 6,000 eggs and be 3 to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 ft) in length, get tangled in plant stalks. The strings of eggs absorb water and swell in size, and small tadpoles hatch out after 10 days. At first they cling to the remains of the strings and feed on the jelly. They later attach themselves to the underside of the leaves of water weed before becoming free swimming. The tadpoles at first look similar to those of the common frog (Rana temporaria) but they are a darker colour, being blackish above and dark grey below. They can be distinguished from the tadpoles of other species by the fact that the mouth is the same width as the space between the eyes, and this is twice as large as the distance between the nostrils. Over the course of a few weeks their legs develop and their tail gradually gets reabsorbed. By twelve weeks of age they are miniature toads measuring about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long and ready to leave the pond. ### Development and growth The common toad reaches maturity at three to seven years old but there is great variability between populations. Juveniles are often parasitised by the lung nematode Rhabdias bufonis. This slows growth rates and reduces stamina and fitness. Larger juveniles at metamorphosis always outgrow smaller ones that have been reared in more crowded ponds. Even when they have heavy worm burdens, large juveniles grow faster than smaller individuals with light worm burdens. After several months of heavy worm infection, some juveniles in a study were only half as heavy as control juveniles. Their parasite-induced anorexia caused a decrease in food intake and some died. Another study investigated whether the use of nitrogenous fertilisers affects the development of common toad tadpoles. The toadlets were kept in dilute solutions of ammonium nitrate of various strengths. It was found that at certain concentrations, which were well above any normally found in the field, growth was increased and metamorphosis accelerated, but at others, there was no significant difference between the experimental tadpoles and controls. Nevertheless, certain unusual swimming patterns and a few deformities were found among the experimental animals. A comparison was made between the growth rate of newly metamorphosed juveniles from different altitudes and latitudes, the specimens studied being from Norway, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France. At first the growth rates for males and females was identical. By the time they became mature their growth rate had slowed down to about 21% of the initial rate and they had reached 95% of their expected adult size. Some females that were on a biennial breeding cycle carried on growing rapidly for a longer time. Adjusting for differences in temperature and the length of the growing season, the toads grew and matured at much the same rate from the four colder localities. These juveniles reached maturity after 1.09 years for males and 1.55 years for females. However, the young toads from lowland France grew faster and longer to a much greater size taking an average 1.77 years for males and 2.49 years for females before reaching maturity. ### Winter sleep Common toads winter in various holes in the ground, sometimes in basements, often in droves with other amphibians. Rarely they spend the winter in flowing waters with the common frogs and green frogs. ### Sperm senescence The post-meiotic intra-testicular sperm of B. bufo undergoes senescence over time as measured by sperm motility. This type of sperm senescence does not occur at a genetically fixed rate, but rather is influenced by environmental conditions that include availability of mating partners and temperature. ## Conservation The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considers the common toad as being of "least concern". This is because it has a wide distribution and is, over most of its range, a common species. It is not particularly threatened by habitat loss because it is adaptable and is found in deciduous and coniferous forests, scrubland, meadows, parks and gardens. It prefers damp areas with dense foliage. The major threats it faces include loss of habitat locally, the drainage of wetlands where it breeds, agricultural activities, pollution, and mortality on roads. Chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease of amphibians, has been reported in common toads in Spain and the United Kingdom and may affect some populations. There are parts of its range where the common toad seems to be in decline. In Spain, increased aridity and habitat loss have led to a diminution in numbers and it is regarded as "near threatened". A population in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range is facing predation by otters and increased competition from the frog Pelophylax perezi. Both otter and frog seem to be extending their ranges to higher altitudes. The common toad cannot be legally sold or traded in the United Kingdom but there is a slow decline in toad numbers and it has therefore been declared a Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. In Russia, it is considered to be a "Rare Species" in the Bashkortostan Republic, the Tatarstan Republic, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and the Irkutsk Oblast, but during the 1990s, it became more abundant in Moscow Oblast. It has been found that urban populations of common toad occupying small areas and isolated by development show a lower level of genetic diversity and reduced fitness as compared to nearby rural populations. The researchers demonstrated this by genetic analysis and by noting the greater number of physical abnormalities among urban as against rural tadpoles when raised in a controlled environment. It was considered that long term depletion in numbers and habitat fragmentation can reduce population persistence in such urban environments. ### Roadkill Many toads are killed by traffic while migrating to their breeding grounds. In Europe they have the highest rate of mortality from roadkill among amphibians. Many of the deaths take place on stretches of road where streams flow underneath showing that migration routes often follow water courses. In some places in Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Northern Italy and Poland, special tunnels have been constructed so that toads can cross under roads in safety. In other places, local wildlife groups run "toad patrols", carrying the amphibians across roads at busy crossing points in buckets. The toads start moving at dusk and for them to travel far, the temperature needs to remain above 5 °C (41 °F). On a warm wet night they may continue moving all night but if it cools down, they may stop earlier. An estimate was made of the significance of roadkill in toad populations in the Netherlands. The number of females killed in the spring migration on a quiet country road (ten vehicles per hour) was compared with the number of strings of eggs laid in nearby fens. A 30% mortality rate was found, with the rate for deaths among males likely to be of a similar order. ## Bufotoxin The main toxic substance found in the parotoid gland and skin of the common toad is called bufotoxin. It was first isolated by Heinrich Wieland and his colleagues in 1922 and they succeeded in identifying its structure about 20 years later. Meanwhile, other workers succeeded in isolating the same compound and its parent steroid bufotalin from the Japanese toad (Bufo japonicus). By 1986, researchers at the Arizona State University had succeeded in synthesizing the toad venom constituents bufotalin, bufalitoxin and bufotoxin. The chemical formula of bufotoxin is C<sub>40</sub>H<sub>60</sub>N<sub>4</sub>O<sub>10</sub>. Its physical effects resemble those of digitalis which in small doses increases the strength with which the heart muscle contracts and which is used in the treatment of congestive heart failure. The skin of the cane toad contains enough toxin to cause serious symptoms or even death in animals, including humans. Clinical effects include severe irritation and pain to eyes, mouth, nose and throat, cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms, paralysis and seizures, increased salivation, vomiting, hyperkalemia, cyanosis and hallucinations. There is no known anti-venom. Treatment consists of supporting respiratory and cardiovascular functions, prevention of absorption and electrocardiography to monitor the condition. Atropine, phenytoin, cholestyramine and lidocaine may prove useful in its management. ## Cultural significance The toad has long been considered to be an animal of ill omen or a connection to a spirit world. This may have its origins in the fact that it is at home both on land and in the water. It may cause repugnance because of its drab, wart-like skin, its slow movements and the way it emerges from some dark hole. In Europe in the Middle Ages, the toad was associated with the Devil, for whom a coat-of-arms was invented emblazoned with three toads. It was known that the toad could poison people and, as the witch's familiar, it was thought to possess magical powers. Even ordinary people made use of dried toads, their bile, faeces and blood. In some areas, the finding of a toad in a house was considered evidence that a witch was present. In the Basque Country, the familiars were believed to be toads wearing elegant robes. These were herded by children who were being trained as witches. Between 1610 and 1612, the Spanish inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frías investigated witchcraft in the region and searched the houses of suspected witches for dressed toads. He found none. These witches were reputed to use undomesticated toads as ingredients in their liniments and brews. An English folk tale tells how an old woman, a supposed witch, cursed her landlord and all his possessions when he demanded the unpaid rent for her cottage. Soon afterwards, a large toad fell on his wife and caused her to collapse. The toad was thrown into the fire but escaped with severe burns. Meanwhile, the old witch's cottage had caught fire and she was badly burnt. By next day, both toad and witch had died, and it was found that the woman's burns exactly mirrored those of the toad. The saliva of the toad was considered poisonous and was known as "sweltered venom" and it was believed that it could spit or vomit poisonous fire. Toads were associated with devils and demons and in Paradise Lost, John Milton depicted Satan as a toad when he poured poison into Eve's ear. The First Witch in Shakespeare's Macbeth gave instructions on using a toad in the concoction of spells: It was also believed that there was a jewel inside a toad's head, a "toadstone", that when worn as a necklace or ring would warn the wearer of attempts to poison them. Shakespeare mentioned this in As You Like It: > > Sweet are the uses of adversity Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. Mr. Toad is one of the main characters in the children's novel The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. This has been dramatized by several authors including A. A. Milne who called his play Toad of Toad Hall. Mr. Toad is a conceited, anthropomorphic toad and in the book he composes a ditty in his own praise which starts like this: > > The world has held great heroes, As history books have showed; But never a name went down to fame Compared with that of Toad! > > > The clever men at Oxford Know all there is to be knowed. But none of them know half as much As intelligent Mr. Toad! George Orwell in his essay Some Thoughts on the Common Toad described the emergence of the common toad from hibernation as one of the most moving signs of spring.
1,097,074	Jill Valentine	1,173,836,145	Character in Resident Evil	[ "Action film characters", "Capcom protagonists", "Characters in American novels of the 20th century", "Cryonically preserved characters in video games", "Female characters in video games", "Female horror film characters", "Female soldier and warrior characters in video games", "Fictional American people in video games", "Fictional American police officers", "Fictional Eurasian people", "Fictional European-American people", "Fictional Japanese American people", "Fictional United Nations personnel", "Fictional United States Army Delta Force personnel", "Fictional female gunfighters", "Fictional female martial artists", "Fictional gunfighters in video games", "Fictional martial artists in video games", "Fictional police officers in video games", "Fictional private military members", "Fictional soldiers in video games", "Fictional sole survivors", "Fictional special forces personnel", "Fictional super soldiers", "Fictional zombie hunters", "Resident Evil characters", "Science fiction film characters", "Video game bosses", "Video game characters based on real people", "Video game characters introduced in 1996", "Video game characters who can teleport", "Video game mascots", "Video game protagonists" ]	Jill Valentine is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by the Japanese company Capcom. She was introduced as one of the two player characters in the original Resident Evil (1996), alongside her partner Chris Redfield, as a member of the Raccoon City Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) team. Valentine and Redfield fight against the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company whose bioterrorism creates zombies and other bio-organic weapons, and later become founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). Valentine is the protagonist of several Resident Evil games, novelizations, movies, and other media. In later games, such as the 2002 Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and Resident Evil 5, her features were based on Canadian model and actress Julia Voth. Valentine also appears in the Resident Evil film series, portrayed by actress Sienna Guillory, and in the 2021 film reboot, played by Hannah John-Kamen. She is featured in several other game franchises, including Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Project X Zone. Video game publications listed Valentine among the most popular and iconic video game characters, and praised her as the most likable and consistent Resident Evil character. She has received both acclaim and criticism with regard to gender representation in video games. Several publications praised the series for its portrayal of women and considered Valentine significantly less sexualized than other female game characters; she was also cited as an example of a female character who was as competent and skilled as her male counterparts. Others argued she was weakened as a protagonist by attributes that undermined her role as a heroine, specifically an unrealistic body shape that did not reflect her military background; some of her overtly sexualized costumes have also been criticized. ## Concept and design Jill Valentine was introduced as one of two playable protagonists, alongside her partner Chris Redfield, in Capcom's 1996 survival horror video game Resident Evil. She was created by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Ohishi. To avoid the sexual objectification of women in video games, Mikami refused to eroticize or portray women as submissive in Resident Evil; instead, Valentine was characterized as independent. Of Japanese and French descent, Valentine excelled at bomb disposal during her training with Delta Force, and later joined the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) special operations unit. Experienced with weapons, explosives material, and lock picking, she was intelligent, brave, and loyal. Although their storylines progress toward "the same general direction", the gameplay differs for Valentine and Redfield; her inventory is larger, and she has a lock pick, giving her early access to more health and ammunition. Based on these differences, Valentine was recommended to first-time players of Resident Evil. According to digital media scholar Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Mikami's female roles possess unique qualities making them viable choices for players to select over their male counterparts, and said their combat attire helped them avoid criticism of adhering to the male gaze. Mikami explained: "I don't know if I've put more emphasis on women characters, but when I do introduce them, it is never as objects. In [other] games, they will be peripheral characters with ridiculous breast physics. I avoid that sort of obvious eroticism." Despite this, subsequent games in the series not directed by Mikami depicted her wearing revealing costumes. Media scholars said players have been intentionally encouraged to both objectify and identify with the character. Several commentators suggested that Mikami's initial portrayal of Valentine as a military professional tempered the ability of subsequent game directors to overtly sexualize the character. Valentine continued to be redesigned over the course of the series. In the 2002 remake of the original game, her appearance was based on Canadian model and actress Julia Voth. Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi said they made her more kawaii in the remake, but also kept her tough and muscular. Voth's likeness was reused for Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007) and Resident Evil 5 (2009). Resident Evil 5 features Redfield as a protagonist; designers opted to focus on how both characters had aged since the original game. Valentine underwent another redesign for Resident Evil 5 to reflect her status as a test subject in biological research experiments. Depicted with blonde hair, pale skin, and tight-fitting outfit – described as a battle suit – these changes represent the effects of the experimentation. Fans criticized the new appearance as an example of whitewashing. MacCallum-Stewart suggested the popularity of the series was damaged by the unexplained reappearance of Valentine as a "mind-controlled BDSM assassin". In the 2020 remake of Resident Evil 3, Jill is modeled after Russian model Sasha Zotova. Jill's redesign reflects the developers' creative vision behind the character's reimagination as a genuine action hero; because the art direction for the remake is based on photorealism, Capcom wanted to ensure that Jill fits into the game world environment. Alternate costumes as rewards for players have been a staple of the Resident Evil series. Completing the 2002 remake unlocked the ability to dress Valentine in her Resident Evil 3: Nemesis miniskirt costume and as Sarah Connor from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The miniskirt was added during development upon the staff's request. Following its addition, developers changed camera angles to reduce the amount of upskirting and matched the color of the skirt and underwear to make it less obvious. The outfit reappears in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (2011). A prequel to the events of Resident Evil 5, the downloadable content (DLC) episode Lost in Nightmares includes an alternative outfit for Valentine, based on military clothing and sportswear. Since Resident Evil: Revelations (2012) was set at sea, her costume was made to resemble a wetsuit. The initial design featured more tactical gear attached to her buoyancy control device, but it was removed to highlight her body's contours. Her alternate outfit in the game, a revealing pirate costume, was deliberately made to be colorful to contrast with the storyline's dark themes. ### Voice-over and live-action actresses The actresses who appeared in the original game's live-action cutscenes and recorded the voice work were credited only by their first names; Valentine was portrayed by a high school student credited as "Inezh". Over the course of the franchise, voice actresses who played Valentine included Catherine Disher in Resident Evil 3, Heidi Anderson in the 2002 remake, Kathleen Barr in Capcom's 2004 action-adventure game Under the Skin, and Tara Platt in Pachislot Biohazard, a recreational arcade game released solely in Japan. Patricia Ja Lee provided the voice and motion capture for both The Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil 5. Kari Wahlgren voiced the character in the 2011 game Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. In Revelations, Valentine was voiced by Michelle Ruff, who returned for the non-canon game Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Nicole Tompkins voiced and provided motion capture performance for Valentine in the 2020 Resident Evil 3 remake and reprised her role in CG animated film Resident Evil: Death Island. Atsuko Yuya voiced Valentine in the Japanese versions of the games. The character appeared in three entries of the original Resident Evil film series, where she was portrayed by English actress Sienna Guillory. Hannah John-Kamen is cast in the role for the 2021 film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. ## Appearances ### In Resident Evil series Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Subsequent games featuring Valentine take place on an international scale: namely Russia, Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea. The original game is set in July 1998 in a mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, which Valentine and her team enter into while searching for colleagues. Working with partner Barry Burton, she discovers the property is a façade for a biological warfare laboratory operated by the Umbrella Corporation and its undead occupants are the scientists who developed the T-virus mutagen. Her commander Albert Wesker is revealed to be a double agent for Umbrella. Valentine and Redfield are among the five survivors of the incident, who form a strong friendship and become passionate opponents of bioterrorism. Valentine did not appear in Resident Evil 2 (1998), as the production team used new protagonists (Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield) to preserve the original game's horror elements: Mikami believed Valentine and Chris Redfield would be too experienced to be scared by the events in the sequel. She returned as the sole protagonist in Resident Evil 3 (1999). Mikami – the lead producer of both Nemesis and the concurrently-produced Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000) – wanted each game to highlight a female character who had previously appeared in the series; Valentine is the protagonist in Nemesis, while Claire Redfield is the lead character in Code: Veronica. Commentators suggested these decisions were made as a result of the success of the Tomb Raider series, which featured Lara Croft as the protagonist. Nemesis is set two months after the first game, during which time Valentine joined the Raccoon City Police Department (RCPD) to protect as many civilians as possible from the T-virus. The reason given by Capcom for her informal clothing in this entry was her resignation from the police immediately before the city's population was infected with the virus. She quit in protest over the failure of law enforcement to take action against Umbrella but remained in the city to investigate the corporation. The police uniform she wore in the original game was replaced with a less formal blue tube top, black miniskirt and knee-high boots. In Nemesis, she escapes Raccoon City before its destruction from a nuclear strike as part of a U.S. government cover-up. She is pursued by Nemesis, a supersoldier whose task is to kill all remaining members of the S.T.A.R.S. team. Instead of killing Valentine, Nemesis infects her with the T-virus; her new partner Carlos Oliveira – a former Umbrella mercenary – cures her of the infection with an Umbrella-produced vaccine. The Umbrella Chronicles occurs in 2003, when Valentine and Redfield join a private organization with the goal of exposing Umbrella's biological warfare activities, leading a group to destroy their only remaining research facility. After the fall of the corporation, the pair become founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). In Revelations – set two years later – Valentine and new partner Parker Luciani are sent on a mission to rescue Redfield, who is allegedly being held hostage on a ghost ship in the Mediterranean. Once aboard, she discovers the ship is infested with a new type of mutagen capable of infecting the aquatic ecosystem. Valentine and Redfield then unravel a political conspiracy involving an earlier mutagenic outbreak and a botched investigation by a rival agency. Resident Evil 5 takes place in 2009 in the fictional African town of Kijuju, where terrorists are turning local residents into zombies. One of these terrorists is revealed to be Valentine, who was missing in action for the previous two and a half years. Set in 2006, the Lost in Nightmares DLC showed Valentine and Redfield searching inside a mansion for Umbrella's founder; to save Redfield from Wesker, Valentine tackled the latter through a window. Neither of their bodies were recovered, and Valentine is declared dead. In fact, she was injured by the fall and taken hostage by Wesker, who then used her as a test subject in his biological experiments. The antibodies produced by Valentine's system as a result of her Nemesis-era T-virus infection were used as the basis for the Uroboros Virus, the catalyst for the events of Resident Evil 5. During Resident Evil 5, Redfield discovers that Valentine is alive; Wesker attached a mind-control device on Valentine which forced her to commit the terrorist acts and fight Redfield and his new partner, local BSAA agent Sheva Alomar. Valentine finds enough self-control to open her outfit so the device can be seen and removed. After its removal, she explains that she knew what she was doing but was unable to control her actions and urges Redfield and Alomar to continue their mission. Another DLC episode, Desperate Escape, describes how Valentine was able to escape safety with the help of local BSAA agent Josh Stone before they aid both Chris and Sheva to kill Wesker. ### Other appearances Valentine features in several of the Resident Evil films. She was originally scheduled to be the protagonist for the first Resident Evil movie (2002), while it was under the direction of George A. Romero. When Paul W. S. Anderson took over from Romero, he created a new character for the film series, Alice, portrayed by Milla Jovovich. Valentine appears in the 2004 sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse, where she is a disgraced police officer who escapes the ruins of Raccoon City with the help of Alice and other survivors. Her outfit in the movie is based on her clothing from Resident Evil 3. Anderson considered explanations to justify the usage of the costume, such as having it described as an undercover outfit, while Jovovich suggested using a heat wave as the reason. Anderson eventually decided to ignore the issue altogether, arguing that people who would criticize her attire "probably shouldn't be watching a Resident Evil movie [at all]." Valentine appears in a post-credits scene in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), wearing the mind-controlling device from Resident Evil 5 and leading an attack against Alice, Chris, Claire Redfield, and the survivors they rescued after a virus outbreak in Los Angeles. In Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), Valentine is an antagonist programmed to capture Alice, but regains control of herself after Alice removes Wesker's mind-control device. The film includes a fight between Valentine and Alice containing around 200 moves. She did not appear in the final film, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), apparently dying offscreen. According to Jovovich, Valentine was excluded because there were too many Resident Evil characters to include in the film. The Resident Evil film series consistently received negative reviews. Cinefantastique praised Guillory's performance in Apocalypse as the film's only highlight. In the reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), Jill is played by Hannah John-Kamen. She has also appeared in the 2023 computer-animated film, Resident Evil: Death Island. Valentine is a playable character in several non-canon Resident Evil games. She features in numerous Resident Evil mobile games, and is the protagonist of Resident Evil: Genesis (2008), an alternative-story version of the original game. She appears in two games in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise and the crossover tactical role-playing games Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2. She makes a brief cameo in 2004's Under the Skin, and is a playable character in We Love Golf! (2007), Dead by Daylight (2016) and the digital collectible card game Teppen (2019). She appears as an alternate skin for two characters in the Street Fighter series: alternate outfits for Chun-Li in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (1998) and Cammy in Street Fighter V (2016) shows them wearing Valentine's costume from the original Resident Evil. Jill appears as a Spirit in the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). In 2020, Jill made a cameo appearance in Astro's Playroom. In March 2021 during the Resident Evil 25th anniversary celebrations, the character Zofia from Rainbow Six Siege received Jill Valentine's skin. In October 2021, Jill and Chris appeared in Fortnite Battle Royale. Valentine features in novelizations of the films and games and plays a supporting role in the first novel, Resident Evil: Caliban Cove (1998), in a series by S. D. Perry. In Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy (1998), Perry's novelization of the original game, Valentine's Delta Force background is not mentioned; before her career in law enforcement, she is said to have acted as an accomplice for her father Dick Valentine, a professional thief. Several comic books based on the games were released, and she is a character in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011). Merchandise featuring Valentine include action figures, figurines and a gun replica. The character was featured in Resident Evil-themed attractions at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights. Capcom's themed restaurant Biohazard Cafe & Grill S.T.A.R.S., which opened in Shibuya, Tokyo, in 2012, sold a noodle dish named after her. ## Reception and legacy Game publications, including the 2011 version of the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, listed Valentine among the most popular and iconic video game characters. At the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo, journalists and game developers nominated her as one of the top-three lead characters of Western and Japanese role-playing video games. Magazines praised her as the most likable Resident Evil character, with the most believable and consistent story arc in the series. She was also identified as one of the all-time greatest mascots of the video game industry, as a tough, strong and attractive female character who could appeal to a broad demographic. Critics commented that Valentine was not oversexualized in her initial appearances. She was highlighted as an example of the series' female characters who were not judged solely on gender, and for having "the most sensible design" for a female character of the mid-to-late 1990s. Her professional relationship with Redfield was celebrated for its basis in loyalty rather than romance and its balance in their personalities: Valentine's intellect and Redfield's brawn. Female digital critics felt that several of Valentine's features undermine her role as a heroine and weaken her as a protagonist – specifically that her body shape is unrealistic and not reflective of her military background or physical training, noting that she was the only member of her team in the original game not to wear a bulletproof vest. The extent to which her appearance changed over the course of the game series has been criticized as excessive, with the Resident Evil 3 outfit derided for deviating too much from Mikami's initial militaristic iteration of the character. In Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian criticized Valentine's alternate costumes as too revealing, particularly the pirate costume in Resident Evil: Revelations. She also cited Valentine's movement in Revelations as an example of female characters who walk in an overtly sexualized manner. MacCallum-Stewart said the first Resident Evil game became famous for its "extremely clunky dialogue and voice acting, an element which lent the otherwise suspenseful game an element of charm that endeared it to players". Although she explains that the weak dialogue might be attributed to poor translation of the original Japanese text, she said this inadvertently helped differentiate the series from its rivals. Several lines from the game achieved enduring popularity: "You were almost a Jill sandwich", a quip delivered in awkward voiceover by Barry Burton after a falling ceiling trap almost crushes Valentine, was revived as an Internet meme a decade after the game's release; it became the subject of fan art depicting Valentine in or as a sandwich. Capcom referenced the line in several of their later games, including Dead Rising (2006), Resident Evil: Uprising (2009), and Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015). Another piece of dialogue spoken by Burton – "And, Jill, here's a lock pick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you" – also gained notoriety. The quote has been parodied for containing an excessive amount of silence between words. It was removed from later editions.
10,865,816	Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleship	1,158,090,599	Battleship class of the German Imperial Navy	[ "Battleship classes", "Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships", "World War I battleships of Germany" ]	The Kaiser Friedrich III class consisted of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Imperial German Navy; all ships of the class were named for German emperors. The ships were Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Kaiser Barbarossa, and Kaiser Karl der Grosse, all built between 1895 and 1901. The class saw the introduction of the traditional armament layout for German battleships prior to the advent of the dreadnought type of battleship in the early 1900s: four large-caliber guns, but of comparatively smaller size compared to their contemporaries, in two gun turrets. The German adoption of smaller guns was a result of a preference for higher volumes of fire over weight of shell. The Kaiser Friedrich III class also standardized the use of three screws for battleships and introduced water-tube boilers and Krupp cemented armor. On entering service, the ships were assigned to I Squadron, of which Kaiser Friedrich III served as the flagship, while Kaiser Wilhelm II served as the flagship for the overall fleet commander. The ships conducted routine training exercises and cruises in the early 1900s and Kaiser Friedrich III was badly damaged in a grounding accident while steaming in the Baltic Sea in 1901. As newer battleships entered service later in the decade, the ships of the class were moved to II Squadron in 1905 and all of the ships except Kaiser Karl der Grosse were rebuilt between 1907 and 1910. Thereafter they were reduced to reserve status beginning in 1908, since more powerful dreadnought battleships had begun to be commissioned; the rest of their peacetime careers consisted of periodic reactivations to participate in annual fleet training maneuvers. At the start of World War I in July 1914, the ships were recommissioned and assigned to V Squadron; they were tasked with coastal defense in the North Sea but were quickly transferred to the Baltic to support German operations against the Russian Empire. They saw limited activity during this period, and they returned to the North Sea for guard duties in early 1915. The increasing threat of modern weapons, particularly the British submarines that had begun to operate in the area, combined with shortages of crews for more valuable vessels, led the navy to decommission all five members of the class in March 1915. They were used in a variety of secondary roles. They were all discarded in the early 1920s as Germany disarmed under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. ## Design In the early 1890s, the German Navy attempted to secure funding from the Reichstag to replace the elderly ironclad Preussen, but parliamentary resistance delayed the appropriation until the 1894/1895 budget year. Design studies for the new ship had begun in June 1891 at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and it was quickly decided to make significant changes from the preceding Brandenburg-class design. The limitations of the fleet's infrastructure, particularly the dry docks and other harbor facilities, along with the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal then under construction, constrained the size of the new ship. To keep the new ship within the displacement limit, the center turret that had been used on the Brandenburgs would have to be sacrificed if a heavier secondary battery was to be incorporated. Five different design sketches were prepared, the first four incorporating a secondary armament of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and the fifth replacing the 10.5 cm guns with eight 15 cm (5.9 in) guns. All five variants carried a main armament of four 28 cm (11 in) guns. Wilhelm II contributed his own proposal, but it suffered from serious stability problems and was not a serious option. Work continued on the ships' design while the navy pushed for funding in the Reichstag, which was finally approved in March 1894, placing pressure on the design staff to complete their work so construction could begin. By May, the design staff had produced sketch XVI, which discarded the traditional two-gun turret used by most navies in favor of four single-gun turrets in the lozenge arrangement used in contemporary French battleships like Bouvet. If weight permitted, all four were to be 28 cm guns, but the option to reduce the wing turrets to 21 cm (8.3 in) was available if necessary. The secondary battery was to be sixteen of the 10.5 cm guns, with at least some in twin turrets, but over the following months the battery was increased to 15 cm guns, as it was the accepted view at the time that secondary guns would do the most damage in a close-range fight. This view, which advocated the so-called "hail of fire" principle, was seemingly vindicated by the Japanese cruisers' victory over a more heavily-armed Chinese fleet at the Battle of Yalu later in 1894. The smaller, faster-firing guns were intended to inflict serious damage on the superstructures of enemy battleships and demoralize the crew. During the design process, the commander of the Maneuver Squadron, Hans von Koester, suggested that the 28 cm guns be discarded in favor of 24 cm (9.4 in) guns, since they could be fired 2.5 times as fast as the larger guns and they were large enough that they could still be used to penetrate heavy armor at the close battle ranges envisioned at the time. Koester convinced Wilhelm II to overrule the naval high command, who wished to retain the heavier guns. This decision set a pattern of German naval construction for the next two decades that favored lighter, faster-firing guns instead of larger, more powerful ones. Though the decision was criticized at the time on the basis that the 24 cm gun was smaller and thus weaker than the 28 cm, the larger gun offered little substantive advantage at close range, and the much greater rate of fire allowed it to produce a heavier broadside over time. In August 1894, the navy settled on an 11,000-metric-ton (11,000-long-ton) ship armed with four 24 cm guns and eighteen 15 cm guns. The decision was a gamble, as Krupp had not actually designed a 24 cm gun, and if the tests had proved to be a failure, the ship would not have had a main battery gun, since her turrets could not be reworked to accommodate the 28 cm gun. The advent of Krupp cemented armor allowed a significant saving of weight, as it was much more effective than traditional Krupp armor, so less armor could be used to achieve the same level of protection. They retained the same armor layout of the Brandenburgs, although the weight savings would have allowed the adoption of a more comprehensive layout that would be used in the subsequent Wittelsbach class. The propulsion system was improved with the adoption of water-tube boilers and reorganized to incorporate a third propeller shaft, which became standard for German capital ships. The navy had concerns about the reliability of the water-tube Thornycroft boilers, so the first vessel, Kaiser Friedrich III, was completed with just four of the new types, with the remaining eight being older fire-tube boilers. After the first vessel was begun, the next member of the class was authorized for the 1896/1897 program; during the intervening two years, consideration was given to re-designing the second ship to match foreign developments, most significantly the adoption of 30.5 cm (12 in) guns like those on the British Majestic-class battleship. The change would have necessitated halving the main battery and the removal of four of the 15 cm guns to offset the weight of the larger guns. Additionally, it would have left Kaiser Friedrich III with no counterparts, which would have complicated tactical control. The sacrifices were deemed to be too severe, and so the decision was made to go ahead with the 24 cm gun, as successful proof-firing of the new gun had by then been completed. ### General characteristics and machinery The Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships were 120.9 meters (396 ft 8 in) long at the waterline and 125.3 m (411 ft 1 in) overall. They had a beam of 20.4 m (66 ft 11 in) and a draft of 7.89 m (25 ft 11 in) forward and 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in) aft. The ships displaced 11,097 t (10,922 long tons) normally and up to 11,785 metric tons (11,599 long tons) at full load. The ships' steel hulls were of transverse and longitudinal frame construction. The hull contained twelve watertight compartments and a double bottom that covered 70 percent of the hull. Kaiser Friedrich III was completed with a tall military mast for her foremast and a pole mainmast. The other four vessels were fitted with short military masts for both masts. In 1901, Kaiser Friedrich III's foremast was shortened. Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II, both intended to serve as flagships, were completed with large bridges, with a two-story bridge aboard the former and a single-story bridge on the latter. The remaining three vessels received smaller, open bridges. The German navy regarded them as having excellent seakeeping. They had a tight turning circle and were very responsive. The ships rolled up to 15° and had a roll period of 12 seconds. They suffered only minor speed loss in heavy seas, but up to 40 percent with the rudder hard over. Their metacentric heights were between 0.917 to 1.18 m (3 ft 0 in to 3 ft 10 in). The ships carried a number of smaller boats, including two picket boats, two launches, one pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and two dinghies. The crew numbered 39 officers and 612 enlisted men. When serving as a squadron flagship, a ship had its crew augmented by another 12 officers and between 51 and 63 enlisted men. The Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships were powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines that drove three screws. Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Barbarossa, and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse were equipped with three 3-bladed screws that were 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) in diameter. Kaiser Karl der Grosse and Kaiser Wilhelm II were equipped with two of the 3-bladed screws on the outer shafts and a four-bladed screw that was 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) in diameter on the center shaft. The ships received different boiler arrangements owing to concerns among the naval high command about the reliability of the new water-tube boilers. Kaiser Wilhelm II had an arrangement similar to Kaiser Friedrich III, except the Thornycroft boilers were replaced by Marine-type fire-tube boilers. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Kaiser Karl der Grosse were equipped with four Marine and six cylindrical fire-tube boilers, while Kaiser Barbarossa had four Thornycroft and six cylindrical fire-tube boilers. All of the ships' boilers were ducted into two funnels, but Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II had thinner aft funnels while those of the other three ships were identical. The powerplants were rated at 13,000 metric horsepower (12,820 ihp; 9,560 kW), but on trials could produce up to 13,950 metric horsepower (13,760 ihp; 10,260 kW). This generated a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). The ships carried 650 metric tons (640 long tons) of coal, although the use of additional spaces within the ships increased fuel capacity to 1,070 metric tons (1,050 long tons). This provided a maximum range of 3,420 nautical miles (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Electrical power was supplied by five 320 kW 74 volt generators in Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II, and four 240 kW 74 volt generators in the other three ships. ### Armament The primary armament consisted of a battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin-gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the central superstructure. The guns were mounted in hydraulically-operated Drh.L. C/98 turrets, which allowed elevation to +30 degrees and depression to −5 degrees. At maximum elevation, the guns could hit targets out to 16,900 meters (18,500 yd). The guns fired 140-kilogram (310 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). Each gun was supplied with 75 shells, for a total of 300. Secondary armament included eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns. Six were mounted in single turrets amidships and the rest were mounted in MPL casemates; all were manually operated and elevated. Most of these guns were mounted at upper-deck level, with only four of the casemates at main deck level, which kept them high enough in the ship to avoid a common problem with battleships of the period where heavy seas could make the guns unworkable. According to the historian Aidan Dodson, the arrangement was "perhaps the best of the period." These guns fired armor-piercing shells at a rate of 4 to 5 per minute. The ships carried 120 shells per gun, for a total of 2,160 rounds total. The guns could depress to −7 degrees and elevate to +20 degrees, for a maximum range of 13,700 m (14,990 yd). The shells weighed 51 kg (112 lb) and were fired at a muzzle velocity of 735 m/s (2,410 ft/s). The ships also carried twelve 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns for defense against torpedo boats, also mounted individually in casemates and pivot mounts. These guns were supplied with between 170 and 250 shells per gun. These guns fired 7.04 kg (15.5 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 590 mps (1,936 fps). Their rate of fire was approximately 15 shells per minute; the guns could engage targets out to 6,890 m (7,530 yd). The gun mounts were manually operated. The ships' gun armament was rounded out by twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim machine cannon. The ships were also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts. Four tubes were mounted on the sides of the ship, another in the bow, and the last in the stern. These weapons were 5.1 m (201 in) long and carried an 87.5 kg (193 lb) TNT warhead. They could be set at two speeds for different ranges. At 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph), the torpedoes had a range of 800 m (870 yd). At an increased speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), the range was reduced to 500 m (550 yd). ### Armor The Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships were armored with steel produced by Krupp. They were the last German capital ships to use the old-style narrow armor belt arrangement; older compound armor required a significant amount of steel to resist large-caliber shellfire, which meant that little of the ship could be covered with armor owing to its weight. Krupp's new steel was much stronger, but the design staff did not take advantage of the reduced weight to provide more comprehensive protection, which would arrive with the subsequent Wittelsbach class. They had an armor belt that was 300 millimeters (11.8 in) thick in the central portion of the hull at the waterline. It tapered to 150 mm (5.9 in) in the forward section and 200 mm (7.9 in) in the rear, although the belt did not extend fully aft. The lower portion of the belt ranged in thickness from 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in). The entire belt was backed with 250 mm (9.8 in) of teak. The main armored deck was 65 mm (2.6 in) thick, but the thickness was increased to 75 mm (3 in) aft of the rear main battery barbette, where the stern was not protected by the belt. This portion of the deck curved down at the sides to offer a measure of protection against shell hits. The conning tower was protected by armored sides that were 250 mm thick and a roof that was 30 mm (1.2 in) thick. Each main-battery turret had a 50 mm (2 in) thick roof and 250 mm thick sides. The 15 cm guns mounted in turrets were protected by 150 mm thick sides and 70 mm (2.8 in) thick gun shields. Those in the casemates also had 150 mm worth of armor protection. ## Construction The five ships of the Kaiser Friedrich class were built by a combination of government and private shipyards. Three of the ships—Kaiser Friedrich III, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and Kaiser Karl der Grosse—were delayed during construction; Kaiser Friedrich III had to wait for her main guns to be completed before entering service. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was damaged by an accidental grounding by the shipyard crew when they were moving the ship from Hamburg to Wilhelmshaven, and a fire at the shipyard slowed work on Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. ## Service history ### Prewar careers On entering service, Kaiser Friedrich III became the flagship of Prince Heinrich, the commander of I Squadron of the Home Fleet. Kaiser Wilhelm II became the flagship of Koester, the fleet commander. The two ships operated together into early 1901 until Kaiser Friedrich III was badly damaged in a grounding accident while cruising in the Baltic Sea in April. An investigation revealed several uncharted rocks and faulted the lightship in the area, which was out of position. While she was out of service for repairs, her crew was transferred to Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which had just been completed. Over the course of the next four years, the ships of the class operated together in I Squadron, conducting training cruises, fleet maneuvers every August and September, and visits to foreign ports. By 1905, as several new classes of battleships—the Wittelsbach, Braunschweig, and Deutschland classes—had either entered service or were approaching completion, the members of the Kaiser Friedrich III class began to be transferred to II Squadron. In 1906, Kaiser Wilhelm II was replaced as the fleet flagship by the new battleship Deutschland. The normal peacetime training routine continued for the next several years, interrupted by a reconstruction program in the mid to late-1900s. Kaiser Barbarossa was the first to be rebuilt in 1905, a result of having been decommissioned for repairs to her rudder for damage incurred on a cruise to Spain in 1903. Kaiser Friedrich III was rebuilt in 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse were reconstructed in 1909–1910. The work involved cutting down their superstructure to reduce topweight, removing four of the 15 cm guns and one of the torpedo tubes, and moving the 8.8 cm guns to the upper deck. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was not modernized, however. Beginning in 1908, the members of the class transitioned out of front-line service, their place having been taken by the Deutschland class and the first dreadnought battleships of the Nassau class. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was the first to be moved to the Reserve Squadron in 1908, followed by Kaiser Barbarossa and Kaiser Friedrich III in 1909 and Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse the next year. For the rest of their peacetime careers, they spent much of the year out of service but were reactivated for the annual fleet maneuvers every August and September. For the exercises, they formed III Squadron, with Kaiser Wilhelm II serving as the squadron flagship. ### World War I Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, the five Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships were reactivated to form V Battle Squadron, with Kaiser Wilhelm II again as the flagship. They served briefly in a coastal-defense role in the North Sea before being transferred to the Baltic in September for operations against the Russian Empire. They were slated to carry an amphibious assault force to Windau in late September, but false rumors of British warships having entered the Baltic led to the operation being cancelled. They made a sweep into the northern Baltic in December but did not encounter any Russian warships. In January 1915, they were moved back to the North Sea for guard duties, but they were quickly decommissioned the next month. The ships were by then thoroughly obsolete and were far too vulnerable to modern weapons, particularly the British submarines that had begun operating in the Baltic. In addition, the navy was facing severe crew shortages and decided that older vessels of limited combat use like the Kaiser Friedrich III class could not be maintained in service. On 5 March, the ships were dispersed to various ports, had their crews reduced, and were eventually disarmed. Kaiser Wilhelm II was stationed in Wilhelmshaven as a headquarters ship for the commander of the High Seas Fleet, a role she continued to fill after the war. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was used briefly as an engine-room training ship before being converted into a prison ship; Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Barbarossa also served as floating prisons in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, respectively. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became a depot ship before being relegated to a torpedo target ship in 1916. The guns taken from the ships were used as coastal artillery in the North Frisian and East Frisian Islands in the North Sea and to guard Libau in the Baltic. All five ships were broken up between 1920 and 1922 after the end of the war to ensure Germany complied with the naval disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. The bow ornaments from Kaiser Friedrich III and Kaiser Wilhelm II are preserved at the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden.
6,300,132	Harriet Arbuthnot	1,168,395,819	English diarist (1793–1834)	[ "1793 births", "1834 deaths", "19th-century English women writers", "19th-century diarists", "Arbuthnot family", "English diarists", "English political hostesses", "Fane family", "Women diarists", "Women of the Regency era" ]	Harriet Arbuthnot (; 10 September 1793 – 2 August 1834) was an early 19th-century English diarist, social observer and political hostess on behalf of the Tory party. During the 1820s she was the closest woman friend of the hero of Waterloo and British Prime Minister, the 1st Duke of Wellington. She maintained a long correspondence and association with the Duke, all of which she recorded in her diaries, which are consequently extensively used in all authoritative biographies of the Duke of Wellington. Born into the periphery of the British aristocracy, her parents were Henry Fane and his wife, Anne, née Batson; she married a politician and member of the establishment, Charles Arbuthnot. Thus well connected, she was perfectly placed to meet many of the key figures of the Regency and late Napoleonic eras. Recording meetings and conversations often verbatim, she has today become the "Mrs. Arbuthnot" quoted in many biographies and histories of the era. Her observations and memories of life within the British establishment are not confined to individuals but document politics, great events and daily life with an equal attention to detail, providing historians with a clear picture of the events described. Her diaries were themselves finally published in 1950 as The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot. ## Early life Harriet Arbuthnot was born Harriet Fane on 10 September 1793, the daughter of the Hon. Henry Fane, second son of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland. As a young man, Henry Fane had been described as "very idle and careless and spending much time in the country". However, he found time to be the Member of Parliament for Lyme and in 1772 was appointed Keeper of the King's Private Roads. In 1778, he married Arbuthnot's mother, Anne Batson, an heiress, the daughter of Edward Buckley Batson. The couple had 14 children: nine sons and five daughters. The young Harriet spent much of her childhood at the family home at Fulbeck Hall in Lincolnshire, sited high on the limestone hills above Grantham. The house, which had been given to Henry Fane by his father, was a not over-large modern mansion at the time of Arbuthnot's childhood. It was rebuilt following a fire in 1733, and further extended and modernised in 1784 by Henry Fane. Harriet Fane's father died when she was nine years old, on 4 June 1802, but the family fortunes improved considerably in 1810 when her mother inherited the Avon Tyrrell estate in Hampshire and the Upwood Estate in Dorset. This yielded the widowed Mrs Fane an income of £6,000 per annum (equivalent to £ per year as of ). ## Marriage Harriet Fane married Rt Hon Charles Arbuthnot, member of Parliament, at Fulbeck on 31 January 1814. Born in 1767, her husband was 26 years older than she was, an age difference which had initially caused her family to object to the marriage. She was 20. Another of the principal obstacles to finalising the arrangements for the marriage was financial. Her widowed mother delegated the arrangements for the marriage of her 20-year-old daughter to her elder son Vere, who was considered qualified in these matters as he worked at Child's Bank. It seems that Vere Fane and his mother were not initially prepared to settle enough money on his sister to satisfy her future husband, causing the prospective bridegroom to write to his fiancée: "How can you and I live upon £1000 or £1200 and Fane [her mother] finds it so impossible to live upon her £6000 that she can offer you no assistance whatsoever?" Charles Arbuthnot was a widower with four children; his son Charles was a mere nine years junior to his new wife. His first wife Marcia, a lady in waiting to the notorious Princess of Wales, had died in 1806. Like the other two men his second wife so admired, Viscount Castlereagh and Wellington, Charles Arbuthnot was a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. He had been a member of parliament since 1795, when he became the member for East Looe. At the time of his marriage to Fane, he was the member for St Germans. He had briefly interrupted his political career to become Ambassador Extraordinary to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807. Marriage to such a pillar of the establishment as Charles Arbuthnot opened all doors to his young new wife, who, as one of the 14 children of a younger son of an aristocratic family possessed of no great fortune, would otherwise have been on the periphery of the highest society. However, as the debate and wrangling over her dowry proved, money was tight. Throughout her marriage, Mrs Arbuthnot, the former Harriet Fane, formed close friendships with powerful older men. She described Castlereagh as her "dearest and best friend" until his death in 1822, when she transferred her affections to the other great 19th-century Anglo-Irish peer, the Duke of Wellington. All social commentators of the time, however, agree that her marriage was happy; indeed, her husband was as close a friend of Wellington's as was his wife. Married to a politician, she was fascinated by politics and enjoyed success as a political hostess while exerting her energies to promote Tory causes. However, while she was the dominant partner, her conservative outlook ensured her continued favour among her elderly Tory admirers. During the early part of her marriage, her husband served as an Under-Secretary at the Treasury. Later, in 1823, he was given the Department of Woods and Forests, a position which gave him charge of the Royal parks and gardens. The subsequent access to the Royal family this allowed increased not only his status but also that of his wife. When remarking in her diaries on other women who shared their affections with great men of the day, Arbuthnot displayed a sharp, ironic wit. Of Wellington's one-time mistress Princess Dorothea Lieven, wife to the Imperial Russian ambassador to London from 1812 to 1834, she wrote "It is curious that the loves and intrigues of a femme galante should have such influence over the affairs of Europe." Her political observations are clearly written from her own Tory viewpoint. However, her detailed description of the rivalry for power between the Tories and Liberals which took place between 1822 and 1830 is one of the most authoritative accounts of this struggle. ## Relationship with Wellington It is likely that Arbuthnot first came to the attention of Wellington during 1814 in the re-opened salons of Paris following the exile of Napoleon to Elba. Wellington had been appointed the British Ambassador to the Court of the Tuileries, and the city was crowded with English visitors anxious to travel on the continent and socialise after the Napoleonic Wars. Amongst those sampling the rounds of entertainment in this lively environment were the newly married Arbuthnots. Charles Arbuthnot was known to Wellington, as he had been a strong supporter of Wellington's younger brother Henry during his divorce, and it is possible Wellington had met, or at least heard of, Mrs Arbuthnot—she was a first cousin to his favourites the Burghersh family. However, it was only after the death of Castlereagh in 1822 that the Wellington–Arbuthnot friendship blossomed. It is unlikely any close friendship developed before this time. Wellington, ensconced in the Hotel de Charost (recently vacated by Napoleon's sister Princess Pauline Borghese) and fêted by the whole of Restoration Paris, had already found himself a close female companion, Giuseppina Grassini. This woman, known, due to her close friendship with Napoleon as "La Chanteuse de l'Empereur", scandalised Parisian society both English and French by appearing on Wellington's arm, especially after the arrival in Paris of the Duchess of Wellington. The story of a "ménage à trois" between Mrs Arbuthnot, her husband Charles, and Wellington, widely speculated upon, has been rejected by some biographers. However, it has been said that the unhappily married Duke enjoyed his relationship with Mrs Arbuthnot because he found in her company "the comfort and happiness his wife could not give him." Arbuthnot was certainly the Duke's confidante in all matters, especially that of his marriage. He confided to her that he only married his wife because "they asked me to do it" and that he was "not the least in love with her." In fact, Wellington had not seen his wife for ten years before their wedding day. Following the marriage, the bride and groom found they had little if anything in common. Despite producing two sons, they led mostly separate lives until the death of the Duchess of Wellington in 1831. Harriet had a rather poor opinion of the Duchess ("she is such a fool"), although she disagreed with Wellington when he said that his wife cared nothing for his comfort: in Harriet's view the Duchess longed to make her husband happy, but had no idea how to go about the task. As a consequence of his unsatisfactory marriage, Wellington formed relationships with other women, but it was for Arbuthnot that "he reserved his deepest affection." Her husband at this time was working at The Treasury and Arbuthnot in effect became what would today be termed Wellington's social secretary during his first term of premiership between January 1828 and November 1830. It has been suggested that the Duke of Wellington allowed her "almost unrestricted access to the secrets of the cabinet". Whatever her knowledge and access, however, it appears she was unable to influence the Duke, but even his refusal to bring her husband into the Cabinet in January 1828 failed to shake the intimacy of the trio. Wellington made no attempts to conceal his friendship with Arbuthnot. An indication that their relationship was platonic and accepted as such in the highest echelons of society can be drawn from the Duchess of Kent permitting Wellington to present Arbuthnot to her infant daughter, the future Queen Victoria, in 1828. Arbuthnot noted that the young princess was "the most charming child I ever saw" and that "the Duchess of Kent is a very sensible person, who educates her (Victoria) remarkably well." Arbuthnot's impressions of the Duchess were less than candid, and not shared by Wellington and other establishment figures. However, had Arbuthnot's own character not been judged respectable an audience with the infant princess would not have been permitted. Many references in Arbuthnot's diary, however, are less respectful than those she accorded to the Duchess of Kent. Wellington and Arbuthnot often travelled together, and a visit to Blenheim Palace they shared in 1824 provoked a scathing entry in her journal concerning Wellington's fellow duke the 5th Duke of Marlborough, of whom she wrote: "The family of the great General is, however, gone sadly to decay, and are but a disgrace to the illustrious name of Churchill, which they have chosen this moment to resume. The present Duke is overloaded with debt, is very little better than a common swindler". When Wellington and the Tories fell from power in November 1830, Arbuthnot lost interest in her diary, writing: "I shall write very seldom now, I dare say, in my book, for, except the Duke, none of the public men interest me." Her account of the break-up of the Tory party is a thoroughly partisan narration, accurate as to happenings outside the Tory inner circle, but on a broader scale and not so completely political as that of Henry Hobhouse. ## Death and legacy Arbuthnot died suddenly of cholera on 2 August 1834, age 40, at Woodford Lodge, her home near the Arbuthnots' seat, Woodford House, Northamptonshire. Immediately after her death an express message was sent to Apsley House, Wellington's London house. The messenger, however, had to divert to Hatfield House, where Wellington was dining with the Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury. After Arbuthnot's death, it was revealed she had been on a civil list pension of £936 per annum (£ per year as of 2023) since January 1823, for 11 years. After her death, her husband, Charles, left Woodford House and lived with his close friend Wellington in Apsley House. He died there in 1850, aged 83. Arbuthnot was buried in the Fane family plot at St Nicholas' parish church, Fulbeck. She is one of a number of notable women with a connection to Grantham honoured by South Kesteven District Council in 2023. ## See also - List of diarists
6,894,187	Euryoryzomys emmonsae	1,143,759,269	Amazonian rodent	[ "Endemic fauna of Brazil", "Euryoryzomys", "Mammals described in 1998", "Mammals of Brazil", "Rodents of South America", "Taxa named by Guy Musser", "Taxa named by Michael D. Carleton" ]	Euryoryzomys emmonsae, also known as Emmons' rice rat or Emmons' oryzomys, is a rodent from the Amazon rainforest of Brazil in the genus Euryoryzomys of the family Cricetidae. Initially misidentified as E. macconnelli or E. nitidus, it was formally described in 1998. A rainforest species, it may be scansorial, climbing but also spending time on the ground. It lives only in a limited area south of the Amazon River in the state of Pará, a distribution that is apparently unique among the muroid rodents of the region. Euryoryzomys emmonsae is a relatively large rice rat, weighing 46 to 78 g (1.6 to 2.8 oz), with a distinctly long tail and relatively long, tawny brown fur. The skull is slender and the incisive foramina (openings in the bone of the palate) are broad. The animal has 80 chromosomes and its karyotype is similar to that of other Euryoryzomys. Its conservation status is assessed as "Data Deficient", but deforestation may pose a threat to this species. ## Taxonomy In 1998, Guy Musser, Michael Carleton, Eric Brothers, and Alfred Gardner reviewed the taxonomy of species previously lumped under "Oryzomys capito" (now classified in the genera Hylaeamys, Euryoryzomys, and Transandinomys). They described the new species Oryzomys emmonsae on the basis of 17 specimens from three locations in the state of Pará in northern Brazil; these animals had been previously identified as Oryzomys macconnelli (now Euryoryzomys macconnelli) and then as Oryzomys nitidus (now Euryoryzomys nitidus). The specific name honors Louise H. Emmons, who, among other contributions to Neotropical mammalogy, collected three of the known examples of the species in 1986, including the holotype. The new species was placed in what they termed the "Oryzomys nitidus group", which also included O. macconelli, O. nitidus, and O. russatus. In 2000, James Patton, Maria da Silva, and Jay Malcolm reported on mammals collected at the Rio Juruá in western Brazil. In this report, they provided further information on the Oryzomys species reviewed by Musser and colleagues, including sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Their analysis reaffirmed that O. emmonsae was a distinct species and found that it was closest to O. macconnelli and O. russatus, differing from both by about 12% in the cytochrome b sequence; O. nitidus was more distantly related, differing by 14.7%. The average sequence difference between the three O. emmonsae individuals studied was 0.8%. In 2006, an extensive morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis by Marcelo Weksler showed that species then placed in the genus Oryzomys did not form a single, cohesive (monophyletic) group; for example, O. macconnelli, O. lamia (placed under O. russatus by Musser and colleagues) and O. russatus clustered together in a single natural group (clade), but were not closely related to the type species of Oryzomys, the marsh rice rat (O. palustris). Later in 2006, Weksler and colleagues described several new genera to accommodate species previously placed in Oryzomys, among which was Euryoryzomys for the "O. nitidus complex", including O. emmonsae. Thus, the species is now known as Euryoryzomys emmonsae. As a species of Euryoryzomys, it is classified within the tribe Oryzomyini ("rice rats"), which includes over a hundred species, mainly from South and Central America. Oryzomyini in turn is part of the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae, along with hundreds of other species of mainly small rodents. ## Description Euryoryzomys emmonsae is a fairly large, long-tailed rice rat with long, soft fur. The hairs on the back are 8 to 10 mm (0.31 to 0.39 in) long. It generally resembles E. nitidus in these and other characters, but has a longer tail. E. macconnelli is slightly larger and has longer and duller fur. In E. emmonsae, the upperparts are tawny brown, but a bit darker on the head because many hairs have black tips. The hairs of the underparts are gray at the bases and white at the tips; overall, the fur appears mostly white. In most specimens, there is a patch on the chest where the gray bases are absent. The longest of the vibrissae (whiskers) of the face extend slightly beyond the ears. The eyelids are black. The ears are covered with small, yellowish brown hairs and appear dark brown overall. The feet are covered with white hairs above and brown below. There are six pads on the plantar surface, but the hypothenar is reduced. The ungual tufts, tufts of hair which surround the bases of the claws, are well-developed. The tail is like the body in color above, and mostly white below, but in the 10 mm (0.39 in) nearest the tail tip it is brown below. Compared to E. nitidus and E. macconnelli, the skull is relatively small and slender. It has broad and short incisive foramina (perforations of the palate between the incisors and the molars) and lacks sphenopalatine vacuities which perforate the mesopterygoid fossa, the gap behind the end of the palate. The animal is similar to other members of the genus in the pattern of the arteries of the head. The alisphenoid strut, an extension of the alisphenoid bone which separates two foramina (openings) in the skull (the masticatory-buccinator foramen and the foramen ovale accessorium) is rarely present; its presence is more frequent in E. nitidus. The capsular process, a raising of the bone of the mandible (lower jaw) behind the third molar, houses the back end of the lower incisor in most Euryoryzomys, but is absent in E. emmonsae and E. macconnelli. Traits of the teeth are similar to those of E. nitidus and other Euryoryzomys. The karyotype includes 80 chromosomes with a total of 86 major arms (2n = 80; FN = 86). The X chromosome is subtelocentric (with one pair of long arms and one pair of short arms) and the Y chromosome is acrocentric (with only one pair of arms, or with a minute second pair). Among the autosomes (non-sex chromosomes), the four metacentric or submetacentric (with two pairs of arms as long as or not much shorter than the other) pairs of chromosomes are small, and the 35 pairs of acrocentrics range from large to small. Some of those have a minute second pair of arms and could also be classified as subtelocentric, which would raise FN to 90. This karyotype is similar to other known karyotypes of members of Euryoryzomys. In thirteen specimens measured by Musser, head and body length ranges from 120 to 142 mm (4.7 to 5.6 in), tail length (12 specimens only) from 130 to 160 mm (5.1 to 6.3 in), hindfoot length from 32 to 35 mm (1.3 to 1.4 in), ear length (three specimens only) from 23 to 24 mm (0.91 to 0.94 in), and body mass from 46 to 78 g (1.6 to 2.8 oz). ## Distribution and ecology The known distribution of Euryoryzomys emmonsae is limited to a portion of the Amazon rainforest south of the Amazon River in the state of Pará, between the Xingu and Tocantins rivers, but the limits of its range remain inadequately known. No other South American rainforest muroid rodent is known to have a similar distribution. Musser and colleagues reported it from three locations and Patton and others added a fourth; in some of those it occurs together with E. macconnelli or Hylaeamys megacephalus. Specimens of E. emmonsae for which detailed habitat data are available were caught in "viny forest", a microhabitat that often included much bamboo. All were captured on the ground, some in bamboo thickets and another under a log. Musser and colleagues speculated that E. emmonsae may be scansorial, spending time both on the ground and climbing in vegetation, like the similarly long-tailed rice rat Cerradomys subflavus. ## Conservation status The IUCN currently lists Euryoryzomys emmonsae as "Data Deficient" because it is so poorly known. It may be threatened by deforestation and logging, but occurs in at least one protected area, the Tapirapé-Aquiri National Forest.
33,704,019	Jameson's mamba	1,145,467,626	Species of snake	[ "Dendroaspis", "Reptiles described in 1843", "Snakes of Africa", "Taxa named by Thomas Stewart Traill", "Venomous snakes" ]	Jameson's mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) is a species of highly venomous snake native to equatorial Africa. A member of the mamba genus, Dendroaspis, it is slender with dull green upper parts and cream underparts and generally ranges from 1.5 to 2.2 m (4 ft 11 in to 7 ft 3 in) in length. Described by Scottish naturalist Thomas Traill in 1843, it has two recognised subspecies: the nominate subspecies from central and west sub-Saharan Africa and the eastern black-tailed subspecies from eastern sub-Saharan Africa, mainly western Kenya. Predominantly arboreal, Jameson's mamba preys mainly on birds and mammals. Its venom consists of both neurotoxins and cardiotoxins. Symptoms of envenomation in humans include pain and swelling at the bite site, followed by swelling, chills, sweating, abdominal pain and vomiting, with subsequent slurred speech, difficulty breathing and paralysis. Fatalities have been recorded within three to four hours of being bitten. The venom of the eastern subspecies is around twice as potent as that of the nominate subspecies. ## Taxonomy and etymology Jameson's mamba was first described as Elaps jamesoni in 1843 by Thomas Traill, a Scottish doctor, zoologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. The specific epithet is in honour of Robert Jameson, Traill's contemporary and the Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh where Traill studied. In 1848, German naturalist Hermann Schlegel created the genus Dendroaspis, designating Jameson's mamba as the type species. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words δένδρον (dendron, 'tree') and ἀσπίς (aspis 'asp'). The genus was misspelt as Dendraspis by French zoologist Auguste Duméril in 1856, and went generally uncorrected by subsequent authors. In 1936, Dutch herpetologist Leo Brongersma corrected the spelling to the original. In 1936, British biologist Arthur Loveridge described a new subspecies D. jamesoni kaimosae, from a specimen collected from the Kaimosi Forest in western Kenya, observing that it had fewer subcaudal scales and a black (rather than green) tail. Analysis of the components of the venom of all mambas places Jameson's mamba as sister species to the western green mamba (Dendroaspis viridis), as shown in the cladogram below. ## Description Jameson's mamba is a long and slender snake with smooth scales and a tail which typically accounts for 20 to 25% of its total length. The total length (including tail) of an adult snake is approximately 1.5–2.2 m (4 ft 11 in – 7 ft 3 in). It may grow as large as 2.64 m (8 ft 8 in). The general consensus is that the sexes are of similar sizes, although fieldwork in southeastern Nigeria found that males were significantly larger than females. Adults tend to be dull green across the back, blending to pale green towards the underbelly with scales generally edged with black. The neck, throat and underparts are typically cream or yellowish in colour. Jameson's mamba has a narrow and elongated head containing small eyes and round pupils. Like the western green mamba, the neck may be flattened. The subspecies D. jamesoni kaimosae, which is found in the eastern part of the species' range, features a black tail, while central and western examples typically have a pale green or yellow tail. The thin fangs are attached to the upper jaw and have a furrow running down their anterior surface. ### Scalation The number and pattern of scales on a snake's body play a key role in the identification and differentiation at the species level. Jameson's mamba has between 15 and 17 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 210 to 236 (Subsp.) jamesoni) or 202 to 227 ventral scales (Subsp. kaimosae), 94 to 122 (Subsp. jamesoni) or 94 to 113 (Subsp. kaimosae) divided subcaudal scales, and a divided anal scale. Its mouth is lined with 7 to 9 (usually 8) supralabial scales above and 8 to 10 (usually 9) sublabial scales below, the fourth ones located over and under the eye. Its eyes have three preocular, three postocular and one subocular scale. ## Distribution and habitat Jameson's mamba occurs mostly in Central Africa and West Africa, and in some parts of East Africa. In Central Africa it can be found from Angola northwards to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and as far north as the Imatong Mountains of South Sudan. In West Africa it ranges from Ghana eastwards to Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. In East Africa it can be found in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. The subspecies D. jamesoni kaimosae is endemic to East Africa and chiefly found in western Kenya, where its type locality is located, as well as in Uganda, Rwanda, and the adjacent Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a relatively common and widespread snake, particularly across its western range. Fieldwork in Nigeria indicated the species is sedentary. Found in primary and secondary rainforests, woodland, forest-savanna and deforested areas at elevations of up to 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) high, Jameson's mamba is an adaptable species; it persists in areas where there has been extensive deforestation and human development. It is often found around buildings, town parks, farmlands and plantations. Jameson's mamba is a highly arboreal snake, more so than its close relatives the eastern green mamba and western green mamba, and significantly more so than the black mamba. ## Behaviour and ecology Jameson's mamba is a highly agile snake. Like other mambas it is capable of flattening its neck in mimicry of a cobra when it feels threatened, and its body shape and length give an ability to strike at significant range. Generally not aggressive, it will typically attempt to escape if confronted. ### Breeding In Nigeria males fight each other for access to females (and then breed) over the dry season of December, January and February; mating was recorded in September in the Kakamega Forest in Kenya. Jameson's mamba is oviparous; the female lays a clutch of 5–16 eggs; in Nigeria laying was recorded from April to June, and most likely soon after November in Uganda. Egg clutches have been recovered from abandoned termite colonies. ### Diet and predators Jameson's mamba has been difficult to study in the field due to its arboreal nature and green coloration. It has not been observed hunting but is thought to use a sit-and-wait strategy, which has been reported for the eastern green mamba. The bulk of its diet is made up of birds and tree-dwelling mammals, such as cisticolas, woodpeckers, doves, squirrels, shrews and mice. Smaller individuals of under 100 cm (40 in) in length have been recorded feeding on lizards such as the common agama, and toads. There is no evidence they have adapted to hunting terrestrial rodents such as rats, though they have been recorded eating rodents in Kenya, and have accepted them in captivity. The main predators of this species are birds of prey, including the martial eagle, bateleur, and the Congo serpent eagle. Other predators may include the honey badger, other snakes, and species of mongoose. ## Venom Jameson's mamba is classified as a Snake of Medical Importance in Sub-Saharan Africa by the World Health Organization, although there are few records of snakebites. Field observations over a 16-year period in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria found that both humans and snakes were most active in rural areas during the rainy season, April to August, hence rendering this a peak period for snakebite. As well as succumbing to snakebites, workers were reported to have perished from falling from trees after encountering Jameson's mambas in the canopy of trees in palm oil plantations. Snake bites are rare in cities but more common in forested areas in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the country's poor infrastructure and lack of facilities render access to antivenom difficult. Like other mambas, the venom of the Jameson's mamba is highly neurotoxic. Symptoms of envenomation by this species include pain and swelling of the bite site. Systemic effects include generalised swelling, chills, sweating abdominal pain and vomiting, with subsequent slurred speech, difficulty breathing and paralysis. Death has been recorded within three to four hours of being bitten; there is an unconfirmed report of a child dying within 30 minutes. With an average intravenous murine median lethal dose (LD<sub>50</sub>) of 0.53 mg/kg, the venom of the eastern subspecies kaimosae is more than twice as potent as that of the nominate subspecies jamesoni at 1.2 mg/kg. The reason for this is unclear as the venom compositions are similar between the two subspecies, though kaimosae has higher concentrations of the potent neurotoxin-1. Similarly to the venom of most other mambas, Jameson's mamba's contains predominantly three-finger toxin agents as well as dendrotoxins. Other toxins of the three-finger family present include alpha-neurotoxin, cardiotoxins and fasciculins. Dendrotoxins are akin to kunitz-type protease inhibitors that interact with voltage-dependent potassium channels, stimulating acetylcholine and causing an excitatory effect, and are thought to cause symptoms such as sweating. Unlike that of many snake species, the venom of mambas has little phospholipase A2. Although cardiotoxins have been isolated in higher proportions from its venom than other mamba species, their role in toxicity is unclear and probably not prominent. ### Treatment The speed of onset of envenomation means that urgent medical attention is needed. Standard first aid treatment for any bite from a suspected venomous snake is the application of a pressure bandage, minimisation of the victim's movement, and rapid conveyance to a hospital or clinic. Due to the neurotoxic nature of green mamba venom, an arterial tourniquet may be beneficial. Tetanus toxoid is sometimes administered, though the main treatment is the administration of the appropriate antivenom. Trivalent and monovalent antivenoms for the black, eastern green and Jameson's mambas became available in the 1950s and 1960s. ## See also
39,288,501	Planar transmission line	1,126,283,078	Transmission lines with flat ribbon-like conducting or dielectric lines	[ "Distributed element circuits", "Microwave technology", "Printed circuit board manufacturing", "Signal cables" ]	Planar transmission lines are transmission lines with conductors, or in some cases dielectric (insulating) strips, that are flat, ribbon-shaped lines. They are used to interconnect components on printed circuits and integrated circuits working at microwave frequencies because the planar type fits in well with the manufacturing methods for these components. Transmission lines are more than simply interconnections. With simple interconnections, the propagation of the electromagnetic wave along the wire is fast enough to be considered instantaneous, and the voltages at each end of the wire can be considered identical. If the wire is longer than a large fraction of a wavelength (one tenth is often used as a rule of thumb), these assumptions are no longer true and transmission line theory must be used instead. With transmission lines, the geometry of the line is precisely controlled (in most cases, the cross-section is kept constant along the length) so that its electrical behaviour is highly predictable. At lower frequencies, these considerations are only necessary for the cables connecting different pieces of equipment, but at microwave frequencies the distance at which transmission line theory becomes necessary is measured in millimetres. Hence, transmission lines are needed within circuits. The earliest type of planar transmission line was conceived during World War II by Robert M. Barrett. It is known as stripline, and is one of the four main types in modern use, along with microstrip, suspended stripline, and coplanar waveguide. All four of these types consist of a pair of conductors (although in three of them, one of these conductors is the ground plane). Consequently, they have a dominant mode of transmission (the mode is the field pattern of the electromagnetic wave) that is identical, or near-identical, to the mode found in a pair of wires. Other planar types of transmission line, such as slotline, finline, and imageline, transmit along a strip of dielectric, and substrate-integrated waveguide forms a dielectric waveguide within the substrate with rows of posts. These types cannot support the same mode as a pair of wires, and consequently they have different transmission properties. Many of these types have a narrower bandwidth and in general produce more signal distortion than pairs of conductors. Their advantages depend on the exact types being compared, but can include low loss and a better range of characteristic impedance. Planar transmission lines can be used for constructing components as well as interconnecting them. At microwave frequencies it is often the case that individual components in a circuit are themselves larger than a significant fraction of a wavelength. This means they can no longer be treated as lumped components, that is, treated as if they existed at a single point. Lumped passive components are often impractical at microwave frequencies, either for this reason, or because the values required are impractically small to manufacture. A pattern of transmission lines can be used for the same function as these components. Whole circuits, called distributed-element circuits, can be built this way. The method is often used for filters. This method is particularly appealing for use with printed and integrated circuits because these structures can be manufactured with the same processes as the rest of the assembly simply by applying patterns to the existing substrate. This gives the planar technologies a big economic advantage over other types, such as coaxial line. Some authors make a distinction between transmission line, a line that uses a pair of conductors, and waveguide, a line that either does not use conductors at all, or just uses one conductor to constrain the wave in the dielectric. Others use the terms synonymously. This article includes both kinds, so long as they are in a planar form. Names used are the common ones and do not necessarily indicate the number of conductors. The term waveguide when used unadorned, means the hollow, or dielectric filled, metal kind of waveguide, which is not a planar form. ## General properties Planar transmission lines are those transmission lines in which the conductors are essentially flat. The conductors consist of flat strips, and there are usually one or more ground planes parallel to the flat surface of the conductors. The conductors are separated from the ground planes, sometimes with air between them but more often with a solid dielectric material. Transmission lines can also be constructed in non-planar formats such as wires or coaxial line. As well as interconnections, there are a wide range of circuits that can be implemented in transmission lines. These include filters, power dividers, directional couplers, impedance matching networks, and choke circuits to deliver biasing to active components. The principal advantage of the planar types is that they can be manufactured using the same processes used to make printed circuits and integrated circuits, particularly through the photolithography process. The planar technologies are thus particularly well suited to mass production of such components. Making circuit elements out of transmission lines is most useful at microwave frequencies. At lower frequencies the longer wavelength makes these components too bulky. At the highest microwave frequencies planar transmission line types are generally too lossy and waveguide is used instead. Waveguide, however, is bulkier and more expensive to manufacture. At still higher frequencies dielectric waveguide (such as optical fibre) becomes the technology of choice, but there are planar types of dielectric waveguide available. The most widely used planar transmission lines (of any kind) are stripline, microstrip, suspended stripline, and coplanar waveguide. ## Modes An important parameter for transmission lines is the mode of transmission employed. The mode describes the electromagnetic field patterns caused by the geometry of the transmission structure. It is possible for more than one mode to exist simultaneously on the same line. Usually, steps are taken to suppress all modes except the desired one. But some devices, such as the dual-mode filter, rely on the transmission of more than one mode. ### TEM mode The mode found on ordinary conductive wires and cables is the transverse electromagnetic mode (TEM mode). This is also the dominant mode on some planar transmission lines. In the TEM mode, the field strength vectors for the electric and magnetic field are both transverse to the direction of travel of the wave and orthogonal to each other. An important property of the TEM mode is that it can be used at low frequencies, all the way down to zero (i.e. DC). Another feature of the TEM mode is that on an ideal transmission line (one that meets the Heaviside condition) there is no change of line transmission parameters (characteristic impedance and signal group velocity) with the frequency of transmission. Because of this, ideal TEM transmission lines do not suffer from dispersion, a form of distortion in which different frequency components travel at different velocities. Dispersion "smears out" the wave shape (which may represent the transmitted information) in the direction of the line length. All other modes suffer from dispersion, which puts a limit on the bandwidth achievable. ### Quasi-TEM modes Some planar types, notably microstrip, do not have a homogeneous dielectric; it is different above and below the line. Such geometries cannot support a true TEM mode; there is some component of the electromagnetic field parallel to the direction of the line, although the transmission can be nearly TEM. Such a mode is referred to as quasi-TEM. In a TEM line, discontinuities such as gaps and posts (used to construct filters and other devices) have an impedance that is purely reactive: they can store energy, but do not dissipate it. In most quasi-TEM lines, these structures additionally have a resistive component to the impedance. This resistance is a result of radiation from the structure and causes the circuit to be lossy. The same problem occurs at bends and corners of the line. These problems can be mitigated by using a high permittivity material as the substrate, which causes a higher proportion of the wave to be contained in the dielectric, making for a more homogeneous transmission medium and a mode closer to TEM. ### Transverse modes In hollow metal waveguides and optical waveguides there are an unlimited number of other transverse modes that can occur. However, the TEM mode cannot be supported since it requires two or more separate conductors to propagate. The transverse modes are classified as either transverse electric (TE, or H modes) or transverse magnetic (TM, or E modes) according to whether, respectively, all of the electric field, or all of the magnetic field is transverse. There is always a longitudinal component of one field or the other. The exact mode is identified by a pair of indices counting the number of wavelengths or half-wavelengths along specified transverse dimensions. These indices are usually written without a separator: for instance, TE<sub>10</sub>. The exact definition depends on whether the waveguide is rectangular, circular, or elliptical. For waveguide resonators a third index is introduced to the mode for half-wavelengths in the longitudinal direction. A feature of TE and TM modes is that there is a definite cutoff frequency below which transmission will not take place. The cutoff frequency depends on mode and the mode with the lowest cutoff frequency is called the dominant mode. Multi-mode propagation is generally undesirable. Because of this, circuits are often designed to operate in the dominant mode at frequencies below the cutoff of the next highest mode. Only one mode, the dominant mode, can exist in this band. Some planar types that are designed to operate as TEM devices can also support TE and TM modes unless steps are taken to suppress them. The ground planes or shielding enclosures can behave as hollow waveguides and propagate these modes. Suppression can take the form of shorting screws between the ground planes or designing the enclosure to be too small to support frequencies as low as the operational frequencies of the circuit. Similarly, coaxial cable can support circular TE and TM modes that do not require the centre conductor to propagate, and these modes can be suppressed by reducing the diameter of the cable. ### Longitudinal-section modes Some transmission line structures are unable to support a pure TE or TM mode, but can support modes that are a linear superposition of TE and TM modes. In other words, they have a longitudinal component of both electric and magnetic field. Such modes are called hybrid electromagnetic (HEM) modes. A subset of the HEM modes is the longitudinal-section modes. These come in two varieties; longitudinal-section electric (LSE) modes and longitudinal-section magnetic (LSM) modes. LSE modes have an electric field that is zero in one transverse direction, and LSM modes have a magnetic field that is zero in one transverse direction. LSE and LSM modes can occur in planar transmission line types with non-homogeneous transmission media. Structures that are unable to support a pure TE or TM mode, if they are able to support transmissions at all, must necessarily do so with a hybrid mode. ## Other important parameters The characteristic impedance of a line is the impedance encountered by a wave travelling along the line; it depends only on the line geometry and materials and is not changed by the line termination. It is necessary to match the characteristic impedance of the planar line to the impedance of the systems to which it is connected. Many filter designs require lines with a number of different characteristic impedances, so it is an advantage for a technology to have a good range of achievable impedances. Narrow lines have a higher impedance than broad lines. The highest impedance achievable is limited by the resolution of the manufacturing process which imposes a limit on how narrow the lines can be made. The lower limit is determined by the width of line at which unwanted transverse resonance modes might arise. Q factor (or just Q) is the ratio of energy stored to energy dissipated per cycle. It is the main parameter characterising the quality of resonators. In transmission line circuits, resonators are frequently constructed of transmission line sections to build filters and other devices. Their Q factor limits the steepness of the filter skirts and its selectivity. The main factors determining Q of a planar type are the permittivity of the dielectric (high permittivity increases Q) and the dielectric losses, which decrease Q. Other factors that lower Q are the resistance of the conductor and radiation losses. • ε<sub>r</sub> is the relative permittivity of the substrate. ## Substrates There are a wide range of substrates that are used with planar technologies. For printed circuits, glass-reinforced epoxy (FR-4 grade) is commonly used. High permittivity ceramic-PTFE laminates (e.g. Rogers Corporation 6010 board) are expressly intended for microwave applications. At the higher microwave frequencies, a ceramic material such as aluminium oxide (alumina) might be used for hybrid microwave integrated circuits (MICs). At the very highest microwave frequencies, in the millimetre band, a crystalline substrate might be used such as sapphire or quartz. Monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) will have substrates composed of the semiconductor material of which the chip is built such as silicon or gallium arsenide, or an oxide deposited on the chip such as silicon dioxide. The electrical properties of the substrate of most interest are the relative permittivity (ε<sub>r</sub>) and the loss tangent (δ). The relative permittivity determines the characteristic impedance of a given line width and the group velocity of signals travelling on it. High permittivity results in smaller printed components, aiding miniaturisation. In quasi-TEM types, permittivity determines how much of the field will be contained within the substrate and how much is in the air above it. The loss tangent is a measure of the dielectric losses. It is desirable to have this as small as possible, especially in circuits which require high Q. Mechanical properties of interest include the thickness and mechanical strength required of the substrate. In some types, such as suspended stripline and finline, it is advantageous to make the substrate as thin as possible. Delicate semiconductor components mounted on a flexing substrate can become damaged. A hard, rigid material such as quartz might be chosen as the substrate to avoid this problem, rather than an easier-to-machine board. In other types, such as homogeneous stripline, it can be much thicker. For printed antennae, that are conformal to the device shape, flexible, hence very thin, substrates are required. The thickness required for electrical performance depends on the permittivity of the material. Surface finish is an issue; some roughness may be required to ensure adhesion of the metallisation, but too much causes conductor losses (as the consequent roughness of the metallization becomes significant compared with the skin depth). Thermal properties can be important. Thermal expansion changes the electrical properties of lines and can break plated through holes. ## Types ### Stripline Stripline is a strip conductor embedded in a dielectric between two ground planes. It is usually constructed as two sheets of dielectric clamped together with the stripline pattern on one side of one sheet. The main advantage of stripline over its principal rival, microstrip, is that transmission is purely in the TEM mode and is free of dispersion, at least over the distances encountered in stripline applications. Stripline is capable of supporting TE and TM modes but these are not generally used. The main disadvantage is that it is not as easy as microstrip to incorporate discrete components. For any that are incorporated, cutouts have to be provided in the dielectric and they are not accessible once assembled. #### Suspended stripline Suspended stripline is a type of air stripline in which the substrate is suspended between the ground planes with an air gap above and below. The idea is to minimise dielectric losses by having the wave travel through air. The purpose of the dielectric is only for mechanical support of the conductor strip. Since the wave is travelling through the mixed media of air and dielectric, the transmission mode is not truly TEM, but a thin dielectric renders this effect negligible. Suspended stripline is used in the mid microwave frequencies where it is superior to microstrip with respect to losses, but not as bulky or expensive as waveguide. #### Other stripline variants The idea of two conductor stripline is to compensate for air gaps between the two substrates. Small air gaps are inevitable because of manufacturing tolerances and the thickness of the conductor. These gaps can promote radiation away from the line between the ground planes. Printing identical conductors on both boards ensures the fields are equal in both substrates and the electric field in the gaps due to the two lines cancels out. Usually, one line is made slightly undersize to prevent small misalignments effectively widening the line, and consequently reducing the characteristic impedance. The bilateral suspended stripline has more of the field in the air and almost none in the substrate leading to higher Q, compared to standard suspended stripline. The disadvantage of doing this is that the two lines have to be bonded together at intervals less than a quarter wavelength apart. The bilateral structure can also be used to couple two independent lines across their broad side. This gives much stronger coupling than side-by-side coupling and allows coupled-line filter and directional coupler circuits to be realised that are not possible in standard stripline. ### Microstrip Microstrip consists of a strip conductor on the top surface of a dielectric layer and a ground plane on the bottom surface of the dielectric. The electromagnetic wave travels partly in the dielectric and partly in the air above the conductor resulting in quasi-TEM transmission. Despite the drawbacks of the quasi-TEM mode, microstrip is often favoured for its easy compatibility with printed circuits. In any case, these effects are not so severe in a miniaturised circuit. Another drawback of microstrip is that it is more limited than other types in the range of characteristic impedances that it can achieve. Some circuit designs require characteristic impedances of 150 Ω or more. Microstrip is not usually capable of going that high so either those circuits are not available to the designer or a transition to another type has to be provided for the component requiring the high impedance. The tendency of microstrip to radiate is generally a disadvantage of the type, but when it comes to creating antennae it is a positive advantage. It is very easy to make a patch antenna in microstrip, and a variant of the patch, the planar inverted-F antenna, is the most widely used antenna in mobile devices. #### Microstrip variants Suspended microstrip has the same aim as suspended stripline; to put the field into air rather than the dielectric to reduce losses and dispersion. The reduced permittivity results in larger printed components, which limits miniaturisation, but makes the components easier to manufacture. Suspending the substrate increases the maximum frequency at which the type can be used. Inverted microstrip has similar properties to suspended microstrip with the additional benefit that most of the field is contained in the air between the conductor and the groundplane. There is very little stray field above the substrate available to link to other components. Trapped inverted microstrip shields the line on three sides preventing some higher order modes that are possible with the more open structures. Placing the line in a shielded box completely avoids any stray coupling but the substrate must now be cut to fit the box. Fabricating a complete device on one large substrate is not possible using this structure. ### Coplanar waveguide and coplanar strips Coplanar waveguide (CPW) has the return conductors on top of the substrate in the same plane as the main line, unlike stripline and microstrip where the return conductors are ground planes above or below the substrate. The return conductors are placed either side of the main line and made wide enough that they can be considered to extend to infinity. Like microstrip, CPW has quasi-TEM propagation. CPW is simpler to manufacture; there is only one plane of metallization and components can be surface mounted whether they are connected in series (spanning a break in the line) or shunt (between the line and the ground). Shunt components in stripline and microstrip require a connection through to the bottom of the substrate. CPW is also easier to miniaturise; its characteristic impedance depends on the ratio of the line width to the distance between return conductors rather than the absolute value of line width. Despite its advantages, CPW has not proved popular. A disadvantage is that return conductors take up a large amount of board area that cannot be used for mounting components, though it is possible in some designs to achieve a greater density of components than microstrip. More seriously, there is a second mode in CPW that has zero frequency cutoff called the slotline mode. Since this mode cannot be avoided by operating below it, and multiple modes are undesirable, it needs to be suppressed. It is an odd mode, meaning that the electric potentials on the two return conductors are equal and opposite. Thus, it can be suppressed by bonding the two return conductors together. This can be achieved with a bottom ground plane (conductor-backed coplanar waveguide, CBCPW) and periodic plated through holes, or periodic air bridges on the top of the board. Both these solutions detract from the basic simplicity of CPW. #### Coplanar variants Coplanar strips (also coplanar stripline or differential line) are usually used only for RF applications below the microwave band. The lack of a ground plane leads to a poorly defined field pattern and the losses from stray fields are too great at microwave frequencies. On the other hand, the lack of ground planes means that the type is amenable to embedding in multi-layer structures. ### Slotline A slotline is a slot cut in the metallisation on top of the substrate. It is the dual of microstrip, a dielectric line surrounded by conductor instead of a conducting line surrounded by dielectric. The dominant propagation mode is hybrid, quasi-TE with a small longitudinal component of electric field. Slotline is essentially a balanced line, unlike stripline and microstrip, which are unbalanced lines. This type makes it particularly easy to connect components to the line in shunt; surface mount components can be mounted bridging across the line. Another advantage of slotline is that high impedance lines are easier to achieve. Characteristic impedance increases with line width (compare microstrip where it decreases with width) so there is no issue with printing resolution for high impedance lines. A disadvantage of slotline is that both characteristic impedance and group velocity vary strongly with frequency, resulting in slotline being more dispersive than microstrip. Slotline also has a relatively low Q. #### Slotline variants Antipodal slotline is used where very low characteristic impedances are required. With dielectric lines, low impedance means narrow lines (the opposite of the case with conducting lines) and there is a limit to the thinness of line that can be achieved because of the printing resolution. With the antipodal structure, the conductors can even overlap without any danger of short-circuiting. Bilateral slotline has advantages similar to those of bilateral air stripline. ### Substrate-integrated waveguide Substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW), also called laminated waveguide or post-wall waveguide, is a waveguide formed in the substrate dielectric by constraining the wave between two rows of posts or plated through holes and ground planes above and below the substrate. The dominant mode is a quasi-TE mode. SIW is intended as a cheaper alternative to hollow metal waveguide while retaining many of its benefits. The greatest benefit is that, as an effectively enclosed waveguide, it has considerably less radiation loss than microstrip. There is no unwanted coupling of stray fields to other circuit components. SIW also has high Q and high power handling, and, as a planar technology, is easier to integrate with other components. SIW can be implemented on printed circuit boards or as low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC). The latter is particularly suited to implementing SIW. Active circuits are not directly implemented in SIW: the usual technique is to implement the active part in stripline through a stripline-to-SIW transition. Antennae can be created directly in SIW by cutting slots in the ground planes. A horn antenna can be made by flaring the rows of posts at the end of a waveguide. #### SIW variants There is an SIW version of ridge waveguide. Ridge waveguide is a rectangular hollow metal waveguide with an internal longitudinal wall part-way across the E-plane. The principal advantage of ridge waveguide is that it has a very wide bandwidth. Ridge SIW is not very easy to implement in printed circuit boards because the equivalent of the ridge is a row of posts that only go part-way through the board. But the structure can be created more easily in LTCC. ### Finline Finline consists of a sheet of metallised dielectric inserted into the E-plane of a rectangular metal waveguide. This mixed format is sometimes called quasi-planar. The design is not intended to generate waveguide modes in the rectangular waveguide as such: instead, a line is cut in the metallisation exposing the dielectric and it is this that acts as a transmission line. Finline is thus a type of dielectric waveguide and can be viewed as a shielded slotline. Finline is similar to ridge waveguide in that the metallisation of the substrate represents the ridge (the "fin") and the finline represents the gap. Filters can be constructed in ridge waveguide by varying the height of the ridge in a pattern. A common way of manufacturing these is to take a thin sheet of metal with pieces cut out (typically, a series of rectangular holes) and insert this in the waveguide in much the same way as finline. A finline filter is able to implement patterns of arbitrary complexity whereas the metal insert filter is limited by the need for mechanical support and integrity. Finline has been used at frequencies up to 220 GHz and experimentally tested to at least 700 GHz. At these frequencies it has a considerable advantage over microstrip for its low loss and it can be manufactured with similar low-cost printed circuit techniques. It is also free of radiation since it is completely enclosed in the rectangular waveguide. A metal insert device has an even lower loss because it is air dielectric, but has very limited circuit complexity. A full waveguide solution for a complex design retains the low loss of air dielectric, but it would be much bulkier than finline and significantly more expensive to manufacture. A further advantage of finline is that it can achieve a particularly wide range of characteristic impedances. Biasing of transistors and diodes cannot be achieved in finline by feeding bias current down the main transmission line, as is done in stripline and microstrip, since the finline is not a conductor. Separate arrangements have to be made for biasing in finline. #### Finline variants Unilateral finline is the simplest design and easiest to manufacture but bilateral finline has lower loss, as with bilateral suspended stripline, and for similar reasons. The high Q of bilateral finline often makes it the choice for filter applications. Antipodal finline is used where very low characteristic impedance is required. The stronger the coupling between the two planes, the lower the impedance. Insulated finline is used in circuits that contain active components needing bias lines. The Q of insulated finline is lower than other finline types so it is otherwise not usually used. ### Imageline Imageline, also image line or image guide, is a planar form of dielectric slab waveguide. It consists of a strip of dielectric, often alumina, on a metal sheet. In this type, there is no dielectric substrate extending in all horizontal directions, only the dielectric line. It is so called because the ground plane acts as a mirror resulting in a line that is equivalent to a dielectric slab without the ground plane of twice the height. It shows promise for use at the higher microwave frequencies, around 100 GHz, but it is still largely experimental. For instance Q factors in the thousands are theoretically possible but radiation from bends and losses in the dielectric-metal adhesive significantly reduce this figure. A disadvantage of imageline is that the characteristic impedance is fixed at a single value of about 26 Ω. Imageline supports TE and TM modes. The dominant TE and TM modes have a cutoff frequency of zero, unlike hollow metal waveguides whose TE and TM modes all have a finite frequency below which propagation cannot occur. As the frequency approaches zero, the longitudinal component of field diminishes and the mode asymptotically approaches the TEM mode. Imageline thus shares the property of being able to propagate waves at arbitrarily low frequencies with the TEM type lines, although it cannot actually support a TEM wave. Despite this, imageline is not a suitable technology at lower frequencies. A drawback of imageline is that it must be precisely machined as surface roughness increases radiation losses. #### Imageline variants and other dielectric lines In insular imageline a thin layer of low permittivity insulator is deposited over the metal ground plane and the higher permittivity imageline is set on top of this. The insulating layer has the effect of reducing conductor losses. This type also has lower radiation losses on straight sections, but like the standard imageline, radiation losses are high at bends and corners. Trapped imageline overcomes this drawback, but is more complex to manufacture since it detracts from the simplicity of the planar structure. Ribline is a dielectric line machined from the substrate as a single piece. It has similar properties to insular imageline. Like imageline, it must be precisely machined. Strip dielectric guide is a low permittivity strip (usually plastic) placed on a high permittivity substrate such as alumina. The field is largely contained in the substrate between the strip and the ground plane. Because of this, this type does not have the precise machining requirements of standard imageline and ribline. Inverted strip dielectric guide has lower conductor losses because the field in the substrate has been moved away from the conductor, but it has higher radiation losses. ### Multiple layers Multilayer circuits can be constructed in printed circuits or monolithic integrated circuits, but LTCC is the most amenable technology for implementing planar transmission lines as multilayers. In a multilayer circuit at least some of the lines will be buried, completely enclosed by dielectric. The losses will not, therefore, be as low as with a more open technology, but very compact circuits can be achieved with multilayer LTCC. ## Transitions Different parts of a system may be best implemented in different types. Transitions between the various types are therefore required. Transitions between types using unbalanced conductive lines are straightforward: this is mostly a matter of providing continuity of the conductor through the transition and ensuring a good impedance match. The same can be said for transitions to non-planar types such as coaxial. A transition between stripline and microstrip needs to ensure that both ground planes of the stripline are adequately electrically bonded to the microstrip ground plane. One of these groundplanes can be continuous through the transition, but the other ends at the transition. There is a similar issue with the microstrip to CPW transition shown at C in the diagram. There is only one ground plane in each type but it changes from one side of the substrate to the other at the transition. This can be avoided by printing the microstrip and CPW lines on opposite sides of the substrate. In this case, the ground plane is continuous on one side of the substrate but a via is required on the line at the transition. Transitions between conductive lines and dielectric lines or waveguides are more complex. In these cases, a change of mode is required. Transitions of this sort consist of forming some kind of antenna in one type that acts as a launcher into the new type. Examples of this are coplanar waveguide (CPW) or microstrip converted to slotline or substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW). For wireless devices, transitions to the external antennae are also required. Transitions to and from finline can be treated in a similar way to slotline. However, it is more natural for finline transitions to go to waveguide; the waveguide is already there. A simple transition into waveguide consists of a smooth exponential taper (Vivaldi antenna) of the finline from a narrow line to the full height of the waveguide. The earliest application of finline was to launch into circular waveguide. A transition from a balanced to an unbalanced line requires a balun circuit. An example of this is CPW to slotline. Example D in the diagram shows this kind of transition and features a balun consisting of a dielectric radial stub. The component shown thus in this circuit is an air bridge bonding the two CPW ground planes together. All transitions have some insertion loss and add to the complexity of the design. It is sometimes advantageous to design with a single integrated type for the whole device to minimise the number of transitions even when the compromise type is not optimal for each of the component circuits. ## History The development of planar technologies was driven at first by the needs of the US military, but today they can be found in mass-produced household items such as mobile phones and satellite TV receivers. According to Thomas H. Lee, Harold A. Wheeler may have experimented with coplanar lines as early as the 1930s, but the first documented planar transmission line was stripline, invented by Robert M. Barrett of the Air Force Cambridge Research Center, and published by Barrett and Barnes in 1951. Although publication did not occur until the 1950s, stripline had actually been used during World War II. According to Barrett, the first stripline power divider was built by V. H. Rumsey and H. W. Jamieson during this period. As well as issuing contracts, Barrett encouraged research in other organisations, including the Airborne Instruments Laboratory Inc. (AIL). Microstrip followed soon after in 1952 and is due to Grieg and Engelmann. The quality of common dielectric materials was at first not good enough for microwave circuits, and consequently, their use did not become widespread until the 1960s. Stripline and microstrip were commercial rivals. Stripline was the brand name of AIL who made air stripline. Microstrip was made by ITT. Later, dielectric-filled stripline under the brand name triplate was manufactured by Sanders Associates. Stripline became a generic term for dielectric filled stripline and air stripline or suspended stripline is now used to distinguish the original type. Stripline was initially preferred to its rival because of the dispersion issue. In the 1960s, the need to incorporate miniature solid-state components in MICs swung the balance to microstrip. Miniaturisation also leads to favouring microstrip because its disadvantages are not so severe in a miniaturised circuit. Stripline is still chosen where operation over a wide band is required. The first planar slab dielectric line, imageline, is due to King in 1952. King initially used semicircular imageline, making it equivalent to the already well-studied circular rod dielectric. Slotline, the first printed planar dielectric line type, is due to Cohn in 1968. Coplanar waveguide is due to Wen in 1969. Finline, as a printed technology, is due to Meier in 1972, although Robertson created finline-like structures much earlier (1955–56) with metal inserts. Robertson fabricated circuits for diplexers and couplers and coined the term finline. SIW was first described by Hirokawa and Ando in 1998. At first, components made in planar types were made as discrete parts connected together, usually with coaxial lines and connectors. It was quickly realised that the size of circuits could be hugely reduced by directly connecting components together with planar lines within the same housing. This led to the concept of hybrid MICs: hybrid because lumped components were included in the designs connected together with planar lines. Since the 1970s, there has been a great proliferation in new variations of the basic planar types to aid miniaturisation and mass production. Further miniaturisation became possible with the introduction of MMICs. In this technology, the planar transmission lines are directly incorporated in the semiconductor slab in which the integrated circuit components have been manufactured. The first MMIC, an X band amplifier, is due to Pengelly and Turner of Plessey in 1976. ## Circuit gallery A small selection of the many circuits that can be constructed with planar transmission lines are shown in the figure. Such circuits are a class of distributed-element circuits. Microstrip and slotline types of directional couplers are shown at A and B respectively. Generally, a circuit form in conducting lines like stripline or microstrip has a dual form in dielectric line such as slotline or finline with the roles of the conductor and insulator reversed. The line widths of the two types are inversely related; narrow conducting lines result in high impedance, but in dielectric lines, the result is low impedance. Another example of dual circuits is the bandpass filter consisting of coupled lines shown at C in conductor form and at D in dielectric form. Each section of line acts as a resonator in the coupled lines filters. Another kind of resonator is shown in the SIW bandpass filter at E. Here posts placed in the centre of the waveguide act as resonators. Item F is a slotline hybrid ring featuring a mixture of both CPW and slotline feeds into its ports. The microstrip version of this circuit requires one section of the ring to be three-quarters wavelength long. In the slotline/CPW version all sections are one-quarter wavelength because there is a 180° phase inversion at the slotline junction.
22,353,921	South Park (season 13)	1,170,934,710	Season of television series	[ "2009 American television seasons", "South Park (season 13) episodes" ]	The thirteenth season of South Park, an American animated television comedy series, originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central between March 11 and November 18, 2009. The season was headed by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who served as executive producers along with Anne Garefino. The season continued to focus on the exploits of protagonists Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Butters in the fictional Colorado mountain town of South Park. The season was the first of three new seasons Parker and Stone agreed to produce for the network under a renewal deal. It consisted of fourteen 22-minute episodes, which aired in two groups of seven episodes separated by a six-month gap. Prior to the season's premiere, all South Park episodes were made available for free viewing on the official series website, South Park Studios. The 13th season was the first to be broadcast in high definition and in widescreen. Continuing their practice from previous seasons, Parker and Stone wrote and produced each episode within the week before its broadcast date. The 13th season satirized such topics as the ACORN scandal, Japanese whaling, piracy in Somalia and the marketing tactics of The Walt Disney Company. Celebrities were spoofed throughout the season, including the Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Carlos Mencia, Paul Watson and Glenn Beck, all of whom publicly responded to their portrayals. The episode "Fishsticks" attracted particular media attention due to rapper Kanye West's declaration that its jokes about his arrogance were funny but hurt his feelings. "The F Word", in which the central characters attempt to change the definition of the word "fag", was especially controversial and prompted complaints from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. A broadcast of "Pinewood Derby" in Mexico was pulled, allegedly due to its depiction of President Felipe Calderón. "Fatbeard" was praised by the crew of USS Bainbridge, which was involved in the 2009 rescue of from Somali pirates. The 13th season received mixed reviews: some critics called it one of South Park's strongest seasons, while others claimed the series was starting to decline in quality. The season maintained the average Nielsen rating viewership for the series, around 3 million viewers per episode. The episode "Margaritaville", which satirized the global recession then affecting much of the industrialized world, won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour). ## Episodes ## Production ### Crew Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were the executive producers of the 13th season of South Park, along with Anne Garefino. The season was distributed by Comedy Central, where the series has aired since its inception in 1997. Frank C. Agnone II served as supervising producer, while Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Vernon Chatman, Bruce Howell and Erica Rivinoja worked as producers. Parker also served as director and writer for the thirteenth season. Saturday Night Live cast member Bill Hader, who had previously worked as a consultant on the show, was credited as a producer starting in season 13. Hader said of his role with the show, "It's really Trey and Matt who kind of write everything, and you're just in the room kind of helping them. Basically, I'm friends with them and they're just nice enough to invite me into the room and let me goof around." Ryan Quincy served as director of animation during the 13th season. ### Development South Park was set to expire in 2008, but in August 2007 it was announced the series would be renewed for at least three more seasons, extending it through 2011. The new seasons, 13, 14 and 15, were each to consist of 14 episodes. Stone said of the announcement, "Three more years of South Park will give us the opportunity to offend that many more people." Parker and Stone also announced they would partner with Comedy Central to create a Los Angeles–based digital animation studio called South Park Digital Studios, which would serve as the center for all digital extensions of the South Park franchise and other animated projects. Prior to the broadcast of the 13th season, Parker and Stone made every episode from the previous 12 seasons of South Park available for free viewing on the official series website, South Park Studios. New episodes from the 13th season were made available for one week after the original airdate, then removed for 30 days, after which they were returned to the site permanently. The episodes were uncensored and ad-supported, so no membership fees were required to view the shows. In a statement, Parker and Stone said, "We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time. So we gave ourselves a legal alternative." Two months before the 13th season premiered, South Park Studios announced that it would be the first season to be broadcast in high definition and presented in widescreen. Episodes from previous seasons were also converted to high definition. The season's episodes first aired in the United States on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Comedy Central, and were repeated Wednesdays at 12 a.m., Thursdays at 10 p.m. and 12 a.m., and Sundays at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., all EST. The first seven episodes of the season aired from March 11, 2009, premiering with "The Ring", and ended on April 22 with the mid-season finale "Fatbeard". The season returned with seven more episodes, resuming on October 7 with "Dead Celebrities", and ending on November 18 with the season finale, "Pee". ### Writing Continuing their practice from previous seasons, Parker and Stone wrote and produced each episode within the week before its broadcast date, although as in previous seasons, only Parker was listed as writer in the end credits. The duo conceived a list of episode ideas at the start of the season, but said they preferred to wait until the last minute to start working. Deadline pressure, they explained, energized them as if they were doing a live show. Stone said of the practice, "We kind of need that [chaos] to work. We're, like, 'We have to do something right now. It's going on the air in just a few minutes.'" For example, three days before the broadcast of the season premiere, "The Ring", the script was only half-finished and the animation was incomplete. Likewise, they did not start work on "Whale Whores" until five days before the episode aired, and the scripts for "Margaritaville" and "Pee" were both still being finished the day before the episodes were first broadcast. Parker and Stone said "Dead Celebrities" was a particularly challenging episode to make—they were up all night working on it the day before it aired, and did not finish until 11 a.m. on its broadcast date. Some critics have said that this short turnaround process helps South Park stay fresh and allows the show to address current events in a timely fashion. The 13th season introduced the characters Katie and Katherine, stars of a television show, The Queef Sisters, that consists largely of vaginal flatulence jokes. They are female equivalents of long-time characters Terrance and Phillip, who are initially angered at the competition from Katie and Katherine, but end up romantically involved with them. Season 13 also marked the final appearance of long-time supporting character Gordon Stoltski, the third grade student who read the morning announcements for South Park Elementary. In the episode "Dances with Smurfs", Gordon is murdered while reading the announcements by a gunman who mistakes him for a truck driver who slept with his wife. Some critics found the scene disturbing and inappropriate in the light of recent school shootings in the United States. In the 2009 Blu-ray commentary for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Parker mentioned that they originally had an idea for the season to bring back Saddam Hussein, one of the show's most prominent antagonists during its early run and who last appeared in the 7th season finale "It's Christmas in Canada", but such plans didn't come to fruition. The running gag of killing protagonist Kenny McCormick continued, though he was killed only three times during the season: in the episode "The Ring", he contracts syphilis after engaging in oral sex; in "W.T.F.", he is shot by a rocket launcher during a professional wrestling match; and in "Pee", he drowns in the urine that inundates the water park. During the final half of the season, aliens were hidden in images throughout the episodes as part of a contest offered by South Park Studios. Viewers able to find the alien in the episode could enter a contest, with the grand winner getting an animated version of himself or herself placed in the South Park opening credits starting the next season. In December 2009, Matthew Klinner was announced winner of the contest. ### Cultural references The 13th season also continued a South Park tradition of lampooning celebrities and timely issues. The episode "Margaritaville" satirized the global recession affecting much of the industrialized world at the time of the episode's broadcast. Parker and Stone said they had long planned to do an episode about the recession, but did not want to rush it because they wanted to make sure the script was strong. "Fatbeard" was based on real-life piracy in Somalia, which began receiving increasing international media attention in 2008; the Somali pirates are portrayed in a sympathetic light in the episode. "Dances with Smurfs" parodied the political commentary of Glenn Beck, a nationally syndicated radio show host and Fox News Channel political pundit. In the episode, Cartman makes outrageous claims with no basis in fact under the guise that he is simply asking rhetorical questions and seeking further discussion, a practice for which Beck has been criticized. The episode "Whale Whores" addressed the controversies surrounding Japanese whaling, condemning not only the whalers who engaged in the practice, but shows like Whale Wars and activists like television celebrity Paul Watson who profit from fighting whaling. "Butters' Bottom Bitch" featured a scene in which Butters visits an ACORN office seeking benefits for prostitutes working for him, a reference to a similar 2009 scandal. The episode "Eat, Pray, Queef" demonstrated a double standard between rights of men and women by showing the South Park men, who have no problem with farting, strongly objecting to vaginal flatulence from women. The season finale, "Pee", satirized the disaster film genre, especially the movie 2012, which was released five days before the episode aired. Cartman interprets the large number of minorities at his favorite water park as a sign of the 2012 phenomenon, the prediction that cataclysmic events will occur in the year 2012, which is said to be the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar. "The Ring" featured parodies of the pop-rock boy band Jonas Brothers and a foul-mouthed, greedy, physically violent Mickey Mouse, satirizing the Walt Disney Company's exploitation of family-friendly morals to disguise its profit motive. "The Coon" served as a parody of dark-toned comic book movies, like The Dark Knight (2008), The Spirit (2008) and Watchmen (2009). "Dead Celebrities" mocked numerous recently deceased celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and David Carradine, as well as the show Ghost Hunters. "Dances with Smurfs" mocked the 2009 James Cameron film Avatar, suggesting the plot borrows heavily from the film Dances with Wolves and comparing Avatar's blue aliens to the cartoon Smurfs. The episode "W.T.F." parodied professional wrestling in general and World Wrestling Entertainment in particular, highlighting the soap opera aspects of wrestling storylines and fans who believe the stories are real. ### Music Several original songs written by Parker and Stone were featured in the 13th season. The episode "Fatbeard" features a song, "Somalian Pirates, We", in which Cartman and his crew of pirates sing in the style of the Golden Age of Piracy. In response to fan requests, the full 90-second version of the song was made available for download on South Park Studios the week the episode aired. The season finale, "Pee", features a tune sung by Cartman, "(Too Many Minorities) Not My Water Park", in which he despairs over the large number of African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American patrons at his water park. Among other topics, Cartman expresses his anger about long lines full of minorities and park employees speaking Spanish rather than English. The episode "Eat, Pray, Queef" features "Queef Free", a charity single recorded by the men of South Park after they realize women should be free to queef just as men are free to fart. The song has been described as a parody of such celebrities-for-charity songs as "We Are The World". The 13th season also featured or spoofed real-life songs and bands. The episode "Fishsticks", which prominently featured rapper Kanye West, includes a two-and-a-half minute song, "Gay Fish", that parodies West's "Heartless". "Gay Fish" satirizes the rapper's tendency to rely on audio processing to correct his mistakes in pitch. After "Fishsticks" aired, the full song was made available for download on South Park Studios. Several fake Jonas Brothers songs, with lyrics about the band members' physical attractiveness, were written for "The Ring". Some songs also emphasize the band's belief in sexual abstinence, with lyrics like, "Who needs sex and drugs and partying when we can cook a meal and sit around and watch Netflix?" The strongly erotic reactions of the young girls at their concert parody the frenzied female fan reactions the Jonas Brothers tend to elicit, even though their image projects wholesomeness and chastity. In the episode "Whale Wars", Cartman plays the video game Rock Band and performs a rendition, praised by critics, of the Lady Gaga song "Poker Face". On March 16, 2010, Rock Band developer Harmonix released this version of the song (along with the original version) as downloadable content for the game. In "W.T.F.", during an audition for the boys' professional wrestling league, one of the participants sings a Broadway-style number—parodying the song "Nothing" from A Chorus Line—about why he wants to be a wrestler. ## Reception ### Reviews Ramsey Isler of IGN said South Park continued to be the "best animated comedy show on TV" during its 13th season. He said the season had some low points, particularly "Eat, Pray Queef", but that episodes like "The F Word" and "Dances with Smurfs" delivered significant social commentary. Isler described "Fishsticks" as a well-timed, hilarious episode that became a "phenomenon". Ben Flanagan of The Tuscaloosa News said the 13th season was one of the strongest yet for South Park, and that the series continued its tradition of entertainingly combining gross-out comedy with social satire. He wrote, "Whether they tackle the Jonas Brothers, Somali pirates, Kanye West, The Dark Knight, the current economic woes or just the frequent greed and foolishness of the human race, the show continues to solidify itself as not only the funniest show on TV, but the best." Not all reviews of the season were positive. A.V. Club writer Sean O'Neal called it "one of the more hit-or-miss seasons of South Park in the show’s history", but said he was confident the series could do better and that it had yet not entered the "staggering animal begging to be put out of its misery stage of a show's lifetime". He described the season as a "weekly exercise in South Park schizophrenia", with some episodes faring better than others, although he said the first half of the season was generally strong. Josh Modell, also of the A.V. Club, agreed that the season was uneven, with several episodes "you kinda shrugged your shoulders at", but others like "Butters' Bottom Bitch" that he found "pretty damn funny". "Fishsticks" particularly attracted media attention, and some critics declared it one of the best episodes of the season. In the episode, Jimmy writes a joke that becomes a national sensation, while Cartman tries to steal the credit. A fictionalized version of rapper Kanye West fails to understand the joke. He cannot admit that he does not get it because, in reference to a perceived ego problem on the part of the real West, he considers himself a genius. On September 13, 2009, during the MTV Video Music Awards, West interrupted an acceptance speech by country singer Taylor Swift, walking on stage, grabbing the microphone and praising her competitor Beyoncé Knowles. The incident received considerable press coverage and, as a result, Comedy Central rebroadcast "Fishsticks" for two straight hours on September 15. "The F Word" was especially controversial, even by South Park standards. In the episode, the South Park boys attempt to change the official definition of the word "fag" from an anti-homosexual slur to a term describing loud and obnoxious Harley bikers. The uncensored word is voiced casually and very frequently throughout the episode. A.V. Club critic Genevieve Koski argued that "The F Word" advocates a philosophy that language is ever-changing and that taboo words receive their stigma purely due to social circumstance. Although some LGBT activists accepted that the episode had noble intentions, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation nevertheless objected to it, claiming that it still used "fag" as a means of insulting others and could be unintentionally harmful to the gay community. Some critics praised the episode and said it addressed an important and difficult issue, whereas others felt the satire was ineffective and unfunny. ### Celebrity reactions Some celebrities who were spoofed in 13th-season episodes responded to their portrayals. The day after "Fishsticks" aired, West wrote on his blog, "South Park murdered me last night and it's pretty damn funny. It hurts my feelings but what can you expect from South Park!" West thanked the South Park writers in his blog entry and acknowledged he has a problem with his ego, but said he was trying to change. The blog post drew substantial media attention; Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone said: "Many have tried, all have failed, but in the end it only took four animated children from Colorado to topple Kanye West's ego." Carlos Mencia, host of the Comedy Central show Mind of Mencia, was also spoofed in "Fishsticks". He is portrayed as knowingly stealing credit for a joke he did not write, which is a reference to accusations other comedians have made that Mencia plagiarizes jokes from other people. After the episode aired, Mencia wrote on his Twitter feed, "They just made fun of me on South Park. I thought it was hysterical. Catch the rerun." In "The Coon", Butters suspects heavyset comedian Bruce Vilanch is Cartman's superhero alter ego based on his physique. After the episode aired, Vilanch sent a card to Parker and Stone thanking them for referring to him. Shortly after "Whale Whores" aired, Paul Watson said he was not offended by his portrayal in the episode, and was glad South Park brought the issue of dolphin and whale slaughter, and the Japanese role in it, to a large audience. After Billy Mays appeared in "Dead Celebrities", his son Billy Mays III said he loved the episode and found its portrayal of his father tasteful and respectful. Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the stars of Ghost Hunters who were also mocked in "Dead Celebrities", said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter accounts. The day after "Dances with Smurfs" originally aired, Glenn Beck discussed the episode on his radio program and said he took the parody as a compliment. The Jonas Brothers' publicist specifically forbade reporters from asking the band members about their portrayal in "The Ring". Nevertheless, Nick Jonas said, "We are always open to make fun of ourselves." "Pinewood Derby" drew considerable media attention in Mexico when it first aired due to its depiction of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The episode was due to air in Spanish on MTV Latin America on February 8, 2010, but it was pulled a few hours before the scheduled time. Media reports indicated the decision stemmed from the episode's depiction of Calderón irritating the international community and frivolously spending alien-provided "space cash" on water parks. MTV said the South Park creators did not get a special permit needed to broadcast an image of Mexico's flag, but the explanation was met with skepticism by Mexican South Park fans, some of whom accused MTV of censorship. "Fatbeard" included prominent references to the April 2009 hijacking of by Somalian pirates. The crew of USS Bainbridge, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that participated in the rescue of Richard Phillips from Maersk Alabama, contacted the South Park creators to commend them on the episode. Ensign Jonathan Sieg, the Bainbridge public relations officer, wrote, "Pretty much everyone onboard our ship—from Captain to seaman—is a huge fan of South Park, and when we heard about the episode 'Fatbeard', as you can imagine, we were thrilled and very interested to watch." ### Ratings The 13th season of South Park generally maintained the average Nielsen rating viewership for the series, around 3 million viewers per episode. The season premiere, "The Ring", was seen in 3.41 million households. That would prove to be the largest individual viewership for any Comedy Central show that season, outperforming even a highly anticipated and publicized episode of The Daily Show involving Jon Stewart's ongoing feud with CNBC and pundit Jim Cramer. The 13th season of South Park received its lowest viewership in the episodes "Dances with Smurfs", seen in 1.47 million households; "W.T.F.", seen in 1.37 million households; and "The F Word", seen in 1.99 million households. However, "The F Word" was the highest rated show of the season among viewers between ages 18 and 49, and outperformed The Jay Leno Show, NBC's primetime talk show. The season finale, "Pee", was seen in 2.87 million households, which made it the most watched cable show of the night. Likewise, "The Coon", seen in 3.27 million households, was the most watched cable program among ages 18 to 49 the week it aired. Several episodes from the 13th season of South Park were the most watched Comedy Central shows the week they aired, including "Margaritaville" (2.77 million households), "Fatbeard" (2.59 million households), "Eat, Pray, Queef" (3 million households) and "Fishsticks" (3.1 million households). The latter two episodes were watched by over 1 million more viewers than the network's second-highest-rated shows in their respective weeks. ### Awards Parker and Stone decided to submit "Margaritaville" for an Emmy Award because they had received a large amount of positive feedback about the episode from adult viewers. Since most Emmy voters are older, they decided "Margaritaville" stood the best chance of winning. Stone joked, "If an Emmy voter were to watch this, they might think the show was smarter than it was, so they might be fooled into voting for us." "Margaritaville" ultimately won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for Programming Less Than One Hour against competing nominees Robot Chicken, The Simpsons and American Dad!. The victory marked the third consecutive Emmy win for South Park, which won in the same category in 2007 for the 10th season episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", and won the award for Outstanding Animated Program for Programming One Hour or More for the 11th season episode "Imaginationland". Parker, Stone, Agnone, Stough, Beard, Howell, Rivinoja, Chatman, Hader and Quincy were all recipients of the Emmy. In February 2010, "Whale Whores" was nominated for a Genesis Award in the television comedy category. The Genesis Awards honor news and entertainment media for outstanding work that raises public understanding of animal issues. "Whale Whores" ultimately lost to the Family Guy episode "Dog Gone." ## Home media The season was released by Paramount Home Entertainment in the United States on March 16, 2010, on both DVD (as a three-disc set) and Blu-ray (as a two-disc set). Each set included all 14 uncensored episodes in 1080p video and Dolby TrueHD sound, as well as brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, seven deleted scenes, codes for unlocking a character and challenge levels in South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! on Xbox Live Arcade, and a special mini-feature, Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, describing the show's animation process. ## See also - South Park (Park County, Colorado) - South Park City
425,087	Uncle Tupelo	1,142,528,454	American alternative country music group	[ "1987 establishments in Illinois", "American alternative country groups", "American country rock groups", "Dutch East India Trading artists", "Giant Records (independent) artists", "Musical groups disestablished in 1994", "Musical groups established in 1987", "Musical groups from Illinois", "Musical groups from St. Louis", "Sire Records artists", "Wilco" ]	Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records, before signing with Sire Records and expanding to a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band's major label debut album Anodyne, Farrar announced his decision to leave the band due to a soured relationship with his co-songwriter Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo split on May 1, 1994, after completing a farewell tour. Following the breakup, Farrar formed Son Volt with Heidorn, while the remaining members continued as Wilco. Although Uncle Tupelo broke up before it achieved commercial success, the band is renowned for its impact on the alternative country music scene. The group's first album, No Depression, became a byword for the genre and was widely influential. Uncle Tupelo's sound was unlike popular country music of the time, drawing inspiration from styles as diverse as the hardcore punk of The Minutemen and the country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams. Farrar and Tweedy's lyrics frequently referred to Middle America and the working class of Belleville. ## History ### The Plebes and The Primitives Jay Farrar, along with his brothers Wade and Dade, played in an early 1980s garage band named The Plebes. Hailing from Belleville, Illinois, The Plebes sought to enter a battle-of-the-bands competition but needed another high school student as a member to perform. They invited Jeff Tweedy, a high school friend of Jay Farrar, to join the band and play with them for the show. Despite a lack of skill with his instrument, Tweedy played an important role in the band by booking early gigs. While The Plebes had been playing music in a rockabilly style, Tweedy wanted to play punk rock like the music that he originally heard the group perform. This caused tensions between Tweedy and Dade Farrar, who left the band two months after Tweedy joined. Before leaving the band in 1984, Dade Farrar introduced its members to Mike Heidorn, the younger brother of his girlfriend; Heidorn then joined the group as their drummer. The Plebes then decided to change its name to The Primitives, a reference to a 1965 song by psychedelic rock group The Groupies. Due to the unpopularity of punk rock in the St. Louis area, The Primitives began to play blues-oriented garage rock at fast tempos. They performed regularly at a wedding hall in Millstadt, Illinois, where Tweedy's mother Jo Ann would collect the cover fee. They also performed regularly at B St Bar in Belleville with bands such as The Newsboys (later Sammy and the Snowmonkeys), Charlie Langrehr, and The Symptoms. Wade Farrar was the lead singer of the band, but his commitment to Southern Illinois University and an attempted enlistment in the United States Army meant he was only able to dedicate a small amount of time to the group. Additionally, Heidorn broke his collarbone during a concert in 1986, which caused the band to go on hiatus. Jay Farrar and Tweedy continued to write songs and perform at Heidorn's house while he recovered, and by 1987 they had restarted the group. The Primitives temporarily added Tony Mayr as a bassist so that Tweedy could play guitar, but a month later the band decided to keep Tweedy on bass and remain a three-piece. To avoid confusion with a successful British band also named The Primitives, they decided to change their name once again, to Uncle Tupelo. Although they performed only 1960s cover songs as The Primitives, the trio decided to take a new approach and write their own music under their new name. ### Early career The Primitives renamed itself Uncle Tupelo after a character in a cartoon drawn by Chuck Wagner, a friend of the band's members. The name was created by combining two randomly chosen words from the dictionary; inspired by the name, Wagner drew a picture of an old, fat Elvis. The trio recorded a four-song demo tape, which won them supporting roles at the concerts of artists such as Johnny Thunders and Warren Zevon. Tweedy met Tony Margherita while moonlighting as a record clerk in St. Louis. After attending a pair of the band's concerts, Margherita offered to become its manager. Uncle Tupelo began to play regular shows at Cicero's Basement—a bar close to the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Bands playing in a similar style, including Brian Henneman's Chicken Truck, often played at the venue, which by late 1988 was considered to have been the origin of a new music scene. The band temporarily expanded to a four-piece with the addition of the guitarist Alex Mutrux, but soon reverted to a trio. Uncle Tupelo recorded its first tracks in the attic studio of future Chicago punk producer Matt Allison in Champaign, Illinois. The demo Not Forever, Just for Now includes the songs "I Got Drunk" and "Screen Door", as well as early versions of several songs that would appear on their first studio album. The CMJ New Music Report gave the tape a rave review, and called Uncle Tupelo the best unsigned band of the year. The accolade attracted the attention of independent labels, and the band decided to sign with Jay Fialkov and Debbie Southwood-Smith of Giant Records (who offered to book them at CBGB in New York City). Explaining the decision, the band said that "[our] original goals don't get distorted with an independent label." ### Recordings on Rockville Records Shortly after Uncle Tupelo's signing, Giant Records changed its name to Rockville Records. The band's first album for Rockville, No Depression, was recorded over ten days in January 1990, at Fort Apache South recording studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The album's thematic structure revolved around their lives as adolescents in Belleville; examples are songs about wanting to avoid factory work and songs about fearing a potential Persian Gulf War military draft. Impressed by their previous work on Dinosaur Jr.'s Bug, the band wanted Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade to produce the album. Slade let Farrar play on the same 1961 Gibson Les Paul SG Junior that J. Mascis originally played on Bug. The album was released on June 21, 1990, and the band celebrated by playing at Cicero's for two nights. In between tours, Farrar, Tweedy and Heidorn formed a country cover band named Coffee Creek, along with Brian Henneman (later a member of The Bottle Rockets). Henneman impressed Uncle Tupelo, and he was invited to be a guitar technician and occasional multi-instrumentalist for the band. While Farrar and Heidorn would avoid drinking too much after shows, Tweedy would continue drinking throughout the night. Although Tweedy stopped after he began dating Sue Miller in 1991, a significant communication gap had already been opened between Tweedy and Farrar. By March 1991, No Depression had sold an estimated 15,000 copies, and was featured in a Rolling Stone article about rising stars. However, Rockville Records refused to pay the band any royalties for the album, a theme that would continue for the remainder of the band's contract. Over seventeen days the band recorded a second album at Long View Farm in rural North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Still Feel Gone, with a more layered sound, was also produced by Kolderie and Slade, with contributions by Slade, Henneman, Rich Gilbert, Chris Bess of Enormous Richard, and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks. The band was disappointed with the production of the album and decided to discontinue working with Kolderie and Slade. Soon afterward, Uncle Tupelo recorded "Shaking Hands (Soldier's Joy)" on Michelle Shocked's album Arkansas Traveler and joined her on the accompanying tour with Taj Mahal and The Band. However, the tour only lasted for a few shows because of managerial problems between Shocked and The Band. Alternative rock had broken into the mainstream by 1992, and an album released in that style was expected to earn the group a major-label record deal. However, Uncle Tupelo did not want to follow in the footsteps of groups such as Nirvana, and decided to play country and folk songs "as a big 'fuck you' to the rock scene". Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M., saw the trio perform at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia and sought them out after the show. Buck was impressed with a version of "Atomic Power" that the band played, and offered his services for their next album. Over a span of five days, Buck produced the group's next album, March 16–20, 1992. Buck allowed them to stay in his house during the sessions, and charged no money for his services. Henneman's role was increased for this album, and he taught himself how to play mandolin and bouzouki. Despite turning away from the style of popular alternative rock, major labels began to show significant interest in Uncle Tupelo after March 16–20, 1992 was released. The album sold more than their two previous recordings combined, although Rockville was displeased that it did not conform to the style of popular alternative rock. ### Major label contract In 1992, Joe McEwen of Sire Records began to pursue the band. McEwen, who brought notable acts such as Dinosaur Jr. and Shawn Colvin to Sire, had been interested in them since hearing the Not Forever, Just for Now demo tape. At the urging of Gary Louris, McEwen offered Uncle Tupelo a contract. Band manager Tony Margherita invoked the \$50,000 escape clause he had put in their Rockville contract, freeing the band to sign a seven-year deal with Sire. The deal required two albums and specified a budget of \$150,000 for the first. Around the time of the recording of March 16–20, 1992, Mike Heidorn had secured a steady job at a Belleville newspaper company and was dating a woman who had two children from a previous marriage. Uncle Tupelo had planned a tour of Europe, but Heidorn wanted to stay in Belleville with his girlfriend, whom he married in August 1992. The band held auditions prior to the promotional tour for March 16–20, 1992, and two candidates stood out: Bill Belzer and Ken Coomer. Although Farrar and Tweedy agreed that Coomer was the better drummer, they were intimidated by his six-foot-four stature and long dreadlocks. The band instead selected Belzer as Heidorn's replacement, but he only stayed with the band for six months. Tweedy explained Belzer's departure: > I want to believe it was purely musical, and I honestly believe that it wasn't working musically. I also believe that we weren't emotionally mature enough to be close friends with a gay person at that point in our lives ... And Bill was and is a very proud and righteous gay person, very open about his homosexuality. After touring Europe opening for Sugar, the band replaced Belzer with Coomer. The band also experimented with new members: John Stirratt replaced Brian Henneman (who left to form The Bottle Rockets) while Max Johnston, the brother of Michelle Shocked, joined as a live mandolin and violin performer. Stirratt became the full-time bassist, allowing Tweedy to perform more songs with the guitar. Now a five-piece, Uncle Tupelo recorded their major label debut at Cedar Creek studio in Austin, Texas in early 1993. Anodyne consisted of live-in-the-studio recordings and included a duet with Farrar and Doug Sahm of the Sir Douglas Quintet. The album sold 150,000 copies, and was their only entry on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. The group toured until the end of the year, finishing with a sold-out concert at Tramps in New York City. Because of their concert draw, major executives at Sire began to see the band as a potential hit. In 1993, the band contributed a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's track "Effigy" to the AIDS-Benefit album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization. ### Breakup With the addition of Stirratt, Coomer, and Johnston just prior to the recording of Anodyne, Farrar and Tweedy's relationship became more tumultuous, leading to verbal altercations after concerts. In one account, Tweedy recalled: > Around this time, I would say something into a microphone onstage, and afterward [Farrar would] pull me aside and say, "Don't you ever fucking talk into that microphone again." He would misconstrue me talking into the microphone as more evidence of my out-of-control, rampant ego, more evidence of me feeling like I didn't have to be so fucking afraid anymore. Tweedy felt the new members gave him a new opportunity to contribute to the band, but Farrar felt disdain for Tweedy's new carefree attitude. Years later, Farrar would claim that he had been tempted to quit the band after seeing Tweedy stroking the hair of Farrar's girlfriend, an act which he believed to have been a proposition. In January 1994, Farrar called manager Tony Margherita to inform him of his decision to leave the band. Farrar told Margherita that he was no longer having fun, and did not want to work with Tweedy anymore. Soon after the breakup, Farrar explained his departure: "It just seemed like it reached a point where Jeff and I really weren't compatible. It had ceased to be a symbiotic songwriting relationship, probably after the first record." Tweedy was enraged that he heard the news secondhand from Margherita, rather than directly from Farrar. The following day, the two engaged in a verbal confrontation. As a favor to Margherita, who had spent a substantial amount of money to keep the band running, Farrar agreed to a final tour with Uncle Tupelo in North America. Tweedy and Farrar again engaged in a shouting match two weeks into the tour, due to Farrar's refusal to sing harmony on any of Tweedy's songs. The band made its first appearance on national television during the tour when they were featured on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Sire had requested that the band perform "The Long Cut" on the show, which further irked Farrar since the song was written and sung by Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo's last concerts, two shows at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri and two shows at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, took place from April 28 to May 1, 1994. A special "last leg" poster was created for the occasion which facetiously promoted the band as "St. Louis's 4th best country band", based on a readers' poll in the Riverfront Times. On the last night, Tweedy and Farrar each performed nine songs during the concert, and Mike Heidorn performed as drummer during the encore. ### Post-breakup Following Uncle Tupelo's final tour, Tweedy encouraged his bandmates to join him in a new group, while Farrar searched for members for a band of his own. Tweedy was able to retain the rest of the Uncle Tupelo lineup, and created Wilco. They began rehearsing a few days after the final Uncle Tupelo concert, and by August 1994 they were in the recording studio for their first album, A.M.. Farrar asked Jim Boquist to join his new band, Son Volt; Boquist was a multi-instrumentalist who had performed with Joe Henry as the opening act on Uncle Tupelo's last tour. Boquist also recruited his brother Dave, and Farrar convinced Mike Heidorn to leave Belleville to join the group. Farrar's new four-piece began recording their debut album Trace in November 1994. Wilco signed to Reprise Records while Son Volt signed with Warner Bros. Records. Son Volt had an early college rock hit with "Drown" from the album Trace, but Wilco maintained a more commercially successful career in the years to follow. Regarding the possibility of a reunion, Mike Heidorn reported in a PopMatters interview that "nothing's ever for sure, but I would have to say, 'No such thing'." Farrar said that he does not want the band to get back together, while Tweedy said that he believes that a reunion would not be productive musically. Farrar and Tweedy sued Rockville Records and Dutch East India Trading CEO Barry Tenenbaum in 2000 over royalties that the label allegedly owed them, winning restitution from Tenenbaum and the joint rights to Uncle Tupelo's first three albums. After securing the rights, the band released a compilation entitled 89/93: An Anthology. In 2003, Uncle Tupelo re-issued their first three albums, which before the lawsuit had cumulatively sold over 200,000 copies. ## Influences As The Primitives, Tweedy and Farrar were highly influenced by punk bands such as The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. However, they began to listen to country music because punk rock was not well received in the Belleville and St. Louis music scenes. While they originally were introduced to country by their parents, it was not until this time that they began to listen to it for leisure. Farrar typically wrote songs about Middle America, while Tweedy wrote about more mainstream topics such as relationships. Farrar took influence from authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Kerouac, whom he read while working at his mother's bookstore. As a singer, Farrar's lyrics would be front-and-center during performances, but the band's musical style was mostly driven by Tweedy and Heidorn. Jeff Tweedy said in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: > We probably have more influences than we know what to do with. We have two main styles that have been influences. For instance, we like Black Flag as much as early Bob Dylan and Dinosaur Jr. as much as Hank Williams... To us, hard-core punk is also folk music. We draw a close parallel between the two. We'll play both in the same set if we get a chance. We don't have any biases as far as music is concerned. Tweedy in particular was inspired by the Minutemen, and wrote a song about D. Boon following Boon's death in a van accident. The band has released songs originally performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Carter Family, Lead Belly, Gram Parsons, The Soft Boys, The Louvin Brothers, Texas Tornados, and The Stooges. Releasing March 16–20, 1992 when alternative music was breaking through was a move inspired by Neil Young's decision to release the challenging albums On the Beach and Tonight's the Night immediately after the commercially successful Harvest. Critic Michael Corcoran likened the band's musical style to "Bob Mould fronting Soul Asylum on a speeded-up version of a Gram Parsons song." ## Legacy Uncle Tupelo is credited as one of the founders of the alternative country genre, a blend of alternative rock and traditional country music. While the genre eventually became associated with solo artists such as Gram Parsons and Lyle Lovett, Uncle Tupelo is considered the first alternative country band. Some media outlets like the BBC have even suggested that they were the genre's sole creator. However, Tweedy and Heidorn dispute this claim, and Farrar says that there is no difference between alternative country and other genres such as roots rock. Heidorn commented in a Country Standard Time interview: > It's strange to hear Uncle Tupelo mentioned because what we were doing was in such a long line of musical history. People are wrong in starting with us and saying we started anything because we were just picking up the ball, starting with Woody Guthrie and on to the early '60s and the Flying Burrito Brothers that we were influenced by. We didn't start a genre. We contributed to a long line of fairly good music. That's the way we looked at it at the time—doing what was right for the song. The band's first three albums influenced contemporary roots rock artists such as Richmond Fontaine and Whiskeytown. Uncle Tupelo's usage of distorted guitars to play a style of music that was known for its earnestness became a lasting trend in 1990s modern rock. Jason Ankeny wrote in AllMusic that: > With the release of their 1990 debut LP, No Depression, the Belleville, IL, trio Uncle Tupelo launched more than simply their own career—by fusing the simplicity and honesty of country music with the bracing fury of punk, they kick-started a revolution which reverberated throughout the American underground. Their 1990 album No Depression lent its name to an influential alternative country periodical. Due to the influence of the album and periodical, the term "No Depression" became a byword for alternative country—particularly for bands with punk rock influence. The alternative country movement played an important role in the success of future traditionalist country acts such as Robbie Fulks and Shelby Lynne. ## Members - Jay Farrar – vocals, guitar (1987–1994) - Mike Heidorn – drums (1987–1992) - Jeff Tweedy – vocals, bass, guitar (1987–1994) - Bill Belzer – drums (1992) - Ken Coomer – drums (1992–1994) - Max Johnston – violin, mandolin (1992–1994) - John Stirratt – bass, guitar (1992–1994) Timeline ## Discography ### Studio albums ### Compilations ### Demo tapes - All demo tapes are self-released on cassette. ### Singles ### Contributions Uncle Tupelo also recorded a one-hour radio special that was released by Legacy Records in 2003. Legacy only distributed the CD, entitled The Long Cut: A One Hour Radio Special, to non-commercial radio stations as a way to promote the re-issues of the band's studio albums. The special is hosted by Lauren Frey and features interviews by Farrar, Tweedy, and Heidorn.
3,807,915	Carlton Town F.C.	1,172,348,413	Association football club in England	[ "1904 establishments in England", "Association football clubs established in 1904", "Carlton Town F.C.", "Central Midlands Football League", "Football clubs in England", "Football clubs in Nottinghamshire", "Gedling", "Northern Counties East Football League", "Northern Premier League clubs" ]	Carlton Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Gedling, Nottinghamshire, England. Founded in 1904 as Sneinton Football Club, its early years were marked by considerable local success, leading to the club being described by the Manchester Courier in 1909 as "the leading amateur football club in Nottingham". Its reputation declined for several decades afterwards, with the team participating in obscure county divisions until the 1995–96 season saw the club join the nationwide league system. Carlton currently competes in the Northern Premier League Division One East at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid. Carlton has played its home games at the Bill Stokeld Stadium since the early 1990s. It won promotion in 2006–07 from the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East Football League, competing in the NCEL's Division One and two Central Midlands League divisions before that. Tournament records include reaching the third round of the FA Amateur Cup in 1907–08, 1910–11, 1919–20 and 1930–31; the third qualifying round of the FA Cup in 2012–13 and 2013–14; the first round of the FA Trophy in 2021–22; and the third round of the FA Vase in 2005–06. The club is nicknamed "The Millers" and its colours are primarily yellow and blue. ## History ### Establishment and pre-World War I Carlton Town was founded as Sneinton Football Club in September 1904, beginning in the amateur Notts Alliance League after having a previous application refused. The team enjoyed success in their first season; finishing runners-up to Basford United, Sneinton then moved to sign more promising locals. In May 1905, the club gained use of the Earl Manvers’ Colwick Lawn Estate, the Sneinton Cricket Club and Ground, on Colwick Road. Becoming champions in the 1905–06 season, mixed fortunes followed as key players Arthur Clamp and Andrew Mosley joined Notts County, while new tram infrastructure in the area promised better attendances at home games. Sneinton won the League championship again in 1907–08, also reaching the first round of the Notts Alliance Cup and losing to Oxford City in the third round of the FA Amateur Cup. The club was granted membership of The Football Association on 2 November 1908. The League title was defended in 1908–09, but Sutton Town eliminated Sneinton from both of its cup competitions. Described by the Manchester Courier as "the leading amateur football club in Nottingham", Sneinton won the 1909–10 League, becoming the first team to win three consecutive titles. The following year they again reached the third round of the Amateur Cup, where they lost 6–2 to Bromley. Their playing form suffered by the end of the 1912–13 season, with the team losing several players to injury and relocation. ### Interwar period Nine Sneinton players were killed in World War I, for the duration of which the team was disbanded. The club reformed on 29 April 1919, and did well in the 1919–20 season, once more obtaining a place in the Amateur Cup's third round. Sneinton lacked the means to travel and insisted the match be played in Nottingham, securing Notts County's Meadow Lane as a venue, but they lost 8–1 to Leytonstone. Despite team rebuilding and many injuries, Sneinton finished an encouraging third in their 1920–21 League campaign. Conversely, the 1922–23 season witnessed mediocre playing form and a poor financial situation at the club. These were recurrent problems throughout the decade, except for the team becoming joint-winners of the 1925–26 Notts Alliance Cup. The club's fortunes improved in 1931 as it reached the Amateur Cup's third round for a fourth, and final, time. Acknowledging Sneinton as a "nursery" for their professional squads, Notts County and Nottingham Forest paid for the team's travel to Stockton, where they were defeated 7–2. In May 1932, Sneinton applied to join the Notts Spartan League's First Division, securing the title on its first attempt before finishing third in the Senior Division in 1933–34 after turning an annual profit. Given the absence of financial backers, moving leagues was intended to allow the team to play at a lower standard than that of the Notts Alliance. Reviewing the 1936–37 and 1938–39 seasons, Sneinton was judged by its officials to be in good sporting and financial shape. ### Post-World War II #### Sneinton revival: 1947–2002 Following another disbandment due to World War II, Sneinton reformed in July 1947, also absorbing local club Trent Rangers. According to the Nottingham Evening Post, it was "realised that a lot of hard work will be necessary to restore the ... club to the old time high position". In 1948, the team started playing on a pitch at Colwick Wood Park, thereby returning to Sneinton after contesting one season at a venue outside the district. The club moved to Division Three of the Notts Amateur League, finishing seventh in 1949–50 and with steady finances. After a loss to Bakersfield in the 1951–52 campaign, the Nottingham Football Post commented that the team "appeared to be too individualistic". The club had achieved promotion to Division Two by 1956–57. In 1957–58, the team's prolific goal-scoring led to an undefeated run lasting almost three months. The Football Post commented that year that "the Sneintonians are doing very well", but just two years later, during the 1959–60 season, argued that the team was "lacking in a marksman" and "need[ed] more punch in attack". Illnesses and outside work commitments within its part-time squad were a challenge for the club, but the Football Post still acknowledged the high quality of Sneinton's teamwork, goalkeeping, and defence. During 1965–66, the club struggled to field a full team at times, occasionally requiring its secretary to play. Sneinton experienced poor form in the 1967–68 season, but avoided relegation, and again transferred leagues a year later, ahead of the 1969–70 season, to rejoin Division Two of the Notts Alliance. The first season saw the team endure mediocre League performances and disciplinary issues, but by the 1976–77 campaign was described by the Football Post as "much-improved". In spite of this, Sneinton suffered some heavy defeats; the team lost 9–0 to Rolls-Royce Welfare in 1977–78, and lost by the same score to Worthington Simpsons Reserves during the following season. Sneinton won the division in 1984–85, gaining promotion to Division One; it later topped that level in 1992–93 to reach the Notts Alliance's pinnacle Senior Division. Eager to move beyond the local amateur scene and advance up the English football pyramid, the club moved to its current ground on Stoke Lane in Gedling, and in 1995–96 joined the Central Midlands Football League at the eleventh tier of the league system. Notwithstanding a reasonable first season, Sneinton was left with no manager and just three players for its 1996–97 campaign. The club's chairman, Bill Stokeld, appointed former players Tommy Brookbanks and Neil Cooper as joint-team managers. Under their stewardship, promotion from the League's Premier Division to its topmost level, the Supreme Division, was achieved in 1997–98. Sneinton's third-place finish in the tenth tier in 2000–01 would ordinarily have secured entrance to the Northern Counties East Football League, but their ground did not meet the minimum standards for the higher Division. #### Carlton Town: 2002–present Historically, Gedling was located in a parish named "Carlton-le-Willows" and once formed part of the Carlton Urban District. Reflecting its new home, Sneinton became Carlton Town Football Club in 2002. Mick Garton, who became chairman that year, invested nearly £200,000 in the team's facilities ahead of the 2002–03 campaign in order to ensure that the ground met the standards that would be required for promotion from the League. That season, Carlton topped the Central Midlands League Supreme Division; the club then spent three campaigns in the Northern Counties East Football League's Division One, at the tenth tier of the football league system, finishing third in 2004–05. The team were promoted to the ninth tier when they finished as League champions in 2005–06, also establishing a club record in the FA Vase that year by reaching its third round. 2006–07 saw Carlton promoted once again, this time to the Northern Premier League Division One South at tier eight. The club finished tenth out of 22 in 2007–08 but challenged for promotion in the following year, eventually losing in the League's 2008–09 playoff semi-final 5–2 to Stocksbridge Park Steels, for whom future England international Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick. Carlton finished ninth in 2009–10 and replaced Brookbanks by appointing Les McJannet as manager. Despite initial relegation fears, Carlton placed eighth in 2010–11. After being runners-up and playoff semi-finalists in the division's 2011–12 contest, the team's League form dipped in the following seasons as they finished twelfth, tenth, and eighteenth respectively. In combination with poor tournament results in 2014–15—contrary to the previous two seasons, which twice saw the team reach the FA Cup's third qualifying round—this led to McJannet's resignation. His assistant Wayne Scott took charge beginning with the following season. Scott's tenure saw poor League finishes of no higher than eighteenth. Relegation had only been avoided by the club after the 2018–19 season because of ground grading problems at fifteenth-placed A.F.C. Mansfield, which was demoted from the League in Carlton's stead. Brookbanks, alongside Mark Harvey, returned to replace Scott in May 2019. Their first full season was abandoned owing to COVID-19. Geographical reorganisation of the Northern Premier League has meant that Carlton has played in Division One East in 2018–19 and from 2022–23, Division One South East in 2019–20 and 2020–21, and Division One Midlands in 2021–22. Early 2020 presented significant financial challenges, firstly due to ground damage caused by Storm Ciara, and then a drop in revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 2021–22 season saw the club place sixth in the League, narrowly missing out on the playoffs. The team did, however, set a new club record in the FA Trophy by reaching its first round proper. ### Season-by-season record since 1995–96 ## Club identity Carlton has played in a home kit largely comprising yellow and blue since at least the 2003–04 campaign. Away kits have generally been more varied; these have featured a red ensemble for 2003–04 and 2004–05, a navy and sky blue design for 2005–06 and 2006–07, a green and white combination for the 2015–16 season, a red and white mix for 2021–22, as well as a pairing of pink and black for 2022–23. An additional third kit was released in 2021 which used neon green. The home kit mirrors the colours of the club badge, introduced in July 2007, which also depicts Carlton Town's initials, year of foundation, and common nickname—the "Millers". Green's Mill remains a well-known focal point in the Sneinton area, the original home of the team, and in Nottingham more widely. Prior to this rebranding, Carlton lacked a nickname altogether, while the club's previous logo comprised a blue and white football on which black text with a yellow shadow, reading "Carlton Town FC", was wrapped diagonally. The club has a current rivalry with Basford United; it also shared one with the defunct Greenwood Rovers during its time in the Notts Amateur League. ## Notable former players ## Grounds ### Colwick Road and Colwick Wood Park Though the club sought away matches as early as October 1904, May 1905 saw Sneinton gain use of the Sneinton Cricket Club and Ground on Colwick Road. Located on the Colwick Lawn Estate, its owner, the Earl Manvers, led the Sneinton Improvement Committee in providing "a ground possessing many natural and distinct advantages". Chiefly intended for cricket, its eight-and-a-half acres, including four pitches, met the needs of both the Sneinton Cricket and Football Club. A "fine new enclosed ground" was reserved for football. Featuring a pavilion and accommodation for players, the facilities cost £300 and were opened by the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Nottingham Journal reported the site to be "under water" in December 1909 as a consequence of the adjacent River Trent flooding after heavy precipitation. By July 1913, the Improvement Committee moved to sub-let the team's ground, leading the club to appoint a deputation through which to protest. Sneinton was without a venue in the aftermath of World War I. Refusing their opponent's request to the contrary, the team remained in Nottingham to play the 1919–20 FA Amateur Cup fixture against Leytonstone, using Notts County's Meadow Lane. It was back at Colwick Road by February 1927 but faced frequent trespass and vandalism. With the permission of Nottingham Forest in December 1929, Sneinton instead played its first round Amateur Cup tie versus Horsforth St Margaret's at the City Ground. The Nottingham Evening Post opined that the addition of another pitch and modifications to the pavilion at Colwick Road in 1935 permitted increased youth engagement. The ground changed hands during World War II, becoming the home of Parliament Street Methodists in 1944 after Sneinton left it in 1942. After reforming in 1947, the club relocated to one of two public pitches at Colwick Wood Park in 1948, having played its matches in the intervening year at an alternative venue outside the district. ### Bill Stokeld Stadium In the early 1990s, the club moved to its current location on Stoke Lane in Gedling. Chairman Mick Garton invested nearly £200,000 in upgrading Carlton's site and facilities in 2002, which, two years later, were named in remembrance of his predecessor Bill Stokeld. Disruption occurred early in the 2006–07 season when a link road was built through the ground, requiring a relocation of the pitch within the premises. This precluded Carlton playing at home for the first month of the campaign. Ahead of the team's promotion at the end of that season, League requirements inspired the addition of changing areas, a hospitality venue, toilets, and a tea bar. These facilities were later subjected to incidents of arson and burglary between 2011 and 2012. As of 2022, an academy suite, disabled access provision, and 30 car-parking spaces are also features of the stadium. Storm Ciara caused £3,000 worth of damage to the ground in February 2020, which impacted its fencing, floodlights, goals, and dugouts. However, in the following month, the site passed a safety inspection which allowed Carlton to raise its spectator capacity from 1,500 to 1,968 (with 164 seated). Despite this, the record gate is reported by the club as only being "over 800" during a pre-season friendly against Notts County. ## Honours ## National tournament records
3,574,763	Design A-150 battleship	1,165,462,617	Planned Imperial Japanese class of super battleships	[ "Battleship classes", "Battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy", "Cancelled ships", "Proposed ships" ]	Design A-150, popularly known as the Super Yamato class, was a planned class of battleships for the Imperial Japanese Navy. In keeping with longstanding Japanese naval strategy, the A-150s would have carried six 51-centimeter (20.1 in) guns to ensure their qualitative superiority over any other battleship they might face. These would have been the largest guns ever carried aboard a capital ship. Design work on the A-150s began after the preceding Yamato class in 1938–1939 and was mostly finished by early 1941, when the Japanese began focusing on aircraft carriers and other smaller warships in preparation for the coming conflict. No A-150 would ever be laid down, and many details of the class' design were destroyed near the end of the war. ## Background and design In the 1930s, the Japanese government began a shift towards an ultranationalist militancy. Planners envisioned an empire stretching from Japan to the resource-rich European colonies in Southeast Asia, and defensible islands in the Pacific Ocean (the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere). The extensive distances involved, and the likelihood of this expansion leading to a confrontation with the United States, led the Japanese to build and maintain a large fleet that could seize and hold onto these territories. The U.S. posed a particular problem for Japan, as it possessed significantly greater industrial power, and several leading members of the United States Congress had pledged "to outbuild Japan three to one in a naval race". The Imperial Japanese Navy had recognized since at least 1896 that the country could not outproduce its potential opponents, and therefore insisted that its ships had to be more powerful than foreign equivalents. It established this qualitative lead at various times over the next 40 years, with the Kongo-class battlecruisers just before World War I, the Nagato-class battleships at the end of that war, and the Yamato-class battleships in the 1930s. The A-150s were designed according to that doctrine to continue their qualitative superiority in battleships over their most likely opponents, the United States and Great Britain. Early conceptions for what would become the A-150 battleships called for eight or nine 51-centimeter guns in double or triple turrets, as the successful construction of a 48-centimeter (18.9 in) gun in 1920–1921 made the Japanese confident that such a large weapon could be built. The designers hoped to give the ships a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), which would give them a comfortable margin over the American 27-knot (50 km/h; 31 mph) North Carolina-class battleships. However, these grand specifications were curtailed when tests culminated in a ship that had a displacement of some 91,000 metric tons (90,000 long tons); it was felt that ships of this size would be "too large and too expensive". Formal design studies began in 1938–1939. They initially focused on a ship closer to the displacement of the preceding Yamato class, on which plans had just been completed, albeit one mounting six 51-centimeter guns. As the Japanese expected that the Americans would ascertain the true characteristics of the Yamato class—especially its primary armament of 46-centimeter (18.1 in) guns, which would become the largest naval weapons in use in the world—they hoped that the 51-centimeter guns would outperform any American response to the Yamato's smaller guns. ## Specifications Plans for the A-150s were finished in early 1941, for most intents and purposes. However, these were destroyed at the end of the war, along with most of the other documentation relating to the class. The general destruction of records and Japan's extensive efforts (before and during the war) to keep any information about the ships out of the hands of foreign nations severely limited the amount of information on the ships available to historians. For these reasons the A-150's exact specifications are uncertain. The displacement was to be similar to the Yamato class, which was around 70,000 metric tons (69,000 long tons), and the belt armor was probably going to be 45.7 centimeters (18 in) thick. This was so large that steel mills in Japan were incapable of manufacturing it. Instead, two layers of armor plates would have been used, despite its reduced effectiveness as compared to a single plate of the same total thickness. Similarly, the turret-face armor would have been 80 centimeters (31 in) thick in two layers. The roof armor would have consisted of a single plate 29.5 centimeters (11.6 in) thick. ### Armament The design of the A-150s called for a main battery of six 45-caliber 51-centimeter guns in three twin turrets. These would have been the largest ever fitted to a capital ship, dwarfing the 46-centimeter guns mounted on the Yamato class, and were a key factor in naval historians William H. Garzke and Robert O. Dulin's argument that the A-150s would have been the "most powerful battleships in history". Construction of two of the 51-centimeter guns was ordered in 1941 for trials at the Kure Naval Arsenal and detailed designs of their turrets were drawn up. The turrets would have weighed 2,780 metric tons (2,740 long tons) and each gun would have massed 227 metric tons (223 long tons). They would have had a total length of 23.56 meters (77 ft 4 in) and the bore length was to have been around 22.84 meters (74 ft 11 in). The armor-piercing shells would have weighed 1,950 kg (4,300 lb). The composition of the A-150's secondary armament is not fully known. Historians Eric Lacroix and Linton Wells have written that Japanese designers were considering mounting a large number of 65-caliber 10-centimeter (3.9 in) Type 98 dual-purpose guns, though this was not final. These guns had a maximum elevation of +90°, which gave them an effective ceiling of 11,000 meters (12,030 yd) and a horizontal range of 14,000 meters (15,311 yd). They fired 13-kilogram (29 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 1,030 m/s (3,400 ft/s), although resulting wear on the barrels reduced their designed lifespan to only about 350 rounds. They were able to fire 15–19 rounds per minute. ## Construction As war with the United States became increasingly likely over the Second Sino-Japanese War, and particularly after the Japanese seizure of French Indochina in mid-1940, all design work on battleships was diverted in early 1941—even though the A-150's design was nearly complete—in order to focus on higher-priority warships like aircraft carriers and cruisers. Two A-150s, provisionally designated as Warships Number 798 and 799, were projected in a 1942 building program. Under this plan, 798 would have been built in the same dock as Shinano, while 799 would be built in Kure in the same dock as Yamato after a fourth Yamato-class ship was launched. The ships would then have been finished in 1946–1947, but the war's turn against the Japanese after the Battle of Midway meant that the need for ships other than battleships never abated.
39,829,697	Djaoeh Dimata	1,167,794,173	1948 Indonesian film by Andjar Asmara	[ "Dutch East Indies films", "Films directed by Andjar Asmara", "Indonesian black-and-white films" ]	Djaoeh Dimata (; Perfected Spelling: Jauh di Mata; Indonesian for Out of Sight) is a 1948 film from what is now Indonesia written and directed by Andjar Asmara for the South Pacific Film Corporation (SPFC). Starring Ratna Asmara and Ali Joego, it follows a woman who moves to Jakarta to find work after her husband is blinded in an accident. SPFC's first production, Djaoeh Dimata took two to three months to film and cost almost 130,000 gulden. The first domestically produced feature film to be released in five years, Djaoeh Dimata received favourable reviews, although financially it was outperformed by Roestam Sutan Palindih's Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitarum (released soon after). The film's cast remained active in the Indonesian film industry, some for another 30 years, and SPFC produced six more works before closing in 1949. A copy of the film is stored at Sinematek Indonesia. ## Plot A poor villager, Asrad (Ali Joego), is blinded following a traffic accident and thus unable to work. As a result, his wife Soelastri (Ratna Asmara) travels to the capital, Jakarta, to find a job. As Asrad does not trust his wife and fears she may be unfaithful, he writes her a letter telling her not to return. Soelastri becomes a singer, and – unknown to Asrad – soon achieves wide acclaim. Her most popular song, "Djaoeh Dimata", receives heavy airplay on the radio and soon becomes one of Asrad's favourites. Ultimately Soelastri is brought home by Soekarto (Iskandar Sucarno), who attempts to pass her off as a maid for Asrad. When Asrad recognises his wife's voice, they are reconciled. ## Background The first two years of the 1940s saw a growth in the cinema of the Dutch East Indies, with over forty domestic productions released. Following the Japanese occupation in February 1942, production slowed greatly and nearly all film studios were closed. The last studio, the ethnic Chinese-owned Multi Film, was confiscated by the Japanese to establish the film production company Nippon Eigasha in Jakarta, the colony's capital. This included Multi Film's equipment, with which Nippon Eigasha produced one feature film – Rd Ariffien's Berdjoang (Struggle; 1943) – six short films, and several newsreels. All were pro-Japanese propaganda. After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, a number of native Indonesian employees of Nippon Eigasha formed Berita Film Indonesia, which first made use of the studios. This company was allied with the newly proclaimed Indonesian government. During the ensuing revolution, allied Dutch and British forces occupied Jakarta in November 1945. The Dutch took over the studio, and production of newsreels at Multi Film's studios began in 1947 under the banner Regerings Film Bedrijf. The following year the Dutch established a subsidiary company to produce fictional films. This new company, the South Pacific Film Corporation (SPFC), was subsidised in part by the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration, a continuation of the former Dutch colonial government of the Indies. ## Production SPFC hired Andjar Asmara, a former journalist and stagewriter who had been active with The Teng Chun's Java Industrial Film before the Japanese occupation, to direct Djaoeh Dimata; he based the screenplay on his stageplay of the same name. However, as with his pre-war ventures, the native Indonesian Andjar was more of an acting and dialogue coach; the Dutch cinematographer, A.A. Denninghoff-Stelling, held more creative power over the final product. Max Tera served as assistant cinematographer on this black-and-white film. The film starred Ratna Asmara (wife of Andjar), Ali Yugo, Iskandar Sucarno, and Djauhari Effendi, all of whom had previous theatrical experience. Ratna and Ali, together with Andjar, had been members of the travelling troupe Dardanella in the early 1930s and entered the film industry together in 1940 with Kartinah. Iskandar and Djauhari, meanwhile, had been active in the theatre during the occupation; both made their feature film debuts with Djaoeh Dimata. Principal photography was conducted on sets constructed by artistic director Hajopan Bajo Angin in SFPC's studio in Jakarta. The company's equipment was of good quality, but conditions were detrimental to filming; a contemporary report notes that one take, done inside the studio, was ruined by the sound of a passing car. Filming, which took two to three months, was completed on 10 November 1948. Production costs were almost 130,000 gulden, which was partially obtained from ethnic Chinese backers. The film included multiple songs, including Gesang Martohartono's 1940 hit "Bengawan Solo". A documentary detailing one day of the production, called Er wordt een film gemaakt ("A film is being made") exists in the Netherlands. ## Release and reception Djaoeh Dimata was released in late 1948, the first domestic feature film since Berdjoang. Despite this five-year gap, film critic Usmar Ismail writes that it did not stray from the formula which had been proven before the war, one which Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran notes focused on songs, beautiful scenery and romance. Roestam Sutan Palindih's Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitarum (Tears Flow in Citarum), which had similar themes, was released shortly after Djaoeh Dimata by the rival Tan & Wong Bros.; it proved the greater financial success. Only three domestic productions were released in 1948; the last was another SPFC production, entitled Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid), which was also directed by Andjar. Reviews of the film, which was rated for all ages, were mixed. One in the Jakarta-based Het Dagblad found the film to have many (unspecified) weak moments as well as strong ones. It particularly praised Ali's acting as a blind man, as well as Denninghoff-Stelling's camerawork. Another reviewer, in the magazine Mestika, described Ratna as an "unprecedented tragedienne" capable of making viewers cry "unrestrained tears of emotion". After Djaoeh Dimata was released in Singapore in June 1949, a reviewer for The Straits Times praised the film's "fine photography and almost perfect sound". Andjar directed two further films for South Pacific, Anggrek Bulan and Gadis Desa (Maiden from the Village; 1949). Ratna had no further acting roles, although in 1950 she became Indonesia's first female director with Sedap Malam (Sweetness of the Night), for Djamaluddin Malik's company Persari. Ali, Iskandar, and Djauhari remained active as actors, Ali and Iskandar through the 1960s and Djauhari until the 1970s. SPFC made another six films before shutting down at the end of the Indonesian National Revolution in 1949. A 35 mm copy of Djaoeh Dimata is stored at Sinematek Indonesia in Jakarta.
49,323,540	Meteorological history of Hurricane Patricia	1,171,668,762	null	[ "2015 Pacific hurricane season", "Meteorological histories of individual tropical cyclones", "Tropical cyclones in 2015" ]	Hurricane Patricia was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere and the second-most intense worldwide in terms of barometric pressure. It also featured the highest one-minute maximum sustained winds ever recorded in a tropical cyclone. Originating from a sprawling disturbance near the Gulf of Tehuantepec in mid-October 2015, Patricia was first classified a tropical depression on October 20. Initial development was slow, with only modest strengthening within the first day of its classification. The system later became a tropical storm and was named Patricia, the twenty-fourth named storm of the annual hurricane season. Exceptionally favorable environmental conditions fueled explosive intensification on October 22. A well-defined eye developed within an intense central dense overcast and Patricia grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours—a near-record pace. The magnitude of intensification was poorly forecast and both forecast models and meteorologists suffered from record-high prediction errors. On October 23, two Hurricane Hunter missions both revealed the storm to have acquired maximum sustained winds of 205 mph (330 km/h) and a pressure of 879 mbar (hPa; 25.96 inHg). Since the peak intensity was assessed to have occurred between the missions, the National Hurricane Center ultimately estimated Patricia to have acquired winds of 215 mph (346 km/h) and pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; 25.75 inHg). This ranked it just below Typhoon Tip of 1979 as the most intense tropical cyclone on record. Patricia's exceptional intensity prompted the retirement of its name in April 2016. Late on October 23, Patricia made landfall in a significantly weakened state near Cuixmala, Jalisco. Despite weakening greatly, it was the strongest recorded landfalling Pacific hurricane with winds estimated at 150 mph (240 km/h). Interaction with the mountainous terrain of Mexico induced dramatic weakening, faster than the storm had intensified. Within 24 hours of moving ashore, Patricia degraded into a tropical depression and dissipated soon thereafter late on October 24. ## Origins On October 11, 2015, an area of disturbed weather traversed Central America and emerged over the eastern Pacific Ocean. The disturbance moved slowly over the next few days, and coalesced into a Central American gyre—a broad monsoonal circulation. A tropical wave crossed the Caribbean and eventually reached Central America on October 15; the two systems merged the following day near the Gulf of Tehuantepec. A concurrent Tehuantepec gap wind event on the western side of the gyre, complemented by anticyclonic flow behind a cold front, enhanced vorticity and spurred the formation of an elongated area of low pressure on October 17. The broad system spanned several hundred miles from the Yucatán Peninsula into the eastern Pacific. A large, disorganized area of convection—showers and thunderstorms—accompanied the system, increasing in coverage substantially throughout the day. A strong pulse in the Madden–Julian oscillation—a propagating climate pattern associated with increased tropical cyclogenesis—may have aided in creating favorable conditions for further development. Moving south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec on October 18, the system consolidated and developed a small, defined circulation. Associated convection became more concentrated around its center. Another gap wind event soon impacted the system, temporarily delaying development of the disturbance into a tropical depression. The low soon relocated to the northeast, aligning itself east of the gap wind event which aided in development. A small, well-defined circulation formed by early on October 20 within a broader cyclonic circulation. With increasing deep convection, the system is estimated to have become a tropical depression, assigned the identifier Twenty-E, by 06:00 UTC. Upon its designation, the depression was situated roughly 205 mi (330 km) south-southeast of Salina Cruz, Mexico. ## Rapid intensification Located south of a mid-level ridge and the continuing gap wind event, the nascent depression moved slowly west-southwest on October 20. Initial environmental conditions were modestly favorable, allowing for steady intensification. The depression achieved tropical storm status by 00:00 UTC on October 21; the National Hurricane Center (NHC) assigned it the name Patricia accordingly. Throughout much of October 21, Patricia moved through a region of drier, more stable air and over relatively cool sea surface temperatures. Both of these factors served to delay intensification of the cyclone. The system unraveled substantially, with banding features dissipating and the low-level circulation becoming poorly defined. Once clear of the hindering factors, convection blossomed over Patricia late on October 21 and a central dense overcast formed over the center. Simultaneously, the storm accelerated west-northwest. Exceptionally favorable atmospheric conditions, consisting of little wind shear, anomalously high sea surface temperatures of 87 to 88 °F (30.5 to 31 °C), and high moisture levels yielded an environment highly conducive to rapid intensification. Consequently, Patricia commenced explosive intensification late on October 21. Patricia reached hurricane strength shortly after 00:00 UTC on October 22, featuring prominent outflow, well-defined banding features, and a developing eye. Upon becoming a hurricane, Patricia was located 230 mi (370 km) south of Acapulco, Mexico. In the following 12 hours, a well-defined 12 mi (19 km) wide eye formed within a ring of intense convection—with cloud tops of −80 to −90 °C (−112 to −130 °F)—forming "an almost perfectly symmetric [central dense overcast]". Data from NOAA Hurricane Hunters investigating the cyclone indicated Patricia to have reached Category 4 status on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale by 18:00 UTC; maximum sustained winds were estimated at 130 mph (210 km/h) alongside a barometric pressure of 957 mbar (hPa; 28.26 inHg) at this time. ### Forecast errors The rapid intensification of Patricia was well-anticipated but poorly forecast. Meteorologists at the NHC indicated the possibility of such in the system's first advisory as a tropical depression. They noted the only inhibiting factor would be how quickly the storm could organize an inner core. Just before the onset of rapid intensification, the agency was unable to utilize the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme rapid intensification guidance due to technical errors. This likely contributed to even greater errors in the agency's forecast. Initial forecasts were consistently conservative with intensity and dramatic strengthening was not explicitly shown until rapid intensification was already underway. At 03:00 UTC on October 22, the NHC forecast Patricia to achieve major hurricane status in 36 hours; less than 15 hours later, the system exceeded their forecast peak. Strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane was not forecast at all until Patricia had already reached such intensity, although in the intermediate advisory immediately before Patricia's upgrade to Category 5, the NHC noted that "Patricia could become a category 5 hurricane overnight", and in the preceding tropical weather discussion, noted that "Patricia could ... reach Category 5 intensity". This trend continued throughout the rapid intensification period, resulting in some of the largest errors on record through 48 hours; they were the worst-ever for the Eastern Pacific since the NHC took over operations for the basin in 1988. All forecast models saw enormous errors, most of which performed worse than the official NHC forecasts. No model accurately prognosticated the magnitude nor rate of the intensification. The EMXI—an output from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts—saw the largest average error with 98.5 mph (158.5 km/h) at 48 hours. ## Peak strength During the overnight hours of October 22–23, Patricia turned northwest and decelerated slightly as it reached the western edge of the mid-level ridge. Rapid development continued into October 23, and the hurricane reached Category 5 status by 00:00 UTC, with winds estimated at 175 mph (282 km/h). Convection cooled even further, with cloud tops colder than −130 °F (−90 °C) surrounding an 8 mi (13 km) wide eye by 03:00 UTC. In a 24-hour span, Patricia's winds increased by 120 mph (190 km/h) and its central pressure fell by 95 mbar (hPa; 2.81 inHg). Around 06:00 UTC, an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft measured flight-level winds of 221 mph (356 km/h) and the aircraft's stepped frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR) observed surface winds of 210 mph (340 km/h). Furthermore, the final dropsonde observation from that mission at about 06:45 UTC indicated a central pressure of 879 mbar (hPa; 25.96 inHg). Rapid development continued after the aircraft left the hurricane, as the three pressure readings during the mission indicated that the pressure fell at a rate of more than 7 mbar (hPa; 0.207 inHg) per hour. Their findings also revealed an extraordinarily tight pressure gradient of 24 mbar (hPa; 0.709 inHg) per nautical mile, among the steepest gradients on record. Based on continued improvement of the hurricane's satellite appearance, Patricia is assessed to have achieved its peak intensity around 12:00 UTC on October 23; the storm was situated about 150 mi (240 km) southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Maximum winds are estimated at 215 mph (346 km/h) alongside a pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; 25.75 inHg), making Patricia the second-most intense tropical cyclone ever observed. It is possible that Patricia surpassed the all-time record of 870 mbar (hPa; 25.69 inHg) set by Typhoon Tip in 1979 given the rate of deepening observed during the early morning mission. The violent, compact core of Patricia was roughly 25 mi (40 km) wide with the radius of maximum winds extending only 7 mi (11 km). Little change in strength took place for the next six hours; a shortwave trough crossing the Baja California Peninsula turned Patricia to the northeast and induced acceleration. Another reconnaissance mission around 18:00 UTC recorded a central pressure of 879 mbar (hPa; 25.96 inHg). The aircraft was battered by severe turbulence (the result of updrafts and downdrafts) and the crew experienced maximum g-forces of +3.0 and -1.5. ## Landfall and dissipation Late on October 23, radar imagery depicted the formation of a secondary outer eyewall, indicative of an eyewall replacement cycle. By 20:30 UTC, the final pass by reconnaissance, the hurricane's flight-level winds fell by 60 mph (97 km/h) and its central pressure rose at 8 mbar (hPa; 0.236 inHg) per hour. Coinciding with the eyewall replacement cycle was an increase in southwesterly wind shear, a factor that further accelerated Patricia's degradation. The hurricane's eye soon became cloud-filled and rapid weakening ensued at an unprecedented pace. At 23:00 UTC, the cyclone made landfall at Cuixmala in the municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco—about 55 mi (89 km) west-northwest of Manzanillo—with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and an estimated pressure of 932 mbar (hPa; 27.52 inHg). This made Patricia the strongest hurricane to strike Mexico's Pacific coast, exceeding an unnamed storm in 1959 and Madeline in 1976 (the latter of which has not been reanalyzed). Although Patricia was operationally thought to have made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 165 mph (266 km/h) and a pressure of 920 mbar (hPa; 27.17 inHg), reanalysis of available data suggested that the hurricane weakened more rapidly than originally thought: an automated station in Cuixmala measured a pressure of 934.2 mbar (934.2 hPa; 27.59 inHg), while Josh Morgerman in Emiliano Zapata, just inside the eye of Patricia, measured a pressure of 937.8 mbar (hPa; 27.69 inHg). His observations also indicated a pressure gradient of 11 mbar (hPa; 0.325 inHg) per nautical mile. Patricia's winds at landfall are relatively uncertain, and the 150 mph (240 km/h) value is based upon the Knaff–Zehr–Courtney pressure–wind relationship and an extrapolation of a 54 mbar (hPa; 1.59 inHg) filling using the Dvorak Technique. An additional equation stemming from work by Willoughby (1993) yielded a landfall intensity of 147 mph (237 km/h). A NOAA automated weather station at the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve, at an elevation of 280 ft (85 m), recorded sustained winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) and a maximum gust of 211 mph (340 km/h). Further raw data from this station indicated unrealistically high sustained winds of 266 mph (428 km/h) and a maximum gust of 1,138 mph (1,831 km/h). Based on the station's distance from Patricia's eye, outside the radius of maximum winds, the observations from this station are considered unreliable. The highest reliably measured winds of 98 mph (158 km/h) occurred in Pista between 22:30 and 23:00 UTC on October 23 before the anemometer failed. Even faster weakening ensued through October 24 as the hurricane traversed the Sierra Madre mountains; its eye disappeared from satellite imagery within hours of moving ashore. The system weakened below hurricane strength by 03:00 UTC as it passed west of Guadalajara. Patricia accelerated inland between a trough over Northwestern Mexico and the ridge over the Gulf of Mexico. Convection dramatically decreased in organization and the low- and mid- to upper-level circulation centers of the cyclone soon decoupled. The system degraded into a tropical depression by 12:00 UTC as little organized convection remained, and the storm dissipated shortly thereafter over central Mexico. Unimpeded by the mountains of Mexico, the mid- to upper-level circulation of Patricia, accompanied by considerable moisture, continued northeast and interacted with a cold front over the western Gulf of Mexico. The new system produced flooding rains across large areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. ## Records With maximum sustained winds of 215 mph (346 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 872 mbar (hPa; 25.75 inHg), Hurricane Patricia is the second-most intense tropical cyclone ever observed, just shy of Typhoon Tip in 1979 which had a minimum pressure of 870 mbar (hPa; 25.69 inHg). It is also the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. It exceeded the previous sustained wind record of 190 mph (310 km/h) set by Hurricane Allen in 1980 and the pressure record of 882 mbar (hPa; 26.05 inHg) set by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, both in the Atlantic basin. In the Eastern Pacific basin, north of the equator and east of the International Date Line, the previous basin record-holder was Hurricane Linda in 1997 with winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) and a pressure of 902 mbar (hPa; 26.64 inHg). Reconnaissance also found a pressure gradient of 24 mbar (hPa; 0.709 inHg) per nautical mile early on October 23, among the steepest gradients ever observed in a tropical cyclone. On a global scale, Patricia's one-minute maximum sustained winds rank as the highest ever reliably observed or estimated globally in a tropical cyclone, surpassing Typhoon Haiyan of 2013, although the intensity of Haiyan was only estimated via satellite imagery (T8.0, the highest rating on the Dvorak scale). Since no aircraft reconnaissance was available for Haiyan, the record set by Patricia is uncertain and comparing the intensities of the two storms is problematic. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Typhoon Nancy of 1961 also produced 215 mph (346 km/h) sustained winds; however, it is widely accepted that Western Pacific reconnaissance during the 1940s to 1960s overestimated cyclone intensity and Nancy's record is considered questionable. The most powerful wind gust produced by a tropical cyclone, as well as the highest non-tornadic winds ever recorded, is still retained by Cyclone Olivia in 1996: 253 mph (407 km/h) was observed on Barrow Island, Western Australia. The magnitude of Patricia's rapid intensification is among the fastest ever observed. In a 24-hour period, 06:00–06:00 UTC October 22–23, its maximum sustained winds increased from 85 to 205 mph (137 to 330 km/h). This represents a record increase of 120 mph (190 km/h). During the same period, Patricia's central pressure fell by 95 mbar (hPa; 2.81 inHg). This fell just short of the world-record intensification set by Typhoon Forrest in 1983, which featured a pressure drop of 100 mbar (hPa; 2.953 inHg) in just under 24 hours. With a pressure of 932 mbar (hPa; 27.52 inHg), Patricia is the strongest landfalling Pacific hurricane on record. The previous record was 941 mbar (hPa; 27.79 inHg) set by Hurricane Odile in 2014. Similarly, the hurricane featured the fastest weakening while still over water in NHC's area of responsibility, with a pressure rise of 54 mbar (hPa; 1.59 inHg) in the five hours before it made landfall. Furthermore, a dropsonde observed a 700 mbar height temperature of 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in the eye of Patricia. This is one of the highest temperatures ever observed in a tropical cyclone's eye worldwide. ## See also Other record-strength tropical cyclones: - Hurricane Linda in 1997 – Previous record intensity in eastern Pacific basin, during a similarly strong El Niño event - Typhoon Megi in 2010 – Research reconnaissance observed similarly intense sustained winds - Typhoon Goni in 2020 – Strongest landfalling tropical cyclone by 1-minute sustained winds - Typhoon Nancy in 1961 – Tied with Patricia for the highest winds observed in a tropical cyclone, considered unreliable - Typhoon Tip in 1979 – Most intense tropical cyclone recorded in terms of pressure - Hurricane Wilma in 2005 – Previous record low central pressure in the Western Hemisphere, still record low for the Atlantic - Hurricane Allen in 1980 – Previous record high sustained winds in the Western Hemisphere, still record high for the Atlantic - Typhoon Forrest in 1983 – Record-fastest intensification of any tropical cyclone; underwent a 100 mbar (hPa; 2.953 inHg) pressure drop in just under 24 hours
28,241,098	December 1964 South Vietnamese coup	1,127,665,984	Coup by General Nguyễn Khánh	[ "1960s coups d'état and coup attempts", "1964 in South Vietnam", "Military coups in South Vietnam" ]	The December 1964 South Vietnamese coup took place before dawn on December 19, 1964, when the ruling military junta of South Vietnam led by General Nguyễn Khánh dissolved the High National Council (HNC) and arrested some of its members. The HNC was an unelected legislative-style civilian advisory body they had created at the request of the United States—South Vietnam's main sponsor—to give a veneer of civilian rule. The dissolution dismayed the Americans, particularly the ambassador, Maxwell D. Taylor, who engaged in an angry war of words with various generals including Khánh and threatened aid cuts. They were unable to do anything about the fait accompli that had been handed to them, because they strongly desired to win the Vietnam War and needed to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Instead, Taylor's searing verbal attacks were counterproductive as they galvanized the Vietnamese officers around the embattled Khánh. At the time, Khánh's leadership was under threat from his fellow generals, as well as Taylor, who had fallen out with him and was seeking his removal. The genesis of the removal of the HNC was a power struggle within the ruling junta. Khánh, who had been saved from an earlier coup attempt in September 1964 by the intervention of some younger generals dubbed the Young Turks, was indebted to them and needed to satisfy their wishes to stay in power. The Young Turks disliked a group of older officers who had been in high leadership positions but were now in powerless posts, and wanted to sideline them completely. As a result, they decided to hide their political motives by introducing a policy to compulsorily retire all general officers with more than 25 years of service. The chief of state Phan Khắc Sửu, an elderly figure appointed by the military to give a semblance of civilian rule, did not want to sign the decree without the agreement of the HNC, which mostly consisted of old men. The HNC recommended against the new policy, and the younger officers, led by I Corps commander General Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, disbanded the body and arrested some of its members along with other politicians. As a result of this event, Taylor summoned Khánh to his office. Khánh sent Thi, Kỳ, the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy Admiral Chung Tấn Cang and IV Corps commander General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, and after beginning with "Do all of you understand English?", Taylor harshly berated them and threatened cuts in aid. While angered by Taylor's manner, the officers defended themselves in a restrained way. The next day Khánh met Taylor and the Vietnamese leader made oblique accusations that the U.S. wanted a puppet ally; he also criticized Taylor for his manner the previous day. When Taylor told Khánh he had lost confidence in his leadership, Taylor was threatened with expulsion, to which he responded with threats of total aid cuts. Later however, Khánh said he would leave Vietnam along with some other generals he named, and during a phone conversation, asked Taylor to help with travel arrangements. He then asked Taylor to repeat the names of the would-be exiles for confirmation, and Taylor complied, not knowing that Khánh was taping the dialogue. Khánh then showed the tape to his colleagues out of context, misleading them into thinking that Taylor wanted them expelled from their own country to raise the prestige of his embattled leadership. Over the next few days, Khánh embarked on a media offensive, repeatedly criticizing U.S. policy and decrying what he saw as an undue influence and infringement on Vietnamese sovereignty, explicitly condemning Taylor and declaring the nation's independence from "foreign manipulation". Khánh and the Young Turks began preparations to expel Taylor before changing their minds; however, Khánh's misleading tactics had rallied the Young Turks around his fragile leadership for at least the short-term future. The Americans were forced to back down on their insistence that the HNC be restored and did not carry through on Taylor's threats to cut off aid, despite Saigon's defiance. ## Background On September 26, 1964, Nguyễn Khánh and the senior officers in his military junta created a semblance of civilian rule by forming the High National Council (HNC), an appointed advisory body akin to a legislature. This came after lobbying by American officials—led by Ambassador Maxwell Taylor—in Vietnam, as they placed great value in the appearance of civilian legitimacy, which they saw as vital to building a popular base for any government. Khánh put his rival General Dương Văn Minh—who he had deposed in a January 1964 coup—in charge of picking the 17 members of the HNC, and Minh filled it with figures sympathetic to him. The HNC then made a resolution to recommend a political model with a powerful head of state, which would likely be Minh, given their sympathy towards him. Khánh did not want his rival taking power, so he and the Americans convinced the HNC to dilute the powers of the position to make it unappealing to Minh, who was then sent on an overseas diplomatic goodwill tour to remove him from the political scene. However, Minh was back in South Vietnam after a few months and the power balance in the junta was still fragile. The HNC, which had representatives from a wide range of social groups, selected the aging civilian politician Phan Khắc Sửu as chief of state, and Suu chose Trần Văn Hương as prime minister, a position that had greater power. However, Khánh and the senior generals retained the real power. At the same time, a group of Catholic officers were trying to replace Khánh with their co-religionist, General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, and the incumbent was under pressure. During 1964, South Vietnam had suffered a succession of setbacks on the battlefield, in part due to disunity in the military and a focus on coup plotting. In the meantime, both Saigon and Washington were planning a large-scale bombing campaign against North Vietnam in an attempt to deter communist aggression, but were waiting for stability in the south before starting the air strikes. ## Compulsory retirement policy Khánh and a group of younger officers called the Young Turks—led by chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, commander of I Corps General Nguyễn Chánh Thi and IV Corps commander Thiệu—wanted to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service, as they thought them to be lethargic and ineffective, but most importantly, rivals for power. Most of the older officers had more experience under the Vietnamese National Army during the French colonial era, and some of the younger men saw them as too detached from the modern situation. The Young Turks had quite a lot of influence over Khánh, as Thi and Kỳ had intervened militarily to save him from a coup attempt in September by Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức. One of the specific and unspoken aims of this proposed policy was to remove Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn, Lê Văn Kim and Mai Hữu Xuân from the military. This quartet, along with Tôn Thất Đính, had been the leading members of a junta that overthrew President Ngô Đình Diệm in November 1963. The generals who deposed Diệm did not trust Khánh because of his habit of changing sides, and Khánh was angered by their snubs. Khánh put Don, Kim, Xuan and Dinh under arrest in Da Lat after his January coup, claiming they were about to make a deal with the communists, a falsehood to cover up his motive of revenge. These four thus became known as the "Da Lat Generals". Khánh later released them and placed them into meaningless desk jobs with no work to do, although they were still being paid. Khánh did this as he thought the Young Turks had become too powerful and he hoped to use the Da Lat Generals as a counterweight. All this time, Minh had been allowed to continue as a figurehead chief of state due to his popularity, but Khánh was intent on sidelining him too. The Young Turks were fully aware of Khánh's motives for rehabilitating the Da Lat Generals, and wanted to marginalize them. In public, Khánh and the Young Turks claimed the Da Lat Generals and Minh, who had returned from his overseas tour, had been making plots with the Buddhist activists to regain power. Suu's signature was required to pass the ruling, but he referred the matter to the HNC to get their opinion. The HNC turned down the request. There was speculation the HNC did this as many of them were old, and therefore did not appreciate the generals' negativity towards seniors—some South Vietnamese mockingly called the HNC the High National Museum. On December 19, a Saturday, the generals moved to dissolve the HNC by arresting some of its members. The HNC had already ceased to function in any meaningful way, as only 9 of the 17 members were still occasionally attending its meetings, and few on a regular basis. ## Dissolution of the High National Council Before dawn on December 19, there were troop movements in the capital as the junta deposed the civilians. The operation was commanded by Thi—who had travelled into Saigon from I Corps in the far north—and Kỳ. The national police, which was under the control of the army, moved through the streets, arresting five HNC members, other politicians and student leaders they deemed to be an obstacle to their aims. Minh and the other aging generals were arrested and flown to Pleiku, a Central Highlands town in a Montagnard area, while other officers were simply imprisoned in Saigon. The junta's forces also arrested around 100 members of the National Salvation Council (NSC) of Le Khac Quyen; the NSC was a new party active in central Vietnam in the I Corps region and opposed to the expansion of the war. It was aligned with Thi and the Buddhist activist monk Thích Trí Quang, but as Thi was active in the purge, it was believed he had fallen out with Quyen. At this point, Khánh had not spoken up and allowed the impression that the moves had been made without his consultation or against his will, and an attempt on the part of other officers to take power themselves. Hương had actually privately endorsed the dissolution of the HNC, as both he and the Young Turks thought it would allow them to gain more power and influence over Khánh. The infighting exasperated Taylor, the US Ambassador to South Vietnam and former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who felt the disputes between the junta's senior officers were derailing the war effort. Only a few days earlier, General William Westmoreland—the commander of US forces in Vietnam—had invited him and the Vietnamese generals home to a dinner. There Taylor asked for an end to the persistent changes in leadership, and Khánh and his men assured him of stability. Westmoreland warned that persistent instability would turn the American political class and public against Saigon, as they would deem it useless to support such a regime. Taylor initially cabled the State Department back in the US to state a "naked military fist" had "crumpled [the] carefully woven fabric of civilian government", and that the arrest of the civilians would be "immediately and understandably interpreted by all the world as another military coup, setting back all that had been accomplished" since the formation of the HNC and the creation of a veneer of civilian rule. He went on to say that an "inescapable conclusion that if a group of military officers could issue decisions abolishing one of the three fundamental organs of the governmental structure ... and carry out military arrests of civilians, that group of military officers has clearly set themselves above and beyond the structure of government in Vietnam." Taylor bemoaned the fact that the generals had shown no second thoughts about ignoring US policy recommendations, particularly in disregarding his explicit advice to maintain stable civilian rule, at least at a nominal level. Taylor issued a thinly disguised threat to cut aid, releasing a public statement saying Washington might reconsider its military funding if "the fabric of legal government" was not reinstated. ## Angry confrontations with Maxwell Taylor Taylor summoned Khánh to his office, but the Vietnamese leader sent Thi, Kỳ, Thiệu and Admiral Chung Tấn Cang, the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, instead. Taylor asked the four to sit down and then said "Do all of you understand English?" The ambassador then angrily denounced the officers. According to Stanley Karnow, Taylor "launched into a tirade, scolding them as if he were still superintendent of West Point and they a group of cadets caught cheating". He said "I told you all clearly at General Westmoreland's dinner we Americans were tired of coups. Apparently I wasted my words." He decried the removal of the HNC as "totally illegal", and said it had "destroyed the government-making process", and that "I made it clear that all the military plans I know you would like to carry out are dependent on government stability", something he felt had been lost with the dismissal of the HNC. He said "you have made a real mess. We cannot carry you forever if you do things like this." Taylor believed the HNC to be an essential part of the government, because as an American, he believed civilian legitimacy was a must. For him, the HNC was a necessary step in a progression towards an elected civilian legislature, which he regarded as critical for national and military morale. The historian Mark Moyar regarded Taylor's intervention as unnecessary, and noted that there had been many instances of fierce fighting in Vietnamese history despite the complete absence of democracy throughout the nation's history. Taylor also reminded them of an earlier meeting where he had discussed an American plan to expand the war, increase funding for the South Vietnamese military, and to go on the offensive against the communists at the request of Khánh. Taylor said the Americans would not be able to help Saigon pursue their desired military strategy if the political machinations did not stop. Taylor said that if the military did not transfer some powers or advisory capacity back to the HNC or another civilian institution, aid would be withheld, and some planned military operations against the Ho Chi Minh trail—which was being used to infiltrate communists into the south—would be suspended. The four officers were taken aback by Taylor's searing words and felt they had been humiliated. A decade after the incident, Kỳ described Taylor as "the sort of man who addressed people rather than talked to them", referencing the confrontation. Karnow said "For the sake of their own pride, they [the Vietnamese officers] resented being treated in ways that reminded them of their almost total dependence on an alien power. How could they preserve a sense of sovereignty when Taylor, striving to push them into 'getting things done', behaved like a viceroy?" However, Thi also took a perverse pleasure in riling Taylor. He was seen by a CIA officer soon after, grinning. When asked why he was happy, Thi said "Because this is one of the happiest days of my life ... Today I told the American ambassador that he could not dictate to us." Nevertheless, Taylor's conduct had rankled the officers, stirring their latent sense of nationalism and anti-Americanism; Khánh would exploit this to strengthen his fragile position in the junta. Khánh's quartet of delegates responded to Taylor in a circumlocutory way. They remained calm and did not resort to direct confrontation. Kỳ said the change was necessary, as "the political situation is worse than it ever was under Diệm". Kỳ explained that the situation mandated the dissolution of the council, saying "We know you want stability, but you cannot have stability until you have Unity." He claimed some HNC members were disseminating coup rumors and creating doubt among the population, and that "both military and civilian leaders regard the presence of these people in the High National Council as divisive of the Armed Forces due to their influence". Kỳ further accused some of the HNC members of being communist sympathizers and cowards who wanted to stop the military from strengthening. He promised to explain the decision at a media conference and vowed that he and his colleagues would return to purely military roles in the near future. Thiệu added "I do not see how our action has hurt the Hương government ... Hương now has the full support of the Army and has no worries from the High National Council, which we have eliminated." Cang said "It seems ... we are being treated as though we were guilty. What we did was only for the good of the country." When Taylor said the moves detracted from Hương and Suu's powers, the officers disagreed and said they supported the pair in full and that Hương had approved of the HNC's dissolution. Taylor was unimpressed by the reassurances, concluding with "I don't know whether we will continue to support you after this ... You people have broken a lot of dishes and now we have to see how we can straighten out this mess." Taylor's deputy, U. Alexis Johnson felt the discussion had become counterproductive and was increasing the problem. He suggested that should the generals feel unwilling to alter their position immediately, they should refrain from actions that would preclude a later change of heart. He proposed they merely announce the removal of certain members of the HNC rather than the dissolution of the entire body, hoping the HNC could be reconstituted with figures they deemed to be more satisfactory. The four officers did not give a clear answer to Johnson's idea, indicating they had not made a concrete decision by saying "the door is not closed". ### Taylor meets Hương When Taylor met Hương afterwards, he urged the prime minister to reject the dissolution of the HNC. Hương said he and Suu had not been notified of the moves, but agreed to step in and take over the body's work. Taylor nevertheless asked Hương to publicly condemn the coup and call on the army to release those arrested. Hương also said he would be willing to reorganize his administration to meet the wishes of the military, and that retaining their support was essential in keeping a civilian government functional. Taylor said the US did not agree with military rule as a principle, and might reduce aid, but Hương was unmoved and said the Vietnamese people "take a more sentimental than legalistic approach" and that the existence of civilian procedure and the HNC was much less pressing than the "moral prestige of the leaders". American military advisers and intelligence officers who liaised with senior junta members found they were unconcerned with any possible legal ramifications of their actions. Later, despite Taylor's pleas to keep the dissolution of the HNC secret in the hope it would be reversed, Kỳ, Thi, Thiệu and Cang called a media conference, where they maintained the HNC had been dissolved in the nation's best interests. The quartet vowed to stand firm and not renege on their decision. They also proclaimed their ongoing confidence for Suu and Hương. Two days later, Khánh went public in support of the Young Turks' coup against the HNC, condemning the advisory body and asserting the army's right to intervene if "disputes and differences create a situation favorable to the common enemies: Communism and colonialism". The generals announced they had formed a new body called the Armed Forces Council (AFC) to succeed the current Military Revolutionary Council, and referred to the dissolution of the HNC as Decision No. 1 of the AFC. The American policymakers viewed the public moves by the Vietnamese generals as "throwing down the gauntlet" and challenging their counsel. ### Taylor meets Khánh The day after the Young Turks' press conference, Taylor privately met Khánh at the latter's office. He complained about the dissolution of the HNC and said it did not accord with the values of the alliance and the loyalty Washington expected of Saigon. He added that the US could not cooperate with two governments at once: a military regime that held power while a civilian body took the responsibility. Khánh testily replied that Vietnam was not a satellite of the US and compared the situation to the US support of the successful coup against Diệm, saying that loyalty was meant to be reciprocated. Khánh had hinted that he felt the Americans were about to have him deposed like Diệm, who was then assassinated, but this rankled Taylor, who had argued against the regime change. Taylor then bemoaned Khánh, saying he had lost confidence in the Vietnamese officer, recommending Khánh resign and go into exile. He also said military supplies currently being shipped to Vietnam would be withheld after arriving in Saigon and that American help in planning and advising military operations would be suspended. Khánh bristled and said "You should keep to your place as Ambassador ... as Ambassador, it is really not appropriate for you to be dealing in this way with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces on a political matter, nor was it appropriate for you to have summoned some of my generals to the Embassy yesterday." He threatened to expel Taylor, who responded by saying a forced departure would mean the end of US support. However, Khánh later said he was open to the possibility of going abroad and asked Taylor if he thought this would be good for the country, to which the ambassador replied in the affirmative. Khánh also said he took responsibility for his generals' actions, and expressed regret at what they had done. Khánh then ended the meeting, saying he would think about his future. Later, Khánh phoned Taylor from his office and expressed his desire to resign and go abroad along with several other generals, asking for the Americans to fund the travel costs. He then read Taylor the list of generals for whom arrangements needed to be made, and asked the ambassador to repeat the names for confirmation. Taylor did so, unaware Khánh was taping the dialogue. Afterwards, Khánh played the tape out of context to his colleagues, giving them the impression Taylor was calling for their expulsion from their own country. Khánh then asked his colleagues to participate in a campaign of fomenting anti-American street protests and to give the impression the country did not need Washington's aid. A CIA informant reported the recent arguments with Taylor had incensed the volatile Thi so much that he had privately vowed to "blow up everything" and "kill Phan Khắc Sửu, Trần Văn Hương and Nguyễn Khánh and put an end to all this. Then we will see what happens." ## Public media campaign by Khánh On the morning of December 22, as part of his Order of the Day, a regular message to the armed forces over Radio Vietnam, Khánh went back on his promise to leave the country and announced, "We make sacrifices for the country's independence and the Vietnamese people's liberty, but not to carry out the policy of any foreign country." He said it was "better to live poor but proud as free citizens of an independent country rather than in ease and shame as slaves of the foreigners and Communists". Khánh pledged support for both Hương and Suu's civilian rule, and condemned colonialism in a thinly veiled reference to the US. Khánh explicitly denounced Taylor in an exclusive interview with Beverly Deepe published in the New York Herald Tribune on December 23, saying "if Taylor did not act more intelligently, Southeast Asia would be lost" and that the US could not expect to succeed by modelling South Vietnam on American norms. Khánh said Taylor and the US would need to be "more practical and not have a dream of having Vietnam be an image of the United States, because the way of life and people are entirely different". He added that Taylor's "attitude during the last 48 hours—as far as my small head is concerned—has been beyond imagination". Justifying the removal of the HNC, Khánh said they were "exploited by counter-revolutionary elements who placed partisan considerations above the homeland's sacred interest". Khánh also threatened to divulge the content of his discussion with Taylor, saying "One day I hope to tell the Vietnamese people and the American people about this ... It is a pity because Gen. Taylor is not serving his country well." Khánh had not divulged that angry discussions had occurred in private, so Deepe was unsure what had happened between Taylor and Khánh to provoke such an outburst. She contacted the US Embassy to ask what the dispute was about. At first, the Americans defended Taylor without referring to what the problem was, stating: "Ambassador Taylor has undertaken no activities which can be considered improper in any way ... All his activities are designed to serve the best interests of both Vietnam and the United States." The State Department issued a statement later in the day in more robust terms, saying "Ambassador Taylor has been acting throughout with the full support of the U.S. government ... a duly constituted government exercising full power ... without improper interference ... is the essential condition for the successful prosecution of the effort to defeat the Viet Cong." The following day, Secretary of State Dean Rusk said aid would have to be cut, as the programs being funded needed an effective government to be useful. Taylor later responded by calling the generals' actions an "improper interference" into the purview of civilian government. Defying Taylor earned Khánh heightened approval among his junta colleagues, as the ambassador's actions were seen as an insult to the nation. On the night of December 23, Khánh convinced his fellow officers to join him in lobbying Hương to declare Taylor persona non grata and expel him from South Vietnam. They were confident Hương could not reject them and side with a foreign power at the expense of the military that had installed him, and made preparations to meet him the next day. Khánh also told Hương that if Taylor was not ejected, he and the other generals would hold a media conference and release "detailed accounts" of the ambassador's confrontation with the quartet and his "ultimatum to General Khánh" the day after. However, someone in the junta was a CIA informant and reported the incident, allowing American officials to individually lobby the officers to change their stance. At the same time, the Americans informed Hương if Taylor was expelled, US funding would stop. The next day, the generals changed their mind and when they met Hương at his office, only asked him to formally denounce Taylor's behavior in his meetings with Khánh and his quartet and to "take appropriate measures to preserve the honor of all the Vietnamese armed forces and to keep national prestige intact". On December 24, Khánh issued a declaration of independence from "foreign manipulation", and condemned "colonialism", explicitly accusing Taylor of abusing his power. At the time, Khánh was also secretly negotiating with the communists, hoping to put together a peace deal so he could expel the Americans from Vietnam, although this effort did not lead anywhere in the two months before he was forced out of power. For his part, Taylor privately told Americans journalists that Khánh was expressing opposition to the US merely because he knew he had lost Washington's confidence. Taylor said Khánh was completely unprincipled and was stirring up anti-American sentiment purely to try to shore up his political prospects, not because he thought US policy was harmful to South Vietnam. The US media were generally very critical of Khánh's actions and did not blame Taylor for the disharmony. Peter Grose of The New York Times said "It almost seems as if Viet Cong insurgents and the Saigon government conspired to make the United States feel unwelcome." The Chicago Tribune lampooned Khánh's junta, calling it a "parody of a government" and saying it would not survive for a week without US support and describing the generals as "remittance men on the United States' payroll". However, the New York Herald Tribune said it was dangerous to pressure South Vietnam too much, citing the instability that followed the American support for the coup against Diệm, who had resisted US advice so often. It said "The issue is not General Khánh versus General Taylor. It is whether the Vietnamese still have the will to exist as an independent state." The newspaper said if the answer was yes, then both Washington and Saigon would have to look beyond personalities. Angry with Deepe for airing Khánh's grievances against him, Taylor invited every other US journalist in Saigon to this private briefing. Taylor gave the journalists his account of the dispute and discussions with the generals, and hoped it would be useful background information for the media, so they would understand what he had done and not reach negative conclusions about his conduct in their writing. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, he asked them to keep the remarks off the record. However, someone at the briefing informed Deepe of what Taylor had said, and she published the remarks on December 25 under the title "Taylor Rips Mask Off Khánh". In this article, comments were also attributed to Taylor describing some South Vietnamese officers as borderline "nuts" and accusing many generals of staying in Saigon and allowing their junior officers to run the war as they saw fit. Deepe's article caused an uproar due to the tension between Taylor and the Vietnamese generals. ## Brinks Hotel bombing At the same time, Westmoreland became concerned with the growing antipathy towards the US and requested the United States Pacific Command (CINCPAC): "In view of the current unstable political situation ... and the possibility that this situation could lead to anti-American activities of the unknown intensity, request Marine Landing Force now off Cap Varella be positioned out of sight of land off Cap St. Jacques soonest." Better known as Vũng Tàu, Cap St. Jacques was a coastal city at the mouth of the Saigon River around 80 km southeast of the capital. Westmoreland also put American marines based at Subic Bay in the Philippines on notice. On the same day, the Viet Cong bombed the Brinks Hotel, where US officers were billeted, killing two Americans and injuring around 50 people, civilian bystanders and military personnel. As a result, there was a suspicion among a minority that Khánh's junta had been behind the attack, even though the Viet Cong had claimed responsibility through a radio broadcast. When the Americans started making plans to retaliate against North Vietnam, they did not tell Khánh and his junta. Westmoreland, Taylor, and other senior US officers in Saigon and Washington urged President Lyndon Baines Johnson to authorize reprisal bombings against North Vietnam, Taylor predicting: "Some of our local squabbles will probably disappear in enthusiasm which our action would generate." Johnson refused and one reason was the political instability in Saigon. Johnson reasoned the international community and the American public were unlikely to believe the Viet Cong were behind the attack, feeling they would instead blame local infighting for the violence. Johnson administration officials did not conclude that the communists were responsible until four days after the attack. The State Department cabled Taylor, saying "In view of the overall confusion in Saigon", public US and international opinion towards an American air strike would be that the Johnson administration was "trying to shoot its way out of an internal [South Vietnamese] political crisis". ## Fall out As a result of the tension in late-December, the standoff remained. The US hoped the generals would relent because they could not survive and be able to repel the communists or rival officers without aid from Washington. On the other hand, Khánh and the Young Turks expected the Americans would become more worried about the communist gains first and acquiesce to their fait accompli against the HNC. The generals were correct. The South Vietnamese eventually had their way. As the generals and Hương were unwilling to reinstate the HNC, Taylor sent General John L. Throckmorton to meet them and mend relations. Throckmorton told the Vietnamese generals they had read too much into Taylor's comments and that the US had no intention of pressuring them out of power with aid cuts. Cang appeared unimpressed, while Thiệu and Kỳ made indirect and vague comments about what they perceived to be misleading tactics during the talks. Khánh appeared reassured by Throckmorton's overtures and made a public statement on December 30, saying he was not as hostile to the Americans as reported, and he wanted Thiệu and Cang to meet the Americans to relieve any remaining tension. He also claimed privately that the statements attributed to him by Deepe were false and set up a bilateral committee to discuss tensions. The generals eventually won out, as the Americans did not move against them in any way for their refusal to reinstate the HNC. The South Vietnamese won in large part because the Americans had spent so much on the country, and could not afford to abandon it and lose to the communists over the matter of military rule, as a communist takeover would be a big public relations coup for the Soviet bloc. According to Karnow, for Khánh and his officers, "their weakness was their strength". An anonymous South Vietnamese government official said "Our big advantage over the Americans is that they want to win the war more than we do." The only concession the AFC made was on January 6, 1965, when they made a charade move of officially renouncing all their power to Hương, who was asked to organize elections. They also agreed to appoint a civilian body and release those arrested in December. Khánh had proposed to reinstate civilian rule if a military "organ of control" was created to keep control of them, but Taylor quashed the idea. This resulted in an official announcement by Hương and Khánh three days later, in which the military again reiterated their commitment to civilian rule through an elected legislature and a new constitution, and that "all genuine patriots" would be "earnestly assembled" to collaborate in making a plan to defeat the communists. The Americans were not impressed with the statement, which was shown to Taylor before it was made public; the State Department dourly announced that "it appears to represent some improvement to the situation". Nevertheless, Khánh and Taylor were both signatories to this January 9 announcement. Although the coup was a political success for Khánh, it was not enough to stabilize his leadership in the long run. During the dispute over the HNC, Khánh had tried to frame the dispute in nationalistic terms against what he saw as overbearing US influence. In the long run, this failed, as South Vietnam and the senior officers' careers and advancement were dependent on US aid. Taylor hoped Khánh's appeals to nationalism might backfire by causing his colleagues to fear a future without US funding. The Americans were aware of Khánh's tactics and exploited it by persistently trying to scare his colleagues with the prospect of a military heavily restricted by the absence of US funding. After the December coup, Taylor felt the fear of US abandonment "raised the courage level of the other generals to the point of sacking" Khánh, as many were seen as beholden above all to their desire for personal advancement. In January and February 1965, Khánh sensed he could no longer work with Taylor and the Americans, and that his support in the junta was unreliable, so he began to try to set up secret peace talks with the communists. Planning for discussions was only beginning, but this was unacceptable to the Americans and hardline anti-communists in the junta, as it meant the bombing campaign against North Vietnam would not be possible. When Khánh's plans were discovered, US-encouraged plotting intensified. On February 19–20, a coup occurred, and after the original plot was put down by the Young Turks, they forced Khánh into exile as well. With Khánh out of the way, the bombing campaign started.
3,584,210	Portland Spy Ring	1,152,599,714	Soviet spy ring that operated in England	[ "1961 in British politics", "1961 in military history", "British spies for the Soviet Union", "Cold War spies", "Portland Spy Ring", "Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations" ]	The Portland spy ring was an espionage group active in the UK between 1953 and 1961. It comprised five people who obtained classified research documents from the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment (AUWE) on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and passed them to the Soviet Union. Two of the group's members, Harry Houghton and Ethel Gee, were British. They worked at the AUWE and had access to the areas where the research was stored. After they obtained the information it was passed to their handler, Konon Molody—who was acting under the name Gordon Lonsdale. He was a KGB agent acting in the UK under a Canadian passport. Lonsdale would pass the documents in microdot format to Lona and Morris Cohen, two American communists who had moved to the UK using New Zealand passports in the names Helen and Peter Kroger. The Krogers would get the information to Moscow, often by using the cover of an antiquarian book dealer. The ring was exposed in 1960 following a tip-off from the Polish spy Michael Goleniewski about a mole in the Admiralty. The information he supplied was enough to identify Houghton. Surveillance by MI5—the UK's domestic counter-intelligence service—established the connection between Houghton and Gee, and then between them and Lonsdale and finally the Krogers. All five were arrested in January 1961 and put on trial that March. Sentences for the group ranged from fifteen years (for Houghton and Gee) to twenty years (for the Krogers) to twenty-five years (for Lonsdale). Lonsdale was released in 1964 in a spy swap for the British businessman Greville Wynne. The Krogers were exchanged in October 1969 as part of a swap with Gerald Brooke, a British national held on largely falsified claims. The last to be freed were Houghton and Gee, who were given early release in May 1970. ## Background ### HMS Osprey and the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment By the late 1950s British military underwater research and development had established itself on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. A series of amalgamations of specialist units took place in 1959 and 1960; one of these comprised the merger of the Underwater Weapons Establishment and the Underwater Countermeasures & Weapons Establishment to form the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment (AUWE). Much of the development work for HMS Dreadnought (S101) was undertaken on Portland in the 1950s. Dreadnought, launched in 1960, was the UK's first nuclear-powered submarine. It contained a type 2001 sonar, described by the naval historian Iain Ballantyne as "immensely powerful", because the nuclear power from the reactor could "detect threats using active sonar at unprecedented ranges for both ships and submarines". During that time, researchers at the AUWE were refining the stealth capacity of submarines, and developing a new generation of submarines to be armed with nuclear ballistic missiles. HMS Osprey was an anti-submarine training establishment located at the northern end of Portland. The base researched and developed methods and equipment for submarine detection. From 1957 onwards anti-submarine helicopter units also used Osprey as a training base. ### Konon Molody (Gordon Lonsdale; 1922–1970) Konon Trofimovich Molody (Russian: Ко́нон Трофи́мович Моло́дый) was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was educated in the US from the age of seven, spending nine years in the country, before returning to Russia in 1938. He was recruited by the NKVD (a forerunner of the KGB) in 1940 and in 1949 he joined the political intelligence wing and trained as an illegal agent—a spy working undercover in a foreign territory with no diplomatic immunity. He was given the identity of the Canadian national Gordon Lonsdale and in 1954 he travelled from Russia to Canada, where he worked as a salesman. In February 1955 he crossed into the United States where he contacted his fellow agent Rudolf Abel and then sailed to Britain. He enrolled at the School of Oriental & African Studies for a course in Chinese. As a cover for his role as an agent, in 1956 he became the export director of a business that leased jukeboxes and vending machines. As export director he undertook visits to the European mainland, travelling as far as Poland on one visit. He was able to meet KGB officers when abroad. ### Lona and Morris Cohen (Helen and Peter Kroger; 1913–1992 and 1910–1995) Lona and Morris Cohen were American communists. Morris fought in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War; after he had been wounded in the legs, he was recruited into Soviet intelligence, possibly by the NKVD colonel Alexander Orlov. He returned to the US in November 1938. He met Lona (née Petka) and they married in July 1941; at the time she did not know Morris was a Soviet agent, but he told her soon after their wedding. Lona worked as a courier, transporting classified documents from Theodore Hall and Saville Sax at the Manhattan Project to the Soviet consulate in New York. One of the documents she carried was a complete diagram of the US atomic bomb. Information on the American weapon was in Moscow twelve days before the American test. Based on the intelligence provided, the USSR was able to test their first nuclear device four years later. When the Venona decryption project began uncovering Russian spies acting in the US, the Cohens realised they were in danger of being uncovered and fled the country in June 1950, first to Moscow and then Poland. In 1954 they moved to Cranley Drive, Ruislip, just outside London, under the cover of two New Zealanders: Helen and Peter Kroger. Peter opened an antiquarian book business in the Strand, London. After settling into their new life, the Krogers made contact with Lonsdale. He assisted the couple when they dug out the rubble in the cellar under the kitchen to hide a radio transmitter to contact Moscow. ### Harry Houghton (1905–1985) and Ethel Gee (1914–1984) Harry Houghton was honourably discharged from the Royal Navy in 1945 as a master at arms and took a clerical job at HMS Osprey. He stayed there until 1951 when he joined the staff of the British embassy in Warsaw, Poland, as a pay clerk in the naval attaché's department. He was accompanied on his posting by his wife, Peggy. He met a Polish woman, Katarina, and soon fell in love and began having an affair; he was unaware that she was a member of the Polish intelligence services. He began partying and drinking heavily and running short of money as a result. Katarina suggested he begin trading coffee on the black market, and he began ordering goods from Britain to sell at inflated prices to the Poles. Marital relations declined and Houghton beat Peggy during their frequent rows, particularly when he was drunk. According to Peggy, Houghton threatened to kill her on several occasions, threw her over a wall on one occasion, burnt her with a cigarette and once attempted to push her off a cliff. According to MI5 and the KGB Houghton made the first move in his recruitment, writing to the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1951, offering to provide secrets for money. When a Polish intelligence officer spoke to him, Houghton explained that he thought "Britain's present rulers had sold the country to the Americans and turned it into an American colony". He was given the codename Miron and began sending sensitive documents through to his handlers. In May 1952 he gave them 715 documents; in August it rose to 1,167, including details of a British spy in Murmansk and the structure of British Naval Intelligence. Houghton's drinking was causing concern at the embassy, and instead of spending three years in his role, he was sent back to the UK in October 1952, after fifteen months. He took a job at the AUWE on his return. In his autobiography, he claimed that he was blackmailed into spying only once he had returned to the UK, with threats against Katarina if he failed to help. Ethel Gee—nicknamed Bunty—lived on Portland with her elderly mother, aunt and uncle. In October 1950, she became a filing clerk at the AUWE, where she handled top secret documents; she had access to areas where classified drawings of prototype or experimental projects were in progress. She was single, had no close friends and had been living a quiet life when she met Houghton in the early- to mid-1950s. In his memoirs, Houghton described Gee as "a woman in a million". What started as a friendship developed into an affair after Houghton explained that his marriage was breaking up. ## Spying activities Soon after Houghton returned to Portland in 1953, he was contacted by Russian intelligence to continue his spying. To copy the documents, he was given a Minox camera measuring 3+1⁄2 by 1+1⁄8 by 3⁄8 inch (88.9 mm × 28.6 mm × 9.5 mm) which he said "would easily pass as a cigarette lighter at a glance". Although he did not have access to sensitive information at first, he soon managed to access the sensitive records room by covering for staff over lunchtimes. He began providing documents to the Russians at what MI5 describe as a "prolific" rate: 1,927 pages of documents in 1954 and 1,768 in 1955. These included details of mechanisms to conceal the noise of propellers and detect high-speed submarines, details of HMS Dreadnought and the navy's ship-building programme. Houghton had been instructed by Lonsdale not to tell Gee about his activities. At agreed points Houghton drove to pubs in the Kingston upon Thames area at weekends, taking camera film with naval documents. He was often asked for specific areas needed, such as homing torpedoes and submarine detection. Houghton was paid bonuses for the amount of information he passed over; in December 1955, he was given £500. His annual salary that year was £741. Houghton was profligate with his money. Despite a salary of less than £15 a week, he spent approximately £20 a week on drink in various local pubs, paid cash for a Renault Dauphine and £150 for a radiogram. Before his marriage to Katrina broke up, Houghton made potentially serious errors that could have led to his being exposed as a spy. One evening he left a brown paper parcel on the bedroom table; his wife, thinking it could contain evidence of an affair, opened it and found a stack of Admiralty documents—all classified. He had also shown her a bundle of bank notes that she estimated was about £150. She was suspicious enough to raise the matter three times with the Admiralty in 1955. They contacted MI5 the following year, reporting that Houghton's wife had told them "her husband was divulging secret information to people who ought not to get it". The Admiralty—aware of the split between the couple—also advised "It is considered not impossible that the whole of these allegations may be nothing more than outpourings of a jealous and disgruntled wife", and that the claim was probably "made on the spur of the moment and out of pure spite". Although no investigation was undertaken into the accusations, in late 1956 Houghton was moved from AUWE to HMS Osprey, where there was less access to classified information. In 1956 Houghton's marriage broke up. His lack of access to documents meant he was receiving no bonuses from the Russians, and so he was short of cash. Gee loaned him £200 to help to move out into a caravan which he purchased—he repaid her at a rate of £10 a month. Wanting to start earning his bonus payments again, Houghton suggested to Lonsdale that he inform Gee of his activities and use her to obtain the classified documents he no longer had access to. Gee had a higher security classification than Houghton, which was attractive to the Russians, and they agreed, although Houghton introduced Lonsdale to her as an American, Commander Alex Johnston. "Johnston" explained that he wanted to ensure that the UK were giving the US the information they were obliged to under their NATO commitments. He gave her details of what he was interested in and advised her on how to avoid internal security measures; among the information requested were details of the type 2001 sonar on HMS Dreadnought, and underwater detection equipment. Lonsdale had some regard for Gee and considered she "was certainly a better person than Houghton". He considered Houghton "the weakest link in the ring" and "a fool". The documents gathered by Houghton and Gee were passed to Lonsdale, who then handed them on to the Krogers. They acted as the communications team who passed the information to Moscow. Some was via a radio—concealed beneath the kitchen floor and using a 75-foot-long (23 m) aerial hidden in the attic. Some research was also converted to microdots. These were inserted into the spines of books that Peter Kroger sent out from his book business to customers in Europe. He would then contact Moscow using a code generated by a one-time pad, and send a fast "burst" transmission—of over 200 words a minute—alerting the KGB to what was being sent. ## Exposure and arrest In 1960 the Polish spy Michael Goleniewski told his handlers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that there was a Russian spy working for the Royal Navy who had been in Warsaw in 1952 and who was called "Horton", or similar. The information was passed over to MI5 who soon identified Houghton. According to the MI5 officer Peter Wright the first reports were in 1959, but there was insufficient evidence to identify Houghton; it was only after a second report in March 1960, Wright says, that an identification could be made. The MI5 case officer was Charles Elwell, who later led the investigations for espionage into John Vassall and John Stonehouse. During mid-1960 MI5's surveillance specialists—known as the watcher section—began observation of Houghton and Gee, paying particular attention during their monthly visits to London. On one such visit they noticed Houghton hand over a plastic carrier bag to another man, in exchange for an envelope. They followed the man back to his car and established it was owned by Lonsdale. He was put under full surveillance and soon after was seen visiting a branch of his bank, where he lodged a suitcase and a parcel in a safety deposit box. The director general of MI5, Roger Hollis, contacted the chairman of the Midland Bank and arranged for the deposit box to be opened by MI5. On 5 September 1960 the contents were extracted from the box. Inside were found Minox and Praktica miniature cameras and a Ronson cigarette lighter set in a wooden bowl; this was x-rayed and found to contain one-time pads and map references. Everything was examined, photographed and replaced in Lonsdale's box. Enquiries were made with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police into Lonsdale's background. They supplied MI5 with a copy of his passport. MI5 bugged his flat and decided he was an illegal—a member of a foreign government working in London under an operational cover. GCHQ, the British signals intelligence agency, were alerted every time Lonsdale used his radio and copied the messages he was sending to Moscow, deciphering them using copies of the one-time pads from the bank. In November 1960 MI5 tailed Lonsdale to the Kroger's house in Ruislip; they set up an observation post in the house opposite to monitor the couple. On 2 January 1961 MI5 case officers decided—with the permission of the Admiralty—to watch the Portland spies for three more months, to see if Lonsdale was only dealing with Houghton, or if he was handling other spies. Two days later the CIA informed them that Goleniewski was going to defect the following day. Realising that a senior Polish intelligence operative coming to the West would likely warn the Russians of the probable exposure of Houghton—and therefore the rest of the ring—MI5 decided to act at the next scheduled meeting, 7 January, but that they would closely monitor Lonsdale for any warnings from Moscow. That Saturday, Houghton and Gee travelled to London by train—MI5 watchers and Special Branch detectives following them throughout the journey. MI5 have no powers of arrest and need to work with the police—normally Special Branch—when arrests are needed. After some shopping, the pair went to the Old Vic theatre where they met Lonsdale. As soon as the three were together, the police and MI5 stepped in and arrested them. In Gee's bag, police found copies of 4 confidential AUWE files and undeveloped film that was later found to contain 310 photographs of research on HMS Dreadnought and Admiralty orders. Police and MI5 search teams entered the premises of Houghton, Gee and Lonsdale where they found further incriminating evidence, including miniature cameras, large amounts of money, cypher pads, material to make microdots and more classified information. The Krogers were arrested that evening. As they were preparing to leave the house to go into custody, Helen picked up her handbag and asked the police for permission to stoke the fire; suspicious, a police officer denied permission and took the handbag from her. It was later shown to hold communication in microdot form between Lonsdale and Moscow. Police and MI5 searchers took more than a week to fully search the house. Among the finds were New Zealand passports in the names of Helen and Peter Kroger, a tin of talcum powder, with hollow compartments, one of which held a microdot reader, a battery with a removable top, containing US\$6,000, and the radio transmitter concealed beneath the kitchen floor. Police found a match for the Krogers' fingerprints in the Scotland Yard's archives. They matched those sent over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1958, identifying them as the wanted Soviet spies Lona and Morris Cohen. ## Trial The hearings at the Bow Street Magistrates' Court opened on 7 February 1961; the court had been altered for the occasion, and temporary raised benches had been installed to accommodate the many journalists who wanted to attend. Leading for the prosecution was the attorney general, Reginald Manningham-Buller, whose opening statement lasted two hours, during which he gave details of the spy ring, how it worked and the equipment they used to encode and transmit the information to Moscow. The hearing finished on 10 February with all five accused committed for trial; bail was refused. The case against the five spies began on 13 March 1961 at the Old Bailey; the lord chief justice, Lord Parker presided. All five defendants were charged with "conspiracy to communicate information in contravention of Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911". Houghton later wrote in his biography that "The testimony I gave at the Old Bailey was pretty meaningless. I didn't dare tell the true story of the Portland Spy Ring in the witness-box: it had to be tailored down to the best advantage". The journalist Trevor Barnes, in his history of the Portland spy ring, describes Gee's evidence as an "unconvincing narrative ... riddled with lies". The case lasted until 22 March. The jury found all five defendants guilty in less than ninety minutes. Lonsdale was sentenced to twenty five years in prison; the Krogers received twenty years. Houghton and Gee were both sentenced for fifteen years. ## Aftermath At the end of March 1961 Rab Butler, the Home Secretary, announced the formation of a committee of inquiry under Sir Charles Romer, the former Lord Justice of Appeal. The inquiry was "[T]o examine the circumstances connected with the recent spy trial at the Central Criminal Court and, in particular, those in which two individuals came to be employed, and were retained in employment, in naval establishments, with a view to determining what breaches of security arrangements, if any, took place". According to the journalists David Wise and Thomas B. Ross the setting up of the committee "seemed to be the end of the security scare". A month after the Romer Inquiry opened, however, the MI6 officer George Blake was arrested and charged with espionage. The prime minister, Harold Macmillan, described it as "a new blow", and came to an agreement with Hugh Gaitskell—the leader of the Labour Party and leader of the opposition—that the Romer committee should complete its inquiry and pass on its recommendations to a new inquiry under the chairmanship of Lord Radcliffe which was to look at security procedures and practices in a wider context. The Romer Committee sat as an administrative, rather than a legal body, meaning no witnesses were accompanied by legal representatives. Evidence was heard from over twenty witnesses, including senior members of MI5, the Admiralty, Naval Intelligence and GCHQ. Hollis criticised the security arrangements at AUWE, where it was common practice to allow senior staff to take classified information off the premises to work on them overnight. Elwell wrote a preliminary report he presented to the committee, in which he described Lonsdale as "a man of considerable charm ... humorous and ironical, rather than witty, ready to talk fluently and trenchantly on most subjects". His views on the Krogers were more damning: he described Peter as "a sententious bore ... a man whose life appears to be governed by rancid idealism" and Helen as "even less alluring ... she looks and probably behaves like an embittered crazy fanatic". Romer's inquiry reported in June 1961. Its conclusions were read out in parliament by Macmillan. After making four points regarding Houghton and Gee's employment on Portland, he continued: > 5\. In 1956 Houghton was twice brought to the notice of the authorities in the Underwater Detection Establishment as a probable security risk. Insufficient investigations were made and a report which was both incomplete and misleading was submitted to the Admiralty. The Security Officer at the Establishment is gravely to blame for the casual way in which he dealt with this matter. Even so, the Captain of the Establishment should personally have ensured that proper inquiries were conducted and that the matter was fully reported to the Admiralty. 6. The main responsibility for the failure to make a proper investigation of Houghton in 1956 rests, therefore, with the authorities in the Underwater Detection Establishment at that time. The evidence discloses that there was a general want of "security mindedness" in the Establishment and responsibility for this must rest with the Captain of the Establishment. But the Admiralty, and the Security Service, although they received only an incomplete and misleading report from Portland, cannot escape criticism for failing to press the matter to a positive conclusion. The Conservative MP Donald Johnson observed that Romer "did not pull his punches in his comments and did not allow himself to be one of the 'whitewash' brigade". ## Later developments ### Lonsdale In November 1962 the British businessman Greville Wynne was arrested in Budapest, Hungary, on espionage charges. He had been a courier for information from Oleg Penkovsky, a colonel in the GRU—Russian secret military intelligence. Wynne was the subject of a show trial in Moscow in May 1963 and sentenced to eight years in prison; Penkovsky received the death sentence. Wynne was treated badly in prison and his health deteriorated rapidly (he had already lost 2 stone (28 lb; 13 kg) by mid-1963). Russian overtures on a spy swap were discussed in secret by the British government and on 21 April 1964 Lonsdale was removed from Winson Green prison in Birmingham, flown to West Germany and exchanged for Wynne. In 1965 Lonsdale published his biography Spy, ghost-written by Kim Philby, who had defected to the Soviets the previous year. Barnes notes that "the book contains many lies", and the historian Christopher Andrew described them as "misleading memoirs" that "contained a variety of disinformation—including the pretence that the 'Krogers' were entirely innocent". Lonsdale died in October 1970 while on a picnic with his family; after his second glass of vodka, he had a stroke and died within a few days. He was honoured by the Soviet government in 1990 by appearing on a stamp. ### Krogers The Krogers were released in October 1969 as part of an exchange with Gerald Brooke. Brooke had been arrested in April 1965 on espionage charges. He was not a spy, nor had he been engaged in espionage but, as a deeply religious man, he had worked with an émigré group that had been critical of the Soviet government. He had been sentenced to five years in prison, but after four years was in poor and worsening health. Under threat of an extended sentence on additional—and falsified—charges, a compromise was reached between the British and Russian governments, whereby he was released three months before the Krogers. A dinner was held for the Krogers at a KGB dacha in November 1969, attended by Yuri Andropov, the chairman of the KGB, who presented them the Order of the Red Banner. Under Boris Yeltsin's government, they were named heroes of the Russian Federation. Helen died in December 1992; Peter in June 1995. They were both buried in the KGB's Novokuntsevo Cemetery. The couple were honoured by the Russian government by appearing on stamps in 1998. ### Houghton and Gee Houghton and Gee were allowed to write to each other in prison—an act ordinarily not allowed—as MI5 wished to see if there were any indiscretions in their correspondence. Houghton spent a few months at Wormwood Scrubs before being transferred to Winchester. Gee spent much of her time in HM Prison Styal, an open prison in Cheshire. Although Houghton and Gee received the shortest prison sentences of any of the Portland spy ring, they spent the longest time incarcerated; they were released on the same day in May 1970. Gee moved back to her old house on Portland; Houghton to a flat on the outskirts of Poole, Dorset. The two began seeing each other again, although they had to avoid the press constantly. They married in April 1971. Houghton wrote Operation Portland in 1972; Barnes notes numerous inaccuracies in the book and described it as a "tiresome volume ... a book-length whine of complaint about the alleged incompetence of the Security Service, the unfairness of his trial and his harsh treatment in prison". Gee died in 1984; Houghton in 1985. ## Legacy In addition to news and historical coverage, the Portland Spy Ring and its aftermath have been described in books, including histories of what happened, personal memoirs from those involved and on stage and screen. In 2019 many of the papers relating to the Portland spy ring were released by The National Archives; many files had previously been released in November 2017. The papers contained a comment from the former director general of MI5, Martin Furnival Jones, highlighting the correspondence from Houghton's ex-wife: > It is clear that we ought to have carried out some investigation in 1956. If we had done so there is a fair chance that we would have unearthed Houghton's espionage and the probability is that we would have discovered that he was being controlled as a spy by a member of the Soviet embassy. We might also have hit upon Miss Gee. If we had done so we should have stopped a leakage of information from the Admiralty some four years earlier.
3,631,934	Mark Tonelli	1,156,929,412	Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist	[ "1957 births", "Alabama Crimson Tide men's swimmers", "Australian male backstroke swimmers", "Australian male butterfly swimmers", "Australian male freestyle swimmers", "Australian people of Dutch descent", "Australian people of Irish descent", "Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia", "Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming", "Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia", "Living people", "Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics", "Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games", "Olympic gold medalists for Australia", "Olympic gold medalists in swimming", "Olympic swimmers for Australia", "Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal", "Sportsmen from Queensland", "Sportspeople from Ipswich, Queensland", "Swimmers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games", "Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics", "Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics", "World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming" ]	Mark Lyndon Tonelli (born 13 April 1957), whose birth name was Mark Lyndon Leembruggen, is an Australian former backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet. Tonelli unofficially led the relay team and was an athletes' spokesperson who fought for the right of Australian Olympians to compete in the face of a government call for a boycott to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Tonelli took up swimming due to his asthma, and quickly came to prominence. Selected to represent Australia at the 1973 World Championships, he came sixth in the 200 m backstroke at the age of 16. He won his first Australian titles in 1974 in the 100 m backstroke and 200 m butterfly and went on to the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, where he won his first major international race, the 100 m backstroke, and took silver in the 200 m backstroke. In 1975, Tonelli won his only individual medal at global level, a silver in the 200 m backstroke at the World Championships in Cali, Colombia. In 1975, Tonelli enrolled at the University of Alabama in the United States, studying and competing in the collegiate sport system. He was selected in both backstroke events for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, but struggled and missed the medals in both events. During his stay in America, Tonelli set times that would have placed him among the world's leading swimmers, but he was expelled from the 1978 Commonwealth Games team for breaches of discipline. After finishing his American university career, Tonelli returned to Australia and gained selection for his second Olympics. Having cleared the political obstacles, Tonelli was given a heavy schedule of six events: both backstroke races, the 100 m freestyle and butterfly, and two relays. He made little impact in the individual events, only reaching one final. Australia lacked butterfly swimmers and Tonelli was versatile, so he swum the stroke in the medley relay. He performed above his previous record, posting a time fast enough to win silver in the corresponding individual event and helping Australia to an unexpected win. Upon returning to Australia, Tonelli retired with eleven individual Australian championships in three different strokes. ## Early years Tonelli was born Mark Lyndon Leembruggen into a working-class family in Ipswich, Queensland. His father Lyndon was a blue-collar worker of Dutch origin and his Irish mother Muriel worked in the Queensland Department of Industrial Relations. Muriel was pregnant with twins, but miscarried one of the babies and gave birth only to Mark. The family moved to the northern outback mining town of Mount Isa, where Lyndon worked as a miner. There, Muriel left her husband and married Renato "Ray" Tonelli, an Italian immigrant labourer. Still a toddler, Tonelli and his stepfather left the town and returned to Brisbane. He adopted his stepfather's surname, but did not officially change his name until he was 18. Tonelli was effectively an only child; his half-sister was not born until he was 14. A decade later, he discovered two half-sisters from his biological father's remarriage. His family moved around frequently due to his stepfather's work, before settling permanently in Brisbane. Tonelli's family had no history of athletic success, and had little knowledge of swimming, but his mother encouraged him to take up the sport to ease his asthma. In his first year, Tonelli came third in his age group at Western Districts Club, prompting his mother to send him at age nine to John Keating—a swimming coach who had guided several swimmers to national selection–at the Centenary Pool in the hope that he could improve to Olympic standards. Tonelli said the reality was that he could hardly swim at all. By the age of 10, Tonelli was regularly winning at school carnivals and at 11, came seventh in the 100 m freestyle in his division at the Queensland Championships, before winning the event the following year. Tonelli rates his win over Stephen Holland, the future 1500 m freestyle world champion and world record holder, in a 200 m freestyle race at a schoolboys' carnival as his favourite race. Holland was to break his first world record just a few months later. Keating motivated Tonelli by showing him the best times recorded by American boys of the same age, as documented in Swimming World Magazine. Unaware that the Americans were swimming in 50 yd pools, roughly 10% shorter than those in Australia, Tonelli could not understand his inability to match and better their times. He said that his greatest motivation was the desire to impress his parents. ## National and international debut In 1973, at the age of 15, Tonelli competed in his first Australian Age Championships in Hobart, winning the 100 m and 200 m freestyle, and the 200 m backstroke. These results allowed him to swim at the preliminary qualifying trials for the 1973 World Aquatics Championships, where he managed four fourth placings. However, the selectors held another set of trials just before the World Championships, which offered swimmers a final chance to gain selection. Tonelli said "Everyone, except me, knew it was a ploy simply to keep the team on its toes". Upon returning to Brisbane after the first round of trials, Tonelli tore rib cartilage while participating in judo at high school. The pain of the injury restricted him to swimming backstroke for four months, and his times steadily improved during this period under the guidance of John Rigby at the Valley Pool. At the final selection event, he came second in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke behind Olympic gold medallist Brad Cooper to earn his international debut. At the World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he came sixth in the 200 m backstroke behind East Germany's Roland Matthes, who set a world record. Tonelli self-deprecatingly noted that "I didn't get to see him [Matthes] swim in the final, because I was in the same race five sets of speedos behind". Tonelli won his first Australian titles in 1974, claiming both the 100 m backstroke and 200 m butterfly; it was his first race in the latter stroke at senior national level. He completed the victories in times of 59.55 s and 2 m 7.30 s respectively. Tonelli also claimed victory as part of the Queensland teams in the 4 × 200 m freestyle and the 4 × 100 m medley relays—it was the first time that Queensland had won the former race. In total, Tonelli had claimed gold medals in three different strokes at his first Australian Championships. ## Commonwealth gold Tonelli was selected for the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he had his first medal success at international level. He won gold in the 100 m backstroke, where he won his heat comfortably before setting a Games record of 59.65 s in the final. Tonelli was second behind Cooper in the 200 m backstroke, finishing in a time of 2 m 9.47 s, more than three seconds in arrears. He claimed a silver in the 4 × 100 m medley relay as Australia were thwarted by Canada despite setting a national record, and was eliminated in the heats of the 200 m butterfly. In 1975, Tonelli won the 100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke and 200 m butterfly events at the Australian Championships. Although he won more individual titles than in the previous year, his times were slower; he completed the distances in 59.70 s, 2 m 10.50 s and 2 m 10.00 s respectively. Tonelli was also part of the Queensland team that successfully defended their medley relay title. Tonelli was thus selected for the 1975 World Championships in Cali, Colombia. He qualified fastest for the 200 m backstroke final and had planned to pursue an aggressive strategy to attack from the start. However, he was advised to swim conservatively in the first half of the race by Australian coach Terry Gathercole so that his main rivals Matthes and John Naber would not be able to draft behind him in the early stages. The tactic backfired and Tonelli ended with the silver medal. He had swum faster in the second half of the race—something exceedingly rare in top-level swimming and an indication of strategic error—and felt that he had too much unused energy left at the end of the race. Tonelli vowed that from then on, he would always back his judgment and race strategy. ## 1976 Olympics and move to US college system After the World Championships, Tonelli accepted a swimming scholarship from the University of Alabama to train under John Gambril, having rejected offers from Stanford and Harvard. Tonelli was almost killed before ever swimming for the university, suffering a mid-air parachute malfunction during an activity with the campus skydiving club. Tonelli eventually completed a BA in Communications and Film. After enrolling at Alabama, Tonelli's parents paid for him to return home for the 1976 Australian Championships, which were the selection trials for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Tonelli won the 100 m backstroke in a time of 58.35 s but was relegated to silver in the 200 m event by Mark Kerry. Along with Kerry, Tonelli was selected for both backstroke events and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. In Montreal, Tonelli came eighth fastest in every round of the 100 m backstroke. He came second in his heat in a time of 58.53 s, making him the eighth of sixteen qualifiers for the semifinals. He then scraped into the 100 m final as the slowest qualifier—0.01 s ahead of fellow Australian Glenn Patching—after finishing fourth in his semifinal in a time of 58.14 s. He came eighth in the final in a time of 58.42 s and did not threaten the medals; Naber of the United States won in a time of 55.49 s. As Kerry outpaced Tonelli to finish seventh in the event, he was selected ahead of Tonelli for the backstroke leg in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. In the 200 m event, Tonelli came second in his heat to qualify sixth fastest for the final. There he came fourth and missed the medals— which were swept by the Americans—by 1.82 s. He was 3.98 s behind Naber, who broke the world record and became the first person to break two minutes for the event. Australia struggled in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, eliminated in the preliminary round after finishing third in their heat, and ninth overall. Tonelli swam the second leg in a time of 1 m 55.94 s. Tonelli returned to Alabama after the Olympics and intensified his training regimen, He recalled that "The coach really supplied me with the environment to improve. I got used to pressure. You had to stand up and race in dual meets almost every other weekend, no matter how you felt. In Australia you are lucky if you get two top meets a year." In 1977, he won the 100 m backstroke at the US Open Championships at Mission Viejo, becoming one of the few Australians to win a US title. ## Expelled from Australian team Tonelli continued in the United States in 1978, recollecting "I really hit my straps", reporting that he had swum world records in time trials at training. Because he was in the United States, he was allowed to qualify for the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by swimming fast times in events in North America. Tonelli raced in five events at the Canada Cup held in Edmonton, winning four. During a drunken party after the competition, Tonelli and some fellow swimmers decided to steal three giant flags from poles in the city centre: those of Canada, the City of Edmonton, and Alberta. In the process, Tonelli fell off the staff and was hospitalised, his arm put in plaster. He returned to Mission Viejo and continued his build-up despite his arm injury, before flying to the Australian training camp in Hawaii, where he was made team captain. However, his international career appeared to be in disarray when along with teammates Kerry and Joe Dixon, he was expelled from the team for breaking a curfew on the American Independence Day holiday. Tonelli also admitted to the officials that he had smoked marijuana and been drinking on the night. In the aftermath of the incident, Tonelli appeared on Australian television, strongly denying rumours that he had been involved in a drug-fuelled orgy with teammates. He admitted to smoking marijuana, but defended his actions as being legal under Hawaii law. Supporters in Australia—including future Prime Minister Bob Hawke—launched a petition for the reinstatement of the trio. They gathered thousands of signatures to no avail. Tonelli returned to the United States, while his compatriots competed for Australia. In the meantime, Tonelli again won the 100 m backstroke title at the US Nationals in a time two seconds faster than Patching's Commonwealth gold-winning effort. He said that his career was "never the same again" after his expulsion by a "kangaroo court", feeling that the punishment had weakened his will. Tonelli predicted that he could have won eight Commonwealth Games gold medals and possibly set a world record in the 200 m backstroke if he had not been expelled. ## 1980 Summer Olympics In 1979 Tonelli failed to defend his US title in the 100 m backstroke, but managed third in the event at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in his final year of university. In his four years at Alabama, he was an eight-time All-American in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke. His triumph at the NCAA Championships came amid the backdrop of a teammate's death in a waterskiing accident during a social event with a group of fellow swimmers. Tonelli was driving the powerboat when he did a U-turn that resulted in his teammate being thrown off his skis and into the water. The boat's propeller then struck the man, who died due to severe cuts and blood loss. Tonelli graduated, returned to Australia, and won the 100 m freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events at the 1979 Australian Championships. The following year, he repeated the freestyle and butterfly victories in times of 51.80 s and 56.64 s to gain selection for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; he was also chosen for the 100 m and 200 m backstroke after finishing second to Kerry. However, another obstacle arose with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in a boycott of the Games by a large part of the Western world, led by the United States. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was also the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee, and significant political pressure came to bear on the athletes to boycott the Games. Tonelli however, knew that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated. He took a leadership role among the Australian athletes to fight for their right to compete. According to women's captain Lisa Forrest, Tonelli adopted populist tactics in championing the athletes' cause. He said that Fraser was sending "wheat to feed the Russian army, wool to clothe the army and Australian metal to make Russian guns", saying that this contradicted the proposed boycott in protest against Soviet military policy. Tonelli's anti-authoritarian and individualistic style manifested itself during media appearances, including a news interview in which he debated with Reverend Lance Shilton, who had referred to the athletes as traitors. Shilton expressed sympathy to the athletes, which Tonelli interpreted as condescension. Unaware that the camera was broadcasting images of him, Tonelli responded by rolling his eyes and twirling his finger, a gaffe that was shown on national television. Forrest said that "the damage was done—one of our most prominent anti-boycott lobbyists ... looked like a smart alec". Tonelli arrived in Moscow facing a heavy schedule: he was nominated in the 100 m freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, the 200 m backstroke and the 4 × 100 m medley and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. Tonelli came third in his heat of the 100 m freestyle to qualify fourth with a time of 52.04 s. However, he swam slower in coming fifth in his semifinal in a time of 52.17 s to miss the final by 0.26 s. Overall, he was ranked 10th, but if he repeated his Australian record of 51.80 set at the selection trials, he would have come sixth. Tonelli had another let-down in the 100 m backstroke. He won his heat—which was relatively slow—in a time of 58.66 s, and scraped into the semifinals as the second slowest of 16 qualifiers. He then came second in his semifinal in a time of 57.89 s to qualify third fastest, before again swimming slower in the final and finishing seventh in a time of 57.98 s. However, the event was closely contested; only 0.18 s separated third and ninth places in the semifinal and there was only 0.35 s between bronze and seventh in the final. Tonelli rued his individual performances in Moscow: "I fell apart. I had swum only one big race in the past twelve months and lacked the competitive edge." He came third in his heat of the 200 m backstroke in a time of 2 m 7.04 s, four seconds slower than his effort in the previous Olympics. This placed him in fifteenth position, more than two seconds from qualification for the final. Tonelli then withdrew from the 100 m butterfly to concentrate on the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He combined with Kerry, Graeme Brewer and Ron McKeon as Australia qualified fourth before coming seventh. Tonelli swam the second leg in the final after leading off in the heats. The Australians were third after the first leg, which was swum by Brewer, the bronze medallist in the corresponding individual event. However, Tonelli split 1 m 53.47 s, the fifth slowest time among the 32 swimmers, resulting in Australia falling back to seventh place by the end of his leg. Kerry and McKeon could not overtake any swimmers in the last two legs and Australia ended the race in seventh place, 1.52 s outside the medals. Tonelli was disappointed with the relay result, feeling that the Australians—who came into the race ranked second in the world in the event—were too casual before the race, incorrectly believing that four fast legs from four fast swimmers would yield the desired result. ### Relay gold The 4 × 100 m medley relay was the focal point of Tonelli's Moscow campaign. The event had always been won by the United States since its inception at the Olympics at the 1960 Games, and their boycott had opened up the field. Australia's best result had come in the inaugural race, when it out-touched Japan to claim silver. The only other time that it had won a medal was in 1964, taking bronze, and the previous outing in 1976 had seen Australia eliminated in the heats. Australia was regarded as a chance of a medal, but were not seen as the main threats, with Sweden, Great Britain and the Soviet Union the most heavily fancied teams. The hosts' team included the silver medallists in the 100 m backstroke and breaststroke, and their butterflyer had come fifth; their freestyler would come fourth in his event. The British boasted Duncan Goodhew, the breaststroke gold medallist, while Sweden's butterflyer and backstroker had won their respective events and their freestyle swimmer would come second in the 100 m. On paper, Australia's team paled in comparison. Neil Brooks, the freestyler, would come fourteenth in the corresponding individual event after having an asthma attack, while Peter Evans was the only individual medallist in the distance, claiming bronze in the 100 m breaststroke. Kerry had been eliminated in the backstroke semifinals, while Tonelli was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer. Adding to the pressure was the fact that Australia won no gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in any sport, so the public were still awaiting their first victory since the 1972 Games in Munich. Coming into the Olympics, Australia were ranked seventh out of the thirteen competing countries. Australia's prospects improved after Sweden was disqualified in the morning heats. Tonelli, the eldest swimmer in the quartet at the age of 23, convened the team as its de facto leader. He asked his teammates to commit to swimming their legs in a certain time; Kerry vowed to complete the backstroke in 57 s, Evans the breaststroke in 63 s flat, Tonelli the butterfly in 54 s and Brooks promised to anchor the team in 49.8 s, even though he had never gone faster than 51 s. Tonelli named the foursome the Quietly Confident Quartet, and they exhibited a calm self-belief as they lined up for the race. Kerry led off in a faster time than he had clocked in the individual event, but it was still two seconds slower than his personal best time of 57.87 s. This left Australia in fourth place at the end of the first leg. Evans then swam a personal best of 63.01 s, leaving Australia almost level with the host nation at the halfway mark. Tonelli then swam the butterfly leg in 54.94 s, almost two seconds faster his previous best over the distance. He did so with an uneven arm technique due to the unequal strength in his arms. Tonelli's butterfly leg would have been good enough for a silver medal if he had replicated it in the individual event. He began to lose ground in the last 50 m and was a bodylength behind until a late surge brought him to within a metre of his Soviet opponent by the end of his leg. Brooks then executed a powerful, well-timed dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart. By the 50 m mark, he had drawn level and made a superior turn to take the lead. The Soviet freestyler pulled level at the 25 m mark before Brooks sprinted away again to seal an Australian victory by 0.22 s. He had finished his leg in 49.86 s as he had vowed to his teammates. The time of 3 m 45.70 s sealed Australia's first ever win in a medley relay at the Olympics, for men or women. After the win, Tonelli said "I was totally stunned. After all the hassle, and my being the athletes' mouthpiece, we'd come through and done it." In 2000, Tonelli and the other members of the quartet were each awarded the Australian Sports Medal for their victory in Moscow. Relations between the Olympians and the Australian Government remained tense after months of political struggle regarding the boycott. The quartet did not receive the customary congratulations from Fraser, who initially resisted complaints the next day from the media and government members at his failure to applaud the Australian victory. In a radio interview, he said "I hope that circumstances do not arise over the next few years which will cause them to have very great regrets about the fact that they've gone". Fraser relented and late in the night, his office sent a telegram indirectly, through the Australian Embassy in Moscow. Fraser had ordered the Australian diplomatic mission to shun the Olympians, so the embassy staff had to pass the envelopes containing the message through the Olympic Village fence. Fraser's telegram said: "You know I did not and do not approve of Australia being represented at these Olympic Games. I do want to say however that your performance in the relay was a truly great sporting achievement. My personal congratulations." The swimmers tore up the message. Tonelli retired after the Games. His aquatic success was not derived from any physical advantage, as he was relatively small for a swimmer. He was only 185 cm tall and weighed 70 kg, with relatively small hands and feet. Tonelli felt that his success was based around his ability to make fast starts from the blocks, and attributed his success to his mental approach and his ability to convert his energy into a fast swim in under one minute. He had a deliberate strategy of making himself nervous before the race, feeling that he thrived on pressure. ## After the 1980 Olympics After retiring from competition, Tonelli did television commentary for the 1984 and 1988 Olympics in Los Angeles and Seoul respectively. Since 2004, he has been a swimming commentator on Sky News Australia. Outside swimming, he worked at a spastic centre for children in Brisbane in the 1980s before opening his own swimming school. He also completed a series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on their Lifestyle TV program and produced movies on swimming and child development. Tonelli later set up his own computing business, which he ran for three years. He also served as a sports administrator, completing a term on the Australian Sports Commission in its early years in the 1980s. One policy that he proposed was the creation of an athletes' appeal tribunal similar to the Court of Arbitration for Sport so that "officials are now held accountable for their actions". He cited his expulsion from the Australian team as his motivation for having an appeals mechanism. As of 2007, Tonelli was working as a real estate agent and corporate speaker. He married his wife Lee in the late 1990s. ## See also - List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men) - List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
1,640,343	Kreutz sungrazer	1,172,919,428	Family of comets	[ "Kreutz Sungrazers", "Sungrazing comets" ]	The Kreutz sungrazers (/ˈkrɔɪts/ KROYTS) are a family of sungrazing comets, characterized by orbits taking them extremely close to the Sun at perihelion. They are believed to be fragments of one large comet that broke up several centuries ago and are named for German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first demonstrated that they were related. A Kreutz sungrazer's aphelion is about 170 AU from the Sun; these sungrazers make their way from the distant outer Solar System from a patch in the sky in Canis Major, to the inner Solar System, to their perihelion point near the Sun, and then leave the inner Solar System in their return trip to their aphelion. Several members of the Kreutz family have become great comets, occasionally visible near the Sun in the daytime sky. The most recent of these was Comet Ikeya–Seki in 1965, which may have been one of the brightest comets in the last millennium. It has been suggested that another cluster of bright Kreutz system comets may begin to arrive in the inner Solar System in the next few decades. More than 4000 of smaller members of the family, some only a few meters across, have been discovered since the launch of the SOHO satellite in 1995. None of these smaller comets have survived its perihelion passage. Larger sungrazers such as the Great Comet of 1843 and C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) have survived their perihelion passage. Amateur astronomers have been successful at discovering Kreutz comets in the data available in real time via the internet. ## Discovery and historical observations The first comet whose orbit had been found to take it extremely close to the Sun was the Great Comet of 1680. This comet was found to have passed just 200,000 km (0.0013 AU) above the Sun's surface, equivalent to around a seventh of Sun's diameter, or about half the distance between the Earth and the Moon. It thus became the first known sungrazing comet. Its perihelion distance was just 1.3 solar radii, that is, its perihelion was 1.3 solar radii from the center of the Sun, and just 0.3 solar radii above the surface of the Sun. Astronomers at the time, including Edmond Halley, speculated that this comet was a return of a bright comet seen close to the Sun in the sky in 1106. 163 years later, the Great Comet of 1843 appeared and also passed extremely close to the Sun. Despite orbital calculations showing that it had a period of several centuries, some astronomers wondered if it was a return of the 1680 comet. A bright comet seen in 1880 was found to be travelling on an almost identical orbit to that of 1843, as was the subsequent Great Comet of 1882. Some astronomers suggested that perhaps they were all one comet, whose orbital period was somehow being drastically shortened at each perihelion passage, perhaps by retardation by some dense material surrounding the Sun. An alternative suggestion was that the comets were all fragments of an earlier Sun-grazing comet. This idea was first proposed in 1880, and its plausibility was amply demonstrated when the Great Comet of 1882 broke up into several fragments after its perihelion passage. In 1888, Heinrich Kreutz published a paper showing that the comets of 1843 (C/1843 D1, the Great March Comet), 1880 (C/1880 C1, the Great Southern Comet), and 1882 (C/1882 R1, Great September Comet) were probably fragments of a giant comet that had broken up several orbits before. The comet of 1680 proved to be unrelated to this family of comets. After another Kreutz sungrazer was seen in 1887 (C/1887 B1, the Great Southern Comet of 1887), the next one did not appear until 1945. Two further sungrazers appeared in the 1960s, Comet Pereyra in 1963 and Comet Ikeya–Seki, which became extremely bright in 1965, and broke into three pieces after its perihelion. The appearance of two Kreutz Sungrazers in quick succession inspired further study of the dynamics of the group. The group generally has an Inclination of roughly 140 degrees, a perihelion distance of around 0.01 AU, and a Longitude of ascending node of 340–10°. ## Notable members The brightest members of the Kreutz sungrazers have been spectacular, easily visible in the daytime sky. The three most impressive have been the Great Comet of 1843, the Great Comet of 1882 and X/1106 C1. The progenitor of all Kreutz sungrazers observed to date may be the Great Comet of 371 BC, or comets seen in 214 BC, 423 AD or 467 AD. Another notable Kreutz sungrazer was the Eclipse Comet of 1882 (see further below). ### Great Comet of 371 BC The Great Comet seen in the winter of 372–371 BC was an extremely bright comet thought to be the progenitor of the entire Kreutz sungrazer family. It was observed by Aristotle and Ephorus during the period in which it was visible to the naked eye. It was reported to have had an extremely long, extremely bright, prominent tail with a reddish colour, as well as a nucleus brighter than any star in the night sky. Ephorus also reported the comet to have split into two fragments: a larger fragment which is now thought to have returned in 1106 AD as another spectacular sungrazer, as well as another, much smaller fragment. It is currently thought to have been the giant comet which progressively shattered under the influence of the sun to form the entire family of Kreutz sungrazers. To account for all Kreutz sungrazers observed up to date, the giant comet must have had a nucleus exceeding 120 km in diameter. ### Great Comet of 1106 AD The Great Comet of 1106 AD was a gigantic comet noticed by observers from all over the world. On 2 February 1106 AD, a star was reported to have appeared next to the sun, about a degree from it. It seems to have diminished in brightness after this apparition, with a rather faint, unremarkable nucleus after perihelion, but its tail grew enormously and on February 7 Japanese observers said the extremely bright white tail stretched about 100 degrees across the night sky, which was also reported to have been branching into multiple tails. On February 9, it dimmed slightly, but its tail was still exceedingly bright, measuring 60 degrees long and 3 degrees across. The entire naked-eye duration of the giant comet has been recorded to be anywhere from 15 to 70 days in European texts, though. Recent evaluations, as well as observations of the comet splitting into multiple pieces after perihelion, have suggested that this comet was the progenitor of an entire subgroup of Kreutz sungrazers, including the extremely bright sungrazers of 1882, 1843 and 1965. Observations also suggest that the larger fragment of the Great Comet of 371 BC, which was observed splitting into two pieces, later returned as the Great Comet of 1106 AD. ### Great Comet of 1843 The Great Comet of 1843 was first noticed in early February of that year, just over three weeks before its perihelion passage. By February 27 it was easily visible in the daytime sky, and observers described seeing a tail 2–3° long stretching away from the Sun before being lost in the glare of the sky. After its perihelion passage, it reappeared in the morning sky, and developed an extremely long tail. It extended about 45° across the sky on March 11 and was more than 2° wide; the tail was calculated to be more than 300 million kilometers (2 AU) long. This held the record for the longest measured cometary tail until 2000, when Comet Hyakutake's tail was found to stretch to some 550 million kilometers in length. The maximum apparent magnitude attained by this comet was −10. (The Earth–Sun distance—1 AU—is only 150 million kilometers.) The comet was very prominent throughout early March, before fading away to almost below naked eye visibility by the beginning of April. It was last detected on April 20. This comet apparently made a substantial impression on the public, inspiring in some a fear that judgement day was imminent. ### Eclipse Comet of 1882 A party of observers gathered in Egypt to watch a solar eclipse in May 1882 were greatly surprised when they observed a bright streak near to the Sun once totality began. By a remarkable coincidence, the eclipse had coincided with the perihelion passage of a Kreutz comet. The comet would otherwise have gone unnoticed—its sighting during the eclipse was the only observation of it. Photographs of the eclipse revealed that the comet had moved noticeably during the 1m50s eclipse, as would be expected for a comet racing past the Sun at almost 500 km/s. The comet is sometimes referred to as Tewfik, after Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt at the time. ### Great Comet of 1882 The Great Comet of 1882 was discovered independently by many observers, as it was already easily visible to the naked eye when it appeared in early September 1882, just a few days before perihelion, at which it reached an apparent magnitude estimated to have been −17, by far the brightest recorded for any comet and exceeding the brightness of the full moon by a factor of 57. It grew rapidly brighter and was eventually so bright it was visible in the daytime for two days (16–17 September), even through light cloud. After its perihelion passage, the comet remained bright for several weeks. During October, its nucleus was seen to fragment into first two and then four pieces. Some observers also reported seeing diffuse patches of light several degrees away from the nucleus. The rate of separation of the fragments of the nucleus was such that they will return about a century apart, between 670 and 960 years after the break-up. ### Comet Ikeya–Seki Comet Ikeya–Seki is the most recent very bright Kreutz sungrazer. It was discovered independently by two Japanese amateur astronomers on September 18, 1965, within 15 minutes of each other, and quickly recognised as a Kreutz sungrazer. It brightened rapidly over the following four weeks as it approached the Sun, and reached apparent magnitude 2 by October 15. Its perihelion passage occurred on October 21, and observers across the world easily saw it in the daytime sky. A few hours before perihelion passage on October 21 it had a visible magnitude from −10 to −11, comparable to the first quarter of the Moon and brighter than any other comet seen since 1882. A day after perihelion its magnitude decreased to just −4. Japanese astronomers using a coronagraph saw the comet break into three pieces 30 minutes before perihelion. When the comet reappeared in the morning sky in early November, two of these nuclei were definitely detected with the third suspected. The comet developed a very prominent tail, about 25° in length, before fading throughout November. It was last detected in January 1966. ## Dynamical history and evolution A study by Brian G. Marsden in 1967 was the first attempt to trace back the orbital history of the group to identify the progenitor comet. All known members of the group up until 1965 had almost identical orbital inclinations at about 144°, as well as very similar values for the longitude of perihelion at 280–282°, with a couple of outlying points probably due to uncertain orbital calculations. A greater range of values existed for the argument of perihelion and longitude of the ascending node. Marsden found that the Kreutz sungrazers could be split into two groups, with slightly different orbital elements, implying that the family resulted from fragmentations at more than one perihelion. Tracing back the orbits of Ikeya–Seki and the Great Comet of 1882, Marsden found that at their previous perihelion passage, the difference between their orbital elements was of the same order of magnitude as the difference between the elements of the fragments of Ikeya–Seki after it broke up. This meant it was realistic to presume that they were two parts of the same comet which had broken up one orbit ago. By far the best candidate for the progenitor comet was that seen in 1106 (Great Comet of 1106): Ikeya–Seki's derived orbital period gave a previous perihelion almost exactly at the right time, and while the Great Comet of 1882's derived orbit implied a previous perihelion a few decades later, it would only require a small change in the orbital elements to bring it into agreement. The Sun-grazing comets of 1668, 1689, 1702 and 1945 seem to be closely related to those of 1882 and 1965, although their orbits are not well enough determined to establish whether they broke off from the parent comet in 1106, or the previous perihelion passage before that, some time in the 3–5th centuries AD. This subgroup of comets is known as Subgroup II. Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli, which was seen in 1970, is more closely related to this group than Subgroup I, but appears to have broken off during the previous orbit to the other fragments. The Sun-grazing comets observed in 1843 (Great Comet of 1843) and 1963 (Comet Pereyra) seem to be closely related and belong to the subgroup I, although when their orbits are traced back to one previous perihelion, the differences between the orbital elements are still rather large, probably implying that they broke apart from each other one revolution before that. They may not be related to the comet of 1106, but rather a comet that returned about 50 years before that. Subgroup I also includes comets seen in 1695, 1880 (Great Southern Comet of 1880) and in 1887 (Great Southern Comet of 1887), as well as the vast majority of comets detected by the SOHO mission (see below). The distinction between the two sub-groups is thought to imply that they result from two separate parent comets, which themselves were once part of a 'grandparent' comet which fragmented several orbits previously. One possible candidate for the grandparent is a comet observed by Aristotle and Ephorus in 371 BC. Ephorus claimed to have seen this comet break into two. However modern astronomers are skeptical of the claims of Ephorus, because they were not confirmed by other sources. Instead comets that arrived between 3rd and 5th centuries AD (comets of 214, 426 and 467) are considered as possible progenitors of the Kreutz family. The original comet must certainly have been very large indeed, perhaps as large as 100 km across (for comparison, the nucleus of Comet Hale–Bopp was about 40 km across). Although its orbit is rather different from those of the main two groups, it is possible that the comet of 1680 is also related to the Kreutz sungrazers via a fragmentation many orbits ago. The Kreutz sungrazers are probably not a unique phenomenon. Studies have shown that for comets with high orbital inclinations and perihelion distances of less than about 2 AU, the cumulative effect of gravitational perturbations tends to result in sungrazing orbits. One study has estimated that Comet Hale–Bopp has about a 15% chance of eventually becoming a Sun-grazing comet. ## Recent observations Until recently, it would have been possible for even a very bright member of the Kreutz sungrazers to pass through the inner Solar System unnoticed, if its perihelion had occurred between about May and August. At this time of year, as seen from Earth, the comet would approach and recede almost directly behind the Sun, and could only become visible extremely close to the Sun if it became very bright. Only a remarkable coincidence between the perihelion passage of the Eclipse Comet of 1882 and a total solar eclipse allowed its discovery. However, during the 1980s, two Sun-observing satellites serendipitously discovered several new members of the Kreutz family, and since the launch of the SOHO Sun-observing satellite in 1995, it has been possible to observe comets very close to the Sun at any time of year. The satellite provides a constant view of the immediate solar vicinity, and SOHO has now discovered hundreds of new Sun-grazing comets, some just a few metres across. About 83% of the sungrazers found by SOHO are members of the Kreutz group, with the other being referred to as 'non-Kreutz' or 'sporadic' sungrazers (Meyer, Marsden, and Kracht1&2 families). On average, a new member of the Kreutz family is discovered every three days. Apart from Comet Lovejoy, none of the sungrazers seen by SOHO has survived its perihelion passage; some may have plunged into the Sun itself, but most are likely to have simply evaporated away completely. More than 75% of the SOHO sungrazers have been discovered by amateur astronomers analysing SOHO's observations via the Internet. Some amateurs have managed remarkable numbers of discoveries, with Rainer Kracht of Germany having chalked up 211, Michael Oates of the United Kingdom making 144, and Zhou Bo of China spotting 97. As of December 2011, over 2,000 Kreutz sungrazers have been identified using SOHO data. SOHO observations have shown that Sungrazers frequently arrive in pairs separated by a few hours. These pairs are too frequent to occur by chance, and cannot be due to break-ups on the previous orbit, because the fragments would have separated by a much greater distance. Instead, it is thought that the pairs result from fragmentations far away from the perihelion. Many comets have been observed to fragment far from perihelion, and it seems that in the case of the Kreutz sungrazers, an initial fragmentation near perihelion can be followed by an ongoing 'cascade' of break-ups throughout the rest of the orbit. The number of Subgroup I Kreutz comets discovered is about four times the number of Subgroup II members. This suggests that the 'grandparent' comet split into parent comets of unequal size. ## Future Dynamically, the Kreutz sungrazers might continue to be recognised as a distinct family for many thousands of years yet. Eventually, their orbits will be dispersed by gravitational perturbations, although depending on the rate of fragmentation of the constituent parts, the group might be completely destroyed before it is gravitationally dispersed. The continuing discovery of large numbers of the smaller members of the family by SOHO will undoubtedly lead to a greater understanding of how comets break up to form families. It is not possible to estimate the chances of another very bright Kreutz comet arriving in the near future, but given that at least 10 have reached naked-eye visibility over the last 200 years, another great comet from the Kreutz family seems almost certain to arrive at some point. Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli in 1970 reached an apparent magnitude of 1. In December 2011, Kreutz sungrazer C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) survived its perihelion passage and had an apparent magnitude of −3. ## See also - List of Kreutz Sungrazers - Lists of comets
147,644	It's That Man Again	1,173,787,703	BBC radio show (1939–1949)	[ "1939 radio programme debuts", "1949 radio programme endings", "BBC Light Programme programmes", "BBC Radio comedy programmes" ]	It's That Man Again (commonly contracted to ITMA) was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other characters orbited. The programmes were written by Ted Kavanagh and produced by Francis Worsley. Handley died during the twelfth series, the remaining programmes of which were immediately cancelled: ITMA could not work without him, and no further series were commissioned. ITMA was a character-driven comedy whose satirical targets included officialdom and the proliferation of minor wartime regulations. Parts of the scripts were rewritten in the hour before the broadcast, to ensure topicality. ITMA broke away from the conventions of previous radio comedies, and from the humour of the music halls. The shows used sound effects in a novel manner, which, alongside a wide range of voices and accents, created the programme's atmosphere. The show presented more than seventy regular characters during its twelve seasons, most of them with his or her own catchphrase. Among them were the bibulous Colonel Chinstrap ("I don't mind if I do"), the charlady Mrs Mopp ("Can I do you now, sir?"), the incompetent German agent Funf ("this is Funf speaking"), the courtly odd-job men Cecil and Claude ("After you, Claude—no, after you, Cecil"), the Middle Eastern hawker Ali Oop ("I go—I come back"), and the lugubrious Mona Lott ("It's being so cheerful that keeps me going"). To keep the show fresh, old characters were dropped and new ones introduced over the years. ITMA was an important contributor to British morale during the Second World War, with its cheerful take on the day-to-day preoccupations of the public, but its detailed topicality—one of its greatest attractions at the time—has prevented it from wearing well on repeated hearing. The show's lasting legacy is its influence on subsequent BBC comedy. ITMA's innovative structure—a fast-moving half-hour show with musical interludes and a cast of regular characters with popular catchphrases—was successfully continued in comedy shows of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Take It from Here, The Goon Show and Round the Horne. ## Background The comedian Tommy Handley started as a music hall comedian before becoming a regular feature on BBC radio from 1924. By the end of the 1920s he was, according to the writers Andy Foster and Steve Furst, a household name in Britain; his popularity continued into the 1930s. The scriptwriter Ted Kavanagh was a fan of Handley and wrote a script for a comedy sketch for him in 1926. Handley liked the work and bought it; it was the start of a professional relationship that lasted until Handley's death in 1949. Although the BBC featured many comic acts in its variety programmes, it had no regular comedy series until early 1938, when Band Waggon and Danger! Men at Work began. The former, which ran for three series in 1938 and 1939, was a particular success; John Watt, the BBC's director of variety, wanted a successor and decided that Handley would be the right person to present it. In June 1939 Handley, Kavanagh and the producer Francis Worsley met at the Langham Hotel, London, to discuss ideas for a sketch show to meet Watt's criteria. They decided to emulate the quick-fire style of American radio programmes such as the Burns and Allen Show, although with a much more English quality. Initial plans were to call the new programme MUG—the "Ministry of Universal Gratification"—but Worsley preferred ITMA. "ITMA", or "It's That Man Again", referred to Adolf Hitler, and the term was used as a headline to describe him by Bert Gunn, the editor of the Daily Express. ## Format ITMA was a character-driven comedy and contained parody and satire, unlike previous British radio comedy. The programme's satirical targets during the war were government departments and the ostensibly petty wartime regulations, although the programme "never challenged authority but instead acted as a safety valve for the public's irritation with bureaucracy, wartime shortages, queues and the black market", according to the cultural historian Martin Dibbs. According to Foster and Furst ITMA was "entirely new, breaking away from the conventions of both radio and music hall comedy". It relied on Handley's quick-fire delivery of the humour, with his "near-miraculous technique". The writer and producer John Fisher, in his examination of 20th-century comedians and comedy, highlights ITMA's "speed of delivery, its quick-fire succession of short scenes and verbal non-sequiturs, all breaking away from the traditional music hall sketch orientation of Band Waggon". The broadcasts had an average of eighteen-and-a-half minutes of dialogue into which Kavanagh would attempt to write one hundred laughs—an average of a laugh every eleven seconds. Between the comic scenes there were usually two musical interludes in each show: the first purely orchestral and the second featuring a song from the current resident singer. The storylines for each week were thin, and the programme was written to have Handley at the centre interacting with a cast of recurring characters, all of whom had their own catchphrase or phrases. The catchphrases were used deliberately to help the listening public to identify which of the characters was speaking. The programme was broadcast live each week and many of the show's sound effects were done live alongside the actors. For ITMA a sound effect was not a shorthand way of setting a scene for a listener, but "as a means of punctuating the rapid progress of events ... doing the work of words, and permitting an extraordinarily economical drama for a medium that relies on words—and sounds", according to the academic Peter Davison. The variety of characters and sounds was key to Kavanagh, who wrote that he wanted: > to use sound for all it was worth, the sound of different voices and accents, the use of catchphrases, the impact of funny sounds in words, of grotesque effects to give atmosphere—every device to create the illusion of rather crazy or inverted reality. The scripts were written during the week of broadcast to ensure topicality. The year after ITMA ended, Kavanagh reflected "I myself cannot understand some of the jokes. They were skits on a nine-days wonder—a headline of that day's paper, and dead the following week. Every programme is an accurate reflection of the war situation at the time." Some parts of a script were rewritten in the hours leading up to a broadcast as the news changed. Kavanagh visited army camps and factories to listen to the patois and slang, the current jokes doing the rounds, as well as complaints and frustration, and used the material in the show. In this manner, Worsley considers that ITMA was "the closest radio had come to the everyday jokes that ordinary people have always made". As the programme matured, Kavanagh changed the flow of the programme away from the disjointed collection of scenes or sketches and towards a more defined storyline. ## Broadcasts ### Pre-war #### Series 1: July to August 1939 The first series of ITMA was planned to be a trial run of six shows of 45-minute duration, broadcast fortnightly. They began on 12 July 1939, performed at a BBC sound facility, either at Maida Vale Studios, or St. George's Hall. The shows were broadcast live on the BBC National Programme at 8.15 pm. The programme was set on a ship able to broadcast radio programmes, with Handley as the station controller and presenter. He was accompanied by Cecilia Eddy, Eric Egan and Sam Heppner. The show included a quiz hosted by Lionel Gamlin. In an article in the Radio Times that accompanied the first programme, Worsley described the premise of the show: Handley "gets hold of a ship, equips it with a transmitter and studio, and sails the Seven Seas scattering broadcast culture (Handley brand) and 'commercials' (any brand)". Music was provided by the Jack Harris Band, who had been performing at London hotspots, including the Café de Paris and the London Casino. With a tense international situation in mid-1939, Kavanagh was careful to avoid writing in political jokes, or any material too topical or sensitive. Handley was known to keep to a script, with little or no ad-libbing to worry the producers. The fourth episode of ITMA was broadcast on 30 August. When the Second World War broke out on 3 September, the remainder of the series was cancelled. The show had been of limited success, and Worsley thought it was likely to have been "another broadcasting flop". ### Wartime #### Series 2: September 1939 to February 1940 The BBC had planned for the outbreak of war, and once it was declared, the Variety Department was moved to Bristol. The relocation meant some of the original performers were not available; a new cast was assembled from those who had moved to Bristol and who had received the requisite security clearance from the Ministry of Information. Handley was accompanied by Vera Lennox, Maurice Denham, Sam Costa and Jack Train, and the music for the second series was by the Jack Hylton Band, conducted by Billy Ternent and supported by the Rhythm Octet. With the idea of a broadcasting ship now too improbable during wartime, the premise of the programme changed to have Handley as the head of the fictional Ministry of Aggravation and Mysteries, where he worked in the Office of Twerps. Other changes to the format included dropping the quiz section of the programme—which Worsley thought held up the flow of the show—replaced by "Radio Fakenburg", a spoof of Radio Luxembourg. The running time was reduced from the 45 minutes of the first series to half an hour, and remained so through all the subsequent series. A blackout was in place for evenings and nights, and all cinemas and theatres had been closed by the government; such measures provided a boost to the listening figures for the show. The writer and comedian Barry Took writes that the success also came from the programme's "self-assurance and cheerful optimism [which was] a welcome relief in that time of fear and uncertainty". The second series of ITMA finished in February 1940 and the show went on a nationwide tour that kept it off the air for nearly 18 months, except for one special edition in May 1940. Took notes that the show lacked the impact it had on radio, as Handley's performances were more intimate through a microphone than in a theatre. #### Series 3 and 4: June 1941 to May 1942 While ITMA was absent from the airwaves, the German bombing campaign had included Bristol, which triggered a move of the Variety Department to Bangor, northwest Wales, in April 1941. When series three began broadcasting in June 1941, Kavanagh had introduced more characters, and set the show in the fictional seaside town of Foaming-at-the-Mouth with Handley as its mayor, renaming the programme, briefly, It's That Sand Again, before it reverted to ITMA. There were also changes in the cast. Denham and Costa had both joined the armed forces since the previous series; new actors were brought in, including Horace Percival, Dorothy Summers, Clarence Wright and Fred Yule. Series 3 ran for six weeks, ending on 25 July 1941. Series 4 followed two months later, beginning on 26 September. The programme was attracting 16 million listeners by this stage, and was the most popular programme the BBC Variety Department had ever broadcast. During programme five, listeners heard the explosion of two naval mines that had been dropped on Bangor, landing half a mile (0.8 km) from the studio, instead of in the River Mersey. Although the actors continued after a brief pause, the programme had been taken off the air and replaced with music. In April 1942 ITMA provided a command performance at Windsor Castle in the presence of George VI and his queen on the occasion of the 16th birthday of Princess Elizabeth. It was, notes Worsley, the first Royal Command Radio Show. The royal family were fans of the programme; a member of the Royal Household said that if the war were to end between 8.30 and 9.00 pm on a Thursday night none of the household would dare to tell the King until ITMA had finished. #### Series 5 and 6: September 1942 to July 1943 Series 5 started in September 1942 and ran for twenty weeks. One of the programmes in November was broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme to the soldiers in North Africa, the first time the show had been transmitted to the troops. The shows became increasingly topical and up-to-the-minute. Worsley began experimenting with the size of the audience to see which worked best. He tried in the theatres and cinemas of Bangor and Llandudno to get an audience of 2000, and in the studio in Bangor with 200; he also tried with no audience, and settled on 200 as the right number. The premise of the show changed again with Handley ejected as the mayor of Foaming-in-the-Mouth, and now the manager of a munitions factory. Several new characters were introduced, including Colonel Chinstrap, a dipsomaniac retired army officer voiced by Train. Before the sixth series began recording, a film version, It's That Man Again, was released. Starring Handley and including many of the radio programme regulars, it was written by Kavanagh and Howard Irving Young and directed by Walter Forde. The Times considered it difficult to transpose a radio show format onto a cinema screen, but thought Forde "manages his difficult task extremely well". As a consequence, the reviewer thought the film "achieves at least a partial success through the extravagance of its own craziness". The scenario of the programme changed again for series six, when, following a decision to move the munitions factory underground, a sulphur spring was tapped and Foaming-in-the-Mouth became a spa. #### Series 7 and 8: October 1943 to June 1945 In the latter part of 1943 the Variety Department finished a relocation back to London. Series 7 of ITMA, which began in October that year, was recorded in the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus. The show restarted without Train, whose health, which had been worsening for some time, broke down completely; he spent a year in a sanatorium in North Wales recovering. Worsley took the decision to rest Train's characters rather than have another actor portray him; although he was criticised for the decision, he said "any imitation was to my mind as paste to real diamonds". The series included broadcasts for each of the three forces: in January 1944 ITMA was broadcast from the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, a show for the Royal Air Force was recorded at the Criterion in February, and an Army edition from the Garrison Theatre at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich. Series 8 began in September 1944 with a special show from the Wolseley Motors factory in Birmingham, but the show was not well received, and it was decided not to have any further broadcasts away from the studio. Train returned to the cast, but at the end of 1944 Worsley was hospitalised for seven months. The production duties were taken up by Ronnie Waldman until Worsley returned in May 1945. His first programme back was V-ITMA, the special edition show of 11 May 1945, which celebrated the end of the war in Europe. The series came to an end a month later, after a run of 39 weeks. ### Post-war #### Series 9 to 12, post-war: September 1945 to January 1949 For the start of the post-war ITMAs, Handley, Kavanagh and Worsley decided to change many of the cast to keep the show fresh; Dorothy Summers, Sydney Keith, Dino Galvani and Horace Percival were all released from the show and replaced by Hugh Morton, Mary O'Farrell, Carleton Hobbs and Lind Joyce; Clarence Wright returned to the programme. The premise of the show changed too: Handley left Foaming-in-the-Mouth and became the governor of the fictional island of Tomtopia. The storyline towards the end of series 9 centred on a government investigation of the administration on Tomtopia; the series ended in June 1946 with Handley leaving Tomtopia to return to Britain. A prequel programme to series 10, "Whither Tomtopia?", was based in the idea that Handley had "to face an enquiry into his governorship" of the island. He faced questions from, among others, Dilys Powell—the film critic from The Sunday Times—the medical spokesman Dr Charles Hill and the author A. G. Street; the programme was chaired by Sir William Darling, MP. The remainder of the series dealt with Handley living in the fictional Castle WeeHoose in Scotland, where he was building a rocket to take him to the Moon. In about week six of the series, the rocket was launched, but crash-landed on Tomtopia, where a new governor—Percy Palaver, played by Deryck Guyler—was in charge. Series 11, which began in September 1947, had the final recruit to the ITMA cast: Hattie Jacques, who played Ella Phant and Sophie Tuckshop. She became so nervous during the audition that Handley held her hand, which she found made her more nervous. Handley's health was beginning to decline by the end of the 38-week series, and it was suggested that series 12 should be delayed. He said no, and ITMA began again in September 1948. On 9 January 1949, three days after the sixteenth episode of the series—the 310th episode of ITMA—Handley died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage. The news was announced on that evening's radio, at the close of the Sunday evening repeat of the show, by the Director General of the BBC, Sir William Haley, who insisted on making the announcement himself. Without its star, ITMA was cancelled; Took observes that Handley "was so much the keystone and embodiment of the actual performance that ITMA died with him". ## Leading characters The main character was always Handley's, whether as manager of the pirate radio station, head of the Office of Twerps, Mayor of Foaming-at-the-Mouth, factory manager, Governor of Tomtopia or down-and-out. He remained the fast-talking central figure, around whom all the other characters orbited. Took comments that it is impossible to put them into order of popularity: "They were all successful. Everyone had their own favourite". Some of the best known are described below, in order of first appearance in the show. ### Funf Funf, "the enemy agent with the feet of sauerkraut", was the earliest of the show's major supporting characters, making his debut in the second programme of the second series. He was an incompetent German agent, ITMAs response to a national scare in 1940 about a supposed "fifth column" in Britain. He would telephone Handley to make dark threats, in a sinister, hollow voice, which Train produced by speaking across the top of an empty glass held next to the microphone. Handley's verbal dexterity continually left Funf in confusion. Funf, described by the media historian Denis Gifford as "the greatest of all war-time characters", became what Worsley called "a national craze" and helped to make the German propaganda machine a source of public ridicule in Britain. ### The Diver The Diver was drawn from a real-life figure familiar to Handley's generation of Merseysiders. The one-legged diver and swimmer Frank Gadsby was well known at New Brighton in the first decades of the 20th century for high-diving off the pier, watched by what the Liverpool Echo called "countless boatloads of people" He would solicit donations with phrases appropriated by his caricature in ITMA: "Don't forget the diver, sir, don't forget the diver. Every penny makes the water warmer!" In ITMA the Diver was what Worsley called a "crossing" character: he would cross a scene for a few seconds, often to interrupt Handley at a particularly inopportune moment: ### Cecil and Claude Two ceremonious odd-job men—also broker's men—who talked in rhyme: Cecil: After you, Claude – Claude: No, after you, Cecil Handley: Cut out the etiquette—you've a big job to do. Cecil: Do you want us to push your chair, Mr Mayor? Claude: It'll need a new tyre, sire. Handley: No. I want you to go round to the lighthouse and lend a hand erecting our Foaming Fun Fair. Cecil: Will there be swings and things? Claude: There'll be coconut shies I surmise. Handley: Yes, and merry-go-rounds, you hounds ... Cecil: Then we'll have a dekko Sir Echo. Claude: We'll have a penn'orth Sir Kenneth. ### Ali Oop Ali Oop was a caricature of a Middle-Eastern hawker, persistently trying to sell improbable goods to Handley: Ali Oop: Please mister, you give me permission to peddle on your pier? Handley: Certainly not. Ali Oop: Any other town I peddle where I like. Handley: Ah, but we're very particular here. Ali Oop: You give me licence—I give you very funny toy. Make loud noises when sat on. Handley: They used to laugh when I sat down at the piano. You get out of here and take your penetrating effluvia with you. Ali Oop: I go—I come back. ### Sam Scram and Lefty Sam and Lefty were two American characters, both nominally gangsters, but of a conspicuously uncombative kind. Sam, Handley's bodyguard, was prone to panic: Sam: Boss, boss, sumpin' terrible's happened! Handley: Don't tell me the Scharnhorst has come up again? Sam: No, there's a tough-looking guy outside, boss. Handley: Has he got a broken handcuff on one wrist? Sam: Yes, boss! Handley: And a bludgeon in the other? Sam: Yeah, boss! Handley: And crime written all over his face? Sam: Yeah, boss! Handley: It's my brother: send him in. Lefty was of a nervous disposition. At a fairground shooting gallery with Sam: Lefty: I got the gun—they're going to get the woiks. ... Missed 'em! Sam: I thought you were a dead shot with one of dem tings. Lefty: Aw—it's me noives, I tell ya—its me noives. When Train was ill during series 7, Lefty was temporarily replaced by Butch Scram, Sam's brother, played by Bryan Herbert. ### Mrs Mopp Although Mrs Mopp, the charlady, was in fewer than half the series of ITMA, she was one of the best-loved characters, and was remembered long after the show finished. She would burst through Handley's door, usually when least convenient, and hoarsely ask, "Can I do you now sir?" She regularly brought Handley peculiar presents, nominally edible as a rule, beginning with some carrot jelly she had sieved through her jumper. In a show recorded before a Royal Navy audience she brought him "a Bosun's Blancmange". At the end of their scenes together she would bid him "Ta-ta for now", soon abbreviated to "TTFN". Mrs Mopp: Can I do you now, sir? Handley: Well, if it isn't Mrs Mopp the vamping vassal with the tousled tassel. I thought you told me you were called up? Mrs Mopp: Well, sir, I had me medical. Handley: And were you passed A.1? Mrs Mopp: Oh no, sir. I'm passed sixty-two. Handley: You don't look a day over sixty-one. I mean, were you passed fit? ... Mrs Mopp: No, sir—I was examined by a lady doctor. She wanted me to remove my bonnet. Handley: Disgraceful! I expect she wanted to open a false front. Mrs Mopp: I wouldn't let her meddle with my modesty vest, sir. I said, "You must take me as you find me". The Labour [viz. labour exchange] sent me to you, sir. Handley: The Labour? That's capital. I'll put you in charge of the sock exchange. Mrs Mopp: Oh, thank you, sir. I brought this for you. Handley: Isn't that nice. What is it—an engineer's indiscretion? Mrs Mopp: No, sir, it's an overseer's 'otpot. Handley: Thank you, Mrs M. There'll be an 'otpot in the Old Tom tonight. Mrs Mopp: Ta-ta for now. At their last meeting Mrs Mopp bade Handley "TTFN", to which he responded, "NCTWWASBE"—"Never Clean The Window With A Soft-Boiled Egg". After being written out of ITMA she had her own series of quarter-hour programmes, The Private Life of Mrs Mopp, written by Kavanagh. ### Commercial Traveller The Commercial Traveller, like the Diver, was a "crossing" character, distracting Handley from the business at hand with his irrelevant sales patter: Traveller: Good morning. Handley: Good morning Traveller: Nice day. Handley: No. Traveller: Any helicopters, motor cars or washing machines? Handley: Yes, please. Traveller: You can't have them—they're only for export. Handley: What have you come here for, then? Traveller: So that I can call again. Good morning. Handley: Good morning. Traveller: Nice day. ### Signor So-So Handley's scatty secretary was planned as an Italian equivalent of Funf, but "his chronic mismanagement of the English tongue proved too endearing and he remained at Handley's side as a well-loved language joke". His incurable tendency to malapropisms caused him to address a female character: "Ah, you attract me like a maggot! Let me cuss you on both cheeks". His verbal infelicities became infectious and regularly caused Handley's character to trip over his words: Handley: Now, So-So, you are an architect, aren't you? So-So: Oh yes, Mr Hagglemuch. I am an unqualified artichoke. I have built many sky-scrappers, and bolks of falts. Handley: Bolks of falts? So-So: Yes—luxury falts. Handley: Now listen, you leaning tower of Pisa, you can say bolks of falts as easy as I can. So-So: You mean blocks of flats. I have also built a villain in the country. Handley: A villain? So-So: Yes, a semi-detached villain. ... Come this way. This is your office. I will finish it. Handley: Listen, So-So, leave the finishing—er—furnishing of this to me. Any more of your basic English and I'd go mad. So-So: Oka-da-doke. ### Colonel Chinstrap The bibulous Colonel Chinstrap was a retired army officer, perpetually on the look-out for a free drink. The Times commented that his voice "carried the unmistakeable aroma of vintage port and brandy". An unnamed prototype of the character appeared in the third series: Handley: Didn't I meet you in Rumbellipoor, sir? Train: You did not, sir. I was never there. Handley: Then you must have a double. Train: Thanks, I will. The character reappeared in the fifth series, now identified as Colonel Humphrey Chinstrap; he rapidly became one of the show's most popular features. He would "mishear" an innocent remark as an invitation to a drink: The catchphrase, "I don't mind if I do", was not new, but ITMA brought it into widespread popular use. The Colonel had a life beyond ITMA. Train ("assisted by Colonel Chinstrap") made a gramophone record of a song called "I don't mind if I do" in 1949; Chinstrap and his ITMA colleague Major Mundy offered comments on the Lord's Test Match in two short broadcasts in June 1949; Train, playing Chinstrap, co-starred in the 1950 comedy series The Great Gilhooly, and appeared weekly on television in late 1951 and early 1952 with scenes from the Colonel's life story. In 1952 Evans Brothers published Chinstrap's autobiography—ghost-written by Kavanagh, with a foreword by Train. In a 1954 BBC radio programme he featured in The True Story of Humphrey Chinstrap (Col. Retd.), "the authentic history of a warrior who penetrated the darkest jungles of Whitehall and Wooloomooloo armed only with a sword and a corkscrew". Train twice made guest appearances as Chinstrap in The Goon Show (1957 and 1959). ### Mona Lott Mona Lott (subsequently, after her marriage, Mona Little), the lugubrious laundress, was among the later creations to feature in the show, appearing in the last three series. She would regale Handley with her latest woes, her doleful demeanour in ludicrous contrast with her mantra, "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going". For Mona, a domestic disaster such as a burst water tank would become increasingly calamitous, until her husband ... Among other catastrophes recounted by Mona were her brother-in-law, a champion runner, walking in his sleep and getting half-way to Brighton before anyone could catch him, and, when on a train journey, "I put me head out of the window to look at the view, and the mail-bag catcher caught me. Before I knew where I was I found myself on the platform between a sack of fertiliser and a dead duck". ### Sophie Tuckshop Sophie Tuckshop was a replacement for a less successful character, Ella Phant. Jokes about the latter's size did not work well on radio because the light and girlish voice of the performer, Hattie Jacques, did not suggest a heavyweight. She described Sophie as "a terrible child who never stopped eating, with the inevitable sickening results". Sophie: I had such a lovely dream last night—I dreamt the bed was made of marzipan and the mattress was marshmallow and the sheets were jelly and the pillows embroidered with lovely sugar violets. Handley''': Stop! Once more we halt the roar of Sophie's Tuckshop to tell you of some of the interesting things that are In Tum Tonight! Carry on, Bicarb! ## Other characters Kavanagh and the ITMA team caricatured people of all ages, both sexes, and many nationalities, classes and professions. There were spoofs of national and regional types, including Johann Bull, a conspicuously Teutonic German agent trying to pass himself off as English; Chief Bigga Banga of Tomtopia, who spoke no English and Wamba M'Boojah who spoke with the grandest of Oxford accents, having been a BBC announcer; the American publicity agent, Luke Slippy; Hari Kari, a Japanese caller whose gibberish only Handley could understand, and his compatriots Bowing and Scraping. From the British regions there were the Scottish Tattie Mackintosh (and her mother); the Welsh Sam Fairfechan ("Hello, how are you? As if I cared") and his family; and the Liverpudlian Frisby Dyke, with a strong Scouse accent, puzzled by some of Handley's longer words ("What's a concentrated cacophony?"), but usually winning their weekly battle of wits. Leading female characters included three secretaries to Handley in his various capacities: Cilly, Dotty (her sister), and the formidable but soft-hearted Miss Hotchkiss; Mrs Lola Tickle, Handley's first charlady; the shy Lady Sonely; Banjeleo, Bigga Banga's daughter and translator; Nurse Riff-Rafferty, Handley's old nanny, with a fund of embarrassing stories of his early years; Naieve, Major Mundy's old-fashioned daughter; the "pert poppet" Poppy Poopah; Ruby Rockcake who ran the railway buffet: "No cups outside!"; the generously proportioned Ella Phant; and the two unnamed Posh Ladies, whose conversations were strewn with "dahlings" and always ended with the cry, "Taxi!" Military figures in addition to Colonel Chinstrap included his puritanical nephew Brigadier Dear, mortified by his uncle's excesses; and Major Mundy, a British expatriate on Tomtopia with an unreconstructed 19th-century mindset. Among the mock authority figures were Sir Short Supply, a strangulated-voiced bureaucrat; the Town Clerk, a north-country official who would offer "have a cher, Mr Mer", later Mer himself; Fusspot, an official whose name was self-explanatory; two characters with a habit of repeating the ends of their sentences: the Man from the Ministry and Inspector Squirt: "I'm Inspector Squirt—I said Squirt"; and Percy Palaver, appointed governor of Tomtopia in Handley's absence, and notable for his generally unintelligible speech punctuated with "oomyahs" and "harrumphs". Professions and occupations were represented by, among others, the announcer at Radio Fakenburg; Atlas, the hypochondriac strongman; Bookham, a variety agent; Curly Kale, a chef who hated food and loved dreadful old jokes; Dan Dungeon, the jocose tour guide at Castle Weehouse; Farmer Jollop; Lemuel the office boy; Norman the Doorman; and Vodkin and Vladivostooge, two mad scientists. Eccentrics included Basil Backwards ("Sir, morning good! Coffee of cup. Strong too not. Milk have rather I'd"); George Gorge, a champion glutton; Comical Chris, a persistent would-be joker; Mark Time, a nonagenarian whose response to anything was, "I'll have to ask me dad"; Mr Sninch-of-Puff, a man who spoke in spoonerisms; and Whats'isname, a man who struggled to recall the simplest nouns, and had the same effect on Handley. ## Performers The list is not exhaustive: members of the cast played many other roles, mostly one-off, unnamed, and sometimes not even human; the singers, the orchestra and the musical director, Charles Shadwell, sometimes had lines in the script. From time to time guests appeared on the show. There were recurring characters who were mentioned frequently but were never heard, such as Peter Geekie, or appeared regularly but were not given a name, such as Carleton Hobbs's man whose banal weekly tales began and ended "Ain't it a shame, eh? Ain't it a shame?" and Hugh Morton's speaker whose sentences began softly and ended in a deafening shout. Sources: Foster and Furst (1999); Gifford (1985) and Kavanagh (1975). ## Catchphrases The following are among the best known of the catchphrases from the show. Some became common currency among the general public for many years; others were more ephemeral. One—"TTFN"—remained in frequent use throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st, latterly being used in chat rooms, emails and newsgroups to sign off a message or posting. "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going" also remains in use, seen in British newspapers many times in the first two decades of the 21st century. ## Reputation The Times commented that ITMA "achieved a humour of universal appeal and found eager listeners in every rank of society". A 2002 history of Britain in the first half of the 20th century called the show "the most celebrated wartime radio programme ... praised by intellectuals for its surrealism and wordplay, but loved by the mass listening public for its delirious silliness". The size of the audience was unprecedented; one historian records that more than sixteen million people listened to ITMA every week", and another that "a staggering 40 per cent of the population" regularly tuned in. But the show was not without its critics. Took quotes hostile letters to Radio Times: "Why should the producers in the Variety department assume that the listeners are a body of half-wits? The puns served up last night in "ITMA" were an insult to anyone's intelligence" (1939) and "I am constantly amazed by the number of otherwise intelligent people who rave about this programme. I have tried to discover some sort of level of culture or intelligence from which ITMA fans are drawn—but in vain" (1944). In 1947 a Scottish MP, Jean Mann, referred to Handley—or his character—as a "twerp". In the show's early days critical response was not uniformly enthusiastic. The radio critic of The Manchester Guardian wrote in December 1939 that amusing as the show could be, "it is beginning to pall by its regularity and its attachment to the same style of humour". By the end of the last series, in 1949, writers in the same paper were comparing ITMA to the comedies of Aristophanes and Ben Jonson, as "a brilliant, penetrating commentary on our times ... enlightening millions of people—a cunningly dispensed and cleverly administered medicine for the lesser ills of society". A contemporary critic observed that ITMA was entirely original and avoided stock characters: Historians of the show acknowledge that the topicality that was one of ITMA's strengths has prevented it from wearing well. Kavanagh himself admitted that reading his old scripts he could not work out what some of the jokes were about. Even while the show was still running, its producer, Worsley, said that recordings of earlier series "seem curiously dusty and faded, like an album of old photographs". In a 2013 study of British comedy, John Fisher emphasises the influence of ITMA on later comedy shows by virtue of "its speed of delivery, its quick-fire succession of short scenes and verbal non-sequiturs, its surrealist overtones, all breaking away from the traditional music hall sketch orientation of Band Waggon, and anticipating Take It From Here, and even more so The Goon Show and Round the Horne''".
72,458,497	1950–51 Gillingham F.C. season	1,152,176,684	null	[ "English football clubs 1950–51 season", "Gillingham F.C. seasons" ]	During the 1950–51 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division South, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the first season of Gillingham's second spell in the Football League; prior to this season the club was elected back into the competition having lost its place in 1938. Gillingham's results in the first half of the season were poor, including a 9–2 defeat to Nottingham Forest, the highest number of goals the team had conceded for more than 20 years; at the end of 1950 they were second bottom of the Third Division South league table. In January and early February Gillingham climbed to 19th in the 24-team division after winning five times in six games, including a 9–4 victory over Exeter City, a new record for the club's highest Football League score which would stand for more than 30 years. After this they won only once in ten matches; the team finished the season 22nd in the division. Gillingham also competed in the FA Cup, reaching the second round. The team played 50 competitive matches, winning 14, drawing 11, and losing 25. Dave Thomas, who joined the club in October, finished the season as the team's top goalscorer; he scored 19 times in the Football League and twice in the FA Cup. Jimmy Boswell made the most appearances, playing 46 times. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 20,128 for a league game against Millwall on 2 September. ## Background and pre-season Gillingham had been among the founder members of the Football League Third Division in 1920, which was renamed the Third Division South when a parallel Third Division North was created a year later. In 18 seasons between 1920 and 1938, the team consistently struggled, only finishing in the top half of the league table three times. They finished in the bottom two on five occasions, requiring them to apply each time for re-election to the League. The club's fifth application was unsuccessful; Ipswich Town of the regional Southern League received more votes than Gillingham from the Football League's other member clubs in the ballot following the 1937–38 season and thus secured election to the Third Division South. Gillingham initially took Ipswich's place in the Southern League; when competitive football resumed after the Second World War, Gillingham played in the more localised Kent League for one season before returning to the Southern League and winning the championship twice in three seasons. In 1950, the Football League opted to increase the membership of each of the two Third Divisions from 22 to 24 clubs; Gillingham applied for one of the new places in the Third Division South and received the highest number of votes among the applicants, thereby returning to the Football League after 12 years. Chairman Charles Cox told the press "It has been an uphill struggle to get back. Thank God we've done it. We must never find ourselves in that position again." Archie Clark was the team's manager, a post he had held since 1939. Danny O'Donnell was newly appointed to the role of trainer and Dick Edmed, who had played for Gillingham in the 1920s, was assistant trainer. So as to be able to attract new players for the higher level of football, the club was granted special dispensation to pay wages higher than those normally permitted by Football League rules, and signed several players who had previously performed well for the reserve team of a Football League club but failed to gain a regular first team place. Larry Gage, a goalkeeper, Randolph Jenkins, an inside forward, Harry Ayres, a half-back, and Ron Lewin, a full-back, all joined from Fulham for a combined transfer fee of . Half-back Mike Skivington arrived from Leyton Orient, and Bobby Veck, an outside forward, moved from Southampton. The team wore Gillingham's usual kit of blue shirts and white shorts. Pre-season matches between Football League members were not permitted at the time, and clubs instead generally prepared for the season with a public trial match between two teams chosen from within their own squad of players; Gillingham staged such a match one week before the start of the Football League season between teams designated the "Reds" and the "Blues". Ahead of the new season additional terracing was erected at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, to increase the stadium's capacity to 30,000. ## Third Division South ### August–December Gillingham's first match of the season was at home to the other newly elected club in the division, Colchester United; new signings Gage, Lewin, Ayres and Veck all made their debuts. The game drew an attendance of 19,542, the largest crowd recorded at Priestfield since January 1948. Colchester's Harry Bearryman twice cleared shots by Gillingham players off the goal-line after they had eluded his goalkeeper and another shot from the home team hit the cross-bar of the goal; the final score was 0–0. Four days later, Veck scored Gillingham's first goal of the season to give his team the lead away to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, but the home team scored three times to win the game. A defeat away to Bristol City and a draw at home to Bournemouth meant that at the end of August Gillingham had yet to win a game. Jenkins made his debut in the home game against Bournemouth but did not play again for nearly three months. On 2 September, Gillingham won 4–3 at home to Millwall; the attendance of 20,128 was the largest of the season at Priestfield. Following this first victory of the season, Gillingham lost away games against Bristol Rovers and Watford, both without scoring a goal. A correspondent for the Western Daily Press complimented Gage on his goalkeeping against Bristol Rovers, writing that Gillingham's opponents should have scored at least six goals as opposed to the three which they did. After the two defeats, Gillingham were 22nd out of 24 teams in the division. On 13 September, Veck scored Gillingham's first goal for three games with a penalty kick which gave his team a 1–0 win over Bristol Rovers; three days later Derek Lewis scored Gillingham's first hat-trick of the season in only his second professional match, a 4–1 win at home to Walsall. Having won two consecutive games for the first time during the season, Gillingham then began a run of nine consecutive league games without a victory. They ended September with defeats against Leyton Orient and Ipswich Town, both without scoring a goal, and then began October by losing away to Crystal Palace. A week later, Dave Thomas, a centre-forward newly signed from Watford, made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. He scored his first goal for Gillingham in the final game of October, a 2–2 draw at home to Norwich City. Gillingham began November with a 4–1 defeat away to Northampton Town, after which they were 21st in the Third Division South table, one point above the three teams tied for last place. On 18 November, Gillingham played away to Nottingham Forest, who were top of the table. The league leaders scored six goals in the first half and ultimately won the game 9–2; it was the first time that Gillingham had conceded nine goals in a game since 1927. Gillingham began December with a 4–2 victory away to Aldershot, their first league win since October; it was their tenth away match of the league season but the first to end in anything other than a defeat. Thomas scored Gillingham's second hat-trick of the season in the win. Following the victory, the team played five games in the final sixteen days of the calendar year but achieved only one draw and four defeats. Gillingham's final match of 1950 was away to Millwall on 30 December; Gillingham lost 4–3 and ended the year 23rd in the Third Division South, above bottom-placed Crystal Palace on goal average. Despite having only joined the club in October, Thomas was the team's leading Football League scorer, with eight goals in twelve games. ### January–May Gillingham's first match of 1951 was at home to Watford on 13 January; the away team took an early lead but Gillingham came back to win the game 3–1. Four days later, Gillingham played at home to Exeter City; the attendance of 4,601 was the lowest of the season at Priestfield Stadium, due in large part to the game, which had been postponed earlier in the season, being rescheduled for a Wednesday afternoon. Gillingham took a 5–2 lead in the first half and added four more goals in the second half as the game finished 9–4. A report in the Birmingham Gazette noted that both teams' defences had been "over-run by fast-moving forwards". It was the highest number of goals Gillingham had scored in a Football League match, surpassing the previous record of six, and remained the club's highest league score until 1987. The team were 23rd in the table at the end of the month. A goal from Veck gave Gillingham a 1–0 win at home to Leyton Orient in the first game of February, and the team followed this up with wins away to Exeter and at home to Torquay United; it was the first time Gillingham had won three consecutive games during the season and took the team up to 19th in the table. Following this run, they achieved only one victory in their next ten games. On 17 February, they lost 5–1 away to Ipswich Town; a week later they drew 0–0 with Crystal Palace but forward Charlie Burtenshaw suffered a broken leg which kept him out of the team for over a year. Thomas scored twice as Gillingham drew with Brighton & Hove Albion on 3 March, but the team failed to score any goals in their next three games, after which they were 21st in the table. On 24 March, they beat Northampton Town, their first victory for six weeks, but then lost away to both Southend United and Port Vale. Forward Billy Hales made his Football League debut in the game against Port Vale and scored Gillingham's fourth hat-trick of the season; as of 2009 he remained the only player to score three goals on his Football League debut for the club. Gillingham began April with a third consecutive defeat, losing 4–1 at home to Nottingham Forest, for whom Wally Ardron scored a hat-trick before half-time. Veteran goalkeeper Johnny Burke, a regular starter for Gillingham in the Southern League, replaced Gage for the next game, a 2–1 victory away to Torquay United. Aged 39, it was his first Football League appearance since the 1946–47 season. He played in five of the last six games of the season and set a record for the oldest player to represent the club in the Football League which stood for over 50 years; Jack Day, another goalkeeper who had been with the club in the Southern League but had been kept out of the team by Gage, played against Aldershot on 21 April. Gillingham alternated victory and defeat in their final six games of the season; Hales scored twice in a 2–1 win over Swindon Town in the penultimate match to take his record to six goals in seven games. Gillingham ended the season with a 2–1 defeat at home to Plymouth Argyle, leaving them 22nd in the Third Division South, six points above the bottom two teams, who were required to apply for re-election to the Football League. ### League match details Key - In result column, Gillingham's score shown first - H = Home match - A = Away match - pen. = Penalty kick - o.g. = Own goal ### Partial league table ## Cup matches ### FA Cup As a Third Division South club, Gillingham entered the 1950–51 FA Cup in the first round; their opponents were Linby Colliery of the Central Alliance, a semi-professional team including several players employed at the eponymous mining facility. Linby had won through six qualifying rounds to reach this stage of the competition, the only team to do so. Gillingham took a four-goal lead in the first half and, although they conceded a goal in the second half, held on for a 4–1 victory. In the second round, Gillingham played away to fellow Third Division South club Bristol Rovers. Thomas gave Gillingham the lead before Rovers scored twice; a late goal from Jackie Carr meant that the game ended in a draw and a replay was required. Four days later at Priestfield, Rovers took the lead but Carr scored to ensure another draw. Under the rules of the competition the second replay took place at a neutral venue. At Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane ground, Gillingham took the lead with a goal from Lewis but Rovers scored twice to win the game and eliminate Gillingham from the competition. #### FA Cup match details Key - In result column, Gillingham's score shown first - H = Home match - A = Away match - N = Match played at a neutral venue ## Players During the season, 27 players made at least one appearance for Gillingham. Jimmy Boswell made the most, playing in 42 league games and all four FA Cup matches. Charlie Marks made more league appearances, playing 44 times, but did not feature in any of the FA Cup games. Day made the fewest appearances, playing only once. The game proved to be the only Football League appearance of his career. Thomas was the team's leading scorer with 21 goals in total; Veck and Lewis both also reached double figures. ## Aftermath Gillingham's first season back in the Football League was not a success in financial terms; transfer fees and increased wages meant that the club registered a loss of . There was once again significant turnover of the club's playing staff at the end of the season. Veteran goalkeeper Burke opted to retire from football. Veck, the team's second-highest goalscorer, was offered a new contract with the club but rejected it and signed for Chelmsford City of the Southern League. Gage, Carr, George Piper and Joe Campbell also left to join Southern League clubs. Skivington was signed by Brentford of the Football League Second Division but did not play a game for them before moving on. Gillingham continued to struggle in the Third Division South, finishing in the bottom four in both of the following two seasons.
42,730,079	Sonic After the Sequel	1,161,038,096	2013 video game	[ "2013 video games", "Clickteam Fusion games", "Freeware games", "Indie games", "Platform games", "Side-scrolling video games", "Sonic the Hedgehog fangames", "Video game sequels", "Video games developed in Brazil", "Windows games", "Windows-only games" ]	Sonic After the Sequel is a 2013 platform video game created by Brazilian student Felipe Daneluz (LakeFeperd). It is an unofficial game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series and set between the official games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Daneluz's second Sonic game, it follows Sonic Before the Sequel, which is set between the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Like its predecessor, After the Sequel stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails in a quest to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman. After the Sequel was inspired by Sonic Heroes and other games both inside and outside the Sonic series, and it was developed with Sonic Worlds, an engine based in Multimedia Fusion 2 that reduces the amount of computer programming involved in game creation. It was released as a free download for Windows personal computers on June 15, 2013. The game was very well received by video game journalists, who lauded its preservation of retro Sonic gameplay and its 1990s-style soundtrack. The trilogy of Before the Sequel, After the Sequel, and their successor Sonic Chrono Adventure performed unusually well for fangames, having been downloaded 120,000 times by March 2014. ## Gameplay Sonic After the Sequel is a 2D platformer in the style of the Sonic games for the Sega Genesis. As such, it lets the player control either the blue hedgehog Sonic or his orange fox friend Tails. Both characters can move left and right with the arrow keys and jump with the "Z" key; Tails can also fly to reach areas Sonic cannot. The game takes place in seven levels, known as zones, each divided into three acts followed by a boss fight with Doctor Eggman. These zones are designed for fast-paced gameplay, featuring typical Sonic obstacles such as bottomless pits and vertical loops. The zones are based on various themes, including haunted houses, cities, magma caverns, winter theme parks, and sugar processing plants. The player collects rings in zones and boss fights as a form of health: upon being hit by an enemy or harmful obstacle, the player's rings will scatter and can be recollected. Being hit while carrying no rings, being crushed by an obstacle, or falling into a bottomless pit causes the player to lose a life; running out of lives results in a game over screen, after which the player must restart the zone from act one. Conversely, collecting 100 rings gets the player an extra life, and completing an act with 50 takes the player to a special stage, where they can collect rings for extra lives. The game also features power-ups throughout its zones, which are activated with the "X" key: these include typical Sonic power-ups such as shields and extra lives, as well as new ones. The "Beam" power-up for Sonic and the "Mirror" power-up for Tails are borrowed from and credited to Nintendo's Kirby series. ## Plot At the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic and Tails fly over the ocean in Tails' biplane, the Tornado, after defeating Doctor Eggman. Beginning from this point, After the Sequel depicts Sonic and Tails noticing a forested island and deciding to make a landing and explore. After completing the first zone, Sonic finds a robot resembling Tails—a trap sprung by Eggman. The robot ensnares Sonic in a force field while Eggman steals Sonic's Chaos Emeralds. Sonic escapes and sets out with Tails to recover the Emeralds. The two travel through more zones and fight Eggman at the end of each one. They follow Eggman to a forest, where he leads a massive logging operation. Together with Mighty the Armadillo, they destroy his machinery and stop the operation. They continue through the forest and find ghosts that frighten Tails. Destroying one of Eggman's robots lets Sonic see its internal architecture, including a screen that shows Eggman's plans to create an empire and drop a floating island into the sea. In Parhelion Peak, the game's snow zone, Sonic and Tails notice a feather float down from the sky. They board another of Eggman's airships and complete another zone, whereupon they find another feather. They trace the feathers to Eggman's bird-like robot, which is guarding the Emeralds. Sonic retrieves the Emeralds and uses them to become Super Sonic. He fights the robot as the game's final boss. After its defeat, Sonic and Tails fly aboard the Tornado once more—the segue into the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. ## Development and release After the Sequel was created by Felipe Daneluz (known on the Internet as "LakeFeperd"), a student from São Paulo, Brazil. Unlike many longtime Sonic fans, Daneluz remained supportive of the series through its "dark age" in the mid to late 2000s and enjoyed games such as Sonic Riders. Because of his continued enthusiasm toward later Sonic games, Daneluz decided to create a retro-styled Sonic game. Not being well versed in computer programming, Daneluz took to the open-source, visual game engine Sonic Worlds, which is tailored to create Sonic zones within the program Multimedia Fusion 2. Determined to make his game stand out despite his limited technical proficiency, Daneluz decided to set his first game in the time between Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic 2, calling it Sonic Before the Sequel. He set the follow-up, entitled Sonic After the Sequel, between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, and a third installment, Sonic Chrono Adventure, between Sonic 3 and Sonic CD. After the Sequel's zones were inspired largely by those of Sonic Heroes. One level called RedHot Ride Zone, however, was based mainly on a level of the same name in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Ideas for other zones came from Sonic Riders and a Sonic-style song called "Combat Night Zone" by electronic artist MaxieDaMan. Daneluz imagined Sonic being high on sugar in the Sugar Splash Zone. Daneluz began creating each level by sketching out ideas on paper, then transferring them to Adobe Photoshop before working on the enemies and level design. Unlike the publishers of many other games on which fangames have been based, particularly Nintendo, Sonic series publisher Sega has not sent a cease and desist order or other indication of disapproval to Daneluz. He has speculated that the company does not want to upset its fanbase. The music composition and recording were handled by underground musicians Falk Au Yeong, Funk Fiction, Andy Tunstall, James Landino, DJ Max-E, Mr. Lange, and Li Xiao'an. Daneluz had not made plans to incorporate original music until Falk approached him requesting collaboration on the game. Funk Fiction has claimed that the music spans more than twenty genres and was influenced by rock, jazz, disco, and trip hop and the soundtracks of game franchises like Sonic, Donkey Kong, and Kirby. Due to the levels in After the Sequel generally taking longer to complete than those in Before the Sequel, the music tracks are longer, estimated by Falk as ranging from one minute and 45 seconds to three minutes. In August 2017, Daneluz re-released the game as Sonic After the Sequel DX. This version features improved physics, the addition of the drop dash from Sonic Mania, and a new final boss. Later in 2019, an unofficial remake called Sonic After the Sequel Omega was released by Compound Games. This version also introduces more improved physics and performance fixes, and retains the drop dash from Sonic After the Sequel DX. It has smoother animations, widescreen support, the restoration of the unused Sugar Splash boss, upgraded menus, and "upgraded bosses". These "upgraded bosses" have received complaints due to their difficulty. This remake has been released on SFGHQ and Game Jolt. ## Reception After the Sequel has received positive coverage for its revitalization of retro Sonic gameplay. Tony Ponce of Destructoid summarized it as "quite the fun little gem that keeps the Genesis-era Sonic spirit alive". He contrasted the retro, fan-made After the Sequel with Sega's efforts to create high-quality 3D titles, lamenting that, fifteen years after the release of Sonic Adventure, Sega was "only now starting to get the hang of the third dimension." John Polson from IndieGames.com called the game "fantastic" and "stunning", while Kotaku's András Neltz stated that "it looks amazing" and advised readers not to let the game's status as a fan work turn them away from it. Nintendo Life writer Damien McFerran also called the game "impressive". The UK gaming staff for Red Bull's website stated that, despite Sega's continual releases of Sonic games, "few have quite recaptured the thrill of blazing through a 2D labyrinth at lightspeed in the way that fan made Sonic After The Sequel has." A second Red Bull article, by author Ben Sillis, exclaimed that "you have to play" it. The game's music has been particularly well received. Ponce called it "the best music ever" and "simply indescribable", opining that it raised an already high-quality product "to god tier". Ponce wrote an article dedicated to the game's music two days later, clarifying that it equals or surpasses the quality of any other Sonic game's soundtrack. The more reserved Polson claimed that the music "definitely rocks" and is clearer than that of Genesis games. Similarly, the Red Bull staff called the music "absolutely stunning", likening it to gaming soundtracks of the early 1990s. For McFerran, the soundtrack was "just as noteworthy" as the rest of the game. The game is available as a free download for Windows personal computers. As of March 2014, the trilogy had been downloaded 120,000 times—an unusually high number for fangames—as compared to the 640,000 copies of the official game Sonic Lost World (also released in 2013) sold on the Wii U by the same time.
12,011,538	SMS Kaiser Barbarossa	1,158,107,056	Battleship of the German Imperial Navy	[ "1900 ships", "Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships", "Ships built by Schichau", "Ships built in Danzig", "World War I battleships of Germany" ]	SMS Kaiser Barbarossa was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class. The ship was built for the Imperial Navy, which had begun a program of expansion at the direction of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Construction took place at Schichau, in Danzig. Kaiser Barbarossa was laid down in August 1898, launched on 21 April 1900, and commissioned in June 1901. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two twin-gun turrets. Kaiser Barbarossa served with the German navy from her commissioning in 1901, though her active career was limited by two lengthy stays in dry dock. The first was for repairs following damage to her rudder in 1903, which lasted until early 1905, and the second for a major modernization, which began immediately after the conclusion of repair work in 1905 and lasted until late 1907. She returned to service for another two years, before being decommissioned in 1909 and placed in the Reserve Division. She continued to participate in fleet training exercises for the next three years. Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters were mobilized as coastal defense ships in V Battle Squadron and assigned to the North and Baltic Seas. She saw no combat during the war and, due to a shortage of crews, the ships were withdrawn from active duty in February 1915 and relegated to secondary duties. Kaiser Barbarossa was briefly used as a torpedo target ship for most of 1915 and thereafter spent the remainder of the war as a prison ship in Wilhelmshaven. Following the end of the war in 1918, Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned and sold for scrap metal. The ship was broken up in 1919–20. ## Design After the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) ordered the four Brandenburg-class battleships in 1889, a combination of budgetary constraints, opposition in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), and a lack of a coherent fleet plan delayed the acquisition of further battleships. The former Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office), Leo von Caprivi became the Chancellor of Germany in 1890, and Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Friedrich von Hollmann became the new Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt. Hollmann requested the first Kaiser Friedrich III-class pre-dreadnought battleship in 1892, but the Franco-Russian Alliance, signed the year before, put the government's attention on expanding the Army's budget. Parliamentary opposition forced Hollmann to delay until the following year, when Caprivi spoke in favor of the project, noting that Russia's recent naval expansion threatened Germany's Baltic Sea coastline. In late 1893, Hollmann presented the Navy's estimates for the 1894–1895 budget year, and now the Reichstag approved the new ship, and over the following three years, he secured approval for two further ships. In June 1897, Hollmann was replaced by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, who quickly proposed and secured approval for the first Naval Law in early 1898. The law authorized the last two ships of the class, Kaiser Barbarossa and Kaiser Karl der Grosse. Kaiser Barbarossa was 125.3 m (411 ft 1 in) long overall and had a beam of 20.4 m (66 ft 11 in) and a draft of 7.89 m (25 ft 11 in) forward and 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in) aft. She displaced 11,097 t (10,922 long tons) as designed and up to 11,785 t (11,599 long tons) at full load. The ship was powered by three 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one screw propeller. Steam was provided by four Thornycroft boilers and eight cylindrical boilers, all of which burned coal and were vented through a pair of tall funnels. Kaiser Barbarossa's powerplant was rated at 13,000 metric horsepower (12,820 ihp; 9,560 kW), which generated a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). The ship had a cruising radius of 3,420 nautical miles (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She had a normal crew of 39 officers and 612 enlisted men. The ship's armament consisted of a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the central superstructure. Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns carried in a mix of turrets and casemates. Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a battery of twelve 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns all mounted in casemates, and twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) machine cannon in single mounts. The armament suite was rounded out with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts. The ship's belt armor was 300 mm (11.8 in) thick, and the main armor deck was 65 mm (2.6 in) thick. The conning tower and main battery turrets were protected with 250 mm (9.8 in) of armor plating, and the secondary casemates received 150 mm (5.9 in) of armor protection. ## Service history ### Peacetime career Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany, believed that a strong navy was necessary for the country to expand its influence outside continental Europe. As a result, he initiated a program of naval expansion in the late 1880s; the first battleships built under this program were the four Brandenburg-class ships. These were immediately followed by the five Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships, of which Kaiser Barbarossa was a member. Kaiser Barbarossa's keel was laid down on 3 August 1898, at the Schichau-Werke in Danzig, under construction number 640. She was ordered under the contract name "A" as an addition to the fleet. Kaiser Barbarossa was launched on 21 April 1900. The then-Vizeadmiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt, gave the launching speech, and the new battleship was christened by Princess Luise Sofie of Prussia, Wilhelm II's sister-in-law. Sea trials began on 4 May 1901, during which two tests were recorded: a 50-hour endurance test and a 6-hour speed test. The former produced a sustained speed of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph), while the latter saw a maximum speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), and on 10 June she was commissioned into the fleet in Kiel. Following her commissioning, Kaiser Barbarossa was assigned to I Squadron of the Heimatflotte (Home Fleet), which shortly thereafter went on a cruise to Spain. While moored in Cádiz, the ships met the four Brandenburg-class ships, which were returning from their expedition to suppress the Boxer Uprising in China. From 22 August to 21 September, Kaiser Barbarossa participated in the annual autumn maneuvers of the entire fleet. While in the Danzig Bay, the fleet conducted a naval review for the visiting Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, whose wife Alexandra was Wilhelm's cousin. The winter cruise in December went to southern Norway. In April and May 1902, the squadron went on a training cruise to Britain, followed by a tour of the Kiel Week sailing regatta in late June. The ships then took part in another training cruise to Norway in July and then the autumn maneuvers, which began in the Baltic and concluded in the North Sea with a fleet review in the Jade. During the exercise, which lasted from 17 August to 18 September, Kaiser Barbarossa and the rest of I Squadron were assigned to play the roles of both the German fleet and hostile forces. The usual winter cruise went to Bergen, Norway, that year. In 1903 the fleet, which was composed of only one squadron of modern battleships, was reorganized as the "Active Battle Fleet". Kaiser Barbarossa remained in I Squadron along with her sister ships and the newest Wittelsbach-class battleships, while the older Brandenburg-class ships were placed in reserve in order to be rebuilt. The first quarter of 1903 followed the usual pattern of training exercises. The squadron went on a training cruise in the Baltic, followed by a voyage to Spain that lasted from 7 May to 10 June. The ship suffered some damage to her rudder, which necessitated temporary repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel from the end of July to 21 August. She thereafter took part in the autumn maneuvers and the winter cruise in the eastern Baltic and the Skagerrak. The autumn maneuvers consisted of a blockade exercise in the North Sea, a cruise of the entire fleet first to Norwegian waters and then to Kiel in early September, and finally a mock attack on Kiel. The exercises concluded on 12 September. The winter training cruise began on 23 November in the eastern Baltic and continued into the Skagerrak in early December. On 15 December, Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned for permanent repairs to her rudder, which lasted until January 1905. When the repairs were finished, she did not return to service, however, and instead began a major reconstruction. During the modernization, four of her 15 cm guns were removed and two 8.8 cm guns were added. All twelve 1-pounder guns were removed, as was the ship's stern-mounted torpedo tube. Kaiser Barbarossa's superstructure was also cut down to reduce the ship's tendency to roll excessively and her military masts were replaced with lighter pole masts. The ship's funnels were also lengthened. Kaiser Barbarossa's modernization was completed by 1 October 1907, when she was recommissioned for service. By that time, the newest Deutschland-class battleships were coming into service; along with the Braunschweig-class battleships, these provided enough modern battleships to create two full battle squadrons. Consequently, the Heimatflotte was renamed the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet). Kaiser Barbarossa returned to her place in I Squadron and she participated in the normal routine of divisional, squadron, and fleet maneuvers and cruises without incident over the next year. The summer fleet cruise in May that year went to the Azores and returned to Kiel on 13 August. The autumn maneuvers lasted from 27 August to 7 September. Divisional exercises in the Baltic immediately followed from 7 to 13 September. On 17 September 1909, Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned and assigned to the Reserve Division in the Baltic Sea. By that time, the new dreadnought battleships, which rendered Kaiser Barbarossa and her sister ships thoroughly obsolete, were beginning to come into service with the fleet. In early 1910, Kaiser Barbarossa was assigned to the Training Squadron, which operated in the Baltic in April. She was reactivated to participate in the autumn maneuvers that year in the provisional III Squadron; after the conclusion of the exercises on 10 September, she was placed back in reserve. More modernization work was done at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel. From 31 July to 15 September, she was reactivated again to take part in the autumn maneuvers in III Squadron. She thereafter returned to the Reserve Division in early 1912. ### World War I As a result of the outbreak of World War I, Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters were brought out of reserve and mobilized as V Battle Squadron on 5 August 1914. The ships were prepared for war very slowly, and they were not ready for service in the North Sea until the end of August. They were initially tasked with coastal defense, though they served in this capacity for a very short time. In mid-September, V Squadron was transferred to the Baltic, under the command of Prince Heinrich. He initially planned to launch a major amphibious assault on Windau, but a shortage of transports forced a revision of the plan. Instead, V Squadron was to carry the landing force, but this too was cancelled after Heinrich received false reports of British warships having entered the Baltic on 25 September. Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters returned to Kiel the following day, disembarked the landing force, and then proceeded to the North Sea, where they resumed guard ship duties. Before the end of the year, V Squadron was once again transferred to the Baltic. After returning to the Baltic, Prince Heinrich ordered a foray toward Gotland. On 26 December 1914, the battleships rendezvoused with the Baltic cruiser division in the Bay of Pomerania and then departed on the sortie. Two days later, the fleet arrived off Gotland to show the German flag, and was back in Kiel by 30 December. The squadron returned to the North Sea for guard duties, but was withdrawn from frontline service in February 1915. Shortages of trained crews in the High Seas Fleet, coupled with the risk of operating older ships in wartime, necessitated the deactivation of Kaiser Barbarossa and her sisters. Her crew was reduced on 5 March, only to be replaced on 11 April so the ship could be used as a torpedo target ship; this service lasted until 9 November. Ten days later, she was decommissioned for the last time, and in 1916 she was disarmed. Kaiser Barbarossa was thereafter employed as a floating prison for prisoners of war in Wilhelmshaven. In November 1918, Germany sought an end to the war and signed the First Armistice at Compiègne, which temporarily ended hostilities so a peace treaty could be negotiated. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war and was signed on 28 June 1919, Germany was permitted to retain only six battleships of the "Deutschland or Lothringen types". Accordingly, the ship was struck from the naval list on 6 December 1919 and sold to ship breakers. Kaiser Barbarossa was broken up for scrap metal in Rüstringen in 1919 and 1920.
231,436	Apollo 6	1,173,842,051	Second test flight of the Apollo Saturn V rocket	[ "1968 in the United States", "Apollo program missions", "April 1968 events", "Spacecraft launched by Saturn rockets", "Spacecraft launched in 1968" ]	Apollo 6 (April 4, 1968), also known as AS-502, was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo Program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It qualified the Saturn V for use on crewed missions, which began with Apollo 8 in December 1968. Apollo 6 was intended to demonstrate the ability of the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB, to propel itself and the Apollo spacecraft to lunar distances. Its components began arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in early 1967. Testing proceeded slowly, often delayed by testing of the Saturn V intended for Apollo 4—the inaugural launch of the Saturn V. After that uncrewed mission launched in November 1967, there were fewer delays, but enough so that the flight was postponed from March to April 1968. The flight plan called for following trans-lunar injection with a direct return abort using the service module's main engine, with a flight time totaling about 10 hours. Instead, vibrations damaged some of the Rocketdyne J-2 engines in the second and third stages by rupturing internal fuel lines causing a second-stage engine to shut down early. An additional second-stage engine shut down early due to cross wiring with the other shutdown engine. The vehicle's onboard guidance system compensated by burning the second and third stages longer, although the resulting parking orbit was more elliptical than planned. The damaged third-stage engine failed to restart for trans-lunar injection. Flight controllers elected to repeat the flight profile of the previous Apollo 4 test, achieving a high orbit and high-speed return. Despite the engine failures, the flight provided NASA with enough confidence to use the Saturn V for crewed launches; a potential third uncrewed flight was cancelled. ## Objectives Apollo 6, the second test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle, was intended to send a command and service module (CSM) plus a Lunar Test Article (LTA), a simulated lunar module (LM) with mounted structural vibration sensors, into a trans-lunar trajectory, with the boost from orbit to trans-lunar velocity powered by the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB. That trajectory, although passing beyond the orbit of the Moon, would not encounter it. The CSM was to separate from the S-IVB soon after the burn, and the SM engine would then fire to slow the craft, dropping its apogee to 22,204 kilometers (11,989 nmi) and causing the CSM to return to Earth, simulating a "direct-return" abort. On the return leg, the engine was to fire once more to accelerate the craft to simulate conditions that the Apollo spacecraft would encounter on its return from the Moon, with a re-entry angle of −6.5 degrees and velocity of 11,100 meters per second (36,500 ft/s). The entire mission was to last about 10 hours. The mission was intended to test the Saturn V launch vehicle's ability to send the entire Apollo spacecraft to the Moon—in particular, to test the stresses on the LM and the vibration modes of the entire Saturn V with near-full loads. With the spacecraft having been qualified for crewed flight through the Apollo 4 mission (the first flight of the Saturn V), the focus was on fully qualifying the launch vehicle. Nominal completion of planned mission events through attainment of the initial parking orbit, and the restarting of the S-IVB to propel the space vehicle towards the planned distance, beyond the Moon's orbit, was deemed sufficient to fulfill Apollo 6's main objectives. ## Equipment Apollo 6's launch vehicle was designated AS-502, the second flight-capable Saturn V. Its payload included CSM-020, a Block I CSM that had some Block II modifications. The Block I CSM did not have the capability of docking with a Lunar Module, as the Block II did. Among the modifications to CSM-020 was a new crew hatch, intended to be tested under lunar return conditions. This new hatch replaced the one which was condemned by the Apollo 1 investigation board as too difficult to open in case of emergency, circumstances that had contributed to the deaths of three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire of January 27, 1967. The command module used was CM-020; it carried a mission programmer and other equipment to allow it to be operated remotely. The service module used was SM-014—the originally-planned SM for Apollo 6, SM-020, was used for Apollo 4 after its SM, SM-017, was damaged in an explosion and had to be scrapped. CM-014 was unavailable for flight as it was being used to aid the Apollo 1 investigation. Not all SM systems were activated for the short Apollo 6 mission: the radiators to remove excess heat from the electrical power system and the environmental control system were not connected. Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, Command and Service Module manager at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, was pleased with CSM-020 when it arrived at Kennedy Space Center from North American Aviation, the manufacturer, though he was upset it arrived wrapped in flammable mylar. In contrast with Apollo 1's ill-fated CSM, which arrived with hundreds of unresolved issues, CSM-020 had only 23, mostly routine problems. Also flown on Apollo 6 was a lunar test article: a simulated lunar module, designated as LTA-2R. It included a flight-type descent stage without landing gear, its fuel tanks filled with a water–glycol mixture and freon in its oxidizer tanks. Containing no flight systems, its ascent stage was made of ballasted aluminum and instrumented to show vibration, acoustics and structural integrity. LTA-2R remained inside the Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter, numbered SLA-9, throughout the flight. ## Preparation The S-IC first stage arrived by barge on March 13, 1967, and was erected in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) four days later; the S-IVB third stage and Instrument Unit computer both arrived on March 17. The S-II second stage was not yet ready and so the dumbbell-shaped spacer, used in preparation for Apollo 4 (which also had a delayed S-II), was substituted so testing could proceed. The spacer had the same height and mass as the S-II along with all the electrical connections. The S-II arrived May 24 and was stacked and mated into the rocket on July 7. Apollo 6 saw the first use of the High Bay 3 of the VAB, and it was quickly discovered that its air conditioning facilities were inadequate. Portable high-capacity units were brought in to keep equipment and workers cool. There were delays in April as personnel and equipment were busy with Apollo 4, and not available for tests on Apollo 6. The S-II second stage arrived on May 25 and was erected in one of the VAB's low bays, but work on Apollo 6 continued to be plagued by delays, many occasioned by work on Apollo 4. The vehicle was erected on Mobile Service Launcher 2, but work on the launcher's arms, which would swing back at launch, proceeded slowly. Also slow to arrive was the CSM itself; the planned late-September arrival was pushed back two months. After Apollo 4's launch on November 9, 1967, the pace of the Apollo 6 project picked up, but there remained many problems with flight hardware. The CSM was erected atop the launch vehicle on December 11, 1967, and the spacecraft stack was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A on February 6, 1968. The rollout was an all-day affair and much of it was conducted in heavy rain. Because the crawler-transporter had to halt for two hours when communications failed, the vehicle did not arrive at the launch pad until it was dark. The mobile service structure could not be moved to the launch pad for two days due to high winds. The flight readiness test concluded on March 8, 1968, and at a review held three days later, Apollo 6 was cleared for launch contingent on the successful completion of testing and some action items identified at the meeting. Launch was set for March 28, 1968, but was postponed to April 1 and then April 3 after problems with some guidance system equipment and with fueling. The countdown demonstration test began on March 24; although it was completed within a week, the launch had to be postponed one more time. On April 3, the final countdown began with liftoff scheduled for the following day. All subsequent problems were fixed during the built-in holds in the countdown and did not delay the mission. ## Flight ### Launch Apollo 6 launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1968, at 7:00 am (1200 UT). For the first two minutes, the Saturn V launch vehicle behaved normally. Then, as the Saturn V's S-IC first stage burned, pogo oscillations shook the vehicle. The thrust variations caused the Saturn V to experience a g-force of ±0.6 g (5.9 m/s<sup>2</sup>), though it had only been designed for a maximum of 0.25 g (2.5 m/s<sup>2</sup>). The vehicle suffered no damage, other than the loss of one of the panels of the Spacecraft-Lunar Module Adapter (SLA). NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight George Mueller explained the cause to a congressional hearing: > Pogo arises fundamentally because you have thrust fluctuations in the engines. Those are normal characteristics of engines. All engines have what you might call noise in their output because the combustion is not quite uniform, so you have this fluctuation in thrust of the first stage as a normal characteristic of all engine burning. > > Now, in turn, the engine is fed through a pipe that takes the fuel out of the tanks and feeds it into the engine. That pipe's length is something like an organ pipe so it has a certain resonance frequency of its own and it really turns out that it will oscillate just like an organ pipe does. > > The structure of the vehicle is much like a tuning fork, so if you strike it right, it will oscillate up and down longitudinally. In a gross sense it is the interaction between the various frequencies that causes the vehicle to oscillate. After the first stage was jettisoned, the S-II second stage began to experience problems with its J-2 engines. Engine number two had performance problems from 225 seconds after liftoff, abruptly worsening at T+319 seconds. At T+412 seconds the Instrument Unit shut it down altogether, and two seconds later, engine number three also shut down. The fault was in engine two, but due to cross-connection of wires, the command from the Instrument Unit also shut down engine three, which had been running normally. The Instrument Unit was able to compensate, and the remaining three engines burned for 58 seconds longer than planned. The S-IVB third stage also had to burn for 29 seconds longer than usual. The S-IVB also experienced a slight performance loss. ### Orbit Due to the less-than-nominal launch, the CSM and S-IVB were inserted into a 173.14-kilometer (93.49 nmi) by 360.10-kilometer (194.44 nmi) parking orbit, instead of the planned 190-kilometer (100 nmi) circular parking orbit. This deviation from the flight plan did not preclude continuing the mission. During the first orbit, the S-IVB maneuvered, changing its attitude towards the horizon to qualify techniques that future astronauts could use in landmark tracking. Then, after the standard two orbits to assess the vehicle's readiness for trans-lunar injection (TLI), the S-IVB was ordered to restart, but failed to do so. Deciding on a pre-planned alternate mission, the flight director, Clifford E. Charlesworth and his team in Mission Control chose to use the SM's Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine to raise the spacecraft into an orbit with a high apogee (point of furthest distance from Earth), with a low perigee that would result in re-entry, as had been done in Apollo 4. This plan would complete some of the mission objectives. The SPS engine burned for 442 seconds to get to the planned 22,204-kilometer (11,989 nmi) apogee. There was now, however, not enough propellant to speed up the atmospheric reentry with a second SPS engine burn, and the spacecraft only entered the atmosphere at a speed of 10,000 meters per second (33,000 ft/s) instead of the planned 11,000 meters per second (37,000 ft/s) that would simulate a lunar return. While at high altitudes, the CM was able to return data on the extent to which future astronauts would be protected from the Van Allen Belts by the skin of the spacecraft. Ten hours after launch, the CM landed 80 kilometers (43 nmi) from the planned touchdown point in the North Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii, and was lifted on board the USS Okinawa. The SM was jettisoned just before reaching the atmosphere and burned up. The S-IVB's orbit gradually decayed and it reentered the atmosphere on April 26, 1968. ## Aftermath In a post-launch press conference, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips said, "there's no question that it's less than a perfect mission", but that the launch vehicle's reaching orbit despite the loss of two engines was "a major unplanned accomplishment". Mueller called Apollo 6 "a good job all around, an excellent launch, and, in balance, a successful mission ... and we have learned a great deal", but later stated that Apollo 6 "will have to be defined as a failure". The phenomenon of pogo, experienced during the first stage of the flight, was well known. However, NASA thought that the Saturn V had been "detuned"—that is, prevented from vibrating at its natural frequencies. Soon after the Apollo 6 flight, NASA and its contractors sought to eliminate the problems for future flights, and about 1,000 government and industry engineers worked on the problem. To damp pressure oscillations in the F-1 and J-2 engines, cavities in valves leading to them were filled with helium gas shortly before takeoff as a shock absorber. The problems with the S-II and the S-IVB were traced to the J-2 engines, present in both stages. Tests showed that the propellant lines leading to the spark igniters could fail in low atmospheric pressure or in vacuum. The propellant lines had metal bellows to allow for thermal expansion. In ground testing the cold propellants passing through the propellant lines would form a layer of frost on the LOX line and liquid air on the LH<sub>2</sub> line, damping out any vibrations. In the vacuum of space, there was no such protection: the bellows vibrated rapidly and failed at peak flow, causing a burn-through of the propellant lines. The bellows were replaced with rigid bends and the lines strengthened. In Apollo 6's wake, NASA engineers debated whether to configure the spacecraft's emergency detection system to automatically abort in the event of excessive pogo; this plan was opposed by Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton. Instead, work began on having a "pogo abort sensor" to allow the flight crew to judge whether to abort, but by August 1968, it had become clear that pogo could be dealt with without such a sensor, and work on it was abandoned. The SLA problem was caused by its honeycomb structure. As the rocket accelerated through the atmosphere, the cells expanded due to trapped air and water, causing the adapter surface to break free. In response, engineers drilled small holes in the surface to allow trapped gases to dissipate, and placed a thin layer of cork on the adapter to help absorb moisture. NASA's efforts were enough to satisfy the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences. In late April, the committee reported that the agency had quickly analyzed and diagnosed the abnormalities of Apollo 6, and had taken corrective action. After detailed analysis of the Saturn V's performance, and of the fixes for future launch vehicles, engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama concluded that a third uncrewed test flight of the Saturn V was unnecessary. Therefore, the next Saturn V to fly, on Apollo 8, would carry a crew (Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission to fly, would be launched by a Saturn IB). After the mission, CM-020 was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The Apollo 6 command module is on display at the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, Georgia. ## Cameras The Saturn V had several cameras affixed to it, intended to be ejected and later recovered. Three of the four cameras on board the S-IC failed to eject and thus were destroyed, and only one of the two cameras on the S-II was recovered. Two of these cameras were intended to film the S-IC/S-II separation and the other two were to film the liquid oxygen tank; the one that was recovered had filmed separation. The failure to eject was attributed to a lack of nitrogen pressure in the bottles that were to cause the ejection. The command module carried a motion picture camera, intended to be activated during launch and during re-entry. Because the mission took about ten minutes longer than planned, re-entry events were not filmed. A 70 mm still camera operated in the CM during part of the mission, pointed at the Earth through the hatch window. Coverage included parts of the United States, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, and the western Pacific Ocean. The camera had haze-penetrating film and filter combination, with better color balance and higher resolution than photographs taken on previous American crewed missions. These proved excellent for cartographic, topographic, and geographic studies. ## Public impact There was little press coverage of the Apollo 6 mission mainly because on the same day as the launch, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, and President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection only four days earlier. ## See also - Splashdown (spacecraft landing)
30,277,961	Thomcord	1,164,623,518	Grape varietal	[ "Hybrid grape varieties", "Table grape varieties" ]	Thomcord is a seedless table grape variety and a hybrid of the popular Thompson Seedless or Sultanina grape (a Vitis vinifera variety) and Concord grape (a Vitis labrusca variety). Thomcord was developed in 1983 by Californian grape breeders working for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as part of a test to better understand a new seedless grape breeding procedure. Its aromatic, "labrusca" flavor is similar to that of Concord, but mellowed by the mild, sweet taste from Thompson Seedless. Thomcord grows well in hot, dry climates, ripens between late July and mid-August, and tolerates powdery mildew. It is a productive variety, yielding an average of 15.1 kg (33 lb) of grapes per vine, but has produced as much as 30 to 32 kg (66 to 71 lb) per vine in grower trials. The berries weigh between 2.72 and 3.38 g (0.096 and 0.119 oz) and have a medium-thick, blue-black skin that adheres to the fruit, unlike Concord, which has a thick skin that can slip off the pulp easily. The aborted seeds in the fruit body are relatively small, but larger than those in Thompson Seedless. The plant is not restricted for propagation and distribution. Virus-free propagation material is available from the Foundation Plant Services (FPS) at the University of California, Davis, and its genetic material is archived at the National Plant Germplasm System. After 17 years of testing, it was declared ready for use in 2003. It is currently available in supermarkets. ## Description Thomcord grape is a hybrid of Thompson Seedless grape (Vitis vinifera, or Sultanina), which is popular in American (?) supermarkets during the summer, and seeded Concord grape (Vitis labrusca), commonly used to make grape juice and jelly. It is a plump, juicy, seedless table grape and is slightly firmer than Concord. Thomcord has a blue-black skin with medium thickness and a whitish bloom. Unlike Concord, whose tough skin separates easily from the fruit, Thomcord has a more edible skin that clings to the flesh, much like Thompson Seedless. It has an aromatic flavor, similar to the Concord in taste ("labrusca"), though lighter due to the sweet, mild taste from Thompson Seedless. Thomcord is suitable for hot, dry growing conditions, more so than Concord and other Concord seedless types. Its adaptability to hot dry climates was derived from Thompson Seedless. It grows well in California's vineyards, particularly the San Joaquin Valley, just like Thompson Seedless. The plant is tolerant of (but not resistant to) powdery mildew, and is less susceptible to the fungus than Ruby Seedless, but more susceptible than Mars, Venus, Niabell, and Cayuga White varieties. The fungus can affect its leaves, stems, rachis (stem of the grape cluster), and berries. The grape ripens in the summer (mid-season), between late July and mid-August. ### Production details Thomcord is a productive variety, with a yield comparable to Thompson Seedless. When two cordons (arms) of the vines are trained horizontally on wires ("bilateral-trained") and are pruned to remove most of the previous year's growth ("spur-pruned") during the winter, it can produce up to 13–16 kg (29–35 lb) per vine, or an average of 15.1 kg (33 lb). In 2002, cane-pruned vines of Thomcord were significantly more productive than Sovereign Coronation and were comparable to the Venus variety, averaging 21.3 kg (47 lb) per vine. Unlike Thompson Seedless, which has its cluster size thinned as a normal production practice, Thomcord's is not thinned because of its smaller cluster size. The grape clusters range in weight between 259 and 534 g (0.571 and 1.177 lb) and average 340 g (0.75 lb), have medium to slightly loose tightness (or are "well-filled", meaning the individual pedicels are not easily visible), and have a conical shape with a small wing. Compared with Thompson Seedless, the berry weight and diameter of Thomcord are larger, but cluster tightness is similar. The berry length ranged between 18.2 and 18.3 mm (0.72 and 0.72 in) and the diameter ranged from 16.7 to 17.2 mm (0.66 to 0.68 in) in tests between 2001 and 2002. The berries weigh between 2.72 and 3.38 g (0.096 and 0.119 oz), averaging 2.85 g (0.101 oz) in 2002, which is on par with Venus, but heavier than Sovereign Coronation, and even more so than Thompson Seedless. The fruit's size has not been shown to increase appreciably by girdling the vines or by applying gibberellic acid when the berries set. The aborted seeds of Thomcord are small, but in some years they can become sclerified (a thickening and lignification of the walls of plant cells and the subsequent dying off of the protoplasts), making them more noticeable inside the medium-soft flesh. There are usually two aborted seeds per berry, which averaged between 14 and 22.3 mg in 2001 and 2002. This varied in comparison to Venus depending on the year and location, was comparable to the Sovereign Coronation, and was significantly smaller than the Sovereign Rose and Saturn varieties. However, as with the other cultivars, it was consistently larger than Thompson Seedless, which had the smallest aborted seeds. ### Vegetative description The mature leaves on the vine have three lobes with open upper lateral sinuses (spaces between the lobes) of medium depth. The main vein is slightly longer than the petiole (stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem), and the petiole sinus opens widely. Between the veins on the underside of both the mature and young leaf there are dense hairs that lie flat against the surface. The teeth on the edge of the leaf blade are convex on both sides, medium in size, and short relative to their width. Young leaf blades are dark copper red on the upper surface. The shoots have at least three consecutive tendrils. Young shoots are fully open and have very dense hairs of medium anthocyanin coloration that lie flat against the tip. The internode of the young shoot is green with red stripes on the front (dorsal) side and solid green on the back (ventral) side. ## History In 1983, research horticulturist David W. Ramming and technician Ronald L. Tarailo—Californian grape breeders working for the ARS, the chief scientific research agency of the USDA—crossed Thompson Seedless and Concord in order to answer a technical question about a newly developed procedure for breeding novel, superior seedless grapes. The researchers wanted to demonstrate that plants created from embryo culture were derived from fertilized eggs (zygotic) instead of the maternal tissue (somatic). From 1231 emasculations (removal of male flower parts to control pollination) of Thompson Seedless, the researchers produced 130 ovules using embryo rescue procedures. From these, 40 embryos developed and three seedlings were planted. The original seedling of Thomcord was planted in 1984 in plots in cooperation with California State University, Fresno. It was later selected in 1986 by Ramming and Tarailo and tested in the San Joaquin Valley under the name A29-67, and was introduced as "Thomcord." The new hybrid was tested and scrutinized for 17 years before it was declared ready for growers and gardeners and was released on 11 September 2003. Around 2008, trials outside of California were just beginning. Thomcord quickly became a hit at farmers' markets while it was being tested, and it has appeared in the fresh-fruit section at supermarkets. This continued the long-standing success of the ARS' grape-breeding research in California, which has developed some of the most popular seedless grapes on the market as well as red, white, and black grapes varieties for hobbyists and professional growers since 1923. Although it has been called a "sentimental favorite" at farmers' markets, it is not expected to become a major commercial variety because its flavor is not as neutral as more popular grapes, such as Thompson Seedless, Crimson Seedless, or Flame Seedless. However, Ramming predicted that it would become a specialty item, much like the Muscat varieties, due to its distinctive, Concord-like flavor. Because of its strong reception at farmers' markets, it could compete with Concord and Niabell varieties in eastern markets, according to Ramming. ## Availability The Foundation Plant Services (FPS) at the University of California, Davis indexed Thomcord and found it to be free of known viruses. The FPS offers certified virus-free propagation material. The FPS also deposited genetic material in the National Plant Germplasm System, which offers material for research, including development and commercialization of new cultivars. The ARS does not offer Thomcord plants for distribution. Thomcord is a public variety and is not restricted in its propagation and distribution. ## See also - List of grape varieties
18,119	Liverpool F.C.	1,173,608,813	Association football club in Liverpool, England	[ "1892 establishments in England", "Association football clubs established in 1892", "EFL Cup winners", "English Football League clubs", "FA Cup winners", "FIFA Club World Cup winning clubs", "Football clubs in England", "Football clubs in Liverpool", "G-14 clubs", "Lancashire League (football)", "Liverpool F.C.", "Multi-sport clubs in the United Kingdom", "Premier League clubs", "Shorty Award winners", "UEFA Champions League winning clubs", "UEFA Cup winning clubs", "UEFA Super Cup winning clubs" ]	Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation. Domestically, the club has won 19 league titles, eight FA Cups, a record nine League Cups and 16 FA Community Shields. In international competitions, the club has won six European Cups, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups—all English records—and one FIFA Club World Cup. The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, led the club to a combined 11 League titles and four European Cups. Liverpool won two further European Cups in 2005 and 2019 under the management of Rafael Benítez and Jürgen Klopp, respectively; the latter led Liverpool to a 19th league title in 2020, the club's first during the Premier League era. Liverpool is one of the most valuable and widely supported clubs in the world. The club has long-standing rivalries with Manchester United and Everton. Under management by Shankly, in 1964 the team changed from red shirts and white shorts to an all-red home strip which has been used ever since. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone". The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragedies. The Heysel Stadium disaster, where escaping fans were pressed against a collapsing wall at the 1985 European Cup Final in Brussels, resulted in 39 deaths. Most of these were Italians and Juventus fans. Liverpool were given a six-year ban from European competition, and all other English clubs received a five-year ban. The Hillsborough disaster in 1989, where 97 Liverpool supporters died in a crush against perimeter fencing, led to the elimination of fenced standing terraces in favour of all-seater stadiums in the top two tiers of English football. Prolonged campaigning for justice saw further coroners inquests, commissions and independent panels that ultimately exonerated the fans. ## History Liverpool F.C. was founded following a dispute between the Everton committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield. After eight years at the stadium, Everton relocated to Goodison Park in 1892 and Houlding founded Liverpool F.C. to play at Anfield. Originally named "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd" (Everton Athletic for short), the club became Liverpool F.C. in March 1892 and gained official recognition three months later, after The Football Association refused to recognise the club as Everton. Liverpool played their first match on 1 September 1892, a pre-season friendly match against Rotherham Town, which they won 7–1. The team Liverpool fielded against Rotherham was composed entirely of Scottish players – the players who came from Scotland to play in England in those days were known as the Scotch Professors. Manager John McKenna had recruited the players after a scouting trip to Scotland – so they became known as the "team of Macs". The team won the Lancashire League in its debut season and joined the Football League Second Division at the start of the 1893–94 season. After the club was promoted to the First Division in 1896, Tom Watson was appointed manager. He led Liverpool to its first league title in 1901, before winning it again in 1906. Liverpool reached its first FA Cup Final in 1914, losing 1–0 to Burnley. It won consecutive League championships in 1922 and 1923, but did not win another trophy until the 1946–47 season, when the club won the First Division for a fifth time under the control of ex-West Ham United centre half George Kay. Liverpool suffered its second Cup Final defeat in 1950, playing against Arsenal. The club was relegated to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season. Soon after Liverpool lost 2–1 to non-league Worcester City in the 1958–59 FA Cup, Bill Shankly was appointed manager. Upon his arrival he released 24 players and converted a boot storage room at Anfield into a room where the coaches could discuss strategy; here, Shankly and other "Boot Room" members Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, and Bob Paisley began reshaping the team. The club was promoted back into the First Division in 1962 and won it in 1964, for the first time in 17 years. In 1965, the club won its first FA Cup. In 1966, the club won the First Division but lost to Borussia Dortmund in the European Cup Winners' Cup final. Liverpool won both the League and the UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. Shankly retired soon afterwards and was replaced by his assistant, Bob Paisley. In 1976, Paisley's second season as manager, the club won another League and UEFA Cup double. The following season, the club retained the League title and won the European Cup for the first time, but it lost in the 1977 FA Cup Final. Liverpool retained the European Cup in 1978 and regained the First Division title in 1979. During Paisley's nine seasons as manager Liverpool won 20 trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six League titles and three consecutive League Cups; the only domestic trophy he did not win was the FA Cup. Paisley retired in 1983 and was replaced by his assistant, Joe Fagan. Liverpool won the League, League Cup and European Cup in Fagan's first season, becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season. Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985, against Juventus at the Heysel Stadium. Before kick-off, Liverpool fans breached a fence that separated the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 fans, mostly Italians. The incident became known as the Heysel Stadium disaster. The match was played in spite of protests by both managers, and Liverpool lost 1–0 to Juventus. As a result of the tragedy, English clubs were banned from participating in European competition for five years; Liverpool received a ten-year ban, which was later reduced to six years. Fourteen Liverpool fans received convictions for involuntary manslaughter. Fagan had announced his retirement just before the disaster and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player-manager. During his tenure, the club won another three league titles and two FA Cups, including a League and Cup "Double" in the 1985–86 season. Liverpool's success was overshadowed by the Hillsborough disaster: in an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed against perimeter fencing. Ninety-four fans died that day; the 95th victim died in hospital from his injuries four days later, the 96th died nearly four years later, without regaining consciousness, and the 97th, Andrew Devine, died of injuries sustained in the disaster in 2021. After the Hillsborough disaster there was a government review of stadium safety. The resulting Taylor Report paved the way for legislation that required top-division teams to have all-seater stadiums. The report ruled that the main reason for the disaster was overcrowding due to a failure of police control. Liverpool was involved in the closest finish to a league season during the 1988–89 season. Liverpool finished equal with Arsenal on both points and goal difference, but lost the title on total goals scored when Arsenal scored the final goal in the last minute of the season. Dalglish cited the Hillsborough disaster and its repercussions as the reason for his resignation in 1991; he was replaced by former player Graeme Souness. Under his leadership Liverpool won the 1992 FA Cup Final, but their league performances slumped, with two consecutive sixth-place finishes, eventually resulting in his dismissal in January 1994. Souness was replaced by Roy Evans, and Liverpool went on to win the 1995 Football League Cup Final. While they made some title challenges under Evans, third-place finishes in 1996 and 1998 were the best they could manage, and so Gérard Houllier was appointed co-manager in the 1998–99 season, and became the sole manager in November 1998 after Evans resigned. In 2001, Houllier's second full season in charge, Liverpool won a "treble": the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Houllier underwent major heart surgery during the 2001–02 season and Liverpool finished second in the League, behind Arsenal. They won a further League Cup in 2003, but failed to mount a title challenge in the two seasons that followed. Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benítez at the end of the 2003–04 season. Despite finishing fifth in Benítez's first season, Liverpool won the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, beating A.C. Milan 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match ended with a score of 3–3. The following season, Liverpool finished third in the Premier League and won the 2006 FA Cup Final, beating West Ham United in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3. American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks became the owners of the club during the 2006–07 season, in a deal which valued the club and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. The club reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final against Milan, as it had in 2005, but lost 2–1. During the 2008–09 season Liverpool achieved 86 points, its then-highest Premier League points total, prior to the record-breaking 2018–19 season, and finished as runners up to Manchester United. In the 2009–10 season, Liverpool finished seventh in the Premier League and failed to qualify for the Champions League. Benítez subsequently left by mutual consent and was replaced by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson. At the start of the 2010–11 season Liverpool was on the verge of bankruptcy and the club's creditors asked the High Court to allow the sale of the club, overruling the wishes of Hicks and Gillett. John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and of Fenway Sports Group, bid successfully for the club and took ownership in October 2010. Poor results during the start of that season led to Hodgson leaving the club by mutual consent and former player and manager Kenny Dalglish taking over. In the 2011–12 season, Liverpool secured a record 8th League Cup success and reached the FA Cup final, but finished in eighth position, the worst league finish in 18 years; this led to the sacking of Dalglish. He was replaced by Brendan Rodgers, whose Liverpool team in the 2013–14 season mounted an unexpected title charge to finish second behind champions Manchester City and subsequently return to the Champions League, scoring 101 goals in the process, the most since the 106 scored in the 1895–96 season. Following a disappointing 2014–15 season, where Liverpool finished sixth in the league, and a poor start to the following campaign, Rodgers was sacked in October 2015. Rodgers was replaced by Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool reached the finals of the Football League Cup and UEFA Europa League in Klopp's first season, finishing as runner-up in both competitions. The club finished second in the 2018–19 season with 97 points (surpassing the 86 points gained during the 2008–09 season), losing only one game: a points record for a non-title winning side. Klopp took Liverpool to successive Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, with the club defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 to win the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final. Liverpool beat Flamengo of Brazil in the final 1–0 to win the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time. Liverpool then went on to win the 2019–20 Premier League, winning their first top-flight league title in thirty years. The club set multiple records in the season, including winning the league with seven games remaining making it the earliest any team has ever won the title, amassing a club record 99 points, and achieving a joint-record 32 wins in a top-flight season. ## Colours and badge For much of Liverpool's history, its home colours have been all red. When the club was founded in 1892, blue and white quartered shirts were used until the club adopted the city's colour of red in 1896. The city's symbol of the liver bird was adopted as the club's badge (or crest, as it is sometimes known) in 1901, although it was not incorporated into the kit until 1955. Liverpool continued to wear red shirts and white shorts until 1964 when manager Bill Shankly decided to change to an all-red strip. Liverpool played in all red for the first time against Anderlecht, as Ian St John recalled in his autobiography: > He [Shankly] thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact – red for danger, red for power. He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. "Get into those shorts and let's see how you look", he said. "Christ, Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look 7 ft tall." "Why not go the whole hog, boss?" I suggested. "Why not wear red socks? Let's go out all in red." Shankly approved and an iconic kit was born. The Liverpool away strip has more often than not been all yellow or white shirts and black shorts, but there have been several exceptions. An all grey kit was introduced in 1987, which was used until the 1991–92 centenary season when it was replaced by a combination of green shirts and white shorts. After various colour combinations in the 1990s, including gold and navy, bright yellow, black and grey, and ecru, the club alternated between yellow and white away kits until the 2008–09 season, when it re-introduced the grey kit. A third kit is designed for European away matches, though it is also worn in domestic away matches on occasions when the current away kit clashes with a team's home kit. Between 2012 and 2015, the kits were designed by Warrior Sports, who became the club's kit providers at the start of the 2012–13 season. In February 2015, Warrior's parent company New Balance announced it would be entering the global football market, with teams sponsored by Warrior now being outfitted by New Balance. The only other branded shirts worn by the club were made by Umbro until 1985, when they were replaced by Adidas, who produced the kits until 1996 when Reebok took over. They produced the kits for 10 years before Adidas made the kits from 2006 to 2012. Nike became the club's official kit supplier at the start of the 2020–21 season. Liverpool was the first English professional club to have a sponsor's logo on its shirts, after agreeing a deal with Hitachi in 1979. Since then the club has been sponsored by Crown Paints, Candy, Carlsberg and Standard Chartered. The contract with Carlsberg, which was signed in 1992, was the longest-lasting agreement in English top-flight football. The association with Carlsberg ended at the start of the 2010–11 season, when Standard Chartered Bank became the club's sponsor. The Liverpool badge is based on the city's liver bird symbol, which in the past had been placed inside a shield. In 1977, a red liver bird standing on a football (blazoned as "Statant upon a football a Liver Bird wings elevated and addorsed holding in the beak a piece of seaweed gules") was granted as a heraldic badge by the College of Arms to the English Football League intended for use by Liverpool. However, Liverpool never made use of this badge. In 1992, to commemorate the centennial of the club, a new badge was commissioned, including a representation of the Shankly Gates. The next year twin flames were added at either side, symbolic of the Hillsborough memorial outside Anfield, where an eternal flame burns in memory of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster. In 2012, Warrior Sports' first Liverpool kit removed the shield and gates, returning the badge to what had adorned Liverpool shirts in the 1970s; the flames were moved to the back collar of the shirt, surrounding the number 96 for the number who died at Hillsborough. ### Sponsorship ## Stadium Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park. Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the club moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding. Left with an empty ground, Houlding founded Liverpool in 1892 and the club has played at Anfield ever since. The capacity of the stadium at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool's first match at Anfield. The Kop was built in 1906 due to the high turnout for matches and was called the Oakfield Road Embankment initially. Its first game was on 1 September 1906 when the home side beat Stoke City 1–0. In 1906 the banked stand at one end of the ground was formally renamed the Spion Kop after a hill in KwaZulu-Natal. The hill was the site of the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War, where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many of them from Liverpool. At its peak, the stand could hold 28,000 spectators and was one of the largest single-tier stands in the world. Many stadiums in England had stands named after Spion Kop, but Anfield's was the largest of them at the time; it could hold more supporters than some entire football grounds. Anfield could accommodate more than 60,000 supporters at its peak and had a capacity of 55,000 until the 1990s, when, following recommendations from the Taylor Report, all clubs in the Premier League were obliged to convert to all-seater stadiums in time for the 1993–94 season, reducing its capacity to 45,276. The findings of the report precipitated the redevelopment of the Kemlyn Road Stand, which was rebuilt in 1992, coinciding with the centenary of the club, and was known as the Centenary Stand until 2017 when it was renamed the Kenny Dalglish Stand. An extra tier was added to the Anfield Road end in 1998, which further increased the capacity of the ground but gave rise to problems when it was opened. A series of support poles and stanchions were inserted to give extra stability to the top tier of the stand after movement of the tier was reported at the start of the 1999–2000 season. Because of restrictions on expanding the capacity at Anfield, Liverpool announced plans to move to the proposed Stanley Park Stadium in May 2002. Planning permission was granted in July 2004, and in September 2006, Liverpool City Council agreed to grant Liverpool a 999-year lease on the proposed site. Following the takeover of the club by George Gillett and Tom Hicks in February 2007, the proposed stadium was redesigned. The new design was approved by the Council in November 2007. The stadium was scheduled to open in August 2011 and would hold 60,000 spectators, with HKS, Inc. contracted to build the stadium. Construction was halted in August 2008, as Gillett and Hicks had difficulty in financing the £300 million needed for the development. In October 2012, BBC Sport reported that Fenway Sports Group, the new owners of Liverpool FC, had decided to redevelop their current home at Anfield stadium, rather than building a new stadium in Stanley Park. As part of the redevelopment the capacity of Anfield was to increase from 45,276 to approximately 60,000 and would cost approximately £150m. When construction was completed on the new Main stand the capacity of Anfield was increased to 54,074. This £100 million expansion added a third tier to the stand. This was all part of a £260 million project to improve the Anfield area. Jürgen Klopp the manager at the time described the stand as "impressive." In June 2021, it was reported that Liverpool Council had given planning permission for the club to renovate and expand the Anfield Road stand, boosting the capacity by around 7,000 and taking the overall capacity at Anfield to 61,000. The expansion, which is estimated to cost £60m, was described as "a huge milestone" by managing director Andy Hughes, and would also see rail seating being trialled in the Kop for the 2021–22 Premier League season. ## Support Liverpool is one of the best supported clubs in the world. The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised Supporters Clubs in at least 50 countries. Notable groups include Spirit of Shankly. The club takes advantage of this support through its worldwide summer tours, which has included playing in front of 101,000 in Michigan, U.S., and 95,000 in Melbourne, Australia. Liverpool fans often refer to themselves as Kopites, a reference to the fans who once stood, and now sit, on the Kop at Anfield. In 2008 a group of fans decided to form a splinter club, A.F.C. Liverpool, to play matches for fans who had been priced out of watching Premier League football. The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry and the Pacemakers, is the club's anthem and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s. It has since gained popularity among fans of other clubs around the world. The song's title adorns the top of the Shankly Gates, which were unveiled on 2 August 1982 in memory of former manager Bill Shankly. The "You'll Never Walk Alone" portion of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced on the club's badge. The club's supporters have been involved in two stadium disasters. The first was the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people, mostly Italians and Juventus supporters, were killed. They were confined to a corner by Liverpool fans who had charged in their direction; the weight of the cornered fans caused a wall to collapse. UEFA laid the blame for the incident solely on the Liverpool supporters, and banned all English clubs from European competition for five years. Liverpool was banned for an additional year, preventing it from participating in the 1990–91 European Cup, even though it won the League in 1990. Twenty-seven fans were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and were extradited to Belgium in 1987 to face trial. In 1989, after a five-month trial in Belgium, 14 Liverpool fans were given three-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter; half of the terms were suspended. The second disaster took place during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, on 15 April 1989. Ninety-seven Liverpool fans died as a consequence of overcrowding at the Leppings Lane end, in what became known as the Hillsborough disaster. In the following days, The Sun's coverage of the event spread falsehoods, particularly an article entitled "The Truth" that claimed that Liverpool fans had robbed the dead and had urinated on and attacked the police. Subsequent investigations proved the allegations false, leading to a boycott of the newspaper by Liverpool fans across the city and elsewhere; many still refuse to buy The Sun 30 years later. Many support organisations were set up in the wake of the disaster, such as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, which represents bereaved families, survivors and supporters in their efforts to secure justice. ### Rivalries Liverpool's longest-established rivalry is with fellow Liverpool team Everton, against whom they contest the Merseyside derby. The rivalry stems from Liverpool's formation and the dispute with Everton officials and the then owners of Anfield. The Merseyside derby is one of the few local derbies which do not enforce fan segregation, and hence has been known as the "friendly derby". Since the mid-1980s, the rivalry has intensified both on and off the field and, since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the Merseyside derby has had more players sent off than any other Premier League game. It has been referred to as "the most ill-disciplined and explosive fixture in the Premier League". In terms of support within the city, the number of Liverpool fans outweighs Everton supporters by a ratio of 2:1. Liverpool's rivalry with Manchester United stems from the cities' competition in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. Connected by the world's first inter-city railway, by road Liverpool and Manchester are separated by approximately 30 miles (48 km) along the East Lancs Road. Ranked the two biggest clubs in England by France Football magazine, Liverpool and Manchester United are the most successful English teams in both domestic and international competitions, and both clubs have a global fanbase. Viewed as one of the biggest rivalries in world football, it is considered the most famous fixture in English football. The two clubs alternated as champions between 1964 and 1967, and Manchester United became the first English team to win the European Cup in 1968, followed by Liverpool's four European Cup victories. Despite the 39 league titles and nine European Cups between them the two rivals have rarely been successful at the same time – Liverpool's run of titles in the 1970s and 1980s coincided with Manchester United's 26-year title drought, and United's success in the Premier League-era likewise coincided with Liverpool's 30-year title drought, and the two clubs have finished first and second in the league only five times. Such is the rivalry between the clubs they rarely do transfer business with each other. The last player to be transferred between the two clubs was Phil Chisnall, who moved to Liverpool from Manchester United in 1964. ## Ownership and finances As the owner of Anfield and founder of Liverpool, John Houlding was the club's first chairman, a position he held from its founding in 1892 until 1904. John McKenna took over as chairman after Houlding's departure. McKenna subsequently became President of the Football League. The chairmanship changed hands many times before John Smith, whose father was a shareholder of the club, took up the role in 1973. He oversaw the most successful period in Liverpool's history before stepping down in 1990. His successor was Noel White who became chairman in 1990. In August 1991 David Moores, whose family had owned the club for more than 50 years, became chairman. His uncle John Moores was also a shareholder at Liverpool and was chairman of Everton from 1961 to 1973. Moores owned 51 percent of the club, and in 2004 expressed his willingness to consider a bid for his shares in Liverpool. Moores eventually sold the club to American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks on 6 February 2007. The deal valued the club and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. The pair paid £5,000 per share, or £174.1m for the total shareholding and £44.8m to cover the club's debts. Disagreements between Gillett and Hicks, and the fans' lack of support for them, resulted in the pair looking to sell the club. Martin Broughton was appointed chairman of the club on 16 April 2010 to oversee its sale. In May 2010, accounts were released showing the holding company of the club to be £350m in debt (due to leveraged takeover) with losses of £55m, causing auditor KPMG to qualify its audit opinion. The group's creditors, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, took Gillett and Hicks to court to force them to allow the board to proceed with the sale of the club, the major asset of the holding company. A High Court judge, Mr Justice Floyd, ruled in favour of the creditors and paved the way for the sale of the club to Fenway Sports Group (formerly New England Sports Ventures), although Gillett and Hicks still had the option to appeal. Liverpool was sold to Fenway Sports Group on 15 October 2010 for £300m. Liverpool has been described as a global brand; a 2010 report valued the club's trademarks and associated intellectual property at £141m, an increase of £5m on the previous year. Liverpool was given a brand rating of AA (Very Strong). In April 2010 business magazine Forbes ranked Liverpool as the sixth most valuable football team in the world, behind Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich; they valued the club at \$822m (£532m), excluding debt. Accountants Deloitte ranked Liverpool eighth in the Deloitte Football Money League, which ranks the world's football clubs in terms of revenue. Liverpool's income in the 2009–10 season was €225.3m. According to a 2018 report by Deloitte, the club had an annual revenue of €424.2 million for the previous year, and Forbes valued the club at \$1.944 billion. In 2018, annual revenue increased to €513.7 million, and Forbes valued the club at \$2.183 billion. In 2019 revenue increased to €604 million (£533 million) according to Deloitte, with the club breaching the half a billion pounds mark. In April 2020, the owners of the club came under fire from fans and the media for deciding to furlough all non-playing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this, the club made a U-turn on the decision and apologised for their initial decision. In April 2021 Forbes valued the club at \$4.1 billion, a two-year increase of 88%, making it the world's fifth-most-valuable football club. ## Liverpool in the media Liverpool featured in the first edition of BBC's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Arsenal at Anfield on 22 August 1964. The first football match to be televised in colour was between Liverpool and West Ham United, broadcast live in March 1967. Liverpool fans featured in the Pink Floyd song "Fearless", in which they sang excerpts from "You'll Never Walk Alone". To mark the club's appearance in the 1988 FA Cup Final, Liverpool released the "Anfield Rap", a song featuring John Barnes and other members of the squad. A docudrama on the Hillsborough disaster, written by Jimmy McGovern, was screened in 1996. It featured Christopher Eccleston as Trevor Hicks, who lost two teenage daughters in the disaster, went on to campaign for safer stadiums and helped to form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. Liverpool featured in the 2001 film The 51st State, in which ex-hitman Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle) is a keen supporter of the team and the last scene takes place at a match between Liverpool and Manchester United. The club also featured in the 1984 children's television show Scully, about a young boy who tries to gain a trial with Liverpool. The opening scenes of the Doctor Who episode "The Halloween Apocalypse", aired in October 2021, features The Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker) exiting the TARDIS outside Anfield as she exclaims: "Liverpool? Anfield! Klopp era, classic!". ## Players ### First-team squad ### Out on loan ### Reserves and Academy ### Former players ### Player records ### Club captains Since the establishment of the club in 1892, 46 players have been club captain of Liverpool F.C. Andrew Hannah became the first captain of the club after Liverpool separated from Everton and formed its own club. Alex Raisbeck, who was club captain from 1899 to 1909, was the longest serving captain before being overtaken by Steven Gerrard who served 12 seasons as Liverpool captain starting from the 2003–04 season. The present captain is Virgil van Dijk, who in the 2023–24 season replaced Jordan Henderson who moved to Al-Ettifaq. ### Player of the season ## Club officials - Owner: Fenway Sports Group - Ambassadors: Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen ### Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Limited - Principal owner: John W. Henry - Chairman: Tom Werner - Chief executive officer: Billy Hogan - Chief operating officer: Andy Hughes Source: ### Liverpool Football Club - Directors: John W. Henry, Tom Werner, Michael Gordon, Peter Moore, Michael Egan - Non-Executive Director: Kenny Dalglish - Director of communications: Susan Black - Director of scouting: Dave Fallows - Chief scout: Barry Hunter - Director of technical performance: Julian Ward Source: ### Coaching and medical staff - Manager: Jürgen Klopp - Assistant coach: Pepijn Lijnders - Assistant coach: Peter Krawietz - Elite Development coach: Vitor Matos - First-team goalkeeping coach: John Achterberg - First-team goalkeeping coach: Cláudio Taffarel - First-team assistant goalkeeping coach: Jack Robinson - Head of fitness and conditioning: Andreas Kornmayer - Head of recovery and performance: Andreas Schlumberger - First-team fitness coach: Conall Murtagh - First-team assistant fitness coach: Jordan Fairclough - Club doctor: Jim Moxon - Head physiotherapist: Lee Nobes - Head of nutrition: Mona Nemmer - Academy director: Alex Inglethorpe Source: ## Honours Liverpool's first trophy was the Lancashire League, which it won in the club's first season. In 1901, the club won its first League title, while the nineteenth and most recent was in 2020. Its first success in the FA Cup was in 1965. In terms of the number of trophies won, Liverpool's most successful decade was the 1980s, when the club won six League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, one Football League Super Cup, five Charity Shields (one shared) and two European Cups. The club has accumulated more top-flight wins and points than any other English team. Liverpool also has the highest average league finishing position (3.3) for the 50-year period to 2015 and second-highest average league finishing position for the period 1900–1999 after Arsenal, with an average league placing of 8.7. Liverpool is the most successful British club in international football with fourteen trophies, having won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club competition, six times, an English record and only surpassed by Real Madrid and A.C. Milan. Liverpool's fifth European Cup win, in 2005, meant that the club was awarded the trophy permanently and was also awarded a multiple-winner badge. Liverpool also hold the English record of three wins in the UEFA Cup, UEFA's secondary club competition. Liverpool also hold the English record of four wins in the UEFA Super Cup. In 2019, the club won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time, and also became the first English club to win the international treble of Club World Cup, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. ### Minor titles - Lancashire League - Winners (1): 1892–93 - Sheriff of London Charity Shield - Winners (1): 1906 ### Doubles and trebles - Doubles: - League and FA Cup (1): 1985–86 - League and League Cup (3): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 - League and European Cup (2): 1976–77, 1983–84 - League and UEFA Cup (2): 1972–73, 1975–76 - League Cup and European Cup (1): 1980–81 - FA Cup and League Cup (1): 2021–22 - Trebles: - League, League Cup and European Cup (1): 1983–84 - FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup (1): 2000–01
1,127,874	Aaliyah (album)	1,172,777,630	null	[ "2001 albums", "Aaliyah albums", "Albums produced by Bud'da", "Albums produced by Timbaland", "Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios", "Neo soul albums", "Virgin Records albums" ]	Aaliyah is the third and final studio album by American R&B singer Aaliyah. It was released on July 7, 2001, by Blackground Records and Virgin Records. Because of its packaging design, it is also known as "The Red Album". Aaliyah started to work on the album in 1998, but rescheduled its recording around her developing film career. She resumed recording in 2000 at Sing Sing Studios in Australia, where she shot her role for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned during the day and recorded songs at night. Additional recording took place at Manhattan Center and Sony Music Studios in New York and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, among other locations. Through her recording contract with Blackground, the singer worked primarily with the record label's in-house crew of writers and producers, including Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats, as well as longtime collaborator Timbaland. Aaliyah is described in critical commentaries as an album of R&B, neo soul, and dance-pop, while drawing on an array of other genres such as funk, hip hop, alternative rock, electronica, and Latin music. The album's producers incorporated synthesizer melodies, fragmented beats, distorted guitar, and eccentrically manipulated vocals and song structures, while much of the lyrics were written by singer-songwriter Static Major, who shared a close friendship and strong rapport with Aaliyah. The resulting songs deal with the complexities of romantic love and different stages in a relationship, such as infatuation, eroticism, conflict, infidelity, and heartbreak. Aaliyah viewed the album as a reflection of herself as both a young adult and a matured vocalist. On release, Aaliyah received highly positive reviews and charted at number two on the US Billboard 200, but sold diminishingly afterwards. When Blackground and Virgin wanted a high-charting single to increase the album's sales, Aaliyah shot a music video for the song "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas, but died in a plane crash during a return flight to the US on August 25. After her death, sales of the album greatly increased and led it to the top of the Billboard 200, eventually reaching more than 13 million copies sold worldwide. Released during a period of peak activity in R&B, the album has since been cited by critics as one of the genre's best and most influential records from this era, impacting artists such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, and the Weeknd. After years of internal and legal conflicts between Blackground, the singer's estate, and the album's creators, Aaliyah was released to music streaming services for the first time in 2021. ## Background Aaliyah recorded her second album One in a Million with producer-songwriters Timbaland and Missy Elliott, releasing it in 1996 to commercial success, and graduated from high school the following year. She gained achieved further success with hit songs from film soundtracks, including her 1998 single "Are You That Somebody?" Recording again with Timbaland for the song, Aaliyah experimented with more avant-garde sounds in her R&B and pop music, while singing in a low-register and minimalist style distinct from her vocally-virtuosic female contemporaries. After it became the biggest hit of her career at that point, the singer wanted to keep a lower profile and avoid overexposure. A third album was planned for February 1999, but Aaliyah postponed its recording to develop an acting career, which led to a starring role in the 2000 film Romeo Must Die. The film heightened her profile significantly, while the soundtrack's single "Try Again" became her first number-one song on the pop charts. Her label Blackground Records used the film and its soundtrack to set up a distribution deal with Virgin Records America, which would distribute Blackground's subsequent releases globally. ## Recording and production Aaliyah began recording the album in 1998. She recorded a few songs, including two with Timbaland, before working on Romeo Must Die. In 1999, while working on the record in New York City, Aaliyah called and asked Trent Reznor, one of her musical idols, to produce a song, but they could not coordinate their schedules. She intended to finish the album by the end of 2000 and resumed its recording while filming in Australia for Queen of the Damned (2002), as she shot her part for the film during the day and recorded songs at night. She said in an interview for Billboard, "there were nights when I didn't go into the studio—I was too tired. On the weekends, I always made it." Jomo Hankerson, Blackground president and Aaliyah's cousin, said that he had to "bribe the producers", who did not want to "go halfway around the world!" He added that they ultimately had "a beautiful time ... making hot music". Most of the album's songs were recorded at either Sony Studios in New York City or Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, including "Loose Rap", which was done at both studios. Aaliyah recorded "More Than a Woman" at Manhattan Center Studios, "U Got Nerve" at Soundtracks Studios in New York City, "We Need a Resolution" at Westlake Studios, and "I Care 4 U" at Magic Mix Studios and Music Grinder Studios in Los Angeles. She had first recorded "I Care 4 U", written by Elliott, in 1996 for One in a Million, but scrapped it after that album's completion. Aaliyah worked with Blackground Records' in-house crew of musicians, songwriters, and producers, including novice producers Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats. Music manager Jimmy Henchman, a friend of Aaliyah's manager Barry Hankerson, helped coordinate the record's production and arranged for the producers and writers to work with the singer. Most of the album's lyrics were written by Static, from the R&B band Playa. While the band was growing apart, he was invited by Blackground to be a lead writer for the album after writing "Are You That Somebody?" and "Try Again". Static was a part of Aaliyah's close group of friends, which included Missy Elliott and Timbaland, and shared an infatuation with her. He found Aaliyah to be ideal for his songwriting style, while she believed that he could accurately portray her feelings. A subtly sexual lyricist, he wrote "Rock the Boat" for her in 1999, but Blackground felt she was not ready for the song. Barry Hankerson said of his songwriting, "We always were protective over every lyric ... But he did things where you never felt offended. You just felt like you overheard someone thinking ... he was clever ... Aaliyah depended on him [and] he depended on her." Elliott said that he was "a part of that bridge of Aaliyah growing up lyrically". While she discussed the lyrics with Static, the singer consulted Bud'da about the sound and musical direction of the album. She was interested in learning about the UK garage scene at the time. In March 2001, Aaliyah finished recording the album after having filmed her part in Queen of the Damned for four months, which ultimately delayed the album's release. MTV News's Gideon Yago reported that she completed its last song on March 9, and the album as a whole was mastered by Bernie Grundman at his studio in Los Angeles. While in Australia, Aaliyah also did a photo shoot for the album with photographers Jeff Dunas, Jonathan Mannion, David LaChapelle, and Albert Watson. The singer handled five pythons at the shoot and developed an affinity for snakes, finding them "dangerous, but quite beautiful" and representative of her on the album. She revisited the snake theme in her music video for "We Need a Resolution" in April 2001 and told MTV, "They live in solitude, [and] there are times in my life [when] I just want to be by myself. There are times I can't even figure myself out. I feel they are very complex creatures, [but] at the same time, they're sexy, too. That's why they represent Aaliyah pretty well." Ultimately, Watson's photo of Aaliyah posing directly at the camera was chosen by artwork designer Warren Fu to be the front cover, with Watson later explaining that it especially demonstrated "a symmetrical composition ... with a look of confidence and maturity." Of the album itself, Aaliyah called it "a good reflection of [myself] and the person [I am] today", saying in an interview for Jet magazine, "I am a young adult now, and I think this album shows my growth vocally." ## Music and lyrics An R&B and neo soul album, Aaliyah features midtempo funk songs, hip hop-textured uptempo tracks, and slow jams that draw on older soul influences. Along with contemporary urban sounds, the music incorporates Middle-Eastern influences, muted alternative rock, and—particularly on Timbaland's songs for the album—Latin timbres. "Never No More" mixes both older soul and modern hip hop sounds with string arrangements by producer Bud'da, while "Read Between the Lines" is a rhythmic, digital samba with Latin percussion. Aaliyah's production features synthesizer melodies, vintage syndrums, distorted guitar, staccato arrangements, and layered, eccentrically manipulated vocals. John Mulvey of NME finds its sound subtle and lacking "bombast and histrionics", while the magazine's Alex Needham likens its "otherworldly", high frequency production to dub reggae and the dark, spacious dance music of Dr. Dre and Massive Attack. In Stephen Thomas Erlewine's opinion, the album is distinct from the older soul leanings of Macy Gray and Jill Scott, as its music sounds unconventional yet modern, "turning out a pan-cultural array of sounds, styles, and emotions". Aaliyah's beats are produced in a manner that makes them sound fragmented, exhibiting techno and electro textures. Tracks such as "Loose Rap", "Extra Smooth", and "What If" feature unconventional song structures experimenting with resolution. "I Can Be" and "What If" incorporate 2-step and rock elements, although the latter song draws particularly from Detroit techno and industrial rock. On the club-influenced "More Than a Woman", Aaliyah's vocal harmonies interplay against minor key string and guitar sounds, while "Loose Rap" features underwater noises, low-key electronica in the style of the Neptunes, and harmonically soft vocals declaring "it ain't just rhythm and blues". Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone compares the album's experimentation to the sounds on Outkast's Stankonia (2000), Sade's Lovers Rock (2000), and Missy Elliott's Miss E... So Addictive (2001). According to Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani, "like Elliott's genre-bending So Addictive, Aaliyah provides a missing link between hip-hop and electronica." The lyrics on Aaliyah explore the intricacies of romantic love and phases in a relationship such as frivolous infatuation, issues near the end of a relationship, and heartache. Subtle, lighthearted humor and witty sound effects, such as comical vocal manipulation, intersperse the themes of heartbreak and eroticism. According to Citysearch's Justin Hartung, the record "transforms the confusion of young adulthood into exhilarating freedom", while Billboard's Rashaun Hall says that each song possess a unique emotional identity that accompanies the music's sonic variety. Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In observes female empowerment-themed songs that show a "healthy self-respect" by Aaliyah, who "doesn't put up with unfaithful cads ('U Got Nerve'), mind games ('I Refuse'), self-impressed hunks ('Extra Smooth'), gossip and envy ('Loose Rap'), or physical abuse ('Never No More')". The key-shifting, drum and bass-influenced "Extra Smooth" addresses an enthusiastic courtship and is inspired by a conversation between Aaliyah and Static about how men try to act suave, while "Loose Rap" is titled after the slang phrase of the same name and dismisses romantic admirers who use trite pick-up lines. "Those Were the Days" dispassionately dismisses a male lover, while "What If" angrily threatens an unfaithful lover and by extension similar men. On "I Care 4 U", the narrator tries to console a friend who is heartbroken, but finds herself distressed by unrequited feelings she has for him. Aaliyah's vocals are sung in a restrained soprano style throughout the album. Vibe magazine's Hyun Kim argues that its songs draw focus to her singing more than her previous records, "bringing it to the forefront as opposed to hiding it behind the layered production". "Rock the Boat" is sung with breathless vocals by Aaliyah, who instructs her lover on how to please her sexually and equates her erotic high to a drug high. Ballads such as "I Care 4 U", "Never No More", and "I Refuse" are sung more emotively, expressing melancholy qualities and hurt. On "I Can Be", Aaliyah sings from the perspective of an adulterous man's mistress who wants to be his foremost girlfriend. Alex Macpherson from The Guardian wrote that "Aaliyah's blank, numbed delivery" on the song "makes being the other woman seem like an emotionally masochistic form of self-medication". Biographer Christopher John Farley says that she "emotionally detail[s] a song" unlike on her previous albums and that "her gentle voice now seem[s] like something elemental, a kindly wind blowing through the branches of a big tree." According to Joshua Clover, Aaliyah pushes musical notes "into strange corners of syncopation's shifty architecture" on the more "shape-defying" tracks. Overall, "she makes the sonics tell the story, creating meaning outside the lyrics, pleasure beyond the hooks." ## Marketing and sales Aaliyah was originally issued by Blackground and Virgin in Japan on July 7, 2001, before its release in the United Kingdom on July 16 and in the United States on July 17. In the US, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart behind Songs in A Minor by Alicia Keys, selling 187,000 copies in the week of August 4. Although it was the highest sales week of Aaliyah's career, the album sold diminishingly over the next two months. The singer planned to embark on the largest concert tour of her career to support the album, while Blackground and Virgin—heavily invested in the record's success—wanted a single with a high chart placement to help increase sales. "We Need a Resolution" had been released as the lead single on April 13, but did not receive significant radio airplay and only reached number fifty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100. In August 2001, Aaliyah filmed a music video for "More Than a Woman" in Los Angeles and then travelled to the Bahamas to shoot a video for "Rock the Boat". But after its completion, she and several crew members who were returning to the US died in a plane crash on August 25. Blackground executives were uncertain when they would release the album's next single and video. Aaliyah had sold more than 447,000 copies by this point. The album's sales increased rapidly after Aaliyah died. News of her death was reported on the last day of Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week, during which Aaliyah sold 62,000 copies, a 41.5% increase from its past week's sales. The following week, it sold 305,500 copies and ascended from number 19 to number one on the Billboard 200, making it the record's highest sales week. It was Aaliyah's only album to top any of Billboard's charts and marked the first time a recording artist climbed to number one posthumously since John Lennon in 1980 with his album Double Fantasy. On September 19, Aaliyah reached more than one million copies sold. In November, "Rock the Boat" was released as a single and reached number two on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart that same month. In the US, Aaliyah spent 69 weeks on the Billboard 200, reaching 2.06 million copies sold by February 25, 2002, and 2.6 million sold by December 2009. Blackground, which had ended its joint deal with Virgin in November 2001, wanted to send the video for "More Than a Woman" (released on September 4) to domestic outlets, but it required both labels to work together. Blackground subsequently moved to Universal Records, and the video was first aired in Europe. In the UK, "More Than a Woman" was released as a single on January 7, 2002, and entered the singles chart at number one, while Aaliyah re-entered the albums chart at number 65; it had originally entered the chart at number 25 on July 28, 2001. Two weeks after "More Than a Woman" reached number one, the album jumped 17 spots to number five on January 27, 2002. Aaliyah went on to spend 36 weeks on the British charts. According to the Official Charts Company, the album sold a total of 303,000 copies in the UK. It also reached number nine on the record charts in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, where it charted for 33, 41, and 46 weeks, respectively. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the record was the 34th best-selling album in the world during 2001. In August 2012, NME writer Tom Goodwyn reported that it had sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. ## Critical reception Aaliyah was met with highly positive reviews from most critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 14 reviews. According to Pitchfork's Rawija Kameir, reviewers praised the singer for deviating from the "candy-coated" quality of contemporary pop music in favor of an approach that perfectly balanced pop, R&B, and hip hop. Rashaun Hall from Billboard felt that Aaliyah was taking a different approach in comparison to her pop/R&B peers, who "crank out happy-go-lucky albums year after year". He deemed the album as a "sonically diverse set in which each number has an emotion all its own". Reviewing for The Guardian in July 2001, Michael Odell called Aaliyah a flawless blend of pop and R&B, "as much a brochure for the current state of R&B production facilities" as it is a showcase for its namesake's singing. He found the music's textures "scintillating" and believed its distinguishing characteristic to be "a playful and confident reworking of the [R&B] canon". In the Chicago Tribune, Brad Cawn wrote that Aaliyah demonstrates Sade's grace and Missy Elliott's daring with fashionable neo soul that is "equal parts attitude and harmony, and all urban music perfection", while Russell Baillie from The New Zealand Herald deemed the music innovative dance-pop on what he called "a cohesive, detailed and disarmingly enticing album". Simon Price, writing for The Independent, cited the record as "further evidence that black pop is the avant garde". In a review for The A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin argued that the album establishes Aaliyah as a significant artist unobscured by her collaborators, while Hardy from Rolling Stone called it "a near-flawless declaration of strength and independence" in which Aaliyah explores her "fantasies and strengths". Writing for Spin, Clover viewed the record as her most profound work and said she had made "art" out of Timbaland and Static's "formal finesse" by "investing sound schemes with urgency and emotional intricacy". Some reviewers were more qualified in their praise. Mulvey deemed Aaliyah "graceful" and "satisfying rather than extraordinary" in his review for NME. Although he said it is redeemed by Static's consistent songwriting, Timbaland should have contributed more songs, in his opinion. Like Mulvey, Q remarked that its music is decent rather than innovative, with some filler. In Entertainment Weekly, Craig Seymour wrote that there are a few songs that stray from her musical strengths, but elsewhere she "skillfully portrays love as part woozy thrill, part pulse-racing terror". Robert Christgau in The Village Voice named "We Need a Resolution" and "U Got Nerve" as highlights and called Aaliyah "a slave to her beats, but a proud slave". Connie Johnson from the Los Angeles Times was more critical, finding the production unadventurous and the lyrics lacking the depth and "personal revelation that gives music some immediacy". E! Online felt that although the album is "not as immediate as some of her past mainstream work", she "pushes the boundaries of her voice and her age". Ultimately the publication praised Aaliyah for "slowly working her way through R&B, hip-hop and even slightly techno beats". Although Luke McManus from the Irish publication RTÉ felt the album was too long, he praised it saying it was "the smoothest and most seductive R'n'B album of the year, with lyrics that are appealingly upfront and assertive". Aaliyah was named the best album of 2001 by Slant Magazine and one of the ten best records of the year by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Time magazine. NME ranked it at number 39 on their year-end list. The album finished 73rd in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice. Christgau, who created and supervised the poll, said in his accompanying essay that Aaliyah had finally "developed material nobody can deny" on "a good album". The record also finished 37th in the annual poll run by German music magazine Spex. For the album, Aaliyah was posthumously awarded an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist. At the 2002 American Music Awards, it won in the category of Favorite R&B/Soul Album. In 2002, Aaliyah received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Album. "Rock the Boat" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. "More Than a Woman" was nominated in the same category in 2003. ## Legacy and influence Along with Aaliyah's burgeoning film career, the album was a part of her rising mainstream success in 2001. In a retrospective review, Steve Huey from AllMusic called it her most consummate record and said it "completed the singer's image overhaul into a sensual yet sensitive adult". Erlewine, the website's senior editor, regarded the album as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward", while BBC Music's Daryl Easlea felt it made Aaliyah's two previous accomplished albums "look like exercises in juvenilia". According to PopMatters journalist Quentin B. Huff, she had never used her singing to complement her music's innovative production before with as much variety, conviction, and success as on Aaliyah, which he said was also known as "The Red Album" because of its red artwork. Huff believed the record showcased the growing rapport between the singer and her collaborators while disproving questions about how she would continue recording music while broadening her profile. In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Keith Harris wrote that "Aaliyah had grown from studio puppet to a powerful R&B archetype—a more self-aware Ronnie Spector for a time that requires more self-awareness of its young adults." Aaliyah's re-emergence with the album in mid-2001 coincided with a period of peak activity in contemporary R&B, as well as the popularity of neo soul. According to Erlewine, Aaliyah was "one of the strongest urban soul records of its time", while The Guardian cited it as the peak of R&B's golden age at the "turn of the century". Alexis Petridis, the newspaper's lead critic, believed Aaliyah had recorded her most engaging music in a year when R&B and hip hop demonstrated the most creativity in popular music. In 2005, the Aaliyah album ranked 66th on GQ's "100 Coolest Albums in the World", while Stylus Magazine placed it at number 47 in the "Top 50 Albums of 2000–2005"; the publication's David Drake ranked it eighth on his own list. A few years later, it was named one of Vibe magazine's "150 Essential Albums of the Vibe Era", and at the end of the decade, it placed at number 72 on Slant Magazine's list of the best albums from the 2000s. Writing for Vibe's list, Jon Caramanica believed Aaliyah "may be the best soul album of the young millennium" and yet "redefines the category" with music that is "daring in construction, gorgeous from conception ... damn near post-R&B". The album was ranked number 77 on NPR's "The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women" list and according to writer Stacia Irons, "Aaliyah became a catalyst and bridge that created a smooth transition from '90s style R&B into Modern PBR&B". Aaliyah helped establish the "beat"-based sound of R&B during the 2000s while impacting a new wave of black progressive musicians. As The Independent's Micha Frazer-Carroll writes, acts such as Destiny's Child, Ashanti, Amerie, and Cassie capitalized on the success of the album's "idiosyncratic sound", while Aaliyah's "pared-back vocal phrasing" established an archetype for a "more stoic R&B singer" that would influence vocalists like Ciara and Rihanna. Timbaland's commercial success with R&B-influenced singers such as Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado during the decade was later attributed by The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson to his experience producing Aaliyah, writing that he "hasn't come close to creating anything as sonically stunning since". Q journalist Eve Barlow credited the album in 2011 for "creating a blueprint that can be heard across pop music today" with acts such as R&B singers Beyoncé and The Weeknd, and the indie pop band The xx. According to Kameir, Aaliyah's characteristic multi-part harmonies on the album foreshadowed those of Solange Knowles. The Official Charts Company described the album as "one of the most influential R&B albums of modern times", and that it has "provided inspiration for an entire generation of hip-hop superstars like Beyonce, Frank Ocean and Janelle Monáe". The recording sessions for the Aaliyah album produced many leftover tracks that were posthumously archived by Blackground and mostly left unreleased because of internal conflicts and legal complications between the label, Aaliyah's family, and the producers. Six of these recordings were released in 2002 on the compilation album I Care 4 U. Blackground's subsequent decline and mismanagement of the singer's catalog resulted in the Aaliyah album's unavailability on streaming services in the next decade, leading Kameir to say in 2019 that, "paradoxically to its significance, the legacy of Aaliyah is now diminished". That year, The Guardian ranked it number 28 on a list of the 100 best albums from the 21st century, making it the list's only album absent from streaming services. The newspaper's music editor, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, wrote in an accompanying blurb: "This album is lauded for the three masterpieces Aaliyah made with Timbaland—Try Again, More Than a Woman and We Need a Resolution—that lend a serpentine malevolence to her voice, but there are also strong old-school jams and languorous ballads. Lesser R&B stars match their voice to the beat—Aaliyah's genius, tragically cut short when she was killed in a plane crash, was to slink through it with an almost Latin sense of rhythm." In August 2021, it was reported that the album and Aaliyah's other recorded work for Blackground (since rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0) would be rereleased on physical, digital, and streaming formats in a deal between the record label and Empire Distribution. However, Aaliyah's estate issued a statement in response to Blackground 2.0's announcement, denouncing the "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah's music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate". On September 10, Aaliyah appeared on streaming and music download services through Blackground and Empire. In the following weeks, it reentered the US Billboard 200 at number 13 and the UK R&B albums chart at number seven. ## Track listing ## Personnel Information is taken from the album credits. - Aaliyah – executive production, vocals - Jonathan Adler – engineering assistance (tracks 7, 8) - The Black Orchestra – strings (track 5) - Stevie Blacke – strings - Ron Blake – horn (track 8) - Chandler Bridges – engineering assistance (tracks 2, 3, 9) - Bud'da – mixing, production (tracks 5, 8, 12) - Michael Conrader – engineering (tracks 2, 5, 8, 9) - Sean Cruse – guitar (track 12) - J. Dub – instrumentation, production, programming (tracks 10, 14) - Jimmy Douglass – engineering, mixing (tracks 1, 4, 6) - Jeff Dunas – photography - Missy Elliott – writing - Warren Fu – art direction - Ben Garrison – mixing (tracks 2, 3, 7-9, 11) - Bernie Grundman – mastering - Barry Hankerson – executive production - Jomo Hankerson – executive production - Richard "Segal" Huredia – mixing - Dino "The Cut" Johnson – mixing (track 13) - Acar Keys – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 7, 11, 13) - David LaChapelle – photography - Michelle Lynn-Forbes – engineering assistance (tracks 5, 12) - Jonathan Mannion – photography - Tim Olmstead – engineering assistance (track 11) - Steve Penny – engineering assistance (track 4) - Renzo Pryor – keyboards (track 5) - Pat Sajack – engineering assistance (tracks 10, 14) - Eric Seats – instrumentation, production, writing (tracks 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13) - Richard Segal-Huredia – mixing (tracks 5, 12) - Static – vocals, writing - Rapture – instrumentation, production, writing (tracks 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13) - Timbaland – mixing, production (tracks 1, 4), vocals - Roberto "Gary" Walker – engineering assistance (track 2) - Albert Watson – photography - Scott Wolfe – engineer, mixing (tracks 10, 12, 14) - Michael Zainer – engineering assistance (track 4) ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ### Decade-end charts ## Certifications ## Release history ## See also - Album era - Alternative R&B - List of number-one albums of 2001 (U.S.) - Progressive soul
5,325,815	Baden-Powell House	1,134,027,571	Conference centre in South Kensington, London	[ "Biographical museums in London", "Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea", "Hostels", "Museums in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea", "Residential buildings completed in 1961", "Scouting museums", "Scouting spoken word files", "South Kensington" ]	Queen's Gate House, still commonly known by its previous name of Baden-Powell House, is a conference centre in South Kensington, London. It was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and has served as the headquarters for The Scout Association, as a hostel providing modern and affordable lodging for Scouts, Guides, their families and the general public staying in London and as a conference and event venue. The building committee, chaired by Sir Harold Gillett, Lord Mayor of London, purchased the site in 1956, and assigned Ralph Tubbs to design the house in the modern architectural style. The foundation stone was laid in 1959 by World Chief Guide Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, and it was opened in 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II. The largest part of the £400,000 cost was provided by the Scout Movement itself and the building previously included a number of tributes to the founder including hosting a small exhibition about Scouting, and a granite statue of Baden-Powell by Don Potter located outside the building. Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a decline in numbers of Scouts using the facility, the Scout Association sold the building to Mander Portman Woodward who run it as an events and conference venue and are converting the hostel rooms into boarding accommodation for students. ## History ### Construction Acting on a 1942 initiative by Chief Scout Lord Somers, a formal Baden-Powell House Committee was established by The Scout Association in 1953 under the direction of Sir Harold Gillett, later Lord Mayor of London. The committee's directive was to build a hostel to provide Scouts a place to stay at reasonable cost while visiting London. For this purpose, in 1956 the committee purchased a bombed-out property at the intersection of Cromwell Road and Queen's Gate at a cost of £39,000. The Scout Movement raised the major part of the funding of £400,000 for building and furnishing the building between 1957 and 1959. Scouts throughout the country collected 'ship' halfpennies, and this raised the bulk of the money for the building. Money was also raised through public appeals supported by publication in Scout Movement magazines, a collection of donations in 15,000 brick-shaped boxes, and 5,000 appeal letters signed personally by then Chief Scout Lord Rowallan. Scouts representing every county were present at the opening. In a celebration on 17 October 1959 the foundation stone was laid by the World Chief Guide (Olave Baden-Powell), in the presence of Lord Mayor Sir Harold Gillett, the new Chief Scout Sir Charles Maclean, and 400 other guests. A casket was buried under the foundation stone which held 1959 Scout mementoes, stamps, coins, photographs, etc., and a programme of the ceremony. ### Use by the Scout Association With 142 Queen's Scouts as Guard of Honour, and live broadcast by the BBC (commentator Richard Dimbleby), Baden-Powell House was opened on 12 July 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II. Afterwards, she toured the house with the Chief Scout and the president of The Scout Association, her uncle Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. A black marble panel with gold lettering was put on the balcony in the hall to commemorate the event. From 1974 to 2001, Baden-Powell House was the headquarters of The Scout Association, replacing their previous location in Buckingham Palace Road for which a dedicated office extension to the house was opened by the Queen in November 1976. As the association had expanded, the staff were split between Baden-Powell House and Gilwell Park in the historic White House. In 1987 elements of the building were adapted as an events and conference space, expanding the appeal of the building more broadly. In 1993, the Scout Association took the decision to relocate their headquarters and all of their staff to a new purpose-built building at Gilwell Park housing all the association's staff. The decision was in part led by the deteriorating condition of the historic White House at Gilwell Park with the three phase project concluding in April 2001 when the headquarters formally moved to Gilwell House. As part of this development, the adjoining office block was sold to raise funds for the new construction. As the owner of Baden-Powell House, The Scout Association received at this time a net income out of the revenues of approximately £1.5 million. Thirty-five years after its opening, Baden-Powell House was refurbished in a six-month £2 million programme, providing all modern amenities such as private facilities for all rooms, double glazing, and air conditioning, as well as enhancing conference facilities for large and small events. Upon completion of the programme, the house was opened by the president of The Scout Association, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent on 5 June 1997. Since its inception, Baden-Powell House provided a hostel for people visiting London and since 2001 this became the main focus of the building. In the period 2004–2006 the hostel participated in the Youth Hostel Association, after which the Scout Association entered into an agreement with German company Meininger Hotels with Scout members from the UK and abroad being able to stay at a reduced rate. It remained owned by the Scout Association, and advertised alongside the Gilwell Park Conference Centre and the Scout Activity Centres. At its peak, it saw on average 30,000 people spending the night and 100,000 meals served in the restaurant. ### Use by Mander Portman Woodward In November 2020 it was announced that the Scout Association would sell the building as a result of the impact of the 2020 Covid crisis on the Scout Association's revenues. In March 2021, the property was valued at £46,000,000. The sale was completed in August 2021 to an independent school Mander Portman Woodward whose London campus is located in converted town houses a short distance away in Queen's Gate. They plan to retain the events and conference facilities as well as adding other bespoke teaching areas, including an art studio, and converting the hostel rooms into boarding accommodation for international students and students over the age of 14 years from September 2022. ## Architecture ### Architectural inspiration The house was designed by the architect Ralph Tubbs in 1956, whose works included the Dome of Discovery, the highlight of the 1951 Festival of Britain. Tubbs' floor plans and a model of his design were displayed during a fundraising campaign and exhibition on 21 February 1957 in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House. The six storied building is designed in the modern architectural style, as pioneered by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier from the late 1920s onwards, and predominating in the 1950s. At Baden-Powell House, Tubbs made the first floor overhang the ground floor, a Le Corbusier architectural design choice to free the building from the ground, such as seen in his Pavillon Suisse at the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris. Additionally, Le Corbusier's Sainte Marie de La Tourette priory in Lyon shows two floors of monk's cells with small windows, cantilevered over the more open floors below, another design choice used by Tubbs in the facade of Baden-Powell House. While Tubbs created Baden-Powell House in the modern architectural style of Le Corbusier, he used more architectural restraint in his own design choices. For example, he made the main visible building component brick rather than concrete. This heavier evolution of Le Corbusier's style was popular in England throughout the post-war years until replaced by the Brutalist style in the later 1960s. Baden-Powell House was built to Tubbs' design by Harry Neal Ltd, for which they received the 1961 Gold Medal of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers. At the opening, the house received the building design award for 'The building of most merit in London.' ### Layout The hostel and conference centre is entered from Queen's Gate through a wide glazed atrium which serves as a large foyer containing the cafe. From the atrium the large hall is reached which can serve as an auditorium with seating for up to 300 people. The first floor has a restaurant seating 100 guests; the second floor has meeting rooms and conference facilities for groups up to 80 delegates per room. The upper floors contain 180 hostel bedrooms. ## Baden-Powell collection For a number of years a notable collection of Baden-Powell memorabilia was displayed for visitors in 'The story of B-P' exhibition. This included many drawings and letters by Baden-Powell himself, such as the original of his Last Message to Scouts, Laws for me when I am old and several first editions of his books. The exhibition also displayed the original painting by David Jagger, as presented to Baden-Powell on 29 August 1929 at the 'Coming of Age' 3rd World Scout Jamboree. This painting, a personal favourite of Baden-Powell, is often used in publications throughout the Scout movement. The Baden-Powell memorabilia was later moved to the headquarters for Scouting in the UK, Gilwell Park and was instead replaced with a number of smaller displays available to the public in the reception area showing some traditional Scouting skills. A nearly three-metre high statue of Baden-Powell, at the time the only granite statue in London, sculpted by his personal friend Don Potter, was unveiled on 12 July 1961 by the Duke of Gloucester as part of the official opening. It was located outside the main entrance to the building for the duration of its time owned by the Scout Association and was moved in August 2021 to Gilwell Park. ## See also - Baden-Powell International House, 25-story hotel of The Scout Association of Hong Kong in Kowloon, Hong Kong - Ellsworth Augustus Scout House, the Boy Scouts of America hostel, in Mendham, New Jersey, US - Jamboree on the Air, call sign for Baden-Powell House is GB3BPH - Kandersteg International Scout Centre - Scout Adventures (The Scout Association)
6,236,988	Invasion of Tulagi (May 1942)	1,160,028,113	Battle during World War II	[ "1942 in Japan", "1942 in the Solomon Islands", "Battles and operations of World War II involving the Solomon Islands", "Battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom", "Battles of World War II involving Australia", "Battles of World War II involving Japan", "Battles of World War II involving the United States", "Conflicts in 1942", "Invasions by Japan", "May 1942 events", "Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II" ]	The invasion of Tulagi, on 3–4 May 1942, was part of Operation Mo, the Empire of Japan's strategy in the South Pacific and South West Pacific Area in 1942. The plan called for Imperial Japanese Navy troops to capture Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The occupation of Tulagi by the Japanese was intended to cover the flank of and provide reconnaissance support for Japanese forces that were advancing on Port Moresby in New Guinea, provide greater defensive depth for the major Japanese base at Rabaul, and serve as a base for Japanese forces to threaten and interdict the supply and communication routes between the United States and Australia and New Zealand. Without the means to effectively resist the Japanese offensive in the Solomons, the British Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands protectorate and the few Australian troops assigned to defend Tulagi evacuated the island just before the Japanese forces arrived on 3 May. The next day, however, a U.S. aircraft carrier task force en route to resist the Japanese forces advancing on Port Moresby (later taking part in the Battle of the Coral Sea) struck the Japanese Tulagi landing force in an air attack, destroying or damaging several of the Japanese ships and aircraft involved in the landing operation. Nevertheless, the Japanese troops successfully occupied Tulagi and began the construction of a small naval base. Over the next several months, the Japanese established a naval refueling, communications, and seaplane reconnaissance base on Tulagi and the nearby islets of Gavutu and Tanambogo, and in July 1942 began to build a large airfield on nearby Guadalcanal. The Japanese activities on Tulagi and Guadalcanal were observed by Allied reconnaissance aircraft, as well as by Australian coastwatcher personnel stationed in the area. Because these activities threatened the Allied supply and communication lines in the South Pacific, Allied forces counter-attacked with landings of their own on Guadalcanal and Tulagi on 7 August 1942, initiating the critical Guadalcanal campaign and a series of combined arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces that, along with the New Guinea campaign, decided the course of the war in the South Pacific. ## Background On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack crippled most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's battleships and started a formal state of war between the two nations. In launching this war, Japanese leaders sought to neutralize the American fleet, seize possessions rich in natural resources, and obtain strategic military bases to defend their far-flung empire. Soon after, other nations—including the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand—joined the U.S. as Allies in the war against Japan. In the words of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet "Secret Order Number One", dated 1 November 1941, the goals of the initial Japanese campaigns in the impending war were to, "(eject) British and American strength from the Netherlands Indies and the Philippines, (and) to establish a policy of autonomous self-sufficiency and economic independence". To support these goals, during the first few months of 1942 Japanese forces also attacked and took control of the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, the Netherlands East Indies, Wake Island, New Britain, the Gilbert Islands, and Guam. Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue—commander of the Japanese 4th Fleet (also called the "South Seas Force") consisting of most of the naval units in the South Pacific area—advocated the seizing of Lae, Salamaua, and Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Inoue believed that the capture and control of these locations would provide greater security for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. Japan's Naval General Staff endorsed Inoue's argument and began planning further operations, using these locations as supporting bases, to seize Nauru, Ocean Island, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa and thereby cut the supply lines between Australia and the U.S., with the goal of reducing or eliminating Australia as a threat to Japanese positions in the South Pacific. The Imperial Japanese Army supported the idea of taking Port Moresby and in April 1942, with the Japanese Navy, developed a plan for the attack that was titled "Operation Mo". The plan also included the seizure of Tulagi, a small island in the southern Solomon Islands, where a seaplane base would be set up for potential air operations against Allied territories and forces in the South Pacific. Although Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto—commander of the Combined Fleet—was concurrently planning an operation that he hoped would lure the U.S. Pacific Fleet into a decisive showdown in the central Pacific, he detached some of his large warships to support the Mo operation and placed Inoue in charge of the naval portion of the operation. A large force consisting of two heavy aircraft carriers, one light aircraft carrier, a seaplane carrier, nine cruisers, and 13 destroyers—split into several elements—was to guard the Japanese Port Moresby invasion convoy as well as to engage any Allied naval warships that approached to contest the invasion. The Tulagi invasion force, consisting of the destroyers Kikuzuki and Yūzuki; minelayer/transports Okinoshima, and Kōei Maru; auxiliary minesweepers Wa-1, Wa-2, Hagoromo Maru, Noshiro Maru \#2, and Tama Maru; transport, Azumasan Maru; subchasers Toshi Maru \#3 and Tama Maru \#8; and commanded by Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima (flag on Okinoshima), departed from Rabaul on 30 April and headed towards the Solomon Islands. Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō provided air cover for the Tulagi invasion with his Covering Group of one light carrier (Shōhō), four cruisers, and one destroyer located just west of the central Solomons. A separate Cover Force (sometimes referred to as the Tulagi Support Group)—commanded by Rear Admiral Kuninori Marumo and consisting of two light cruisers, the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, and three gunboats—joined the Covering Group in supporting the Tulagi invasion. Once Tulagi was secured on 3 or 4 May, the Covering Group and Cover Force were to reposition to help cover the Port Moresby invasion. At the time, Tulagi was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, which included all of the islands of the Solomons except Bougainville and Buka. William Sydney Marchant, the British Resident Commissioner of the Solomons and commander of the local defense forces, directed the evacuation of most of the white civilian residents to Australia in February 1942. Marchant was evacuated to Malaita the following month, where he helped operate a coastwatcher relay station. The only Allied military forces at Tulagi were 24 commandos from the Australian Army's 2/1st Independent Company, under Captain A. L. Goode, and about 25 personnel from 11 Squadron RAAF, under F/O R. B. Peagam, operating a seaplane base on nearby Gavutu-Tanambogo with four PBY Catalina maritime patrol aircraft. Three Allied coastwatchers were also located nearby, on Guadalcanal island. The task of the coastwatchers was to report on any enemy movements, or suspicious activity, that they observed in the vicinity of their stations. In the belief that it might prevent them being executed for espionage, all of the coastwatchers were commissioned as Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve officers, and they were directed by Lieutenant Commander Eric Feldt, who was located at Townsville in Australia. Throughout most of April, the Japanese conducted "desultory" bombing raids on Tulagi with aircraft based at Rabaul or nearby that caused little, if any, damage. The coastwatchers on Guadalcanal were usually able to radio advance warning to the Australian troops on Tulagi of the approaching Japanese aircraft, but the troops did not have large enough weaponry—three Vickers machine guns and one Bren light machine gun—to seriously challenge the Japanese bombers. On 25 April, Tulagi was bombed by eight Japanese aircraft. Similar raids occurred daily over the next week, with one raid on 1 May heavily damaging one of the Catalinas at Gavutu. The remaining Catalinas successfully evacuated that same day. Allied intelligence personnel had deciphered much of the Japanese Mo plans through radio intercepts at the Allied Fleet Radio Units (radio intelligence centers) in Melbourne, Australia and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Based on this intelligence, on 22 April, U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz—stationed at Pearl Harbor—directed Allied forces towards the Coral Sea area to interdict the Japanese Mo operation. On 27 April, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Yorktown's Task Force 17 (TF 17), under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, sortied from Tonga and was joined by the U.S. carrier USS Lexington's TF 11 300 nmi (350 mi; 560 km) northwest of New Caledonia on 1 May. That same day, Fletcher detached TF 11 to refuel, expecting to rejoin with Lexington and her escorts on 4 May at a predetermined location in the Coral Sea. ## Landings and air attacks On 2 May, coastwatcher Jack Read on Bougainville reported that a large force of Japanese ships, believed to be part of the Japanese Tulagi invasion force, had departed from the Buka area. Later that day, coastwatcher D. G. Kennedy on New Georgia island sighted and reported a large Japanese force of ships heading towards the southern Solomons. Soon after, Goode and Peagam—anticipating that the Japanese would attack with overwhelming numbers—ordered the execution of a pre-planned evacuation operation and began the destruction and demolition of their equipment and facilities on Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo. The RAAF personnel and commandos embarked on two small ships early in the morning on 3 May to begin the trip to Vila, New Hebrides, just as Shima's ships entered Savo sound to begin their landings on Tulagi. The ship with the RAAF personnel spent the day with coastwatcher and protectorate District Officer Martin Clemens at Aola on Guadalcanal and departed that night. Supporting the Japanese landings were seaplanes from Kamikawa Maru, temporarily based at Thousand Ships Bay at Santa Isabel Island. About 400 Japanese naval troops—mainly from the 3rd Kure Special Naval Landing Force—disembarked from the transport ship on barges and immediately began construction of facilities on Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo. Aircraft from Shōhō covered the landings until early afternoon, when Gotō's force turned toward Bougainville to refuel in preparation to support the landings at Port Moresby. Once the Japanese troops were ashore, six seaplanes landed in Tulagi harbor as part of the establishment of the planned seaplane base there. At 17:00 on 3 May, Fletcher was notified that the Japanese Tulagi invasion force had been sighted the day before approaching the southern Solomons. Unable to communicate with the Lexington task force because of the need to maintain radio silence, Yorktown's task force proceeded independently toward Guadalcanal in order to be in position to launch airstrikes against the Japanese forces at Tulagi the next morning. At 07:01 on 4 May, Yorktown launched a first strike consisting of 12 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers and 28 SBD Dauntless dive bombers from a position about 160 km (86 nmi; 99 mi) south of Guadalcanal. The aircraft began their attacks on Shima's ships anchored near Tulagi at 08:50, taking the Japanese ships by surprise and at anchor. Okinoshima and the two destroyers were positioned to provide a protective barrier for Azumasan Maru and Kōei Maru which were busy unloading troops and materiel. The three minesweepers had just got underway to support the Port Moresby invasion and were still near Tulagi. Although the U.S. pilots from the first strike claimed many bomb and torpedo hits on the anchored ships, they actually hit only Okinoshima, causing minor damage, and Kikuzuki, causing major damage. Kikuzuki—with the assistance of one of the subchasers—was beached on Gavutu in an attempt to keep her from sinking. During this time, all of the other ships weighed anchor and attempted to escape from the harbor. One U.S. dive bomber destroyed a Japanese Mitsubishi F1M2 "Pete" floatplane that attempted to take off during the attack. Yorktown's second strike—utilizing the same aircraft—returned to Tulagi and began their attack at 12:10 on the Japanese ships, many of which were now at full steam and attempting to put distance between themselves and Tulagi harbor. The second strike hit and sank the minesweepers \#1 and \#2 and severely damaged Tama Maru northeast of Savo Island. Another Japanese seaplane was shot down by a U.S. dive bomber during the second strike. After four F4F-3/3A Wildcat fighters from Yorktown joined the strike, the fighters shot down two more Japanese floatplanes over Florida Island. The four U.S. fighters then strafed Yūzuki, killing her captain and nine others of her crew, and causing moderate damage to the ship. Two or three other Japanese floatplanes were damaged in Tulagi harbor and their crews were killed. A third, smaller strike from Yorktown arrived at 15:30 and caused moderate damage to Azumasan Maru and Okinoshima. One of the TBDs (Bu No. 0333) in the third strike became lost, ran out of fuel, and ditched in the ocean about 60 km (32 nmi; 37 mi) south of Guadalcanal. Two of the Wildcats from the second strike also ran out of fuel and crash landed on the southern coast of Guadalcanal. Fletcher sent the destroyers USS Hammann and Perkins to rescue the aircrews from the three aircraft. Hammann was able to recover both fighter pilots, but Perkins was unable to locate the TBD's crew. Both destroyers returned to Yorktown's task force late that evening as the task force turned away from Guadalcanal toward the southeast in order to refuel and rendezvous with Lexington the next day. ## Aftermath On 5 May, Kikuzuki slid off of the shore of Gavutu and sank in Tulagi harbor, a total loss (). Tama Maru foundered two days later. The other surviving, damaged Japanese ships were able to reach Rabaul and Kavieng for repairs. Hagoromo Maru and Noshiro Maru \#2 joined the Port Moresby Invasion Group. On 10 May, as Okinoshima participated in the first Japanese attempt to take Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands, titled Operation RY, she was sunk by the submarine USS S-42 off New Ireland (). A total of 87 Japanese naval personnel died in the 4 May air attacks on Tulagi, and 36 of the landing troops were seriously injured. The lost Yorktown TBD aircrew (Leonard Ewoldt, pilot, and Ray Machalinsk gunner) reached Guadalcanal after drifting in the ocean for three days. A Roman Catholic missionary, Father Jean Boudard, took them to Martin Clemens who arranged for a boat to take them to San Cristobal. From San Cristobal, another boat took them to the New Hebrides and from there they eventually rejoined U.S. forces. After striking Tulagi, Yorktown rejoined with Lexington, and the two carriers engaged the rest of the Japanese forces involved in the Mo operation from 6–8 May in the Battle of the Coral Sea. In the battle, Lexington was sunk and Yorktown was damaged. The Japanese suffered Shōhō sunk, a fleet carrier heavily damaged, and heavy losses to their carrier aircraft and aircrews. Fearing more damaging attacks from Allied land-based aircraft or warships and unable because of their aircraft losses to provide adequate air cover for their naval surface forces, the Japanese turned back from their planned assault on Port Moresby with the intention of trying again later. The next Japanese seaborne attempt to take Port Moresby, however, never happened, mainly because of their navy's defeat in June at the Battle of Midway. Instead, the Japanese decided to try to take Port Moresby in an ultimately unsuccessful overland attack along the Kokoda Track. The failure to take Port Moresby in May 1942 would have significant and far-reaching strategic implications, many of which involved the small Japanese naval base at Tulagi. Despite the damaging air attacks to their ships and landing forces, the Japanese proceeded with the construction of the naval seaplane base at Tulagi and Gavutu, receiving more shipments of troops and construction workers over the next several months. The base was soon operational with aircraft from the Yokohama Air Group which conducted air reconnaissance patrols throughout the surrounding area beginning on 6 May. On 27 May, the Japanese inspected the Lunga Point area on Guadalcanal as a possible location to build a large airfield. On 13 June, the Naval General Staff approved the construction of an airfield at that location and on 19 June, Admiral Inoue toured the site in anticipation of the airfield construction effort. The next day, Japanese troops began clearing the area of brush, and on 6 July, a 12-ship convoy delivered 2,000 Korean and Japanese construction workers plus 500 Japanese naval combat troops to conduct the airfield construction effort in earnest. The coastwatchers on Guadalcanal and Allied air reconnaissance observed the Japanese airfield construction efforts. Allied Catalinas and B-17s based at Port Moresby, Efate, Noumea, and Espiritu Santo frequently bombed the Japanese bases on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Gavutu over the next several months, but without causing significant damage. Several Japanese float fighters and one Allied bomber were destroyed in aerial combat during the missions. The Allies were greatly concerned about the Japanese airfield construction effort on Guadalcanal because, when completed, the aircraft operating from the airfield would be a significant threat to Allied operations between Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. The two strategic victories for the Allies in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway provided an opportunity to take the initiative and launch an offensive against the Japanese somewhere in the Pacific. An Allied plan to attack the southern Solomons was conceived by U.S. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He proposed the offensive to deny the use of the southern Solomon Islands by the Japanese as bases to threaten the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and to use them as starting points for a campaign. His goal was to neutralize or capture the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign, with the eventual goal of opening the way for the U.S. to retake the Philippines. The Allied commander-in chief for Pacific forces, U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz, created the South Pacific theater with U.S. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley in command to direct the Allied offensive in the Solomons. The failure of the Japanese to take Port Moresby and their defeat at Midway had the effect of leaving their base at Tulagi without effective protection from other Japanese bases. Tulagi was four hours flying time from Rabaul, the nearest large Japanese base. On 7 August 1942, 11,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal and 3,000 U.S. Marines landed on Tulagi and nearby islands. The Japanese troops on Tulagi and nearby islands were outnumbered and killed almost to the last man in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo while the U.S. Marines on Guadalcanal captured the airfield at Lunga Point without significant resistance. Thus began the Guadalcanal campaign that resulted in a series of large, combined-arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces over the next six months which—along with the New Guinea campaign—would decide the fate of Japanese efforts to secure the southern frontier of their empire in the Pacific.
2,970,064	City of Blinding Lights	1,163,780,733	2005 single by U2	[ "2000s Island Records singles", "2004 songs", "2005 singles", "Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign", "Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign", "Grammy Award for Best Rock Song", "Interscope Records singles", "Number-one singles in Spain", "Song recordings produced by Flood (producer)", "Songs about London", "Songs about New York City", "Songs written by Adam Clayton", "Songs written by Bono", "Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr.", "Songs written by the Edge", "U2 songs" ]	"City of Blinding Lights" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the fifth track on their eleventh studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), and was released as the album's fourth single on 6 June 2005. It was produced by Flood, with additional production by Chris Thomas and Jacknife Lee. The song reached number one in Spain, and peaked in the top ten in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. The music video was shot at the General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The earliest incarnation of the song was developed during sessions for the band's 1997 album, Pop. The lyrics were written by the band's lead vocalist Bono, taking partial inspiration from his recollection of his first trip to London, and from the band's experience playing in New York City in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks during their Elevation Tour in 2001. Other lyrics refer to Bono's relationship with his wife Ali. The song's underlying theme reflects lost innocence and was inspired by an image Bono saw of himself from the early 1980s. The sound has been compared to the tone of U2's 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire and their 1987 single "Where the Streets Have No Name". "City of Blinding Lights" was well received by critics and won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 2006 ceremony. The song made its live debut on the group's 2005–2006 Vertigo Tour, when it was commonly played as the opening song. It has been performed at nearly every show from a U2 concert tour since. The track has been used in episodes of The Simpsons and Entourage, and in the film The Devil Wears Prada. Former U.S. President Barack Obama used the song at his campaign events during the 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential elections, and listed it as one of his favourite songs; U2 performed it at his 2009 inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. ## Writing and inspiration U2 developed "City of Blinding Lights" from a song called "Scott Walker", an outtake from the band's 1997 album Pop. This incarnation, written as an homage to the singer of the same name, was only an outline when the recording sessions for Pop concluded. The group reworked it in preparation for their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, but the song was still unfinished when that album was released. They rewrote the song for their 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Bassist Adam Clayton said, "There was a melody and a groove that ultimately didn't go anywhere and we kind of threw out everything, found chords that worked with that melody and built it back up, new drum parts, new bass parts, new guitars." A photographic exhibition in the Netherlands by longtime band photographer Anton Corbijn served as a thematic inspiration for the song. Lead vocalist Bono saw an image of himself boarding a helicopter, taken in 1982 during filming of the music video for "New Year's Day." A journalist asked him what he would say to his younger self if given the chance; Bono replied, "I'd tell him he's absolutely right and stop second guessing himself." He explained his comments later, saying, "I realized how much I'd lost ... that way of looking at the world. There was such a clarity to it, but it was so defiant in a way." The chorus was inspired by U2's first concert in New York City following the September 11 attacks during their 2001 Elevation Tour. When the lights illuminated the audience during a performance of "Where the Streets Have No Name," the band saw tears streaming down the faces of many fans. Upon seeing this raw release of emotion, Bono shouted, "Oh you look so beautiful tonight"; later, the band integrated the line into the chorus. The fans' passion, along with the resolve of the city following the attack, were the primary inspirations for many of the song's other lyrics. ## Composition and theme "City of Blinding Lights" is played in common time at a tempo of 139 beats per minute in two keys: A♭ major in the verses, and E♭ major in the chorus. The album version of the song runs for 5:47. It begins with a low note played on an electric guitar with heavy delay and distortion. The note is sustained for ten seconds as its harmonics gradually feed back. A pulsing rhythm guitar part with muted staccato chords by the Edge then begins underneath. After a further ten seconds it is joined by lower-register guitar drones played by the Edge, and a repetition of eight descending piano notes performed by the Edge and Bono. Forty-five seconds into the song, halfway through the introduction, Clayton's bass and percussion by drummer Larry Mullen Jr. fade into the song with producer Jacknife Lee's synthesizers, which play part of the melody line. The first verse begins at 1:20 and is accompanied by the bass, drums and rhythm guitar playing the chord progression A–E–D. This alters to B–D in the pre-chorus, with a short harmony vocal line leading to the E–D chorus. After the second chorus, the lead guitar alternates with Bono's repeated "Time" into the B–A bridge before returning to an extended chorus. The vocals range from D3 in the verses to a peak of C5 in the chorus. The Edge provides backing vocals in the second verse, the first three chorus lines, and the bridge lyric "Time won't leave me as I am / Time won't take the boy out of this man". There is no chorus after the third verse; instead, the track enters into a coda where, after restating the introductory piano theme, the guitar, bass, and drum parts come to a finish. The song concludes on a final reprise of the piano notes. The radio edit, with a run-time of 4:11, is 1:36 shorter than the album version. The introduction is half the length and the bass and drums enter after only two repetitions of the piano notes. The first two verses are kept intact but the bridge is shortened by seven seconds, removing two calls of "Time." The third verse is cut and the coda shortened by twenty seconds. The sound of "City of Blinding Lights" has been compared to U2's 1987 single "Where the Streets Have No Name", prompted by a similar style of guitar playing, as well as to the atmospheric tone of the band's 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire. The melding of guitar and piano in the introduction was likened by the Edmonton Journal to the Coldplay song "Clocks". Rolling Stone described the song as "building into a bittersweet lament", while Uncut said it was "beautiful but slightly sinister", comparing the quality of the lyrics to the George Harrison song "The Inner Light". The underlying theme of "City of Blinding Lights," reflected in the chorus, is lost innocence. The theme was reinforced during an impromptu concert at Empire–Fulton Ferry State Park under the Brooklyn Bridge; Bono introduced the song by reminiscing about the first time the band arrived in New York City, calling it "a song about innocence and naïvete." Bono developed the opening stanza from a memory of his first trip to London with his future wife, Alison Stewart, when they were teenagers. The experience of walking through Piccadilly Circus and along Wardour Street put him in mind of "discovering what a big city could offer you and what it could take away." Although the first verse is set in London, the chorus is set in New York City. The verse, "I've seen you walk unafraid / I've seen you in the clothes you've made / Can you see the beauty inside of me? / What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?" was written as an expression of love for Alison, with a reflection on their life together as they grow older. Like many other U2 songs, "City of Blinding Lights" can be interpreted in a religious manner. Author Cameron Conant related the opening verse to the doubt he felt about his convictions on politics, marriage, and faith as he aged, concluding that a person's confidence in their beliefs makes it seem as if they know more than they do. Music critic Bill Friskics-Warren felt that the final line, "Blessings not just for the ones who kneel, luckily", was a way for Bono to berate himself for not praying enough, and was an attack on Christianity because "faith often perpetuates the misery and divisiveness that he decries." Steve Stockman, a chaplain at Queen's University of Belfast, believed the song was a metaphor for growing up, and that the final line meant that not just people of faith could be blessed. ## Release Promotional singles were released in the United Kingdom and United States in April 2005. The UK release featured the "Paradise Soul" mix, Paul Epworth's "Phones P.D.A. in N.Y.C." mix, and the "Killahurtz Fly" mix of "All Because of You" on a 12-inch record, and the U.S. release contained the album version and the radio edit on a CD. "City of Blinding Lights" was released internationally as the fourth single from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb on 6 June 2005, following "Vertigo" in November 2004 and the joint release of "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and "All Because of You" in February 2005. Three major versions of the single were released, including two CD singles and one DVD single. Additionally, a mini CD single was released in Europe, and a separate CD single containing all four tracks from CD1 and CD2 was released in Japan. The "Hot Chip 2006" remix of the song was included on the 2010 compilation album Artificial Horizon. ### B-sides The Killahurtz Fly mix of "All Because of You" was remixed by the team of Mick Park and Lea Kenny. The song features additional bass and guitars played by Darren Murray. The live versions of "The Fly" and "Even Better Than the Real Thing" were recorded at the Stop Sellafield concert staged by Greenpeace at the G-Mex Centre in Manchester on 19 June 1992. Videos of these performances would later be included as bonus tracks on the DVD release of Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. The rendition of "Out of Control" was taken from a promotional concert, the band played at the Empire – Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York City on 22 November 2004; the live video of "City of Blinding Lights" on the DVD release was taken from the same concert. The music video for "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", directed by Phil Joanou, was also included on the DVD. ## Music video The music video for "City of Blinding Lights" was shot at the General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia on 27 April 2005, and was directed by Alex Courtes and Martin Fougerol. The video included additional footage from the band's Vertigo Tour concert of 28 April 2005. Planning for the project began as soon as U2 became aware the arena was available (a result of the NHL lockout of 2004–2005). Manager Paul McGuinness believed selecting Vancouver as the filming location made a lot of sense, saying, "[i]t's a world-renowned production centre. We knew we'd be able to get the crews and camera people and equipment here." Members of the public were invited to be part of the video via radio and internet announcements. Word of the shoot leaked before the official announcement, which led to fans lining up outside for the entire day. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people were allowed in for the filming. During the shoot, U2 performed "City of Blinding Lights" multiple times, followed by "Vertigo," "All Because of You" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own." The video shows the band playing the song on the Vertigo Tour concert stage. The live audio is kept to demonstrate the imperfections and emotion in the performance. The lighting is kept low, drawing attention to the visuals on the LED curtains used throughout the tour and obscuring much of the band members' facial features in shadow. Courtes and Fougerol explained: "we wanted to reflect the mood we've seen at the concerts, so we played with that lighting knowing that you are more blinded from a light if it was darker before". ## Live performances "City of Blinding Lights" was performed on every night of the Vertigo Tour, opening 86 of the 131 concerts and a public dress rehearsal immediately before its launch. Performances frequently began with confetti falling from the ceiling, serving as a bridge to engage the audience. The song made extensive use of the stage's LED curtains for its visual effects; Wired noted that "they do a fine imitation of Shinjuku on speed, and the lighting design for 'City of Blinding Lights' takes advantage of that ... the visual effect manages to be far more that [sic] the sum of its parts." The Vancouver Sun described the result as "akin to a busy street at night through a misted windshield", later saying it provided "a theme for the night – the sparse, elegant stage was constantly bathed in vivid colours". During the Vertigo Tour, the piano introduction was played by Adam Clayton on a keyboard. Sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy believed Clayton's bass in the live setting to be "the driving implement that pushes the sound along". "City of Blinding Lights" was played on every night of the U2 360° Tour, in each case appearing approximately halfway through the set. The lighting effects used on the U2 360° Tour video screen emulate the LED curtain visuals of the Vertigo Tour and were described as "psychedelic" by Edna Gundersen of USA Today. It is one of a handful of songs to utilize the fully descended video screen. With the exception of two shows early in the tour, the song was played at every date of the 2015 Innocence + Experience Tour, typically opening the encore. The lighting effects utilised the numerous fluorescent tubes set around the stage, while the video screen showed cityscapes at night superimposed with the band members performances. The song reappeared in a regular slot closing out the main set of that tour's companion, the 2018 Experience + Innocence Tour, with a similar visual presentation. One reviewer called the presentation a "veritable explosion of light effects". The main set finale role held special importance due to the fact that all of the songs from The Joshua Tree, including "Where the Streets Have No Name", were removed from the Experience + Innocence Tour, having just been played in sequence during the intervening Joshua Tree Tour 2017. Clayton said, "I think ending [the main set] on 'City of Blinding Lights,' lyrically it has an interesting through line which relates to innocence, in a way. I mean, there is a reading of that ... in terms of saying goodbye to certain parts of yourself, that just connects [to the overall innocence and experience theme] in a way. And it's a lovely, contemporary, modern piece of music. We think that will take on some of the emotional weight of 'Streets'." Live performances of the song appear on the DVDs Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago and U2 360° at the Rose Bowl, the bonus disc of U218 Singles, and on the 2005 U2.com subscriber's release U2.COMmunication. The U2.COMmunication version is an audio rip of the performance from Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago. ## Critical reception Reception to "City of Blinding Lights" was positive. Reviewing the album, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the song had "huge melodic and sonic hooks" and labelled it one of "the ingredients that make How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb a very good U2 record." Entertainment Weekly felt the song demonstrated the band's ability to "make pop-chart lust work for them." Pitchfork Media reviewer Amanda Petrusich thought it was one of the album's highlights, calling it "an earnest and galactic fight song, and the sort of track that's best enjoyed in cars and airplanes, simply because it encites [sic] so much giddy movement." PopMatters opined, "U2 sounds updated ... the bombast stays in check and Bono's questions sound earnest without being overzealous," though felt it "lack[s] the musical and lyrical guts of 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' or 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.'" Rating the song three stars out of five, Uncut reviewer Stephen Dalton wrote it was "indebted to the sky-punching peaks, grand vistas and monochrome emotions of the band's 1980s albums", deeming it a "heart-stirring anthem." Peter Murphy called it "the album's masterpiece" in his review for Hot Press, describing the opening as "little short of celestial." At the 48th Grammy Awards in 2006, "City of Blinding Lights" won the award for the Best Rock Song. In a 2010 survey conducted by fan site atU2.com, 1080 of 4814 participants (22.43%) labelled it their favourite song on the album, ranking it first on the list. Previous fan surveys in 2005, 2006, and 2007 had also ranked the song the most favoured from the album. ## Chart performance "City of Blinding Lights" reached number two in the Canadian and Danish singles charts and peaked at number eight in Ireland. It charted in the Top 75 in the United Kingdom for nine weeks, peaking at number two and ranking number 113 on the year-end charts. In Spain, the song spent two weeks at number one on the Spanish Singles Chart, and remained there for a total of 16 weeks. In the Netherlands, the song peaked at number three, and spent 15 weeks on the chart. In Australia, the song peaked at number 31 on the Australian Singles Chart, and spent two weeks on the chart. In the United States it cracked the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart at number 40. Over 331,000 digital copies of the track have been sold as of June 2010. ## Legacy The song featured in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada during the scene where Andy arrives in Paris. Director David Frankel first used the song in a montage of pre-production scenes he shot on location in the city; the song fit the images so well that he decided to include it in the film. The film's use of the song was parodied in the 2009 The Simpsons episode "The Devil Wears Nada"; "City of Blinding Lights" is played briefly as Homer and Carl arrive in Paris. The song was featured in "I Love You Too," a 2005 episode of the HBO series Entourage. In the sequence, U2 performs the song at a concert and Bono wishes a happy birthday to Johnny Chase. American sports network ESPN used "City of Blinding Lights" in their 2006 FIFA World Cup television commercials; the piece, titled "Anthem," featured narration about the sport by Bono, which was set against a montage of children playing football across the globe and video of the band in concert. ESPN used the track for a second time in January 2010 in commercials for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, causing weekly online sales of the track to double from the month prior. In 2008, NASA used "City of Blinding Lights" for the fourth wake up call of STS-126. The song was played for Mission Specialist Shane Kimbrough. The song was used again on 3 March 2011 for the eighth wake up call of STS-133; it was played for all of the crew members. The track was used by Barack Obama as the entrance theme for his presidential candidacy announcement in Springfield, Illinois, on 10 February 2007, and it was played before his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Obama frequently used it as the lead-in as he took the stage for campaign events during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a spectacle that even convinced one student to vote for him, and played it on primary night rallies with supporters. In August 2008, Obama listed "City of Blinding Lights" as one of his ten favourite songs. In his dissertation, music student Jacob Charron speculated that the music used by Obama on the campaign trail was selected because it would not upset the older voters and would be recognizable to the younger voters. The song was also valuable for its global image, ringing guitar line, and suggestions of awakening. U2 performed the song, along with "Pride (In the Name of Love)," to upwards of 400,000 people on 18 January 2009 at the We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Obama. Introducing "City of Blinding Lights," which the band were asked to play, Bono spoke directly to Obama, saying, "What a thrill for four Irish boys from the northside of Dublin to honour you, sir, the next President of the United States, Barack Obama, for choosing this song to be part of the soundtrack of your campaign, and more besides." Bono modified the first verse to reference the surroundings, singing "America, let your road rise / Under Lincoln's unblinking eyes" in place of "Neon hearts, dayglo eyes / A city lit by fireflies," gave a shout-out to vice presidential inauguree Joe Biden at the end of the verse, and changed a part of the chorus to proclaim "America's getting ready to leave the ground." ## Formats and track listings ## Personnel U2 - Bono – vocals, piano - The Edge – guitar, backing vocals, piano - Adam Clayton – bass guitar - Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion Additional performers - Jacknife Lee – synthesizers Technical - Production – Flood - Additional production – Chris Thomas, Jacknife Lee - Recording – Carl Glanville - Recording assistance – Chris Heaney, Kieran Lynch - Mixing – Nellee Hooper - Mix engineering – Greg Collins, Simon Gogerly - Mix engineering assistance – Ian Rossiter - Programming – Fabien Waltmann ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## See also - Covers of "City of Blinding Lights" - List of number-one singles of 2005 (Spain)
1,274,481	Ontario Highway 420	1,145,422,364	Controlled-access highway in Ontario	[ "400-series highways", "Niagara Regional Roads", "Roads in Niagara Falls, Ontario" ]	King's Highway 420, commonly referred to as Highway 420, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) with downtown Niagara Falls. It continues east as a limited-access expressway named Niagara Regional Road 420 to connect with the Rainbow Bridge international crossing between Canada and the United States over the Niagara River; this was part of Highway 420 until 1998. West of the QEW, the freeway ends at an at-grade intersection with Montrose Road (Niagara Regional Road 98). The highway has a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph), making it the only 400-series highway to have a speed limit less than 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) for its entirety. Originally constructed as a divided four-lane road with two roundabouts, the route of Highway 420 formed part of the QEW in 1940 initially as the southeastern terminus, but after the QEW extension from Niagara Falls to Fort Erie opened in 1941, this bypassed highway became a spur route designated as the Rainbow Bridge Approach. It was assigned a unique route number as part of the 400-series after being upgraded into a freeway in 1972, including construction of a large interchange with the QEW. In 1998, the section of Highway 420 east of Stanley Avenue was transferred to the responsibility of the Regional Municipality of Niagara and redesignated as Regional Road 420. ## Route description At 3.3 km (2.1 mi), Highway 420 is the shortest 400-series highway, travelling through Niagara Falls from Montrose Road to Stanley Avenue, on the outskirts of the city's tourist district. East of Stanley Avenue (Regional Road 102) the highway becomes Niagara Regional Road 420 and is known as Falls Avenue and Newman Hill on approach to the Rainbow Bridge. This portion was designated a part of Highway 420 until 2000, when it was transferred to the City of Niagara Falls and the Regional Municipality of Niagara, although the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) still assists with the maintenance of it under a Connecting Link agreement. East of Drummond Road, Highway 420 features stylized light fixtures with the letters "ER", which stand for Elizabeth Regina and are a tribute to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Highway 420 begins in the west at a signalized intersection with Montrose Road (Regional Road 98), beyond which it continues as Watson Street through the residential neighbourhood of Greens Corners to Beaverdams Road (Regional Road 53). East of Montrose Road, the highway is a four lane roadway divided by a raised paved median, and passes north of a forest as it approaches a four-level interchange with the QEW. The five parclo ramps provide almost all directional movements, though the QEW off-ramps meet Highway 420 at at-grade intersections. These at-grade connections can be bypassed by a pair of connectors carried by a dual on-and-off ramp flyover that arcs over the CN rail line and the QEW Toronto-bound carriageway, directing Fort Erie-bound QEW traffic onto Highway 420 eastbound and westbound Highway 420 traffic onto the Toronto-bound QEW. Another set of ramps links Toronto-bound QEW traffic to Highway 420 eastbound and Highway 420 westbound to the Fort Erie-bound QEW. East of the QEW, Highway 420 encounters an interchange with Dorchester Road as both cross the Queenston-Chippawa Power Canal. This interchange was originally a traffic circle that was removed in the early 1970s. The numerous lanes from the QEW interchange to the west begin to converge between residential subdivisions east of Dorchester Road, gradually narrowing to four through lanes at the Drummond Road interchange. After passing beneath Portage Road, the route widens on approach to an at-grade intersection with Stanley Avenue. This intersection is the eastern end of both the freeway segment of the route and the signed King's Highway 420; east of Stanley Avenue the route is signed as Niagara Regional Road 420 and known as Falls Avenue. Now separated by a landscaped median, the route progresses eastward, intersecting MacDonald Avenue and providing access to several residential and retail properties that adjoin the road. The route travels within a concrete trench and abruptly curves to the southeast as it passes beneath Victoria Avenue, with which there is a simple interchange. East of this point, the road was named Newman Hill until March 2012. Palmer Avenue and Ontario Avenue pass over the route as it descends a hill towards the Niagara Gorge. At the bottom, the route curves to the southwest, where it provides access to the Rainbow Bridge border crossing into the United States as well as the tourist district of the city. Owing to its association with the number 420 in cannabis culture, Highway 420 is also the location for the annual Cannabis Conference and Protest, usually taking place sometime around April 20. The event includes a march beginning near Niagara Falls and travelling to Highway 420. ## History ### Rainbow Bridge Approach The history of Highway 420 predates its designation by nearly 75 years, tied in with the crossing of the Niagara Gorge between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The first level crossing between the two cities was the Honeymoon Bridge, constructed in 1898. The 14 m (46 ft) wide structure spanned 255 m (837 ft) between the Canadian and American sides, 58 m (190 ft) above the Niagara River. Its narrow design proved to be a fatal flaw, and on January 27, 1938, under the weight of a massive ice jam in the river, the structure collapsed. A day later, the owners of the previous bridge—the International Railway Company (IRC)—as well as Ontario Minister of Highways Thomas Baker McQuesten announced intentions to construct a new span; a long political battle ensued for several years over the merits of private or public ownership of border crossings. In the end, the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission (NFBC) paid the IRC \$615,000 to purchase the right-of-way of the old bridge as well as the rights to construct the new one. The future Rainbow Bridge was dedicated by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on June 7, 1939, just hours after the couple dedicated the QEW. On May 16, 1940, Samuel Johnson, the vice-chair of the NFBC, and McQuesten, who along with his parliamentary role was chair of the commission, ceremonially turned the first sod for the new bridge using a two-handled shovel. Construction had begun two weeks earlier on May 4. The new bridge was assembled over the following 18 months; the design was prepared by New York engineering firm Waddell & Hardesty and supervised by the Edward Lupfer Corporation, the latter the designers of the Peace Bridge. The new structure was located 167 m (548 ft) downstream from the Honeymoon Bridge, as the gorge is slightly wider at that point, resulting in a 288 m (945 ft) span. Meanwhile, McQuesten was overseeing construction of the QEW between Toronto and Fort Erie. The new dual highway, inspired by German Autobahns, was the first of its kind in Canada. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 temporarily halted McQuesten's ambitions, as funding was quickly shifted to the war effort. As a result, construction on the new superhighway was put on hold south of Niagara Falls. McQuesten officially opened the QEW on August 23, 1940; the pavement ended south of Lundy's Lane. Despite the war, work began on a link between the opened QEW and the Rainbow Bridge through the centre of Niagara Falls. This link would not be completed in time for the opening of the new bridge. On November 1, 1941, the Rainbow Bridge was officially opened during a simple ceremony. The oldest living couple known to have wed in Niagara Falls, a pair from Pennsylvania, were the first to cross, followed by a newlywed couple from Georgia. This symbolically tied the history of the two bridges together, and was followed by McQuesten and Johnson walking towards the centre of the structure from the Canadian and American sides, respectively, and shaking hands at the centre. Several pyrotechnic explosions at both ends capped the ceremony, and the bridge was opened to traffic. Work continued on the four lane bridge approach throughout 1941, and by mid-1942 it was possible to drive directly from the bridge onto the QEW. The new link featured a traffic circle at Dorchester Road as well as at the QEW. At the time the new link was designated temporarily as part of the QEW (decades before receiving its own unique route number of Highway 420), as a result it was referred to by several names including the Queen Elizabeth Way Extension (and known by locals for decades as the "Queen E Extension") and the Rainbow Bridge Approach. At the same time construction on QEW between Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, was underway, but the ongoing war delayed its completion. As an interim measure, four gravel lanes of the highway was opened during the summer of 1941, then two lanes of pavement were laid in 1946, and the four-lane extension was fully paved and opened on October 14, 1956. Bypassed by the new QEW extension to Fort Erie in 1941, the Niagara Falls bridge approach became a spur route that was no longer part of the QEW so it was officially named the Rainbow Bridge Approach for the next three decades. ### Upgrade to freeway During the mid-1960s, the Department of Highways examined the possibility of extending the freeway portion of the route east towards the Rainbow Bridge. They began to purchase properties lining Roberts Street in 1966. In 1971, construction began on a four-level interchange between the QEW and the Rainbow Bridge Approach. This removed the two traffic circles along the approach. The interchange between the QEW and Lundy's Lane (Highway 20) was also removed; instead, the Rainbow Bridge Approach ends with an at-grade intersection with Montrose Road which in turn connects to Lundy's Lane. By April 1972, the Rainbow Bridge Approach was designated as Highway 420. In 1998, the Niagara Falls Transportation Study was released, recommending that Roberts Street be rebuilt as a gateway to the city as opposed to a freeway. Highway 420 east of Stanley Avenue was transferred to Niagara Region. In the early 2000s, Highway 420 from the QEW interchange to Drummond Road was reconstructed with high-mast lighting poles and an Ontario tall-wall concrete median Jersey barrier, similar to the upgrades that other high-traffic provincial freeways received around that time. The rest of the route from Drummond Road eastwards (including Regional Road 420) was instead upgraded to 15-metre (49 ft) and 12-metre (39 ft) decorative "ER" lightposts, to commemorate the route's historical status as the original routing of the QEW and its historical tie to the Queen Mother. The "ER" style lighting poles are themselves a historical decorative lighting pole model, discontinued decades earlier, that was revived originally for the early 2000s Highway 420 reconstruction and would also be later used for QEW's bridges in Mississauga, Oakville, and St. Catherines. The Drummond Road and Portage Road overpasses that originally built in 1941 and rehabilitated in the early 1970s were demolished in 2004; their new replacement bridges plus Highway 420's concrete median barrier feature decorative stone facades, which in combination with the "ER" light poles restores the heritage look that was lost in the 1970s reconstruction. On September 23, 2010, Highway 420 was designated as the Niagara Veterans Memorial Highway. On January 31, 2012, Niagara Regional Council approved the renaming of Roberts Street and Newman Hill as an extension of Falls Avenue, beginning March 1. Prior to this, Falls Avenue curved into Newman Hill at the Rainbow Bridge. In 2016, the flyovers of the Highway 420-QEW interchange were rehabilitated. ## Exit list
44,706,190	Dear Future Husband	1,167,915,185	2015 single by Meghan Trainor	[ "2014 songs", "2015 singles", "American contemporary R&B songs", "Doo-wop songs", "Epic Records singles", "Meghan Trainor songs", "Music video controversies", "Songs about marriage", "Songs written by Kevin Kadish", "Songs written by Meghan Trainor" ]	"Dear Future Husband" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. It was included on Title, her 2014 extended play, and later on her 2015 studio album of the same name. Trainor wrote the song with its producer, Kevin Kadish. Epic Records released "Dear Future Husband" as the album's third single on March 17, 2015. A doo-wop and pop song, it has lyrics about chivalry and dating. In the song, Trainor lists things a potential romantic suitor needs to do to win her affection. Some music critics praised the playful nature of "Dear Future Husband" and compared its lyrics to different Trainor songs, while others were negative about the portrayal of gender roles in its lyrics. In the United States, the song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It reached the top 10 in Australia, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, and Venezuela and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia and Canada. Fatima Robinson directed the music video for "Dear Future Husband", which depicts Trainor baking pies in the kitchen and scrubbing floors while various men audition to be her partner. It garnered controversy and online criticism over allegations of antifeminism and sexism. Trainor performed the song on television shows such as the iHeartRadio Music Awards, The Voice, and Today and included it on the set lists of her concert tours That Bass Tour (2015), MTrain Tour (2015), and the Untouchable Tour (2016). ## Background American songwriter Kevin Kadish met Meghan Trainor in June 2013 at the request of Carla Wallace, the co-owner of Trainor's publishing firm Big Yellow Dog Music. Kadish liked Trainor's voice and felt a strong song-writing affinity with her due to their mutual love of pop music from the 1950s and 1960s. They wrote the song "All About That Bass", which led to Trainor signing with Epic Records after she performed it for the label's chairman, L.A. Reid. Kadish and Trainor began working on more songs immediately as the label wanted her to record an entire album. Upon its release as Trainor's debut single in June 2014, the song reached number one in 58 countries and sold 11 million units worldwide. Trainor followed it up with "Lips Are Movin", which reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. Kadish and Trainor wrote "Dear Future Husband" as the third track for Trainor's debut extended play, the 1950s-influenced Title, which they created "just for fun". Trainor was inspired by old-school doo-wop standards like Dion's "Runaround Sue" (1961), and Beach Boys songs that possessed "big choruses that weren't like, melodically up very high" so every listener could chant along to them. She recounted being ill-treated by her romantic partners in high school, and wrote the song's lyrics as a corrective for issues with contemporary dating and hookup culture, like women basing their self-worth on social media likes and whether their partner replied to their texts: "I hope people can hear my songs and know I'm a badass girl and I deserve a good guy to take me out on a date." "Dear Future Husband" was included as a B-side on the digital release of "All About That Bass" in some European countries, and Trainor's debut major-label studio album, Title (2015). The song began gaining popularity and entered the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2014, attaining a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 7, 2015. Epic Records chose "Dear Future Husband" as the third single from the album, and sent it to contemporary hit radio stations in the United States on March 17, 2015, and for radio airplay in Italy on May 8, 2015. On June 26, 2015, Sony Music released the song as a CD single in Germany. ## Composition and lyrical interpretation "Dear Future Husband" is three minutes and four seconds long. Kadish produced, recorded, engineered, and mixed the song at the Carriage House studio in Nolensville, Tennessee. He handled drum programming, sound design, and plays the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, and synthesizer, David Baron plays the piano and Hammond organ, and Jim Hoke plays the baritone and tenor saxophone. Dave Kutch mastered it at The Mastering Palace in New York City. "Dear Future Husband" is a doo-wop and pop song, with influences of jazz. The song opens with the sound of a stylus on a damaged vinyl which transitions into retro ukulele instrumentation. It incorporates brisk piano, buoyant brass, and a drum track that "kicks harder than many 2014 rock bands" according to Stereogum's Chris DeVille. Alexandra Petri of The Washington Post described "Dear Future Husband" as a "playful pop throwback to the 1950s", while Chuck Arnold of Rolling Stone called it "girl-group bounce". Critics compared the song's melody to that of "Runaround Sue", and The Columbus Dispatch's Glenn Gamboa likened it to Gary U.S. Bonds's 1961 single "Quarter to Three". "Dear Future Husband" has lyrics about chivalry and dating. The song presents a list of the things a man needs to do in order to win Trainor's adoration and dedication, and be her life partner. Her requests include "treat[ing her] like a lady" even when she behaves insanely, calling her pretty every night, and putting her family above his. Trainor promises to buy the groceries as long as he buys her flowers, and assures him of sexual favors as a reward if he follows her rules. According to Dolan, its lyrics imagine "marriage as a contract between equals who work and don't cook". ## Critical reception Some music critics praised the playful nature of "Dear Future Husband" and compared its lyrics to other Trainor songs. Entertainment Weekly's Adam Markovitz jokingly remarked that the song's subject may follow her orders if she kept creating enticing and "kitschy sock-hop throwbacks" like it. Melissa Maerz of the same magazine named it one of the two best songs on the album, and stated that future wives-to-be would agree with the list of expectations Trainor sets out on the song. Writing for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Piet Levy called "Dear Future Husband" as "cute as a clever rom-com" and praised her humorous innuendos and alternative take on gender roles in a marriage. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times deemed the song a "bouncy" reimagination of the groove of "Runaround Sue". DeVille complimented its smooth production but considered it lyrically interchangeable with Trainor's track "Title" (2014). Lindsey Weber of New York opined that the lyrics of "Dear Future Husband" render it a sequel of "All About That Bass". Other critics were negative about the portrayal of gender roles in the lyrics of "Dear Future Husband". Writing for Time, Nolan Feeney was critical of the song and remarked that it describes a "Meghtatorship" instead of a "relationship". Mic's Kate Beaudoin thought it sends a message that "men are born to be husbands and women are born to be wives", and hinders a woman's authority to choose who she wants to be. Heidi Stevens of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the lyrics of "Dear Future Husband" deceptively seem empowering and modern at surface value, but are sadly regressive. She criticized Trainor for offering sex as a prize and thought the song compromises women's sexual agency. Petri rewrote its lyrics to make them more politically correct, and noted that just like "All About That Bass", its message lacked self-awareness. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Chris Barton and Gerrick D. Kennedy, respectively, listed "Dear Future Husband" among the most overrated and worst moments of pop culture in 2015, owing to its backward views on gender. ## Commercial performance "Dear Future Husband" initially peaked at number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 issued for January 10, 2015. Following its release as a single, the song re-entered at number 47. It peaked at number 14 on the chart issued for June 6, 2015, and sold its millionth download the same week. The RIAA certified "Dear Future Husband" 3× Platinum. In Canada, the song peaked at number 22 on the Canadian Hot 100 and was certified 3× Platinum by Music Canada. It reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, and earned a Platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry. In Australia, "Dear Future Husband" peaked at number nine, and became Trainor's third song to reach the top 10. The Australian Recording Industry Association certified the song 5× Platinum in 2023. It charted at number 27 in New Zealand and received a Gold certification from Recorded Music NZ. "Dear Future Husband" reached the top 15 of national record charts, at number 3 in South Africa, number 4 in Venezuela, number 5 in the Netherlands, Poland, number 11 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, number 12 in Scotland, and number 14 in Austria. The song received a Platinum+Gold certification in Mexico, Platinum in Sweden, and Gold in Denmark and Spain. ## Music video ### Background and synopsis Fatima Robinson directed the Stepford Wives-inspired music video for "Dear Future Husband". Trainor shared a black and white teaser of it on her Instagram account on March 12, 2015. She premiered the video on Today four days later, where she also announced that she would go on tour. Charlie Puth, with whom Trainor collaborated on the song "Marvin Gaye" (2015), makes a cameo in it. In the video, Trainor performs the song in a latex blue skirt, leopard-print tank top, and red cropped leather jacket with a barbershop quartet. She engages in household chores such as baking pies in the kitchen and scrubbing floors. Trainor uses a dating app reminiscent of Tinder to audition different men to be her partner. They present gifts to her and one of them fails at his attempt to hit the bell on a carnival strength tester machine. Trainor stamps the word "fail" and rejects them one-by-one as they are unsuccessful in following her rules. In the end, she approves of Puth when he brings her a pizza. ### Reception Some critics praised the video's throwback style and Trainor's look. Billboard's Jason Lipshutz thought it "owns its pastiche of retro signifiers" while switching up domiciliary expectations. Shiela Cosgrove Baylis of People wrote that though she took on a more domestic role in the video than her previous ones, it still retained her eccentric fashion choices and "slumber-party dance moves". Others were critical and compared it to different music videos. Feeney stated the video was more frightening than Taylor Swift's portrayal of the "crazy-ex-girlfriend" in the one for "Blank Space" (2014), despite Trainor not using knives as a weapon in it. Writing for USA Today, Kelly Lawler described it as "a lot" and criticized it for having too many things going on at once, noting it lacked the "healthy sense of irony" displayed in the videos for "Blank Space" and Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" (2006). Weber wrote that if Trainor is trying to send a message to her future spouse, someone should ensure that it never reaches him. The video caused controversy and garnered criticism online, over allegations of antifeminism, sexism, and perpetuation of gender stereotypes, which followed similar backlash Trainor had received for "All About That Bass". Critics accused it of hindering women by suggesting that they should only be domestic housewives. She responded by denying the allegations and explaining her intention: "I think I was just writing my song to my future husband out there, wherever he is. He's chilling right now, taking a minute getting ready for me; it's going to be great." Wendy Geller of Yahoo! thought "it should be obvious that the song and music video aren't meant to be taken seriously", and believed the controversy may unintentionally propel the video's views. ## Live performances and other usage Trainor performed "Dear Future Husband" live in a sailor's hat and knee-length skirt at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 29, 2015. Her male backup dancers were dressed as seamen in red suspenders, boaters, and short pants. MTV News' Brenna Ehrlich commented they looked like extras from H.M.S. Pinafore and Trainor resembled a 1950s pin-up model, while The Hollywood Reporter's Ashley Lee described the rendition as throwback sailor-themed heaven. On May 19, 2015, Trainor performed an acoustic version of the song on her ukulele at the eighth season of The Voice, accompanied by Kadish on guitar. She was surrounded by lamps during it. Jodi Walker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the performance illustrated to the show's future winner that the record industry can be a place for "music that sounds like a current spin on a different generation of music". Trainor sang it on Today on May 22, in a set that also featured "All About That Bass", "Lips Are Movin", and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" (2015). Trainor opened her That Bass Tour (2015) by performing "Dear Future Husband" in a blue-green crinoline with pleats and an enchanting top, which USA Today's Carlee Wright considered a strong start to the show. She also performed the song as the first on the MTrain Tour (2015), with a band and four backup dancers. Trainor included it on her set list for the 2014 Jingle Ball Tour and the Untouchable Tour (2016). On January 18, 2020, Trainor and fellow judge Olly Murs performed "Dear Future Husband" as a mashup with the latter's 2011 single "Dance with Me Tonight", on the ninth season of The Voice UK, after he pointed out similarities between the tracks. A gay couple from Minneapolis trying to adopt a baby released a parody of "Dear Future Husband" in March 2015, entitled "Dear Future Baby", about "how they promise to be the best dads they can be". In September, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, made a parody of the song from the narrative of shelter animals listing their demands from future families. Stanford University's medical students created a parody of it about things an aspiring doctor should not do, entitled "Dear Future Doctor", which was released in November and accumulated 120,000 views on YouTube within a month. ## Credits and personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Title. Location - Recorded, engineered, and mixed at The Carriage House, Nolensville, Tennessee - Mastered at The Mastering Palace, New York City Personnel - Kevin Kadish – producer, songwriter, recording, engineering, mixing, drum programming, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, synthesizer, sound design - Meghan Trainor – songwriter - Dave Kutch – mastering - David Baron – piano, Hammond organ - Jim Hoke – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone ## Charts ### Weekly charts ### Year-end charts ## Certifications ## Radio and release history
286,694	Leg before wicket	1,169,071,509	Cricket rule	[ "Cricket laws and regulations", "Cricket terminology" ]	Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batter can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead intercepted by any part of the batter's body (except the hand holding the bat). The umpire's decision will depend on a number of criteria, including where the ball pitched, whether the ball hit in line with the wickets, the ball's expected future trajectory after hitting the batter, and whether the batter was attempting to hit the ball. Leg before wicket first appeared in the laws of cricket in 1774, as batters began to use their pads to prevent the ball from hitting their wicket. Over several years, refinements were made to clarify where the ball should pitch and to remove the element of interpreting the batter's intentions. The 1839 version of the law used a wording that remained in place for nearly 100 years. However, starting in the latter part of the 19th century, batters became increasingly expert at "pad-play" to reduce the risk of their dismissal. Following a number of failed proposals for reform, in 1935 the law was expanded, such that batters could be dismissed lbw even if the ball pitched outside the line of off stump. Critics felt this change made the game unattractive as it encouraged negative tactics at the expense of leg spin bowling. After considerable debate and various experiments, the law was changed again in 1972. In an attempt to reduce pad-play, the new version, which is still in use, allowed batters to be out lbw in some circumstances if they did not attempt to hit the ball with their bat. Since the 1990s, the availability of television replays and, later, ball-tracking technology to assist umpires has increased the percentage of lbws in major matches. However, the accuracy of the technology and the consequences of its use remain controversial. In his 1995 survey of cricket laws, Gerald Brodribb states: "No dismissal has produced so much argument as lbw; it has caused trouble from its earliest days". Owing to its complexity, the law is widely misunderstood among the general public and has proven controversial among spectators, administrators and commentators; lbw decisions have sometimes caused crowd trouble. Since the law's introduction, the proportion of lbw dismissals has risen steadily through the years. ## Definition The definition of leg before wicket (lbw) is currently Law 36 in the Laws of Cricket, written by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Before a batter can be dismissed lbw, the fielding team must appeal to the umpire. If the bowler delivers a no-ball — an illegal delivery — the batter cannot be out lbw under any circumstances. Otherwise, for the batter to be adjudged lbw, the ball, if it bounces, must pitch in line with or on the off side of the wickets. Then the ball must strike part of the batter's body without first touching his/her bat, in line with the wickets and have been going on to hit the stumps. The batter may also be out lbw if, having made no attempt to hit the ball with their bat, they are struck outside the line of off stump by a ball that would have hit the wickets. The umpire must assume that the ball would have continued on the same trajectory after striking the batter, even if it would have bounced before hitting the stumps. A batter can be out lbw even if the ball did not hit their leg: for example, a batter struck on the head could be lbw, although this situation is extremely rare. However, the batter cannot be lbw if the ball pitches on the leg side of the stumps ("outside leg stump"), even if the ball would have otherwise hit the wickets. Similarly, a batter who has attempted to hit the ball with their bat cannot be lbw if the ball strikes them outside the line of off stump. However, some shots in cricket, such as the switch hit or reverse sweep, involve the batter switching between a right- and left-handed stance; this affects the location of the off and leg side, which are determined by the stance. The law explicitly states that the off side is determined by the batter's stance when the bowler commences their run-up. According to MCC guidelines for umpires, factors to consider when giving an lbw decision include the angle at which the ball was travelling and whether the ball was swinging through the air. The umpire must also account for the height of the ball at impact and how far from the wicket the batter was standing; from this information they must determine if the ball would have passed over the stumps or struck them. The MCC guidance states that it is easier to make a decision when the ball strikes the batter without pitching, but that the difficulty increases when the ball has bounced and more so when there is a shorter time between the ball pitching and striking the batter. ## Development of the law ### Origins The earliest known written version of the Laws of Cricket, dating from 1744, does not include an lbw rule. At the time, batters in English cricket used curved bats, which made it unlikely that they would be able to stand directly in front of the wickets. However, a clause in the 1744 laws gave umpires the power to take action if the batter was "standing unfair to strike". Cricket bats were modified to become straighter over the following years, allowing batters to stand closer to the wickets. Subsequently, some players deliberately began to obstruct the ball from hitting the wickets. Such tactics were criticised by writers and a revision of the laws in 1774 ruled that the batter was out if he deliberately stopped the ball from hitting the wicket with his leg. However, critics noted that the umpires were left the difficult task of interpreting the intentions of batters. The 1788 version of the laws no longer required the umpires to take account of the batter's intent; now a batter was lbw if he stopped a ball that "pitch[ed] straight". Further clarification of the law came in 1823, when a condition was added that "the ball must be delivered in a straight line to the wicket". The ambiguity of the wording was highlighted when two prominent umpires disagreed over whether the ball had to travel in a straight line from the bowler to the wicket, or between the wickets at either end of the pitch. In 1839 the MCC, by then responsible for drafting the Laws of Cricket, endorsed the latter interpretation and ruled the batter out lbw if the ball pitched in between the wickets and would have hit the stumps. ### Controversy and attempted reform In essence, the lbw law remained the same between 1839 and 1937, despite several campaigns to have it changed. An 1863 proposal to allow a batter to be lbw if the ball hit his body at any point between the wickets, regardless of where the ball pitched or whether it would hit the wicket at all, came to nothing. There were few complaints until the proportion of lbw dismissals in county cricket began to increase during the 1880s. Until then, batters used their pads only to protect their legs; their use for any other purposes was considered unsporting, and some amateur cricketers did not wear them at all. As cricket became more organised and competitive, some batters began to use their pads as a second line of defence: they lined them up with the ball so that if they missed with the bat, the ball struck the pad instead of the wicket. Some players took this further; if the delivery was not an easy one from which to score runs, they attempted no shot and allowed the ball to bounce safely off their pads. Arthur Shrewsbury was the first prominent player to use such methods, and others followed. Criticism of this practice was heightened by the increased quality and reliability of cricket pitches, which made batting easier, led to higher scores and created a perceived imbalance in the game. Several proposals were made to prevent pad-play. At a meeting of representatives of the main county cricket clubs in 1888, one representative expressed the opinion that a "batsman who defended his wicket with his body instead of with his bat should be punished". The representatives supported a motion to alter the law to state that the batters would be out if he stopped a ball that would have hit the wicket; in contrast to the existing wording, this took no account of where the ball pitched relative to the wickets. Further proposals included one in which the intent of the batter was taken into account, but no laws were changed and the MCC merely issued a condemnation of the practice of using pads for defence. This reduced pad-play for a short time, but when it increased again, a second pronouncement by the MCC had little effect. Further discussion on altering the law took place in 1899, when several prominent cricketers supported an amendment similar to the 1888 proposal: the batter would be out if the ball would have hit the wicket, where it pitched was irrelevant. At a Special General Meeting of the MCC in 1902, Alfred Lyttelton formally proposed this amendment; the motion was supported by 259 votes to 188, but failed to secure the two-thirds majority required to change the laws. A. G. Steel was the principal opponent of the change, as he believed it would make the task of the umpires too difficult, but he later regretted his stance. Lyttelton's brother, Robert, supported the alteration and campaigned for the rest of his life to have the lbw law altered. As evidence that pad-play was increasing and needed to be curtailed, he cited the growing number of wickets which were falling lbw: the proportion rose from 2% of dismissals in 1870 to 6% in 1890, and 12% in 1923. In 1902, the proposed new law was tried in the Minor Counties Championship, but deemed a failure. An increase in the size of the stumps was one of several other rejected proposals at this time to reduce the dominance of batters over bowlers. ### Alteration to the law Between 1900 and the 1930s, the number of runs scored by batters, and the proportion of lbw dismissals, continued to rise. Bowlers grew increasingly frustrated with pad-play and the extent to which batters refused to play shots at bowling directed outside the off stump, simply allowing it to pass by. The English fast bowler Harold Larwood responded by targeting leg stump, frequently hitting the batter with the ball in the process. This developed into the controversial Bodyline tactics he used in Australia in 1932–33. Some batters began to go further and preferred to kick away balls pitched outside off stump—reaching out to kick the ball instead of allowing it to hit their pads—if they presented any threat, knowing that they could not be dismissed lbw. The authorities believed these developments represented poor entertainment value. At the height of the Bodyline controversy in 1933, Donald Bradman, the leading Australian batter and primary target of the English bowlers, wrote to the MCC recommending an alteration of the lbw law to create more exciting games. To address the problem, and redress the balance for bowlers, the MCC made some alterations to the laws. The size of the ball was reduced in 1927, and that of the stumps increased in 1931, but the changes had little effect. Between 1929 and 1933, county authorities conducted a trial in which a batter could be lbw if he had hit the ball onto his pads. Then, in 1935, an experimental law was introduced in which the batter could be dismissed lbw even if the ball pitched outside the line of off stump—in other words, a ball that turned or swung into the batter but did not pitch in line with the wickets. However, the ball was still required to strike the batter in line with the wickets. The umpire signalled to the scorers when he declared a batter out under the new rule, and any such dismissal was designated "lbw (n)" on the scorecard. Several leading batters opposed the new law, including the professional Herbert Sutcliffe, known as an exponent of pad-play, and amateurs Errol Holmes and Bob Wyatt. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that these three improved their batting records during the 1935 season, but batters generally were less successful. There were also fewer drawn matches. There was an increase in the number of lbws— out of 1,560 lbw dismissals in first-class matches in 1935, 483 were given under the amended law. Wisden judged the experiment a success and several of its opponents changed their mind by the end of the season; batters soon became accustomed to the alteration. Although Australian authorities were less convinced, and did not immediately introduce the revision into domestic first-class cricket, in 1937 the new rule became part of the Laws of Cricket. According to Gerald Brodribb, in his survey and history of the Laws, the change produced more "enterprising", exciting cricket but any alteration in outlook was halted by the Second World War. When the sport resumed in 1946, batters were out of practice and the amended lbw law played into the hands of off spin and inswing bowlers, who began to dominate county cricket. The cricket historian Derek Birley notes that many of these bowlers imitated the methods of Alec Bedser, an inswing bowler who was successful immediately after the war, but that the resulting cricket was unexciting to watch. The revised lbw law, and other alterations in the game in favour of the bowler, further encouraged such bowling. The new law continued to provoke debate among writers and cricketers; many former players claimed that the alteration had caused a deterioration in batting and reduced the number of shots played on the off side. A 1963 report in The Times blamed the law for reducing the variety of bowling styles: "the change has led to a steady increase in the amount of seam and off-spin bowling. Whereas in the early thirties every county had a leg spinner and an orthodox left arm spinner, leg spinners, at any rate, are now few and far between. Walk on to any of the first-class grounds at any time tomorrow and the chances are that you will see the wicketkeeper standing back and a medium pace bowler in action ... there is little doubt that the game, as a spectacle, is less attractive than it was." Several critics, including Bob Wyatt, maintained that the lbw law should be returned to its pre-1935 wording; he campaigned to do so until his death in 1995. On the other hand, Bradman, in the 1950s, proposed extending the law so that batters could be lbw even if they were struck outside the line of off stump. An MCC study of the state of cricket, carried out in 1956 and 1957, examined the prevalent and unpopular tactic involving off-spin and inswing bowlers aiming at leg stump with fielders concentrated on the leg side. Rather than alter the lbw law to combat the problem, the MCC reduced the number of fielders allowed on the leg side. ### Playing no stroke In the 1950s and 1960s, the amount of pad-play increased, owing to more difficult and unpredictable pitches that made batting much harder. Critics continued to regard this tactic as "negative and unfair". In an effort to discourage pad-play and encourage leg spin bowling, a new variant of the lbw law was introduced, initially in Australia and the West Indies in the 1969–70 season, then in England for 1970. Under the re-worded law, a batter would be lbw if a ball destined to hit the stumps pitched in line with the wickets or "outside a batter's off stump and in the opinion of the umpire he made no genuine attempt to play the ball with his bat". This revision omitted the requirement that the impact should be in line with the wickets, but meant that any batter playing a shot could not be out if the ball pitched outside off stump, in contrast to the 1935 law. The editor of Wisden believed the change encouraged batters to take more risks, and had produced more attractive cricket. However, the proportion of wickets falling lbw sharply declined, and concerns were expressed in Australia. The Australian authorities proposed a reversion to the previous law. A batter could once more be out to a ball that pitched outside off stump, but a provision was added that "if no stroke is offered to a ball pitching outside the off-stump which in the opinion of the umpire would hit the stumps, but hits the batter on any part of his person other than the hand, then the batter is out, even if that part of the person hit is not in line between wicket and wicket". The difference to the 1935 rule was that the batter could now be out even if the ball struck outside the line of off-stump. This wording was adopted throughout the world from 1972, although it was not yet part of the official Laws, and the percentage of lbws sharply increased to beyond the levels preceding the 1970 change. The MCC added the revised wording to the Laws of Cricket in 1980; this version of the lbw law is still used as of 2013. ### Effects of technology Since 1993, the proportion of lbws in each English season has risen steadily. According to cricket historian Douglas Miller, the percentage of lbw dismissals increased after broadcasters incorporated ball-tracking technology such as Hawk-Eye into their television coverage of matches. Miller writes: "With the passage of time and the adoption of Hawkeye into other sports, together with presentations demonstrating its accuracy, cricket followers seem gradually to have accepted its predictions. Replay analyses have shown that a greater proportion of balls striking an outstretched leg go on to hit the wicket than had once been expected." He also suggests that umpires have been influenced by such evidence; their greater understanding of which deliveries are likely to hit the stumps has made them more likely to rule out batters who are standing further away from the stumps. This trend is replicated in international cricket, where the increasing use of technology in reviewing decisions has altered the attitude of umpires. Spin bowlers in particular win far more appeals for lbw. However, the use of on-field technology has proved controversial; some critics regard it as more reliable than human judgement, while others believe that the umpire is better placed to make the decision. The International Cricket Council (ICC), responsible for running the game worldwide, conducted a trial in 2002 where lbw appeals could be referred to a match official, the third umpire, to review on television replays. The third umpire could only use technology to determine where the ball had pitched and if the batter hit the ball with his/her bat. The ICC judged the experiment unsuccessful and did not pursue it. More trials followed in 2006, although ball-tracking technology remained unavailable to match officials. After a further series of trials, in 2009 the Umpire Decision Review System (DRS) was brought into international cricket where teams could refer the on-field decisions of umpires to a third umpire who had access to television replays and technology such as ball tracking. According to the ICC's general manager, Dave Richardson, DRS increased the frequency with which umpires awarded lbw decisions. In a 2012 interview, he said: "Umpires may have realised that if they give someone out and DRS shows it was not out, then their decision can be rectified. So they might, I suppose, have the courage of their convictions a bit more and take a less conservative approach to giving the batter out. I think if we're totally honest, DRS has affected the game slightly more than we thought it would." Critics of the system suggest that rules for the use of DRS have created an inconsistency of approach to lbw decisions depending on the circumstances of the referral. Opponents also doubt that the ball-tracking technology used in deciding lbws is reliable enough, but the ICC state that tests have shown the system to be 100% accurate. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) initially declined to use DRS in matches involving India owing to their concerns regarding the ball-tracking technology. Early DRS trials were conducted during India matches, and several problems arose over lbws, particularly as the equipment was not as advanced as it later became. The BCCI believed the technology is unreliable and open to manipulation. However, as of 2016 they have accepted it. ## Trends and perception A study in 2011 by Douglas Miller shows that in English county cricket, the proportion of wickets to fall lbw has increased steadily since the First World War. In the 1920s, around 11% of wickets were lbw but this rose to 14% in the 1930s. Between 1946 and 1970, the proportion was approximately 11% but subsequently increased until reaching almost 19% in the decade before 2010. Miller also states that captains of county teams were statistically more likely to receive the benefit of lbw decisions—less likely to be out lbw when batting and more likely to dismiss batters lbw when bowling. For many years, county captains submitted end-of-match reports on the umpires; as umpires were professionals whose careers could be affected, captains consequently received leeway whether batting or bowling. Before 1963, when the status was abolished in county cricket, umpires were also more lenient towards amateur cricketers. Amateurs administered English cricket, and offending one could end an umpire's career. Elsewhere in the world, lbws are more statistically likely in matches taking place on the Indian subcontinent. However, batters from the subcontinent were less likely to be lbw wherever they played in the world. Teams that toured other countries often became frustrated by lbws given against them; there was often an assumption of national bias by home umpires against visiting teams. Several studies investigating this perception have suggested that home batters are sometimes less likely than visiting batters to be lbw. However, the data is based on lbw decisions awarded, not on the success-rate of appeals to the umpire. Fraser points out that it is impossible to determine from these studies if any of the decisions were wrong, particularly as the lbw law can have different interpretations, or if other factors such as pitch conditions and technique were involved. A 2006 study examined the effect that neutral umpires had on the rate of lbws. Although the reasons were again ambiguous, it found that lbws increased slightly under neutral umpires regardless of team or location. In his survey of cricket laws, Gerald Brodribb suggests that "no dismissal has produced so much argument as lbw; it has caused trouble from its earliest days". Among those who do not follow cricket, the law has the reputation of being extremely difficult to understand, of equivalent complexity to association football's offside rule. Owing to the difficulty of its interpretation, lbw is regarded by critics as the most controversial of the laws but also a yardstick by which an umpire's abilities are judged. In his book Cricket and the Law: The Man in White Is Always Right, David Fraser writes that umpires' lbw decisions are frequently criticised and "arguments about bias and incompetence in adjudication inform almost every discussion about lbw decisions". Problems arise because the umpire has not only to establish what has happened but also to speculate over what might have occurred. Controversial aspects of lbw decisions include the umpire having to determine whether the ball pitched outside leg stump, and in certain circumstances whether the batter intended to hit the ball or leave it alone. Umpires are frequently criticised for their lbw decisions by players, commentators and spectators. Historically, trouble ranging from protests and arguments to crowd demonstrations occasionally arose from disputed decisions. For example, a prolonged crowd disturbance, in which items were thrown onto the playing field and the match was delayed, took place when Mohammad Azharuddin was adjudged lbw during a 1996 One Day International in India.
1,710,256	Bob Meusel	1,172,819,121	American baseball player (1896-1977)	[ "1896 births", "1977 deaths", "American League RBI champions", "American League home run champions", "Baseball players from Downey, California", "Baseball players from Los Angeles", "Baseball players from San Jose, California", "Burials at Rose Hills Memorial Park", "Cincinnati Reds players", "Hollywood Stars players", "Major League Baseball left fielders", "Major League Baseball right fielders", "Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players", "New York Yankees players", "Spokane Indians players", "United States Navy personnel of World War I", "United States Navy sailors", "Vernon Tigers players" ]	Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best known as a member of the Yankees' championship teams of the 1920s, nicknamed the "Murderers' Row", during which time the team won its first six American League (AL) pennants and first three World Series titles. Meusel, noted for his strong outfield throwing arm, batted fifth behind Baseball Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In 1925, he became the second Yankee, after Ruth, to lead the AL in home runs (33), runs batted in (138) and extra base hits (79). Nicknamed "Long Bob" because of his 6-foot, 3 inch (1.91 m) stature, Meusel batted .313 or better in seven of his first eight seasons, finishing with a .309 career average; his 1,009 RBI during the 1920s were the fourth most by any major leaguer, and trailed only Harry Heilmann's total of 1,131 among AL right-handed hitters. Meusel ended his career in 1930 with the Cincinnati Reds. He hit for the cycle three times, and was the second of six major leaguers to accomplish this feat as many as three times during a career. His older brother, Emil "Irish" Meusel, was a star outfielder in the National League (NL) during the same period, primarily for the New York Giants. ## Early life Meusel was born in San Jose, California, the youngest of Charlie and Mary Meusel's six children. At an early age he moved to Los Angeles, where he attended Los Angeles High School. Meusel started his career with the Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League in 1917. He joined the US Navy during World War I and played for the Navy baseball team. He went back to the Tigers for the 1919 season, batting .330. He also played third base in the minors. On December 14, 1921, Meusel married Edith Cowan, with whom he had two children. ## Professional career Meusel's contract was purchased by the New York Yankees in early 1920. After a productive spring training, Meusel replaced future Hall of Famer Frank Baker at third base. He played his first game on April 14, 1920. In his rookie season, Meusel had a .328 batting average with 11 home runs and 83 runs batted in over 119 games. He finished fourth in the league in doubles with 41 while sharing time with Duffy Lewis in left field. In the 1921 season, Meusel started in 149 out of 154 games, primarily playing right field. He batted .318, finishing second in the league in home runs with 24 and third in the league with 136 runs batted in. He hit for the cycle in a win against the Washington Senators on May 7. In the second game of a September 5 doubleheader, he tied a major league record for outfielders (previously accomplished by nine others) by recording four assists. He broke a club record and tied Jack Tobin of the St. Louis Browns for the league lead in outfield assists with 28; he was considered to be one of the league's best all-around players. Meusel's brother, Irish, was acquired by the New York Giants from the Philadelphia Phillies mid-season, and helped lead the Giants to the pennant. The two brothers played against each other in the 1921 World Series, where the Giants faced their tenants (the Yankees played their home games in the Polo Grounds, the ball park owned by the Giants). Bob Meusel stole home in Game 3 of the Series. He doubled in Babe Ruth for the winning run in Game 5 for a one-game lead, but the Yankees lost the next three games and the Series (the last best-of-nine in World Series history). His batting average in those eight games was a mere .200. At the same time, Meusel, Bill Piercy, and Ruth signed up to play in a barnstorming tour. It was a violation of baseball rules at the time, and Meusel and Ruth had previously been warned about playing with the tour. As punishment, Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended them for the first five weeks of the 1922 season and fined them their World Series cash share of \$3,362 (\$ today) each. That season Meusel only played in 121 games, hitting .319 with 16 home runs and 84 runs batted in as he gradually shifted to left field to allow Ruth to instead play right field. Meusel occasionally played right field in Yankees games away from home to protect Ruth from the sun, as the sun affected Ruth's skill as an outfielder. Despite the games he missed, he again led the AL in assists with 24. He hit for the cycle for the second time of his career in a win against the Detroit Tigers on July 21. The Yankees won the American League pennant for the second year in a row, but they were again beaten by the Giants, this time in five games. Meusel had the highest batting average of the Yankees at the end of the Series with .300. In 1923, Meusel hit .313 with 9 home runs and 91 runs batted in as the Yankees moved into their new Yankee Stadium. Meusel helped lead the team to their first World Series title, in their third consecutive matchup with the Giants. Meusel had the most runs batted in (eight) of any player in the Series. He hit a two-run triple in the second inning to help the Yankees win Game 4 at the Polo Grounds, drove in five runs in Game 5 and had a key two-run single that gave the Yankees the lead for good in Game 6. The 1923 World Series marked the third consecutive year that Bob played against his brother Irish in the World Series. This made them the first set of brothers to play against each other on opposing teams in a World Series or any Big Four championship series. Before the 1924 season started, Meusel's close friend Tony Boeckel, shortstop for the Boston Braves, was killed when the car in which he was riding flipped over in San Diego. Meusel was a passenger in the vehicle but escaped unhurt. That year Meusel hit .325 with 12 home runs and 124 runs batted in, playing in 143 games. In a game against the Tigers on June 13, Meusel was involved in one of the most notorious brawls in baseball history. With the Yankees leading 10–6 in the top of the ninth inning, Ty Cobb, the star and manager of the Tigers, gave pitcher Bert Cole the signal to hit Meusel with a pitch. Ruth saw the signal and warned Meusel, who was hit in the back and rushed to fight Cole. Both teams rushed onto the field to brawl, and Cobb and Ruth started fighting as well. Over a thousand fans also rushed onto the field, and a riot erupted. The police managed to control the brawl and arrested several fans. The umpire of the game, Billy Evans, pushed Meusel and Ruth out of Navin Field to safety. American League President Ban Johnson punished Meusel and Cole by fining them and issuing a ten-day suspension. Meusel had a breakout year in 1925. He led the American League in home runs (33), runs batted in (134), games played (156) and extra base hits (79). Despite this, he finished merely tied for 18th position overall for the AL's Most Valuable Player award, far behind winner (and former Yankee) Roger Peckinpaugh of the Washington Senators. The Yankees had their worst season of the decade, finishing seventh in the league with a 69–85 record. In the following 1926 season, Meusel only played in 108 games, batting .315 with 12 home runs and 81 runs batted in. In the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Meusel dropped a key fly ball with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth inning of Game 7, allowing the Cardinals to tie the game 1–1; the next batter singled to drive in two more runs. Meusel had chance to redeem himself later in the game, but made infield outs in both the fifth and seventh innings, each time with two men on base. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with New York trailing 3–2, Cardinals starting pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander retired the first two batters and then walked Ruth. Meusel was up to bat when Ruth tried to steal second base, and catcher Bob O'Farrell threw him out, ending both the game and the Series; Meusel only hit .238. Meusel was a key member of the 1927 New York Yankees team, which many consider to be one of the greatest baseball teams ever. That season Meusel played in 135 games, hitting .337 with 8 home runs and 103 runs batted in, and finished second in the league with 24 stolen bases; on May 16 he stole second, third and home in one game. In the 1927 World Series, Meusel batted only .118 and broke the record for the most strikeouts in a four-game series with seven, but the Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games. In 1928 Meusel played in 131 games, hitting .297 with 11 home runs and 113 runs batted in. He hit for the cycle a record-tying third time on July 26 against the Tigers. The Yankees reached the World Series for the third year in a row, playing the Cardinals in a rematch from two years previously. In Game 1 of the Series, Meusel hit the only home run in his World Series career as the Yankees won the game and went on to sweep the series 4–0. Prior to the start of the 1930 season, the Yankees sold Meusel to the Cincinnati Reds, and he played in 110 games, hitting .289 with 10 home runs and 62 runs batted in. The Reds released Meusel after the season, and he went on to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association where he played the 1931 season, hitting .283. He went back to the Pacific Coast League in 1932, where he played 64 games with the Hollywood Stars, batting .329 with four home runs before retiring. Meusel's major league career ended with 368 doubles, 95 triples, 156 home runs, a .497 slugging percentage, 1,071 runs batted in, 826 runs scored and 143 stolen bases. ## Retirement and death After retiring from baseball, Meusel worked as a security guard at a US Navy base for 15 years. He was in attendance when his former teammate Lou Gehrig made his famous "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech on July 4, 1939. He also appeared in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees, as well as the 1948 film The Babe Ruth Story, as himself in a cameo role. Meusel lived in California following his playing career, first in Redondo Beach, and then in Downey. He died in Bellflower in 1977 and was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. ## Legacy Meusel received the most recognition for being a member of the "Murderers' Row" teams of the mid-1920s, which included Ruth, Gehrig, second baseman Tony Lazzeri and center fielder Earle Combs. He shares the record for the most times hitting for the cycle with three, tying the mark set by Long John Reilly in 1890; Babe Herman later tied the mark in 1933; 82 years later, Adrián Beltré also achieved the feat in 2015, along with Trea Turner in 2021. Meusel had one of the strongest arms of the era; in his obituary, The New York Times called his throwing arm "deadly accurate". Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel, who played on the 1921 through 1923 Giants teams, said that he had never seen a better thrower. Harvey Frommer described Meusel as a heavy drinker and womanizer who did not get along with his teammates. His manager Miller Huggins called him "indifferent". He was quiet and reserved, rarely giving newspaper interviews until his career was winding down. He was also known for his lazy attitude, such as refusing to run out ground balls, which many said kept him from achieving greatness. Meusel was considered for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by its Veterans Committee in 1982, but the committee instead selected former commissioner Happy Chandler and former Giants shortstop Travis Jackson in its balloting. In 1925, Meusel joined Philadelphia Athletics outfielder Tilly Walker (1918), St. Louis Browns outfielder Ken Williams (1922) and later Gehrig (1931) as the only players other than Ruth to win the AL home run title between 1918 and 1931. Both Walker and Gehrig won the title jointly with Ruth while Williams and Meusel won the title individually. ## See also - List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders - List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders - List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders - List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
6,166,854	King brown snake	1,170,058,672	Highly venomous snake native to Australia	[ "Pseudechis", "Reptiles described in 1842", "Reptiles of New South Wales", "Reptiles of Queensland", "Reptiles of Western Australia", "Snakes of Australia", "Taxa named by John Edward Gray" ]	The king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) is a species of highly venomous snake of the family Elapidae, native to northern, western, and Central Australia. Despite its common name, it is a member of the genus Pseudechis (black snakes) and only distantly related to true brown snakes. Its alternative common name is the mulga snake, although it lives in many habitats apart from mulga. First described by English zoologist John Edward Gray in 1842, it is a robust snake up to 3.3 m (11 ft) long. It is variable in appearance, with individuals from northern Australia having tan upper parts, while those from southern Australia are dark brown to blackish. Sometimes, it is seen in a reddish-green texture. The dorsal scales are two-toned, sometimes giving the snake a patterned appearance. Its underside is cream or white, often with orange splotches. The species is oviparous. The snake is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, though may have declined with the spread of the cane toad. Its venom is not as potent as those of Australia's other dangerous snakes, but can still cause severe effects if delivered in large enough quantities. Its main effect is on striated muscle tissue, causing paralysis from muscle damage, and also commonly affects blood clotting (coagulopathy). Often, extensive pain and swelling occur, rarely with necrosis, at the bite site. Deaths from its bites have been recorded, with the most recent being in 1969. Its victims are treated with black snake (not brown snake) antivenom. ## Taxonomy The species was first described by English zoologist John Edward Gray in 1842 from a specimen collected at Port Essington in the Northern Territory. Gray saw little distinction from the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) in his single preserved specimen—excepting the variation in ocular plates—and assigned the name Naja australis. On obtaining a second specimen from the College of Surgeons, Albert Günther of the British Museum recognised an affinity with the Australian species described as Pseudechis porphyriacus, resulting in the current combination as Pseudechis australis in the black snake genus Pseudechis. Scottish-Australian naturalist William Macleay described Pseudechis darwiniensis in 1878, from a more slender specimen that he thought was distinct from P. australis. Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger described P. cupreus in 1896 from a specimen collected from the Murray River, distinguishing P. darwiniensis from P. australis by the shape of the frontal scale. Austrian zoologist Franz Werner described Pseudechis denisonioides from Eradu, Western Australia in 1909. Australian naturalist Donald Thomson obtained a skull of a large specimen with a wide head collected from East Alligator River in Arnhem Land in 1914, naming it Pseudechis platycephalus in 1933. He distinguished it from P. australis on the basis of it having anteriorly grooved palatine and pterygoid teeth, and having blunt ridges and keels on the dorsal scales. In 1955, Australian herpetologist Roy Mackay concluded that several species previously described were synonymous with P. australis, recognising that it was a highly variable taxon. He noted that P. australis had frontal scales of variable shape, and that grooves were present on the teeth of many specimens of Pseudechis, so these features did not support separate species. Australian herpetologists Richard W. Wells and C. Ross Wellington described Cannia centralis in 1985 from a 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) specimen collected 8 km (5 mi) north of Tennant Creek in 1977, distinguishing it on the basis of a narrow head; however, the distinction was not supported by other authors. Two new species and a new genus have been described within this complex by Australian snake-handler Raymond Hoser—the eastern dwarf mulga snake (P. pailsei) from near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia, and the Papuan pygmy mulga snake (P. rossignolii), found in Irian Jaya. Hoser later also resurrected the pygmy mulga snake (P. weigeli, originally described as Cannia weigeli by Wells and Wellington in 1987). These descriptions were initially received with skepticism due to the low level of evidence provided in the original descriptions. The species was long regarded as monotypic and highly variable until German biologist Ulrich Kuch and colleagues analysed the mitochondrial DNA of specimens across its range in 2005. They recovered four distinct lineages (clades); cladeI (a New Guinea lineage of smaller snakes) diverged from the rest between six and four million years ago (Late Miocene to Early Pliocene), with the other three diverging in the Pleistocene. CladeII corresponded to a lineage of large snakes found across Australia, cladeIII was a dwarf form from the Kimberley, and cladeIV contained two dwarf forms from northwestern Queensland and the Northern Territory, each of which was likely to be a distinct species. In 2017, British herpetologist Simon Maddock and colleagues published a genetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA on the genus, and confirmed cladeI was P. rossignoli, cladeII was P. australis, cladeIII is an as yet unnamed dwarf species, and cladeIV is P. pailsi and P. weigeli. They also determined that P. australis was most closely related to P. butleri, the spotted mulga snake. Australian medical researcher Struan Sutherland pointed out that the name "king brown snake" is a problem, as its venom is not neutralised by brown snake antivenom, which could endanger snake bite victims; he recommended dropping the name and the old term "Darwin brown snake", and using "mulga snake", instead. Further complicating the issue, the term "king brown snake" has been applied to any large brown snake. Australian snake expert Glenn Shea has also pointed out that "mulga snake" has issues in that the species lives in a wide range of habitats in addition to mulga. It has also been called the "Pilbara cobra". Australian zoologist Gerard Krefft called it the orange-bellied brown snake. In the Kaytetye language spoken in Central Australia, it is known as atetherr-ayne-wene, "budgerigar-eater". The term "king brown" refers to the great size of individuals in the north and northwest of Australia, which can exceed 3 m (10 ft) in length; it is the largest and most dangerous elapid of those regions. In Southwest Australia, where the species is up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in), it is also known as the common mulga snake, distinguishing it from the spotted mulga snake Pseudechis butleri. ## Description Australia's largest venomous snake, the king brown snake can reach 2.0 to 2.5 m (6.6 to 8.2 ft) in length with a weight of 3 to 6 kg (6.6 to 13.2 lb), with males around 20% larger than females. The longest confirmed individual was 3.3 m (11 ft) in length. The king brown snake is robust, with a head slightly wider than the body, prominent cheeks and small eyes with red-brown irises, and a dark tongue. The head is demarcated from the body by a slight neck. Scales on the upper-parts, flanks and tail are two toned—pale or greenish yellow at the base and various shades of tan or copper, or all shades of brown from pale to blackish towards the rear. This gives the snake a reticulated pattern. The tail is often darker, while the crown is the same colour as the body. The belly is cream, white or salmon and can have orange marks. The colours of the snakes' upper parts and sides differ from area to area within their range; those from northern Australia are tan, those from deserts in Central Australia have prominent white marks on each scale, giving a patterned appearance, and those from southern parts of its range are darker, even blackish. In Western Australia, king brown snakes south of a line through Jurien Bay, Badgingarra, New Norcia, and Quairading are significantly darker in colour. ### Scalation The number and arrangement of scales on a snake's body are key elements of identification to species level. The king brown snake has 17 rows of dorsal scales at mid-body, 185 to 225 ventral scales, 50 to 75 subcaudal scales (all undivided, or anterior ones undivided and posterior divided, or all divided), and a divided anal scale. The temporolabial scale and last (sixth) supralabial scale (both above the snake's mouth) are fused in the eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) but separate in the king brown snake. The king brown snake can be confused with brown snakes of the genus Pseudonaja, the olive python (Liasis olivaceus), water python (Liasis fuscus), spotted mulga snake, or coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) where they co-occur. ## Distribution and habitat King brown snakes occur in all states of Australia except for Victoria and Tasmania. It has become rare or vanished from parts of coastal Queensland. The eastern limit of its range runs from Gladstone in central Queensland, and south through Gayndah, Dalby, the Warrumbungles, southwest to Condobolin and the vicinity of Balranald and then across to Port Pirie in South Australia. The southwestern limit of its range runs from Ceduna in South Australia, west through the northern Nullarbor Plain to Kalgoorlie, Narrogin and on coastal plains north of Perth. King brown snakes are habitat generalists, inhabiting woodlands, hummock grasslands, chenopod scrublands, and gibber or sandy deserts nearly devoid of vegetation. Within the arid to semiarid parts of their range, however, they prefer areas of greater moisture such as watercourses. They are often observed at modified habitats such as wheat fields, rubbish piles, and vacated buildings; individuals may become trapped in mine shafts and wellbores. Fieldwork near Alice Springs showed that they prefer areas with buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), a common introduced weed in Central Australia, possibly because of the dense, year-round cover it provides. ## Behaviour The king brown snake is mostly crepuscular—active at dusk, and is less active during the middle of the day and between midnight and dawn, retiring to crevices in the soil, old animal burrows, or under rocks or logs. During warmer months, its activity shifts to later after dusk and into the evening. Across its range, it is more active during the day in cooler climates and at night in hotter climates. ### Reproduction The breeding season begins with males engaging in wrestling combat, each attempting to push the other over for the right to mate with a female. Mating follows—in the early Southern Hemisphere spring in southwest Western Australia, mid-spring in the Eyre Peninsula, and with the wet season in the north of the country. The species is oviparous, with one unverified claim of viviparity. Females produce a clutch of four to 19 eggs, averaging around 10, with longer females laying larger clutches, generally 39 to 45 days after mating has taken place. Eggs take about 70 to 100 days to hatch. The incubating temperature has been recorded as between 22 and 32 °C (72 and 90 °F). The eggs average 40.1 mm (1+5⁄8 in) in length by 22.9 mm (7⁄8 in) in width and weigh 13.1 g (0.46 oz) each. Baby snakes average 22.6 cm (8+7⁄8 in) in length and weigh 9.4 g (0.33 oz) on hatching. King brown snakes have been reported to live up to 25 years in captivity. ## Diet The king brown snake is a generalist predator, preying on frogs, lizards including small monitors, skinks, geckos and agamids, other snakes including whip snakes, brown snakes, the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis), southern shovel-nosed snake (Brachyurophis semifasciatus), Gould's hooded snake (Parasuta gouldii) and crowned snake (Elapognathus coronatus), birds such as thornbills, and small mammals such as rodents and dasyurids. and spiders such as the infamous funnel web spiders, mouse spiders and tarantulas. The species has been reported eating roadkill, as well as the sloughed skins of other reptiles, and is known to exhibit cannibalism. Specimens in captivity have been observed eating their own faeces. It is opportunistic, eating a higher proportion of frogs in wetter areas. King brown snakes are sensitive to cane toad toxins and have died after eating them. Despite this, field research before and after the arrival of cane toads to the Adelaide River floodplain in the Northern Territory did not show a decline in king brown snake numbers, though this could have been coincidental; the population of this species had already declined in the region. ## Venom The king brown snake accounted for 4% of identified snakebite attacks in Australia between 2005 and 2015, with no deaths recorded. The last recorded death occurred in 1969, when a 20-year-old man was bitten while reaching around for a packet of cigarettes under his bed in Three Springs, Western Australia. The man was treated over two days, with twice daily injections of death adder, brown snake and tiger snake antivenin, yet died in 37 hours despite this medical attention. This incident led to the introduction of Papuan black snake antivenom for treatment of king brown snake envenomation. Before this it had been confirmed in one fatality and suspected in another in the early 1960s. Venomous snakes normally only bite humans when disturbed. King brown snakes have been noted, however, to bite people who were asleep at the time. Furthermore, a significant number of victims have been snake handlers. These have resulted in a high proportion of bites occurring on upper limbs. The king brown snake is classified as a snake of medical importance by the World Health Organization. The king brown snake can bite repeatedly and chew to envenomate a victim. Considerable pain, swelling, and tissue damage often occur at the site of a king brown snake bite. Local necrosis has been recorded. In 1998, a person bitten 9–12 times on his arm required an amputation of the envenomed limb. He reported later that he had impulsively decided to commit suicide by placing his hand in a bag with a king brown snake inside and stirring it up. A large king brown snake delivers on average 180mg of venom in one bite. A 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) long king brown snake milked by snake handler John Cann produced 1350mg, and then 580, 920, and 780mg at three, four, and five months after the first milking. This record was broken in 2016, when a king brown snake called "chewi"—also 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) long—produced 1500mg of venom at the Australian Reptile Park. The volume of venom produced in laboratories is equivalent to the amounts produced by the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and gaboon adder (Bitis gabonica). In a laboratory experiment on mice, not only did the king brown snake inject far more venom than other species of dangerous snake, very little of its venom (0.07mg of 62mg) was left on the skin. When using 0.1% bovine serum albumin in saline rather than saline alone, the venom has a murine median lethal dose () of 1.91mg/kg (0.866mg/lb) when administered subcutaneously. The main toxic agents of king brown snake venom are myotoxins hazardous to striated muscles and kidney cells. Toxic effects are proportional to the amount of venom in the victim. Nonspecific symptoms of poisoning are common and include nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, generalized sweating (diaphoresis), and headache. Impaired clotting (coagulopathy) is common, and can be diagnosed with an elevated activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Symptoms of myotoxicity (muscle damage) include muscle pain and weakness in the presence of an elevated creatine kinase (CK). King brown snake venom has some haemolytic activity, and some patients get a short-term fall in red blood cells. A major component of king brown snake venom are phospholipase A2 enzymes, which have diverse effects that are commonly found in snake venoms. These proteins are directly toxic on muscle tissue due to their sheer volume in the venom, and are destructive to cell membranes and liberate lysophospholipids (involved in cell lysis) and arachidonate (a precursor in inflammatory response). Despite containing a number of agents with phospholipase A2 activity, king brown snake venom exhibits little neurotoxicity. The venom has multiple proteins with antibiotic activity, including two L-amino-acid oxidases (LAO1 and LAO2) that exhibit activity against the pathogenic bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila, which is commonly present in frogs. Also present are three protein isoforms of transferrin; transferrin binds serum iron (Fe<sup>3+</sup>), which makes the environment less hospitable for bacteria and hence has an antibiotic effect. Pseudechetoxin and pseudecin are two proteins that block cyclic nucleotide–gated ion channels, including those present in retinal photoreceptors and olfactory receptor neurons. ### Treatment Standard first-aid treatment for any suspected bite from a venomous snake uses a pressure bandage to the bite site. The victims should move as little as possible and be conveyed to a hospital or clinic, where they should be monitored for at least 24 hours. The tetanus vaccine is given, though the mainstay of treatment is the administration of the appropriate antivenom. Black-snake antivenom is used to treat bites from this species. Christopher Johnston and colleagues propose giving antivenom immediately if king brown snake envenoming is suspected, as a delay of more than two hours did not prevent muscle damage in a review of treated snakebite victims. They add that it is reasonable to assume that if a snakebite victim had a raised aPTT and signs of haemolysis, then a king brown snake is the culprit. Shahab Razavi and colleagues add that more than one vial of antivenom might be needed if envenoming is severe. ## Captivity King brown snakes are readily available in Australia via breeding in captivity. They are regarded as straightforward to keep, due to the low likelihood of biting and relatively low toxicity of their venom, though the potentially large amount injected makes it more hazardous. ## Conservation and threats The king brown snake is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Small snakes may be eaten by birds of prey. In contrast, old snakes are frequently infested with ticks. ## Culture Mutitjulu Waterhole at Uluru marks the site between two Central Australian ancestral beings Kuniya (woma python woman) and Liru (king brown snake man). Here, Kuniya avenged the death of her nephew, who was fatally speared by Liru, by striking him with her digging stick. Among the Djambarrpuyngu clan of the Yolngu people in northeastern Arnhem Land, King Brown Snake is the Ngurruyurrtjurr ancestor, and its homeland is Flinders Point in Arnhem Land. Known as darrpa to indigenous people of East Arnhem land, the king brown snake was historically responsible for deaths there. Folk treatment involved capturing the snake and watching it bleed, which would supposedly make the victim recover. If the snake were killed, its victim would die also. Another folk remedy involved blowing smoke through a hollow branch or pandanus leaf onto the victim sitting by a campfire. If the smoke resembled the mali, or immaterial form, of a snake, then the person would die, as the victim of a ragalk (sorcerer). In Kunwinjku country in West Arnhem Land, the king brown snake is known as dadbe. The Kurulk clan would not collect white paint from a site in the wet season, as they believed it was the snake's faeces, and they were afraid of its anger. Kurrmurnnyini is a lagoon and complex of sandstone outcrops near Borroloola in the southwestern Gulf Country in the Northern Territory. Here the King Brown Snake Ancestral Being—balngarrangarra in Gudanji and ngulwa in Yanyuwa—was sleeping about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) north of the lagoon when it was disturbed by ngabaya—ancestral spirit men. Angrily, he bit the rocks, which became tainted and poisonous, and an instrument of narnu‐bulabula (sorcery). Local sorcerers would cast a spell by inserting a potential victim's item of clothing in a hole in the rock or sharpening a stick and calling out their name while inserting it in the rock face. The victim would then perish. Only men descended from King Brown Snake Ancestor could be sorcerers, though others might hire them. Local people feared and avoided the location. The title character picks up a king brown snake in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee.
45,155,095	Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar	1,065,688,794	US commemorative 50-cent piece	[ "Currencies introduced in 1936", "Early United States commemorative coins", "Fifty-cent coins", "Music of Cincinnati", "Musical instruments in art", "United States silver coins" ]	The Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar or Cincinnati Music Center half dollar is a commemorative 50-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. Produced with the stated purpose of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a center of music, it was conceived by Thomas G. Melish, a coin enthusiast who controlled the group which was allowed to buy the entire issue from the government, and who resold the pieces at high prices. Congress approved legislation for the coin on March 31, 1936, authorizing 15,000 pieces to be struck at the three mints then in operation. Melish had hired sculptor Constance Ortmayer to design the coin, but the Commission of Fine Arts refused to recommend the designs. Members objected to the depiction of Stephen Foster on the obverse, finding no connection between Foster, who died in 1864, and the supposed anniversary. Nevertheless, the designs were approved by the Bureau of the Mint, and 5,000 sets from the three mints were issued and sold to Melish's group, the only authorized purchaser. Melish likely held back much of the issue for later resale, and with few pieces available, prices for the set spiked, rising to over five times the issue price. The value dropped somewhat when the boom in commemorative coins burst in late 1936, but quickly recovered and the coins are valuable today. Melish has been assailed by numismatic writers for greed. ## Inception Sparked by low-mintage issues which appreciated in value, the market for United States commemorative coins spiked in 1936. Until 1954, the entire mintage of such issues was sold by the government at face value to a group authorized by Congress, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. The new pieces then came on to the secondary market, and in early 1936 all earlier commemoratives sold at a premium to their issue prices. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the coin collecting hobby, where they sought to purchase the new issues. Among the pieces which had recently been struck and had appreciated in value was the 1935 Old Spanish Trail half dollar. This piece had been issued at the behest of L. W. Hoffecker, a Texas entrepreneur and coin dealer, who put aside a fifth of the 10,000 mintage for himself and sold them well into the 1940s, by which time he had served as president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA). Congress authorized an explosion of commemorative coins in 1936; no fewer than fifteen were issued for the first time. At the request of the groups authorized to purchase them, several coins minted in prior years were produced again, dated 1936, senior among them the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926. Thomas G. Melish, a coin collector and entrepreneur from Cincinnati, came up with an idea for a commemorative coin that he would control and from which he could profit. Melish was a prominent businessman who had inherited the Bromwell Wire Company. He formed the Cincinnati Musical Center Commemorative Coin Association, and secured the introduction of H.R. 10264 on January 31, 1936. This bill would have provided for 10,000 coins from the Philadelphia Mint, 2,000 coins from Denver, and 3,000 from the San Francisco Mint. Such a low mintage would have made the Denver coin a significant rarity, increasing Melish's profit. On February 17, the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures recommended that it be amended to provide for a total of 15,000 coins without dictating at what mint or mints they should be struck. That committee, in its report accompanying the bill, noted that the piece was "in commemoration of the fiftieth (golden) anniversary of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a center of music, and its contribution of the annual May festival to the art of music for the past 50 years." Melish, through political influence, was able to retain the provision that they should be struck "at the mints", allowing coinage at all three mints. This marked the last time that a coinage bill would pass Congress in the 1930s with that phrasing—later issues were limited to a single mint. The bill passed Congress, and was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on March 31, 1936. The pieces were to honor "the 50th anniversary of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a center of music, and its contribution to the art of music for the past 50 years". Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, in their volume on commemorative coins, concluded that "pressure from the above-named Association on Congress induced passage of the Act". ## Preparation and controversy Melish engaged Constance Ortmayer to design the coin. Ortmayer later remembered, "I was recommended by them, someone came through Cincinnati ... they were just looking for somebody so they recommended me". Ortmayer apparently prepared a design before the bill passed Congress, for Melish wrote to Assistant Director of the Mint Mary Margaret O'Reilly on April 4, 1936, that the original "lacked distinction and artistic merit" and that Ortmayer would redesign the coin. He wrote again on May 7, asking if Ortmayer's new design was satisfactory. The models were submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, charged since 1921 with advising on coin design, though the government was not bound to follow its recommendations. On May 13, the chairman, Charles Moore, wrote to Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross, withholding approval. Moore recited the stated purpose of the coin, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cincinnati as a center of music, then noted that the obverse depicted Stephen Foster, the composer and songwriter—who died in 1864, whereas Cincinnati was not notable as a center of music until at least 1873. "The Commission is at a loss to connect a fiftieth anniversary in 1936 with a movement that began in 1873." Foster did live in Cincinnati, Moore admitted, but only for a brief period while working as a bookkeeper, and his main contributions to American music came later, when he lived in Pittsburgh and in New York City. Further, the coin was to commemorate Cincinnati's contributions to the art of music, and Foster "was an American troubadour, but to music as an art he made no contribution". Moore felt that if anyone should be depicted, it should be Theodore Thomas, who conducted the Cincinnati May Festival from its beginning in 1873 and in 1878 became director of the Cincinnati College of Music. He stated that "Theodore Thomas was, artistically, the founder of Cincinnati as a musical center. His portrait should appear on any coin commemorative of Cincinnati 'as a center of music'". On May 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Thomas would appear on the coin, not Foster. The paper also reported the controversy before the Commission of Fine Arts, that Melish had travelled to Washington the previous day, and had announced he had no objection to the change. Also on May 16, Melish telephoned Lee Lawrie, sculptor member of the Commission. Melish's notes indicate that Moore's objection was on behalf of Alice Roosevelt Longworth and the Longworth family, who had employed Thomas to lead the May Festival, and who wanted Thomas on the coin, although, as (per Melish) Lawrie put it, "Thomas looks like a walrus and would be a very hard head to make". Melish was defiant, stating that he also knew Alice Longworth well, and Foster remained on the coin. Ortmayer remembered that the "boss" of the Bureau of the Mint (presumably Ross) objected to the reverse design, not liking the position of the goddess' legs. Swiatek, in his later volume, averred that Melish's association put pressure on the Department of the Treasury to approve Ortmayer's design. The Philadelphia Mint received the models from Ortmayer. On May 23 its superintendent, Edwin Dressel, sent O'Reilly a memorandum from Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock, stating that the sculptor's models were in too high relief, and suggesting that Ortmayer come to the mint to discuss the matter. A letter from O'Reilly to Melish on June 18 reports that after some modification, Sinnock wrote that the coin was at the very limit of high relief that the mint could coin, and that dies for the Cincinnati piece were expected to be tested by coining trial strikes in early July. ## Design The obverse of the Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar displays a bust of Stephen Foster, facing to the viewer's right, and below it, the words "STEPHEN FOSTER AMERICA'S TROUBADOUR". This phrase was taken from a biography of Foster published earlier in the 1930s. The artist's initials, "CO", are to the left of Foster. The name of the country, and the denomination, appear near the rim. The reverse shows a kneeling figure, intended to be the goddess of music. In the upper left portion of the field, or background, is the date 1886, in the lower right 1936, and beneath the latter the mint mark (unless struck at Philadelphia, which did not then use one). The goddess kneels on the mottos required by law to appear, and near the edge is "CINCINNATI A MUSIC CENTER OF AMERICA". The design attracted comments from those interested in coins. Frank Duffield, editor of the ANA's journal The Numismatist, noted in the October 1936 issue that the coin had been awaited with anticipation by hobbyists because of an announcement that it would bear the likeness of Foster, but "when it finally appeared many expressions of approval of the designs were heard and a few criticisms ... Foster deserved a better bust than the one the artist has given us ...the toy four-string lyre [the goddess] holds in her hand is not in keeping with the times or the occasion ... After all these years, Music deserved something better." Coin dealer B. Max Mehl, in his monograph on commemorative coins published in 1937, agreed with the criticism of the reverse, "apparently this lyre must have been bought at a 5¢ and 10¢ store as it seems to be only a toy". Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his 1971 volume on American coins and medals, Numismatic Art in America, criticized Ortmayer's design: > The details and style of this coin perpetuate the slender lettering and weak surfaces of the John Sinnock school, as exemplified in the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial half dollar of 1926. Surfaces are glazed or rubbed over, and the coin has a worn look ... Stephen Foster's bust on the obverse is a distorted or compressed lump, and the "goddess of music" has much the same appeal of a dancer with cramps. ## Release, distribution, and collecting The mintage of 15,000 was struck in July 1936. At the Philadelphia and Denver mints, 5,005 pieces were produced, and 5,006 at San Francisco, with the excess from the even thousands held for inspection and testing at the 1937 meeting of the United States Assay Commission. The first 200 pieces from each mint were collected in sets of three, with a notarized letter from Melish testifying to what number coins they were. Several of these special sets were sent by Melish to government officials. Melish had been fielding inquiries from collectors since Roosevelt signed the legislation, but from mid-May, those who wrote received only postcards stating the new issue was oversubscribed. The summer of 1936 was the peak of the commemorative coin boom, and Melish announced the new pieces would be sold in sets of three by mint mark for \$7.75 (a high price at that time). Order blanks were sent to those who had written early, and soon these blanks were selling for \$10. Yet few collectors were successful in having their orders filled, with most having their payment returned as the coins had supposedly sold out. The sets quickly jumped in price to \$40. At this high level, many coins proved available. Numismatist Q. David Bowers stated that these were most likely surreptitiously sold by Melish and other insiders. Melish also allowed the issuers of the York County, Maine, Tercentenary half dollar to purchase, at the original issue price, several sets—members of the public could order at most one set at that price. In return, he sought to purchase that and other commemorative coins in quantities beyond the usual order limit. Nevertheless, when the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, issuer of the long-lived half dollar honoring the trail, tried to purchase a set, Melish replied that they were sold out. By December, the bottom had dropped out of the commemorative coin market, and dealers who had purchased quantities found themselves unable to dispose of them at a profit. By 1940 the coin sets were selling for \$15 per set. They thereafter recovered, and by the early 1960s had reached \$100 a set, and by 1975 \$550 per set of three. At the height of the second commemorative coin boom in 1980, they sold for \$2,250 a set. R.S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins, published in 2015, lists the sets at between \$875 and \$2,700 depending on condition. Individual coins are cataloged at about a third of the set prices. The circumstances of the issuance were not clear at first: Mehl wrote that the coin was to honor the 50th anniversary of the "Cincinnati Musical Center" which was "founded in 1886" and that "either through good distribution or a great demand, the sets did not go around to all those who wanted them". Later numismatic writers have been harsh to Melish; Swiatek deemed the coin issued because of "false claims" on its behalf. Kevin Flynn, in his volume on commemoratives, stated that the Cincinnati piece "was made for pure profit and greed". Swiatek and Breen, in their 1988 book, suggest that Melish's group "had only one idea in mind: enriching themselves by publicizing and distributing a limited issue which could be priced into orbit by speculators". With the success of the issue, Melish tried to get Congress to authorize 1937-dated pieces; he was not successful. He had managed to get Congress to allow another commemorative under his control, the 1936 Cleveland Centennial half dollar. In 1942, when the ANA held its annual convention in Cincinnati, Melish hosted a hospitality suite. Dubbed the "Pirate's Den", it featured paintings he had commissioned, depicting coin dealers and other numismatic personalities in piratical clothes. According to Bowers, "Overlooked was the fact that the greatest pirate of all was surely Melish himself, who undoubtedly treated many of his guests with money taken from them a few years earlier in the sale of Cincinnati sets!"
1,469,321	Great Eastern Highway	1,166,533,387	Highway in Western Australia	[ "Articles containing video clips", "Highway 1 (Australia)", "Highways and freeways in Perth, Western Australia", "Highways in rural Western Australia" ]	Great Eastern Highway is a 590-kilometre-long (370 mi) road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link between Perth and the eastern states of Australia. The highway forms the majority of National Highway 94, although the alignment through the Perth suburbs of Guildford and Midland, and the eastern section between Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie are not included. Various segments form parts of other road routes, including National Route 1, Alternative National Route 94, and State Route 51. There are numerous intersections in Perth with other highways and main roads, including Canning, Albany, Tonkin and Roe Highways, and Graham Farmer Freeway. There are also two rural highways that spur off Great Eastern Highway. Great Southern Highway begins near Perth's eastern metropolitan boundary, linking towns such as York, Brookton, Narrogin, and Katanning. Near the eastern end of the highway, Coolgardie is the starting point of Coolgardie–Esperance Highway, connecting to the interstate route Eyre Highway at Norseman, as well as the coastal town of Esperance. The highway was created in the 1930s from an existing system of roads linking Perth with the Goldfields. Though the name Great Eastern Highway was coined to describe the route from Perth to Guildford on the northern side of the Swan River (modern-day Guildford Road), it was actually used for the road through Belmont, south of the river. This section was constructed in 1867 using convict labour, with the road base made from sections of tree trunks. Over the years the road has been upgraded, with the whole highway sealed by 1953, segments reconstructed and widened, dual carriageways created in Perth and Kalgoorlie, and grade separated interchanges built at major intersections. Great Eastern Highway Bypass in Perth's eastern suburbs opened in 1988, allowing through traffic to avoid the Guildford and Midland townsites, and in 2002 a new bypass diverted the highway around Northam. A future route to replace Great Eastern Highway's current ascent of the Darling Scarp has been identified. The planned route is a controlled-access highway along Toodyay Road to Gidgegannup, and then across to Wundowie via a new alignment. Though planning began in the 1970s, as of 2012, construction of this route has not been scheduled, and it is not considered a priority. ## Route description Great Eastern Highway commences at The Causeway, a river crossing that connects to Perth's central business district. Travelling north-east through the city to Greenmount Hill, and following a steep climb, the highway heads east through Western Australia's Wheatbelt to Kalgoorlie, in the state's Goldfields. Within Perth, the highway is a six-lane dual carriageway from The Causeway to Tonkin Highway near Perth Airport. It travels as a four lane single carriageway to Midland, with the second carriageway reappearing after Roe Highway, and continuing all the way to The Lakes at Perth's eastern fringe. The remainder of the highway is a two-lane single carriageway until Kalgoorlie, where a dual carriageway exists. The speed limit is 60 kilometres per hour (35 mph) from The Causeway to Midland, 70 km/h (45 mph) near the bottom of Greenmount Hill, and 80 km/h (50 mph) from Greenmount to Sawyers Valley. From the eastern edge of Perth it is generally 110 km/h (70 mph), but with lower limits for sections near the towns the highway encounters en route to Kalgoorlie. The highway runs mostly parallel to the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie water pipeline, which supplies the Goldfields with water from Mundaring Weir in the eastern part of Perth. The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail is a tourist drive alongside the pipeline, with large sections of the trail following Great Eastern Highway. Various road routes are allocated to sections of Great Eastern Highway, with some overlap between some of the routes. It is mostly signed as National Highway 94, except for the section between Great Eastern Highway Bypass and Roe Highway, and the final 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Coolgardie to Kalgoorlie. It is also signed as National Route 1 between The Causeway and Morrison Road in Midland, State Route 51 between Johnson Street in Guildford and Roe Highway, Tourist Drive 203 between Terrace Road in Guildford and Morrison Road, Midland, and Alternate National Route 94 east of Coolgardie. Main Roads Western Australia monitors traffic volume across the state's road network, including various locations along Great Eastern Highway. In 2008/09, the busiest section was east of the Graham Farmer Freeway interchange, averaging 60,760 vehicles per weekday. The lowest volume was an average of 850 vehicles per day near Ryans Find Road, partway between Southern Cross and Coolgardie; however, this point also received the largest proportion of heavy vehicles, at 40.2% of all traffic. As of 2012, Great Eastern Highway between Mundaring and Northam is the state's worst section of National Highway, in terms of road safety. Casualty crash rates had decreased since 2007, although the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (RAC) still considered it a risky section of road needing close attention from road authorities. In 2013, Great Eastern Highway remained as a road of particular concern, with the Australian Automobile Association giving 67% of the highway a low one- or two-star rating (out of five), and 77% of the route between The Lakes and Northam a one-star safety rating. ### Burswood to Midvale Great Eastern Highway begins at a grade separated interchange between the south-eastern end of The Causeway, north-eastern end of Canning Highway, and north-western ends of Shepperton Road and Albany Highway. It proceeds in a north-easterly direction between local parks for 1.3 kilometres (0.8 mi), south of the Crown Perth entertainment complex in . After passing under the Armadale line, there is a diamond interchange with Graham Farmer Freeway to the north-west and Orrong Road to the south-east, with an additional south-westbound to north-westbound looped ramp. The highway continues north-east, parallel to the Swan River, through the residential and commercial areas of Rivervale, , , and . There are many at-grade intersections and driveway access crossovers in these high density suburbs. Major intersections are controlled by traffic lights, while many others are left-in/left-out. After 4.6 kilometres (2.9 mi), Great Eastern Highway interchanges with Tonkin Highway, which connects to Perth's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. Until September 2018, the interchange was also connected to Brearley Avenue, which provided access to Perth Airport's domestic terminals. The connection was removed due to the construction of Redcliffe railway station as part of the Forrestfield-Airport Link. The main connection linking Great Eastern Highway to the precinct is now at Fauntleroy Avenue to the north-east. The road travels for another 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) along the border between Ascot and Redcliffe, before reaching a traffic light controlled fork with Great Eastern Highway Bypass. The main traffic flow continues east on the bypass to Roe Highway, while the Great Eastern Highway runs north-east through for 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), separating a narrow residential area along the Swan River from industrial development in the rest of the suburb. The highway crosses the Helena River via a two-lane bridge, and continues north into the historic townsite of Guildford, named as Johnson Street. After 800 metres (2,600 ft), Johnson Street terminates at a T junction, just south of the Midland railway line. The highway turns east onto James Street, which after 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) has a sharp 90 degree turn to the north, continuing as East Street for 450 metres (1,480 ft). Following a level crossing of the railway, and an adjacent set of traffic lights at Terrace Road, the name Great Eastern Highway is resumed. The highway continues north-east for 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) to Midland. Throughout Midland and the adjacent suburb of , it is at the centre of a commercial area, with two shopping centres located alongside the highway, and retail businesses fronting both sides of the road. As Great Eastern Highway enters Midland, traffic splits into a pair of one-way roads. Eastbound traffic continues on Great Eastern Highway, while westbound traffic travels along Victoria Street. The split ends after 1 kilometre (0.6 mi), and a further 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) takes the highway to an interchange with Roe Highway, meeting up with traffic that bypassed the Guildford and Midland areas. Most of this section of the Highway is actually a road as it contains driveways, entrances and exits. At a 2019 Belmont council meeting interstate town planners attended and mentioned that with 60,000 to 80,000 vehicles a day in the section west or Roe Hwy they could not find a busier "road" (not Highway or Freeway) in the world. They looked at the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in France and Market Street in San Francisco. West of Roe Hwy. ### Greenmount to The Lakes Great Eastern Highway is notorious for Greenmount Hill, where the highway encounters a steep three-kilometre-long (1.9 mi) slope with a 7% gradient on Perth's eastern outskirts. The highway rises from the Swan Coastal Plain to the Darling Scarp to the north of Greenmount Hill, though it is commonly described as travelling "up Greenmount". The historic hill, with significant Aboriginal and European heritage sites, has been a well-known landmark since the 1830s, and featured on an 1846 survey of the York Road. Part of this original eastern route remains as a separate road, now known as Old York Road. The highway diverges from this original route at a point 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) east of Roe Highway, bypassing residential properties that line the old road. The two routes meet again at the top of the main climb of the hill, after 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi). From the sudden rise of Greenmount Hill through to Sawyers Valley, Great Eastern Highway has a series of rising and falling sections over rolling terrain. Along the way, the route follows the southern edge of John Forrest National Park for 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi), passing to the north of the suburb of . Beyond the national park, the highway continues to be lined by native trees and patches of remaining forest. It continues east for six kilometres (3.7 mi) between the low-density, rural residential areas of Hovea, Mahogany Creek, and Parkerville, before entering the Mundaring town centre. Continuing its journey east, the route leaves Mundaring and travels briefly through the north-eastern corner of Beelu National Park before coming to the rural community of Sawyers Valley, three and a half kilometres (2.2 mi) east of Mundaring. Beyond Sawyers Valley, Great Eastern Highway travels in a north-easterly direction, alongside and later within the northernmost part of the Jarrahdale State Forest. After 6.6 kilometres (4.1 mi), the highway reaches the Old Northam Road turnoff, which offers an alternative route through . The highway route bypasses the development by continuing east for 5.9 kilometres (3.7 mi) to The Lakes, where it curves around to the north to meet Great Southern Highway, at the edge of the Perth Metropolitan Region. ### East to Kalgoorlie Great Eastern Highway continues past The Lakes in a northerly direction, reduced to a single carriageway with one lane in each direction. Five kilometres (3 mi) later, the highway encounters the north-eastern end of Old Northam Road, and subsequently winds its way through a reverse curve. It travels in between Acacia Prison and Wooroloo Prison Farm and then alongside Wooroloo Brook, for 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi), before crossing the waterway. The highway then heads in a north-easterly direction, passing to the south of , through , and reaching after 20 kilometres (12 mi). Another 12.4 kilometres (7.7 mi) takes Great Eastern Highway to Mitchell Avenue, the turnoff for Northam, and part of the highway's former route through the town. The highway takes an 11.7-kilometre (7.3 mi) curve around the northern edge of Northam, meeting up with the eastern section of the former alignment, known as Yilgarn Avenue. This section of highway, also known as the Northam Bypass, intersects three other roads at grade separated interchanges: Northam–Toodyay Road, Irishtown Road, and Northam–Pithara Road. Each interchange consists of a flyover bridge for the highway, and a single two-way ramp that connects to each road at a T junction. The highway heads east through the Wheatbelt as the region's main east–west route. The road passes by agricultural land and remnant native vegetation, intermittently encountering small settlements and towns such as Meckering, Cunderdin, Kellerberrin, and Merredin. Great Eastern Highway enters Southern Cross 265 kilometres (165 mi) out from Northam, near the edge of the Wheatbelt. The landscape changes to low shrubland, with few signs of human activity other than the highway itself, and the mostly parallel water pipeline and power line. The road continues eastwards in this fashion over a vast distance of 285 kilometres (177 mi) before reaching the town of Coolgardie. Three hundred metres (980 ft) beyond the townsite, traffic bound for South Australia turns south onto Coolgardie–Esperance Highway, following the National Highway 94 route. Great Eastern Highway, now signposted as Alternate National Route 94, turns north-east, travelling through another 32 kilometres (20 mi) of scrubland to the outskirts of Kalgoorlie. The road continues its journey eastward within the grid of Kalgoorlie's road system, initially passing by the industrial district of West Kalgoorlie. After 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi), the highway once more becomes a dual carriageway, and travels past residential neighbourhoods. Following 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi), the highway takes on the name Hannan Street, and continues for 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) through to downtown Kalgoorlie, terminating at Goldfields Highway on Kalgoorlie's eastern edge. Alternate Route 94 turns south, back towards the National Highway route. ## History ### Convict-era road A road along what is now Great Eastern Highway has existed since the convict era of Western Australia. The original road is thought to have been constructed in 1867, using convict labour, with a road base made of jarrah tree trunks cut into disc shapes. The use of wooden discs as a road base had been proposed by Western Australian Governor John Hampton, leading them to be known as "Hampton's Cheeses". The discs were approximately 30 centimetres (1 ft) thick and as large as 90 centimetres (3 ft) in diameter, and the gaps between pieces would have been filled with soil or lime. The same type of road is known to have existed along Stirling Highway, Guildford Road, Albany Highway and Wanneroo Road in the 1860s, and would have prevented horses and carts from getting bogged in wet weather. Evidence of this original road was found in Belmont in 1948 when widening works uncovered jarrah discs. During upgrade works in 2012, more discs were discovered beneath the existing asphalt, over a twenty-metre (66 ft) stretch. ### Highway origins The name Great Eastern Highway was coined by the Perth Road Board in December 1933. It was suggested for the Perth to Guildford road on the north side of the Swan River (now known as Guildford Road), as an alternative to the Bassendean Road Board's proposal, Perth Road. In February 1934, the Bassendean Road Board agreed to the name, as Perth Road would be too general, and the road was considered the main artery serving eastern districts, all the way through to Kalgoorlie. Other local governments in the area considered the issue over the next few months. The Bayswater Road Board and Greenmount Road Board were in favour of the idea, but Guildford Road Board was opposed, as several local road names would be lost. Greenmount, and public advertising, thereafter referred to the road as Great Eastern Highway, and the council wrote to the Main Roads Department, requesting the name change be gazetted. This prompted Main Roads to write to other local governments, advising of the request and soliciting their views. The Mundaring Road Board and Kellerberrin Road Board were supportive, while the Kalgoorlie Road Board suggested Great Eastern Goldfields Highway. The Kalgoorlie Municipal Council agreed that the road should be known as a highway, but thought the name was inadequate for a road that only connected Midland Junction with Coolgardie. The Midland Junction Municipal Council opposed the renaming, citing "sentimental and practical reasons for the continuance of the use of the old name". In August 1934, the Bassendean Road Board applied to the Lands Department to change the portion of the Perth–Guildford road within its district to Great Eastern Highway. The department refused the request, reasoning that most traffic bound for Midland used The Causeway and travelled on the south side of the Swan River, and that therefore the Perth–Guildford road should not be part of the main highway. Despite this setback, the Perth Road Board organised a local government conference to consider renaming the road from Perth to Guildford. The issue was considered important, as losing the name to the south side of the river would divert traffic away from the old established centres to the north. The straightening of dangerous bends and the replacement of an old bridge between Bassendean and Guildford were also to be considered. The conference, held on 7 September 1934, was attended by representatives of the Perth, Bayswater, Bassendean, and Guildford road boards, and the Midland Junction Council. Guildford and Midland Junction were still opposed to the renaming, but the others were supportive. Motions that passed included submitting a rename proposal to the state government, urging the government to construct a new bridge at Bassendean, and approaching the government to have the road declared a main road. In November 1934, the state government Land Council contacted the local governments on the south side of the Swan River, asking them to rename the roads that make up the Causeway–Midland route as Great Eastern Highway. Both the Perth City Council and Belmont Park Road Board agreed to the request. This created a "peculiar situation", as described by the RAC, with roads both north and south of the Swan River proposed to be renamed as Great Eastern Highway. Despite the name change not being official, some residents along the road through Belmont started describing their properties as located on Great Eastern Highway. Another conference of the local governments north of the river was held in December 1934. They decided to continue to pursue renaming the Perth–Guildford road to Great Eastern Highway, and having it gazetted as a main road. A letter from the Commissioner of Main Roads had stated that the road through Belmont was considered the principal highway to the eastern states. He therefore recommended that if the name Great Eastern Highway were to be applied west of Midland Junction, it should be to that road, as the road through Bassendean was not considered a main road. Traffic counts collected by the Bassendean Road Board, however, showed that the north of river route, through Bassendean, carried more traffic in both directions than the southern route, through Belmont – 54% compared to 46%. The northern route was also shorter by about two miles (3.2 km), and considered by the local governments to be the "natural entrance to the city", only crossing the Swan River once and not again at the Causeway. On 8 January 1935, representatives from the local governments north of the river urged Minister for Lands, Michael Troy, to rename the Perth–Guildford road through those areas as Great Eastern Highway. Despite the route being shorter and carrying more traffic, he refused. He said that it was not gazetted as main road, and a previous decision to rename the road through Belmont as Great Eastern Highway was made after considering the facts, and at the request of the Main Roads Board. There was resentment and an objection over the name being "pinched" from the Perth Road Board. The minister disregarded the objection. He advised the representatives to see the Minister for Works to get the road declared a main road, and then approach him with a new name. This resolved Great Eastern Highway's route, with the local governments north of the river pursuing other names such as Main Highway. On 14 April 1938, the name Great Eastern Highway was gazetted, in accordance with section 10 of the Land Act, 1933–1937. It replaced the names previously used along the route: Ascot Road, Guildford Road, York Road, Guildford–Northam Road, Toodyay–Northam Road, Mitchell Avenue, Throsell Road, Sermon Road, Dreyer Road, Goldfields Road, Kalgoorlie Road, Woodward Street, and Coolgardie Road. ### Upgrades and improvements By 1950, the highway had been sealed from Perth to Southern Cross, and from a few miles west of Coolgardie to Kalgoorlie. Traffic in the Goldfields was light, with an average daily traffic of 44 vehicles between Southern Cross and Coolgardie, and 33 from Coolgardie to Kalgoorlie. The road was completely sealed by 1953. Between 1954 and 1956, sections of the highway between Perth and Southern Cross were improved. The works included increasing the seal width along 38 miles (61 km) of the road, reconstructing 3 miles (5 km) of road, and resealing 23.5 miles (37.8 km). Precast concrete structures were used to replace two old, narrow wooden bridges. In the 1950s, roundabouts were constructed at each end of The Causeway, to improve the flow of traffic on the bridges and the distribution of traffic back into the road network. The roundabout at the eastern end, connecting with Great Eastern Highway, opened in 1952. In 1973 construction began on upgrading that intersection to a grade-separated partial cloverleaf interchange. The interchange opened on 8 March 1974, having cost AUS\$1.3 million. A major accident occurred at the intersection with Roe Highway on 30 December 1993. A truck lost control coming down Greenmount Hill and rolled over at the intersection, after crashing into six vehicles on the hill and another 14 at the intersection. One woman was killed, and another 12 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. It was Western Australia's worst accident that year, according to police, with the aftermath described by a witness as "like a battlefield". This accident led to the construction of a truck arrester bed near the bottom of the hill. It has been used in emergencies several times since. In 1994, the federal government approved a \$43.9 million project to upgrade substandard sections of Great Eastern Highway between Northam and Southern Cross. That portion of the highway was one of the oldest sections of the National Highway in Western Australia. The road was susceptible to failure due to poor drainage and frequent flooding. Further works in the 1990s saw a second carriageway constructed from Mundaring to Sawyers Valley, and then extended to The Lakes at the edge of Perth. A dual carriageway was also constructed in Kalgoorlie, and a long overtaking lane was built near Clackline. More recent works have improved sections of the highway in Perth. Great Eastern Highway's intersection with Roe Highway was upgraded to a grade separated interchange. The design is a diamond interchange, with free-flowing traffic on Roe Highway, and an additional looped ramp for northbound to eastbound traffic movements. Construction of the \$101.5 million project began in late 2010, and the interchange was officially opened to traffic on 9 June 2012. Another project undertaken was the widening of the highway through the suburbs of Rivervale, Belmont and Redcliffe – between Kooyong Road, just north-east of the Graham Farmer Freeway interchange, and Tonkin Highway. Work commenced in June 2011, and was completed in February 2013, nine months earlier than scheduled. Prime Minister Julia Gillard opened the upgraded highway on 28 March 2013, participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The \$280 million upgrade included construction of a median strip, widening the road to three lanes in each direction, bus priority lanes at several traffic light controlled intersections, and bicycle lanes. The upgrade was expected to reduce congestion along the highway, which had been one of Perth's worst accident spots in 2011/12. However, the accidents were usually not serious, and roadworks were considered a "major contributing factor". In October 2013, the project was recognised with the Civil Contractors Federation National Earth Award for Excellence. ### Bypasses Great Eastern Highway Bypass, together with Roe Highway, provides a limited-access bypass of Guildford and Midland town sites. The 5.6-kilometre (3.5 mi) bypass branches off the original highway alignment at South Guildford, proceeds around the northern edge of Perth Airport, and then heads east through . At the eastern end of Great Eastern Highway Bypass, traffic returns to the main highway by heading north on Roe Highway for three kilometres (1.9 mi). Plans for a major highway along a similar alignment date back to Gordon Stephenson and Alistair Hepburn's 1955 "Plan for the Metropolitan Region", which was the precursor of Perth's Metropolitan Region Scheme. The road was constructed in the late 1980s, and was known as the Redcliffe–Bushmead Highway during construction. Great Eastern Highway Bypass was opened on 14 May 1988, after 21 months of construction, and at a cost of \$10 million. Planning for a bypass around Northam began in the 1960s. The original route through the town centre functioned as both a local access road and primary traffic route, including for heavy vehicles. There were particular concerns with the amount of traffic congestion, frequency of crashes, and the noise and visual pollution of the highway's traffic. Twelve different alignments were considered for the bypass, which were narrowed down to three options by the 1990s. In 1993 the Environmental Protection Authority assessed the proposal, and found that only the route that deviated furthest away from the townsite would be environmentally acceptable. The closer routes were not acceptable due to the potential impact on the Avon River. The project gained the Minister for the Environment's conditional approval on 24 June 1994. Construction of the Northam bypass began in January 2001, with the new road opened on 17 May 2002. A bypass of Clackline was also constructed, realigning 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) of Great Eastern Highway 100 metres (330 ft) north of the town. Works began in January 2007, and were completed in February 2008. The project also involved constructing overtaking lanes between Clackline and Bakers Hill, upgrading intersections in Clackline, and constructing a pedestrian underpass for a heritage trail. Clackline Brook was realigned through a large box culvert, allowing a safer crossing than the narrow Clackline Bridge on the original alignment. The bypass was originally allocated \$2.4 million of funding in 2006, but by January 2007 it was expected to cost almost \$11 million. The final project value was \$9.2 million. Issues and challenges in the project's design and construction included extensive rock protection requirements for the Clackline Brook culvert, drilling and blasting close to the existing highway, and protecting heritage and environmentally sensitive areas. The Clackline community welcomed the bypass, but there were concerns that the historic Clackline Bridge would be lost. The bridge has since received a permanent entry on the Heritage Council of Western Australia's Register of Heritage Places, in November 2008. ## Future There are long-term plans to bypass Great Eastern Highway's current ascent of the Darling Scarp. Planning for a new major road network in Perth's eastern corridor began in the 1970s. Early planning efforts between 1978 and 1981 for a new highway reservation from Mundaring to Wooroloo encountered community opposition, and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) requested a more detailed environmental assessment. In 1985, a study into the primary east–west traffic routes in the area was commissioned by the Main Roads Department, Metropolitan Region Planning Authority, Shire of Mundaring, and Shire of Swan. It recommended a new alignment, known as the "Orange Route", be selected for the Perth to Adelaide National Highway. Alternative routes were identified using other colours as codenames. The new national highway would travel north-east along Toodyay Road from Roe Highway to beyond , and then deviate east via the proposed Orange Route to meet Great Eastern Highway near Wundowie. The ultimate design of the highway included grade-separated interchanges for all of the roads that it intersects. The Orange Route received environmental approval on 22 November 1989. Detailed planning for the Clackline to Wooroloo section of the Orange Route was to begin in 1998. As of 2012, construction of the Orange Route is not a priority for Main Roads. The project was not in the forward works program, there was no indication of the expected starting date, and a cost–benefit analysis had not been performed recently. Plans are still in development, but the federal government is responsible for financing the project. ## Major intersections ## See also - Highways in Australia - List of highways in Western Australia
171,498	Winfield Scott Hancock	1,172,453,961	United States Army officer (1824–1886)	[ "1824 births", "1886 deaths", "American military personnel of the Mexican–American War", "American people of English descent", "American people of Scottish descent", "American people of Welsh descent", "Burials in Pennsylvania", "Candidates in the 1868 United States presidential election", "Candidates in the 1876 United States presidential election", "Candidates in the 1880 United States presidential election", "Deaths from diabetes", "Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees", "Infectious disease deaths in New York (state)", "Members of the Aztec Club of 1847", "Military personnel from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania", "Pennsylvania Democrats", "People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln", "People of California in the American Civil War", "People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War", "Presidents of the National Rifle Association", "Union Army generals", "United States Military Academy alumni" ]	Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican–American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War. Known to his Army colleagues as "Hancock the Superb," he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South and the U.S.' ethnic cleansing of Native Americans at the Western frontier. This concluded with the Medicine Lodge Treaty. From 1881 to 1885 he was president of the Aztec Club of 1847 for veteran officers of the Mexican-American War. Hancock's reputation as a war hero at Gettysburg, combined with his status as a Unionist and supporter of states' rights, made him a potential presidential candidate. When the Democrats nominated him for President in 1880, he ran a strong campaign, but was narrowly defeated by Republican James A. Garfield. Hancock's last public service involved the oversight of President Ulysses S. Grant's funeral procession in 1885. ## Early life and family Winfield Scott Hancock and his identical twin brother Hilary Baker Hancock were born on February 14, 1824, in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania, a hamlet just northwest of Philadelphia in present-day Montgomery Township. The twins were the sons of Benjamin Franklin Hancock and Elizabeth Hoxworth Hancock. Winfield was named after Winfield Scott, a prominent general in the War of 1812. The Hancock and Hoxworth families had lived in Montgomery County for several generations, and were of English, Scottish, and Welsh descent. Benjamin Hancock was a schoolteacher when his sons were born. A few years after their birth, he moved the family to Norristown, the county seat, and began to practice law. Benjamin was also a deacon in the Baptist church and participated in municipal government (as an avowed Democrat). Hancock was at first educated at Norristown Academy, but removed to the public schools when the first one opened in Norristown in the late 1830s. In 1840, Joseph Fornance, the local Congressman, nominated Hancock to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hancock's progress at West Point was average. He graduated 18th in his class of 25 in 1844, and he was assigned to the infantry. ## Early military career ### Mexican War Hancock was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 6th U.S. Infantry regiment, and initially was stationed in Indian Territory in the Red River Valley. The region was quiet at the time, and Hancock's time there was uneventful. Upon the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, Hancock worked to secure himself a place at the front. Initially assigned to recruiting duties in Kentucky, he proved so adept at signing up soldiers that his superiors were reluctant to release him from his post. By July 1847, however, Hancock was permitted to join his regiment in Puebla, Mexico, where they made up a part of the army led by his namesake, General Winfield Scott. Scott's army moved farther inland from Puebla unopposed and attacked Mexico City from the south. During that campaign in 1847, Hancock first encountered battle at Contreras and Churubusco. He was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service in those actions. Hancock was wounded in the knee at Churubusco and developed a fever. Although he was well enough to join his regiment at Molino del Rey, fever kept Hancock from participating in the final breakthrough to Mexico City, something he would regret for the rest of his life. After the final victory, Hancock remained in Mexico with the 6th Infantry until the treaty of peace was signed in 1848. ### Marriage and peacetime Hancock served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri. It was in St. Louis that he met Almira ("Allie") Russell and they married on January 24, 1850. Allie gave birth to two children, Russell in 1850 and Ada in 1857, but both children died before their parents. Hancock was promoted to captain in 1855 and assigned to Fort Myers, Florida. Hancock's young family accompanied him to his new posting, where Allie Hancock was the only woman on the post. Hancock's tour in Florida coincided with the end of the Third Seminole War. His duties were primarily those of a quartermaster, and he did not see action in that campaign. As the situation in Florida began to settle down, Hancock was reassigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He served in the West during the partisan warfare of "Bleeding Kansas", and in the Utah Territory, where the 6th Infantry arrived after the Utah War. Following the resolution of that conflict, Hancock was stationed in southern California in November 1858. He remained there, joined by Allie and the children, until the Civil War broke out in 1861, serving as a captain and assistant quartermaster under future Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. In California, Hancock became friendly with a number of southern officers, most significantly Lewis A. Armistead of Virginia. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Armistead and the other southerners left to join the Confederate States Army, while Hancock remained in the service of the United States. When Armistead left, he turned to Hancock and said, "You'll never know what this is costing me, but goodbye, goodbye." ## Civil War ### Joining the Army of the Potomac Hancock returned east to assume quartermaster duties for the rapidly growing Union Army, but was quickly promoted to brigadier general on September 23, 1861, and given an infantry brigade to command in the division of Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, Army of the Potomac. He earned his "Superb" nickname in the Peninsula Campaign, in 1862, by leading a critical counterattack in the Battle of Williamsburg; army commander Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan telegraphed to Washington that "Hancock was superb today" and the appellation stuck. McClellan did not follow through on Hancock's initiative, however, and Confederate forces were allowed to withdraw unmolested. In the Battle of Antietam, Hancock assumed command of the 1st Division, II Corps, following the mortal wounding of Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson in the horrific fighting at "Bloody Lane". Hancock and his staff made a dramatic entrance to the battlefield, galloping between his troops and the enemy, parallel to the Sunken Road. His men assumed that Hancock would order counterattacks against the exhausted Confederates, but he carried orders from McClellan to hold his position. He was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 29, 1862. He led his division in the disastrous attack on Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg the following month and was wounded in the abdomen. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, his division covered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's withdrawal and Hancock was wounded again. His corps commander, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of actions Hooker took in the battle and Hancock assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead until shortly before the war's end. ### Gettysburg Hancock's most famous service was as a new corps commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to 3, 1863. After his friend, Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, was killed early on July 1, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent Hancock ahead to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. Hancock thus was in temporary command of the "left wing" of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps. This demonstrated Meade's high confidence in him, because Hancock was not the most senior Union officer at Gettysburg at the time. Hancock and the more senior XI Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, argued briefly about this command arrangement, but Hancock prevailed and he organized the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill as more numerous Confederate forces drove the I and XI Corps back through the town. He had the authority from Meade to withdraw, so he was responsible for the decision to stand and fight at Gettysburg. At the conclusion of the day's action, Maj. Gen. Henry Warner Slocum arrived on the field and assumed command until Gen. Meade arrived after midnight. On July 2, Hancock's II Corps was positioned on Cemetery Ridge, roughly in the center of the Union line, while Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched assaults on both ends of the line. On the Union left, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's assault smashed the III Corps and Hancock sent in his 1st Division, under Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell, to reinforce the Union in the Wheatfield. As Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's corps continued the attack toward the Union center, Hancock rallied the defenses and rushed units to the critical spots. First, he sent the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Division, under Col. George Willard, into the fray to stop the advance of Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale's Brigade. In one famous incident, he sacrificed a regiment, the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, by ordering it to advance and charge a Confederate brigade four times its size, causing the Minnesotans to suffer 87% casualties. While costly, this sacrifice bought time to organize the defensive line and saved the day for the Union Army. Following the action toward his right, he sent the 13th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the 1st Corps, which had come from Cemetery Hill to help quell the crisis, to recover some artillery pieces the Confederates had captured and were pulling away. The Vermonters were successful. Having stabilized his line, he turned his attention to the sound of fighting on East Cemetery Hill. There, with darkness falling, Confederates from Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Division had gotten into Union batteries and were fighting the cannoneers hand-to-hand. Hancock sent the First Brigade of his Third Division, under Colonel Samuel S. Carroll, to the fighting. The brigade was crucial in flushing the enemy out of the batteries and dispatching them back down the face of East Cemetery Hill. On July 3, Hancock defended his position on Cemetery Ridge and thus bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge. During the massive Confederate artillery bombardment that preceded the infantry assault, Hancock was prominent on horseback, reviewing and encouraging his troops. When one of his subordinates protested, "General, the corps commander ought not to risk his life that way," Hancock is said to have replied, "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count." During the infantry assault, his old friend, Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, now leading a brigade in Maj. Gen. George Pickett's division, was wounded and died two days later. Hancock could not meet with his friend because he had just been wounded himself, a severe wound caused by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle, entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail. Helped from his horse by aides, and with a tourniquet applied to stanch the bleeding, he removed the saddle nail himself and, mistaking its source, remarked wryly, "They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that." News of Armistead's mortal wounding was brought to Hancock by a member of his staff, Capt. Henry H. Bingham. Despite his pain, Hancock refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was resolved. He had been an inspiration for his troops throughout the three-day battle. Hancock later received the thanks of the U.S. Congress for "... his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory." One military historian wrote, "No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the sheer force of their presence more completely than Hancock." As another wrote, "his tactical skill had won him the quick admiration of adversaries who had come to know him as the 'Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac'." ### Virginia and the end of the war Hancock suffered from the effects of his Gettysburg wound for the rest of the war. After recuperating in Norristown, he performed recruiting services over the winter and returned in the spring to field command of the II Corps for Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign, but he never regained full mobility and his former youthful energy. Nevertheless, he performed well at the Battle of the Wilderness and commanded a critical breakthrough assault of the Mule Shoe at the "Bloody Angle" in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, shattering the Confederate defenders in his front, including the Stonewall Brigade. His corps suffered enormous losses during a futile assault Grant ordered at Cold Harbor. After Grant's army slipped past Lee's army to cross the James River, Hancock found himself in a position from which he might have ended the war. His corps arrived to support William Farrar Smith's assaults on the lightly held Petersburg defensive lines, but he deferred to Smith's advice because Smith knew the ground and had been on the field all day, and no significant assaults were made before the Confederate lines were reinforced. One of the great opportunities of the war was lost. After his corps participated in the assaults at Deep Bottom, Hancock was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, effective August 12, 1864. Hancock's only significant military defeat occurred during the siege of Petersburg. His II Corps moved south of the city, along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, tearing up track. On August 25, Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth attacked and overran the faulty Union position at Reams's Station, shattering the II Corps, capturing many prisoners. Despite a later victory at Hatcher's Run, the humiliation of Reams's Station contributed, along with the lingering effects of his Gettysburg wound, to his decision to give up field command in November. He left the II Corps after a year in which it had suffered over 40,000 casualties, but had achieved significant military victories. His next assignment was to command the ceremonial First Veteran Corps. He performed more recruiting, commanded the Middle Department, and relieved Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of forces in the now-quiet Shenandoah Valley. He was promoted to brevet major general in the regular army for his service at Spotsylvania, effective March 13, 1865. ## Post-war military service ### Execution of Lincoln assassination conspirators At the close of the war, Hancock was assigned to supervise the execution of the conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been assassinated on April 14, 1865, and by May 9 of that year, a military commission had been convened to try the accused. The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was already dead, but the trial of his co-conspirators proceeded quickly, resulting in convictions. President Andrew Johnson ordered the executions to be carried out on July 7. Although he was reluctant to execute some of the less-culpable conspirators, especially Mary Surratt, Hancock carried out his orders, later writing that "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances." ### Service on the Plains After the executions, Hancock was assigned command of the newly organized Middle Military Department, headquartered in Baltimore. In 1866, on Grant's recommendation, Hancock was promoted to major general and was transferred, later that year, to command of the military Department of the Missouri, which included the states of Missouri and Kansas and the territories of Colorado and New Mexico. Hancock reported to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and took up his new posting. Soon after arriving, he was assigned by General Sherman to lead an expedition to negotiate with the Cheyenne and Sioux, with whom relations had worsened since the Sand Creek massacre. The negotiations got off to a bad start, and after Hancock ordered the burning of an abandoned Cheyenne village in central Kansas, relations became worse than when the expedition had started. The official report to the President by the Indian Peace Commission found that the actions of George Custer and other subordinates just after Hancock's arrival led to an instigation of violent reprisals by the Native Americans: > Orders were then given to surround the village and capture the Indians remaining. The order was obeyed, but the chiefs and warriors had departed. The only persons found were an old Sioux and an idiotic girl of eight or nine years of age. It afterwards appeared that the person of this girl had been violated, from which she soon died. The Indians were gone, and the report spread that she had been a captive among them, and they had committed this outrage before leaving. The Indians say that she was an idiotic Cheyenne girl, forgotten in the confusion of flight, and if violated, it was not by them. > > The next morning General Custer, under orders, stated in pursuit of the Indians with his calvary, and performed a campaign of great labor and suffering, passing over a vast extent of country, but seeing no hostile Indians. When the fleeing Indians reached the Smoky Hill they destroyed a station and killed several men. A courier having brought this intelligence to General Hancock, he at once ordered the Indian village, of about 300 lodges, together with the entire property of the tribes, to be burned. > > The Indian now became an outlaw -- not only the Cheyennes and Sioux, but all the tribes on the plains. The superintendent of an express company, Cottrell, issued a circular order to the agents and employees of the company in the following language: "You will hold no communications with Indians whatever. If Indians come within shooting distance, shoot them. Show them no mercy, for they will show you none." This was in the Indian country. He closes by saying: "General Hancock will protect you and our property." > > Whether war existed previous to that time seems to have been a matter of doubt even with General Hancock himself. From that day forward no doubt on the subject was entertained by anybody. The Indians were then fully aroused, and no more determined war has ever been waged by them. The evidence taken tends to show that we have lost many soldiers, besides a larger number of settlers, on the frontier. The most valuable trains belonging to individuals, as well as to government, among which was a government train of ammunition, were captured by those wild horsemen. Stations were destroyed. Hundreds of horses and mules were taken, and found in their possession when we met them in council; while we are forced to believe that their entire loss since the burning of their village consists of six men killed. > > The Kiowas and Comanches, it will be seen, deny the statement of Jones in every particular. They say that no war party came in at the time stated, or at any other time, after the treaty of 1865. They deny that they killed any Negro soldiers, and positively assert that no Indian was ever known to scalp a Negro. In the latter statement they are corroborated by all the tribes and by persons who know their habits; and the records of the adjutant general's office fail to show the loss of the 17 Negro soldiers, or any soldiers at all. They deny having robbed Jones or insulted Page or Tappan. Tappan's testimony was taken, in which he brands the whole statement of Jones as false, and declares that both he and Page so informed Major Douglas within a few days after Jones made his affidavit. We took the testimony of Major Douglas, in which he admits the correctness of Tappan's statement, but, for some reason unexplained, he failed to communicate the correction to General Hancock. The threats to take the horses and attack the posts on the Arkansas were made in a vein of jocular bravado, and not understood by any one present at the time to possess the least importance. The case of the Box family has already been explained, and this completes the case against the Kiowas and Comanches, who are exculpated by the united testimony of all the tribes from any share in the late troubles. > > The Cheyennes admit that one of their young men in a private quarrel, both parties being drunk, killed a New Mexican at Fort Zarah. Such occurrences are so frequent among the whites on the plains that ignorant Indians might be pardoned for participating, if it be done merely to evidence their advance in civilization. The Indians claim that the Spaniard was in fault, and further protest that no demand was ever made for the delivery of the Indian. > > The Arapahoes admit that a party of their young men, with three young warriors of the Cheyennes, returning from an excursion against the Utes, attacked the train of Mr. Weddell, of New Mexico, during the month of March, and they were gathering up the stock when the war commenced. > > Though this recital should prove tedious, it was thought necessary to guard the future against the errors of the past. We would not blunt the vigilance of military men in the Indian country, but we would warn them against the acts of the selfish and unprincipled, who need to be watched as well as the Indian. The origin and progress of this war are repeated in nearly all Indian wars. The history of one will suffice for many. > > Nor would we be understood as conveying a censure of General Hancock [empasis added] for organizing this expedition. He had just come to the department, and circumstances were ingeniously woven to deceive him. His distinguished services in another field of patriotic duty had left him but little time to become acquainted with the remote or immediate causes producing these troubles. If he erred, he can very well roll a part of the responsibility on others; not alone on subordinate commanders, who were themselves deceived by others, but on those who were able to guard against the error and yet failed to do it. We have hundreds of treaties with the Indians, and military posts are situated everywhere on their reservations. Since 1837 these treaties have not been compiled, and no provision is made, when a treaty is proclaimed, to furnish it to the commanders of posts, departments, or divisions. This is the fault of Congress. ### Reconstruction Hancock's time in the West was brief. President Johnson, unhappy with the way Republican generals were governing the South under Reconstruction, sought replacements for them. The general who offended Johnson the most was Philip Sheridan, and Johnson soon ordered General Grant to switch the assignments of Hancock and Sheridan, believing that Hancock, a Democrat, would govern in a style more to Johnson's liking. Although neither man was pleased with the change, Sheridan reported to Fort Leavenworth and Hancock to New Orleans. Hancock's new assignment found him in charge of the Fifth Military District, covering Texas and Louisiana. Almost immediately upon arriving, Hancock ingratiated himself with the secessionist white population by issuing his General Order Number 40 of November 29, 1867. In that order, written while traveling to New Orleans, Hancock expressed sentiments in support of President Johnson's policies, writing that if the residents of the district conducted themselves peacefully and the civilian officials perform their duties, then "the military power should cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and rightful dominion." The order continued: > The great principles of American liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people, and ever should be. The right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, the natural rights of persons and the rights of property must be preserved. Free institutions, while they are essential to the prosperity and happiness of the people, always furnish the strongest inducements to peace and order. Hancock's order encouraged white Democrats across the South who hoped to return to civilian government more quickly, but discomforted blacks and Republicans in the South who feared a return to the antebellum ways of traditional white dominance. Hancock's General Order Number 40 was quickly condemned by Republicans in Washington, especially by the Radicals, while President Johnson wholeheartedly approved. Heedless of the situation in Washington, Hancock soon put his words into action, refusing local Republican politicians' requests to use his power to overturn elections and court verdicts, while also letting it be known that open insurrection would be suppressed. Hancock's popularity within the Democratic party grew to the extent that he was considered a potential presidential nominee for that party in the 1868 election. Although Hancock collected a significant number of delegates at the 1868 convention, his presidential possibilities went unfulfilled. Even so, he was henceforth identified as a rare breed in politics: one who believed in the Democratic Party's principles of states' rights and limited government, but whose anti-secessionist sentiment was unimpeachable. ### Return to the Plains Following General Grant's 1868 presidential victory, the Republicans were firmly in charge in Washington. As a result, Hancock found himself transferred, this time away from the sensitive assignment of reconstructing the South and into the relative backwater that was the Department of Dakota. The Department covered Minnesota, Montana, and the Dakotas. As in his previous Western command, Hancock began with a conference of the Indian chiefs, but this time was more successful in establishing a peaceful intent. Relations worsened in 1870, however, as an army expedition committed a massacre against the Blackfeet. Relations with the Sioux also became contentious as a result of white encroachment into the Black Hills, in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. It was during this tour that Hancock had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. In August 1870, he ordered the 2nd Cavalry at Fort Ellis to provide a military escort for General Henry D. Washburn's planned exploration of the Yellowstone Region. The expedition, which was a major impetus in creating the park, became known as the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Hancock's order led to the assignment of Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane and a troop of 5 cavalrymen from Fort Ellis to escort the expedition. In 1871, Captain John W. Barlow during his exploration of the Yellowstone region formally named a summit on what would become the southern boundary of the park Mount Hancock to honor the general's decision to provide the escort. ### Command in the East and political ambitions In 1872, General Meade died, leaving Hancock the army's senior major general. This entitled him to a more prominent command, and President Grant, still desirous to keep Hancock from a Southern post, assigned him command of the Division of the Atlantic, headquartered at Fort Columbus on Governors Island, in New York City. The vast department covered the settled northeast area of the country and was militarily uneventful with the exception of the army's involvement in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. When railroad workers went on strike to protest wage cuts, the nation's transportation system was paralyzed. The governors of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland asked President Hayes to call in federal troops to re-open the railways. Once federal troops entered the cities, most of the strikers melted away, but there were some violent clashes. All the while Hancock was posted in New York, he did his best to keep his political ambitions alive. He received some votes at the Democrats' 1876 convention, but was never a serious contender as New York governor Samuel J. Tilden swept the field on the second ballot. The Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, won the election, and Hancock refocused his ambition on 1880. The electoral crisis of 1876 and the subsequent end to Reconstruction in 1877 convinced many observers that the election of 1880 would give the Democrats their best chance at victory in a generation. ## Election of 1880 ### Democratic convention Hancock's name had been proposed several times for the Democratic nomination for president, but he never captured a majority of delegates. In 1880, however, Hancock's chances improved. President Hayes had promised not to run for a second term, and the previous Democratic nominee, Tilden, declined to run again due to poor health. Hancock faced several competitors for the nomination, including Thomas A. Hendricks, Allen G. Thurman, Stephen Johnson Field, and Thomas F. Bayard. Hancock's neutrality on the monetary question, and his lingering support in the South (owing to his General Order Number 40) meant that Hancock, more than any other candidate, had nationwide support. When the Democratic convention assembled in Cincinnati in June 1880, Hancock led on the first ballot, but did not have a majority. By the second ballot, Hancock received the requisite two-thirds, and William Hayden English of Indiana was chosen as his running mate. ### Campaign against Garfield The Republicans nominated James A. Garfield, a Congressman from Ohio and a skillful politician, as well as a former general from the Civil War. Hancock and the Democrats expected to carry the Solid South, but needed to add a few of the Northern states to their total to win the election. The practical differences between the parties were few, and the Republicans were reluctant to attack Hancock personally because of his heroic reputation. The one policy difference the Republicans were able to exploit was a statement in the Democratic platform endorsing "a tariff for revenue only." Garfield's campaigners used this statement to paint the Democrats as unsympathetic to the plight of industrial laborers, a group that would benefit by a high protective tariff. The tariff issue cut Democratic support in industrialized Northern states, which were essential in establishing a Democratic majority. In the end, the Democrats and Hancock failed to carry any of the Northern states they had targeted, with the exception of New Jersey. Hancock lost the election to Garfield. Garfield polled only 39,213 more votes than Hancock, the popular vote being 4,453,295 for Garfield and 4,414,082 for Hancock. The electoral count, however, had a much larger spread, as Garfield polled 214 electoral votes and Hancock only 155. Garfield would be shot four months into his Presidency on July 2, 1881, and would die on September 19, 1881. ## Later life Hancock took his electoral defeat in stride and attended Garfield's inauguration. Following the election, Hancock carried on as commander of the Division of the Atlantic. He was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1881, explaining that "The object of the NRA is to increase the military strength of the country by making skill in the use of arms as prevalent as it was in the days of the Revolution." Hancock was a Charter Director and the first president of the Military Service Institution of the United States from 1878 until his death in 1886. He was commander-in-chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States veterans organization from 1879 until his death in 1886. He was the author of Reports of Major General W. S. Hancock upon Indian Affairs, published in 1867. Hancock's last major public appearance was to preside over the funeral of President Grant in 1885, although he also made a less publicized trip that year to Gettysburg. Hancock died in 1886 at Governors Island, still in command of the Military Division of the Atlantic, the victim of an infected carbuncle, complicated by diabetes. He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery in West Norriton Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, near Norristown, Pennsylvania. Hancock's wife, Almira, published Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock in 1887. In 1893, Republican General Francis A. Walker wrote, > Although I did not vote for General Hancock, I am strongly disposed to believe that one of the best things the nation has lost in recent years has been the example and the influence of that chivalric, stately, and splendid gentleman in the White House. Perhaps much which both parties now recognize as having been unfortunate and mischievous during the past thirteen years would have been avoided had General Hancock been elected. His noted integrity was a counterpoint to the corruption of the era, for as President Rutherford B. Hayes said, > If, when we make up our estimate of a public man, conspicuous both as a soldier and in civil life, we are to think first and chiefly of his manhood, his integrity, his purity, his singleness of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to duty, we can truthfully say of Hancock that he was through and through pure gold. The last public act performed by Hancock was his oversight of the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in 1885, and his organizing and leading of Grant's nine mile funeral procession in New York City. From Grant's home at Mount McGregor, New York, to its resting-place in Riverside Park, the casket containing Grant's remains was in the charge of General Hancock. As he appeared on the scene at the commencement of Grant's funeral procession, Hancock was met with a mild applause, but with a gesture he directed a silence and respect for Grant. ## Legacy Winfield Scott Hancock is memorialized in a number of statues: - An equestrian statue on East Cemetery Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefield. - A portrait statue by Cyrus Dallin as part of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg. - An alto-relievo representing Hancock's wounding during Pickett's Charge, on the New York State Monument at Gettysburg. - An equestrian statue located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street, NW in Washington, D.C. - An equestrian statue atop the Smith Memorial Arch in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - A monumental bronze bust in Hancock Square, New York City, by sculptor James Wilson Alexander MacDonald. - Fort Hancock, Texas - Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook, New Jersey, was named for General Hancock. The original Winfield Scott Hancock Elementary School, located at Arch and East Spruce Streets in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was built in 1895 in memory of the General who grew up not far from the site. It was replaced in 1962 by a new building still in use by the Norristown Area School District only a few blocks away at Arch and Summit Streets, which is also named after General Hancock. The original 1895 building still stands and is used by a community non-profit organization. A Pennsylvania historical marker was dedicated September 11, 1947, along Bethlehem Pike (PA 309), just south of US 202, where Hancock was born. Hancock's portrait adorns U.S. currency on the \$2 Silver Certificate series of 1886. Approximately 1,500 to 2,500 of these bills survive today in numismatic collections. Hancock's bill is ranked number 73 on a list of "100 Greatest American Currency Notes". Hancock was an important character in the Shaara family's Civil War historical novels: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure by Jeffrey Shaara. In the films Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003), based on the first two of these novels, Hancock is portrayed by Brian Mallon, and is depicted in both films in a very favorable light. A number of scenes in the novel Gods and Generals that depict Hancock and his friend Lewis A. Armistead in Southern California before the war were omitted from the film. ## See also - List of American Civil War generals (Union) - List of equestrian statues in the District of Columbia - List of equestrian statues in Pennsylvania
38,867,325	Imperator torosus	1,088,877,298	Species of fungus	[ "Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitors", "Boletaceae", "Fungi described in 1835", "Fungi of Europe", "Fungi of Western Asia", "Poisonous fungi", "Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries" ]	Imperator torosus, commonly known as the brawny bolete, is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It is native to southern Europe east to the Caucasus and Israel. It is generally associated with deciduous trees such as hornbeam, oak and beech in warm, dry locales. Although generally rare in Europe, it appears to be relatively common in Hungary. Appearing in summer and autumn on chalky soils, the stocky fruit bodies have an ochre cap up to 20 cm (8 in) across, yellow pores on the cap underside, and a wine-red to brown or blackish stipe up to 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long by 3–6 cm (1.2–2.4 in) wide. The pale yellow flesh changes to different colours when broken or bruised depending on age; younger mushrooms become reddish, and older ones additionally take on bluish tones. Elias Magnus Fries and Christopher Theodor Hök first described this species as Boletus torosus in 1835, a name by which it came to be known for many years. Modern molecular phylogenetics shows that it is only distantly related to Boletus edulis—the type species of Boletus—and it was duly placed in the new genus Imperator in 2015. Eating raw mushrooms of this species leads to vomiting and diarrhea. Gastrointestinal symptoms have also occurred after eating cooked specimens, though some people have eaten it without ill effects. ## Taxonomy Swiss mycologist Louis Secretan described the brawny bolete as Boletus pachypus in his 1833 work Mycographie Suisse. Many of his names have been rejected for nomenclatural purposes because Secretan had a narrow species concept, dividing many taxa into multiple species that were not supported by other authorities, and his works did not use binomial nomenclature consistently. Swedish mycologists Elias Magnus Fries and Christopher Theodor Hök described Boletus torosus in 1835 based on Secretan's B. pachypus—distinct from the B. pachypus described by Fries himself. Fries reported in his 1838 book Epicrisis Systematis Mycologici seu Synopsis Hymenomycetum that he had not actually observed the species, and he did not designate a type specimen or illustration. The specific epithet torosus, which derives from Latin, means "muscular". In the United Kingdom, it is known commonly as the "brawny bolete". The German name Ochsen-Röhrling means "oxen bolete" and the French bolet vigoureux is "strong bolete". French naturalist Lucien Quélet transferred the species to the now-obsolete genus Dictyopus in 1886, which resulted in the synonym Dictyopus torosus. Boletus xanthocyaneus, first described by Henri Romagnesi in 1948 as Boletus purpureus var. xanthocyaneus and classified as a species in 1976, was considered by Italian mycologist Carlo Luciano Alessio to be synonymous with B. torosus. Others, however, regard this fungus a distinct species. In 2013, Italian mycologists Valerio Bertolini and Giampaolo Simonini observed that the brevity of the original species description meant that some subsequent papers used B. torosus for specimens that aligned more closely with descriptions of Boletus rhodopurpureus or B. luteocupreus (both now placed in the genus Imperator). They did note that Swiss and French authors had adhered to a more detailed description by Quélet, and that this was the only description faithful to the original description with a grey cap and yellow pores that slowly turn red. They concluded the original description must have been based on specimens growing near the French-Swiss border and hence selected a neotype specimen from this region. Within the large genus Boletus, the brawny bolete was classified in the section Luridi, which included species producing medium to large fruit bodies with thick, swollen stipes, and minute pores. In 1996, Czech mycologist Jiří Hlaváček further subdivided the section Luridi, defining and naming the subsection Torosi—for B. torosus—to contain boletes that strongly bruised blue-black with handling. In a molecular analysis of Boletaceae phylogeny, the brawny bolete was most closely related to Boletus luteocupreus; these two species formed a clade that was sister to B. luridus. Genetic analysis published in 2013 showed that B. torosus and many (but not all) red-pored boletes were part of a dupainii clade (named for B. dupainii), well-removed from the core group of Boletus edulis (the type species of genus Boletus) and relatives within the Boletineae. This indicated that the brawny bolete and its relatives needed to be placed in a new genus. It was made the type species of the new genus Imperator, becoming Imperator torosus, in 2015. ## Description Quite heavy compared with other mushrooms of similar size, the stocky fruit body contains relatively high amounts of chitin. Holding the brawny bolete has been described as "having a stone in your hand". The cap is 6–20 cm (2.4–7.9 in) in diameter. Hemispherical when young, it extends and flattens into a convex and finally a flattish shape, sometimes forming a slight depression in the centre. Initially curled downward and inward, the cap margin gradually turns outward, eventually flattening in maturity, and sometimes protruding beyond the pored undersurface. The surface texture starts slightly velvety, but becomes smoother and hairless with age; in moist weather, the cap is slightly sticky. Changing over time, the colour of the cap is initially vivid yellow or golden yellow, then ochre, then darkening in age to brown. However, if the cap cuticle is bruised, or even touched, there are sudden changes in the colour that depend on the age of the mushroom: young, yellow caps become cherry-red, while ochre-brown cap tissue bruises to reddish-purple. These colour changes soon give way to bluish or greyish tones, which, when combined, give the cap a variegated appearance. The pores on the cap underside are round and small, the sulfur-yellow colour of the pore surface becoming less intense with age. The squat stipe measures 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long by 3–6 cm (1.2–2.4 in) thick. Egg-shaped when young, it lengthens somewhat as the mushroom grows, but is still bulbous in maturity; a mature stipe is typically a little shorter than the diameter of the cap. It is initially roughly the same colour as the cap, but as it matures, develops a wine-red colouration near the base and a dirty brown to bluish-black colouration elsewhere. The surface has a mesh-like pattern (reticulation) that has a colour development similar to that of the cap: initially yellow, then purplish, and finally dark brown. The flesh is thick and hard. It is yellow, except for the stipe base where it is deep red or dark brownish in older mushrooms. The pores, stipe and flesh turn greenish-blue with bruising or cutting. The smell is unpleasant, but the taste is mild. The spore print is olive-brown. The smooth oval spores measure 12–15 by 5–6 μm, and sometimes have an internal oil drop. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 22–34 by 8–9 μm. The fusiform (fuse-shaped) cystidia are colourless with oil droplets, and have dimensions of 40–50 by 7–8 μm. Cap cuticle tissue is in the form of a trichoderm, where the outermost hyphae emerge roughly parallel, like hairs, perpendicular to the cap surface. These cylindrical, interwoven hyphae contain septa. ### Similar species The Mediterranean species Boletus poikilochromus somewhat resembles I. torosus, but can usually be distinguished by a smaller fruit body, a cylindrical stipe, and the lighter colours of younger mushrooms. Also, B. poikilochromus does not feature the colour change of the stipe base in mature fruit bodies that is seen in I. torosus. Imperator luteocupreus and Caloboletus radicans are also similar but the pores of the former are red, and the flesh of the latter has a bitter taste. Several chemical tests can be used to distinguish I. torosus from other similar boletes, such as I. rhodopurpureus. I. torosus displays the following characteristic colour changes with tests performed on cut flesh less than 12 hours old: ammonium hydroxide (NH<sub>4</sub>OH)–yellow centre bordered by a blue circular outer ring; potassium hydroxide (KOH)–deep buff (instantly); ferrous sulfate (FeS0<sub>4</sub>)–no change; Melzer's reagent–dark blue; phenol–blue green (very slow); formalin–mid blue (slow). ## Toxicity Like many boletes, Imperator torosus causes gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and vomiting when eaten raw. These reactions can also happen to some people when the mushroom is eaten cooked, though others have consumed it with no ill effects. In a 1994 study, researchers Ulrich Kiwitt and Hartmut Laatsch looked for the antabuse-like compound coprine in Suillellus luridus and similar species that had been suspected of inducing Antabuse-like reactions with alcohol. Coprine ingestion results in heat and flushing in the face, tingling in arms and legs, nausea and vomiting, and increased heart rate within five to ten minutes of consuming alcohol. They found none in the suspect species, but did find indications for it in Imperator torosus. They concluded that the most likely explanation for historical poisoning incidents was a misidentification of I. torosus with Suillellus luridus, though they could not rule out the latter species containing a hitherto unidentified compound causing alcohol-related reactions. No clinical cases of alcohol-related sensitivity have been recorded for I. torosus. ## Distribution and habitat Imperator torosus is native to southern Europe east to the Caucasus and Israel. A mycorrhizal species, the fungus is generally associated with deciduous trees such as hornbeam (Carpinus), oak (Quercus) and beech (Fagus) in warm, dry locales, and is generally rare in Europe. Russian mycologist Anna Kiyashko has proposed it be listed on the IUCN Red List due to ongoing threats to its habitat. In the United Kingdom, it is listed as a "priority species"—a threatened species requiring conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Similarly, it is on the list of protected species of macrofungi in Montenegro, and Italy, where it has a highly restricted range and is considered threatened by changed forest fire intervals and habitat degradation. It appears to be relatively common in Hungary. It is found under Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos) in the Bar'am forest in Upper Galilee. Fruitings typically occur from July to September in calcareous (chalky) soil, with fruit bodies appearing either singly or in small groups.
33,187	W. Somerset Maugham	1,169,240,199	English playwright and author (1874–1965)	[ "1874 births", "1965 deaths", "19th-century British novelists", "19th-century British short story writers", "20th-century British dramatists and playwrights", "20th-century English novelists", "Alumni of King's College London", "Bisexual male writers", "British LGBT dramatists and playwrights", "British bisexual writers", "British expatriates in France", "British expatriates in the United States", "British male dramatists and playwrights", "British medical writers", "English LGBT novelists", "English agnostics", "English atheists", "English dramatists and playwrights", "English male novelists", "English male short story writers", "English short story writers", "English writers with disabilities", "Heidelberg University alumni", "Maugham family", "Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour", "People educated at The King's School, Canterbury", "People with speech impediment", "Secret Intelligence Service personnel", "Victorian novelists", "World War I spies for the United Kingdom", "Writers from Paris" ]	William Somerset Maugham (/mɔːm/ MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. Maugham's novels after Liza of Lambeth include Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930) and The Razor's Edge (1944). His short stories were published in collections such as The Casuarina Tree (1926) and The Mixture as Before (1940); many of them have been adapted for radio, cinema and television. His great popularity and prodigious sales provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, many of whom sought to belittle him as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage − a book with a large autobiographical element − as a masterpiece, and his short stories are widely held in high critical regard. Maugham's plain prose style became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical comment. During the First World War Maugham worked for the British Secret Service, later drawing on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s. Although primarily homosexual, he attempted to conform to some extent with the norms of his day. He became a father and husband, marrying Syrie Wellcome in 1917, three years into an affair that produced their daughter, Liza. The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. Together they made extended visits to Asia, the South Seas and other destinations; Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever they went. They lived together in the French Riviera, where Maugham entertained lavishly. After Haxton's death in 1944, Alan Searle became Maugham's secretary-companion for the rest of the author's life. Maugham gave up writing novels shortly after the Second World War, and his last years were marred by senility. He died at the age of 91. ## Life and career ### Background and early years William Somerset Maugham came from a family of lawyers. His grandfather, Robert Maugham (1788–1862), was a prominent solicitor and co-founder of the Law Society of England and Wales. Maugham's father, Robert Ormond Maugham (1823–1884), was a prosperous solicitor, based in Paris; his wife, Edith Mary, née Snell, lived most of her life in France, where all the couple's children were born. Robert Maugham handled the legal affairs of the British Embassy there, as his eldest surviving son, Charles, later did. The second son, Frederic, became a barrister, and had a distinguished legal career in Britain – The Times described him as "a great legal figure" – serving as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (1935–1938) and Lord Chancellor (1938–1939). The two younger sons became writers: Henry (1868−1904) wrote poetry, essays and travel books. Shortly before the birth of the Maughams' fourth son the government of France proposed a new law under which all boys born on French soil to foreign parents would automatically be French citizens and liable to conscription for military service. The British ambassador, Lord Lyons, had a maternity ward set up within his embassy – which was legally recognised as UK territory – enabling British couples in France to circumvent the new law, and it was there that William Somerset Maugham was born on 25 January 1874. Maugham never greatly liked his middle name − which commemorated a great-uncle named after General Sir Henry Somerset − and was known by family and friends throughout his life as "Willie". Maugham's mother died of tuberculosis in January 1882, a few days after his eighth birthday. He later said that for him her loss was "a wound that never entirely healed" and even in old age he kept her photograph at his bedside. Two and a half years after his mother's death his father died, and Maugham was sent to England to live with his paternal uncle Henry MacDonald Maugham, the vicar of Whitstable in Kent. After spending the first ten years of his life in Paris, Maugham found an unwelcome contrast in life at Whitstable, which according to his biographer Ted Morgan "represented social obligation and conformity, the narrow-minded provincialism of nineteenth-century small-town English life". He found his uncle and aunt well-meaning but remote by contrast with the loving warmth of his home in Paris; he became shy and developed a stammer that stayed with him all his life. In a 2004 biography of Maugham, Jeffrey Meyers comments, "His stammer, a psychological and physical handicap, and his gradual awareness of his homosexuality made him furtive and secretive". Maugham's biographer Selina Hastings describes as "the first step in Maugham's loss of faith" his disillusion when the God in whom he had been taught to believe failed to answer his prayers for relief from his troubles. In his teens he became a lifelong non-believer. From 1885 to 1890 Maugham attended The King's School, Canterbury, where he was regarded as an outsider and teased for his poor English (French had been his first language), his short stature, his stammer, and his lack of interest in sport. He left as soon as he could, although he later developed an affection for the school, and became a generous benefactor. A modest legacy from his father enabled him to go to Heidelberg University to study. His aunt, who was German, arranged accommodation for him, and aged sixteen he travelled to Germany. For the next year and a half he studied literature, philosophy and German. During his time in Heidelberg he had his first sexual affair; it was with John Ellingham Brooks, an Englishman ten years his senior. Brooks encouraged Maugham's ambitions to be a writer and introduced him to the works of Schopenhauer and Spinoza. Maugham wrote his first book while in Heidelberg, a biography of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, but it was not accepted for publication and the author destroyed the manuscript. After Maugham's return to Britain in 1892, he and his uncle had to decide on his future. He did not wish to follow his brothers to Cambridge University, and his stammer precluded a career in the church or the law even if either had attracted him. His uncle ruled out the civil service, believing that it was no longer a career for gentlemen after reforms requiring applicants to pass an entrance examination. A family friend found Maugham a position in an accountant's office in London, which he endured for a month before resigning. The local physician in Whitstable suggested the medical profession, and Maugham's uncle agreed. Maugham, who had been writing steadily since he was 15, intended to make his career as an author, but he dared not tell his guardian. From 1892 until he qualified in 1897, he studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in Lambeth. ### Early works In his work as a medical student Maugham met the poorest working-class people: "I was in contact with what I most wanted, life in the raw". In maturity, he recalled the value of his experiences: "I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief; I saw the dark lines that despair drew on a face." Maugham took rooms in Westminster, across the Thames from the hospital. He made himself comfortable there, filled many notebooks with literary ideas, and continued writing nightly, while studying for his medical degree. In 1897 he published his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, a tale of working-class adultery and its consequences. It drew its details from his obstetric duties in South London slums. He wrote near the opening of the novel: "... it is impossible always to give the exact unexpurgated words of Liza and the other personages of the story; the reader is therefore entreated with his thoughts to piece out the necessary imperfections of the dialogue". The book received mixed reviews. The Evening Standard commented that there had not been so powerful a story of slum life since Rudyard Kipling's The Record of Badalia Herodsfoot (1890), and praised the author's "vividness and knowledge ... extraordinary gift of directness and concentration ... His characters have an astounding amount of vitality". The Westminster Gazette praised the writing but deplored the subject matter, and The Times also conceded the author's skill – "Mr Maugham seems to aspire, and not unsuccessfully, to be the Zola of the New Cut" – but thought him "capable of better things [than] this singularly unpleasant novel". The first print run sold out within three weeks and a reprint was quickly arranged. Maugham qualified as a physician the month after the publication of Liza of Lambeth but he immediately abandoned medicine and embarked on his 65-year career as a writer. He later said, "I took to it as a duck takes to water." Before the publication of his next novel, The Making of a Saint (1898), Maugham travelled to Spain. He found Mediterranean lands much to his liking, for what his biographer Frederic Raphael calls their "douceur de vivre missing under grim English skies". He based himself in Seville, where he grew a moustache, smoked cigars, took lessons in the guitar, and developed a passion for "a young thing with green eyes and a gay smile" (gender carefully unspecified, as Hastings comments). The Making of a Saint, a historical novel, attracted less attention than Liza of Lambeth and its sales were unremarkable. Maugham continued to write assiduously and within five years he published two more novels and a collection of short stories, and had his first play produced; but a success to match that of his first book eluded him. Between 1903 and 1906 he wrote two more plays, a travel book and two novels, but his next big commercial and critical success did not come until October 1907, when his comedy Lady Frederick opened at the Court Theatre in London. He had written it four years earlier, but numerous managements turned it down until Otho Stuart accepted it and cast the popular Ethel Irving in the title role. It ran for 422 performances at five different West End theatres. By the next year, while the run of Lady Frederick continued, Maugham had three other plays running simultaneously in London. Maugham later said that he made comparatively little money from this unprecedented theatrical achievement, but it made his reputation. Punch printed a cartoon of Shakespeare's ghost looking concerned about the ubiquity of Maugham's plays. Between 1908 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Maugham wrote a further eight plays, but his stage successes did not completely distract him from writing novels. His supernatural thriller The Magician (1908) had a principal character modelled on Aleister Crowley, a well-known occultist. Crowley took offence and wrote a critique of the novel in Vanity Fair, charging Maugham with "varied, shameless and extensive" plagiarism. Maugham was acutely conscious of the fate of Oscar Wilde, whose arrest and imprisonment took place when Maugham was in his early twenties. Lifelong, Maugham was highly reticent about homosexual encounters, but it was thought by at least two of his lovers that at this period in his life he had recourse to young male prostitutes. Nevertheless he had a wish to marry, which he later greatly regretted. Looking back, he described his early attempts to be heterosexual as the greatest mistake in his life. He told his nephew Robin, "I tried to persuade myself that I was three-quarters normal and that only a quarter of me was queer – whereas really it was the other way round". In 1913 he proposed to the actress Sue Jones, daughter of the playwright Henry Arthur Jones; she declined his offer. In 1914 he began an affair with Syrie Wellcome, whom he had known since 1910. She was married to the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome, but the couple had formally separated in 1909, after which she had a succession of partners, including the retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge. ### First World War By 1914 Maugham was famous, with thirteen plays and eight novels completed. Too old to enlist when the First World War broke out, he served in France as a volunteer ambulance driver for the British Red Cross. Among his colleagues was Frederick Gerald Haxton, a young San Franciscan, who became his lover and companion for the next thirty years, but the affair between Maugham and Syrie Wellcome continued. In the weeks before the war began, Maugham had been completing his novel Of Human Bondage, a Bildungsroman with substantial autobiographical elements. The critic John Sutherland says of it: According to some of Maugham's intimates, the main female character, the manipulative Mildred, was based on "a youth, probably a rent boy, with whom he became infatuated". Raphael comments that there is no firm evidence for this, and Meyers suggests that she is based on Harry Phillips, a young man whom Maugham had taken to Paris as, nominally, his secretary for a prolonged stay in 1905. Maugham proofread Of Human Bondage at Malo-les-Bains, near Dunkirk, during a lull in his ambulance duties. When the book was published in 1915 some of the initial reviews were favourable but many, both in Britain and in the US, were unenthusiastic. The New York World described the romantic obsession of the protagonist as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". The tide of opinion was turned by the influential American novelist and critic Theodore Dreiser, who called Maugham a great artist and the book a work of genius, of the utmost importance, comparable to a Beethoven symphony. Bryan Connon comments in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "After this it seemed that Maugham could not fail, and the public eagerly bought his novels [and] volumes of his carefully crafted short stories". In 1915 Syrie Wellcome became pregnant, and in September, while Maugham was on leave to be with her, she gave birth to their only child, Mary Elizabeth, known as Liza. The baby was legally the daughter of Henry Wellcome, although he had not seen his wife for many years. He successfully sued for divorce in 1916, citing Maugham as co-respondent. ### Secret Service and marriage After the birth of his daughter, Maugham moved to Switzerland. His fluency in French and German was an advantage, and for a year he worked in Geneva − at his own expense − as an agent for the British Secret Service. He was recruited by Sir John Wallinger, a friend of Syrie, portrayed as the spymaster "R" in the Ashenden stories Maugham wrote after the war. Syrie and Liza were with him for part of the year, providing a convincing domestic cover, and his profession as a writer enabled him to travel about and stay in hotels without attracting attention. His covert job, which was in violation of Switzerland's neutrality laws, was to coordinate the work of British agents in enemy territory and dispatch their information to London. In his overt capacity as an author he wrote Caroline, a three-act comedy, which opened in February 1916 at the New Theatre, London, with Irene Vanbrugh in the title role. In November 1916 Maugham was asked by the intelligence service to go to the South Seas. Samoa was regarded as crucial to Britain's strategic interests, and Maugham's task was to gather information about the island's powerful radio transmitter and the threat from German military and naval forces in the region. He was reunited with Haxton, who joined him as secretary-companion. In addition to his intelligence work, Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever he went. He was, by his own account, not a particularly imaginative or inventive person, but he studied people and places and used them, sometimes with minimal alteration or disguise, in his stories. He was helped in this by Haxton – extrovert and gregarious in contrast with Maugham's shyness – who became what Morgan terms an "intermediary with the outside world". Maugham wrote of Haxton: After the South Seas trip Maugham visited the US and was joined by Syrie. In May 1917 they married at a ceremony in New Jersey. He entered the marriage from a sense of duty rather than from personal inclination, and the two quickly began to grow apart. She returned to England and he continued with his work as a secret agent. He was selected by Sir William Wiseman of British Intelligence to go to Russia, where the overthrow of the monarchy threatened to lead to a Russian withdrawal from the war. Maugham's job was to counter German propaganda, and to encourage the moderate republican Russian government under Alexander Kerensky to continue fighting. He arrived in Petrograd in August, too late to influence the outcome: in November, Kerensky was supplanted by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who took Russia out of the war. By that time Maugham was ill with tuberculosis. He returned to Britain and spent three months in a sanatorium in Scotland. While there he wrote a farce, Home and Beauty, which was presented at the Playhouse Theatre in August 1919 starring Gladys Cooper and Charles Hawtrey. In the same year Maugham published one of his best-known novels, The Moon and Sixpence, about a respectable stockbroker who rebels against conformity, abandons his wife and children, flees to Tahiti and becomes a painter. It was well received: reviewers called it "extraordinarily powerful and interesting", and "a triumph [that] has given me such pleasure and entertainment as rarely comes my way"; one described it as "an exhibition of the beast in man, done with such perfect art that it is beyond praise". ### 1920s: travel and divorce After the war Maugham had to choose between living in Britain or being with Haxton, because the latter was refused admission to the country. The lifelong ban followed his arrest and trial over a homosexual incident in 1915. He was acquitted, but was nonetheless registered as an "undesirable alien". When in Britain, Maugham lived with his wife at their house in Marylebone, but the couple were temperamentally incompatible, and their relationship grew increasingly fractious. He spent much time travelling with Haxton. They visited the Far East together in 1919–20, keeping Maugham away from home for six months. In late 1920 Maugham and Haxton set out on a trip that lasted more than a year. In the US they spent time in Hollywood, which Maugham despised from the first, but found highly remunerative. They then visited San Francisco and sailed to Honolulu and Australia before the final leg of their voyage, to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, where they remained for six months. Maugham, as always, observed closely and collected material for his stories wherever they went. His fellow author Cyril Connolly wrote, "there will remain a story-teller's world from Singapore to the Marquesas that is exclusively and forever Maugham". In 1922–23 Maugham's next extended trip was in south and east Asia, with stops at Colombo, Rangoon, Mandalay, Bangkok and Hanoi. In Maugham's absence his wife found an occupation, becoming a sought-after interior designer. Her concentration on her work briefly lessened the domestic tensions at the couple's house when Maugham was in residence. By 1925, Maugham, learning that his wife was spreading scandal about his private life and had taken lovers of her own, was reconsidering his future. After another long trip to the Far East, he agreed with Syrie that they would live separately, she in London and he at Cap Ferrat in the south of France. They divorced in 1929. During the 1920s Maugham published one novel (The Painted Veil, (1925)), three books of short stories (The Trembling of a Leaf (1921), The Casuarina Tree (1926) and Ashenden (1928)) and a travel book (On a Chinese Screen, (1922)) but much of his work was for the theatre. He wrote seven plays during the decade: The Unknown (1920), The Circle (1921), East of Suez (1922), The Camel's Back (1923), The Constant Wife (1926), The Letter (1927) and The Sacred Flame (1928). His longest-running play of the decade, and of his whole career, was Our Betters. It was written in 1915 and staged in New York in 1917, for a satisfactory but not unusual 112 performances, but when produced in the West End in 1923 it was played 548 times. ### 1930−1940 In 1930 Maugham published the novel Cakes and Ale, regarded by Connon as the most likely of the author's works to survive. This book, described by Raphael as "an elegant piece of literary malice", is a satire on the literary world and a humorously cynical observation of human mating. There was hostile comment in the press that the central figure seemed to be a tasteless parody of Thomas Hardy, who had died in 1928. Maugham further damaged his own reputation by denying that another character, Alroy Kear − a superficial novelist of more pushy ambition than literary talent − was a caricature of Hugh Walpole. Few believed Maugham's denial and he eventually admitted it was a lie. Hastings quotes a contemporary's view that Kear was Maugham's revenge on Walpole for "a stolen boyfriend, an unrequited love and an old canker of jealousy". By the early 1930s Maugham had grown tired of the theatre. He told Noël Coward in 1933: Maugham's thirty-second and last play was Sheppey (1933). It was a departure from his previous style; its moral ambiguity and equivocal ending puzzled the critics and the public. Despite some help from Coward in the drafting and having Ralph Richardson as star and John Gielgud as director, it ran for a modest 83 performances. Maugham later wrote, "I grew conscious that I was no longer in touch with the public that patronises the theatre. This happens in the end to most dramatists, and they are wise to accept the warning. It is high time for them then to retire. I did so with relief." Raphael suggests that Maugham now wished to write to please himself rather than others. Maugham's days of lengthy trips to distant places were mostly behind him, but at Kipling's suggestion he sailed to the West Indies in 1936. The British colonies there failed to provide him with anything like the material he had gathered in the Asian outposts in the 1920s, but the French penal settlement on Devil's Island furnished him with some stories. During a visit to India in 1938 he found his interest prompted less by the British expatriates than by Indian philosophers and ascetics: "As soon as the Maharajas realized that I didn't want to go on tiger hunts but that I was interested in seeing poets and philosophers they were very helpful." He visited the Hindu sage Ramana Maharishi at his ashram, and later used him as the model for the spiritual guru of his 1944 novel The Razor's Edge. Throughout the decade Maugham, with Haxton in attendance, lived and entertained lavishly at his house on Cap Ferrat, the Villa La Mauresque. His domestic staff there comprised thirteen servants. When the Second World War began in 1939 he stayed in his home as long as he could, but in June 1940 France surrendered; knowing himself to be proscribed by the Nazis (Goebbels denounced him personally) Maugham made his way to England in uncomfortable conditions on a coal freighter from Nice. Haxton, as a citizen of neutral America, was not in immediate peril from the Germans and remained at the villa, securing it and its contents as far as possible, before making his way via Lisbon to New York. ### Second World War Maugham spent most of the war years in the US, based for much of the time at a comfortable house on the estate of his American publisher, Nelson Doubleday. His lifestyle was modest: he felt that despite his considerable wealth he should not live luxuriously while Britain was enduring wartime privations. He saw little of Haxton, who undertook war work in Washington DC. As always, Maugham wrote continually. His daily routine was to write between an early breakfast and lunchtime, after which he entertained himself. His most substantial book from the war years was The Razor's Edge; he found writing it unusually tiring – he was seventy when it was completed – and he vowed it would be the last long novel he wrote. Haxton was holding down a responsible job in Washington and enjoying his new independence and self-reliance. Maugham was happy for him and was reconciled to the possibility of returning to La Mauresque without him after the war. The possibility became a certainty when in November 1944, after a six-month illness initially diagnosed as pleurisy, Haxton died of tuberculosis. Maugham was distraught; he told his nephew, Robin, "You'll never know how great a grief this has been to me. The best years of my life − those we spent wandering about the world − are inextricably connected with him. And in one way or another − however indirectly − all I've written during the last twenty years has something to do with him". Even before Haxton's mortal illness, Maugham had already chosen a replacement as secretary-companion, in anticipation that Haxton would not return to live at La Mauresque. This was Alan Searle, whom Maugham had known since 1928, when Searle was twenty-three. He came from Bermondsey, a poor district of London. Morgan describes him: Maugham's biographers have differed considerably about Searle's character and his influence for better or worse on his employer. Connon writes, "He was seen by some as a near saint and by others, particularly the Maugham family, as a villain"; Hastings labels him "a podgy Iago ... constantly briefing against [Syrie and Liza]", and quotes Alan Pryce-Jones's summary: "an intriguer, a schemer with a keen eye to his own advantage, a troublemaker". Raphael calls him "a man of more reliable stamp" than Haxton; Meyers describes him as "sober, efficient, honest and gentle". ### Post-war and final years Before returning to the south of France after the war, Maugham travelled to England and lived in London until the end of 1946. While there, he established and endowed the Somerset Maugham Award, to be administered by the Society of Authors and given annually for a work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry written by a British subject under the age of thirty-five. After returning to Cap Ferrat he completed his last full-length work of fiction, the historical novel Catalina. He took part in the adaptation for the cinema of some of his short stories, Quartet (1948), Trio (1950) and Encore (1951), in all of which he appeared, contributing on-screen introductions. He did the same on American television, introducing the Somerset Maugham Theater series, which a reviewer said enjoyed "tremendous popularity ... and has won for him an audience of millions of enthusiastic fans". Maugham made many subsequent visits to London, including one for his daughter's second marriage in July 1948, where, in Hastings's words, "with professional ease he acted the part of proud father, managed to be civil to Syrie, and made a creditable speech at the reception at Claridge's afterwards". During a visit in 1954 he was invested as a Companion of Honour (CH) by the Queen at a private audience in Buckingham Palace. He was widely understood in literary circles to have turned down a knighthood and to have hankered after the more prestigious and exclusive British honour, the Order of Merit, saying to friends that the CH "means 'Well done, but ...'". There is some suggestion that his known homosexuality may have militated against his receiving the higher honour. In the post-war era, Maugham settled into a pattern of life that changed little from year to year: In 1959 the foreign travel included a final trip to the far East. He kept himself fit, and further attempted to fend off the encroachments of age with supposedly rejuvenating injections at the clinic of Paul Niehans. Nonetheless, his final years, according to Connon, were marred by increasing senility, misguided legal disputes and a memoir, published in 1962, Looking Back, in which "he denigrated his late former wife, was dismissive of Haxton, and made a clumsy attempt to deny his homosexuality by claiming he was a red-blooded heterosexual". He attempted to disinherit his daughter and to make Searle his adopted son, but the courts prevented it. Maugham died in the Anglo-American Hospital in Nice on the night of 15−16 December 1965 at the age of 91, of complications following a fall. He was cremated in Marseille on 20 December. Two days later his ashes were interred in the grounds of The King's School, Canterbury, beside the wall of the Maugham Library, which he had endowed in 1961. Morgan observes: ## Works Although most of Maugham's early successes were as a dramatist, it is for his novels and short stories that he has been best known since the 1930s. He was a prolific writer: between 1902 and 1933 he had 32 plays staged, and between 1897 and 1962 he published 19 novels, nine volumes of short stories, and non-fiction books covering travel, reminiscences, essays and extracts from his notebooks. His works sold prodigiously throughout the English-speaking world. His American publishers estimated that four and a half million copies of his books were bought in the US during his lifetime. Maugham wrote that he followed no master, and acknowledged none, but he named Guy de Maupassant as an early influence. In the view of Kenneth Funsten in a 1981 study, British writers with whom Maugham has stylistic affinities include Jonathan Swift, William Hazlitt, John Dryden and John Henry Newman – "all practitioners of precise prose". Maugham's literary style was plain and functional; he disclaimed any pretence of being a prose stylist. He was not known as a phrase-maker; the 2014 edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations cites him ten times, compared with nearly a hundred quotations from his contemporary Bernard Shaw. H. E. Bates, praising many of Maugham's attributes as a writer, objected to his frequent reliance on clichéd phrases, and George Lyttelton commented that Maugham "purchases a beautiful lucidity at the cost of numberless clichés", but rated the lucidity second only to that of Shaw. Morgan comments: In his 1926 short story "The Creative Impulse" Maugham made fun of self-conscious stylists whose books appealed only to a literary clique: "It was indeed a scandal that so distinguished an author, with an imagination so delicate and a style so exquisite, should remain neglected of the vulgar". After his early writing, in which long sentences are punctuated with semicolons and commas, Maugham came to favour short, direct sentences. In The Spectator the critic J. D. Scott wrote of "The Maugham Effect": "This quality is one of force, of swiftness, of the dramatic leap". Scott thought the style more effective in narrative than in suggestion and nuance. ### Plays The biggest theatrical success of Maugham's career was an adaptation by others of his short story "Rain", which opened on Broadway in 1921 and ran for 648 performances. The majority of his original plays were comedies, but of his serious dramas East of Suez (1922), The Letter (1927) and The Sacred Flame (1929) ran for more than 200 performances. Among his longest-running comedies were Lady Frederick (1907), Jack Straw (1908), Our Betters (1923) and The Constant Wife (1926), which ran in the West End or on Broadway for 422, 321, 548 and 295 performances respectively. Raphael remarks about Maugham as a playwright, "His wit was sharp but rarely distressing; his plots abounded in amusing situations, his characters were usually drawn from the same class as his audiences and managed at once to satirize and delight their originals". As in his novels and short stories, Maugham's plots are clear and his dialogue naturalistic. The critic J. C. Trewin writes, "His dialogue, unlike that of many of his contemporaries, is designed to be spoken ... Maugham does not write elaborately visual prose: that is, it does not make a fussy pattern on the page". Trewin quoted with approval Maugham's observation, "Words have weight, sound, and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and good to listen to". Unlike his elder contemporary Shaw, Maugham did not view drama as didactic or moralistic; like his younger contemporary Coward, he wrote plays to entertain, and any moral or social conclusions were at most incidental. Several commentators have characterised him as a pessimist, who did not share Shaw's optimistic belief that art could improve humanity. Christopher Innes has observed that, like Chekhov, Maugham qualified as a doctor, and their medical training gave them "a materialistic determinism that discounted any possibility of changing the human condition". When Maugham's The Circle was revived in the US in 2011, the reviewer in The New York Times wrote that the play had been criticised "for not having anything substantial to say about love, marriage or infidelity. Actually it has extremely complicated things to say about them, but its most important message may be that actions have real consequences, no matter how casually those actions may be taken". Trewin singles out The Circle, calling it one of the great comedies of the 20th century, and comparing it with Congreve's The Way of the World, to the disadvantage of the latter: "He can put Congreve to shame in the task of telling a theatrical story – telling it clearly and without inessentials". A few of Maugham's plays have been revived occasionally. The Internet Broadway Database in 2022 records three productions since the author's death: The Constant Wife directed by Gielgud and starring Ingrid Bergman in 1975; The Circle, starring Rex Harrison, Stewart Granger and Glynis Johns in 1989–90; and another production of The Constant Wife, with Kate Burton in the title role. In London, the National Theatre has presented two Maugham plays since its inception in 1963: Home and Beauty in 1968 and For Services Rendered in 1979. Other London productions have included The Circle (1976), For Services Rendered (1993), The Constant Wife (2000) and Home and Beauty (2002). ### Novels Maugham published novels in every decade from the 1890s to the 1940s. There are nineteen in all, of which those most often mentioned by critics are Liza of Lambeth, Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil, Cakes and Ale, The Moon and Sixpence and The Razor's Edge. Liza of Lambeth caused outrage in some quarters, not only because its heroine sleeps with a married man, but also for its graphic depiction of the deprivation and squalor of the London slums, of which most people from Maugham's social class preferred to remain ignorant. Unlike many of Maugham's later novels it has an unequivocally tragic ending. Of Human Bondage, influenced by Goethe and Samuel Butler, is a serious, partly autobiographical work, depicting a young man's struggles and emotional turmoil. The hero survives, and by the end of the book he is evidently set for a happy ending. The Painted Veil is a story of marital strife and adultery against the background of a cholera epidemic in Hong Kong. Again, despite the suffering of the main characters, there is a reasonably happy ending for the central figure, Kitty. Cakes and Ale combines humorous satire on the London literary scene and wry observations about love. Like Of Human Bondage it has a strong female character at its centre, but the two are polar opposites: the malign Mildred in the earlier novel contrasts with the lovable, and much loved, Rosie in Cakes and Ale. Rosie appears to be based on Sue Jones, to whom Maugham had proposed in 1913. He observed, "I am willing enough to agree with common opinion that Of Human Bondage is my best work. It is the kind of book that an author can only write once. After all, he has only one life. But the book I like best is Cakes and Ale. It was an amusing book to write." The Moon and Sixpence is the story of a man rejecting a conventional lifestyle, family obligations and social responsibility to indulge his ambition to be a painter. The structure of the book is unusual in that the protagonist is already dead before the novel opens, and the narrator attempts to piece together his story, and particularly his final years in Tahitian exile. The Razor's Edge, the author's last major novel, is described by Sutherland as "Maugham's twentieth-century manifesto for human fulfilment", satirising Western materialism and drawing on Eastern spiritualism as a way to find meaning in existence. ### Short stories For many readers and critics, the best of Maugham is in his short stories. Raphael writes that Maugham became widely regarded as the supreme English exponent of the form – "both the magazine squib and the more elaborate conte". Most were first published in weekly or monthly magazines and later collected in book form. The first volume, Orientations, came out in 1898 and his last, Creatures of Circumstance, in 1947, with seven others between the two. Maugham's British and American publishers issued and reissued various, sometimes overlapping, permutations during his lifetime and subsequently. The stories range from the short sketches of On a Chinese Screen, which he had written during his 1920 travels through China and Hong Kong, to many, mostly serious, short stories dealing with the lives of British and other colonial expatriates in the Pacific Islands and Asia. These often convey the emotional toll that isolation exacts from the characters. Among the best-known examples are "Rain" (1921), charting the moral disintegration of a missionary attempting to convert the sexual sinner Sadie Thompson; "The Letter" (1924), dealing with domestic murder and its implications; "The Book Bag" (1932), a story of the tragic result of an incestuous relationship; and "Flotsam and Jetsam" (1947), set in a rubber plantation in Borneo, where a dreadful shared secret binds a husband and wife to a mutually abhorrent relationship. Among the short stories set in England, one of the best-known is "The Alien Corn" (1931), where a young man rediscovers his Jewish heritage and rejects his family's efforts to distance themselves from Judaism. His aspiration to become a concert pianist ends in failure and suicide. Another English story is "Lord Mountdrago" (1939), depicting the psychological collapse of a pompous cabinet minister. The polished, detached William Ashenden, the central figure of the eponymous collection of spy stories (1928), is a writer recruited, as Maugham was, into the British Secret Service. His stories – the first in the genre of spy fiction continued by Ian Fleming, John le Carré and many others – are based so closely on Maugham's experiences that it was not until ten years after the war ended that the security services permitted their publication. In the 1928 volume Ashenden features in sixteen stories; two years later he reappeared, in his peacetime role of writer, as the narrator of Cakes and Ale. Comic stories include "Jane" (1923), about a dowdy widow who reinvents herself as an outrageous and conspicuous society figure, to the consternation of her family; "The Creative Impulse" (1926), in which a domineering authoress is shocked when her mild-mannered husband leaves her and sets up home with their cook; and "The Three Fat Women of Antibes" (1933) in which three middle-aged friends play highly competitive bridge while attempting to slim, until reversals at the bridge table at the hands of an effortlessly slender fourth player provoke them into extravagantly breaking their diets. ### Adaptations The New York Times commented in 1964: In a study published thirteen years after Maugham's death, Robert L. Calder notes that the writer's works had been made into forty films and hundreds of radio and television plays, and he suggests "it would be fair to say that no other serious writer's work has been so often presented in other media". In Calder's view Maugham's "ability to tell a fascinating story and his dramatic skill" appealed strongly to the makers of films and radio programmes, but his liberal attitudes, disregard of conventional morality and unsentimental view of humanity led adapters to make his stories "blander, safer, and more narrowly moralistic than he had ever conceived them". Some of his stories were judged too improper for the cinema; Calder cites an adaptation of the historical novel Then and Now which the Hays Office rejected for thirty-seven separate reasons. In the first screen version of Rain (1928) expurgations fundamentally altered the characters; an adaptation of "The Facts of Life" in the 1948 omnibus film Quartet omitted the key plot point that the scheming young woman on whom the young hero turns the tables is a prostitute with whom he has just spent a night; in "The Ant and the Grasshopper" a young adventurer marries not a rich old woman who dies soon afterwards but a rich young one who remains very much alive. Titles were altered to avoid association with stage plays held to be sensational: Rain became Sadie Thompson and The Constant Wife became Charming Sinners. Radio and television adaptations have, in general, been more faithful to Maugham's original stories. Calder cites BBC Television's series of twenty-six stories shown in 1969 and 1970, adapted by dramatists including Roy Clarke, Simon Gray, Hugh Leonard, Simon Raven and Hugh Whitemore, "presented with scrupulous fidelity to [their] tone, attitude, and thematic intention". On radio, the BBC's connection with Maugham goes back to 1930, when Hermione Gingold and Richard Goolden starred in an adaptation of "Before the Party" from his 1922 volume The Casuarina Tree. Since then BBC radio has broadcast numerous adaptations of his plays, novels and short stories − ranging from one-off presentations to 12-part serialisations − including six productions of The Circle and two adaptations apiece of The Razor's Edge, Of Human Bondage and Cakes and Ale. ## Awards and honours Maugham was appointed Companion of Honour in 1954, on the recommendation of the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and six years later – along with Churchill – he was one of the first five writers to be made a Companion of Literature. He was a Commandeur of the Legion of Honour, and an honorary doctor of the universities of Oxford and Toulouse. On his eightieth birthday the Garrick Club gave a dinner in his honour: only Dickens, Thackeray and Trollope had been similarly honoured. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the Library of Congress, Washington, an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and an honorary senator of Heidelberg University. ## Reputation The critic Philip Holden wrote in 2006 that Maugham occupies a paradoxical position in twentieth-century British literature. Although he was an important influence on many well-known writers, "Maugham's critical stock has remained low". Maugham outsold, and outlived, contemporaries such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence, but, in Holden's view, "he could not match them in terms of stylistic innovation or thematic complexity". Nonetheless, Maugham is recognised as an influence on Coward, Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, V. S. Naipaul and George Orwell. His urbane spy, Ashenden, influenced the stories of Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming, Georges Simenon and John le Carré. In The Summing Up (1938), Maugham wrote of his non-dramatic work, "I have no illusions about my literary position. There are but two important critics in my own country who have troubled to take me seriously and when clever young men write essays about contemporary fiction they never think of considering me. I do not resent it. It is very natural". Some biographers have doubted Maugham's claim to be unresentful at being overlooked or dismissed by literary critics, but there is little doubt that he was right about it. L. A. G. Strong acknowledged his craftsmanship, but described his writing as having an effect like "that of music expertly played in an expensive restaurant at dinner". Virginia Woolf was friendly though a little patronising; Lytton Strachey disparaged one of his books as "Class II, Division I". Lee Wilson Dodd wrote, "Mr Maugham knows how to plan a story and carry it through. Competence is the word. His style is without a trace of imaginative beauty." In a 2016 survey Don Adams remarks, "The gist of the criticism of Maugham's fiction, that it lacks psychological and emotional profundity, is remarkably consistent throughout the decades." The "two important critics" Maugham referred to were probably Desmond MacCarthy and Raymond Mortimer; the former particularly praised the short stories, tracing their roots in French naturalism, and the latter reviewed Maugham's books carefully and on the whole favourably in the New Statesman. A rising critic of a younger generation, Cyril Connolly, praised Maugham for his lucidity and called him "the last of the great professional writers", but Connolly's contemporary Edmund Wilson insisted that Maugham was second-rate and "disappointing". Even an admirer such as Evelyn Waugh felt that Maugham's disciplined writing with its "brilliant technical dexterity" was not without disadvantages: Maugham himself, although he never used the terms "second rate" or "mediocre" about his work, was modest about his status. He said that lacking any great powers of imagination he wrote about what he saw, and that although he could see more than most people could, "the greatest writers can see through a brick wall – my vision is not so penetrating". Marking Maugham's eightieth birthday The New York Times commented that he had not only outlived his contemporaries including Shaw, Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, Henry James, Arnold Bennett and John Galsworthy but was now seen to rank with them in excellence, after years in which his popularity had caused critics to depreciate his work. The tribute continued, "Best sellers that appeal to the mass reader are seldom good literature, but there are exceptions. Of Human Bondage is certainly one; Cakes and Ale probably; The Moon and Sixpence possibly. Some of the short stories will undoubtedly prove immortal". In 2014 Robert McCrum concluded an article about Of Human Bondage − which he said "shows the author's savage honesty and gift for storytelling at their best": ## Notes, references and sources
47,262,559	All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)	1,168,144,817	null	[ "2007 American television episodes", "Supernatural (season 2) episodes", "Television episodes directed by Kim Manners", "Television episodes set in South Dakota", "Television episodes set in Wyoming", "Television episodes written by Eric Kripke" ]	"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the joint title for the two-part second-season finale of The CW television series Supernatural. It consists of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the second season. "Part One" was first broadcast on May 10, 2007, and the second part aired the following week on May 17, 2007. The narrative follows series protagonist Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki)—a young man who travels the continental United States with his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles) hunting supernatural creatures—as he is abducted by series villain Azazel (Fredric Lehne) and sent to an abandoned town. Azazel intends to find a leader for his demon army by having Sam and other psychic children like him fight to the death. Sam is eventually killed, but is resurrected after Dean sells his soul. The sole survivor, Jake Talley (Aldis Hodge), is sent by Azazel to a cemetery protected against demons, where he opens a gateway to Hell. At the end of the episode, Azazel is finally killed by Dean with the mystical Colt revolver, but not before hundreds of demons are released into the world. The production process was plagued with problems, and changes had to be made throughout filming. "Part One's" setting was altered after production learned of a pre-existing set, which had been used for the western television series Bordertown. The choice of location in turn influenced the type of supernatural monster that was featured. The once-epic script of "Part Two" had to be toned down due to budgetary reasons, with weather conditions forcing the episode's climax to be filmed on a sound stage rather than on location. The scenes featuring the return of John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had to be filmed weeks in advance using blue screen due to the actor's limited availability. Despite season-low ratings, the episodes garnered positive reviews from critics, who praised both the writing and the decision to end the main storylines. Fredric Lehne's and Ona Grauer's performances were also applauded, with Jessica Harmon gaining a Leo Award nomination for her role. ## Plot ### Part one Sam Winchester (Padalecki) is abducted by the yellow-eyed demon Azazel (Lehne) and taken to the abandoned town of Cold Oak, supposedly the most haunted place in America. Also placed there are Azazel's other "psychic children"—young men and women whom the demon visited as babies, doing something that gives them supernatural abilities later in life—including Andy Gallagher (Gabriel Tigerman) and Ava Wilson (Katharine Isabelle), as well as new characters Lily (Jessica Harmon) and Jake Talley (Hodge). Ava had been abducted months earlier, but claims to have no knowledge of her whereabouts during the time gap. Lily tries to leave the town, but is killed by an Acheri demon, prompting the others to seek refuge in a building, protecting themselves from the demon with barriers of salt. As Dean Winchester (Ackles) and fellow hunter Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) head to Harvelle's Roadhouse—a saloon frequented by hunters—for help and find it burned to the ground with the body of hunter Ash (Chad Lindberg) buried in the wreckage, Andy uses his mind-control abilities to send Dean his location telepathically. After falling asleep that night, Sam is visited in a dream by Azazel, who reveals that he has brought them all together so they can fight to the death, with the sole survivor becoming the leader of his army of demons. Admitting that he killed Sam's girlfriend Jessica because he believed she was holding him back from returning to his old life of hunting supernatural creatures, the demon then shows him the night of his mother's death. Azazel had come into Sam's nursery and fed him his blood, with Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith) walking in and recognizing the demon. Later, when Ava and Andy are alone together, she lets the Acheri demon into the building, and uses a new ability to command it to kill him. After revealing to Sam that she has actually been in the town all the months she has been missing, killing off other psychic children whom Azazel has sent there, she sets the Acheri demon on him. However, Jake sneaks up behind her and uses his superhuman strength to break her neck, prompting the now free Acheri demon to flee. As Sam and Jake then start to leave the town, Jake attacks him out of distrust, but Sam gains the upper hand and apparently knocks him unconscious. However, as Sam is distracted by an arriving Dean and Bobby, Jake regains consciousness and fatally stabs him. Dean assures his brother he will take care of him, but Sam dies in his arms. ### Part two Desperate to save his brother, Dean sells his soul to a Crossroads Demon (Ona Grauer) in exchange for Sam's resurrection, and is given only one year before collection is due. They later conduct research at Bobby's home, hoping to determine Azazel's plan. Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris), owner of the now-destroyed Roadhouse, then arrives, and is forced to drink holy water to prove she is not possessed by a demon. After giving them a map of Wyoming, which Ash had left in the Roadhouse's safe, she points out five Xs representing the frontier churches built by Samuel Colt—hunter and creator of the mystical Colt, a gun capable of killing anything. Research also shows that railway lines connect all the churches in the form of a pentagram, creating a giant devil's trap that demons cannot enter. At the pentagram's center is an old cowboy cemetery, which Azazel forces Jake to go to by threatening his family. The Winchesters, Bobby, and Ellen are there to meet him, but Jake, having given in to his demonic side, develops mind-control abilities and orders Ellen to put her gun to her head. Everyone is forced to lower their weapons, giving Jake time to use the Colt as a key to open a mausoleum. However, Sam then shoots Jake in the back, and finishes him off with multiple shots as he begs for mercy. As the mausoleum doors begin to open, they realize it is a Devil's Gate—a doorway to Hell. A rush of demons then escape and break the iron railway lines of the devil's trap, allowing Azazel to enter. As Ellen and Bobby try to close the gateway, Sam and Dean take the Colt to confront Azazel. Unfortunately, the demon catches them by surprise and takes the gun. After taunting Dean about his demonic pact and questioning if what came back was "one hundred percent pure Sam", Azazel prepares to kill them. To his surprise, the escaped spirit of John Winchester (Morgan) grabs him, distracting him long enough for Dean to take back the Colt and shoot him in the heart, finally killing him. As Bobby and Ellen manage to close the gates, John's spirit moves on. Knowing they now have to face an army of demons, Sam promises to try to free Dean from his deal. ## Production ### Guest stars The first episode featured the return of many characters. Actress Samantha Smith reprised her role as Mary Winchester in a flashback, with Chad Lindberg making an appearance as the hunter Ash. Actor Gabriel Tigerman of the second-season episode "Simon Said" guest starred as the mind-controlling Andy Gallagher, and Katharine Isabelle of "Hunted" returned as the missing Ava Wilson. Other of Azazel's psychic children introduced in the episode were the heart-stopping Lily, portrayed by Jessica Harmon, and the super-strong Jake Talley, who is played in both episodes by Aldis Hodge. Actor Jim Beaver also guest starred in both parts as recurring character Bobby Singer, as did Fredric Lehne as the yellow-eyed demon Azazel. Lehne first portrayed the character in the second-season premiere "In My Time of Dying," and was originally meant to play the part only temporarily because the demon changes human hosts periodically. However, the show runners liked him so much they kept him in the role. Executive producer and director Kim Manners was happy with this decision, believing Lehne brought to the character "a real Jack Nicholson flavor." The second episode brought back actress Samantha Ferris as hunter Ellen Harvelle, as well as Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester, whose previous appearance was in the season premiere. Morgan's busy schedule required his scenes for the episode to be filmed weeks in advance. ### Writing Multiple storylines spanning the first two seasons were brought to a close in the two-part season finale, including the search for the demon Azazel and the existence of Azazel's psychic children. As many of the show's questions are answered in one long conversation by Azazel, series creator Eric Kripke and writer Sera Gamble had to rewrite the demon's speech multiple times because they felt that "the payoff [was] never as good as the anticipation." Though it would have been easier for them to keep postponing the revelations, the writers believed they would get "crushed under the anticipation" because they would not be able to satisfy fans if they kept building up more expectations. As for the psychic children, the writers originally intended to continue their storyline into the third season, but ultimately killed them off after deciding the characters were not as interesting as demons and monsters. In the first version of the script, the character of Lily was two roles: a girl named Alex who could kill with a single touch, and a telepath named Lily. Believing they had too many characters, the writers combined Alex and Lily into one. Gamble had envisioned the episode as a "psychic Breakfast Club", so the new Lily's motivation was that she was Ally Sheedy. The Acheri demon responsible for two of the psychic children's deaths was based on the Acheri from Hindu mythology; writer Sera Gamble felt that it being a "diseased spirit" that comes down from the mountains and "kills everybody in the settlements" fit in with the abandoned mountain-side town where the episode takes place. Harvelle's Roadhouse—a saloon frequented by demon hunters—was dropped from the show in these episodes as well, as Kripke disliked the concept of having a fixed home for a road-based series. With the Roadhouse's destruction came the death of recurring character Ash, whom the writers had been phasing out during the season because they felt his "comical" and "wacky" personality was too unrealistic for the show. With John Winchester making a demonic pact in the second-season premiere, it was decided early on to end the season with another demonic pact. This required the writers to kill Sam—they felt it was the only thing that could motivate Dean to sell his soul—with the pact becoming one of the driving forces behind the third season. At the same time, it opened up another new storyline by questioning if what returned was "one hundred percent pure Sam." Additionally, the "war of demons against humanity"—hinted at throughout the first two seasons—finally started with the release of demons through the Devil's Gate at the end of the second episode. This plotline continues throughout the rest of the series, with the Winchesters attempting to hunt down the demons in the third season. While the final version of "Part Two" is quite enclosed, the initial script was considered epic, with production designer Jerry Wanek jokingly referring to it as a "six-hour mini-series." In the original version, the giant devil's trap keeping demons away from the gateway to Hell was much more complex, with each point in the pentagram being a church housing a holy relic—such as a sliver from the True Cross. With the artifacts powering the devil's trap, Jake's role would have been to go to each church and destroy them, the hunters following after him to try to stop him. Jake would then eventually destroy the final relic during a fight with Sam, and Dean would race to the gateway to prevent Azazel from opening it while Jake and Sam are "beating the crap out of each other." However, when director and executive producer Kim Manners received the script, he realized it was huge, and had the storyboard artist make five-and-a-half hours of storyboards for the episode to prove it could not be filmed without going hundreds of thousands of dollars over-budget. Production suggested that a large amount of money could be saved by not depicting the churches, which were major set pieces for the intended story. Kripke realized that instead of using churches, he could have the points of the pentagram be connected by railroad tracks. With tracks being made of iron, it fit perfectly with the series mythology because iron is a demon deterrent. Kripke found this aspect to be more Western, matching the tone of show. Rather than destroying the devil's trap as in the original script, Jake is instead sent by Azazel to open the gateway himself, and the major fight scene between Jake and Sam was then changed into a standoff between Jake and the hunters. Though the storyline had to be toned down, Kripke felt this improved the overall episode by making it simpler. ### Filming Filming for the first episode lasted for a period of nine days. The diner at the beginning of the episode was built by Wanek, though a pre-existing set—a deserted town built for the Western television series Bordertown that is filmed in the Vancouver area—was used for seven days of filming. Originally, the episode was meant to mainly take place in an abandoned orphanage with many hallways. However, producer Cyrus Yavneh had sent Kripke photos of the Bordertown set during production of Supernatural'''s first season, and the "creepy" and "evocative" aspects of the town prompted the writers to change the setting. With the new location, references to the ghost town of Dudleytown, Connecticut were going to be included in the script, but were eventually edited out. Unfortunately for production, the Bordertown set was surrounded by mountains on one side and farmland on the other, making it difficult for the production team to access. It also rained all seven days, causing problems during filming. However, director Robert Singer felt the gray skies and mist ended up helping the episode's appearance. The second episode's climax was originally to take place in an actual cemetery, but problems at the potential filming locations prohibited this. The scene takes place at night which, at that time of year, lasts only nine and a half hours in Vancouver. With only four nights to film the sequence, production came up with the idea of having a "supernatural solar eclipse" so the scenes could be shot day for night. However, the first location did not have trees, which were needed for the technique to work. Eventually the team found a cemetery that did have trees, but a rainstorm during inspection forced them to realize weather would interfere with the filming. It was decided at the last minute to film on a sound stage, and a set was constructed. However, the bark mulch used for the cemetery contained manure, which made it very rancid. According to actress Samantha Ferris it "stunk so bad your eyes watered." ### Effects As with all other episodes, visual effects were done in-studio. Production wanted to keep the number of shots to a minimum for the opening of the Devil's Gate at the second episode's climax, so instead of just digitally creating demon smoke shots, visual effects supervisor Ivan Hayden filmed stand-ins dressed as characters from past episodes—Woman in White, Hook Man, and the Reaper—on a blue screen and inserted them into the scene in post-production during brief flashes of lightning. This filming technique also had to be used for the return of John Winchester. Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan was busy filming the movie The Accidental Husband during the episode's scheduled shooting, so he, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki filmed the scene six weeks earlier in front of a blue screen. The reunion was intended to be "more complex with a lot of fighting", but the movie's production crew believed Morgan would be at risk of getting injured and forbade it. Kripke trimmed the scene, removing Morgan's dialogue and having him only thrown to the ground. The script was not yet complete during the scene's filming, so Padalecki's appearance was based on the original storyline in which Sam has a brutal fight with Jake and ends up covered in blood. When the fight scene was removed, Padalecki had to re-film his part of the family reunion using tennis balls and a stand-in as replacements for Ackles and Morgan who were not available. ### Music As is typical for the series, the synthesized orchestral score of the episodes was written alternately by Jay Gruska and Christopher Lennertz, with the former working on "Part One" and the latter scoring "Part Two". Because he had worked on the pilot episode of the series—where he introduced a recurring musical theme for scenes related to the villain Azazel—Lennertz was happy to be the one to score the episode featuring the demon's death, allowing him to "close that chapter". With the opening of the gateway to Hell at the episode's end, Lennertz felt that the music "became much larger in scope" than previous episodes, deeming it "an issue of making things larger than life". As with most episodes of the series, classic rock music is also included. ## Reception In its original broadcast, "Part One" was viewed by an estimated 2.9 million viewers, with "Part Two" bringing in approximately 2.72 million viewers. Compared to the rest of the second season, "Part Two" became the lowest-rated episode behind "Born Under a Bad Sign", which received only 2.84 million viewers. Despite this, the episodes garnered positive reviews from critics. Tina Charles of TV Guide found "so much goodness" in the first episode, and called Dean's speech to Sam "rip-your-heart-out sad." She deemed the second episode just plain "wow," praising both the brotherly relationship depicted and the scenes between Jensen Ackles and Jim Beaver, but was disappointed that the brothers did not converse with the spirit of John Winchester after he escapes from Hell. Of particular interest to critics was the wrapping up the Azazel story arc, described by Charles as a "great way to cap off the season." Kathie Huddleston of Sci-fi.com noted that the "terrific" finale closed Sam and Dean's "dad issues and their Yellow-Eyed Demon issues" while opening up new problems for them to face, while TV Squad said it had a "weight and importance that a good finale should have." TV Squad also said that in "Part Two," the show handled Sam's coming back well, though it was apparent he would from "Part One." The actors' performances were also applauded, with Ona Grauer being deemed "delightful" as the Crossroads Demon, coming across as something of a "supernatural used-car salesman." Frederic Lehne received praise for his portrayal of the demon Azazel, described as "riveting," "great," and "appropriately creepy." However, Tom Burns of Underground Online had previously criticized Supernatural for ruining a surprise ending by giving it away in the show's recap. For "Part One," he noted that its ending was given away in the CW's preview for the episode which showed Sam stabbed in the back and collapsing into Dean's arms. Burns liked the episode, but did find some fault with it. He felt that "Part One" focusing on Sam and "Part Two" on Dean was a mistake since "Supernatural'''s strongest asset has always been the chemistry between the leads." In addition, Burns felt the season had set up the question of whether Sam was going to "go evil," and the finale did not follow through, which Burns described as a "tease." Jessica Harmon gained a Leo Award nomination for "Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" for her role as Lily in "Part One."
1,818,617	Kyla (Filipino singer)	1,171,103,107	Filipino singer and actress (born 1981)	[ "1981 births", "21st-century Filipino actresses", "21st-century Filipino singers", "21st-century Filipino women singers", "ABS-CBN personalities", "Filipino contemporary R&B singers", "Filipino female models", "Filipino singer-songwriters", "Filipino women pop singers", "Filipino women singer-songwriters", "GMA Network personalities", "Living people", "People from Tondo, Manila", "PolyEast Records artists", "Singers from Manila", "Star Music artists" ]	Melanie Hernandez Calumpad (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as Kyla, is a Filipino singer-songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her vocal range and melismatic singing style, she has been credited with helping to redefine R&B and soul music in the Philippines. Her sound became a catalyst in the growth and popularity of the music genres, making her a prominent pop culture figure. She has been cited by media outlets as the country's "Queen of R&B". Kyla started performing in singing competitions as a child, and first gained recognition as a runner-up in the talent competition show Metropop Star Search in 1997. She signed with EMI Philippines and released her debut album Way to Your Heart (2000), supported by the single "Hanggang Ngayon", which won the International Viewer's Choice Award for Southeast Asia at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Kyla began songwriting for her eponymous second album, which contained elements of soul and R&B. Kyla's I Will Be There (2003) featured English boy band Blue, and Not Your Ordinary Girl (2004) and Beautiful Days (2006) included tracks written by American singer-songwriter Keith Martin. Her succeeding releases were the cover albums Heartfelt (2007), and Heart 2 Heart (2009). Her next album, Private Affair (2010), featured the lead single "Don't Tie Me Down". After signing a new contract with Star Music in 2015, she released her ninth album The Queen of R&B (2018). Kyla's first seven records are all platinum-certified by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. Kyla made her acting debut with a guest appearance in the drama series Narito ang Puso Ko (2003). She followed this with parts in the television anthology series Magpakailanman (2003) and Dear Friend (2009). Her first major role was as the antagonist in the daytime soap opera Villa Quintana (2013). Kyla expanded her career into reality television as a presenter of the talent competition show Popstar Kids (2005–2007) and as a judge in the variety show singing contest Tawag ng Tanghalan (2016). Her accolades include a MTV Video Music Award, four MTV Pilipinas Music Awards, a Star Award for Music, six Myx Music Awards, and eleven Awit Awards. ## Life and career ### 1981–1999: Early life and Metropop Star Search Melanie Hernandez Calumpad was born on January 5, 1981. The third of four children to Ulysses and Olivia Calumpad, she grew up with an older brother and two sisters. Her father, who worked as a lawyer, was a bassist and had aspired to be a folk performer. She began singing and taking voice lessons at age nine. Her interest in music and performing eventually led her to join several amateur singing contests. At age twelve, she auditioned for the television talent show Tanghalan ng Kampeon and won the competition, performing a cover of Jennifer Holliday's "I Am Changing". She then unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in the teen variety show Ang TV. At thirteen, she was cast as a performer in the musical variety show That's Entertainment. Looking back on her participation in the program in a 2003 interview, she remarked: "I was only a singer and never joined the acting skits." In 1995, Kyla represented the Philippines at the Yamaha Music Quest in Tokyo. She later shifted to performing in hotels and bars before becoming the lead vocalist of a local band, named Heat of the Night, in 1996. This led her to relocate to Brunei to pursue a career as part of the group; her father resigned from his job to support her. The following year, she was a finalist in the reality singing competition Metropop Star Search, placing third. Soon after, her early attempts to launch her solo music career floundered when she was turned down by several record labels. No other opportunities materialized until early 2000, when she was selected by songwriter Raymund Ryan to record his track "One More Try" for the Metropop Song Festival. While she failed to place in the competition, Kyla caught the attention of producer Francis Guevarra, who expressed interest and submitted her demo tape to music executive Chito Ilacad. After listening to her tape, Ilacad signed her to EMI Philippines. She adopted the stage name Kyla at the suggestion of Ilacad, who thought that it was memorable. ### 2000–2003: Way to Your Heart and breakthrough Kyla's debut studio album Way to Your Heart, containing the lead single "Bring It On", was released in 2000. The album received considerable attention for its R&B and soul influence, and was described as a breakthrough in local music by critics. Arnie Mendaros wrote eight of the album's tracks, including the second single "Hanggang Ngayon", which was released in January 2001. The song's lyrics express a hopeful revival of a couple's faded romance after their parting. The music video for "Hanggang Ngayon" won the International Viewer's Choice Award for Southeast Asia at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Kyla won multiple accolades for Way to Your Heart, including the Awit Awards for Best Performance by a New Female Recording Artist and Music Video Performance of the Year. She also won the Aliw Award for Best New Artist and the Box Office Entertainment Award for Most Promising Female Artist. At the 2001 MTV Pilipinas Music Award, she was named Favorite New Artist in a Video, while "Hanggang Ngayon" won Video of the Year. The album received a platinum certification from the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI). She then recorded the Jonathan Manalo-penned pop song "Tara Tena" for the songwriting competition Himig Handog sa Makabagong Kabataan, where it won first place. Kyla's eponymous second album was released in March 2002. She wrote two tracks on the album, which features elements of "pop and ballad tunes", intertwined with her "R&B signature sound". She then featured in a duet with Gary Valenciano on his single "Can We Stop and Talk Awhile", released that same month. Kyla earned nominations at the MTV Pilipinas Music Awards, including Favorite Female Video and Favorite Song for the lead single "I Feel For You". At the 2003 MTV Asia Awards in January, she performed with English boy band Blue, and later collaborated with Irish singer Ronan Keating during the latter's headlining concert at the Araneta Coliseum the following month. Kyla made her acting debut with a guest role in the drama series Narito ang Puso Ko (2003). She followed this with a starring role in an episode of the anthology series Magpakailanman, portraying Sarah Geronimo, who became known for winning the inaugural season of the reality talent show Star for a Night. On May 22, 2003, Kyla released "I Will Be There", the lead single from her third studio album of the same name. She worked with longtime collaborator Arnie Mendaros, as well as new songwriters such as Jamir Garcia, Janno Gibbs, and Radha. The album's title track was written by singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid. On I Will Be There, Kyla also reunited with boy band Blue for the track "Flexin", and with Valenciano for a cover of his single "Sana Maulit Mulit", which won Best Performance by a Duet at the 2004 Awit Awards. The single "I Will Find You" earned her the award for Best R&B Music at the same ceremony. ### 2004–2009: Not Your Ordinary Girl and Beautiful Days Not Your Ordinary Girl was released in May 2004. It was supported by the lead single "Human Nature", a cover of Michael Jackson's 1983 song. Kyla worked with American singer-songwriter and producer Keith Martin, who wrote four of the album's tracks, including the song "Because of You". A reviewer from The Philippine Star described the record as her best work thus far and referred to Kyla as an "R&B royalty". The critic Baby Gil, also from The Philippine Star, praised her musical style and highlighted the singer's "innate flair for R&B music". She, however, was critical of its lead single, saying, "I do not think Kyla has the chops to relate to it and make listeners understand the angst and sense of disappointment inherent in the song." In support of the album, Kyla headlined an arena concert at the Araneta Coliseum on November 12, 2004, featuring guest performers such as Regine Velasquez, Luke Mijares, and Nyoy Volante. The album earned a double platinum certification from PARI. Not Your Ordinary Girl received an Album of the Year nomination at the 2005 Awit Awards; the single "If The Feeling Is Gone" was nominated for Best Ballad Recording, while three other singles received nominations in the Best R&B Recording category. In February 2005, Kyla and Jerome John Hughes released a single for the soundtrack of the romantic drama Let the Love Begin (2005). She then presented the reality television singing competition Popstar Kids, which premiered on November 13, 2005, on the QTV network. Media critic Nestor Torre Jr. of the Philippine Daily Inquirer felt she was unoriginal and likened her approach to that of Velasquez, who then-hosted a talent show with a similar format. In 2006, Kyla released Beautiful Days. On the album, she co-wrote the title track with Manalo and re-teamed with Martin, who contributed three songs. At the 2007 Awit Awards, "Beautiful Days" garnered a nomination for Best Ballad Recording. At the second Manny Pacquiao vs. Marco Antonio Barrera boxing match on October 7, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Kyla sang the Philippine national anthem. Later that month, she released a remake of Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back", the lead single from her sixth studio album Heartfelt. A tribute album, it included her versions of Lani Hall's "I Don't Want You To Go", James Ingram's "I Don't Have the Heart", and Patti Labelle's "Over the Rainbow", among others. Music critics appreciated Kyla's artistry and vocal performances; the Philippine Entertainment Portal journalist Bong Godinez wrote that she was "blossoming into a full-fledged performer who can give justice to both contemporary R&B numbers and classic standards". Gil of The Philippine Star regarded Heartfelt as a showcase of Kyla's musicality that resulted in a production which "flows neatly from one cut to another". She concluded, "This girl has R&B in her system and all those sweet undulating notes just seem to come naturally with so much charm." At the 2008 Myx Music Awards, "Love Will Lead You Back" won Favorite Remake, and "It's Over Now" was named Best Ballad Recording at the 2008 Awit Awards. In collaboration with Chito Ilagan and Jay R, Kyla co-produced her seventh studio album Heart 2 Heart, released on November 25, 2008. As with Heartfelt, the record consisted mostly of cover versions, with three original tracks incorporated. In it, she co-wrote the songs "Back in Time" and "You Make Me Feel" with Jay R. The Philippine Star considered Heart 2 Heart as a mature production, and added that the album remained faithful to Kyla's core as an R&B artist. The album and its singles earned several nominations at the Star Awards for Music, Awit Awards, and Myx Music Awards; winning Favorite Song for "Back in Time" and Favorite Mellow Video for "Old Friend" at the latter ceremony. Kyla took on the leading role of a woman coerced into an arranged marriage in the television show Dear Friend: Three Bachelors, co-starring Jay R, Martin Escudero, and Jennica Garcia. An installment of the Dear Friend series, it premiered on September 27, 2009. ### 2010–2014: Private Affair and Journey To coincide with her ten-year career milestone, Kyla released Essence of Soul, a greatest hits compilation album issued as a double CD set in July 2010. The only original track, "Hanggang Wakas", featured Malaysian singer Hazami. During that period, she signed a regional record deal with Indonesian label Tarra Group, which saw her release re-recorded versions of her songs in Bahasa, as well as collaborate with local artists in the country. Concurrently, she began working on her next studio album. Titled Private Affair, the record saw Kyla collaborate with producers whom she had not worked with before. She collaborated with singer-songwriter duo Karel and Yosha Honasan for the track "Camouflage", and co-wrote the single "Don't Tie Me Down" with Billy Crawford, Kris Lawrence, Jay R and Jimmy Muna. Private Affair was released in December 2010. A shift from her allegiance to cover songs, as she did with her last two releases, the album gravitated towards jazz, urban, and new soul music. The writer Pocholo Concepcion from the Philippine Daily Inquirer lauded the album's sound as fresh and innovative, with praise centered on Kyla's collaboration with new and promising musicians. She received four nominations at the 2011 Awit Awards, winning Best Performance by a Female Artist. She was also nominated for the Star Award for Music's Album of the Year and Female Recording Artist of the Year. Also in 2011, Kyla appeared in the dance drama series Time of My Life, starring Kris Bernal, Rocco Nacino, and Mark Herras. The following year, she performed as a guest during American singer-songwriter Brian McKnight's concert at the Araneta Coliseum on March 16, 2012. She then featured in rock band Kamikazee's "Huling Sayaw", a single from their album Romantico. A reviewer from the Philippine Daily Inquirer commended the song for its well-made metaphors, calling it a "savor-the-fleeting-moments scene". The music video for "Huling Sayaw" was named Best Rock Video at the 2013 Myx Music Awards. The daytime soap opera Villa Quintana (2013), directed by Gina Alajar, was Kyla's first high-profile acting project. A remake of the 1995 series of the same name, the show is a modernized adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which tells the story of two teenagers (played by Elmo Magalona and Janine Gutierrez) who fall in love despite being members of feuding families. She was cast as Ruby Quintana, the villainous wife of Marky Lopez's character, who seeks to thwart the lovers' relationship. Kyla found herself challenged by the idea of playing an unlikeable and manipulative woman, but said that certain aspects of her character's motivation as a mother drew her to the part. The series aired from November 2013 to June 2014. Kyla's extended play (EP), Journey, was released in June 2014. She co-wrote two of the songs from the EP, including the title track, which was inspired by her experiences on marriage and motherhood. McKnight also composed and is featured in the track "My Heart", a song he had written for Kyla's wedding in 2011. Allan Policarpio of the Philippine Daily Star complimented the EP's themes and Kyla's grown-up perspectives, while Gil from The Philippine Star was enthusiastic of her vocal performance and songwriting. At the 2015 Star Awards for Music, Journey was named R&B Album of the Year, and earned Kyla an R&B Artist of the Year nomination. The gospel song "Salbabida", written by Jungee Marcelo, was performed by Kyla for the 3rd Philippine Popular Music Festival, where it won the top honor. The single received four nominations at the 2015 Awit Awards, winning Best Rock/Alternative Recording. ### 2015–present: Flying High and The Queen of R&B Flying High was a headlining concert staged at the Kia Theater on November 20, 2015. A celebration of Kyla's fifteen-year career, the show featured guest performers such as KZ Tandingan, Darren Espanto, and Erik Santos. Journalists from The Philippine Star praised the concert's production value for its focus on Kyla's career trajectory and musical identity, underscoring her vocals and skill set. That year, she released a cover of Jeffrey Osborne's "On the Wings of Love" for the soundtrack of the series of the same name. The song won Favorite Remake and Favorite Media Soundtrack at the 2016 Myx Music Awards. In June 2016, Kyla became a judge on the amateur singing contest Tawag ng Tanghalan, which aired as a segment in the variety show It's Showtime. She then recorded the main theme for the romantic drama series Till I Met You (2016). In December, Kyla signed a new deal with Star Music, and began work on her subsequent record. In 2018, Kyla released "Only Gonna Love You" and "Fix You and Me" as double lead singles from her tenth studio album The Queen of R&B. The former song featured English rapper REQ, with its accompanying music video directed by John Prats, Sam Milby, and Angelica Panganiban. The album and its singles received four nominations at the 2018 Star Awards for Music. In September 2018, she collaborated with Tandingan, Angeline Quinto, and Yeng Constantino for a concert with American vocal harmony group Boyz II Men at the Araneta Coliseum. Two years later, she co-wrote and recorded "Undeniable" with Jay R. In 2022, Kyla contributed to the The Broken Marriage Vow soundtrack with "Init Sa Lamig", a song written by Daryl Ong. ## Artistry ### Influences Kyla grew up listening to artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. Her musical inspiration varies from R&B singers such as Alicia Keys, Brandy, and Beyoncé to jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Jennifer Holliday, as well as pop rock duo A Great Big World. She has been compared to Carey, whose songs she has frequently performed in her concerts and television appearances. She also admires Ashanti, saying, "Her music and style is unique", adding that she is "one of the best artists" in R&B music. Kyla was heavily influenced by Brian McKnight and says he inspired her to find her sound and musical identity early in her career. During production of her 2002 eponymous album, Kyla cited influences from soul and R&B musicians, including K-Ci & JoJo, Ciara, and Boyz II Men, drawing inspiration for her songwriting. When recording her cover album Heartfelt, she paid tribute to the melodic styles of a variety of artists, including Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, James Ingram, and Michael Jackson, describing their music as "classic gems in pop". Kyla has also been influenced by many Filipino artists, specifically Lani Misalucha, Gary Valenciano, and Regine Velasquez. She paid homage to Velasquez by performing her song "Pangarap Ko Ang Ibigin Ka" during a co-headlining concert titled Divas: Live in Manila. ### Musical style and themes Kyla's vocal style and singing ability have shaped Philippine popular and contemporary music. She has been cited by media publications as the country's "Queen of R&B", and is often credited with helping redefine R&B and soul genres in Filipino music. Isah Red of the Manila Standard remarked that "her name became synonymous to R&B". Critics have regarded Kyla's Way to Your Heart as "one of the first authentic R&B albums" produced by a Filipino musician. Ricky Gallardo of The Philippine Star highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "strongly remarkable" and "extraordinary", commenting that her vocal range "can easily scale notes and give melodies soulful touches". Initially, Kyla was known for her use of vocal belting, a technique popularized and highly influenced by Velasquez among young singers. Gil from The Philippine Star, however, opined that she eventually "[found] her niche not long after and has the good sense to stick to what she does best". Gallardo has compared Kyla's sound to that of American singers Aaliyah and Brandy, while the Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Mary Ann Bautista likened her to Carey and Beyoncé. In addition to sustaining high notes, Kyla is recognized for making use of the melismatic singing technique. The media critic Boy Abunda emphasized her "clear-as-a-bell vocal tone", and praised her vocal versatility, stating, "She is among the few who possesses an impressive vocal control ... [and] can sing every note specifically for the intended musical effect". In a review of Journey, The Philippine Star stated, "Her multi-octave range has acquired warmer, fuller tones and she approaches every note with great confidence." According to writer Allan Policarpio, her live performances in Divas: Live in Manila showcased her "performing endurance and versatility". He commended Kyla's "straightforward love tunes with fluttery scales and sweet falsettos and head tones". Kyla's work encompasses the R&B genre, but she also incorporates urban, jazz, and pop into her songs. A reviewer from the Manila Times has characterized these as "dynamically arranged songs". Her debut album, Way to Your Heart, is of the soul genre, with lyrics addressing heartbreak and relationship. David Gonzales of AllMusic described the record as "a welcome step toward modern, soulful music in the Philippines". Not Your Ordinary Girl demonstrated Kyla's "distinctly American sound", featuring songs composed by R&B musician Keith Martin. The Philippine Star singled out Kyla's "earnest rendition" of the track "Because of You". Kyla has also received co-writing credits for many of her songs. In regards to the way she approaches songwriting, Kyla explained: "Writing your own music is much different from just singing songs written by someone else. The emotions and the story behind the song are easier to interpret when you experienced it first hand." ## Personal life Kyla was educated at San Sebastian High School. After graduation, she attended Philippine Christian University, where she majored in mass communications. In 2005, Kyla began dating basketball player Rich Alvarez, and became engaged in February 2011. They married in a private ceremony held in Forbes Park, Makati on November 28, 2011. Their first child, a son, was born on May 6, 2013. ## Awards and accolades After her breakthrough, Kyla was a recipient of Best New Artist recognitions from the Awit, Aliw, and MTV Pilipinas Music Awards. The single "Hanggang Ngayon" earned her a MTV Video Music Award. She has received a total of eleven Awit Awards, winning six for her work on Way to Your Heart. Kyla also won Best Performance by a Duet for her collaboration with Gary Valencianon on "Sana Maulit Mulit". Not Your Ordinary Girl garnered an Album of the Year nomination, while "Something About You", "Hindi Mo Ba Alam", and "Not Your Ordinary Girl" were each nominated for Best R&B Recording in 2005. Beautiful Days, Heartfelt, Heart 2 Heart, Private Affair, and Journey have all been nominated in several categories. At the Star Awards for Music, Private Affair has been nominated for Album of the Year, while Journey and The Queen of R&B each received nominations for R&B Album of the Year, the former winning the award in 2015. Additionally, Kyla has received six Myx Music Awards and a Box Office Entertainment Award. As of 2010, her first seven albums have each received a platinum certification from the PARI. She has received a star on the Philippines' Walk of Fame. ## Discography - Way to Your Heart (2000) - Kyla (2002) - I Will Be There (2003) - Not Your Ordinary Girl (2004) - Beautiful Days (2006) - Heartfelt (2007) - Heart 2 Heart (2008) - Private Affair (2010) - The Queen of R&B (2018) ## Filmography ### Television
2,921,829	Madeira firecrest	1,170,130,063	Very small passerine bird in the kinglet family from Madeira	[ "Birds described in 1851", "Birds of Madeira", "Endemic fauna of Madeira", "Regulus (bird)", "Taxa named by Edward Vernon Harcourt" ]	The Madeira firecrest, Madeira kinglet, or Madeiracrest (Regulus madeirensis) is a very small passerine bird endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a member of the kinglet family. Before it was recognised as a separate species in 2003, it was classified as a subspecies of the common firecrest. It differs in appearance and vocalisations from its relative, and genetic analysis has confirmed it as a different species. The Madeiran bird has green upperparts, whitish underparts and two white wingbars, and a distinctive head pattern with a black eye stripe, short white supercilium, and a crest that is mainly orange in the male and yellow in the female. The female Madeira firecrest builds a spherical nest from cobwebs, moss and small twigs, and she incubates the eggs and broods the chicks on her own. Both parents feed the young. This species forages for insects and other small invertebrates in tree heath, laurisilva and other woodland. It is common within its restricted range, and is not considered to be threatened. ## Description The Madeira firecrest is a small plump bird, of 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) length and weighing about 5 g (0.18 oz). It has bright olive-green upperparts with a bronze-coloured patch on each shoulder, and whitish underparts washed with brownish grey on the breast and flanks. It has two white wingbars, a tiny black bill and brownish-black legs. The head pattern is striking, with a black eye stripe, white supercilium and a crest which is yellow in the female and mainly orange in the male. Juveniles have a grey tinge to the duller upperparts, and lack the crown and eye stripes and supercilium; by their first winter, only the flight and tail feathers remain unmoulted, and the young birds are virtually indistinguishable from the adults in the field. This kinglet usually hops with its body held horizontally, and its flight is weak and whirring, with occasional jinking. Compared to the common firecrest, the Madeiran firecrest has a longer bill and legs, a shorter white supercilium, more black on the wings and a deeper golden-bronze shoulder patch; the male's crest is duller orange. Juveniles have plainer heads, lacking the dull supercilium shown by the young of the European species. The vocalisations of Madeiran and common firecrests both consist of high-pitched notes, but the Madeiran bird has its song divided into three distinct parts, whereas that of the more widespread species just accelerates gradually and covers a much smaller frequency range. The calls of both species include high-pitched fine vocalisations zuu zu-zi-zi, although the Madeiran firecrest also has a distinctive shrill wheez and a whistled peep. ## Taxonomy The kinglets are a small group of birds sometimes included in the Old World warblers, but frequently given family status, especially as recent research showed that, despite superficial similarities, the crests are taxonomically remote from the warblers. The names of the family, Regulidae, and its only genus, Regulus, are derived from the Latin regulus, a diminutive of rex, "a king", and refer to the characteristic orange or yellow crests of adult kinglets. The species name madeirensis is derived from the island on which this bird is found. The Madeira firecrest was first described by English naturalist Edward Vernon Harcourt in 1851. Until recently, it was considered to be a subspecies, R. i. madeirensis, of the common firecrest R. ignicapillus. A phylogenetic analysis based on the cytochrome b gene showed that the Madeiran form is distinct at the species level from the firecrest nominate subspecies R. i. ignicapillus. Cytochrome b gene divergence between the Madeira firecrest and the European bird is 8.5%, comparable with the divergence level between other recognised Regulus species, such as the 9% between the goldcrest and the golden-crowned kinglet. The split was accepted by the Association of European Rarities Committees (AERC) in 2003, but some authorities, such as Clements, have not yet recognised the new species. The International Ornithological Congress' recommended English name for this species was "Madeiracrest", but this has been changed to "Madeira firecrest". The songs of the four subspecies of common firecrest (nominate R. i. ignicapillus, Mediterranean R. i. balearicus, southeastern R. i. caucasicus and North African R. i. laeneni) show a number of different song forms, but in general are very similar to each other, whereas the Madeiran firecrest has only one song type, which is divided into three phrases, two of them consisting of modified display and anger calls. Its display calls use a larger frequency range and more harmonics than the continental subspecies. Male common firecrests do not show a territorial response to recordings of the songs or calls of the Madeiran taxon, although Madeiran firecrests do react strongly to playback of the calls of the mainland birds. The island form was recognized as a separate species on the basis of differences from the mainland form in morphology, vocalisations, and genetics. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Canaries, Azores, and Madeira have a volcanic origin and they have never been part of a continent. The formation of Madeira started in the Miocene and the island was substantially complete 700,000 years ago. In the distant past the major islands of these archipelagos were all colonised by Regulus species, which evolved on their respective islands isolated from mainland populations. The firecrest descendant evolved in Madeira and goldcrest subspecies evolved on the other islands. Cytochrome b gene divergence between common firecrests from Europe and Madeira firecrests suggests an evolutionary separation roughly 4 million years ago, considerably earlier than the 2.2 million years ago maximum estimate for the goldcrest radiations in the Canaries and Azores. ## Distribution and habitat The Madeira firecrest is endemic to the main island of Madeira. It occurs mainly at higher levels from 600 to 1,550 m (1,950–4,900 ft) in all types of forests and scrub, but with a preference for tree heaths. It can also descend to lower areas after breeding. Although it is strongly adapted to endemic tree heaths, it also breeds in broom, Vaccinium, relict laurel forest, oak-dominated deciduous forest and stands of the introduced Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica. It is absent from the alien eucalyptus and acacia plantations which have replaced much of the endemic Madeiran laurel forest. ## Behaviour ### Breeding The male Madeira firecrest sings during the breeding season, often with its crest raised, and has a display which involves pointing its bill at another bird, showing the crest and strong face pattern. This differs from the display of the plainer-faced goldcrest, which bows its head to emphasize the crest. The Madeira firecrest is monogamous. As is typical for the family, the nest is a closed cup built in three layers with a small entrance hole near its top. The nest's outer layer is made from moss, small twigs, cobwebs and lichen, the spider webs also being used to attach the nest to the thin branches that support it. The middle layer is moss, and this is lined with feathers (up to 3,000) and hair. It is constructed by the female alone, although the male will accompany the female while she builds the nest over a period of a few days to three weeks. The eggs are described as like those of a Phylloscopus warbler (white with some brown speckles), unlike the eggs of the common firecrest, which are pink with very indistinct reddish markings at the broad end. The clutch size is unknown, but believed to be smaller than the 7–12 of the nominate race of common firecrest. The female incubates the eggs for 14.5 to 16.5 days to hatching, and broods the chicks, which fledge 19 to 20 days after hatching. Both parents feed the chicks and fledged young. ### Feeding All Regulus species are almost exclusively insectivorous, preying on small arthropods with soft cuticles, such as springtails, aphids and spiders. They also feed on the cocoons and eggs of spiders and insects, and occasionally take pollen. Regulus madeirensis favours large-sized prey such as moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera). The Madeira firecrest feeds in trees, exploiting mainly the upper surface of branches in coniferous habitat and of leaves in deciduous trees. This is in contrast to the goldcrest, which frequently feeds on the undersides of branches and leaves. The Madeira firecrest also forages in the moss and lichen which often covers the branches and trunks of laurel and oak trees. ## Predators and parasites The limited species diversity of Madeira means that there are relatively few potential predators. Of the three birds of prey, the common buzzard and common kestrel take mainly mammalian prey; however, the dark Macaronesian subspecies of the Eurasian sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus granti, is a specialist predator of woodland birds. Other than bats, there are no native land mammals, although there are a number of introduced species, two of which will take birds or chicks. These are brown rats and feral domestic cats. Even the high mountain nest sites of the endangered Zino's petrel are at risk from these predators. Data on specific parasites of the Madeira firecrest is lacking, but the widespread flea Dasypsyllus gallinulae has been recorded in a related Regulus species, and significant infection by non-native pathogens such as avian pox and avian malaria has been detected in another Macaronesian bird, the Berthelot's pipit. ## Status The Madeira firecrest's range consists of a single island, on which it appears to be fairly common to very common, Its population is estimated as between 100,000 and 200,000 individuals and is increasing. It is therefore classed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. There are no current threats, although there is a potential concern because of fragmentation and loss of native forest habitat, (e.g. replacement of laurisilva with introduced eucalyptus plantations) but its ability to occupy plantations of some of the non-native tree species has ameliorated this factor to some extent.
293,096	Thomas C. Hindman	1,170,789,250	Confederate States Army general	[ "1828 births", "1860s assassinated politicians", "1868 deaths", "1868 murders in the United States", "19th-century American lawyers", "19th-century American male writers", "19th-century American politicians", "American Fire-Eaters", "American exiles", "American expatriates in Mexico", "American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law", "American male non-fiction writers", "American military personnel of the Mexican–American War", "American people of Scottish descent", "American political writers", "American refugees", "Arkansas lawyers", "Assassinated American politicians", "Burials in Arkansas", "Confederate States Army major generals", "Confederate expatriates", "Deaths by firearm in Arkansas", "Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas", "Lawrenceville School alumni", "Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves", "Military personnel from Knoxville, Tennessee", "People murdered in Arkansas", "People of Arkansas in the American Civil War", "Politicians from Phillips County, Arkansas", "Refugees in Mexico", "Sons of Temperance", "Stateless people", "United States Army officers", "Unsolved murders in the United States" ]	Thomas Carmichael Hindman Jr. (January 28, 1828 – September 28, 1868) was an American lawyer, politician, and a senior officer of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he later moved to Mississippi and became involved in politics. Having served in the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848, Hindman practiced law and in 1853 was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. After his term expired in 1854, he moved to Helena, Arkansas where there were more opportunities for his political ambitions. Quickly becoming a political leader in Arkansas, Hindman opposed the Know-Nothing party and the ruling Conway-Johnson dynasty. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1858, he supported slavery (and was a slaveholder himself) and secession. Once the American Civil War began in 1861 and Arkansas seceded, Hindman joined the Confederate States Army, first commanding the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment, then a brigade, and then an ad-hoc division at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862; he was wounded during the battle. Following Shiloh, Hindman was promoted to major general and sent to the Trans-Mississippi Department to command Arkansas, Missouri, the Indian Territory, and part of Louisiana. As commander of the region, Hindman's policies were sometimes legally questionable and were unpopular, although they were successful in building up the district from a basically indefensible state. Public outcry led to Hindman's removal from his regional command. He was defeated at the Battle of Prairie Grove in December. Transferred to the Army of Tennessee in 1863, he led a division at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, where he was again wounded. After recovering, he commanded a division during the early stages of the Atlanta campaign although he wished to be transferred elsewhere. During the retreat after the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the summer of 1864, Hindman suffered an eye injury. He was placed on leave and traveled to Texas with his family. When the Confederacy collapsed in 1865, he fled to Mexico, but returned to Helena in 1867. Resuming his involvement in politics, he opposed the Reconstruction Era government of Arkansas. Hindman was shot by an unknown assassin at his home late on September 27, 1868, and died the next morning. Before his death, Hindman suggested the shooting was politically motivated. ## Early life Thomas Carmichael Hindman Jr. was born to Thomas C. Hindman Sr. and Sallie Holt Hindman on January 28, 1828. His parents were of English and Scottish descent, and his father had served in the 39th United States Infantry during the War of 1812. Family lore claimed that Thomas Sr. was the first white male born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Thomas Sr. and Sallie moved to Rhea County and then Post Oak Springs before returning to Knoxville, where Thomas Jr. was born, the fifth of six children. The elder Hindman often traveled to Alabama for business, and moved his family to Jacksonville, Alabama, in 1841. Much of his business there involved the Cherokee people, whose trust he gained, eventually leading to his appointment as an Indian agent. His work involved a great deal of travel, including along the Trail of Tears as a quartermaster during the Cherokee removal. With his father often away and little education available in the Jacksonville area, Thomas Jr. was sent to New York to live with relatives. He eventually enrolled at the Lawrenceville Classical Institute in New Jersey. Coursework at Lawrenceville was focused on the grammars of English and classical Greek and Latin, as well as mathematics and history. There was also an emphasis on debate, oratory, and religious instruction. Hindman was probably hazed while attending the school. Thomas Jr. graduated in 1843 as his class's salutatorian, receiving highest academic honors. After spending some time in New York, Hindman moved to Ripley, Mississippi, where his family had relocated while he was at school. His father had become prominent in local politics. In Mississippi, the younger Hindman farmed cotton and studied law with respected local attorney Orlando Davis. In 1846, the Mexican–American War began, and Hindman became caught up in the war sentiment, hoping to gain glory and believing that Mexico had wronged the United States. ## Mexican–American War After President James Knox Polk called upon the states to furnish 50,000 volunteers for the war in 1846, Governor of Mississippi Albert G. Brown authorized the creation of a number of companies, expecting that the state would be asked to furnish multiple units. Instead, Mississippi was authorized to produce only one unit, the Mississippi Rifles, leading to many would-be volunteers, including Hindman, not having an opportunity for service. Later, in November, after other states did not meet their quotas for units, Mississippi was permitted a second infantry unit, which both Hindman and his older brother Robert joined. Thomas served as a second lieutenant in the unit, but Robert was eventually discharged for medical reasons. Hindman's unit, the 2nd Mississippi, trained at Camp McClung near Vicksburg, Mississippi in January 1847, before being transferred to New Orleans, Louisiana. The unit moved to the mouth of the Rio Grande River in late February, then to other locations, including Saltillo and Buena Vista (after the Battle of Buena Vista). Aside from a few small raids, the unit did not see action and was wracked by disease. According to historian William L. Shea, Hindman served capably in his role as a junior officer in the regiment. His service included a time as a post adjutant at Mazafil from April 26 through May 1848. ## Return to Mississippi Hindman's regiment returned to Mississippi later in 1848. In May 1849, Robert Hindman was killed by William Clark Falkner in a quarrel. Falkner had felt that Robert had attempted to block him from joining the Sons of Temperance brotherhood. In the quarrel, Robert pulled a gun which misfired, and Falkner stabbed him to death. He was acquitted, and then later killed a family friend of the Hindmans, again receiving an acquittal. The killings led to a gunfight between Thomas Jr. and Falkner that resulted in no injuries, and a duel was barely avoided. Hindman joined the Sons of Temperance himself, becoming active in the early 1850s and serving as a "recording scribe" for the organization. After completing his studies with Orlando Davis, he was admitted to the bar in 1851, but found his calling in politics. A major political debate in Mississippi during the 1851 elections concerned whether slavery should be allowed in the territories won during the Mexican–American War. Hindman served as delegate to a county Democratic Party convention and the state convention of the faction of the party that supported the expansion of slavery. Hindman initially supported John A. Quitman in the 1851 gubernatorial election, but switched allegiance to Jefferson Davis after Quitman withdrew. While Davis and the pro-states' rights Democrats narrowly lost the 1851 election, they regained the governorship in 1853. In that same year, Hindman was elected to a seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from Tippah County. He was appointed to the judiciary committee and supported tax and education reform, reforms to the Mississippi Chancery Courts system, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. He tried, with little success, to ensure that new railroads within the state complied with the requirements of their charters. In March 1854, the term of the legislature ended, marking the conclusion of Hindman's political career in Mississippi. ## Move to Arkansas Hindman decided in 1854 that the political field of Mississippi was too crowded. Across the Mississippi River lay Arkansas, which was much less developed and provided more opportunities for his political ambitions. Moving in June and settling in Helena, Hindman soon entered Arkansas politics. He formed a law partnership with John Palmer and gained attention in a political debate with the cotton planter James L. Alcorn at a Fourth of July barbeque. Hindman had a reputation as a dandy, and on the day after his debate with Alcorn, a local Whig insulted Hindman by referring to him as "my sweet scented individual". The two agreed to duel with bowie knives, but the situation was defused by Patrick Cleburne and Gideon Pillow. During the 1854 political cycle, Hindman served as an orator focussing on railroad topics that would benefit Helena, although he did not run as a candidate. During the summer of 1854, Hindman had been in contact with Quitman about a filibustering expedition to attempt to annex Cuba to the United States as a slave state. Hindman was unable to join the expedition. While lobbying for railroads in Little Rock in January 1855, he had been involved in an altercation with two men after he offended their friend, the newspaper editor Charles C. Danley. One, a Dr. Moon, pulled a pistol on Hindman, who was unarmed but expressed a willingness to fight at a later time when he had a weapon. The next day, inside the Arkansas House of Representatives building, Moon's associate Wilson pulled a pistol on Hindman, who shot Moon with a derringer pistol and then pulled another weapon on Wilson. Hindman was confronted by an angry mob and was later arrested. Released on bail, he returned to Helena and was eventually acquitted. The incident prevented him from going to Cuba as leaving the country would have made him appear to be a fugitive. ### Opposing the Know-Nothings During 1855, Hindman continued to provide support for temperance groups. In May 1855, he became even more active in Arkansas politics, opposing the Know-Nothings, a political faction that held strong anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic positions. Hindman opposed the Know-Nothings because they were primarily against slavery, he disagreed with them on immigration, and felt that they violated religious liberty. Hindman formed a Democratic Party association, supported by his law partner Palmer, who was a Catholic. He spent the rest of the year speaking against the Know-Nothings across northern Arkansas, culminating in a major rally at Helena in late November. Cleburne was one of his primary political lieutenants at this time. The two targeted the Know-Nothings for their perceived abolitionism. When a yellow fever epidemic struck Helena that fall, only Hindman, Cleburne, and a local minister volunteered to aid doctors as nurses. During the epidemic, Hindman and Cleburne became good friends; they bought a newspaper together and renamed it the States Rights Democrat. At the outset of 1856, Hindman decided to run for Arkansas's 1st congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives. He went on a speaking tour across northern Arkansas from late January to mid-March, stressing opposition to the Know-Nothings and abolitionism. Hindman was challenged for the Democratic Party's nomination by the popular incumbent Alfred B. Greenwood. The party held a nomination convention beginning on Monday, May 5. After 276 rounds of voting deadlocked between Hindman and Greenwood that stretched into Saturday morning, Hindman withdrew in the interest of party unity. Despite withdrawing from the race, Hindman actively campaigned for Greenwood and was a prominent figure in the party. Hindman's vocal opposition to the Know-Nothings led to a feud with state legislator W. D. Rice. The situation festered from June 1855 through May 1856, when the two exchanged hostile letters in a newspaper. On May 24, Rice and three of his relatives got into a street fight with Hindman and Cleburne. The participants knew a fight was coming and all were armed. Rice fired first and hit Hindman in the arm and side. Hindman and Cleburne returned fire, and Cleburne was shot through the right lung. One of Rice's relatives died three days later from wounds suffered in the fight, and Cleburne almost died as well. Both Hindman and Cleburne were later legally acquitted for their actions during the fight. During 1856, Hindman had also began courting Mary Watkins Biscoe, at one point sneaking into a convent to see her when her father attempted to force an end to the romance. They were married on November 11, with Cleburne serving as Hindman's best man. Hindman's new father in-law was a wealthy landowner, and two of his bride's uncles had held statewide office. The marriage increased Hindman's financial position and social status. ### Bringing down Arkansas's political "family" Hindman began another run for Congress in late 1857. The Know-Nothings had been defeated soundly in the 1856 elections, and he had no major opposition within his own party. He was quite popular with Arkansas Democrats, and won his party's nomination easily. He then handily defeated William M. Crosby in the general election to win the nomination. During the campaign, he was involved in a carriage accident that broke his leg. The injury did not heal properly, leaving one of his legs 2 inches (5.1 cm) longer than the other. He had to wear a special boot, and he walked with a limp the rest of his life. For years, Arkansas politics had been run by the political Conway-Johnson dynasty known as the Family. By the late 1850s, the strength of the Family was waning, as one of their most successful tactics had been to stress Democratic unity in the face of the Whigs and Know-Nothings, both of whom had largely lost power in Arkansas after 1856. Hindman, who had ambitions for the United States Senate seat held by Family member William K. Sebastian, took a leading role in organizing a Democratic faction, known as the Old Line Democrats, opposed to the Family. A newspaper by the name of the Old Line Democrat was also established by Hindman. After a pro-Family political convention in November 1858 changed traditional nominating rules to allow former Whigs and Know-Nothings to participate in the candidate selection process, Hindman protested publicly, believing that the changes had been made to secure Sebastian the nomination. In response, Richard H. Johnson and other leaders of the Family threatened to block Hindman's re-election push for the 1860 election. To the Family, Hindman was a "factious disorganizer". Major disagreements between Hindman and his camp and the Family occurred over fiscal matters. The Real Estate Bank of Arkansas, a state bank, had previously collapsed as a result of the Panic of 1837, leaving Arkansas with large amounts of debt. Hindman suggested reducing the debt by foreclosing on mortgages held by the bank and suing the bank's stockholders, many of whom were members of the Family, for the collateral they had put up. Richard Johnson, in turn, accused Hindman of wanting to get the bank problem resolved, as his father in-law was a former trustee of the bank who owed the bank money and had been accused of mismanagement. Hindman also accused the state government of unfairly awarding a printing contract to the Family-owned True Democrat newspaper, while the Family responded that Hindman just wanted the contract to go to one of the two newspapers he owned, the States Rights Democrat and the Old Line Democrat. Hindman unsuccessfully attempted to get Congressional election dates changed, and both sides accused the other of being supported by Know-Nothings. In November 1859, Hindman promised that he would appear in Little Rock to publicly argue against the Family, but instead went to Mississippi, stating that there had been an illness in his family. His failure to appear caused Robert Ward Johnson to refer to Hindman as "a bully and imposter". A duel between the two men almost occurred in December. Another scandal arose when the press of the Family accused Hindman of writing a number of pro-Hindman letters under the name of "Viator"; Hindman later admitted to having been involved in writing them. Hindman's rise to prominence had caused turmoil in Arkansas politics, and the state Democratic Party was now badly split. In the candidate selection convention for the 1860 Arkansas gubernatorial election, the Family leadership manipulated several electoral and delegate selection processes to ensure Richard Johnson's nomination. In May 1860, Henry M. Rector, a lower-ranking member of the Family hierarchy, entered the race. While opposing Johnson, Rector did not directly ally with Hindman and his supporters, although Hindman did support Rector. In the congressional elections, Hindman won the Democratic nomination with little difficulty, although his opponents accused him of exerting undue influence over the commission and argued that he should have instead been at the Congressional session in Washington, D.C. After a bitter gubernatorial campaign, Rector defeated Johnson, and Hindman handily defeated his opponent, Jesse N. Cypert. Talk of secession had played a role in the campaign: Johnson was viewed as a pro-secession candidate, anti-secessionist voters favored Rector. The 1860 elections marked the end of the strength of the Family in Arkansas politics, and it never regained its former position of dominance. ## American Civil War ### Secession Throughout his political career, Hindman had supported slavery, the right of slaveholders to take their slaves to other territories, and the belief that the Union could only be preserved if slavery was allowed. He also supported the resumption of the international slave trade, which had been outlawed in the United States. In the election for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 1859, Hindman joined other southern Democrats in opposing the candidacy of Republican John Sherman. Sherman had signed a compendium accompanying an anti-slavery book by Hinton Rowan Helper, and in January 1860, Hindman made a speech titled "That Black Republican Bible – The Helper Book" in opposition to Sherman. Hindman's speech was popular in the south, and Republican William Pennington was elected instead of Sherman. In Congress, Hindman supported a canal to bypass a blockage on the Red River of the South; proposed a decrease in public land cost, supported a railroad from Memphis, Tennessee to Albuquerque, New Mexico; and proposed converting the Little Rock Arsenal into an educational facility. Hindman was not a delegate to the 1860 Charleston Democratic National Convention, where a major split in the Democratic Party occurred. The split was bad enough that another convention had to be held in Baltimore. Disagreement over who would be the Arkansas delegation to the Baltimore convention occurred, with a duel being threatened between Hindman and Dr. William Hooper, which did not proceed when Hindman declined as he did not consider Hooper to be his equal. The Baltimore convention completed the split of the Democratic Party. Some of the party supported Stephen A. Douglas, while others supported John C. Breckinridge. Hindman supported Breckenridge, who was viewed as the stronger pro-slavery candidate. While Breckenridge carried Arkansas, Republican Abraham Lincoln won the election nationwide. Hindman viewed the election of Lincoln as meaning that slavery was no longer safe, supporting secession while knowing that it could lead to civil war. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded. The next day, Hindman and Robert Ward Johnson sent a telegram to the Arkansas General Assembly calling for a secession convention. By the end of January 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana were out of the Union. Arkansas took control of the Little Rock Arsenal in early February, and on February 18, the voters of Arkansas approved a secession convention. The secession convention met in early March and was against secession in the early going, and on March 18 rejected two motions that would have created a statewide secession referendum. However, before the convention ended on March 21, an agreement was made to hold a secession referendum in August. The situation changed in mid-April. On April 12, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, bringing on the American Civil War, and Lincoln called on the states to furnish troops to put down the rebellion. Arkansas rejected the request, and the secession convention was recalled. Lincoln's call for troops moved public opinion towards secession, and parts of the state began to prepare for war even though the state had not yet seceded. Hindman made pro-secession speeches in the areas that had previously opposed it, and he was present on May 6 when the convention voted to secede from the Union. He personally telegraphed Davis, who was now the Confederate president, of the result. With war coming, Hindman resigned his seat in the United States House of Representatives. Historian Ezra J. Warner states that Hindman played a major role in Arkansas secession. ### Entering Confederate service After seceding, the secession convention created several laws to prepare the state for military action. Hindman was not part of the convention, but did write most of an ordinance for it to establish a military board. After contacting the Confederate States Secretary of War, LeRoy Pope Walker, Hindman received permission to recruit a regiment for Confederate service. Hindman informed the military board of this development on May 23, but they would not provide weapons, food, or clothing for his men. Instead, Hindman had to keep the men he recruited at Helena and Pine Bluff at his own expense. The men were initially ordered to Richmond, Virginia, but on June 11 were given orders to remain in Arkansas because Union Army forces in Missouri were threatening Arkansas. Hindman's unit became the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment, and he entered the Confederate States Army as a colonel on June 12. Hindman's men were assigned to the command of Confederate Brigadier General William J. Hardee, but other Arkansas troops remained in state service and would not serve under Hardee, especially since they were not being properly paid or clothed. Many simply went back home. In September, General Albert Sidney Johnston was placed in command of all forces west of the Allegheny Mountains, excluding the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Hardee's force, including Hindman's regiment, was transferred to Kentucky later that month, but Hindman was on recruiting duties and did not immediately follow it. He was promoted to brigadier general on September 28, and after arriving in Kentucky, he was assigned to command one of two brigades in a division led by Hardee, with Cleburne, who was also in Confederate service, commanding the other. While in Kentucky, Hindman's men fought in several minor actions, including the Battle of Rowlett's Station on December 17. ### Shiloh On February 8, 1862, after a Union victory at the Battle of Fort Henry and with the fall of Fort Donelson likely, Johnston ordered the abandonment of Kentucky, and Hindman's men withdrew to Corinth, Mississippi, via Murfreesboro, Tennessee. At Corinth, Johnston gathered forces and by April had over 40,000 men, and along with General P. G. T. Beauregard, began planning an attack against Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Union army at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. Hindman was in command of a brigade in a corps led by Hardee. Johnston's attack, known as the Battle of Shiloh, was launched on April 6. Shortly before the battle, Hardee reorganized his corps into two ad hoc divisions, and Hindman's included both his original brigade (now commanded by Colonel Robert G. Shaver) and that of Brigadier General S. A. M. Wood. The battle opened with Hindman's men fighting with Colonel Everett Peabody's Union brigade, in an exchange that prevented the Confederates from achieving complete surprise. Wood's brigade later drove back a Union brigade, but suffered heavy losses in the effort. Hindman personally led another attack that shattered a Union brigade. During fighting with Colonel James C. Veatch's Union brigade, Hindman's horse was killed, and he was knocked out of the fighting by the fall, having broken a leg. With Hindman down and Hardee elsewhere on the field, Wood's and Shaver's battered and exhausted brigades fell out of the fighting, leaderless. Johnston was mortally wounded during the fighting on April 6, which resulted in the Union forces being pushed back but not decisively defeated. Union reinforcements arrived, and on the next day drove the Confederates from the field. Hindman received praise from both Hardee and Beauregard for his performance during the battle. ### Trans-Mississippi command After Shiloh, Hindman took leave in Helena to recover. He was promoted to the rank of major general to date from April 14 and reported back to the army at Corinth, Mississippi, on May 10. On May 26, Hindman received orders from Beauregard to head back west of the Mississippi River and take command of Arkansas and the Indian Territory; these orders were expanded the next day to command Arkansas, Missouri, the Indian Territory, and Louisiana north of the Red River of the South. After stopping to gather supplies and weapons in Memphis, Helena, and Napoleon, Arkansas, Hindman arrived in Little Rock on May 30. Major General Earl Van Dorn had recently transferred almost all of the men and supplies in the Trans-Mississippi Department to east of the Mississippi, leaving very little in Arkansas. Hindman had to construct his department from little, in one of the least developed parts of the Confederacy. He approached his task with zeal and energy, enforcing conscription laws (he illegally exempted from conscription the manufacturers of some goods he deemed necessary), promoted guerrilla warfare, and declared martial law. He also took troops passing through the state for Trans-Mississippi use, ordered all white troops in the Indian Territory to report to Arkansas, set up facilities to produce supplies and weapons, and secured the return of a division of Missouri troops that had been sent east of the Mississippi. He also reorganized the cavalry units within his department. Stephen B. Oates credited Hindman's actions with making the cavalry under his authority "useful instead of ornamental". In the long run, his policies towards guerrilla warfare backfired on Hindman, as it eventually led to an increase in lawlessness in the state and Shea suggested that Hindman's open hatred of the Union may have been connected to incidents of Confederate troops murdering captured Union soldiers in May. Hindman also established defensive positions on the White River, although Union forces defeated Confederates in the area in the Battle of St. Charles and then again in the Battle of Cotton Plant, eventually taking Helena. Helena was the only permanent loss of territory in Arkansas the Confederates suffered at that time. As Union control of Missouri prevented Hindman from enforcing conscription there, he sent veterans of the Missouri State Guard into the state on recruiting drives, resulting in thousands of recruits for the Confederacy. The incursions also resulted in an uptick in guerrilla activity in Missouri. When Hindman had taken over in Arkansas, the region was largely defenseless and Union forces were on the move; 70 days later, Union forces were at a standstill and the Confederates had over 20,000 men in Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Hindman's methods in accomplishing these tasks were sometimes extralegal, and he angered the political elite of Arkansas. Planters objected when Hindman ordered cotton burned to prevent Union forces from capturing it, or when he impressed slaves for military construction projects. Conscription was unpopular, and in the words of historians William Garrett Piston and John C. Rutherford, Hindman "managed to alienate almost everyone". Many Arkansans viewed him as a tyrant. Historian William Shea wrote that Hindman's accomplishments demonstrated "what fanaticism and a complete disregard for constitutional rights could accomplish". He also cooperated poorly with Brigadier General Albert Pike, who disagreed with the decision to transfer Pike's white troops from the Indian Territory; Hindman supported another officer who ordered Pike's arrest and wanted Pike brought up for a court martial based on a speech that Pike made to pro-Confederate Native Americans that Hindman thought was designed to discourage them. Arkansas elites complained about Hindman to the Confederate government, and Hindman was replaced, as it was believed that he had become odious to Arkansans. His successor was Major General Theophilus Holmes, who was appointed on July 16. Holmes arrived in Arkansas on August 12. ### Defeat at Prairie Grove Holmes, who had been transferred west after performing poorly in the Seven Days' Battles, upheld some of Hindman's unpopular decrees, including martial law. Holmes also divided his department into three districts. Hindman was appointed to command the District of Arkansas, which consisted of Arkansas, Missouri, and the Indian Territory. Both Holmes and Hindman wanted to invade Missouri, and Hindman was ordered on August 21 to travel to Fort Smith in northwestern Arkansas to prepare for such a movement; Hindman arrived three days later. The Confederate troops in the area were largely unprepared for an offensive, and only a few months remained until the onset of winter would make movements in the Ozarks very difficult. In early September, Hindman pushed 6,000 men into southwestern Missouri and established his headquarters at Pineville. On September 10, Holmes recalled him to Little Rock. Brigadier General Allison Nelson had fallen terminally ill, and Holmes needed Hindman to take care of administrative matters. In Hindman's absence, Brigadier General James S. Rains took command. The Confederates in southwestern Missouri withdrew back into Arkansas after the First Battle of Newtonia, splitting into two forces, one of which was shattered at the Battle of Old Fort Wayne. Hindman returned to Fort Smith in mid-October, and had Rains removed for drunkenness. After learning that Union Major General John Schofield had advanced into Arkansas with 8,000 to 10,000 men, Hindman withdrew his force south across the Boston Mountains. After the withdrawal, Schofield assumed that the Confederates were no longer threatening Missouri and took two of his three divisions back to Springfield, Missouri, leaving Brigadier General James G. Blunt's division in northwestern Arkansas. The Confederates had been defeated at the Second Battle of Corinth, and Holmes was ordered to transfer 10,000 men east of the Mississippi River. Hindman opposed this, and suggested an offensive movement, which Holmes reluctantly agreed to. Hindman's plan was to send Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's cavalry to Cane Hill, Arkansas, to distract Blunt, while moving most of his force into Blunt's rear, crushing Blunt before Union reinforcements could arrive from the Springfield area. Marmaduke's movement was detected by Union scouts, and Blunt moved to attack the Confederate cavalry. Fighting broke out between the two forces on November 28, and Marmaduke was forced to withdraw. Despite being short on food and ammunition, Hindman then moved most of his force, a total of 11,000 men and 22 cannons, towards Cane Hill on December 3. Blunt learned of the movement and prepared for a fight. Late on December 6, Hindman learned that Union forces, led by Brigadier General Francis J. Herron, had already left Springfield and would be at Cane Hill on December 7. As his previous plan was no longer feasible, Hindman decided to instead strike Herron at Prairie Grove on December 7 and then attack Blunt at Cane Hill after defeating Herron. The new plan was risky, and was predicated on Blunt not moving to reinforce Herron at Prairie Grove. Hindman did not attack, and instead took up a passive defensive position at Prairie Grove on December 7. The Battle of Prairie Grove opened between Hindman and Herron, but Blunt arrived on the field at 13:45. The Confederates fought the combined forces of Herron and Blunt to a draw, but Hindman decided to withdraw to Van Buren, Arkansas, after the battle. Biographers Diane Neal and Thomas Kremm wrote that Hindman's decision to move to the defensive on December 7 was a "ghastly mistake"; Hindman's contemporary John Newman Edwards stated that "waiting for Herron's attack meant waiting for Blunt". The Confederates retreated again, this time to Little Rock, after a defeat by Herron and Blunt at the Battle of Van Buren on December 28. ### Chickamauga Hindman's earlier policies in Arkansas continued to make him unpopular during the Prairie Grove campaign, and the defeat at Prairie Grove worsened matters. The Arkansas congressional delegation petitioned Davis to transfer him out of the state, a request that was granted on January 30, 1863. Hindman was assigned to a court of inquiry related to the Confederate defeat at the Battle of New Orleans in February, and finally left the state on March 13. Hindman presided over the court of inquiry, which met from April through July. He petitioned the Confederate government to reassign him to a divisional command in Arkansas, but he was instead sent to command a division in Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk's corps of the Army of Tennessee. He arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to join the army on August 13, but soon developed a poor relationship with army commander General Braxton Bragg. On August 16, Union Major General William S. Rosecrans began a movement towards Chattanooga with 67,000 men. Outnumbered, Bragg abandoned the city and fell back into northern Georgia, pursued by Rosecrans. However, Rosecrans overextended his line, and Bragg prepared for an opportunity to attack. A division of the Union army was sent into McLemore Cove, in an area vulnerable to Confederate attack. On the night of September 9–10, Bragg ordered Hindman to attack, and ordered D. H. Hill to send Cleburne's division to attack from the opposite direction once Hindman struck the Union force. Hill, in turn, claimed to Bragg that the movement was impossible, and Cleburne's division moved only part of the way. Hindman's division likewise halted early, with Hindman sending a message back to Bragg that he would not advance further unless he learned for certain that Cleburne was moving as well. Hindman continued his movement towards the Union position on the morning of the 11th. At about noon, Bragg ordered Cleburne to attack but soon reversed the order. Minor skirmishing broke out between Hindman and the Union force at around 16:30, and Cleburne's division attacked, but the Union force had retreated and the Battle of Dug Gap was only light skirmishing. While Bragg's orders were poorly written, Hindman still performed badly; in the words of historian Craig Symonds, Hindman deserved the public tongue-lashing given to him by Bragg after the affair. Bragg then decided to attack Rosecrans elsewhere, at Lee and Gordon Mill. The Battle of Chickamauga began on September 18, with the main Confederate attack beginning on September 19. In the battle, Hindman's division was assigned to the left wing of the Confederate army, under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet. The battle continued into the next day, and a misunderstanding led to a Union division being moved from its place in the line on the morning of September 20, resulting in a gap between Union formations. Longstreet's men attacked into the gap. Hindman's division shattered two Union divisions in forty minutes. The entire Union right wing collapsed. Hindman suffered a painful shrapnel wound to the neck during the battle, but remained on the field. During the early afternoon, Colonel John T. Wilder's Union brigade struck Hindman's left flank, blunting the division's attack. Wilder wanted to drive through Hindman's line to the other side of the Union position, where troops under Major General George H. Thomas were still holding out, but was ordered to retreat. After this incident, Hindman was ordered to stop his pursuit of retreating Union forces and move his division north to rejoin other units of Longstreet's command. Hindman sent one of his brigades to the support of Brigadier General Bushrod Johnson's division, ordered a second to resupply using captured Union ammunition, and intended to send his third brigade to Johnson's aid once it was ready. Instead, Johnson attacked without waiting for Hindman. Bloody fighting against Thomas's men occurred, and Hindman's division entered the fray as well. Longstreet had been unclear as to whether Johnson or Hindman were in charge, and both officers believed that they were responsible for both divisions. Fighting, often at close quarters, continued until nightfall, when Thomas, now facing the wings of both Longstreet and Polk, withdrew. Bragg decided not to pursue on September 21. ### Suspension and transfer request On September 29, 1863, Bragg suspended Polk from command for "neglect of duty" and Hindman for "disobedience of the lawful command of his superior officer", with Hindman's charge being related to the McLemore Cove incident. Hindman was sent to Atlanta, Georgia, to await further developments. Neal and Kremm refer to the suspension as unwarranted and ill-timed and state that the suspensions of Polk and Hindman "in part appear to have been motivated by Bragg's desire to rid his command of some of his critics", although Hindman had not vocally opposed Bragg. After recovering, Hindman began preparing reports and documents to oppose his suspension, and on November 8 asked for a court of inquiry. Several of the officers of Bragg's army had sent a petition to Davis in early October and receiving letters from civilians criticizing Bragg's generalship, Davis declared that the suspensions of Hindman and Polk were void and traveled to visit Bragg's army, although Bragg did not initially comply with the declaration. On November 15, wanting to avoid a court of inquiry, Bragg dropped the charges against Hindman and ordered him reinstated, although Hindman was allowed to remain on leave until December 15 while his wife gave birth and recovered from a serious illness. Meanwhile, Bragg had been removed from command on November 30; he was replaced by General Joseph E. Johnston on December 27. During the reorganization of the army, Hindman temporarily commanded a corps until Major General John Bell Hood arrived to take permanent command; Hood arrived on February 25. Over the winter of 1863 to 1864, Hindman began supporting the Confederacy arming slaves, which was highly controversial. Cleburne also supported this idea and made a public presentation; the idea was unpopular and was rejected. Not wanting to serve under Hood, Hindman requested a transfer to an inspector general or behind-the-lines duty in Florida or southern Georgia before he was replaced. With the transfer not having been acted on by February 28, Hindman tendered his resignation. He had no real intentions of resigning, but hoped that it would push the Confederate government into transferring him. Instead, he was ordered back to his divisional command on March 18. His hopes of a transfer or promotion had been blunted by his support for Cleburne's proposal to arm slaves, the hostile Bragg's position as an advisor to Davis, and his continuing unpopularity in the Trans-Mississippi due to his previous actions in Arkansas. His resignation was denied on March 23, and Hindman officially resumed commanding his division on April 3. ### Atlanta In early May 1864, Union Major General William T. Sherman began the Atlanta campaign by moving almost 100,000 men against Johnston's army in northern Georgia. The Confederates withdrew from Dalton, Georgia, and took up positions at Resaca. The Battle of Resaca began on May 13. Fighting continued into the next day, and Hindman's division was attacked. After repulsing the Union infantry charge, Hindman's force came under artillery bombardment. Other Confederate troops attacked the Union left, only to be blunted by Union reinforcements. The battle continued into its third day on May 15. Union cavalry raided the Confederate rear, striking Hindman's division's field hospital, destroying supplies and taking prisoners. Around 13:00, Union troops again attacked Hindman's line, but were repulsed. Johnston learned that Union troops were threatening his line of communications, and ordered a withdrawal that night. The Confederate retreat continued with sporadic fighting, with Johnston taking up a new position in the Marietta area in June. On June 22, elements of two Union corps pushed forward and encountered Hood's division near Kolb's Farm. Hood responded by ordering an attack. The Battle of Kolb's Farm was a bloody Confederate repulse. Along with Major General Carter L. Stevenson's division, Hindman's division was ordered to charge. Stevenson's division suffered heavy losses, while Hindman's men encountered a swamp in their line of attack and were driven off. One Union infantry officer claimed that Hindman's attack was repulsed solely by artillery fire, with his infantry being unengaged. On June 27, Sherman was bloodily repulsed in frontal attacks at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and then outflanked Johnston's line, forcing the Confederates to retreat. During the withdrawal from Kennesaw Mountain, Hindman was struck in the face by a tree branch while riding through a forest. He was thrown from his horse and injured, including developing severe eye inflammation. The eye injury prevented him from exercising field command, and Hindman went to Atlanta and then Macon to recover. ### Leave in Texas and end of war On July 10, 1864, Hindman again requested a transfer, this time specifically to the Trans-Mississippi. This was denied because of his unpopularity in Arkansas, and he was instead offered a leave of absence to recover from his injury. Historian Albert E. Castel suggested that Hindman went on leave less because of his injury and more out of resentment of not being promoted. Another Confederate officer noted that Hindman was "anxious to get away, and everyone else equally so to get rid of him". Hindman selected San Antonio, Texas as the location for his leave, as he expected to be out of action for several months. He was unable to take all of his family's slaves with them, and hired some out to the medical director of the Army of Tennessee. In order to support his family in Texas, Hindman purchased tobacco in Alabama using borrowed money and then had it shipped using Confederate military wagons to Texas with him, where he intended to sell it. Leaving with his family in late August, Hindman began the trek to Texas. One of his daughters died of illness near Meridian, Mississippi, and was buried along the way. In early November, the party crossed the Mississippi River with difficulty, as Union forces now controlled it. They arrived in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Hindman was criticized for using Confederate military wagons to transport his personal belongings and tobacco, although it was common practice for Confederate government wagons to haul materials for civilians when they were not needed for military use. The Hindmans reached San Antonio in January 1865. By this time, the Confederacy was collapsing, and Atlanta had fallen. Over the next several months, false rumors about Hindman were circulating, such as that General E. Kirby Smith had ordered his arrest over the tobacco, or that Hindman had deserted the Confederacy to fight for Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. In April, the armies of General Robert E. Lee and Johnston surrendered, and Smith surrendered to Union forces on June 2. Hindman, who was under indictment for treason from Union authorities in Arkansas, refused to surrender. Along with his family and other Confederates, Hindman left Texas in June and crossed the Rio Grande at Laredo, Texas, entering Mexico. The Hindmans settled in Monterrey. ## Later life While he expected to have been able to easily make a living in Mexico, Hindman had trouble getting a law practice to flourish, despite learning Spanish. Maximilian later ordered the ex-Confederates to leave Monterrey, as he feared that if they flourished too much on the northern frontier of the country, they would eventually demand independence. The Hindmans moved to Saltillo and then Montelise. They then traveled to Mexico City in September, where Hindman hoped to discuss with Maximilian about land for the Confederate refugees. The Hindmans became friends with Maximilian and his wife Carlota of Mexico. Hindman's fifth child was born in Mexico City in December, and Hindman published two works on military theory. The family later moved to the Carlota, where many ex-Confederates settled. In Carlota, agriculture did not do as well as hoped, and Hindman was unable to establish a successful legal practice because of the poverty of the residents. Hindman was part of a plan formed by several ex-Confederates in 1866 to establish a colony in the Yucatán Peninsula, but this failed as foreign support for the rule of Maximilian ended. The family moved to Orizaba before June; rebels against Maximilian razed Carlota not long after they moved. Maximilian's rule began to collapse, and the Hindmans were forced to return to the United States, returning to Helena in April 1867. Maximilian was overthrown and executed in mid-June. Hindman requested a pardon from President of the United States Andrew Johnson, but this was denied. Once settled in Helena, Hindman resumed his legal practice with John C. Palmer and later M. T. Sanders. Hindman also reentered politics, speaking against the Radical Republicans. Hindman also argued against the 1868 Arkansas Constitution and the gubernatorial candidacy of Republican Powell Clayton. In an attempt to silence Hindman, the Republican leadership of Reconstruction Era-Arkansas revived the 1865 treason indictment and had Hindman arrested on March 20, 1868. He was permitted to remain at liberty until his trial, but the pending charges excluded him from a July 1868 amnesty proclamation by President Johnson that pardoned almost all former Confederates. He then became the leader of a political faction known as the Young Democracy, which supported taking a loyalty oath mandated by the 1868 constitution and then participating in future elections. One of the claims of the Young Democracy was that Republicans were only using Reconstruction for personal gain, and that freed slaves should instead support the Democrats. Hindman began to accrue a following of both ex-Confederates and freed slaves. ## Assassination On the night of September 27, 1868, while sitting in his home with his children, Hindman was shot through a window of his home. He was hit in the neck and jaw, and his windpipe was severed. His wife carried him onto the porch, and neighbors gathered around. Hindman suggested that the shooting was politically motivated, and asked a relative of his wife to take care of his family. He died early the next morning. The assassination was a shock to Arkansas. Many accused the Republican Party of being involved in the murder, but the assassin was not known. Louis D. Vaughn claimed to have been hired by Daniel A. Linthicum to commit the murder, but it was later determined that Vaughn was only trying to get back at Linthicum for exposing him as a bigamist in 1866. In 1876, an arsonist in Georgia claimed before his execution to have murdered Hindman, but his testimony contradicted the known facts of the case. Hindman is buried at what is now known as Maple Hill Cemetery in Helena, his remains having been moved there in 1870. Hindman Hall, the museum at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, was constructed using funds left by the estate of Hindman's son Biscoe for a memorial for Hindman. ## See also - List of American Civil War generals (Confederate) - List of assassinated American politicians - List of United States representatives from Arkansas
61,958	The Red Badge of Courage	1,172,987,093	1895 war novel by Stephen Crane	[ "1895 American novels", "American novels adapted into films", "American novels adapted into television shows", "D. Appleton & Company books", "Novels by Stephen Crane", "Novels first published in serial form", "Novels set during the American Civil War", "W. W. Norton & Company books", "Works originally published in American newspapers" ]	The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage", to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as flag-bearer, carrying the regimental colors. Although Crane was born after the war, and had not at the time experienced battle first-hand, the novel is known for its realism and naturalism. He began writing what would become his second novel in 1894, using various contemporary and written accounts (such as those published previously by Century Magazine) as inspiration. It is believed that he based the fictional battle on that of Chancellorsville; he may also have interviewed veterans of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms. Initially shortened and serialized in newspapers in December 1894, the novel was published in full in October 1895. A longer version of the work, based on Crane's original manuscript, was published in 1982. The novel is known for its distinctive style, which includes realistic battle sequences as well as the repeated use of color imagery, and ironic tone. Separating itself from a traditional war narrative, Crane's story reflects the inner experience of its protagonist (a soldier fleeing from combat) rather than the external world around him. Also notable for its use of what Crane called a "psychological portrayal of fear", the novel's allegorical and symbolic qualities are often debated by critics. Several of the themes that the story explores are maturation, heroism, cowardice, and the indifference of nature. The Red Badge of Courage garnered widespread acclaim, what H. G. Wells called "an orgy of praise", shortly after its publication, making Crane an instant celebrity at the age of twenty-four. The novel and its author did have their initial detractors, however, including author and veteran Ambrose Bierce. Adapted several times for the screen, the novel became a bestseller. Never out of print, it is Crane's most important work and a major American text. ## Background Stephen Crane published his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, in March 1893 at the age of 21. Maggie was not a success, either financially or critically. Most critics thought the unsentimental Bowery tale crude or vulgar, and Crane chose to publish the work privately after it was repeatedly rejected for publication. Crane found inspiration for his next novel while spending hours lounging in a friend's studio in the early summer of 1893. There, he became fascinated with issues of Century Magazine that were largely devoted to famous battles and military leaders from the Civil War. Frustrated with the dryly written stories, Crane stated, "I wonder that some of those fellows don't tell how they felt in those scraps. They spout enough of what they did, but they're as emotionless as rocks." Returning to these magazines during subsequent visits to the studio, he decided to write a war novel. He later stated that he "had been unconsciously working the detail of the story out through most of his boyhood" and had imagined "war stories ever since he was out of knickerbockers." At the time, Crane was intermittently employed as a freelance writer, contributing articles to various New York City newspapers. He began writing what would become The Red Badge of Courage in June 1893, while living with his older brother Edmund in Lake View, New Jersey. Crane conceived the story from the point of view of a young private who is at first filled with boyish dreams of the glory of war, only to become disillusioned by war's reality. He took the private's surname, "Fleming," from his sister-in-law's maiden name. He would later relate that the first paragraphs came to him with "every word in place, every comma, every period fixed." Working mostly nights, he wrote from around midnight until four or five in the morning. Because he could not afford a typewriter, he carefully wrote in ink on legal-sized paper, occasionally crossing through or overlying a word. If he changed something, he would rewrite the whole page. He later moved to New York City, where he completed the novel in April 1894 . ## Publication history The title of Crane's original, 55,000-word manuscript was "Private Fleming/His various battles", but in order to create the sense of a less traditional Civil War narrative, he ultimately changed the title to The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War. In early 1894, Crane submitted the manuscript to S. S. McClure, who held on to it for six months without publication. Frustrated, the author asked for the manuscript to be returned, after which he gave it to Irving Bacheller in October. An abbreviated version of Crane's story was first serialized in The Philadelphia Press in December 1894. This version of the story, which was culled to 18,000 words by an editor specifically for the serialization, was reprinted in newspapers across America, establishing Crane's fame. Crane biographer John Berryman wrote that the story was published in at least 200 small city dailies and approximately 550 weekly papers. In October 1895, a version, which was 5,000 words shorter than the original manuscript, was printed in book form by D. Appleton & Company. This version of the novel differed greatly from Crane's original manuscript; the deletions were thought by some scholars to be due to demands by an Appleton employee who was afraid of public disapproval of the novel's content. Parts of the original manuscript removed from the 1895 version include all of the twelfth chapter, as well as the endings to chapters seven, ten and fifteen. Crane's contract with Appleton allowed him to receive a flat ten percent royalty of all copies sold. However, the contract also stipulated that he was not to receive royalties from the books sold in Great Britain, where they were released by Heinemann in early 1896 as part of its Pioneer Series. In 1982, W. W. Norton & Company published a version of the novel based on Crane's original 1894 manuscript of 55,000 words. Edited by Henry Binder, this version is questioned by those who believe Crane made the original edits for the 1895 Appleton edition of his own accord. Since its initial publication, the novel has never gone out of print. ## Plot summary On a cold day, the fictional 304th New York Infantry Regiment awaits battle beside a river. Teenage Private Henry Fleming, remembering his romantic reasons for enlisting as well as his mother's resulting protests, wonders whether he will remain brave in the face of fear or turn and run back. He is comforted by one of his friends from home, Jim Conklin, who admits that he would run from battle if his fellow soldiers also fled. During the regiment's first battle, Confederate soldiers charge, but are repelled. The enemy quickly regroups and attacks again, this time forcing some of the unprepared Union soldiers to flee. Fearing the battle is a lost cause, Henry deserts his regiment. It is not until after he reaches the rear of the army that he overhears a general announcing the Union's victory. Ashamed, Henry escapes into a nearby forest, where he discovers a decaying body in a peaceful clearing. In his distress, he hurriedly leaves the clearing and stumbles upon a group of injured men returning from battle. One member of the group, a "tattered soldier", asks Henry where he is wounded, but the youth dodges the question. Among the group is Jim Conklin, who has been shot in the side and is suffering delirium from blood loss. Jim eventually dies of his injury, defiantly resisting aid from his friend, and an enraged and helpless Henry runs from the wounded soldiers. He next comes upon a retreating column that is in disarray. In the panic, a man hits Henry on the head with his rifle, wounding him. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and now wounded, Henry decides to return to his regiment regardless of his shame. When he arrives at camp, the other soldiers believe his injury resulted from a grazing bullet during battle. The other men care for the youth, dressing his wound. The next morning Henry goes into battle for the third time. His regiment encounters a small group of Confederates, and in the ensuing fight Henry proves to be a capable soldier, comforted by the belief that his previous cowardice had not been noticed, as he "had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man". Afterward, while looking for a stream from which to obtain water with a friend, he discovers from the commanding officer that his regiment has a lackluster reputation. The officer speaks casually about sacrificing the 304th because they are nothing more than "mule drivers" and "mud diggers". With no other regiments to spare, the general orders his men forward. In the final battle, Henry acts as the flag-bearer after the color sergeant falls. A line of Confederates hidden behind a fence beyond a clearing shoots with impunity at Henry's regiment, which is ill-covered in the tree-line. Facing withering fire if they stay and disgrace if they retreat, the officers order a charge. Unarmed, Henry leads the men while entirely escaping injury. Most of the Confederates run before the regiment arrives, and four of the remaining men are taken prisoner. The novel closes with the following passage: > It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky. Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks, an existence of soft and eternal peace. > > Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds. ## Historical accuracy and inspiration Although Crane once wrote in a letter, "You can tell nothing... unless you are in that condition yourself," he wrote The Red Badge of Courage without any experience of war. He would, however, later serve as a war correspondent during the Greco-Turkish and Spanish–American Wars. Nevertheless, the realistic portrayal of the battlefield in The Red Badge of Courage has often misled readers into thinking that Crane (despite being born six years after the end of the Civil War) was himself a veteran. While trying to explain his ability to write about battle realistically, Crane stated: "Of course, I have never been in a battle, but I believe that I got my sense of the rage of conflict on the football field, or else fighting is a hereditary instinct, and I wrote intuitively; for the Cranes were a family of fighters in the old days". Crane drew from a variety of sources in order to realistically depict battle. Century's "Battles and Leaders" series served as direct inspiration for the novel, and one story in particular (Warren Lee Goss's "Recollections of a Private") contains many parallels to Crane's work. Thomas Beer wrote in his problematic 1923 biography that Crane was challenged by a friend to write The Red Badge of Courage after having announced that he could do better than Émile Zola's La Débâcle. This anecdote, however, has not been substantiated. The metaphor of the "red badge of courage" itself may have been inspired by true events; historian Cecil D. Eby, Jr. noted that Union officer Philip Kearny insisted his troops wear bright red unit insignia patches, which became known as marks of valor and bravery. While the 304th New York Volunteer Infantry is fictional, many strategies and occurrences in the novel echo actual events during the Civil War. Details concerning specific campaigns during the war, especially regarding battle formations and actions during the Battle of Chancellorsville, have been noted by critics. It is believed that Crane listened to war stories in the town square of Port Jervis, New York (where his family at times resided) told by members of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms. The Orange Blossoms first saw battle at Chancellorsville, which is believed by local historians to have been the inspiration for the battle depicted in The Red Badge of Courage. Furthermore, there was a Private James Conklin who served in the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and Crane's short story "The Veteran", which was published in McClure's Magazine the year after The Red Badge of Courage, depicts an elderly Henry Fleming who specifically identifies his first combat experience as having occurred at Chancellorsville. ## Style and genre The Red Badge of Courage has a distinctive style, which is often described as naturalistic, realistic, impressionistic or a mixture of the three. Told in a third-person limited point of view, the novel reflects the inner-experience of Henry Fleming, a young soldier who flees from combat, rather than upon the external world around him. The Red Badge of Courage is notable in its vivid descriptions and well-cadenced prose, both of which help create suspense within the story. Critics in particular have pointed to the repeated use of color imagery throughout the novel, both literal and figurative, as proof of the novel's use of Impressionism. Blue and gray uniforms are mentioned, as are yellow and orange sunlight, and green forests, while men's faces grow red with rage or courage, and gray with death. Crane also uses animalistic imagery to comment upon people, nature, and war itself. For example, the novel begins by portraying the army as a living entity that is "stretched out on the hills, resting." While the novel takes place during a series of battles, The Red Badge of Courage is not a traditional Civil War narrative. Focusing on the complex internal struggle of its main character, rather than on the war itself, Crane's novel often divides readers as to whether the story is intended to be either for or against war. By avoiding political, military, and geographic details of the conflict between the states, the story becomes divorced from its historical context. Notably lacking are the dates in which the action takes place, and the name of the battle; these omissions effectively shift attention away from historical patterns in order to concentrate on the emotional violence of battle in general. The writer alluded to as much in a letter, in which he stated he wished to depict war through "a psychological portrayal of fear." Writing more than thirty years after the novel's debut, author Joseph Conrad agreed that the novel's main struggle was internal rather than external, and that Fleming "stands before the unknown. He would like to prove to himself by some reasoning process that he will not 'run from the battle'. And in his unblooded regiment he can find no help. He is alone with the problem of courage." Crane's realistic portrayal of the psychological struck a chord with reviewers; as one contemporary critic wrote for The New York Press: "At times the description is so vivid as to be almost suffocating. The reader is right down in the midst of it where patriotism is dissolved into its elements and where only a dozen men can be seen, firing blindly and grotesquely into the smoke. This is war from a new point of view." With its heavy use of irony, symbolism and metaphor, the novel also lends itself to less straightforward readings. As with many of Crane's fictional works, the novel's dialogue often uses distinctive local dialects, contributing to its apparent historicity; for example, Jim Conklin muses at the beginning of the novel: "I s'pose we must go reconnoiterin' 'round th' kentry jest t' keep 'em from gittin' too clost, or t'develope'm, or something". The ironic tone increases in severity as the novel progresses, especially in terms of the ironic distance between the narrator and protagonist. The title of the work itself is ironic; Henry wishes "that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage", echoing a wish to have been wounded in battle. The wound he does receive (from the rifle butt of a fleeing Union soldier), however, is not a badge of courage but a badge of shame. By substituting epithets for characters' names ("the youth", "the tattered soldier"), Crane injects an allegorical quality into his work, making his characters point to a specific characteristic of man. There have been numerous interpretations concerning hidden meanings within The Red Badge of Courage. Beginning with Robert W. Stallman's 1968 Crane biography, several critics have explored the novel in terms of Christian allegory. In particular, the death of Henry Fleming's Christ-like friend, Jim Conklin, is noted for evidence of this reading, as well as the concluding sentence of chapter nine, which refers to the sun as "fierce wafer" in the sky. John Berryman was one of the first critics to interpret the novel as a modern wasteland through which the protagonist plays the role of an Everyman. Still others read the novel as having a Naturalist structure, comparing the work to those by Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris and Jack London. ## Themes As the title of the work suggests, the main theme of the novel deals with Henry Fleming's attempt to prove himself a worthy soldier by earning his "red badge of courage". The first twelve chapters, until he receives his accidental wound, expose his cowardice. The following chapters detail his growth and apparently resulting heroism. Before the onset of battle, the novel's protagonist romanticized war; what little he knew about battle he learned from books: "He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed to see it all". Therefore, when confronted by the harsh realities of war, Henry is shocked, and his idealism falters. Finding solace in existential thoughts, he internally fights to make sense of the senseless world in which he finds himself. When he seems to come to terms with his situation, he is yet again forced into the fears of battle, which threaten to strip him of his enlightened identity. Joseph Hergesheimer wrote in his introduction to the 1925 Knopf edition of the novel that, at its heart, The Red Badge of Courage was a "story of the birth, in a boy, of a knowledge of himself and of self-command." However, the text is ambiguous, making it questionable that Henry ever matures. As critic Donald Gibson stated in The Red Badge of Courage: Redefining the Hero, "the novel undercuts itself. It says there is no answer to the questions it raises; yet it says the opposite.... It says that Henry Fleming finally sees things as they are; it says he is a deluded fool. It says that Henry does not see things as they are; but no one else does either." Although Crane critic and biographer Stallman wrote of Henry's "spiritual change" by the end of the story, he also found this theme difficult to champion in light of the novel's enigmatic ending. Although Henry "progresses upwards toward manhood and moral triumph", as he begins to mature by taking leave of his previous "romantic notions," "the education of the hero ends as it began: in self deception." Critic William B. Dillingham also noted the novel's heroism paradox, especially in terms of the introspective Henry's lapse into unreasoning self-abandon in the second half of the book. Dillingham stated that "in order to be courageous, a man in time of physical strife must abandon the highest of his human facilities, reason and imagination, and act instinctively, even animalistically." The indifference of the natural world is a reoccurring theme in Crane's work. At the beginning of the novel, as the regiments advance toward battle, the sky is described as being an innocuous "fairy blue." In chapter seven, Henry notes the inexplicable tranquility of nature, "a woman with a deep aversion to tragedy", even as the battle rages on. Similarly, Heaven itself is indifferent to the slaughter he encounters on the battlefield. The dichotomy between nature's sweetness and war's destructiveness is further described in chapter eighteen: "A cloud of dark smoke as from smoldering ruins went up toward the sun now bright and gay in the blue, enameled sky." After his desertion, however, Henry finds some comfort in the laws of nature, which seem to briefly affirm his previous cowardice: > This landscape gave him assurance. A fair field holding life. It was the religion of peace. It would die if its timid eyes were compelled to see blood.... He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering fear. High in a treetop he stopped, and, poking his head cautiously from behind a branch, looked down with an air of trepidation. The youth felt triumphant at this exhibition. There was the law, he said. Nature had given him a sign. The squirrel, immediately upon recognizing danger, had taken to his legs without ado. He did not stand stolidly baring his furry belly to the missile, and die with an upward glance at the sympathetic heavens. On the contrary, he had fled as fast as his legs could carry him. ## Reception The Red Badge of Courage received generally positive reviews from critics on its initial publication; in particular, it was said to be a remarkably modern and original work. Appleton's 1895 publication went through ten editions in the first year alone, making Crane an overnight success at the age of twenty-four. H. G. Wells, a friend of the author, later wrote that the novel was greeted by an "orgy of praise" in England and the United States. An anonymous reviewer for The New York Press wrote shortly after the novel's initial publication that "One should be forever slow in charging an author with genius, but it must be confessed that The Red Badge of Courage is open to the suspicion of having greater power and originality than can be girdled by the name of talent." The reviewer for The New York Times was impressed by Crane's realistic portrayal of war, writing that the book "strikes the reader as a statement of facts by a veteran", a sentiment that was echoed by the reviewer for The Critic, who called the novel "a true book; true to life, whether it be taken as a literal transcript of a soldier's experiences in his first battle, or... a great parable of the inner battle which every man must fight." The novel, however, did have its initial detractors. Some critics found Crane's young age and inexperience troubling, rather than impressive. For example, one reviewer wrote, "As Mr. Crane is too young a man to write from experience, the frightful details of his book must be the outcome of a very feverish imagination." Crane and his work also received criticism from veterans of the war; one in particular, Alexander C. McClurg, a brigadier general who served through the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns, wrote a lengthy letter to The Dial (which his publishing company owned) in April 1896, lambasting the novel as "a vicious satire upon American soldiers and American armies." Author and veteran Ambrose Bierce, popular for his Civil War-fiction, also expressed contempt for the novel and its writer. When a reviewer for The New York Journal referred to The Red Badge of Courage as a poor imitation of Bierce's work, Bierce responded by congratulating them for exposing "the Crane freak". Some reviewers also found fault with Crane's narrative style, grammar mistakes, and apparent lack of traditional plot. While it eventually became a bestseller in the United States, The Red Badge of Courage was more popular and sold more rapidly in England when it was published in late 1895. Crane was delighted with his novel's success overseas, writing to a friend: "I have only one pride and that is that the English edition of The Red Badge of Courage has been received with great praise by the English reviewers. I am proud of this simply because the remoter people would seem more just and harder to win." Critic, veteran and Member of Parliament George Wyndham called the novel a "masterpiece", applauding Crane's ability to "stage the drama of man, so to speak, within the mind of one man, and then admits you as to a theatre." Harold Frederic wrote in his own review that "If there were in existence any books of a similar character, one could start confidently by saying that it was the best of its kind. But it has no fellows. It is a book outside of all classification. So unlike anything else is it that the temptation rises to deny that it is a book at all". Frederic, who would later befriend Crane when the latter relocated to England in 1897, juxtaposed the novel's treatment of war to those by Leo Tolstoy, Émile Zola and Victor Hugo, all of whose works he believed to be "positively... cold and ineffectual" when compared to The Red Badge of Courage. ## Legacy Crane himself later wrote about the novel: "I don't think The Red Badge to be any great shakes but then the very theme of it gives it an intensity that the writer can't reach every day." For the remainder of Crane's short career (he died from tuberculosis at the age of 28), The Red Badge of Courage served as the standard against which the rest of his works were compared. Appleton republished the novel again in 1917, shortly after the US entered World War I, reissuing it three additional times that same year. Since the resurgence of Crane's popularity in the 1920s, The Red Badge of Courage has been deemed a major American text and Crane's most important work. While modern critics have noted Crane's "anticipation of the modern spectacle of war", others, such as Crane scholar Stanley Wertheim, believe the work to be "unquestionably the most realistic novel about the American Civil War". Donald Gibson called the novel "ahead of its time" because it did "not conform to very many contemporary notions about what literature should be and do." The novel has been anthologized numerous times, including in Ernest Hemingway's 1942 collection Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time. In the introduction, Hemingway wrote that the novel "is one of the finest books of our literature, and I include it entire because it is all as much of a piece as a great poem is." Robert W. Stallman's introduction to the Modern Library's 1951 edition of The Red Badge of Courage contained one of the first modern assessments of the novel. This novel is followed by other works by Crane, such as the novella, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The novel has been adapted several times for the screen. A 1951 film by the same name was directed by John Huston, starring Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy as Henry Fleming. Written by Huston and Albert Band, the film suffered from a troubled production history, went over budget, and was cut down to only seventy minutes despite objections from the director. A made-for-television movie was released in 1974, starring Richard Thomas as Fleming, while the 2008 Czech film Tobruk was partly based on The Red Badge of Courage. ## General and cited references
1,065,808	SMS Schleswig-Holstein	1,163,108,447	Battleship of the German Imperial Navy	[ "1906 ships", "Battleships of the Kriegsmarine", "Deutschland-class battleships", "Maritime incidents in 1948", "Maritime incidents in December 1944", "Ships built in Kiel", "Ships sunk by British aircraft", "Shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea", "World War I battleships of Germany", "World War II battleships of Germany" ]	SMS Schleswig-Holstein () was the last of the five pre-dreadnought Deutschland-class battleships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship, named for the province of Schleswig-Holstein, was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and commissioned into the fleet nearly three years later. The ships of her class were already outdated by the time they entered service, being inferior in size, armor, firepower and speed to the new generation of dreadnought battleships. Schleswig-Holstein fought in both World Wars. During World War I, she saw front-line service in II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, culminating in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. Schleswig-Holstein saw action during the engagement, and was hit by one large-caliber shell. After the battle, Schleswig-Holstein was relegated to guard duty in the mouth of the Elbe River before being decommissioned in late 1917. As one of the few battleships permitted for Germany by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Schleswig-Holstein was again pressed into fleet service in the 1920s. In 1935, the old battleship was converted into a training ship for naval cadets. Schleswig-Holstein fired the first shots of World War II when she bombarded the Polish base at Danzig's Westerplatte in the early morning hours of 1 September 1939. The ship was used as a training vessel for the majority of the war, and was sunk by British bombers in Gotenhafen in December 1944. Schleswig-Holstein was subsequently salvaged and then beached for use by the Soviet Navy as a target. As of 1990, the ship's bell was on display in the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden. ## Design The passage of the Second Naval Law in 1900 under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz secured funding for the construction of twenty new battleships over the next seventeen years. The first group, the five Braunschweig-class battleships, were laid down in the early 1900s, and shortly thereafter design work began on a follow-on design, which became the Deutschland class. The Deutschland-class ships were broadly similar to the Braunschweigs, featuring incremental improvements in armor protection. They also abandoned the gun turrets for the secondary battery guns, moving them back to traditional casemates to save weight. The British battleship HMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 12-inch (30.5 cm) guns—was commissioned in December 1906. Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every capital ship of the German navy obsolete, including the Deutschland class. Schleswig-Holstein had a length of 127.60 m (418 ft 8 in), a beam of 22.20 m (72 ft 10 in), and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in). She displaced 13,200 metric tons (13,000 long tons) normally and up to 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons) at combat loading. She was equipped with three triple expansion engines and twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers that produced a rated 16,767 indicated horsepower (12,503 kW) and a top speed of 19.1 knots (35.4 km/h; 22.0 mph). In addition to being the second-fastest ship of her class, Schleswig-Holstein was the second-most fuel efficient. At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), she could steam for 5,720 nautical miles (10,590 km; 6,580 mi). She had a standard crew of 35 officers and 708 enlisted men. The ship's primary armament consisted of four 28 cm SK L/40 guns in two twin turrets; one turret was placed forward and the other aft. Her offensive armament was rounded out with a secondary battery of fourteen 17 cm (6.7 in) SK L/40 guns mounted individually in casemates. A battery of twenty-two 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns in single mounts provided defense against torpedo boats. The ship was also armed with six 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, all below the waterline. One was in the bow, one in the stern, and four on the broadside. Her armored belt was 240 mm (9.4 in) thick amidships in the citadel, and she had a 40 mm (1.6 in) thick armored deck. The main battery turrets had 280 mm (11 in) thick sides. ## Service history Schleswig-Holstein was laid down on 18 August 1905 at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel. She was launched on 17 December 1906, the last pre-dreadnought battleship of the German navy. At Schleswig-Holstein's launching ceremony, she was christened by Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, the German Empress; Wilhelm II was also in attendance. Ernst Gunther, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, gave the commissioning speech. Upon completion, Schleswig-Holstein was commissioned for sea trials on 6 July 1908. Her crew largely came from her sister ship Schlesien. On 21 September the ship was assigned to II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, alongside her sister ships. In November, fleet and unit exercises were conducted in the Baltic Sea. The training regimen in which Schleswig-Holstein participated followed a similar pattern over the next five years. Fleet maneuvers were conducted in the spring, followed by a summer cruise to Norway, and additional fleet training in the fall. This included another cruise into the Atlantic, from 7 July to 1 August 1909. Starting in September 1910, Friedrich Boedicker took command of the ship, a position he held for the next three years. On 3 October 1911, the ship was transferred back to II Squadron. Due to the Agadir Crisis in July, the summer cruise only went into the Baltic. In 1913, she won the Kaiser's Schiesspreis (Gunnery Award). On 14 July 1914, the annual summer cruise to Norway began, but the threat of war in Europe cut the excursion short; within two weeks Schleswig-Holstein and the rest of II Squadron had returned to Wilhelmshaven. ### World War I At the outbreak of war in July 1914, Schleswig-Holstein was assigned to guard duty in the mouth of the Elbe River while the rest of the fleet mobilized. In late October, she and her sisters were sent to Kiel to have improvements made to their underwater protection system to make them more resistant to torpedoes and mines, after which II Battle Squadron rejoined the fleet. The squadron covered Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group while they bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914. During the operation, the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens convinced the German commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet, and so he broke off the engagement and turned the fleet for home. In April 1916, the ship had two of her 8.8 cm guns removed and replaced with 8.8 cm Flak guns. Schleswig-Holstein then participated in a fleet advance to the Dogger Bank on 21–22 April 1915. On 11–12 September II Reconnaissance Group conducted a minelaying operation off the Swarte Bank with II Squadron in support. This was followed by another sweep by the fleet on 23–24 October that ended without result. II and III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts conducted an advance into the North Sea on 5–7 March 1916; Schleswig-Holstein and the rest of II Squadron remained in the German Bight, ready to sail in support. They then rejoined the fleet during the operation to bombard Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April. During this operation, the battlecruiser Seydlitz was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Visibility was poor, so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene. #### Battle of Jutland The commander of the High Seas Fleet, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, immediately planned another advance into the North Sea, but the damage to Seydlitz delayed the operation until the end of May. As the last ship assigned to IV Division of II Battle Squadron, the rearmost German formation, Schleswig-Holstein was the last battleship in the line. II Battle Squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral Franz Mauve [de]. During the "Run to the North", Scheer ordered the fleet to pursue the retreating battleships of the British 5th Battle Squadron at top speed. Schleswig-Holstein and her sisters were significantly slower than the dreadnoughts and quickly fell behind. During this period, Admiral Scheer directed Hannover to place herself behind Schleswig-Holstein so he would have a flagship on either end of the formation. By 19:30, the Grand Fleet had arrived on the scene and confronted Admiral Scheer with significant numerical superiority. The German fleet was severely hampered by the presence of the slower Deutschland-class ships; if Scheer had ordered an immediate turn towards Germany, he would have had to sacrifice the slower ships to make his escape. Admiral Scheer decided to reverse the course of the fleet with the Gefechtskehrtwendung, a maneuver that required every unit in the German line to turn 180° simultaneously. Having fallen behind, the ships of II Battle Squadron could not conform to the new course following the turn, and fell to the disengaged side of the German line. Admiral Mauve considered moving his ships to the rear of the line, astern of III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts, but decided against it when he realized the movement would interfere with the maneuvering of Hipper's battlecruisers. Instead, he attempted to place his ships at the head of the line. But by the time II Squadron reached its position at the head of the line, Scheer had ordered another Gefechtskehrtwendung, which placed them at the rear of the German fleet. By 21:00, Scheer had turned the fleet around a third time, but the slow speed of Schleswig-Holstein and her squadron mates caused them to fall out of position, to the disengaged side of the fleet. Later on the first day of the battle, Hipper's badly damaged battlecruisers were being engaged by their British rivals. Schleswig-Holstein and the other so-called "five-minute ships" came to their aid by steaming in between the opposing battlecruiser squadrons. These ships were very briefly engaged, owing in large part to the poor visibility. The visibility was so bad, the gunners aboard Schleswig-Holstein could not make out a target, and she did not fire her main guns. At 21:35 a heavy caliber shell struck the ship on the port-side, punching a hole approximately 40 cm (16 in) wide before exploding against the inner casemate armor. It tore apart 4.50 m (14.8 ft) of the superstructure deck and disabled one of the port side casemate guns. Three men were killed and nine were wounded. Admiral Mauve halted the fight against the much more powerful battlecruisers and ordered an 8-point turn to starboard. Late on the 31st, the fleet re-formed for the night voyage back to Germany, with Schleswig-Holstein towards the rear of the line, ahead of Hessen, Hannover, and the battlecruisers Von der Tann and Derfflinger. Around 03:00, British destroyers conducted a series of attacks against the fleet, some of which were directed towards Schleswig-Holstein. Shortly thereafter, Pommern was struck by at least one torpedo from the destroyer Onslaught; the hit detonated an ammunition magazine, destroying the ship in a tremendous explosion. During the attack, Schleswig-Holstein was forced to turn away to avoid the destroyers' torpedoes. Shortly after 05:00, Hannover and several other ships fired repeatedly at what they falsely believed to be British submarines. Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 4:00 on 1 June. The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later, where the undamaged dreadnoughts of the Nassau and Helgoland classes took up defensive positions. Over the course of the battle, Schleswig-Holstein had fired only twenty 17 cm rounds. #### Later actions Schleswig-Holstein was put into dock for repairs 10–25 June 1916. The Navy then decided to withdraw the four remaining Deutschland-class ships, owing to their obsolescence and vulnerability to underwater attacks, as demonstrated by the loss of Pommern. Thereafter, the ship was used as a target for U-boats, except during 12–23 February 1917 when she was used as a guard ship. In April Schleswig-Holstein was sent to Altenbruch at the mouth of the Elbe; here she was decommissioned on 2 May. Schleswig-Holstein was then disarmed and assigned to the 5th U-boat Flotilla to be used as a barracks ship in Bremerhaven. In 1918 the ship was moved to Kiel, where she remained for the rest of the war. ### Inter-war years Following the German defeat in World War I, the German navy was reorganized as the Reichsmarine according to the Treaty of Versailles. The new navy was permitted to retain eight pre-dreadnought battleships under Article 181—two of which would be in reserve—for coastal defense. Schleswig-Holstein was among the ships that were retained, along with her sisters Hannover and Schlesien and several of the Braunschweig-class battleships. Schleswig-Holstein was recommissioned as the new fleet flagship on 31 January 1926 following an extensive refit, with new fire controls and an enlarged aft superstructure for the admiral's staff. The secondary 17 cm guns were replaced with 15-centimeter (5.9 in) pieces and four 50 cm torpedo tubes were fitted in main deck casemates fore and aft, replacing the submerged tubes. Schleswig-Holstein and her sister Hannover went on a training cruise into the Atlantic that lasted from 14 May to 17 June 1926; while on the cruise, she visited Palma de Mallorca in the Mediterranean from 22 to 30 May. She stopped in Barcelona with Elsass from 1 to 7 June, and then proceeded to Vigo from 12 to 14 June, where she joined Hessen, Elsass, and Hannover. There, the chief of the fleet, Vice Admiral Konrad Mommsen, met with King Alfonso XIII. Schleswig-Holstein went on another training cruise between 30 March and 14 June 1927 into the Atlantic. She visited a series of Iberian ports, including Lisbon, Portugal, where Mommsen was greeted by Óscar Carmona, the president of Portugal. In December 1927 Schleswig-Holstein went back into dock, re-emerging in January 1928 with her forefunnel trunked back into the second and both remaining funnels heightened, as had previously been done with her sister Schlesien. With the delivery of the new Deutschland-class Panzerschiffe (armored ships) beginning in 1933, the older battleships were gradually withdrawn from front-line service. In May 1935, the Reichsmarine was reorganized as the Kriegsmarine by the reforms instituted by Adolf Hitler that created the Wehrmacht. Schleswig-Holstein ceased to be fleet flagship on 22 September 1935, and was refitted as a cadet training ship during January–March and May–July 1936. The changes included removing her remaining upper deck 15 cm guns and her torpedo tubes, and her two aft boiler rooms were converted to oil-firing models, although the forward boilers remained coal-fired. The ship's standard complement was also reduced from 35 officers and 708 enlisted men to 31 officers and 565 sailors. The crew was supplemented by 175 cadets, who were taken on long cruises in Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein, the latter sailing in October 1936 on a six-month voyage to South America and the Caribbean. The following year, her cruise took her around Africa, and the 1938–1939 cruise went back to South American and Caribbean waters. Gustav Kieseritzky served as the ship's commander from June 1938 until April 1939. In the mid-1930s, Hitler began pursuing an increasingly aggressive foreign policy; in 1936 he re-militarized the Rhineland, and in 1938 completed the Anschluss of Austria and the annexation of the Sudetenland. He then demanded German control over the city of Danzig, which had become a free city after World War I. ### World War II Early on 1 September 1939, Germany launched an invasion of Poland. Schleswig-Holstein had been positioned in the port of Danzig, moored close to the Polish ammunition depot at Westerplatte under the guise of a ceremonial visit in August. Around 04:47 on 1 September, Schleswig-Holstein opened fire with her main battery at the Polish positions on the Westerplatte, and in doing so fired the first shots of World War II. These shots were the signal for ground troops to begin their assault on the installation, though the first German ground attack in the Battle of Westerplatte was repelled shortly thereafter. A second assault began later that morning, again supported by Schleswig-Holstein, though it too had failed to break into the installation by around noon. Schleswig-Holstein was joined on 4 September by the torpedo boats T196 and Von der Gröben. A force of German infantry and army engineers went ashore to take the depot, with heavy fire support from Schleswig-Holstein. The Poles managed to hold off the Germans until they were forced to surrender on 7 September at 10:30. Following the Polish surrender, Schleswig-Holstein began shelling Polish positions at Hel and Redłowo; these operations lasted until 13 September. Between 25 and 27 September, the old battleship returned to Hel with her sister Schlesien; both vessels conducted further bombardments of Polish positions there. On 25 September the Schleswig-Holstein was lightly damaged by Polish coastal batteries at Hel. The German military then turned its attention westward, and in April 1940 invaded Denmark. Schleswig-Holstein was assigned to Gruppe 7, a part of the naval component for the German invasion force for Denmark. Along with the torpedo boat Claus von Bevern and several auxiliary ships, her objective was to support the capture of Korsør and Nyborg. During the invasion, the ship was briefly grounded in the Great Belt, west of Agersø. Following the operation, she was transferred back to training duties, as the flagship of the Chief of Training Units. At the end of 1943, the reactivation of Schleswig-Holstein was once again contemplated. In her favor was the fact that she retained some coal-fired boilers, given the ever-worsening oil-supply situation. Thus, on 1 February 1944 she was once again recommissioned, at first taking up her old role as a cadet training ship, then later in the year docking at Gotenhafen (Gdynia) for a refit. She was to be converted into a convoy escort ship with a greatly enhanced anti-aircraft armament, but after being hit three times by Royal Air Force bombers on 18 December 1944, she eventually foundered in shallow water. As the ship was permanently disabled, her crew was sent ashore to assist in the defense of Marienburg. Following the Soviet capture of that city, the remaining crew detonated scuttling charges in the wreck on 21 March to further destroy the ship. After the war, the ship was raised during 1945–1946 by the Soviet Navy and transferred to Tallinn. Although reference books long stated that she was scrapped there or in Marienburg, in actuality she was towed out in 1948 and beached for long-term use as a target in shallow water off the island of Osmussaar in the Gulf of Finland. Last used for target practice around 1966, the remains are now submerged. Her bell was held in the collection of the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden as of 1990.
259,110	Bodiam Castle	1,173,898,530	14th century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex , England	[ "1385 establishments in England", "Archaeological sites in East Sussex", "Bodiam", "Buildings and structures completed in 1385", "Castles in East Sussex", "Grade I listed buildings in East Sussex", "Grade I listed castles", "Historic house museums in East Sussex", "Museums in East Sussex", "National Trust properties in East Sussex", "Ruins in East Sussex", "Scheduled monuments in East Sussex", "Water castles in the United Kingdom" ]	Bodiam Castle (/ˈboʊdiəm/) is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam. Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle. It is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century. By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession of Lord Thanet. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, and later to Lord Curzon, both of whom undertook further restoration work. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument. It has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public. ## Background Edward Dalyngrigge was a younger son and thus deprived of his father's estates through the practice of primogeniture, hence he had to make his own fortunes. By 1378, he owned the manor of Bodiam by marrying into a land-owning family. From 1379 to 1388, Dalyngrigge was a Knight of the Shire for Sussex and one of the most influential people in the county. By the time he applied to the king for a licence to crenellate (build a castle), the Hundred Years' War had been fought between England and France for nearly 50 years. Edward III of England (reigned 1327–1377) pressed his claim for the French throne and secured the territories of Aquitaine and Calais. Dalyngrigge was one of many Englishmen who travelled to France to seek their fortune as members of Free Companies – groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder. He left for France in 1367 and journeyed with Lionel, Duke of Clarence and son of Edward III. After fighting under the Earl of Arundel, Dalyngrigge joined the company of Sir Robert Knolles, a notorious commander who was reputed to have made 100,000 gold crowns as a mercenary from pillage and plunder. It was as a member of the Free Companies that Dalyngrigge raised the money to build Bodiam Castle; he returned to England in 1377. The Treaty of Bruges (1375) ensured peace for two years, but after it expired, fighting resumed between England and France. In 1377 Edward III was succeeded by Richard II. During the war, England and France struggled for control of the English Channel, with raids on both coasts. With the renewed hostilities, Parliament voted that money should be spent on defending and fortifying England's south coast, and defences were erected in Kent in anticipation of a French invasion. There was internal unrest as well as external threats, and Dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The manor of Bodiam was granted a charter in 1383 permitting a weekly market and an annual fair to be held. In 1385, a fleet of 1,200 ships – variously cogs, barges, and galleys – gathered across the English Channel at Sluys, Flanders; the population of southern England was in a state of panic. Later in the year, Edward Dalyngrigge was granted a licence to fortify his manor house. ## Construction and use > Know that of our special grace we have granted and given licence on behalf of ourselves and our heirs, so far as in us lies, to our beloved and faithful Edward Dalyngrigge Knight, that he may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, and crenellate and may construct and make into a Castle his manor house of Bodiam, near the sea, in the County of Sussex, for the defence of the adjacent country, and the resistance to our enemies ... In witness of which etc. The King at Westminster 20 October. Dalyngrigge's licence from Richard II permitted him to refortify his existing manor house, but instead he chose a fresh site to build a castle on. Construction was completed in one phase, and most of the castle is in the same architectural style. Archaeologist David Thackray has deduced from this that Bodiam Castle was built quickly, probably because of the threat from the French. Stone castles were usually time-consuming and expensive to build, often costing thousands of pounds. Dalyngrigge was Captain of the port of Brest in France from 1386 to 1387, and as a result was probably absent for the first years of the castle's construction. It replaced the old manor house as Dalyngrigge's main residence and the administrative centre of the manor. It is not recorded when Bodiam Castle was completed, but Thackray suggests that it was before 1392; Dalyngrigge did not have long to spend in the completed castle, as he was dead by 1395. Danlyngrigge's estates, including the castle, were inherited by his son, John Dalyngrigge. Like his father, John enjoyed the favour of the king and was described as the "King's Knight"; in 1400 he was granted an annual allowance of 100 marks by the king. He died on 27 September 1408, leaving a will by which his property passed to his widow Alice during her lifetime. Since they had no children, at Alice's death (which occurred in 1442) it was to pass to John's cousin Richard Dallingrigge, son of Edward's brother Walter. Upon Richard's death without issue in 1470, his brother William having died before him, he left the estates to Sir Roger Lewknor, son of Richard's sister Phillippe Dallingridge. (Phillippe had married Sir Thomas Lewknor of Horsted Keynes before 1417, and died in 1421; Sir Thomas, who made a second marriage, died in 1452.) By this means, Bodiam Castle passed from the Dallingrigge into the Lewknor family. Sir Thomas Lewknor, son of Sir Roger, was a supporter of the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455. When Richard of the House of York ascended to the throne as Richard III in 1483, Lewknor was accused of treason and of raising men-at-arms in southeast England. In November 1483, Lewknor's uncle and Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, were given permission to levy men and besiege Bodiam Castle, where Lewknor was based. It is not recorded whether the siege went ahead, and Thackray suggests that Lewknor surrendered without much resistance. His property was confiscated, and Nicholas Rigby was made constable of the castle. On Henry VII's accession to the English throne the attainder was revoked, and Bodiam Castle was returned to Lewknor. However, not all the surrounding land was returned to the family until 1542. Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of the Lewknor family. Although the inheritance of the castle can be traced through the 16th and 17th centuries, there is little to indicate how it was used in this period, or if the family spent much time in it. Following the death of Sir Roger Lewknor in 1543, his estates were divided among his descendants, and the castle and manor were split. John Levett of Salehurst purchased the castle in 1588. In 1623, most of the estates of Bodiam were bought by Sir Nicholas Tufton, later Earl of Thanet. His son, John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, inherited Nicholas's property on his father's death in 1631; it was John Tufton who reunited possession of castle and manor when he bought Bodiam Castle in 1639. John Tufton was a supporter of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War, and led an attack on Lewes, and was involved in a Royalist defeat at Haywards Heath. Parliament confiscated some of his lands in 1643, and more in 1644, as well as fining him £9,000 (£ today). To help pay his fine, Tufton sold Bodiam Castle for £6,000 (£ today) in March 1644 to Nathaniel Powell, a Parliamentarian. ## Picturesque ruins After the Civil War, Powell was made a baronet by Charles II. Although it is unrecorded when Bodiam Castle was dismantled (slighted), it was probably after it was bought by Powell. During and after the Civil War, many castles were slighted to prevent them from being reused. Not all were destroyed completely, and in some cases care was taken not to unnecessarily deface the structure. At Bodiam, it was deemed sufficient to dismantle the barbican, the bridges, and the buildings inside the castle. When Nathaniel Powell died in 1674 or 1675, Bodiam Castle was passed on to his son, also called Nathaniel. After the second Nathaniel, the castle came into the possession of Elizabeth Clitherow, his daughter-in-law. In 1722 Sir Thomas Webster bought the castle. For over a century, Bodiam Castle and its associated manor descended through the Webster family. It was in this period that the site became popular as an early kind of tourist attraction because of its connection with the medieval period. The first drawings of Bodiam Castle date from the mid-18th century, when it was depicted as a ruin overgrown with ivy. Ruins and medieval buildings such as Bodiam Castle served as an inspiration for the revival in Gothic architecture and the renovation of old structures. The third Sir Godfrey Webster began looking for buyers for the castle in 1815, and in 1829 he finally managed to sell it and 24 acres (10 ha) of the surrounding land to John 'Mad Jack' Fuller for £3,000 (£ today). Fuller repaired one of the towers, added new gates to the site, and removed a cottage which had been built within the castle in the 18th century; he is thought to have bought the castle to prevent the Webster family from dismantling it and reusing its materials. George Cubitt, later Baron Ashcombe, purchased the castle and its 24 acres (9.7 ha) from Fuller's grandson in 1849, for over £5,000 (£ today). Cubitt continued the renovations that Fuller started. He commissioned the first detailed survey of Bodiam Castle in 1864, and undertook repairs to the tower at the southwest corner of the site, which had almost entirely collapsed. Because there was then a fashion for ruins covered in ivy, the vegetation was not removed despite its detrimental effect on the masonry, and the trees which had taken root in the courtyard were left. Lord Curzon decided that "so rare a treasure [as Bodiam Castle] should neither be lost to our country nor desecrated by irreverent hands". Curzon made enquiries about buying the castle, but Cubitt did not wish to sell. However, after Cubitt's death, Curzon was able to make a deal with Cubitt's son, and he bought Bodiam Castle and its lands in 1916. Curzon began a programme of investigation at Bodiam in 1919, and with architect William Weir restored parts of the castle. The moat, on average about 5 ft (1.5 m) deep but 7 ft (2.1 m) deep in the southeast corner, was drained and 3 ft (0.9 m) of mud and silt removed; during excavations the original footings of the bridges to the castle were discovered. Nearby hedges and fences were removed to provide an unobscured view of the castle. There were excavations in the interior, and a well was discovered in the basement of the southwest tower. Vegetation was cleared, stonework repaired, and the original floor level re-established throughout the castle. A cottage was built to provide a museum to display the finds from the excavations and a home for a caretaker. Bodiam Castle was given to the National Trust in 1925. The National Trust continued the restoration work, and added new roofs to the towers and gatehouse. Excavations were resumed in 1970, and the moat was once again drained. Bodiam Castle was used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) in an establishing shot identifying it as "Swamp Castle" in the "Tale of Sir Lancelot" sequence. It had previously been used for the filming of Camelot, an episode of The Goodies broadcast in 1973. It was later the filming location for the Doctor Who serial The King's Demons, broadcast in 1983. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England carried out a survey of the earthworks surrounding Bodiam Castle in 1990. In the 1990s, Bodiam Castle was at the centre of a debate in castle studies over the balance between militaristic and social interpretations of such sites. The arguments focused on elements such as the apparent strength of the defences – such as the imposing moat – and elements of display. It has been suggested that the moat could have been drained in a day because the embankment surrounding it was not substantial, and that as such it did not pose a serious obstacle to an attacker. Also, the large windows in the castle's exterior were defensive weak points. The castle is a Scheduled Monument, which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. Today the castle is open to the public, and according to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, nearly 175,598 people visited in 2017. In the opinion of historian Charles Coulson, Bodiam "represents the popular ideal of a medieval castle". ## Architecture ### Location and landscape The castle's location was ostensibly chosen to protect England's south coast from raids by the French. A landscape survey by the Royal Commission for Historic Monuments concluded that if this were the case, then Bodiam Castle was unusually sited, as it is far from the medieval coastline. The area surrounding Bodiam Castle was landscaped when the castle was built, to increase its aesthetic appeal. Archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham have described Bodiam as one of the best examples of landscaping to emphasise a castle. The water features were originally extensive, but only the moat survives, along with the earthworks left over from its construction. Roughly rectangular, the moat is supplied by several springs, some of them within it, which made it difficult to drain during the excavations of the 1930s. A moat can prevent attackers from gaining access to the base of a castle's walls, but in the case of Bodiam it also had the effect of making the castle appear larger and more impressive by isolating it in its landscape. The moat is now regarded more as an ornamental feature than a defence. The approach to the castle through the moat and satellite ponds was indirect, giving visitors time to view the castle in its intended splendour. Military historian Cathcart King describes the approach as formidable, and considers it the equal of the 13th-century castles of Edward I in Wales, such as Caerphilly Castle. The castle sits roughly in the middle of the moat. The postern gate at the rear would have been connected to the moat's south bank by a drawbridge and a long timber bridge. The main entrance on the north side of the castle is today connected to the north bank by a wooden bridge, but the original route would have included two bridges: one from the main entrance to an island in the moat, and another connecting the island to the west bank. For the most part the bridge was static, apart from the section closest to the west bank, which would have been a drawbridge. The island in the moat is called the Octagon, and excavations on it have uncovered a garderobe (toilet), suggesting that there may have been a guard on the island, although it is unclear to what extent it was fortified. The Octagon was connected to a barbican by a bridge, probably a drawbridge. The castle's 28 toilets drained directly into the moat, which in the words of archaeologist Matthew Johnson would have been effectively an "open sewer". ### Exterior and entrance A quadrangular castle, Bodiam is roughly square-shaped. This type of castle, with a central courtyard and buildings against the curtain wall, was characteristic of castle architecture in the 14th century. Bodiam Castle has been described by military historian Cathcart King as the most complete surviving example of a quadrangular castle. There are circular towers at each of the four corners, with square central towers in the south, east, and west walls. The main entrance is a twin-towered gatehouse in the north face of the castle. There is a second entrance from the south; the postern gate is through a square tower in the middle of the south wall. The towers are three storeys high, taller than the curtain walls and the buildings in the castle which are two storeys high. Between the Octagon and the main gatehouse in the north wall was a barbican, of which little survives – just a piece of the west wall – although the structure was originally two stories high. The surviving fabric includes a slot for a portcullis for the barbican's north gate, although there are no hinges for gates. The base of a garderobe demonstrates that the second story would have provided space for habitation, probably a guard room. Drawings from the late 18th century show the ground floor of the barbican still standing and includes detail such as vaulting inside the passageway. The gatehouse in the castle's north wall is three storeys high; now reached by a static bridge, it was originally connected to the barbican by a drawbridge. The top of the gatehouse is machicolated, and the approach is overlooked by gun-loops in the gatehouse towers. The gatehouse is the only part of the castle which has gun-loops, and the curtain wall and towers are studded with windows for domestic use rather than military. There are guardrooms on the ground floor and a basement beneath them. The passage would originally have had three wooden portcullises. Above the entrance passage is an arch in the gateway, although it leads nowhere. The ceiling of the passage through the gatehouse into the castle is vaulted and pierced with murder holes. Murder holes were most likely used to drop objects on attackers, similar to machicolations, or to pour water to extinguish fires. Just above the gate, there are three coats of arms carved in relief into the arch; from left to right they are the arms of the Wardeux, Dalyngrigge, and Radynden families. The Wardeux shield was for his wife Elizabeth, and the Radynden shield was for his mother Alice (one of the three daughters of John de Radynden). Above the arms is a helm bearing a unicorn head crest. Three coats of arms also decorate the postern gate; the central arms is that of Sir Robert Knolles, who Edward Dalyngrigge had fought for in the Hundred Years' War, but those flanking it are blank. ### Interior Although the exterior of Bodiam Castle has largely survived, the interior is ruinous. The domestic buildings within the castle lined the curtain walls. However, remains are substantial enough to recreate a plan of the castle. The structure was divided into separate living areas for the lord and his family, high-status guests, the garrisons, and servants. The south range of the castle consisted of the great hall, the kitchens, and associated rooms. The great hall, to the east of the centrally located postern gate, was 24 by 40 feet (7.3 by 12.2 m) and would have been as tall as the curtain wall. To the west of the great hall was the pantry and buttery, linked to the great hall by a screens passage. The three standing arches gave access to different rooms, the pantry, buttery and the kitchen which was at the far west of the south range. This layout was typical of large medieval houses. The great hall was the social centre of the castle, and where the lord would have entertained guests. The buttery and pantry occupied the bottom floor, and above was a room of unknown purpose. The buttery had a cellar and was used to store ale and wine, while the pantry held the supplies for the kitchen. To prevent heat from the cooking fires becoming unbearable, the kitchen was as tall as the curtain walls to provide a large space to absorb the heat. In the southwest tower was a well, from which water would have been drawn for the household. Along the east wall is a chapel, a hall, and an antechamber. To accommodate the chapel, the curtain wall near the northeast corner projects 9 feet (2.7 m) further into the moat than the rest of the wall along the east side. Immediately south of the chapel was the main accommodation for the lord and his family. The buildings were two storeys high and incorporated a basement. The exact layout of the rooms is unclear. Arranged along the west curtain wall was an extra hall and a kitchen; it is not certain what these were used for, although it is probable that these were intended to provide for the household's retainers. The "retainers' hall" had no windows on its west side and would have been relatively dark compared to the great hall. Also, whereas the great hall had a large fireplace, the "retainers' hall" had none. The hall was adjacent to the kitchen, to which it was directly connected, with no screens passage in between. Above the "retainers' hall", which was confined to the ground floor, was a room with no fireplace and of unclear purpose. East of the main gatehouse was a two-storey building with a basement. The basement was probably used for storage while the above two floors provided accommodation. The purpose of the buildings along the west end of the north range is uncertain. The sparse arrangement, with little provision for lighting, has led to suggestions that it was used as stables, however there are no drains which are usually associated with stables. The tower in the northwest corner of the castle had a garderobe and fireplace on each of the three above-ground floors, and there was a basement underneath. ## See also - Bodiam, Eastern Cape, a South African town named after the Castle - Castles in Great Britain and Ireland - Kenilworth Castle – an elaborate castle well known for its water defences - List of castles in England
211,820	Pictor	1,173,626,867	Constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere	[ "Constellations listed by Lacaille", "Pictor", "Southern constellations" ]	Pictor is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, located between the star Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its name is Latin for painter, and is an abbreviation of the older name Equuleus Pictoris (the "painter's easel"). Normally represented as an easel, Pictor was named by Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The constellation's brightest star is Alpha Pictoris, a white main-sequence star around 97 light-years away from Earth. Pictor also hosts RR Pictoris, a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova, reaching apparent (visual) magnitude 1.2 in 1925 before fading into obscurity. Pictor has attracted attention because of its second-brightest star Beta Pictoris, 63.4 light-years distant from Earth, which is surrounded by an unusual dust disk rich in carbon, as well as an exoplanet (extrasolar planet). Another five stars in the constellation have been observed to have planets. Among them is HD 40307, an orange dwarf that has six planets orbiting it, one of which—HD 40307 g—is a potential super-Earth in the circumstellar habitable zone. Kapteyn's Star, the nearest star in Pictor to Earth, is a red dwarf located 12.76 light-years away that was found to have two super-Earths in orbit in 2014. Pictor A is a radio galaxy that is shooting an 800,000 light-year long jet of plasma from a supermassive black hole at its centre. In 2006, a gamma-ray burst—GRB 060729—was observed in Pictor, its extremely long X-ray afterglow detectable for nearly two years. ## History The French astronomer Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille first described Pictor as le Chevalet et la Palette (the easel and palette) in 1756, after observing and cataloguing 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope. He devised 14 new constellations in uncharted regions of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere not visible from Europe. All but one honored instruments that symbolised the Age of Enlightenment. He gave these constellations Bayer designations, including ten stars in Pictor now named Alpha to Nu Pictoris. He labelled the constellation Equuleus Pictorius on his 1763 chart, the word "Equuleus" meaning small horse, or easel—perhaps from an old custom among artists of carrying a canvas on a donkey. The German astronomer Johann Bode called it Pluteum Pictoris. The name was shortened to its current form in 1845 by the English astronomer Francis Baily on the suggestion of his countryman Sir John Herschel. ## Characteristics Pictor is a small constellation bordered by Columba to the north, Puppis and Carina to the east, Caelum to the northwest, Dorado to the southwest and Volans to the south. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Pic". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 18 segments (illustrated in infobox). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −42.79° and −64.15°. Pictor culminates each year at 9 p.m. on 17 March. Its position in the far Southern Celestial Hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers south of latitude 26°N, and parts become circumpolar south of latitude 35°S. ## Features ### Stars Pictor is a faint constellation; its three brightest stars can be seen near the prominent Canopus. Within the constellation's borders, there are 49 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. Located about 97 light-years away from Earth, Alpha Pictoris is the brightest star in the constellation; it is a white main-sequence star with an apparent magnitude of 3.3, and spectral type A8VnkA6. A rapidly spinning star with a projected rotational velocity estimated at 206 km/s, it has a shell of circumstellar gas. Beta Pictoris is another white main sequence star of spectral type A6V and apparent magnitude 3.86. Located around 63.4 light-years distant from Earth, it is a member of the Beta Pictoris moving group—a group of 17 star systems around 12 million years old moving through space together. In 1984 Beta Pictoris was the first star discovered to have a debris disk. Since then, an exoplanet about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been discovered orbiting approximately 8 astronomical units (AU) away from the star—a similar distance as that between the Sun and Saturn. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) confirmed its presence through the use of direct imagery with the Very Large Telescope in late 2009. Gamma Pictoris is an orange giant of spectral type K1III that has swollen to 1.4 times the diameter of the Sun. Shining with an apparent magnitude of 4.5, it lies 174 light-years distant from Earth. HD 42540, called 47 Pictoris by American astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould, is a slightly cooler orange giant, with a spectral type of K2.5III and average magnitude 5.04. It has also been suspected of being a variable star. Lacaille mistakenly named this star Mu Doradus, but had recorded its Right Ascension one hour too low. Lacaille named two neighbouring stars Eta Pictoris. Eta<sup>2</sup> Pictoris, also known as HR 1663, is an orange giant of spectral type K5III and apparent magnitude 5.05. 474 light-years distant, it has a diameter 5.6 times that of the Sun. Eta<sup>1</sup> Pictoris, also known as HR 1649, is 85 light-years distant and is a main sequence star of spectral type F5V and visual magnitude 5.38. A double star, it has a companion of magnitude 13; the two are separated by 11 arcseconds. Located about 1298 light-years from Earth, Delta Pictoris is an eclipsing binary of the Beta Lyrae type. Composed of two blue stars of spectral types B3III and O9V, the system has a period of 1.67 days, and is observed to dip from apparent magnitude 4.65 to 4.9. The stars are oval-shaped as they are gravitationally distorted by each other. TV Pictoris is a spectroscopic binary system composed of an A-type star and an F-type star which rotate around each other in a very close orbit. The latter star is elliptical in shape and itself varies in brightness. The visual magnitude ranges between 7.37 and 7.53 every 20 hours. Aside from Beta, five other stars in Pictor are known to host planetary systems. AB Pictoris is a BY Draconis variable star with a substellar companion that is either a large planet or a brown dwarf, which was discovered by direct imaging in 2005. HD 40307 is an orange main sequence star of spectral type K2.5V and apparent magnitude 7.17 located about 42 light-years away. Doppler spectroscopy with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) indicates that HD 40307 is host to six super-Earth planets, one of which, HD 40307 g, lies in the circumstellar habitable zone of the star, and is not close enough to be tidally locked (i.e. with the same face always facing the star), unlike the other planets in the same system, and many other planets which orbit close to their parent stars. HD 41004 is a complex binary system about 139 light-years distant. The primary is an orange dwarf of spectral type K1V orbited by a planet roughly 2.65 times the mass of Jupiter every 963 days, while the secondary is a red dwarf of spectral type M2V and orbited by a brown dwarf that is at least 19 times as massive as Jupiter. Both substellar components were discovered by doppler spectroscopy using the CORALIE spectrograph in 2004 and 2002 respectively. Kapteyn's Star, a nearby red dwarf at the distance of 12.78 light-years, has a magnitude of 8.8. It has the largest proper motion of any star in the sky after Barnard's Star. Moving around the Milky Way in the opposite direction to most other stars, it may have originated in a dwarf galaxy that was merged into the Milky Way, with the main remnant being the Omega Centauri globular cluster. In 2014 analysis of the doppler variations of Kapteyn's Star with the HARPS spectrograph showed that it hosts two super-Earths—Kapteyn b and Kapteyn c. Kapteyn b is the oldest-known potentially habitable planet, estimated to be possibly 11 billion years old. Located 1.5 degrees west southwest of Alpha, RR Pictoris is a cataclysmic variable that flared up as a nova, reaching magnitude 1.2 on 9 June 1925. Six months after its peak brightness, it had faded to be invisible to the unaided eye, and was magnitude 12.5 by 1975. RR Pictoris is a close binary system composed of a white dwarf and secondary star that orbit each other every 3.48 hours—so close that the secondary is filling up its Roche lobe with stellar material, which is then transferred onto the first star's accretion disk. Once this material reaches a critical mass, it ignites and the system brightens tremendously. Calculations from the orbital speed suggest the secondary star is not dense enough for its size to still be on the main sequence, so it also must have begun expanding and cooling already after its core ran out of hydrogen fuel. The RR Pictoris system is estimated to lie around 1300 light-years distant from Earth. ### Deep-sky objects NGC 1705 is an irregular dwarf galaxy 17 million light-years from Earth. It is one of the most active star forming galaxies in the nearby universe, despite the fact that its rate of star formation peaked around 30 million years ago. Pictor A, around 485 million light-years away, is a double-lobed radio galaxy and a powerful source of radio waves in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. From a supermassive black hole at its centre, a relativistic jet shoots out to an X-ray hot spot 800,000 light years away. SPT-CL J0546-5345 is a massive galaxy cluster located around 7 billion light-years away with a mass equivalent to approximately 800 trillion suns. GRB 060729 was a gamma-ray burst that was first observed on 29 July 2006. It is likely the signal of a type Ic supernova—the core collapse of a massive star. It was also notable for its extraordinarily long X-ray afterglow, detectable 642 days (nearly two years) after the original event. The event was remote, with a redshift of 0.54. ## See also - Pictor (Chinese astronomy)
490,837	Giovanni Villani	1,158,231,642	Italian banker, diplomat, and chronicler	[ "1348 deaths", "13th-century Italian businesspeople", "13th-century births", "14th-century Italian businesspeople", "14th-century Italian historians", "14th-century deaths from plague (disease)", "14th-century people of the Republic of Florence", "Economic history of Italy", "History of banking", "Italian bankers", "Italian chroniclers", "Italian republicans", "Medieval bankers" ]	Giovanni Villani (; c. 1276 or 1280 – 1348) was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica (New Chronicles) on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavoury reputation and served time in prison as a result of the bankruptcy of a trading and banking company he worked for. His interest in and elaboration of economic details, statistical information, and political and psychological insight mark him as a more modern chronicler of late medieval Europe. His Cronica is viewed as the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history. However, historian Kenneth R. Bartlett notes that, in contrast to his Renaissance-era successors, "his reliance on such elements as divine providence links Villani closely with the medieval vernacular chronicle tradition." In recurring themes made implicit through significant events described in his Cronica, Villani also emphasized three assumptions about the relationship of sin and morality to historical events, these being that excess brings disaster, that forces of right and wrong are in constant struggle, and that events are directly influenced by the will of God. Villani was inspired to write his Cronica after attending the jubilee celebration in Rome in 1300 and noting the venerable history of that city. He outlined the events in his Cronica year for year, following a strictly linear narrative format. He provided intricate details on many important historical events of the city of Florence and the wider region of Tuscany, such as construction projects, floods, fires, famines, and plagues. While continuing work on the Cronica and detailing the enormous loss of life during the Black Death in 1348, Villani died of the same illness. His work on the Cronica was continued by his brother and nephew. Villani's work has received both praise and criticism from modern historians. The criticism is mostly aimed at his emphasis on supernatural guidance of events, his organizational style, and his glorification of the papacy and Florence. ## Life and career Giovanni Villani was born into the Florentine merchant middle class. He was the son of Villano di Stoldi di Bellincione, who came from an old and well-respected arti maggiori family of merchants. Villani was a member of the Arte di Calimala (wool finishers) guild in Florence since 1300, serving on the mercanzia council of eight. During that year he visited Rome during the jubilee celebration. After observing the well-known ancient monuments of Rome and acknowledging its renowned historical personages, he was inspired to write the Cronica, a universal history of Florence in a strictly linear, year-by-year format. During the early years of the 14th century, he gained political perspective by travelling throughout Italy, Switzerland, France and Flanders for the Peruzzi bank, of which he was a shareholder from 1300 to 1308. Traveling abroad as a factor for the company, Villani was paid a regular salary in addition to his shareholding profits. On May 15, 1306, one of the first exchange contracts (cambium) to mention the city of Bruges involved two parties: Giovanni Villani, representing the Peruzzi Company, granting a loan to Tommaso Fini, representing the Gallerani Company of Siena. Villani and his brother Matteo transferred most of their economic activities to the Buonaccorsi firm by 1322. Giovanni Villani was a co-director of Buonaccorsi in 1324. The Buonaccorsi handled banking and commodity trade activities, spreading their influence throughout Italy, France, Flanders, England and several places in the Mediterranean. Villani returned to Florence in 1307 where he married and settled down for a life of city politics. He became one of the priors of Florence in 1316 and 1317. At the same time, he participated in the crafty diplomatic tactics that resulted in peace with Pisa and Lucca. As head of the mint beginning in 1316, he collected its earlier records and created a register of all the coins struck in Florence. In 1321, he was again chosen prior, and in 1324 was deputed to inspect the rebuilding of the city walls. He went with the Florentine army to fight against Castruccio Castracani, lord of Lucca, and was present at Altopascio during Florence's defeat. In his Cronica, he gave a detailed account of why Florence was unable to acquire Lucca after the death of Castruccio Castracani. A famine spread across Tuscany in 1328. From 1329 to 1330 Villani was a commune-appointed magistrate of provisioning protecting Florence from the famine's worst effects. In order to mitigate rising levels of starvation and assuage peasant discontent, grain was speedily imported from Sicily through Talamone, 60,000 gold florins were taken from the city purse by the Florentine commune to aid the relief effort, and all the city's bakers had their ovens requisitioned by the government so that loaves of bread could be sold at affordable prices to the riotous and starving poor. Villani was sent on another diplomatic mission in 1329, this time to Bologna to meet Cardinal Bertrand de Pouget. From 1330 to 1331 he superintended the making of Andrea Pisano's bronze doors for the Baptistry. At the same time, he served as the consul for his guild of the Arte di Calimala and watched over the raising of the campanile of the Badìa. He was also sent with others as a hostage to Ferrara, to ensure that Florence made good on a debt; he resided there for some months in 1341. Villani often expressed an optimistic viewpoint in his writing; this changed with the short-lived regime of Walter VI of Brienne, a despot invited to Florence and granted signoria. In fact, after experiencing his own financial troubles, a terminated career, and the failure of Florence in international affairs, and witnessing a host of different natural calamities and the onset of the Black Death in Europe, he became convinced that the apocalypse and final judgement was near. The bankruptcy of the Buonaccorsi Company led to Villani's conviction and imprisonment in 1346, as he was a main partner. Other banking companies also went bankrupt, such as the Peruzzi in 1343 and the Compagnia dei Bardi in 1346 (they were allied in a joint venture by 1336); Villani calculated that before their bankruptcy the Peruzzi had lost some 600,000 florins and the Bardi had lost some 900,000 florins. Although Villani attributed the losses to the companies' massive monetary loans to Edward III of England which were never repaid, historian Edwin S. Hunt suggests that the firms simply lacked the resources to have made such loans, which in all probability were much smaller and were not the key reasons for the companies' failures. The Bardi and Peruzzi were just two of many European banks that Edward III accepted loans from, prominent members of the Bardi and other Florentine families were owed only 63,000 Florins by Edward in 1348, and even a mass of small lenders and investors in Florence could not have made the necessary loan to England. The figure Villani asserted of 400,000 Florins owed to the Peruzzi by Edward alone equalled Villani's estimate for the entire payroll of 30,000 workers of the Florentine cloth industry in 1338. Hunt asserts that the failures of the Florentine banks seems closely tied to the expansionist policy of Florence in Tuscany, hoping that newly conquered territory would yield greater security for their trade with northern Europe, but instead resulted in costly campaigns and little profit. In addition to the questionable figures Villani posed for the Peruzzi and Bardi companies, it is also known that several events described in his Cronica surrounding the Buonaccorsi's bankruptcy were written to deliberately obscure the truth about the company's fraudulent behavior; Miller writes that "this is one of the most convincing conclusions" of historian Michele Luzzati's Giovanni Villani e la Compagnia dei Buonaccorsi (1971). Villani and the Buonaccorsi had gained an unsavory reputation as early as 1331, when Villani was tried (and cleared) for barratry for his part in building the new third circuit of walls around Florence. Charles, Duke of Calabria had granted the Buonaccorsi the right to tax three of the six districts of Florence, which did not help Villani's reputation amongst his fellow citizens. In early June 1342, partners and agents of the Buonaccorsi suddenly fled Florence, Avignon, and Naples, following bankruptcy proceedings by creditors, nearly all of whom had deposits in the Buonaccorsi bank. Like other Florentine bankers and companies having difficulty with bankruptcy at the time, in September 1342 they supported the move to invite Walter VI of Brienne to become the next signor of Florence. Walter later suspended all legal actions taken against the Buonaccorsi and other company partners for nearly a year. However, the legal case against the company was reopened and resumed in October 1343, after the violent overthrow of Walter VI. It is unclear how long Villani served his prison sentence for alleged misconduct during the economic disaster of 1346. It is known that he was imprisoned in the Carceri delle Stinche. After the overthrow of the Brienne regime and a subsequent but short-lived aristocratic signoria, the novi cives or new families—some even from the lesser guilds—rose up in late September 1343 and established a government that provided them with much greater representation in officialdom. Villani and other chroniclers disdained these rustic non-aristocrats who suddenly rose to power, considering them brazen upstarts incapable of governance. Villani's class was at a constitutional disadvantage, as twenty-one guilds representing twenty-one equal voices in government meant that the oligarchy of higher guildsmen was "helplessly outnumbered" as historian John M. Najemy states. Yet by the 1350s the general attitude towards the novi cives had changed much, as even Villani's brother Matteo depicted them in a heroic light for being united in a coalition with the merchants and artisans to curb oligarchic power. Villani was also a staunch supporter of what he deemed the liberties of the Church, while criticizing the new popular government of the novi cives since they protested against the many legal exemptions the Church enjoyed. However, he did find civic pride in that the whole city—including the novi cives—had joined together in an uprising against Walter VI, whose sins of imposing tyranny were, to Villani, sufficient justification for the violence needed to overthrow him. ## Nuova Cronica Villani's work is an Italian chronicle written from the perspective of the political class of Florence just as the city rose to a rich and powerful position. Only scanty and partly legendary records had preceded his work, and there is little known of events before the death of Countess Matilda in 1115. The Chronica de origine civitatis was composed sometime before 1231, but there is little comparison between this work and Villani's; mid-20th-century historian Nicolai Rubinstein states that the legendary accounts in this earlier chronicle were "arbitrarily selected by a compiler whose learning and critical faculties were considerably below the standard of his age." In contrast, Rubinstein states Villani provided "a mature expression" of Florentine history. Yet Villani still relied upon the Chronica de origine civitatis as the prime source for Florence's early history in his narrative. In the 36th chapter of Book 8, Villani states that the idea of writing the Cronica was suggested to him during the jubilee of Rome in 1300, under the following circumstances after Pope Boniface VIII made in honor of Christ's nativity a great indulgence; Villani writes: > And being on that blessed pilgrimage in the sacred city of Rome and seeing its great and ancient monuments and reading the great deeds of the Romans as described by Virgil, Sallust, Lucan, Livy, Valerius, Orosius, and other masters of history ... I took my prompting from them although I am a disciple unworthy of such an undertaking. But in view of the fact that our city of Florence, daughter and offspring of Rome, was mounting and pursuing great purposes, while Rome was in its decline, I thought it proper to trace in this chronicle the origins of the city of Florence, so far as I have been able to recover them, and to relate the city's further development at greater length, and at the same time to give a brief account of events throughout the world as long as it please God, in the hope of whose favor I undertook the said enterprise rather than in reliance on my own poor wits. And thus in the year 1300, on my return from Rome, I began to compile this book in the name of God and the blessed John the Baptist and in honor of our city of Florence. In his writing, Villani states that he considers Florence to be the "daughter and creation of Rome," but asserts Rome's decline and Florence's rise as a great city compelled him to lay out a detailed history of the city. To emphasize the imperial greatness of Florentine history, Villani also asserted that the city was given a second founding when it was rebuilt by Charlemagne (r. 800–814 as Holy Roman Emperor)—which was absent from the Chronica de origine civitatis. Historian J. K. Hyde writes that the idea of Florence being the daughter of Rome would have given the Florentines a sense of destiny, while the second founding by Charlemagne provided historical context for alliance with France, which Hyde calls "the touchstone of Guelphism". Villani's reasoning for Rome's decline was the schisms of the Church and rebellion against the papal institution, while the ascension of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 962–973) allowed for the conditions of Florence's rise against enemies of papal authority, such as Florentine-conquered Fiesole. Villani was certain that the Republic of Florence had experienced a great setback on its path to glory with the defeat of the Guelphs by the Ghibellines at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260. Despite this, Villani states that the paramount prosperity and tranquility of the city by 1293 was evidenced by the fact that its gates were no longer locked at night and that indirect taxes such as the gate fee (common in times of war) were not levied. Historian Felicity Ratté states that the validity of this comment should be heavily scrutinized considering the Florence statutes of 1290 that designated employment for individuals in charge of locking the city gates. Villani also contradicts himself by writing of a night attack on Florence in 1323 which clearly demonstrates the fact that the gates were locked at night. In 1300 or shortly after, Villani began working on the Cronica, which was divided into twelve books; the first six deal with the largely legendary history of Florence, starting at conventionally biblical times with the story of the Tower of Babel up to the year 1264. The second phase, in six books, covered the history from 1264 until his own time, all the way up to 1346. He outlined the events in his Cronica in year-to-year accounts; for this he has gained criticism over the years for writing in an episodic manner lacking a unifying theme or point of view. He wrote his Cronica in the vernacular language rather than Latin, the language of the educated elite. His chronicles are intercut with historical episodes reported just as he heard them, sometimes with little interpretation. This often led to historical inaccuracies in his work, especially in the biographies of historical or contemporary people living outside of Florence (even with well-known monarchs). Despite numerous mistakes, Villani often displayed an insider's knowledge on many subjects, as a result of his extensive travels and access to both official and private documents. For example, De Vries states that he wrote one of the most accurate accounts of the Battle of Crécy during the Hundred Years' War, including information that the archers were placed precariously behind the English and Welsh infantry, not on the flanks as others asserted. While describing detailed events unfolding within the city, Villani would name every individual street, square, bridge, family, and person involved, assuming his readers would have the same intimate knowledge of Florence as he did. Villani is perhaps unequalled for the value of the statistical data he has preserved. For example, he recorded that in Florence there were 80 banks, 146 bakeries, 80 members in an association of city judges with 600 notaries, 60 physicians and surgical doctors, 100 shops and dealers of spices, 8,000 to 10,000 children attending primary school each year, 550 to 600 students attending 4 different schools for Scholastic knowledge, 13,200 bushels of grain consumed weekly by the city, and 70,000 to 80,000 pieces of cloth produced in the workshops of the Arte della Lana each year, the latter having a total value of 1,200,000 gold florins. Villani was a Guelph, but his book is much more taken up with an inquiry into what is useful and true than with factional party considerations. In a departure from Guelph politics, he favored republicanism over monarchy, praising the philosopher Brunetto Latini as "the master and initiator in refining the Florentines, in making them skilled in good speaking and in knowing how to guide and rule our republic according to political science." However, Villani admitted in his writing that republicanism bred factional strife, that benevolent rulers like Robert of Naples were sometimes needed to keep order, and republicanism could become tyrannical if it came to represent only one class (such as exclusive favoring of aristocrats, merchants, or artisans). When detailing the construction of the Florence Cathedral and the artist Giotto di Bondone as the designer of the new bell tower, Villani called him "the most sovereign master of painting in his time." Villani's Cronica also provides the first known biography of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), author of the Divine Comedy, who Villani described as haughty, disdainful, and reserved. In his revised Cronica of 1322, Villani shortened Dante's biography and the amount of quotations taken from his Divine Comedy. Villani's actions are explained by Richard H. Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, who write: "Evidently two decades after the poet's death a conservative writer closely identified with the Florentine state still felt obliged to distance himself from the most outspoken critic of the basis of that state's prestige." Historian Louis Green writes that the Cronica was written with three general assumptions about morality which shaped the organization of the work, "[channeling] events into recurring patterns of significance." These general assumptions were that excess brings disaster, that history is governed by a struggle between right and wrong, and that there is a direct connection between the events of the natural world and the overriding, supernatural and divine will of God who intercedes in these events. For example, Villani described the story of Count Ugolini of Pisa, who at the height of attaining his ill-gotten wealth and power was overthrown and eventually starved to death along with his sons. Green writes that this story in the Cronica bears a resemblance to the ancient Greek story of Polycrates and his ring in the work of Herodotus. However, Green notes that Villani's "cautionary tales" disembarked from the Classical Greek tradition of the arrogant and haughty rich falling from fortune due to the Greek belief in equalizing forces determining one's unavoidable fate, which Green calls "excessive good fortune having to be balanced by an appropriate measure of sorrow." Villani's adherence to Medieval Christianity allowed him to suggest retribution was delivered because of sin and insult to God. He stressed that those who gained prestige would fall prey to pride; confidence in their position would then lead them to sin, and sin would bring on a stage of decline. Villani wrote: > ... it seems that it happens in the lordships and states of earthly dignitaries, that as they are at their highest peak, so presently does their decline and ruin follow, and not without the providence of divine justice, in order to punish sins and so that no one should place his trust in fallacious good fortune. For Villani, this theory of sin and morality being tied directly with fate and fortune fit well with the ultimate fate of the Capetian dynasty of France. The House of Capet was once the champion of the Church and ally of the papacy. However, Villani correlated Philip the Fair's defiance of Pope Boniface VIII and seizure of the Templar's wealth with later Capetian misfortunes, such as Philip's death in a hunting accident, the adultery of the wives of his three sons, the death of his heirs, and even French defeats in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. Green points out that in Villani's writing there are two significant earthly powers that seem to be exempt or immune from this theory of immorality leading to downfall: Florence and the papacy. The interests of these two powers represent, as Green states, "the kingpin of Villani's scheme of historical interpretation." Besides Divine Providence, Villani acknowledged other events that he believed were explainable via the supernatural. He wrote of many instances where holy men offered prophetic statements that later proved true, such as Pope Clement IV's prophecy on the outcome for the Battle of Tagliacozzo. He believed that certain events were really omens of what was to come. For instance, when a lion was sent to Florence as a gift by Boniface VIII, a donkey purportedly killed the lion. He interpreted this as an omen that foretold the Pope's beating and untimely death shortly after fighting Philip IV at Anagni; Villani wrote: "when the tamed beast kills the King of Beasts, then the dissolution of the Church will begin." He also believed in astrology and changes in the heavens as indication of political changes, the deaths of rulers and popes, and natural calamities. However, he noted that the movement of the heavens would not always predetermine the actions of men and did not trump the divine plan of God. Marilyn Aronberg Lavin states that Villani was most likely serving as a Peruzzi representative in Flanders when he heard the story of the French Jew who in 1290 tried to destroy Host bread (of the Eucharist) but was unsuccessful as the bread allegedly bled profusely as he stabbed it, and turned into flesh as he attempted to boil it in water. In the original account by the Ghent monk Jean de Thilrode in 1294, the Jew was compelled to convert to Christianity, but Villani's account followed that of the later Chronicles of Saint-Denis (1285–1328) which told that the Jew was burned to death for his crime. Villani's Cronica marks the first appearance in Italian literature of this legend, while "Villani's report includes details which establish an independent Italian branch of the tradition" according to Lavin. St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence, repeated the story of Villani in his Latin Chronicles, while Villani's illustrated Cronica featured a scene of this French Jew that later appeared in a painting by Paolo Uccello. ## Death and continuation of Villani's work Villani wrote during the bubonic plague: "The priest who confessed the sick and those who nursed them so generally caught the infection that the victims were abandoned and deprived confession, sacrament, medicine, and nursing ... And many lands and cities were made desolate. And this plague lasted till "; Villani left the "\_\_\_" in order to record the time in which the plague was to end. Villani was unable to finish the line as he succumbed to the same plague. He was buried in the Church of Santissima Annunziata, Florence. Villani's Cronica was considered an important work at the time, valuable enough for his brother and nephew to continue it. Little is known of Villani's brother, Matteo, save that he was twice married, that he died of the plague in 1363, and that he continued work on the Cronica until his death. Filippo Villani, Matteo's son, flourished in the latter half of the 14th century and ended the Cronica at 1364; his portion includes details of the lives of many Florentine artists and musicians, including Giotto di Bondone and Francesco Landini. Filippo's chronicles were approved by the Chancellor of Florence, Coluccio Salutati, who made corrections to the work and added commentary. The 15th-century Florentine historian Domenico di Leonardo Buoninsegni also featured in the first two chapters of his Istoria Fiorentina a summary of Villani's Cronica. By the 16th century, more than one edition of the Cronica was available in printed form. There was also an abundance of handwritten illuminated manuscripts, including one from Venice by Bartholomeo Zanetti Casterzagense in 1537 and one from Florence by Lorenzo Torrentino in 1554. ## Legacy and criticism Historian J.K. Hyde states that the Nuova Cronica of Villani is representative of the strong vernacular tradition in Florence, appealing to the people of the time as a narrative that was "easy to read, full of human interest and occasionally spiced with novella-type anecdotes." Hyde also notes that Villani's criticisms of the commune politics in Florence promoted a trend of personal expression amongst later chroniclers that defied official conformity. The Cronica is also an incredibly rich historical record; its greatest value to modern historians is its descriptions of the people, data, and events experienced by Villani during his lifetime. Historian Mark Phillips states that all subsequent Florentine accounts of the tyrannical regime of Walter VI of Brienne—including those by Leonardo Bruni and Niccolò Machiavelli—were based upon the primary source of Villani's Cronica. Villani's written work on Dante Alighieri and the age in which he lived has provided insight into Dante's work, reasoning, and psyche. The reprinting of new editions of Villani's work in the early 20th century provided material for a resurgence in the study of Dante. However, Villani's descriptions of events which preceded him by centuries are riddled with inaccurate traditional accounts, popular legend, and hearsay. In regard to his own time, Villani provides modern historians with valuable details on Florentine social and living habits, such as the growing trend and craze of wealthy Florentines in building large country homes far outside of the city. However, the early 20th-century historian Philip Wicksteed stated of Villani, "When dealing with his own times, and with events immediately connected with Florence, he is a trustworthy witness, but minute accuracy is never his strong point; and in dealing with distant times and places he is hopelessly unreliable." For example, although Nicolai Rubinstein acknowledged that Villani's chronicles were much more matured and developed than earlier ones, Villani still relied on legend and hearsay to account for the origins of cities such as Fiesole. On Villani's estimation that a third of Antwerp's population died off during the Great Famine of 1315-1317, the early 20th-century historian Henry S. Lucas wrote, "not much faith can be placed in such statistics which are little better than guesses." Louis Green notes Villani's limitation as a chronicler and not a full-fledged historian: > Recording as he did incidents in the order of their occurrence without any of the historian's pretensions to a thematic organization of his material, he could not feed back the lessons of a changing present into a reinterpreted past. Nor did his devotion to the justification and glorification of Florence permit him to see in the altered fortunes of his city a repetition of the pattern of decline he had illustrated in the histories of the great dynasties of his age. Louis Green asserts that Giovanni's Cronica expressed the outlook of the merchant community in Florence at the time, but also provided valuable indications of "how that outlook was modified in a direction away from characteristically medieval to embryonically modern attitudes." Green writes that Villani's Cronica was one of three types of chronicles found in the 14th century, the type which was largely a universal history. Other types would be chronicles of particular historic episodes such as Dino Compagni's account of the White Guelphs and Black Guelphs or the more domestic chronicle that focused on the fortunes and events of one family, as written by Donato Velluti or Giovanni Morelli. ## See also - Battle of Campaldino - :Category:Italian historians - Assassin's Creed II, a video game that features Giovanni Villani as "Giovanni Auditore Da Firenze"
17,969,235	Leopard 2E	1,165,454,700	German main battle tank	[ "Germany–Spain military relations", "Main battle tanks of Germany", "Main battle tanks of Spain", "Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s", "Post–Cold War main battle tanks" ]	The Leopardo 2E or Leopard 2A6E (E stands for España (Spanish for 'Spain')) is a variant of the German Leopard 2 main battle tank (specifically the Leopard 2A6 variant), tailored to the requirements of the Spanish army, which acquired it as part of an armament modernization program named Programa Coraza, or Program Cuirass. The acquisition program for the Leopard 2E began in 1994, five years after the cancellation of the Lince tank program that culminated in an agreement to transfer 108 Leopard 2A4s to the Spanish army in 1998 and started the local production of the Leopard 2E in December 2002. Despite postponement of production owing to the 2003 merger between Santa Bárbara Sistemas and General Dynamics, and continued manufacturing issues between 2006 and 2007, 219 Leopard 2Es have been delivered to the Spanish army. The Leopard 2E is superior to the M60 Patton tank, which it replaced in Spain's mechanized and armored units. Its development represented a total of 2.6 million man-hours' worth of work, 9,600 of them in Germany, at a total cost of 2.4 billion euros. This makes it one of the most expensive Leopard 2s built. Indigenous production amounted to 60% and the vehicles were assembled locally at Sevilla by Santa Bárbara Sistemas. It has thicker armor on the turret and glacis plate than the German Leopard 2A6, and uses a Spanish-designed tank command and control system, similar to the one fitted in German Leopard 2s. The Leopard 2E is expected to remain in service until 2025. ## Spanish armor programs 1987–1993 By 1987, the Spanish army was equipped with 299 French-designed AMX-30Es, assembled by Santa Bárbara Sistemas, and 552 American M47 and M48 Patton tanks. The AMX-30Es were put into service in 1970, while the latter went into service in the mid-1950s. Although Spain's M47s and M48s were modernized to M47Es and M48Es, bringing them to near equivalence with the M60 Patton tank, the Spanish army considered them antiquated. In 1984, when deciding to replace its Patton tanks, the Spanish government declared its intention to produce a whole new main battle tank locally, since known as the Lince. Five companies expressed interest in bidding, including Krauss-Maffei in a partnership with Santa Bárbara Sistemas, GIAT with what became the Leclerc, General Dynamics with the M1 Abrams and Vickers with the Valiant. While the M1 Abrams and Valiant bids were not accepted, the bidding continued until 1989 when it was officially canceled. Instead, the Spanish government opted to replace its older Patton tanks with American M60 Patton tanks retired from Central Europe in accordance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Although the Spanish army was originally to receive 532 M60 and M60A1 tanks, only 260 M60A3s were ultimately delivered, of which 244 were put into active service in the army. In the late 1980s the Spanish Ministry of Defense approved a modernization program for 150 of its AMX-30Es and a reconstruction program for the remaining 149 vehicles of this type, restoring them to their original condition. However, neither the M60s nor the AMX-30s were a considerable improvement over Spain's fleet of M47 and M48 Patton tanks. Since the existing tank fleet did not meet the Spanish army's needs, Spain opened talks with Germany and Krauss-Maffei over the possibility of future collaboration in regards to Spain's future tank, and sent a military delegation to Germany in 1994. Although the Germans offered Spain surplus Leopard 1 tanks and Soviet equipment incorporated into the German army after the reunification of Germany, the Spanish government declined these offers and pressed for the Leopard 2. ## Programa Coraza In March 1994, the Spanish Ministry of Defense created Programa Coraza 2000 (Program Breastplate 2000), which focused on the procurement and integration of new armament for the Spanish army's modernization. The program included the Leopard 2E and the Pizarro infantry combat vehicle, as well as the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter. The program's scope extended to the integration of 108 Leopard 2A4s, which were leased to Spain in late 1995. Apart from procurement, Programa Coraza was meant to prepare the Spanish army logistically for the introduction of new matériel. ### Leopard 2A4 A memorandum of understanding was signed on 9 June 1995 between the German and Spanish governments, setting the foundations for an acquisition of up to 308 brand-new Leopard 2Es. These were to be assembled in Spain by Santa Bárbara Sistemas, with 60–70 percent of the components manufactured by Spanish companies, and production taking place between 1998 and 2003. Furthermore, the German government agreed to lend the Spanish army 108 Leopard 2A4s for training purposes for a period of five years. These vehicles were delivered between November 1995 and June 1996. In 1998, Spain agreed to procure the ceded Leopard 2A4s and reduce production of the brand-new Leopard 2E to 219 vehicles. In 2005 it was declared that the 108 Leopard 2A4s were to cost Spain just €16.9m, to be paid by 2016. The Leopard 2A4s equipped X and XI Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which at the time formed part of Eurocorps. As production of the Leopard 2E began and these units received Leopard 2Es, their Leopard 2A4s re-equipped the Alcántara Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Melilla. Spain's Leopard 2E is based on the Leopard 2A6, and incorporates the add-on wedge armor of the Leopard 2A5 on the turret. This armor maximizes the armor depth that a kinetic energy penetrator must travel through to enter the internal volume of the turret. Like the Swedish Leopard 2S (Strv 122), the Leopard 2E has increased armor thickness on the hull's glacis plate, the turret frontal arc and the turret roof, bringing the vehicle's weight close to 63 tonnes (69.4 tons). The vehicle's protection is augmented by the added armor that is built into the tank during the manufacturing process, as opposed to being added on after assembly as is the case for German Leopard 2A5s and 2A6s. As a consequence, the Leopard 2E is one of the best-protected Leopard 2s in service. The tank is armed with Rheinmetall's 120-millimeter (4.7 in) L/55 tank-gun, and is capable of adopting a 140-millimeter (5.5 in) gun. Both the tank commander and gunner have identical second-generation thermal viewers, derived from those of the TOW 2B Light Launcher System. These are integrated into the tank by Indra and Rheinmetall Defense Electronics. Indra provides the tank's command and control system, called the Leopard Information and Command Equipment (LINCE), based on the Swedish and German Integrierte Führungssysteme (IFIS). Other differences between the Spanish Leopard 2E and other Leopard 2A6s include an auxiliary power unit, manufactured by SAPA, an air-conditioning system and new rubber pads for the vehicle's tracks to increase their lifespan on the irregular Spanish terrain. About 60% of each Leopard 2E was manufactured in Spain, as opposed to 30% for the Swedish Leopard 2s, for example. Although the final contract for the production of Spanish Leopard 2Es was signed in 1998, calling for a production rate of four tanks per month, the first Leopard 2Es were not manufactured until late 2003. This was largely due to the merging of Santa Bárbara Sistemas with General Dynamics, and Krauss-Maffei's reservations regarding the sharing of the Leopard 2's technology with a rival company manufacturer of the M1 Abrams. Krauss-Maffei delivered 30 Leopard 2Es between 2003 and 2006. Production by Santa Bárbara Sistemas was delayed after assembly had begun; between January and November 2007, for example, only three of the 43 Leopard 2Es to be delivered to the Spanish army were actually delivered—with 15 more being delivered before the end of the year to make up for the earlier production problems. By 1 July 2006 the Spanish army had received 48 Leopard 2Es and nine Büffel armored recovery vehicles, which was only a quarter of those contracted. Production of the Leopard 2E was planned to end by 2007 but was extended into 2008. The Leopard 2E replaced the Leopard 2A4 in Spanish mechanized units, which in turn replaced M60s in cavalry units. Both versions of the Leopard 2 are expected to remain in service with the Spanish army until 2025. In terms of industrial scale, the production and development of the Leopard 2E represents a total of 2.6 million man-hours of work, including 9,600 in Germany. It is one of the most expensive Leopard 2s built; the original contract was worth €1,910m but the final cost was €2,399m. ### Comparison with other tanks in Spanish service The Spanish army replaced its M60 Patton tanks and AMX-30s with the Leopard 2 between 1995 and 2008, a considerable improvement in capability. Previously, the Spanish army was equipped with M47 and M48 Patton tanks, which were upgraded to near M60 equivalency during the late 1970s and during the 1980s. Both the Leopard 2A4 and Leopard 2E sport a much more powerful gun than the AMX-30 and M60 tanks. The Leopard 2's 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) engine provides greater power than the M60A3's 750 hp (560 kW) and the AMX-30EM2's 850 hp (630 kW) engines. On the other hand, the Leopard 2 carries fewer, but larger, rounds than the M60A3. ## Gallery ## See also - Tanks in the Spanish Army - List of armoured fighting vehicles by country - Stridsvagn 122 - Leopard 2PL
34,139,046	2012 Budweiser Shootout	1,101,180,358	Stock car race	[ "2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series", "2012 in sports in Florida", "February 2012 sports events in the United States", "NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway" ]	The 2012 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The 34th annual running of the Budweiser Shootout, it was held on February 18, 2012 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, before a crowd of 82,000 people. Kyle Busch of the Joe Gibbs Racing team won the 82-lap race. It was Busch's first victory in the event; Stewart-Haas Racing driver Tony Stewart finished second with Richard Petty Motorsports racer Marcos Ambrose third. Pole position driver Martin Truex Jr. was immediately passed by Jeff Gordon before the first turn, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. led at the end of the first lap. On the ninth lap, a multiple-car accident prompted the first caution flag. Sixteen laps later the second caution was issued, with Jamie McMurray leading. During the caution period, all teams made pit stops. On lap 62 Gordon reclaimed the lead, holding it until he was involved in an accident (the race's final caution). Stewart led at the final restart, holding it until the final lap when Busch passed him to win. Five cautions were issued during the race, which saw twenty-six lead changes by thirteen different drivers and attracted 7.46 million television viewers. ## Background The 2012 Budweiser Shootout was the first of two exhibition stock car races of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the 34th annual edition of the event. It took place on February 18, 2012, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, a superspeedway that holds NASCAR races. Its standard track is a four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.0 km) superspeedway. Daytona's turns are banked at 31 degrees, and the front stretch (the location of the finish line) is banked at 18 degrees. The Budweiser Shootout was created by Busch Beer brand manager Monty Roberts as the Busch Clash in 1979. The race, designed to promote Busch Beer, invites the fastest NASCAR drivers from the previous season to compete. The race is considered a "warm-up" for the Daytona 500. It was renamed the Bud Shootout in 1998. The name changed to the Budweiser Shootout in 2001, the Sprint Unlimited in 2013 and the Advance Auto Parts Clash in 2017. Thirty-three drivers were eligible to compete in the race, including the top 25 in the 2011 championship standings and previous winners at Daytona (including the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400). Kurt Busch was the defending champion. The race was scheduled to be 75 laps long, with two segments of 25 and 50 laps separated by a ten-minute pit stop. During the pit stop, teams could change tires, add fuel, and make normal chassis adjustments but could not change springs, shock absorbers or rear ends. Work could be done in the garage or on the pit road. Caution and green-flag laps were counted in the race. After the two-car style draft (also called tandem racing) dominated races held on restrictor plate tracks during 2011, NASCAR reduced the size of the radiators from five liters to two liters and the air intakes were moved towards the car's fascia section. The size of the restrictor plate was reduced by 1⁄64 inch (0.4 mm) and the cars were required to run with softer springs and a smaller rear spoiler. These changes were intended to reduce the effectiveness of two-car style drafting and to make the cars more challenging to turn. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby stated NASCAR wanted to be able to allow teams more options with drafting and hoped the difference in speeds between tandem drafting and pack style racing would be reduced. ## Practice and qualification Two practice sessions were held on Friday afternoon. The first session lasted 45 minutes; the second, scheduled for 60 minutes, was shortened to ten because of rain. Matt Kenseth had the fastest time (44.607 seconds, five-thousandths of a second faster than Jeff Burton) in the first session (where drivers tried out pack and tandem drafting). David Ragan was third, ahead of Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, and Denny Hamlin. Brad Keselowski was seventh, within one second of Kenseth's time. Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch collided near the end of the session, beginning a chain-reaction accident involving cars driven by A. J. Allmendinger, Keselowski and Kyle Busch; Keselowski, Allmendinger, and Kyle and Kurt Busch were required to use their backup cars. Stewart was taken to the track's infield care center where he was treated for minor injuries and later released. McMurray was fastest in the second practice session, (where twelve drivers took part) with a lap of 45.524 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya was second, ahead of Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne. Marcos Ambrose was fifth-fastest, and Hamlin, Michael Waltrip, Joey Logano, Kenseth, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top ten positions. The 25 drivers determined their starting positions by lot, a feature that is unique to the event. Martin Truex Jr. drew the pole position, with Kyle Busch, Keselowski, McMurray and Ragan rounding out the first five positions. Kurt Busch drew sixth place and Biffle drew seventh, ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Allmendinger in eighth and ninth. Logano, Edwards, Burton, Newman, and Jeff Gordon drew the next five positions. Stewart, who drew fifteenth, was followed by Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Kahne, and Waltrip for the first 20 spots. Ambrose, Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Paul Menard, and Montoya drew the last five positions in the race. Once the lot was completed, Truex commented, "I haven't been in this race in a few years. I absolutely hated being down here (those years) and watching this race, so it's cool just to be in it and to get the pole is icing on the cake." ### Qualifying results ## Race The race began at 8:10 pm Eastern Standard Time, and was broadcast live on television in the United States by Fox, and by TSN2 in Canada. Commentary was provided by Mike Joy, with analysis given by retired driver Darrell Waltrip and former crew chief Larry McReynolds. Tim McNeil of First Methodist Church began the pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Country music group Little Big Town performed the national anthem, and Petty 1st Class Officer William Kimberl, Petty 1st Class Officer Andres Reyes and Petty Officer 2nd Class Aaron Schwartz from the United States Armed Forces commanded the drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Keselowski, Allmendinger, and Kyle and Kurt Busch had to move to the rear of the grid because they had switched to their backup cars. McMurray accelerated faster than Truex off the line (leading him at the first turn), but by the end of the first lap Earnhardt had the lead. Three laps later, McMurray reclaimed the lead; one lap later, Logano passed him. On lap six, Truex briefly reclaimed the lead before Harvick passed him. Three laps later a multiple-car collision between turns one and two, involving Waltrip, Menard, Kahne, Burton, Ragan, Kenseth, and Montoya, triggered the first caution of the race and the pace car. The race restarted on lap sixteen, with Earnhardt leading Harvick and Truex. Harvick took the lead on the same lap with assistance from McMurray. On the seventeenth lap, McMurray passed Harvick on the backstraightaway to move into the lead. One lap later, Truex took the lead before he was briefly passed by Kurt Busch but Truex retook the first position before the end of the lap. On the 21st lap, McMurray moved back into second place; two laps later McMurray passed Truex to reclaim the lead, with Edwards moving into second. On lap 25, Gordon passed Edwards between the third and fourth turns to move into second place and a second caution was issued shortly afterward. After the caution, all the teams made a ten-minute pit stop before the restart. McMurray led Gordon, Edwards, Johnson, and Biffle in the first lap of the rolling start before Gordon took the lead; one lap later, Edwards passed Kyle Busch to move into second place. On lap 28, Biffle, assisted by teammate Edwards, passed Gordon to take the lead. Bowyer experienced oversteer on lap 29, but regained control of his car. Three laps later, Bowyer spun sideways into the infield grass in the first turn after he was hit by teammate Truex leaving the tri-oval; a third caution was issued, during which most of the leaders, including Biffle, made pit stops for fuel and tires. Biffle led the field back up to speed at the restart on 37. Montoya received drafting aid from McMurray to move to the lead on the same lap. McMurray reclaimed the lead on lap 38; Earnhardt tried to pass underneath McMurray going into the third turn two laps later, but McMurray kept the position. Truex passed McMurray on lap 44, with help from Earnhardt. By the 47th lap, Harvick had moved into the lead position; Kyle Busch collided with the wall, escaping with minor damage to the front of his car. He passed McMurray to briefly reclaim the lead one lap later, with Gordon taking over first place by the start of lap 50. Two laps later McMurray, aided by teammate Harvick, regained the lead. The fourth caution was issued on lap 55 when Ambrose made contact with the left-rear of Logano's car, causing a multiple-car collision involving Earnhardt, Harvick, Kenseth, and Truex. Most of the leaders made pit stops during the caution. During lap 55 Harvick and Logano drove to their garages, retiring from the race. Biffle led at the lap 62 restart, before Gordon reclaimed the lead, with Johnson moving into second place. Ten laps later, Kyle Busch took the lead until Stewart passed him two laps later. On lap 74, Kyle Busch lost control of his car in turn four from left-rear contact with Gordon, who hit the wall; his car rolled over onto its roof after sliding 800 m (2,600 ft) on its left-hand side, prompting the fifth and final caution. Kurt Busch, Johnson, Allmendinger, Edwards and McMurray were caught up in the wreck. The race restarted on lap 81, for a green–white–checker finish (extending the race to 82 laps) with Stewart leading Ambrose, Bowyer and Keselowski until Ambrose (with assistance from Keselowski) passed him. On the final lap, Stewart reclaimed the lead (with help from Kyle Busch) before Busch passed him on the outside in the last 100 yd (91 m) in the tri-oval to win the race. The margin of victory was 0.013 seconds, the closest in the history of the event. Ambrose finished third, Keselowski fourth and Hamlin fifth. Biffle, Newman, Bowyer, Edwards and Montoya rounded out the top ten finishers in the race. ### Post-race comments Kyle Busch appeared in Victory Lane to celebrate his first victory in the Budweiser Shootout at his sixth attempt; the win earned him \$198,550. He said, "I don't know how many times I spun out and didn't spin out. Amazing race. It was fun to drive when I wasn't getting turned around", and, "Stab and steer, stab and steer, That's what you do. And some brakes. There are brakes involved, too. I thought I was clear ... and I tried going down slowly, and Jimmie just must have been there a little bit, turned me sideways and got me on the apron—scared everybody half to death, including me." Stewart, who finished second, said, "I actually had fun racing at Daytona again, which I haven't had for a while. I don't know what the consensus is from everybody else, but I had more fun as a driver tonight than what we've had in the past." Ambrose, who finished third in the race, explained, "It's definitely a lot more fun, more entertaining for the fans, and more in control for the drivers." According to Ragan, who was involved in the race's largest accident, "Everybody was real racy and I just got into the back of Menard. You get a good run, and you're pushing a little bit, and I guess he was pushing whoever was in front of him. And when you've got the meat in between the sandwich, you usually get wrecked." Harvick blamed the accident on drivers who had little experience of pack racing: "The biggest problem is the tandem racing has been so easy for these guys to stay attached that some of them haven't raced in pack racing. It's going to take a lot more patience from a lot of guys who haven't done this before." Nevertheless, Menard thought that the pack style of racing would be a good combination for the Daytona 500 and believed it would be "chaotic" and "exciting". Four days after the race, NASCAR announced that the pressure relief values in the engine would be increased from 25 psi (1.7 bar) to 28 psi (1.9 bar) after some drivers complained of overheating issues while they were running in packs. The race had a television audience of 7.46 million viewers. ### Race results
576,161	Mischief Makers	1,167,528,991	1997 video game	[ "1997 video games", "Enix games", "Nintendo 64 games", "Nintendo 64-only games", "Nintendo games", "Side-scrolling platform games", "Single-player video games", "Treasure (company) games", "Video games developed in Japan", "Video games featuring female protagonists", "Video games set on fictional planets", "Video games with 2.5D graphics" ]	Mischief Makers, released in Japan as Yuke-Yuke!! Trouble Makers (ゆけゆけ!!トラブルメーカーズ, Yuke Yuke!! Toraburu Mēkāzu), is a side-scrolling platform game developed for the Nintendo 64 gaming console by Treasure, and published in 1997 by Enix in Japan and by Nintendo internationally. The player assumes the role of Marina Liteyears, a robotic maid who journeys to rescue her creator, Professor Theo, from the emperor of Planet Clancer. The gameplay is displayed in 2.5D, based on grabbing, shaking, and throwing objects within five worlds and 52 levels. It is the first 2D side-scrolling game for the Nintendo 64, and Treasure's first release for a Nintendo console. The 12-person team began development in mid-1995 with little knowledge of the prototype console. The team wanted to make a novel gameplay mechanic, and implementing the resultant "catching" technique became their most difficult task. The game was announced at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo and was released in Japan on June 27 that year and later in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Mischief Makers received mixed reviews. Critics praised its inventiveness, personality, and boss fights, but criticized its short length, low difficulty, low replay value, sound, and harsh introductory learning curve. Retrospective reviewers disagreed with the originally poor reception, and multiple reviewers noted Marina's signature "Shake, shake!" sound bite as a highlight. Video game journalists appealed for its reissue either through the Nintendo eShop or in a sequel or franchise reboot. In 2009, GamesRadar called it possibly the most underrated Nintendo 64 game. ## Gameplay Mischief Makers is the first single-player 2D side-scrolling platform game on the Nintendo 64. Its gameplay combines platform game mechanics with aspects from the action and puzzle genres. The characters and backgrounds are modeled in pre-rendered 3D similar to Donkey Kong Country's "Advanced Computer Modeling". This style, with 3D backgrounds behind 2D gameplay, is known as 2.5D. Its gameplay is more exploratory than previous run-and-gun games from Treasure. The player-character, a robotic maid named Marina, journeys to save her kidnapped creator. The story takes place on Planet Clancer, a world on the cusp of civil war due to the actions of its Emperor and his Imperial forces. The Emperor brainwashes Clancers to kidnap the visiting robotics genius Professor Theo. Theo's creation, the player-character Ultra-InterGalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears, pursues the professor and grabs, throws, and shakes the obstacles in her way, such as enemies, floating "Clanball" platforms, warp stars, and missiles. Almost all game objects can be grabbed, which lends towards the shake-based combat system. Marina can shake "grabbed" objects to throw them as projectiles or to find loot. Objects sometimes change functions when shaken, such as items that become homing missiles and guns with multi-directional shots. Some drop red, blue, and green gems, which restore player health. The health gauge in the corner of the screen shows the amount of damage Marina can take. The player can store up to two additional stock lives. Yellow gems hidden in each level extend the final cutscene's length. Marina can run, jump, and boost (via jetpack) in the eight cardinal and ordinal directions. She can also slide, hover, and roll. The game has five worlds with roughly twelve levels apiece. Some levels are action-only while others include puzzles. The player's goal is to reach a warp star at each level's end. En route, Marina shakes enemies, breaks blocks, uses weapons, and rides "bikes" and objects along wire path mazes. Each world has both final and mid-level bosses. The levels and boss fights use scaling and screen rotation special effects to vary the gameplay. Almost all things on Planet Clancerincluding people, buildings, and petseither wear or are inscribed with identical "sad" faces with red, glowing eyes. A Clancer named Teran substitutes for Marina in several brief areas and uses non-shake mechanics like punching, kicking, and double jumping. A character named Calina, a petulant Clancer who imitates Marina, recurs as a comedic device. ## Development Treasure began to develop Mischief Makers in mid-1995, before the Nintendo 64's launch in mid-1996. At the time, little was known about the prototype console's future final technical specifications, graphics implementation, and development kit, but were nevertheless interested in the console and its improved "pixel quality". Historically, Treasure developed games exclusively for Sega consoles, which made Mischief Makers its first release for a Nintendo console. Choosing the Nintendo 64 was a hardware-based decision; the Nintendo 64 Game Pak cartridges were more expensive than CD-ROMs, but they loaded data instantly and were thus more conducive for action games such as this. However, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa said that development for the Nintendo 64 had a harsher learning curve than even the Sega Saturn. Other than the special attention required to build a single boss in 3D, the team did not use features specific to the Nintendo 64 hardware. Treasure's founders had come from Konami, where they had worked on Nintendo Entertainment System games such as Castlevania and Contra. They found their development environment restrictive and left to try riskier concepts and to singularly focus on making "great games". In the three years between Treasure's founding and Mischief Makers's development, the company released highly regarded games such as Gunstar Heroesknown as "one of the definitive 16-bit action games"and Dynamite Headdy. An average of 12 people worked on Mischief Makers, with up to 15 at times. Though the team was different in composition from that of previous Treasure games, it included the lead programmer and character designer from Gunstar Heroes. Treasure's CEO said that the staff liked to expand into new genres, though primarily in genres where the staff had experience. The company sought to depart from the Gunstar Heroes shoot 'em up design, and chose to build Mischief Makers around an original "catching" gameplay mechanic, which became the hardest aspect to implement. While foreign (non-Japanese) aesthetics were popular with other Japanese developers, Treasure's CEO said the company's games did not look "particularly foreign" and could appeal to Japanese audiences. The game is Treasure's first to have been published by Enix. The publisher sought Treasure for its reputation in the action game genre, and had approached Treasure several times before the Nintendo 64 project surfaced. Treasure CEO Maegawa was already fond of Enix, having applied unsuccessfully to work there as a student. Upon choosing the Nintendo 64, Treasure thought it would be a "good idea" to work with Enix. Similar to how Treasure ended its historic loyalty to the Sega Genesis by developing Mischief Makers for Nintendo, Enix had just recently ended its historic loyalty to Nintendo by signing Dragon Quest VII of its Dragon Quest franchise to Sony. Neither Square or Enix built a "special relationship" with Nintendo specific for Mischief Makers's release, though Nintendo was the publisher for Western markets. Prior to Nintendo proposing to publish the game in the West, Enix said it had no plans to release it outside Japan. When its English localization finished ahead of schedule, the North American release date was advanced two weeks. Mischief Makers was the only game displayed at the Enix booth at the April 1997 Tokyo Game Show. It was later demonstrated at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo and released in Japan on June 27, 1997, the United States on October 1, and the United Kingdom on December 12. Its Japanese title is Yuke-Yuke Trouble Makers, or Go-Go Trouble Makers. Near the Japanese launch, Treasure announced that it would continue to develop for the Nintendo 64 with the Japan-only Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh, which was released in September and later introduced to North America as Bangai-O. ## Reception Mischief Makers received "mixed or average reviews", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic, and a "Gold Hall of Fame" score of 32/40 from Japanese magazine Famitsu. Critics praised the inventiveness, personality, "variety", and boss fights, and criticized the brevity, low difficulty, low replay value, sound, and harsh introductory learning curve. Retrospective reviewers were more positive, and multiple reviewers noted Marina's signature "Shake, shake!" sound bite as a highlight. Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the game its silver award. IGN's Matt Casamassina said that the game compensated for its average graphics with excellent level design and gameplay challenges. He added that the puzzles require thought, unlike those in other action games, and that the objectives were not clear until after the first few levels. Casamassina praised the transparency effects, anti-aliasing, mipmapping, and scaling rotations. IGN described anticipation for the game as "tremendous", particularly among the target market of "younger gamers and 2D fans". Nintendo Power said that the game was the best side-scroller since Super Mario World. Next Generation wrote that "only diehard 2D platform fans" would be interested and that the game did not meet standards set by Super Mario 64. In contrast, GameFan said that Mischief Makers did for 2D what Super Mario 64 did for 3D, and suggested that Sega should be influenced. GamePro instead argued that the similarity to Mario is superficial, and that Mischief Makers had carved out its own niche with unique gameplay mechanics. GamesRadar retrospectively called it "pure, unadulterated awesome" and "2D brilliance". The website summarized the game as about "grabbing sad-faced aliens, shaking them until gems come out, and then hurling them at other sad-faced aliens". Zachary Miller of Nintendo World Report said that it may be most bizarre and surreal Nintendo 64 game, but Gamasutra's John Harris said that the premise is "only strange to people who have never heard of anime". GameFan described the game as "obviously deeply Japanese", where "old school gameplay and 64-bit visuals finally meet". Hirokazu Hamamura of Famitsu commended the gameplay for balancing against its poor character design. Other Famitsu reviewers admired Treasure's signature robot designs and were puzzled by the company's choice to use buttons instead of the 3D analog stick. Nintendo Life's Jamie O'Neill praised the characters and disliked the controls. He compared the Calina character to the role of Shadow Mario in Super Mario Sunshine. O'Neill wrote that the intricate controls were "the antithesis of a friendly, approachable, and intuitive platformer" because they used every button on the controller (including the directional pad), though he said that players who persevered through the difficult controls would find them "inventive and unique". He added that the complex controls allowed for experimentation that led to new and fun gameplay, and though the throwing enemies mechanic seemed to follow from Gunstar Heroes, the Clanball platforming was unintuitive. John Harris of Gamasutra wrote that the game borrowed other elements from Gunstar Heroes, with similar protagonists, collectible gems, and bosses. Harris also put Marina's "grab" in a lineage of Treasure's signature counterattack mechanics (where a player can escape an attack with a well-timed button press), which he extrapolated out to counterattacks in Viewtiful Joe and Soul Calibur. As the game took time to learn and understand, O'Neill left the reader to decide whether it was "ultimately convoluted or bordering on sophistication and genius". Nintendo Life's O'Neill thought the five world bosses were among Treasure's best (in particular, the transforming "Cerberus Alpha" boss), but found the mid-level bosses uninteresting. Peter Bartholow of GameSpot and Electronic Gaming Monthly's reviewers remarked similarly. Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly added that the technique of looking for a boss's weak spot was similar to Metroid. Famitsu reviewers praised how the game encouraged players to experiment with the basic "grab, throw, and shake" gameplay, and praised the cadence of the short levels. O'Neill of Nintendo Life said it had great variety in gameplay mechanics (from maze puzzles to outrunning lava), graphics (from bosses that scale back the screen to levels with screen rotation), and audio (from upbeat quirk to scary), and added that he was surprised that other critics were against the "unique, varied, and dramatic" sound. GamePro also praised the varied stage objectives, and said the "whimsical" music and sound effects worked perfectly with each stage, though found the voice acting overly cutesy. Scott McCall of AllGame also appreciated the sound, from the voice to the "almost indescribable" music. Gamasutra's John Harris noted its "tremendous variety" in gameplayfrom a Track & Field remake to outrunning a missile barrageas rare for 2D platformers, and commented that "it is obvious that Treasure poured their hearts into this game". Peter Bartholow of GameSpot summarized Mischief Makers as "a good game that will leave players wanting more". He liked the bosses, which made the player use all available skills but said they were short-lived and easily solved in the context of a short game with tutorials as one-fifth of its levels. He did not consider the ending extension a suitable reward for returning to the levels, and predicted that most players would not finish the game more than once. Game Informer echoed Bartholow's comments about the brevity, and named the seven-event Olympics as a highlight. Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that the game seemed incomplete and lamented that "a decent player can finish the game in under three hours", though Next Generation said it was "certainly long enough". The game's frequent reuse of a small selection of titles, objects, sound effects, soundtracks, and bland backgrounds (compared to the "impressive" boss battle animations and effects) led GameSpot's Bartholow to suggest that Mischief Makers was limited by its cartridge space. He concluded that the "decent" game would be "truly excellent ... on another medium". Zachary Miller of Nintendo World Report reported that the graphics did not age well into 2010. Dan Hsu wrote in Electronic Gaming Monthly that the game is "definitely a sleeper hit". Hardcore Gamer's Ryan Cartmel said it went "largely unnoticed", and GamePro claimed that it had "[developed] a strong following in Japan". ### Legacy Video game journalists from sources such as GamesRadar and Nintendo World Report cited Mischief Makers as suited for reissue either through the Nintendo eShop or in a sequel or franchise reboot. Retro Gamer placed the "masterpiece of mayhem" 80th on its list of "essential" Nintendo 64 games for its "unbridled quality". In 2009, GamesRadar called it "possibly the most underrated and widely ignored" Nintendo 64 game. In the years since, Retro Gamer reported Mischief Makers as a somewhat rare collectible, with a rarity score of 7/10. The website wrote that Mischief Makers was received poorly because players wanted 3D instead of 2D gameplay in Nintendo 64 games. Gamasutra's John Harris added that those who gave it a "bum rap" missed a "surprisingly clever" game. UGO remembered it as innovative, though imperfect, and asked to see Marina reinterpreted and resurrected in a new game. Marina reappeared as an unlockable character in Treasure's 1999 Rakugaki Showtime.
4,341,861	Al-Adid	1,173,738,602	Ismaili imam and last Fatimid caliph from 1160 to 1171	[ "1151 births", "1171 deaths", "12th-century Fatimid caliphs", "Egyptian Ismailis", "Hafizi imams", "Medieval child monarchs", "Muslims of the Crusades", "Saladin" ]	Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf (Arabic: أبو محمد عبد الله بن يوسف; 1151–1171), better known by his regnal name al-ʿĀḍid li-Dīn Allāh (Arabic: العاضد لدين الله, lit. 'Strengthener of God's Faith'), was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, and the twenty-fourth imam of the Hafizi Isma'ili branch of Shi'a Islam, reigning from 1160 to 1171. Like his two immediate predecessors, al-Adid came to the throne as a child, and spent his reign as a puppet in the hands of various strongmen who occupied the vizierate. He was a mostly helpless bystander to the slow collapse of the Fatimid Caliphate. Tala'i ibn Ruzzik, the vizier who had raised al-Adid to the throne, fell victim to a palace plot in 1161, and was replaced by his son, Ruzzik ibn Tala'i. The latter was in turn overthrown by Shawar in 1163, but lasted only a few months in office before being overthrown by Dirgham. The constant power struggles in Cairo enfeebled the Fatimid state, allowing both the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Sunni ruler of Syria, Nur al-Din, to advance their own designs on the country. The Crusaders repeatedly invaded Egypt, extracting tribute and ultimately aiming to conquer it; in turn, Nur al-Din supported Shawar's bid to retake the vizierate from Dirgham, and sent his general Shirkuh to counter the Crusaders. For a while, Shawar played the Crusaders and Syrians against one another, but in January 1169, Shirkuh overthrew Shawar, occupied Cairo and became vizier. When Shirkuh died shortly after, he was succeeded by his nephew, Saladin. Saladin was initially conciliatory towards al-Adid, but quickly consolidated his hold over Egypt, and proceeded to gradually dismantle the Fatimid regime. Fatimid loyalists in the army were purged and replaced with Syrian troops, culminating in the failed mutiny of the Battle of the Blacks. Members of Saladin's family were installed as governors, the civilian bureaucracy was largely won over to the new regime, and al-Adid was sidelined even from ceremonial roles. Finally, Isma'ilism was progressively abolished as the state religion in favour of Sunni Islam, culminating in the official proclamation of Abbasid suzerainty in September 1171. Al-Adid died a few days later. His family was placed under house arrest, and Isma'ilism persecuted by Saladin's new Ayyubid regime, so that within a century after the fall of the Fatimid regime it had almost disappeared in Egypt. ## Origin The future al-Adid was born on 9 May 1151, according to the commonly accepted date, provided by the thirteenth-century historian Ibn Khallikan. Other authors, however, give earlier years, in 1145 or 1149. He was the son of the Fatimid prince Yusuf, a younger son of the eleventh Fatimid caliph, al-Hafiz li-Din Allah (r. 1132–1149). Yusuf was one of the oldest surviving sons of al-Hafiz, but at the latter's death, the powerful vizier Salim ibn Masal installed al-Hafiz's youngest son, the 16-year-old Isma'il, as caliph with the regnal name al-Zafir bi-Amr Allah. Al-Zafir was assassinated in 1154 by his vizier, Abbas ibn Abi'l-Futuh. The vizier raised al-Zafir's five-year-old son Isa to the throne under the name al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah, and had Yusuf and another older brother of al-Zafir's, Jibril, executed on the same day. By this time, the Fatimid dynasty was in decline. The official doctrine of Isma'ili Shi'ism had lost its appeal and was weakened by succession disputes and schisms, and the dynasty's legitimacy was increasingly challenged by a Sunni resurgence in Egypt. As the fate of al-Zafir shows, the Fatimid caliphs themselves had become virtual puppets in the hands of their powerful chief ministers: the viziers bore the royal title of sultan, and their names were included in the Friday sermons and on coins alongside the caliph's. The historian Yaacov Lev sums up the state of Egypt as "The Sick Man on the Nile". The weakness of the Isma'ili Fatimid regime was noticed by its Sunni rivals, the Abbasids of Baghdad: in 1154, the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtafi (r. 1136–1160) issued a diploma appointing the Zengid ruler of Damascus, Nur al-Din (r. 1146–1174), as the nominal ruler of Egypt. ## Reign Al-Fa'iz was of sickly disposition and died on 22 July 1160, aged only eleven. Lacking a direct heir, the nine-year-old al-Adid was elevated to the throne by another all-powerful vizier, Tala'i ibn Ruzzik, on 23 July 1160. To further cement his hold over the caliph, Ibn Ruzzik married him to one of his daughters. Throughout his reign, al-Adid was little more than a figurehead monarch, effectively a puppet in the hands of courtiers and strongmen who disputed with one another over the spoils of the tottering Fatimid state. As the French orientalist Gaston Wiet comments, "The Arab writers seem uncertain, and intermittently attribute to him stray impulses of revolt, which had little success [...] in general the caliph looked on helplessly at a shattering series of tragic incidents of which he himself was finally to be the victim". As a result of the lack of information about al-Adid, his personal traits are not well known. Ibn Khallikan reports that he was violently pro-Shi'a, while the only physical description of him is by the Crusader historian William of Tyre, on the occasion of an audience with Crusader leaders: his face was veiled, but his appearance was described as that of "a young man of an extremely generous disposition, whose first beard was just appearing; he was tall, of swarthy complexion and good frame". ### Power struggles in Cairo Ibn Ruzzik, who was inclined towards the Twelver branch of Shi'ism, was assassinated on 11 September 1161, possibly with the knowledge of the young caliph, as the deed was said to have been instigated by one of al-Adid's aunts, Sitt al-Qusur. Nevertheless, his place was immediately taken by his son, Ruzzik ibn Tala'i, who likewise denied any power to the caliph. The new vizier had Sitt al-Qusur strangled, while al-Adid came under the auspices of another aunt, who had to swear that she had not been involved in the murder plot. Soon after, the new vizier suppressed the last revolt by a claimant of the rival Nizari line of the Fatimid dynasty, Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Nizar: arriving from the Maghreb (western North Africa), he had tried to raise Cyrenaica and Alexandria in revolt, but was captured and executed in August 1162. Al-Adid—or rather, a palace clique acting through him—turned to Shawar, the governor of Upper Egypt, for support in deposing Ruzzik. With the backing of a Bedouin army, Shawar was indeed successful in capturing Cairo in late December 1162, and had his predecessor executed; he too assumed complete control of the government, excluding the caliph from public affairs. As the contemporary poet Umara ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Yamani commented, "with the end of the Banu Ruzzik ended the Egyptian dynasty". Shawar was evicted from Cairo in August 1163 by the majordomo Dirgham, but escaped to his Bedouin supporters, before travelling to Damascus to seek the assistance of Nur al-Din. This was an ominous development for the Fatimids. For Nur al-Din, whom the historian Farhad Daftary describes as a "fervent Sunni", Shawar's arrival opened the possibility of intervening in Egypt, not only in order to unify the core territories of the Muslim world under his rule, but also in order to overthrow the Isma'ili Shi'ite Fatimid regime and return the country to Sunni Abbasid allegiance. ### Foreign interventions and the fall of Dirgham In the meantime, Dirgham's regime in Egypt became ever more unpopular, and he quickly lost support among the military. At the same time, the turmoil in Egypt opened the path for intervention by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: the Crusaders coveted Egypt not only for its riches, but also in order to prevent a takeover by Nur al-Din, which would expose their kingdom to attacks from two directions. Already during Ibn Ruzzik's vizierate, an invasion by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem (r. 1143–1163) had to be bought off by the payment of an annual tribute. Baldwin's successor, Amalric (r. 1163–1174), seriously considered conquering Egypt. In September 1163 he invaded the country, but was forced to retreat after the Fatimids broke the dams that held back the Nile's cresting floodwaters and inundated the plains of the Nile Delta. The obvious vulnerability of Egypt to the Crusaders encouraged Nur al-Din to agree to provide assistance to Shawar, who promised in return to send him a third of Egypt's revenue as tribute, and to become his vassal. The remaining two thirds were to be split up between al-Adid and Shawar. Shawar was sent back to Egypt accompanied by a small expeditionary force, barely a thousand strong, under the Kurdish general Shirkuh, who was joined by his nephew, Saladin. This double foreign intervention was a significant point of rupture in the history of the Fatimid state and Egypt: enfeebled by the constant civil wars, but still possessing a vibrant economy and immense resources, the country now became a prize in the wider struggle between Damascus and Jerusalem. Both powers aimed to take over Egypt while preventing the other from doing so, leading to the eventual downfall of the Fatimid dynasty. Dirgham appealed to Amalric for help against the Syrians, but the King of Jerusalem was unable to intervene in time: in late April 1164, the Syrians surprised and defeated Dirgham's brother at Bilbays, opening the way to Cairo. On the news of the battle, a panic broke out in the capital of Egypt. Desperate for funds to pay his men, Dirgham confiscated the possessions of orphans, thereby provoking a public outcry against him. His troops began deserting him. Left with only 500 horsemen, he appeared in the square before the caliphal palace demanding that al-Adid appear, but the caliph, who had already entered into talks with Shawar, turned him away and advised him to save his life. As his troops continued to defect, Dirgham fled the capital, but was killed by one of Shawar's men. ### Shawar's second vizierate Shawar was restored to the vizierate on 26 May 1164, but quickly fell out with Shirkuh, who attacked Cairo. Shawar now asked for Amalric's help in driving the Syrian army out of Egypt. Shirkuh and Saladin confronted the Crusaders at Bilbays for three months, until Nur al-Din captured Harim in Syria, forcing Amalric to retreat north in November 1164. Left dangerously short of supplies, Shirkuh was obliged to follow suit, after receiving 50,000 dinars from Shawar. Shawar's position was secured, for a time: having experienced Egypt, its wealth, and the feebleness of its regime, Shirkuh persuaded Nur al-Din to send him again south in January 1167. Learning of this, Amalric gathered his forces and invaded Egypt himself, even before Shawar agreed to an alliance with the Crusaders against the Syrians. To seal the treaty, Hugh of Caesarea entered Cairo to receive the assent of al-Adid in person; Hugh's description of the caliphal audience is one of the very few surviving descriptions of the Fatimid palaces. A Crusader garrison was installed on the walls of Cairo, and the Fatimids and Crusaders jointly confronted the Syrian troops. At the Battle of al-Babein on 18 March 1167, the Syrians were victorious, but shortly after, Saladin was besieged at Alexandria. This forced Shirkuh to come to terms, and in August 1167, both Syrians and Crusaders once again left Egypt, leaving a Crusader garrison in Cairo, as well as an official responsible for collecting an annual tribute of 100,000 gold dinars due to the King of Jerusalem. This de facto submission to the Crusaders displeased many at the Fatimid court, including Shawar's own son, al-Kamil Shuja, who secretly contacted Nur al-Din for assistance. The Syrians were pre-empted, however, by Amalric, who in October 1168 set out to conquer Egypt; even before launching their campaign, the Crusader leaders divided the country among themselves. As the Crusaders entered Egypt and massacred the inhabitants of Bilbays on 5 November 1168, al-Kamil Shuja persuaded al-Adid to call upon Nur al-Din for assistance. Shawar vehemently opposed this, warning the young caliph of the dire consequences for himself if the Syrians should prevail. Nevertheles, the horrifying news of the massacre at Bilbays rallied opposition to the Crusader advance, and al-Adid is reported to have sent a plea for aid in secret, although this may be an invention by later chroniclers eager to justify Saladin's rise to power. In the meantime, the Crusaders arrived before the gates of Cairo, and began a siege of the city. Shawar had to evacuate the unwalled sister city of Fustat. The sources claim that Shawar, apparently in panic, had the city torched to the ground, but this may be a later invention, and the extent of the destruction was likely much exaggerated. The siege lasted until 2 January 1169, when the Crusaders departed on the approach of the Syrian troops; on 8 January, Shirkuh and his 6,000 men arrived before Cairo. After a few days of uneasy coexistence, Shawar was seized by Shirkuh's men on 18 January 1169, during a visit to the Syrian camp. Al-Adid is reported to have urged, or at least consented to, the execution of his vizier, which took place on the same day. Two days later, Shirkuh was appointed vizier, with the title of al-Malik al-Mansur (lit. 'the Victorious King'). Shirkuh's sudden rise alarmed the Crusaders, and displeased Nur al-Din, who mistrusted his subordinate's intentions; the Syrian ruler even wrote to al-Adid, asking him to send the Syrian troops—and their commander—home. Al-Adid did not reply, and was apparently satisfied with his new minister, as Shirkuh appeared to respect the Fatimid institutions, leaving the regime's officials in their place. ### Saladin's vizierate Shirkuh died from choking on his meal on 23 March 1169. His unexpected departure left a power vacuum, both in the Fatimid government as well as the Syrian expeditionary force. The Fatimid elites conferred in the caliphal palace. Some proposed that Saladin be appointed to the vizierate, while others, led by the eunuch majordomo Mu'tamin al-Khilafa Jawhar, suggested that the Syrians should be given military fiefs (iqta') in the Nile Delta, thus removing them from Cairo, and that no vizier should be appointed, with al-Adid resuming personal rule like his predecessors at the beginning of the dynasty. The Syrian commanders also vied among themselves for the leadership, until Saladin emerged as the favoured candidate. Then, on 26 March 1169, Saladin was received at the caliphal palace and appointed to the vizierate, with the title of al-Malik al-Nasir (lit. 'the King who Brings Victory'). The fiction that Saladin was al-Adid's servant was upheld, but the real balance of power is shown by the fact that in the document of investiture, for the first time, the vizierate was declared as hereditary. Nevertheless, Saladin's position was far from secure. His forces numbered a few thousand and, even though superior in combat ability, were massively outnumbered by the Fatimid troops. Furthermore, Saladin could not fully rely on the loyalty of his own commanders. Saladin's role in the Fatimid state was also a source of contradictions: he was a Sunni, who had come into Egypt with a Sunni army, and who still owed allegiance to Nur al-Din's militantly Sunni regime; but as vizier of the Fatimid caliph, he was in charge of a nominally Isma'ili state, and even of the Isma'ili religious establishment (da'wa). The Fatimid elites in the court and the army were bound to oppose Saladin's attempts to dismantle the Egyptian regime, while Nur al-Din was distrustful of his erstwhile subordinate's intentions. This obliged Saladin to tread carefully at first, making a serious effort to establish good relations with al-Adid and promote a public image of harmony between the two. After additional Syrian troops arrived under the command of Saladin's older brother, Turan-Shah, Saladin gradually distanced himself from the Fatimid regime, starting by introducing Nur al-Din's name in the Friday sermon after that of al-Adid. Al-Adid was relegated to a ceremonial role, and even publicly humiliated when Saladin entered the palace on horseback (hitherto a privilege of the caliphs). Saladin also began openly favouring his Syrian troops, awarding them military fiefs for their upkeep, while withdrawing similar fiefs from the Fatimid commanders. Lev points out that a considerable part of the Fatimid civilian bureaucracy, many of them by now Sunnis, had become alienated from the regime they served. Many of them—most notably the chancery official Qadi al-Fadil—chose to collaborate with Saladin and effectively helped him undermine the Fatimid regime. The pro-Fatimid opposition against the ascendancy of Saladin and his Syrians coalesced around Mu'tamin al-Khilafa Jawhar. The conspirators reportedly did not hesitate to contact the Crusaders for help, in the hopes that a new Crusader invasion would draw Saladin away from Cairo, allowing them to seize control of the capital. When a letter to this effect fell into his hands, Saladin seized the opportunity to quickly and ruthlessly purge Cairo of his rivals, and Mu'tamin al-Khalifa was assassinated. Thereupon, on 21 August 1169, the Black African troops rose in revolt. In street fighting that lasted for two days, Saladin defeated them and ousted them from the city. They were pursued and defeated by Turan-Shah, while their quarters in the suburb of al-Mansuriyya were burnt. In the aftermath, Saladin appointed his confidante, Baha al-Din Qaraqush, as majordomo of the caliphal palaces, thus securing control of the caliph and his court. Deprived of any loyal troops and closely watched over in his own palace by Qaraqush, al-Adid was now completely at Saladin's mercy. When a joint Byzantine–Crusader attack was launched on Damietta in October–December 1169, al-Adid handed over a million dinars to finance the expedition sent against the invaders. The historian Michael Brett sees in this a measure of accommodation by the caliph to the new situation, but Lev speaks of blatant "extortion" of al-Adid by Saladin, pointing out that the caliph was effectively under house arrest, and that his contribution of such an enormous sum only served to weaken his position. When Saladin's father, Ayyub, arrived in Cairo in March 1170, the caliph in person rode out with Saladin to meet him—an unheard-of honour—and awarded him the title al-Malik al-Awhad ('the Singular King'). With his position secure, Saladin solidified control of the administrative machinery of Egypt by appointing Syrians instead of native Egyptians to all public posts. As part of this, his immediate family were appointed to the most important provincial governorships. At the same time, Saladin began a slow but inexorable assault on the ideological foundations of the Fatimid state. On 25 August 1170, the call to prayer was changed from the Shi'a formula back to the Sunni one, and the first three Rashidun caliphs included, a practice offensive to Shi'a doctrine. Even al-Adid's name was subtly excluded from it by replacing it with a formula that sought God's blessings for "He who Strengthens God's Faith"—which, as the historian Heinz Halm remarks, could refer to al-Adid's regnal name, but also to "any pious Muslim, even the Sunni caliph of Baghdad". In mid-1170, al-Adid was forbidden from attending the Friday and festival prayers in state. In September 1170, Sunni madrasas were established in the old capital of Fustat; and all juridical posts were filled with Shafi'i Sunnis, mostly Syrians or Kurds. In February 1171, even the chief qadi was replaced by a Sunni appointee, followed by the final suspension of the public lectures of the Isma'ili doctrine at the al-Azhar Mosque. The Sunni jurists even issued a legal decision which allowed Saladin to legally execute al-Adid as a heretic. ### Death and the end of the Fatimid Caliphate Saladin's assault on the Fatimid regime culminated on 10 September 1171, when the Shafi'i jurist Najm al-Din al-Khabushani publicly proclaimed the name of the Sunni Abbasid caliph, al-Mustadi (r. 1170–1180), instead of al-Adid's, and read out a list of the Fatimids' crimes. This symbolic act restored the country to Abbasid suzerainty after two centuries of Isma'ili Fatimid rule, but was met by general indifference among the Egyptian populace. The Fatimid regime was at an end, but al-Adid likely never learned of it, being already on his deathbed due to a severe illness. His death on 13 September 1171 at the age of twenty only sealed the demise of the Fatimid Caliphate. Some medieval sources claim that al-Adid either committed suicide, was poisoned, or was murdered by Turan-Shah when he refused to reveal where his treasures were hidden, but according to Halm, there is "no serious evidence for a violent elimination" of the caliph, and Saladin's own utterances suggest he thought that the caliph had died of natural causes. Saladin's reaction to al-Adid's death was careful: he attended the funeral for al-Adid in person, but also organized a parade of his troops as a show of force against any lingering pro-Fatimid sentiment. Publicly, it was stated simply that al-Adid had failed to appoint his oldest son, Daoud, as heir, and thus the caliphal throne was vacant. While Saladin put on a public show of grief, the death of al-Adid and the end of the Fatimid Caliphate caused undisguised jubilation among the Sunni partisans of Saladin's own entourage: Saladin's secretary, al-Katib al-Isfahani, wrote a celebratory poem likening al-Adid to Pharaoh and Saladin to Joseph (Yusuf in Arabic, Saladin's birth name), and calling him a bastard and a heretic. When the news reached Baghdad, the city was festooned in Abbasid black, and Caliph al-Mustadi sent robes of honour to Saladin and Nur al-Din. After al-Adid's death, the still sizeable Isma'ili community was persecuted by Saladin's new Ayyubid regime. The Fatimid family was placed under effective house arrest in the palace. Al-Adid's heir-apparent, Daoud al-Hamid li-'llah (imamate: 1171–1208), was recognized by the Hafizi Isma'ili faithful as the rightful imam, but he, like his own son and successor Sulayman Badr al-Din (imamate: 1208–1248), lived and died in captivity. A series of abortive conspiracies and uprisings under pro-Fatimid sympathizers or Fatimid pretenders erupted in the 1170s and continued sporadically, with much diminished impact, until the end of the century. By the end of the thirteenth century, Isma'ilism had been effectively purged from Egypt. The last three surviving members of the dynasty are attested in 1262, when the Mamluk ruler Baybars ordered an inventory of the confiscated Fatimid possessions: they were Kamal al-Din Isma'il, one of al-Adid's sons, and two grandsons, Abu'l-Qasim ibn Abi'l-Futuh ibn al-Adid and Abd al-Wahhab ibn Isma'il ibn al-Adid. Nothing further is known of them; presumably they died still imprisoned in the Citadel of Cairo.
48,606,643	Frances Gertrude McGill	1,122,674,876	Canadian forensic pathologist and allergologist (1882–1959)	[ "1882 births", "1959 deaths", "20th-century Canadian women scientists", "Allergologists", "Canadian Anglicans", "Canadian criminologists", "Canadian pathologists", "Canadian people of Irish descent", "Canadian women criminologists", "Canadian women physicians", "Forensic pathologists", "People from Minnedosa, Manitoba", "Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers", "Scientists from Manitoba", "University of Manitoba alumni", "Women bacteriologists", "Women pathologists" ]	Frances Gertrude McGill (November 18, 1882 – January 21, 1959) was a Canadian forensic pathologist, criminologist, bacteriologist, allergologist and allergist. Nicknamed "the Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan" for her deductive skills and public fame, McGill influenced the development of forensic pathology in Canadian police work and was internationally noted for her expertise in the subject. After completing her medical degree at the University of Manitoba in 1915, McGill moved to Saskatchewan, where she was hired first as the provincial bacteriologist and then as the provincial pathologist. She worked extensively with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local police forces for more than thirty years, and was instrumental in establishing the first RCMP forensic laboratory. She directed the RCMP laboratory for three years, and trained new RCMP recruits in forensic detection methods. After retiring in 1946, McGill was appointed Honorary Surgeon for the RCMP by the Canadian Minister of Justice, becoming one of the first official female members of the force, and she continued to act as a consultant to the RCMP until her death in 1959. Alongside her pathological work, McGill operated a private medical practice for the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. She was acknowledged as a specialist in allergy testing, and doctors across Saskatchewan referred patients to her care. McGill is a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. After her death, McGill Lake in northern Saskatchewan was named in her honour. ## Early life and education Frances Gertrude McGill was born on November 18, 1882, in Minnedosa, Manitoba. Her parents were Edward McGill, whose family had emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1819, and Henrietta Wigmore, also of Irish descent. Henrietta was a former school teacher, and had once circumnavigated the globe, travelling to New Zealand for a teaching job and later returning to Canada. Edward was active in local politics and agricultural societies, and worked as the postmaster in Minnedosa. Frances McGill had two older brothers, Herbert and Harold, and one younger sister named Margaret. Harold eventually became a doctor, serving as a medical officer during the First World War, while Margaret became a nurse and joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps. In mid-1900, when McGill was seventeen, her parents became ill with typhoid fever after drinking contaminated water at a county fair. Both died in September within ten days of each other. McGill's eldest brother, Herbert, took over the running of the family farm until his younger siblings had completed their basic schooling. McGill trained as a teacher at the Winnipeg Normal School and taught summer school to fund her further education. She originally considered becoming a lawyer, but decided to study medicine instead. She paid for much of her schooling through scholarships. In 1915, McGill completed her medical degree at the University of Manitoba, receiving the Hutchison Gold Medal for highest academic standing, the Dean's Prize and an award for surgical knowledge. She was one of the first female medical students to graduate from the university. McGill served her internship at the Winnipeg General Hospital. She subsequently attended the provincial laboratory of Manitoba for post-graduate studies and completed training in pathology. ## Career ### Bacteriologist Developing a growing expertise in bacteriology, McGill was named provincial bacteriologist for the Saskatchewan Department of Health in 1918. She moved to Regina for the job, where her new office and lab were located in the Saskatchewan Legislative building. By October of that year, she was responsible for handling local outbreaks of the 1918 flu epidemic. McGill and her colleagues quickly produced flu vaccinations for more than 60,000 Saskatchewan residents. McGill also treated returning First World War soldiers for venereal disease. ### Pathologist In 1920, McGill became provincial pathologist for Saskatchewan, and by 1922 she had become director of the provincial laboratory. McGill now dealt with cases of suspicious death, working extensively with local police forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Her investigations required frequent travel – up to forty-three trips in a single year – and McGill sometimes used a snowmobile, dog sled or float plane to reach crime scenes, once travelling to the Arctic Circle. Earning the unofficial nickname "the Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan", McGill gained a professional reputation as a skilled and meticulous criminologist, and was fondly called "Doc" by members of the police force. Her personal motto was reportedly "Think like a man, act like a lady and work like a dog." She was known for handling the sometimes gruesome nature of her work by maintaining a good sense of humour, and was a formidable, no-nonsense witness in court cases. During her court testimonies, McGill sometimes encountered young Saskatchewan defense lawyer John Diefenbaker – who would later become Prime Minister of Canada – and the strong-willed pair often sparred verbally. In one court hearing, McGill told the lawyer: "You ask me sensible questions, Mr. Diefenbaker, and I will give you sensible answers." McGill was acknowledged for her "untiring" efforts and "excellent" service in annual reports by RCMP Commissioners James Howden MacBrien and Stuart Taylor Wood. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, McGill made do with dramatically fewer resources and a much smaller staff. In 1933, she kept within a budget of \$17,000 for testing work that would normally have cost more than \$122,000. Volunteering hundreds of additional work hours on evenings and weekends, McGill assisted the RCMP in establishing their first official laboratory for forensic detection, which opened in 1937. Despite her experience, she was not offered the position of director for the lab. The laboratory took over a substantial portion of McGill's forensic pathology workload, and over the next several years she concentrated on other projects such as developing a polio serum and becoming a specialist in allergy research. As her expertise in allergy testing gained wider notice, doctors across the province began sending their patients to McGill. She coped with the growing demands on her time by hiring an assistant and opening a private after-hours allergy clinic located at her apartment. McGill retired from her job as provincial pathologist on November 17, 1942, having conducted more than 64,000 laboratory examinations over the course of her civil service career. She continued working at her allergy clinic two days per week, and spent more time on outdoor activities and trips with friends. Several months afterwards, McGill decided to start a new project providing vaccinations for preschool children, and subsequently set up inoculation clinics at schools across Regina. ### RCMP forensic lab In 1943, when the director of the RCMP's forensic laboratory died in an airplane accident, McGill was called in to serve as his replacement. She accepted the position on a part-time basis, continuing to operate her allergy clinic during the afternoons. In her new role as director, McGill conducted investigations across Saskatchewan and provided lectures and training in pathology and toxicology to new police officers and detectives, teaching skills related to identifying blood samples, studying crime scenes, and properly collecting and preserving evidence. In her advice to students, McGill emphasized the importance of critical thinking: "Don't believe all the death certificates you see. There's no reason why a man with heart disease can't have died of strychnine poisoning." ### Retirement and consultancy By 1946, McGill had formally retired from directing the RCMP forensic laboratory, and in January of that year she was named Honorary Surgeon to the RCMP, appointed by the Canadian Minister of Justice. McGill was the first woman to receive the title, and the first female doctor to be publicly acknowledged as a member of the RCMP. She continued to work for the RCMP on a special consulting basis, and occasionally gave lectures and exams for police officers and investigators. She was a thorough and articulate instructor, and her teaching notes were compiled for use in a student textbook in 1952. Her forensic work – and her status as one of the few female members of the RCMP – had attracted notice across Canada and overseas. In 1952, she travelled to England and visited Scotland Yard, where she was permitted to inspect their forensic laboratories. In 1956, after an American detective magazine ran a story on her work, McGill received a request for assistance addressed to "Dr. Frances McGill, Canada's Famous Pathologist, Regina, Canada." The letter was from a woman in New York City whose brother had died under suspicious circumstances; no autopsy had been performed, and the woman had struggled to get the answers she wanted. Although McGill could not assist directly in the matter, she responded with advice on how to contact the FBI and arrange to have the body exhumed. ## Cases and methodology McGill's work sometimes allowed her to solve murders that had gone uninvestigated. During one year, she performed post-mortem examinations of thirteen exhumed bodies, and discovered that five of the bodies were murder victims. In one case – not initially suspected as a crime at all – McGill helped prove that a woman had poisoned several relatives. ### Lintlaw Case In April 1932, farmer Joseph Shewchuk was found dead from a gunshot wound at his home in Lintlaw, Saskatchewan. Police found bloodstains all across the room – presumed evidence of a violent struggle – and also located a rifle hidden in a nearby wheat bin. The local doctor deemed it suspicious and ruled out suicide, and police arrested a neighbour who had been unable to satisfactorily explain several bloodstains on his coat. When McGill arrived to conduct a second examination, however, she discovered that the local doctor had not completed a full autopsy on the body. She ordered the body exhumed and did a new examination herself. From clues such as the distinctly awkward angle of the wound, she concluded the victim had taken his own life. Although the previous doctor had decided that the victim must have died instantaneously, McGill found evidence in Shewchuck's digestion system that proved he had lived long enough to move around his house and hide the rifle, obscuring cause of death. Witnesses confirmed that Shewchuk had struggled with depression, and it was found that Shewchuk had borrowed the rifle and cartridges himself shortly before his death. The accused neighbour – whose suspicious bloodstains were actually from an injured farm animal – was released. The Lintlaw Case had a strong impact on McGill's reputation with police, and the RCMP subsequently made it their policy to call her in immediately whenever foul play was suspected. ### Northern Trapper Case In November 1933, a trapper named Oskar Schwab was reported missing northeast of Nipawin. A police investigation uncovered traces of blood in his shack. Although the blood's origin was initially uncertain – since Schwab had made a living trapping and skinning animals – McGill established that blood stains at the head of Schwab's mattress were indeed human, and police located a bullet lodged in the log wall nearby. The following February, police arrested Schwab's former trapping partner, Thomas Kisling, who admitted to killing Schwab but subsequently tried to argue that it had been accidental or in self-defence. Investigators uncovered Schwab's remains and found that the trapper's skull had been shattered into dozens of pieces by the gunshot. After completing an autopsy, McGill took the skull fragments back to her laboratory and painstakingly reconstructed it. Her work, revealing the bullet's clear trajectory and black lead markings, showed that Schwab had been shot in the back of the head while sleeping. When McGill testified in Kisling's trial, she produced the carefully reconstructed skull from her handbag. Biographer Myrna L. Petersen describes how "a gasp went through the crowd" as court watchers realized what the pathologist was holding. Court reporter Ken Liddell later recalled in one of his columns that he had seen McGill bring out similar evidence in other court cases with "all the drama of a magician." ### South Poplar Case During a period of cold weather, a hitchhiker was found frozen to death in a southern Saskatchewan field near South Poplar, his skull apparently fractured by a blow to the head. A local doctor ruled it murder and sent the victim's remains to McGill's laboratory for further examination. When McGill examined the skull, however, she concluded that the man's bone structure had been weakened by rickets. A truck driver admitted to drinking some alcohol with the hitchhiker, which had increased blood flow to the man's brain – and after his death, the below-freezing temperatures and position of the body had caused those fluids to expand, resulting in the apparent skull fracture. McGill found no evidence of foul play. The cause of death for the hitchhiker was determined to be a simple heart attack. ## Personal life McGill preferred not to discuss her personal life, but many acquaintances believed that she had lost a boyfriend to battle in the First World War. She enjoyed spending time with her siblings and other relatives whenever possible. From 1931 to 1933, her nephew Edward came to live with her in Regina while he built up his savings for university education, and he later cited her guidance and advice as a major influence on his life. She enjoyed hosting meals and playing games of bridge with her close friends, and she was known as a good storyteller. She was an avid equestrian, often going horseback riding outside the city. McGill's other pastimes included fishing, camping, and shooting, and in 1917 she won a prize in a women's rifle competition. For bedtime reading, she often indulged in crime fiction. During the Second World War, McGill supported the war effort by knitting wool socks for soldiers who were fighting abroad. She was a member of the Saskatchewan Medical Society, the Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Regina Women's Canadian Club. McGill was a member of the Anglican Church. She was Conservative in her politics, and eventually became a strong supporter of John Diefenbaker's political career as he ran for parliament and then Prime Minister. In 1958, despite serious health issues, McGill discharged herself from hospital and went home to vote for Diefenbaker in the federal election. She enjoyed travelling abroad and did so extensively, visiting New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, the West Indies and multiple European countries. ## Death and legacy McGill died aged 76 on January 21, 1959, in Winnipeg, having been diagnosed with breast cancer and later pleurisy. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered by family at a favourite plot of land in Cherry Valley, Manitoba. Obituaries described McGill as "one of Canada's best-known criminologists", and an editorial in the Leader-Post reflected that McGill's extensive professional contributions and lasting relationships with friends and colleagues had earned her "a measure of immortality" surpassed by few other Canadians. McGill Lake, located north of Lake Athabasca in Saskatchewan, is named in her honour. She is a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. ## See also - Timeline of women in science
39,073,847	Mysteries of Isis	1,143,914,908	Religious rites in the Greco-Roman cult of Isis	[ "Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination", "Greco-Roman mysteries", "Isis" ]	The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world. They were modeled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinian mysteries in honor of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone, and originated sometime between the and the . Despite their mainly Hellenistic origins, the mysteries alluded to beliefs from ancient Egyptian religion, in which the worship of Isis arose, and may have incorporated aspects of Egyptian ritual. Although Isis was worshipped across the Greco-Roman world, the mystery rites are only known to have been practiced in a few regions. In areas where they were practiced, they served to strengthen devotees' commitment to the Isis cult, although they were not required to worship her exclusively, and devotees may have risen in the cult's hierarchy by undergoing initiation. The rites may also have been thought to guarantee that the initiate's soul, with the goddess's help, would continue after death into a blissful afterlife. Many texts from the Roman Empire refer to the Isis mysteries, but the only source to describe them is a work of fiction, the novel The Golden Ass, written in the second century CE by Apuleius. In it, the initiate undergoes elaborate ritual purification before descending into the innermost part of Isis's temple, where he experiences a symbolic death and rebirth and has an intense religious experience, seeing the gods in person. Some aspects of the mysteries of Isis and of other mystery cults, particularly their connection with the afterlife, resemble important elements of Christianity. The question of whether they influenced Christianity is controversial and the evidence is unclear; some scholars today attribute the similarities to a shared cultural background rather than direct influence. In contrast, Apuleius's account has had direct effects in modern times. Through his description, the mysteries of Isis have influenced many works of fiction and modern fraternal organizations, as well as a widespread belief that the ancient Egyptians themselves had an elaborate system of mystery initiations. ## Origins ### Greek and Egyptian precedents Greco-Roman mysteries were voluntary, secret initiation rituals. They were dedicated to a particular deity or group of deities, and used a variety of intense experiences, such as nocturnal darkness interrupted by bright light, or loud music or noise, that induced a state of disorientation and an intense religious experience. Some of them involved cryptic symbols. Initiates were not supposed to discuss the details of what they experienced, and modern understanding of these rites is limited by this secrecy. The most prestigious mysteries in the Greek world were the Eleusinian initiations dedicated to the goddess Demeter, which were performed at Eleusis near Athens, from at least the sixth century BCE to the end of the fourth century CE. They centered on Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone. Eleusinian initiates passed into a dark hall, the Telesterion, and were subjected to terrifying sights before entering a room brightly lit by fire. There the hierophant who presided over the ceremony shouted a cryptic announcement that may have alluded to the birth of the god Ploutos and displayed objects that represented Demeter's power over fertility, such as a sheaf of wheat. In the mysteries of the god Dionysus, which were performed in many places across the Greek world, participants drank and danced in frenzied nocturnal celebrations. Dionysian celebrations were connected in some way with Orphism, a group of mystical beliefs about the nature of the afterlife. Isis was originally a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, which did not include Greek-style mysteries, although it did contain elements that resembled those in later Greek mysteries. Pharaohs underwent a consecration, related to their coronation rites, in which they were said to have close contact with the gods. Priests may have also undergone a consecration ceremony of some kind, connected with the specialized religious knowledge or training required for their positions. Ancient Egyptian funerary texts contained knowledge about the Duat, or underworld, that was characterized as profoundly secret and was believed to allow deceased souls to reach a pleasant afterlife. Some Egyptologists, such as Jan Assmann, have suggested some funerary texts were also used in priestly consecration rituals; Assmann argues that "initiation into the temples and cults of Egypt anticipated and prefigured the ultimate initiation into the mysteries of the realm of the dead." Other Egyptologists contest the idea that funerary texts were ever used in rituals by the living. An element of Greek mysteries that did not exist in Egypt was the opportunity for ordinary individuals to undergo initiation. The most sacred rituals in Egyptian temples were performed by high-ranking priests out of public view, and festivals formed the main opportunity for commoners to participate in formal ceremonies. Some of these festivals reenacted events from Egyptian mythology, notably the Khoiak Festival in honor of Osiris, the god of the afterlife and the mythological husband of Isis, in which Osiris's mythological death, dismemberment, and restoration to life were played out in public view. Greek writers called these Egyptian rites "mysteries". Herodotus, a Greek historian writing in the fifth century BCE, was the first to do so. He used the term for the Khoiak Festival, likening it to the mysteries of Dionysus with which he was familiar, because both took place at night and involved a myth in which the god in question was dismembered. He further said that the Greek worship of Dionysus was influenced by the worship of Osiris in Egypt. Greek writers who came after Herodotus viewed Egypt and its priests as the source of all mystical wisdom. They claimed that many elements of Greek philosophy and culture, including their own mystery rites, came from Egypt. The classicist Walter Burkert and the Egyptologist Francesco Tiradritti both argue that there is a grain of truth in these claims, as the oldest Greek mysteries developed in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, at the same time that Greece was developing closer contacts with Egyptian culture. The imagery of the afterlife found in those mysteries may thus have been influenced by that in Egyptian afterlife beliefs. ### Spread of the Isis cult Isis was one of many non-Greek deities whose cults diffused beyond their home lands and became part of Greek and Roman religion during the Hellenistic period (323–30 BCE), when Greek people and culture spread to lands across the Mediterranean and most of those same lands were conquered by the Roman Republic. Under the influence of Greco-Roman tradition, some of these cults, including that of Isis, developed their own mystery rites. Much of Isis's cult involved activities that were far more public than the mystery rites, such as the adoration of cult statues within her temples, or outdoor festivals such as the Navigium Isidis, yet scholars often regard the mysteries as one of the most characteristic features of her cult. The Isis cult developed its mysteries in response to the widespread belief that the Greek mystery cults had originated with Isis and Osiris in Egypt. As the classicist Miguel John Verlsuys puts it, "For the Greeks, the image of Egypt as old and religious was so strong that they could not but imagine Isis as a mystery goddess." Isis's devotees may have adapted aspects of Egyptian ritual to fit the model of the Eleusinian mysteries, perhaps incorporating Dionysian elements as well. The end product would have seemed to the Greeks like an authentic Egyptian precursor to Greek mysteries. Many Greco-Roman sources claim that Isis herself devised these rites. Scholars disagree on whether the mysteries developed before the time of the Roman Empire, as the evidence about them from the Hellenistic period is ambiguous. Yet they could have emerged as far back as the early third century BCE, after the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty had taken control of Egypt. The Ptolemies promoted the cult of the god Serapis, who incorporated traits of Osiris and of Greek deities like Dionysus and the underworld god Pluto. Isis's cult was conjoined with that of Serapis. She too was reinterpreted to resemble Greek goddesses, particularly Demeter, while retaining many of her Egyptian characteristics. The mysteries of Isis, modeled on those in Demeter's honor at Eleusis, could have been developed at the same time. According to the Greek historian Plutarch and the Roman historian Tacitus, a man named Timotheus, a member of the Eumolpid family that oversaw the Eleusinian mysteries, helped establish Serapis as a patron god in the court of the Ptolemies. The classicist Jaime Alvar suggests that Timotheus could have introduced elements of the Eleusinian mysteries into the worship of Isis at the same time. Another possibility is that the mysteries emerged in Greece itself, sometime after the Isis cult became established there and came into direct contact with Demeter's rites at Eleusis. ## Significance ### Deities and religious symbolism Most mystery rites were connected with myths about the deities on which they focused, and claimed to convey to initiates details about the myths that were not generally known. Several Greco-Roman writers produced theological and philosophical interpretations. Spurred by the fragmentary evidence, modern scholars have often tried to discern what the mysteries may have meant to their initiates. The classicist Hugh Bowden argues that there may have been no single, authoritative interpretation of the rites and that "the desire to identify a lost secret—something that, once it is correctly identified, will explain what a mystery cult was all about—is bound to fail." He regards the effort to meet the gods directly, exemplified by the climax of Lucius's initiation in The Golden Ass, as the most important feature of the rites. The notion of meeting the gods face to face contrasted with classical Greek and Roman beliefs, in which seeing the gods, though it might be an awe-inspiring experience, could be dangerous and even deadly. In Greek mythology, for example, the sight of Zeus's true form incinerated the mortal woman Semele. Yet Lucius's meeting with the gods fits with a trend, found in several religious groups in Roman times, toward a closer connection between the worshipper and the gods. The "elements" that Lucius passes through in the first initiation may refer to the classical elements of earth, air, water and fire that were believed to make up the world, or to regions of the cosmos. The religious studies scholar Panayotis Pachis suggests the word refers specifically to the planets in Hellenistic astrology. Astrological themes appeared in many other cults in the Roman Empire, including another mystery cult, dedicated to Mithras. In the Isis cult, Pachis writes, astrological symbols may have alluded to the belief that Isis governed the movements of the stars and thus the passage of time and the order of the cosmos, beliefs that Lucius refers to when praying to the goddess. Ancient Egyptian beliefs are one possible source for understanding the symbolism in the mysteries of Isis. J. Gwyn Griffiths, an Egyptologist and classical scholar, extensively studied Book 11 of The Golden Ass and its possible Egyptian background in 1975. He pointed out similarities between the first initiation in The Golden Ass and Egyptian afterlife beliefs, saying that the initiate took on the role of Osiris by undergoing symbolic death. In his view, the imagery of the initiation refers to the Egyptian underworld, the Duat. Griffiths argued that the sun in the middle of the night, in Lucius's account of the initiation, might have been influenced by the contrasts of light and dark in other mystery rites, but it derived mainly from the depictions of the underworld in ancient Egyptian funerary texts. According to these texts, the sun god Ra passes through the underworld each night and unites with Osiris to emerge renewed, just as deceased souls do. The five scholars who authored a 2015 commentary on Book 11 caution that the solar and underworld imagery could be based solely on Greek and Roman precedents, and they doubt Griffiths's assertion that Lucius undergoes a mystical union with Osiris. In the course of the book, as Valentino Gasparini puts it, "Osiris explicitly snatches out of Isis's hands the role of Supreme Being" and replaces her as the focus of Lucius's devotion. Osiris's prominence in The Golden Ass is in keeping with other evidence about the Isis cult in Rome, which suggests that it adopted themes and imagery from Egyptian funerary religion and gave increasing prominence to Osiris in the late first and early second centuries CE. In contrast, Serapis, whose identity largely overlapped with that of Osiris and who was frequently worshipped jointly with Isis, is mentioned only once in the text, in the description of the festival procession. Jaime Alvar considers the text to treat Serapis and Osiris as distinct figures, whereas the authors of the 2015 commentary doubt that Apuleius meant to sharply distinguish the two. They point out that Lucius refers to Osiris using epithets that were often given to Serapis. Gasparini argues that the shift in focus in the book reflects a belief that Osiris was the supreme being and Isis was an intermediary between him and humanity. This interpretation is found in the essay On Isis and Osiris by Plutarch, which analyzes the Osiris myth based on Plutarch's own Middle Platonist philosophy, and Gasparini suggests that Apuleius shared Plutarch's views. Stephen Harrison suggests that the sudden switch of focus from Isis to Osiris is simply a satire of grandiose claims of religious devotion. ### Commitment to the cult Because not all local cults of Isis held mystery rites, not all her devotees would have undergone initiation. Both Apuleius's story and Plutarch's On Isis and Osiris, which briefly refers to initiates of Isis, suggest that initiation was considered part of the larger process of joining the cult and dedicating oneself to the goddess. The Isis cult, like most in the Greco-Roman world, was not exclusive; worshippers of Isis could continue to revere other gods as well. Devotees of Isis were among the very few religious groups in the Greco-Roman world to have a distinctive name for themselves, loosely equivalent to "Jew" or "Christian", that might indicate they defined themselves by their exclusive devotion to the goddess. However, the word—Isiacus or "Isiac"—was rarely used, and the level of commitment it implied seems to have varied according to the circumstances. Many priests of Isis officiated in other cults as well. Several people in late Roman times, such as the aristocrat Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, joined multiple priesthoods and underwent several initiations dedicated to different gods. Mystery initiations thus did not require devotees to abandon whatever religious identity they originally had, and they would not qualify as religious conversions under a narrow definition of the term. Some of these initiations did involve smaller changes in religious identity, such as joining a new community of worshippers or strengthening devotees' commitment to a cult of which they were already part, that would qualify as conversions in a broader sense. Many ancient sources, both written by Isiacs and by outside observers, suggest that many of Isis's devotees considered her the focus of their lives and that the cult emphasized moral purity, self-denial, and public declarations of devotion to the goddess. Joining Isis's cult was therefore a sharper change in identity than in some other mystery cults, such as the cult dedicated to Dionysus. The account in The Golden Ass suggests that initiation may have been classifiable as a mystical conversion, characterized by visionary experiences, intense emotions, and a dramatic change in the convert's behavior, whereas, for instance, the evidence about Mithraism suggests the process of joining it was less mystical and more intellectual. The Golden Ass does not say how initiation may have affected a devotee's rank within the cult. After going through his third initiation, Lucius becomes a pastophoros, a member of a particular class of priests. If the third initiation was a requirement for becoming a pastophoros, it is possible that members moved up in the cult hierarchy by going through the series of initiations. Apuleius refers to initiates and to priests as if they are separate groups within the cult. Initiation may have been a prerequisite for a devotee to become a priest but not have automatically made him or her into one. ### Connection with the afterlife Many pieces of evidence suggest that the mysteries of Isis were connected in some way to salvation and the guarantee of an afterlife. The Greek conception of the afterlife included the paradisiacal Elysian Fields, and philosophers developed ideas about the immortality of the soul, but Greeks and Romans expressed uncertainty about what would happen to them after death. In both Greek and Roman traditional religion, no god was thought to guarantee a pleasant afterlife to his or her worshippers. The gods of some mystery cults may have been exceptions, but evidence about those cults' afterlife beliefs is vague. Apuleius's account, if it is accurate, provides stronger evidence for Isiac afterlife beliefs than is available for the other cults. The book says Isis's power over fate, which her Greek and Roman devotees frequently mentioned, gives her control over life and death. According to the priest who initiates Lucius, devotees of Isis "who had finished their life's span and were already standing on the threshold of light’s end, if only they could safely be trusted with the great unspoken mysteries of the cult, were frequently drawn forth by the goddess' power and in a manner reborn through her providence and set once more on the course of renewed life." In another passage, Isis herself says that when Lucius dies he will be able to see her shining in the darkness of the underworld and worship her there. Some scholars are skeptical that the afterlife was a major focus of the cult. The historian Ramsay MacMullen says that when characters in The Golden Ass call Lucius "reborn", they refer to his new life as a devotee and never call him renatus in aeternam, or "eternally reborn", which would refer to the afterlife. The classicists Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price say The Golden Ass shows that "the cult of Isis had implications for life and death, but even so more emphasis is placed on extending the span of life than on the after-life—which is pictured in fairly undifferentiated terms." Some funerary inscriptions provide evidence of Isiac afterlife beliefs outside Apuleius's work. They show that some of Isis's followers thought she would guide them to a better afterlife, but also suggest the Isis cult had no firm picture of the afterlife and that its members drew upon both Greek and Egyptian precedents to envision it. Some inscriptions say that devotees would benefit from Osiris's enlivening water, while others refer to the Fortunate Isles of Greek tradition. None of them make specific reference to mystery rites, although the inscription of Meniketes asserts that he is blessed in part because of his work furnishing the ritual beds. Initiation may not have been considered necessary for receiving Isis's blessing. The ancient Egyptians believed that Osiris lived on in the Duat after death, thanks in part to Isis's help, and that after their deaths they could be revived like him with the assistance of other deities, including Isis. These beliefs may have carried over into the Greco-Roman Isis cult, although the myth of Osiris's death was rarely referred to in the Greco-Roman Isis cult and may not have played a major role in its belief system, even if the nocturnal union of Osiris and Ra did so. If the symbolism in Lucius's first initiation was a reference to the sun in the Egyptian underworld, that would indicate that it involved Osirian afterlife beliefs, even though Osiris is not mentioned in the description of the rite. As the classicist Robert Turcan put it, when Lucius is revealed to the crowd after his initiation he is "honoured almost like a new Osiris, saved and regenerated through the ineffable powers of Isis. The palms radiating from his head were the signs of the Sun triumphing over death." ## Influence on other traditions ### Possible influence on Christianity The mysteries of Isis, like those of other gods, continued to be performed into the late fourth century CE. Toward the end of the century, Christian emperors increasingly restricted the practice of non-Christian religions. Mystery cults died out near the start of the fifth century. They existed alongside Christianity for centuries before their extinction, and some elements of their initiations resembled Christian beliefs and practices. As a result, the possibility has often been raised that Christianity was directly influenced by the mystery cults. Evidence about interactions between Christianity and the mystery cults is poor, making the question difficult to resolve. Most religious traditions in the Greco-Roman world centered on a particular city or ethnic group and did not require personal devotion, only public ritual. In contrast, the cult of Isis, like Christianity and some other mystery cults, was made up of people who joined voluntarily, out of their personal commitment to a deity that many of them regarded as superior to all others. Furthermore, if Isiac initiates were thought to benefit in the afterlife from Osiris's death and resurrection, this belief would parallel the Christian belief that the death and resurrection of Jesus make salvation available to those who become Christians. Some scholars have specifically compared baptism with the Isiac initiation. Before the early fourth century CE, baptism was the culmination of a long process, in which the convert to Christianity fasted for the forty days of Lent before being immersed at Easter in a cistern or natural body of water. Thus, like the mysteries of Isis, early Christian baptism involved a days-long fast and a washing ritual. Both fasting and washing were common types of ritual purification found in the religions of the Mediterranean, and Christian baptism was specifically derived from the baptism of Jesus and Jewish immersion rituals. Therefore, according to Hugh Bowden, these similarities are likely to come from the shared religious background of Christianity and the Isis cult, not from the influence of one tradition upon the other. Similarly, the sacred meals shared by the initiates of many mystery cults have been compared with the Christian rite of communion. For instance, the classicist R. E. Witt called the banquet that concluded the Isiac initiation "the pagan Eucharist of Isis and Sarapis". Feasts in which worshippers ate the food that had been sacrificed to a deity were a nearly universal practice in Mediterranean religions and do not prove a direct link between Christianity and the mysteries of Isis. The most distinctive trait of Christian communion—the belief that the god himself was the victim of the sacrifice—was not present in the cult, or in any other mystery cults. Bowden doubts that afterlife beliefs were a very important aspect of mystery cults and therefore thinks their resemblance to Christianity was small. Jaime Alvar, in contrast, argues that the mysteries of Isis, along with those of Mithras and Cybele, did involve beliefs about salvation and the afterlife that resembled those in Christianity. But they did not become similar by borrowing directly from each other, only by adapting in similar ways to the Greco-Roman religious environment. He says: "Each cult found the materials it required in the common trough of current ideas. Each took what it needed and adapted these elements according to its overall drift and design." ### Influence in modern times Motifs from Apuleius's description of the Isiac initiation have been repeated and reworked in fiction and in esoteric belief systems in modern times, and they form an important part of the Western perception of ancient Egyptian religion. People reusing these motifs often assume that mystery rites were practiced in Egypt long before Hellenistic times. An influential example is the 1731 novel Life of Sethos by a French cleric and classicist, Jean Terrasson. He claimed to have translated this book from an ancient Greek work of fiction that was based on real events. The book was actually his own invention, inspired by ancient Greek sources that assumed Greek philosophers had derived their wisdom from Egypt. In his novel, Egypt's priests run an elaborate education system like a European university. To join their ranks, the protagonist, Sethos, undergoes an initiation presided over by Isis, taking place in hidden chambers beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza. Based on Lucius's statement in The Golden Ass that he was "borne through all the elements" during his initiation, Terrasson describes the initiation as an elaborate series of ordeals based on the classical elements: running over hot metal bars for fire, swimming a canal for water, and swinging through the air over a pit. The Divine Legation of Moses, a treatise by the Anglican theologian William Warburton published from 1738 to 1741, included an analysis of ancient mystery rites that drew upon Sethos for much of its evidence. Assuming that all mystery rites derived from Egypt, Warburton argued that the public face of Egyptian religion was polytheistic, but the Egyptian mysteries were designed to reveal a deeper, monotheistic truth to elite initiates. One of them, Moses, learned the elite belief system during his Egyptian upbringing and developed Judaism to reveal monotheism to the entire Israelite nation. Freemasons developed many pseudohistorical origin myths tracing their history back to ancient times. Egypt was among the civilizations that Masons claimed had influenced their traditions. After Sethos was published, several Masonic lodges developed rites based on those in the novel. Late in the eighteenth century, Masonic writers, still assuming that Sethos was an ancient story, used the resemblance between their rites and the initiation of Sethos as evidence of Freemasonry's supposedly ancient origin. Many works of fiction from the 1790s to the 1820s reused and modified the signature traits of Terrasson's Egyptian initiation: trials by three or four elements, often taking place under the pyramids. The best-known of these works is the 1791 opera The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder, in which the main character, Tamino, undergoes a series of trials overseen by priests who invoke Isis and Osiris. Karl Leonhard Reinhold, a philosopher and Freemason writing in the 1780s, drew upon and modified Warburton's claims in an effort to reconcile Freemasonry's traditional origin story, which traces Freemasonry back to ancient Israel, with its enthusiasm for Egyptian imagery. He claimed that the sentence "I am that I am", spoken by the Jewish God in the Book of Exodus, had a pantheistic meaning. He compared it with an Egyptian inscription on a veiled statue of Isis recorded by the Roman-era authors Plutarch and Proclus, which said: "I am all that is, was, and shall be," and argued that Isis was a personification of Nature. According to Reinhold, it was this pantheistic belief system that Moses imparted to the Israelites, so that Isis and the Jewish and Christian conception of God shared a common origin. Others treated the pantheistic Isis as superior to Christianity. In 1790, the poet Friedrich Schiller wrote an essay based on Reinhold's work that treated the mystery rite as a meeting with the awe-inspiring power of nature. He argued that Moses's people were not prepared to grasp such an understanding of divinity, and thus the Jewish and Christian conception of God was a compromised version of the truth devised for public consumption. Throughout the eighteenth century, the veiled Isis was used as a symbol of modern science, which hoped to uncover nature's secrets. In the wake of the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution, Isis was treated as a symbol of opposition to the clergy and to Christianity in general, as she represented both scientific knowledge and the mystical wisdom of the mystery rites, which offered an alternative to traditional Christianity. Scholars abandoned the concept of Egyptian mysteries in the early nineteenth century as the emergence of Egyptology undermined old assumptions about ancient Egyptian society, but the concept lingered among Freemasons and esotericists. Several esoteric organizations that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as the Theosophical Society and the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, repeated the belief that Egyptians underwent initiation within the pyramids and that Greek philosophers were initiates who learned Egypt's secret wisdom. Writers influenced by Theosophy, such as Reuben Swinburne Clymer in his book The Mystery of Osiris (1909) and Manly Palmer Hall in Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians (1937), wrote of an age-old Egyptian mystery tradition. An elaborate example of such beliefs is the 1954 book Stolen Legacy by George G. M. James. Stolen Legacy asserts that Greek philosophy was built on knowledge taken from the Egyptian school of initiates, and it was an influence on the Afrocentrist movement, which asserts that ancient Egyptian civilization was more sophisticated and more closely connected to other African civilizations than mainstream scholars believe it to have been. James envisioned the mystery school in terms reminiscent of Freemasonry and believed it was a grandiose organization with branches on several continents, including the Americas, so that the purported system of Egyptian mysteries extended across the world.
15,577,066	Literary Hall	1,065,162,433	A mid-19th-century library and museum in Romney, West Virginia	[ "1870 establishments in West Virginia", "Buildings and structures in Romney, West Virginia", "Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia", "Federal architecture in West Virginia", "Former Masonic buildings in West Virginia", "Former library buildings in the United States", "Greek Revival architecture in West Virginia", "Hampshire County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War", "Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia", "Library buildings completed in 1870", "Museums in Hampshire County, West Virginia", "National Register of Historic Places in Hampshire County, West Virginia", "Romney Literary Society", "Victorian architecture in West Virginia" ]	Literary Hall is a mid-19th-century brick library, building and museum located in Romney, a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the intersection of North High Street (West Virginia Route 28) and West Main Street (U.S. Route 50). Literary Hall was constructed between 1869 and 1870 by the Romney Literary Society. Founded in 1819, the Romney Literary Society was the first literary organization of its kind in the present-day state of West Virginia, and one of the first in the United States. In 1846, the society constructed a building which housed the Romney Classical Institute and its library. The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute both flourished and continued to grow in importance and influence until the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. During the war, the contents of the society's library were plundered by Union Army forces, and many of its 3,000 volumes were either scattered or destroyed. After a reorganization in 1869, the society commenced construction of the present Literary Hall in downtown Romney. It transferred ownership of its Romney Classical Institute campus to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in 1870 and in that year completed Literary Hall, where the society reconstituted its library collection and revived its literary activities. The Romney Literary Society's last meeting was held at Literary Hall in 1886. From that point to 1973 the building was used as a meeting space by the Clinton Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star. In 1973, the building was purchased by prominent Romney lawyer Ralph Haines, who used it as a law office and museum. From 1937 to the early 1940s the building also housed a community library. Literary Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1979. ## Geography and setting Literary Hall is located in the center of downtown Romney, West Virginia, at the intersection of North High Street (West Virginia Route 28) and West Main Street (U.S. Route 50) on a city lot less than one acre (0.40 ha) in size. The Hampshire County Courthouse is immediately to its east across North High Street, and the Romney First United Methodist Church is situated immediately to the building's north. The Old National Building is located to the immediate south of Literary Hall across West Main Street. Literary Hall stands at an elevation of 820.3 feet (250.0 m) above sea level. ## History ### Location The land upon which Literary Hall was established was originally part of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a land grant that the exiled Charles II awarded to seven of his supporters in 1649 during the English Interregnum. Following the Restoration in 1660, Charles II finally ascended to the English throne. Charles II renewed the Northern Neck Proprietary grant in 1662, revised it in 1669, and again renewed the original grant favoring original grantee Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper and Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington in 1672. In 1681, Bennet sold his share to Lord Colepeper, and Lord Colepeper received a new charter for the entire land grant from James II in 1688. Following the deaths of Lord Colepeper, his wife Margaret, and his daughter Katherine, the Northern Neck Proprietary passed to Katherine's son Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1719. Literary Hall was built upon a land lot designated "Lot 56" to the immediate west of the public square of Romney. In 1790, the trustees of the Town of Romney commissioned John Mitchel to draft a cadastral survey map of Romney. Prior to this survey, Lord Fairfax had commissioned a similar cadastral survey of Romney sometime before the town's incorporation on December 23, 1762. On June 30, 1790, Mitchel submitted to the trustees a "Plan of the Town of Romney", which divided the town into 100 land lots of equal size, with four lots adjacent to the courthouse comprising the public square. ### Romney Literary Society The Romney Literary Society, which built Literary Hall between 1869 and 1870, was organized by nine prominent men in Romney on January 30, 1819. With its establishment in 1819, the Romney Literary Society became the first literary organization of its kind in the present-day state of West Virginia, and one of the first in the United States. On February 4, 1819, the constitution of the society was adopted, which provided that the organization should be known as the "Polemic Society of Romney". The society founded its library in 1819 with the acquisition of two books, and by 1861 the society's humble library had grown to contain approximately 3,000 volumes, consisting of books on literature, science, history and art. The Romney Literary Society commenced a movement to establish an institution for "the higher education of the youth of the community". As a result of this initiative, the teaching of the classics was introduced into the curriculum of Romney Academy in 1820, thus making the institution the first school of higher education in the Eastern Panhandle. In 1846, the society constructed a new building to house the Romney Classical Institute and its library, both of which fell under the society's supervision. The Romney Literary Society and the Romney Classical Institute both flourished and continued to grow in importance and influence until the onset of the Civil War in 1861. During the war, many members fought for the Confederate States Army forces and were killed during the conflict. The contents of the society's library were plundered by Union Army forces, and many of its 3,000 volumes were either scattered or destroyed. Following the war's end, only 400 of those volumes could be recovered, with just 200 remaining on the library's shelves. The Romney Literary Society reorganized on May 15, 1869. Following the reorganization, the society built Literary Hall between 1869 and 1870 while also undertaking an initiative to bring the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind to its old Romney Classical Institute campus. The construction of Literary Hall was part of the society's effort to revive the organization and reassemble its original library. The society set about recovering original volumes and purchasing new ones, and the library reopened with 700 volumes. For a period of ten years between 1870 and 1880, much of Romney's intellectual life centered on Literary Hall. As older members died, interest in the society began to dwindle. The society's meetings were held less frequently, and its last recorded meeting was held on February 15, 1886. ### Clinton Lodge The Clinton Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons was the second organization to utilize Literary Hall as a meeting place. The Clinton Lodge was the first Masonic lodge to be chartered in Hampshire County and is among the earliest Masonic lodges to be established in present-day West Virginia. It was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia on December 13, 1825. The lodge underwent four periods of hiatus: first, between 1838 and December 15, 1846; a second time between 1855 and its rechartering on July 3, 1857; a third time between 1861 and December 11, 1867, during the Civil War and Reconstruction; and a fourth time between November 29, 1881, and November 12, 1890, when it was again reactivated. Following the completion of Literary Hall in 1870, the Clinton Lodge Masons regularly utilized the first floor of the building as a meeting space, while the Romney Literary Society maintained its use of the second floor as a library. Between its various periods of dormancy, the Clinton Lodge and the associated Order of the Eastern Star, which was organized in July 1919, utilized Literary Hall as a meeting space, and following the Romney Literary Society's disestablishment, the Masons and Eastern Star continued their use of the building. In 1973, prominent Romney lawyer Ralph Haines purchased Literary Hall from the Clinton Lodge Masons to rescue the old building from demolition and provided the lodge with a land lot for the construction of a new Masonic Temple at the corner of Washington and Center Streets in Romney. Following his purchase of Literary Hall, Haines restored the building to its original state and used it as a law office building and private museum. Haines later relocated his law offices to an adjacent commercial building. Under Haines's ownership, Literary Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1979. ### Hampshire County Public Library The building again served as a library in March 1937, when Romney's community library was relocated to the first floor of Literary Hall from its previous facility in the basement of the Hampshire County Courthouse. The library had been established on April 11, 1935, as a project by the American Legion Auxiliary, and was housed in a room of the courthouse basement where it was staffed by volunteers and open from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday afternoons. When the library's collection of both purchased and donated books outgrew its space in the courthouse basement, the Clinton Lodge Masons granted permission to the library to house its collection at Literary Hall in 1937. Following its move to Literary Hall, the library expanded its hours, and expanded them again, to five afternoons a week, through the assistance of the National Youth Administration and the Works Progress Administration. In January 1942, a meeting was held for the purpose of establishing a more extensive library service. Later that month, on January 29, a charter was issued by West Virginia Secretary of State William Smith O'Brien for the creation of the non-profit Hampshire County Library Association. Following its incorporation, the library was relocated from Literary Hall to two rear adjoining rooms on the second story of the Hampshire County Courthouse. The association continued to house its library collection in the courthouse until 1967, when the new Hampshire County Public Library building at 153 West Main Street was formally dedicated on September 28, 1967. The library had been built on land donated by sisters Kate and Mary Davis, who had been engaged in the restoration of Literary Hall and whose father, Charles Maurice Davis, had been a member of both the Romney Literary Society and the Clinton Lodge Masons, which had both held meetings in the building. ## Architecture The interior and exterior of Literary Hall remain largely intact. At two stories, the building is tall in its proportion and incorporates elements from both early American and Victorian styles, which were common in academic buildings built during this period. Architectural historian S. Allen Chambers described Literary Hall as an anomaly because the basic design and fenestration patterns, which invoke early Federal and Greek Revival design elements, are adorned with details more characteristic of the Victorian era. According to architectural historian Michael J. Pauley of the West Virginia Department of Culture and History's Historic Preservation Unit, Literary Hall's unique structural features make the building "one of Romney's and Hampshire County's most notable landmarks, and one in which this community is justifiably proud". Pauley further averred that the building is "highly representative of the development of education and literature in the early United States". In describing its impact on Romney's streetscape, Chambers described Literary Hall as "adding distinction to Romney's major street intersection". Chambers also noted the building's resemblance and "strong architectural kinship" to the Romney Presbyterian Church. Literary Hall is a two-story red brick structure, rectangular in plan, and topped with a gable roof. The first floor of Literary Hall consists of four rooms, and the second story is a single large ballroom. Fused with symmetrical elements evoking Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles are exterior decorative moldings and brick corbeling in the Victorian style. The main façade (south elevation) of Literary Hall is divided into three bays, and its west and east elevations are divided into five bays. Each of the building's bays consists of a double-hung sash wooden window, with nine panes of glass within each sash. The windows are symmetrically placed within recessed brick panels that are defined at the first and second stories of the building with elementary brick ribs, or pseudo-pilasters, that form the outer surface of the building's exterior walls and provide separation of the three bays of the main façade and the five bays of the west and east elevations. The windows are framed by white wooden louvered window shutters. The building's brick is laid in an American bond pattern, with five courses of stretchers between every course of headers. The main façade is topped by a simple wooden raking cornice that surmounts an ornamental corbel brick pendant. A semicircular fanlight, or lunette, is located in the center of the gable of the building's main façade, providing lighting to the building's attic. Chambers described this window as the most antiquated of the building's architectural elements and may have been based on the fanlight of the county's earlier courthouse built in 1833, which was located to the building's east. Each of the main façade's first- and second-story windows and the entrance are adorned with white wooden label moldings. The main entrance is composed of a tall double wooden entrance door, with its original handle and locks. Each door consists of four vertical wooden panels. A rectangular transom light of four vertical glass panels tops the main entryway's double wooden doors. Outside the entryway is a spacious brick stoop that is accessed by a cement walkway from West Main Street. Its brick steps leading up to the stoop were last restored in the late 1970s. Literary Hall is flanked by two interior side chimneys, between the second and third bays of the west and east elevations of the building. The building rests on a sandstone, ashlar block foundation. Its gable roof is sheathed with standing seam tin sheeting.
22,243,256	Hemming's Cartulary	1,164,228,267	11th century English manuscript	[ "11th-century manuscripts", "Cotton Library", "English chronicles", "English-language manuscripts", "Latin chronicles about England", "Latin historical texts from Norman and Angevin England", "Latin manuscripts about England", "Medieval charters and cartularies of England", "Texts of Anglo-Saxon England" ]	Hemming's Cartulary is a manuscript cartulary, or collection of charters and other land records, collected by a monk named Hemming around the time of the Norman Conquest of England. The manuscript comprises two separate cartularies that were made at different times and later bound together; it is in the British Library as MS Cotton Tiberius A xiii. The first was composed at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century. The second section was compiled by Hemming and was written around the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century. The first section, traditionally titled the Liber Wigorniensis, is a collection of Anglo-Saxon charters and other land records, most of which are organized geographically. The second section, Hemming's Cartulary proper, combines charters and other land records with a narrative of deprivation of property owned by the church of Worcester. The two works are bound together in one surviving manuscript, the earliest surviving cartulary from medieval England. A major theme is the losses suffered by Worcester at the hands of royal officials and local landowners. Included amongst the despoilers are kings such as Cnut and William the Conqueror, and nobles such as Eadric Streona and Urse d'Abetot. Also included are accounts of lawsuits waged by the Worcester monks in an effort to regain their lost lands. The two sections of the cartulary were first printed in 1723. The original manuscript was slightly damaged by fire in 1733, and required rebinding. ## Authorship and composition Although the monk Hemming has traditionally been credited with all the works in the manuscript, the cartulary contains two works that were collected together, only one of which is by Hemming. The two works were bound together to form the manuscript (abbreviated MS) Cotton Tiberius A xiii, now held in the Cotton library, a collection in the British Library. Together, the two works form the first surviving cartulary from medieval England. The first part is the so-called Liber Wigorniensis, or Book of Worcester, which takes up folios 1–118 of the manuscript. The second is Hemming's work, and takes up folios 119–142, 144–152 and 154–200. MS Cotton Nero E i and British Library MS Add 46204 may also contain charters collected as part of Hemming's work, as they have been identified by some scholars as having been produced during Hemming's lifetime, although others identify them as a copy of the Liber Wigorniensis. ### Manuscript condition The original manuscript containing the cartulary was damaged in a fire in 1733, but the damage was not serious. The edges of the manuscript were burned, which resulted in a few words being lost on the margins. Because of the fire damage, the manuscript was rebound in the 19th century, and each leaf was mounted separately. In addition to the two main sections, there are three smaller parchment pages bound in with the manuscript: folios 110, 143, and 153. The first of them, folio 110, measures 70 millimetres (2.8 in) high by 90 millimetres (3.5 in) wide and lists eight names, probably witnesses to a lease. The second inserted folio, 143, measures 130 millimetres (5.1 in) high by 180 millimetres (7.1 in) wide and gives a list of jurors in a late 11th-century hand. The last inserted folio, 153, measures 58 millimetres (2.3 in) high by 180 millimetres (7.1 in) wide and gives the boundaries of a manor in Old English, rather than Latin; it is written in a 12th-century hand.[^1] ### Liber Wigorniensis The first part of the work is an early 11th-century collection of older charters, arranged geographically, with a section on late 10th-century land leases tacked on the end. The historian H. P. R. Finberg gave this section of the work the title Liber Wigorniensis in 1961 to distinguish it from the later section actually assembled by Hemming. Dates for the compilation of the work include the suggestion by historian Neil Ker that it dates from between 1002 and 1016, when Wulfstan (the earlier Wulfstan – later a saint – who is not the Wulfstan who encouraged Hemming to compile the cartulary) held both the archbishopric of York and the bishopric of Worcester. Another historian, V. H. Galbraith, suggests that instead of being compiled in Wulfstan's episcopate, it was created during the episcopate of Ealdwulf, Wulfstan's predecessor in both sees. A third historian, David Dumville, argues that because no leases later than 996 are mentioned, it must date to a time-frame between 996 and 1016. There are 155 charters in the Liber, of which 10 are later insertions; the date of their incorporation ranges from the early to the late 11th century. Ker, who studied the original manuscript, has identified five main scribes involved in the manuscript in the first section. The scribal hands used are small and not very rounded, and resemble the type of writing prevalent in England during the early part of the 11th century. This section consists of 117 leaves in the original manuscript, each page with 26 lines of text. The written area is approximately 190 millimetres (7.5 in) tall by 100 millimetres (3.9 in) wide. A few blank areas in the original manuscript copy have been filled with information in the later 11th and 12th centuries, mainly related to properties owned by the cathedral. ### Hemming's cartulary proper Hemming was the author of the second and later part, a collection of lands and rights belonging to the cathedral chapter of Worcester, as well as a narrative of the deeds of Wulfstan, the Bishop of Worcester who died in 1095, and Archbishop Ealdred of York. In this part of the work is a preface known as the Enucleatio libelli, where Hemming names himself as the person responsible for compiling the work, and names Wulfstan as the inspiration for his work. Another section, known as the Prefatio istius libelli, now much later in the manuscript but possibly meant as an introduction to the Codicellus, is a shorter introduction that gives the purpose of the collection. Historians usually take the two prefaces to mean that Wulfstan commissioned the work, but it is unclear whether it was created before or after Wulfstan's death. It may have been produced during the vacancy after Wulfstan's death, and before the appointment of the next bishop, Samson. Historian Nicholas Brooks, along with Vivian Galbraith, argues that Hemming's work was a response to the problems encountered by the diocese during the vacancy, when royal officials administered the lands of the bishopric. According to Brooks, the claim that Wulfstan ordered the composition of the cartulary was inaccurate, and was made to appeal to the authority of the bishop. The historian Julia Barrow believes that the inspiration for the work was the creation of the Domesday Book in 1086, although she agrees that the work was completed after Wulfstan's death. Hemming's work contains over 50 charters, some of which are duplicates of ones in the Liber. The second section of the work is not just a collection of deeds and charters but includes other historical information of importance, especially for Hemming's monastery. The documents are connected by a narrative explaining why and how the cartulary was created; the narrative is usually given the title of Codicellus possessionum. This section of the work also includes the Life of the later Wulfstan, one of two contemporary records of Wulfstan's life. The organization is broadly geographical, with some information grouped by topic. In two sections, which are sometimes entitled "Indiculum Libertatis" and "Oswald's Indiculum", the work not only draws on charters but also incorporates regional information from a different type of source recording the holdings of tenants-in-chief. This has been identified as the documentation assembled at the shire-courts for the so-called Domesday survey, commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085. More famously, the same records were later used for the compilation of Domesday Book. Some of the documents are in Latin, others are in Old English. Ker has identified the second part of the manuscript as being created by three scribes, describing their writing as "round and fairly large", in a style belonging to a period of transition between the late 11th and early 12th century. There are 80 leaves in the original manuscript. Most pages in this section of the manuscript have 28 lines of writing, and the written area is approximately 190 millimetres (7.5 in) high by 108 millimetres (4.3 in) wide. A few blank areas in the original manuscript were filled with information ranging from contemporary notes on landholdings of the cathedral to notes on the dissolution of Worcester Priory in the 16th century. ## Themes and contents Both the Liber Wigorniensis and Hemming's work contain a number of forged charters. The historian Julia Barrow has determined that at least 25 of the 155 charters in the Liber are forged, but cautions that this is the minimum estimate. Barrow identifies more than 30 of the charters in Hemming's work as forgeries, including some that are duplicates from the Liber. Some of the stories that form Hemming's narrative do not always agree with other sources, and Ker says "it is safer to trust to the main facts than to the details of his [Hemming's] stories". ### Contents of the Liber Wigorniensis The main goal of the Liber was to document the landholdings of the diocese and bishop, and to keep a register of the written charters and leases pertaining to the property of the church at Worcester. Because there is no narrative tying the documents together, the Liber should be seen as a working document, compiled for the use of the bishop and monks, and designed not as a literary work but a legal one. The Liber was revised during its working life, which adds further support for the working nature of the composition. The charters constitute valuable evidence for prosopographical research and the study of land tenure in late Anglo-Saxon England. According to Donald A. Bullough, they also offer a window on the kind of social bonds which could be created by "neighbourhood". In the 10th century, the Bishop of Worcester leased out various small estates attached to the Church in the three counties (Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire) to several high-ranking men and women, usually for three lifespans. The pattern may be taken to suggest that this way of association served to "create a network, an inter-meshing, of high-status 'neighbours' ... with its central knot in Worcester and the domus of the bishop". In the bishop's residence or at home, the lessees may have come together to participate in convivial drinking, just as the Norman successors to these lands are envisaged as doing in William of Malmesbury's Life of St Wulfstan. Further, some of the thegns served in the royal army (fyrd) under the command of Bishop Oswald or his successors, which presupposes the creation of a personal warband and possibly one with the secondary purpose of protecting the bishop's properties. ### Hemming's work #### Purpose Hemming's introduction to his work (Prefatio) claims that it was produced to teach Wulfstan's successors: > about the things which have been committed to their care, and to show them which lands justly belong (or ought to belong) to the church, and which have been unjustly seized by evil men—first, during the Danish invasions; later, by unjust royal officials and tax collectors; and most recently, by the violence of Normans in our own time, who by force, guile and rapine have unjustly deprived this holy church of its lands, villages and possessions, until hardly anything is safe from their depredations. The historian Richard Southern argues that, notwithstanding the stated aim of the work, it was not produced to be used in lawsuits, but rather as a kind of utopian picture of what was in the past. The goal was to depict those things that were beyond human recovery but that were "laid up in heaven". Because of its narrative structure, it should be seen not only as a documentation of the various landholdings of the diocese, but as a historical work as well. Unlike the Liber, it was not revised as the property changed hands, and this lack of revision has been seen as emphasizing the commemorative nature of the work. The historian John Reuben Davies sees a close parallel between Hemming's work and the Welsh medieval document The Book of Llandaf. Other similar works were the Norman pancartes, which were compilations of gifts to a monastery, connected by a narrative which was then presented to the dukes to secure confirmation of the gifts. These Norman works date from the early 11th century, and like Hemming's work, they are of great interest to the historian as sources for the study of medieval history. Also noting that Hemming's part of the compilation does not appear to have been revised or updated to meet new circumstances, Patrick Geary describes it as "a commemorative, historical volume, not a working administrative tool" and associates the work with counterparts produced in the continental West, such as Folcuin's chronicle cartulary Gesta abbatum S. Bertini Sithiensium. More recently, Francesca Tinti has arrived at a different conclusion, arguing instead that Hemming's work, more so than the Liber Wigorniensis, came to serve very real needs, and that these specifically concerned the monastic community at Worcester. Although the Prefatio is silent about monks, the Enucleatio is explicit that Bishop Wulfstan had commissioned the work to defend the estates assigned for the sustenance of the monks (ad victum monachorum). She relates these concerns to the rapid growth of the community during Bishop Wulfstan's episcopate in the second half of the 11th century. The coming of the Norman newcomer, Samson, who had been involved in the dissolution of Westbury-on-Trym, would have given the enlarged community a particular incentive to safeguard its property and rights. #### Contents One of the themes of Hemming's work is the depredations suffered by his monastery at the hands of royal officials. One such notorious official from the last decade of King Æthelred's reign is Eadric Streona ("Grasper"), ealdorman of Mercia, blamed for having appropriated land held by the church in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and for having incorporated the ancient county of Winchcombeshire into Gloucestershire. Hemming may have invented Eadric's byname of Streona, as it is not attested before appearing in Hemming's work. Hemming singles out the conquests of England by Cnut and William the Conqueror as being especially damaging. He claims that the work only covers the lost estates that were assigned to support the cathedral chapter, but as he describes the loss of several manors that were listed in Domesday Book as belonging to the bishop, the work probably covers more than the author claims. It also contains a listing of amounts paid to King William to regain items the king had taken from the diocese. Worcester paid over 45.5 marks of gold to recover their belongings. Others singled out in the work as significant plunderers of Worcester's lands included Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and other members of his family. The historian Ted Johnson Smith points out that the Codicellus has strong parallels to the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto. The Historia was written in Durham in the mid-10th century, and is a history of the monastery of St. Cuthbert from foundation until about 945. Like the Codicellus, it is a narrative concerned mainly to defend the patrimony of the monks against depredations. Also contained in Hemming's work is a description of the lawsuit between the diocese of Worcester and Evesham Abbey, which took place between 1078 and 1085. Although only Hemming relates the course of the proceedings, the Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham, or Evesham Chronicle, also gives background information on the dispute. The litigation involved lands that the abbey held in Hampton and Bengeworth in Worcestershire, but that the diocese maintained were actually part of one of the bishopric's manors. Ownership became disputed under the abbacy of Æthelwig, when the abbot managed to acquire the allegiance of a number of the new owners of lands previously held from the diocese. After Æthelwig's death, most of these lands passed to Odo of Bayeux, but Evesham managed to retain Hampton and Bengeworth, which became the basis of the dispute. The lawsuit was complicated because part of the land had been granted by an earlier bishop, Beorhtheah, to a kinsman, Azur. After the Conquest, Azur's lands were given to Urse d'Abetot, the Sheriff of Worcester. Following Æthelwig's death, Wulfstan was able to secure a settlement with Æthelwig's successor Walter. The settlement, which was concluded in 1086, granted the lands to the abbey, but the diocese was the overlord of the lands, for which the abbey owed military service. ### Contents of the manuscript A brief overview of the contents of the manuscript follows, with the main sectioning and a general idea of the contents of each section. ## Manuscript and publication history The only other 11th-century cartulary surviving from England is the Oswald cartulary, also compiled at Worcester. Historian M. T. Clanchy has suggested that the form English cartularies took may have originated at Worcester, although fellow historian Robin Fleming has argued that Christ Church Canterbury's surviving cartulary is also an 11th-century compilation. Who owned the manuscript after it left Worcester Cathedral Priory, presumably with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1540s, is unknown, but the manuscript was in the possession of Robert Cotton by 1612, when it is recorded as being loaned by Cotton to Arthur Agarde. There are annotations in the manuscript by John Joscelyn, who was secretary to Matthew Parker (d. 1575), the Elizabethan Archbishop of Canterbury, but whether Parker owned the manuscript is uncertain. The manuscript thus became part of the Cotton library, which passed into public ownership in 1702 on the death of Cotton's grandson on the basis of an act of Parliament of 1701. The manuscript itself is now part of the British Library's holdings. The manuscript was originally published in 1723 as Hemingi chartularium ecclesiæ Wigorniensis, in two volumes edited by Thomas Hearne. This was part of the Chronica Anglia series put out between 1709 and 1735, which included many chronicles and records in 20 volumes. Hearne printed his edition from a transcription made for the antiquary Richard Graves. This transcript, known as MS Rawlinson B.445, is not a completely accurate transcription of the Cotton Tiberius manuscript, as some items were omitted, and marginalia were not always transcribed. There were also some additions of decorations. The entire manuscript of Cotton Tiberius A xiii is catalogued as number 366 in Helmut Gneuss's work Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts''. [^1]: Ker "Hemming's Cartulary" Studies in Medieval History' p. 62
19,376,355	Ganesha	1,173,823,570	Hindu god of new beginnings, wisdom and luck	[ "Abundance gods", "Animal gods", "Arts gods", "Buddhism and Hinduism", "Buddhist gods", "Commerce gods", "Creator gods", "Elephants in Buddhism", "Elephants in Hinduism", "Elephants in Indian culture", "Fortune gods", "Ganesha", "Heavenly attendants in Jainism", "Hindu given names", "Hindu gods", "Knowledge gods", "Mythological elephants", "Mythological human hybrids", "Names of God in Hinduism", "Names of God in Sikhism", "Wisdom gods" ]	Ganesha (Sanskrit: गणेश, ), also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions are found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India. Although Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his elephant head. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and thought to bring good luck; the patron of arts and sciences; and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as a patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits. While scholars differ about his origins dating him between 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE, Ganesha was well established by the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta period and had inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. Hindu texts identifies him as the son of Parvati and Shiva of the Shaivism tradition, but he is a pan-Hindu god found in its various traditions. In the Ganapatya tradition of Hinduism, Ganesha is the Supreme Being.[^1] The principal texts on Ganesha include the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana and the Ganapati Atharvasirsha. ## Etymology and other names Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati (Ganpati), Vighneshvara, and Pillaiyar. The Hindu title of respect Shri (Sanskrit: श्री; IAST: '; also spelled Sri or Shree) is often added before his name. The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana (), meaning a 'group, multitude, or categorical system' and isha (), meaning 'lord or master'. The word gaṇa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaṇas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva, Ganesha's father. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the " to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati (गणपति; ), a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of ', meaning "group", and ', meaning "ruler" or "lord". Though the earliest mention of the word Ganapati is found in hymn 2.23.1 of the 2nd-millennium BCE Rigveda, it is however uncertain that the Vedic term referred specifically to Ganesha. The Amarakosha,<ref> - for source text of 1.38 as . - for text of ' versified as 1.1.38. </ref> an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha: Vinayaka, ' (equivalent to Vighnesha), ' (one who has two mothers), ' (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba, Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana ('); having the face of an elephant. Vinayaka (विनायक; ') or Binayaka is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the s and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (Marathi: अष्टविनायक, ).[^2] The names Vighnesha (विघ्नेश; ') and Vighneshvara (विघ्नेश्वर; ') (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hinduism as the master and remover of obstacles ('). A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai (Tamil: பிள்ளை) or Pillaiyar (பிள்ளையார்). A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant". In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne (, ), derived from Pali (). The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikanet. The earliest images and mention of Ganesha names as a major deity in present-day Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam date from the 7th and 8th centuries, and these mirror Indian examples of the 5th century or earlier. In Sri Lankan, among Sinhalese Buddhists, he is known as Gana deviyo, and revered along with Buddha, Vishnu, Skanda and others deities. ## Iconography Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations. Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century CE. The 13th-century statue pictured is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900 to 1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973 and 1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal. Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature. A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a pasha (noose) in the other upper arm. In rare instances, he may be depicted with a human head. The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but is turned towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (Abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme. ### Common attributes Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly. Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta. Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries). This feature is so important that according to the Mudgala Purana, two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly, or, literally, Hanging Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly). Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly (IAST: '). The Brahmanda Purana says that Ganesha has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs; IAST: ') of the past, present, and future are present in him. The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. His earliest images had two arms. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vasuki around his neck. Other depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread (IAST: ') The mouse is interpreted in several ways. According to Grimes, "Many, if not most of those who interpret 's mouse, do so negatively; it symbolizes ' as well as desire". Along these lines, Michael Wilcockson says it symbolises those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Krishan notes that the rat is destructive and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word ' (mouse) is derived from the root ' (stealing, robbing). It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat demonstrates his function as Vigneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāma-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence. Martin-Dubost notes a view that the rat is a symbol suggesting that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places. ## Features ### Removal of obstacles Ganesha is Vighneshvara (Vighnaraja, Marathi – Vighnaharta), the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he also places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked. Hence, he is often worshipped by the people before they begin anything new. Paul Courtright says that Ganesha's dharma and his raison d'être is to create and remove obstacles. Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time. Dhavalikar ascribes the quick ascension of Ganesha in the Hindu pantheon, and the emergence of the , to this shift in emphasis from ' (obstacle-creator) to ' (obstacle-averter). However, both functions continue to be vital to his character. ### Buddhi (Intelligence) Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is an active noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, when many stories stress his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya. This name also appears in a list of 21 names at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama that Ganesha says are especially important. The word priya can mean "fond of", and in a marital context it can mean "lover" or "husband", so the name may mean either "Fond of Intelligence" or "Buddhi's Husband". ### Om Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Om. The term ' (Om is his form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa attests to this association. Chinmayananda translates the relevant passage as follows: > (O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trimurti) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire [Agni] and air []. You are the sun [] and the moon [Chandrama]. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth], Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are all this). Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Om in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts. ### First chakra According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Courtright translates this passage as follows: "You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine []." Thus, Ganesha has a permanent abode in every being at the Muladhara. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life". ## Family and consorts Though Ganesha is popularly held to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic texts give different versions about his birth. In some he was created by Parvati, or by Shiva or created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river. The family includes his brother, the god of war, Kartikeya, who is also called Skanda and Murugan. Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In northern India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder, while in the south, Ganesha is considered the firstborn. In northern India, Skanda was an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, after which worship of him declined significantly. As Skanda fell, Ganesha rose. Several stories tell of sibling rivalry between the brothers and may reflect sectarian tensions. Ganesha's marital status, the subject of considerable scholarly review, varies widely in mythological stories. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarried brahmachari. This view is common in southern India and parts of northern India. Another popularly-accepted mainstream pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are personified as goddesses, said to be Ganesha's wives. He also may be shown with a single consort or a nameless servant (Sanskrit: ').[^3] Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati or (particularly in Maharashtra). He is also associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Another pattern, mainly prevalent in the Bengal region, links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo. The Shiva Purana says that Ganesha had begotten two sons: (safety) and (profit). In northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to be (auspiciousness) and . The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. This story has no Puranic basis, but Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity. ## Worship and festivals Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. K.N Soumyaji says, "there can hardly be a [Hindu] home [in India] which does not house an idol of Ganapati. ... Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country". Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity. Ganesha is a non-sectarian deity. Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin art performances such as the Bharatanatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Ganapataye Namah (Om, , Salutation to the Lord of Hosts). Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls called laddus. He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a '. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste () or red flowers. grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship. Festivals associated with Ganesh are Ganesha Chaturthi or Vināyaka chaturthī in the ' (the fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of Bhadrapada (August/September) and the Ganesh Jayanti (Ganesha's birthday) celebrated on the cathurthī of the ' (fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of magha (January/February)." ### Ganesha Chaturthi An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesha Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in clay idols of Ganesha, symbolising the god's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when the idols (murtis) are immersed in the most convenient body of water. Some families have a tradition of immersion on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 7th day. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day.[^4] Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra. The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai, Pune, and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples. ### Temples In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as a subordinate deity ('); as a deity related to the principal deity ('); or as the principal deity of the temple (). As the god of transitions, he is placed at the doorway of many Hindu temples to keep out the unworthy, which is analogous to his role as Parvati's doorkeeper. In addition, several shrines are dedicated to Ganesha himself, of which the Ashtavinayak (Sanskrit: अष्टविनायक; ; lit. "eight Ganesha (shrines)") in Maharashtra are particularly well known. Located within a 100-kilometer radius of the city of Pune, each of the eight shrines celebrates a particular form of Ganapati, complete with its own lore. The eight shrines are: Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon. There are many other important Ganesha temples at the following locations: Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, Ganpatipule temple at Ganpatipule, Binkhambi Ganesh mandir in Kolhapur, Jai Vinayak temple in Jaigad, Ratnagiri, Wai in Maharashtra; Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Jodhpur, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan; Baidyanath in Bihar; Baroda, Dholaka, and Valsad in Gujarat and Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples in southern India include the following: Kanipakam in Andhra Pradesh; the Rockfort Ucchi Pillayar Temple at Tiruchirapalli, Puliakulam Munthi Vinayagar Temple at Coimbatore and Karpaga Vinayagar Temple in Pillaiyarpatti which is a town named after Ganesha in Tamil Nadu; Kottarakkara, Pazhavangadi, Kasargod in Kerala; Hampi, and Idagunji in Karnataka; and Bhadrachalam in Telangana. T. A. Gopinatha notes, "Every village however small has its own image of ' (Vigneshvara) with or without a temple to house it in. At entrances of villages and forts, below ' (Sacred fig) trees ... in a niche ... in temples of ' (Vishnu) as well as ' (Shiva) and also in separate shrines specially constructed in ' temples ... the figure of ' is invariably seen." Ganesha temples have also been built outside of India, including Southeast Asia, Nepal (including the four Vinayaka shrines in the Kathmandu Valley), and in several western countries. ## Rise to prominence ### First appearance An elephant–headed anthropomorphic figure on Indo-Greek coins from the 1st century BCE has been proposed by some scholars to be "incipient Ganesha", but this has been strongly contested. Others have suggested Ganesha may have been an emerging deity in India and southeast Asia around the 2nd century CE based on the evidence from archaeological excavations in Mathura and outside India. First terracotta images of Ganesha are from 1st century CE found in Ter, Pal, Verrapuram, and Chandraketugarh. These figures are small, with an elephant head, two arms, and chubby physique. The earliest Ganesha icons in stone were carved in Mathura during Kushan times (2nd–3rd centuries CE). Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly-recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries CE. Some of the earliest known Ganesha images include two images found in eastern Afghanistan. The first image was discovered in the ruins north of Kabul along with those of Surya and Shiva. It is dated to the 4th century. The second image found in Gardez, the Gardez Ganesha, has an inscription on Ganesha pedestal that has helped date it to the 5th century. Another Ganesha sculpture is embedded in the walls of Cave 6 of the Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh. This is dated to the 5th century. An early iconic image of Ganesha with elephant head, a bowl of sweets and a goddess sitting in his lap has been found in the ruins of the Bhumara Temple in Madhya Pradesh, and this is dated to the 5th-century Gupta period. Other recent discoveries, such as one from Ramgarh Hill, are also dated to the 4th or 5th century. An independent cult with Ganesha as the primary deity was well established by about the 10th century. Narain summarises the lack of evidence about Ganesha's history before the 5th century as follows: > What is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaṇeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand, there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaṇeśa's Vedic origins and in the explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand, there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence [in ancient Brahmanic literature] of the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century. The evidence for more ancient Ganesha, suggests Narain, may reside outside Brahmanic or Sanskritic traditions, or outside geocultural boundaries of India. Ganesha appears in China by the 6th century, states Brown, and his artistic images in temple setting as "remover of obstacles" in South Asia appear by about 400 CE. He is, states Bailey, recognised as goddess Parvati's son and integrated into Shaivism theology by early centuries of the common era. ### Possible influences Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way: > In this search for a historical origin for Gaṇeśa, some have suggested precise locations outside the tradition.... These historical locations are intriguing to be sure, but the fact remains that they are all speculations, variations on the Dravidian hypothesis, which argues that anything not attested to in the Vedic and Indo-European sources must have come into religion from the Dravidian or aboriginal populations of India as part of the process that produced Hinduism out of the interactions of the Aryan and non-Aryan populations. There is no independent evidence for an elephant cult or a totem; nor is there any archaeological data pointing to a tradition prior to what we can already see in place in the literature and the iconography of . Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India but concludes that "although by the second century CE the elephant-headed ' form exists it cannot be presumed to represent . There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. had yet to make his debut." The Pashupati seal (c. 2300 BCE - 2000 BCE) depicts 4 animals including an elephant around a deity who is claimed by some to be Shiva. Brown notes that this seal indicates the sacredness of elephants before Vedic period. One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas (). In Hindu mythology, the were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties but who were easily propitiated. The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the and in Buddhist Tantras. Krishan is one of the academics who accept this view, stating flatly of Ganesha, "He is a non-Vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th–4th century BCE) who cause various types of evil and suffering". Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century. According to Ellawala, the elephant-headed Ganesha as lord of the Ganas was known to the people of Sri Lanka in the early pre-Christian era. ### Vedic and epic literature The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: ') occurs twice in the Rig Veda, but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, according to commentators. The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during the preparation of the critical edition. Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for 's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation. Richard L. Brown dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend. The term ' is found in some recensions of the ' and ' that are regarded as interpolations. A reference to '' ("Creator of Obstacles") in Vanaparva is also believed to be an interpolation and does not appear in the critical edition. ### Puranic period Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, c. 600–1300. Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he acquired an elephant's head are in the later Puranas, which were composed of c. 600 onwards. He elaborates on the matter to say that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries. In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that: > Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent. Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The 9th-century philosopher Adi Shankara popularised the "worship of the five forms" (Panchayatana puja) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smarta tradition. This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, and Surya. Adi Shankara instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalised the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity. ### Scriptures Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Hinduism, some Hindus chose Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition, as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana. The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana—and their dating relative to one another—has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comment about dating and provide her own judgment. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text. R.C. Hazra suggests that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400. However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha. While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture in the Ganapatya tradition, the Sanskrit Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th century. The Ganesha Sahasranama is part of the Puranic literature, and is a litany of a thousand names and attributes of Ganesha. Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. Versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama are found in the Ganesha Purana. ## Beyond India and Hinduism Commercial and cultural contacts extended India's influence in Western and Southeast Asia. Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who consequently reached foreign lands. Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures. From approximately the 10th century onwards, new networks of exchange developed including the formation of trade guilds and a resurgence of money circulation. During this time, Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders. The earliest inscription invoking Ganesha before any other deity is associated with the merchant community. Hindus migrated to Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture, including Ganesha, with them. Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in the Hindu art of Philippines, Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences. The spread of Hindu culture throughout Southeast Asia established Ganesha worship in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practised side by side, and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia, and among the Hindu classes of the Chams in Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles. Among the Indonesian, who predominantly profess Muslim faith, Ganesha is not worshipped, but seen as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom and education. Many Indonesian public universities feature Ganesha's likeness in their grounds or logo. Blitar, Salatiga City, and Kediri Regency are among three local governments that include Ganesha in their regency/city official seals. Indonesia is the only country who featured Ganesha on her bill (20 thousand denomination, between 1998 and 2008), although it is no longer in circulation. Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success. Thailand regards Ganesha mainly as the god of arts and academics. The belief was initiated by King Vajiravudh of the Chakri dynasty who was devoted to Ganesha personally. He even built a Ganesha shrine at his personal palace, Sanam Chandra Palace in Nakhon Pathom Province where he focused on his academic and literature works. His personal belief regarding Ganesha as the god of arts formally became prominent following the establishment of the Fine Arts Department where he took Ganesha as the seal. Today, Ganesha is depicted both in the seal of the Fine Arts Department, and Thailand's first prominent fine arts academy; the Silpakorn University. Before the arrival of Islam, Afghanistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practised. Examples of sculptures from the 5th to the 7th centuries have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was then in vogue in the region. Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god , but also as a Hindu demon form with the same name. His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god , he is often shown dancing. This form, called Ganapati, was popular in northern India, later adopted in Nepal, and then in Tibet. In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion. Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him. A Tibetan rendering of Ganapati is tshogs bdag''. In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by ,(Shiva) a popular Tibetan deity. Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, and sometimes dancing. Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In northern China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated to 531. In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806. The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the worship of Ganesha. However, Ganesha is worshipped by some Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of the god of wealth, Kubera. Jain ties with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up Ganesha worship as a result of commercial connections and influence of Hinduism. The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century. A 15th-century Jain text lists procedures for the installation of its images. Images of Ganesha appear in some Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat. ## See also - Gajasura - Cultural depictions of elephants ## Explanatory notes ## General references [^1]: For history of the development of the ' and their relationship to the wide geographic dispersion of Ganesha worship, see: Chapter 6, "The " in: . [^2]: For the history of the ' sites and a description of pilgrimage practices related to them, see: [^3]: For single consort or a nameless ' (servant), see: Cohen, Lawrence, "The Wives of ", in: . [^4]: For Tilak as the first to use large public images in ' (pavilions or tents) see: , p. 225.
3,640,544	Persuasion (1995 film)	1,167,797,965	Television film by Roger Michell	[ "1990s American films", "1990s British films", "1990s English-language films", "1995 films", "1995 television films", "American drama television films", "American romantic drama films", "British drama television films", "British romantic drama films", "Films about hypochondriasis", "Films based on Persuasion (novel)", "Films directed by Roger Michell", "Films set in country houses", "Films shot in chronological order", "Napoleonic Wars films", "Sony Pictures Classics films", "Television shows based on works by Jane Austen" ]	Persuasion is a BBC Screen Two 1995 period drama film directed by Roger Michell and based on Jane Austen's 1817 novel of the same name. In her theatrical film debut, Amanda Root stars as protagonist Anne Elliot, while Ciarán Hinds plays her romantic interest, Captain Frederick Wentworth. The film is set in 19th-century England, eight years after Anne was persuaded by others to reject Wentworth's proposal of marriage. Persuasion follows the two as they become reacquainted with each other while supporting characters threaten to interfere. The novel was adapted by Nick Dear, who considered the story more mature than Austen's other novels, characterising it as one of realism and truthfulness, particularly in telling the story of two people separated and then reunited. As Austen's style conveys Anne's thoughts internally, Dear and Root felt compelled to express the character's emotions using less dialogue. Michell avoided what he felt was the polished, artificial feel of other 19th-century depictions, and discouraged his actors from wearing make-up or appearing too hygienic. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne produced clothing that appeared "lived-in", which won her a BAFTA. Persuasion was shot in chronological order, allowing Root to portray more easily Anne's development from being downtrodden to happy and blossoming. It was filmed during a period of popularity for Austen's works. Originally the BBC was the sole production company of Persuasion until it partnered with the American WGBH Boston and the French Millesime. This gave the production a larger budget and allowed it to be filmed at locations featured in the novel, including Lyme Regis and Bath. Persuasion originally aired on 16 April 1995, when it was broadcast on BBC Two. Sony Pictures Classics released the film in American cinemas on 27 September 1995, as Austen's increasing popularity became apparent to Hollywood. Persuasion's cinematic release attracted the attention of film critics, and it received generally positive reviews, with many praising Root's performance. Film scholars have observed significant changes from the source material, as well as class and gender themes. ## Plot The film opens by cross-cutting between scenes of a Royal Navy ship carrying Admiral Croft, and a carriage carrying Mr. Shepherd and his widowed daughter Mrs. Clay to Kellynch Hall. Shepherd and Clay are accosted by creditors due to the debts owed by the residence's owner, Sir Walter Elliot, while Croft discusses the end of the Napoleonic Wars with fellow officers of the navy. Sir Walter, a vain foppish baronet, is faced with financial ruin. Though Sir Walter initially opposes the idea, he eventually agrees temporarily to move to Bath while the Hall is let; the idea came from Shepherd, family friend Lady Russell, and Sir Walter's second daughter, the intelligent Anne Elliot. Anne is visibly shaken upon learning that the new tenant of Kellynch Hall will be Admiral Croft, who is the brother-in-law of Captain Frederick Wentworth. Wentworth is the naval officer Anne was persuaded to reject in marriage eight years previously because of his uncertain prospects. Captain Wentworth has now become very wealthy from taking prize ships in the Napoleonic Wars and has returned to England, presumably to find a wife. Later, Anne expresses to Lady Russell her unhappiness at her once wealthy family's current predicament, and at her past decision to reject the captain's marriage proposal. Anne visits her younger sister Mary, a hypochondriac who has married into a local farming family, the Musgroves. Anne patiently listens to the various complaints confided in her by each of the Musgrove family; this includes Mary's husband Charles, sisters-in-law Louisa and Henrietta, and parents-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove. Captain Wentworth comes to dine with the Musgroves, but Anne avoids going, volunteering to nurse Mary's injured son. The following morning at breakfast, Anne and Mary are met briefly by Wentworth, the first time he and Anne have seen each other since she rejected him. Anne later hears that Wentworth thought her so altered that he "would not have known [her] again". Louisa and Henrietta begin to pursue marriage with Wentworth, as the family is unaware of his and Anne's past relationship. Visibly hurt by Anne's refusal years before, Wentworth appears to court Louisa, much to Anne's chagrin. Wentworth is told by Louisa that Anne had refused Charles' offer of marriage - a refusal which the Musgroves believed to be at the instigation of Lady Russell. After that, Charles had instead proposed to Mary. Anne, Wentworth, and the younger Musgroves go to Lyme Regis and visit two of Wentworth's old naval friends, Captain Harville and Captain Benwick. While there, Louisa rashly jumps off some high steps in the hopes Wentworth will catch her; he does not, and she sustains a head injury. Afterwards, Anne goes to Bath to stay with her father and sister. Sir Walter and his eldest daughter Elizabeth reveal they have repaired their relationship with a previously disreputable cousin, Mr. Elliot, the heir to the Elliot baronetcy and estate. Anne is introduced to him, and they realise that they briefly saw each other in Lyme. Much to Lady Russell's pleasure, Mr. Elliot begins pursuing Anne, who remains uncertain. Meanwhile, Louisa has recovered and become engaged to Captain Benwick. Wentworth arrives in Bath and encounters Anne on several occasions, though their conversations are brief. Anne learns from an old friend, Mrs. Smith, that Mr. Elliot is bankrupt and only interested in marrying Anne to help ensure his inheritance from her father. Mr. Elliot also wishes to keep the baronet from marrying Mrs. Clay and fathering a male heir. After Wentworth overhears Anne talking about the constancy of a woman's love, he writes her a passionate letter revealing that he has never stopped loving her. Anne quickly finds him outside and the two kiss and walk off, arm in arm. That night at a party, Wentworth announces his engagement to Anne, much to her father's shock and both Lady Russell's and Mr. Elliot's visible consternation. The final scene shows Wentworth and Anne on a naval ship, happy to be together. ## Cast - Amanda Root as Anne Elliot - Ciarán Hinds as Captain Frederick Wentworth - Susan Fleetwood as Lady Russell - Corin Redgrave as Sir Walter Elliot - Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Croft - John Woodvine as Admiral Croft - Phoebe Nicholls as Elizabeth Elliot - Samuel West as Mr. Elliot - Sophie Thompson as Mary Musgrove - Judy Cornwell as Mrs. Musgrove - Simon Russell Beale as Charles Musgrove - Felicity Dean as Mrs. Clay - Roger Hammond as Mr. Musgrove - Emma Roberts as Louisa Musgrove - Victoria Hamilton as Henrietta Musgrove - Robert Glenister as Captain Harville - Richard McCabe as Captain Benwick - Helen Schlesinger as Mrs. Smith - Jane Wood as Nurse Rooke - David Collings as Mr. Shepherd - Darlene Johnson as Lady Dalrymple - Cinnamon Faye as Miss Carteret - Isaac Maxwell-Hunt as Henry Hayter - Roger Llewellyn as Sir Henry Willoughby - Sally George as Mrs. Harville - Rhys Alexander Brown as Baby of Anne and Frederick ## Production ### Conception and adaptation The filming of Persuasion coincided with a sudden resurgence of Jane Austen adaptations, as it was one of six such productions released during the mid-1990s. The media dubbed the phenomenon "Austenmania". While it was common for a successful adaptation to lead to the production of others, this surge in Austen's popularity involved many simultaneous projects—Persuasion's production, for instance, coincided with the TV serial Pride and Prejudice and the feature film Sense and Sensibility. Despite the surge, film scholar Andrew Higson and others argue that there is little evidence that the various producers—who were employed by different companies—communicated when conceiving their adaptations. The idea for a film version of the 1817 Austen novel Persuasion began with the English producer Fiona Finlay, who had wanted to create an adaptation for several years. The novel had last been adapted by ITV in a 1971 serial starring Ann Firbank. Finlay felt that the "very romantic" story was one "everyone can relate to. There's something very touching about long-lost love". She approached the writer Nick Dear about adapting it for television; Finlay had enjoyed his contributions to theatre, particularly his play about William Hogarth, The Art of Success. Dear first suggested they try one of Austen's other works—either Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice—but agreed to adapt Persuasion after reading it. Dear considered the novel—the author's last completed work—a more mature story than the others. Dear later wrote that Persuasion was superficially "a love story in the Cinderella mould" but it was also one of "realism and truthfulness", particularly in telling the story of two people separated and then reunited. He spent two years working on a script, and found this task difficult for several reasons. First, he needed to find a structure that would be faithful to the novel. Second, his protagonist barely spoke for the first half, and "therefore can't motor the action along as a central character conventionally does". Adapting Austen's wit was another challenge; much could not be used "because it's almost all in the author's voice telling us about characters, with a certain wit or lightness that came from the characters themselves. It's a craft job, interpreting the novel for oneself and then finding a film language for it". An experienced theatre and television serial director, Roger Michell was chosen to direct Persuasion, in what was to be his first feature film. As a young child, Michell had been an admirer of Austen's, which set him apart from his male classmates. "I was the only boy in my class who took Austen as a special paper", he said. His attraction to Persuasion was based on his belief that it was Austen's most emotional and poignant novel, as well as her most autobiographical. He described the work as an "erotic love story which is full of sexual yearning". While directing, Michell sought to emphasise contrasts in Austen's story, seen for instance between "the chilly formality of Kellynch Hall and the warm, wet feel of Uppercross". The Royal Navy was another point of interest, as officers like Wentworth would often have returned to society wealthy and full of stories. The director wished to depict the integration of cultures, as naval officers came back with "an informality of behaviour and language which was in marked contrast to what was there before". ### Casting Root made her theatrical film debut playing Anne Elliot, the film's protagonist. According to Root, "every actress in England" read for the part. Having worked with the director previously on the 1993 TV serial The Buddha of Suburbia, Root won the role by writing him a letter to gain an audition. The character was described to Root as "haggard", which attracted the actress. "I relish a job like this, starting off downtrodden and gradually blossoming", she said. WGBH Boston, the American company co-producing the film, had wanted a better-known actress for the part but agreed to Root's casting after seeing Root's screen test. Root came to realise that while the novel's narrative style allowed Anne's thoughts to come through, the film adaptation offered comparatively little dialogue. As a result, she "had to cover pages and pages of the story without uttering anything, much of the time. I couldn't even think about technique, I just had to keep looking at the [novel] and then somehow radiate the feelings". Persuasion was shot in chronological order, which allowed Root to see "what a difference [her character's] sense of unhappiness can create", as by the end of the film Anne is "happier and looks better". Root considered the role to be much quieter than her experiences working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which included her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. The Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, who depicted Frederick Wentworth, commented that Austen "understands a man's heart and how delicate it can be sometimes". He also appreciated that, though Wentworth was a "competent leader of men in his profession", he was "socially inept" in Anne's presence. Susan Fleetwood, the actress who played Lady Russell, had also worked with Michell on The Buddha of Suburbia. She died soon after filming; Persuasion was her last film role. ### Make-up and costume design Michell attempted to be as faithful to the novel as possible, in particular avoiding what he felt was the polished, artificial feel of other period dramas set in the 19th century. The director explained, "I was desperately trying to make it feel like it could be happening in the next room. I tried to make it something which is absolutely about real people and not about dressing or hairstyles or carpet". Consequently, because he felt the realistic look of the age would make the film more dramatic, Michell chose to depict the actors without make-up and stopped them looking too hygienic. Root commented about the film's natural look in an interview, "I basically didn't wear any makeup [in the film], and my hair was obviously set in a very unflattering way... I suppose the lighting was quite harsh, as well. None of us looked good". She said in a separate interview, "I wanted to make Anne Elliot a somewhat plain woman who was not really miserable but had found a way to be content somehow, and yet emotions are buzzing around her all the time". Root believed the film's realistic depiction of the age was a key aspect of its appeal. The film's costume design was overseen by Alexandra Byrne, who created clothing that appeared "lived-in" and "realistic". Like Fleetwood, Byrne had also worked with Michell on The Buddha of Suburbia. It was her first time designing period costumes for film. During shooting, the crew often had to compete for costumes and props with the BBC production Pride and Prejudice, which was being filmed at the same time. Persuasion's crew consequently had to send for replacement items from Italy and Australia. For her work in the film, Byrne won a BAFTA for Best Costume Design. Louise Watson, writing for Screenonline, felt the film's costume and make-up help "convey the full Cinderella transformation of Austen's heroine. At first the undervalued family martyr, Anne is the wallflower who has lost her 'bloom'. Her loose-fitting costumes hint at how she has pined away since refusing Wentworth... As she regains her confidence, she blossoms; she dresses becomingly, her eyes sparkle and her features become animated". Paulette Richards argues that the film's "unreliable" male characters, such as Sir Walter, are identified as such by the flamboyant nature of their clothing. This flamboyance is especially clear to modern viewers, who live in a culture where "real men" are expected to care little for their clothing. Conversely, Wentworth is typically depicted in the film wearing naval uniforms, which is a contrast to Bryan Marshall's version of the character in the 1971 adaptation. This uniform helps set Wentworth apart from many of the other male characters, allowing him to appear romantic but isolated. Gina and Andrew MacDonald had a similar view of the film, writing that it accurately captures Austen's satire by juxtaposing the upper classes' extravagance in fashion with the virtuous qualities of the Royal Navy. The naval men's profession is emphasised by the frequency of wearing their uniforms, in contrast to other adaptations of the novel. ### Filming As a BBC production, Persuasion originally received a budget of £750,000. The British broadcaster proposed a collaboration with the American public television station WGBH Boston, a partnership that had also produced the American anthology television series Masterpiece Theatre as well as literary adaptations like the serial Pride and Prejudice. Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of Masterpiece Theatre, approved the co-production as she had a preference for Persuasion out of all Austen's novels. The decision led to additional funding. Eaton would cite Persuasion as a successful example of WGBH using its small budget to invest in television projects, though she later expressed regret that the adaptation was two hours rather than a "luscious" six-part miniseries. Additionally, the French company Millesime co-produced the film in exchange for airing it on television in France. This decision further increased funding to £1,000,000. Mobil Oil Corporation, a major sponsor of Masterpiece Theatre, co-produced the film. The diverse sources of funding meant that the production team had to field opinions from various sources. Millesime was unhappy with certain aspects of the story, for instance wanting the entire Lyme sequence removed because they considered it "too boring". WGBH gave the BBC detailed notes, which were then integrated into the script. One change concerned the ending. To display the climax when Anne and Wentworth finally approach each other with their feelings, two different scenes were shot, one in which they kiss and one in which they do not. Dear first wrote a scene closely modelled after Austen's ending: Anne reunites with Wentworth on the streets of Bath, and the two exchange words and hold hands. Eaton felt that after hours of waiting, audiences "would go nuts with frustration and irritation" if the two did not kiss. Eaton also thought "a kiss would be an emotional pay-off", and WGBH believed it would give the film a wider appeal. Michell agreed to compromise, opting to shoot one British version and one American version—the latter included the kiss. The American ending is reflected on the international poster, which shows the two protagonists embracing. While the kiss attracted some criticism among fans, actress Amanda Root defended it. "After the great suspense of the story, by the end you're desperate for Anne and Captain Wentworth to get together, desperate! Film is a visual medium, after all. You don't necessarily want to see them in bed together, but you do want to see something like a kiss", she said. In comparison to its adaptations of the 1970s and 1980s, the BBC provided increased funding for many of its productions in the 1990s. Persuasion consequently benefited, allowing it to frequently film on-location in places including Lyme Regis and Bath, and the south-eastern English countryside. Both Lyme and Bath are prominent locales in Austen's novel. Dear desired the opening sequence be on board a Royal Navy ship of the period, but the only authentic vessel available was Nelson's HMS Victory. It was dry-docked as part of a museum in Portsmouth, and filming was only possible during short periods when the vessel was closed to the public. The final shot, in which Anne and Wentworth gaze into the ocean, was taken from the 1984 historical film The Bounty. The film's low budget also resulted in one of the opening shots, depicting Admiral Croft's ship on the ocean, being taken from The Bounty. ## Themes and analysis ### Changes from source material While Dear has received praise for "remarkably... retain[ing] most of the source novel's complex plot and numerous characters", literary scholars have noted significant differences between the film and the source material. Sarah R. Morrison observes that the film's version of Anne articulates thoughts that the character would never say in the novel. Morrison cites Anne's adamant defence of her visit to Mrs. Smith—where Anne visits a poor old friend rather than go to the party of a titled relative—in the film as an example, as "Austen's narrator makes it abundantly clear that Anne would never presume to dispute with her father upon such terms of absolute equality". The film's Anne also engages in actions not visible in the novel, such as her haste to stop Wentworth from leaving a musical concert when he feels demeaned by disparaging comments about his profession. Morrison attributes these differences to the difficulty in adapting novel to film, particularly as the latter form lacks a narrator to convey Anne's inner thoughts. The film also expands upon Austen's subtle characterisation by exaggerating the emotions of characters and certain scenes. For example, in the novel during an early party, Anne offers to play the pianoforte as usual; while doing so, she is slightly tearful but also "extremely glad to be employed" and "unobserved". Conversely, Dear's screenplay has Wentworth quickly giving up his seat to Anne and then immediately dancing with the Musgrove sisters, furthering the contrast between Anne and the others. According to David Monaghan, Austen's novel displays a "relatively radical vision" of societal change, such as the rise of a professional class challenging the old order of landed gentry. Monaghan posits that this vision appealed to Dear and Michell, who used visuals and movement to emphasise this change. However, the two "deviate significantly" from the source material by depicting Anne and Wentworth as "single-mindedly oriented" to the future and thus 20th-century viewers' sensibilities. Sue Parrill observes that Persuasion's larger production budget, which allowed the crew to film much content on location, "enabled the filmmakers to make fuller use of setting for symbolism and for creation of mood". The weather, for instance, is particularly important to Anne's state of mind in the novel. Persuasion's opening scenes establish its historical context as well as the financial predicament in which the Elliot family finds itself. Indeed, for Rachel Brownstein, by opening the film with a depiction of sailors, the director is confronting a common complaint about Austen's works—her failure to mention the Napoleonic Wars. The juxtaposition between the navy and the Elliots establishes their differences, with the former group discussing the fall of Napoleon and the latter group discussing the relatively minor inconvenience of overspending. ### Class and gender In his introduction to the published screenplay, Dear said he was in part attracted to adapt Persuasion because it depicted a "world in transition". To him, the novel showed "an old order fading away into decadence, and a new tribe, a meritocracy, coming to the fore". While directing, Roger Michell felt that the story included "the prototype of the postmodern family"—Anne's mother is dead, her father is bankrupt, and "the old social orders are breaking down". Root described Anne as a "feminist in a prefeminist period" and a "strong, independent character", to whom modern viewers can relate despite the story's period setting. Austen scholars have studied the film's intersection with class and social change. Carole M. Dole notes that, among the many productions of Austen's work that appeared in the 1990s, Persuasion was the only one to "insistently draw attention to class issues", and "provide striking visual testimony to the workings of the British class system". The film, she adds, accomplishes this in part by focusing on the servants' faces, gauging their negative reactions to events. Richards, too, finds Michell "visually more aware" of the lower classes, adding that the film's inclusion of black servants alludes to the "colonial sources of wealth" supporting those superior in class and rank. Anne-Marie Scholz writes that the film and Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility both highlight the theme of class, but in different ways. Unlike Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion depicts general class divisions rather than just how the working class impacts the protagonists—the camera focuses on the faces and expressions of servants and working people, personifying them. In Michell's opinion, Austen was a "proto-feminist" who possessed a "clear-sighted vision of the ways the world is tilted against women". As evidence, Michell cites a book scene in which Anne discusses how songs and proverbs about women's fickleness were all written by men. Scholz argues that Anne's marginal status as a woman in the film is linked to that of the servants; the parallel between class and gender is conveyed with Anne's trip to Uppercross in a cart containing animals. Julianne Pidduck adds that the director "pointedly foregrounds themes of class and gendered social constraint by juxtaposing the stuffy interiors of mannered society with the inviting, open horizons of the sea". As an example, Pidduck discusses Anne's stay in a gated residence in Bath, where she gazes out of an upper story window in search of Wentworth on the streets below. To her, Wentworth and the sea represent freedom and possibility. ## Reception ### Release Persuasion premiered on 16 April 1995, Easter Day, on the British television channel BBC Two. An estimated 3.8 million viewers watched the production. BBC Two aired it again on 25 December, Christmas Day. It also later aired on the American television channel PBS on 6 April 1997. Near the end of filming, Rebecca Eaton noticed the growing "buzz" surrounding Austen and costume dramas in Hollywood. WGBH had never made a theatrical film before, but "decided to try its luck on the big screen". Sony Pictures Classics saw a cut of the adaptation and requested permission to show it in American cinemas, releasing it on 27 September 1995. There, it was characterised as an "art-house" film, with a small niche audience. It was shown at the Toronto and Chicago International Film Festivals. Persuasion earned \$56,000 in its first week of release in New York and grossed \$150,000 in Los Angeles. The total US gross was \$5,269,757. The film also was given a limited cinema release in Australia, Germany, and France in 1996. It was less financially successful than the popular Sense and Sensibility, which was released in cinemas several months later. The film was released in VHS format on 12 November 1996; a DVD version followed on 1 February 2000. ### Critical reception Persuasion at first failed to attract many reviews. This changed when Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility were released in late 1995 to great success in the UK. Their reception lifted the earlier film out of obscurity, as Austen's popularity became apparent among critics. Persuasion garnered highly positive reviews from major film critics, and the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has since calculated a rating of 86%, which refers to the percentage of positive reviews. Caryn James of The New York Times deemed it a "critic's pick", praising "a cast completely in sync with Austen's warm but piercing style". Jay Carr of The Boston Globe highlighted Root's performance, calling it "a heart-stoppingly reticent yet glorious debut". In a contribution for The Washington Post, Desson Howe said "there's a wonderful, unhurried delicacy about Persuasion...as if everyone concerned with the production knows that, if given time and patience, Austen's genius will emerge. Thanks to assured performances, exacting direction and, of course, inspired writing, it does, in subtle, glorious ways". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, critic Ken Tucker graded the film with an "A−", saying it "should enthrall even those who haven't read" the novel. Tucker concluded that the film was "the sort of passionate yet precise comedy that reminds me why Austen remains such a vital writer". Susan Ostrov Weisser, a professor of nineteenth-century literature, called the film a "faithful parade of Austen's world", and praised Root as the film's "crown jewel" for playing a "fiercely intelligent, regretful, and frustrated Anne Elliot with subtlety and nuance". In 2008, James Rampton of The Independent rated it the fourth-best Austen adaptation of all time. When reviewing, film critics often compared the respective adaptations of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility. Thompson's film received more recognition and accolades from Hollywood, while Michell's production gained the admiration of up-market critics, who felt it was a more authentic and thoughtful representation of Austen's world. Janet Maslin of The New York Times, for instance, wrote that Sense and Sensibility "can't match the brilliant incisiveness of the more spartan Persuasion, still the most thoughtful new Austen adaptation". The Los Angeles Times characterised Persuasion as "the most authentically British version and the one closest to the spirit of the novels" and Sense and Sensibility as "the audience-friendly Hollywood version of Austen, easygoing and aiming to please". Time magazine named them both the best films of 1995, referring to Persuasion as "reserved" and Sense and Sensibility as "more bustling". Higson, when analysing both productions, felt Persuasion captured a sense of "gritty realism" that would influence such later Austen adaptations as Mansfield Park (1999) and Becoming Jane (2007). ### Accolades ## See also - 1995 in film - Jane Austen in popular culture - Styles and themes of Jane Austen - Screen Two
9,900,418	Hurricane Guillermo (1997)	1,168,693,172	Category 5 Pacific hurricane in 1997	[ "1997 Pacific hurricane season", "Category 5 Pacific hurricanes", "Hurricanes in California" ]	Hurricane Guillermo was the ninth-most intense Pacific hurricane on record, attaining peak winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 919 hPa (27.14 inHg). Forming out of a tropical wave on July 30, 1997, roughly 345 mi (555 km) south of Salina Cruz, Mexico, Guillermo tracked in a steady west-northwestward direction while intensifying. The system reached hurricane status by August 1 before undergoing rapid intensification the following day. At the end of this phase, the storm attained its peak intensity as a powerful Category 5 hurricane. The storm began to weaken during the afternoon of August 5 and was downgraded to a tropical storm on August 8. Once entering the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility, Guillermo briefly weakened to a tropical depression before re-attaining tropical storm status. On August 15, the storm reached an unusually high latitude of 41.8°N before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone. The remnants persisted for more than a week as they tracked towards the northeast and later south and east before being absorbed by a larger extratropical system off the coast of California on August 24. Throughout Guillermo's lengthy track, the storm never threatened any major landmass, resulting in little impact on land. However, because of its extreme intensity, it produced large swells across the Pacific Ocean, affecting areas from Hawaii to coastal Mexico. Along the American Pacific coast, three people drowned amid high waves, two in Baja California and one in California. At its peak, Guillermo was the second strongest known Pacific hurricane on record; however, it has since been surpassed by seven other storms, including Linda later that year. The effects of Guillermo were not deemed severe enough to justify retirement of its name. ## Meteorological history Hurricane Guillermo began its extensive track as a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on July 16, 1997. Initially disorganized and weak, the system tracked westward across the Atlantic Ocean for several weeks. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) stated that they had issues monitoring the system as it moved through the Caribbean; however, they interpreted through satellite data that the wave crossed Central America and entered the Pacific Ocean between July 27 and 28. Once in the Pacific, convection, areas of thunderstorm activity, and banding features began to form. Additionally, a low-pressure system developed within the disturbance by July 29. The following day, the system became sufficiently organized for the NHC to classify it as Tropical Depression Nine-E; at this time the depression was situated roughly 345 mi (555 km) south of Salina Cruz, Mexico. In response to a deep-layer ridge to the north, the depression tracked at a steady pace towards the west-northwest, and this motion persisted through the first week of August. Within a day of being classified, the system intensified into Tropical Storm Guillermo, the seventh named storm of the 1997 season. By the afternoon of August 1, a strong central dense overcast, an area of high, thick clouds, developed over the center of circulation, prompting the NHC to upgrade the system to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. Throughout the next day, the system gradually developed an eye within the central dense overcast, leading to further strengthening. Operationally, Guillermo was thought to have briefly leveled out in intensity on August 2; however, in post-storm analysis, the NHC discovered that a steady period of rapid intensification took place. Unlike most hurricanes in the eastern Pacific, Guillermo was investigated by hurricane hunters reconnaissance aircraft during its rapid intensification stage. The aircraft released several dropsondes into the storm to gather meteorological data. This mission marked the first time the hurricane hunters recorded high-resolution wind data from flight level to within several meters of the ocean surface inside the eyewall of a major hurricane. Radar was also employed to determine the size of the hurricane's eye, stated to be roughly 13 mi (21 km) in diameter, following a 6-mile (9.7 km) decrease due to the strengthening. Light wind shear surrounding the hurricane allowed further strengthening to take place. Late on August 2, the system attained winds of 135 mph (217 km/h), making it a Category 4 storm. During the afternoon of August 3, Guillermo nearly attained Category 5 intensity as it reached its initial peak intensity with winds of 155 mph (249 km/h) along with a barometric pressure estimated at 925 mbar (hPa; 27.32 inHg). A brief period of weakening took place later that day before further strengthening ensued. Late on August 4, Guillermo intensified into a Category 5 hurricane, attaining peak winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Operational analysis of satellite information indicated a minimum pressure of 921 hPa (27.20 inHg); however, post-storm studies stated that the pressure was more likely around 919 hPa (27.14 inHg). At its peak, cloud temperatures within the eyewall were estimated to be as low as −79 °C (−110 °F). Using the Dvorak technique, a method used to estimate the intensity of tropical cyclones, a value of 7.6 was obtained. This indicated that maximum winds at the surface could have been as high as 181 mph (291 km/h); however, this was not used as the reported intensity as six- to twelve-hour averages indicated sustained winds around 160 mph (260 km/h). After maintaining this intensity for roughly 18 hours, the system began to weaken as it moved into a less favorable environment with moderate wind shear. Cloud temperatures within the eyewall also began to increase, indicating that the hurricane was losing intensity. Steady weakening took place over the following several days, and the storm dropped below major hurricane status on August 6. By August 8, Guillermo moved over colder waters and was downgraded to a tropical storm as sustained winds dropped below 75 mph (121 km/h). Around this time, the storm started to move along the western edge of the ridge that previously steered it towards the west-northwest, causing Guillermo to turn northwest. On August 9, the storm crossed longitude 140°W, denoting a shift in warning responsibility from the NHC to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC). Not long after crossing into the CPHC's area of responsibility, the storm further weakened to a tropical depression as it moved over 24 °C (75 °F) waters. Although most tropical cyclones generally weaken as they increase in latitude, warm waters of 26 °C (79 °F) allowed Guillermo to re-intensify into a tropical storm on August 11. Gradually, the storm attained winds of 65 mph (105 km/h) before succumbing to cooler waters further north. The storm weakened to a tropical depression once more on August 15, situated well to the north of the Hawaiian islands. Later that day, Guillermo transitioned into an extratropical cyclone at an unusually high latitude of 41.8°N, roughly 850 mi (1,370 km) south-southeast of Unalaska, Alaska. Over the following days, the remnants of the hurricane turned northeastward towards the Pacific coast of North America. On August 19, the system moved within 575 mi (925 km) of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, before Guillermo tracked southward. Over the following few days, the system slowed significantly and turned towards the east. By August 20, moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ignacio were entrained into the eastern portion of Guillermo's circulation. On August 24, Guillermo's remnant low was finally absorbed by a larger extratropical system, while situated roughly 345 mi (555 km) off of the northern California coastline. ## Impact and records Along the Pacific coast of Mexico, 12-foot (3.7 m) surf produced by Hurricane Guillermo affected numerous beaches. From Cabo San Lucas to San José del Cabo, the storm sent waves from the Gulf of California over the grounds of beachside resorts. Tourists were driven off some of Cabo's most popular beaches by the rough ocean conditions which flooded homes situated along the coast. Two sightseers were killed after being swept out to sea. Due to accurate forecasts, emergency officials across California were able to close off swimming zones and warn the public about dangerous rip currents prior to their arrival. Guillermo generated heavy surf across the beaches of Southern California. Heights from the surf averaged 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) with local areas reaching above 10 feet (3.0 m), favorable to around 500 surfers at an annual competition at Huntington Beach. According to the Los Angeles Times, some waves reached heights of 15 to 18 ft (4.6 to 5.5 m). Over 100 rescues were reported by local lifeguards. Waves ranging from 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.7 m) also affected Orange County. Hundreds of people were rescued, but rip currents were blamed for three injuries and one death. On August 5, about a mile north of Huntington Beach pier, a 19-year-old man was swept away. His body was recovered several days later. On August 6, a teenage boy and girl were injured on a beach in Corona Del Mar, while an 18-year-old was pulled ashore and sent to the hospital with neck injuries. In Newport Beach, lifeguards made nearly 300 rescues on August 5 and 6 alone. In addition to coastal impacts, the system brought a surge of warm, moist air into Southern California, bringing temperatures in some areas as high as 110 °F (43 °C). Between August 15 and 17, large waves generated while Guillermo was at peak intensity came ashore in Hawaii. The swells caused no damage and reached heights of 10 feet (3.0 m) in eastern-facing shores of the state. At the time, Hurricane Guillermo's central pressure of 919 mbar (27.14 inHg) established it as the second-most intense Pacific hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Ava of 1973. However, later in the 1997 season, Hurricane Linda set a new intensity record, and in subsequent years, hurricanes Kenna, Ioke, Rick, Marie, Odile, and Patricia all achieved lower minimum pressures, leaving Guillermo in ninth place. Guillermo persisted for 16.5 days from its classification as a tropical depression to its transition into an extratropical storm, making it the sixth longest-lasting storm in the basin. ## See also - Other storms of the same name - List of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes - List of Pacific hurricanes - Timeline of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season
8,465,139	Eusèbe Jaojoby	1,130,073,450	Composer and singer from Madagascar	[ "1955 births", "20th-century Malagasy male singers", "21st-century Malagasy male singers", "Betsimisaraka people", "Label Bleu artists", "Living people", "Malagasy Roman Catholics", "People from Sava Region" ]	Eusèbe Jaojoby (born 29 July 1955), commonly known by his surname Jaojoby , is a Malagasy composer and singer of salegy, a musical style of northwestern Madagascar. Critics consider him to be one of the originators of the modern salegy style that emerged in the 1970s, and credit him with transforming the genre from an obscure regional musical tradition into one of national and international popularity. Jaojoby also contributed to the creation of two salegy subgenres, malessa and baoenjy. Jaojoby has been called the most popular singer in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands, and is widely referred to as the "King of Salegy". His success has earned him such honors as Artist of the Year in Madagascar for two consecutive years (1998–1999) and the role of Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in 1999. In 1970 Jaojoby began singing in the northern coastal town of Diego-Suarez. He performed with bands that were experimentally blending American soul and funk with the Malagasy musical traditions of the region. The artist gained popularity and toured regionally, producing four singles with The Players before the band broke up in 1979. After a short break in the 1980s to pursue a career in journalism, Jaojoby resumed his musical career and rose to national prominence with his 1988 hit "Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady". He then reoriented his career toward music, recording his first full-length album in 1992 and becoming a full-time professional musician the following year. He has since released eight full-length albums and has toured extensively in Madagascar and abroad accompanied by his wife and adult children, who perform in the band with him. ## Early years Eusèbe Jaojoby was born on 29 July 1955, to a Sakalava family in the village of Anboahangibe, near Sambava in the northeastern coastal Sava Region of Madagascar. Jaojoby and his twelve younger brothers and sisters were raised Catholic; early experiences singing hymns in the local church choir and traditional folk songs at local Betsimisaraka moonlight village festivals made him realize he possessed vocal talent. At the age of 15, Jaojoby's father sent him to continue his studies in Diego-Suarez, one of the six regional capitals at the time. The town was home to a large contingent of French soldiers and expatriates, and contemporary Western genres were commonly heard on the radio and in the town's many nightclubs. Jaojoby was inspired by these styles and particularly by Freddy Ranarison, who in the 1960s became the first Malagasy musician to use an electric guitar to perform coastal musical styles. One month after moving to Diego-Suarez, Jaojoby entered a local talent competition and managed to win despite singing unaccompanied and without a microphone. He began to perform in nightclubs whenever the opportunity presented itself. The uncle with whom he was lodging sent word of Jaojoby's activities to the young singer's parents, who consulted a priest before giving their son permission to continue exploring his musical talents on the condition that he continue to perform well at school. Jaojoby agreed to this provision, studying during the day and performing at night for several years. In 1972 he began singing with Los Matadores, the well-established house band of the Saigonais nightclub in Diego-Suarez. This group catered to the club's primarily Western clientele by performing cover songs and rhythm and blues compositions in French and English, occasionally incorporating traditional instruments like kabosy and drums, or experimenting with local musical styles using electric guitar, bass, and drum kit, accompanied by traditional Malagasy language vocal performance. Experimental blending of Western and Malagasy musical elements was occurring simultaneously among a number of northwestern bands and musicians of Jaojoby's generation. Although no single individual can be credited with creating the modern salegy genre, Jaojoby ranks among the earliest originators of the nascent musical style. A desire for greater freedom to write songs and further develop the syncretic modern salegy style led Jaojoby to leave Los Matadores in 1975 for The Players, another regional band that was less well-established but more willing to take risks. The band was managed by a Chinese shopkeeper who provided them with a sound system and generator. The band toured northwestern Madagascar for the next four years with increasing success, recording two 45rpm singles and performing in Mahajanga, Diego-Suarez, and other towns and villages throughout the region before disbanding in 1979. After briefly performing with a band named Kintana, Jaojoby moved to Antananarivo where he studied sociology for two years at the University of Antananarivo before accepting an offer to work for the national radio station as a journalist at the end of 1980. The following year, Jaojoby met the manager of the local Hilton hotel by chance while the two were waiting together at a bus stop. Accepting the manager's invitation to audition at the hotel's Papillon bar that same night, Jaojoby performed a cover of James Brown's "Sex Machine". The manager interrupted him mid-song to offer Jaojoby a contract to give regular evening performances there with the Rabeson family, a popular jazz act. For the next three years Jaojoby spent his days at the national radio and his evenings singing at the Papillon with the exception of a short interlude in 1982 when he was sent to East Berlin to complete an advanced course at the International Institute of Journalism. Jaojoby was promoted to Director of the Regional Information Service in Diego-Suarez in 1984, necessitating his relocation back to the northwest coast and bringing his cabaret performances to an end. ## King of Salegy After several years having focused entirely on his career with the Regional Information Service, Jaojoby was approached in 1987 by Frenchman Pierre Henri Donat to contribute several recordings to Madagascar's first salegy compilation album, Les Grands Maîtres du Salegy ("Grand Masters of Salegy"). The runaway success of one of the tracks he composed and performed, "Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady", elevated salegy from a regional genre to one of nationwide popularity, leading a newspaper to declare him the "King of Salegy". High demand for live performances led the singer to return to Antananarivo in 1988 to form a band named "Jaojoby" that included former bandmates from Los Matadores and The Players. Jaojoby begin touring regularly at home and abroad, performing his first international concerts in Paris in 1989. In the meantime, he worked as a press attaché for the Ministry of Transport, Meteorology and Tourism from 1990 until 1993, at which point he left his job to become a full-time musician. The 1992 release of Jaojoby's first full-length album, titled Salegy!, was facilitated by fRoots magazine editor Ian Anderson, who had worked with Jaojoby to record several of his tracks for a radio broadcast two years previously. Jaojoby's second album, Velono, was the first salegy album to be recorded in France, as well as the first of his albums to be produced in a professional-quality recording studio. Following the 1994 release of Velono, Jaojoby became a regular on the international music festival circuit and has performed at such events as WOMAD in Reading, the Festival du Bout du Monde in Brittany, WOMEX in Spain, the Festival des Musiques Métisses in Angoulême, the MASA Festival in Abidjan, and similar events in Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Jaojoby's excitement over his rise to international celebrity was attenuated by the 1995 death of the band's original drummer, Jean-Claude Djaonarana, who had first performed with Jaojoby as a member of Los Matadores. Jaojoby's success and popularity attained new heights in 1998 with the release of E! Tiako. He was named "Artist of the Year" in Madagascar for two consecutive years (1998–1999), and the single "Malemilemy" received regular airplay across the island more than a year after the album was released. In July 1999, Jaojoby was named Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Population Fund and supported the United Nations' activities in Madagascar related to raising awareness of sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, and other concerns relevant to the Malagasy youth population. The lyrics of his songs commonly address social issues, typified by a track on E! Tiako that encourages the use of condoms to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS. Aza Arianao was recorded over five days in the summer of 2000 and released the following year. In the wake of its success, Jaojoby performed at a political rally to an audience of 50,000 partisans of candidate Marc Ravalomanana less than a month before the divisive 2001 presidential elections that nearly resulted in the secession of the island's coastal provinces. Jaojoby's 2004 follow-up album Malagasy, which was recorded in semi-live conditions on the island of Réunion in a small venue before an audience of the artist's friends, featured lyrics that sought to promote optimism and national reconciliation; the artist announced that he would not involve himself in national politics in the future. The same year he toured extensively in France, the United States and Canada. The March 2008 release of Donnant-Donnant celebrated Jaojoby's roots as a cabaret performer of soul, funk, and other Western popular genres. The track listing included previously unreleased pop songs written by the artist in the 1970s and 1980s in French, Malagasy, Creole, and English. Later that year, in September, he became the second Malagasy musical act (after supergroup Mahaleo, in 2007) to perform at the prestigious and historic Olympia music hall in Paris. Seating was specially removed at his request to provide space for dancing. The live album Live au Bato Fou: Jaojoby was released in 2010 and features a diverse sampling of Jaojoby's greatest hits. A selection of new salegy tracks written and performed by Jaojoby was released in 2012 under the album title Mila Anao, which was ranked by NPR as one of the ten best international albums of the year. ## Style and legacy The roots of Jaojoby's musical style began with his childhood exposure to the Western-Malagasy syncretism of local church hymns, and the rhythm, harmonies, and form of the traditional antsa style of northern Madagascar. The antsa is a choral style common across northern Madagascar characterized by large group performance of minor polyharmonies over a highly syncopated multi-rhythmic hand-clap or other percussive accompaniment. Upon relocating to Diego-Suarez, Jaojoby was exposed to Western artists and musical genres, as well as the music of Freddy Ranarison, the first local artist to popularize the adaptation of traditional Malagasy styles to the electric guitar. Singing with Los Matadores provided Jaojoby with the opportunity to cover the hits of his idols, including Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, and James Brown. During his years performing with this band and his subsequent group, Les Players, Jaojoby adeptly covered hits from a vast range of regional and international genres ranging from the jerk, tango and, cha-cha-cha to the sega and slow romantic ballads. Together, these musical influences formed the basis of Jaojoby's style. In the 1960s bands such as Orchestra Liberty began performing the antsa rhythm on modern drum kits with accompanying guitar or accordion replacing the traditional vocals. It was not until the 1970s that bands like Los Matadores and Les Players adapted the traditional vocal style to the newly electrified antsa. Guitar solos were inspired by the performance style of traditional Malagasy instruments like the valiha and marovany, combined with that of guitar solo work popularized in the Congo and Côte d'Ivoire. As a singer with Los Matadores, Jaojoby occasionally filled the instrumental breaks of rhythm and blues covers with improvised vocals inspired by the salegy tradition, to the jubilation of the young Malagasy listeners gathered outside the club's doors. Later, with The Players, Jaojoby and a handful of peers in northern urban areas experimented with incorporating vocals into the early instrumental salegy. Jaojoby described the adaptation of the traditional antsa style to modern instruments in the following terms: "The singing is that of the cattle herders moving their herds. The guitar imitates the great masters of the valiha. The keyboards provide the feeling of the traditional accordions, and the bass draws from the sound of the five traditional tuned drums. As far as the drum kit, well, it reproduces the ambiance of a Malagasy crowd on a day of celebration with all the hand clapping, shakers, and feet stomping the earth." The salegy rhythm was adapted to the modern drum kit by Jean Claude Djaonarana, drummer of Los Matadores, who later rejoined Jaojoby's band from 1988 until his death in 1995. French world music magazine Mondomix has called Jaojoby the most popular singer in Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands. He is widely referred to as the "King of Salegy" by his fans and the press. He composes all of his own music and writes the lyrics to his songs himself. According to Zomaré magazine, the quality of Jaojoby's "supple tenor" voice, the creativity of his compositions and the singer's willingness to experiment have helped to distinguish him from his peers. Radio France Internationale described his vocal performance as "clear, powerful and energetic ... his trademark, which makes him stand out in the Malagasy musical panorama". Critics have credited Jaojoby with popularizing the salegy genre both within Madagascar and on the international music scene, and have identified him as an originator of two derivative versions of salegy, malessa and baoenjy. ## Family and personal life Since the mid-1990s, Jaojoby's wife and children have formed part of the standard lineup of his band. His wife, Claudine Robert Zafinera, provides backing and occasional lead vocals. The couple's son, Elie Lucas, plays lead guitar while their daughters, Eusebia and Roseliane, provide backing vocals and stage dancing. His children also formed a band called Jaojoby Jr. that performs covers of their father's music as well as some of their own original salegy compositions. Saramba, a group created by Claudine in 2005, performs the traditional form of salegy using only accordion, percussion, and vocals. While traveling to Antananarivo after a performance at the 2006 Donia Festival in Nosy Be, Jaojoby and his family were involved in a road accident. The singer suffered four broken ribs, lung damage and a fractured pelvis that necessitated emergency surgery in Réunion, three weeks of hospitalization, and prolonged physical therapy to enable Jaojoby to regain the ability to walk. Fans of the singer used mail and the Internet to successfully raise the funds required to cover medical expenses related to the accident. After several weeks of bed rest following the surgery, Joajoby went on to make a full recovery. On 3 June 2011, Jaojoby opened a new cabaret venue called "Jao's Pub" in the Ambohipo neighborhood of Antananarivo, where the singer and his family reside. ## Discography ## See also - Music of Madagascar [1955 births](Category:1955_births "wikilink") [Living people](Category:Living_people "wikilink") [20th-century Malagasy male singers](Category:20th-century_Malagasy_male_singers "wikilink") [Malagasy Roman Catholics](Category:Malagasy_Roman_Catholics "wikilink") [People from Sava Region](Category:People_from_Sava_Region "wikilink") [Betsimisaraka people](Category:Betsimisaraka_people "wikilink") [Label Bleu artists](Category:Label_Bleu_artists "wikilink") [21st-century Malagasy male singers](Category:21st-century_Malagasy_male_singers "wikilink")
1,866,679	Harry Trott	1,165,698,518	Australian cricketer	[ "1866 births", "1917 deaths", "Australia Test cricket captains", "Australia Test cricketers", "Australian cricketers", "Burials at Brighton General Cemetery", "Colony of Victoria people", "Cricketers from Melbourne", "Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma", "Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state)", "People from Collingwood, Victoria", "South Melbourne cricketers", "Victoria cricketers", "Wisden Cricketers of the Year" ]	George Henry Stevens Trott (5 August 1866 – 9 November 1917) was an Australian cricketer who played 24 Test matches as an all-rounder between 1888 and 1898. Although Trott was a versatile batsman, spin bowler and outstanding fielder, "it is as a captain that he is best remembered, an understanding judge of human nature". After a period of some instability and ill discipline in Australian cricket, he was the first in a succession of assertive Australian captains that included Joe Darling, Monty Noble and Clem Hill, who restored the prestige of the Test team. Respected by teammates and opponents alike for his cricketing judgement, Trott was quick to pick up a weakness in opponents. A right-handed batsman, he was known for his sound defence and vigorous hitting. His slow leg-spin bowling was often able to deceive batsmen through subtle variations of pace and flight, but allowed opposition batsmen to score quickly. Trott made his Test debut in 1888, on a tour of England, and would tour England another three times (in 1890, 1893 and 1896), scoring more than 1000 runs on each occasion. For the 1896 tour, Trott was elected captain by his teammates. Despite England winning the series two Tests to one and retaining The Ashes, Trott's ability as a captain was highly regarded. In the return series in Australia during the 1897–98 season, Trott's team was more successful, winning the five-Test series 4–1 and regaining The Ashes. At a time when the federation of the Australian colonies was under discussion, the victory saw Trott praised as a "national institution" and his team as having "done more for the federation of Australian hearts than all the big delegates put together". A severe mental illness abruptly ended Trott's Test career at the age of 31. After a series of seizures in 1898, he suffered from insomnia, apathy, and memory loss. Failing to recover lucidity, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital for over a year. After he was discharged, he eventually returned to cricket, and continued to play for his state, Victoria, and club, South Melbourne, into his forties. After his retirement, Trott served as a selector for Victoria for a number of years. Outside of cricket, he worked as a postman and mail sorter. He died of cancer in 1917, aged 51. ## Early life and career Born in Collingwood, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Trott was the third of eight children born to accountant Adolphus Trott and his wife Mary-Ann (née Stephens). His younger brother Albert also became a Test cricketer. The siblings played their junior cricket with the local Capulet club. Harry transferred to South Melbourne, which played in Melbourne's pennant competition, after scouts for the club noticed him playing park cricket. In his first season, the 18-year-old Trott recorded the best batting average and bowling average for the team. Trott made his first-class debut for Victoria against an "Australian XI" on New Year's Day 1886, scoring four and 18 not out. Two months later, he played his first inter-colonial match, against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Batting, he scored 54 runs; his innings included a memorable hit over the leg side boundary from the bowling of leading Test all-rounder George Giffen, and he captured seven wickets for the match with his bowling. In 1886–87, Trott hit a double century for South Melbourne in a match against St Kilda and appeared for Victoria against Alfred Shaw's touring English team, claiming four wickets for 125 runs (4/125). During the next summer, he played for a non-representative "Australian XI" against Arthur Shrewsbury's XI and George Vernon's XI, two English teams touring Australia simultaneously. His chances for inclusion in the Australian squad for the forthcoming tour of England were enhanced when a number of leading players made themselves unavailable. However, Trott's batting credentials were modest: he had scored only one half-century in 29 first-class innings. At this point, Trott had enjoyed more success with his bowling. Prior to the Australian team departing for England, a change to the leg before wicket (LBW) law that would aid bowlers of Trott's style seemed imminent. The former Australian player Tom Horan wrote: "There is no bowler in England who has such a fast leg-break, and on a fine, firm pitch many a batsman has saved his wicket by his legs or body in opposing Trott's deliveries." ## Test cricket ### First tours of England Included in the Australian squad to tour England in 1888, Trott was selected in the team for the First Test at Lord's. He had an inauspicious Test debut: he made a duck in the first innings and three runs in the second, and did not bowl. The Australians won the game by 62 runs, only their second Test match victory in England. However, England retained The Ashes by winning the remaining two Tests and Trott's influence on the series was negligible: he did not pass 20 in an innings, and he failed to take a wicket. Nevertheless, his performances in the other matches of the season prompted Wisden Cricketers' Almanack to write that he, "... fully justif[ied] his selection by scoring the highly creditable total of 1,212 runs, with an average of over 19 per innings", and that his fielding was "excellent at point". Wisden was less complimentary about his bowling: "We have no great opinion of Trott's leg break bowling, and think it probably too slow to be effectual against good batsmen." Trott's opportunities were limited as his teammates Charles Turner and John Ferris, "monopolised the bowling". On his return to Australia, Trott's batting continued to improve. He scored 172 runs for an Australian XI against New South Wales, his maiden century in first-class cricket. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that the innings "... stamped him as a batsman of the highest class". In first-class matches, Trott posted 507 runs (at 39.00 average) and claimed 25 wickets (at 17.44 average) for the summer, and hit a double century in a club match against Melbourne. Another good all-round season in 1889–90 ensured his place for the next trip to England. The 1890 Australian team touring England was relatively inexperienced. The team missed the all-round ability of George Giffen who had refused to tour, thinking it unlikely the tour would be a sporting or financial success. The Australians won 13 matches on tour, losing 16 and drawing 9. Trott scored 1,211 first-class runs (at 20.87 average) with a highest score of 186 against Cambridge University Past and Present, and captured 20 wickets. Disappointed by Trott's performances, Wisden felt that he "... barely maintained the reputation he had so honestly gained during the tour of 1888 ... it cannot be said that he came up to expectations". ### Australian revival and Wisden Cricketer of the Year In 1891–92, Lord Sheffield's team (captained by W. G. Grace) toured Australia, the first English side to do so in four years. The presence of Grace contributed to a revival of interest in the game that had waned due to a surfeit of international tours and indifferent performances by the Australian team. The Australians won the series 2–1 to regain The Ashes. In the first Test at Melbourne, Trott scored three and 23, but had greater impact with the ball. Requiring 213 runs for victory, England's score reached 60 before their first two batsmen were dismissed. The Australian captain Jack Blackham then gambled by calling on Trott's often inaccurate bowling. Trott took two quick wickets and the English innings never recovered. In returning 3/52 for the innings, Wisden noted that Trott "bowled admirably". The remaining two Tests were less productive for Trott: he finished with 48 runs (at an average of 8.00) and 6 wickets (at an average of 35.00) for the series. A reorganisation of Australian cricket took place in the wake of the tour. The first national body to control the game, the Australasian Cricket Council (ACC), was formed to co-ordinate the Australian Test team. Previously, private entrepreneurs and the players themselves organised international cricket. Lord Sheffield donated money to the ACC, which was used to purchase a trophy for the champion domestic team. Trott appeared in Victoria's inaugural Sheffield Shield match, against New South Wales in December 1892. He scored 63 and 70 not out in a winning effort. The ACC appointed Trott as one of the six players to select the touring team for England. The Australian team toured England in 1893 to compete for The Ashes. The English won the series one Test to nil, with two drawn to recover The Ashes. Playing in all three Tests, Trott scored 146 runs in the series at an average of 29.20 and in all first-class matches he scored 1269 runs. While Trott did not take a wicket in the Tests, he took 38 wickets in all first-class matches that season. In the Second Test at the Oval, Trott scored 92 runs in the second innings after the Australians were forced to follow-on; an innings described as "really superb cricket" and "the finest exhibition he has ever given in England". England, regardless, still won the match by an innings. Trott was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Wisden noted that Trott "batted uncommonly well — much better than in 1890" but that when bowling he "did a good many brilliant things against the weaker teams, but he was nearly always expensive and very rarely successful when opposed to batsmen of high class". ### The Trott brothers Andrew Stoddart led an English team to Australia in 1894–95 to defend The Ashes. A feature of the summer was the emergence of Albert Trott and the performance of the brothers in tandem. Playing for Victoria against the touring side, the Trotts claimed twelve wickets and held eight catches between them; Harry scored 63 in the second innings. During the second innings of the traditional Christmas fixture against New South Wales, Albert claimed five wickets, took three catches (two from Harry's bowling) and made a run out. In between these two games, England won the first Test at Sydney—a remarkable turnaround after they had been forced to follow-on—by bowling the Australians out for 166 in the second innings. The second Test at Melbourne saw another English victory; Trott played a rearguard innings of 95 in the second innings, to no avail. Attempting to stay in the series, Australia dramatically revamped their team for the next Test at Adelaide. Albert Trott, making his Test debut, was one of four inclusions while Harry was elevated to open the batting. In a match played in intense heat throughout, Harry Trott made 48 on the opening day before he was run out. Albert was the dominant player of the match with innings of 38 not out and 72 not out (both scored from the number ten position), and a bowling return of 8/43 in England's second innings. Australia won the match by 382 runs. In a Sheffield Shield match that followed, the Trotts extricated Victoria from a difficult situation. Chasing 155 to win, New South Wales fell for 99 with Albert taking four wickets and Harry five. In the fourth Test at Sydney, Australia batted first and scored 284 runs (Albert Trott 85 not out) before England were bowled out for 65 and 72 on a wicket affected by heavy rain. Opening the bowling in the first innings, Harry Trott dismissed Archie MacLaren, Johnny Briggs and Stoddart. The fluctuating fortunes of the Test series created immense interest in the deciding Test at Melbourne. Spectators arrived from all over the country, with special trains laid on from Adelaide and Sydney. Harry Trott's all-round contribution was a score of 42 in each innings, six wickets and two catches, but England won The Ashes by chasing a target of 297 runs in the second innings, which they reached with six wickets in hand. Even in England, "the interest was greater than had ever been felt in matches played away from [England]". During the following summer, Trott again acted as a Test selector, along with the incumbent Test captain George Giffen and former captain Percy McDonnell. When choosing the Australian team for the previous tour of England, Giffen used his influence to ensure the selection of his younger brother, Walter. The team chosen for the 1896 tour of England included a number of promising young players, including Joe Darling and Clem Hill, both of whom went on to captain Australia. Albert Trott was a controversial omission, in light of performances in the previous Ashes series, but he accompanied the team on their voyage and later settled in England. He had a successful career with Middlesex and appeared for England in two Test matches against South Africa. The cricket historian David Frith records that when the Trott brothers encountered each other on an English street, they merely exchanged acknowledging nods and kept walking. ### Captain of Australia While the team was en route to England, the players elected Trott as captain ahead of George Giffen. On the opening day of the first Test at Lord's, England bowled Australia out in 75 minutes for only 53 runs on a pitch thought to be good for batting. In reply, England made 292 with Trott taking two wickets. In their second innings, Australia was still 177 runs in arrears with three wickets down when Syd Gregory joined Trott at the crease. Their partnership of 221 runs led Wisden to record that, "as long as cricket is played ... cause the match to be remembered". Trott's score of 143 (the only Test century of his career) was not enough to prevent England winning by six wickets. In the second Test at Manchester, Australia again batted first, scoring 412 runs; Frank Iredale making 108 and Trott 53. At the beginning of England's first innings, Trott opened the bowling with his flighted leg-spin. It was unusual for a leg-spinner to take the new ball, but the move—a "stroke of genius" according to Wisden—was successful as he dismissed Stoddart and W. G. Grace for low scores. Both batsmen were deceived by Trott's flight and stumped by the wicket-keeper. England totaled 231 and, forced to follow on, scored 305 runs in the second innings, K. S. Ranjitsinhji making 154 not out. In a tense finish, Australia made the 125 runs needed for victory with three wickets in hand. On a pitch affected by rain, England won the series and The Ashes, defeating Australia in the Third Test by 66 runs; Australia were bowled out for 44 runs in the second innings, at one stage having lost nine wickets for 25. Trott made 1297 runs and took 44 wickets in first-class matches on the tour. Of his batting Wisden said "Trott's average is a little disappointing, but when a special effort was required he was not often at fault." and he bowled "on a good many occasions with fair results". However it was as a captain that Trott earned most plaudits. Wisden rated Trott as "with the exception of [Billy Murdoch], ... incomparably the best captain the Australians had ever had in this country". > He was by no means anxious for the post, but almost from the first match it was perfectly clear that he was in every way fitted for it. Of course the continuous success of his side made his duties far more pleasant and easy than those of some previous captains, but we feel quite sure that in a season of ill-fortune he would have earned just as great a reputation. Blessed with a temper that nothing could ruffle, he was always master both of himself and his team whatever the position of the game. More than that his judgement in changing the bowling was rarely or never at fault. Although the team was considered successful, in spite of the failure to recapture The Ashes, the problems between the players and the administrators continued. Before the team departed Australia, the players arbitrarily replaced one of the selected players without recourse to the ACC. After the final match in England, Trott and his players broke an agreement to return home in time for the 1896–97 Australian season. Instead, they organised matches in North America and New Zealand. ### "A national institution" Trott retained the captaincy when Andrew Stoddart returned to Australia with his English team in 1897–98. Stoddart's team got away to a good start when they won the First Test in Sydney by nine wickets, K. S. Ranjitsinhji scoring 175 runs. With Joe Darling, Trott devised a plan to curb Ranjitsinhji's run scoring. An exponent of the leg glance, "Ranji" would take a last look at the field before he took guard. Taking advantage of this fact, after he took strike, the Australians deliberately weakened the off side with two men placed about 10 m (33 ft) away from him. Bowling a leg side line, the Australians aimed for a catch from a shot played to that side. Darling said of the plan, "As soon as he had his last look and the bowler was at the point of delivering the ball, we shifted positions by a few yards, sometimes one way, sometimes the other. Occasionally, only one would move and sometimes none would move. [...] This eventually put him clean off his game." The English captain Archie MacLaren agreed saying, "Ranji is in a blue funk". Regardless of the tactics, Ranji made 457 runs at an average of 50.77 for the Test series. Australia fought back to win the Second Test in Melbourne by an innings and 55 runs with Trott scoring 79 runs. The Third and Fourth Tests were both won by Australia as they retrieved The Ashes. The Fifth and final Test in Sydney would be Trott's last. In the Sydney heat, Australia won the Test by 6 wickets but Trott had an attack of sunstroke. This caused him to lose the sight in one eye before his last Test innings, where he made 18 runs. In a review of the Test series Wisden noted that "the Australians owed much to the unfailing skill and tact of Trott as a captain". During the course of the Test series, a major convention was in progress to discuss the proposed federation of the Australian colonies. However, the victory over England dominated the attention of the Australian public and some newspapers decried the focus on cricket when important matters were being discussed. Another editor remarked in defence of the public, "We believe that Harry Trott and his ten good men and true have done more for the federation of Australian hearts than all the big delegates put together." In reply to complaints about leave granted to Trott to play cricket, his proud employers at the Post office responded "Harry Trott is a national institution." Passers-by, including men and their families, would stop and look at Trott's home in Albert Park "with the deference of worshippers at a shrine", in the words of cricket writer Ray Robinson. The impetus for federation did not extend to the administration of cricket, however. The ACC continued to attract criticism for being ineffectual and at a meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association in July 1898, Trott (in his capacity as a delegate for the South Melbourne club) tabled a motion that Victoria secede from the ACC. Although the proposal was defeated by a single vote, Trott was one of twelve Test players who signed a letter to the ACC secretary calling for the disbanding of the organisation. Failing to win the support of the players, the ACC folded in January 1900 following the withdrawal of the New South Wales Cricket Association. ## Illness and recovery Less than six months after leading his team to victory over England, Trott endured a severe mental illness. While visiting his mother on 8 August 1898, Trott collapsed and lost consciousness. Later, on the train home with his wife, he had another convulsive fit and yet another at 10 pm that evening, in the presence of a doctor. Trott passed in and out of consciousness over the next four weeks, unable to work or even communicate. His supporters raised £453 to send him for two weeks at a private retreat at Woodend, a small town north-west of Melbourne. The treatment was unsuccessful and Trott continued to suffer from insomnia, memory loss and apathy. ### Hospitalisation Because Trott's illness precluded his selection for the 1899 Australian team to England, the Australian captaincy passed to Joe Darling. On 8 May 1899, Trott was committed to the Kew Asylum, a psychiatric hospital in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The facility opened in 1871 during an era when large asylums were in vogue. By the time of Trott's admission, expert opinion had changed; in January 1898 The Argus reported a specialist's claim that the asylum was likely to make a patient, "just mad enough to be put under restraint"—that is, worse rather than better. Trott was recorded as suffering "dementia" and "alcoholism", although there is little empirical evidence for either diagnosis. Cricket writer Gideon Haigh suggests that his symptoms would possibly be identified in modern times as depressive psychosis and treated with antipsychotics or electroconvulsive therapy. Doctors observed that Trott continually stood in one place, showing little interest in events around him. A doctor noted on Trott's file: "Refuses to converse not appearing to be able to follow what is said to him. Answers questions in monosyllables. Does not rouse up when subjects are spoken of that formerly he was interested in." Attempting to reach him, doctors sent Trott to play cricket, which he did in a "mechanical, indifferent fashion". In a departure from normal hospital procedure, he was allowed newspapers reporting the details of Darling's Australian side in England; this left him unmoved. Trott's friend Ben Wardill, the secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, visited in November 1899 but Trott did not recognise him. A fellow patient, when released, wrote of Trott: "Here is a well-known cricketer, whom we once treated as a hero. But alas! Like everything else, times have changed and he is almost forgotten." ### Return to cricket In February 1900, Trott played in a cricket match for the asylum team against the North Melbourne Rovers club. To the astonishment of his treating doctors and his teammates, he scored 98 runs in 40 minutes, including 20 fours and a six. While the doctors remained cautious about his chances of recovery, Trott played in further matches against other visiting teams and in April 1900, he took a hat-trick against a team from the Commercial Travellers Association. Declared to be "recovered", Trott was discharged after spending 400 days at Kew Asylum. He returned to the South Melbourne team and captained Victoria against Tasmania at Launceston (taking eight wickets) during the 1900–01 season, but otherwise failed to recapture the form that made him captain of his country. To aid his convalescence, the Postmaster-General's Department—Trott's employer—transferred him to the post office at Bendigo in central Victoria. In 1902–03, he turned up uninvited to a Bendigo United Cricket Club practice session and asked to join in. He played five first-class matches during 1903–04, scoring 268 runs at an average of 26.80 and taking 13 wickets at 23.53 runs each. In his final appearance of the season, he led Victoria against Plum Warner's touring English team. He captained the Carlton club for two seasons, before spending two seasons with Fitzroy. During the 1907–08 season, he led XVIII of Bendigo against the touring English team and made a farewell first-class appearance against the tourists for Victoria. Opening the bowling, Trott returned 5/116, including the wickets of England's leading batsmen Jack Hobbs and George Gunn. Trott later returned to South Melbourne, where he played until the age of 44. He led the club on a tour of New Zealand in 1912–13 and in the next season (his last) he topped the club's batting and bowling averages, for the fifth time as a batsman and the third time as a bowler. ## Personal life Trott spent his entire working life in the Post Office, employed as a postman and mail sorter. He married Violet Hodson in Fitzroy on 17 February 1890 and the couple had one son. In 1911, Trott became a selector for the Victorian team when Hugh Trumble resigned to take the secretaryship of the Melbourne Cricket Club. Trott's high standing in the cricket community saw the other candidate for the position withdraw rather than oppose him. In 1912, Trott took the side of the "Big Six", the Australian cricketers opposed to the newly formed Australian Board of Control for International Cricket's attempt to wrest control of touring Australian sides from the players. At an "indignation meeting" at the Athenaeum Hall on Collins Street in Melbourne, the Argus reported Trott as saying that "to say he was disgusted with the Board of Control was to put it mildly" and that "[h]e would like to shake hands with the six men who had stood out against the Board". At the age of 51, Trott died of Hodgkin's lymphoma, at his home in inner-suburban Albert Park on 9 November 1917. He was buried at Brighton Cemetery where, two years later, a large monument was erected over his grave, paid for by the Victorian Cricket Association and cricket enthusiasts. His great-grandson, Stuart Trott, played 200 games for St Kilda and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League between 1967 and 1977. The South African-born English cricketer Jonathan Trott is said to be a distant relation of Harry and Albert Trott. However, it has now been proved that this is incorrect. Jonathan’s family originates in Woodbridge, Suffolk, whereas Harry and Albert’s family originates in Yorkshire. Trott's role in Australian cricket was recognised by the clubs for which he had played. Until 2005, Trott's club team, South Melbourne Cricket Club was based at Harry Trott Oval in Albert Park, while Bendigo United Cricket Club, for whom Trott played in 1902, still play at the Harry Trott Oval in the Bendigo suburb of Kennington. ## Context ### Playing style The authoritative cricket journal Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in an obituary, wrote "Australia has produced greater cricketers than Harry Trott, but in his day he held a place in the front rank of the world's famous players. He was a first-rate bat, a fine field at point, and his leg breaks made him a very effective change bowler." As a batsman, Trott scored his runs mostly in front the wicket. He often lifted his on-drives and was an exponent of the late cut. George Giffen said of Trott, "On a good wicket, I have seen Harry Trott adopt forcing tactics worthy of the big hitter, and in the very next match play keeps on a difficult pitch with wonderful skill." Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described Trott as "one of the soundest [Australian batsman], combining as he does vigorous hitting with a strong, watchful defence". Trott was able to obtain turn from all types of pitches bowling his loopy leg spinners, through varying his pace and flight. He was noted for giving young batsmen a full toss on the leg side, allowing the batsman to hit it to the boundary. The next ball would seem identical, but for a subtle change in the position of a fielder, resulting in a catch and the comment, "That first ball was to give you confidence, son. The second to teach you a lesson." Warwick Armstrong, a childhood admirer and later teammate of Trott, said "Trott had an almost uncanny knowledge of batsman who were likely to succumb to his wiles and after he had met with a success, he would at once take himself off and put on some other bowler of a different type." Wisden thought his bowling was "too slow to be effectual against good batsmen" and "that though he may now and then get a wicket, runs are sure to come at the rate of six or eight an over". Clem Hill said, "As a captain Harry Trott was in a class by himself—the best I ever played under. Harry was quick to grasp a situation. He saw an opponent's weakness in a second. [...] Time and time again, he got a champion batsman's wicket by putting on a bowler he knew the batsman did not like." The English batsman K. S. Ranjitsinhji considered Trott as a captain "without a superior anywhere today". Wisden thought him, "with the exception of [Billy Murdoch] ... incomparably the best captain the Australians had ever had in this country." The sporting newspaper The Referee wrote, "[Trott's] bowlers felt he understood the gruelling nature of their work and that they had his sympathy in the grimmest of battles." Some English professional cricketers thought less of Trott's captaincy; wicket-keeper William Storer said, "I like a captain to have a settled plan, [Trott] just seemed to do whatever he thought of at the moment." ### Personality Trott's sense of humour was well known. He originated a persistent myth that workers at the Sheffield steelworks generated extra plumes of smoke when the Australians were batting at nearby Bramall Lane, in order to reduce the quality of the light. When Australia played the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in the United States, a local reporter asked Trott why Australians did not play baseball. He replied: "Running around in circles makes us giddy." When Trott, a humble postman, met the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in 1896, his teammates admired his natural ease of manner in the presence of royalty. Given a cigar by the Prince, Trott simply smoked it, to the surprise of those who thought a royal souvenir worth keeping. With this in mind, Trott later played a practical joke when he returned home. Gathering cigar butts on board the ship before disembarking in Australia, he distributed them to his friends claiming it was the one given to him by the Prince of Wales; he asked the recipients not to tell others in case it provoked jealousy. Trott was extremely fond of hats; a teammate described him as "... the only man I have seen who, in the nude, had to have a hat on his head". Jack Pollard wrote "It was said that [Trott] never made an enemy and was universally admired." His rival, England captain Archie MacLaren said "I would give anything to play the game as keenly and yet as light-heartedly as Trott's lads did." He was "imperturbable, good-humoured ... few Australian captains have been better liked and respected". > The personal popularity that Harry Trott enjoyed ... was remarkable. One is inclined to think that no Australian captain before or since, was liked so much by his opponents. By sheer force of character he overcame the disadvantages involved in lack of education, and won the warm regard of men with whom, apart from the comradeship of the cricket field, he had nothing in common.
5,070,173	Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy	1,155,302,846	Video game series	[ "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy", "Final Fantasy spin-offs", "Final Fantasy video games", "Square Enix franchises", "Video game franchises", "Video game franchises introduced in 2009" ]	is a series of games within the Final Fantasy video game franchise. It was primarily developed by series creator and developer Square Enix, which also acted as publisher for all titles. While featuring various worlds and different characters, each Fabula Nova Crystallis game is ultimately based on and expands upon a common mythos focusing on important crystals tied to deities. The level of connection to the mythos varies between each title, with each development team given the freedom to adapt the mythos to fit the context of a game's story. The series, originally announced in 2006 as Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII, consists of seven games across multiple platforms. Final Fantasy XIII, designed as the series' flagship title, was released in 2009. The creative forces behind the series include many developers from previous Final Fantasy titles, including Shinji Hashimoto and Motomu Toriyama. The mythos was conceived and written by Kazushige Nojima. The first games announced for the series were Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XV (as Versus XIII), and Final Fantasy Type-0 (as Agito XIII). All three games went through delays. After Final Fantasy XIII and Type-0's releases, their respective teams used ideas and concepts from development to create additional games. For later games, other studios have been brought in to help with aspects of development. Final Fantasy XV was distanced from the series brand for marketing purposes, though it retains thematic connections. Seven titles, the original three projects and four additional titles, have been released as of 2016. The series is complemented by works in related media, including companion books, novelizations, and manga. Final Fantasy XV notably expanded into a multimedia project, spawning a feature film and an original animated webseries. Individual games have generally received a positive reception, although opinions have been more mixed over various aspects of the three Final Fantasy XIII games. Reception of the mythos' use in the released games has also been mixed: while some critics called it confusing or too similar to the lore of the main series, others were impressed by its scope and use. Retrospective opinions on the series have also been mixed. ## Titles Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy currently consists of seven titles across multiple platforms, including sequels and spin-offs of the original three entries. The entries in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series share the same mythology, interpreted differently and referred to in varying degrees for each of the game worlds. - Final Fantasy XIII, the thirteenth core Final Fantasy game and the first title in the series. First released in Japan as a PlayStation 3 exclusive in December 2009, it was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe in March 2010. A version of the game for the Xbox 360, Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits International, was released in Japan in December 2010. XIII was released as a digital download for Windows in October 2014. The game was designed as a story-driven single-player role-playing game (RPG), with a battle system designed to emulate the cinematic battles seen in the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. - Final Fantasy XIII-2, a direct sequel to XIII, was released in December 2011 in Japan, and in January and February, 2012 in North America and Europe respectively for PS3 and 360. It received downloadable content (DLC) expansions during 2012, and a Windows port in 2014. In response to criticism the company received from critics and fans about XIII's linear structure, XIII-2 was designed to be a more traditional role-playing game, with explorable towns, a nonlinear story structure, mini-games, and other traditional features. - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, a sequel to XIII and XIII-2, was released in November 2013 in Japan, and February 2014 in North America and Europe for PS3 and 360. A Windows port was released in 2015. It concludes both the narrative of the main character Lightning and the Final Fantasy XIII story arc. Lightning Returns blends several traditional role-playing features, such as shops, quests and an explorable open world, with an action-oriented combat system. - Final Fantasy Type-0 (originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII) was released in October 2011 in Japan for the PlayStation Portable. A high-definition remaster for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, was released worldwide in March 2015. The original game is a real-time action RPG, featuring combat similar to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and a multiplayer option where online players can take control of characters during the majority of the game. Type-0 HD features updated graphics and changes to the gameplay, such as lower difficulty and the removal of multiplayer. - Final Fantasy Agito, a companion title set in Type-0's world, was released in May 2014 in Japan on Android and iOS devices. Service ended in November 2015. Ports for the PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows were also in development, but have since been canceled. Agito was an episodic game featuring single-player and multi-player modes, and a social system where the player's standing with non-playable characters advances their rank in-game. - Final Fantasy Awakening, a replacement for Agito, was released in December 2016 in China, and in February 2018 in North America for Android and iOS. The gameplay features cooperative multiplayer similar to the original multiplayer elements of Type-0, along with hack-and-slash gameplay. All versions have closed down as of 2020. - Final Fantasy XV (originally known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII), the fifteenth core Final Fantasy title, was released worldwide on November 29, 2016 for PS4 and Xbox One. It was later ported to Windows and the Google Stadia platform. The game is an action role-playing game with a battle system similar to those from the Kingdom Hearts series and Type-0. The game uses open world exploration using both a vehicle and chocobos, along with a camping mechanic linked to gaining experience levels. Its development cycle, beginning in 2006, lasted ten years. The game was supported by DLC between 2016 and 2019. Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels have a strong connection to the mythos, making extensive use of its terminology and involving many of its deities. The universe of Final Fantasy Type-0 used the terminology and made minor reference to the mythos while focusing on the human side of events, although these references were added during later story development. While the mythos is still present in Final Fantasy XV, it was "disconnected" from the core framework, with specific terminology being removed and its emphasis reduced to become a background element for the world and story. ## Themes The universes of Final Fantasy XIII, Type-0 and Final Fantasy XV are unrelated to each other, though common elements and themes are present. The first is a common narrative theme of harmful interference by the mythos' deities in the affairs of humans, and those humans' choice of whether to accept or challenge the predetermined fates given to them. Tetsuya Nomura defined this theme as "a battle of the gods that lies behind each tale and gives it inspiration in a different way". Hajime Tabata later defined the theme as a tale of humans placing their lives at risk after being chosen by the crystal. The second common element is the structure of the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe, which is divided in two: the mortal world, where humans live, and the afterlife or Unseen Realm (不可視世界, Fukashi sekai, lit. "Invisible World"). A recurring theme is subverting the series' traditional view of crystals, making them objects that brought both prosperity and tragedy by their influence. A common element not related to the mythos, themes or plots of the series is the use of Latin in the games' titles or worlds, often as key words to describing themes and story points. The series' title Fabula Nova Crystallis is translated by Square Enix as "The New Tale of the Crystal", Agito roughly translates as "to put into motion", while Versus translates as both "to turn around" and "against". All these Latin terms were described as representing key narrative concepts. The Agito term was kept in Final Fantasy Type-0 as both an in-universe concept and the title of its prequel. Versus was used in early trailers for Final Fantasy XV after its re-reveal in 2013, carrying the tagline A World of the Versus Epic. Commenting on the extensive use of Latin in Final Fantasy XV prior to its public name change, Nomura said he wanted a language that was no longer used on a daily basis and that people "won't be able to understand and yet appreciate", desiring a sense of general equality. ### Mythology In the mythology, the god Bhunivelze (ブーニベルゼ, Būniberuze) seizes control of the mortal world by killing his mother, the creator goddess Mwynn (ムイン, Muin), who vanishes into the Unseen Realm. Believing that the mortality of the world is Mwynn's curse, Bhunivelze creates three new deities to search for the gate to the Unseen Realm so he can control both worlds. The first deity, Pulse (パルス, Parusu), is tasked with terraforming the world; the second deity, Etro (エトロ, Etoro), is discarded because of her resemblance to Mwynn; the third deity, Lindzei (リンゼ, Rinze), acts as Bhunivelze's protector. Bhunivelze then enters a deep sleep, while Lindzei and Pulse carry out their missions. Distraught at being abandoned, Etro kills herself, and humans are born from her blood. Once in the Unseen Realm, Etro finds Mwynn being consumed by a force called chaos, which threatens to destroy reality. As Mwynn fades, she tasks Etro with protecting the balance between the worlds. Etro gives humans pieces of chaos that become their "hearts". Because humans held chaos within them, they maintained the balance through their death and reincarnation. Since then, humans have either worshiped or feared Pulse and Lindzei, and refer to Etro as the goddess of death. The mythos' deities hold similar roles in each game's setting, but are not the same characters in a narrative sense. A recurring race in the games are god-like beings created by Pulse and Lindzei to act as their servants in the mortal world. In the original mythos and the XIII games, the demigods are called fal'Cie /fælˈsiː/. They take the form of crystal-powered mechanical beings in the XIII games. In the universe of Type-0, they are both semi-sentient crystals and humanoid beings living among the people. The fal'Cie have the ability to imbue chosen humans with magical powers and assign them a task to complete either willingly or unwillingly. Final Fantasy XIII and Type-0 refer to these people as l'Cie /ləˈsiː/ and the task given to them as a Focus. In XIII, there are two possible outcomes for l'Cie: once their Focus is fulfilled, they can go into 'crystal stasis', transforming into a crystal statue, and gain eternal life, but if they fail they become mindless crystalline monsters called Cie'th (シ骸, Shi-gai). In Type-0, l'Cie are chosen by the crystal of their country, and given great power to fulfill their assigned Focus, but lose their memories if emotionally unstable. While not referred to as such using the original terminology, humans imbued with magic and burdened with a task exist in Final Fantasy XV, one of them being the main protagonist Noctis. ## Production ### Creation The concept for the Fabula Nova Crystallis series originated during late development on Final Fantasy X-2 and the original Kingdom Hearts. Discussing what to do once Final Fantasy XII was completed, Nomura, Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase decided to build upon the idea of multiple games connected by a single "central theme". Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima started writing the original mythology for the Fabula Nova Crystallis series in 2003, finishing it by February 2004. Nojima described his creation as the result of a wish to create something entirely new; a universe with its own mythos and legends. When he introduced the concept to other team members, they liked it and helped it grow. As with some of his other projects, Nojima incorporated themes of mythology due to his liking for and extensive research of Greek and Norse mythology. During his work, he received creative input from Kitase and Hashimoto, as well as Nomura, Tabata and Motomu Toriyama. Nojima wrote a series bible about the mythology, explaining concepts such as the fal'Cie and l'Cie and the feelings of the deities who created them. This bible became the basis for a video animated by Yusuke Naora's art team to showcase the mythos in 2011. None of the deities were depicted in human form in the video, as this would have undermined the developers' wishes for open interpretation by developers and players. The central concept for Fabula Nova Crystallis came from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, a multimedia subseries featuring the world and characters of Final Fantasy VII. Whereas the common link in the Compilation was VII, the team chose to use "the tale of new crystals" for the new series, with the mythos connecting the games rather than an overarching narrative. Another key idea behind the mythos was to ease the production of future Final Fantasy games by providing an established universe. The individual directors are allowed to freely interpret the base mythology when they create their games. When referring to this freedom, Tabata has compared the mythos and the concept behind it to Greek mythology; a mythos with common themes and deities, but featuring many unrelated stories. Toriyama based the story of Final Fantasy XIII around the mythos' deities and their direct relations to the world. Tabata and Nomura both focused on the human side of the story. Tabata chose to portray the divine elements from a historical standpoint in Type-0. Nomura created a modern-day setting similar to contemporary Earth in Final Fantasy XV, referring far less to the mythos' terminology. Nomura was also appointed as the main character designer for all entries in the subseries. In a 2007 interview, Hashimoto compared the planning of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series to film franchises such as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: an expansive brand on which to build multiple Final Fantasy titles planned in advance. The development of all games connected to the mythos was handled by Square Enix 1st Production Department. A trademark for Final Fantasy Haeresis XIII hinted at another entry, but the trademark expired in 2011 and the company did not renew. ### Development Final Fantasy XIII began development in February 2004. It began as a title for the PlayStation 2 under the codename "Colors World", but was moved onto PlayStation 3 after the positively received Crystal Tools engine demo in 2005 and the delayed release of Final Fantasy XII. The original titles in the series were Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII. Agito XIII was created later, when Tabata was looking for a new project after finishing Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Originally titled Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII, the project and original three titles were announced at E3 2006. Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII were intended to form the core of the series, with future games being a "facet" of XIII. Agito XIII and Versus XIII both began production in 2006. The subseries' title changed in 2011 when the "XIII" numeral was dropped as it "would have been an issue" following the rebranding of Agito XIII to Type-0. XIII was developed by team members who had worked on Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X and X-2. It was first announced as a PS3 exclusive. Late in its development, Final Fantasy XIII changed from being a console exclusive when an Xbox 360 version was announced, significantly delaying its release. After the release of Final Fantasy XIII, the creators wanted to expand on the game's setting and tell more stories about the characters, so XIII-2 and Lightning Returns were developed. For these games, Japanese developer tri-Ace was brought in to help with the games' design and graphics. The three games and their respective tie-in media were referred to as the "Lightning Saga" by Square Enix staff after the games' central character. A port for Microsoft Windows was considered, but not followed up due to platform-specific concerns and the company's view of the video game market. Later, Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels would receive PC ports through Steam. While there was speculation that Fabula Nova Crystallis would end with Lightning Returns, Kitase repeatedly said there was still room for further titles beyond the XIII universe. Agito XIII was handled by staff from Before Crisis. The game was originally being developed as an episodic mobile game. By 2008, Agito XIII had been moved onto the PlayStation Portable, then later renamed Final Fantasy Type-0. The stated reason for the change of title was that Final Fantasy XIII and Type-0 shared little besides the core mythos. Type-0's western release was delayed due to the flagging PSP market in western territories. A high-definition port to the same platforms as Final Fantasy XV was co-developed by Square Enix and HexaDrive, and was eventually announced for a western release. Tabata created Agito around his original ideas for Type-0 as a mobile title. Agito acted both as a prequel to Type-0 and as an alternate story set within its world. The game was co-developed by mobile game developer Tayutau K. K. Later, Chinese developer Perfect World were brought in to develop Awakening; it was the first Final Fantasy title licensed by Square Enix to an external company. The English version of Awakening closed in 2019 due to server changes, while the game as a whole was shut down in 2020 with the expiry of the licensing deal. Versus XIII's development was headed by the team behind the console Kingdom Hearts games. Like XIII, the game was a PS3 exclusive. As early as 2007, Square Enix considered re-branding Versus XIII as a numbered entry in the main series due to the rapidly growing scale of the project. The game was eventually re-branded in 2011 as Final Fantasy XV. As part of its later marketing, XV was deliberately distanced from the Fabula Nova Crystallis brand to remove the consequent limitation on their target audience, although lore and design elements were retained. The game was also moved fully onto eighth generation consoles and developed using the company's new Luminous Studio engine. The PS3 version was abandoned due to concerns about the console's continued viability. Final Fantasy XV eventually had help from multiple developers, including HexaDrive, XPEC Entertainment and Umbra. In contrast to Final Fantasy XIII, Tabata decided against creating any sequels to XV, instead expanding the base game through DLC. The first season of DLC was well received, so a second season was commissioned. All but one of these later DLC episodes were canceled in 2018 following the decision by the team to focus on a new intellectual property. ### Related media The games have been complemented and expanded upon through other media. For Final Fantasy XIII, a small book of short stories titled Final Fantasy XIII – Episode Zero was released, first through the game's website and then as a print release in December 2009. It shows events prior to the game's opening. A second novella, Episode i, was published via XIII-2's official website, bridging the narrative gap between XIII and XIII-2. Alongside XIII-2's Japanese release, a book detailing events not shown or described in the game titled Fragments Before was released in December 2011 including Episode i; this would be followed up by Fragments After, released in June 2012. Only Episode i has received an official English release. Lightning Returns was also set to receive a prequel novel by Benny Matsuyama alongside the game's Japanese release in November 2013, but was later canceled due to the author falling ill. A three-part novella exclusive to Famitsu Weekly magazine titled Final Fantasy XIII Reminiscence: tracer of memories was released across June and July 2014. It was written by Daisuke Watanabe, who handled the scripts for the XIII games, and takes place immediately after the ending of Lightning Returns. Reminiscence was later released online. Final Fantasy Type-0 received a manga adaptation illustrated by Takatoshi Shiozawa. It began publication in the November 2011 of Young Gangan and was collected into a single volume and released in April 2012. The manga was translated into English and released as part of the western collector's edition for Type-0 HD, available exclusively through Square Enix's online store. A second manga following one of the game's secondary characters, Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story: Reaper of the Icy Blade, began serialization in May 2012. The latter manga was created by Shiozawa under Nomura's supervision. The manga ended in January 2014, with a bonus chapter released in February of the same year. It was released in the west in July 2015, licensed by Yen Press. Two novels detailing an alternate version of Type-0, titled Final Fantasy Type-0: Change the World, were released in April and June 2012. Agito received another Change the World novel adaptation focusing on two of the game's supporting characters. Ultimania guides and companion books have been released for the majority of released games. Final Fantasy XV similarly had additional media released around it, forming a dedicated multimedia expansion dubbed the "Final Fantasy XV Universe". The majority of its content fleshed out the background for XV's plot, which would have required multiple video games under normal circumstances. While comparing the XV Universe to the overall structure of Fabula Nova Crystallis, the game's director defined it as an attempt to make the narrative of XV work in current times rather than attempting to "reinvent" the original concept. An anime produced by Square Enix and A-1 Pictures, Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, details the backstories of the main cast and how they came to be journeying together. It was distributed online in the months leading up to the game's release. A CGI feature film produced by the same team as Advent Children, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, was released in July 2016 in Japan and in August in America; it focuses on the main character's father Regis Lucis Caelum, alongside original characters. The canceled DLC was turned into the novel Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future. ## Reception The Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos has received mixed reactions from gaming sites. Hardcore Gamer's Brady Hale called the series "anything but ordinary" in the variety of games it featured. In an article concerning the 25th Anniversary event for the Final Fantasy series, Joystiq's Ben Gilbert called the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos "occasionally bizarre and often beautiful". In 2014, Jeremy Parish of USGamer said the series was "much ado about nothing", stating that since the games shared a large amount of themes and plot points with the main series, there seemed little reason for a distinction. TechnoBuffalo's Ron Duwell, in an article concerning a documentary video on Final Fantasy XV, called the series "overly ambitious", but felt that it was worth Fabula Nova Crystallis "[imploding] upon itself" if Final Fantasy XV fulfilled its promises. Kat Bailey, writing for USGamer as part of her review for Final Fantasy XV, said that series fans were ready for the subseries to come to an end with the game's release. RPG Site's Chelsi Laire called the subseries "a series of successes and failures, but mostly the latter" due to its troubled development, but hoped that the company would revisit the brand in the future. Speaking about the XIII games in particular, Parish suggested that their mixed reactions influenced the title changes of other games in the original series, giving the teams a chance to give those games more of their own identity. He also felt that the decision to expand the XIII storyline into multiple games "probably worked out just as well". The presentation of the mythos and its terms received mixed reactions in XIII, resulting in the production team toning down their use for XIII-2. Siliconera writer Spencer Yip, in his review of Lightning Returns, commented that the story and pace of the game was "muddled" by the mythos. In 2016, RPGFan writer Mike Salbato wrote a retrospective of the Final Fantasy XIII games and their version of Fabula Nova Crystallis: he felt that the lack of specific references to the mythos in XIII had harmed general comprehension, and that a reliance on foreknowledge made its sequels difficult to play as standalone titles. In contrast, the portrayal of the mythos in Type-0 was praised by RPG Site's Erren Van Duine in an import review of the title, with him saying that "elements such as l'Cie and fal'Cie are handled in much more interesting ways". When commenting on the lore of Final Fantasy XV, Andrew Reiner of Game Informer praised the story for sticking to basics and avoiding "[overwhelming] the player with lore or branching threads, something Final Fantasy XIII struggled with". ### Individual titles Final Fantasy XIII was positively received in Japanese magazines, garnering exceptionally high scores from both Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation. In the west, the game was praised for its graphics, battle system, and music, but opinions were mixed about its story and it was criticized for its highly linear structure. XIII also won an award for best graphics in GamesRadar's 2012 Platinum Trophy Awards. XIII-2 received a positive reception overall, gaining perfect scores from Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation, and high scores from most western sites. Common points of praise were its non-linear nature, improved battle system and graphics, while the main points of criticism were its story and characters, which were often called weak, confusing or both. Lightning Returns received mixed reviews, with its combat being highly praised, its graphics and time limit mechanic drawing mixed responses, and the story and characters being cited as poorly developed. Type-0 had a highly positive reception in Japan, with it garnering near-perfect scores in Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation. Import reviews were also fairly positive, sharing many points of praise with the Japanese reviews. Type-0 HD also received a positive reception in the west, with main praise going to the story, characters and action-based gameplay. Other aspects came in for criticism, such as elements of the graphics upgrade, the real-time strategy segments, and the localization. Western previews of Agito have also been positive, with critics agreeing that it looked good on the platform and worked well from a gameplay standpoint. Final Fantasy XV was positively received by many journalists; praise went to aspects of the story, the main characters, battle system and graphics, while the overarching plot, supporting cast and other technical elements such as the camera and late-game changes in gameplay were criticized. ### Sales Final Fantasy XIII broke sales records for the Final Fantasy franchise, selling 1.5 million units in Japan on its release day, and a further million a month after its North American release. XIII-2 was the most purchased title of 2011 in Japan upon release, and reached second and first place in sales charts in the United States and United Kingdom respectively. Lightning Returns had lower first-week sales than its predecessors, but still topped the sales charts in Japan, selling over 277,000 units in its first week and over 404,000 copies by the end of 2013. It ranked as third and eighth in the UK and US February sales charts respectively. Approximately 800,000 copies were sold by as of November 2014. The three XIII games have collectively sold 11 million units worldwide. Speaking of the decreasing success of the XIII games and their effect on the Fabula Nova Crystallis series on USGamer, Parish felt that the initial backlash received by XIII had turned the "XIII" moniker into "box office poison". Type-0 sold over 472,000 units in its first week, and went on to sell over 740,000 units in Japan. The title was also added to the company's list of Ultimate Hits, re-releases of lucrative titles. Type-0 HD reached the top of the sales charts in its debut week, selling 93,000 units, though it ultimately performed poorly in Japan. It was among the ten top-selling games in March for the UK and US. By April, Type-0 HD had shipped over one million copies worldwide. Agito was highly successful in Japan, achieving 500,000 registered users within a week of release. By November of the year of release, the game had received one million downloads. Awakening met with commercial success in China, achieving two million downloads within its month of release. Upon its release, Final Fantasy XV sold five million copies worldwide through retail shipments and digital sales, breaking sales records for the Final Fantasy franchise. By May 2022, XV had sold ten million units worldwide across all versions, making it one of the bestselling Final Fantasy games of all time. ### Official response Speaking in a 2014 feature on the series, Kitase and Toriyama commented that the initial structure and goals of the project had worked against it, causing the mythos narrative to become unfocused and difficult for players to follow within a single game. In the aftermath, Square Enix decided to move away from the complex narrative style that had accompanied the mythos, instead focusing on telling more understandable standalone stories. Tabata described the decision to distance Final Fantasy XV from the mythos brand as a complicated but necessary one.

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