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41,521,733 | James P. Hagerstrom | 1,133,608,133 | American flying ace | [
"1921 births",
"1994 deaths",
"20th-century American lawyers",
"American Korean War flying aces",
"American World War II flying aces",
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"Burials at Arlington National Cemetery",
"Deaths from cancer in Louisiana",
"Deaths from stomach cancer",
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"Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)",
"Recipients of the Legion of Merit",
"Recipients of the Silver Star",
"Texas National Guard personnel",
"United States Air Force colonels",
"United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War",
"United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War",
"United States Army Air Forces officers",
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]
| James Philo Hagerstrom (January 14, 1921 – June 25, 1994) was a fighter ace of both the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the Korean War. With a career total of 14.5 victories, he is one of seven American pilots to have achieved ace status in two different wars.
Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Hagerstrom became eager to fly at a young age. He left college in 1941 to join the USAAF, and participated in the New Guinea campaign of the South West Pacific theater of World War II. There, he mainly escorted bombers, flying P-40 Warhawks with the 8th Fighter Squadron. He shot down six Japanese aircraft during the war, including four in one morning. After the war, he continued flying, joining the Texas Air National Guard and participating in several air races. By 1950 he was in command of the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was deployed to Korea following the outbreak of the Korean War. He later transferred to the USAF and flew F-86 Sabre fighter jets with the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in "MiG Alley", the nickname given to the area around the northern border of North Korea with China. During his service in Korea, he was credited with shooting down 8.5 Chinese, Soviet, and North Korean MiG-15s (the half coming from a shared credit).
Hagerstrom returned to the U.S. in 1953 and remained in the Air Force, also earning degrees in economics and law. In 1965, he served in command roles during the Vietnam War while flying 30 combat missions. After retiring in 1968, he traveled around the Pacific Ocean in a homemade boat with his family, living on several islands before returning to the U.S. and settling in Mansfield, Louisiana. Hagerstrom died in nearby Shreveport of stomach cancer in 1994.
## Early life and education
James Philo Hagerstrom was born on January 14, 1921, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He was the third son of Edward and Hazel Hagerstrom. His father, the son of Swedish immigrants, worked as an electrician with the Iowa Public Service Company, and the family lived in Waterloo, Iowa. James' interest in aviation began at a young age: when he was five, he had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane at a family friend's farm. His fascination increased at thirteen when he took a short fifty-cent flight in a Ford Trimotor aircraft at an airshow.
Hagerstrom attended Waterloo West High School, where he joined the wrestling team and earned a varsity letter. He also built model airplanes as a hobby, and swam. After graduating in 1939, he began studying at the University of Iowa, where he joined the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After a year he transferred to Iowa State Teachers College, where he helped start an aero club. While in college, he began flight training, accumulating several dozen hours of flying experience.
## Military career
### World War II
#### Training and mobilization
On December 6, 1941, the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hagerstrom went to Iowa City and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) Aviation Cadet program. He was sent to Fort Des Moines, and was inducted into the USAAF on January 15. He and other new inductees were then sent to Minter Field in Bakersfield, California, for paperwork and more physical examinations, and were sent north to Visalia for primary training on January 23. The class (which wore coveralls and other civilian attire owing to a lack of military uniforms) first trained in PT-22 Recruits. Hagerstrom's previous flying experience allowed him to undertake an accelerated program before moving back to Minter Field for basic flight training in BT-13 Valiants. His older brother Robert happened to be in basic flight training at the same time, and they were together for six weeks. After this phase, Hagerstrom and his classmates went to Luke Field near Phoenix, Arizona, where he underwent advanced flight training in the AT-6 Texan. On July 26, 1942, he graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, receiving his wings from Brigadier General Ennis Whitehead.
Hagerstrom was posted to active duty with the 20th Pursuit Group and sent to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and then to Pinellas Army Air Field, near St. Petersburg, Florida, flying the P-39 Airacobra and P-40 Warhawk. In late September he was assigned to the 8th Fighter Squadron (8th FS) of the 49th Fighter Group (49th FG) and sent to San Francisco, California. Hagerstrom was temporarily given the duty of quarters officer, and he arranged for the group of forty second lieutenants to stay at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. After processing at Fort Mason, they sailed on the Norwegian troopship M/V Torrens to Hawaii along with 1,500 other personnel, including the headquarters of the Fifth Air Force (5th AF). They stayed for a short time at Hickam Field, near Pearl Harbor, before leaving again, this time as part of a naval task force. Near the end of October, they broke off from the task force and sailed with a destroyer escort to Suva, Fiji, for an overnight stop before heading towards Australia. A corvette from the Royal Australian Navy took over the escort until it arrived in Townsville, Queensland. Initially there was no one to greet the Americans and nowhere to house the 5th AF commanders besides some barracks at RAAF Base Garbutt. Eventually Brigadier General Paul Wurtsmith of the 5th AF organized a refresher session for the new pilots, and they learned from experienced combat aviators at Charters Towers Airfield.
#### New Guinea
Hagerstrom joined the rest of the 8th FS at Kila Airfield, near Port Moresby, Territory of Papua, to fight in the New Guinea campaign. He flew several missions out of Kila in the P-40, all without seeing combat. The 8th FS then relocated in early April 1943 to Dobodura Airfield, near Popondetta, to rejoin the rest of the 49th FG. Shortly after, Hagerstrom was promoted to first lieutenant. His first combat experience—and aerial victory—came on April 11, when he joined a fight over Oro Bay with several Japanese A6M Zeros. His first attempt at taking a shot at a Zero failed because his guns were switched off, but he later shot down a Zero that was trailing two P-38 Lightning fighters. He returned to base with little fuel to spare.
While at Dobodura, the 8th FS mainly escorted C-47 Skytrains airdropping supplies to ground troops below, and Hagerstrom was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work during this period. At the end of August 1943, the squadron was moved to Tsili Tsili Airfield in the Territory of New Guinea, hastily and covertly constructed in July on recently captured territory. Although it was not known whether the surrounding area was clear of Japanese forces, the airstrip was not attacked after two raids on August 15 and 16 that did little damage. The 8th FS switched to escorting B-25 Mitchell and A-20 Havoc bombers but saw little action themselves. The pilots saw more combat when they began escorting the high-altitude B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers; the unit was often low on fuel and other supplies as a result of being at the end of a long supply chain.
On October 5, Hagerstrom led one of two formations to intercept an approaching Ki-46 "Dinah" reconnaissance aircraft over Finschhafen. He chased the plane for twelve minutes, climbing at full throttle to 18,000 feet (5,500 m) before getting within firing range. He was able to damage the Dinah's left engine, wing root, and fuselage. The engine exploded and sprayed what Hagerstrom guessed to be hydraulic fluid onto his plane, causing him eye irritation. He pursued the crippled aircraft until it hit the water. After a malfunction with his navigational instruments, he had to find his way back to the airfield by following the Markham River. The plane was running low on fuel, night had fallen, and Tsili Tsili was in blackout due to another enemy reconnaissance plane in the area, so Hagerstrom had to estimate the airstrip's location but landed safely. Later that month, heavy rainfall made the airstrip too muddy to allow the co-located P-38s to take off, and the 8th FS was relocated 50 miles (80 km) north to Gusap Airfield. Soon after, Hagerstrom contracted malaria and was sent to Australia for three weeks to recover.
On January 23, 1944, Hagerstrom was leading a flight of four aircraft assisting P-38 Lightnings to escort bombers near Wewak. They encountered 10–15 enemy aircraft, and he and his wingman, John Bodak, dove on a group of Zeros that were pursuing four P-38s; Hagerstrom shot down one of the aircraft. He took a shot at another Zero but missed, and was in turn targeted by a Zero on his tail. Bodak destroyed this plane, and Hagerstrom shot down a Zero that was tailing his wingman. He got a third Zero and then went to the assistance of several P-38s who had started a Lufbery circle defensive maneuver. Hagerstrom fired a short burst at one of the pursuing Japanese planes, a Ki-61 "Hien". He followed the damaged aircraft and gave it another burst at short range, causing it to catch fire and crash. Hagerstrom and Bodak damaged several more Zeros before running out of ammunition. Hagerstrom returned home with four victories for a total of six, making him an ace. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his "extraordinary heroism" during the engagement. By this time in the war, much of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's small, elite pilot corps had been killed in battle, and the Japanese lacked the time and resources to properly train enough replacement airmen. By the end of 1943 most of the surviving Japanese pilots were poorly trained and equipped, while the U.S. had all along concentrated on training a large pool of pilots to an adequate standard. In early February, Hagerstrom received orders to return home from New Guinea, which he called a "terrible place" due to the poor conditions. He had flown 170 combat missions comprising 350 hours and destroyed six enemy aircraft.
### Between wars
After a period of rest back home in Iowa, Hagerstrom went to Miami, Florida, to be reassigned. He requested a unit that flew jet aircraft, but jets had not reached widespread production, so he was instead made an instructor in the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics flying P-47 Thunderbolts at a base near Orlando. There, he met Virginia Lee Jowell, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and they were married on July 25, 1944. Shortly after, Virginia was transferred to Brownsville, Texas, to train in fighter aircraft, while he was assigned to Evansville, Indiana, to be a test pilot for the P-47s being produced at the Republic Aviation plant there. The couple were reunited when Virginia finished her training and moved to Evansville to serve as a ferry pilot for the P-47s, delivering them to coastal air bases to be shipped overseas. James was promoted to the rank of captain in January 1945, and he remained in Evansville until September 6 of that year, when he left the USAAF.
Hagerstrom and his now-pregnant wife returned to Waterloo, and he re-applied to Iowa State Teachers College to complete his studies, the president of the college personally re-enrolling him. In October, the first of the Hagerstroms' eight children was born. Hagerstrom graduated in June 1946 with a bachelor's degree in economics and subsequently went to Houston, Texas, to work in the municipal bonds business. He grew bored of the bonds industry and wanted to keep flying, so he joined the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (111th FBS) of the Texas Air National Guard, which he and his fellow pilots viewed as the "bottom of the heap". He enjoyed his tenure with the P-51 Mustang–equipped squadron and was successful, becoming operations officer for the 111th FBS within six months. He flew the P-38 Lightning and P-51 (redesignated as F-51) in the National Air Races in September 1949; he took sixth place in the Thompson Trophy race and won a \$1,500 prize, flying his F-51 at an average speed of 372.7 miles per hour (599.8 km/h).
Hagerstrom was promoted to major and appointed commander of the 111th FBS in June 1950. In October, the 111th FBS was federalized and ordered into active duty to serve in the Korean War. Hagerstrom's assignment was at the headquarters of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, where he persuaded the commander to allow him and some other officers to fly a combat tour in Korea. They were allowed to transfer from the Air National Guard into the active-duty Air Force. Hagerstrom was sent to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, where he undertook gunnery training on the jet-powered F-80 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre, taught by William T. Whisner Jr. He became operations officer of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group.
### Korean War
#### Preparation and first two victories (1952)
Hagerstrom, keen for any edge that would give him the chance to be an ace in two wars, prepared extensively for flying in Korea. He studied gun sights and intelligence reports on the MiG-15, and he made metric conversion tables to allow him to patrol altitudes where MiGs commonly flew. He got a pair of moccasin boots lined with felt and a silk-lined flight suit for winter insulation, and he obtained special half-mirrored sunglasses that allowed him to see twice as clearly as normal, at the risk of permanently ruining his eyes. The Air Force issued its pilots a standard survival kit for their aircraft, to which he added 30 days' worth of food (including 10 pounds [4.5 kg] of rice), a camp stove, maps, a monocular, a radio, sulfa, and a sleeping bag he had vacuum-packed into a tin can. He also obtained a .22 Hornet rifle issued to Strategic Air Command, because he thought the standard .45 caliber pistol would be ineffective against patrols with rifles. If he had to bail out over enemy territory, he planned to fight off any patrols searching for him, and then hike 10 miles (16 km) a day toward the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. According to Hagerstrom, this obsessive preparation helped him control his fear: "the difference between panic and fear is pretty tight, and you can spread that line a bit by having one last chance".
Upon arrival in Korea, Hagerstrom was assigned to the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the Fifth Air Force's 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing (18th FBW). At this time, the 4th and 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wings were the only units equipped with F-86 Sabres, but Hagerstrom was able to convince his commander to let him and several other officers fly these aircraft, despite not being in the designated wings. Hagerstrom registered the 18th FBW's first victory of the war on November 21, 1952, about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Yalu River. The MiG pilot Hagerstrom was shooting at ejected just before his plane exploded. Hagerstrom was separated from his wingman and no one witnessed the action, so Kimpo Air Base group commander Royal N. Baker refused to confirm it unless he had good film from his gun camera. This proved unnecessary when Baker confirmed the victory after spotting a piece of the exploded MiG embedded in Hagerstrom's F-86. The engagement earned him a second Distinguished Flying Cross, this time with a "V" device, for "courage, tenacity, superior tactical skill and marksmanship".
On December 24, Hagerstrom led a group of jets that attacked three MiGs in formation just south of the Yalu near the Sup'ung Dam. Twenty more MiGs arrived from Manchuria, and Hagerstrom managed to damage three enemy aircraft while being chased as far south as the Chongchon River.
The next day, Hagerstrom was to have the day off for Christmas, but he still wanted more action: "I tried to get some of the men to trade with me—I'm not on the schedule today—but with weather like this, they know there are MiGs up there near the Yalu. No one was willing to trade his mission for my day off." He was able to talk his superiors into giving him a mission, and he ended up getting the only confirmed "kill" of the day when the MiG he was chasing spun out of control at an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,000 m), so high that Hagerstrom did not fire for fear of stalling. The pilot ejected, most likely dying of exposure to the −20 °F (−29 °C) temperatures.
#### Ace status (1953)
In January 1953, Hagerstrom was transferred to Osan Air Base to help the rest of the pilots of the 18th FBW transition from F-51s to F-86s, beginning on January 28. Despite cold weather and a limited number of instructor pilots, the wing's 125 pilots were trained in the F-86 in under a month. On February 3, Hagerstrom was named commander of the 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, and on February 25 he was part of the 18th FBW's first patrol in Sabre jets. He was chasing two MiGs when he noticed a third attacking another F-86; he engaged and shot it down flying very low over Mukden, China. Low on fuel, he had just enough to land and park the aircraft back at Osan, and he later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the third time.
On March 13, Hagerstrom and his wingman Elmer N. Dunlap came across two MiGs, the first of which Hagerstrom, by his own account, "shot the daylights out of". He fired at the second until he ran out of ammunition, and the remaining MiG was leaking fuel and its engine had stopped. Hagerstrom told Dunlap to "finish off" the crippled plane, and the MiG's pilot bailed over the enemy's Antung Airfield. That mission gave Hagerstrom a total of 4.5 victories, just short of the five kills needed for ace status. Knowing that he was likely to be transferred out soon, he became even more determined to get another victory, giving a speech to his men on March 27:
> Gentlemen, I've been living on coffee. I haven't been sleeping. I've got to do this thing. I'm gonna do it, and if you don't want to go with me, that's fine, I'll understand. We are going to go up there and give it one good college try south of the Yalu, and if we don't scare anything up, I'm going after them today.
That day, Hagerstrom snuck up behind six MiGs, fired on one, and by "sheer ass luck ... knocked his wing tip off". He kept up the chase, shooting short bursts, until the pilot, Chinese ace Wang Hai, ejected above his own base. On the way home, Hagerstrom destroyed another MiG, bringing the total to 6.5. He became the war's 28th ace and the first and only from the 18th FBW. After the engagement, he was awarded the Silver Star for "his outstanding ability and gallantry in the face of enemy opposition".
Hagerstrom scored another victory on April 13, when he fired a long burst at a single MiG flying at 49,000 feet (15,000 m). The plane burst into flames and went down near the Chongchon River. In early May, he learned that he was to return to the U.S. On his last day in Korea, May 16, he was waiting for a Military Air Transport Service plane to become available for his flight out to Tachikawa Airfield in Japan when he got a call from a friend who said he needed four planes in the air. He said, "I got tired of the inaction, so I posted the name 'Sam Kratz' on the flight board and went out as a regular combat officer and not as a squadron commander as on other missions." Hagerstrom took off, still wearing his blue dress uniform instead of a flight suit, and the flight soon came across the formation of 24 MiGs. He pretended to have communication difficulties to prevent the mission from being recalled because they were heavily outnumbered. When the MiGs turned and headed toward the safety of Chinese airspace, Hagerstrom attacked one of the planes and followed it into a dive, firing short bursts. After his target crashed, he pulled out and the flight and headed back to base, reporting the large number of MiGs. During the debriefing, his commanding officer interrupted and assured Hagerstrom that he would be on the next C-54 Skymaster flight out, before he could take another risky flight. He was awarded his eleventh Air Medal in the form of a second silver oak leaf cluster for courage during the flight. The mission gave him 8.5 victories for the war in 101 missions.
#### Attitude toward combat
Like many other aces, Hagerstrom had an aggressive attitude toward his missions. In his book Officers in Flight Suits, historian John Darrell Sherwood calls this a "flight suit attitude", which he defines as "a sense of self-confidence and pride that verged on arrogance" where "status was based upon flying ability, not degrees, rank, or 'officer' skills". He believes this is why Hagerstrom frequently butted heads with military bureaucrats and never became a general himself. Determined to be at full mental capacity during missions, he never drank, unlike most other pilots, some of whom flew while hungover or left Korea as alcoholics. He was critical of pilots who wanted to just complete their requisite 100 missions and avoid conflict and danger; he was twice abandoned by his wingman during a fight. Hagerstrom enjoyed the adrenaline rush of combat and would put himself at more risk in an effort to shoot down more planes. He would fly into Chinese airspace despite it being forbidden by United Nations Command, and on one mission he buzzed Antung Airfield by flying near the speed of sound at an altitude of 15 feet (4.6 m) in an attempt to draw the MiGs into the air because U.S. pilots were not allowed to attack planes on the ground in China.
The F-86 bases were near Seoul, South Korea, which was 200 miles (320 km) from where they would patrol in MiG Alley. Getting there used so much fuel that they were supposed to spend only twenty minutes flying around the Yalu in search of MiGs, but Hagerstrom did his own calculations and determined he could make it back to base with 600 pounds (270 kg) of fuel—half of the recommended minimum. He had to set an alarm to remind himself when to head back, but he often went beyond that, once running out of gas just after landing. Unlike all the other American aces, who were in fighter-interceptor units, Hagerstrom was in a fighter-bomber squadron but found aerial combat by dropping his bombs as quickly as possible and flying to where he was likely to encounter MiGs.
Regarding shooting down planes, Hagerstrom focused on the machine rather than the human in the aircraft, saying "I never shot directly at the pilot, nor did I shoot anyone dangling from a parachute." He had a similar response whenever a fellow American or allied pilot was killed: he thought about the technical aspects of the death and how it could be prevented in the future, rather than grieving the loss of a friend. During World War II, he said, "There is no emotion like is shown in the movies. They just say, 'Tough luck.'"
### After Korea
Hagerstrom remained in the USAF after he returned to the U.S. After a reunion with his family, he was assigned to the Operations Section of the Ninth Air Force at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He flew an F-86 in the September 1953 Bendix Trophy air race, which went from California to Ohio, finishing thirty seconds behind the winner. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1954. He became a TAC officer at Foster Air Force Base in Victoria, Texas, and commanded the 450th Fighter-Day Squadron of the 322d Fighter-Day Group. During his tenure at Foster, he was named inspector general and base commander, and in May 1955, he was given command of the 450th Fighter-Day Group, which flew the F-100 Super Sabre.
In 1956, Hagerstrom was transferred to the headquarters of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) in Japan as chief of the fighter branch. During that tour of duty, he went to Taiwan to teach members of the Republic of China Air Force about combat against MiGs. He briefly returned to Texas as an advisor for the Air National Guard and in April 1957 was honored with the dedication of a new hangar at Ellington Field in Houston in his name. He then was sent to Hawaii to join the staff of the FEAF—which had been renamed the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)—at its new headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base. He was promoted to colonel in March 1959, and earned a master's degree in economics from Jackson College. His job with the PACAF was to assess the air forces of the U.S. and their allies; after evaluating the new AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, he advocated for retaining guns on fighter jets instead of replacing them with missiles on some aircraft, an opinion at odds with military leadership.
In 1960, he left Hawaii for a position with the Office of Inspector General at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. While at Norton, he studied at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles three nights a week before attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), which required him to relocate to Washington, D.C. Once settled, he also enrolled at Georgetown Law. He graduated from the ICAF in June 1964, having written a thesis on the role of air power in a limited war. The next day, he received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Georgetown. His next assignment was as vice wing commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying F-4 Phantom IIs at George Air Force Base in Victorville, California.
### Vietnam War
Throughout 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson led a major escalation of American involvement in the Vietnam War. In May of that year, Hagerstrom was posted to Saigon, South Vietnam, to serve with the Seventh Air Force. There, he flew 30 combat missions while serving as director of the combat operations control center at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. He soon came into conflict with General William Westmoreland over the Air Force's role in the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Hagerstrom proposed that air assets be used against strategic targets in North Vietnam, while Westmoreland insisted that they be used solely in-country to support Army ground operations. After Hagerstrom argued against the decision not to bomb Hanoi in 1965, Westmoreland asked the Air Force to remove Hagerstrom from Vietnam. Hagerstrom was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service in Vietnam, and the citation mentions his "significant contributions to the combat effectiveness of the tactical air forces".
In early 1966, the Air Force reassigned Hagerstrom to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. In four days he set up a combat operations control center to conduct air interdiction operations against the North Vietnamese Army on the Ho Chi Minh trail. On March 3, Royal Lao Air Force commander Thao Ma requested help from the USAF in defending the town of Attopeu, Laos. The Royal Lao Armed Forces were suffering low morale and faced pressure from Viet Cong (VC) fighters, who had taken two nearby towns. Hagerstrom assisted in planning the use of an AC-47 Spooky gunship equipped with a night vision Starlight Scope (which had previously been typically used by ground forces) to attack VC positions around the town. The airstrike on the VC took place on the night of March 4 and was successful despite several malfunctions, and the aircraft was not hit by enemy fire. Hagerstrom said he conservatively estimated that 200 VC were killed in the attack, using this to argue that air attacks cause fewer friendly casualties than a war of attrition strategy with ground forces.
Hagerstrom also tried to obtain the release of James Robinson Risner, a prisoner of war who had also been an ace in Korea. Hagerstrom enlisted the help of CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite and lawyer James B. Donovan (who had negotiated the release of Francis Gary Powers after the 1960 U-2 incident) to start a fundraiser for Risner's bail, but the U.S. State Department stepped in and halted the effort. Hagerstrom was sent back to Norton later in 1966, frustrated by the political and military bureaucracy he had clashed with over his career. "I got disgusted with the whole thing and resigned," he said. "Vietnam was wrong, we shouldn't have been there".
## Retirement
Back at Norton, Hagerstrom sat and passed the California Bar Examination and retired from the Air Force in January 1968. He lectured at the University of Southern California and worked for a law firm in Los Angeles. Later that year, along with Virginia and their eight children, he began living on a boat, sailing along the Pacific coast of Mexico. In mid-1969, they stopped at San Diego and Hagerstrom began practicing law there. They did not settle; he and his wife began building their own boat in 1971. Four years later, they had completed the 30-short-ton (27 t), 57-foot (17 m) sailboat and set sail on March 19, 1976. They returned to the Mexican coast before heading to Hawaii. They continued on to the Marshall Islands and Caroline Islands (then part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands), and Guam. In many of their stops, Hagerstrom practiced law (becoming district attorney for the island of Kosrae), and Virginia taught.
The family eventually returned to the U.S. in 1979 and settled on a farm in Mansfield, Louisiana. Hagerstrom maintained his love of flying, and in 1992 planned to buy an ultralight aircraft. He died of stomach cancer on June 25, 1994, in nearby Shreveport. Hagerstrom was survived by his wife and six of his children; on July 26 he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
## Aerial victory credits
Hagerstrom was credited with 14.5 victories—6 in World War II and 8.5 in the Korean War—as well as one probably destroyed and five damaged. He is one of seven American pilots to achieve ace status in two wars; all flew piston-engined planes in World War II and jet fighters in Korea. The others are George Andrew Davis Jr., Gabby Gabreski, Vermont Garrison, Harrison Thyng, and Whisner, all Air Force pilots, and John F. Bolt of the U.S. Marine Corps.
## Awards and decorations
Hagerstrom received numerous awards and decorations for his services:
### Distinguished Service Cross citation
> First Lieutenant (Air Corps) James P. Hagerstrom (ASN: 0-727447), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a P-40 Fighter Airplane in the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group, Fifth Air Force, in aerial combat against enemy forces near Boram, New Guinea, on 23 January 1944. First Lieutenant Hagerstrom, leading a flight of four fighters on a bomber escort mission, encountered ten to fifteen enemy aircraft and promptly led in the attack. He shot down one enemy airplane, and then attacked two others, scoring damaging hits. Pulling up, he quickly shot down another enemy fighter. Two of the enemy then attacked from a climbing head-on position, and he scored damaging hits on both. Making a close pass at another enemy fighter, he caused it to burst into flames. At this point, he observed four enemy airplanes making a concentrated attack upon two of our fighters. Without hesitation he entered the fight, and succeeded in shooting down one enemy airplane and breaking the enemy formation. By his daring skill and aggressive effort in this fierce encounter, First Lieutenant Hagerstrom destroyed four enemy aircraft, damaged others, and saved the lives of two pilots while our bombers successfully completed their mission.
## See also
- List of Korean War flying aces
- List of World War II flying aces |
55,979,268 | Emesa helmet | 1,171,046,831 | Archaeological artifact | [
"1936 archaeological discoveries",
"1st-century artifacts",
"Ancient Roman helmets",
"Archaeological artifacts",
"Archaeological discoveries in Syria",
"History of Homs Governorate",
"Individual helmets"
]
| The Emesa helmet (also known as the Homs helmet) is a Roman cavalry helmet from the early first century AD. It consists of an iron head piece and face mask, the latter of which is covered in a sheet of silver and presents the individualised portrait of a face, likely its owner. Decorations, some of which are gilded, adorn the head piece. Confiscated by Syrian police soon after looters discovered it amidst a complex of tombs in the modern-day city of Homs in 1936, eventually the helmet was restored thoroughly at the British Museum, and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Damascus. It has been exhibited internationally, although as of 2017, due to the Syrian civil war, the more valuable items owned by the National Museum are hidden in underground storage.
Ornately designed yet highly functional, the helmet was probably intended for both parades and battle. Its delicate covering is too fragile to have been put to use during cavalry tournaments, but the thick iron core would have defended against blows and arrows. Narrow slits for the eyes, with three small holes underneath to allow downward sight, sacrificed vision for protection; roughly cut notches below each eye suggest a hastily made modification of necessity.
The helmet was found in a tomb near a monument to a former ruler of Emesa and, considering the lavishness of the silver and gold design, likely belonged to a member of the elite. As it is modelled after those helmets used in Roman tournaments, even if unlikely to have ever been worn in one, it may have been given by a Roman official to a Syrian general or, more likely, manufactured in Syria after the Roman style. The acanthus scroll ornamentation seen on the neck guard recalls that used on Syrian temples, suggesting that the helmet may have been made in the luxury workshops of Antioch.
## Description
The Emesa helmet is made of iron and consists of two parts: a head piece and a face mask. The head piece, which includes a neck guard, is made of one piece of iron and attached decorations. Attached to it are silver decorations, some of which are gilded in whole or in part: a diadem, a circular forehead rosette, a strip of metal serving as a crest, two ear guards, and a decorative plate over the neck guard. The ear guards are each attached by three rivets, the top and bottom of which help hold the diadem and decorative plate, respectively, to the head piece; the edges of the diadem and plate are folded over the iron core for additional support. The face mask hangs from the head piece by a central hinge, and would be fastened with straps connecting a loop under each ear with corresponding holes in the neck guard. The entire helmet, the iron core of which is between 1 and 6 millimetres thick, weighs 2.217 kg (4.89 lb), of which the face mask comprises 982 g (2.16 lb).
The head piece is made of iron, now rusted. The top contains a dent, and shows the rusted impression of what once was a woven and likely colourful or patterned fabric. From ear to ear around the forehead runs a gilded diadem in the image of a laurel wreath, a traditional symbol of victory. Each side contains thirteen elements, each of three leaves and two berries. The leaves are worked in repoussé, and stand out in strong relief with nearly straight walls. Above the centre of the diadem is a rosette; it shows a flower with two rows, each of six petals, and an outer beaded border. The beading and the outer row of petals are in white silver, contrasting with the gilding of the inner row, the background, and the central rivet anchoring the rosette to the head piece. A narrow fluted strip serving as a crest, smooth silver with beaded edges, runs down the middle of the head piece from the rosette to the neck guard. The relative simplicity and inferiority of artisanship expressed by the crest and rosette may reflect repairs made locally, away from the luxury workshops of Antioch; unlike with the diadem, for example, the background of the rosette was not carefully punched down, but was flattened with a tubular instrument and now presents as a series of rings.
The neck guard, flared outward to protect the shoulders, is covered with a decorative plate consisting of three horizontal designs. At the top, over the base of the skull, a large torus of ivy leaves is bordered by cords; the ivy is gilded, though the cords are not. In the middle, a smooth and concave transitional zone corresponds to the hollow of the neck. At the bottom, an acanthus rinceau, or scroll, is interspersed with birds and butterflies. Portions of the bottom ornamentation are gilded, giving the helmet, with all its silver, gold, and iron components, a polychrome appearance. The ear guards encroach slightly on the bottom design, suggesting that they were not created specifically for the helmet.
The face mask is made of iron, and covered with a sheet of silver. The central hinge from which it hangs is made of three parts: an iron tube welded to the interior head piece with an exterior silver tube, a notched silver tube fixed to the face mask that envelops the first part, and a pin which passes through both and has a silver knob at each end. The mask is shaped in the form of a human face. Holes are drilled between the lips and as nostrils; the eyes each have a narrow slit, with three holes in a trefoil design, two round holes outside and a heart-shaped hole in the middle, underneath each eye to allow for a greater range of vision. These apparently were not enough, for a small and rudimentary notch was carved into each of the heart-shaped holes to increase the wearer's vision. The mask is approximately 2 millimetres thick, of which the silver, which is folded around both the edges and each hole to hold it to the iron, accounts for between .25 and .5 millimetres.
Distinctive features cover the face mask. The nose is long and fleshy with a prominent bump, and extends high between the eyes. The cheekbones are low yet prominent, and the small mouth, which droops toward the sinister side, shows a thick lower lip. Other features—the eyes and eyebrows, and the chin—are more conventional. The distinctive features suggest that the maker of the Emesa helmet attempted to translate some of the individual characteristics of the wearer's face into the helmet.
## Function
The Emesa helmet is highly functional, and was likely made for both parades and battle. It is thick and heavy, which would have offered protection against heavy blows or arrows, the former of which may have caused the dent on the head piece. Exceptionally narrow eye-slits also indicate care taken to increase protection; the rough manner in which the holes underneath were enlarged is likely the consequence of an emergency requiring a better field of vision. Although classified as a cavalry sports helmet, the type worn in equestrian displays and tournaments known as the hippika gymnasia, it was unlikely to have been used in such events. Tournament helmets were robust and manufactured without finesse, to withstand the rigours of contest unscathed. The delicate ornamentation of the Emesa helmet, by contrast, would have been damaged easily, and thus suggests that it would have only been subjected to such risks in the exceptional circumstance of battle.
## Discovery
The helmet was discovered by looters in August 1936, in the modern-day city of Homs. Known as Emesa at the start of the first century AD, the city was at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, and ruled by the Emesene dynasty, a client kingdom of the Romans. Nearly 2,000 years later, the looters—digging near the former site of a monument to Sampsiceramus—found a complex of rich tombs, and removed the grave goods. Their looting was uncovered because small golden plaques, adorning the burial shroud of the body in tomb 11, flaked off when disturbed. The next morning, children noticed these gold flakes mixed in with the earth and brought them to a bazaar, where it came to the attention of the police; it ultimately led to the arrest of the looters, and the confiscation of the grave objects. The objects, including the helmet, were then secured for the state collection by Emir Djaafar Abd el-Kader, curator of the National Museum of Damascus—even as merchants, eager to capitalise on the stories, hawked modern forgeries and unrelated ancient objects said to come from the tombs of Emesa.
The prompt intervention of el-Kader, who investigated the finds and interrogated the looters, allowed the finds to be recovered and well-understood. He also led further excavations, as did the French archaeologists Daniel Schlumberger and Henri Seyrig. The tomb in which the helmet was found—labelled tomb number 1, of the 22 in the complex—was a pitted grave with two chambers, one upper and one lower. The lower chamber, constituting the proper tomb, had soil for a floor and rock for walls; it measured 2.2 by 1.25 m (7 ft 3 in by 4 ft 1 in), and was 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) high. Between five and seven eroded basalt beams were placed over the opening connecting the lower chamber with the upper, which was then backfilled to surface level.
Tomb 1 included a rich assortment of objects. As well as the helmet, it contained a gold funerary mask; a gold and turquoise bracelet; an ornate gold ring with a royal bust in relief; a gold ring with carnelian intaglio; a gold appliqué with a sheep's head and a bird's head; a star-shaped fibula; a gold hook; a small tongue of gold; a spearhead decorated with gold; a silver vase; and a triangle of glass. The looters may have been incorrect in also attributing 19 gold plaques to the tomb, as these were seemingly identical to those from tomb 11. Decorations from the sarcophagus included fragmentary silver rings; 22 gold leaves in repoussé; six masks of Medusa; four rectangles adorned with a lion; four Victories; and eight busts of Apollo. According to Mohammed Moghrabi, who looted tomb 1, the helmet was found next to the skull.
### Restoration
After its discovery, the Emesa helmet underwent several unsuccessful restorations. The primary problem was the oxidisation of the iron core, which created blisters and cracks in the silver covering. Immediately after discovery, the helmet was sent to Paris for restoration by "MM. André père et fils"; only light work was carried out due to the hope that the Syrian climate would help slow the rate of oxidisation, and due to limited funds, but the helmet continued to deteriorate. By 1952, the helmet was described as being significantly more damaged than it had been when excavated, and in urgent need of further work. Eventually it was taken to the British Museum, where a final restoration was finished in 1955. This was done by Herbert Maryon, who in 1946 had reconstructed the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo helmet. In 1956, an account of the process was published by Harold Plenderleith, keeper of the museum's research laboratory. Examination found the silver to be brittle, with cracks that had been filled in by a dark stopping substance. The iron behind the face mask had rusted, putting further stress on the silver and forcing the cracks open by as much as 4 millimetres (0.16 in). The face mask—held on by wire, as the hinge had detached—was therefore removed from the helmet to be worked on.
The rusted iron was cut out from the back of the face mask around the mouth and jaw, where the distortions were greatest. To strengthen the silver enough that it could be manipulated, the mask was placed in an electric furnace, and the temperature raised to 310 °C (590 °F) over three hours; blackened rust was then removed by brushing the mask with 9% oxalic acid, before heating it again, at 600 °C (1,112 °F) for eighteen hours and at 650 °C (1,202 °F) for thirteen. The silver was then cleaned again, on both sides, with silver gauze temporarily soldered over the cracks in the back to allow the front to be wiped down. The gauze was removed, the silver manipulated to close the cracks, and new gauze installed, permanently, using soft solder. Thin lines of solder showing through the closed cracks were concealed with a surface coating of applied silver. Finally, the iron that had been removed to expose the back of the silver was cleaned and placed back in position. Although a few cracks remained visible higher up on the face mask, they were closed, as the iron behind them was sound and not exerting pressure, yet would have to be removed for restoration to occur.
### Display
After restoration at the British Museum, the helmet was displayed in the museum's King Edward Gallery as a month-long loan from 25 April 1955, then returned to Damascus. From 1999 to 2002 the helmet was part of a travelling exhibition, Syria: Land of Civilizations, with stops in Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. In 2017 the National Museum reopened after closing during the Syrian Civil War, but with the more valuable objects still hidden in underground storage.
## Typology
The helmet is dated to the first half of the first century AD, based on the style of the acanthus scroll on the back of the helmet, and other objects found with the helmet and in the tombs nearby. It is the earliest known Roman helmet with a face mask, and is broadly classified as a cavalry sports helmet—type D, according to the typology put forward by H. Russell Robinson. Type D helmets are characterised by a single horizontal hinge attaching the face mask to the head piece, and by head pieces that are decorated to represent helmets. Several type D examples exist, such as the Nijmegen helmet, but unlike these, the Emesa helmet was probably never intended for sporting use. It may instead have been given as a gift by a Roman official to a general of the ruling family of Emesa, or manufactured in Syria to the likeness of helmets seen during Roman tournaments. The latter circumstance is thought more likely, for the acanthus ornamentation resembles that seen on Syrian temples. The helmet may therefore have been commissioned from the workshops of Antioch, known for their luxury.
## See also
- Necropolis of Emesa
- Tomb of Sampsigeramus – which belonged to the same necropolis |
10,264 | Enrico Fermi | 1,173,846,320 | Italian-American physicist (1901–1954) | [
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| Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and later naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical physics and experimental physics. Fermi was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and for the discovery of transuranium elements. With his colleagues, Fermi filed several patents related to the use of nuclear power, all of which were taken over by the US government. He made significant contributions to the development of statistical mechanics, quantum theory, and nuclear and particle physics.
Fermi's first major contribution involved the field of statistical mechanics. After Wolfgang Pauli formulated his exclusion principle in 1925, Fermi followed with a paper in which he applied the principle to an ideal gas, employing a statistical formulation now known as Fermi–Dirac statistics. Today, particles that obey the exclusion principle are called "fermions". Pauli later postulated the existence of an uncharged invisible particle emitted along with an electron during beta decay, to satisfy the law of conservation of energy. Fermi took up this idea, developing a model that incorporated the postulated particle, which he named the "neutrino". His theory, later referred to as Fermi's interaction and now called weak interaction, described one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. Through experiments inducing radioactivity with the recently discovered neutron, Fermi discovered that slow neutrons were more easily captured by atomic nuclei than fast ones, and he developed the Fermi age equation to describe this. After bombarding thorium and uranium with slow neutrons, he concluded that he had created new elements. Although he was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery, the new elements were later revealed to be nuclear fission products.
Fermi left Italy in 1938 to escape new Italian racial laws that affected his Jewish wife, Laura Capon. He emigrated to the United States, where he worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. Fermi led the team at the University of Chicago that designed and built Chicago Pile-1, which went critical on 2 December 1942, demonstrating the first human-created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. He was on hand when the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee went critical in 1943, and when the B Reactor at the Hanford Site did so the next year. At Los Alamos, he headed F Division, part of which worked on Edward Teller's thermonuclear "Super" bomb. He was present at the Trinity test on 16 July 1945, where he used his Fermi method to estimate the bomb's yield.
After the war, Fermi served under J. Robert Oppenheimer on the General Advisory Committee, which advised the Atomic Energy Commission on nuclear matters. After the detonation of the first Soviet fission bomb in August 1949, he strongly opposed the development of a hydrogen bomb on both moral and technical grounds. He was among the scientists who testified on Oppenheimer's behalf at the 1954 hearing that resulted in the denial of Oppenheimer's security clearance.
Fermi did important work in particle physics, especially related to pions and muons, and he speculated that cosmic rays arose when material was accelerated by magnetic fields in interstellar space. Many awards, concepts, and institutions are named after Fermi, including the Enrico Fermi Award, the Enrico Fermi Institute, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Fermi paradox, and the synthetic element fermium, making him one of 16 scientists who have elements named after them.
## Early life
Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on 29 September 1901. He was the third child of Alberto Fermi, a division head in the Ministry of Railways, and Ida de Gattis, an elementary school teacher. His sister, Maria, was two years older, his brother Giulio a year older. After the two boys were sent to a rural community to be wet nursed, Enrico rejoined his family in Rome when he was two and a half. Although he was baptized a Roman Catholic in accordance with his grandparents' wishes, his family was not particularly religious; He continued to pray throughout his life and attached great importance to the idea of God. As a young boy, he shared the same interests as his brother Giulio, building electric motors and playing with electrical and mechanical toys. Giulio died during an operation on a throat abscess in 1915 and Maria died in an airplane crash near Milan in 1959.
At a local market in Campo de' Fiori, Fermi found a physics book, the 900-page Elementorum physicae mathematicae. Written in Latin by Jesuit Father Andrea Caraffa [it], a professor at the Collegio Romano, it presented mathematics, classical mechanics, astronomy, optics, and acoustics as they were understood at the time of its 1840 publication. With a scientifically inclined friend, Enrico Persico, Fermi pursued projects such as building gyroscopes and measuring the acceleration of Earth's gravity.
In 1914, Fermi, who used to often meet with his father in front of the office after work, met a colleague of his father called Adolfo Amidei, who would walk part of the way home with Alberto. Enrico had learned that Adolfo was interested in mathematics and physics and took the opportunity to ask Adolfo a question about geometry. Adolfo understood that the young Fermi was referring to projective geometry and then proceeded to give him a book on the subject written by Theodor Reye. Two months later, Fermi returned the book, having solved all the problems proposed at the end of the book, some of which Adolfo considered difficult. Upon verifying this, Adolfo felt that Fermi was "a prodigy, at least with respect to geometry", and further mentored the boy, providing him with more books on physics and mathematics. Adolfo noted that Fermi had a very good memory and thus could return the books after having read them because he could remember their content very well.
## Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa
Fermi graduated from high school in July 1918, having skipped the third year entirely. At Amidei's urging, Fermi learned German to be able to read the many scientific papers that were published in that language at the time, and he applied to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. Amidei felt that the Scuola would provide better conditions for Fermi's development than the Sapienza University of Rome could at the time. Having lost one son, Fermi's parents only reluctantly allowed him to live in the school's lodgings away from Rome for four years. Fermi took first place in the difficult entrance exam, which included an essay on the theme of "Specific characteristics of Sounds"; the 17-year-old Fermi chose to use Fourier analysis to derive and solve the partial differential equation for a vibrating rod, and after interviewing Fermi the examiner declared he would become an outstanding physicist.
At the Scuola Normale Superiore, Fermi played pranks with fellow student Franco Rasetti; the two became close friends and collaborators. Fermi was advised by Luigi Puccianti, director of the physics laboratory, who said there was little he could teach Fermi and often asked Fermi to teach him something instead. Fermi's knowledge of quantum physics was such that Puccianti asked him to organize seminars on the topic. During this time Fermi learned tensor calculus, a technique key to general relativity. Fermi initially chose mathematics as his major, but soon switched to physics. He remained largely self-taught, studying general relativity, quantum mechanics, and atomic physics.
In September 1920, Fermi was admitted to the physics department. Since there were only three students in the department—Fermi, Rasetti, and Nello Carrara—Puccianti let them freely use the laboratory for whatever purposes they chose. Fermi decided that they should research X-ray crystallography, and the three worked to produce a Laue photograph—an X-ray photograph of a crystal. During 1921, his third year at the university, Fermi published his first scientific works in the Italian journal Nuovo Cimento. The first was entitled "On the dynamics of a rigid system of electrical charges in translational motion" (Sulla dinamica di un sistema rigido di cariche elettriche in moto traslatorio). A sign of things to come was that the mass was expressed as a tensor—a mathematical construct commonly used to describe something moving and changing in three-dimensional space. In classical mechanics, mass is a scalar quantity, but in relativity, it changes with velocity. The second paper was "On the electrostatics of a uniform gravitational field of electromagnetic charges and on the weight of electromagnetic charges" (Sull'elettrostatica di un campo gravitazionale uniforme e sul peso delle masse elettromagnetiche). Using general relativity, Fermi showed that a charge has a weight equal to U/c<sup>2</sup>, where U was the electrostatic energy of the system, and c is the speed of light.
The first paper seemed to point out a contradiction between the electrodynamic theory and the relativistic one concerning the calculation of the electromagnetic masses, as the former predicted a value of 4/3 U/c<sup>2</sup>. Fermi addressed this the next year in a paper "Concerning a contradiction between electrodynamic and the relativistic theory of electromagnetic mass" in which he showed that the apparent contradiction was a consequence of relativity. This paper was sufficiently well-regarded that it was translated into German and published in the German scientific journal Physikalische Zeitschrift in 1922. That year, Fermi submitted his article "On the phenomena occurring near a world line" (Sopra i fenomeni che avvengono in vicinanza di una linea oraria) to the Italian journal I Rendiconti dell'Accademia dei Lincei [it]. In this article he examined the Principle of Equivalence, and introduced the so-called "Fermi coordinates". He proved that on a world line close to the timeline, space behaves as if it were a Euclidean space.
Fermi submitted his thesis, "A theorem on probability and some of its applications" (Un teorema di calcolo delle probabilità ed alcune sue applicazioni), to the Scuola Normale Superiore in July 1922, and received his laurea at the unusually young age of 20. The thesis was on X-ray diffraction images. Theoretical physics was not yet considered a discipline in Italy, and the only thesis that would have been accepted was experimental physics. For this reason, Italian physicists were slow in embracing the new ideas like relativity coming from Germany. Since Fermi was quite at home in the lab doing experimental work, this did not pose insurmountable problems for him.
While writing the appendix for the Italian edition of the book Fundamentals of Einstein Relativity by August Kopff in 1923, Fermi was the first to point out that hidden inside the Einstein equation (E = mc<sup>2</sup>) was an enormous amount of nuclear potential energy to be exploited. "It does not seem possible, at least in the near future", he wrote, "to find a way to release these dreadful amounts of energy—which is all to the good because the first effect of an explosion of such a dreadful amount of energy would be to smash into smithereens the physicist who had the misfortune to find a way to do it."
In 1924, Fermi was initiated into the Masonic Lodge "Adriano Lemmi" of the Grand Orient of Italy.
In 1923–1924, Fermi spent a semester studying under Max Born at the University of Göttingen, where he met Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan. Fermi then studied in Leiden with Paul Ehrenfest from September to December 1924 on a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation obtained through the intercession of the mathematician Vito Volterra. Here Fermi met Hendrik Lorentz and Albert Einstein, and became friends with Samuel Goudsmit and Jan Tinbergen. From January 1925 to late 1926, Fermi taught mathematical physics and theoretical mechanics at the University of Florence, where he teamed up with Rasetti to conduct a series of experiments on the effects of magnetic fields on mercury vapor. He also participated in seminars at the Sapienza University of Rome, giving lectures on quantum mechanics and solid state physics. While giving lectures on the new quantum mechanics based on the remarkable accuracy of predictions of the Schrödinger equation, Fermi would often say, "It has no business to fit so well!"
After Wolfgang Pauli announced his exclusion principle in 1925, Fermi responded with a paper "On the quantization of the perfect monoatomic gas" (Sulla quantizzazione del gas perfetto monoatomico), in which he applied the exclusion principle to an ideal gas. The paper was especially notable for Fermi's statistical formulation, which describes the distribution of particles in systems of many identical particles that obey the exclusion principle. This was independently developed soon after by the British physicist Paul Dirac, who also showed how it was related to the Bose–Einstein statistics. Accordingly, it is now known as Fermi–Dirac statistics. After Dirac, particles that obey the exclusion principle are today called "fermions", while those that do not are called "bosons".
## Professor in Rome
Professorships in Italy were granted by competition (concorso) for a vacant chair, the applicants being rated on their publications by a committee of professors. Fermi applied for a chair of mathematical physics at the University of Cagliari on Sardinia, but was narrowly passed over in favour of Giovanni Giorgi. In 1926, at the age of 24, he applied for a professorship at the Sapienza University of Rome. This was a new chair, one of the first three in theoretical physics in Italy, that had been created by the Minister of Education at the urging of professor Orso Mario Corbino, who was the university's professor of experimental physics, the director of the Institute of Physics, and a member of Benito Mussolini's cabinet. Corbino, who also chaired the selection committee, hoped that the new chair would raise the standard and reputation of physics in Italy. The committee chose Fermi ahead of Enrico Persico and Aldo Pontremoli, and Corbino helped Fermi recruit his team, which was soon joined by notable students such as Edoardo Amaldi, Bruno Pontecorvo, Ettore Majorana and Emilio Segrè, and by Franco Rasetti, whom Fermi had appointed as his assistant. They soon nicknamed the "Via Panisperna boys" after the street where the Institute of Physics was located.
Fermi married Laura Capon, a science student at the university, on 19 July 1928. They had two children: Nella, born in January 1931, and Giulio, born in February 1936. On 18 March 1929, Fermi was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Italy by Mussolini, and on 27 April he joined the Fascist Party. He later opposed Fascism when the 1938 racial laws were promulgated by Mussolini in order to bring Italian Fascism ideologically closer to German Nazism. These laws threatened Laura, who was Jewish, and put many of Fermi's research assistants out of work.
During their time in Rome, Fermi and his group made important contributions to many practical and theoretical aspects of physics. In 1928, he published his Introduction to Atomic Physics (Introduzione alla fisica atomica), which provided Italian university students with an up-to-date and accessible text. Fermi also conducted public lectures and wrote popular articles for scientists and teachers in order to spread knowledge of the new physics as widely as possible. Part of his teaching method was to gather his colleagues and graduate students together at the end of the day and go over a problem, often from his own research. A sign of success was that foreign students now began to come to Italy. The most notable of these was the German physicist Hans Bethe, who came to Rome as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, and collaborated with Fermi on a 1932 paper "On the Interaction between Two Electrons" (German: Über die Wechselwirkung von Zwei Elektronen).
At this time, physicists were puzzled by beta decay, in which an electron was emitted from the atomic nucleus. To satisfy the law of conservation of energy, Pauli postulated the existence of an invisible particle with no charge and little or no mass that was also emitted at the same time. Fermi took up this idea, which he developed in a tentative paper in 1933, and then a longer paper the next year that incorporated the postulated particle, which Fermi called a "neutrino". His theory, later referred to as Fermi's interaction, and still later as the theory of the weak interaction, described one of the four fundamental forces of nature. The neutrino was detected after his death, and his interaction theory showed why it was so difficult to detect. When he submitted his paper to the British journal Nature, that journal's editor turned it down because it contained speculations which were "too remote from physical reality to be of interest to readers". Thus Fermi saw the theory published in Italian and German before it was published in English.
In the introduction to the 1968 English translation, physicist Fred L. Wilson noted that:
> Fermi's theory, aside from bolstering Pauli's proposal of the neutrino, has a special significance in the history of modern physics. One must remember that only the naturally occurring β emitters were known at the time the theory was proposed. Later when positron decay was discovered, the process was easily incorporated within Fermi's original framework. On the basis of his theory, the capture of an orbital electron by a nucleus was predicted and eventually observed. With time, experimental data accumulated significantly. Although peculiarities have been observed many times in β decay, Fermi's theory always has been equal to the challenge.
> The consequences of the Fermi theory are vast. For example, β spectroscopy was established as a powerful tool for the study of nuclear structure. But perhaps the most influential aspect of this work of Fermi is that his particular form of the β interaction established a pattern that has been appropriate for the study of other types of interactions. It was the first successful theory of the creation and annihilation of material particles. Previously, only photons had been known to be created and destroyed.
In January 1934, Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot announced that they had bombarded elements with alpha particles and induced radioactivity in them. By March, Fermi's assistant Gian-Carlo Wick had provided a theoretical explanation using Fermi's theory of beta decay. Fermi decided to switch to experimental physics, using the neutron, which James Chadwick had discovered in 1932. In March 1934, Fermi wanted to see if he could induce radioactivity with Rasetti's polonium-beryllium neutron source. Neutrons had no electric charge, and so would not be deflected by the positively charged nucleus. This meant that they needed much less energy to penetrate the nucleus than charged particles, and so would not require a particle accelerator, which the Via Panisperna boys did not have.
Fermi had the idea to resort to replacing the polonium-beryllium neutron source with a radon-beryllium one, which he created by filling a glass bulb with beryllium powder, evacuating the air, and then adding 50 mCi of radon gas, supplied by Giulio Cesare Trabacchi. This created a much stronger neutron source, the effectiveness of which declined with the 3.8-day half-life of radon. He knew that this source would also emit gamma rays, but, on the basis of his theory, he believed that this would not affect the results of the experiment. He started by bombarding platinum, an element with a high atomic number that was readily available, without success. He turned to aluminium, which emitted an alpha particle and produced sodium, which then decayed into magnesium by beta particle emission. He tried lead, without success, and then fluorine in the form of calcium fluoride, which emitted an alpha particle and produced nitrogen, decaying into oxygen by beta particle emission. In all, he induced radioactivity in 22 different elements. Fermi rapidly reported the discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity in the Italian journal La Ricerca Scientifica on 25 March 1934.
The natural radioactivity of thorium and uranium made it hard to determine what was happening when these elements were bombarded with neutrons but, after correctly eliminating the presence of elements lighter than uranium but heavier than lead, Fermi concluded that they had created new elements, which he called hesperium and ausonium. The chemist Ida Noddack suggested that some of the experiments could have produced lighter elements than lead rather than new, heavier elements. Her suggestion was not taken seriously at the time because her team had not carried out any experiments with uranium or built the theoretical basis for this possibility. At that time, fission was thought to be improbable if not impossible on theoretical grounds. While physicists expected elements with higher atomic numbers to form from neutron bombardment of lighter elements, nobody expected neutrons to have enough energy to split a heavier atom into two light element fragments in the manner that Noddack suggested.
The Via Panisperna boys also noticed some unexplained effects. The experiment seemed to work better on a wooden table than on a marble tabletop. Fermi remembered that Joliot-Curie and Chadwick had noted that paraffin wax was effective at slowing neutrons, so he decided to try that. When neutrons were passed through paraffin wax, they induced a hundred times as much radioactivity in silver compared with when it was bombarded without the paraffin. Fermi guessed that this was due to the hydrogen atoms in the paraffin. Those in wood similarly explained the difference between the wooden and the marble tabletops. This was confirmed by repeating the effect with water. He concluded that collisions with hydrogen atoms slowed the neutrons. The lower the atomic number of the nucleus it collides with, the more energy a neutron loses per collision, and therefore the fewer collisions that are required to slow a neutron down by a given amount. Fermi realised that this induced more radioactivity because slow neutrons were more easily captured than fast ones. He developed a diffusion equation to describe this, which became known as the Fermi age equation.
In 1938, Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 37 for his "demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons". After Fermi received the prize in Stockholm, he did not return home to Italy but rather continued to New York City with his family in December 1938, where they applied for permanent residency. The decision to move to America and become US citizens was due primarily to the racial laws in Italy.
## Manhattan Project
Fermi arrived in New York City on 2 January 1939. He was immediately offered positions at five universities, and accepted one at Columbia University, where he had already given summer lectures in 1936. He received the news that in December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had detected the element barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons, which Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch correctly interpreted as the result of nuclear fission. Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. The news of Meitner and Frisch's interpretation of Hahn and Strassmann's discovery crossed the Atlantic with Niels Bohr, who was to lecture at Princeton University. Isidor Isaac Rabi and Willis Lamb, two Columbia University physicists working at Princeton, found out about it and carried it back to Columbia. Rabi said he told Enrico Fermi, but Fermi later gave the credit to Lamb:
> I remember very vividly the first month, January, 1939, that I started working at the Pupin Laboratories because things began happening very fast. In that period, Niels Bohr was on a lecture engagement at the Princeton University and I remember one afternoon Willis Lamb came back very excited and said that Bohr had leaked out great news. The great news that had leaked out was the discovery of fission and at least the outline of its interpretation. Then, somewhat later that same month, there was a meeting in Washington where the possible importance of the newly discovered phenomenon of fission was first discussed in semi-jocular earnest as a possible source of nuclear power.
Noddack was proven right after all. Fermi had dismissed the possibility of fission on the basis of his calculations, but he had not taken into account the binding energy that would appear when a nuclide with an odd number of neutrons absorbed an extra neutron. For Fermi, the news came as a profound embarrassment, as the transuranic elements that he had partly been awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering had not been transuranic elements at all, but fission products. He added a footnote to this effect to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
The scientists at Columbia decided that they should try to detect the energy released in the nuclear fission of uranium when bombarded by neutrons. On 25 January 1939, in the basement of Pupin Hall at Columbia, an experimental team including Fermi conducted the first nuclear fission experiment in the United States. The other members of the team were Herbert L. Anderson, Eugene T. Booth, John R. Dunning, G. Norris Glasoe, and Francis G. Slack. The next day, the Fifth Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics began in Washington, D.C. under the joint auspices of George Washington University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. There, the news on nuclear fission was spread even further, fostering many more experimental demonstrations.
French scientists Hans von Halban, Lew Kowarski, and Frédéric Joliot-Curie had demonstrated that uranium bombarded by neutrons emitted more neutrons than it absorbed, suggesting the possibility of a chain reaction. Fermi and Anderson did so too a few weeks later. Leó Szilárd obtained 200 kilograms (440 lb) of uranium oxide from Canadian radium producer Eldorado Gold Mines Limited, allowing Fermi and Anderson to conduct experiments with fission on a much larger scale. Fermi and Szilárd collaborated on the design of a device to achieve a self-sustaining nuclear reaction—a nuclear reactor. Owing to the rate of absorption of neutrons by the hydrogen in water, it was unlikely that a self-sustaining reaction could be achieved with natural uranium and water as a neutron moderator. Fermi suggested, based on his work with neutrons, that the reaction could be achieved with uranium oxide blocks and graphite as a moderator instead of water. This would reduce the neutron capture rate, and in theory make a self-sustaining chain reaction possible. Szilárd came up with a workable design: a pile of uranium oxide blocks interspersed with graphite bricks. Szilárd, Anderson, and Fermi published a paper on "Neutron Production in Uranium". But their work habits and personalities were different, and Fermi had trouble working with Szilárd.
Fermi was among the first to warn military leaders about the potential impact of nuclear energy, giving a lecture on the subject at the Navy Department on 18 March 1939. The response fell short of what he had hoped for, although the Navy agreed to provide \$1,500 towards further research at Columbia. Later that year, Szilárd, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller sent the letter signed by Einstein to US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Nazi Germany was likely to build an atomic bomb. In response, Roosevelt formed the Advisory Committee on Uranium to investigate the matter.
The Advisory Committee on Uranium provided money for Fermi to buy graphite, and he built a pile of graphite bricks on the seventh floor of the Pupin Hall laboratory. By August 1941, he had six tons of uranium oxide and thirty tons of graphite, which he used to build a still larger pile in Schermerhorn Hall at Columbia.
The S-1 Section of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, as the Advisory Committee on Uranium was now known, met on 18 December 1941, with the US now engaged in World War II, making its work urgent. Most of the effort sponsored by the committee had been directed at producing enriched uranium, but Committee member Arthur Compton determined that a feasible alternative was plutonium, which could be mass-produced in nuclear reactors by the end of 1944. He decided to concentrate the plutonium work at the University of Chicago. Fermi reluctantly moved, and his team became part of the new Metallurgical Laboratory there.
The possible results of a self-sustaining nuclear reaction were unknown, so it seemed inadvisable to build the first nuclear reactor on the University of Chicago campus in the middle of the city. Compton found a location in the Argonne Woods Forest Preserve, about 20 miles (32 km) from Chicago. Stone & Webster was contracted to develop the site, but the work was halted by an industrial dispute. Fermi then persuaded Compton that he could build the reactor in the squash court under the stands of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field. Construction of the pile began on 6 November 1942, and Chicago Pile-1 went critical on 2 December. The shape of the pile was intended to be roughly spherical, but as work proceeded Fermi calculated that criticality could be achieved without finishing the entire pile as planned.
This experiment was a landmark in the quest for energy, and it was typical of Fermi's approach. Every step was carefully planned, and every calculation was meticulously done. When the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was achieved, Compton made a coded phone call to James B. Conant, the chairman of the National Defense Research Committee.
> I picked up the phone and called Conant. He was reached at the President's office at Harvard University. "Jim," I said, "you'll be interested to know that the Italian navigator has just landed in the new world." Then, half apologetically, because I had led the S-l Committee to believe that it would be another week or more before the pile could be completed, I added, "the earth was not as large as he had estimated, and he arrived at the new world sooner than he had expected."
>
> "Is that so," was Conant's excited response. "Were the natives friendly?" "Everyone landed safe and happy."
To continue the research where it would not pose a public health hazard, the reactor was disassembled and moved to the Argonne Woods site. There Fermi directed experiments on nuclear reactions, reveling in the opportunities provided by the reactor's abundant production of free neutrons. The laboratory soon branched out from physics and engineering into using the reactor for biological and medical research. Initially, Argonne was run by Fermi as part of the University of Chicago, but it became a separate entity with Fermi as its director in May 1944.
When the air-cooled X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge went critical on 4 November 1943, Fermi was on hand just in case something went wrong. The technicians woke him early so that he could see it happen. Getting X-10 operational was another milestone in the plutonium project. It provided data on reactor design, training for DuPont staff in reactor operation, and produced the first small quantities of reactor-bred plutonium. Fermi became an American citizen in July 1944, the earliest date the law allowed.
In September 1944, Fermi inserted the first uranium fuel slug into the B Reactor at the Hanford Site, the production reactor designed to breed plutonium in large quantities. Like X-10, it had been designed by Fermi's team at the Metallurgical Laboratory and built by DuPont, but it was much larger and was water-cooled. Over the next few days, 838 tubes were loaded, and the reactor went critical. Shortly after midnight on 27 September, the operators began to withdraw the control rods to initiate production. At first, all appeared to be well, but around 03:00, the power level started to drop and by 06:30 the reactor had shut down completely. The Army and DuPont turned to Fermi's team for answers. The cooling water was investigated to see if there was a leak or contamination. The next day the reactor suddenly started up again, only to shut down once more a few hours later. The problem was traced to neutron poisoning from xenon-135 or Xe-135, a fission product with a half-life of 9.1 to 9.4 hours. Fermi and John Wheeler both deduced that Xe-135 was responsible for absorbing neutrons in the reactor, thereby sabotaging the fission process. Fermi was recommended by colleague Emilio Segrè to ask Chien-Shiung Wu, as she prepared a printed draft on this topic to be published by the Physical Review. Upon reading the draft, Fermi and the scientists confirmed their suspicions: Xe-135 indeed absorbed neutrons, in fact it had a huge neutron cross-section. DuPont had deviated from the Metallurgical Laboratory's original design in which the reactor had 1,500 tubes arranged in a circle, and had added 504 tubes to fill in the corners. The scientists had originally considered this over-engineering a waste of time and money, but Fermi realized that if all 2,004 tubes were loaded, the reactor could reach the required power level and efficiently produce plutonium.
In April 1943, Fermi raised with Robert Oppenheimer the possibility of using the radioactive byproducts from enrichment to contaminate the German food supply. The background was fear that the German atomic bomb project was already at an advanced stage, and Fermi was also skeptical at the time that an atomic bomb could be developed quickly enough. Oppenheimer discussed the "promising" proposal with Edward Teller, who suggested the use of strontium-90. James B. Conant and Leslie Groves were also briefed, but Oppenheimer wanted to proceed with the plan only if enough food could be contaminated with the weapon to kill half a million people.
In mid-1944, Oppenheimer persuaded Fermi to join his Project Y at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Arriving in September, Fermi was appointed an associate director of the laboratory, with broad responsibility for nuclear and theoretical physics, and was placed in charge of F Division, which was named after him. F Division had four branches: F-1 Super and General Theory under Teller, which investigated the "Super" (thermonuclear) bomb; F-2 Water Boiler under L. D. P. King, which looked after the "water boiler" aqueous homogeneous research reactor; F-3 Super Experimentation under Egon Bretscher; and F-4 Fission Studies under Anderson. Fermi observed the Trinity test on 16 July 1945 and conducted an experiment to estimate the bomb's yield by dropping strips of paper into the blast wave. He paced off the distance they were blown by the explosion, and calculated the yield as ten kilotons of TNT; the actual yield was about 18.6 kilotons.
Along with Oppenheimer, Compton, and Ernest Lawrence, Fermi was part of the scientific panel that advised the Interim Committee on target selection. The panel agreed with the committee that atomic bombs would be used without warning against an industrial target. Like others at the Los Alamos Laboratory, Fermi found out about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the public address system in the technical area. Fermi did not believe that atomic bombs would deter nations from starting wars, nor did he think that the time was ripe for world government. He therefore did not join the Association of Los Alamos Scientists.
## Postwar work
Fermi became the Charles H. Swift Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago on 1 July 1945, although he did not depart the Los Alamos Laboratory with his family until 31 December 1945. He was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1945. The Metallurgical Laboratory became the Argonne National Laboratory on 1 July 1946, the first of the national laboratories established by the Manhattan Project. The short distance between Chicago and Argonne allowed Fermi to work at both places. At Argonne he continued experimental physics, investigating neutron scattering with Leona Marshall. He also discussed theoretical physics with Maria Mayer, helping her develop insights into spin–orbit coupling that would lead to her receiving the Nobel Prize.
The Manhattan Project was replaced by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on 1 January 1947. Fermi served on the AEC General Advisory Committee, an influential scientific committee chaired by Robert Oppenheimer. He also liked to spend a few weeks each year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he collaborated with Nicholas Metropolis, and with John von Neumann on Rayleigh–Taylor instability, the science of what occurs at the border between two fluids of different densities.
After the detonation of the first Soviet fission bomb in August 1949, Fermi, along with Isidor Rabi, wrote a strongly worded report for the committee, opposing the development of a hydrogen bomb on moral and technical grounds. Nonetheless, Fermi continued to participate in work on the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos as a consultant. Along with Stanislaw Ulam, he calculated that not only would the amount of tritium needed for Teller's model of a thermonuclear weapon be prohibitive, but a fusion reaction could still not be assured to propagate even with this large quantity of tritium. Fermi was among the scientists who testified on Oppenheimer's behalf at the Oppenheimer security hearing in 1954 that resulted in the denial of Oppenheimer's security clearance.
In his later years, Fermi continued teaching at the University of Chicago, where he was a founder of what later became the Enrico Fermi Institute. His PhD students in the postwar period included Owen Chamberlain, Geoffrey Chew, Jerome Friedman, Marvin Goldberger, Tsung-Dao Lee, Arthur Rosenfeld and Sam Treiman. Jack Steinberger was a graduate student, and Mildred Dresselhaus was highly influenced by Fermi during the year she overlapped with him as a PhD student. Fermi conducted important research in particle physics, especially related to pions and muons. He made the first predictions of pion-nucleon resonance, relying on statistical methods, since he reasoned that exact answers were not required when the theory was wrong anyway. In a paper coauthored with Chen Ning Yang, he speculated that pions might actually be composite particles. The idea was elaborated by Shoichi Sakata. It has since been supplanted by the quark model, in which the pion is made up of quarks, which completed Fermi's model, and vindicated his approach.
Fermi wrote a paper "On the Origin of Cosmic Radiation" in which he proposed that cosmic rays arose through material being accelerated by magnetic fields in interstellar space, which led to a difference of opinion with Teller. Fermi examined the issues surrounding magnetic fields in the arms of a spiral galaxy. He mused about what is now referred to as the "Fermi paradox": the contradiction between the presumed probability of the existence of extraterrestrial life and the fact that contact has not been made.
Toward the end of his life, Fermi questioned his faith in society at large to make wise choices about nuclear technology. He said:
> Some of you may ask, what is the good of working so hard merely to collect a few facts which will bring no pleasure except to a few long-haired professors who love to collect such things and will be of no use to anybody because only few specialists at best will be able to understand them? In answer to such question[s] I may venture a fairly safe prediction.
>
> The history of science and technology has consistently taught us that scientific advances in basic understanding have sooner or later led to technical and industrial applications that have revolutionized our way of life. It seems to me improbable that this effort to get at the structure of matter should be an exception to this rule. What is less certain, and what we all fervently hope, is that man will soon grow sufficiently adult to make good use of the powers that he acquires over nature.
## Death
Fermi underwent what was called an "exploratory" operation in Billings Memorial Hospital in October 1954, after which he returned home. Fifty days later he died of inoperable stomach cancer in his home in Chicago. He was 53. Fermi suspected working near the nuclear pile involved great risk but he pressed on because the benefits outweighed the risks to his personal safety. Two of his graduate student assistants working near the pile also died of cancer.
A memorial service was held at the University of Chicago chapel, where colleagues Samuel K. Allison, Emilio Segrè, and Herbert L. Anderson spoke to mourn the loss of one of the world's "most brilliant and productive physicists." His body was interred at Oak Woods Cemetery where a private graveside service for the immediate family took place presided by a Lutheran chaplain.
## Impact and legacy
### Legacy
Fermi received numerous awards in recognition of his achievements, including the Matteucci Medal in 1926, the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938, the Hughes Medal in 1942, the Franklin Medal in 1947, and the Rumford Prize in 1953. He was awarded the Medal for Merit in 1946 for his contribution to the Manhattan Project. Fermi was elected member of the American Philosophical Society in 1939 and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1950. The Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, known as the Temple of Italian Glories for its many graves of artists, scientists and prominent figures in Italian history, has a plaque commemorating Fermi. In 1999, Time named Fermi on its list of the top 100 persons of the twentieth century. Fermi was widely regarded as an unusual case of a 20th-century physicist who excelled both theoretically and experimentally. Chemist and novelist C. P. Snow wrote, "if Fermi had been born a few years earlier, one could well imagine him discovering Rutherford's atomic nucleus, and then developing Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom. If this sounds like hyperbole, anything about Fermi is likely to sound like hyperbole".
Fermi was known as an inspiring teacher and was noted for his attention to detail, simplicity, and careful preparation of his lectures. Later, his lecture notes were transcribed into books. His papers and notebooks are today in the University of Chicago. Victor Weisskopf noted how Fermi "always managed to find the simplest and most direct approach, with the minimum of complication and sophistication." He disliked complicated theories, and while he had great mathematical ability, he would never use it when the job could be done much more simply. He was famous for getting quick and accurate answers to problems that would stump other people. Later on, his method of getting approximate and quick answers through back-of-the-envelope calculations became informally known as the "Fermi method", and is widely taught.
Fermi was fond of pointing out that when Alessandro Volta was working in his laboratory, Volta had no idea where the study of electricity would lead. Fermi is generally remembered for his work on nuclear power and nuclear weapons, especially the creation of the first nuclear reactor, and the development of the first atomic and hydrogen bombs. His scientific work has stood the test of time. This includes his theory of beta decay, his work with non-linear systems, his discovery of the effects of slow neutrons, his study of pion-nucleon collisions, and his Fermi–Dirac statistics. His speculation that a pion was not a fundamental particle pointed the way towards the study of quarks and leptons.
### Things named after Fermi
Many things bear Fermi's name. These include the Fermilab particle accelerator and physics lab in Batavia, Illinois, which was renamed in his honor in 1974, and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which was named after him in 2008, in recognition of his work on cosmic rays. Three nuclear reactor installations have been named after him: the Fermi 1 and Fermi 2 nuclear power plants in Newport, Michigan, the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant at Trino Vercellese in Italy, and the RA-1 Enrico Fermi research reactor in Argentina. A synthetic element isolated from the debris of the 1952 Ivy Mike nuclear test was named fermium, in honor of Fermi's contributions to the scientific community. This makes him one of 16 scientists who have elements named after them.
Since 1956, the United States Atomic Energy Commission has named its highest honor, the Fermi Award, after him. Recipients of the award have included Otto Hahn, Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller and Hans Bethe.
## Publications
- (with Edoardo Amaldi)
For a full list of his papers, see pages 75–78 in ref.
## Patents |
35,243,387 | Themes in Maya Angelou's autobiographies | 1,163,903,181 | Themes including racism, identity, family, and travel | [
"Literary autobiographies",
"Maya Angelou",
"Themes of writers' works"
]
| The themes encompassed in African-American writer Maya Angelou's seven autobiographies include racism, identity, family, and travel. Angelou (1928–2014) is best known for her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). The rest of the books in her series are Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), and Mom & Me & Mom (2013).
Beginning with Caged Bird and ending with her final autobiography, Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird (which represents the confinement of racism and depression) struggling to escape its cage, as described in the Paul Laurence Dunbar poem "Sympathy". Angelou's autobiographies can be placed in the African-American literature tradition of political protest. Their unity underscores one of Angelou's central themes: the injustice of racism and how to fight it. According to scholar Pierre A. Walker, all of Angelou's books describe "a sequence of lessons about resisting racist oppression". In the course of her autobiographies, her views about Black-white relationships changed and she learned to accept different points of view. Angelou's theme of identity was established from the beginning of her autobiographies, with the opening lines in Caged Bird, and like other female writers in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she used the autobiography to reimagine ways of writing about women's lives and identities in a male-dominated society. Her original goal was to write about the lives of Black women in America, but it evolved in her later volumes to document the ups and downs of her own personal and professional life.
The theme of family and family relationships—from the character-defining experience of Angelou's parents' abandonment in Caged Bird to her relationships with her son, husbands, friends, and lovers—are important in all of her books. As in American autobiography generally and in African-American autobiography specifically, which has its roots in the slave narrative, travel is another important theme in Angelou's autobiographies. Scholar Yolanda M. Manora called the travel motif in Angelou's autobiographies, beginning in Caged Bird, "a central metaphor for a psychic mobility". Angelou's autobiographies "stretch time and place", from Arkansas to Africa and back to the US, and span almost forty years, beginning from the start of World War II to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
## Overview
Before writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings at the age of forty, Maya Angelou had a long and varied career, holding jobs such as composer, singer, actor, civil rights worker, journalist, and educator. In the late 1950s, she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where she met a number of important African-American authors, including her friend and mentor James Baldwin. After hearing civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak for the first time in 1960, she was inspired to join the Civil Rights Movement. She organized several benefits for him, and he named her Northern Coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She worked for several years in Ghana, West Africa, as a journalist, actress, and educator. She was invited back to the US by Malcolm X to work for him shortly before his assassination in 1965. In 1968, King asked her to organize a march, but he too was assassinated on April 4, which also happened to be her birthday.
Angelou was deeply depressed in the months following King's assassination, so to help lift her spirits, Baldwin brought her to a dinner party at the home of cartoonist Jules Feiffer and his wife Judy in late 1968. The guests began telling stories of their childhoods and Angelou's stories impressed Judy Feiffer. The next day she called Robert Loomis at Random House, who became Angelou's editor throughout her long writing career until he retired in 2011, and "told him that he ought to get this woman to write a book". At first, Angelou refused, since she thought of herself as a poet and playwright. According to Angelou, Baldwin had a "covert hand" in getting her to write the book, and advised Loomis to use "a little reverse psychology", and reported that Loomis tricked her into it by daring her: "It's just as well", he said, "because to write an autobiography as literature is just about impossible". Angelou was unable to resist a challenge, and she began writing Caged Bird.
Angelou did not write Caged Bird with the intention of writing a series of autobiographies, however critics have "judged the subsequent autobiographies in light of the first", with Caged Bird generally receiving the highest praise. Angelou's autobiographies have a distinct style, and "stretch over time and place", from Arkansas to Africa and back to the U.S. They take place from the beginnings of World War II to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. According to scholar Mary Jane Lupton, Angelou's autobiographies have been characterized as autobiographical fiction, but Lupton disagrees, stating that they conform to the genre's standard structure: they are written by a single author, they are chronological, and they contain elements of character, technique, and theme.
Angelou's use of themes, especially that of racism, connects all seven autobiographies. One of her goals, beginning with Caged Bird, was to incorporate "organic unity" into them, and the events she described were episodic, crafted like a series of short stories, and were placed to emphasize the themes of her books. Through the writing of her life stories in her autobiographies, Angelou became recognized and highly respected as a spokesperson for Blacks and women. According to scholar Joanne Braxton, it made her "without a doubt ... America's most visible black woman autobiographer".
Beginning with Caged Bird, Angelou used the same "writing ritual" for many years, for most of her books and poetry. She would get up at five in the morning and check into a hotel room, where the staff were instructed to remove any pictures from the walls. She wrote on yellow legal pads while lying on the bed, with a bottle of sherry, a deck of cards to play solitaire, Roget's Thesaurus, and the Bible, and left by the early afternoon. She averaged 10–12 pages of material a day, which she edited down to three or four pages in the evening. Lupton stated that this ritual indicated "a firmness of purpose and an inflexible use of time". Angelou went through this process to give herself time to turn the events of her life into art, and to "enchant" herself; as she said in a 1989 interview with the BBC, to "relive the agony, the anguish, the Sturm und Drang". She placed herself back in the time she wrote about, even during traumatic experiences like her rape in Caged Bird, to "tell the human truth" about her life. Critic Opal Moore says about Caged Bird: "...Though easily read, [it] is no 'easy read'". Angelou stated that she played cards to reach that place of enchantment, to access her memories more effectively. She has stated, "It may take an hour to get into it, but once I'm in it—ha! It's so delicious!" She did not find the process cathartic; rather, she found relief in "telling the truth".
## Racism
### Caged Bird and Gather Together
Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage described in the Paul Laurence Dunbar poem "Sympathy" throughout all of her autobiographies; she uses the metaphor in the titles of both I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her sixth autobiography A Song Flung Up to Heaven. Like elements within a prison narrative, the "caged bird" represents Angelou's confinement resulting from racism and oppression. This metaphor also invokes the "supposed contradiction of the bird singing in the midst of its struggle". Reviewer Hilton Als observed that Angelou's witnessing of the evil in her society, as directed towards Black women, shaped Angelou's young life and informed her views into adulthood. Scholar Lynn Z. Bloom asserted that Angelou's autobiographies and lectures, which she called "ranging in tone from warmly humorous to bitterly satiric", have gained a respectful and enthusiastic response from the general public and critics.
Reviewer Daisy Aldan of World Literature Today criticized Angelou for harboring "a fanatic hostility expressed toward all white people", but writer Lyman B. Hagen disagreed, stating that like Angelou's friend and mentor Langston Hughes, Angelou explained and illuminated the conditions of African Americans, but without alienating her readers of any race. Hagen also argued that Angelou promotes the importance of hard work, a common theme in slave narratives, throughout all her autobiographies, in order to break stereotypes of laziness associated with African-Americans. For instance, Angelou's description of the strong and cohesive Black community of Stamps demonstrates how African Americans have subverted repressive institutions to withstand racism. Angelou evolved from wishing that she could become white in Caged Bird to being "forced to contend with her blackness".
Critic Pierre A. Walker placed Angelou's autobiographies in the African-American literature tradition of political protest written in the years following the American Civil Rights Movement. He emphasized that the unity of Angelou's autobiographies underscored one of her central themes: the injustice of racism and how to fight it. Angelou's autobiographies, beginning with Caged Bird, consisted of "a sequence of lessons about resisting racist oppression". This sequence led Angelou, as the protagonist, from "helpless rage and indignation to forms of subtle resistance, and finally to outright and active protest". In the course of her work, Angelou changed her views about Black-white relationships and learned to accept different points of view. It was the changes in how she regarded race and her views of white people that provided Angelou with freedom. According to Hagen, one of Angelou's themes was that humans tend to be more alike than different.
Angelou's goal, beginning with Caged Bird, was to "tell the truth about the lives of black women". Like her other autobiographies, she described her living arrangements, how she coped within the context of a larger white society, and the ways that her story played out within that context. Critic Selwyn Cudjoe stated that in Angelou's second autobiography, Gather Together in My Name, Angelou was concerned with the questions of what it meant to be a Black woman in the U.S. in the years immediately following World War II. Written three years after Caged Bird, Gather Together "depicts a single mother's slide down the social ladder into poverty and crime". It begins with a prologue describing the confusion and disillusionment of the African-American community during that time, which matched the alienated and fragmented nature of the main character's life. According to critic Dolly A. McPherson, African Americans were promised a new racial order that never materialized. Angelou also compares and contrasts how she and her grandmother dealt with racism; Angelou with defiance and the pragmatic take of her grandmother, who had learned that defiance was dangerous. In 1971, Angelou published her first volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), which became a bestseller and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. (It was Angelou's early practice to alternate a prose volume with a poetry volume.)
### Singin' and Swingin
Angelou's third autobiography Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976) marked the first time a well-known African-American woman writer had expanded her life story into a third autobiography. She marries a white man, and comes into intimate contact with whites who were very different from the racists she encountered in her childhood. She discovered that her distrust of whites had developed to protect herself from their cruelty and indifference. As McPherson indicated, "Conditioned by earlier experiences, Angelou distrusts everyone, especially whites. Nevertheless, she is repeatedly surprised by the kindness and goodwill of many whites she meets, and, thus, her suspicions begin to soften into understanding". Cudjoe wrote that in Singin' and Swingin''', Angelou effectively demonstrated "the inviolability of the African American personhood", as well as her own closely guarded defense of it. In order for her to have any positive relationships with whites and people of other races; however, McPherson insisted that Angelou "must examine and discard her stereotypical views about Whites". Scholar Lyman B. Hagen agreed and pointed out that Angelou had to re-examine her lingering prejudices when faced with a broader world full of different kinds of white people.
The stories she tells in Singin' and Swingin contain "strong forceful statements that convey firmly her indignation and ire about black displacement". For example, when she marries Tosh Angelos against her mother's advice and wishes, she experiences negative reactions from others. Although Tosh treated her and her son Guy well at the beginning of their marriage, he quickly tired of their relationship and she felt used and betrayed by another white man. Angelou moved between the white and Black worlds, both defining herself as a member of her community and encountering whites in "a much fuller, more sensuous manner". She describes the tension she experienced as a Black woman entertainer, functioning in the white-dominated world of the 1950s. Her perceptions of relationships between Blacks and whites had to be constantly modified, despite the attitudes and ideas about whites she learned from her mother and grandmother. Angelou's feelings about race and racism were ambivalent as she began to have increasingly positive experiences with white people.
### Heart of a Woman
By the time Angelou's fourth autobiography, The Heart of a Woman, was published in 1981, the success of her previous autobiographies and the publication of three volumes of poetry had brought Angelou a considerable amount of fame. The book opens with Angelou and her son Guy living in an experimental commune with whites, in an attempt to participate in the new openness between Blacks and whites. She was not completely comfortable with the arrangement, however; as Lupton pointed out, Angelou was still distrustful of whites and never named or described the characters of her roommates. For the most part, Angelou freely interacts with white people in this book, but she occasionally encounters prejudice reminiscent of her early years, such as when she requires the assistance of white friends to rent a home in a segregated neighborhood. Lupton stated that compared to her other books, Angelou had come "a long way" in her interactions with whites and people of other races. She remained suspicious of white liberals, but reported on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s optimism about race relations and other positive interactions with whites. Angelou maintains her indictment of the white power structure, and her protests against racial injustice became a theme throughout all her books. Instead of offering solutions, however, she simply reports on, reacts to, and dramatizes events.
Angelou became more "politicized" in The Heart of Woman, and developed a new sense of Black identity. McPherson argued that even Angelou's decision to leave show business was political, and regarded this book as "a social and cultural history of Black Americans" during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Angelou saw herself as a historian of both the Civil Rights movement and the Black literary movement. She became more attracted to the causes of Black militants, both in the U.S. and in Africa, to the point of entering into a relationship with South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make, and became more committed to activism. She became an active political protestor during this period, and she used the autobiographical form to demonstrate how the Civil Rights movement influenced one person involved in it. According to Hagen, her contributions to civil rights as a fundraiser and SCLC organizer were successful and effective.
### Traveling Shoes
According to Lupton, "Angelou's exploration of her African and African-American identities" was an important theme in her fifth autobiography All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). McPherson called Travelling Shoes "a mixture of Maya Angelou's personal recollection and a historical document of the time in which it is set", the early 1960s. This was the first time that many Black Americans, due to the independence of Ghana and other African states, as well as the emergence of African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, were able to view Africa in a positive way. Ghana was "the center of an African cultural renaissance" and of Pan-Africanism during this time. The alliances and relationships with the people Angelou met in Ghana contributed to her identity and growth. Her experiences as an expatriate helped her come to terms with her personal and historical past, and by the end of the book she is ready to return to America with a deeper understanding of both the African and American parts of her character. McPherson called Angelou's parallels and connections between Africa and America her "double-consciousness", which contributed to her understanding of herself.
In Traveling Shoes, Angelou is able to recognize similarities between African and African-American culture; as Lupton put it, the "blue songs, shouts, and gospels" she has grown up with in America "echo the rhythms of West Africa". Marcia Ann Gillespie and her colleagues, writing in A Glorious Celebration, published in 2008 for Angelou's 80th birthday, agreed, stating that Angelou recognized the connections between African and American Black cultures, including the children's games, the folklore, the spoken and non-verbal languages, the food, sensibilities, and behavior. She connects the behavior of many African mother figures, especially their generosity, with her grandmother's actions. In one of the most significant sections of Traveling Shoes, Angelou recounts an encounter with a West African woman who recognized her, on the basis of her appearance, as a member of the Bambara group of West Africa. These and other experiences in Ghana demonstrated Angelou's maturity, as a mother able to let go of her adult son, as a woman no longer dependent upon a man, and as an American able to "perceive the roots of her identity" and how they affected her personality.
Also in Traveling Shoes, Angelou comes to terms with her difficult past, both as a descendant of Africans taken forcibly to America as slaves and as an African America who had experienced segregation and Jim Crow racism. As she told an interviewer, she brought her son to Ghana to protect him from the negative effects of racism because she did not think he had the tools to withstand them. For the first time in their lives, she and Guy did not "feel threatened by racial hate" in Ghana. The theme of racism was still an important theme in Traveling Shoes, but Angelou had matured in the way she dealt with it. As Hagen stated, Angelou was "not yet ready to toss off the stings of prejudice, but tolerance and even a certain understanding can be glimpsed". This was demonstrated in Angelou's treatment of the "genocidal involvement of Africans in slave-trading", something that has often been overlooked or misrepresented by other Black writers. Angelou was taught an important lesson about combating racism by Malcolm X, who compared it to a mountain in which everyone's efforts were needed to overcome it.
Angelou learned about herself and about racism throughout Traveling Shoes, even during her brief tour of Venice and Berlin for the revival of The Blacks, the play by Jean Genet that Angelou had originally performed in 1961; reuniting with the play's original cast, she revived her passion for African-American culture and values, "putting them into perspective" as she compared them with Germany's history of racial prejudice and military aggression. The verbal violence of the folk tales shared during her luncheon with her German hosts and Israeli friend was as significant to Angelou as physical violence, to the point that she became ill. Angelou's experience with fascism in Italy, her performances with The Blacks cast, and the reminders of the holocaust in Germany, "help[ed] shape and broaden her constantly changing vision" regarding racial prejudice, clarified her perceptions of African Americans, and "contribute to her reclaiming herself and her evolution as a citizen of the world".
## Identity
The theme of identity was established from the beginning of Angelou's series of autobiographies, with the opening lines in Caged Bird, which "foretell Angelou's autobiographical project: to write the story of the developing black female subject by sharing the tale of one Southern Black girl's becoming". Angelou and other female writers in the late 1960s and early 1970s used the autobiography to reimagine ways of writing about women's lives and identities in a male-dominated society. Feminist scholar Maria Lauret has made a connection between Angelou's autobiographies, which Lauret called "fictions of subjectivity" and "feminist first-person narratives", with fictional first-person narratives (such as The Women's Room by Marilyn French and The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing) written during the same period. Both genres employed the narrator as protagonist and used "the illusion of presence in their mode of signification". Scholar Yolanda M. Manora agreed, stating that Angelou broke stereotypes of African-American women by describing these images and stereotypes, and then disproving them, which set the stage for Angelou's identity development in her later autobiographies.
As a Black woman, Angelou demonstrates the formation of her own cultural identity throughout her narratives, and has used her many roles, incarnations, and identities to connect the layers of oppression within her personal history. Angelou also presents herself as a role model for African-American women more broadly by reconstructing the Black woman's image through themes of individual strength and the ability to overcome. Throughout her work, Angelou explores the women who influenced her evolution and growth. According to Manora, three characters in Caged Bird, Angelou's mother Vivian, her grandmother Annie Henderson, and Mrs. Flowers (who helps Angelou find her voice again after her rape), collaborated to "form a triad which serves as the critical matrix in which the child is nurtured and sustained during her journey through Southern Black girlhood".
Angelou's original goal was to write about the lives of Black women in America, but her voluminous work documents the ups and downs of her own life as well. Angelou's autobiographies provide a historical overview of the places she has lived and how she coped within the context of a racist white society. In her third autobiography, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, Angelou successfully demonstrates the integrity of the African-American character as she began to experience more positive interactions with whites. In Angelou's second volume, Gather Together in My Name, she was concerned with what it meant to be a Black female in the U.S., through the lens of her own experience. Writer Selwyn Cudjoe said regarding her second autobiography: "It is almost as though the incidents in the text were simply 'gathered together' under the name of Maya Angelou".
## Family
According to scholar Dolly McPherson, the theme of family and family relationships, which she called "kinship concerns", in Angelou's books begins with "a preoccupation with the traditional nuclear family", despite Angelou's experience of being abandoned by her parents in Caged Bird. Eventually, however, Angelou's concept of family expands to the extended family in which "trust is the key to a display of kinship concerns". Scholar Mary Jane Lupton insists that the concept of family must be understood in light of Maya and Bailey's displacement. Angelou's description of close familial relationships, such as her relationships with her parents and son (which Lupton called "the mother-child pattern") was a unifying theme that connected all of her autobiographies. Motherhood was a recurring theme, explored through Angelou's experiences as a single mother, a daughter, and a granddaughter. Lupton believed that Angelou's plot construction and character development were influenced by the mother/child motif found in the work of Harlem Renaissance poet Jessie Fauset.
Scholar Yolanda M. Manora insisted that three women in Caged Bird—the "hybridized mother" of Angelou's grandmother, her mother, and her friend Mrs. Flowers—taught her how to be a mother to her son Guy. Although Angelou's grandmother died early in the series, Angelou quotes her grandmother extensively in her third autobiography Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas. Angelou's desire for security for Guy drove her to marry Tosh Angelos in Singin' and Swingin, and drove many of her other decisions, job choices, and romantic relationships as well. Scholar Siphokazi Koyana stated that due to Angelou's race and economic background, her "experience of motherhood is inseparably intertwined with work". According to Koyana, "... Black motherhood always encompassed work". Angelou's long list of occupations attests to the challenges, especially in her second autobiography Gather Together in My Name, she faced as a working teenager mother, which often led Angelou to "quick and easy" decisions. Koyana stated that it was not until Angelou was able to take advantage of opportunities, such as her role in Porgy and Bess, when she was able to fully support herself and her son Guy, and the quality of her life and her contribution to society improved. It was impossible, however, for Angelou to become successful without her extended family to provide childcare; for example, she left Guy in the care of his grandmother in spite of the conflict and guilt she experienced as a result (something Koyana insisted was imposed on her by the larger society), a pattern established in Caged Bird by her own mother when she left Angelou and her brother in the care of Angelou's grandmother.
Black women autobiographers like Angelou have debunked stereotypes surrounding African-American mothers, such as "breeder and matriarch", and have presented them as having more creative and satisfying roles. According to scholar Sondra O'Neale, Angelou's autobiographies presented Black women differently from their literary portrayals up to that time. O'Neale maintained that "no Black woman in the world of Angelou's books are losers", and that Angelou was the third generation of intelligent and resourceful women who overcame the obstacles of racism and oppression. Koyana recognized that Angelou depicted women and "womanist theories" in an era of cultural transition, and that her books described one Black woman's attempts to create and maintain a healthy self-esteem. Angelou's experiences as a working-class single mother challenged traditional and Western viewpoints of women and family life, including the nuclear family structure. Angelou described societal forces, strategies of economic survival, and differential experiences of family structure.
## Travel
Travel is a common theme in American autobiography as a whole; as McPherson stated, it is something of a national myth to Americans as a people. This was also the case for African-American autobiography, which was rooted in and developed out of the slave narrative tradition. Like the narratives that focused on the writers' search for freedom from bondage, modern African-American autobiographers like Angelou sought to develop "an authentic self" and the freedom to find it in their community. Scholar Yolanda M. Manora called the travel motif in Angelou's autobiographies "fluidity". This fluidity began in Caged Bird and was a metaphor for Angelou's psychological growth, influenced by her displacement and trauma throughout the book, something Manora states that Angelou had to escape in order to transcend. As Hagen stated, Angelou structured Caged Bird into three parts: arrival, sojourn, and departure, with both geographic and psychological aspects.
As McPherson stated, "The journey to a distant goal, the return home, and the quest which involves the voyage out, achievement, and return are typical patterns in Black autobiography." For Angelou, this quest took her from her childhood and adolescence, as described in her first two books, into the adult world. The setting in Angelou's first two autobiographies was limited to three places (Arkansas, Missouri, and California), but the "setting breaks open" in Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas to include Europe as she traveled with her Porgy and Bess company. McPherson saw Angelou's third autobiography as "a sunny tour of Angelou's twenties", from early years marked by disappointments and humiliation, into the broader world and international community. This period described "years of joy", as well as the start of Angelou's great success and fulfillment as an entertainer. Lupton stated that Angelou's travel narrative in Singin' and Swingin', which took up approximately 40 percent of the book, gave the book its organized structure. However, Angelou's observations about race, gender, and class made the book more than a simple travel narrative. As a Black American, her travels around the world put her in contact with many nationalities and classes, expanded her experiences beyond her familiar circle of community and family, and complicated her understandings of race relations.
Angelou continued to expand the settings of her autobiographies in her subsequent volumes. The Heart of a Woman had three primary settings—the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Egypt—and two secondary ones—London and Accra. Lupton stated that like all of Angelou's books, the structure of The Heart of a Woman was based upon a journey. Angelou emphasized the theme of movement by opening the book with a spiritual ("The ole ark's a moverin'"), stating, "That ancient spiritual could have been the theme song of the United States in 1957". This spiritual, which contains a reference to Noah's ark, presents Angelou as a type of Noah and demonstrates her spirituality. Angelou also mentions Allen Ginsberg and On the Road, the 1951 novel by Jack Kerouac, thus connecting her own journey and uncertainty about the future with the journeys of other literary figures. Although the reason Angelou traveled to Africa is an eventual failed relationship, she made a connection with the continent, both in this book and in the one that follows it, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. As Lupton stated, "Africa is the site of her growth". Angelou's time in Africa made her more aware of her African roots. Lupton insisted, however, that although Angelou journeys to many places in the book, the most important journey she described is "a voyage into the self".
The travel motif is a recurring theme in Traveling Shoes, as evidenced in the book's title, but Angelou's primary motivation for living in Africa, as she told interviewer George Plimpton in 1990, was "trying to get home". Angelou not only related her own journey of an African-American woman searching for a home, but the journeys of other Black expatriates at the time, and white expatriates in Europe in the 1920s, much like writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Henry James did. Angelou's issues were resolved at the end of Traveling Shoes when she decided to return to America. She called her departure a "second leave-taking", and compared it to the last time she left her son with his grandmother in Singin' and Swingin' when he was a child, and to the forced departure from Africa by her ancestors. As Lupton states, "Angelou's journey from Africa back to America is in certain ways a restatement of the historical phase known as mid-passage, when slaves were brutally transported in ships from West Africa to the so-called New World". Even though Angelou's sixth autobiography A Song Flung Up to Heaven took place in her home country, the travel motif continued. Reviewer Patricia Elam described Song'' as a "journey through an authentic and artistic life". |
275,915 | English National Opera | 1,158,783,698 | Opera company based in London | [
"1931 establishments in England",
"British opera companies",
"Cultural organisations based in London",
"Musical groups established in 1931",
"Opera in London"
]
| English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English.
The company's origins were in the late 19th century, when the philanthropist Emma Cons, later assisted by her niece Lilian Baylis, presented theatrical and operatic performances at the Old Vic, for the benefit of local people. Baylis subsequently built up both the opera and the theatre companies, and later added a ballet company; these evolved into the ENO, the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet, respectively.
Baylis acquired and rebuilt the Sadler's Wells theatre in north London, a larger house, better suited to opera than the Old Vic. The opera company grew there into a permanent ensemble in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed and the company toured British towns and cities. After the war, the company returned to its home, but it continued to expand and improve. By the 1960s, a larger theatre was needed. In 1968, the company moved to the London Coliseum and adopted its present name in 1974.
Among the conductors associated with the company have been Colin Davis, Reginald Goodall, Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder and Edward Gardner. The current music director of the ENO is Martyn Brabbins. Noted directors who have staged productions at the ENO have included David Pountney, Jonathan Miller, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd and Calixto Bieito. The ENO's current artistic director is Annilese Miskimmon. In addition to the core operatic repertoire, the company has presented a wide range of works, from early operas by Monteverdi to new commissions, operetta and Broadway shows.
## History
### Foundations
In 1889, Emma Cons, a Victorian philanthropist who ran the Old Vic theatre in a working-class area of London, began presenting regular fortnightly performances of opera excerpts. Although the theatre licensing laws of the day prevented full costumed performances, Cons presented condensed versions of well-known operas, always sung in English. Among the performers were noted singers such as Charles Santley. These operatic evenings quickly became more popular than the dramas that Cons had been staging separately. In 1898, she recruited her niece Lilian Baylis to help run the theatre. At the same time she appointed Charles Corri as the Old Vic's musical director. Baylis and Corri, despite many disagreements, shared a passionate belief in popularising opera, hitherto generally the preserve of the rich and fashionable. They worked on a tiny budget, with an amateur chorus and a professional orchestra of only 18 players, for whom Corri rescored the instrumental parts of the operas. By the early years of the 20th century, the Old Vic was able to present semi-staged versions of Wagner operas.
Emma Cons died in 1912, leaving her estate, including the Old Vic, to Baylis, who dreamed of transforming the theatre into a "people's opera house". In the same year, Baylis obtained a licence to allow the Old Vic to stage full performances of operas. In the 1914–1915 season, Baylis staged 16 operas and 16 plays (13 of which were by Shakespeare). In the years after the First World War, Baylis's Shakespeare productions, which featured some of the leading actors from London's West End, attracted national attention, as her shoe-string opera productions did not. The opera, however, remained her first priority. The actor-manager Robert Atkins, who worked closely with Baylis on her Shakespearean productions, recalled, "Opera, on Thursday and Saturday nights, played to bulging houses."
### Vic-Wells
By the 1920s, Baylis concluded that the Old Vic no longer sufficed to house both her theatre and her opera companies. She noticed the empty and derelict Sadler's Wells theatre in Rosebery Avenue, Islington, on the other side of London from the Old Vic. She sought to run it in tandem with her existing theatre.
Baylis made a public appeal for funds in 1925. With the help of the Carnegie Trust and many others, she acquired the freehold of Sadler's Wells. Work started on the site in 1926. By Christmas 1930, a completely new 1,640-seat theatre was ready for occupation. The first production there, a fortnight's run from 6 January 1931, was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The first opera, given on 20 January, was Carmen. Eighteen operas were staged during the first season.
The new theatre was more expensive to run than the Old Vic, as a larger orchestra and more singers were needed, and box office receipts were at first inadequate. In 1932, the Birmingham Post commented that the Vic-Wells opera performances did not reach the standards of the Vic-Wells Shakespeare productions. Baylis strove to improve operatic standards, while at the same time fending off attempts by Sir Thomas Beecham to absorb the opera company into a joint enterprise with Covent Garden, where he was in command. At first, the apparent financial security of the offer appeared attractive, but friends and advisers such as Edward J. Dent and Clive Carey convinced Bayliss that it was not in the interests of her regular audience. This view received strong support from the press; The Times wrote:
> The Old Vic began by offering opera of some sort to people who hardly knew what the word meant ... under a wise, fostering guidance it has gradually worked upwards ...Any kind of amalgamation which made it the poor relation of the 'Grand' season would be disastrous.
At first, Baylis presented both drama and opera at each of her theatres. The companies were known as the "Vic-Wells". However, for both aesthetic and financial reasons, by 1934, the Old Vic had become the home of the spoken drama, while Sadler's Wells housed both the opera and a ballet company, the latter co-founded by Baylis and Ninette de Valois in 1930.
Lawrance Collingwood joined the company as resident conductor alongside Corri. With the increased number of productions, guest conductors were recruited, including Geoffrey Toye and Anthony Collins. The increasing success of the new ballet company helped to subsidise the high cost of opera productions, enabling a further increase in the size of the orchestra, to 48 players. Among the singers in the opera company were Joan Cross and Edith Coates. In the 1930s, the company presented standard repertoire operas by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini, lighter works by Balfe, Donizetti, Offenbach and Johann Strauss, some novelties, among which were operas by Holst, Ethel Smyth and Charles Villiers Stanford, and an unusual attempt at staging an oratorio, Mendelssohn's Elijah.
In November 1937, Baylis died of a heart attack. Her three companies continued under the direction of her appointed successors: Tyrone Guthrie at the Old Vic, in overall charge of both theatres, with de Valois running the ballet, and Carey and two colleagues running the opera. In the Second World War, the government requisitioned Sadler's Wells as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. Guthrie decided to keep the opera going as a small touring ensemble of 20 performers. Between 1942 and the war's end in 1945, the company toured continuously, visiting 87 venues. Joan Cross led and managed the company, and also sang leading soprano roles in its productions when needed. The size of the company was increased to 50, and then to 80. By 1945, its members included singers from a new generation such as Peter Pears and Owen Brannigan, and the conductor Reginald Goodall.
### Sadler's Wells Opera
Both Sadler's Wells and the Royal Opera House had presented no opera or ballet since 1939. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), the official government body charged with dispensing the modest public subsidy recently introduced, considered its options on the future of opera in Britain. CEMA concluded that a new Covent Garden company should be established, as a year-round, permanent ensemble, singing in English, instead of the shorter international seasons of pre-war years. This was a potential path to merge the two companies, as the modus operandi of the new Covent Garden company was now similar to that of Sadler's Wells. However, David Webster, who was appointed to run Covent Garden, though keen to secure de Valois' ballet company for Covent Garden, did not want the Sadler's Wells opera company. He considered Sadler's Wells to be a worthy organisation, but also "dowdy" and "stodgy". Even with a policy of singing in English, he believed that he could assemble a better company. The management of Sadler's Wells was unwilling to lose its company's name and tradition. It was agreed that the two companies should remain separate.
Divisions within the company threatened its continued existence. Cross announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells theatre with Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten, with herself and Pears in the leading roles. Many complaints resulted about supposed favouritism and the "cacophony" of Britten's score. Peter Grimes opened in June 1945, to both public and critical acclaim; its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly, which the company was concurrently staging. However, the rift within the company was irreparable. Cross, Britten and Pears severed their ties with Sadler's Wells in December 1945 and founded the English Opera Group. The departure of the ballet company to Covent Garden two months later deprived Sadler's Wells of an important source of income, as the ballet had been profitable and had since its inception subsidised the opera company.
Clive Carey, who had been in Australia during the war, was brought back to replace Joan Cross and rebuild the company. The critic Philip Hope-Wallace wrote in 1946 that Carey had begun to make a difference, but that Sadler's Wells needed "a big heave to get out of mediocrity". In the same year, The Times Literary Supplement asked whether the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells companies would stick to their old bases, "or shall they boldly embrace the ideal of a National Theatre and a National Opera in English?" Carey left in 1947, replaced in January 1948 by a triumvirate of James Robertson as musical director, Michael Mudie as his assistant conductor and Norman Tucker in charge of administration. From October 1948, Tucker was given sole control. Mudie became ill, and the young Charles Mackerras was appointed to deputise for him.
By 1950 Sadler's Wells was receiving a public subsidy of £40,000 a year, whilst Covent Garden received £145,000. Tucker had to give up the option of staging the premiere of Britten's Billy Budd, for lack of resources. Keen to improve the dramatic aspects of opera production, Tucker engaged eminent theatrical directors including Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw worked on Sadler's Wells productions in the 1950s. New repertoire was explored, such as the first British staging of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, at Mackerras's urging. Standards and company morale were improving. The Manchester Guardian summed up the 1950–51 London opera season as "Excitement at Sadler's Wells: Lack of Distinction at Covent Garden" and judged Sadler's Wells to have moved "into the front rank of opera houses".
The company continued to leave Rosebery Avenue for summer tours to British cities and towns. The Arts Council (successor to CEMA) was sensitive to the charge that since 1945, far fewer opera performances had been given in the provinces. The small Carl Rosa Opera Company toured constantly, but the Covent Garden company visited only those few cities with theatres big enough to accommodate it. In the mid-1950s, renewed calls appeared for a reorganisation of Britain's opera companies. There were proposals for a new home for Sadler's Wells on the South Bank of the Thames near the Royal Festival Hall, which fell through because the government was unwilling to fund the building.
Once again, there was serious talk of merging Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells. The Sadler's Wells board countered by proposing a closer working arrangement with Carl Rosa. When it became clear that this would require the Sadler's Wells company to tour for 30 weeks every year, effectively removing its presence on the London opera scene, Tucker, his deputy Stephen Arlen, and his musical director Alexander Gibson resigned. The proposals were modified, and the three withdrew their resignations. In 1960, the Carl Rosa Company was dissolved. Sadler's Wells took over some of its members and many of its touring dates, setting up "two interchangeable companies of equal standing", one of which played at Sadler's Wells theatre while the other was on the road.
By the late 1950s, Covent Garden was gradually abandoning its policy of productions in the vernacular; such singers as Maria Callas would not relearn their roles in English. This made it easier for Tucker to point up the difference between the two London opera companies. While Covent Garden engaged international stars, Sadler's Wells focused on young British and Commonwealth performers. Colin Davis was appointed musical director in succession to Gibson in 1961. The repertoire continued to mix familiar and unfamiliar operas. Novelties in Davis's time included Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral, Stravinsky's Oedipus rex, Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur and more Janáček. Sadler's Wells's traditional policy of giving all operas in English continued, with only two exceptions: Oedipus rex, which was sung in Latin, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, sung in Italian, for reasons not clear to the press. In January 1962, the company gave its first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Iolanthe, with Margaret Gale in the title role, on the day on which the Savoy operas came out of copyright and the D'Oyly Carte monopoly ended. The production was well received (it was successfully revived for many seasons until 1978) and was followed by a production of The Mikado in May of the same year.
The Islington theatre was by now clearly too small to allow the company to achieve any further growth. A study conducted for the Arts Council reported that in the late 1960s the two Sadler's Wells companies comprised 278 salaried performers and 62 guest singers. The company had experience of playing in a large West End theatre, such as its 1958 sell-out production of The Merry Widow that had transferred to the 2,351-seat London Coliseum for a summer season. Ten years later, the lease of the Coliseum became available. Stephen Arlen, who had succeeded Tucker as managing director, was the primary advocate for moving the company. After intense negotiations and fund-raising, a ten-year lease was signed in 1968. One of the company's last productions at the Islington theatre was Wagner's The Mastersingers, conducted by Goodall in 1968, which 40 years later was described by Gramophone magazine as "legendary". The company left Sadler's Wells with a revival of the work with which it had re-opened the theatre in 1945, Peter Grimes. Its last performance at the Rosebery Avenue theatre was on 15 June 1968.
### Coliseum
The company, retaining the title "Sadler's Wells Opera", opened at the Coliseum on 21 August 1968, with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by Sir John Gielgud. Though this production was not well received, the company rapidly established itself with a succession of highly praised productions of other works. Arlen died in January 1972, and was succeeded as managing director by Lord Harewood.
The success of the 1968 Mastersingers was followed in the 1970s by the company's first Ring cycle, conducted by Goodall, with a new translation by Andrew Porter and designs by Ralph Koltai. The cast included Norman Bailey, Rita Hunter and Alberto Remedios. In Harewood's view, among the highlights of the first ten years at the Coliseum were the Ring, Prokofiev's War and Peace, and Richard Strauss's Salome and Der Rosenkavalier.
The company's musical director from 1970 to 1977 was Charles Mackerras. Harewood praised his exceptional versatility, with a range "from The House of the Dead to Patience." Among the operas he conducted for the company were Handel's Julius Caesar starring Janet Baker and Valerie Masterson; five Janáček operas; The Marriage of Figaro with pioneering use of 18th century performing style; Massenet's Werther; Donizetti's Mary Stuart with Baker; and Sullivan's Patience. The company took the production of the last to the Vienna Festival in 1975, along with Britten's Gloriana. Sir Charles Groves succeeded Mackerras as musical director from 1978 to 1979, but Groves was unwell and unhappy during his brief tenure. Starting in 1979, Mark Elder succeeded Groves in the post, and described Groves "immensely encouraging and supportive".
A long-standing concern of Arlen and then Harewood was the need to change the company's name to reflect the fact that it was no longer based at Sadler's Wells theatre. Byam Shaw commented "The one major setback the Sadler's Wells Opera Company suffered from its transplant was that unheeding taxi drivers kept on taking their patrons up to Rosebery Avenue".
Harewood considered it an elementary rule that "you must not carry the name of one theatre if you are playing in another one." Covent Garden, protective of its status, objected to the suggestion that the Sadler's Wells company should be called "The British National Opera" or "The National Opera", although neither Scottish Opera nor the Welsh National Opera opposed such a change. Eventually the British government decided the matter, and the title "English National Opera" was approved. The company's board adopted the new name in November 1974. In 1977, in response to demand for more opera productions in English provincial cities, a second company was established. It was based at Leeds in northern England, and was known as ENO North. Under Harewood's guidance, it flourished, and in 1981 it became an independent company, Opera North.
### ENO
#### 1980–99
In 1982, at Elder's instigation, Harewood appointed David Pountney director of productions. In 1985 Harewood retired, becoming chairman of ENO's board the following year. Peter Jonas succeeded Harewood as managing director. The 1980s leadership team of Elder, Pountney and Jonas became known as the "Powerhouse", initiated a new era of "director's opera". The three of them favoured productions described, contrastingly, by Elder as "groundbreaking, risky, probing and theatrically effective", and by the director Nicholas Hytner as "Euro-bollocks that never has to be comprehensible to anybody but the people sitting out there conceiving." Directors who did not, in Harewood's phrase, "want to splash paint in the face of the public" were sidelined. A 1980s audience survey showed that the two things that ENO audiences most disliked were poor diction and the extremes of "director's opera".
In the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Barry Millington has described the 'Powerhouse' style as "arresting images of dislocated reality, an inexhaustible repertory of stage contrivances, a determination to explore the social and psychological issues latent in the works, and above all an abundant sense of theatricality." As examples, Millington mentioned
> Rusalka (1983), with its Edwardian nursery setting and Freudian undertones, and Hansel and Gretel (1987), its dream pantomime peopled by fantasy figures from the children's imagination ... Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1987) and Wozzeck (1990) exemplified an approach to production in which grotesque caricature jostles with forceful emotional engagement.
Poor average box-office sales led to a financial crisis, exacerbated by backstage industrial relations problems. After 1983, the company ceased touring to other British venues. Assessing the achievements of the 'Powerhouse' years, Tom Sutcliffe wrote in The Musical Times:
> ENO is not second best to Covent Garden. It is different, more theatrical, less vocal. ... The ENO now follows a policy like Covent Garden's in the early years after the war, when Peter Brook was scandalising the bourgeoisie with his opera stagings. The last two seasons at the ENO have been difficult, or at any rate sentiment has turned against the outgoing regime over the last nine months. Audience figures are well down. ... The presiding genius of the Elder years has, of course, been David Pountney. Not because his productions were all marvellous. Perhaps only a few were. But because, like Elder, he enabled so many other talents to thrive.
Productions during the 1980s included the company's first presentations of Pelléas and Mélisande (1981), Parsifal (1986) and Billy Budd (1988). 1980s productions that remained in the repertory for many years included Xerxes directed by Hytner, and Rigoletto and The Mikado directed by Jonathan Miller. In 1984 ENO toured the United States; the travelling company, led by Elder, consisted of 360 people; they performed Gloriana, War and Peace, The Turn of the Screw, Rigoletto and Patience. This was the first British company to be invited to appear at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where Patience received a standing ovation and Miller's production of Rigoletto, depicting the characters as mafiosi, was greeted with a mixture of enthusiasm and booing. In 1990 ENO was the first major foreign opera company to tour the Soviet Union, performing the Miller production of The Turn of the Screw, Pountney's production of Macbeth, and Hytner's much-revived Xerxes.
The 'Powerhouse' era ended in 1992, when all three of the triumvirate left at the same time. The new general director was Dennis Marks, formerly head of music programmes at the BBC, and the new music director was Sian Edwards. Pountney's post of director of productions was not filled. Marks, inheriting a large financial deficit from his predecessors, worked to restore the company's finances, concentrating on restoring ticket sales to sustainable levels. A new production by Miller of Der Rosenkavalier was a critical and financial success, as was a staging of Massenet's Don Quixote, described by the critic Hugh Canning as "the kind of old-fashioned theatre magic which the hair-shirted Powerhouse regime despised".
Marks was obliged to spend much time and effort in securing the funding for an essential restoration of the Coliseum, a condition on which the ENO had acquired the freehold of the theatre in 1992. At the same time the Arts Council was contemplating a cut in the number of opera performances in London, at the expense of ENO, rather than Covent Garden. By increasing ticket sales in successive years, Marks demonstrated that the Arts Council's proposition was unrealistic. After what The Independent described as "a sustained period of criticism and sniping at the ENO by music critics", Edwards resigned as music director at the end of 1995. Paul Daniel became ENO's next music director. In 1997, Marks resigned. No official reason was announced, but one report stated that he and the ENO board had disagreed about his plans to move the company from the Coliseum to a purpose-built new home. Daniel took over the management of the company until a new general director was appointed.
Daniel inherited from Marks a company thriving artistically and financially. The 1997–1998 season played to 75 per cent capacity and made a surplus of £150,000. Daniel led the campaign against yet another proposal to merge Covent Garden and ENO, which was rapidly abandoned. In 1998 Nicholas Payne, director of opera at Covent Garden, was appointed as ENO's general director. Productions in the 1990s included the company's first stagings of Beatrice and Benedict (1990), Wozzeck (1990), Jenůfa (1994), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1995), Die Soldaten (1996), Doctor Ox's Experiment (1998) and Dialogues of the Carmelites (1999). Co-productions, enabling opera houses to share the costs of joint enterprises, became important in this decade. In 1993 ENO and Welsh National Opera collaborated on productions of Don Pasquale, Ariodante and The Two Widows.
#### 2000–2009
Martin Smith, a millionaire with a finance background, was appointed chairman of the ENO board in 2001. He proved to be an expert fund-raiser, and personally donated £1M to the cost of refurbishing the Coliseum. He and Payne came into conflict over the effect on revenue of the "director's opera" productions that Payne insisted on commissioning. The most extreme case was a production of Don Giovanni directed by Calixto Bieito in 2001, despised by critics and public alike; Michael Kennedy described it as "a new nadir in vulgar abuse of a masterpiece," and other reviewers agreed with him. Payne insisted, "I think it's one of the best things we've done. ... It's exceeded my expectations." In the arts pages of The Financial Times, Martin Hoyle wrote of Payne's "exquisite tunnel vision" and expressed "the concern of those of us who value the true people's opera". Payne remained adamant that opera lovers who came to the ENO for a "nice, pleasant evening ... had come to the wrong place." The differences between Smith and Payne became irreconcilable, and Payne was forced to resign in July 2002.
The successor to Payne was Séan Doran, whose appointment was controversial because he had no experience of running an opera company. He attracted newspaper headlines with unusual operatic events, described by admirers as "unexpected coups" and by detractors as "stunts"; a performance of the third act of The Valkyrie played to 20,000 rock music fans at the Glastonbury Festival. In December 2003, Daniel announced his departure from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. Oleg Caetani was announced as the next music director, from January 2006.
In 2004 the ENO embarked on its second production of Wagner's Ring. After concert performances over the previous three seasons, the four operas of the cycle were staged at the Coliseum in 2004 and 2005 in productions by Phyllida Lloyd, with designs by Richard Hudson, in a new translation by Jeremy Sams. The first instalments of the cycle were criticised as poorly sung and conducted, but by the time Twilight of the Gods was staged in 2005, matters were thought to have improved: "Paul Daniel's command of the score is more authoritative than could have been predicted from his uneven accounts of the previous operas." The production attracted generally bad notices. The four operas were given individual runs, but were never played as a complete cycle.
During the 2000s the company repeated the experiment, previously tried in 1932, of staging oratorios and other choral works as operatic performances. Bach's St. John Passion was given in 2000, followed by Verdi's Requiem (2000), Tippett's A Child of Our Time (2005) and Handel's Jephtha (2005) and Messiah (2009). ENO responded to the increased interest in Handel's operas, staging Alcina (2002), Agrippina (2006) and Partenope (2008). In 2003 the company staged its first production of Berlioz's massive opera The Trojans, with Sarah Connolly as "a supremely eloquent, genuinely tragic Dido".
In 2005, after an internal debate that had been going on since 1991, the ENO announced that surtitles would be introduced at the Coliseum. Surveys had shown that only a quarter of audience members could hear the words clearly. With a few exceptions, including Lesley Garrett and Andrew Shore, ENO singers of the 21st century were considered to have poorer diction than earlier singers such as Masterson and Derek Hammond-Stroud. Harewood and Pountney had been immovably opposed to surtitles, as both believed that opera in English was pointless if it could not be understood. Harewood thought, moreover, that surtitles could undermine the case for a publicly funded opera-in-English company. The editor of Opera magazine, Rodney Milnes, campaigned against surtitles on the grounds that "singers would give up trying to articulate clearly and audiences would cease focusing on the stage". Despite these objections, surtitles were introduced from October 2005.
On 29 November 2005, Doran resigned as artistic director. To replace him, Smith divided the duties between Loretta Tomasi as chief executive and John Berry as artistic director. These elevations from within the organisation were controversial, because they were neither advertised nor cleared at the top level of the Arts Council. Smith received severe press criticism for his action, and in December 2005 he announced his resignation. In the same week, Caetani's appointment as the next ENO music director was cancelled. Berry was at first criticised in the press for his choice of singers for ENO productions, but the appointment of Edward Gardner as music director from 2007 received considerable praise. The Observer commented that Gardner was "widely credited with breathing fresh life into English National Opera".
Attendance figures recovered, with younger audiences attracted by ENO's marketing schemes. The company's finances improved, with £5M in reserve funds in April 2009.
#### 2010–present
Productions in the 2011 season continued the company's traditions of engaging directors with no operatic experience (a well-reviewed The Damnation of Faust staged by Terry Gilliam and set in Nazi Germany) and of drastic reinterpretations (a version of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream presented by Christopher Alden as a paedophile parable set in a 1950s boys' school, which divided critical opinion). In the 2012–13 season ENO introduced "Opera Undressed" evenings, aimed at attracting new audiences who had thought opera "Too pricey, too pompous, too posh". Operas advertised under this banner were Don Giovanni, La traviata, Michel van der Aa's Sunken Garden (performed at the Barbican) and Philip Glass's The Perfect American.
In January 2014, the ENO announced Gardner's departure as music director at the end of the 2014–15 season, to be succeeded by Mark Wigglesworth. At the time, the ENO had accumulated an £800,000 deficit, exacerbated by reductions in public subsidy; The Times commented that the incoming music director had a reputation for "steely, even abrasive determination" and that he would need it. From late 2014 the company went through a further organisational crisis. The chairman, Martyn Rose, resigned after two years in the post, following irreconcilable differences with Berry. Henriette Götz, the company's executive director, who had a series of public disagreements with Berry, resigned soon after. In February 2015, the Arts Council of England announced the unprecedented step of removing ENO from the national portfolio of 670 arts organisations that receive regular funding, and instead offered "special funding arrangements" because of continuing concerns over ENO's business plan and management. The council recognised that the company was "capable of extraordinary artistic work", but "we have serious concerns about their governance and business model and we expect them to improve or they could face removal of funding." In March 2015 Cressida Pollock, a management consultant, was named the interim CEO of ENO. In July 2015, Berry resigned as artistic director of ENO.
Critical and box-office successes in the company's 2014–2015 season included The Mastersingers, which won an Olivier Award for best new opera production, and Sweeney Todd, with Bryn Terfel in the title role. New productions announced for 2015–2016 were Tristan and Isolde, with sets by Anish Kapoor; the company's first staging of Norma; and the first London performance for 30 years of Akhnaten.
In September 2015, Pollock was elevated to formal full-time status as CEO for an additional three years, along with the formalised full appointment of Harry Brünjes as chairman of the ENO. Shortly into his tenure, he expressed his disapproval of proposals by the ENO management for economising measures such as a reduction in the contract of the ENO chorus. On 27 February 2016 the ENO chorus had voted to take industrial action in protest at newly proposed contract reductions, but industrial action was averted on 18 March 2016 after a newly negotiated proposal, at a different level of reduced salary, was reached. In general protest at his view of the situation at ENO, Wigglesworth announced his resignation on 22 March 2016 from the ENO music directorship, effective at the end of the 2015–2016 season.
On 29 April 2016, the ENO appointed Daniel Kramer as its new artistic director, effective 1 August 2016, Kramer's first appointment as director of an opera company. On 21 October 2016, the ENO announced the appointment of Martyn Brabbins as its next music director, with immediate effect, with an initial contract through October 2020. In September 2017, the ENO announced that Pollock is to stand down as its chief executive in June 2018. In March 2018, ENO announced the appointment of Stuart Murphy as its next chief executive, effective 3 April 2018. In April 2019, ENO announced the resignation of Kramer as its artistic director, effective at the end of July 2019. In October 2019, ENO announced the appointment of Annilese Miskimmon as its next artistic director, effective September 2020. In October 2022, ENO announced that Stuart Murphy would leave the company as Chief Executive in September 2023.
In December 2018, ENO started offering free balcony tickets for Under 18s on Saturdays in an attempt to engage more young people with the opera. This scheme was expanded to Under 21s in 2021 to cover performances throughout the week, with free seats in all parts of the audiotorium.
In November 2022, ENO was dropped from Arts Council England's National Portfolio, effectively cutting its income by £12.5 million a year. ENO initially responded with a statement that it was looking forward to 'creating a new base out of London, potentially in Manchester' in line with suggestions by the Arts Council. ENO later shared a petition to have its funding reinstated and to retain its London base at The London Coliseum. In January 2023, it was revealed through a joint statement that funding had been reinstated through to 2024, with an aim to "sustain a programme of work at the ENO’s home the London Coliseum, and at the same time help the ENO start planning for a new base outside London by 2026."
## Repertoire
The company has aimed to present the standard operatic repertoire, sung in English, and has staged all the major operas of Mozart, Wagner and Puccini, and a wide range of Verdi's operas. Under Mackerras and his successors the Czech repertoire has featured strongly, and a broad range of French and Russian operas has been presented. The company has for decades laid stress on opera as drama, and has avoided operas where vocal display takes precedence over musical and dramatic content. In addition to the operatic staples, ENO has a history of presenting new works, and latterly of commissioning them.
### Commissions and premieres
ENO has commissioned more than a dozen operas by composers including Gordon Crosse, Iain Hamilton, Jonathan Harvey, Alfred Schnittke, Gavin Bryars, David Sawer, Asian Dub Foundation and Nico Muhly. The company's best known world premiere was Peter Grimes in 1945. Subsequent world premieres have included The Mines of Sulphur (1965), The Mask of Orpheus (1986), The Silver Tassie (1999), and works by Malcolm Williamson, Iain Hamilton, David Blake, Robin Holloway, Julian Anderson and Stephen Oliver. British stage premieres include operas by Verdi (Simon Boccanegra, 1948), Janáček (Káťa Kabanová, 1951), Stravinsky (Oedipus rex, 1960), Prokofiev (War and Peace, 1972) and Philip Glass (Akhnaten, 1985, among others).
### Operetta and musicals
From the beginning, the company interspersed serious opera with lighter works. In the early years the "Irish Ring" (The Bohemian Girl, The Lily of Killarney and Maritana) featured in Old Vic and Sadler's Wells seasons. After the Second World War, the company began to programme operetta, including The Merry Widow (1958), Die Fledermaus (1958), Orpheus in the Underworld (1960), Merrie England (1960), La Vie parisienne (1961), La belle Hélène (1963), and The Gipsy Baron (1964).
The company has produced most of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. After the successful Iolanthe and The Mikado in 1962 and Patience in 1969, the last much revived in the UK, the U.S. and on the continent, a second production of The Mikado in 1986 starred the comedian Eric Idle in a black-and-white setting moved to a 1920s English seaside hotel. It has been regularly revived over 25 years. A 1992 production of Princess Ida directed by Ken Russell was a critical and box office disaster, ran briefly, and was not revived. The Pirates of Penzance was produced in 2005. A highly coloured production of The Gondoliers opened in 2006; the press pointed out that the company's diction had declined to the point that the recently introduced surtitles were essential. In 2015 the film director Mike Leigh directed a new production of The Pirates of Penzance; the critical consensus was disappointment that Leigh had chosen one of the supposedly weaker operas in the Savoy canon, but the show provided a box-office hit. The cinema live broadcast of the production broke all previous box-office records for UK opera cinema-event releases. Cal McCrystal directed Iolanthe (2018) and H.M.S. Pinafore (2021). The company produced The Yeomen of the Guard in 2022.[^1]
From the 1980s the company has experimented with Broadway shows, including Pacific Overtures (1987), Street Scene (1989), On the Town (2005), Kismet (2007), and Candide (2008). In many of ENO's lighter shows, the size of the Coliseum has been a problem, both in putting across pieces written for much more intimate theatres and in selling enough tickets. In 2015 a new business plan for the ENO included making money from a West End musical partnership with the impresarios Michael Grade and Michael Linnit.
## Recordings
Recordings of individual scenes and numbers were made by Sadler's Wells singers from the company's earliest days. In 1972 an LP set was issued bringing together many of these recordings, prefaced with a tribute to Lilian Baylis recorded in 1936. Among the singers in the set are Joan Cross, Heddle Nash, Edith Coates, Joan Hammond, Owen Brannigan, Peter Pears, Peter Glossop and Charles Craig. The conductors include Lawrance Collingwood, Reginald Goodall and Michael Mudie.
After the Second World War, the Sadler's Wells company made a 78 r.p.m. set of excerpts from Simon Boccanegra (1949), but made no more recordings until the stereo LP era. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company recorded a series of abridged sets of operas and operettas for EMI, each occupying two LP sides. All were sung in English. The opera sets were Madame Butterfly (1960), Il trovatore (1962), and Hansel and Gretel (1966). The abridged operetta recordings were Die Fledermaus (1959), The Merry Widow (1959), The Land of Smiles (1960), La vie parisienne (1961), Orpheus in the Underworld (1960), Iolanthe (1962), La belle Hélène (1963) and The Gypsy Baron (1965). A complete recording of The Mikado was released in 1962.
Excerpts from the company's Twilight of the Gods were recorded in German under Mackerras (1972) and in English under Goodall (1973). EMI recorded the complete Ring cycle during public performances at the Coliseum between 1973 and 1977. Chandos Records has since reissued the cycle on CD, and also produced the first official release of a live 1968 recording of the company's The Mastersingers, in a 2008 release.
In the CD era, ENO was featured as part of a series of operatic recordings, sung in English, released by Chandos Records. Some were reissues of Sadler's Wells Opera or ENO recordings originally issued by EMI: Mary Stuart (recorded in 1982) and Julius Caesar (1985), both starring Janet Baker, and La traviata (1981), starring Valerie Masterson. Newer recordings, made specifically for the Chandos series, whilst having no official connection with the ENO, featured many past and present members of the company. Conductors include Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder and Paul Daniel. Those in which the chorus and orchestra of the ENO appear are Lulu, The Makropoulos Affair, Werther, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto, Ernani, Otello and Falstaff, as well as the live recordings of The Ring and The Mastersingers''.
## Education
In 1966, under the company's head of design, Margaret Harris, Sadler's Wells Theatre Design Course was founded; it later became Motley Theatre Design Course. ENO Baylis, founded in 1985, is the education department of the ENO; it aims to introduce new audiences to opera and "to deepen and enrich the experience of current audiences in an adventurous, creative and engaging manner." The programme offers training for students and young professionals, and also workshops, commissions, talks and debates, which is now called ENO Engage.
## Musical directors
- Charles Corri (1898–1935)
- Lawrance Collingwood (chief conductor, 1931–1941, musical director 1941–1946)
- James Robertson (1946–1954)
- Alexander Gibson (1957–1959)
- Colin Davis (1961–1965)
- Mario Bernardi (1966–1968) and Bryan Balkwill (1966–1969), joint musical directors
- Charles Mackerras (1970–1977)
- Sir Charles Groves (1978–1979)
## Music directors
- Mark Elder (1979–1993)
- Sian Edwards (1993–1995)
- Paul Daniel (1997–2005)
- Edward Gardner (2007–2015)
- Mark Wigglesworth (2015–2016)
- Martyn Brabbins (2016–present)
## Artistic directors
- John Berry (2005–2015)
- Daniel Kramer (2016–2020)
- Annilese Miskimmon (2020–present)
## Notes, references and sources
[^1]: Billington, Michael. [ "The Yeomen of the Guard review – tonal uncertainties but G&S update has plenty to enjoy"], The Guardian, November 4, 2022 |
143,298 | Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough | 1,167,062,312 | British duchess (1660–1744) | [
"1660 births",
"1744 deaths",
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"17th-century English women",
"18th-century British writers",
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"British and English royal favourites",
"British maids of honour",
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"English letter writers",
"German countesses",
"German princesses",
"Grooms of the Stool",
"Mistresses of the Robes to Anne, Queen of Great Britain",
"People from Old Windsor",
"People from St Albans",
"People from Woodstock, Oxfordshire",
"Spencer family",
"Wives of knights",
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]
| Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of the most influential women of her time through her close relationship with Anne, Queen of Great Britain. The Duchess of Marlborough's relationship and influence with Anne were widely known, and leading public figures often turned their attentions to her, hoping for favour from Anne. By the time Anne became queen, the Duchess's knowledge of government and intimacy with the Queen had made her a powerful friend and a dangerous enemy.
The Duchess enjoyed a "long and devoted" relationship with her husband of more than 40 years, the great general John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. After Anne's father, King James II, was deposed during the Glorious Revolution, Sarah Churchill acted as Anne's agent, promoting her interests during the reigns of William III and Mary II. When Anne came to the throne after William's death in 1702, the Duke of Marlborough, together with Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, rose to head the government partly owing to his wife.
While the Duke of Marlborough was fighting the War of the Spanish Succession, the Duchess kept him informed of court intrigue and conveyed his requests and political advice to the Queen. The Duchess campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the Whigs, while also devoting herself to building projects such as Blenheim Palace. A strong-willed woman, she strained her relationship with the Queen whenever they disagreed on political, court, or church appointments. After her final break with Anne in 1711, the Duke and Duchess were dismissed from Court, and Sarah no longer had any communication with her formerly close friend, who died within a few years thereafter (1714). Sarah later had famous disagreements with many important people, including her daughter Henrietta Godolphin, 2nd Duchess of Marlborough; the architect of Blenheim Palace, John Vanbrugh; Prime Minister Robert Walpole; King George II; and his wife, Queen Caroline. The money she inherited from the Marlborough trust left her one of the richest women in Europe. She died in 1744, aged 84.
## Early life
Sarah Jennings was born on 5 June 1660, probably at Holywell House, St Albans, Hertfordshire. She was the daughter of Richard Jennings (or Jenyns), a Member of Parliament, and Frances Thornhurst (daughter of Susanna Temple, a maid of honour of Anne of Denmark). Her paternal grandfather was Sir John Jennings, father of an extraordinarily large family by his wife Alice Spencer. Her uncle Martin Lister was a prominent naturalist.
Richard Jennings came into contact with James, Duke of York (the future James II, brother of King Charles II), in 1663, during negotiations for the recovery of an estate in Kent (Agney Court) that had been the property of his mother-in-law, Susan Lister (née Temple). James's first impressions were favourable, and in 1664 Sarah's sister, Frances, was appointed maid of honour to the Duchess of York, Anne Hyde.
Although James forced Frances to give up the post because of her marriage to a Catholic, James did not forget the family. In 1673, Sarah entered court as maid of honour to James's second wife, Mary of Modena.
Sarah Jennings became close to the young Princess Anne in about 1675, and the friendship grew stronger as the two grew older. In late 1675, when she was still only fifteen, she met John Churchill, 10 years her senior, who fell in love with her. Churchill, who had previously been a lover of Charles II's mistress Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, had little to offer financially, as his estates were deeply in debt. Jennings had a rival for Churchill in Catherine Sedley, a wealthy mistress of James II and the choice of Churchill's father, Sir Winston Churchill, who was anxious to restore the family's fortune. John Churchill may have hoped to take Jennings as a mistress in place of the Duchess of Cleveland, who had recently departed for France, but surviving letters from Jennings to Churchill show her unwillingness to assume that role.
### Marriage
In 1677, Jennings's brother Ralph died, and she and her sister Frances became co-heirs of the family estates in Hertfordshire and Kent. Churchill chose Sarah Jennings over Catherine Sedley, but both Churchill's and Jennings's families disapproved of the match, and therefore they married secretly in the winter of 1677–78.
John and Sarah Churchill were both Protestants in a predominantly Catholic court, a circumstance that would complicate their political allegiances. Although no date was recorded, the marriage was announced only to the Duchess of York and a small circle of friends, so that Sarah could keep her court position as Maid of Honour.
When Churchill became pregnant, her marriage was announced publicly (on 1 October 1678), and she retired from the court to give birth to her first child, Harriet, who died in infancy. When the Duke of York went into self-imposed exile to Scotland as a result of the furore surrounding the Popish Plot, John and Sarah accompanied him, and Charles II rewarded John's loyalty by creating him Baron Churchill of Eyemouth in Scotland. As a result, Sarah became Lady Churchill. The Duke of York returned to England after the religious tension had eased, and Sarah was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Anne after the latter's marriage in 1683.
### Reign of James II (1685–1688)
The early reign of James II was relatively successful; it was not expected that a Catholic king could assert control in a fiercely Protestant, anti-Catholic country. In addition, his daughter and heir was a Protestant. However, when James attempted to reform the national religion, popular discontent against him and his government became widespread. The level of alarm increased when Queen Mary gave birth to a Roman Catholic son and heir, Prince James Francis Edward, on 10 June 1688. A group of politicians known as the Immortal Seven invited Prince William of Orange, husband of James's Protestant daughter Mary, to invade England and remove James from power, a plan that became public knowledge very quickly. James still retained some influence, and he ordered that both Lady Churchill and Princess Anne be placed under house arrest at Anne's residence (the Cockpit) in the Palace of Whitehall. Both their husbands, though previously loyal to James, had switched their allegiances to William of Orange. In her memoirs, Lady Churchill described how the two easily escaped captivity and fled to Nottingham:
> The Princess went to Bed at the usual time to prevent suspicion. I came to her soon after; and by the backstairs which went down from her closet, her Royal Highness [Princess Anne], my Lady Fitzharding [one of Sarah's closest friends] and I, with one servant, walked to the coach where we found the Bishop [of London] [i.e. Henry Compton], and the Earl of Dorset. They conducted us that night to the Bishop's house in the city, and the next day to my Lord Dorset's at Copt-Hall. From there we went to the Earl of Northampton's, and thence to Nottingham, where the country gathered about the Princess; nor did she think herself safe till she saw that she was surrounded by the Prince of Orange's friends.
Although Churchill implied that she had encouraged the escape for the safety of Princess Anne, it is more likely that she was protecting herself and her husband. If James had succeeded in defeating Prince William of Orange in battle, he might have imprisoned and even executed Lord and Lady Churchill for treason, whereas it was unlikely he would have condemned his daughter to a similar fate. But James fled to France in December 1688 rather than confront the invading army, allowing William to take over his throne.
### William III and Mary II
Life for Churchill during the reign of William and Mary was difficult. William and Mary awarded Churchill's husband the title Earl of Marlborough, but the new earl and countess enjoyed considerably less favour than they had during the reign of James II. The Earl of Marlborough had supported the now exiled James, and by this time, the Countess's influence on Anne, and her cultivation of high members of the government to promote Anne's interests, was widely known. Mary II responded to this by demanding that Anne dismiss Lady Marlborough. However, Anne refused. This created a rift between Mary and Anne that never healed.
Other problems also emerged. In 1689, Anne's supporters (including the Marlboroughs and the Duke of Somerset) demanded that she be granted a parliamentary annuity of £50,000, a sum that would end her dependence on William and Mary. The Countess of Marlborough was seen as the driving force behind this bill, creating further ill-feeling towards her at court. William responded to the demand by offering the same sum from the Privy Purse to keep Anne dependent on his generosity. However, Anne, through the Countess of Marlborough, refused, pointing out that a parliamentary grant would be more secure than charity from the Privy Purse. Eventually Anne received the grant from Parliament and felt she owed this to the Countess's efforts.
The Countess's success as a leader of the opposition only intensified Queen Mary's animosity towards the Marlboroughs. Although she could not dismiss the Countess of Marlborough from Anne's service, Mary responded by evicting the Countess from her court lodgings at the Palace of Whitehall. Anne responded by leaving the court as well, and she and the Countess went to stay with their friends the Duke and Duchess of Somerset at Syon House. Anne continued to defy Mary's demand for the Countess's dismissal, even though an incriminating document signed by the Earl of Marlborough supporting the recently exiled James II and his supporters had been discovered. This document is likely to have been forged by Robert Young, a known forger and disciple of Titus Oates; Oates was famous for stirring a strongly anti-Catholic atmosphere in England between 1679 and the early 1680s. The Earl was imprisoned in the Tower of London. The loneliness the Countess suffered during these events drew her and Anne closer together.
Following the death of Mary II from smallpox in 1694, William III restored Anne's honours, as she was now next in line to the throne, and provided her with apartments at St. James's Palace. He also restored the Earl of Marlborough to all his offices and honours and exonerated him from any past accusations. However, fearing the Countess's powerful influence, William kept Anne out of government affairs, and he did not make her regent in his absences though she was now his heir apparent.
## Power behind the throne: Queen Anne
In 1702, William III died, and Anne became queen. Anne immediately offered John Churchill a dukedom, which Sarah initially refused. Sarah was concerned that a dukedom would strain the family's finances; a ducal family at the time was expected to show off its rank through lavish entertainments. Anne countered by offering the Marlboroughs a pension of £5,000 a year for life from Parliament, as well as an extra £2,000 a year from the Privy Purse, and they accepted the dukedom. The Duchess of Marlborough was promptly created Mistress of the Robes (the highest office in the royal court that could be held by a woman), Groom of the Stool, Keeper of the Privy Purse, and Ranger of Windsor Great Park. She was the first of only two women ever to be Keeper of the Privy Purse and the only woman ever to be Ranger of Windsor Great Park. As Keeper of the Privy Purse, she was replaced by the only other woman to hold the position: her cousin and rival Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham. The Duke accepted the Order of the Garter as well as the office of Captain-General of the army.
During much of Anne's reign, the Duke of Marlborough was abroad fighting the War of the Spanish Succession, while the Duchess remained in England. Despite being the most powerful woman in England besides the Queen, she appeared at court only rarely, preferring to oversee the construction of her new estate, Woodstock Manor (the site of the later Blenheim Palace), a gift from Queen Anne after the Duke's victory at the Battle of Blenheim. Nevertheless, Anne sent her news of political developments in letters and consulted the Duchess's advice in most matters.
The Duchess was famous for telling the Queen exactly what she thought, and did not offer her flattery. The two women had invented pet names for themselves during their youth which they continued to use after Anne became queen: Mrs Freeman (Sarah) and Mrs Morley (Anne). Effectively a business manager, the Duchess had control over the Queen's position, from her finances to people admitted to the royal presence.
### Wavering influence
Anne, however, expected kindness and compassion from her closest friend. The Duchess was not forthcoming in this regard and frequently overpowered and dominated Anne. One major political disagreement occurred when the Duchess insisted that her son-in-law Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, be admitted into the Privy Council. The Duchess allied herself more strongly with the Whigs, who supported the Duke of Marlborough in the war, and the Whigs hoped to utilise the Duchess's position as royal favourite.
Anne refused to appoint Sunderland. She disliked the radical Whigs, whom she saw as a threat to her royal prerogative. The Duchess used her close friendship with Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, whom Anne trusted, to eventually secure such appointments, but continued to lobby Anne herself. She sent Whig reading materials to Anne in an attempt to win her over to her own preferred political party. In 1704, Anne confided to Lord Godolphin that she did not think she and the Duchess of Marlborough could ever be true friends again.
### Clash of personalities
The Duchess's frankness and indifference for rank, so admired by Anne earlier in their friendship, was now seen to be intrusive. The Duchess had a powerful intimacy with the two most powerful men in the country, the Duke of Marlborough (her husband) and the Earl of Godolphin. Godolphin, though a great friend of the Duchess, had considered refusing high office after Anne's accession, preferring to live quietly and away from the Duchess of Marlborough's political side. The Earl considered the Duchess bossy, interfering, and presuming to tell him what to do when the Duke was away.
The Duchess, although a woman in a man's world of national and international politics, was always ready to give her advice, express her opinions, antagonize with outspoken censure, and insist on having her say on every possible occasion. However, she had a charm and vivaciousness admired by many, and she could easily delight those she met with her wit.
Anne's apparent withdrawal of genuine affection occurred for a number of reasons. She was frustrated by the Duchess of Marlborough's long absences from court and despite numerous letters from Anne to the Duchess on this subject, the Duchess rarely attended. There was also a political difference between them: the Queen was a Tory (the party known as the "Church party", religion being one of Anne's chief concerns), and the Duchess was a Whig (the party known to support Marlborough's wars).
The Duchess did not share Anne's deep interest in religion, a subject she rarely mentioned, although at their last fraught interview she did warn Anne that she risked God's vengeance for her unreasoning cruelty to the Duchess. The Queen did not want this difference to come between them, but the Duchess, always thinking of her husband, wanted Anne to give more support to the Whigs, which she was not prepared to do.
The Duchess of Marlborough was called to Cambridge in 1703, where her only surviving son, John, Marquess of Blandford, was taken ill with smallpox. The Duke was recalled from the war and was at his bedside when he died on 20 February 1703. The Duchess was heartbroken over the loss of her son and became reclusive for a period, expressing her grief by closing herself off from Anne and either not answering her letters or doing so in a cold and formal manner. This, despite the fact that the Duchess did not allow Anne to shut her out when Anne suffered bereavement.
After the death of Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, in 1708, the Duchess arrived, uninvited, at Kensington Palace to find Anne with the prince's body. She pressed the heartbroken Queen to move from Kensington to St James's Palace in London, which Anne bluntly refused, and instead commanded the Duchess to call Abigail Masham to attend her. Aware that Masham was gaining more influence with Anne, the Duchess disobeyed the Queen, and instead scolded her for grieving over Prince George's death. Although Anne eventually submitted and allowed herself to be taken to St James's Palace, the Duchess's insensitivity greatly offended her and added to the already significant strain on the relationship.
## Fall from grace
### Abigail Masham: political rival
The Duchess had previously introduced her impoverished cousin, then known as Abigail Hill, to court, with the intention of finding a role for her. Abigail, the eldest daughter of the Duchess's aunt, Elizabeth Hill (Jennings), was working as a servant to Sir John Rivers of Kent when the Duchess first learned of her existence. Because the Duchess's grandfather Sir John Jennings had fathered twenty-two children, she had a multitude of cousins and did not know them all. Out of kindness and a sense of family solidarity, she gave Abigail Hill employment within her own household at St Albans, and after a tenure of satisfactory service, Hill was made a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne in 1704. The Duchess later claimed in her memoirs that she had raised Hill "in all regards as a sister", though there were implications that she only assisted her cousin out of embarrassment of her difficult circumstances.
Hill was also a second cousin, on her father's side, to the Tory leader Robert Harley, later first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. Flattering, subtle and retiring, Hill was the complete opposite of the Duchess of Marlborough, who was dominating, blunt and scathing. During the Duchess's frequent absences from court, Hill and Anne grew close. Not only was Hill happy to give the Queen the kindness and compassion that Anne had longed for from the Duchess, she also never pressured the Queen about politics. Anne responded to Hill's flattery and charm. She was present at Hill's secret wedding, in 1707, to Samuel Masham, groom of the bedchamber to Prince George, without the Duchess's knowledge.
The Duchess was completely oblivious to any friendship between Anne and Abigail Masham and was therefore surprised when she discovered that Abigail frequently saw the Queen in private. The Duchess found out about Masham's marriage several months after it had occurred and immediately went to see Anne with the intention of informing her of the event. It was at that interview that Anne let slip that she had begged Masham to tell the Duchess of the marriage, and the Duchess became suspicious about what had really happened. After questioning servants and the Royal Household for a week about Masham's marriage, the Duchess discovered that the Queen had been present and had given Abigail a dowry of £2,000 from the Privy Purse. That proved to the Duchess that Anne was duplicitous. Despite being Keeper of the Privy Purse, the Duchess had been unaware of any such payment.
### Strained relationship
In July 1708, the Duke of Marlborough and his ally Prince Eugene of Savoy won a great victory at the Battle of Oudenarde. On the way to the thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral, the Duchess of Marlborough engaged in a furious argument with the Queen about the jewels Anne wore to the service, and showed her a letter from the Duke which expressed hope that the Queen would make good political use of the victory. The implication that she should publicly express her support for the Whigs offended Anne; at the service the Duchess told the Queen to "be quiet" after Anne continued the argument, thus offending the Queen still further.
Anne's next letter to the Duchess was an exercise in chilling hostility, referring sarcastically to the "command" the Duchess had given her to be silent. As a result the Duchess, who rarely admitted that she was in the wrong, for once realised that she had gone too far and apologised for her rudeness, but her apology had little effect. Anne wrote to the Duke of Marlborough, encouraging him not to let her rift with the Duchess become public knowledge, but he could not prevent his wife's indiscretion.
The Duchess continued vehemently supporting the Whigs in writing and speaking to Anne, with the support of Godolphin and the other Whig ministers. The news of the public's support for the Whigs reached the Duke in letters from the Duchess and Godolphin, which influenced the Duke's political advice to the Queen. Anne, already in ill health, felt used and harassed and was desperate for escape. She found refuge in the gentle and quiet comfort of Abigail Masham.
Anne had explained before that she did not wish the public to know that her relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough was failing, because any sign that the Duchess was out of favour would have a damaging impact on the Duke's authority as captain-general. The Duchess was kept in all of her offices – purely for the sake of her husband's position as Captain-General of the army – and the tension between the two women lingered until early in 1711. This year was to see the end of their relationship for good.
The Duchess had always been jealous of Anne's affection for Abigail Masham after she learned of it. With the Duke of Marlborough and most of the Whig party, she had tried to force Anne to dismiss Masham. All these attempts failed, even when Anne was threatened with an official parliamentary demand from the Whigs, who were suspicious of Masham's Tory influence with Anne. The whole scenario echoed Anne's refusal to give up Sarah Churchill during the reign of William and Mary, but the threat of parliamentary interference exceeded anything tried against Anne in the 1690s.
Anne was ultimately triumphant; she conducted interviews with high-ranking politicians of both political parties and begged them "with tears in her eyes" to oppose the motion. The general view was that the Marlboroughs had made themselves look ridiculous over a trivial matter – since when, it was asked, did Parliament address the Queen on whom she should employ in her bedchamber?
The passion Anne showed for Masham, and the Queen's stubborn refusal to dismiss her, angered the Duchess to the point that she implied that a lesbian affair was taking place between the two women. During the mourning period for Anne's husband, the Duchess was the only one who refused to wear suitable mourning clothes. This gave the impression that she did not consider Anne's grief over his death to be genuine. Eventually, because of the mass support for peace in the War of the Spanish Succession, Anne decided she no longer needed the Duke of Marlborough and took the opportunity to dismiss him on trumped-up charges of embezzlement.
### Final dismissal
The Duchess's last attempt to re-establish her friendship with Anne came in 1710 when they had their final meeting. An account written by the Duchess shortly afterwards shows that she pleaded to be given an explanation of why their friendship was at an end, but Anne was unmoved, coldly repeating a few set phrases such as "I shall make no answer to anything you say" and "you may put it in writing".
The Duchess was so appalled by the Queen's "inhuman" conduct that she was reduced to tears, and most unusually for a woman who rarely spoke of religion, ended by threatening the Queen with the judgment of God. Anne replied that God's judgment on her concerned herself only, but later admitted that this was the one remark from the Duchess that hurt her deeply.
After hearing this, the Duke, realising that Anne intended to dismiss him and his wife, begged the Queen to keep them in their offices for nine months until the campaign was over, so that they could retire honourably. However, Anne told the Duke that "for her [Anne's] honour" the Duchess was to resign immediately and return her gold key – the symbol of her authority within the royal household – within two days. Years of trying the Queen's patience finally had resulted in her dismissal. When told the news, the Duchess, in a fit of pride, told the Duke to return the key to the Queen immediately.
In January 1711, the Duchess of Marlborough lost the offices of Mistress of the Robes and Groom of the Stole and was replaced by Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset. Abigail Masham was made Keeper of the Privy Purse. This broke a promise Anne had made to distribute these court offices to the Duchess of Marlborough's children.
The Marlboroughs also lost state funding for Blenheim Palace, and the building came to a halt for the first time since it was begun in 1705. Now in disgrace, they left England and travelled in Europe. As a result of his success in the War of the Spanish Succession, the Duke was a favourite among the German courts and with the Holy Roman Empire, and the family was received in those places with full honours.
The Duchess, however, did not like being away from England and often complained that she and the Duke were received with full honours in Europe, but were in disgrace at home. The Duchess found life travelling the royal courts difficult, remarking that they were full of dull company. She took the waters at Aachen in Germany on account of her ill health, corresponded with those in England who could supply her with political gossip, and indulged in her fascination with Catholicism.
## Revival of favour
The Duchess and Queen Anne never made up their differences, although one eyewitness claimed to have heard Anne asking whether the Marlboroughs had reached the shore, leading to rumours that she had called them home herself. Anne died on 1 August 1714 at Kensington Palace; the Protestant Whig Privy Councillors had insisted on their right to be present, preventing Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, from declaring for the Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart.
The Marlboroughs returned home on the afternoon of Anne's death. The Act of Settlement 1701 ensured a Protestant succession by passing over more than 50 stronger Catholic claimants and proclaiming Georg Ludwig, Elector of Hanover (the great-grandson of James I through Georg's mother Sophia of Hanover), King George I of Great Britain.
The new reign was supported by the Whigs, who were mostly staunch Protestants. The Tories were suspected of supporting the Pretender, a Roman Catholic. George I rewarded the Whigs by forming a Whig government; at his welcome in Queen's House at Greenwich, he conversed with the Whigs but not with the Tories. The Duchess of Marlborough approved of his choice of Whig ministers.
King George also had a personal friendship with the Marlboroughs; the Duke had fought with him in the War of the Spanish Succession, and John and Sarah made frequent visits to the Hanoverian court during their effective exile from England. George's first words to the Duke as king of Great Britain were, "My lord Duke, I hope your troubles are now over." Marlborough was restored to his old office of Captain-General of the Army.
The Duchess was relieved to move back to England. The Duke became one of the King's close advisers, and the Duchess moved back into Marlborough House, where she flaunted her eldest granddaughter, Lady Henrietta Godolphin, in the hope of finding her a suitable marriage partner. Henrietta eventually married Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in April 1717, and the rest of the Marlboroughs' grandchildren made successful marriages.
The Duchess of Marlborough's concern for her grandchildren briefly came to a halt when in 1716 her husband had two strokes, the second of which left him without the ability to speak. The Duchess spent much of her time with him, accompanying him to Tunbridge Wells and Bath, and he recovered shortly afterwards. Even after his recovery, the Duchess opened his correspondence and filtered the letters the Duke received, lest their contents precipitate another stroke.
The Duchess had a good relationship with her daughter Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland, whereas she later became estranged from her daughters Henrietta, Elizabeth and Mary. Heartbroken when Anne died in 1716, the Duchess kept her favourite cup and a lock of her hair and adopted the Sunderlands' youngest child, Lady Diana, who later became her favourite granddaughter.
## Later years
The Duke of Marlborough died at Windsor in 1722, and the Duchess arranged a large funeral for him. Their daughter Henrietta became duchess in her own right. The Dowager Duchess became one of the trustees of the Marlborough estate, and she used her business sense to distribute the family fortune, including the income for her daughter Henrietta.
The Dowager Duchess's personal income was now considerable, and she used the money to invest in land; she believed this would protect her from currency devaluation. She purchased Wimbledon manor in 1723, and rebuilt the manor house. Her wealth was so considerable that she hoped to marry her granddaughter Lady Diana Spencer to Frederick, Prince of Wales, for which she would pay a massive dowry of £100,000.
However, Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury (analogous to a modern Prime Minister), vetoed the plan. Walpole, although a Whig, had alienated the Dowager Duchess by supporting peace in Europe; she was also suspicious of his financial probity and Walpole, in turn, mistrusted the Dowager Duchess. Despite this, good relations with the royal family continued and the Dowager Duchess was occasionally invited to court by Queen Caroline, who attempted to cultivate her friendship.
Sarah Churchill was a capable business manager, unusual in a period when women were excluded from most things outside the management of their household. Her friend Arthur Maynwaring wrote that she was more capable of business than any man. Although she never came to like Blenheim Palace – describing it as "that great heap of stones" – she became more enthusiastic about its construction and wrote to the Duke of Somerset about the new waterworks: "I believe it will be beautiful. The Canal and Bason (which is already don[e]) look very fine. There is to be a lake & a cascade ... which I think will bee [sic] a great addition to the place".
The Duchess of Marlborough fought against anything she thought was extravagant. She wrote to the Duke of Somerset, "I have reduced the stables to one-third of what was intended by Sir John [Vanbrugh] yet I have room for fourty [sic] fine horses".
The Duchess allowed only two features of extravagance: the Marlboroughs' tomb in the Blenheim chapel, designed by William Kent and the Doric Column of Victory in the park designed by Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, and finished by Roger Morris. The latter rose to a height of 130 feet (40 m), complete with fine embellishments. The Duchess carefully monitored the construction of all Blenheim's features and she fell out with anyone who did not do exactly what she wanted.
These detailed inspections extended to the Duchess's smaller land purchases. After buying the Wimbledon estate (which she described as "upon clay, an ill sod, very damp and...an unhealthy place") and Holdenby House near Althorp, she kept detailed accounts of her finances and expenditure, as well as a sharp look-out for any dishonesty in her agents.
The Dowager Duchess's friendship with Queen Caroline ended when she refused the Queen access through her Wimbledon estate, which resulted in the loss of her £500 income as Ranger of Windsor Great Park. The Dowager Duchess was also rude to King George II – making it clear that he was "too much of a German" – which further alienated her from the court. Her persona non-grata status at the Walpole-controlled court prevented her from suppressing the rise of the Tories; Walpole's taxes and peace with Spain were deeply unpopular with ruling class English society, and the Tories were gaining much more support as a result.
The Dowager Duchess never lost her good looks and, despite failing popularity, received many offers of marriage after the death of her husband, including one from her old enemy, the Duke of Somerset. Ultimately, she decided against remarriage, preferring to keep her independence. The Dowager Duchess continued to appeal against court decisions which ruled that funding for Blenheim should come from the Marlboroughs' personal estate, and not the government. This made her unpopular; as a trustee of her family's estate, she could easily have afforded the payments herself. She was surprised by the grief she felt following the death of her eldest living daughter, Henrietta, in 1733. The Dowager Duchess lived to see her enemy Robert Walpole fall in 1742, and in the same year attempted to improve her reputation by approving a biographical publication titled An Account of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough from her first coming to Court to the year 1710. She died at the age of 84, on 18 October 1744, at Marlborough House; she was buried at Blenheim. Her husband's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and buried beside her.
## Assessment
Although the Duchess of Marlborough's downfall is chiefly attributed to her own self-serving relationship with Queen Anne, she was a vibrant and intelligent woman who promoted Anne's interests when she was princess. However, she found Anne a dull conversationalist and the Duchess did not find her company stimulating.
The Duchess believed that she had a right to enforce her political advice, whether Anne personally liked it or not, and became angry if the Queen stubbornly refused to take it. She seems to have underestimated Anne's strength of character, continuing to believe she could dominate a woman whom foreign ambassadors noted had become "very determined and quite ferocious". Apart from her notorious bad temper, the Duchess's main weakness has been described as "an almost pathological inability to admit the validity of anyone else's point of view".
Abigail Masham also played a key role in the Duchess's downfall. Modest and retiring, she promoted the Tory policies of her cousin Robert Harley. Despite Masham's owing her position at court to the Duchess of Marlborough, the Duchess soon saw Masham as her enemy who supplanted her in Anne's affections when the Duchess spent more and more time away from the Queen.
During her lifetime, the Duchess of Marlborough drafted 26 wills, the last of which was only written a few months before her death, and purchased 27 estates. With a wealth of over £4 million in land, £17,000 in rent rolls, and a further £12,500 in annuities, she made financial bequests to rising Whig ministers such as William Pitt, later the first Earl of Chatham, and Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield. Although she left little to the poor and even less to charity, she left her servants' annuities far above the average for the time; her favourite, Grace Ridley, received £16,000, equivalent to approximately £1.32 million in today's money.
Much of the money left after the Duchess's numerous bequests was inherited by her grandson John Spencer, with the condition that he could not accept a political office under the government. He also inherited the remainder of the Duchess's numerous estates, including Wimbledon. Marlborough House remained empty for 14 years, with the exception of James Stephens, one of her executors, before it became the property of the Dukes of Marlborough upon Stephens's death.
In 1817, Marlborough House became a royal residence, and passed through members of the British royal family until it became the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1959. Wimbledon Park House succumbed to fire in 1785, and Holywell House, the Duchess of Marlborough's birthplace in St Albans, was demolished in 1827. Today, much of St Albans is named after the Marlboroughs because of the Duchess's influence.
The Duchess died, in the words of Tobias Smollett, "immensely rich and very little regretted, either by her own family or the world in general", but her efforts to continue the Marlborough legacy cannot be ignored. Because of her influence, the Duchess managed to marry off members of her family to England's greatest aristocratic dynasties.
## Children
The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough's children who survived childhood married into the most important families in Great Britain:
## In popular culture
In her own time, Sarah Churchill was satirised by many well-known writers in the period, such as Delarivier Manley in her influential political satire, The New Atalantis (1709), and also by Charles Gildon in the first fully-fledged it-narrative in English, The Golden Spy; or, A Political Journal of the British Nights Entertainments (1709), to name just a few.
Churchill is portrayed by actress Rachel Weisz in the 2018 film The Favourite, which centres on the competition between the Duchess and Lady Masham (Emma Stone) for the affections of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). Weisz won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal.
Churchill was played by Romola Garai in the Royal Shakespeare Company West End production of Helen Edmundson's Queen Anne at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2017.
Churchill was played by Susannah York in the 1983 comedy Yellowbeard.
Churchill was played by Alla Demidova in the 1979 Soviet movie A Glass of Water, based on the French play The Glass of Water: or, Effects and Causes (French: Le verre d’eau ou Les effets et les causes) (1840) by Eugène Scribe.
Churchill was played by Susan Hampshire in the 1969 BBC mini-series The First Churchills. |
49,280,323 | Eunice Newton Foote | 1,168,147,727 | American scientist and activist (1819–1888) | [
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| Eunice Newton Foote (July 17, 1819 – September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist to conclude that certain gases warmed when exposed to sunlight, and that rising carbon dioxide () levels would change atmospheric temperature and could affect climate, a phenomenon now referred to as the Greenhouse effect. Born in Connecticut, Foote was raised in New York at the center of social and political movements of her day, such as the abolition of slavery, anti-alcohol activism, and women's rights. She attended the Troy Female Seminary and the Rensselaer School from age 17–19, gaining a broad education in scientific theory and practice.
After marrying attorney Elisha Foote in 1841, Foote settled in Seneca Falls, New York. She was a signatory to the Declaration of Sentiments and one of the editors of the proceedings of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first gathering to treat women's rights as its sole focus. In 1856 she published a paper notable for demonstrating the absorption of heat by and water vapor and hypothesizing that changing amounts of in the atmosphere would alter the climate. It was the first known publication in a scientific journal by an American woman in the field of physics. She published a second paper in 1857, on static electricity in atmospheric gases. Although she was not a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), both her papers were read at the organization's annual conferences—these were the only papers in the field of physics to be written by an American woman until 1889. She went on to patent several inventions.
Foote died in 1888 and for almost a hundred years her contributions were unknown, before being rediscovered by women academics in the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, new interest in Foote arose when it was realized that her work predated discoveries made by John Tyndall, who had been recognized by scientists as the first person to experimentally show the mechanism of the greenhouse effect involving infrared radiation. Detailed examination of her work by modern scientists has confirmed that three years before Tyndall published his paper in 1859, Foote discovered that water vapor and absorb heat from sunlight. Furthermore, her view that variances in the atmospheric levels of water vapor and would result in climate change preceded Tyndall's 1861 publication by five years. Because of the limits of her experimental design, and possibly a lack of knowledge of infrared radiation, Foote did not examine or detect the absorption and emission of radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, which is the cause of the greenhouse effect. In 2022, the American Geophysical Union instituted The Eunice Newton Foote Medal for Earth-Life Science in her honor to recognize outstanding scientific research.
## Childhood and education
Eunice Newton was born July 17, 1819, in Goshen, Connecticut, to Thirza and Isaac Newton Jr. By 1820, the family had relocated to Ontario County in western New York. Her father was a farmer and entrepreneur in East Bloomfield, amassing wealth and losing it through speculation. Eunice was a distant relative of the scientist Isaac Newton. Eunice had six sisters and five brothers, although the oldest sister died at two years old. Her father died in 1835 and the fifth child, a daughter named Amanda, took it upon herself to rid the properties of debt and become sole owner to keep the family farm from being sold. The area of New York where Eunice grew up and spent most of her life was the era's center of social activism. She would have been exposed to abolitionists, dress reform activists, mystics, temperance advocates, and women's rights campaigners.
Newton was educated at the Troy Female Seminary, a pioneering women's preparatory school, established by feminist Emma Willard. Students of the seminary were encouraged to attend science courses at the adjacent Rensselaer School, which was led by Amos Eaton, the senior professor and a proponent of women's education. Eaton's innovative methods included lectures in scientific theory accompanied by practical experimentation in the laboratory, rather than rote memorization. Newton attended these schools between 1836 and 1838.
During Newton's attendance, the assistant principal of the seminary was Willard's sister Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, who prepared the school's curricula and wrote textbooks for the students. Students were allowed to challenge their marks prior to the weekly meeting evaluating their moral gaps. Rather than the typical finishing school curricula offered to girls, pupils studied dance, history, languages (English, French, Italian, Latin), literature, mathematics (general, algebra, geometry), music, painting, philosophy, rhetoric, and science (botany, domestic science). At the Rensselaer School, Newton learned how to conduct research, as well as laboratory testing. Girls attending the school could study astronomy, chemistry, geography, meteorology, and natural philosophy.
## Marriage and family life
On August 12, 1841, in East Bloomfield, Newton married Elisha Foote Jr. (1809–1883), a lawyer. Foote had trained in Johnstown, New York, under Judge Daniel Cady, the father of women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1844, in a sheriff's sale, Elisha bought the house that the Stanton family moved into in 1847. He deeded it the following year to Daniel Cady, who in turn gave it to his daughter, Elizabeth in 1846. Writer Ermina Leonard described Eunice as "a fine portrait and landscape painter", who was also known as an amateur scientist and an inventor. On her 1862 passport application, the officials described Foote as being just under tall, with blue-gray eyes, a "rather large" mouth, with an oval face, a sallow complexion, and dark brown hair.
The marriage produced two daughters, Mary, born July 21, 1842, who became an artist, writer and women's rights advocate; and Augusta, born October 24, 1844, who became a writer. Both daughters were born in Seneca Falls. Elisha became a judge who worked at the Court of Common Pleas in Seneca County, but he resigned from his post in 1846. He continued working as a lawyer and Eunice designed and built a laboratory in their home. By the spring of 1860, the family had relocated to Saratoga Springs, New York, where Augusta was privately schooled. Elisha ran a private practice and was a specialist in patent law.
In 1865, Elisha was appointed to serve an apprenticeship on the Board of Examiners-in-Chief for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The entire family relocated at that time to Washington, D.C. While they were in Washington, both daughters married. Mary wed John B. Henderson, a US Senator from Missouri, a co-author of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery and an advocate for the 15th Amendment to grant voting rights to former slaves. They had a lavish ceremony in 1868, attended by many dignitaries, including US President Andrew Johnson. The following year, Augusta married Francis Benjamin Arnold, a coffee importer from New York City.
After completing his apprenticeship, Elisha was appointed the Commissioner of Patents, serving from July 25, 1868, through April 25, 1869. When his term as commissioner expired, he remained on the Board of Examiners-in-Chief for several years. The couple were living in East Bloomfield in 1872 and 1873, were back in Washington in 1874, but had returned to New York by 1878. They were living in New York City in 1881. While visiting in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1883, Elisha died at Mary's home. After Elisha's death, Eunice lived partly in Brooklyn and partly in Lenox, Massachusetts.
## Campaigner for women's rights
Eunice Foote was a neighbor and friend of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and attended the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. As a member of the editorial committee for the convention, Foote and her husband Elisha were signatories of the convention's Declaration of Sentiments. The declaration, written by Stanton, demanded social and legal rights equal to those of men, as well as the right to vote. Foote was one of the five women who prepared the proceedings of the convention for publication; the others were Stanton, Elizabeth M'Clintock, Mary Ann M'Clintock, and Amy Post.
## Scientific career
### "Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays"
An amateur scientist, Foote conducted a series of experiments that demonstrated the interactions of sunlight on different gases. She used an air pump, two glass cylinders, and four mercury-in-glass thermometers. In each cylinder, she placed two thermometers and then used the pump to evacuate the air from one cylinder and compress it in the other cylinder. When both cylinders reached equal ambient temperatures, they were placed in the sunlight and temperature variances were measured. She also placed the containers in the shade for comparison and tested the temperature results by dehydrating one cylinder and adding water to the other, to measure the effect of dry versus moist air. Foote noted that the amount of moisture in the air impacted the temperature results. She performed this experiment on air, carbon dioxide () (which was called carbonic acid gas in her era), and hydrogen, finding that the tube filled with carbon dioxide became hotter than the others when exposed to sunlight. She wrote: "The receiver containing this gas became itself much heated—very sensibly more so than the other—and on being removed [from the Sun], it was many times as long in cooling".
Foote noted that reached a temperature of 125 °F (52 °C) and that the amount of moisture in the air contributed to temperature variances. In connection with the history of the Earth, Foote theorized that "An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature; and if, as some suppose, at one period of its history, the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from its own action, as well as from increased weight, must have necessarily resulted." Her theory was a clear statement of climatic warming caused by increased levels of in the atmosphere.
Foote described her findings in a paper, "Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays", that she submitted for the tenth annual AAAS meeting, held on August 23, 1856, in Albany, New York. For reasons that are unclear, Foote did not read her paper to those present—women were in principle allowed to speak publicly at the conference—and her paper was instead presented by Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institution. Henry introduced Foote's paper by stating "Science was of no country and of no sex. The sphere of woman embraces not only the beautiful and the useful, but the true". Yet, he discounted her findings in the New-York Daily Tribune article about the presentation, saying "although the experiments were interesting and valuable, there were [many] [difficulties] encompassing [any] attempt to interpret their significance".
The 1856 edition of the American Journal of Science and Arts published Foote's complete paper under her given name, immediately following a paper by her husband, Elisha. Other than those on astronomy, the paper was the first known physics publication in a scientific journal by an American woman. It was not however included by the AAAS in their annual publication of the association's meetings. Summaries of Foote's work were included in the 1857 edition of The Annual of Scientific Discovery, the Canadian Journal of Industry, Science and Art (1857), the Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der reinen, pharmaceutischen und technischen Chemie, Physik, Mineralogie und Geologie, 1856 (Annual Report on the Progress of Pure, Pharmaceutical, and Industrial Chemistry, Physics, Mineralogy, and Geology, 1856 (Giessen, 1857), the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (1857), the newspaper New-York Daily Tribune, and the magazine Scientific American (1856). Both the Giessen and Edinburgh summaries omitted her direct conclusions about the impact of carbon dioxide on climate. The summary written in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal indicated that two papers had been written, one by Elisha and one by Mrs. Elisha Foote, but the title of Elisha's paper, "On the Heat in the Sun's Rays", was given for both articles, although the summary was entirely devoted to Eunice's paper. Foote was praised in the September 13, 1856, issue of Scientific American. Although the article was titled "Scientific Ladies—Experiments with Condensed Gases", Foote was the primary subject. Impressed that her theories were backed up by experiments, the authors stated, "This we are happy to say has been done by a lady", and noted that "she was deeply acquainted with almost every branch of physical science".
In the late 1770s, Horace Bénédict de Saussure had used a similar apparatus to Foote's and concluded that altitude impacted solar heat in an enclosed cylinder. Joseph Fourier had theorized in the 1820s that atmospheric gases trapped solar heat. Neither of them had recognized the increase in solar heat by and water vapor in the atmosphere, which was unique to Foote's findings. In 1859, John Tyndall reported his more sophisticated research, using a Leslie cube and a differential spectrometer, showing that several gases both trapped and emitted infrared thermal radiation rather than sunlight. His work, "Note on the Transmission of Radiant Heat through Gaseous Bodies" was published that year in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, of which he was a fellow.
Tyndall gave credit to Claude Pouillet's work on solar radiation through the atmosphere, but appeared to be unaware of Foote's work, or did not think it was relevant. Tyndall made no mention of water vapor, carbon dioxide, or climate until his fourth publication on the topic which appeared in the French-language journal Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève in 1859, and even there, did not make a connection with climate change. After conducting further tests, in 1861 his seminal work on climate, "The Bakerian Lecture: On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction" was presented as a lecture to the Royal Society. It was published later that year in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
### "On a New Source of Electrical Excitation"
By 1857, Foote was conducting experiments on static electricity, which she called "electrical excitation". The studies were designed to test the moisture content and which gases in the air could generate static electricity. She used an air pump with limited power to adjust the air pressure in a glass tube about two feet long and three inches in diameter and sealed at the ends with brass caps. Attached to one cap was a gold leaf electrometer, which allowed her to measure electrical charges and the other cap was attached to the pump. Vacuuming out the atmospheric air, she replaced it with oxygen, hydrogen, and , as well as dry and damp air to test their effect upon the electrical charge. By expanding or compressing air, Foote noted that the moisture content was changed, which in turn affected the amount of static electricity that could be generated. She was working from a hypothesis that electric charges and fluctuations in atmospheric pressure might explain the Earth's magnetic field and polarity, which was later shown by other scientists not to be the case.
Foote's paper, "On a New Source of Electrical Excitation", was again read by Henry at the annual AAAS conference held in Montreal, on the third day of proceedings, August 14, 1857. In November 1857, her findings were published in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The publication of this paper was the first time an American woman's work in physics had been included in the journal. During the nineteenth century, only sixteen physics papers were published by American women. The only two published before 1889 were Foote's 1856 and 1857 papers.
Foote's paper was abbreviated and published in the American Journal of Science and Arts and the Philosophical Magazine. The Philosophical Magazine had rejected publication of her first paper in favor of reprinting Elisha's 1856 work. The article about Foote's findings published in The New-York Daily Times on August 18, 1857, praised her work, claiming that her findings had been "never heretofore proven", although in fact, they confirmed the ideal gas law, published in 1834. She proved that adiabatic heating or cooling, or changes in temperature that occur without the addition or removal of heat, is the result of changing pressure. Temperature changes alter the vapor pressure in the air, which in turn, impacts the generation of static electricity.
### Inventions
Eunice Foote and her husband Elisha were both inventors. Rachel Brazil, a science writer for Chemistry World, noted in 2020 that Elisha filed a patent in 1842 on a thermostatically controlled cooking stove which had been invented by Eunice. According to Brazil, Eunice mostly patented her inventions in her husband's name, because as a married woman, she would not have been able to defend the patents in court. Foote herself acknowledged the practice in 1868, when Stanton visited her at the patent office. She told Stanton that in her opinion half of the patents filed were on inventions by women but because men controlled the money needed to make a model and sought the prestige, they took women's patents out in their own names. In 1857, Elisha was awarded a substantial settlement for infringement on the 1842 stove patent.
Eunice filed a patent in her own name in 1860 on a shoe and boot insert made of a single piece of vulcanized rubber to "prevent the squeaking of boots and shoes". A skate that she invented, which did not have straps, was reported in The Emporia News in 1868. In 1864, Eunice developed a new cylinder-type of paper-making machine. The Daily Evening Star reported that the machine allowed better quality wrapping and printing paper to be manufactured at less cost. A company from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, which used the machine reported that it saved them \$157 () per day in raw materials.
## Death
Foote died on September 29 or 30, 1888, in Lenox, Massachusetts. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
## Rediscovery
### Background
Biases against crediting women scientists for their work led to a lack of documentation about her contributions and scientific achievements, and Foote fell into obscurity. Scientists and journalists generally agree that this happened because she was a woman and an amateur scientist, and because at the time American scientists were not respected as much as Europeans. Her failure to name the specific works of the scientists that had influenced her marked Foote as an amateur. American researchers were recognized in her era for natural history, but physics was still a developing field and few American physicists had an international reputation. Tyndall became the person most often credited with the discovery of the greenhouse effect. Some writers credit the greenhouse effect to Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish Nobel laureate in chemistry, who used physical chemistry to calculate how increases in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide can cause the Earth to warm and proved that human interaction with the environment was a direct cause of climate change.
In 1902, Susan B. Anthony made a speech calling on younger feminists to take up the reins from founders of the movement like "Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Eunice Newton Foote, Mary Livermore, and Isabella Beecher Hooker". Institutionalized neglect of women's history and distortion of the historical record by historians who did not analyze or include women's experiences led to little being known about early feminists. Before 1960 only thirteen texts published in the United States dealt with women's history. Of those, five focused on colonial women and three focused on Antebellum Southern women. Women's Liberation activists began making demands for increased representation of women in academia in the late 1960s. They wanted research into women's history to be expanded and groups such as people of color and other marginalized communities to be part of the historic record. In 1969, these activists formed the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession as an affiliate of the American Historical Association, hoping to address historical omissions and eliminate discrimination and recruiting problems in the profession of historians. The push for the inclusion of women as both historical subjects and a field of study for academics resulted in the first university women's studies program being launched in the United States in 1970. The first texts specifically written about first-wave feminists were written after 1975.
### Recovery
Women scholars began recovering Foote's role as a nineteenth-century scientist in the 1970s. In 1976, historian Sally Gregory Kohlstedt noted Foote's participation as the only woman at the 1857 meeting of the AAAS in her history of that organization. Kohlstedt also noted both Elisha's membership in the AAAS from 1856 to 1860, and Eunice's presentation of papers as a non-member. Deborah Jean Warner mentioned Foote's articles, and her participation in the 1856 and 1857 AAAS conferences, in her article "Science Education for Women in Antebellum America" published in 1978 in the journal Isis. Lois Barber Arnold, who taught in the Science Education Department of the Teachers College, Columbia University, described Foote's experiments and participation in the AAAS conferences in detail in 1984, but noted that biographical data on her was lacking. Elizabeth Wagner Reed, a geneticist and scholar who studied biases against women in science, included a chapter "Eunice Newton Foote: 1819–1888" in her 1992 book American Women in Science Before the Civil War.
After the advent of the Internet and digitization, renewed interest in Foote was sparked by an article published by retired petroleum geologist Ray Sorenson, in January 2011, in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists' on-line journal Search and Discovery. Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, came across Foote's work when trying to answer a question by a colleague, Patricia Solís, about the lack of women in early climate research. She published an article "John v Eunice — A Fascinating Tale of Early Climate Science, Women's Rights and Accidental Poisoning" on Facebook in 2016. Leila McNeill, joint editor-in-chief of the magazine Lady Science, published an article in the Smithsonian magazine in December of that year, after discussing Foote with Sorenson. Around the same time, the physicist John Perlin, who according to Nick Welsh, the executive editor of the Santa Barbara Independent, is an author of two definitive histories on solar energy, took note of Foote and began to research her history. By 2019, and because it was the 200th anniversary of Foote's birth, both academics and journalists from many parts of the globe had begun to regularly write about Foote and the sexism and biases in the scientific community, which caused women, and particularly women scientists, to go unrecognized.
#### Evaluating Foote's experiments
Roland Jackson, a visiting scholar at the London-based Royal Institution, set out in 2019 to analyze the questions of priority of Foote's work, as had Hayhoe in 2016. According to Jackson and Hayhoe, Foote's simple apparatus could not distinguish between the effects of energy emitted from the sun and infrared energy radiated by the Earth. Because Tyndall had more sophisticated equipment, Hayhoe noted that he was able to make these distinctions and conclusively measure the "heat-trapping properties" of several gases, by differentiating their infrared energy and the ability of molecules to absorb or emit radiation. Jackson acknowledged that it was possible that Foote did not "recognize, the distinction between solar radiation and radiated heat from the earth". Ralph Lorenz evaluated Foote's work in a modern planetary climate context and noted that the near-infrared (0.8 to 3 μm) radiation absorption reported by Foote is effectively an antigreenhouse effect because it primarily involves solar radiation absorption rather than absorption and re-radiation of terrestrial longwave ('thermal') infrared radiation.
An analysis of both of Foote's papers was published online in 2020 by Joseph D. Ortiz, a geology professor at Kent State University, and Jackson. Their printed findings in 2022 contain a description of Foote's methodology. They pointed out that although she did not cite specific works by other scientists, she referenced de Saussure, Alexander von Humboldt, and Edward Sabine. (Reed had previously noted that Foote had also referenced Henri Becquerel, Jean-Baptiste Biot, and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac.) They also noted that Foote "did not measure the natural greenhouse effect of the earth's atmosphere", but rather studied the heating of gases inside glass vessels. The walls of these vessels would have blocked longwave infrared radiation from either entering or leaving, while allowing some heat to escape via conduction. Accordingly, her results did not directly indicate how the greenhouse effect operates in a natural atmosphere, but they did provide quantitative information about how gases, including greenhouse gases, absorb and radiate heat.
Ortiz and Jackson's analysis traced the derivation of Foote's ideas and explored how she constructed, carried out, and interpreted her experiments. They found that she conducted her experiments using a control and a test vessel, which were made as similarly as possible. Her experimental design repeated pairing so that she could measure changes between full sun and shadow, vacuumed and condensed air, damp and dry air, and ambient atmosphere and for each vessel. Although she did not attempt to answer how or why heating occurred, her results confirmed the questions she sought to answer: "Does the concentration of gas in the atmosphere affect its warming response to the Sun's rays?; Does the composition of the gas in the atmosphere affect its warming response to the Sun's rays?; and Can the effect of different gases on the warming response of the Sun’s rays be ranked?"
#### Analysis of Foote's pioneering role in climate science
Reed's chapter gave biographical details on Eunice and her family and presented a detailed analysis of her scientific work. She recognized that Foote's experiments confirmed that when subjected to sunlight, carbon dioxide became warmer than air "thereby demonstrating what we call the greenhouse effect today". In 2010, when Sorenson came across a summary of Foote's work in an 1857 volume of The Annual of Scientific Discovery, he was unaware that the full paper had been published. He also did not know how much of what publisher David Ames Wells wrote in the summary was "attributable to [Foote]". Sorenson recognized that Foote's work had preceded Tyndall's in making the connection between carbon dioxide and climate change, but believed her lack of recognition for the discovery was that her work had merely been an oral presentation. He published an update to his initial findings on Foote in 2018, and reported "an examination of the American Journal of Science and Arts (AJS) was conducted, and the original paper [by Foote] was found in the November 1856 issue" ... "The published AJS paper clearly shows that the idea of climate warming due to rising levels of atmospheric originated with Eunice Foote."
Jackson's work in 2019 confirmed that Foote's experiments showing that water vapor and absorb heat occurred three years before Tyndall made a similar claim. He also validated that her observation that differences in atmospheric levels of water vapor and would result in climate change preceded Tyndall's claim by five years. Lorenz reported in 2019 in his work Exploring Planetary Climate that Foote had made her discoveries proving that moist air produced more warming than dry air, and that variances in air density impacted warming, prior to Tyndall. Perlin concurred, describing Foote as "the Rosa Parks of science, ... the first woman to have a paper read at a major scientific meeting ... first woman to have a paper published in the proceedings of a major scientific meeting ... [and] the only woman to be published in serious physics journals until Madame Curie". Ortiz and Jackson concluded that Foote was the first to demonstrate absorption of heat by carbon dioxide and water vapor, but she did not isolate or detect the absorption and emission of radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, which causes the greenhouse effect.
#### Debate on whether Tyndall knew of Foote's work
The rediscovery of Foote also sparked academic debate on whether Tyndall knew of her work. Hayhoe's position in 2018 was that there was inadequate information to make a determination. Perlin strongly believed that Tyndall did know, because one of his papers was published in the 1856 American Journal of Science along with Foote's. Jackson, who also wrote a biography of Tyndall, believes that Tyndall probably never knew of Foote. He acknowledges the possibility that Tyndall could have known, as he was one of the editors of the Philosophical Magazine and could have been involved in the selection of the articles it chose to publish. Jackson also notes that many European scientists, including George Stokes and William Thomson, were unaware of Foote's work since her name is not mentioned in any of the "correspondence, journals, or published papers of the critical physicists" of her era.
Perlin countered Jackson's view because, in an earlier incident, Tyndall had not credited precedent work by Henry and Tyndall was known to have little regard for women's intellectual capacity. Jeff Hecht, a science and technology writer, acknowledged that the reasons why Tyndall did not credit Foote remain unknown but that he "...might have ignored a discovery claimed by a woman". Like Perlin, Hecht pointed out that Tyndall "...failed to credit discoveries by men like Colladon, and quarreled over priority with some other prominent scientists of his time". Jackson rebutted that Tyndall had only limited interest in climate and after 1861, never published again on the subject as his interest was in studying the effect of radiation upon molecules. Jackson stated that it was scientists who gave Tyndall the title of "founder of climate science" and not a title that Tyndall had claimed for himself.
## Legacy and recognition
In May 2018, a symposium on Foote's work, Science Knows No Gender: In Search of Eunice Foote Who 162 Years Ago Discovered the Principal Cause of Global Warming was held at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The main presenter at the symposium, the first conference specifically organized to honor Foote, was Perlin. A short-film about Foote's life, Eunice, was produced in 2018 by Eric Garro and Paul Bancilhon. That year, Cornell University Press released a textbook Communicating Climate Change: A Guide for Educators confirming that Foote's work preceded that of Tyndall. The University of California, Santa Barbara Library opened a seven-month exhibit in November 2019, From Eunice Foote to UCSB: A Story of Women, Science, and Climate Change, to honor Foote's work and legacy.
Foote's work is now recognized as the earliest known scientific research to demonstrate the existence of greenhouse gases and their potential to effect changes in climate. The publication of her paper in the 1856 edition of the American Journal of Science and Arts is acknowledged as the first known publication in a scientific journal on physics by a woman. The publication of her 1857 paper in that year's Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is acknowledged as the first time an American woman's work had been published in the journal. The American Geophysical Union instituted The Eunice Newton Foote Medal for Earth-Life Science in 2022 to recognize exceptional scientific achievements in research which focuses on the convergence of Earth and life science.
## See also
- History of climate change science
- Matilda effect – a bias against acknowledging the achievements of women scientists
- Women in climate change |
30,335,473 | All things | 1,167,759,879 | null | [
"2000 American television episodes",
"American LGBT-related television episodes",
"Television episodes about Buddhism",
"The X-Files (season 7) episodes"
]
| "all things" is the seventeenth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. Written and directed by lead actress Gillian Anderson, it first aired on April 9, 2000, on the Fox network. The episode is unconnected to the wider mythology of The X-Files and functions as a "Monster-of-the-Week" story. Watched by 12.18 million people, the initial broadcast had a Nielsen household rating of 7.1. The episode received mixed reviews from critics; many called the dialogue pretentious and criticized the characterization of Scully. However, viewer response was generally positive.
The series centers on Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called "X-Files". Mulder is a believer in the paranormal. The skeptical Scully was initially assigned to debunk his work, but the two have developed a deep friendship. In this episode, a series of coincidences lead Scully to meet Dr. Daniel Waterston (Nicolas Surovy), a married man with whom she had an affair while at medical school. After Waterston slips into a coma, Scully puts aside her skepticism and seeks out alternative medicine to save Waterston.
"all things" is the only episode of the series written and directed by Anderson, as well as the first episode of The X-Files to be directed by a woman. The episode makes heavy use of "The Sky Is Broken", a song from Moby's 1999 album Play, as well as a gong. The episode has been analyzed for its themes of pragmatism and feminist philosophy.
## Plot
FBI special agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is getting dressed in front of a mirror. As she leaves, her colleague Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) lies in his bed, half of his body covered by bedsheets. The narrative flashes back to a few days earlier: Scully arrives at a hospital and, after a series of coincidences, meets her former professor, Daniel Waterston (Nicolas Surovy), with whom she had an affair while attending medical school. He is ill and suffering from an undiagnosed heart condition. She questions whether she made the right decision to leave him and abandon her medical career to pursue a career in the FBI. She meets Waterston's daughter, Maggie (Stacy Haiduk), who is extremely resentful of Scully for the effect she had on Waterston's family.
Mulder—on his way to England investigating heart chakra-shaped crop circles—calls Scully and asks her to meet a contact of his, Colleen Azar (Colleen Flynn), to obtain some information. As Scully speaks to Mulder on her cellphone while driving her car, a woman appears on a crosswalk. Scully brakes hard to avoid hitting the woman. As she does so, she narrowly avoids colliding with a semi-truck. She realizes that, had the woman not stepped in her path, the truck would have killed her. When she later arrives at the house of Azar, she observes that Scully is going through a personal crisis and tries to offer her guidance, but Scully is dismissive.
Later, Scully returns to apologize to Azar and agrees to listen to her ideas. Azar shares her knowledge of Buddhism, the concept of the collective unconscious, and the idea of personal auras. Azar believes these concepts might explain these strange occurrences. While visiting Waterston, he nearly dies but Scully saves him using a defibrillator; however, this also puts him in a coma. After a confrontation with Maggie at the hospital over what happened to her father, Scully walks through Chinatown. Seeing the woman who appeared earlier at the crosswalk, she follows her to a small Buddhist temple before the mysterious woman seemingly vanishes. Inside the temple, Scully has a vision of what is ailing Waterston. She returns to the hospital with Azar to visit Waterston.
Azar and a healer provide alternative treatment for Waterston, who fully recovers. He announces that he still wants a relationship with Scully, but she realizes she is no longer the same person she was those many years ago and rejects him. As she sits outside the hospital on a bench, Scully thinks that she sees the mysterious woman again, but it turns out to be Mulder. Later, the two agents sit in Mulder's apartment talking about the events of the last few days. Mulder begins to speak more existentially about what transpired, implying that fate has brought them together but, when he turns to look at Scully, he sees that she has fallen asleep.
## Production
### Conception and writing
Sometime during the sixth season of The X-Files, Anderson approached series creator Chris Carter and asked to write an episode that explored her own interest in "Buddhism and the power of spiritual healing"; ultimately, she wanted to write a script in which Scully pursued a "deeply personal X-File, one in which [she] is taken down a spiritual path when logic fails her". She wrote the basic outline of what became "all things" in one sitting, which Carter approved due to the "personal and quiet" nature of the story. Anderson's first draft of "all things" was 15 pages too long, and it did not feature a concluding fourth act. Carter and executive producer Frank Spotnitz thus began to work with Anderson to finish the episode, although Carter and Spotnitz later acknowledged that the majority of the script "was all Gillian".
Despite her satisfaction with the final version, Anderson regrets a handful of the "necessary" script changes, most notably, the addition that Scully and Waterston's affair was intimate. In the original script, the two came "close to having an affair", but Scully ended the relationship when she discovered that Waterston was married. In the commentary for the episode, Anderson elaborated on Scully and Waterston's original backstory: after Scully and Waterston came close to having an affair, Scully left to study at Quantico to become an FBI agent. After she left, Waterston become depressed, and his family began to suspect the affair. The emotional turmoil was too much for Waterston's wife, who killed herself, which made Waterston's daughter, Maggie, resent Scully, as shown in the finished episode. Anderson believed that the removal of this backstory made it hard for the audience to understand Maggie's disgust with Scully.
When Anderson first wrote the episode, she did not imply that Scully and Mulder had had sex. Spotnitz and the production crew, however, felt it was natural to suggest that Scully and Mulder's relationship had evolved into a romantic one. The idea of heart chakra crop circles was included because Anderson wanted "whatever Mulder was involved in that took him away from me, away from Washington, to somehow tie into what it was that I was going through—the journey that I was going through". As such, Anderson dedicated much of her time researching both crop circles and heart chakras, but she later gave additional credit to Spotnitz, who aided her in the research process.
### Directing and music
Around the same time that she approached Carter about writing an episode, Anderson was being solicited by television networks, who were interested in having her direct shows. She, however, had never directed before and decided that she would first helm an episode of The X-Files before working on other series. Consequently, when Anderson pitched her initial script idea, she also expressed her desire to direct the episode. Carter accepted her story, but did not appoint her as director until all the revisions and rewrites had been completed. Anderson worked with series director Kim Manners for the majority of the episode, and he assigned Anderson directing exercises—such as making a list of shots for every scene—to get her familiar with the demands of directing. The episode also marked the first time that a woman had helmed the direction of an The X-Files episode.
Anderson's directing helped to energize the production, and the crew worked harder than usual to ensure that everything was in order for her: Production designer Corey Kaplan went out of his way to find a Buddhist temple at Anderson's request, and casting director Rick Millikan helped Anderson choose the appropriate actors. Millikan later said that he particularly enjoyed working with Anderson, because "it was fun for [him] to watch her go through the casting process because it was all new to her." On set, Anderson's directing style was described as "right on the money" by Marc Shapiro in his book all things: The Official Guide to The X-Files, Volume 6. He later wrote that "Anderson wielded a deft hand in her directorial debut, prodding the actors to her will, making decisions on the fly, and handling the complex special effects sequences". Fans of the show later wrote to express their appreciation of Anderson's directing abilities. Anderson was also involved in post-production editing, during which she was forced to cut the final conversation scene between Scully and Daniel Waterston down by about 10 minutes.
The meditation scene required clips from previous episodes to appear in flashback. Initially, Paul Rabwin and the special effects crew arranged the necessary scenes and placed them in animated bubbles. However, the crew was unhappy with the bubbles and felt that they were too "hokey", so they adopted a more standard slit-scan effect. In order to create the sequence of Scully visualizing Waterston's heart condition, Nicolas Surovy had to lie naked on a platform surrounded by a blue screen. A sphere on his chest was matched via motion control as a marker for a prosthetic beating heart that was crafted and filmed separately. The two shots were then combined.
Anderson wanted to include "The Sky Is Broken", a song from Moby's 1999 album Play in the episode, as she felt that the song's lyrics "fit with [the] idea that was unfolding for the script". Anderson crafted the first shot after the opening credits, which involved Scully getting ready while water dripped from a sink, to create a "continuation of sound, rhythmic sound", because it was important to the show's musical aspect. Anderson and series composer Mark Snow worked together in post-production; after filming, she sent Snow several CDs of music and asked him for compositions that were similar in style and feel. A certain melody that the two worked on later became "Scully's Theme", which was not broadcast until the eighth season episode "Within". "all things" also featured the use of the gong, an instrument that Anderson called "very Tibetan" and "appropriate for this episode".
## Themes
In the chapter "Scully as a Pragmatist Feminist" of the book The Philosophy of The X-Files, Erin McKenna argues that "all things" represents an "important shift" in Scully's approach to science, knowledge acquisition, and the pursuit of the truth. She reasons that the events of the episode open Scully's mind to new ways of knowing, specifically citing "auras, chakras, visions ... and the importance of coincidence". McKenna notes that Scully's shift in perspective is a shift to American pragmatism, a belief that reality is ever-changing. Pragmatists believe "the truth is out there"—the motto of the series—in a manner similar to Mulder's. In "all things", Scully begins to embrace pragmatism, although she still clings to her skeptic roots. Mixing the two, Scully evolves from a mere skeptic who demands proof to validate a truth, to an empiricist who wants proof, but is open to other perspectives.
In addition, McKenna reasons that "all things" is heavily influenced by feminist philosophy and epistemology, schools of thought that try to criticize or re-evaluate the ideas of traditional philosophy and epistemology from within a feminist framework. According to McKenna, feminism rejects dualistic ways of thinking, especially "typical male/female dualism". Feminist philosophy, instead, calls for a pluralistic way of thinking, noting that there are many consistent sets of truths about the world. In the episode, Scully starts out "sure of her more rational scientific view and approach". As the episode progresses, however, she decides to branch out. Eventually, she brings in a spirit healer to "corroborate or nullify the new beliefs she is encountering". Despite dabbling in mysticism, a field generally stereotyped as feminine by the patriarchy, Scully engages in "protracted inquiry", examining all sides of the issue, in order to return Waterston to health.
When Mulder and Scully talk at the end of the episode, Mulder questions the fact that he left "town for two days and [Scully] spoke to God in a Buddhist temple and God spoke back". Scully retorts that, "I didn't say God spoke back". McKenna proposes that this is an example of Scully's rational scientific approach meshing with her newer, feministic pragmatism. The two modes of understanding are not "to be seen ... as competing systems, but as complementary, as are Scully and Mulder themselves". McKenna concludes that this is represented in the opening scene, in which Mulder and Scully are implied to have had sex. This is meant as a metaphor, showing the full merging of Scully's and Mulder's different philosophies into pragmatic feminism.
In her academic monograph on the series, Theresa L. Geller considers "all things" at length while discussing the show's sexual politics. Geller contends that Anderson uses her directorial debut to make a feminist intervention into the character of Scully, noting that the episode's title is "possibly a comment on the earlier Scully episode, 'All Souls' that cast Scully yet again as self-sacrificing mother" while "all things" "allowed Anderson to create a story that shifted Scully's arc from the immaterial religiosity of Catholicism to a more material, embodied spirituality, from souls to things". Geller analyzes the episode in the context of Anderson's long-standing engagement with female fans, arguing that it "offers a narrative that acknowledges shippers identification with Scully not as an object of seduction, but as a figure directly impacted by women and changed by what she learns when she listens to them".
Geller sees this intervention as directly tied to the episode's narrative peculiarity: "Although neither FBI-related nor paranormal, 'all things' suggests—and models—ways we can learn from women's knowledge, even when it is intuitive, 'irrational', and embodied. To do so, however, meant a shift in form, in genre." "all things" expands the generic vocabulary of The X-Files by including a scene from Vittorio De Sica's 1953 woman-centered melodrama Indiscretion of an American Wife, a reference that "underscores the generic conventions to the 'pathetic impulses behind this bargaining' women do in the romance", but does so only to highlight that, "in this episode, Scully's desires are catalyzed, ultimately, not by men in her life, but by women she does not know—much like the women fans of The X-Files that have shaped the show".
## Broadcast and reception
The episode originally aired in the United States on the Fox network on April 9, 2000, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky1 on July 9, 2000. In the U.S., "all things" was watched by 12.18 million viewers. It earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.5, with an 11 share, meaning that roughly 7.5 percent of all television-equipped households, and 11 percent of households watching television, tuned into the episode. In the U.K., "all things" was seen by 580,000 viewers, making it the seventh-most watched program on Sky1 for that week. On May 13, 2003, the episode was released on DVD as part of the complete seventh season.
Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "C" and called it "a curious failure". She felt that the writing was "pretentious" and composed of "some weird, weird bullshit". VanDerWerff wrote that, although the episode was unsuccessful, there was something so "pure and unadorned at its center that I can't outright hate it". Furthermore, she admired the show and Anderson for "making the attempt". Kevin Silber of Space.com gave the episode a negative review, critical of the script and characterization. He said, "nothing much seems to happen, and what does occur is substantially driven by coincidence and arbitrariness". He did not like Azar and disapproved of Scully's philosophical "reverie", calling it "facile, and hard to reconcile with the determined rationalism she's displayed over the years in the face of events no less strange than those that occur here".
In their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson rated the episode one star out of five, calling the premise and characters dull. The two criticized Anderson for looking at the "minutiae of life too intensely", which made many of the actors and actresses come off as ciphers. Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson were critical of Anderson's directing style, calling it "pretentious", noting that the plot's significance was drowned out by unnecessary artistic flourishes and needless pizzazz. Paula Vitaris from CFQ gave the episode a negative review, awarding it one star out of four. She called Anderson's directing "heavy-handed" and bemoaned the storyline because it "plays havoc with Scully's motivations and character as established in the past seven years".
Not all reviews were negative. Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review and called it "wonderful". He praised Anderson's tenacity in presenting a darker moment from Scully's past and favorably compared the episode to "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" in terms of character development. Kinney Littlefield of the Orange County Register wrote that the "wistful, meditative episode" was "not bad for Anderson's first directing effort". He did, however, comment that it was not as "sly as the episode about an alien baseball player that Duchovny directed". The Michigan Daily writer Melissa Runstrom, in a review of the seventh season, called the episode "interesting".
While the episode received lukewarm reviews from critics, fans of the show reacted generally positively to "all things", and the show's producers received calls and letters from viewers stating that they "loved the vulnerability and quiet determination that Scully revealed in the unusual episode". |
76,033 | The Great Gatsby | 1,173,436,659 | 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald | [
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| The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924. He submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After making revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. Painter Francis Cugat's dust jacket art greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he incorporated its imagery into the novel.
After its publication by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews, though some literary critics believed it did not equal Fitzgerald's previous efforts. Compared to his earlier novels, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922), the novel was a commercial disappointment. It sold fewer than 20,000 copies by October, and Fitzgerald's hopes of a monetary windfall from the novel were unrealized. When the author died in 1940, he believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten.
During World War II, the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free copies to American soldiers serving overseas. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination, and the work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades.
Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited versus self-made wealth, gender, race, and environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American Dream. One persistent item of criticism is an allegation of antisemitic stereotyping. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.
## Historical and biographical context
Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of Prohibition-era America during the Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald's fictional narrative fully renders that period—known for its jazz music, economic prosperity, flapper culture, libertine mores, rebellious youth, and ubiquitous speakeasies. Fitzgerald uses many of these 1920s societal developments to tell his story, from simple details like petting in automobiles to broader themes such as bootlegging as the illicit source of Gatsby's fortune.
Fitzgerald conveys the hedonism of Jazz Age society by placing a relatable plotline within the historical context of the most raucous and flashiest era in American history. In Fitzgerald's eyes, the era represented a morally permissive time when Americans of all ages became disillusioned with prevailing social norms and obsessed with pleasure-seeking. Fitzgerald himself had a certain ambivalence towards the Jazz Age, an era whose themes he would later regard as reflective of events in his own life.
The Great Gatsby reflects various events in Fitzgerald's youth. He was a young Midwesterner from Minnesota. Like the novel's narrator who went to Yale, he was educated at an Ivy League school, Princeton. There the 18-year-old Fitzgerald met Ginevra King, a 16-year-old socialite with whom he fell deeply in love. Although Ginevra was madly in love with him, her upper-class family openly discouraged his courtship of their daughter because of his lower-class status, and her father purportedly told him that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls".
Rejected by Ginevra's family as a suitor because of his lack of financial prospects, a suicidal Fitzgerald enlisted in the United States Army amid World War I and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. While awaiting deployment to the Western front where he hoped to die in combat, he was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama, where he met Zelda Sayre, a vivacious 17-year-old Southern belle. After learning that Ginevra had married wealthy Chicago businessman William "Bill" Mitchell, Fitzgerald asked Zelda to marry him. Zelda agreed but postponed their marriage until he became financially successful. Fitzgerald is thus similar to Jay Gatsby in that he became engaged while a military officer stationed far from home and then sought immense wealth in order to provide for the lifestyle to which his fiancée had become accustomed.
After his success as a short-story writer and as a novelist, Fitzgerald married Zelda in New York City, and the newly-wed couple soon relocated to Long Island. Despite enjoying the exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald quietly disapproved of the extravagant parties, and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him. While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally disquieting. Although Fitzgerald—like Gatsby—had always admired the rich, he nonetheless possessed a smoldering resentment towards them.
## Plot summary
In spring 1922, Nick Carraway—a Yale alumnus from the Midwest and a World War I veteran—journeys to New York City to obtain employment as a bond salesman. He rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to a luxurious estate inhabited by Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soirées yet doesn't partake in them.
One evening, Nick dines with a distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, in the fashionable town of East Egg. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, formerly a Yale football star whom Nick knew during his college days. The couple has recently relocated from Chicago to a mansion directly across the bay from Gatsby's estate. There, Nick encounters Jordan Baker, an insolent flapper and golf champion who is a childhood friend of Daisy's. Jordan confides to Nick that Tom keeps a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who brazenly telephones him at his home and who lives in the "valley of ashes", a sprawling refuse dump. That evening, Nick sees Gatsby standing alone on his lawn, staring at a green light across the bay.
Days later, Nick reluctantly accompanies a drunken and agitated Tom to New York City by train. En route, they stop at a garage inhabited by mechanic George Wilson and his wife Myrtle. Myrtle joins them, and the trio proceed to a small New York apartment that Tom has rented for trysts with her. Guests arrive and a party ensues, which ends with Tom slapping Myrtle and breaking her nose after she mentions Daisy.
One morning, Nick receives a formal invitation to a party at Gatsby's mansion. Once there, Nick is embarrassed that he recognizes no one and begins drinking heavily until he encounters Jordan. While chatting with her, he is approached by a man who introduces himself as Jay Gatsby and insists that both he and Nick served in the 3rd Infantry Division during the war. Gatsby attempts to ingratiate himself with Nick and when Nick leaves the party, he notices Gatsby watching him.
In late July, Nick and Gatsby have lunch at a speakeasy. Gatsby tries impressing Nick with tales of his war heroism and his Oxford days. Afterward, Nick meets Jordan again at the Plaza Hotel. Jordan reveals that Gatsby and Daisy met around 1917 when Gatsby was an officer in the American Expeditionary Forces. They fell in love, but when Gatsby was deployed overseas, Daisy reluctantly married Tom. Gatsby hopes that his newfound wealth and dazzling parties will make Daisy reconsider. Gatsby uses Nick to stage a reunion with Daisy, and the two embark upon a sexual affair.
In September, Tom discovers the affair when Daisy carelessly addresses Gatsby with unabashed intimacy in front of him. Later, at a Plaza Hotel suite, Gatsby and Tom argue about the affair. Gatsby insists Daisy declare that she never loved Tom. Daisy claims she loves Tom and Gatsby, upsetting both. Tom reveals Gatsby is a swindler whose money comes from bootlegging alcohol. Upon hearing this, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom. Tom scornfully tells Gatsby to drive her home, knowing that Daisy will never leave him.
While returning to East Egg, Gatsby and Daisy drive by Wilson's garage and their car strikes Myrtle, killing her instantly. Later Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy was driving the car, but that he intends to take the blame for the accident to protect her. Nick urges Gatsby to flee to avoid prosecution, but he refuses. After Tom tells George that Gatsby owns the car that struck Myrtle, a distraught George assumes the owner of the vehicle must be Myrtle's lover. George fatally shoots Gatsby in his mansion's swimming pool, then commits suicide.
Several days after Gatsby's murder, his father Henry Gatz arrives for the sparsely attended funeral. After Gatsby's death, Nick comes to hate New York and decides that Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and he were all Midwesterners unsuited to Eastern life. Nick encounters Tom and initially refuses to shake his hand. Tom admits he was the one who told George that Gatsby owned the vehicle that killed Myrtle. Before returning to the Midwest, Nick returns to Gatsby's mansion and stares across the bay at the green light emanating from the end of Daisy's dock.
## Major characters
- Nick Carraway – a Yale University alumnus from the Midwest, a World War I veteran, and a newly arrived resident of West Egg, age 29 (later 30) who serves as the first-person narrator. He is Gatsby's neighbor and a bond salesman. Carraway is easy-going and optimistic, although this latter quality fades as the novel progresses. He ultimately returns to the Midwest after despairing of the decadence and indifference of the eastern United States.
- Jay Gatsby (originally James "Jimmy" Gatz) – a young, mysterious millionaire with shady business connections (later revealed to be a bootlegger), originally from North Dakota. During World War I, when he was a young military officer stationed at the United States Army's Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, Gatsby encountered the love of his life, the debutante Daisy Buchanan. Later, after the war, he studied briefly at Trinity College, Oxford, in England. According to Fitzgerald's wife Zelda, he partly based Gatsby on their enigmatic Long Island neighbor, Max Gerlach. A military veteran, Gerlach became a self-made millionaire due to his bootlegging endeavors and was fond of using the phrase "old sport" in his letters to Fitzgerald.
- Daisy Buchanan – a shallow, self-absorbed, and young debutante and socialite from Louisville, Kentucky, identified as a flapper. She is Nick's second cousin, once removed, and the wife of Tom Buchanan. Before marrying Tom, Daisy had a romantic relationship with Gatsby. Her choice between Gatsby and Tom is one of the novel's central conflicts. Fitzgerald's romance and life-long obsession with Ginevra King inspired the character of Daisy.
- Thomas "Tom" Buchanan – Daisy's husband, a millionaire who lives in East Egg. Tom is an imposing man of muscular build with a gruff voice and contemptuous demeanor. He was a football star at Yale and is a white supremacist. Among other literary models, Buchanan has certain parallels with William "Bill" Mitchell, the Chicago businessman who married Ginevra King. Buchanan and Mitchell were both Chicagoans with an interest in polo. Also, like Ginevra's father Charles King whom Fitzgerald resented, Buchanan is an imperious Yale man and polo player from Lake Forest, Illinois.
- Jordan Baker – an amateur golfer with a sarcastic streak and an aloof attitude, and Daisy's long-time friend. She is Nick Carraway's girlfriend for most of the novel, though they grow apart towards the end. She has a shady reputation because of rumors that she had cheated in a tournament, which harmed her reputation both socially and as a golfer. Fitzgerald based Jordan on Ginevra's friend Edith Cummings, a premier amateur golfer known in the press as "The Fairway Flapper". Unlike Jordan Baker, Cummings was never suspected of cheating. The character's name is a play on the two popular automobile brands, the Jordan Motor Car Company and the Baker Motor Vehicle, both of Cleveland, Ohio, alluding to Jordan's "fast" reputation and the new freedom presented to American women, especially flappers, in the 1920s.
- George B. Wilson – a mechanic and owner of a garage. He is disliked by both his wife, Myrtle Wilson, and Tom Buchanan, who describes him as "so dumb he doesn't know he's alive". At the end of the novel, George kills Gatsby, wrongly believing he had been driving the car that killed Myrtle, and then kills himself.
- Myrtle Wilson – George's wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress. Myrtle, who possesses a fierce vitality, is desperate to find refuge from her disappointing marriage. She is accidentally killed by Gatsby's car, as she mistakenly thinks Tom is still driving it and runs after it.
## Writing and production
Fitzgerald began outlining his third novel in June 1922. He longed to produce an exquisite work that was beautiful and intricately patterned, but the troubled production of his stage play The Vegetable repeatedly interrupted his progress. The play flopped, and Fitzgerald wrote magazine stories that winter to pay debts incurred by its production. He viewed these stories as all worthless, although included among them was "Winter Dreams", which Fitzgerald described as his first attempt at the Gatsby idea. "The whole idea of Gatsby", he later explained to a friend, "is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money. This theme comes up again and again because I lived it".
In October 1922, after the birth of their only child, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, the Fitzgeralds moved to Great Neck, New York, on Long Island. Their neighbors in Great Neck included such newly wealthy personages as writer Ring Lardner, actor Lew Fields and comedian Ed Wynn. These figures were all considered to be nouveau riche, unlike those who came from Manhasset Neck, which sat across the bay from Great Neck—places that were home to many of New York's wealthiest established families. This real-life juxtaposition gave Fitzgerald his idea for "West Egg" and "East Egg". In the novel, Great Neck (Kings Point) became the "new money" peninsula of West Egg and Port Washington (Sands Point) became the "old money" East Egg. Several Gold Coast mansions in the area served as inspiration for Gatsby's estate including Land's End, Oheka Castle, and the since-demolished Beacon Towers.
While living on Long Island, the Fitzgeralds' enigmatic neighbor was Max Gerlach. Purportedly born in America to a German immigrant family, Gerlach had been a major in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and he later became a gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York. Flaunting his new wealth, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", and fostered myths about himself including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser. These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation of Jay Gatsby.
During this same time period, the daily newspapers sensationalized the Hall–Mills murder case over many months, and the highly publicized case likely influenced the plot of Fitzgerald's novel. The case involved the double-murder of a man and his lover on September 14, 1922, mere weeks before Fitzgerald arrived in Great Neck. Scholars have speculated that Fitzgerald based certain aspects of the ending of The Great Gatsby and various characterizations on this factual incident.
Inspired by the Halls–Mills case, the mysterious persona of Gerlach and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island, Fitzgerald had written 18,000 words for his novel by mid-1923 but discarded most of his new story as a false start. Some of this early draft resurfaced in the 1924 short story "Absolution". In earlier drafts, Daisy was originally named Ada and Nick was Dud, and the two characters had shared a previous romance prior to their reunion on Long Island. These earlier drafts were written from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator as opposed to Nick's perspective. A key difference in earlier drafts is a less complete failure of Gatsby's dream. Another difference is that the argument between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is more balanced, although Daisy still returns to Tom.
Work on The Great Gatsby resumed in earnest in April 1924. Fitzgerald decided to depart from the writing process of his previous novels and told Perkins that he was intent on creating an artistic achievement. He wished to eschew the realism of his previous two novels and to compose a creative work of sustained imagination. To this end, he consciously imitated the literary styles of Joseph Conrad and Willa Cather. He was particularly influenced by Cather's 1923 work, A Lost Lady, which features a wealthy married socialite pursued by a variety of romantic suitors and who symbolically embodies the American dream. He later wrote a letter to Cather apologizing for any unintentional plagiarism. During this period of revisions, Scott saw and was influenced by early sketches for the book's dust jacket art. Soon after this burst of effort, work slowed while the Fitzgeralds moved to the Villa Marie in Saint-Raphaël on the French Riviera, where a marital crisis soon developed.
Despite his ongoing marital tension, Fitzgerald continued to write steadily and submitted a near-final version of the manuscript to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, on October 27. Perkins informed him in a November letter that Gatsby was too vague as a character and that his wealth and business, respectively, needed a convincing explanation. Fitzgerald thanked Perkins for his detailed criticisms and claimed that such feedback would enable him to perfect the manuscript. Having relocated with his wife to Rome, Fitzgerald made revisions to the manuscript throughout the winter.
Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald submitted the final version in February 1925. Fitzgerald's alterations included extensive revisions of the sixth and eighth chapters. He declined an offer of \$10,000 for the serial rights to the book so that it could be published sooner. He received a \$3,939 advance in 1923 and would receive \$1,981.25 upon publication.
### Alternative titles
Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing a title for his novel and entertained many choices before reluctantly deciding on The Great Gatsby, a title inspired by Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. Previously he had shifted between Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires, Trimalchio, Trimalchio in West Egg, On the Road to West Egg, Under the Red, White, and Blue, The Gold-Hatted Gatsby, and The High-Bouncing Lover. The titles The Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing Lover came from Fitzgerald's epigraph for the novel, one which he wrote himself under the pen name of Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.
Fitzgerald initially preferred titles referencing Trimalchio, the crude upstart in Petronius's Satyricon, and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel. Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted but, according to literary critic Tony Tanner, there are subtle similarities between the two characters. By November 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins that he had settled upon the title of Trimalchio in West Egg.
Disliking Fitzgerald's chosen title of Trimalchio in West Egg, editor Max Perkins persuaded him that the reference was too obscure and that people would be unable to pronounce it. Zelda and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great Gatsby, and the next month Fitzgerald agreed. A month before publication, after a final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby, but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, 1925, Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White, and Blue, but it was too late to change it at that stage. The novel was published as The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald believed the book's final title to be merely acceptable and often expressed his ambivalence with the name.
### Dust jacket art
The artwork for the first edition of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated in American literature and represents a unique instance in literary history in which a novel's commissioned artwork directly influenced the composition of the text. Rendered in an Art Deco visual style, the artwork depicts the disembodied face of a Jazz Age flapper with celestial eyes and rouged mouth over a dark blue skyline. A little-known Barcelonan painter named Francis Cugat—born Francisco Coradal-Cougat—was commissioned by an unknown individual in Scribner's art department to illustrate the cover while Fitzgerald was composing the novel.
In a preliminary sketch, Cugat drew a concept of a dismal gray landscape inspired by Fitzgerald's original title for the novel, Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires. Discarding this gloomy concept, Cugat next drew a divergent study which became the prefiguration to the final cover: A pencil and crayon drawing of a flapper's half-hidden visage over Long Island Sound with scarlet lips, one celestial eye, and a single diagonal tear. Expanding upon this study, his subsequent drawing featured two bright eyes looming over a shadowy New York cityscape. In later iterations, Cugat replaced the shadowy cityscape with dazzling carnival lights evoking a Ferris wheel and likely referencing the glittering amusement park at New York's Coney Island. Cugat affixed reclining nudes within the flapper's irises and added a green tint to the streaming tear. Cugat's final cover, which Max Perkins hailed as a masterpiece, was the only work he completed for Scribner's and the only book cover he ever designed.
Although Fitzgerald likely never saw the final gouache painting prior to the novel's publication, Cugat's preparatory drafts influenced his writing. Upon viewing Cugat's drafts before sailing for France in April–May 1924, Fitzgerald was so enamored that he later told editor Max Perkins that he had incorporated Cugat's imagery into the novel. This statement has led many to analyze interrelations between Cugat's art and Fitzgerald's text. One popular interpretation is that the celestial eyes are reminiscent of those of optometrist T. J. Eckleburg depicted on a faded commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop. Author Ernest Hemingway supported this latter interpretation and claimed that Fitzgerald had told him the cover referred to a billboard in the valley of the ashes. Although this passage has some resemblance to the imagery, a closer explanation can be found in Fitzgerald's explicit description of Daisy Buchanan as the "girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs".
## Critical reception
### Initial reviews
Charles Scribner's Sons published The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald cabled Perkins the day after publication to monitor reviews: "Any news?" "Sales situation doubtful [but] excellent reviews", read a telegram from Perkins on April 20. Fitzgerald responded on April 24, saying the cable dispirited him, closing the letter with "Yours in great depression". Fitzgerald soon received letters from contemporaries Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, and poet T. S. Eliot praising the novel. Although gratified by such correspondence, Fitzgerald sought public acclaim from professional critics.
The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews from literary critics of the day. Edwin Clark of The New York Times felt the novel was a mystical and glamorous tale of the Jazz Age. Similarly, Lillian C. Ford of the Los Angeles Times hailed the novel as a revelatory work of art that "leaves the reader in a mood of chastened wonder". The New York Post described Fitzgerald's prose style as scintillating and genuinely brilliant. The New York Herald Tribune was less impressed, referring to The Great Gatsby as "a literary lemon meringue" that nonetheless "contains some of the nicest little touches of contemporary observation you could imagine—so light, so delicate, so sharp". In The Chicago Daily Tribune, H. L. Mencken judged the work's plot to be highly improbable, although he praised the writing as elegant and the "careful and brilliant finish".
Several reviewers felt the novel left much to be desired following Fitzgerald's previous works and criticized him accordingly. Harvey Eagleton of The Dallas Morning News predicted that the novel signaled the end of Fitzgerald's artistic success. Ralph Coghlan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch dismissed the work as an inconsequential performance by a once-promising author who had grown bored and cynical. Ruth Snyder of New York Evening World lambasted the book's style as painfully forced and declared the editors of her newspaper were "quite convinced after reading The Great Gatsby that Mr. Fitzgerald is not one of the great American writers of today". John McClure of The Times-Picayune insisted the plot was implausible and the book itself seemed raw in its construction.
After reading these reviews, Fitzgerald believed that many critics misunderstood the novel. He despaired that "of all the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about". In particular, Fitzgerald resented criticisms of the novel's plot as implausible since he had never intended for the story to be realistic. Instead, he crafted the work to be a romanticized depiction that was largely scenic and symbolic. According to his friend John Peale Bishop, Fitzgerald further resented the fact that critics failed to perceive the many parallels between the author's life and the character of Jay Gatsby; in particular, that both created a mythical version of themselves and attempted to live up to this legend. Dispirited by critics failing to understand the novel, Fitzgerald remained hopeful that the novel would at least be a commercial success, perhaps selling as many as 75,000 copies.
To Fitzgerald's great disappointment, Gatsby was a commercial failure in comparison with his previous efforts, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922). By October, the book had sold fewer than 20,000 copies. Although the novel went through two initial printings, many copies remained unsold years later. Fitzgerald attributed the poor sales to the fact that women tended to be the primary audience for novels during this time, and Gatsby did not contain an admirable female character. According to his ledger, he earned only \$2,000 from the book. Although Owen Davis' 1926 stage adaptation and the Paramount-issued silent film version brought in money for the author, Fitzgerald lamented that the novel fell far short of the success he had hoped for and would not bring him recognition as a serious novelist in the public eye. With the onset of the Great Depression, The Great Gatsby was regarded as little more than a nostalgic period piece. By the time Fitzgerald died in 1940, the novel had fallen into near obscurity.
### Revival and reassessment
In 1940, Fitzgerald suffered a third and fatal heart attack and died believing his work forgotten. His obituary in The New York Times hailed him as a brilliant novelist and cited Gatsby as his greatest work. In the wake of Fitzgerald's death, a strong appreciation for the book gradually developed in writers' circles. Future authors Budd Schulberg and Edward Newhouse were deeply affected by it, and John O'Hara acknowledged its influence on his work. By the time that Gatsby was republished in Edmund Wilson's edition of The Last Tycoon in 1941, the prevailing opinion in writers' circles deemed the novel to be an enduring work of fiction.
In the spring of 1942, mere months after the United States' entrance into World War II, an association of publishing executives created the Council on Books in Wartime with the stated purpose of distributing paperback Armed Services Editions books to combat troops. The Great Gatsby was one of them. Within the next several years, 155,000 copies of Gatsby were distributed to U.S. soldiers overseas, and the book proved popular among beleaguered troops, according to the Saturday Evening Post's 1945 report.
By 1944, a full-scale Fitzgerald revival had occurred. Full-length scholarly articles on Fitzgerald's works were being published in periodicals and, by the following year, the earlier consensus among professional critics that The Great Gatsby was merely a sensational story or a nostalgic period piece had effectively vanished. The tireless promotional efforts of literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was Fitzgerald's Princeton classmate and his close friend, led this Fitzgerald revival. In 1951, three years after Zelda's death in a hospital fire, Professor Arthur Mizener of Cornell University published The Far Side of Paradise, the first biography of Fitzgerald. Mizener's best-selling biography emphasized The Great Gatsby's positive reception by literary critics, which may have further influenced public opinion and renewed interest in it.
By 1960—thirty-five years after the novel's original publication—the book was steadily selling 100,000 copies per year. Renewed interest in it led The New York Times editorialist Mizener to proclaim the novel was a masterwork of 20th-century American literature. By 1974, The Great Gatsby had attained its status as a literary masterwork and was deemed a contender for the title of the "Great American Novel". Hunter S. Thompson retyped pages of The Great Gatsby "just to get a feeling of what it was like to write that way." According to Thompson's friend William Nack, Thompson once retyped the entirety of the novel. Roger Ebert wrote that "perhaps Fitzgerald's words 'compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired''' is the best possible description of Thompson's life's work." By the mid-2000s, many literary critics considered The Great Gatsby to be one of the greatest novels ever written, and the work was part of the assigned curricula in the near majority of U.S. high schools. As of early 2020, The Great Gatsby had sold almost 30 million copies worldwide and continues to sell an additional 500,000 copies annually. Numerous foreign editions of the novel have been published, and the text has been translated into 42 different languages. The work is Scribner's most popular title; in 2013, the e-book alone sold 185,000 copies. The novel's U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 2021, when all works published in 1925 entered the public domain. Since then, numerous altered and incomplete reprints have flooded the market.
## Critical analysis
### Major themes
#### The American Dream
Following the novel's revival, later critical writings on The Great Gatsby focused on Fitzgerald's disillusionment with the American Dream in the hedonistic Jazz Age, a name for the era which Fitzgerald claimed to have coined. In 1970, scholar Roger L. Pearson asserted that Fitzgerald's work—more so than other twentieth century novels—is especially linked with this conceptualization of the American dream. Pearson traced the literary origins of this dream to Colonial America. The dream is the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity".
However, Pearson noted that Fitzgerald's particular treatment of this theme is devoid of the discernible optimism in the writings of earlier American authors. He suggests Gatsby serves as a false prophet of the American dream, and pursuing the dream only results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability. In this analytical context, the green light on the Buchanans' dock (visible across Long Island Sound from Gatsby's house) is frequently interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's unrealizable goal to win Daisy and, consequently, to achieve the American Dream.
#### Class permanence
Scholars and writers commonly ascribe Gatsby's inability to achieve the American Dream to entrenched class disparities in American society. The novel underscores the limits of the American lower class to transcend their station of birth. Scholar Sarah Churchwell contends that Fitzgerald's novel is a tale of class warfare in a status-obsessed country that refuses to acknowledge publicly it even has a class system.
Although scholars posit different explanations for the continuation of class differences in the United States, there is a consensus regarding the novel's message in conveying its underlying permanence. Although Gatsby's fundamental conflict occurs between entrenched sources of socio-economic power and upstarts like Gatsby who threaten their interests, Fitzgerald's novel shows that a class permanence persists despite the country's capitalist economy that prizes innovation and adaptability. Dianne Bechtel argues Fitzgerald plotted the novel to illustrate that class transcends wealth in America. Even if the poorer Americans become rich, they remain inferior to those Americans with "old money". Consequently, Gatsby and other characters in the novel are trapped in a rigid American class system.
#### Gender relations
Besides exploring the difficulties of achieving the American dream, The Great Gatsby explores societal gender expectations during the Jazz Age. The character of Daisy Buchanan has been identified specifically as personifying the emerging cultural archetype of the flapper. Flappers were typically young, modern women who bobbed their hair and wore short skirts. They also drank alcohol and had premarital sex.
Despite the newfound societal freedoms attained by flappers in the 1920s, Fitzgerald's work critically examines the continued limitations upon women's agency during this period. In this context, although early critics viewed the character of Daisy to be a "monster of bitchery", later scholars such as Leland S. Person Jr. asserted that Daisy's character exemplifies the marginalization of women in the elite social environment that Fitzgerald depicts.
Writing in 1978, Person noted Daisy is more of a hapless victim than a manipulative victimizer. She is the target first of Tom's callous domination and next of Gatsby's dehumanizing adoration. She involuntarily becomes the holy grail at the center of Gatsby's unrealistic quest to be steadfast to a youthful concept of himself. The ensuing contest of wills between Tom and Gatsby reduces Daisy to a trophy wife whose sole existence is to augment her possessor's socio-economic success.
As an upper-class white woman living in East Egg during this time period, Daisy must adhere to societal expectations and gender norms such as actively fulfilling the roles of dutiful wife, nurturing mother, and charming socialite. Many of Daisy's choices—ultimately culminating in the fatal car crash and misery for all those involved—can be partly attributed to her prescribed role as a "beautiful little fool" who is reliant on her husband for financial and societal security. Her decision to remain with her husband, despite her feelings for Gatsby, is because of the security that her marriage to Tom Buchanan provides.
#### Race and displacement
Many scholars have analyzed the novel's treatment of race and displacement; in particular, a perceived threat posed by newer immigrants to older Americans, triggering concerns over a loss of socio-economic status. In one instance, Tom Buchanan—the novel's antagonist—claims that he, Nick, and Jordan are racially superior Nordics. Tom decries immigration and advocates white supremacy. A fictional book alluded to by Tom is Goddard's The Rise of the Colored Empires, which is a parody by Fitzgerald of Lothrop Stoddard's The Rising Tide of Color, a 1920s bestseller. Stoddard warned that immigration would alter America's racial composition and destroy the country.
Analyzing these elements, literary theorist Walter Benn Michaels contends that Fitzgerald's novel reflects a historical period in American literature characterized by fears over the influx of Southern and Eastern European immigrants whose "otherness" challenged Americans' sense of national identity. Such anxieties were more salient in national discourse than the societal consequences of World War I, and the defining question of the period was who constituted "a real American".
In this context of immigration and displacement, Tom's hostility towards Gatsby, who is the embodiment of "latest America", has been interpreted as partly embodying status anxieties of the time involving anti-immigrant sentiment. Gatsby—whom Tom belittles as "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere"—functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear ethno-religious identity and his indeterminate class status. Although his ethnicity is vague, his last name Gatz and his father's adherence to the Lutheran religion indicate his family are recent German immigrants. This would preclude them from the coveted status of Old Stock Americans. Consequently, Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status as nouveau riche, but because he is perceived as an outsider.
Because of such themes, The Great Gatsby captures the perennial American experience as it is a story about change and those who resist it—whether such change comes in the form of a new wave of immigrants, the nouveau riche, or successful minorities. Since Americans living in the 1920s to the present are largely defined by their fluctuating socio-economic circumstances and must navigate a society with entrenched racial and ethnic prejudices, Fitzgerald's depiction of resultant status anxieties and social conflict has been highlighted by scholars as still enduringly relevant nearly a hundred years after the novel's publication.
#### Sexuality and identity
Questions regarding the sexuality of various characters in the novel have been raised for decades and—augmented by biographical details about the author—have given rise to queer readings. During his lifetime, Fitzgerald's sexuality became a subject of debate among his friends and acquaintances. As a youth, Fitzgerald had a close relationship with Father Sigourney Fay, a possibly gay Catholic priest, and Fitzgerald later used his last name for the idealized romantic character of Daisy Fay. After college, Fitzgerald cross-dressed during outings in Minnesota. Years later, while drafting The Great Gatsby, rumors dogged Fitzgerald among the American expat community in Paris that he was gay. Soon after, Fitzgerald's wife Zelda Fitzgerald likewise doubted his heterosexuality and asserted that he was a closeted homosexual. She publicly belittled him with homophobic slurs, and she alleged that Fitzgerald and fellow writer Ernest Hemingway engaged in homosexual relations. These incidents strained the Fitzgeralds' marriage at the time of the novel's publication.
Although Fitzgerald's sexuality is a subject of scholarly debate, such biographical details lent credence to critical interpretations that his fictional characters are either gay or bisexual surrogates. As early as 1945, critics such as Lionel Trilling noted that characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jordan Baker, were implied to be "vaguely homosexual", and, in 1960, writer Otto Friedrich commented upon the ease of examining the thwarted relations depicted in Fitzgerald's fiction through a queer lens. In recent decades, scholarship has focused sharply on the sexuality of Nick Carraway. In one instance in the novel, Carraway departs a drunken orgy with a "pale, feminine" man named Mr. McKee and—following suggestive ellipses—Nick next finds himself standing beside a bed while McKee sits between the sheets clad only in his underwear. Such scenes have led scholars to describe Nick as possessing an overt queerness and prompted analyses about his emotional attachment to Jay Gatsby. For these reasons, the novel has been described as an exploration of sexual identity during a historical era typified by the societal transition towards modernity.
#### Technology and environment
Technological and environmental criticisms of Gatsby seek to place the novel and its characters in a broader historical context. In 1964, Leo Marx argued in The Machine in the Garden that Fitzgerald's work evinces a tension between a complex pastoral ideal of a bygone America and the societal transformations caused by industrialization and machine technology. Specifically, the valley of the ashes represents a man-made wasteland which is a byproduct of the industrialization that has made Gatsby's booming lifestyle, including his automobile, possible. Marx argues that Fitzgerald, via Nick, expresses a pastoral longing typical of other 1920s American writers like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Although such writers cherish the pastoral ideal, they accept that technological progress has deprived this ideal of nearly all meaning. In this context, Nick's repudiation of the eastern United States represents a futile attempt to withdraw into nature. Yet, as Fitzgerald's work shows, any technological demarcation between the eastern and western United States has vanished, and one cannot escape into a pastoral past.
In 2018, scholar Kyle Keeler argued that the voracious pursuit of wealth as criticized in Fitzgerald's novel offers a warning about the perils of environmental destruction in pursuit of self-interest. According to Kyle Keeler, Gatsby's quest for greater status manifests as self-centered, anthropocentric resource acquisition. Inspired by the predatory mining practices of his fictional mentor Dan Cody, Gatsby participates in extensive deforestation amid World War I and then undertakes bootlegging activities reliant upon exploiting South American agriculture. Gatsby conveniently ignores the wasteful devastation of the valley of ashes to pursue a consumerist lifestyle and exacerbates the wealth gap that became increasingly salient in 1920s America. For these reasons, Keeler argues that—while Gatsby's socioeconomic ascent and self-transformation depend upon these very factors—each one is nonetheless partially responsible for the ongoing ecological crisis.
### Antisemitism
The Great Gatsby has been accused of antisemitism because of its use of Jewish stereotypes. One of the novel's supporting characters is Meyer Wolfsheim, a Jewish friend and mentor of Gatsby's. A corrupt profiteer who assists Gatsby's bootlegging operations and who fixed the 1919 World Series, he appears only twice in the novel, the second time refusing to attend Gatsby's funeral. Fitzgerald describes Wolfsheim as "a small, flat-nosed Jew", with "tiny eyes" and "two fine growths of hair" in his nostrils. Evoking ethnic stereotypes regarding the Jewish nose, he describes Wolfsheim's nose as "expressive", "tragic", and able to "flash ... indignantly". The fictional character of Wolfsheim is an allusion to real-life Jewish gambler Arnold Rothstein, a notorious New York crime kingpin whom Fitzgerald met once in undetermined circumstances. Rothstein was blamed for match fixing in the Black Sox Scandal that tainted the 1919 World Series.
Wolfsheim has been interpreted as representing the Jewish miser stereotype. Richard Levy, author of Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, claims that Wolfsheim serves to link Jewishness with corruption. In a 1947 article for Commentary, Milton Hindus, an assistant professor of humanities at the University of Chicago, stated that while he believed the book was a superb literary achievement, Wolfsheim was its most abrasive character, and the work contains an antisemitic undertone. However, Hindus argued the Jewish stereotypes displayed by Wolfsheim were typical of the time when the novel was written and set and that its antisemitism was of the "habitual, customary, 'harmless,' unpolitical variety". A 2015 article by essayist Arthur Krystal agreed with Hindus' assessment that Fitzgerald's use of Jewish caricatures was not driven by malice and merely reflected commonly held beliefs of his time. He notes the accounts of Frances Kroll, a Jewish woman and secretary to Fitzgerald, who claimed that Fitzgerald was hurt by accusations of antisemitism and responded to critiques of Wolfsheim by claiming he merely "fulfilled a function in the story and had nothing to do with race or religion".
## Adaptations
### Stage
Gatsby has been adapted for the stage multiple times since its publication. The first known stage adaptation was by American dramatist Owen Davis, which became the 1926 film version. The play, directed by George Cukor, opened on Broadway on February 2, 1926, and had 112 curtain calls. A successful tour later in the year included performances in Chicago, August 1 through October 2. In July 2006, Simon Levy's stage adaptation, directed by David Esbjornson, premiered at the Guthrie Theater to commemorate the opening of its new theater. In 2010, critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times highly praised the debut of Gatz, an Off-Broadway production by Elevator Repair Service.
In 2023, a musical adaptation, The Great Gatsby: A New Musical, with music and lyrics by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen and a book by Kait Kerrigan announced a one-month limited engagement at the Paper Mill Playhouse. The Broadway tryout will begin previews on October 12, 2023, followed by an official opening night scheduled for ten days later. The production is set to conclude on November 12 of the same year. Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada are set to star as the leading roles of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. The remainder of the cast is yet to be revealed.
Gatsby, a second musical adaptation with music and lyrics by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett and a book by Martyna Majok is set to have its world premiere the American Repertory Theater. On May 25, 2024, the show will begin previews and will open officially on June 5 of the same year. It will run for about 2 months with a closing night set for July 21. The cast is to be announced.
The New York Metropolitan Opera commissioned John Harbison to compose an operatic treatment of the novel to commemorate the 25th anniversary of James Levine's debut. The work, called The Great Gatsby, premiered on December 20, 1999.
The novel has also been adapted for ballet performances. In 2009, BalletMet premiered a version at the Capitol Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. In 2010, The Washington Ballet premiered a version at the Kennedy Center. The show received an encore run the following year. The Comedy Theatre of Budapest created a musical.
### Film
The first movie version of the novel debuted in 1926. Itself a version of Owen Davis's Broadway play, it was directed by Herbert Brenon and starred Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson and William Powell. It is a famous example of a lost film. Reviews suggest it may have been the most faithful adaptation of the novel, but a trailer of the film at the National Archives is all that is known to exist. Reportedly, Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda loathed the silent version. Zelda wrote to an acquaintance that the film was "rotten". She and Scott left the cinema midway through the film.
Following the 1926 movie was 1949's The Great Gatsby, directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Alan Ladd, Betty Field and Macdonald Carey. Twenty-five years later in 1974, The Great Gatsby appeared onscreen again. It was directed by Jack Clayton and starred Robert Redford as Gatsby, Mia Farrow as Daisy, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway. Most recently, The Great Gatsby was directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013 and starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy, and Tobey Maguire as Nick.
In 2021, visual effects company DNEG Animation announced they would be producing an animated film adaptation of the novel directed by William Joyce and written by Brian Selznick.
In 2021, a fan-written screenplay for a Muppet adaptation titled "Muppets Present The Great Gatsby" went viral.
### Television
Gatsby has been recast multiple times as a short-form television movie. The first was in 1955 as an NBC episode for Robert Montgomery Presents starring Robert Montgomery, Phyllis Kirk, and Lee Bowman. The episode was directed by Alvin Sapinsley. In 1958, CBS filmed another adaptation as an episode of Playhouse 90, also titled The Great Gatsby, which was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starred Robert Ryan, Jeanne Crain and Rod Taylor. Most recently, the novel was adapted as an A&E movie in 2000. The Great Gatsby was directed by Robert Markowitz and starred Toby Stephens as Gatsby, Mira Sorvino as Daisy, and Paul Rudd as Nick.
### Literature
Since entering the public domain in 2021, retellings and expansions of The Great Gatsby have become legal to publish. An early one of these was Nick by Michael Farris Smith in 2021, a prequel revolving around the backstory of Nick Carraway. That same year saw the publication of The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, a retelling with elements of the fantasy genre while tackling issues of race and sexuality, and The Pursued and the Pursuing by AJ Odasso, a queer partial retelling and sequel in which Jay Gatsby survives. Anna-Marie McLemore's own queer retelling, Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix, was released in 2022 and was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
### Graphic novels
The Great Gatsby has been adapted into three graphic novels. The first was in 2007 by Nicki Greenberg, who published "The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Adaptation" in Australia. Because the original novel was still protected by United States copyright laws, this version was never published in the U.S. The second version, "The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel," was adapted by Fred Fordham and illustrated by Aya Morton in 2020. Finally, in 2021, K. Woodman-Maynard adapted and illustrated "The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation," which was published by Candlewick Press. This was the first graphic novel adaptation of the original novel to be published after it entered the public domain in 2021. In June 2021, Clover Press debuted the first of seven periodical comic books, faithfully adapting THE GREAT GATSBY.
### Radio
The novel has been adapted into a series of radio episodes. The first radio episode was a 1950 half-hour-long adaptation for CBS' Family Hour of Stars starring Kirk Douglas as Gatsby. The novel was read aloud by the BBC World Service in ten parts in 2008. In a 2012 BBC Radio 4 broadcast, The Great Gatsby took the form of a Classic Serial dramatization. It was created by dramatist Robert Forrest.
### Video games
In 2010, Oberon Media released a casual hidden object game called Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby. In 2011, developer Charlie Hoey and editor Pete Smith created an 8-bit-style online game of The Great Gatsby called The Great Gatsby for NES; in 2022, after the Adobe Flash end of life they adapted this game to an actual NES ROM file, which can also be played on their website. In 2013, Slate released a short symbolic adaptation called The Great Gatsby: The Video Game''. |
4,603,458 | Royal Gloucestershire Hussars | 1,163,826,975 | Unit of the British Army | [
"1795 establishments in Great Britain",
"Military units and formations established in 1795",
"Military units and formations in Gloucester",
"Military units and formations in Gloucestershire",
"Regiments of the British Army in World War II",
"Royal Gloucestershire Hussars",
"Yeomanry regiments of the British Army",
"Yeomanry regiments of the British Army in World War I"
]
| The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in 1795, although a break in the lineage means that its formation is dated to the Marshfield and Dodington Troop raised in 1830. Six further troops – officered by nobility and gentry, and recruited largely from among landholders and tenant farmers – were subsequently raised in Gloucestershire, and in 1834 they came together to form the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1847, the regiment adopted a hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. Originally intended to counter insurrection and a French invasion that never materialised, the yeomanry's first deployments were ceremonial and as mounted police during times of civil unrest. Three Gloucestershire troops were deployed to Bristol on two separate occasions in the 1830s in support of the civil authorities.
From the mid-19th century, the yeomanry's policing role diminished with the establishment of a civilian police force, and renewed fears of invasion turned its focus to national defence. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars' first battle honour was won in South Africa during the Second Boer War, when a contingent of Gloucestershire yeomanry served as mounted infantry in the Imperial Yeomanry. Before the First World War, all volunteer forces, including the yeomanry, were brought into the Territorial Force. On the outbreak of the war the regiment raised a second-line unit, which remained in the UK and became a cyclist unit in 1916, and a third-line unit, which served as a reserve. The first-line unit saw action as infantry at Gallipoli and as cavalry in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign; in the latter it fought both mounted and dismounted from the Suez Canal to Aleppo in modern-day Syria. Following the war, the regiment was downsized and converted to the 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company.
When the United Kingdom began mobilising again in the late 1930s, the company converted to an armoured regiment and was restored to its former name. On the outbreak of the Second World War, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars once again raised second- and third-line units. The first-line regiment remained in the UK as a training unit, seeing service overseas only after the war as part of the army of occupation in Austria, and the third-line regiment was actually a troop-sized unit acting mainly as a deception designed to disguise British armour strength and disposition. The 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fought in North Africa, initially attached to the 7th Armoured Division (the Desert Rats). The regiment suffered heavy losses during Operation Crusader and the subsequent Battle of Gazala, twice being taken out of the line for refit, and was variously equipped with Crusader, M3 Stuart and M3 Grant tanks. When it lost two commanders killed in action in quick succession, the regiment's individual squadrons were used to reinforce other units, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was disbanded in 1943. Reduced back to a single regiment after the war, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was equipped with armoured cars and given a reconnaissance role. Repeated reorganisation of the Territorial Army in the 1960s reduced the regiment to a squadron assigned to an infantry role. In the 1990s, the squadron returned to an armour role in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, tasked with training replacement crews for the regular army's Challenger 2 tanks.
## Origins
In 1794, fearing insurrection and faced with the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars, British Prime Minister William Pitt made the first ever recorded mention of yeoman cavalry when he called for an augmentation of the cavalry for internal defence. The government subsequently proposed a plan to all Lord-Lieutenants – the monarch's personal representative in each county – to increase the forces at the nation's disposal. This included the raising of volunteer troops of cavalry consisting of gentlemen and yeomanry. Each troop comprised 50 to 80 men, commanded by the person raising it. Commanders received a temporary rank ranging from Captain to Colonel, depending on the number of troops raised. Officers were generally appointed from among the nobility and gentry, and troops were largely recruited from landholders and tenant farmers. Members provided their own horses and were not paid except when called out. Uniforms were provided by the commanders, and weapons by the government. The yeomanry could only be called out by the Lord-Lieutenant or royal warrant to suppress civil unrest in home or neighbouring counties, or by royal warrant in the event of foreign invasion. The individual troops of the Corps of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, as the force was first called, were initially independent, and only later would they combine to form regiments. Each troop was required to conduct exercises, or 'permanent duty', initially for twelve days each year, reduced to six in 1816.
The first yeomanry troop raised in Gloucestershire was the 60-strong First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentlemen and Yeomanry, formed in 1795 by Powell Snell, a gentleman of means and good position. In total, eight troops had been raised by 1798. Following the 1802 Peace of Amiens, all except the Cheltenham Troop were disbanded, but the following year Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom prompted the re-establishment of several old troops and the formation of new troops; by the end of 1803 there were thirteen troops in Gloucestershire, and in 1813 the county's yeomanry had a strength of 582 men. As well as permanent duty, the yeomanry assembled as required for ceremonial and peace-keeping purposes; the Gloucester Troop provided an escort during the visit of the Prince of Wales to the city in 1807, and in 1810 it was called out to an affray between Irish militia and citizens in a local pub. A general reduction in volunteer forces followed the defeat of Napoleon, and by 1815 all yeomanry troops in Gloucestershire except one were disbanded. Only the Gloucester Troop was retained, as a mounted police force, until it too was disbanded in 1827.
## Formation and early history
New troops of yeomanry were raised in the 1830s in response to the Swing Riots. The first such troop established in Gloucestershire was the Marshfield and Dodington Troop, raised in 1830 by William Codrington, from which the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars dated its formation. The troop comprised three officers, a quartermaster, four non-commissioned officers, a trumpeter and fifty troopers, and was recruited from the tenants of Codrington's estate and those of his neighbours, including that of the Duke of Beaufort. In 1831, six more troops were raised by members of the Gloucestershire gentry in Fairford and Cirencester, Stroudwater, Tetbury, Gloucester, Winterbourne and Stapleton, and Alveston. That same year, the Dodington and Tetbury Troops were sent to Bristol in response to civil unrest following the defeat of the Second Reform Bill in the House of Lords.
In 1834, all of the Gloucestershire yeomanry captains met in the hamlet of Petty France in south Gloucestershire and agreed to combine their troops into a single regiment, to be named the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. Its first commanding officer was the Marquis of Worcester, who became the 7th Duke of Beaufort in 1835, thus beginning the regiment's long association with the Beaufort family. The new regiment was ranked 24th in the yeomanry order of precedence and comprised seven troops with a total strength of 26 officers and 382 other ranks. Adopting the uniform of light dragoons, each man was armed with sword and pistol, and twelve skirmishers in each troop were armed with muzzle-loading carbines. The regiment's first deployment came in 1838, when the Dodington and Winterbourne Troops helped police a Chartist rally in Bristol. The 'Royal' prefix was granted in 1841, and in 1847 the regiment adopted a blue hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The authority of the Duke of Beaufort is evident in his order, in 1846, that all members should grow moustaches "in the form of a carving knife", an instruction that was derided in the pages of Punch magazine at the time, and his insistence the next year that the regiment wear the second jacket over the back, Hungarian style, instead of the usual English-style over the shoulder.
The influence of the social order on the composition of the regiment at this time can be observed from an incident in 1847. It involved a disagreement between Lord FitzHardinge, Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, and his brother, Grantley Berkeley, a member of parliament and captain of the Berkeley Troop, which had joined the regiment in 1840. In pursuing his grievance against his brother, FitzHardinge pressured his tenants into resigning from the troop and threatened some with the loss of their farms if they did not. Further insight into the regiment's strong ties to the farming community can be found in the records of the annual exercises. In 1865, the permanent duty was deferred until the autumn due to an early harvest, and participation in a major 14-day exercise in 1871 was cancelled due to a late harvest. Attendance at the annual assemblies dropped below 300 men in the late 1870s and early 1880s, compared to 445 in 1875, due to a succession of bad harvests. In 1890, the regiment boasted four Masters of Hounds and a large number of fox hunters in its membership, both officers and other ranks, and that year it adopted an old hunting song, D'ye ken John Peel, as its regimental march.
The establishment of a civilian police force and renewed fears of invasion in the mid-19th century turned the yeomanry's focus to national defence. In 1871, Westley Richards breech-loading carbines replaced the muzzle-loading carbines and were issued to all troopers rather than just the skirmishers, and three years later responsibility for the yeomanry was transferred from the Lord-Lieutenants to district military commanders of the War Office. In 1867, the regiment's annual inspection had involved drill, but from 1875 the regiment was practising outpost duties, reconnaissance, and rear-guard exercises in the local hills. As the years passed, old troops were disbanded, renamed or amalgamated and new troops raised, and in 1893 the troops then existing were formally organised by order of the army into squadrons:
- A Squadron – Gloucester and Berkeley Troops
- B Squadron – Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Troops
- C Squadron – Monmouth and Chepstow Troops
- D Squadron – Badminton and Dodington Troops
The order also allocated the yeomanry regiments to brigades and required them to train at brigade level every three years. Accordingly, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars joined the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry in the 3rd Yeomanry Brigade, and the two regiments conducted their first joint permanent duty in 1895.
In 1899, the British government created the Imperial Yeomanry to reinforce the regular army during the Second Boer War, and the existing Yeomanry Cavalry regiments were asked to provide volunteers. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars contributed a contingent of 125 men, around half of whom were existing members, the remainder being recruited into the regiment when they enlisted for service in South Africa. They were folded into the Imperial Yeomanry as 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, which arrived in South Africa in 1900 and saw its first action on 5 May at Thaba 'Nchu. It served for 18 months, as mounted rifles rather than cavalry, and came under fire 65 times, though more men were lost to sickness than enemy action. On their return to the UK in July 1901, the men of the 1st Battalion were absorbed back into their parent regiments, and the veterans of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars endowed the regiment with its first battle honour, "South Africa 1900–01".
In April 1901, the domestic Yeomanry Cavalry was renamed to the Imperial Yeomanry. The reorganisation set an established regimental strength of 593 (later reduced to 476) all ranks – organised as before into four squadrons, but with the addition of a machine-gun section – replaced carbines and swords with Lee–Enfield rifles and bayonets, and introduced a standard khaki uniform. The Imperial Yeomanry's mounted rifles role in South Africa and the reorganisation, along with the new uniforms and equipment, led to fears that the yeomanry was being relegated from cavalry to infantry. The regiment petitioned the King for permission to retain the sword on parade, and by 1913 the weapon had been re-introduced in place of the bayonet for general use. The Imperial Yeomanry as an organisation lasted only until 1908, when the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 came into effect and brought all volunteer forces, including the yeomanry, together into the Territorial Force. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars conducted its first annual training under the new scheme between 19 May and 2 June 1909, when the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade, of which the regiment was now part, assembled with the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade for exercises on Salisbury Plain.
## First World War
Following the outbreak of the First World War, the regiment mobilised on 4 August 1914 and joined the rest of the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade at Warwick eight days later. By the end of the month, the brigade had assembled on the Berkshire Downs with the rest of the 2nd Mounted Division, which was subsequently stationed on home defence duties on the east coast of England. As a territorial regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was not obliged to serve overseas but could volunteer to do so, and when it did, a second-line regiment was formed in September 1914 to take its place on home defence duties. A third regiment was raised in 1915 as a reserve and to provide replacements for the first two. The regiments were numbered the 1/1st, 2/1st and 3/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars.
The second-line regiment spent most of the war stationed at various locations in England, initially as part of the 2/1st South Midland Mounted Brigade (subsequently renamed the 10th Mounted Brigade) in the 2/2nd Mounted Division (subsequently renamed the 3rd Mounted Division). In July 1916, the regiment swapped horses for bicycles and joined the 8th Cyclist Brigade in the 2nd Cyclist Division. In November, the regiment was merged with the 2/1st Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars to form the 12th (Gloucestershire and Worcestershire) Yeomanry Cyclist Regiment in the 4th Cyclist Brigade, but resumed its original identity as the 2/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars in March 1917. Around April 1918, the regiment moved to Ireland and was stationed at Dublin, where it remained, still in the 4th Cyclist Brigade, until the end of the war. The third-line regiment became part of the Cavalry Reserve at Tidworth, initially affiliated to the 4th Reserve Cavalry Regiment and subsequently to the 5th Reserve Cavalry Regiment.
### Gallipoli
In April 1915, the 2nd Mounted Division sailed to Egypt, and the 1/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, less C Squadron, disembarked at Alexandria on 24 April. On 14 August, the regiment embarked without its horses for Gallipoli and arrived at Suvla Bay three days later. It fought as infantry at Chocolate Hill on 21 August, supporting the attack of the 29th Division in the Battle of Scimitar Hill, during which the regiment suffered 61 casualties. It remained in the area until the end of October, serving periods of duty in reserve and in the support and front-line trenches. During this time it continued to lose men to sickness and enemy shelling, and of the original contingent of 361 all ranks that had landed over two months previously, only some 100 men were still fit for duty when the regiment departed Gallipoli on 31 October.
### Egypt
After a short spell on Lemnos, the regiment arrived back in Egypt in November 1915. It returned to the cavalry role and was brought back up to strength, numbering 370 all ranks in January 1916. The same month, the 2nd Mounted Division was disbanded, and the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade – renamed the 5th Mounted Brigade in April – became corps troops for the XV Corps, stationed in the Suez Canal area. In late March, the regiment was patrolling the Sinai, and at the end of the month it assembled at Romani (modern day Rommana), some 21 miles (34 km) east of the canal.
Early on 23 April, A Squadron was stationed at Qatia (or Katia), some 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Romani. At 09:15 it came under attack by a Turkish force of between 1,000 and 1,500 infantry, supported by cavalry and a battery of mountain guns, which had already overwhelmed two squadrons of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars and a party of Royal Engineers further east at Oghratina. The squadron was reinforced by a squadron of Worcesters, and the regiment's own B and D Squadrons moved out of Romani in support. The defenders at Qatia held out until mid-afternoon before being overwhelmed, and B and D Squadrons, which had been heavily engaged in the attempt to reach Qatia, retired back to Romani. The Battle of Katia cost the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 98 casualties, most of them being taken prisoner, and only nine men of A Squadron evaded death or captivity. The squadron was criticised for advancing too far, and an Australian soldier who visited Qatia labelled the yeomen "country bumpkins led by privileged toffs". When Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode unveiled the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars war memorial in 1922, he countered the "very wrong criticism", saying that "there was nothing to be ashamed of, but everything to make them proud of their regiment".
While A Squadron was being rebuilt, B and D Squadrons joined a squadron from the Worcestershire Hussars to form a composite regiment within the 5th Mounted Brigade. On 4 August, D Squadron, detached to the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division, played a conspicuous role in the Battle of Romani when it plugged and held for three hours a dangerous gap on the initiative of its commander, Major Charles Turner, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). The squadron rejoined the composite regiment after the 5th Mounted Brigade arrived in support, and when the Anzac and British mounted brigades counter-attacked in the afternoon, the regiment took a ridge at the gallop and subsequently captured 500 prisoners, a battery of four guns and two machine guns. For the rest of the battle, the 5th Mounted Brigade came under command of the ANZAC Mounted Division and took part in the capture of Qatia and the pursuit of the enemy to Bir el Abd. British Empire forces continued to advance across the Sinai, and the regiment was next in action on 9 January 1917, in the Battle of Rafa, during which it fought dismounted, suffering 46 casualties.
### Palestine
Following the Battle of Rafa, the 5th Mounted Brigade transferred from corps troops to the Imperial Mounted Division (renamed in June to the Australian Mounted Division) in the Desert Column (reorganised in August as the Desert Mounted Corps). On 26 March, the mounted divisions, less the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, invested Gaza from the east and north in the First Battle of Gaza. The regiment, attached to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, was deployed along the coast, covering the division's left flank as it attacked Gaza from the south. The attempt to capture Gaza suffered from delays caused by fog, and the attack was called off in the late afternoon. The Second Battle of Gaza in April, during which the regiment fought with the rest of the cavalry as mounted infantry on the right flank of the main infantry attack, fared no better, and the opposing sides settled into a period of inaction.
In June, General Edmund Allenby was appointed commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and at the end of October he resumed the British Empire offensive in southern Palestine. The regiment was in corps reserve during the Battle of Beersheba, but saw action on 4 November in the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, during which it suffered 14 casualties. The regiment supported, but did not participate in, the Charge at Huj, and fought a defensive action on 12 November, immediately before the Battle of Mughar Ridge, when a Turkish counter-attack pushed the 5th Mounted Brigade back from Balin at a cost to the regiment of 21 casualties. In the early hours of 1 December, the regiment helped defeat a Turkish counter-attack against the high ground north and north-east of Jaffa, and for the rest of the month it was employed in guard duties, reconnaissance, fortification works and as divisional reserve.
The regiment remained in reserve while Allenby secured his right flank with the occupation of the Jordan valley in early 1918, and when not on duty the men entertained themselves with fox hunts, a steeplechase, and periods of leave in Jaffa and Jerusalem. At the end of April, the regiment travelled a biblical route through Jerusalem, Calvary, the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Jericho, Mount Nebo, the alleged site of the inn of the Good Samaritan and across the Jordan valley. It fought dismounted in the Second Action of Es Salt at the beginning of May, and when that operation ended in defeat, it retired with the British Empire forces back into the valley. The regiment remained until August in the "valley of death", where temperatures peaked above 54 °C (129 °F) and malaria was a constant problem, with only brief periods of relief. It suffered more from sickness in the inhospitable environment than from enemy action; in May alone the regiment suffered 16 casualties in battle, while 116 men were hospitalised due to illness.
In August, the 5th Mounted Brigade became the 13th Cavalry Brigade and was transferred to the 5th Cavalry Division, which moved to the coastal sector in preparation for the next phase of the offensive. On 19 September, the division led the exploitation of a breach made in the enemy lines by the infantry in the Battle of Sharon, and after an advance of over 50 miles (80 km) the regiment, acting in the traditional cavalry role, entered Nazareth with swords drawn early the next day. Although it was ordered to withdraw later that morning, it returned and completed the capture of the town on 21 September. By the end of September the regiment had reached Damascus, and on 27 October, shortly before the Armistice of Mudros ended hostilities, it entered Aleppo. During the march, the regiment recovered the sword of Captain Lloyd-Baker, commander of A Squadron, over two years after it was taken by the Turks following his death at Qatia, and on 21 November the regiment entertained nine of its own recently released prisoners of war who had been captured at Qatia.
## Between the wars
The regiment remained in Palestine immediately after the war and was demobilised in stages. The first party returned to the UK in January 1919, only two squadrons remained by March, and those not yet eligible for demobilisation were transferred to the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in June. The remaining cadre of 28 men began their journey home at the end of June and arrived in Gloucester on 15 August. The names of the 28 officers and 200 other ranks of the regiment killed in the war are recorded on the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars war memorial, unveiled on 29 April 1922 in the grounds of Gloucester Cathedral.
The Territorial Force was reconstituted in 1920 and renamed the Territorial Army (TA) shortly afterwards, and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars began to recruit new members. On 21 October, its strength was 10 officers and 37 other ranks, rising to 16 officers and 208 other ranks by August 1921. The same year, the War Office ruled that only the fourteen most senior yeomanry regiments would be retained as cavalry, and offered the remainder the choice of converting to units of the Royal Field Artillery or reducing in size and converting to armoured car companies. On 25 November, the regiment chose the latter to become the 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company (TA) in the Royal Tank Corps (renamed in 1939 to the Royal Tank Regiment). The company comprised a headquarters (HQ) and four sections, each section equipped with four Peerless armoured cars, replaced in 1928–1929 by Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars.
As war loomed again in Europe, the UK expanded its armed forces. The 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company was converted to a full armoured regiment and, on 30 April 1939, regained its original title as the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The TA was doubled in size, with each regiment creating a duplicate, and in the summer of 1939 the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was recruiting in Gloucester, Cirencester and Bristol, while the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was recruiting in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and Tetbury. Attendance at the annual camp in July 1939 was about 1,000 yeomen, compared to some 300 the previous year.
## Second World War
On the outbreak of Second World War, the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was equipped with Vickers Mk. IV and Mk. VI light tanks and initially served in home defence as part of the 20th Light Armoured Brigade. It was later re-equipped with Valentine tanks and earmarked for service in North Africa as part of the 6th Armoured Division, but a last minute change resulted in the unit remaining in the UK as a training regiment which, by the war's end, had trained over 5,000 officers and men. As the war was nearing its conclusion the regiment was equipped with Churchill tanks and prepared for service in the Far East, but following VJ Day it was re-equipped with Sherman tanks and Greyhound armoured cars and sent instead to Austria as part of the army of occupation in December 1945. The 3rd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was actually a troop of one officer and 30 men. It served variously as a training regiment, trials unit and decoy, constructing dummy tanks to deceive the enemy about the disposition and strength of British armour.
After completing its training in the UK, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars deployed to Egypt in October 1941. By the middle of November it had assembled 76 miles (122 km) south-west of Mersa Matruh, close to the Libyan border, as part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade attached to the 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats. At this stage the regiment comprised 43 officers and 585 other ranks organised into three tank squadrons – F, G and H – with a regimental HQ and a rear echelon component responsible for supply. It was equipped with 52 Crusader tanks, 10 scout vehicles and 112 wheeled vehicles.
### Operation Crusader
In Operation Crusader, the 7th Armoured Division was tasked with locating and destroying the Axis armour, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was the lead element of the 22nd Armoured Brigade's advance. On 19 November, the brigade encountered the Italian Ariete Division, and in the ensuing action at Bir el Gubi it lost 40 tanks. Of the brigade's three regiments, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fared the worst. The regiment overran some Italian anti-tank positions, but without infantry support it could not take their surrender. The Italians subsequently returned to their guns and caught the regiment's tanks in a crossfire. The Crusader's armour could be defeated at ranges of 1,500 yards (1,400 m) while its gun was ineffective at ranges greater than 800 yards (730 m), and at one stage the regiment was outnumbered five or six to one. The day's fighting cost the regiment 30 tanks and some 50 casualties. Among the wounded was the regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Birley, who, after suffering a broken arm when his tank was disabled, sat exposed on another and directed the regiment until it withdrew at the end of the day, for which action he was awarded the DSO.
The regiment, down to a single composite squadron of 19 tanks, was in action again on 22 and 23 November at Sidi Rezegh. The 7th Armoured Division was badly mauled by the German 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions before the German armour broke contact and pushed on towards the Egyptian border. In the respite, the regiment, which at one stage had been reduced to just four Crusaders, was reinforced with five M3 Stuarts – named Honey by the British – five Crusaders, and a squadron of Cruiser Mk IVs from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. The regiment fought next in the Sidi Rezegh area on 27 and 28 November, finding itself once again outgunned by enemy armour returning from its raid on the Egyptian border. After the battle, the regiment was withdrawn and re-equipped with 52 Honies which had already seen battle with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars. As well as materiel losses, the fighting to date had cost the regiment 16 officers and 70 other ranks. Major W. A. B. Trevor, who had assumed command of the regiment after Birley was wounded, was awarded the DSO for his handling of the regiment.
In December, the regiment fought at various times under command of the 7th Armoured Division's Support Group and the 4th Armoured Brigade. It rejoined the 22nd Armoured Brigade in the last week of December and completed a long march across the desert as the British and Commonwealth forces pushed the Axis forces out of Cyrenaica. As Operation Crusader drew to a close, the regiment saw action around Chor es Sufan on 28 and 30 December, after which the 7th Armoured Division was relieved by the 1st Armoured Division. In total, the regiment had suffered 169 casualties.
### Battle of Gazala
Birley, his arm in a sling, resumed command of the regiment on 13 January 1942, and when a German Africa Corps counter-attack pushed the British and Commonwealth forces back to Gazala later that month, he commanded Birley Force, a composite regiment to which the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars contributed the HQ and a squadron of tanks. The regiment was re-equipped in the first week of February; F Squadron with the new M3 Grant tanks, and G and H Squadrons with Crusaders, and in May its strength was 36 officers, 563 other ranks and 48 tanks. At the end of May, with the 22nd Armoured Brigade now returned to its parent unit, the 1st Armoured Division, the regiment saw action in the Battle of Gazala. It fought in the areas of Bir el Harmat and 'Knightsbridge', a defensive box held by the 201st Guards Motor Brigade some 20 miles (32 km) south-west of Tobruk. At the start of the battle, F Squadron lost all but one of its Grants, and the regiment was quickly reduced to 16 Crusaders and two Honies. These were formed into a composite squadron under command of the 3rd County of London Yeomanry. On 1 June the regiment handed over its remaining Crusaders to the 4th County of London Yeomanry and was taken out of the line for a refit the next day.
The regiment returned to the line on 4 June with Honies and Grants taken over from the 4th Queen's Own Hussars; 14 tanks each in G and H Squadrons, 4 in the regimental HQ and 12 Grants in F Squadron. The next day it participated in a failed attack at Bir el Aslagh in the 'Cauldron', a German salient behind the original British and Commonwealth lines. It then retired east to Knightsbridge where, on 6 June, the command tank was hit, killing Birley and the regiment's adjutant. The regiment was by this stage down to a strength of 17 Honies and two Grants, and for the next two days, with Trevor once again in command, it acted as a patrol squadron for 22nd Armoured Brigade. On 10 June, H Squadron was attached to the 7th Motor Brigade (the former Support Group) fighting around Bir Hacheim. It remained with that brigade until the end of the month, while the remainder of the regiment was withdrawn from the line. In addition to the losses in materiel, the Battle of Gazala had cost the regiment 82 casualties, and on 12 June another was added to the list when Trevor was killed in an airstrike. Over the next few days the remaining senior officers appealed to brigade, division and corps commanders to prevent the regiment from being split up and used as replacements.
### Dispersal and disbandment
Following defeat in the Battle of Gazala, the British and Commonwealth forces halted the Axis advance in the First Battle of El Alamein, in which G Squadron fought while attached at various times to the 1st Armoured Division Tank Delivery Regiment, the 4th County of London Yeomanry and the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. Meanwhile, F and H Squadrons became infantry in the 10th Armoured Division and, armed with Italian anti-tank rifles, grenades and molotov cocktails, manned defences in the Delta. At the end of July, H Squadron took over the Crusaders of A Squadron, 5th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), and relieved them in the El Alamein line, and F Squadron similarly replaced 5RTR's C Squadron on 17 August. The same month, G Squadron was given Crusaders and allocated to Army reserve at El Amiriya, serving at various times under the command of the 8th Hussars, an Indian brigade, the 9th Australian Division and finally the 10th Royal Hussars. The regiment's rear echelon and some of its HQ troops guarded bridges over the Nile in the Delta.
During the Battle of Alam el Halfa, the regiment's F and H Squadrons fought as units of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, and G Squadron was part of an abortive 9th Australian Division attack along the coast. The three squadrons were reunited in Alexandria on 20 September, but any hopes that the regiment would fight again under its own command were dashed when F, G and H Squadrons were transferred to the 4th Hussars, the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and the 8th Hussars respectively. HQ Squadron was divided between the 5th Royal Tank Regiment and the 3rd The King's Own Hussars, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was disbanded on 15 January 1943. During its brief career the regiment had lost 72 men killed, 100 wounded and 85 taken prisoner of war, and was awarded two DSOs, seven Military Crosses, a Distinguished Conduct Medal and fourteen Military Medals.
## Post war
The regiment was reconstituted in the reconnaissance role in 1947, equipped initially with Daimler Armoured Cars which were later replaced by Ferret scout vehicles. On 27 May 1962, a new Guidon was presented on behalf of the Queen by Colonel the Duke of Beaufort at Badminton House, and in 1963 the regiment was granted the Freedom of Gloucester. In 1967, following a reorganisation of the TA, the regiment was reduced to a squadron and combined with elements of the North Somerset and Bristol Yeomanry, the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment and the Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery to form the Wessex Volunteers. A further reorganisation in 1969 reduced the squadron to a cadre of eight men, but it was expanded two years later to provide the regimental HQ and two squadrons in the infantry-roled Wessex Yeomanry, which in 1979 became the Royal Wessex Yeomanry. In 1983, the new yeomanry regiment was equipped with stripped-down Land Rovers and took on the reconnaissance role. It was further reorganised and re-purposed as an armoured reserve regiment in the 1990s, tasked with the provision of replacement crews for the regular army's Challenger 2 tanks. The Gloucestershire yeomanry lineage is maintained in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry by C (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Squadron.
## Battle honours
The battle honours earned by the regiment were:
## Honorary Regimental Colonels
Honorary colonels were:
Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
- 1904– Col. Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort, TD, DL, JP, ADC
- 1926– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC
- 1967– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]
- 1969– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]
C (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Squadron, Royal Wessex Yeomanry (1971)
- 1972– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]
- 1984– Lt. (Hon. Col.) David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort
- 1994– Col. John Evelyn Baring Hills, TD, DL
- 1999– Lt-Col. David R. Ayshford-Sanford, TD
## See also
- List of Yeomanry Regiments 1908
- British yeomanry during the First World War
- Second line yeomanry regiments of the British Army |
2,591,753 | Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo | 1,165,654,167 | null | [
"1997 American television episodes",
"American Christmas television episodes",
"Christmas characters",
"Christmas television specials",
"Political correctness",
"Portrayals of Jesus on television",
"Santa Claus in television",
"South Park (season 1) episodes",
"Television episodes with live action and animation",
"Works about feces"
]
| "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 17, 1997. The episode follows Kyle as he feels excluded from the town's Christmas celebrations due to being Jewish, finding solace in Mr. Hankey, a sentient piece of feces. Mr. Hankey does not come alive in the presence of other characters, who consequently think that Kyle is delusional. Meanwhile, the townspeople remove all religious aspects of Christmas to remain politically correct and inoffensive.
The episode was written and directed by co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea from Parker's childhood; when Parker and Stone conceived the South Park series, they intended for Mr. Hankey to be the lead character. Heavily influenced by A Charlie Brown Christmas, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was the first South Park Christmas episode; the first musical episode; and the first episode, as well as the only one of the first season, in which Kenny does not die. In addition to Mr. Hankey, the episode introduced Craig Tucker, the school counselor Mr. Mackey, Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski, and the songs "The Lonely Jew on Christmas" and "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch". It served as a satire of political correctness and religious sensitivity.
The episode received generally positive reviews and has been described as one of the classic South Park episodes. It was watched by 4.55 million viewers during its original broadcast, the highest Nielsen rating to that date for South Park and the fourth-highest overall for a basic cable entertainment program of 1997. John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, accused Parker and Stone of plagiarizing his idea, which the duo vehemently denied.
## Plot
Kyle is cast as Saint Joseph in South Park Elementary's Christmas play, but is forced to withdraw when Kyle's mother Sheila expresses anger that her Jewish son is participating in a Nativity play. In response to Mr. Garrison's question, Kyle suggests the "Mr. Hankey" song as a secular substitute, but is rejected because no one else believes in its eponymous subject, a living piece of feces. Kyle leaves the school feeling lonely and excluded because he cannot celebrate Christmas with everyone else.
Mayor McDaniels decides that anything deemed offensive will be removed from the Christmas celebrations. Kyle again suggests that the town use Mr. Hankey, since he does not discriminate against anyone. At home, Kyle is scolded by his parents for believing in Mr. Hankey. While Kyle is brushing his teeth, Mr. Hankey emerges from the toilet and spreads feces stains around the bathroom, for which Kyle is blamed. Kyle decides to take Mr. Hankey to school to prove his existence, but Mr. Hankey does not come alive in front of people who do not believe in him. After Cartman sings an insulting song about Sheila, Mr. Hankey lunges at him in retaliation, which everyone perceives as Kyle throwing Mr. Hankey at Cartman. Kyle is sent to Mr. Mackey, the guidance counselor, but gets into further trouble when Mr. Hankey bathes in Mackey's coffee. Cartman, Stan, and Kenny believe Kyle is insane and have him committed to a mental institution.
The night of the play arrives, and with the performance stripped of all Christmas symbols, the children instead present a minimalist song and dance by Philip Glass. The parents, unentertained by the secular play, begin scapegoating one another for "ruining" Christmas and a fight ensues. When Chef is informed of the situation, he reveals that he too believes in Mr. Hankey. When everyone else starts believing, Mr. Hankey reveals himself and scolds them for losing sight of the true meaning of Christmas. With Mr. Hankey's existence confirmed, Kyle is released from the asylum and joins the townspeople in caroling as Mr. Hankey departs with Santa Claus. Cartman, Stan, and Kyle realize that something is amiss. As The End appears, Kenny cheers, indicating excitement and relief that he has survived the entire episode.
During the end credits, Jesus dejectedly sings "Happy Birthday to You" to himself alone in his television studio.
## Production
### Conception and early history
The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea Trey Parker's father created when he was toilet-training Trey as a child. Parker said he refused to flush the toilet as a child, so his father told him if he did not flush down his stool, which he called "Mr. Hankey", it would come to life and kill him. The concept stayed with Parker throughout his childhood; starting in elementary school and throughout his entire education, he would often draw the character in class, wearing a sailor's hat instead of the Santa Claus hat he would later wear in South Park. Parker shared the concept with future South Park co-creator Matt Stone when the two met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the duo immediately knew they wanted to create a film or production involving Mr. Hankey. The two discussed filming a three-minute short film involving a boy who befriended the talking stool, but Mr. Hankey would not come alive for anybody else, prompting others to believe the boy was crazy. They planned for the boy's parents to find him holding a stool in the bathroom and blame the child for smearing feces along the walls when it was actually Mr. Hankey's fault; they also planned to have him visit a school counselor, where Mr. Hankey would leap into the counselor's coffee mug and the boy would be blamed. At the end, it would turn out that the boy was indeed crazy and Mr. Hankey was not real at all, but a figment of the boy's imagination. Parker and Stone never made the short film, but practically all of its elements were included in the future South Park episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", with the notable exception of the ending. Although the Mr. Hankey short film was never made, Parker and Stone made two Christmas-related animated short films called The Spirit of Christmas, which served as precursors to the South Park series.
After the shorts began to generate interest for a possible television series, Parker and Stone conceived the idea of an adult-animated show with four children as main protagonists, and one of the minor characters included a talking stool named Mr. Hankey. They contacted the Fox Broadcasting Company about the show's concept, and the network arranged a meeting with the duo at its office in Century City to discuss how it would proceed. However, Parker and Stone said during the meeting that FOX did not like a talking poo character on its network and demanded the duo to remove him, which they refused. When FOX continued to stand by its decision (and supported by sister company 20th Century Fox Television, the show's original developer), the duo cut ties with the network and began pitching the series somewhere else. After Comedy Central expressed interest in the series, Parker and Stone brought up the idea of a Mr. Hankey episode during negotiations with the network executives. Parker claimed during a meeting, he said, "One thing we have to know before we really go any further: how do you feel about talking poo?" The executives were receptive to the idea, which Parker said was one of the main reasons he and Stone decided to sign on with the channel.
The elements of the episode involving Kyle's loneliness as a Jew during Christmas were inspired by Parker and Stone's perceptions of Jews growing up in Colorado during their childhood. Although the two went to different schools, they both witnessed Jewish children get beat up and bullied because both of their schools had very few Jewish students to begin with; although Stone himself is Jewish, he was not raised as a practicing Jew and so he did not experience much of the bullying himself firsthand. The unsuccessful efforts by the South Park Elementary School in the episode to include people of non-Christian denomination were inspired by similarly failed attempts Parker and Stone witnessed growing up. Parker cited as an example a chorus concert in which the single Jewish student was asked to sing her own Hanukkah song while everybody else sang Christmas songs; although the idea was to make the student feel special, Parker said it only made her feel more lonely and isolated.
### Episode production
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was written and directed by Parker and Stone, and first aired in the United States on Comedy Central on December 17, 1997. It was the first official South Park Christmas episode. Television journalists said the Spirit of Christmas shorts were precursors to Mr. Hankey and that they shared some common traits, but that the television episode was considered tamer and more tasteful. Parker and Stone originally conceived the episode "Damien", which involves a boxing match between Jesus and Satan, as the first season's Christmas episode. Although they had long planned to feature Mr. Hankey in the show, they did not decide to make him a Christmas character until halfway through the filming of "Damien". Once they made the decision, they decided to make "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the holiday episode instead; although it would not air until after the "Mr. Hankey" episode, Parker and Stone finished production of "Damien" before working on "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo".
At the time they were writing the episode, Parker and Stone had seen a large number of news reports about government buildings refusing to allow the display of models of the nativity scene and other Christian holiday symbols, in an effort not to offend other religions. Parker and Stone, as two agnostics who still appreciated the Christmas holiday, said they felt the idea was "ridiculous" and, according to Stone, "We just wanted Mr. Hankey to say Christmas was about good and about presents, and it doesn't have to be this religious [controversy]." The two sought to write an episode in the tradition of old classic Christmas specials with their own irreverent South Park twist, and so they watched the famous 1965 Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, repeatedly during the production process. Parker said, "At this point, we just sort of wanted to do a Charlie Brown Christmas South Park version. That [special] was definitely a huge part of my life growing up."
The episode was considered the first South Park musical episode, and included such songs as "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", "A Lonely Jew on Christmas" and "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch". Parker and Stone were initially concerned about making a musical because, Parker said, "The general rule was people hated musicals". For the Mr. Hankey character, Parker and Stone adapted most of the elements from the Mr. Hankey short film they planned in college, except that Mr. Hankey would prove to be real, not a figment of Kyle's imagination. Parker said this was decided because of his frustration with the character Mr. Snuffleupagus in the children's show Sesame Street; for his first 14 years on the show, Mr. Snuffleupagus was an imaginary character seen only by Big Bird, which Parker said "really bummed me out". Parker and Stone felt Mr. Hankey should embody the wholesomeness and morals of cartoons from the 1930s, so they designed him to resemble the version of Mickey Mouse in the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie, particularly in his eyes. For the scenes in which Mr. Hankey smears feces wherever he walks, the animators scanned images of spread out chocolate and fudge and inserted those images into the episode. Parker and Stone had trouble deciding on a voice for Mr. Hankey, but Stone said it came to him while eating a Sausage McMuffin at a McDonald's in New York City, while taking a break from promoting South Park to the press.
Although Comedy Central did not object to most aspects of the episode, they did require some edits to material they deemed potentially offensive. During rehearsal for a Nativity play, a baby Jesus resembling a fetus pops out of Wendy, who is playing the Virgin Mary, and is caught by Kyle, who is portraying Joseph of Nazareth. Although the scene was ultimately kept in the episode, Comedy Central executives had problems with it and Parker said they had to handle its animation "very carefully". Additionally, during filming of the live-action Mr. Hankey commercial, the baby originally held the Mr. Hankey stool and took a bite out of it. Comedy Central officials would not allow the scene in the episode and it was changed to portray the idea that the baby had already eaten the stool off-camera, which Parker said he felt was actually funnier.
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the first episode in which Kenny was not killed. Parker and Stone deliberately included several scenes that looked like they might lead to Kenny's death, but they decided because it was Christmas that they would not kill him (though he would later go on to be killed in several subsequent Christmas episodes). The episode was also the first time Mr. Garrison was portrayed as an anti-semite and racist, particularly when he asks Mayor McDaniels if she can get rid of all the Mexicans in South Park. Parker said this decision was made because, "Garrison at that point had already shown himself to be the most messed up person in the entire town, and there's obviously so much wrong with him mentally. A person that disturbed being a racist is funny to us."
### Home media and soundtrack release
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was released, along with 11 other episodes, in a three-DVD set in November 1998. It was included in the third volume, which also included the episodes "Starvin' Marvin", "Mecha-Streisand" and "Tom's Rhinoplasty". "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was also one of six episodes included on a 1998 VHS called "South Park Festival Special", which included "Starvin' Marvin", "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" and "Pinkeye". It was later released in the November 2007 DVD release "Christmas Time in South Park", which also included the episodes, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", "A Very Crappy Christmas", "Red Sleigh Down", "It's Christmas in Canada" and "Woodland Critter Christmas". The episode, along with the other 12 from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary track for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD completely separately from the DVDs.
Songs from "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" were featured in the October 2007 CD soundtrack release called "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics". The Birmingham News said the album "gleefully tramples on one of America's most cherished holidays [and] will likely make even cynical listeners gasp".
## Themes
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is a satire on political correctness and religious sensitivity, particularly in its portrayal of the characters organizing "The Happy, Non-Offensive, Non-Denominational Christmas Play" to avoid offending anyone of any religious background. While many Christmas specials focus on the religious, spiritual and moral values of the Christmas holiday rather than the commercial aspects, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" actually embraces commercialism in Christmas, suggesting viewers should enjoy those elements of the holiday without taking religion too seriously. York University Professor Alison Halsall said of this aspect of the episode, "Again, Parker and Stone blur the sacred and the profane, in this instance, to gut holidays of their traditional meanings."
The episode has also been described as simultaneously embracing and parodying animated Christmas specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It has also been described as a commentary on the way Jewish children are overlooked during the Christmas holiday; this theme is overtly stated by Stan, who says at the end of the episode that "Jewish people are okay and that Hanukkah can be cool too", as well as Christmas. M. Keith Booker, author of Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, said although the episode is irreverent in its treatment of Christmas, "even if spearheaded by a singing turd, [it] is about as close as South Park ever comes to being sentimental and nostalgic". Literary critic Mark Caldwell said the fact that Kenny survived the episode demonstrates the episode's "strong, albeit dutifully ironic, undercurrent of conventional holiday decency."
Alison Halsall said "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the strongest example of a history of scatology, the study of excrement, throughout the South Park series. Halsall said the use of fecal matter as a character, and especially its tendency to smear parts of itself around as it moved, directly confronts the viewer with "the inherent dirtiness of the human body, no matter how much we try to aestheticize it, Mr. Hankey's stains systematically mess up the cleanliness of the social order. [...] South Park refuses sanitization through the gross-out factor."
## Cultural impact and references
Some writers consider Mr. Hankey one of the most easily recognizable and popular of the non-regular South Park characters. His high-pitched greeting, "Howdy-ho", was equally recognizable and became one of the most quoted lines from the show's first season. Several fan websites were made about the character within months of the episode's broadcast. In January 1998, Entertainment Weekly reported that Comedy Central executives had plans to produce a Mr. Hankey chocolate bar. Larry Lieberman, the channel's vice president of strategic planning and new business development, said a sketch of a Mr. Hankey candy bar was drawn and circulated, but mainly as a joke; he said no serious discussions were held about producing such an item. A stuffed Mr. Hankey became one of the most popular South Park tie-in products of the 1998 Christmas season.
In addition to the title character, "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" included the first appearances of characters Father Maxi and Mr. Mackey. Both characters appeared in "Damien", which was produced before "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", but the Christmas episode aired first. Mr. Mackey was inspired by Parker's real-life school guidance counselor; Parker, who provides the voice for Mackey, said the real-life counselor was similarly thin and wiry and that Parker's voice for Mr. Mackey is an exact, unexaggerated version of how his counselor spoke.
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" includes several references to the Peanuts holiday special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. A Christmas pageant features the same biblical quote spoken by Linus in that special; additionally, the music featured in the pageant is very similar to the Peanuts special's musical score by Vince Guaraldi, and the South Park kids go outside to catch falling snowflakes on their tongues in the same way as in the special.
A doctor prescribes Prozac, a real life antidepressant, to Kyle for his apparent love for feces, which he describes as "fecalphilia", a condition perhaps better known by the medical term coprophilia. Composer Philip Glass composes the avant-garde musical score for the non-denominational Christmas play. Stone and Parker both strongly dislike Glass; Parker, who was a music major in college, said, "I really thought you could basically tell a third grader to sit down at a keyboard and mess around and sell it as a Philip Glass album, and no one would know the difference." The do-it-yourself kit in the live action commercial, in which families can make their own Mr. Hankey, is similar to the Mr. Potato Head toy set.
## Reception
### Reviews and ratings
Although Parker and Stone credit "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" as helping elevate the series, they felt "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" raised South Park to a new level of popularity and relevance. Parker said of it, "This was the episode that just vaulted everything." Following the success of "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", a large number of celebrities started contacting Comedy Central with the hopes of making guest appearances in South Park episodes. This allowed Parker and Stone to practically take their pick of guest stars, and led to appearances by Natasha Henstridge in "Tom's Rhinoplasty" and Robert Smith in "Mecha-Streisand". Stone said although "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" has become less shocking with time, viewers at the time of the episode's original broadcast were shocked, and some were horrified, at the idea of a living and speaking Christmas stool. "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was the fourth-highest overall basic cable entertainment program of 1997. In its original American broadcast, the episode received a Nielsen Rating of 5.4, meaning the episode was seen by about 4.5 million households. The rating was the highest yet for South Park, and was more than seven times the Comedy Central prime-time average. The episode also earned a 51 share of the male demographic aged between 18 and 24; a share represents the percentage of households using a television at the time the program is airing.
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" has been described as one of the classic episodes of South Park. Chris Vognar of The Dallas Morning News described Mr. Hankey himself as "the most outrageous character yet on TV's most outrageous show". Charlie Patton of The Florida Times-Union said the episode was "crude, nasty, irreverent and generally offensive—also extremely funny". He also said of the Mr. Hankey character, "If you're the sort of person who didn't care for that scene in Trainspotting where the Ewan McGregor character dove down the toilet and into the sewer in pursuit of his lost suppository, the whole Mr. Hankey subplot is going to be deeply disturbing." Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone contributor, said, "Technically, the Christmas episode might well be the show's best effort, artistically, because it tackles the PC-ification of Christmas head-on, and also has an interesting psychological subtext: does the hero actually see Mr. Hankey, or does he have some serious psychological problems?" Diane Werts of Newsday said of the episode, "It's gross. It's yucky. It's probably offensive. It's also possibly the funniest holiday episode anybody's airing this year." Werts particularly praised the song "A Lonely Jew on Christmas". Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, author of Taking South Park Seriously, said, "This episode arguably pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable, both for Christmas specials and television in general, farther than any previous one." Weinstock said this was particularly true of the episode's fake live-action commercial.
Before the episode was released, Debbie Liebling, then-Comedy Central vice president of development and production, herself described the episode as "adorably offensive". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger called the episode "a brilliant skewering" of political correctness and over-sensitivity, and called it "at once hilariously satiric and extraordinarily foul." Sepinwall also added Mr. Hankey to his 1997 list of most memorable TV moments, describing the character as the year's "most disturbing cartoon image" and as "a mythical holiday creature so bizarre and offensive it literally cannot be described in a family newspaper". Matt Roush of USA Today praised the episode, which he described as "ribald, raunchy and riotous". A.J. Jacobs of Entertainment Weekly said in January 1998 that the episode was "already infamous". Jacobs also said Mr. Hankey was so popular, he half-jokingly suggested Matt Stone and Trey Parker pursue a spin-off revolving around the character.
The music in "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" was also praised. "A Lonely Jew on Christmas" has been described as a "classic song", and "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch", which reviewers described as one of Cartman's trademarks, was included in the 1999 South Park film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Not all reviews of "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" were positive. Rick Marin of Newsweek described the episode as "simply one long potty joke". Virginia Rohan of The Record said she liked Kyle's song and some of Kenny's antics, but that the episode was not as funny as The Spirit of Christmas shorts. Rohan said South Park "can be brilliantly over the edge, but often tonight, it sorely needs a comic bungee cord".
In 2003, the Chicago-based RedEye ranked "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the greatest South Park episode. In October 2004, the Comedy Central website held a poll to determine the top 27 South Park episodes for a television marathon; "Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo" came third, just behind "Good Times with Weapons" at \#2 and "Fat Butt and Pancake Head" at \#1. South Park Studios, the official South Park website, listed "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" at number four on its list of the Five Most Notorious Episodes.
### Ren & Stimpy controversy
John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, claimed the Mr. Hankey concept was stolen from his cartoon short, "Nutty the Friendly Dump", which was part of a cartoon book series viewable online. Kricfalusi even confirmed that he pitched the idea for an animated series of "Nutty the Friendly Dump" to Comedy Central, who turned it down. Kricfalusi said after the show aired, "I got nine or 10 messages from friends screaming, 'I can't believe this! They totally stole your story!' ... This idea of [feces] singing or dancing and being friends, well, that is my idea." Kricfalusi said he felt other elements of South Park were lifted from his work, and he told media outlets his company Spümcø was contemplating taking legal action against Parker and Stone. Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said Stone and Parker were not familiar with "Nutty the Friendly Dump" and that the claim was "ludicrous". Parker said he had never seen more than half an episode of Ren & Stimpy, which he said he did not enjoy because the characters were too over-the-top and the voice acting was too annoying. Parker said Kricfalusi eventually contacted the South Park creators, "He wrote a letter back saying, 'Oh, OK, I see how it could just be a coincidence, but you should just admit to the press that you're a big Ren and Stimpy fan.' — I'm not a Ren and Stimpy fan." |
356,690 | The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening | 1,170,366,667 | 1993 video game | [
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| The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is a 1993 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. It is the first installment in The Legend of Zelda series for a handheld game console. Link's Awakening is one of the few Zelda games not to take place in the land of Hyrule, and it does not feature Princess Zelda or the Triforce relic. Instead, the protagonist Link begins the game stranded on Koholint Island, a place guarded by a whale-like deity called the Wind Fish. Assuming the role of Link, the player fights monsters and solves puzzles while searching for eight musical instruments that will awaken the sleeping Wind Fish and allow him to escape from the island.
Development began as an effort to port the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game A Link to the Past to the Game Boy, developed after-hours by Nintendo staff. It grew into an original project under the direction of Takashi Tezuka, with a story and script created by Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kensuke Tanabe. The majority of the Link to the Past team reassembled for Link's Awakening, and Tezuka wanted the game world to feel like the television series Twin Peaks. After a development period of one and a half years, Link's Awakening was released in Japan in June 1993 and worldwide later in the year.
Link's Awakening was critically and commercially successful. Critics praised the game's depth and number of features; complaints focused on its control scheme and monochrome graphics. An updated rerelease, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, was released for the Game Boy Color in 1998 featuring color graphics, compatibility with the Game Boy Printer, and an exclusive color-based dungeon. Together, the two versions of the game have sold more than six million units worldwide, and have appeared on multiple game publications' lists of the best video games of all time. A high-definition remake for the Nintendo Switch was developed by Grezzo and released worldwide in 2019. The DX version was released as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service in February 2023.
## Gameplay
Like most games in The Legend of Zelda series, Link's Awakening is an action-adventure game focused on exploration and combat. The majority of the game takes place from an overhead perspective. The player traverses the overworld of Koholint Island while fighting monsters and exploring underground dungeons. Dungeons steadily become larger and more difficult, and feature "Nightmare" boss characters that the player must defeat, taking different forms in each dungeon, and getting harder to defeat each time. Success earns the player heart containers, which increase the amount of damage the player character can survive; when all of the player's heart containers have been emptied, the game restarts at the last doorway entered by the character. Defeating a Nightmare also earns the player one of the eight instruments necessary to complete the game.
Link's Awakening was the first overhead-perspective Zelda game to allow Link to jump; this enables sidescrolling sequences similar to those in the earlier Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Players can expand their abilities with items, which are discovered in dungeons and through character interactions. Certain items grant access to previously inaccessible areas and are needed to enter and complete dungeons. The player may steal items from the game's shop, but doing so changes the player character's name to "THIEF" for the rest of the game and causes the shopkeeper to knock out the character upon re-entry of the shop.
In addition to the main quest, Link's Awakening contains side-missions and diversions. Collectible "secret seashells" are hidden throughout the game; when twenty of these are found, the player can receive a powerful sword that fires energy beams when the player character is at full health, similar to the sword in the original The Legend of Zelda. Link's Awakening is the first Zelda game to include a trading sequence minigame: the player may give a certain item to a character, who in turn gives the player another item to trade with someone else. It is also the first game in the Zelda series in which the A and B buttons may be assigned to different items, which enables more varied puzzles and item combinations. Other series elements originating in Link's Awakening include fishing, and learning special songs on an ocarina; the latter mechanic is central to the next Zelda game released, Ocarina of Time.
## Synopsis
### Setting and characters
Unlike most The Legend of Zelda titles, Link's Awakening is set outside the kingdom of Hyrule. It omits locations and characters from previous games, aside from protagonist Link and a passing mention of Princess Zelda. Instead, the game takes place entirely on Koholint Island, an isolated landmass cut off from the rest of the world. The island, though small, contains a large number of secrets and interconnected pathways. Within the Zelda timeline, Link's Awakening takes place after Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past, but before Oracle of Seasons and Ages.
In Link's Awakening, the player is given advice and directions by non-player characters such as Ulrira, a shy old man who communicates with Link exclusively by telephone. The game contains cameo appearances by characters from other Nintendo titles, such as Wart, Yoshi, Kirby, Dr. Wright (renamed Mr. Write) from the Super NES version of SimCity, and the exiled prince Richard from The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls. Chomp, an enemy from the Mario series, was included after a programmer gave Link the ability to grab the creature and take it for a walk. Enemies from Super Mario Bros. such as Goombas and Piranha Plants also appear in underground side-scrolling sections; Link may land on top of them much as with Super Mario Bros., or he can attack them in the usual way: the two methods yield different bonuses. Director Takashi Tezuka said that the game's "freewheeling" development made Link's Awakening seem like a parody of The Legend of Zelda series. Certain characters in the game break the fourth wall; for example, little children inform the player of game mechanics such as saving, but admit that they do not understand the advice they are giving.
### Plot
After the events of A Link to the Past, the hero Link travels by ship to other countries to train for further threats. A storm destroys his boat at sea, and he washes ashore on Koholint Island, where he is taken to the house of Tarin by his daughter Marin. She is fascinated by Link and the outside world, and tells Link wishfully that, if she were a seagull, she would leave and travel across the sea. After Link recovers his sword, a mysterious owl tells him that he must wake the Wind Fish, Koholint's guardian, in order to return home. The Wind Fish lies dreaming in a giant egg on top of Mt. Tamaranch, and can only be awakened by the eight Instruments of the Sirens.
Link proceeds to explore a series of dungeons in order to recover the eight instruments. During his search for the sixth instrument, Link goes to the Ancient Ruins. There he finds a mural that details the reality of the island: that it is merely a dream world created by the Wind Fish. After this revelation, the owl tells Link that this is only a rumor, and only the Wind Fish knows for certain whether it is true. Throughout Koholint Island, nightmare creatures attempt to obstruct Link's quest for the instruments, as they wish to rule the Wind Fish's dreamworld.
After collecting all eight instruments from the eight dungeons across Koholint, Link climbs to the top of Mt. Tamaranch and plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish. This breaks open the egg in which the Wind Fish sleeps; Link enters and confronts the last evil being, a Nightmare that takes the form of Ganon and other enemies from Link's past. Its final transformation is "DethI", a cyclopean, dual-tentacled Shadow. After Link defeats DethI, the owl reveals itself to be the Wind Fish's spirit, and the Wind Fish confirms that Koholint is all his dream. When Link plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish again, he and the Wind Fish awaken; Koholint Island and all its inhabitants slowly disappear. Link finds himself lying on his ship's driftwood in the middle of the ocean, with the Wind Fish flying overhead. If the player did not lose any lives during the game, Marin is shown flying after the ending credits finish.
## Development
Link's Awakening began as an unsanctioned side project; programmer Kazuaki Morita created a Zelda-like game with one of the first Game Boy development kits, and he used it to experiment with the platform's capabilities. Other staff members of the Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development division joined him after-hours and worked on the game in what seemed to them like an "afterschool club". The results of these experiments with the Game Boy started to look promising. Following the 1991 release of the Super NES video game A Link to the Past, director Takashi Tezuka asked for permission to develop a handheld Zelda title; he intended it to be a port of A Link to the Past, but it evolved into an original game. The majority of the team that had created A Link to the Past was reassembled to advance this new project. Altogether, it took them one and a half years to develop Link's Awakening.
Tezuka recalled that the early free-form development of Link's Awakening resulted in the game's "unrestrained" contents, such as the unauthorized cameo appearances of characters from the Mario and Kirby series. A Link to the Past script writer Kensuke Tanabe joined the team early on and came up with the basis of the story. Tezuka sought to make Link's Awakening a spin-off, and he gave Tanabe instructions to omit common series elements such as Princess Zelda, the Triforce relic, and the setting Hyrule. As a consequence, Tanabe proposed his game world idea of an island with an egg on top of a mountain. Tezuka recalled that it felt as though they were making a "parody of The Legend of Zelda" rather than an actual Zelda game.
Later on, Yoshiaki Koizumi, who had previously helped with the plot of A Link to the Past, was brought into the team. Koizumi was responsible for the main story of Link's Awakening, provided the idea of the island in a dream, and conceived the interactions with the villagers. Link's Awakening was described by series producer Eiji Aonuma as the first Zelda game with a proper plot, which he attributed to Koizumi's romanticism. Tezuka intended the game's world to have a similar feeling to the American television series Twin Peaks, which, like Link's Awakening, features characters in a small town. He suggested that the characters of Link's Awakening be written as "suspicious types", akin to those in Twin Peaks—a theme which carried over into later Zelda titles. Tanabe created these "odd" characters; he was placed in charge of the subevents of the story and wrote almost all of the character dialog, with the exception of the owl's and the Wind Fish's lines. Tanabe implemented a previous idea of the world ending when a massive egg breaks on top of a mountain; this idea was originally meant for A Link to the Past. Tanabe really wanted to see this idea in a game and was able to implement it in Link's Awakening as the basic concept.
Masanao Arimoto and Shigefumi Hino designed the game's characters, while Yoichi Kotabe served as illustrator. Save for the opening and the ending, all pictures in the game were drawn by Arimoto. Yasahisa Yamamura designed the dungeons, which included the conception of rooms and routes, as well as the placement of enemies. Shigeru Miyamoto, who served as the producer of Link's Awakening, did not provide creative input to the staff members. However, he participated as game tester, and his opinions greatly influenced the latter half of the development.
The music for Link's Awakening was composed by Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa, for whom it was their first game project, and Kazumi Totaka, who also was responsible for the sound programming and all sound effects. As with most Zelda games, Link's Awakening includes a variation of the recurring overworld music; The staff credits theme, "Yume o Miru Shima e" was later arranged for orchestra by Yuka Tsujiyoko and performed at the Orchestral Game Music Concert 3 in 1993. Super Smash Bros. Brawl includes a remix of the game's "Tal Tal Heights" theme, which has since returned in subsequent Super Smash Bros. titles.
In an interview about the evolution of the Zelda series, Aonuma called Link's Awakening the "quintessential isometric Zelda game". At another time, he stated that, had the game not come after A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time would have been very different. Tezuka said that he prefers the game over A Link to the Past, as he enjoyed the challenge of making a similar game on lower-specced hardware. Several elements from Link's Awakening were re-used in later Zelda titles; for example, programmer Morita created a fishing minigame that reappeared in Ocarina of Time, among others. Tanabe implemented a trading sequence; Tezuka compared it to the Japanese Straw Millionaire folktale, in which someone trades up from a piece of straw to something of greater value. This concept also appeared in most sequels.
## Release
To support the North American release of Link's Awakening, Nintendo sponsored a crosscountry train competition called the Zelda Whistle Stop Tour. The event, which lasted three days, allowed select players to test Link's Awakening in a timed race to complete the game. The event was meant not only to showcase the game, but also the Game Boy's superior battery life and portability, the latter of which was critical to the accessibility of a portable Zelda title. The company-owned magazine Nintendo Power published a guide to the game's first three areas in its July 1993 issue.
In 1998, to promote the launch of the Game Boy Color, Nintendo re-released Link's Awakening as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. It features fully colorized graphics and is backward compatible with the original Game Boy. Link's Awakening DX contains a new optional dungeon, with unique enemies and puzzles based on color (due to this, the dungeon cannot be accessed on the earlier non-color Game Boy models). After completing the dungeon, the player may choose to receive either a red or blue tunic, which increase attack and defense, respectively. The DX version also allows players to take photos after the player visits a camera shop, its owner will appear in certain locations throughout the game. A total of twelve photos can be taken, which may be viewed at the shop, or printed with the Game Boy Printer accessory. For Link's Awakening DX, Tezuka returned as project supervisor, with Yoshinori Tsuchiyama as the new director. Nobuo Matsumiya collaborated with Tsuchiyama on applying changes to the original script; for example, hint messages were added to the boss battles. For the new dungeon, Yuichi Ozaki created a musical piece based on Kondo's dungeon theme from the original The Legend of Zelda.
Nintendo later re-released DX version on the Virtual Console of the Nintendo 3DS on June 2011. In July 2013, Link's Awakening DX was offered as one of several Virtual Console games which "elite status" members of the North America Club Nintendo could redeem as a free gift. A high-definition remake was developed by Grezzo and released for the Nintendo Switch on September 20, 2019.
Link's Awakening was included in a Zelda-themed Game & Watch console alongside The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It was released on November 12, 2021.
## Reception
### Sales
In Japan, the game topped the Famitsu sales chart in June 1993. In North America, it was the top-selling Game Boy game in August 1993. Link's Awakening sold well and helped boost Game Boy sales 13 percent in 1993—making it one of Nintendo's most profitable years in North America up to that time. The game remained on bestseller lists for more than 90 months after release, was re-released as part of the Player's Choice series, and went on to sell 3.83 million units by 2004. The DX version sold another 2.22 million units. The Virtual Console release of Link's Awakening DX was the top-selling downloadable Nintendo 3DS game of 2011, selling over 338,700 units, or an estimated \$2.3 million in gross revenue.
### Reviews
Link's Awakening was critically acclaimed, and holds an average score of 90% on aggregate site GameRankings. In a retrospective article, Electronic Gaming Monthly writer Jeremy Parish called Link's Awakening the "best Game Boy game ever, an adventure so engrossing and epic that we can even forgive the whole thing for being one of those 'It's all a dream!' fakeouts". Game Informer's Ben Reeves called it the third best Game Boy game and called it influential. The Washington Post's Chip Carter declared that Nintendo had created a "legend that fits in the palm of your hand", and praised its portability and depth. An Jōkiri of ITMedia echoed similar comments. A writer for the Mainichi Shimbun enjoyed the game's music and story. Multiple sources touted it as an excellent portable adventure for those without the time for more sophisticated games.
Complaints about the game included its control scheme and monochrome graphics; certain critics believed that they made it difficult to discern the screen's contents, and wished that the game was in color. Critic William Burrill dismissed the game's visuals as "dim Boy graphics [that are] nothing to write home about". Both Carter and the Ottawa Citizen's Bill Provick found the two-button control scheme awkward, as they needed to switch items on almost every screen. The Vancouver Sun's Katherine Monk called the dialogue "stilted", but considered the rest of the game to be "ever-surprising".
Link's Awakening DX also received positive reviews with multiple critics highlighting the color graphics as an improvement; based on ten media outlets, it holds an average score of 91% on Game Rankings. IGN's Adam Cleveland awarded the game a perfect score, and noted that "throughout the color-enhanced version of Zelda DX, it can easily be inferred that Nintendo has reworked its magic to fit new standards", by adding new content while keeping the original game intact. Cameron Davis of GameSpot applauded the game's camera support and attention to detail in coloration and style, while reviewers for the Courier Mail believed that the camera added gameplay depth and allowed players to show off trophies. The Daily Telegraph's Samantha Amjadali wrote that the addition of color made the game easier by reducing deaths caused by indistinct graphics. Total Games noted that the new content added little to the game, but found it addictive to play nonetheless.
### Accolades
The game won several awards. At the Golden Joystick Awards, it won two awards, for Game of the Year (handheld) and Best Advert of the Year. It also won the Game Boy categories for Graphics and Sound, Challenge, Theme and Fun, Play Control and Best Overall in the reader-chosen 1993 Nintendo Power Awards. It was awarded Best Game Boy Game of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the Game Boy version the 28th best console video game of all time, saying it ended up "beating out the Super NES Zelda in both size and scope". They also lauded its humorous dialogue, hefty challenge, and incorporation of the best gameplay mechanics of its predecessors. Nintendo Power later named it the fifty-sixth best Nintendo game, and, in August 2008, listed the DX version as the second best Game Boy or Game Boy Color game. IGN's readers ranked it as the 40th best game of all time, while the staff placed it at 78th; the staff believed that, "while handheld spin-offs are generally considered the low point for game franchises, Link's Awakening proves that they can offer just as rich a gameplay experience as their console counterparts". In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the DX version of the game 25th in a list of the greatest Nintendo games, calling it "an absolute masterclass in handheld game design". |
30,603,493 | Over There (Fringe) | 1,161,305,738 | null | [
"2010 American television episodes",
"Fringe (season 2) episodes",
"Television episodes written by Akiva Goldsman"
]
| "Over There" is the two-part second season finale of the Fox science fiction drama series Fringe. They are the 21st and 22nd episodes of the season, and the 42nd and 43rd episodes of the series overall. Both parts were written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman also served as director, his first such credit since the season premiere.
Fringe's premise is based on the idea of two parallel universes, our own and the Other Side, each of which contains historical idiosyncrasies. The two universes began to clash in 1985, after Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) stole the parallel universe version of his son, Peter, following his own son's death. The finale's narrative recounts what happens when Peter (Joshua Jackson) is taken back to the Other Side by his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble). FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and Walter lead a team of former Cortexiphan test subjects to retrieve him, after discovering that Peter is an unwitting part of Walternate's plans to bring about the destruction of our universe using an ancient doomsday device.
In the finale, the main characters spend the longest amount of time in the parallel universe to date. The writers sought to emphasize the differences between the two worlds: Anna Torv created a unique personality and physical demeanor for her character's doppelgänger, Fauxlivia; DC Comics designed special covers based upon some of their classic editions to display in the Other Side. These and other popular culture differences were noted and appreciated by critics, persuading the writers to add more in the third season. The episodes mark the first appearance of recurring character Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel), as well as the return of actors Leonard Nimoy and Kirk Acevedo as William Bell and Agent Charlie Francis, respectively.
Although originally intended to air on the same night, the two parts were broadcast in the United States a week apart. On its initial airing on May 13, 2010, an estimated 5.99 million viewers watched part one. Part two aired on May 20, and was viewed by an estimated audience of 5.68 million. Both episodes received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and the season was chosen for a significant number of "best of" lists by various media outlets; many critics praised the second episode's cliffhanger in particular. The finale was included in most of the categories at Entertainment Weekly's voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, placing first in two. Pinkner, Wyman, and Goldsman submitted both episodes for the drama writing and directing categories for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, and Nimoy submitted his work from the second episode for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category; none received a nomination.
## Plot
### Part one
Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) discover that Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) has agreed to return with his real father, dubbed "Walternate" (Noble), to his own universe called the Other Side, which runs parallel to ours. One of the mysterious Observers (Michael Cerveris) leaves Olivia a note indicating that Peter is named in a prophecy as the one responsible for the end of the world. To warn Peter of his impending role, the Fringe Division work with biotechnology corporation Massive Dynamic to come up with a way to cross over. They form a plan that takes advantage of Olivia's universe-hopping ability, and recruit three other Cortexiphan test subjects who have unique abilities: Nick Lane (David Call), Sally Clark (Pascale Hutton), and James Heath (Omar Metwally), two of whom appeared in previous episodes. The team—composed of Walter, Olivia, Nick, Sally, and James—successfully arrives on the Other Side. James dies shortly after arrival, but the rest manage to escape the alternate reality's Fringe Division, who had used their special technology to detect their arrival. It is revealed that Walternate is the Secretary of Defense on the Other Side.
Peter reunites with his real mother, Elizabeth (Orla Brady), while Walter's team journeys to meet with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) at Central Park. But instead of Bell the alternate Fringe Division appears, and attacks Walter's team. Nick is shot and Sally stays with him; she produces a suicidal fireball that torches both her and Nick to ashes and severely burns the Other Side Fringe Division's principal investigator Lincoln Lee (Seth Gabel). Walter is shot and walks to the hospital. Olivia follows her alternate counterpart and encounters Bell, who insists he did not betray their location to the Fringe Division and tells her that Walter is in trouble. Walternate is seen in the room housing the doomsday device Peter will be a part of, and leaves with its final component.
### Part two
Walternate learns of Walter's presence in the hospital and dispatches "Fauxlivia" (Torv) and "Alt-Charlie" (Kirk Acevedo) to apprehend him, but before their arrival Bell and Olivia liberate Walter and escape. Fauxlivia sees a surveillance shot of Olivia and Walter and decides to confer with Walternate about the doppelgängers. During a discussion in his office, Walternate lies to Peter about the doomsday machine's real purpose, claiming it can help to heal both worlds. Fauxlivia meets Peter in Walternate's office and subsequently drives him to his new apartment. Walter and Bell travel to Harvard to collect some equipment necessary for the journey back to their own universe, and Walter reveals his intense dislike for Bell, whom he considers to have been a selfish war profiteer while he himself was locked away for seventeen years. Bell tells Walter that the parallel universe equivalent of himself died in a car accident as a young man. Olivia confronts Fauxlivia, who recognizes that Olivia has feelings for Peter. The women fight, and after rendering Fauxlivia unconscious Olivia dyes her hair to assume Fauxlivia's identity. Meanwhile, Peter discovers that the machine is symbiotic and needs a particular human to control it—him.
Olivia and an oblivious alt-Charlie visit Peter to take him to a safe location. Olivia knocks out alt-Charlie and reveals herself to Peter, informing him of the machine's real purpose and Walternate's intentions. Peter tells her that he does not belong in either reality, following which Olivia admits her romantic feelings for him and convinces him to leave with her. The couple race to meet Walter and Bell at the Opera House, where Fauxlivia and a team of Fringe Commandos catch up with them. Bell and Olivia hold off the assault while Peter and Walter set up the dimensional device to enable their return home. Lacking a fuel source for the device, Bell sacrifices himself to create a nuclear reaction, using his body's unstable molecular state. Close to death, Bell reveals that he removed Walter's memories at his own request, and he and Walter are reconciled. Olivia, Walter, and Peter return home. Peter tells Walter he will never understand him, but because Walter traveled to another universe twice to save him—which has "gotta count for something"—he forgives him. Olivia is revealed to be Fauxlivia, infiltrating Our Side, when she arrives at a typewriter communication station to await orders. The Olivia from our world is then seen in a military detention center on the Other Side. Walternate visits and stares at Olivia without speaking before leaving her in the dark, in solitary confinement.
## Production
### Writing and filming
"Over There" was written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and frequent Fringe collaborator Akiva Goldsman, together with showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman. Goldsman directed the episodes, his first such credit since the season premiere. He explained the finale in a January 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly: "We're trying to do the last two episodes as a singular event, a little bit more movie-like. It's really one big story. We're approaching it like a mini-feature. It'll have a singular narrative drive." They originally intended for the two parts to air on the same night, but Fox told them it would be shown on two nights, a week apart. The episodes first aired in the United States on May 13 and May 20, 2010. The writers, finding the script to be easily divisible, ended the first episode with William Bell and Olivia meeting outside Fauxlivia's apartment, and began the second with Bell helping Walter escape from the hospital.
Pinkner and Wyman brought back the "Cortexiphan kids", introduced in the first two seasons, because they felt that part of the storyline was really interesting. They wanted the end of the season to be a "beautiful culmination of everything" while traveling to the Other Side. The show had been developing a parallel universe storyline since its conception, but "Over There" marked the longest time spent in that world thus far. Pinker explained the idea of two worlds: "One of the big themes of the show is how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line." Wyman said that the parallel universe "is a reminder to our viewers that your life is what your choices are." The two began discussing details about the Other Side early on, especially what the differences between the two universes would be. Pinkner commented in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that "a lot of them are ideas that we jokingly threw out. Some of them, like the notion of zeppelins or the Statue of Liberty if we didn't let it oxidize or the Grand Central Hotel, we're not making up. Had the Hindenburg not blown up, zeppelins would be passenger air ships docking at the Empire State Building. That was the plan. We opened ourselves to the standard that it had to be possible." Pinkner later elaborated, "We're interested in world building and all that stuff is the texture that actually makes it a world. The richness of detail is what makes it feel real." They used comic books as one way to subtly differentiate the two worlds. Goldsman, Wyman, and actor Joshua Jackson are longstanding comic book fans and decided to make the character of Peter a fan as well. Goldsman called on his friend Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics. He arranged for DC to specially design ten alternate covers for some of their most iconic editions, which were displayed in Peter's apartment on the Other Side. Visual effects company Eden FX created Peter's apartment and the alternate New York skyline visible outside his window. When fans reacted positively to these detailed characteristics written into the parallel universe, the producers stated their intention to show a lot more similar details in the third season.
The finale introduces parallel-universe versions of familiar characters, including the Fauxlivia version of Olivia Dunham, both played by actress Anna Torv. One topic of conversation among fans, journalists, and those working on the show was what to call the alternate Olivia to differentiate the two. Names varied, with many using "Fauxlivia", "Bolivia", and/or "Altlivia". The writers chose Fauxlivia because a character in a season three episode referred to her as such. Torv and Akiva Goldsman discussed various ways to differentiate the two depictions of Olivia; ultimately two different physical demeanors were created. Torv wanted to make the new character "completely different", but she and Goldsman recognized that the two share some major similarities, as they both are in the same profession and are "fundamentally, genetically really the same person." According to Torv, Fauxlivia holds herself differently and has "a different silhouette. She's got a little firefighter, a little military in her." Torv further explained, "Olivia wants to be the best, but [Fauxlivia] just wants to win;" "There's just a front-footedness I think to [her], simply because she just doesn't carry the weight of the world on her shoulders like Olivia does. Olivia's mum died when she was really little, and [Fauxlivia]'s mum is still around. There's lots of little, subtle differences." The producers discussed cutting her hair, but ultimately decided on the auburn hair color to differentiate her. They also made her "a little bit more playful". Pinkner describes shooting the Fauxlivia scenes in the DVD audio commentary: "When [Torv] first showed up on set in this different guise, she had really embodied this other character in a very playful and sexy way. She turned a lot of heads." Goldsman remarked that Torv's depiction of Fauxlivia was actually much closer to the actress' real personality than her performance as Olivia. The producers were so pleased with her Fauxlivia depiction that they thought "it really opened up a bunch of possibilities ... it went from 'let's see if this experiment works' to 'how can we get more of this?'"
"Over There" marks the first time Olivia meets Fauxlivia. Their meeting was one of the first scenes to be shot; this caused Anna Torv to be anxious about her new character's traits "coming across", as she had not yet developed all her mannerisms for Fauxlivia. While filming the conversation between the two, they did not use a double; Torv memorized the timing and where she should be looking and pointing her gun, and the characters were filmed one at a time. Torv commented about the scene, "You're talking to air. Learning both sides ... was tough." For the fight scene that followed, Torv had to block and aim her gun carefully while being mindful of her movements and the camera's location—though she was aided by stunt doubles. Torv credits the crew for successfully completing the scene: "I give them all the credit in the world. It took a while. They had to change the makeup, change the clothes, change the hair, change every little thing, every time they [moved] the camera."
A later scene depicts Walter in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. Olivia and William Bell try to smuggle him out. As it was a real emergency room in a Vancouver hospital, the crew had only one day of shooting. One of the scenes included "monitor acting", in which Torv had to react to a blank computer screen, because the writers had not yet chosen what images they wanted to display. The scene between Olivia, Walter, and Bell was originally set in a coffee shop, but the producers changed their minds when they realized they needed more funding for the finale. Consequently, they began "hawking" the scene in the hopes of gaining a sponsor. KFC responded, agreeing to pay them for shooting the scene at one of their locations. Walternate's office scenes were shot in a mortuary overlooking a cemetery. Goldsman had Joshua Jackson react in different ways during his first meeting with Fauxlivia, including showing "anger and testiness". He ultimately decided he would be "quite taken with her". For the second episode's cliffhanger, the producers worried about making it as "provocative" as the first season's. They were originally going to have Olivia sacrifice herself to allow Peter and Walter's return to Our Side, but changed their minds when Wyman suggested she be secretly swapped with Fauxlivia instead. Wyman commented, "We were ecstatic when we figured [the cliffhanger] out." Co-creator J. J. Abrams and other cast members were also pleased with it, with Abrams calling it "different, but I think equally impactful." They wrote the cliffhanger before they knew whether the series had been renewed—they would have had to make an "eleventh-hour redraft" had the show been canceled by Fox.
### Casting
On April 5, 2010, Entertainment Weekly reported that Dirty Sexy Money actor Seth Gabel had been cast as the lead Fringe investigator in the parallel universe, and would be making his first appearance in the finale as a possible recurring character. Jeff Pinkner described the character as "the scientist-cop-leader of the team on the Other Side." In an interview with TV Guide, Gabel commented that during shooting he felt that he looked "like such a doofus holding a gun," but changed his mind when he saw the finished production. Gabel elaborated, "I was so scared that I wouldn't pull it off. Once I saw myself being a scientist-slash-FBI hero, I felt more confident and relaxed." His character is caught in a large explosion in the finale, but Gabel confirmed, in a Chicago Tribune interview, that his character would be returning for the third season. He states that the parallel universe has "special technology than can heal burns".
The finale marked the return of actor Kirk Acevedo as the Other Side FBI agent Charlie Francis. In the DVD audio commentary, the producers admit they "faced a bit of hatred" when they killed off Acevedo's character near the beginning of the season. They were aware the entire time that Charlie exists in the parallel universe, and that "nobody ever dies on Fringe. Acevedo describes the parallel universe version of his character as someone who is "so much more fun." He is subtly different, with a lighter personality; he jokes around more, and is less "doom and gloom" than the original character. Some viewers refer to the new character as "alt-Charlie" to differentiate the two. The actor, the producers, and some fans have called the new character "Scarlie" in reference to a scar on his cheek, which takes ten minutes to apply before shooting, according to Acevedo. Previous guest actors Orla Brady, Lily Pilblad, Ari Graynor, Omar Metwally, Ryan McDonald, and David Call appear in the finale, as well as new guest stars Philip Winchester and Pascale Hutton.
Some cast members portray alternate versions of their characters, including John Noble, Lance Reddick, and Jasika Nicole. Noble described his doppelgänger—nicknamed "Walternate" by Walter—as "[physically] the same man and the same actor." He continued, "I think of [Walternate] as a soldier. He's like a general in the army. He's very upright, he's very strong." Reddick called alt-Broyles "a great patriot and a great mind," but "a bit of a maverick, so I guess we'll see just how that loyalty and relationship plays out." Nicole based "alterna-Astrid"'s characteristics on her sister, who has Asperger syndrome, partly by avoiding eye contact with the other characters when relaying information to them and by focusing solely on the data in front of her.
Though guest actor Leonard Nimoy was reluctant to return after completing his three-episode commitment on the show that had ended with the season's tenth episode, he returned for the season finale when the producers "essentially called him up and pleaded". They discussed their plans for the character, and "told him it was a story we couldn't tell without him." He "graciously agreed." "Over There" marked Nimoy's longest appearance on Fringe, a longer and "much more involv[ed]" shoot of roughly seven days was required. Despite Leonard Nimoy's planned exit from the show, the show's producers have said that nothing is final in the Fringe world. Pinkner commented that Nimoy's retirement from acting obviously hinders his character's possible return but, "if Leonard chooses to come back, there is a story in place that we'd love to tell." Wyman elaborated that "I think it's fair to say that you have not experienced the last of William Bell". When the producers told Nimoy their ideas for Bell's storyline in the third season, he returned for some brief voice and animation work in the episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide".
## Cultural references
A number of popular culture references are used to subtly differentiate the two universes. The American drama series The West Wing is beginning its 11th season in the parallel universe, and US politicians Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are in one of the show's advertisements. The parallel universe's Statue of Liberty is still its original shiny copper. "We imagined that Over There, they really liked copper and they cleaned it all the time," one of the creators says. Liberty Island is the location of Fringe Division and the Department of Defense on the Other Side. The Hotel Attraction project by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí was built in 1908 in the parallel universe, whereas in our world it never went past initial planning. Former president Richard Nixon is shown on a dollar coin in the parallel universe, rather than Dwight Eisenhower. Fauxlivia finds a twenty-dollar bill from Our Side and questions who Andrew Jackson is, implying that he was either never president or is far less known in their universe. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is shown on their version of the bill, which has been nicknamed a "junior".
Aviator Charles Lindbergh is less well known in the parallel universe, and the famous kidnapping of his son presumably did not occur, as Fauxlivia expresses confusion when his name is brought up. When Walter, Bell, and Olivia are on the Other Side eating at KFC (called KGC in the alternate universe, for Kentucky Grilled Chicken), Walter puts on a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap. Unlike in Our Side, the team never moved to Los Angeles. The parallel universe has a number of famous comic book issues from DC Comics, similar to Our Side, but with notable differences. For instance, the Red Arrow and Red Lantern exist on the Other Side, rather than the green versions of both characters in our universe, and there are different members in the Justice League. Fauxlivia's cellphone ringtone is taken from the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Other films, both real and invented, are also shown in the parallel universe, such as Superman vs. Batman 2, Indiana Jones and the Hex of the Hydra, Star Wars: Legion of Droids, Splash 7, Smokey and the Bandit: The Final Lap and Mask vs. Joker.
## Reception
### Broadcast and ratings
Fox renewed Fringe for a third season in early March 2010. The episodes aired on May 13 and May 20, 2010, in the United States and Canada. On May 17 Fox announced that the show would remain in its Thursday timeslot for the new season. A deleted scene cut from the finale featured Walternate and Peter discussing the fictional band "Violet Sedan Chair" while driving a Ford Taurus; the scene's reference to a "Ford exclusive", as well as the perceived "loving shots" of the car, caused it to be noted as a prime example of product placement by some critics. The scene was advertised during the second episode's commercial breaks in the US, advising viewers to view the clip at Fox's official website. As with other Fringe episodes, Fox released two science lesson plans for grade school children focusing on the science seen in both parts of "Over There"; the first part's intention was to have "students learn about how the various forms of energy can be converted into other forms of energy and how these conversions can be used to either disperse or concentrate energy." The second part's purpose was for "students [to] learn about how various types of sensors can be used to remotely collect information about a geographical area, which allows for unique scientific analyses and discoveries."
According to the Nielsen ratings system, upon its original US broadcast, part one garnered an estimated 5.99 million viewers and a 3.6/6 ratings share among all households. It received a 2.3/7 ratings share among adults 18–49. In keeping with the rest of its second season, Fringe's ratings suffered due to tough competition from episodes of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy, as these programs were also broadcast in the same time slot. Fringe and its lead-in, Bones, helped Fox place third for the night, behind CBS and ABC. The second part was viewed by an estimated 5.68 million viewers, with a 2.0 ratings share among adults 18–49. This was a 13 percent fall in the 18–49 ratings share from the previous week, as the second episode faced competition from the season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the two-part season finale of Grey's Anatomy. "Over There's" second part helped Fox place third for total viewers that night, behind CBS and ABC, and tie with NBC for third place among viewers 18–49.
The finale aired on two separate nights in the United Kingdom. The first part was scheduled to air on May 25, 2010, on the UK's Sky1, but was put back a week to make room for the series finale of Lost. The first part aired on June 1 in the UK, with an estimated 195,000 viewers tuning in. The second part aired on June 8 to an estimated 246,000 viewers.
### Reviews
The first part of the finale received critical acclaim. Ramsey Isler of IGN thought it "fantastic," because it was "a great story that leads us into one hell of a conclusion to the season," and that it "right away [gave] us the deepest, most exciting look into the alternate universe we've seen so far." He rated it 9.0/10. Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly and MTV's Josh Wigler agreed on this last point, with Tucker noting the first part "was a complete success and a blast at giving us a fully lived-in alternate universe." Noel Murray of The Onion's The A.V. Club graded the first part with an A−, calling it "a fun, exciting episode that nicely set up next week's finale". Isler, Wigler, and Murray loved the return of the Cortexifan subjects; Murray docked the episode a half point, explaining "I love the idea of Olivia & The Cortexifanatics so much that I'm bummed Fringe burned through the group so quickly." Critic Andrew Hanson, writing for the Los Angeles Times, noted that because of the parallel universe focus, the first part felt like the following season's premiere. He praised the opening scene, and believed the scenes between Peter and his mother helped "ground the episode. They might be out of pace with the action and drama pouring out of every other moment, but there was weight and emotion. Bravo Joshua Jackson and Orla Brady. Bravo." Ken Tucker noted that the scenes with Peter and his true mother indicated "a great, humantistic use of a sci-fi trope". MTV's Josh Wigler praised Torv's performance, but wished the two-part finale was not broken up, explaining "I could have easily tuned in for another several hours. Heck, I could watch an entire parallel series focused solely on the alternate universe!"
Like part one, the second part premiered to critical acclaim. IGN's Ramsey Isler wrote that it "changed the whole landscape of the show's main plot arc. Although there were some rough spots in the execution of this story, overall it's one hell of a way to end the season." He rated the episode 8.6/10. While praising Noble's performance, Isler criticized some plot aspects. He was "kind of torn" on the Peter-Olivia kiss, wished Peter and the doomsday device had been set up more for the third season, and believed the Olivia-Fauxlivia interaction to be "a little strange," as the two went from discussing their respective families to "ass kicking". Isler did praise the fight itself. Ken Tucker praised the acting and the writers, noting "The fact that the series can accommodate a fan like me only confirms what a well-wrought piece of pop culture Fringe has become." Tucker included the second part of the season in his mid-year "Top 10" list for 2010, partly attributing this ranking to Fringe "offer[ing] the season's best cliffhanger", alongside Breaking Bad. Noel Murray declared that he enjoyed part two slightly more, grading it an A. He praised Torv and Noble's performances for "inhabiting their respective worlds so well", and Goldsman for "[shooting] this episode with an emphasis on the characters more than the setting".
Andrew Hanson of the Los Angeles Times felt the second part fulfilled all of the criteria for an incredible season finale: the season's arc had a "pay-off" he "didn't see coming" in the aftermath of Walternate crossing universes to take back Peter; the entire episode was an "event" because it spent more time in the parallel universe than ever before, and it had an "A+ cliffhanger". MTV's Fringe reviewer Josh Wigler enjoyed the ending, calling it "one heck of a cliffhanger!" James Poniewozik from Time Magazine positively compared both parts of the finale to The X-Files, writing that, unlike that series, Fringe's standalone episodes contribute to the overall mythology of the show. To him the finale "demonstrates how well the show now manages to balance its far-fetched sci-fi with grounded character storylines." Poniewozik concluded his review by expressing that it was not as strong as "Peter", but "'Over There' was a season-ender that did what it should—left me wanting more".
Many critics praised the many subtle differences between the two universes, while others lauded Leonard Nimoy's appearance as William Bell and his scenes with Walter. Website blogger io9 listed both parts of "Over There" as one of the select few "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to understand the show, referring to it as "one of the most epic season finales ever". Another io9 reviewer called the ending one of the "best SF/fantasy cliffhangers ever shown on television" in a September 2010 list. The finale helped propel Fringe onto a number of 2010 "best of television" lists, including Digital Spy, Entertainment Weekly, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Daily Beast, The New York Times, TV Squad, the New York Post, and IGN; the last of these named Fringe the best sci-fi series of 2010, beating fellow nominees Lost, Caprica, and Stargate Universe. Some critics predicted that, because of the increased focus on looking into the alternate universe and advancing its mythology, Fringe's "monster-of-the-week" episodes would become less frequent. This could make it more difficult for casual viewers to follow the show in its third season.
### Awards and nominations
Writers J.H. Wyman, Jeff Pinkner, and Akiva Goldsman submitted both parts of "Over There" for consideration in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series category at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, and director Goldsman made a submission of both parts for the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category. None of the three secured a nomination. Leonard Nimoy submitted part two for consideration in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series category. He and fellow guest actor Peter Weller (who appeared in "White Tulip") were not chosen for nominations. At Entertainment Weekly's June 2010 voter-driven TV Season Finale Awards, Fringe was nominated for multiple awards, and won in several categories. The Olivia-Fauxlivia swap was named the "Best Non-Romantic Cliff-hanger" of the season and placed third for the "Single Most Clever Twist", but it also came in third place for "Single Weakest Twist". The ending scene with Walternate and Olivia was voted the winner of the "Spookiest Image" category. Olivia's kiss with Peter finished in fifth place for the "Best Kiss" category, and her fight with Fauxlivia placed second in the "Best Fight" category. In the "Biggest Regret That I Didn't See the Finale, I Just Read About It" category Fringe won third place. |
140,376 | Armenian genocide | 1,171,355,119 | 1915–1917 mass murder in the Ottoman Empire | [
"1915 in Armenia",
"1915 in the Ottoman Empire",
"20th-century massacres",
"Armenian genocide",
"Armenia–Turkey relations",
"Articles containing video clips",
"Committee of Union and Progress",
"Ethnic cleansing in Asia",
"Ethnic cleansing in Europe",
"Events that led to courts-martial",
"Forced marches",
"Genocides in Asia",
"Genocides in Europe",
"History of West Azerbaijan Province",
"Massacres in the Ottoman Empire",
"Massacres of Armenians",
"Persecution of Christians in the Ottoman Empire",
"World War I crimes by the Ottoman Empire"
]
| The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through the mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert and the forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children.
Before World War I, Armenians occupied a somewhat protected, but subordinate, place in Ottoman society. Large-scale massacres of Armenians had occurred in the 1890s and 1909. The Ottoman Empire suffered a series of military defeats and territorial losses—especially during the 1912–1913 Balkan Wars—leading to fear among CUP leaders that the Armenians would seek independence. During their invasion of Russian and Persian territory in 1914, Ottoman paramilitaries massacred local Armenians. Ottoman leaders took isolated instances of Armenian resistance as evidence of a widespread rebellion, though no such rebellion existed. Mass deportation was intended to permanently forestall the possibility of Armenian autonomy or independence.
On 24 April 1915, the Ottoman authorities arrested and deported hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and leaders from Constantinople. At the orders of Talaat Pasha, an estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million Armenians were sent on death marches to the Syrian Desert in 1915 and 1916. Driven forward by paramilitary escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to robbery, rape, and massacres. In the Syrian Desert, the survivors were dispersed into concentration camps. In 1916, another wave of massacres was ordered, leaving about 200,000 deportees alive by the end of the year. Around 100,000 to 200,000 Armenian women and children were forcibly converted to Islam and integrated into Muslim households. Massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenian survivors continued through the Turkish War of Independence after World War I, carried out by Turkish nationalists.
This genocide put an end to more than two thousand years of Armenian civilization in eastern Anatolia. Together with the mass murder and expulsion of Assyrian/Syriac and Greek Orthodox Christians, it enabled the creation of an ethnonationalist Turkish state, the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish government maintains that the deportation of Armenians was a legitimate action that cannot be described as genocide. As of 2023, 34 countries have recognized the events as genocide, concurring with the academic consensus.
## Background
### Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
The presence of Armenians in Anatolia has been documented since the sixth century BCE, about 1,500 years before the arrival of Turkmens under the Seljuk dynasty. The Kingdom of Armenia adopted Christianity as its national religion in the fourth century CE, establishing the Armenian Apostolic Church. Following the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, two Islamic empires—the Ottoman Empire and the Iranian Safavid Empire—contested Western Armenia, which was permanently separated from Eastern Armenia (held by the Safavids) by the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab. The Ottoman Empire was multiethnic and multireligious, and its millet system offered non-Muslims a subordinate but protected place in society. Sharia law encoded Islamic superiority but guaranteed property rights and freedom of worship to non-Muslims (dhimmis) in exchange for a special tax.
On the eve of World War I in 1914, around two million Armenians lived in Anatolia out of a total population of 15–17.5 million. According to the Armenian Patriarchate's estimates for 1913–1914, there were 2,925 Armenian towns and villages in the Ottoman Empire, of which 2,084 were in the Armenian highlands in the vilayets of Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Erzerum, Harput, and Van. Armenians were a minority in most places where they lived, alongside Turkish and Kurdish Muslim and Greek Orthodox Christian neighbors. According to the Patriarchate's figure, 215,131 Armenians lived in urban areas, especially Constantinople, Smyrna, and Eastern Thrace. Although most Ottoman Armenians were peasant farmers, they were overrepresented in commerce. As middleman minorities, despite the wealth of some Armenians, their overall political power was low, making them especially vulnerable.
### Land conflict and reforms
Armenians in the eastern provinces lived in semi-feudal conditions and commonly encountered forced labor, illegal taxation, and unpunished crimes against them including robberies, murders, and sexual assaults. Beginning in 1839, the Ottoman government issued a series of reforms to centralize power and equalize the status of Ottoman subjects regardless of religion. The reforms to equalize the status of non-Muslims were strongly opposed by Islamic clergy and Muslims in general, and remained mostly theoretical. Because of the abolition of the Kurdish emirates in the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottoman government began to directly tax Armenian peasants who had previously paid taxes only to Kurdish landlords. The latter continued to exact levies illegally.
From the mid-nineteenth century, Armenians faced large-scale land usurpation as a consequence of the sedentarization of Kurdish tribes and the arrival of Muslim refugees and immigrants (mainly Circassians) following the Russo-Circassian War. In 1876, when Sultan Abdul Hamid II came to power, the state began to confiscate Armenian-owned land in the eastern provinces and give it to Muslim immigrants as part of a systematic policy to reduce the Armenian population of these areas. This policy lasted until World War I. These conditions led to a substantial decline in the population of the Armenian highlands; 300,000 Armenians left the empire, and others moved to towns. Some Armenians joined revolutionary political parties, of which the most influential was the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), founded in 1890. These parties primarily sought reform within the empire and found only limited support from Ottoman Armenians.
Russia's decisive victory in the 1877–1878 war forced the Ottoman Empire to cede parts of eastern Anatolia, the Balkans, and Cyprus. Under international pressure at the 1878 Congress of Berlin, the Ottoman government agreed to carry out reforms and guarantee the physical safety of its Armenian subjects, but there was no enforcement mechanism; conditions continued to worsen. The Congress of Berlin marked the emergence of the Armenian question in international diplomacy as Armenians were for the first time used by the Great Powers to interfere in Ottoman politics. Although Armenians had been called the "loyal millet" in contrast to Greeks and others who had previously challenged Ottoman rule, the authorities began to perceive Armenians as a threat after 1878. In 1891, Abdul Hamid created the Hamidiye regiments from Kurdish tribes, allowing them to act with impunity against Armenians. From 1895 to 1896 the empire saw widespread massacres; at least 100,000 Armenians were killed primarily by Ottoman soldiers and mobs let loose by the authorities. Many Armenian villages were forcibly converted to Islam. The Ottoman state bore ultimate responsibility for the killings, whose purpose was violently restoring the previous social order in which Christians would unquestioningly accept Muslim supremacy, and forcing Armenians to emigrate, thereby decreasing their numbers.
### Young Turk Revolution
Abdul Hamid's despotism prompted the formation of an opposition movement, the Young Turks, which sought to overthrow him and restore the 1876 Constitution of the Ottoman Empire, which he had suspended in 1877. One faction of the Young Turks was the secret and revolutionary Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), based in Salonica, from which the charismatic conspirator Mehmed Talaat (later Talaat Pasha) emerged as a leading member. Although skeptical of a growing, exclusionary Turkish nationalism in the Young Turk movement, the ARF decided to ally with the CUP in December 1907. In 1908, the CUP came to power in the Young Turk Revolution, which began with a string of CUP assassinations of leading officials in Macedonia. Abdul Hamid was forced to reinstate the 1876 constitution and restore the parliament, which was celebrated by Ottomans of all ethnicities and religions. Security improved in parts of the eastern provinces after 1908 and the CUP took steps to reform the local gendarmerie, although tensions remained high. Despite an agreement to reverse the land usurpation of the previous decades in the 1910 Salonica Accord between the ARF and the CUP, the latter made no efforts to carry this out.
In early 1909 an unsuccessful countercoup was launched by conservatives and some liberals who opposed the CUP's increasingly repressive governance. When news of the countercoup reached Adana, armed Muslims attacked the Armenian quarter and Armenians returned fire. Ottoman soldiers did not protect Armenians and instead armed the rioters. Between 20,000 and 25,000 people, mostly Armenians, were killed in Adana and nearby towns. Unlike the 1890s massacres, the events were not organized by the central government but instigated by local officials, intellectuals, and Islamic clerics, including CUP supporters in Adana. Although the massacres went unpunished, the ARF continued to hope that reforms to improve security and restore lands were forthcoming, until late 1912, when they broke with the CUP and appealed to the European powers. On 8 February 1914, the CUP reluctantly agreed to reforms brokered by Germany that provided for the appointment of two European inspectors for the entire Ottoman east and putting the Hamidiye regiments in reserve. CUP leaders feared that these reforms, which were never implemented, could lead to partition and cited them as a reason for the elimination of the Armenian population in 1915.
### Balkan Wars
The 1912 First Balkan War resulted in the loss of almost all of the empire's European territory and the mass expulsion of Muslims from the Balkans. Ottoman Muslim society was incensed by the atrocities committed against Balkan Muslims, intensifying anti-Christian sentiment and leading to a desire for revenge. Blame for the loss was assigned to all Christians, including the Ottoman Armenians, many of whom had fought on the Ottoman side. The Balkan Wars put an end to the Ottomanist movement for pluralism and coexistence; instead, the CUP turned to an increasingly radical Turkish nationalism to preserve the empire. CUP leaders such as Talaat and Enver Pasha came to blame non-Muslim population concentrations in strategic areas for many of the empire's problems, concluding by mid-1914 that they were internal tumors to be excised. Of these, Ottoman Armenians were considered the most dangerous, because CUP leaders feared that their homeland in Anatolia—claimed as the last refuge of the Turkish nation—would break away from the empire as the Balkans had.
In January 1913, the CUP launched another coup, installed a one-party state, and strictly repressed all real or perceived internal enemies. After the coup, the CUP shifted the demography of border areas by resettling Balkan Muslim refugees while coercing Christians to emigrate; immigrants were promised property that had belonged to Christians. When parts of Eastern Thrace were reoccupied by the Ottoman Empire during the Second Balkan War in mid-1913, there was a campaign of looting and intimidation against Greeks and Armenians, forcing many to emigrate. Around 150,000 Greek Orthodox from the Aegean coast were forcibly deported in May and June 1914 by Muslim bandits, who were secretly backed by the CUP and sometimes joined by the regular army. Historian Matthias Bjørnlund states that the perceived success of the Greek deportations allowed CUP leaders to envision even more radical policies "as yet another extension of a policy of social engineering through Turkification".
## Ottoman entry into World War I
A few days after the outbreak of World War I, the CUP concluded an alliance with Germany on 2 August 1914. The same month, CUP representatives went to an ARF conference demanding that, in the event of war with Russia, the ARF incite Russian Armenians to intervene on the Ottoman side. Instead, the delegates resolved that Armenians should fight for the countries of their citizenships. During its war preparations, the Ottoman government recruited thousands of prisoners to join the paramilitary Special Organization, which initially focused on stirring up revolts among Muslims behind Russian lines beginning before the empire officially entered the war. On 29 October 1914, the empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers by launching a surprise attack on Russian ports in the Black Sea. Many Russian Armenians were enthusiastic about the war, but Ottoman Armenians were more ambivalent, afraid that supporting Russia would bring retaliation. Organization of Armenian volunteer units by Russian Armenians, later joined by some Ottoman Armenian deserters, further increased Ottoman suspicions against their Armenian population.
Wartime requisitions were often corrupt and arbitrary, and disproportionately targeted Greeks and Armenians. Armenian leaders urged young men to accept conscription into the army, but many soldiers of all ethnicities and religions deserted due to difficult conditions and concern for their families. At least 10 percent of Ottoman Armenians were mobilized, leaving their communities bereft of fighting-age men and therefore largely unable to organize armed resistance to deportation in 1915. During the Ottoman invasion of Russian and Persian territory, the Special Organization massacred local Armenians and Assyrian/Syriac Christians. Beginning in November 1914, provincial governors of Van, Bitlis, and Erzerum sent many telegrams to the central government pressing for more severe measures against the Armenians, both regionally and throughout the empire. These requests were endorsed by the central government already before 1915. Armenian civil servants were dismissed from their posts in late 1914 and early 1915. In February 1915, the CUP leaders decided to disarm Armenians serving in the army and transfer them to labor battalions. The Armenian soldiers in labor battalions were systematically executed, although many skilled workers were spared until 1916.
## Onset of genocide
Minister of War Enver Pasha took over command of the Ottoman armies for the invasion of Russian territory, and tried to encircle the Russian Caucasus Army at the Battle of Sarikamish, fought from December 1914 to January 1915. Unprepared for the harsh winter conditions, his forces were routed, losing more than 60,000 men. The retreating Ottoman army destroyed dozens of Ottoman Armenian villages in Bitlis vilayet, massacring their inhabitants. Enver publicly blamed his defeat on Armenians who he claimed had actively sided with the Russians, a theory that became a consensus among CUP leaders. Reports of local incidents such as weapons caches, severed telegraph lines, and occasional killings confirmed preexisting beliefs about Armenian treachery and fueled paranoia among CUP leaders that a coordinated Armenian conspiracy was plotting against the empire. Discounting contrary reports that most Armenians were loyal, the CUP leaders decided that the Armenians had to be eliminated to save the empire.
Massacres of Armenian men were occurring in the vicinity of Bashkale in Van vilayet from December 1914. ARF leaders attempted to keep the situation calm, warning that even justifiable self-defense could lead to escalation of killing. The governor, Djevdet Bey, ordered the Armenians of Van to hand over their arms on 18 April 1915, creating a dilemma: If they obeyed, the Armenians expected to be killed, but if they refused, it would provide a pretext for massacres. Armenians fortified themselves in Van and repelled the Ottoman attack that began on 20 April. During the siege, Armenians in surrounding villages were massacred at Djevdet's orders. Russian forces captured Van on 18 May, finding 55,000 corpses in the province—about half its prewar Armenian population. Djevdet's forces proceeded to Bitlis and attacked Armenian and Assyrian/Syriac villages; the men were killed immediately, many women and children were kidnapped by local Kurds, and others marched away to be killed later. By the end of June, there were only a dozen Armenians in the vilayet.
The first deportations of Armenians were proposed by Djemal Pasha, the commander of the Fourth Army, in February 1915 and targeted Armenians in Cilicia (specifically Alexandretta, Dörtyol, Adana, Hadjin, Zeytun, and Sis) who were relocated to the area around Konya in central Anatolia. In late March or early April, the CUP Central Committee decided on the large-scale removal of Armenians from areas near the front lines. During the night of 23–24 April 1915 hundreds of Armenian political activists, intellectuals, and community leaders were rounded up in Constantinople and across the empire. This order from Talaat, intended to eliminate the Armenian leadership and anyone capable of organizing resistance, eventually resulted in the murder of most of those arrested. The same day, Talaat banned all Armenian political organizations and ordered that the Armenians who had previously been removed from Cilicia be deported again, from central Anatolia—where they would likely have survived—to the Syrian Desert.
## Systematic deportations
### Aims
During World War I, the CUP—whose central goal was to preserve the Ottoman Empire—came to identify Armenian civilians as an existential threat. CUP leaders held Armenians—including women and children—collectively guilty for "betraying" the empire, a belief that was crucial to deciding on genocide in early 1915. At the same time, the war provided an opportunity to enact, in Talaat's words, the "definitive solution to the Armenian Question". The CUP wrongly believed that the Russian Empire sought to annex eastern Anatolia, and ordered the genocide in large part to prevent this eventuality. The genocide was intended to permanently eliminate any possibility that Armenians could achieve autonomy or independence in the empire's eastern provinces. Ottoman records show the government aimed to reduce Armenians to no more than five percent of the local population in the sources of deportation and ten percent in the destination areas. This goal could not be accomplished without mass murder.
The deportation of Armenians and resettlement of Muslims in their lands was part of a broader project intended to permanently restructure the demographics of Anatolia. Armenian homes, businesses, and land were preferentially allocated to Muslims from outside the empire, nomads, and the estimated 800,000 (largely Kurdish) Ottoman subjects displaced because of the war with Russia. Resettled Muslims were spread out (typically limited to 10 percent in any area) among larger Turkish populations so that they would lose their distinctive characteristics, such as non-Turkish languages or nomadism. These migrants were exposed to harsh conditions and, in some cases, violence or restriction from leaving their new villages. The ethnic cleansing of Anatolia—the Armenian genocide, Assyrian genocide, and expulsion of Greeks after World War I—paved the way for the formation of an ethno-national Turkish state. In September 1918, Talaat emphasized that regardless of losing the war, he had succeeded at "transforming Turkey to a nation-state in Anatolia".
Deportation amounted to a death sentence; the authorities planned for and intended the death of the deportees. Deportation was only carried out behind the front lines, where no active rebellion existed, and was only possible in the absence of widespread resistance. Armenians who lived in the war zone were instead killed in massacres. Although ostensibly undertaken for military reasons, the deportation and murder of Armenians did not grant the empire any military advantage and actually undermined the Ottoman war effort. The empire faced a dilemma between its goal of eliminating Armenians and its practical need for their labor; those Armenians retained for their skills, in particular for manufacturing in war industries, were indispensable to the logistics of the Ottoman Army. By late 1915, the CUP had extinguished Armenian existence from eastern Anatolia.
### Administrative organization
On 23 May 1915, Talaat ordered the deportation of all Armenians in Van, Bitlis, and Erzerum. To grant a cover of legality to the deportation, already well underway in the eastern provinces and Cilicia, the Council of Ministers approved the Temporary Law of Deportation, which allowed authorities to deport anyone deemed "suspect". On 21 June, Talaat ordered the deportation of all Armenians throughout the empire, even Adrianople, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) from the Russian front. Following the elimination of the Armenian population in eastern Anatolia, in August 1915, the Armenians of western Anatolia and European Turkey were targeted for deportation. Some areas with a very low Armenian population and some cities, including Constantinople, were partially spared.
Overall, national, regional, and local levels of governance cooperated with the CUP in the perpetration of genocide. The Directorate for the Settlement of Tribes and Immigrants (IAMM) coordinated the deportation and the resettlement of Muslim immigrants in the vacant houses and lands. The IAMM, under the control of Talaat's Ministry of the Interior, and the Special Organization, which took orders directly from the CUP Central Committee, closely coordinated their activities. A dual-track system was used to communicate orders; those for the deportation of Armenians were communicated to the provincial governors through official channels, but orders of a criminal character, such as those calling for annihilation, were sent through party channels and destroyed upon receipt. Deportation convoys were mostly escorted by gendarmes or local militia. The killings near the front lines were carried out by the Special Organization, and those farther away also involved local militias, bandits, gendarmes, or Kurdish tribes depending on the area. Within the area controlled by the Third Army, which held eastern Anatolia, the army was only involved in genocidal atrocities in the vilayets of Van, Erzerum, and Bitlis.
Many perpetrators came from the Caucasus (Chechens and Circassians), who identified the Armenians with their Russian oppressors. Nomadic Kurds committed many atrocities during the genocide, but settled Kurds only rarely did so. Perpetrators had several motives, including ideology, revenge, desire for Armenian property, and careerism. To motivate perpetrators, state-appointed imams encouraged the killing of Armenians and killers were entitled to a third of Armenian movable property (another third went to local authorities and the last to the CUP). Embezzling beyond that was punished. Ottoman politicians and officials who opposed the genocide were dismissed or assassinated. The government decreed that any Muslim who harbored an Armenian against the will of the authorities would be executed.
### Death marches
Although the majority of able-bodied Armenian men had been conscripted into the army, others deserted, paid the exemption tax, or fell outside the age range of conscription. Unlike the earlier massacres of Ottoman Armenians, in 1915 Armenians were not usually killed in their villages, to avoid destruction of property or unauthorized looting. Instead, the men were usually separated from the rest of the deportees during the first few days and executed. Few resisted, believing it would put their families in greater danger. Boys above the age of twelve (sometimes fifteen) were treated as adult men. Execution sites were chosen for proximity to major roads and for rugged terrain, lakes, wells, or cisterns to facilitate the concealment or disposal of corpses. The convoys would stop at a nearby transit camp, where the escorts would demand a ransom from the Armenians. Those unable to pay were murdered. Units of the Special Organization, often wearing gendarme uniforms, were stationed at the killing sites; escorting gendarmes often did not participate in killing.
At least 150,000 Armenians passed through Erzindjan from June 1915, where a series of transit camps were set up to control the flow of victims to the killing site at the nearby Kemah gorge. Thousands of Armenians were killed near Lake Hazar, pushed by paramilitaries off the cliffs. More than 500,000 Armenians passed through the Firincilar plain south of Malatya, one of the deadliest areas during the genocide. Arriving convoys, having passed through the plain to approach the Kahta highlands, would have found gorges already filled with corpses from previous convoys. Many others were held in tributary valleys of the Tigris, Euphrates, or Murat and systematically executed by the Special Organization. Armenian men were often drowned by being tied together back-to-back before being thrown in the water, a method that was not used on women.
Authorities viewed disposal of bodies through rivers as a cheap and efficient method, but it caused widespread pollution downstream. So many bodies floated down the Tigris and Euphrates that they sometimes blocked the rivers and needed to be cleared with explosives. Other rotting corpses became stuck to the riverbanks, and still others traveled as far as the Persian Gulf. The rivers remained polluted long after the massacres, causing epidemics downstream. Tens of thousands of Armenians died along the roads and their bodies were buried hastily or, more often, simply left beside the roads. The Ottoman government ordered the corpses to be cleared as soon as possible to prevent both photographic documentation and disease epidemics, but these orders were not uniformly followed.
Women and children, who made up the great majority of deportees, were usually not executed immediately, but subjected to hard marches through mountainous terrain without food and water. Those who could not keep up were left to die or shot. During 1915, some were forced to walk as far as 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) in the summer heat. Some deportees from western Anatolia were allowed to travel by rail. There was a distinction between the convoys from eastern Anatolia, which were eliminated almost in their entirety, and those from farther west, which made up most of those surviving to reach Syria. For example, around 99 percent of Armenians deported from Erzerum did not reach their destination.
### Islamization
The Islamization of Armenians, carried out as a systematic state policy involving the bureaucracy, police, judiciary, and clergy, was a major structural component of the genocide. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Armenians were Islamized, and it is estimated that as many as two million Turkish citizens in the early 21st century may have at least one Armenian grandparent. Some Armenians were allowed to convert to Islam and evade deportation, but the regime insisted on their destruction wherever their numbers exceeded the five to ten percent threshold, or there was a risk of them being able to preserve their nationality and culture. Talaat Pasha personally authorized conversion of Armenians and carefully tracked the loyalty of converted Armenians until the end of the war. Although the first and most important step was conversion to Islam, the process also required the eradication of Armenian names, language, and culture, and for women, immediate marriage to a Muslim. Although Islamization was the most feasible opportunity for survival, it also transgressed Armenian moral and social norms.
The CUP allowed Armenian women to marry into Muslim households, as these women had to convert to Islam and would lose their Armenian identity. Young women and girls were often appropriated as house servants or sex slaves. Some boys were abducted to work as forced laborers for Muslim individuals. Some children were forcibly seized, while others were sold or given up by their parents to save their lives. Special state-run orphanages were also set up with strict procedures intending to deprive their charges of an Armenian identity. Most Armenian children who survived the genocide endured exploitation, hard labor without pay, forced conversion to Islam, and physical and sexual abuse. Armenian women captured during the journey ended up in Turkish or Kurdish households; those who were Islamized during the second phase of the genocide found themselves in an Arab or Bedouin environment.
The rape, sexual abuse, and prostitution of Armenian women were all very common. Although Armenian women tried to avoid sexual violence, suicide was often the only alternative. Deportees were displayed naked in Damascus and sold as sex slaves in some areas, constituting an important source of income for accompanying gendarmes. Some were sold in Arabian slave markets to Muslim Hajj pilgrims and ended up as far away as Tunisia or Algeria.
### Confiscation of property
A secondary motivation for genocide was the destruction of the Armenian bourgeoisie to make room for a Turkish and Muslim middle class and build a statist "national economy" controlled by Muslim Turks. The campaign to Turkify the economy began in June 1914 with a law that obliged many ethnic minority merchants to hire Muslims. Following the deportations, the businesses of the victims were taken over by Muslims who were often incompetent, leading to economic difficulties. The genocide had catastrophic effects on the Ottoman economy; Muslims were disadvantaged by the deportation of skilled professionals and entire districts fell into famine following their farmers' deportation. The Ottoman and Turkish governments passed a series of Abandoned Properties Laws to manage and redistribute property confiscated from Armenians. Although the laws maintained that the state was simply administering the properties on behalf of the absent Armenians, there was no provision to return them to the owners—it was presumed that they had ceased to exist.
Historians Taner Akçam and Ümit Kurt argue that "The Republic of Turkey and its legal system were built, in a sense, on the seizure of Armenian cultural, social, and economic wealth, and on the removal of the Armenian presence." The proceeds from the sale of confiscated property was often used to fund the deportation of Armenians and resettlement of Muslims, as well as for army, militia, and other government spending. Ultimately this formed much of the basis of the industry and economy of the post-1923 republic, endowing it with capital. The dispossession and exile of Armenian competitors enabled many lower-class Turks (i.e. peasantry, soldiers, and laborers) to rise to the middle class. Confiscation of Armenian assets continued into the second half of the twentieth century, and in 2006 the National Security Council ruled that property records from 1915 must be kept closed to protect national security. Outside Istanbul, the traces of Armenian existence in Turkey, including churches and monasteries, libraries, khachkars, and animal and place names, have been systematically erased, beginning during the war and continuing for decades afterward.
## Destination
The first arrivals in mid-1915 were accommodated in Aleppo. From mid-November, the convoys were denied access to the city and redirected along the Baghdad Railway or the Euphrates towards Mosul. The first transit camp was established at Sibil, east of Aleppo; one convoy would arrive each day while another would depart for Meskene or Deir ez-Zor. Dozens of concentration camps were set up in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. By October 1915, some 870,000 deportees had reached Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. Most were repeatedly transferred between camps, being held in each camp for a few weeks, until there were very few survivors. This strategy physically weakened the Armenians and spread disease, so much that some camps were shut down in late 1915 due to the threat of disease spreading to the Ottoman military. In late 1915, the camps around Aleppo were liquidated and the survivors were forced to march to Ras al-Ayn; the camps around Ras al-Ayn were closed in early 1916 and the survivors sent to Deir ez-Zor.
In general, Armenians were denied food and water during and after their forced march to the Syrian desert; many died of starvation, exhaustion, or disease, especially dysentery, typhus, and pneumonia. Some local officials gave Armenians food; others took bribes to provide food and water. Aid organizations were officially barred from providing food to the deportees, although some circumvented these prohibitions. Survivors testified that some Armenians refused aid as they believed it would only prolong their suffering. The guards raped female prisoners and also allowed Bedouins to raid the camps at night for looting and rape; some women were forced into marriage. Thousands of Armenian children were sold to childless Turks, Arabs, and Jews, who would come to the camps to buy them from their parents. In the western Levant, governed by the Ottoman Fourth Army under Djemal Pasha, there were no concentration camps or large-scale massacres, rather Armenians were resettled and recruited to work for the war effort. They had to convert to Islam or face deportation to another area.
The ability of the Armenians to adapt and survive was greater than the perpetrators expected. A loosely organized, Armenian-led resistance network based in Aleppo succeeded in helping many deportees, saving Armenian lives. At the beginning of 1916 some 500,000 deportees were alive in Syria and Mesopotamia. Afraid that surviving Armenians might return home after the war, Talaat Pasha ordered a second wave of massacres in February 1916. Another wave of deportations targeted Armenians remaining in Anatolia. More than 200,000 Armenians were killed between March and October 1916, often in remote areas near Deir ez-Zor and on parts of the Khabur valley, where their bodies would not create a public health hazard. The massacres killed most of the Armenians who had survived the camp system.
## International reaction
The Ottoman Empire tried to prevent journalists and photographers from documenting the atrocities, threatening them with arrest. Nevertheless, substantiated reports of mass killings were widely covered in Western newspapers. On 24 May 1915, the Triple Entente (Russia, Britain, and France) formally condemned the Ottoman Empire for "crimes against humanity and civilization", and threatened to hold the perpetrators accountable. Witness testimony was published in books such as The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (1916) and Ambassador Morgenthau's Story (1918), which raised public awareness about the genocide.
The German Empire was a military ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. German diplomats approved limited removals of Armenians in early 1915, and took no action against the genocide, which has been a source of controversy.
Relief efforts were organized in dozens of countries to raise money for Armenian survivors. By 1925, people in 49 countries were organizing "Golden Rule Sundays" during which they consumed the diet of Armenian refugees, to raise money for humanitarian efforts. Between 1915 and 1930, Near East Relief raised \$110 million (\$ billion adjusted for inflation) for refugees from the Ottoman Empire.
## Aftermath
### End of World War I
Intentional, state-sponsored killing of Armenians mostly ceased by the end of January 1917, although sporadic massacres and starvation continued. Both contemporaries and later historians have estimated that around 1 million Armenians died during the genocide, with figures ranging from 600,000 to 1.5 million deaths. Between 800,000 and 1.2 million Armenians were deported, and contemporaries estimated that by late 1916 only 200,000 were still alive. As the British Army advanced in 1917 and 1918 northwards through the Levant, they liberated around 100,000 to 150,000 Armenians working for the Ottoman military under abysmal conditions, not including those held by Arab tribes.
As a result of the Bolshevik Revolution and a subsequent separate peace with the Central Powers, the Russian army withdrew and Ottoman forces advanced into eastern Anatolia. The First Republic of Armenia was proclaimed in May 1918, at which time 50 percent of its population were refugees and 60 percent of its territory was under Ottoman occupation. Ottoman troops withdrew from parts of Armenia following the October 1918 Armistice of Mudros. From 1918 to 1920, Armenian militants committed revenge killings of thousands of Muslims, which have been cited as a retroactive excuse for genocide. In 1918, at least 200,000 people in Armenia, mostly refugees, died from starvation or disease, in part due to a Turkish blockade of food supplies and the deliberate destruction of crops in eastern Armenia by Turkish troops, both before and after the armistice.
Armenians organized a coordinated effort known as vorpahavak (lit. 'the gathering of orphans') that reclaimed thousands of kidnapped and islamized Armenian women and children. Armenian leaders abandoned traditional patrilineality to classify children born to Armenian women and their Muslim captors as Armenian. An orphanage in Alexandropol held 25,000 orphans, the largest number in the world. In 1920, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople reported it was caring for 100,000 orphans, estimating that another 100,000 remained captive.
### Trials
Following the armistice, Allied governments championed the prosecution of war criminals. Grand Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha publicly recognized that 800,000 Ottoman citizens of Armenian origin had died as a result of state policy and stated that "humanity, civilizations are shuddering, and forever will shudder, in face of this tragedy". The postwar Ottoman government held the Ottoman Special Military Tribunal, by which it sought to pin the Armenian genocide onto the CUP leadership while exonerating the Ottoman Empire as a whole, therefore avoiding partition by the Allies. The court ruled that "the crime of mass murder" of Armenians was "organized and carried out by the top leaders of CUP". Eighteen perpetrators (including Talaat, Enver, and Djemal) were sentenced to death, of whom only three were ultimately executed as the remainder had fled and were tried in absentia. The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which awarded Armenia a large area in eastern Anatolia, eliminated the Ottoman government's purpose for holding the trials. Prosecution was hampered by a widespread belief among Turkish Muslims that the actions against the Armenians were not punishable crimes. Increasingly, the crimes were considered necessary and justified to establish a Turkish nation-state.
On 15 March 1921, Talaat was assassinated in Berlin as part of Operation Nemesis, the 1920s covert operation of the ARF to kill the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide. The trial of his admitted killer, Soghomon Tehlirian, focused on Talaat's responsibility for genocide. Tehlirian was acquitted by a German jury.
### Turkish War of Independence
The CUP regrouped as the Turkish nationalist movement to fight the Turkish War of Independence, relying on the support of perpetrators of the genocide and those who had profited from it. This movement saw the return of Armenian survivors as a mortal threat to its nationalist ambitions and the interests of its supporters. The return of survivors was therefore impossible in most of Anatolia and thousands of Armenians who tried were murdered. Historian Raymond Kévorkian states that the war of independence was "intended to complete the genocide by finally eradicating Armenian, Greek, and Syriac survivors". In 1920, Turkish general Kâzım Karabekir invaded Armenia with orders "to eliminate Armenia physically and politically". Nearly 100,000 Armenians were massacred in Transcaucasia by the Turkish army and another 100,000 fled from Cilicia during the French withdrawal. According to Kévorkian, only the Soviet occupation of Armenia prevented another genocide.
The victorious nationalists subsequently declared the Republic of Turkey in 1923. CUP war criminals were granted immunity and later that year, the Treaty of Lausanne established Turkey's current borders and provided for the Greek population's expulsion. Its minority protection provisions had no enforcement mechanism and were disregarded in practice.
Armenian survivors were left mainly in three locations. About 295,000 Armenians had fled to Russian-controlled territory during the genocide and ended up mostly in Soviet Armenia. An estimated 200,000 Armenian refugees settled in the Middle East, forming a new wave of the Armenian diaspora. In the Republic of Turkey, about 100,000 Armenians lived in Constantinople and another 200,000 lived in the provinces, largely women and children who had been forcibly converted. Though Armenians in Constantinople faced discrimination, they were allowed to maintain their cultural identity, unlike those elsewhere in Turkey who continued to face forced Islamization and kidnapping of girls after 1923. Between 1922 and 1929, the Turkish authorities eliminated surviving Armenians from southern Turkey, expelling thousands to French-mandate Syria.
## Legacy
According to historian Margaret Lavinia Anderson, the Armenian genocide reached an "iconic status" as "the apex of horrors conceivable" before World War II. It was described by contemporaries as "the murder of a nation", "race extermination", "the greatest crime of the ages", and "the blackest page in modern history". According to historian Stefan Ihrig, in Germany, the Nazis viewed post-1923 Turkey as a post-genocidal paradise and, "incorporated the Armenian genocide, its 'lessons', tactics, and 'benefits', into their own worldview".
### Turkey
In the 1920s, Kurds and Alevis replaced Armenians as the perceived internal enemy of the Turkish state. Militarism, weak rule of law, lack of minority rights, and especially the belief that Turkey is constantly under threat—thus justifying state violence—are among the main legacies of 1915 in Turkey. In postwar Turkey, the perpetrators of the genocide were hailed as "martyrs" of the national cause. Turkey's official denial of the Armenian genocide continues to rely on the CUP's justification of its actions. The Turkish government maintains that the mass deportation of Armenians was a legitimate action to combat an existential threat to the empire, but that there was no intention to exterminate the Armenian people. The government's position is supported by the majority of Turkish citizens. Many Kurds, who themselves have suffered political repression in Turkey, have recognized and condemned the genocide.
The Turkish state perceives open discussion of the genocide as a threat to national security because of its connection with the foundation of the republic, and for decades strictly censored it. In 2002, the AK Party came to power and relaxed censorship to a certain extent, and the profile of the issue was raised by the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist known for his advocacy of reconciliation. Although the AK Party softened the state denial rhetoric, describing Armenians as part of the Ottoman Empire's war losses, during the 2010s political repression and censorship increased again. Turkey's century-long effort to prevent any recognition or mention of the genocide in foreign countries has included millions of dollars in lobbying, as well as intimidation and threats.
### Armenia and Azerbaijan
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is commemorated on 24 April each year in Armenia and abroad, the anniversary of the deportation of Armenian intellectuals. On 24 April 1965, 100,000 Armenians protested in Yerevan, and diaspora Armenians demonstrated across the world in favor of recognition of the genocide and annexing land from Turkey. A memorial was completed two years later, at Tsitsernakaberd above Yerevan.
Since 1988, Armenians and Turkic Azeris have been involved in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Initially involving peaceful demonstrations by Armenians, the conflict turned violent and has featured massacres by both sides, resulting in the displacement of more than half a million people. During the conflict, the Azerbaijani and Armenian governments have regularly accused each other of plotting genocide. Azerbaijan has also joined the Turkish effort to deny the Armenian genocide.
### International recognition
In response to continuing denial by the Turkish state, many Armenian diaspora activists have lobbied for formal recognition of the Armenian genocide, an effort that has become a central concern of the Armenian diaspora. From the 1970s onward, many countries avoided recognition to preserve good relations with Turkey. As of 2022, 31 countries have recognized the genocide, along with Pope Francis and the European Parliament.
### Cultural depictions
After meeting Armenian survivors in the Middle East, Austrian–Jewish writer Franz Werfel wrote The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933), a fictionalized retelling of the successful Armenian uprising in Musa Dagh, as a warning of the dangers of Nazism. According to Ihrig, the book is among the most important works of twentieth-century literature to address genocide and "is still considered essential reading for Armenians worldwide". The genocide became a central theme in English-language Armenian-American literature. The first film about the Armenian genocide, Ravished Armenia, was released in 1919 as a fundraiser for Near East Relief, based on the survival story of Aurora Mardiganian, who played herself. Since then more films about the genocide have been made, although it took several decades for any of them to reach a mass-market audience. The abstract expressionist paintings of Arshile Gorky were influenced by his experience of the genocide. More than 200 memorials have been erected in 32 countries to commemorate the event.
### Archives and historiography
The genocide is extensively documented in the archives of Germany, Austria, the United States, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Ottoman archives, despite systematic purges of incriminating documents by Turkey. There are also thousands of eyewitness accounts from Western missionaries and Armenian survivors. Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide in 1944, became interested in war crimes after reading about the 1921 trial of Soghomon Tehlirian for the assassination of Talaat Pasha. Lemkin recognized the fate of the Armenians as one of the most significant genocides in the twentieth century. Almost all historians and scholars outside Turkey, and an increasing number of Turkish scholars, recognize the destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. |
29,343,131 | Sesame Street research | 1,136,576,621 | Research carried out for the children's TV shows | [
"Early childhood education",
"Early childhood education in the United States",
"Research projects",
"Sesame Street",
"Sesame Workshop"
]
| In 1969, the children's television show Sesame Street premiered on the National Educational Television network (later succeeded by PBS) in the United States. Unlike earlier children's programming, the show's producers used research and over 1,000 studies and experiments to create the show and test its impact on its young viewers' learning. By the end of the program's first season, Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization founded to oversee Sesame Street production, had developed what came to be called "the CTW model": a system of planning, production, and evaluation that combined the expertise of researchers and early childhood educators with that of the program's writers, producers, and directors.
CTW conducted research in two ways: in-house formative research that informed and improved production, and independent summative evaluations conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) during the show's first two seasons to measure the program's educational effectiveness. CTW researchers invented tools to measure young viewers' attention to the program. Based on these findings, the researchers compiled a body of data and the producers changed the show accordingly.
Summative research conducted over the years, including two landmark evaluations in 1970 and 1971, demonstrated that viewing the program had positive effects on young viewers' learning, school readiness, and social skills. Subsequent studies have replicated these findings, such as the effect of the show in countries outside of the U.S., several longitudinal studies, the effects of war and natural disasters on young children, and studies about how the show affected viewers' cognition. CTW researcher Gerald S. Lesser stated in 1974 that early tests conducted on the show (both formative and summative) "suggested that Sesame Street was making strides towards teaching what it had set out to teach".
## Background and development
According to author Louise A. Gikow, Sesame Street's use of research to create individual episodes and to test its effect on its young viewers set it apart from other children's programs Co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney called the idea of combining research with television production "positively heretical" because it had never been done before. Before Sesame Street, most television shows aimed at children were locally produced, with hosts who, according to researchers Edward L. Palmer and Shalom M. Fisch, "represented the scope and vision of a single individual" and were often condescending to their audience. Scriptwriters of these shows had no training in education or child development.
The Carnegie Corporation, one of Sesame Street's first financial backers, hired Cooney, a producer of educational talk shows and documentaries with little experience in education, during the summer of 1967 to visit experts in child development, education, and media across the U.S. and Canada. She researched their ideas about the viewing habits of young children, and wrote a report on her findings entitled "Television for Preschool Education", which described how television could be used as an aid in the education of preschoolers, especially those living in inner cities and became the basis for Sesame Street. Full funding was procured for the production of the new show, and for the creation of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization responsible for producing it. The show's financial backers, which consisted of the U.S. federal government, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation, insisted on "testing at critical stages to evaluate its ultimate success".
During the summer of 1968, Gerald S. Lesser, CTW's first advisory-board chairman, conducted five three-day curriculum-planning seminars in Boston and New York City to select a curriculum for the new program. Seminar participants were television producers and child development experts. It was the first time a children's television show used a curriculum, which Palmer, who was responsible for conducting the show's formative research, and Fisch described as "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes". The program's creative staff was concerned that this goal would limit creativity, but one of the seminar results was to encourage the show's producers to use child-development concepts in the creative process. Some Muppet characters were created during the seminars to fill specific curriculum needs. For example, Oscar the Grouch was designed to teach children about their positive and negative emotions, and Big Bird was created to provide children with opportunities to correct his "bumbling" mistakes. Lesser reported that Jim Henson had a "particular gift for creating scenes that might teach".
The show's research staff and producers conducted regular internal reviews and seminars to ensure that their curriculum goals were being met and to guide future production. As of 2001, ten seminars had been conducted specifically to address the literacy needs of preschool children. Curriculum seminars prior to Sesame Street's 33rd season in 2002 resulted in a change from the show's magazine-like format to a more narrative format. There have been over 1,000 studies as of 2001 which examine the show's impact on children's learning and attention, although most of these studies were conducted by the CTW and remain unpublished. Educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook conducted two studies during the show's first two seasons that found that the show increased the educational gap between poor and middle-class children, although these studies had little impact on the public discussion about Sesame Street. Another criticism of the show was made by journalist Kay Hymowitz in 1995, who reported that most of the positive research conducted on the show has been done by the CTW, and then sent to a sympathetic press. She charged that the studies conducted by the CTW "hint at advocacy masquerading as social science".
## The "CTW model"
Shortly after beginning Sesame Street, its creators developed the "CTW model": a system of planning, production, and evaluation which only emerged after the show's first season. The CTW model involved the interaction between television producers and educators, the development of a curriculum for 1972 to 1974 children, formative research to shape the program, and independent summative research into what viewers learned. According to Cooney, "Without research, there would be no Sesame Street." Cooney credited Palmer and his colleague at Harvard, Gerald S. Lesser, whom CTW hired to write the program's educational objectives, for bridging the gap between producers and researchers. Cooney stated, about the CTW model: "From the beginning, we—the planners of the project—designed the show as an experimental research project with educational advisers, researchers, and television producers collaborating as equal partners." She described the collaboration as an "arranged marriage". The show's staff worked to create a non-adversarial relationship between producers and researchers; each side contributed, as Fisch stated, "its own unique perspective and expertise". Early in the planning process, production staff recognized that it was valuable to have access to researchers who could analyze children's reactions and help them improve production, and the show's writers and producers brought their instincts for and experience in children's television. Though initially skeptical about both the collaboration and the curriculum, the writers eventually came to see both as integral parts of the creative process.
When educational experts and producers in other countries approached CTW for assistance in producing their own versions of Sesame Street, which became known as "co-productions", a variant of the CTW model was used. The need for preschool education in each country was assessed through research and interviews with television producers, researchers, and educational experts, similar to the process followed in the U.S. The producers then convened a series of meetings with the experts, held in the individual countries, to create and develop a curriculum, the program's educational goals, its set, and its characters. They held meetings, at the CTW offices in New York City and in the respective country, to train the co-production team in the CTW model. Each co-production conducted formative studies before production and if possible, summative studies to test the efficacy of its curriculum.
## Formative research
### Methods
Palmer and his team used concepts from the field of formative research, which consisted of in-house, laboratory-oriented research, to guide production and to determine whether the show held children's attention. Palmer, described by Cooney as "a founder of CTW and founder of its research function", was one of the few late-1960s academics studying children's television and its effects on learning. He was responsible for designing and executing CTW's formative research, and for working with ETS, which handled the Workshop's summative research. Palmer's work was so crucial to Sesame Street that author Malcolm Gladwell asserted, "Without Ed Palmer, the show would have never lasted through the first season."
CTW's researchers were strongly influenced by behaviorism, a popular movement in psychology during the late 1960s; therefore, many methods and tools used were primarily behavioral. Palmer developed "the distractor", which he used to test if the material shown on Sesame Street captured young viewers' attention. Two children at a time were brought into the laboratory and shown an episode on a television monitor and a slide show next to it. The slides would change every seven seconds; researchers recorded when the children's attention was diverted from the episode. They were able to assess almost every second of Sesame Street this way; if an episode captured children's interest 80–90 percent of the time, producers would air it. However, if it only worked 50 percent of the time they would change (or remove) content. In research conducted during later seasons of Sesame Street, verbal measurements, in the form of letter-recognition tests, were introduced. These reinforced earlier results, providing more insight into children's knowledge, reactions, and responses than behavioral measures alone. The distractor method was modified by Workshop researchers Lewis Bernstein and Valeria Lovelace into an "eyes-on-screen" method, which collected simultaneous data from larger groups of children. Their method also tested for more "natural" distractions, such as those provided by other children in group-viewing situations; up to 15 children were tested at a time. Lovelace developed additional testing methods, described by Fisch as "state-of-the-art research design". One innovation included the "engagement measure", which recorded children's active responses to an episode, such as laughing or dancing to music.
### Results
Palmer reported that by the fourth season of the show, the episodes rarely tested below 85 percent. At least one segment, "The Man from Alphabet", despite its expense, was eliminated because it tested poorly with children. The distractor provided new insight into the way children watch television, and was part of CTW's research on its programs' effectiveness for decades. It created a body of objective data for the scientific study of children's television viewing.
CTW's early studies with the distractor found that children learned more when they watched the program carefully, or when they participated by singing or talking along. In re-tests four weeks later, it found that children retained most of what they learned. After the first three weeks, or 15 episodes, viewers and non-viewers were compared; few differences in learning were found. When both groups were tested after six weeks more differences began to appear, with viewers scoring higher than non-viewers. A two-season CTW study published in 1995 found a "significant increase" in difficulty in remembering the letter and number of the day. Based on the multiple-intelligence theory, producers began to cluster Sesame Street's short films, animations, and inserts around a single topic rather than sprinkling several topics throughout a single episode.
## Summative research
### ETS studies
CTW solicited the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to conduct its summative research; CTW and ETS hired and trained coordinators, testers, and observers from local communities to conduct these studies. The most relevant tests of the show's effectiveness were comparisons between children who watched it regularly and those who did not. After the first season, however, Sesame Street was so widely watched that it was difficult to make this distinction; ETS began to have problems finding subjects for their non-viewing groups, which weakened the experimental design. It solved this problem by selecting control-group households from areas that did not broadcast the show. Instead of using groups of viewers and non-viewers, later large-scale studies used statistical designs and methods for estimating cause-effect relationships.
ETS, whose prestige enhanced the credibility of its findings, conducted two landmark summative evaluations in 1970 and 1971, demonstrating that Sesame Street had a significant educational impact on its viewers. These studies illustrated the early educational effects of Sesame Street, and have been cited in other studies of the effects of television on young children. ETS reported that the children who watched the show most learned the most, and achieved better results in letter-recognition skills. Three-year-olds who watched regularly scored higher than five-year-olds who did not; children from low-income households who were regular viewers scored higher than children from higher-income households who watched the show less frequently. Similar results occurred in children from non-English-speaking homes. Although adult supervision was not required for children to learn using the material presented, children who watched and discussed the program with their parents gained more skills than those who did not. Children viewing the show in an informal home setting learned as much as children who watched it at school under a teacher's supervision. Regular viewers adjusted better to the school environment than non-viewers. They also had a more positive attitude toward school and better peer relations than non-viewers.
Despite CTW's concern that the show would widen the gap between well-to-do children and their less wealthy peers, there was no evidence that this occurred; gains made by disadvantaged children were as great as those by advantaged children. The show's positive general effects, as cited by ETS, occurred across all childhood demographics (gender, age, geographic location and socioeconomic status). Studies conducted by ETS seemed to suggest that the program had "a significant impact on children's social behavior", although the evidence was not as strong as it was for cognitive effects; fewer studies exist of social behavior.
### Later studies
#### Before 2000
CTW enlisted Palmer, in conjunction with Harvard University, in 1979 to conduct a study in Jamaica regarding the effects of Sesame Street on children with no exposure to other children's television programs, in order to correct for the effects of multimedia exposure on children in the U.S. Palmer discovered that Jamaican children's interest dropped during segments with the Muppets, possibly due to language and cultural differences; musical segments were the most effective. The children's learning increased after exposure to the show, especially letter and number recognition.
In 1995, a longitudinal study was conducted at the University of Kansas, the first large-scale evaluation of Sesame Street's cognitive effects in over twenty years. Its findings supported those of previous studies: early viewing of educational children's television appeared to contribute to children's school readiness. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds learned as much as advantaged children per hour of viewing, but they did not watch enough to gain the program's maximum benefit. When the effects of watching Sesame Street were compared with the effects of watching other programs, commercial entertainment and cartoons had a negative effect; watching Sesame Street daily did not increase children's viewing of other categories of television, nor make them less likely to participate in other educational activities.
Other studies have been conducted about the cognitive effects of Sesame Street. In 1990, a two-year longitudinal study found that viewing the show was a "significant predictor" of improved vocabulary regardless of family size, parent education, child gender or parental attitudes towards television. Another study conducted in 1990 looked at the effect of Sesame Street home videos and discovered gains in vocabulary, letter, and printed- and spoken-word identification. The videos encouraged discussion with adults, which may have helped reinforce educational messages and content.
In 1994, research was conducted for "The Recontact Study", funded by the Markle Foundation, which examined the effects of Sesame Street on adolescents who had watched the show as young children. The subjects had participated in previous studies as preschoolers. When the study's research subjects were statistically equated for parents' level of education, birth order, residence and gender, it found that adolescents who had watched Sesame Street as preschoolers were positively influenced by it. Compared with children who had not watched it regularly, they had higher grades in English, math, and science; read for pleasure more often; perceived themselves as more competent, and expressed lower levels of aggression. The effects were stronger in adolescent boys than in adolescent girls.
#### 2000–2010
In early 2001, the Workshop conducted a summative study about the effects of war, natural disasters, and other events on young children. It demonstrated that little was being done to address the fears and concerns of victims of traumatic events. As a result, the Workshop developed a series of materials it believed would help children (and their families) cope with events such as the September 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
Sesame Street has been used to test the attention span of infants and toddlers. In 2004, children from three months to two years were shown Sesame Street clips and a group of computer-generated black and white patterns. Their attention spans, as determined by the duration of time they looked at the stimuli, significantly increased at six to twenty-four months, but only for the Sesame Street material. A study conducted in 2006 found that infants' attention span increased more when they were presented with video clips than with still images of the same stimuli, supporting the idea that movement helps young infants gain more information from the world around them. The evidence showed that attention span depended both on age and the on the type of stimuli children viewed. The time they looked at stimuli decreased for all types of stimuli from fourteen to twenty-six weeks, but the time they looked at it increased depending on the stimuli. When older infants (age fourteen weeks to twelve months) looked at Sesame Street materials and human faces, their attention increased compared to other types of stimuli.
In 2010, researchers at the University of Michigan studied the effect of combining video clips of Sesame Street and related print materials, online activities, and teacher training and mentoring on learning. They demonstrated that all the subjects they tested at Head Start programs in Detroit scored the same as a middle-class control group in tests later given to both groups.
#### Post 2010
Researchers James A. Bonus and Marie-Louise Mares from the University of Wisconsin–Madison studied in 2015 if preschoolers, due to their developing understanding of video and the distinctions between fantasy and reality, use information appropriately, and if children's explicit reality judgments of educational and fantasy TV content influence their willingness to transfer the content to real life. Earlier studies showed that viewers of educational programs like Sesame Street often understand, remember, and use less information that producers intend, so the researchers of this study wanted to examine if children's reality judgments play an important role in their responses. They also wanted to find if children were able to distinguish educational material from entertainment and remember and transfer content to real-life situations, especially since many programs embed educational lessons in fantasy elements. The researchers showed 70 three- to five-year old children a nine-minute clip from a Sesame Street episode about aspects of Hispanic culture, introducing it to them as either "fun" or "for learning". The children then answered comprehension questions and rated the reality of the fantasy and educational content in the clip and were interviewed about the content about a week later, when their memory and reality judgments were reassessed. The children in the study retained most of what they had learned, but all ages became more skeptical about the reality of both the fantasy and educational content. Children in the five-year old group remembered the information they learned from the clip better than three- and four-year old children, but for all groups, the more likely they judged what they viewed was real, the more likely they were to use the information in other settings. Only the group of five-year old children transferred educational content from the TV show to new situations, but three-year olds were less able to do so. Bonus and Mares were able to demonstrate that reality judgments play an important role in children's ability to transfer information and that "children remembered what they learned to a remarkable degree", even a week or more later. Children in the five-year old group scored higher in learning the material they viewed and what it was meant to reflect real-world conditions so they could remember it in order to transfer it to real-world conditions, most likely due to the combination of older children's better memory skills and a greater understanding of the educational content as it related to the real world. Children's reality ratings of fantasy content were less than those for educational content, despite exposure and age differences.
Even when controlling for age, greater memory of the fantasy content was associated with less transfer of the content, which indicated, for Bonus and Mares, that children knew that the fantasy elements did not apply to real life; according to Bonus and Mares, "The primary problem was their failure to transfer educational content when it was appropriate." Unlike previous studies, this study found that neither fantasy-reality or educational judgments predicted the children's learning of the educational content. The reason for the difference in findings was unclear, but Bonus and Mares conjectured that it was to differences between the programs used in other studies, which used animated programs, and Sesame Street, which includes live action content. It could have also been due to differences in interview questions, this study's small sample size, or random chance; Bonus and Mares recognized that more experiments needed to be conducted. This study also did not replicate previous studies that found that verbal instructions help children judge the reality of media content more accurately, perhaps because their instructions were too brief or vague. There were other limitations with this study, including not pursuing if children's skepticism could be reduced by eliminating fantasy cues.
Pollster Frank Luntz found in 2018 that almost two-thirds of those he surveyed believed Sesame Street "represents 'the best of America' and that it stands for 'timeless values'". Luntz also conducted focus groups in North Carolina and New York, and found that both groups had "a shared affection" for the show.
Melissa S. Kearney and Phillip B. Levine of the University of Maryland, in response to the lack of studies on Sesame Street's effects on improving longer-term outcomes for disadvantaged children, conducted "a large-scale examination of the impact of the introduction of Sesame Street on elementary school performance" in 2019 and its effect on longer-term educational and labor market outcomes. They also conducted the study to encourage discussions about policy regarding early childhood education, especially for disadvantaged youth. Recognizing that the show's popularity hampered the experimental design of testing the show's educational impact, Kearney and Levine conducted their study by exploiting the limitations in television technology at the time of its premiere, which restricted access to Sesame Street to about two-thirds of the population in the U.S. They investigated if the educational outcomes among children who were under six years of age in 1969 and who lived in locations where they had access to the show compared to those who did not. They found evidence, through studying surveys of children's educational outcomes in 1980, that exposure to the show during its early years "generated a positive impact on educational outcomes through the early school years". They also found that children who were able to watch the show were fourteen percent more likely to attend the grade that was appropriate for their age during their middle and high school years. They found positive effects for both boys and girls, with larger effects for boys, and demonstrated positive effects for blacks, Hispanics, and white non-Hispanics, with larger effects for blacks and Hispanics. Adults who were exposed to the show as young children also were more likely to be employed and earned higher wages.
Kearney and Levine studied the effects of exposure to Sesame Street programming content on indictors of early school performance, ultimate educational attainment, and labor market outcomes. Studies conducted at the time of the show's premiere demonstrated that watching the show resulted in an immediate and sizable increase in test scores. Kearney and Levine built upon the existing body of early, targeted evidence and found positive impacts on the educational performance of preschool-aged children who were able to watch the show because they resided in areas with wider broadcast coverage. These children achieved relative increases in grade-for-age status and represents improvements in academic progress during elementary school, when students are more likely to fall behind their appropriate grade level. They saw the same kind of improvements in the long run, also consistent with the grade-for-age results. The positive effect of the show seemed to be "particularly pronounced" for boys and black, non-Hispanic children, along with children who grew up in areas characterized by greater economic disadvantages. Consequently, Kearney and Levine, who called Sesame Street "perhaps the biggest, yet least costly, early childhood intervention", found that the show satisfied its goal of preparing children for school, especially for black and disadvantaged children, at a cost of, at the time the study was conducted, approximately five dollars per child per year.
In 2020, Gemma Yoo from Yale University published an article, entitled "An Upstander Is a Person in Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, and Race in 2020", about how Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism throughout its history, "through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families". Yoo, who called children's media, including Sesame Street, "the most accessible format for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States", looked at the show through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), analyzed how the show has both successfully and unsuccessfully addressed race and racism in the U.S. and made suggestions for how it could use CRT to both evaluate how young children are taught about race and to help mitigate the negative effects of racism.
In 2021, a group of researchers published a study that examined whether viewing educational materials about autism would change attitudes and implicit biases toward children with autism. They studied two groups, parents of children with autism and parents of children without autism, giving both groups tests about their attitudes and biases before and after viewing a website developed by Sesame Workshop containing information about autism and resources for families. They found that parents of children with autism had less implicit bias than parents of children without autism before they viewed the materials on the website, but both groups' attitudes and biases did not differ after they viewed the website. They also found that parents of children without autism and those who had more negative implicit attitudes before viewing the website demonstrated a greater reduction in implicit bias after viewing it, and parents of children with autism demonstrated more positive changes in their explicit attitudes and increased knowledge about autism after viewing the website. The study's findings suggested that online educational resources about autism "can reduce implicit bias against children with autism and help mitigate some of the psychological issues associated with parenting children with autism". |
1,445,372 | Hurricane Linda (1997) | 1,171,051,519 | Category 5 Pacific hurricane in 1997 | [
"1997 Pacific hurricane season",
"1997 in California",
"1997 in Mexico",
"Category 5 Pacific hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Baja California",
"Hurricanes in California",
"Hurricanes in the Revillagigedo Islands",
"Pacific hurricanes in Mexico"
]
| Hurricane Linda was a very powerful Category 5 hurricane that was also the second-most intense eastern Pacific hurricane on record, but surpassed 18 years later by Patricia. Forming from a tropical wave on September 9, 1997, Linda steadily intensified and reached hurricane status within 36 hours of developing. The storm rapidly intensified, reaching sustained winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) and an estimated central pressure of 902 millibars (26.6 inHg); both were records for the eastern Pacific until Hurricane Patricia surpassed them in 2015. The hurricane was briefly forecast to move toward southern California, but instead, it turned out to sea and lost its status as a tropical cyclone on September 17, before dissipating on September 21. Linda was the fifteenth tropical cyclone, thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. Linda was also the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 1997.
While near peak intensity, Hurricane Linda passed near Socorro Island, where it damaged meteorological instruments. The hurricane produced high waves along the southwestern Mexican coastline, forcing the closure of five ports. If Linda had made landfall on southern California as predicted, it would have been the strongest storm to do so since a storm in 1939. Though it did not hit the state, the hurricane produced light to moderate rainfall across the region, causing mudslides and flooding in the San Gorgonio Wilderness; two houses were destroyed and 77 others were damaged, and damage totaled US\$3.2 million.
## Meteorological history
The origins of Hurricane Linda are believed to have been in a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 24. The wave tracked westward across the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea without development. An area of convection developed to the west of Panama in the Pacific Ocean on September 6, which is believed to have been related to the tropical wave. The system continued westward, and within three days of entering the basin, a poorly defined circulation formed. Banding features began to develop, and at around 1200 UTC on September 9, the system organized into Tropical Depression Fourteen-E. At the time, it was approximately 460 miles (740 km) south of the Mexican city of Manzanillo.
On becoming a tropical cyclone, the depression moved northwestward at 6 and 12 miles per hour (9.7 and 19.3 km/h), partially under the influence of a mid- to upper-level low near the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Deep convection and banding features increased, and the depression intensified into a tropical storm early on September 10. Upon being designated, the cyclone was named Linda by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). As upper-level outflow became well-established, the storm began to strengthen quickly. By September 11, an intermittent eye appeared, by which time the NHC estimated that Linda reached hurricane status. The storm began to rapidly intensify; its small eye became well-defined and surrounded by very cold convection. In a 24‐hour period, the minimum pressure dropped 81 millibars (2.4 inHg), or an average drop of 3.38 millibars (0.100 inHg) per hour. Such intensification met the criterion for explosive deepening, an average hourly pressure decrease of at least 2.5 millibars (0.074 inHg). By early September 12, Hurricane Linda reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and around 0600 UTC, Linda attained estimated peak winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) about 145 mi (233 km) southeast of Socorro Island. Its maximum sustained winds were estimated between 180 and 195 mph (290 and 314 km/h), based on Dvorak T-numbers of 7.5 and 8.0 respectively, and gusts were estimated to have reached 220 mph (350 km/h). The hurricane's pressure is estimated at 902 millibars (26.6 inHg), making Linda the most intense Pacific hurricane at the time. When the storm was active, its pressure was estimated to have been slightly lower, at 900 millibars (27 inHg).
Shortly after reaching peak intensity, Hurricane Linda passed near Socorro Island as a Category 5 hurricane. Around that time, tropical cyclone forecast models suggested that the hurricane would turn toward southern California due to an approaching upper-level trough. Had Linda struck the state, it would have been much weaker at that time, possibly moving ashore as a tropical storm. Instead, Hurricane Linda turned west-northwestward away from land in response to a building ridge to the north of the hurricane. Despite remaining away from land, moisture from the storm reached southern California to produce rainfall. On September 14, the Hurricane Hunters and airplanes from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration investigated the hurricane to provide better data on the powerful hurricane. Hurricane Linda quickly deteriorated as it tracked toward cooler waters, weakening to tropical storm status on September 15. Two days later, when located about 1,105 miles (1,778 km) west of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, it weakened to tropical depression status. Linda no longer met the criteria for a tropical cyclone by September 18, although its remnant circulation persisted for a few more days before dissipating.
Forecasters and computer models did not anticipate how quickly Linda would strengthen; in one advisory, the NHC under-forecast how strong the winds would be in 72 hours by 115 miles per hour (185 km/h). The maximum potential intensity for Linda was 880 millibars (26 inHg), 22 millibars (0.65 inHg) lower than its actual intensity. The 1997 season was affected by the 1997–98 El Niño event, which brought warmer than normal water temperatures and contributed to the high intensity of several storms. Hurricane Linda occurred about a month after the similarly powerful Hurricane Guillermo, which also reached Category 5 status. The passage of Linda cooled the waters in the region, causing Hurricane Nora to weaken when it passed through the area on September 21.
## Preparations and impact
Although the eye of Hurricane Linda did not make landfall, the hurricane passed near Socorro Island while near peak intensity. The hurricane cut power to wind and pressure instruments. A station on the island recorded a pressure of 986 millibars (29.1 inHg) before it stopped producing data. No tropical cyclone warnings or watches were issued for the hurricane. However, the threat for high tides and strong winds in Mexico prompted officials to issue coastal flood warnings and to close five ports. Waves of up to 7.8 feet (2.4 m) were reported along the coastline, causing flooding in the states of Michoacán, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa.
When Linda was predicted to turn towards the northeast, it was forecast to move ashore in Southern California as a weak tropical storm, which would have made Linda the first to do so since a tropical storm in 1939. The Oxnard, California National Weather Service office issued public information and special weather statements that discussed the possible impact of Linda on southern California. The advisories mentioned forecasting uncertainty, and advised the media not to exaggerate the storm. The office noted a threat for significant rainfall—possibly causing flash flooding—as well as high surf. To prepare for possible flooding, workers cleaned storm drains and prepared sandbags for coastal properties.
Although the storm did not make the turn, 15 and 18 feet (4.6 and 5.5 m) waves reached southern California. In Newport Beach, a wave swept five people off a jetty and carried them 900 feet (270 m) out to sea, although all were rescued by a passing boat. Moisture from the hurricane moved across the state, producing heavy rainfall. A station in Forrest Falls, located within the San Gorgonio Wilderness, recorded rainfall rates of 2.5 inches (64 mm) per hour. The rainfall caused severe flooding and mudslides which destroyed two houses, damaged 77 others, and inflicted \$3.2 million in damage (1997 USD). San Diego recorded 0.05 inches (1.3 mm) of rain, the first measurable precipitation in 164 days; this tied the record for the longest duration without rainfall at the station, previously set in 1915 and 1924. Moisture from Linda extended into the Upper Midwest, contributing to a record daily rainfall total of 1.97 inches (50 mm) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
## Records
With an estimated minimum central pressure of 902 millibars (26.6 inHg), Hurricane Linda became the most intense Pacific hurricane since reliable records began in the 1966 season. Until Hurricane Patricia of 2015, Linda was also believed to have been the strongest since overall records began in the basin in 1949. The previous most intense hurricane was Hurricane Ava in 1973, which had a confirmed minimum pressure of 915 millibars (27.0 inHg). Since no observations recorded the pressure during Linda's peak, its peak intensity was estimated. As such, Ava remained the strongest directly measured hurricane in the basin at the time.
## See also
- Other tropical cyclones named Linda
- List of California hurricanes
- List of Pacific hurricanes
- Timeline of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season |
1,187,179 | Ford Piquette Avenue Plant | 1,163,877,083 | Former car factory and National Historic Landmark in Detroit, Michigan | [
"1904 establishments in Michigan",
"Automobile museums in Michigan",
"Ford factories",
"Former motor vehicle assembly plants",
"Historic American Engineering Record in Michigan",
"History museums in Michigan",
"History of Detroit",
"Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Michigan",
"Industrial buildings and structures in Detroit",
"Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan",
"Industrial buildings completed in 1904",
"Michigan State Historic Sites in Wayne County, Michigan",
"Motor vehicle assembly plants in Michigan",
"Motor vehicle manufacturing plants on the National Register of Historic Places",
"MotorCities National Heritage Area",
"Museums established in 2001",
"Museums in Detroit",
"National Historic Landmarks in Metro Detroit",
"National Register of Historic Places in Detroit",
"Tourist attractions in Metro Detroit",
"Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan"
]
| The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. At the Piquette Avenue Plant, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States. Prior to the Model T, several other car models were assembled at the factory. Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day. While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant.
Studebaker bought the factory in 1911, using it to assemble cars until 1933. The building was sold in 1936, going through a series of owners for the rest of the 20th century before becoming a museum in 2001. The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public. The museum, which was visited by over 31,000 people in 2018, has exhibits that primarily focus on the beginning of the United States automotive industry. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, became a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
## History
### Ford period
Henry Ford, Detroit coal merchant Alexander Y. Malcomson, and a group of investors formed the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903, to assemble automobiles. The company's first car model, the original Ford Model A, began to be assembled that same month at the Ford Mack Avenue Plant, a rented wagon manufacturing shop in Detroit, Michigan. The company quickly outgrew this facility and, on April 10, 1904, bought a parcel of land off of Piquette Avenue in Detroit to accommodate a larger factory. The land was located in the Milwaukee Junction area, whose name is derived from a railroad junction within it. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant's construction started on May 10, 1904. The company moved into its new factory the following October.
The Detroit-based architectural firm Field, Hinchman & Smith designed the Piquette Avenue Plant. It is an example of late Victorian-style architecture and was modeled after New England textile mills. Designing factories based on this type of mill was common practice in the United States at the time. The building is three stories high, 56 feet (17.1 m) wide, and 402 feet (122.5 m) long. Its load-bearing exterior brick walls contain 355 windows, and its maple floors, supported by square oak beams and posts, cover 67,000 square feet (6,224.5 m<sup>2</sup>). The Piquette Avenue Plant contains two elevator-stairwell combinations, one located on its northwest corner and the other located on its southwest side. Recalling a fire in March 1901 that destroyed the Olds Motor Works factory in Detroit, Henry Ford and the architects included a fire sprinkler system in the building's design, a rare feature for industrial buildings of the period. This and several other original safety features in the factory, such as its firewalls, fire doors, and fire escapes, are still present. Water for the sprinkler system was supplied by a wooden water tank located on the building's roof. A brick powerhouse, measuring 36 feet (11.0 m) wide by 57 feet (17.4 m) long, was the original electricity provider for the factory, and was located near its northwest corner. The water tank and powerhouse no longer exist.
From October 1904 to the end of 1909, Ford Motor Company assembled car models B, C, F, K, N, R, S, and T at the Piquette Avenue Plant. Ford models B and C were the first car models produced at the factory starting in late 1904, and production of the Ford Model F began the following February. The vast majority of factory tasks were done by men, except for magneto assembly, which was done by women. Hand tools were used for the assembly work at fixed stations, and the completed components would be brought by hand to the chassis for final assembly. Completed cars were shipped to the company's distributors and dealers by rail using a spur line behind the building, which connected to a Michigan Central Railroad main line. Due to variations in demand and car model changeover, the number of employees varied constantly, ranging from as low as 300 to as high as 700. The company did not recognize labor unions at the factory. Ford Motor Company was a member of the Employers’ Association of Detroit, an organization that prevented most of the city's factories from unionizing until the 1930s.
In 1905, Ford Motor Company was the fourth-largest car producer in the United States, behind Cadillac, Rambler, and Oldsmobile. In the company's early years, most major components in its cars were manufactured by outside companies, including the "running gear" (the chassis, engine, transmission, drive shaft, and axles), which was supplied by the Dodge Brothers Company. That began to change in early 1906, when the Ford Manufacturing Company, a new, separate company created by Henry Ford and some Ford Motor Company stockholders, started to make engines and transmissions for the upcoming Ford Model N. The Ford Manufacturing Company was located at the Bellevue Avenue Plant, a leased factory off of Bellevue Avenue in Detroit. The Bellevue Avenue Plant was used until 1908, by which time almost all manufacturing of major components for Ford Motor Company cars was taking place at the Piquette Avenue Plant. Model N production began at the Piquette Avenue Plant in July 1906. That same month, Henry Ford bought the Ford Motor Company shares owned by fellow company co-founder Alexander Malcomson. While Malcomson was with the company, he and Henry Ford disagreed over the type of car that the company should produce. Malcomson preferred expensive cars, like the Ford Model K; Henry Ford favored inexpensive cars, like the Model N. Once Malcomson was no longer part of the company, Henry Ford, now with uncontested control, focused the company's efforts towards making cheap cars exclusively. The success of the Model N made Ford Motor Company the largest automaker in the United States by the end of 1906, a distinction that it would hold for twenty years.
In January 1907, in a room located on the Piquette Avenue Plant's third floor in the northeast corner, the design process began for the Ford Model T, the car credited with starting the mass use of cars in the United States. Much of the design and experimental work for the new car was done by Henry Ford, draftsman Joseph Galamb, engineer Childe Harold Wills, and machinist C.J. Smith. Vanadium steel, an alloy lighter and stronger than standard steel, which was first used sparingly with the Ford Model N, R, and S, was used extensively with the Model T. The company revealed the plans for the Model T to its dealers on March 19, 1908.
During July 1908, a few months before the Model T's introduction, a group of Piquette Avenue Plant employees experimented with the concept of using a moving assembly line to make cars, where the chassis would be moved to the workers for components to be installed. This effort was led by Charles E. Sorensen, the assistant to Peter E. Martin, who was the factory's superintendent. Sorensen believed that a moving assembly line would make car assembly faster, simpler, and easier. The experiments consisted of tying a rope to a Model N chassis and pulling it across the factory's third floor on skids until its axles and wheels were added. The chassis would then be rolled across the floor in notches, where specific components would be attached. At least one Model N was completed at the Piquette Avenue Plant using this process. Although Henry Ford encouraged these experiments, he did not implement a formal moving assembly line at the Piquette Avenue Plant, as all of his attention was focused on getting Model T production started on time. Despite not having a moving assembly line, the Piquette Avenue Plant, aided by the usage of interchangeable parts and other production improvements, produced 101 completed cars in a single day on June 4, 1908, an auto industry record at the time.
The first production Model T was completed at the Piquette Avenue Plant on September 27, 1908. On May 1, 1909, due to overwhelming demand, Ford Motor Company stopped taking Model T orders for two months. To satisfy the unprecedented demand for the Model T, the company moved most of its car production activity to the new, larger Highland Park Ford Plant in Highland Park, Michigan, by January 1910. The company completely vacated the Piquette Avenue Plant by October 1910. The concept of using a moving assembly line to manufacture cars would be fully implemented at the Highland Park Ford Plant, starting on October 7, 1913. Over 15 million Model T's would eventually be built, and the first 14,000 made in the United States were assembled at the Piquette Avenue Plant.
### After Ford in the 20th century
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant was sold in January 1911 to Studebaker, a major maker of various horse-drawn road vehicles since the 1850s. That same year, when the railroad spur line serving the factory was raised above street level, the loading dock behind the building was replaced with an elevated platform, level with the second floor. Also in 1911, Studebaker acquired the E-M-F Company, which owned a different car manufacturing complex on Piquette Avenue. Studebaker began to put its name on the cars formerly produced by the E-M-F Company in 1912. In 1913, the plant was one of the sites affected by the 1913 Studebaker strike, the automotive industry's first major labor strike. In 1920, Studebaker built a four-story, reinforced concrete building, known as the Studebaker Detroit Service Building, immediately west of the Piquette Avenue Plant. In 1926, the elevator-stairwell combination on the Piquette Avenue Plant's southwest side was moved slightly northwards. This enabled the Detroit Service Building to be connected to the Piquette Avenue Plant's southwest corner on the second and third floors, which created a ground-level, drive-through access point to the court between the two buildings. Also in 1926, the machinery for both of the Piquette Avenue Plant's elevators was replaced. Studebaker used the Piquette Avenue Plant for car production until 1933.
In 1936, Studebaker sold the Piquette Avenue Plant to the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), a producer of rubber auto parts and non-adhesive paper tape. Around 1937, the powerhouse and several other small buildings previously built by Ford Motor Company west of the factory were demolished. The Cadillac Overall Company, a work clothes supplier, purchased the building in 1968. The Heritage Investment Company bought the building in 1989 and owned it until 2000. Since the early 1990s, a company named General Linen & Uniform Service has occupied part of the Piquette Avenue Plant's first floor. The Detroit Service Building next door is now used by Henry Ford Health System to store medical records. The openings that previously allowed direct access between the two buildings on the second and third floors are now sealed. The Piquette Avenue Plant still stands in spite of the decline of Detroit, which began in the mid-20th century.
## Model T Automotive Heritage Complex
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant was sold to the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex in April 2000. Model T Automotive Heritage Complex is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has run the building as a museum since July 27, 2001. The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public. The museum, located north of Midtown Detroit at 461 Piquette Street, attracted 31,018 visitors in 2018. It contains over 40 early automobiles built by Ford Motor Company and other Detroit-area car makers, as well as recreations of Henry Ford's office and the room where the Ford Model T was designed. One of the cars on display is Model T Serial No. 220, which was built at the factory in December 1908, and is one of the oldest surviving examples of that car model. The museum's regular operating days are Wednesdays through Sundays.
The Piquette Avenue Plant was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, designated as a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and became a National Historic Landmark in 2006. The building has also been a contributing property for the surrounding Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District since 2004. The factory's front façade was fully restored to its 1904 appearance and revealed to the public on September 27, 2008, the 100th anniversary of the completion of the first production Model T. On August 11, 2011, Model T Automotive Heritage Complex membership chairman Tom Genova was honored with a ROSE Award from the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau in the Volunteers category. On May 18, 2012, the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex won a NAAMY Award from the National Association of Automobile Museums in the Films and Videos category for Division I (museums with budgets less than \$300,000). On November 10, 2015, the Window Restoration Team at the Piquette Avenue Plant received a MotorCities National Heritage Area Award of Excellence in the Preservation category. Around 2016, the National Park Service considered adding the Piquette Avenue Plant to a list of places in the United States eligible for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. It was ultimately not added, because it did not have enough of its original factory equipment, and because of recommendations that its nomination be expanded to include other Detroit-area Ford Motor Company sites, such as the Highland Park Ford Plant and the Ford River Rouge Complex.
## See also
- Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office
- The Henry Ford
- List of Ford factories
- Michigan Central Station |
103,990 | Holkham National Nature Reserve | 1,167,735,179 | Nature reserve in the United Kingdom | [
"Holkham",
"National nature reserves in England",
"Nature reserves in Norfolk",
"Nude beaches",
"Protected areas established in 1967"
]
| Holkham National Nature Reserve is England's largest national nature reserve (NNR). It is on the Norfolk coast between Burnham Overy Staithe and Blakeney, and is managed by Natural England with the cooperation of the Holkham Estate. Its 3,900 hectares (9,600 acres) comprise a wide range of habitats, including grazing marsh, woodland, salt marsh, sand dunes and foreshore. The reserve is part of the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the larger area is additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar listings, and is part of both an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a World Biosphere Reserve. Holkham NNR is important for its wintering wildfowl, especially pink-footed geese, Eurasian wigeon and brant geese, but it also has breeding waders, and attracts many migrating birds in autumn. Many scarce invertebrates and plants can be found in the dunes, and the reserve is one of the only two sites in the UK to have an antlion colony.
This stretch of coast originally consisted of salt marshes protected from the sea by ridges of shingle and sand, and Holkham's Iron Age fort stood at the end of a sandy spit surrounded by the tidal wetland. The Vikings navigated the creeks to establish Holkham village, but access to the former harbour was stopped by drainage and reclamation of the marshes between the coast and the shingle ridge which started in the 17th century, and was completed in 1859. The Holkham estate has been owned by the Coke family, later Earls of Leicester since 1609, and their seat at Holkham Hall is opposite the reserve's Lady Anne's Drive entrance. The 3rd Earl planted pines on the dunes to protect the pastures reclaimed by his predecessors from wind-blown sand. The national nature reserve was created in 1967 from 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of the Holkham Estate and 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres) of foreshore belonging to the Crown.
The reserve has over 100,000 visitors a year, including birdwatchers and horse riders, and is therefore significant for the local economy. The NNR has taken steps to control entry to the fragile dunes and other areas important for their animals or plants because of the damage to sensitive habitats that could be caused by unrestricted access. The dunes are an essential natural defence against the projected rises in sea level along this vulnerable coast.
## Description
The reserve lies to the north of A149 coast road, starting just west of Burnham Overy Staithe and extending west past Holkham to Beach Road, Wells-next-the-Sea. It also includes the tidal salt marshes continuing further east to Blakeney. Its total area of about 3,900 hectares (9,600 acres) makes it the largest NNR in England. The reserve can be accessed by footpaths from Wells and the local villages including the Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast long-distance trail that traverses the main part of the reserve, and National Cycle Route 1 loops through the core of the NNR between Holkham and Wells. There is a car park near Holkham village at the north end of Lady Anne's Drive that gives access to two bird hides, and another parking area at the end of Beach Road in Wells. To the east of the Wells Channel, the reserve is mainly salt marshes and mud flats, and is difficult and potentially dangerous to access, although a public footpath runs along the southern edge of these tidal areas.
The salt marshes on this coast are stated in the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification document to be "among the best in Europe ... the flora is exceptionally diverse". Holkham also has good examples of sand dunes, and the pines planted on the dunes have provided shelter for other trees and shrubs to become established, making this the only substantial area of woodland in the North Norfolk Coast SSSI. The dunes are created and altered by the elements, and the sand islands in Holkham Bay have formed only within the last 60 years. The flat ground inland from the dunes is a reclaimed salt marsh that was used as pasture until the 1940s, but converted to arable land during World War II. The value of the fields to wildlife was reduced by the resulting lower water table, but Natural England's management measures have raised the water levels, attracting breeding and wintering birds. Water management can also be used to ensure a high water table in summer, benefiting breeding waders, and drier conditions in winter, preferred by the geese. The management of water levels and grassland increased the number of breeding wetland birds from 120 pairs of ten species in 1986 to 795 pairs of 26 species in 1994, and the number of wintering birds of four key wildfowl species rose from 1,215 to 17,305 in the decade from 1983/84.
## History
Norfolk has a long history of human occupation. Both modern and Neanderthal people were present in the area between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, before the last glaciation, and humans returned as the ice retreated northwards. The archaeological record is poor until about 20,000 years ago, partly because of the then prevailing very cold conditions, but also because the coastline was much further north than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic (10,000–5,000 BCE), the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea. This brought the Norfolk coastline much closer to its present line, so that many ancient sites are now under the sea in an area now known as Doggerland.
The coast at Holkham originally consisted of salt marshes protected from the sea by ridges of shingle and sand. A large Iron Age fort (Holkham Camp) at the end of a sandy spit in the marshes could only be approached along the spit; it enclosed 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) and remained in use until the defeat of the Iceni in 47 AD. The Vikings navigated the tidal creeks to establish Holkham, the name deriving from the Danish for "ship town".
The Holkham Estate has been owned by the Coke family since 1609, and Holkham Hall, built by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester between 1734 and 1764, is opposite the NNR entrance. Until the 17th century, ships could navigate the tidal creeks to reach the staithe (harbour) at Holkham village, but local landowners began to reclaim the marshes from 1639, and the final embankment at Wells was constructed by the 2nd Earl in 1859, completing the conversion of about 800 hectares (2,000 acres) to farmland. The 3rd Earl planted Corsican, maritime and Scots pines on the dunes in the late 19th century to shelter the agricultural land from wind-blown sand, which is carried inland when the wind speed exceeds three metres (10 ft) per second and blows from directions between northwest to northeast.
The Holkham National Nature Reserve was created in 1967 from 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of the Holkham Estate and 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres) of intertidal sand and mud flats belonging to the Crown Estate. In 1986 the NNR was subsumed into the newly created 7,700 hectares (19,000 acres) North Norfolk Coast SSSI. The larger area is now additionally protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar listings, and is part of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The coast from Holkham NNR to Salthouse, together with Scolt Head Island, is a Biosphere Reserve.
## Flora and fauna
### Birds
As many as 50,000 pink-footed geese, 13,000 Eurasian wigeon and 7,000 Brent geese winter at Holkham, making it of international importance for these species. Up to 400 white-fronted geese and a few tundra bean geese may join the wildfowl flocks, and the odd peregrine falcon, short-eared owl, merlin, marsh harrier or hen harrier may hunt over the fields. The shingle banks and foreshore hold wintering flocks of shore larks, snow buntings and twite, and waders like knots, curlews, dunlins and grey plover probe for invertebrates in the mud flats.
Spring migration is relatively quiet, although sightings of ring ouzel and firecrest are possible amongst the more common arrivals. Breeding birds include lapwings, common snipe, pied avocets, common redshanks and marsh harriers on the grazing marshes, ringed plovers and little terns on the beach, and black-headed, herring and lesser black-backed gulls on the salt marsh. The small grey heron colony has been joined by little egrets, and, from 2010, by Eurasian spoonbills. In 2020, a pair of cattle egrets successfully bred at the site, the first time the species had successfully bred in Norfolk. The pines may occasionally have nesting siskins or common crossbills, and parrot crossbills bred in 1984 and 1985.
Holkham's north-facing coastal location can attract large numbers of migrating birds in autumn if the weather conditions are right, especially with north to north-east wind. The common species may be accompanied by a wryneck, red-backed shrike or greenish warbler in August, with goldcrests, thrushes and finches later in the season, and perhaps red-breasted flycatchers and yellow-browed warblers. Vagrant rarities such as Pallas's, Radde's or dusky warblers may occur; a red-breasted nuthatch in 1989 was the first, and, as of 2019, the only individual of its species to be recorded in the UK.
### Other animals and plants
Brown hares and European otters are found all along the north Norfolk coast, but red squirrels disappeared from the Holkham pines by 1981. The rare natterjack toad breeds at Holkham, one of only two sites along this coast, although the common frog, common toad and common lizard are widespread in appropriate habitats.
The green hairstreak, purple hairstreak, comma, hummingbird hawk-moth, broad-bordered bee hawk-moth and ghost moth are sometimes seen in the woods with the common butterfly and moth species, and a clouded yellow or Camberwell beauty may also occur in some years. Grayling, small heath and common blue butterflies can be found in the dunes, where there is also a large antlion colony, making Holkham one of only two locations for this predatory insect in the UK. Dragonflies include the migrant hawker, southern hawker and ruddy darter.
On exposed parts of the coast, the mud and sands are scoured by the tides, and have no vegetation except possibly algae or eelgrass, but where the shoreline is more protected, internationally important salt marshes can form, with several uncommon species. The salt marsh contains glassworts and annual seablite in the most exposed regions, with a succession of plants following on as the marsh becomes more established: first sea aster, then mainly sea lavender, with sea purslane in the creeks and smaller areas of sea plantain and other common marsh plants. Scrubby sea-blite and matted sea lavender are characteristic plants of the drier upper salt marsh here, although they are uncommon in the UK away from the Norfolk coast.
Grasses such as sea couch grass and sea poa grass are important in the driest areas of the marshes, and on the coastal dunes, where marram grass, sand couch-grass, lyme-grass and red fescue help to bind the sand. Sea holly and sand sedge are other specialists of this arid habitat, and petalwort is a nationally rare bryophyte found on damper dunes. Bird's-foot trefoil, pyramidal orchid, bee orchid, lesser centaury and carline thistle flower on the more stable dunes, where the rare Jersey cudweed and grey hair-grass are also found. The narrow 5-km (3-mi) belt of pines shelters creeping lady's tresses and yellow bird's nest.
## Recreation
A 2005 survey at Holkham and five other North Norfolk coastal sites found that 39 per cent of visitors gave birdwatching as the main purpose of their visit. The 7.7 million day visitors and 5.5 million who made overnight stays in the area in 1999 are estimated to have spent £122 million, and created the equivalent of 2,325 full-time jobs. Holkham NNR is one of three sites within the SSSI that attract 100,000 or more visitors annually, the others being Titchwell Marsh and Cley Marshes. The large number of visitors at coastal sites sometimes has negative effects. Wildlife may be disturbed, a frequent difficulty for species that breed in exposed areas such as Ringed Plovers and Little Terns, and also for wintering geese. Plants can be trampled, which is a particular problem in sensitive habitats such as dunes and vegetated shingles. The discovery of the nationally rare tiny earthstar fungus at Holkham led its finders to state that "The survival of this species in Britain would undoubtedly benefit from the construction of a boardwalk across this fragile and frequently-visited habitat."
The Little Tern colony at Holkham, holding seven per cent of the British population, is cordoned off in the breeding season, with signs explaining why people are excluded from the area. The dune vegetation can be damaged by too many people walking over it, leading to blowout, and the rapid wind erosion of the sand. Boardwalks and steps enable visitors to reach the beach on foot without harming the dunes, and horse riders and naturists are asked to stay on the beach and keep off the dunes. As the climate becomes warmer in the future, there is likely to be more tourism pressure on the coasts, but the effects of this may be mitigated by a move towards lower-impact activities like bathing.
The Norfolk Coast Partnership, a grouping of conservation and environmental bodies, divides the coast and its hinterland into three zones for tourism development purposes. Holkham Dunes, along with Holme Dunes and Blakeney Point, were considered to be sensitive habitats already suffering from visitor pressure, and were designated as red-zone areas with no development or parking improvements to be recommended. The rest of the NNR is placed in the orange zone, for locations with fragile habitats but less tourism pressure.
## Threats
The underlying geology of the North Norfolk coast is Cretaceous chalk, exposed at Hunstanton cliffs just to the west of the SSSI, but buried by soft Quaternary glacial debris for the entire length of the SSSI coast. Unlike the soft, rapidly eroding cliffs further east, the coast of the SSSI has shown a less consistent pattern, with a net accretion of beach material between 1880 and 1950. However, this coastline is threatened by climate change, with the sea level rising an estimated 1–2 mm per year for the last 100 years, increasing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
Half the area of the salt marshes that formed in the lee of Scolt Head Island has been reclaimed in the last 300 years, creating ecologically important, but very fragile, grazing marshes. Although Holkham is low-lying and can flood in severe weather conditions, it is protected by the spit that developed at the Holkham Gap in the 1990s and the dunes along the coast, which are increasingly being stabilised by vegetation. The Environment Agency's management plan until 2105 is to rely on the natural protection of the dunes, intervening only if work is necessary to maintain their effectiveness in the face of a potential sea level rise of 1.1 m (3 ft) by that date. The shingle that makes up Scolt Head Island is moving westwards and southwards at up to 3.5 m (10 ft) per year. This may affect the movement of sediment, and lead to some erosion of the dunes and beaches at Holkham, but should not destroy their effectiveness as a sea defence unless the island reattaches to the mainland at some date in the distant future.
## Cited texts |
469,343 | Mandrill | 1,168,767,725 | Species of Old World monkey from Africa | [
"Articles containing video clips",
"Fauna of Central Africa",
"Mammals described in 1758",
"Mammals of Cameroon",
"Mammals of Equatorial Guinea",
"Mammals of Gabon",
"Mammals of the Republic of the Congo",
"Mandrillus",
"Primates of Africa",
"Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus",
"Tool-using mammals",
"Vulnerable animals",
"Vulnerable biota of Africa"
]
| The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males have a larger body, longer canine teeth and brighter coloring. It is the largest monkey in the world. Its closest living relative is the drill with which it shares the genus Mandrillus. Both species were traditionally thought to be baboons, but further evidence has shown that they are more closely related to white-eyelid mangabeys.
Mandrills mainly live in tropical rainforests but will also travel across savannas. They are active during the day and spend most of their time on the ground. Their preferred foods are fruit and seeds, but mandrills will consume leaves, piths, mushrooms, and animals from insects to juvenile antelope. Mandrills live in large, stable groups known as "hordes" which can number in the hundreds. Females form the core of these groups, while adult males are solitary and only reunite with the larger groups during the breeding season. Dominant males have the most vibrant colors and fattest flanks and rumps, and have the most success siring young.
The mandrill is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Its biggest threats are habitat destruction and hunting for bushmeat. Gabon is considered the stronghold for the species. Its habitat has declined in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, while its range in the Republic of the Congo is limited.
## Etymology
The word mandrill is derived from the English words man and drill—the latter meaning or and being West African in origin—and dated to 1744. The name appears to have originally referred to chimpanzees. The first scholar to record the name for the colorful monkey was Georges-Louis Buffon in 1766. It was called the "tufted ape", "great baboon" and "ribbernosed baboon" by Thomas Pennant in A Synopsis of Quadrupeds (1771) and A History of Quadrupeds (1781).
## Taxonomy
The mandrill was first scientifically depicted in Historia animalium (1551–1558) by Conrad Gessner, who considered it a kind of hyena. The species was formally classified by Carl Linnaeus as Simia sphinx in 1758. Its current generic name Mandrillus was coined by Ferdinand Ritgen in 1824.
Historically, some scientists placed the mandrill and the closely related drill (M. leucophaeus) in the baboon genus Papio. Morphological and genetic studies in the late 20th and early 21st centuries found a closer relationship to white-eyelid mangabeys of the genus Cercocebus. Some have even proposed that the mandrill and drill belong to Cercocebus. Two genetic studies in 2011 clarified Mandrillus and Cercocebus as separate sister lineages. The two genera split around 4.5 million years ago (mya) while the mandrill and drill split approximately 3.17 mya. Fossils of Mandrillus have not been found.
Some authorities have divided mandrill populations into subspecies: the northern mandrill (M. s. sphinx) and the southern mandrill (M. s. madarogaster). A proposed third subspecies, M. s. insularis, was based on the mistaken belief that mandrills are present on Bioko Island. The consensus is that mandrills belong to one subspecies (M. s. sphinx).
Cytochrome-b sequences suggest that mandrill populations north and south of the Ogooué River split 800,000 years ago and belong to distinct haplogroups. This divergence appears to have also led to the splitting of the mandrill strain of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The draft (incomplete) genome of the mandrill was published in 2020, with a reported genome size of 2.90 giga–base-pairs and high levels of heterozygosity.
## Appearance
The mandrill has a stocky body with a large head and muzzle, as well as a short and stumpy tail. The limbs are evenly sized and the fingers and toes are more elongated than those in baboons, with a more opposable big toe on the feet. The mandrill is the most sexually dimorphic primate, and it is the largest monkey. Females are less stocky and have shorter, flatter snouts. Males have a 70–95 cm (28–37 in) head-body length and weigh 19–30 kg (42–66 lb) while females have a 55–70 cm (22–28 in) head-body length and weigh 10–15 kg (22–33 lb). Most of the teeth are larger in males and the canine teeth reach up to 4.5 cm (1.8 in) and 1 cm (0.39 in) long for males and females respectively. Both sexes have 7–10 cm (2.8–3.9 in) long tails.
The coat of the mandrill is primarily grizzled or banded olive-brown with a yellow-orange beard and sparse, light hairs on its underside. The lips are surrounded by stiff white whiskers, and white bare skin exists behind the ears. Male mandrills have a "crest" of long hairs on the head and neck, while both sexes have chest glands which are covered by long hairs. The face, rump and genitals have less hair.
Mandrills have a red line running down the middle of their face which connects to their red nose. On either side of the line, the skin is blue and grooved. In males, the blue skin is supported by ridged bone swellings. Females have more subdued facial coloring, but this can vary between individuals with some having stronger red and blue hues and others being darker or almost black. In males, the rump and areas around the genitals are multi-colored, consisting of red, pink, blue and purple skin, with a red penis shaft and violet scrotum. The genital and anal areas of the female are red.
Mandrills are noted for being among the most colorful mammals. Charles Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man: "no other member of the whole class of mammals is coloured in so extraordinary a manner as the adult male mandrill". The red coloration is created by blood vessels near the surface of the skin, while the blue is a form of structural coloration caused by parallel arrangements of collagen fibers. The blue ridges on males contrast with both the red facial hues and the green foliage of their environment, helping them stand out to other individuals. The darker and more subdued coloring of female faces is caused by melanin.
## Ecology
The mandrill lives in west-central Africa, including southern Cameroon, mainland Equatorial Guinea (Río Muni), Gabon and parts of the Republic of the Congo. Its range is bounded by the Sanaga River to the north and the Ogooué and Ivindo Rivers to the east. It does not appear to share habitat with the drill, as the two species are separated by the Sanaga River. Mandrills live in tropical rainforests, generally preferring primary forests over secondary forests. They also live in patchy gallery forests surrounded by savanna and travel across grass areas within their forest habitats. They have also been recorded in mountainous areas, near rivers and in cultivated fields.
Mandrills prefer thick bush dominated by perennial plants like gingers and plants of the genera Brillantaisia and Phaulopsis. They mainly dwell on the ground, but feed as high as the canopy. Both mandrills and drills are more arboreal than baboons. Mandrills may aggregate or compete with other primates such as talapoins, guenons, mangabeys, black-and-white colobuses, chimpanzees and gorillas.
### Feeding
The mandrill is an omnivore. The core of its diet consists of plants, of which it eats over a hundred species. One study found the mandrill's diet was composed of fruit (50.7%), seeds (26.0%), leaves (8.2%), pith (6.8%), flowers (2.7%), and animal matter (4.1%), with other foods making up the remaining 1.4%. During the wet season, mandrills forage in continuous forest, when fruit is most available, while during the dry season they feed in gallery forests and at the borders of savannas and forests.
The mandrill's preferred fruits include those of the cashew species Pseudospondias microcarpa, the coffee species Nauclea diderrichii and the wort species Psorospermum febrifugum. Mandrills consume more seeds than many other primate species. Adult male mandrills are one of the few primates capable of biting through the hard shell of Detarium microcarpum seeds. For vegetation, they mostly eat the young leaves, shoots and piths of monocot plants. In particular, mandrills consume leaves from the arrowroots Haumania liebrechtsiana and Trachyphrynium braunianum, as well as the piths of ginger plants like Renealmia macrocolia and species in the genus Aframomum. They are also known to consume mushrooms.
The rest of a mandrill's diet is largely made up of invertebrates, particularly ants, termites, crickets, spiders, snails, and scorpions. They also eat birds and their eggs, frogs and rodents. Mandrills have been recorded preying on larger vertebrates such as juvenile bay duikers. Such prey is killed with a bite to the head followed by pulling off the hind limbs and tearing open the belly. Individuals may cooperate during hunting and share kills.
### Predators, parasites and pathogens
Leopards may prey on mandrills, as traces of mandrill have been found in their feces. Other potential predators include African rock pythons, crowned eagles and chimpanzees. Leopards are a threat to all individuals, while eagles are only threats to the young. In a study where a mandrill group was exposed to models of leopards and crown eagles, the leopard models tended to cause the mandrills to flee up trees while the eagles were more likely to drive them to take cover. The dominant male did not flee from either model types; in the case of the leopards, he paced around while looking in their direction. Alarm calls were more commonly heard in response to leopards than eagles.
Mandrills can become infected with gastrointestinal parasites, such as nematodes and protozoa. Tumbu fly larvae may live under the skin and individuals that walk though grassland can get infested with ticks. Blood parasites include the malaria-causing Plasmodium and the nematode Loa loa, which is transmitted by bites from deer flies. Wild mandrills have tested positive for SIV, enteroviruses of the species EV-J and astroviruses, including a human variant.
## Behavior and life history
Mandrills are mostly diurnal and are awake around 10 hours per day from morning to dusk. They often pick a new tree to sleep in every night. Mandrills have been observed using tools; in captivity, they use sticks to clean themselves. In the wild, mandrills appear to live 12–14 years, but captive individuals can live 30–40 years.
### Social structure
Mandrills live in large "supergroups" or "hordes" that can contain hundreds of individuals. These large groups are fairly stable and do not appear to be gatherings of smaller ones. At Lopé National Park, Gabon, mandrill hordes were found to have an average of 620 individuals, and some groups were as large as 845, making them possibly the largest cohesive groups of wild primates. Another study in Lopé found that a horde of 625 mandrills consisted of 21 dominant males, 71 less dominant and subadult males, 247 adult and adolescent females, 200 juveniles, and 86 dependent infants. A mandrill horde of around 700 individuals in northern Lopé had a total home range of 182 km<sup>2</sup> (70 sq mi), 89 km<sup>2</sup> (34 sq mi) of which was suitable habitat. The supergroup would occasionally diverge into two to four subgroups before reuniting. Another 15-month long study of a 120 member group found a home range of 8.6 km<sup>2</sup> (3.3 sq mi) with an average traveling distance of 2.42 km (1.50 mi) per day.
Hordes consist of matrilineal family groups, and females are important for maintaining social cohesion. Strong connections with their relatives may lead to support during conflicts, higher survival rate of offspring and a longer lifespan for females. Dominant females are at the center of the group network and their removal leads to fewer social connections in the group. The social rank of a mother mandrill can contribute to the social rank of both her female and male offspring. Mature males are not permanent members of hordes but join as females become sexually receptive and leave as their sexual cycle ends. As a result, the coloration of the male mandrill may be intended to attract attention in a social structure with no long-term relationships between mates. Higher ranking males are found in the center of a social group while lower ranking males are more likely to occupy the periphery. Females have some control over the males and coalitions can expel an unwanted male from a group. Outside the breeding season, males are believed to lead a solitary life and all-male bachelor groups are not known to exist.
Both male and female mandrills rub and mark trees and branches with secretions from their chest glands, though males (and especially dominant males) mark more than females. The chemicals in the secretions signal the individual's sex, age and rank. Scent-marking may also serve a territorial function, captive alpha males will mark enclosure boundaries. Mandrills will groom one another, even when there is no benefit to be gained from doing so. During grooming, subordinates prefer to pick at other mandrills from behind, in order to minimize eye contact and give them more time to flee if the more dominant individual attacks. The recipients of grooming will try to maneuver the groomer to pick at more "risky" areas.
### Reproduction and development
Dominant or alpha male mandrills have the most mating success. Upon gaining alpha status, males develop larger testicles, redder faces and posteriors, more secretion from the chest glands and fatter sides and rumps. When a male loses dominance, these physiological changes are at least partially reversed. The blue facial skin is more consistent in brightness. Higher ranking males tend to have more contrast between red and blue facial coloring. Due to their distribution of fat, dominant males are also known as "fatted" males while subordinate males are known as "non-fatted" males. Canine length also correlates with dominance, and males are less likely to sire offspring when their canines are under 30 mm (1.2 in). In some individuals, the development of secondary sexual characteristics is suppressed in response to competition from other males. Male mandrills tend to establish dominance with vocalizations and facial expressions, rather than fighting.
Mating occurs mostly during the dry season, with female ovulation peaking between June and September. Receptive females have sexual swellings on their posteriors, and the red facial coloration can communicate age and fertility. Males also appear to detect a female's reproductive state using the vomeronasal organ (known as the flehmen response). Dominant males try to monopolize access to females by mate guarding, which involves the male tending to and copulating with a female for days. Dominant males tend to sire most of the offspring, but they are less able to monopolize access to the females when many females reach estrus at the same time. A subordinate male is also more likely to have reproductive success if he is closely related to an alpha male. An ovulating female tends to allow the brightest colored males to come near her and touch her perineum, and is more likely to groom and solicit them. The female signals her willingness to mate by positioning her posterior towards the male. Intercourse lasts no more than 60 seconds, with the male mounting the female and making pelvic thrusts.
Mandrill gestation lasts an average of 175 days with most births taking place between January and March, during the wet season. Gaps in between births range from 184 to 1,159 days with an average of 405 days. and tend to be shorter in higher ranking females. Infants are born at an average weight of 640 g (23 oz), and mostly bare-skinned with some white hair and a tuft of dark hair on the head and along the spine. Over the next two or three months, they develop their adult hair color on the body, limbs and head while the flesh-colored face and snout darken. Dependent infants are carried on their mothers' bellies. Young are typically weaned at around 230 days old. Males become more sexually dimorphic between four and eight years old, at which point females are already beginning to give birth. Males start leaving their horde after they reach six years old. Females reach their adult size around seven years while males do so at ten years.
### Communication
Mandrills communicate with various facial expressions and postures. Threat displays involve open mouth staring, usually in combination with head bobbing, ground slapping and raised hair. These gestures are usually performed by dominant individuals towards subordinates, who respond with bared teeth grimaces, signaling fear and aggression. Both young and low-ranking females show submission and anxiety with a pouting "duck face". Playful intentions are communicated with a relaxed open-mouth face. Males approaching females display a "grin" or silent bared-teeth face and make lip-smacks. This display may also occur with teeth-chattering. Mandrills can develop and pass on new gestures; captive individuals at the Colchester Zoo, England facepalm to discourage being disturbed, particularly while resting.
Mandrills also produce several vocalizations, for both long and short distances. During group movements, adult males produce two-phase grunts and one-syllable roars, both of which are equivalent to the "wahoo" bark of baboons. Other group members produce "crowings", which last almost two seconds and start as a vibration and transition into a longer harmonic sound. Short distance vocals include the "yak", a sharp, repeating, pulse-like call produced by all individuals except for adult males and made in tense situations. Mandrills may also grunt during aggressive encounters. Growls are used to express mild alarm while intense alarms come in the form of a short, two-syllable sharp call known as the "k-alarm". A sharp, loud "K-sound" is produced for unknown reasons. Screaming is a signal of fear and made by individuals fleeing, while the girney, a type of moan or purr, is made as a form of appeasement or frustration among females and young. Individual voices are more similar among related animals, but unrelated mandrills can have similar voices if they regularly interact.
## Threats and conservation
As of 2019, the IUCN Red List lists the mandrill as vulnerable. Its total population is unknown but is suspected to have decreased by more than 30 percent over the last 24 years. Its main threats are habitat destruction and hunting for bushmeat. The mandrill appears to have suffered massive habitat loss in Equatorial Guinea and southern Cameroon, while its range in the Republic of the Congo is limited and its status is unknown. In addition, while mandrills live in groups numbering in the hundreds, hunting in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea appears to have led to smaller group sizes. Gabon is seen as the most important remaining refuge for the species, and the country's low population density and vast rainforests make it a good candidate for mandrill conservation. Surveys have shown high population numbers for other primate species like chimpanzees and gorillas. A semi-wild population exists at the International Centre of Medical Research of Franceville.
The mandrill is listed under Appendix I by CITES, banning commercial trade in wild-caught specimens, and under Class B by the African Convention, which provides them protection but allows special authorization for their killing, capturing or collecting. There is at least one protected area for mandrills within each of the countries they inhabit. In Gabon, most of the rainforests have been leased to timber companies but around 10 percent is part of a national parks system, 13 of which were established in 2002. |
65,626 | Peterloo Massacre | 1,172,225,098 | 1819 killing by British troops in Manchester | [
"1819 in England",
"19th century in Manchester",
"19th-century military history of the United Kingdom",
"August 1819 events",
"Battles involving Lancashire",
"Conflicts in 1819",
"Electoral reform in the United Kingdom",
"History of Manchester",
"Massacres committed by the United Kingdom",
"Massacres in 1819",
"Massacres in England",
"Military history of Manchester",
"Peterloo massacre",
"Political history of the United Kingdom",
"Political scandals in the United Kingdom",
"Protests in the United Kingdom",
"Riots and civil disorder in Manchester"
]
| The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Eighteen people died and 400–700 were injured when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, there was an acute economic slump, accompanied by chronic unemployment and harvest failure due to the Year Without a Summer, and worsened by the Corn Laws, which kept the price of bread high. At that time, only around 11 percent of adult males had the vote, very few of them in the industrial north of England, which was worst hit. Reformers identified parliamentary reform as the solution, and a mass campaign to petition parliament for manhood suffrage gained three-quarters of a million signatures in 1817 but was flatly rejected by the House of Commons. When a second slump occurred in early 1819, radical reformers sought to mobilise huge crowds to force the government to back down. The movement was particularly strong in the north-west, where the Manchester Patriotic Union organised a mass rally in August 1819, addressed by well-known radical orator Henry Hunt.
Shortly after the meeting began, local magistrates called on the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry to arrest Hunt and several others on the platform with him. The Yeomanry charged into the crowd, knocking down a woman and killing a child, and finally apprehended Hunt. Cheshire Magistrates' chairman William Hulton then summoned the 15th Hussars to disperse the crowd. They charged with sabres drawn, and contemporary accounts estimated that between nine and seventeen people were killed and 400 to 700 injured in the ensuing confusion. The event was first labelled the "Peterloo massacre" by the radical Manchester Observer newspaper in a bitterly ironic reference to the bloody Battle of Waterloo which had taken place four years earlier.
Historian Robert Poole has called the Peterloo Massacre "the bloodiest political event of the 19th century in English soil", and "a political earthquake in the northern powerhouse of the industrial revolution". The London and national papers shared the horror felt in the Manchester region, but Peterloo's immediate effect was to cause the government to pass the Six Acts, which were aimed at suppressing any meetings for the purpose of radical reform. It also led indirectly to the foundation of the Manchester Guardian newspaper. In a survey conducted by The Guardian (the modern iteration of the Manchester Guardian) in 2006, Peterloo came second to the Putney Debates as the event from radical British history that most deserved a proper monument or a memorial.
For some time, Peterloo was commemorated only by a blue plaque, criticised as being inadequate and referring only to the "dispersal by the military" of an assembly. In 2007, the city council replaced the blue plaque with a red plaque referring to "a peaceful rally" being "attacked by armed cavalry" and mentioning "15 deaths and over 600 injuries". In 2019, on the 200th anniversary of the massacre, Manchester City Council inaugurated a new Peterloo Memorial by the artist Jeremy Deller, featuring eleven concentric circles of local stone engraved with the names of the dead and the places from which the victims came.
## Background
### Suffrage
In 1819, Lancashire was represented by two county members of parliament (MPs) and a further twelve borough members sitting for the towns of Clitheroe, Newton, Wigan, Lancaster, Liverpool, and Preston, with a total of 17,000 voters in a county population of nearly a million. Thanks to deals by Whig and Tory parties to carve up the seats between them, most had not seen a contested election within living memory.
Nationally, the so-called rotten boroughs had a hugely disproportionate influence on the membership of the Parliament of the United Kingdom compared to the size of their populations: Old Sarum in Wiltshire, with one voter, elected two MPs, as did Dunwich in Suffolk, which by the early 19th century had almost completely disappeared into the sea. The major urban centres of Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Blackburn, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham and Stockport had no MPs of their own, and only a few hundred county voters. By comparison, more than half of all MPs were returned by a total of just 154 owners of rotten or closed boroughs. In 1816, Thomas Oldfield's The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland; being a History of the House of Commons, and of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs of the United Kingdom from the earliest Period claimed that of the 515 MPs for England and Wales 351 were returned by the patronage of 177 individuals and a further 16 by the direct patronage of the government: all 45 Scottish MPs owed their seats to patronage. These inequalities in political representation led to calls for reform.
### Economic conditions
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, a brief boom in textile manufacture was followed by periods of chronic economic depression, particularly among cotton textile weavers and spinners. The cotton textile trade was concentrated in Lancashire and the wool textile trade was concentrated over the border in West and North Yorkshire. Weavers who could have expected to earn 15 shillings for a six-day week in 1803, saw their wages cut to 5 shillings or even 4s 6d by 1818. The industrialists, who were cutting wages without offering relief, blamed market forces generated by the aftershocks of the Napoleonic Wars. Exacerbating matters were the Corn Laws, the first of which was passed in 1815, imposing a tariff on foreign grain in an effort to protect English grain producers. The cost of food rose as people were forced to buy the more expensive and lower quality British grain, and periods of famine and chronic unemployment ensued, increasing the desire for political reform both in Lancashire and in the country at large.
### Radical mass meetings in Manchester
In the winter of 1816–17 massed reform petitions were rejected by the House of Commons, the largest of them from Manchester with over 30,000 signatures. On 10 March 1817 a crowd of 5,000 gathered in St Peter's Fields to send some of their number to march to London to petition the Prince Regent to force parliament into reform; the so-called 'blanket march', after the blankets which the protesters carried with them to sleep in on the way. After the magistrates read the Riot Act, the crowd was dispersed without injury by the King's Dragoon Guards. The ringleaders were detained for several months without charge under the emergency powers then in force, which suspended habeas corpus, the right to be either charged or released. In September 1818 three former leading Blanketeers were again arrested for allegedly urging striking weavers in Stockport to demand their political rights, 'sword in hand', and were convicted of sedition and conspiracy at Chester Assizes in April 1819.
By the beginning of 1819, pressure generated by poor economic conditions was at its peak and had enhanced the appeal of political radicalism among the cotton loom weavers of south Lancashire. In January 1819, a crowd of about 10,000 gathered at St Peter's Fields to hear the radical orator Henry Hunt and called on the Prince Regent to choose ministers who would repeal the Corn Laws. The meeting, conducted in the presence of the cavalry, passed off without incident, apart from the collapse of the hustings.
A series of mass meetings in the Manchester region, Birmingham, and London over the next few months alarmed the government. "Your country [i.e. county] will not be tranquillised until blood shall have been shed, either by the law or the sword", the Home Secretary wrote to the Lancashire magistrates in March. Over the next few months the government worked to find a legal justification for the magistrates to send in troops to disperse a meeting when riot was expected but not actually begun. In July 1819, the magistrates wrote to Lord Sidmouth warning they thought a "general rising" was imminent, the "deep distress of the manufacturing classes" was being worked on by the "unbounded liberty of the press" and "the harangues of a few desperate demagogues" at weekly meetings. "Possessing no power to prevent the meetings" the magistrates admitted they were at a loss as to how to stem the doctrines being disseminated. The Home Office assured them privately that in "an extreme case a magistrate may feel it incumbent upon him to act even without evidence, and to rely on Parliament for an indemnity."
### August meeting
Against this background, a "great assembly" was organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union formed by radicals from the Manchester Observer. Johnson, the union's secretary, wrote to Henry Hunt asking him to chair a meeting in Manchester on 2 August 1819. Johnson wrote:
> Nothing but ruin and starvation stare one in the face [in the streets of Manchester and the surrounding towns], the state of this district is truly dreadful, and I believe nothing but the greatest exertions can prevent an insurrection. Oh, that you in London were prepared for it.
Unknown to Johnson and Hunt, the letter was intercepted by government spies and copied before being sent to its destination, confirming the government's belief that an armed rising was planned.
The mass public meeting planned for 2 August was delayed until 9 August. The Manchester Observer reported it was called "to take into consideration the most speedy and effectual mode of obtaining Radical reform in the Common House of Parliament" and "to consider the propriety of the 'Unrepresented Inhabitants of Manchester' electing a person to represent them in Parliament". The government's legal advice was that to elect a representative without a royal writ for an election was a criminal offence, and the magistrates decided to declare the meeting illegal.
On 3 August however the Home Office conveyed to the magistrates the view of the Attorney-General that it was not the intention to elect an MP that was illegal, but the execution of that intention. It advised against any attempt to forcibly prevent the 9 August meeting unless there was an actual riot:
> even if they should utter sedition or proceed to the election of a representative Lord Sidmouth is of opinion that it will be the wisest course to abstain from any endeavour to disperse the mob, unless they should proceed to acts of felony or riot. We have the strongest reason to believe that Hunt means to preside and to deprecate disorder.
The radicals' own legal advice however urged caution, and so the meeting was accordingly cancelled and rearranged for 16 August, with its declared aim solely "to consider the propriety of adopting the most LEGAL and EFFECTUAL means of obtaining a reform in the Common House of Parliament".
Samuel Bamford, a local radical who led the Middleton contingent, wrote that "It was deemed expedient that this meeting should be as morally effective as possible, and, that it should exhibit a spectacle such as had never before been witnessed in England." Instructions were given to the various committees forming the contingents that "Cleanliness, Sobriety, Order and Peace" and a "prohibition of all weapons of offence or defence" were to be observed throughout the demonstration. Each contingent was drilled and rehearsed in the fields of the towns around Manchester adding to the concerns of the authorities. A royal proclamation forbidding the practice of drilling had been posted in Manchester on 3 August but on 9 August an informant reported to Rochdale magistrates that at Tandle Hill the previous day, 700 men were "drilling in companies" and "going through the usual evolutions of a regiment" and an onlooker had said the men "were fit to contend with any regular troops, only they wanted arms". The magistrates were convinced that the situation was indeed an emergency which would justify pre-emptive action, as the Home Office had previously explained, and set about lining up dozens of local loyalist gentlemen to swear the necessary oaths that they believed the town to be in danger.
## Assembly
### Preparations
St Peter's Field was a piece of land alongside Mount Street which was being cleared to enable the last section of Peter Street to be constructed. Piles of timber lay at the end of the field nearest to the Friends Meeting House, but the remainder of the field was clear. Thomas Worrell, Manchester's Assistant Surveyor of Paving, arrived to inspect the field at 7:00 am. His job was to remove anything that might be used as a weapon, and he duly had "about a quarter of a load" of stones carted away.
Monday, 16 August 1819, was a hot summer's day, with a cloudless blue sky. The fine weather almost certainly increased the size of the crowd significantly; marching from the outer townships in the cold and rain would have been a much less attractive prospect.
The Manchester magistrates met at 9:00 am, to breakfast at the Star Inn on Deansgate and to consider what action they should take on Henry Hunt's arrival at the meeting. By 10:30 am they had come to no conclusions, and moved to a house on the southeastern corner of St Peter's Field, from where they planned to observe the meeting. They were concerned that it would end in a riot, or even a rebellion, and had arranged for a substantial number of regular troops and militia yeomanry to be deployed. The military presence comprised 600 men of the 15th Hussars; several hundred infantrymen; a Royal Horse Artillery unit with two six-pounder guns; 400 men of the Cheshire Yeomanry; 400 special constables; and 120 cavalry of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry. The Manchester & Salford Yeomanry were relatively inexperienced militia recruited from among local shopkeepers and tradesmen, the most numerous of which were publicans. Recently mocked by the Manchester Observer as "generally speaking, the fawning dependents of the great, with a few fools and a greater proportion of coxcombs, who imagine they acquire considerable importance by wearing regimentals," they were subsequently variously described as "younger members of the Tory party in arms", and as "hot-headed young men, who had volunteered into that service from their intense hatred of Radicalism." Socialist writer Mark Krantz has described them as "the local business mafia on horseback". R J White described them as "exclusively cheesemongers, ironmongers and newly enriched manufacturers, (who) the people of Manchester ... thought ... a joke."
The British Army in the north was under the overall command of General Sir John Byng. When he had initially learned that the meeting was scheduled for 2 August he wrote to the Home Office stating that he hoped the Manchester magistrates would show firmness on the day:
> I will be prepared to go there, and will have in that neighbourhood, that is within an easy day's march, 8 squadron of cavalry, 18 companies of infantry and the guns. I am sure I can add to the Yeomanry if requisite. I hope therefore the civil authorities will not be deterred from doing their duty.
He then excused himself from attendance, however, as the meeting on the 9th clashed with the horse races at York, a fashionable event at which Byng had entries in two races. He wrote to the Home Office, saying that although he would still be prepared to be in command in Manchester on the day of the meeting if it was thought really necessary, he had absolute confidence in his deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange. The postponement to 16 August made it possible for Byng to attend after the races but he chose not to, having had enough of dealing with the Manchester magistrates. He had dealt firmly and bloodlessly with the blanketeers two years before; L'Estrange was to exhibit no such qualities of command.
### Meeting
The crowd that gathered in St Peter's Field arrived in disciplined and organised contingents. Contingents were sent from all around the region, the largest and "best dressed" of which was a group of 10,000 who had travelled from Oldham Green, comprising people from Oldham, Royton (which included a sizeable female section), Crompton, Lees, Saddleworth and Mossley. Other sizeable contingents marched from Middleton and Rochdale (6,000 strong) and Stockport (1,500–5,000 strong). Reports of the size of the crowd at the meeting vary substantially. Contemporaries estimated it from 30,000 to as many as 150,000; modern estimates have been 50,000–80,000. Recent work however has reduced these numbers. A reasonably reliable count of the numbers on the various marches indicates a total of around 20,000 who came in from outside Manchester, but the number who attended informally from Manchester and Salford is much harder to estimate. Bush argues from the casualty figures that two-thirds were from Manchester and Salford, suggesting a total crowd of 50,000, but Poole revises this to a half, bringing the total down to 40,000. Steele's estimate of the capacity of the ground suggests 30,000 which, if correct, lowers the attendance but raises the casualty rate.
The assembly was intended by its organisers to be a peaceful meeting; Henry Hunt had exhorted everyone attending to come "armed with no other weapon but that of a self-approving conscience", and many were wearing their "Sunday best" clothes. Samuel Bamford recounts the following incident, which occurred as the Middleton contingent reached the outskirts of Manchester:
> On the bank of an open field on our left I perceived a gentleman observing us attentively. He beckoned me, and I went to him. He was one of my late employers. He took my hand, and rather concernedly, but kindly, said he hoped no harm was intended by all those people who were coming in. I said "I would pledge my life for their entire peaceableness." I asked him to notice them, "did they look like persons wishing to outrage the law? were they not, on the contrary, evidently heads of decent working families? or members of such families?" "No, no," I said, "my dear sir, and old respected master, if any wrong or violence take place, they will be committed by men of a different stamp from these." He said he was very glad to hear me say so; he was happy he had seen me, and gratified by the manner in which I had expressed myself. I asked, did he think we should be interrupted at the meeting? he said he did not believe we should; "then," I replied, "all will be well"; and shaking hands, with mutual good wishes, I left him, and took my station as before.
Although William Robert Hay, chairman of the Salford Hundred Quarter Sessions, claimed that "The active part of the meeting may be said to have come in wholly from the country", others such as John Shuttleworth, a local cotton dealer, estimated that most were from Manchester, a view that would subsequently be supported by the casualty lists. Of the casualties whose residence was recorded, sixty-one per cent lived within a three-mile radius of the centre of Manchester. Some groups carried banners with texts like "No Corn Laws", "Annual Parliaments", "Universal suffrage" and "Vote By Ballot". The first female reform societies were established in the textile areas in 1819 and women from the Manchester Female Reform Society, dressed in white, accompanied Hunt to the platform. The society's president Mary Fildes rode in Hunt's carriage carrying its flag. The only banner known to have survived is in Middleton Public Library; it was carried by Thomas Redford, who was injured by a yeomanry sabre. Made of green silk embossed with gold lettering, one side of the banner is inscribed "Liberty and Fraternity" and the other "Unity and Strength." It is the world's oldest political banner.
At about noon, several hundred special constables were led onto the field. They formed two lines in the crowd a few yards apart, in an attempt to form a corridor through the crowd between the house where the magistrates were watching and the hustings, two wagons lashed together. Believing that this might be intended as the route by which the magistrates would later send their representatives to arrest the speakers, some members of the crowd pushed the wagons away from the constables, and pressed around the hustings to form a human barrier.
Hunt's carriage arrived at the meeting shortly after 1:00 pm, and he made his way to the hustings. Alongside Hunt on the speakers' stand were John Knight, a cotton manufacturer and reformer, Joseph Johnson, the organiser of the meeting, John Thacker Saxton, managing editor of the Manchester Observer, the publisher Richard Carlile, and George Swift, reformer and shoemaker. There were also a number of reporters, including John Tyas of The Times, John Smith of the Liverpool Mercury and Edward Baines Jr, the son of the editor of the Leeds Mercury. By this time St Peter's Field, an area of 14,000 sq yd (11,700 m<sup>2</sup>), was packed with tens of thousands of men, women and children. The crowd around the speakers was so dense that "their hats seemed to touch"; large groups of curious spectators gathered on the outskirts of the crowd.
## Cavalry charge
William Hulton, the chairman of the magistrates watching from the house on the edge of St Peter's Field, saw the enthusiastic reception that Hunt received on his arrival at the assembly, and it encouraged him to action. He issued an arrest warrant for Henry Hunt, Joseph Johnson, John Knight, and James Moorhouse. On being handed the warrant the Constable, Jonathan Andrews, offered his opinion that the press of the crowd surrounding the hustings would make military assistance necessary for its execution. Hulton then wrote two letters, one to Major Thomas Trafford, the commanding officer of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry, and the other to the overall military commander in Manchester, Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange. The contents of both notes were similar:
> Sir, as chairman of the select committee of magistrates, I request you to proceed immediately to no. 6 Mount Street, where the magistrates are assembled. They consider the Civil Power wholly inadequate to preserve the peace. I have the honour, & c. Wm. Hulton.
The notes were handed to two horsemen who were standing by. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry were stationed just a short distance away in Portland Street, and so received their note first. They immediately drew their swords and galloped towards St Peter's Field. One trooper, in a frantic attempt to catch up, knocked down Ann Fildes in Cooper Street, causing the death of her son when he was thrown from her arms; two-year-old William Fildes was the first casualty of Peterloo.
Sixty cavalrymen of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, led by Captain Hugh Hornby Birley, a local factory owner, arrived at the house from where the magistrates were watching; some reports allege that they were drunk. Andrews, the Chief Constable, instructed Birley that he had an arrest warrant which he needed assistance to execute. Birley was asked to take his cavalry to the hustings to allow the speakers to be removed; it was by then about 1:40 pm.
The route towards the hustings between the special constables was narrow, and as the inexperienced horses were thrust further and further into the crowd they reared and plunged as people tried to get out of their way. The arrest warrant had been given to the Deputy Constable, Joseph Nadin, who followed behind the yeomanry. As the cavalry pushed towards the speakers' stand they became stuck in the crowd, and in panic started to hack about them with their sabres. On his arrival at the stand Nadin arrested Hunt, Johnson and a number of others including John Tyas, the reporter from The Times. Their mission to execute the arrest warrant having been achieved, the yeomanry set about destroying the banners and flags on the stand. According to Tyas, the yeomanry then attempted to reach flags in the crowd "cutting most indiscriminately to the right and to the left to get at them" – only then (said Tyas) were brickbats thrown at the military: "From this point the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry lost all command of temper". From his vantage point William Hulton perceived the unfolding events as an assault on the yeomanry, and on L'Estrange's arrival at 1:50 pm, at the head of his hussars, he ordered them into the field to disperse the crowd with the words: "Good God, Sir, don't you see they are attacking the Yeomanry; disperse the meeting!" The 15th Hussars formed themselves into a line stretching across the eastern end of St Peter's Field, and charged into the crowd. At about the same time the Cheshire Yeomanry charged from the southern edge of the field. At first the crowd had some difficulty in dispersing, as the main exit route into Peter Street was blocked by the 88th Regiment of Foot, standing with bayonets fixed. One officer of the 15th Hussars was heard trying to restrain the by now out of control Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, who were "cutting at every one they could reach": "For shame! For shame! Gentlemen: forbear, forbear! The people cannot get away!"
On the other hand, Lieutenant Jolliffe of the 15th Hussars said "It was then for the first time that I saw the Manchester troop of Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater part of the Field, literally hemmed up and powerless either to make an impression or to escape; in fact, they were in the power of those whom they were designed to overawe and it required only a glance to discover their helpless position, and the necessity of our being brought to their rescue" Further Jolliffe asserted that "... nine out of ten of the sabre wounds were caused by the Hussars ... however, the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude."
Within ten minutes the crowd had been dispersed, at the cost of 11 dead and more than 600 injured. Only the wounded, their helpers, and the dead were left behind; a woman living nearby said she saw "a very great deal of blood." For some time afterwards there was rioting in the streets, most seriously at New Cross, where troops fired on a crowd attacking a shop belonging to someone rumoured to have taken one of the women reformers' flags as a souvenir. Peace was not restored in Manchester until the next morning, and in Stockport and Macclesfield rioting continued on the 17th. There was also a major riot in Oldham that day, during which one person was shot and wounded.
## Victims
The exact number of those killed and injured at Peterloo has never been established with certainty, for there was no official count or inquiry and many injured people fled to safety without reporting their injuries or seeking treatment. The Manchester Relief Committee, a body set up to provide relief for the victims of Peterloo, gave the number of injured as 420, while Radical sources listed 500. The true number is difficult to estimate, as many of the wounded hid their injuries for fear of retribution by the authorities. Three of William Marsh's six children worked in the factory belonging to Captain Hugh Birley of the Manchester Yeomanry, and lost their jobs because their father had attended the meeting. James Lees was admitted to Manchester Infirmary with two severe sabre wounds to the head, but was refused treatment and sent home after refusing to agree with the surgeon's insistence that "he had had enough of Manchester meetings."
A particular feature of the meeting at Peterloo was the number of women present. Female reform societies had been formed in North West England during June and July 1819, the first in Britain. Many of the women were dressed distinctively in white, and some formed all-female contingents, carrying their own flags. Of the 654 recorded casualties, at least 168 were women, four of whom died either at St Peter's Field or later as a result of their wounds. It has been estimated that less than 12 per cent of the crowd was made up of women, suggesting that they were at significantly greater risk of injury than men by a factor of almost 3:1. Richard Carlile claimed that the women were especially targeted, a view apparently supported by the large number who suffered from wounds caused by weapons. A recently unearthed set of 70 victims' petitions in the parliamentary archives reveals some shocking tales of ferocity, including the accounts of the female reformers Mary Fildes, who carried the flag on the platform, and Elizabeth Gaunt, who suffered a miscarriage following ill-treatment during eleven days' detention without trial.
Eleven of the fatalities listed occurred on St Peter's Field. Others, such as John Lees of Oldham, died later of their wounds, and some like Joshua Whitworth were killed in the rioting that followed the crowd's dispersal from the field. Bush puts the fatalities at 18 and Poole supports this figure, albeit a slightly different 18 based on new information. It is these 18 whose names are carved on the 2019 memorial, including the unborn child of Elizabeth Gaunt.
## Reaction and aftermath
### Public
The Peterloo Massacre has been called one of the defining moments of its age. Many of those present at the massacre, including local masters, employers and owners, were horrified by the carnage. One of the casualties, Oldham cloth-worker and ex-soldier John Lees, who died from his wounds on 9 September, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Shortly before his death he said to a friend that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man but there it was downright murder." When news of the massacre began to spread, the population of Manchester and surrounding districts was horrified and outraged.
After the events at Peterloo, many commemorative items such as plates, jugs, handkerchiefs and medals were produced; they were carried by radical supporters and may also have been sold to raise money for the injured. The People's History Museum in Manchester has one of these Peterloo handkerchiefs on display. All the mementos carried the iconic image of Peterloo; cavalrymen with swords drawn riding down and slashing at defenceless civilians. The reverse of the Peterloo medal carried a Biblical text, derived from Psalm 37:14:
> The wicked have drawn out the sword, they have cast down the poor and needy and such as be of upright conversation.
Peterloo was the first public meeting at which journalists from important, distant newspapers were present and within a day or so of the event, accounts were published in London, Leeds and Liverpool. The London and national papers shared the horror felt in the Manchester region, and the feeling of indignation throughout the country became intense. James Wroe, editor of the Manchester Observer, was the first to describe the incident as the "Peterloo Massacre", coining his headline by creating the ironic portmanteau from St Peter's Field and the Battle of Waterloo that had taken place four years earlier. He also wrote pamphlets entitled "The Peterloo Massacre: A Faithful Narrative of the Events". Priced at 2d each, they sold out every print run for 14 weeks and had a large national circulation. Sir Francis Burdett, a reformist MP, was jailed for three months for publishing a seditious libel.
Percy Bysshe Shelley was in Italy and did not hear of the massacre until 5 September. His poem The Masque of Anarchy, subtitled Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester, was sent for publication in the radical periodical The Examiner, but because of restrictions on the radical press it was not published until 1832, ten years after the poet's death.
### Political
The immediate effect of Peterloo was a crackdown on reform. The government instructed the police and courts to go after the journalists, presses and publication of the Manchester Observer. Wroe was arrested and charged with producing a seditious publication. Found guilty he was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined £100. Outstanding court cases against the Manchester Observer were rushed through the courts and a continual change of sub-editors was not sufficient defence against a series of police raids, often on the suspicion that someone was writing a radical article. The Manchester Observer closed in February 1820.
Hunt and eight others were tried at York Assizes on 16 March 1820, charged with sedition. After a two-week trial, five defendants were found guilty, on a single one of the seven charges. Hunt was sentenced to 30 months in Ilchester Gaol; Bamford, Johnson, and Healey were given one year each, and Knight was jailed for two years on a subsequent charge. A civil case on behalf of a weaver wounded at Peterloo was brought against four members of the Manchester Yeomanry, Captain Birley, Captain Withington, Trumpeter Meagher, and Private Oliver, at Lancaster Assizes, on 4 April 1822. All were acquitted, as the court ruled their actions had been justified to disperse an illegal gathering and that the murders were nothing more than self-defense.
The government declared its support for the actions taken by the magistrates and the army. The Manchester magistrates held a supposedly public meeting on 19 August, so that resolutions supporting the action they had taken three days before could be published. Cotton merchants Archibald Prentice (later editor of The Manchester Times) and Absalom Watkin (a later corn-law reformer), both members of the Little Circle, organised a petition of protest against the violence at St Peter's Field and the validity of the magistrates' meeting. Within a few days it had collected 4,800 signatures. Nevertheless, the Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, on 27 August conveyed to the magistrates the thanks of the Prince Regent for their action in the "preservation of the public peace." That public exoneration was met with fierce anger and criticism. During a debate at Hopkins Street Robert Wedderburn declared "The Prince is a fool with his Wonderful letters of thanks ... What is the Prince Regent or King to us, we want no King – he is no use to us." In an open letter, Richard Carlile said:
> Unless the Prince calls his ministers to account and relieved his people, he would surely be deposed and make them all REPUBLICANS, despite all adherence to ancient and established institutions.
For a few months following Peterloo it seemed to the authorities that the country was heading towards an armed rebellion. Encouraging them in that belief were two abortive uprisings, in Huddersfield and Burnley, the Yorkshire West Riding Revolt, during the autumn of 1820, and the discovery and foiling of the Cato Street conspiracy to blow up the cabinet that winter. By the end of the year, the government had introduced legislation, later known as the Six Acts, to suppress radical meetings and publications, and by the end of 1820 every significant working-class radical reformer was in jail; civil liberties had declined to an even lower level than they were before Peterloo. Historian Robert Reid has written that "it is not fanciful to compare the restricted freedoms of the British worker in the post-Peterloo period in the early nineteenth century with those of the black South African in the post-Sharpeville period of the late twentieth century."
The Peterloo Massacre also influenced the naming of the 1821 Cinderloo Uprising in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield of east Shropshire. The uprising saw 3,000 protesting workers confronted by the Shropshire Yeomanry, leading to the deaths of 3 crowd members.
One direct consequence of Peterloo was the foundation of the Manchester Guardian newspaper in 1821, by the Little Circle group of non-conformist Manchester businessmen headed by John Edward Taylor, a witness to the massacre. The prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would "zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty ... warmly advocate the cause of Reform ... endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and ... support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, all serviceable measures."
Events such as the Pentrich rising, the March of the Blanketeers and the Spa Fields meeting, all serve to indicate the breadth, diversity and widespread geographical scale of the demand for economic and political reform at the time. Peterloo had no effect on the speed of reform, but in due course all but one of the reformers' demands, annual parliaments, were met. Following the Great Reform Act of 1832, the newly created Manchester parliamentary borough elected its first two MPs. Five candidates including William Cobbett stood, and the Whigs, Charles Poulett Thomson and Mark Philips, were elected. Manchester became a Municipal Borough in 1838, and the manorial rights were purchased by the borough council in 1846.
On the other hand, R. J. White has affirmed the true significance of Peterloo as marking the point of final conversion of provincial England to the struggle for enfranchisement of the working class. "The ship which had tacked and lain for so long among the shoals and shallows of Luddism, hunger-marching, strikes and sabotage, was coming to port"; "Henceforth, the people were to stand with ever greater fortitude behind that great movement, which, stage by stage throughout the nineteenth century, was to impose a new political order upon society"; "With Peterloo, and the departure of Regency England, parliamentary reform had come of age."
## Commemorations
The Skelmanthorpe Flag, believed to have been made in Skelmanthorpe, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1819, was made to honour the victims of the Peterloo Massacre and was flown at mass meetings held in the area demanding the reform of Parliament. This was one of dozens of mass protest meetings held in 1819, until the Six Acts put an end to protests. Throughout the nineteenth century, the memory of Peterloo was a political rallying point for both radicals and liberals to attack the tories and demand further reforms of parliament. These came at the rate of one per generation in 1832, 1867, 1884, and 1918, when universal manhood suffrage and partial female suffrage was achieved.
The Free Trade Hall, home of the Anti-Corn Law League, was built partly as a "cenotaph raised on the shades of the victims" of Peterloo, but one which acknowledged only the reformers' demand for the repeal of the corn laws and not for the vote. At the centenary in 1919, just two years after the Russian revolution and the Bolshevik coup, trade unionists and communists alike saw Peterloo as a lesson that workers needed to fight back against capitalist violence. The Conservative majority on Manchester City Council in 1968-1969 declined to mark the 150th anniversary of Peterloo, but their Labour successors in 1972 placed a blue plaque high up on the wall of the Free Trade Hall, now the Radisson Hotel. This in turn was criticised for failing to recognise that anyone was killed or injured. In a 2006 survey conducted by The Guardian, Peterloo came second to St. Mary's Church, Putney, the venue for the Putney Debates, as the event from radical British history that most deserved a proper monument. The euphemism on the blue plaque was described by comedian and activist Mark Thomas as "an act of historical vandalism akin to Stalin airbrushing dissidents out of photographs". A Peterloo Memorial Campaign was set up to lobby for a 'Respectful, Informative and Permanent' (RIP) monument to an event that has been described as Manchester's Tiananmen Square.
In 2007, Manchester City Council replaced the original blue plaque with a red one, giving a fuller account of the events of 1819. It was unveiled on 10 December 2007 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Glynn Evans. Under the heading "St. Peter's Fields: The Peterloo Massacre", the present plaque reads, "On 16th August 1819 a peaceful rally of 60,000 pro-democracy reformers, men, women and children, was attacked by armed cavalry resulting in 15 deaths and over 600 injuries."
## Memorial
In 2019, shortly before the 200th anniversary of the massacre, Manchester City Council "quietly unveiled" a new memorial by the artist Jeremy Deller. It was inaugurated at a large public gathering on 16 August 2019, widely reported in the press, covered extensively on regional TV and radio, and marked by a special edition of the Manchester Evening News.
The 1.5-metre-high memorial features 11 concentric steps engraved, sculpted from polished local stone and carved with the names of the dead and the places from which the victims came. The material not visible from the ground is reproduced at ground level, and there is a floor plaque.
While this met the official standards for access, it was also interpreted by some as a 'speaking platform' made inaccessible by its stepped design. The city council has promised that it will be modified to rectify this. Some disability campaigners described the memorial as 'vile' and calling for it to be demolished, a stance which in turn caused offence by appearing to dismiss the experiences of the many disabled victims of Peterloo. It has in practice proved very difficult to design a wheelchair ramp that does not damage or block substantial parts of the inscriptions.
The memorial has meanwhile become widely appreciated and visited, and the Peterloo Memorial Campaign site states that it is 'Proud to have campaigned for a respectful, informative and permanent Peterloo Memorial at the heart of Manchester'.
## Representations in popular culture
In 1968, in celebration of its centenary, the Trades Union Congress commissioned British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold to write the Peterloo Overture. The organist Jonathan Scott recorded a solo work, 'Peterloo 1819', at the parish church in the radical village of Royton in 2017. Scott is a descendant of the wider family of the Peterloo radical Samuel Bamford from nearby Middleton. Several musical pieces in different genres from rap to oratorio were commissioned and performed in connection with the 2019 Peterloo bicentenary. Other musical commemorations include Harvey Kershaw MBE's folk revival song, which was recorded by the Oldham Tinkers (listen), "Ned Ludd Part 5" on British folk rock group Steeleye Span's 2006 album Bloody Men, and Rochdale rock band Tractor's suite of five songs written and recorded in 1973, later included on their 1992 release Worst Enemies. The long history of verse about Peterloo is covered in Alison Morgan's 2018 book Ballads and Songs of Peterloo. In 2019 a whole volume of essays was devoted to the commemoration of Peterloo, including an essay by Ian Haywood on 'The Sounds of Peterloo' and other contributions covering Hunt, Cobbett, Castlereagh, Bentham, Wordsworth, Shelley, Scotland, and Ireland.
The 2018 Mike Leigh film Peterloo is based on the events at Peterloo, and was widely acclaimed for its powerful rendition of events and its recreation of the period. The 1947 film Fame Is the Spur, based on the Howard Spring novel of the same name, depicts the rise of a politician inspired by his grandfather's account of the massacre. Recent novels about Peterloo include Carolyn O'Brien's The Song of Peterloo and Jeff Kaye's All the People. The most important fictional treatment remains Isabella Banks's 1876 novel, The Manchester Man, for its author lived in Manchester at the time and wove into her account numerous testimonies she picked up from people who were involved. It was also the subject of a graphic novel in 'verbatim' form, Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre, with the story told mainly through words written and spoken at the time. In 2016, Big Finish released a Doctor Who audio adventure based around the events of the Peterloo Massacre.
## See also
- History of Manchester
- Bristol riot of Queen's Square, 1831
- Cinderloo Uprising, 1821
- List of massacres in Great Britain |
18,424,300 | 2003–04 Arsenal F.C. season | 1,171,574,100 | 118th season in existence of Arsenal F.C. | [
"2003–04 FA Premier League by team",
"Arsenal F.C. seasons",
"English football championship-winning seasons"
]
| The 2003–04 season was Arsenal Football Club's 12th season in the Premier League and their 78th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. It began on 1 July 2003 and concluded on 30 June 2004, with competitive matches played between August and May. The club ended the Premier League campaign as champions without a single defeat – a record of 26 wins and 12 draws. Arsenal fared less well in the cups, eliminated in the FA Cup and League Cup semi-finals to Manchester United and Middlesbrough respectively, and at the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Champions League to Chelsea.
The main addition to the first team was goalkeeper Jens Lehmann for £1.5 million; striker José Antonio Reyes was later purchased in the winter transfer window. Arsenal retained their best players and successfully negotiated new contracts for captain Patrick Vieira and midfielder Robert Pires. The stability of the squad meant Arsenal were considered front-runners for the Premier League title, along with Manchester United, and Chelsea who were taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
A strong start to the season saw Arsenal top the league table after four matches. The team's draw at Manchester United in September marked an unsavoury episode between both clubs: several Arsenal players were charged and fined accordingly by The Football Association for their part in a mass brawl that occurred after the match. In November, Arsenal beat Dynamo Kyiv by a single goal and more impressively scored five against Inter Milan at the San Siro – two results which kick-started their Champions League campaign. At the turn of the year, the team won nine league matches in a row to consolidate first position. In the first week of April, they were eliminated from the FA Cup and Champions League, but by the end of the month had secured their status as league champions, with a 2–2 draw against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
34 different players represented the club in five competitions and there were 15 different goalscorers. Arsenal's top goalscorer for the third year running was Thierry Henry, who scored 39 goals in 51 games. The Frenchman was given the accolade of PFA Players' Player of the Year by his fellow peers and the FWA Footballer of the Year by football writers. Although the Arsenal team were unsuccessful in cup competitions, their dominance in the league was regarded by many commentators as a standalone achievement. They acquired the nickname "The Invincibles", much like the Preston North End team that went unbeaten in the inaugural Football League season. The club was awarded a golden replica trophy by the Premier League once the season concluded and they remained unbeaten for 49 games, setting a new record. In 2012, the Arsenal team of 2003–04 won the "Best Team" category in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards.
## Background
Arsenal had finished the previous season as runners-up in the Premier League, overhauled by Manchester United in the final ten weeks of the season. The club did, however, retain the FA Cup, with a 1–0 win against Southampton. Such was Arsenal's effective start to the 2002–03 campaign, manager Arsène Wenger suggested his team could remain the whole season undefeated in all competitions:
> It's not impossible as A.C. Milan once did it but I can't see why it's so shocking to say it. Do you think Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea don't dream that as well? They're exactly the same. They just don't say it because they're scared to look ridiculous, but nobody is ridiculous in this job as we know anything can happen.
The team lost to Everton a month after Wenger's proclamation; teenager Wayne Rooney scored the match winner, which ended a run of 30 league games without defeat. By February 2003, Arsenal moved five points clear of Manchester United at the top of the league table, but injuries to key players, not least captain Patrick Vieira, had destabilised the team. Draws in April, coupled with a defeat to Leeds United at home, mathematically ended Arsenal's chances of retaining the title. Wenger refuted opinions from the media that their season was a failure and said:
> Of course we want to win the league, but I think the most difficult thing for the club is to be consistent and we have been remarkably consistent. We lose the league to a team [Manchester United] who spends 50% more money every year – last year they bought a player for £30 million when they lost the championship. They will do the same next year and we [have] done miracles just to fight with them.
In the close season, Chelsea was sold to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140 million, the biggest takeover in British football history at the time. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein however was displeased, and quipped that Abramovich had "parked his Russian tanks on our lawn and is firing £50 notes at us", Abramovich was said to have placed a bid for Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, which was turned down at once.
Arsenal's transfer activity in the summer was relatively quiet, given the financial constraints that came with the club's new stadium project. The club were able to keep the core of its team, successfully negotiating new contracts for Vieira and winger Robert Pires. German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was the only major addition to the first team; he replaced David Seaman who joined Manchester City. Ukrainian defender Oleh Luzhnyi ended his four-year association with the club by joining Wolverhampton Wanderers on a free transfer, while striker Graham Barrett moved to Coventry City. Striker Francis Jeffers, who found opportunities limited in the first team, joined his former club Everton on a season-long loan. Giovanni van Bronckhorst moved to Barcelona on a similar deal, with a view to a permanent transfer at the end of the season. Several young players were acquired from academies abroad, namely Gaël Clichy from Cannes and Johan Djourou, formerly of Étoile Carouge. In January 2004, Arsenal signed Spanish striker José Antonio Reyes from Sevilla and in April agreed a deal with Feyenoord for winger Robin van Persie.
Wenger at the start of the season prioritised regaining the league title: "I feel it is very important in our minds to do this and I know the hunger is strong to do it," and named Newcastle United and Liverpool, along with Manchester United and Chelsea, as Arsenal's main rivals for the Premier League. Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson asserted that his old club were favourites because they had the "best players ... If they all remain fit week-in week-out then they will not be beaten." Glenn Moore of The Independent wrote of Arsenal's chances: "They will be thereabouts, but unless Wenger finally puts his faith in youth, and the likes of Jérémie Aliadière, Jermaine Pennant and Phillipe Senderos repay him, they may lack the depth to sustain a title campaign." Defender Sol Campbell however believed the squad was "strong enough for the league and FA Cup", but doubted their chances of winning the UEFA Champions League.
The club's home strip remained unchanged from the previous season; a red jersey with white sleeves, shorts and socks. The new away kit, a retro yellow jersey with a blue collar trim and shorts, was based on the Arsenal strip worn in the 1979 FA Cup Final.
### Transfers
In
Out
Loans in
Loans out
## Pre-season
To prepare for the forthcoming season, Arsenal played a series of friendlies across Western Europe. Their first match ended in defeat against Peterborough United of the Second Division; goalkeeper Stuart Taylor was forced to come off the field after colliding with Peterborough substitute Lee Clarke in the second half. Arsenal then played out a draw against Barnet, where trialist Yaya Touré – the brother of Kolo, was included in the team. In a 2011 interview, Wenger recalled Yaya's performance as being "completely average on the day" and noted his impatience stopped him from joining Arsenal; Touré went on to play for Barcelona before joining Manchester City in 2010. Arsenal undertook a tour in Austria, a year after crowd troubles forced their match in Eisenstadt to be abandoned. Wenger was absent with a stomach upset so assistant manager Pat Rice took charge of Arsenal against SC Ritzing on 22 July 2003; the team came from two goals down to draw their second consecutive friendly. Rice was pleased with Philippe Senderos' cameo in defence and said: "Still some rough edges but he will only get better working with Martin Keown and Sol Campbell."
Arsenal recorded their first win of the pre-season against Austria Wien. Bergkamp capped off a "superb individual display" by scoring the first goal and setting up the second for Jeffers. The final match of the tour was against Beşiktaş, which required tightened security given the history between English and Turkish football supporters. Bergkamp scored the only goal of the match in the second half. An Arsenal XI in England two days later faced St Albans City, where they won 3–1. The main squad then travelled to Scotland to play Celtic on 2 August 2003. Both goals in the one-all draw came in the second half; the match marked the return of Vieira after three months out with a knee problem. Wenger revealed afterwards that he intended to use the pre-season as an experiment for his defence. He partnered centre back Campbell with Touré, who for much of last season played in midfield. Wenger was pleased with Touré's performance against Celtic and said: "He has quality. He was originally a central defender and, because we have kept a few clean sheets recently and he's played well, I thought we'd keep him there." An Arsenal XI travelled to Belgium for a game against Beveren and conceded two goals in the final five minutes to draw the match 2–2. Arsenal rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 3–0 win against Rangers on 5 August 2003.
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.
## FA Community Shield
The 2003 edition of the FA Community Shield, an annual English football match, was contested between Manchester United and Arsenal at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 10 August. Arsenal participated in the match as a result of their FA Cup win in 2002–03, while Manchester United were the league champions. Lehmann made his first competitive start for Arsenal and Touré continued to partner Campbell in central defence. United took a 15th-minute lead through Mikaël Silvestre, but Henry equalised for Arsenal soon after, from a free-kick. Jeffers was sent off in the second half for kicking out at Phil Neville and no further goals scored meant the outcome of the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Goalkeeper Tim Howard saved Van Bronckhorst and Pires' spot kicks as United won the game 4–3 on penalties. Wenger made reference to Arsenal's low crowd turnout after the match and suggested it meant there was "less and less appetite" for the Shield. He was unhappy with the league season commencing on the following Saturday: "I would have preferred to have had two more weeks, especially for the French players who were in the Confederations Cup. We certainly were not as fit as Manchester United and know many of our players were behind them fitness-wise."
## Premier League
The 2003–04 season of the Premier League saw 20 teams play 38 matches: two against every other team, with one match at each club's stadium. Three points were awarded for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. At the end of the season the top two teams qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League; teams in third and fourth needed to play a qualifier.
### August–October
Arsenal hosted Everton at Highbury on the opening weekend of the season. Campbell was sent off in the 25th minute for a professional foul on Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen. Arsenal, despite their man disadvantage, went two goals up after 58 minutes, before Tomasz Radzinski scored for the visitors late on. A trip to the Riverside Stadium to face Middlesbrough a week after ended in a 4–0 win; the first three goals, scored by Henry, Gilberto Silva and Sylvain Wiltord, all came in the first half. Three days later, Campbell and Henry scored as Aston Villa were beaten by two goals. Arsenal continued their perfect start to the season with an away win against Manchester City on 31 August 2003. As Campbell was suspended, Martin Keown came into the first team to partner Touré. Although Arsenal conceded first – a "comical" own goal by Lauren – and played "the worst 45 minutes that any of their fans could remember" according to journalist Matt Dickinson, Wiltord equalised in the second half, before Freddie Ljungberg took advantage of a Seaman error to score the winning goal. After four matches, Arsenal stood in first position, three points clear of Manchester United.
Due to international fixtures, Arsenal did not play another game for two weeks. On the resumption of club football, they faced newly promoted Portsmouth at home. Striker Teddy Sheringham gave the visitors a deserved lead, before Arsenal were awarded a penalty when Pires was adjudged to have been fouled in the penalty area by Dejan Stefanović. Henry scored, and though their performance noticeably improved in the second half, the game ended in a draw. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp complained about the penalty decision post-match and felt Pires "...was going to get a yellow card [for diving]." The player himself denied accusations that he deceived the referee: "I did not dive and I am not a cheat. That is not the way I play."
A week later, Arsenal travelled to face Manchester United at Old Trafford. Pires and Wiltord were dropped by Wenger in favour of Ray Parlour and Ljungberg; Campbell did not travel due to family bereavement. In the 80th minute, Vieira was sent off for a second bookable offence: he attempted to kick out at striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, which was seen by referee Steve Bennett. With the score 0–0, United were awarded a penalty in the 90th minute, but Van Nistelrooy's spot kick hit the bar and rebounded back into play. At the final whistle, Van Nistelrooy was immediately confronted by several Arsenal players, which escalated into an altercation between both teams. Six of Arsenal's players (Ashley Cole, Lauren, Keown, Parlour, Lehmann, and Vieira) were later charged with improper conduct by The Football Association (FA), while the club were fined £175,000, the largest ever given to a club by the FA. Lauren received a four-game ban, whereas Vieira and Parlour were given one-match suspensions.
In their next match, Arsenal defeated Newcastle United by three goals to two; the winner was a penalty scored by Henry. Vieira suffered an injury during the game; this commenced a period of him being in and out of the side for two months. Arsenal then faced Liverpool on the first weekend of October at Anfield. In the absence of Vieira, Parlour was on duty as captain, while Campbell replaced Keown in defence. Aliadière was paired alongside Henry in attack. Arsenal went a goal down after 11 minutes, but equalised when Sami Hyypiä unintentionally diverted Edu's header from an Arsenal free-kick. Pires scored the winner in the second half, which maintained the team's lead at the top of the league table. The Times correspondent Oliver Kay described Arsenal's comeback as "spirited" and noted a difference with the team, in comparison to the previous season:
> ...recent events have taught them to place substance ahead of style. It may be less attractive to the purists, but there is no doubt that their new rugged approach has given them a more fearsome look. A year ago, they were producing football of a splendour rarely witnessed in this country or elsewhere. This season, with such fluency proving elusive, they have been grinding out results with an efficiency bordering on the Teutonic.
A tightly fought match against Chelsea at home was settled by a second-half error by goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, which presented Henry with his seventh league goal in nine matches. Both teams up until that point were level on points at the top of the table and unbeaten. Wenger noted after the match that Chelsea's bigger squad would serve them well as the season progressed, but stressed his smaller squad had stability: "We have been together for years and have the comfort of knowing we have won things before. When we are challenged, we become even more united." Arsenal ended October with a 1–1 draw against Charlton Athletic. After 10 games, Arsenal garnered 24 points. The point earnt at Charlton was enough for the team to move back into first position, which had been occupied by Chelsea.
### November–December
Arsenal began November with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United. There were no changes to the team from the Charlton game; for Leeds, Pennant started against his parent club after being granted permission by Wenger. Arsenal's victory by four goals to one was identical to the scoreline in the corresponding fixture of last season. In a match report for the News of the World, journalist Martin Samuel picked Henry as the man of the match and asserted Arsenal remained the team to beat. Attention soon turned to the North London derby, where Arsenal played Tottenham Hotspur on 8 November 2003. Tottenham had not beaten their rivals since November 1999 and their last win at Highbury had come a decade previously. Kanu was brought into the starting line-up to partner Henry, as Wiltord was ruled out with a calf strain. Arsenal conceded an early goal after Darren Anderton capitalised on a defensive mix-up, but they scored two late goals in what was described as "another stuttering" performance in The Observer. The result put Arsenal four points clear in first, albeit temporarily as Chelsea's win at home to Newcastle United 24 hours later cut their gap to one point.
Arsenal did not play another game for a fortnight because of the international football break. On the resumption of club football, they played Birmingham City away from home. As suspensions came into action and there were injuries to first-team players, Wenger was forced to reshuffle his team. Clichy was handed his full debut and Pascal Cygan made his first start of the season, partnering Campbell. Ljungberg opened the scoring for Arsenal inside four minutes; further goals by Bergkamp and Pires ensured the team won their third straight match of November. By extending their unbeaten run from the start of the season to 13 league matches, Arsenal set a new Premier League record. They were then held by Fulham to a goalless draw who became the first team to deny Arsenal from scoring in 46 league matches at Highbury. The Guardian correspondent David Lacey summarised Arsenal's football on the day as "strong in the string section but short on percussion" and noted they reverted to the pattern of scoring a perfect goal, instead of being efficient. Chelsea's 1–0 win over Manchester United meant Arsenal moved down to second place on the final day of November.
Two more points were dropped in Arsenal's next match, away to Leicester City on the first weekend of December. Henry was absent from the starting team, as was captain Vieira. Arsenal had taken the lead at the hour mark through a Gilberto header, but conceded the equaliser in stoppage time. What made matters worse was the dismissal of Cole for a two-footed lunge on Ben Thatcher; he missed the team's next three fixtures as a result. Wenger said afterwards: "It looked like Ashley wanted to get the ball but it was a two-footed tackle that was too high, it was a red card and we have to accept it." A goal from Bergkamp earned Arsenal a 1–0 win the following week, at home to Blackburn Rovers. Chelsea's defeat a day before meant that the win for Arsenal was enough to take them back top, a point clear of Manchester United, who were now in second place.
Arsenal then travelled to the Reebok Stadium to play Bolton on 20 December 2003, the setting where their title challenge faltered eight months ago. Although they again picked up just a point, Wenger believed it was a useful one: "Provided Bolton keep playing like that, we will look back at this result and feel very happy. They are as good as a team as we have played." On Boxing Day, Henry scored twice for Arsenal in a 3–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three days later, the team played Southampton. The only goal of the match came in the first half: Henry's through pass found Pires, "who slid the ball beneath the exposed Antti Niemi". The win meant Arsenal had gone half the season without losing, and the team, according to The Times, had begun to "establish an aura of invincibility". Arsenal ended the calendar year in second place, with 45 points from 19 matches. They were one point behind leaders Manchester United and three ahead of Chelsea.
### January–February
On 7 January 2004, Arsenal played Everton at Goodison Park. Wenger made a host of changes: Cygan was recalled in central defence, which meant Touré was shifted onto the right and Lauren was dropped, while Parlour started in place of Gilberto in midfield. Kanu had given Arsenal the lead in the first half, only for Radzinski to score a "richly deserved late equaliser" for Everton with fifteen minutes remaining. Manchester United's victory at Bolton on the same night increased the reigning champions' lead at the top to three points. Three days after the Everton match, Arsenal hosted Middlesbrough and put on a display Wenger described as one of the season's best: "We kept playing our natural game and could have scored more," he said. The 4–1 win meant Arsenal moved back top of the league, albeit alphabetically, as their points, goal difference and goals scored were identical to that of Manchester United. A week later, Arsenal beat Aston Villa by two goals to nil; both of the team's goals were scored by Henry. Controversy surrounded the Frenchman's first goal, a quickly-taken free-kick which prompted confusion amongst Villa's players and brought about a reaction towards referee Mark Halsey, who signalled it was permissible. After 22 games played, Arsenal were in first place, two points clear of Manchester United.
Arsenal remained unbeaten throughout February, winning all five matches. In a home match against Manchester City, Reyes made his first appearance for the club, coming on as a substitute in the second half. He had no part in the winning goal, a "crunching, beautifully judged 25-yarder" scored by Henry. Arsenal recorded an away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 7 February 2004, their 24th league match, which bettered a club record of games unbeaten from the start of the season (originally held by George Graham's team of 1990–91). Wenger in his post-match press conference played down the record, and said of the unbeaten run: "You need a little bit of luck and mental qualities." Henry reached a personal landmark against Southampton three days later, scoring his 100th and 101st Premier League goals. The victory moved Arsenal five points clear at the top, although they had played one more game than Manchester United.
A Saturday lunchtime kick-off against Chelsea saw the return of Henry; he was absent in Arsenal's FA Cup fifth round win against the same opposition. Arsenal found themselves a goal down after 27 seconds, but responded with an equaliser in the 15th minute – Bergkamp's "delicately curving pass" found Vieira on the left side to shoot the ball past goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. The winner came six minutes later: Sullivan misjudged a corner taken by Henry, which allowed Edu to shoot into an empty net. Arsenal's lead was now seven and it represented "a stronger position than any they held last season" according to Wenger. Touré's transition into a defender was highlighted in The Times football supplement:
> Combined with Manchester United's loss of Rio Ferdinand, Kolo Touré's emergence as a capable centre half has probably represented a ten-point swing in the Premiership. If Touré and Campbell stay fit, Arsenal should be more than capable of holding on to their seven-point advantage and in Gaël Clichy, they have a promising replacement for Ashley Cole.
The final match of the month was against Charlton at Highbury. Arsenal scored twice in the space of the opening four minutes, but by the end were "clinging to their lead like nervous kittens". After 27 games, the team stood in first position and had accumulated 67 points. They were nine points clear of both Chelsea and Manchester United.
### March–May
Arsenal carried their good form into March; Henry and Pires scored in the defeat of Blackburn Rovers. It was a laboured performance from the league leaders, one which served a "...reminder of the old maxim that championships are won by teams who can pick up points when they are not playing well." Arsenal then played Bolton Wanderers at home; Wenger made one change from the previous match – Bergkamp replaced Reyes upfront. The blustery conditions forced the game to be delayed by 15 minutes, approximately the same amount of time it took Pires to score Arsenal's opener. By the 24th minute, it was 2–0: Henry's cross found Bergkamp, who shot the ball past Jussi Jääskeläinen at the first attempt. Although Bolton's performance improved after scoring just before half-time, the result was a ninth straight league win for Arsenal and kept them nine points clear at the top.
The visit of Manchester United on 28 March 2004 provided a stern test for Arsenal - it was both clubs' first meeting since the fiasco at Old Trafford. Cole, injured in the midweek Champions League game against Chelsea, was replaced by Clichy in the starting line-up, while Bergkamp was dropped for Reyes. Henry gave Arsenal the lead with a long range shot that swerved past goalkeeper Roy Carroll. With five minutes of the game left, Louis Saha evaded the Arsenal defence and scored the equaliser for Manchester United. Arsenal came close to a winner in injury time, only for Lauren to have his shot saved. The draw was no good for Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United, who afterwards conceded his team's chances: "They'll (Arsenal) go on to win the league now – I'm sure of that. They are playing with great determination ... a very strong team, so should win the league really". In avoiding defeat, Arsenal set a new all-time league record of 30 matches unbeaten from the start of the season, originally held by Leeds and Liverpool. They remained in first position at the end of March and were seven points in front of Chelsea with eight matches remaining.
After two cup exits in the space of a week, Arsenal faced Liverpool on Good Friday at Highbury. Hyypiä opened the scoring for the visitors after five minutes, and in spite of Henry's equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Liverpool led again before the interval. Arsenal responded by scoring twice in a minute; Henry's second goal saw the player hold off Dietmar Hamann in midfield, weave through defender Jamie Carragher, and place the ball past Jerzy Dudek. The striker completed his hat-trick in the 78th minute, after good work by Bergkamp. Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier likened Arsenal to a "wounded animal" after the match and believed Henry was "the man who made the difference ... he set the tempo". Arsenal played out a goalless draw with Newcastle United on Bank Holiday Monday, and five days later faced Leeds United. On a night where Henry scored four goals and was described by his manager as "the best striker in the world", Arsenal moved to within two wins of regaining the league title.
With Chelsea unable to garner maximum points in their next two matches, Arsenal knew before their game away at Tottenham that a draw would guarantee their status as champions. Cole returned for the derby after sitting out the Leeds match with an ankle injury. Arsenal took an early lead when Vieira finished off a counter-attacking move. Incisive football brought about the second goal, ten minutes before the break. Bergkamp passed the ball to Vieira, who cut it back for Pires to sidefoot. Tottenham replied in the second half by scoring twice – the equaliser a penalty – but it did not stop the Arsenal players celebrating at the final whistle "in front of their supporters' White Hart Lane enclave". This marked the second time that the club had been crowned league champions at their rivals' ground: the first time had been in 1971. Wenger praised his team for their success, telling the BBC: "We've been remarkably consistent, haven't lost a game and we have played stylish football. We have entertained people who just love football."
In May, successive draws at home to Birmingham City and Portsmouth left Arsenal with 84 points from 36 games. Reyes scored the only goal of the match against Fulham; he profited from a mistake by goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar: "The Dutchman tried to go past the Arsenal forward, but instead gifted possession and with it the easiest of open goals." Arsenal's final game of the league season was against Leicester City. They conceded the opening goal, but turned the match around in the second half through goals from Henry and Vieira. With 26 wins, 12 draws and no defeats, the team became the first since Preston North End in 1888–89 to go through a league season undefeated. Reviewing the match and overall season, Amy Lawrence of The Observer wrote: "Arsenal's achievement may not make them 'great' in everyone's opinion – those who define greatness only by European Cups, back-to-back titles, and triple cartwheels on the way to every goal – but it is staggering in its own right."
### Matches
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw.
### League table
#### Results by round
## FA Cup
The FA Cup is English football's primary cup competition. It was first held in 1871–72 with only 15 teams entering; the growth of the sport and changes to the competition's structure meant that by 2000, more than 600 teams took part. Clubs in the Premier League enter the FA Cup in the third round and are drawn randomly out of a hat with the remaining clubs. If a match is drawn it is replayed, ordinarily at the ground of the team who were away for the first game. As with league fixtures, FA Cup matches are subject to change in the event of games being selected for television coverage and this often can be influenced by clashes with other competitions. In the case of Arsenal, all but one of their ties (fourth round) was televised to the British audience.
Arsenal entered the 2003–04 edition as holders of the cup. The team were undefeated in 14 cup ties since their 2–1 loss to Liverpool in the 2001 FA Cup Final, and aimed to win the competition for a third season in succession, something last achieved by Blackburn Rovers from 1884 to 1886. Henry believed Arsenal's good cup form showed they were "interested" in the competition and hoped their success would continue. The FA Cup was not high in Wenger's priority list – "The [Premier League] and the Champions League are more important," but he clarified this never meant Arsenal intended to neglect the competition: "You win what you can and go as far as you can."
Arsenal were drawn to face Leeds United away in the third round; the match was played on the first weekend of January. Wenger made six changes to the team which started at Southampton in the league, including Cole replacing Clichy at left-back after serving his three-match suspension. After eight minutes, Leeds went ahead when Lehmann's goal clearance hit striker Mark Viduka and rebounded into the net. Arsenal equalised through Henry, who converted Ljungberg's cross from the right on a volley. Additional goals from Edu, Pires and Touré inflicted a third consecutive 4–1 defeat for Leeds against Arsenal at Elland Road. At home to Middlesbrough in the fourth round, Bergkamp opened the scoring for Arsenal, following good play from Parlour. Joseph-Désiré Job equalised for the away team four minutes after, but Ljungberg restored Arsenal's lead with a shot outside the penalty box and scored a second, direct from a corner. George Boateng was sent off for the visitors in the 86th minute for two bookable offences and substitute David Bentley added a fourth goal for Arsenal, chipping the ball over goalkeeper Schwarzer in the last minute of normal time.
In the fifth round, Arsenal played Chelsea at Highbury. Five minutes before the end of the first half, striker Adrian Mutu gave Chelsea the lead, with a shot from 20 yards. Reyes, who replaced Henry in the starting eleven for the tie, levelled the scoreline with a long range effort. He beat goalkeeper Sullivan for pace to score his second, which later proved to be the winning goal of the match. The quarter-final pitted Arsenal against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on 6 March 2004. Henry opened the scoring in the 25th minute and further goals from himself, Ljungberg and Touré secured the team's passage into the last four of the competition. Edu was singled out for praise by The Guardian correspondent Kevin McCarra, who enthused over the visitors' performance: "Arsenal echoed the Ajax philosophy as players swapped position and kept changing the point of attack before the mesmerised eyes of the opposition."
Manchester United were Arsenal's opponents for the semi-final, staged at Villa Park on 3 April 2004. Both teams had settled for a draw in the league the previous Sunday, but given this was for a place in the final, the stakes were much higher. United defender Gary Neville described the game as his team's "most important" of the season after they were eliminated from the Champions League and he deemed them "too far behind" in the Premier League. Wenger rested Henry, mindful of the team's upcoming fixture congestion. Although Arsenal started the better of the two teams, it was United midfielder Paul Scholes who scored the only goal of the game which ensured their progress into the final.
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Red = opponents win.
## Football League Cup
The Football League Cup is a cup competition open to clubs in the Premier League and Football League. Like the FA Cup it is played on a knockout basis, with the exception of the semi-finals, which are contested over a two-legged tie. Wenger's tenure at Arsenal has seen him use the competition to field younger and lesser known players, something he and Ferguson were initially criticised for in 1997. While Ferguson felt it was an unwanted distraction at the time, Wenger said: "If the competition wants to survive it must offer the incentive of a European place." The winners of the League Cup in the 2003–04 season earnt entry into the UEFA Cup, unless they qualified for the UEFA Champions League through their league position. League Cup matches are subject to change in the event of games being selected for television coverage, inclement weather and potential competition clashes. All rounds up until the final are played in midweek.
Arsenal entered the League Cup in the third round and were drawn at home to Rotherham United. Wenger handed midfielder Cesc Fàbregas his debut at 16 years and 177 days; as of 2016 is still the youngest player to turn out for the club. Arsenal led from the 11th minute through an Aliadière goal, but conceded an equaliser late on which forced extra time. Rotherham goalkeeper Mike Pollitt was sent off for handling the ball outside his penalty area; his substitute Gary Montgomery denied Wiltord from scoring the winner. As there were no further goals, the match was decided on penalties which Arsenal won 9–8 in the shootout. Fellow divisional opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers were defeated 5–1 by Arsenal in the fourth round; Vieira, absent through injury in September and October, made his first team return and played the full match.
In the fifth round, Arsenal travelled to The Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion. Wenger added experience to the side to complement youth, with Parlour, Edu, Kanu and Keown all featuring. Arsenal took the lead in the 25th minute through Kanu. Lauren's cross from the right-hand side deflected in the direction of the striker. His header was saved by goalkeeper Russell Hoult, who was unable to deny Kanu shooting the rebounded ball into the net. Aliadière scored Arsenal's second goal of the match following Hoult's poor clearance.
Arsenal exited the competition in the semi-finals against Middlesbrough. At Highbury, the setting for the first leg, Juninho scored the only goal of the tie. Arsenal's task of progressing was made more difficult after Keown was sent off in the second leg and Boudewijn Zenden doubled Middlesbrough's aggregate scoreline. Though Edu equalised for Arsenal on the night, Reyes' own goal earnt Middlesbrough the win. Wenger opined of the result: "I don't think we deserved to lose; even when we were down to 10 men we were running the game."
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.
## UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is a continental club football competition organised by UEFA. Founded in the 1950s as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the competition was open to champion clubs of each country and arranged as a straight knockout tournament. The growth of television rights saw the format rebranded in the 1990s to include a group stage and permit multiple entrants. Arsenal had qualified for every Champions League season since 1998–99, but the club never progressed further than the quarter-final stage. Ahead of the new campaign, Wenger assessed his team needed to perform in the home games, adding: "We are mature enough now and we must add that little bit of sparkle to make the difference."
### Group stage
Arsenal were drawn in Group B, along with Italian club Inter Milan, Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia and Ukraine's Dynamo Kyiv. Wenger believed the trips to Eastern Europe threatened his team's chances of winning the Premier League: "The other English teams have more comfortable groups than we do. It is tough to go to Russia – I always say that if you have to travel more than two hours it is difficult. Sometimes the players pay a high price in the games that follow the Champions League matches."
Arsenal opened their Champions League campaign with a 3–0 defeat against Inter Milan. Goals from Julio Ricardo Cruz, Andy van der Meyde and Obafemi Martins all in the first half extended Arsenal's run of six home games in the competition without a win. Wenger said afterwards: "We can complain and cry the whole night but that will not change the result. The only thing we can do is to respond." The team, without Campbell and Vieira, earned a draw away to Lokomotiv Moscow, but remained bottom of the group. Arsenal lost to Dynamo Kyiv in late October; Wenger's decision to shift from his preferred 4–4–2 formation caused the team to play more narrow than usual. Cole scored the winning goal in the reverse fixture at Highbury. A cross by Wiltord was flicked on by Henry in the direction of an incoming Cole, who dived to head the ball past goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.
The team scored four goals in the second half against Inter Milan and won 5–1. Wenger felt the result showed there was "...a special mental strength in the team", while Cole compared it to England's victory against Germany in 2001 but added "this was even better." Arsenal won 2–0 against Lokomotiv Moscow to top Group B. Jacob Lekgetho's dismissal in the eighth minute meant the visitors played the remainder of the match with ten men.
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.
### Knockout phase
#### Round of 16
Arsenal were paired up against Celta Vigo in the last 16 stage and the first leg was held at the Balaídos. Although they conceded two goals from set pieces, Arsenal scored three times to win the game which put the team in a favourable position given the away goals rule. Their passage was secured with a 2–0 win on 10 March 2004; Henry scored both goals for the team.
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.
#### Quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, Arsenal met fellow English club Chelsea. The draw disappointed vice-chairman Dein: "One of the joys of playing in Europe is playing teams from overseas – and having played Chelsea three times, it is a bit anti-climactic." The first leg, played at Stamford Bridge ended in a draw with Guðjohnsen and Pires scoring for their respective clubs. Arsenal were unable to take advantage of Marcel Desailly's dismissal in the second half, but Wenger felt his team were in a good position to progress: "Our main aim will be to win the game at Highbury and we know we can do that."
Henry, rested for the FA Cup semi-final match, started alongside Reyes for the second leg. It was the latter forward who gave Arsenal the lead in injury time of the first half, but Frank Lampard equalised for Chelsea in the 51st minute. With three minutes remaining of the match, defender Wayne Bridge scored to eliminate Arsenal from the competition.
Colour key: Green = Arsenal win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.
## Player statistics
Arsenal used a total of 34 players during the 2003–04 season and there were 15 different goalscorers. There were also three squad members who did not make a first-team appearance in the campaign. The team played in a 4–4–2 formation throughout the season, with two wide midfielders. Touré featured in 55 matches – the most of any Arsenal player in the campaign and Lehmann started in all 38 league matches.
The team scored a total of 114 goals in all competitions. The highest scorer was Henry, with 39 goals, followed by Pires who scored 19 goals. Three of Arsenal's goals in the 2003–04 season (Henry against Manchester City and Liverpool, Vieira against Tottenham Hotspur) were shortlisted for Goal of the Season by viewers of ITV's The Premiership. Five Arsenal players were sent off during the season: Jeffers, Vieira, Campbell, Cole and Keown.
Key
No. = Squad number
Pos = Playing position
Nat. = Nationality
Apps = Appearances
GK = Goalkeeper
DF = Defender
MF = Midfielder
FW = Forward
`= Yellow cards`
`= Red cards`
Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.
Source:
## Awards
In recognition of the team's achievement, Wenger was awarded the Barclaycard Manager of the Year. A spokesperson of the awards panel said of the decision: "Arsène Wenger is a very worthy recipient of this accolade and has sent his team into the history books. Arsenal have played exciting attacking football throughout the season and finishing it unbeaten is a feat that may not be repeated for another 100 years." Henry was given the accolade of PFA Players' Player of the Year by his fellow peers and the FWA Footballer of the Year by football writers for the second consecutive season. He came runner-up in both the 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year and the 2003 Ballon d'Or.
Three Arsenal players received the Premier League Player of the Month award – Henry twice in January and April 2004, and Bergkamp and Edu shared the accolade in February 2004 after the judges "felt it was appropriate that we make a joint award". Wenger was the Premier League Manager of the Month in August 2003 and February 2004.
## Aftermath and legacy
A day after the Leicester City match, Arsenal paraded the Premier League trophy on an open-top bus, in front of more than 250,000 fans. The victory parade commenced at Highbury and ended at Islington Town Hall. At the town hall balcony, Vieira addressed the crowd: "It has been a fantastic season. We achieved something unbelievable but we couldn't have done it without the fans." In an interview with the BBC, Dein added: "We've seen history made and I'd be surprised if it happens again. It's just been a privilege to watch Arsenal this season."
Arsenal's achievement of going through the league season unbeaten received considerable praise from those involved in football. Derek Shaw, the chairman of Preston offered his congratulations as they equalled his club's record of completing a league season without defeat, set 115 years previously. Brazilian Roberto Carlos likened Arsenal's style of play to "samba football" while Michel Platini applauded the team's "great flair and spirit". Former Arsenal manager George Graham attributed the success to defensive improvements, since mistakes the previous season had proved costly and former striker Alan Smith felt the team were "certainly the best Highbury's ever seen".
The British press unanimously praised Arsenal's feat once the season drew to a close; the News of the World branded the team as "Immortals", while The Sunday Times led with the headline "Arsenal the New Invincibles". In an otherwise positive reflection of Arsenal's season, Glenn Moore wrote for The Independent: "There may thus have been some truth in Arsène Wenger's declaration that Arsenal's achievement was a greater triumph than winning the Champions' League. Arsenal's prolonged celebrations reflected the scale of this landmark and yet, when they reflect in the summer break, how many players will agree with Wenger?".
A one-off golden replica trophy was commissioned by the Premier League thereafter; it was awarded to Arsenal before their first home game of the following season. The team eclipsed the league record of 42 matches without defeat (set by Nottingham Forest) against Blackburn Rovers and went seven more matches unbeaten until they lost – away to Manchester United in October 2004. Although Arsenal regained the FA Cup – on penalties against United – they finished second to Chelsea in the league. The move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006 coincided with a transitional phase for the club. Several experienced first teamers were displaced in favour of youth and the style of football shifted more towards ball retention. Arsenal have since failed to regain the league title; they nevertheless remained a fixture in the Champions League under Wenger's stewardship in the years after.
The title win at White Hart Lane came third in a list of Arsenal's Greatest 50 Moments, and the performance at the San Siro was ranked tenth. In 2012, the Arsenal team of 2003–04 won the "Best Team" category in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards.
## See also
- 2003–04 in English football
- List of Arsenal F.C. seasons |
460,069 | Kate Sheppard | 1,173,356,978 | New Zealand suffragist (1848–1934) | [
"1848 births",
"1934 deaths",
"19th-century New Zealand people",
"19th-century New Zealand women",
"20th-century New Zealand people",
"20th-century New Zealand women",
"Burials at Addington Cemetery, Christchurch",
"English emigrants to New Zealand",
"English people of Scottish descent",
"Female Christian socialists",
"New Zealand Christian socialists",
"New Zealand feminists",
"New Zealand people of Scottish descent",
"New Zealand suffragists",
"New Zealand temperance activists",
"Pamphleteers",
"Politicians from Liverpool",
"Woman's Christian Temperance Union people"
]
| Katherine Wilson Sheppard (née Catherine Wilson Malcolm; 10 March 1848 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1868. There she became an active member of various religious and social organisations, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand (WCTU NZ). In 1887 she was appointed the WCTU NZ's National Superintendent for Franchise and Legislation, a position she used to advance the cause of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Kate Sheppard promoted women's suffrage by organising petitions and public meetings, by writing letters to the press, and by developing contacts with politicians. She was the editor of The White Ribbon, the first woman-operated newspaper in New Zealand. Through her skilful writing and persuasive public speaking, she successfully advocated women's suffrage. Her pamphlets Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote and Should Women Vote? contributed to the cause. This work culminated in a petition with 30,000 signatures calling for women's suffrage that was presented to parliament, and the successful extension of the franchise to women in 1893. As a result, New Zealand became the first country to establish universal suffrage.
Sheppard was the first president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, founded in 1896, and helped reform the organisation in 1918. In later life, she travelled to Britain and assisted the suffrage movement there. With failing health, she returned to New Zealand, after which she continued to be involved in writing on women's rights, although she became less politically active. She died in 1934, leaving no descendants.
Sheppard is considered to be an important figure in New Zealand's history. A memorial to her exists in Christchurch. Her portrait replaced that of Queen Elizabeth II on the front of the New Zealand ten-dollar note in 1991.
## Early life
Kate Sheppard was born Catherine Wilson Malcolm on 10 March 1848 in Liverpool, England, to Scottish parents Jemima Crawford Souter and Andrew Wilson Malcolm. Her father, born in Scotland in 1819, was described in various documents as either a lawyer, banker, brewer's clerk, or legal clerk; he married Souter in the Inner Hebrides on 14 July 1842. Catherine was named after her paternal grandmother, also Catherine Wilson Malcolm, but preferred to spell her name "Katherine" or to abbreviate it to "Kate". She had an elder sister Marie, born in Scotland, and three younger siblings – Frank, born in Birmingham, and Isabella and Robert, both born in London; evidently, the family moved often during that period. Details of the children's education are unknown, though Kate's later writings demonstrate extensive knowledge of science and law, indicating a strong education. She was known for her broad knowledge and intellectual ability. Her father loved music and ensured that the family had good musical training.
Kate's father died in 1862, while in his early forties, but left his widow with sufficient means to provide for the family. After her father's death, Kate lived with her uncle, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland at Nairn; he, more than anyone else, instilled in her the values of Christian socialism. During this time, the rest of the family stayed with relatives in Dublin, where Kate later joined them.
George Beath, the future husband of Kate's sister Marie, emigrated to Melbourne in 1863, and later moved to Christchurch. After Marie joined him there, they were married in 1867, and their first child was born the following year. Marie's accounts of Christchurch motivated Jemima to move her family to New Zealand, as she was seeking better prospects for her sons' employment and wanted to see her granddaughter. They sailed on the Matoaka from Gravesend on 12 November 1868, arriving in Lyttelton Harbour on 8 February 1869.
In Christchurch, most of the family, including Kate, joined the Trinity Congregational Church. The minister was William Habens, a graduate of the University of London who was also Classics Master at Christchurch High School. Kate became part of Christchurch's intellectual and social scenes, and spent time with Marie and George's growing family.
Kate married Walter Allen Sheppard, a shop owner, at her mother's house on 21 July 1871. Walter had been elected to the Christchurch City Council in 1868, and may have impressed Kate with his knowledge of local matters. They lived on Madras Street, not far from her mother's home, and within walking distance of the city centre. The Trinity Congregational Church raised funds for a new building from 1872 to 1874, and Kate was most likely involved in this. She formed a friendship with Alfred Saunders, a politician and prominent temperance activist who may have influenced her ideas on women's suffrage. Sheppard and her husband arrived in England in 1877 and spent a year there, then returned to Christchurch. Their only child, Douglas, was born on 8 December 1880.
Sheppard was an active member of various Christian organisations. She taught Sunday school, and in 1884 was elected secretary of the newly formed Trinity Ladies' Association, a body established to visit parishioners who did not regularly attend church services. The association also helped with fundraising and did jobs for the church such as providing morning tea. Sheppard wrote reports on the work of the Association, tried to recruit new members, and worked to retain existing ones. The following year she joined the Riccarton Choral Society. Her solo in a May 1886 concert was praised in the Lyttelton Times. She also served on the management committee of the YWCA.
## Women's suffrage movement
### Early engagement
Kate Sheppard's activism and engagement with politics began after listening to or reading about a talk by Mary Leavitt from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of the United States. In 1885 Leavitt toured New Zealand speaking not only about the problems caused by alcohol consumption, but also the need for women to have a "voice in public affairs". She spent two weeks in Christchurch, starting with a public speech at the Theatre Royal on 10 May. Journalists were impressed by the strength of public speaking displayed by a woman, something not witnessed often at that time in New Zealand.
Sheppard became involved in establishing a Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ prior to the formation of a national organisation. Her initial involvement was in promoting petitions to Parliament to prevent women being employed as barmaids, and to outlaw the sale of alcohol to children. This marked the beginning of her collaborations with Alfred Saunders, who advised her on her negotiations with politicians and who wrote to the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, seeking to further her campaign. The barmaid petitions (including some from other parts of the country) were rejected by the Petitions Committee of Parliament later in 1885. Sheppard decided that politicians would continue to ignore petitions from women as long as women could not vote.
In 1879 universal male suffrage had been granted to all men over the age of 21 whether they owned property or not, but women were still excluded as electors. A limited number of voting rights were extended to female voters in the 1870s. Female ratepayers were able to vote in local body elections in 1873, and in 1877 women "householders" were given the right to vote in and stand for education boards.
The New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union was formed under the leadership of Anne Ward at a conference in Wellington in February 1886. Sheppard did not attend that conference, but at the second national convention in Christchurch a year later, she arrived ready to present a paper on women's suffrage, although there was no opportunity for her to do so. She was first appointed Superintendent for Relative Statistics, owing to her interest in economics. In 1887—when more local Franchise departments were established within the WCTU NZ—she replaced Mrs. G Clarke as National Superintendent for the Franchise and Legislation.
Much of the support for moderation came from women, and the WCTU NZ believed that women's suffrage could advance their aim to prohibit alcohol while promoting child and family welfare. Sheppard soon became prominent in the area of women's suffrage, but her interest in the cause went beyond practical considerations regarding temperance. Her views were made well known with her statement that "all that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome." Sheppard proved to be a powerful speaker and a skilled organiser, quickly building support for her cause.
The WCTU NZ sent a deputation to Sir Julius Vogel, a Member of Parliament and former Premier, asking him to introduce a suffrage bill to parliament. He did so in 1887, with the Female Suffrage Bill, and Sheppard campaigned for its support. In its third reading, the part dealing with women's suffrage was defeated by one vote, and the bill was withdrawn. During the general election campaign later that year Sheppard encouraged WCTU NZ members to ask parliamentary candidates questions about suffrage, but few women did so.
In 1888 Sheppard was President of the Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ, and presented a report to the national convention in Dunedin, where the convention decided that prohibition and women's suffrage would be the organisation's central aims. Sheppard made public speeches on suffrage in Dunedin, Oamaru, and Christchurch, developing a confident speaking style. To reinforce her message, she gave audiences leaflets produced in Britain and the United States. Sheppard then published her own single-sheet pamphlet titled Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote, which displayed her "dry wit and logical approach". A copy was sent to every member of the House of Representatives.
### Petitions
The government introduced an Electoral Bill in 1888 that would continue to exclude women from suffrage, and Sheppard organised a petition requesting that the exclusion be removed. She wrote to, and later met with, Sir John Hall, a well-respected Canterbury member of the House of Representatives, inviting him to present the petition and support her cause. He did so, but no action resulted. Sheppard then produced a second pamphlet, Should Women Vote?, which presented statements on suffrage from notable people in New Zealand and overseas. The Electoral Bill was delayed until 1890, when on 5 August, Hall proposed a motion "That in the opinion of the House, the right of voting for members of the House of Representatives should be extended to women." After vigorous debate, this was passed 37 votes to 11. On 21 August, Hall moved an amendment to the Electoral Bill to give women suffrage, but it was defeated by seven votes.
Following the defeat, Hall suggested to Sheppard that a petition to parliament should be the next step. She drew up the wording for the petition, arranged for the forms to be printed, and campaigned hard for its support. During the 1890 election campaign, WCTU members attempted to ask all candidates about their position on women's suffrage. The petition contained 10,085 signatures (according to WCTU minutes), and Hall presented it to Parliament in 1891 as a new Electoral Bill went into committee. The petition was supported in Parliament by Hall, Alfred Saunders, and the Premier at the time, John Ballance. Hall moved an amendment to the Electoral Bill to give women suffrage; it passed with a majority of 25 votes. An opponent of suffrage, Walter Carncross, then moved an amendment which would also allow women to stand for parliament; this seemed a logical extension of Hall's amendment but was actually calculated to cause the Bill's failure in New Zealand's upper house, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The Bill indeed failed in the Upper House by two votes.
In 1890, Sheppard was one of the founders of the Christian Ethical Society, a discussion group for both men and women, not limited to the members of a single church. In their first few meetings the topics included selfishness, conjugal relations, and dress reform. The Society gave Sheppard more confidence debating her ideas with people from diverse backgrounds. During 1891, Sheppard began editing a page in the Prohibitionist on behalf of the WCTU. The Prohibitionist was a fortnightly temperance paper with a circulation around New Zealand of over 20,000. Sheppard used the pseudonym "Penelope" in this paper.
Sheppard promised that a second petition would be twice as large and worked through the summer to organise it; it received 20,274 women's signatures. Using paid canvassers, the Liberal MP Henry Fish organised two counter petitions, one signed by men and the other by women; they received 5,000 signatures between them. An Electoral Bill in 1892 included provision for women's suffrage and again it easily passed in the House of Representatives, but the Upper House requested that women's votes be postal rather than by ballot. As the two houses could not agree on this, the bill failed.
A third petition for suffrage, still larger, was organised by Sheppard and presented in 1893. This time 31,872 women signed—the largest petition of any kind presented to Parliament at this point.
### 1893 Electoral Bill
The Electoral Bill of 1893, which granted women full voting rights, successfully passed in the House of Representatives in August. Few MPs were willing to vote against it, fearing that women would vote against them in the general election later that year. Many therefore chose to be absent from the house during votes. Henry Fish attempted to delay the proposed statute by calling for a national referendum, but the Bill progressed to the Legislative Council. After several attempts to stymie passage failed, the legislation passed 20 votes to 18 on 8 September. The Bill now needed the Governor's signature, and although Governor David Boyle did not support women's suffrage and was slow to sign, he eventually did so on 19 September. Sheppard was widely acknowledged as the leader of the women's suffrage movement.
## 1893 general election and further women's advocacy
Sheppard had no time to rest, as the was only ten weeks away, and the newspapers were spreading rumours that an early election might be called to reduce the number of women enrolled. Along with the WCTU NZ, she was highly active in encouraging women to register as voters. The main meeting venue in Christchurch was the Tuam Street Hall. One of her largest detractors was the liquor industry, which feared for its continued business. Despite the short notice, 88 percent of women had enrolled to vote by election date (28 November), and nearly 70 percent ended up casting a vote. Although women had gained the vote they were not eligible to stand in parliamentary elections until 1919, and it was not until 1933 that the first woman was elected to parliament.
In around 1892 Sheppard had started bicycling around Christchurch—one of the first women in the city to do so. She joined the Atalanta Ladies' Cycling Club, which existed from 1892 to 1897, and was a founding committee member. The club was the first women's cycling club in New Zealand or Australia and attracted controversy as some of its members advocated "rational dress"—such as knickerbockers rather than skirts for female cyclists.
In December 1893, Sheppard was elected President of the Christchurch branch of the WCTU NZ. She chaired the first two meetings in 1894, before travelling to England with her husband and son. She was in great demand in England as a speaker to women's groups about the struggle for women's suffrage in New Zealand. In mid-1895, the WCTU launched a monthly journal, The White Ribbon, with Sheppard as the editor, contributing to it from overseas. While in England Sheppard experienced health problems, requiring an operation, possibly a hysterectomy. The family returned to New Zealand at the beginning of 1896. Later that year, Sheppard was reappointed editor of The White Ribbon.
## Canterbury Women's Institute and the National Council of Women
The Canterbury Women's Institute was formed in September 1892, with Sheppard playing a leading role and taking charge of the economics department. The institute was open to both men and women and worked to reduce inequalities between them. Sheppard believed that enfranchisement was the first step towards achieving other reforms, such as reforming unfair laws on marriage, parenthood, and property, and towards eliminating the uneven treatment of the sexes in morality.
The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in April 1896 by the Canterbury Women's Institute and ten other women's groups from throughout New Zealand, and Sheppard was elected president at its founding convention. The Council promoted the right of women to stand for Parliament, equal pay and equal opportunities for women, the removal of legal disabilities affecting women, and economic independence for married women.
Sheppard's election as president, instead of fellow feminist Lady Anna Stout, had caused a rift. This, along with other disagreements such as whether the council should support New Zealand's involvement in the Second Boer War, contributed to the organisation going into recess in 1906.
## Later life
As editor of The White Ribbon and president of the National Council of Women, Sheppard promoted many ideas related to improving the situation and status of women. In particular, she was concerned about establishing legal and economic independence of women from men. She was not only occupied with advancing women's rights, but also promoted political reforms such as proportional representation, binding referendums, and a Cabinet elected directly by Parliament.
By 1902, Sheppard's marriage appears to have been under strain, and possibly had been for several years. Her husband sold their house and moved to England with their son, who wished to study in London. Sheppard bought new furnishings and appeared to be planning for a new permanent residence in Christchurch, but sold them in 1903, stepped down from her positions at the National Council of Women, and moved to England without any fixed date to return. On the way she briefly stopped in Canada and the United States where she met the American suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt. In London, she was active in promoting women's suffrage, but her health deteriorated further, forcing her to stop this work.
In November 1904, Sheppard returned to New Zealand with her husband, but he went back to England in March the following year. She moved into the house of her long-time friends William Sidney Lovell-Smith and his wife Jennie Lovell-Smith; their third daughter, Hilda Kate Lovell-Smith, had been given her middle name after Sheppard. She remained relatively inactive in political circles, and stopped giving speeches, but continued to write. She prepared a display on the history of women's suffrage for the 1906 Exhibition in Christchurch, and wrote the pamphlet Woman Suffrage in New Zealand for the International Women's Suffrage Alliance in 1907. The following year she travelled to England for her son's wedding, visiting the headquarters of the WCTU in Chicago on the way, and meeting with suffrage groups after arriving in Britain. In 1912 and 1913, she travelled with the Lovell-Smiths through India and Europe. While she did not recover her former energy, her health had stopped declining, and she continued to be effective in influencing the New Zealand women's movement. She was the first to sign a petition to the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, in 1916, asking him to urge the British government to enfranchise women, and she revitalised the National Council of Women along with a group of other prominent suffragists in 1918. Sheppard was elected president of the National Council that year before stepping down in 1919.
Sheppard's husband Walter died in England in 1915. Jennie Lovell-Smith died in 1924, and Sheppard and William Lovell-Smith married in 1925. Lovell-Smith died only four years later, and Sheppard herself died in Christchurch on 13 July 1934 at the age of 86. As her son Douglas had died of pernicious anaemia at the age of 29 in 1910, and her only grandchild, Margaret Isabel Sheppard, had died of tuberculosis at the age of 19 in 1930, Sheppard left no living direct descendants. She was buried at Addington Cemetery, Christchurch, in a grave with her mother and her brother Robert.
## Commemoration
Sheppard is considered to be an important figure in New Zealand's history. Since 1991 her profile has featured on the New Zealand ten-dollar note. A 2005 television show New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers ranked Sheppard as the second most influential New Zealander of all time. Similarly, The New Zealand Herald selected Sheppard as one of their ten greatest New Zealanders in 2013.
In 1972, Patricia Grimshaw's book Women's Suffrage in New Zealand identified Sheppard as the leading figure of the suffrage movement. This was the first acclaimed book to do so and its publication marked a growth in recognition of Kate Sheppard's life and activism.
In 1993, the centenary of women's suffrage in New Zealand, a group of Christchurch women established two memorials to Sheppard: the Kate Sheppard National Memorial, on the banks of the Avon River / Ōtākaro, and the Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust Award, an annual award to women in research. That year a special paeony-style white camellia was created at Camellia Glen Nurseries in Kaupokonui, Taranaki; white camellias were a symbol of the suffragists. It was named after Kate Sheppard and planted extensively throughout New Zealand.
The Fendalton house at 83 Clyde Road, where the Sheppards lived from 1888 to 1902 and now known as the Kate Sheppard House, is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I heritage building, in view of the many events relevant to women's suffrage that happened there. It was here that Sheppard pasted together the three main petitions onto sheets of wallpaper. Kate Sheppard House came into government ownership in 2019.
New Zealand playwright Mervyn Thompson wrote the play O! Temperance! about Sheppard and the temperance movement. It was first performed in 1972 at Christchurch's Court Theatre. In 2016 and 2017, the production That Bloody Woman, which re-imagined Kate Sheppard's life as a punk rock musical, toured New Zealand.
Kate Sheppard Place, located within Wellington's parliament precinct, is named in her honour; it is a short one-way street running from Molesworth Street opposite Parliament House to the intersection of Mulgrave Street and Thorndon Quay. There is a Kate Sheppard Avenue in the Auckland suburb of Northcross. In 2014, eight intersections near Parliament in Wellington were fitted with green pedestrian lights depicting Kate Sheppard.
Several New Zealand schools have houses named after Sheppard. In 2014, Whangārei Girls' High School renamed a house that was named after Richard Seddon, an opponent of women's suffrage, to Sheppard House at the request of a student.
On 8 March 2018, coinciding with International Women's Day and in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the women's suffrage movement, New Zealand Football renamed its premier women's knockout association football tournament the Kate Sheppard Cup.
## Works
- (Pamphlet)
## See also
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- National Council of Women of New Zealand
- Timeline of women's suffrage
- Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand
- Gender equality in New Zealand |
1,972,323 | Battle of Concepción | 1,161,332,271 | Texas Revolution battle fought on October 28, 1835 | [
"1835 in Texas",
"Battles of the Texas Revolution",
"Conflicts in 1835",
"October 1835 events"
]
| The battle of Concepción was fought on October 28, 1835, between Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin. The 30-minute engagement, which historian J. R. Edmondson describes as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution", occurred on the grounds of Mission Concepción, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of what is now Downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas.
On October 13, the newly created Texian Army under Stephen F. Austin had marched towards Bexar, where General Martín Perfecto de Cos commanded the remaining Mexican soldiers in Texas. On October 27, Austin sent Bowie and Fannin, with 90 soldiers, to find a defensible spot near Bexar for the Texian Army to rest. After choosing a site near Mission Concepción, the scouting party camped for the night and sent a courier to notify Austin. After learning that the Texian Army was divided, Cos sent Ugartechea with 275 soldiers to attack the Texians camped at Concepción. The Texians took cover in a horseshoe-shaped gully; their good defensive position helped them to repel several Mexican attacks, and the Mexican soldiers retreated just 30 minutes before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived. Historians estimate that between 14 and 76 Mexican soldiers were killed, while only one Texian soldier died.
## Background
The newly organized Texian Army, determined to put a decisive end to Mexican control over Texas, began marching towards San Antonio de Bexar on October 13, 1835. Days earlier, General Martín Perfecto de Cos, brother-in-law of the Mexican president, had arrived in Bexar to take command of all the Mexican forces in Texas. By October 20 the Texians—led by Stephen F. Austin, the first empresario to bring English-speaking settlers to Texas—had reached Salado Creek and initiated a siege of Béxar. To keep the Texians from examining Mexican defensive measures, Mexican troops attempted to restrict access to and from the city. Despite those efforts, several people were able to leave their homes and join the Texians. Among those was James Bowie, who was well known for his fighting prowess; stories of his exploits in the Sandbar Fight and his search for the lost San Saba mine had been widely reported.
On October 22, Austin named Bowie a colonel and gave him joint command of the 1st Battalion with Captain James W. Fannin. Before nightfall the 1st Battalion began a reconnaissance mission to evaluate the former missions around San Antonio as potential campsites. Locals familiar with the area, Juan Seguín and his Texians, would guide the men along the river. After investigating three of the missions, Bowie and Fannin selected Mission San Francisco de la Espada as the most promising campsite. The rest of the Texian Army joined them there early
## Prelude
Bowie and Fannin were accompanied by ninety soldiers, divided into four companies led by Captains Andrew Briscoe, Robert Coleman, Michael Goheen, and Valentine Bennet. The group took a northerly route, following the San Antonio River past Missions San Juan and San José. Along the way they encountered a small party of Mexican scouts, who retreated to Bexar after a brief skirmish.
Approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from San Antonio de Bexar and 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Texian camp at Espada, the Texian scouting party stopped at Mission Concepción. Five hundred yards (460 m) west of the mission, the San Antonio River curved in a small horseshoe shape, with the two sides of the river's curve approximately 100 yards (91 m) apart. According to historian Alwyn Barr, "trees shaded both sides of the broad river bottom which lay about six feet below the level of the rolling praire [sic?] nearby". Rather than return immediately to Austin, as their orders specified, Bowie and Fannin instead sent a courier to bring Austin directions to Concepción. The next day, an angry Austin issued a statement threatening officers who chose not to follow orders with court-martial.
The Texian scouting party divided into two camps. Fannin supervised 49 men at the south part of the horseshoe bend, while Bowie and the remaining men camped at the northern part of the bend. Any Mexican force coming from the north would be caught in their cross-fire. Pickets were stationed around the area and in the mission tower, which offered greater visibility. As they settled down for the evening, the Texians were surprised to see a Mexican cannonball, fired from one of the church towers in Bexar, hit just beyond their camp. Many of the Texian soldiers believed that a priest from the mission had informed the Mexican Army of their position.
## Battle
Hoping to neutralize the Texian force at Concepción before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived, Cos ordered Colonel Domingo Ugartechea to lead an early-morning assault on October 28. At 6:00 a.m., Ugartechea left Bexar with 275 Mexican soldiers and 2 cannons. Heavy fog delayed their approach, and the Mexican soldiers did not reach Concepción until 14:00 or 8:00 a.m. A Mexican cavalry scout fired at Texian picket Henry Karnes; after returning fire, Karnes ran back to his company, frustrated because, as he put it, "Boys, the scoundrels have shot off my powder horn". The Texians took refuge in the gully, firing from its edge before dropping the 6 feet (1.8 m) down to the river level to reload. As the remaining Texian sentries hurried to join the main body of Texian soldiers, Pen Jarvis was struck by a Mexican bullet and fell down the river bank. The bullet hit a knife Jarvis had slipped through the front of his belt, and he suffered only bruises.
The Texian position was surrounded by trees, leaving the Mexican cavalry no room to maneuver. The 200 members of the cavalry remained on the west bank of the river, behind the Texians, to foil any escape attempts. Lieutenant Colonel José Maria Mendosa brought the Mexican infantry and artillery across the river to a position below that of the Texians. In response, Texians trimmed undergrowth near their camp to provide better visibility and dug steps into the embankment so that they could more easily climb up to fire. The two sides skirmished desultorily for two hours, until the fog began to lift. At that point, 50–60 Mexican infantrymen crossed the prairie to surround the Texians. Seeing their approach, Bowie shouted to his Texian forces, "Keep under cover, boys, and reserve your fire; we haven't a man to spare!" At 300 yards (270 m) from the Texian position, the Mexican infantry halted and formed a line with the cannon in the middle. They began firing as they advanced toward the Texian positions, to little effect. For the most part, the Mexican volleys passed over the heads of the Texians. According to Texian Noah Smithwick, "grapeshot and canister thrashed through the pecan trees overhead, raining a shower of ripe nuts down on us, and I saw men picking them up and eating them with as little concern as if they were being shaken down by a norther." In his official report to Austin, Bowie remarked that "The discharge from the enemy was one continued blaze of fire, whilst that from our lines, was more slowly delivered, but with good aim and deadly effect."
When Mexican officers ordered a charge on the south bend held by Fannin, Bowie sent Coleman's company to help. Most of the Texian reinforcements maneuvered to their new position from below the river bank, but several rose from cover and dashed across the prairie. One of them, Richard Andrews, was hit in the side with grapeshot and died several hours after the battle.
As the reinforcements reached the southern part of the horseshoe, the Mexican infantry fell back, leaving the cannon within 100 yards (91 m) of the Texians. Texians redirected their fire to the cannoneers. After three different sets of gunners were killed or wounded, the cannons were abandoned. The Mexican infantry attempted three attacks; all were repulsed. As the Mexican buglers called for a retreat, the infantry fell back beyond Texian rifle range. The Mexican cavalry was sent to retrieve wounded men and the cannon. As the cavalry approached, Bowie led a charge onto the prairie. The Texians quickly captured the cannon and turned it on the fleeing Mexican soldiers. Grapeshot killed one of the mule drivers, causing his caisson to go out of control and "careen[...] through the shattered Mexican ranks". The battle had lasted only 30 minutes.
## Aftermath
Austin had intended to reunite the two parts of his army early on October 28, but the group camping at Mission Espada had delayed their departure to unsuccessfully pursue a company that had deserted. Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis and his company of cavalry rode ahead of the main body of the army. When they reached Concepción, the Mexican Army was still visible in the distance. The small band of Texian cavalry pursued but the Mexican soldiers reached Bexar safely.
Less than 30 minutes after the battle ended, the rest of the Texian Army arrived. Austin felt that the Mexican morale must be low after their defeat and wanted to proceed immediately to Bexar. Bowie and other officers refused, as they believed Bexar was too heavily fortified. The Texians searched the area for any Mexican equipment which had been abandoned during the retreat. They found several boxes of cartridges. Complaining that the Mexican powder was "little better than pounded charcoal", the Texians emptied the cartridges but kept the bullets.
That evening, Austin allowed a local priest and men from Bexar to retrieve the bodies of the Mexican soldiers who had died in battle. Barr estimated that at least 14 Mexican soldiers were killed, with an additional 39 wounded, several of whom died later. Timothy Todish et al., in their book The Alamo Sourcebook, estimated that 60 Mexican soldiers were killed, while historian Stephen Hardin claimed that 76 Mexican soldiers died. The only Texian to die in battle was Andrews, and Jarvis was the only Texian classified as wounded.
This battle, which historian J. R. Edmondson describes as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution", was the last offensive against the Texians that Cos would order. Barr attributed the Texian victory to "able leadership, a strong position, and greater firepower". The Mexican cavalry was unable to fight effectively in the wooded, riverbottom terrain, and the weapons of the Mexican infantry had a much lower range than that of the Texians. Although Barr continues that the battle "should have taught ... lessons on Mexican courage and the value of a good defensive position", Hardin believes that "the relative ease of the victory at Concepción instilled in the Texians a reliance on their long rifles and a contempt for their enemies". A soldier who later served under Fannin complained that Fannin's "former experience in fighting Mexicans [at Concepción] had led him to neglect to take such precautionary measures as were requisite", which may have contributed to his defeat at the Battle of Coleto in March 1836.
## See also
- List of Texas Revolution battles
- Timeline of the Texas Revolution |
6,046,855 | Jihad (song) | 1,135,403,564 | 2006 song by Slayer | [
"2006 controversies in the United States",
"2006 songs",
"Music about the September 11 attacks",
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"Religious controversies in music",
"Slayer songs",
"Song recordings produced by Josh Abraham",
"Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin",
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]
| "Jihad" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer which appears on the band's 2006 studio album Christ Illusion. The song portrays the imagined viewpoint of a terrorist who has participated in the September 11, 2001 attacks, concluding with spoken lyrics taken from words left behind by Mohamed Atta; Atta was named by the FBI as the "head suicide terrorist" of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center. "Jihad" was primarily written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman; the lyrics were co-authored with vocalist Tom Araya.
"Jihad" received a mixed reception in the music press, and reviews generally focused on the lyrics' controversial subject matter. The song drew comparisons to Slayer's 1986 track "Angel of Death"—also penned by Hanneman—which similarly caused outrage at the time of its release.
Joseph Dias of the Mumbai Christian group "Catholic Secular Forum" expressed concern over "Jihad"'s lyrics, and contributed to Christ Illusions recall by EMI India, who to date have no plans for a reissue in that country. ABC-TV's Broadcast Standards and Practices Department censored the song during Slayer's first US network television appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 19, 2007. Only the opening minute was broadcast over the show's credits, thus omitting 40% of the lyrics.
## Origins
`Primarily written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman, "Jihad" features lyrical contributions by vocalist Tom Araya. Both Hanneman and Araya had previously written about controversial lyrical matter in past Slayer tracks; while Hanneman had written songs like "Angel of Death" and "SS-3" which explored the atrocities committed by Nazi figures such as Auschwitz concentration camp physician Josef Mengele and Third Reich henchman Reinhard Heydrich, Araya had delved into the lives of serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein in the tracks "213" and "Dead Skin Mask" respectively. "Jihad" is written from the perspective of a 9/11 terrorist, and imagines the thoughts that "the enemy" might have. The climax of the song features spoken text taken from a motivational letter left behind by Mohamed Atta, who was named by the FBI as the head suicide terrorist of American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks.`
Guitarist Kerry King has been outspoken in his defense of "Jihad", and has claimed that the song has the "coolest angle" on Christ Illusion. "These new songs aren't political at all," King states, "'Jihad', 'Eyes of the Insane'—it's what's spewing out at us from the TV." He further clarified that the band was not attempting to promote the terrorists' perspective of the war, nor their ideological beliefs, although he expected others to assume Slayer was doing so. They did not wish to dwell on the topic "because every band on the planet already has" and "came from a certain perspective", so felt they had to present an alternative viewpoint. "We're Slayer, we have to be different" was King's assertion.
American singer/songwriter Steve Earle attempted a similar concept in penning "John Walker's Blues" (from the 2002 album Jerusalem), written from the perspective of the Washington-born John Walker Lindh, a Taliban member captured during the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Earle was criticised for this track; King anticipated a comparable reaction to "Jihad": "People make an assumption before they (read) the lyrics. It's definitely not only human nature, it's very American-natured."
## Musical structure
"Jihad" is played in standard 4/4 time and runs for 3 minutes and 31 seconds. A skittering vamp played by Jeff Hanneman leads into the track, while Dave Lombardo shimmers his hi-hat. Smoothly mixing up tempos, the band builds the song with a fast, "wonky, catchy and angular" guitar riff reminiscent of the breakdown in 1986's "Angel of Death". This guitar riff decelerates before bursting forward again in two-bar stretches underpinned by Lombardo's pounding, fifth-gear drumming.
IGN reviewer Andy Patrizio was dismissive of the song's musical structure in comparison to the other tracks on Christ Illusion "Jihad", "Flesh Storm", "Skeleton Christ", and "Supremist", and felt there was too much similarity in the riffs, tuning, tempos, and arrangements. MusicOMH.com's Ian Robinson was also negative, remarking that the song "concludes with the 'now getting slightly old hat' Slayer trick (but still atmospheric) of over sampling voices over the solo."
## Reception and criticism
"Jihad"—alongside fellow Christ Illusion album tracks "Eyes of the Insane" and "Cult"—was made available for streaming on June 26, 2006, via the Spanish website Rafabasa.com. The album was Slayer's ninth studio recording, and was released on August 8, 2006. During reviews "Jihad" received a mixed reception.
Blabbermouth's Don Kaye gave the opinion that "a handful of songs" on Christ Illusion "are either too generic or the arrangements are too clumsy to work well", and specifically singled out the track: "I'm looking at you, 'Jihad' and 'Skeleton Christ'." Ben Ratliff of New York Times remarked that the song is "predictably tough stuff, but let's put it on a scale. It is tougher, and less reasoned, than Martin Amis's recent short story 'The Last Days of Muhammad Atta.' It is no tougher than a taped message from Al Qaeda." Peter Atkinson of KNAC.com was equally unimpressed, describing the group's choice of song climax as:
> ... the same sort of detached, matter-of-fact tactic Hanneman and Araya have employed for "difficult" subjects in the past—Josef Mengele's Nazi atrocities in "Angel of Death" or Jeffrey Dahmer/Ed Gein's ghoulish proclivities in "213" and "Dead Skin Mask"—with great effect. But here it feels atypically crass and exploitative, as if it was done purely to get a rise out of people ... And Slayer's usually a lot more clever than that.
Not all reviews were so negative. Thom Jurek of Allmusic observed that "the band begins to enter and twist and turn looking for a place to create a new rhythmic thrash that's the most insane deconstruction of four/four time on tape." The ''Austin Chronicles Marc Savlov asked readers to "listen to the eerie, stop-start cadence of lunacy in 'Jihad,' with Araya playing the role of a suicide bomber almost too convincingly."
King would have appointed "Jihad" as the group's nomination in the "Best Metal Performance" award category at the 49th Grammy Awards, deeming the chosen track "Eyes of the Insane" "the poorest representations" of the group on ninth studio album Christ Illusion. Despite King's statement, "Eyes of the Insane" won Slayer their first Grammy award. The Slayer guitarist has also stated; "I like playing 'Jihad' because I'm back changing my guitars, and Jeff starts it and he starts it quietly so you can hear the fans go crazy about it and you can't always hear that at the beginning of a song."
### Controversy
"Jihad"'s lyrical matter provoked controversy from several quarters. Peter Atkinson of KNAC.com remarked that the song, "no doubt will be Christ Illusion's most controversial track." In May 2006, World Entertainment News Network announced that revelations of the song's lyrical content had angered the families of 9/11 victims.
Joseph Dias of the Mumbai Christian group "Catholic Secular Forum" (CSF) issued a memorandum to his police commissioner, in which he expressed concern that "Jihad" would offend "the sensibilities of the Muslims ...and secular Indians who have respect for all faiths." EMI India met with the CSF, apologising for the album's release, and recalled all copies, with no plans for a reissue. On October 11, 2006, it was announced all stocks had been destroyed. The track, alongside the album's controversial Larry Carroll painted cover art and provocative lyrics, were the specific reasons for EMI India's decision. Araya had expected "Jihad"'s treatment of the events of 9/11 to create a backlash in America, however it failed to materialise. This was in part, he believes, because of peoples' view that the song was merely "Slayer being Slayer". Hanneman expected that the Muslim community would either "embrace" or hate Slayer for penning the track, or that the victims of 9/11 would criticize the band over the song's subject matter.
"Jihad" was one of six songs performed by Slayer during their first US network television appearance on ABC-TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live! (January 19, 2007), although only the opening minute of the track was broadcast. ABC-TV's Broadcast Standards and Practices department censored "Jihad", and approached Slayer the day prior to broadcast with roughly 40% of the song lyrics deleted. King has since confirmed that the group were ten minutes from withdrawing from the show, but eventually decided to "just go do it."
### Comparisons to "Angel of Death"
On a number of occasions the song has been compared to "Angel of Death", a Hanneman-penned Slayer track from 1986's Reign in Blood, which was lyrically inspired by Nazi physician Josef Mengele. "Angel of Death" focused on human experiments conducted by Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II. KNAC.com'''s Peter Atkinson commented upon the similarities, to which King responded that the whole affair "was blown out of proportion".
Making the connection, King remembers thinking "Great, now we're gonna be answering for this one!" after listening to a playback of the song. "But as with 'Angel [of Death],' we're not endorsing anything. It's just not an 'anti' song, either." Hanneman emphasised, "Like 'Angel of Death,' it's just a documentary."
## Personnel
- Tom Araya - bass, vocals
- Kerry King - guitars
- Jeff Hanneman - guitars
- Dave Lombardo - drums
## See also |
5,406,518 | Iwan Roberts | 1,164,404,936 | Welsh footballer (born 1968) | [
"1968 births",
"Cambridge United F.C. players",
"English Football League players",
"Footballers from Bangor, Gwynedd",
"Gillingham F.C. managers",
"Gillingham F.C. players",
"Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players",
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"People educated at Llanidloes High School",
"People from Barmouth",
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"Wales men's international footballers",
"Watford F.C. players",
"Welsh football managers",
"Welsh men's footballers",
"Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players"
]
| Iwan Wyn Roberts (born 26 June 1968) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1986 to 2005 for a number of clubs and the Wales national team. His footballing career started at Watford as a trainee before signing his first professional contract with the club in 1986. He moved to Huddersfield Town in 1990 where he remained for three seasons before transferring to Leicester City. Roberts signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers after three further seasons, but stayed for a single campaign before transferring to Norwich City, where he spent seven years. He played international football for Wales and amassed fifteen caps between 1989 and 2001, without scoring.
Roberts made 647 league appearances during his career, almost half of which were for Norwich, where he overcame a weak start to become a fan favourite. At his peak, he scored 61 goals in three seasons, and finished with two goals in his final game as Norwich achieved promotion to the Premiership. He was elected to the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame in 2002, while still at the club. His professional career ended with spells at Gillingham and on loan to Cambridge United.
Since retiring as a player, Roberts, who speaks fluent Welsh, has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Cymru Wales. His book, All I Want for Christmas ..., a reference to his gap-toothed appearance, prompted both controversy and praise when it was published in 2004.
## Early life
Iwan Wyn Roberts was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, on 26 June 1968. He grew up in Barmouth, on the west coast of Wales, as a Liverpool fan.
Roberts says that most football fans would know him ("if you know me at all") as "that gap-toothed ginger lunk". He started losing his front tooth when he was just 10: his best friend's heel chipping half of his tooth off, the result of an incident playing football. Some years later, a dentist removed the stump when an abscess developed. He lost his second front tooth as the result of an elbow to the mouth from Darran Rowbotham when he was 18, playing for Watford in a pre-season friendly.
Roberts credits his school PE teacher, Iolo Owen, as a great influence in his career, introducing him into men's football aged 15: "He picked me for the school team and got me into the local men's team, Harlech Town ... as he was the manager ... it toughened me up and made me a lot stronger." Critical to Roberts' thinking when he joined Watford was that coach Tom Walley was, like himself, Welsh-speaking, as was professional Malcolm Allen, against whom Roberts had played in the local Welsh leagues. He was also influenced by Graham Taylor's record of giving youth players opportunities. Roberts joined Watford as a trainee, signing his first professional contract in July 1986, shortly after his 18th birthday.
## Club career
### Watford
Roberts made his first-team debut during the 1985–86 season and scored his first goal in professional football on 16 September 1986; it was the only goal in a 1–0 win against Manchester United at Vicarage Road. Having made only one full first team appearance for Watford prior to the match, Roberts came on as a second-half substitute to score the winning goal from a narrow angle. Watford ended the season in ninth position, and despite having three years of his contract remaining, Taylor left the club to join Aston Villa. Roberts broke through in the following season, making 31 appearances in all competitions and scoring three goals, but Watford finished 19th in the table and were relegated to the Second Division. The 1988–89 season saw him make 32 appearances in total, scoring six goals, with Watford finishing fourth, but failing to progress past the 1989 Football League play-offs. Roberts' chances were restricted the following season, when he made just nine league appearances, scoring twice.
He scored nine goals in 63 league matches in total for Watford, but felt that he was failing to get enough opportunities and moved to Division Three club Huddersfield Town prior to the start of the 1990–91 season, for £275,000. One of his contemporaries at Watford was future Norwich City manager, Glenn Roeder. Roberts remembers Roeder as "an absolute gentleman ... I can't speak highly enough of him. He helped me a great deal with his experience and any problems that the young lads had they knew he would help them with."
### Huddersfield Town
Roberts credits a lot of his success as a striker to the interaction he had with Huddersfield's then first-team coach, Peter Withe: "Peter was exceptional in the air and he taught me so much on how to use my physicality properly and how to move defenders about especially in the penalty box which would enable me a bit more time and space in the box." The club then signed Frank Stapleton, who helped the young Roberts develop "awareness in the opposition's penalty box" and how to "steal goals" to increase his goal tally, getting a final touch to 'help' a goalbound ball cross the line.
The 1991–92 season brought Roberts a club post-war record 34 goals in a season, 24 of which were in the league, making him joint top-scorer in the division. His efforts helped the club to finish third and qualify for the play-offs. There they lost to Peterborough United where Roberts failed to score in either leg. Overall, whilst playing for Huddersfield he scored 50 goals in 142 games. In November 1993 he was signed by the Second Division club Leicester City for £300,000. Neil Warnock, Huddersfield's manager, needed to sell players and Leicester manager Brian Little took an interest.
### Leicester City
Roberts made his debut for Leicester in a Midlands derby against Wolverhampton Wanderers. At half time, Leicester were two goals behind and he expected manager Brian Little, "the nicest man" he ever played for to rant in the dressing room, but instead he quietly told the players he was going to make two substitutions. In the second half, Roberts scored two goals to secure a draw. After retiring, Roberts said he still regretted not completing a hat-trick in the match, a feat he did achieve in April 1994, in a 28-minute spell against local rivals Derby County. As recently as 2017, this achievement is still recalled in a chant by Leicester City fans. Roberts broke some ribs a few weeks later and returned to the first-team squad just in time for the 1993–94 play-off final, which Leicester won 2–1 against Derby.
In the 1994–95 Premiership, Leicester struggled and were relegated, but Roberts was the club's top scorer with 11 goals in all competitions. He scored another 19 goals the following season, as Leicester reached the play-offs again. In the semi-final, Leicester drew 0-0 with Stoke City in the first leg at home and won 1-0 in the second leg from a Garry Parker goal, to qualify for the final. What followed was one of the only two incidents that "bugged" Roberts during his playing career: while celebrating the win, he suddenly realised he was in danger due to a pitch invasion by Stoke supporters. He managed to escape, but some of his team-mates, including Neil Lennon and Muzzy Izzet were less fortunate, and had to be protected by police. Although it was reported that Roberts had recovered from injury, he was not selected for the squad for the play-off final against Crystal Palace. Leicester won the match which secured them promotion to the Premiership. With the side promoted again, Leicester decided to sell Roberts to Wolves. In all, Roberts scored 41 goals in 100 league games for Leicester.
### Wolverhampton Wanderers
His goals and performances for Leicester persuaded Wolves to sign Roberts for £1.3m in the summer of 1996. He spent only one season at Molineux in which he scored 12 goals in 33 games, including one hat-trick for the club in a match against their local rivals West Bromwich Albion in the Black Country derby. Wolves ended the season in third place but lost 4–3 on aggregate to Crystal Palace in the play-offs, with Roberts failing to score in either leg.
In the summer off-season of 1997, Roberts returned from holiday and came into the club for the first day of pre-season training where manager Mark McGhee called him into his office. There McGhee said that he had been told that in order to bring in new players, he had to sell first, and that Roberts was the only player for whom an offer had been made – by Norwich City. Roberts did not want to leave the club, but accepted that if the manager did not want him there, he needed to go.
### Norwich City
In July 1997, Norwich City manager Mike Walker paid £850,000 to Wolves to secure the services of Roberts. His time at the club (nicknamed the Canaries) did not begin happily, however. Following his debut in August 1997 against his former club Wolves, he struggled throughout the 1997–98 season and scored just seven goals; "there were certainly those in the stands who were questioning whether he was worth the near £1,000,000 splashed out on him". There were crowd chants about him being a "waste of money" and Roberts remembers that someone wrote to the Eastern Daily Press and described him as "the worst ever to wear a Norwich shirt", adding the reflection that "it was the bleakest period of all my years as a pro." Roberts had scored just four goals heading into the end of the season; however, his fitness slowly began to improve and "three goals in the final two home games of the season left in good heart for the next campaign". Walker was sacked at the end of the season, and Roberts blames himself for this happening – a result of his lack of goals.
Walker was replaced during the summer by Bruce Rioch. During pre-season training, Roberts weighed in at 15 stone 3 pounds (97 kg), with a body fat ratio of 16–17%, when his "fighting weight" should have been "just under 14 stone with around 13 per cent body fat." The turnaround was, according to Roberts, due to some clever psychology by Rioch:
> "Bruce was very clever: he didn't issue me with an ultimatum, he didn't rant and rave or threaten me. He just said, "Tom Walley would be proud of you". Tom was my youth team manager at Watford and absolutely hated people being out of shape ... It was a gentle hint, but I realised ... I had to sort it out myself."
Roberts threw himself into weight training and soon reached a target weight of 13 stone 10 pounds. It paid off: that season, Roberts scored 23 goals. He was partnered by what the Eastern Daily Press described as the "flourishing talent" of Craig Bellamy who scored 19 goals. Norwich finished in the top half of the table and the Canaries fans voted Roberts player of the season. In the 1999–2000 season he was again top scorer (19 goals in 49 games) and retained the player of the season award. He just missed out on becoming the first player in the club's history to win the award three years in a row when Andy Marshall finished narrowly ahead of him in the voting for the 2000–01 season.
During that 1999–2000 campaign there was speculation about Roberts's future as his contract was due to expire in the summer of 2000. Roberts had an agent, former team-mate and close friend David Speedie, who advised him to turn down Norwich's offer and sign for Nottingham Forest or Huddersfield Town. Ultimately, "he couldn't produce anything on paper that told me I'd be signing ... so I could have got injured in training, never played again and not got a penny." As a result, the two men fell out and Roberts did not use the services of an agent again, representing himself in contract negotiations. Shortly after he signed a contract extension in January of that season, Bruce Rioch left the club and was succeeded by Bryan Hamilton. Roberts helped Hamilton make a good start when he scored both goals in a 2–0 win at Portman Road against City's East Anglian derby rivals Ipswich Town on 19 March 2000.
Although Roberts was personally enjoying the most productive spell of his career, his first four years at Carrow Road had seen the club struggle. They had barely threatened to qualify for the end of season play-offs, ending the 2000–01 campaign in 15th place, six points above the relegation zone. The 2001–02 season, with new manager Nigel Worthington in his first full season in charge, saw the team fare better and they reached the Division One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Roberts missed much of the second half of the season because of injury, but came off the substitute's bench in the final to give Norwich the lead in the first minute of extra-time with a header. Norwich lost the match in a penalty shoot-out after Birmingham City had equalised. Roberts took – and scored – the first penalty of the shoot-out but misses by Phil Mulryne and Daryl Sutch meant Birmingham won 4–2 and were promoted to the Premiership.
During the 2002–03 season, Roberts captained the Norwich team. That season, in a match against Sheffield Wednesday at Carrow Road, Roberts scored twice to move into third place on the list of Norwich City's all-time leading goalscorers, overtaking Robert Fleck in the process. The Canaries faded after a good start to the season, finishing in eighth place and failing to qualify for the play-offs. Roberts scored just 7 goals in 47 games. The 2003–04 season would be his last at Carrow Road and although he was no longer an regular starter for the first team he played an important part in one of the club's best-ever seasons. The team won the title and were promoted to the Premiership. Roberts scored some important goals, including the winning strike in a top-of-the-table match against Sheffield United. Roberts revealed in his autobiography that in February of that season he had a cancer scare and had to have a malignant melanoma removed from his arm.
A few days before the club's last home match of the 2003–04 season, Worthington announced that Roberts would not be offered a new contract when his deal expired that summer. Worthington felt that, following promotion to the Premiership, the club had to look to the future and that Roberts was now surplus to requirements. Although he had made 41 league appearances that season, he started just 13 games. With the championship already won, Worthington restored Roberts to the starting line-up for the last game of the season at Gresty Road against Crewe Alexandra and made him captain for the day. Roberts scored twice as City won 3–1; he described the occasion and the goal: "I'd never scored on the final day of a season before, it was my final game in a Norwich shirt, which was a very sad occasion, Nigel Worthington made me captain for the day and I'll be forever thankful for that, and I managed to cap it all off by getting two goals. One of them was a left footed volley into the top corner and I haven't got too many of those in my career!" Overall, Roberts scored 96 goals in 306 games for Norwich.
### Gillingham and Cambridge United
After being released by Norwich, he received a number of offers to play for other clubs, including from Swiss side FC Basel, but eventually signed a two-year contract with Gillingham of the Championship, where he would be player/coach. His debut was against Ipswich, Norwich's local rivals, and was booked after less than five seconds. The move to Gillingham did not prove a good one for him and he had a number of disagreements with the club, particularly with Stan Ternent after he succeeded Andy Hessenthaler as manager. In December 2004 Roberts had himself served as joint caretaker manager, along with Darren Hare and Paul Smith, after the sudden departure of both Hessenthaler and initial caretaker John Gorman. In March 2005 he joined Cambridge United on loan until the end of the season to play under the management of former Norwich team-mate, Rob Newman. He scored his 200th league goal on his debut, but Cambridge were relegated from League Two. In August 2005, Roberts retired from playing after reaching an agreement with Gillingham to pay the final year of his contract.
## International career
While a Watford player, Roberts was called up for Wales for the first time, an April 1989 friendly game against Israel. He made his debut for the Welsh national team on 11 October 1989, when he took to the field in a 2–1 defeat to the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham. With both Ian Rush and Mark Hughes suspended, Roberts started the game alongside Malcolm Allen. He had to wait more than two years for his next international appearance, when his domestic form for Huddersfield saw him leading scorer in Division Two. Roberts played in a 1–1 friendly against Austria in April 1992. He earned two more caps that year at the Kirin Cup in Japan, suffering a 1–0 loss against Argentina and receiving a red card in a 1–0 victory over the host nation for a foul on Masami Ihara. Roberts made three appearances for the senior Wales team in 1994, including two qualification matches for UEFA Euro 1996 against Albania and Moldova. He was not selected for Wales again until 2000 when he made three appearances in friendlies, all losses against Finland, Brazil and Portugal.
Roberts made four more appearances for his country in the qualification stages for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in 2000 and 2001. He won a total of 15 caps for his country over a 12-year period, including a single appearance and one goal for the Wales B team, but failed to score for the senior team. Roberts is phlegmatic that he made only 17 appearances ("most as substitute") for Wales, as he "had to compete against the likes of Mark Hughes, Ian Rush, Dean Saunders, so there were some world-class strikers before me and I was just happy to get in the squad." He regards the fact that he did not score for Wales as the greatest regret of his career.
## Style of play
Standing at , Roberts was known for scoring a high proportion of his goals with headers. He had a strong partnership with Craig Bellamy, beginning when Bellamy broke into the Norwich first team in 1997, aged 18. They also featured together for Wales, although Roberts never managed to score in 15 appearances for the national side. Roberts said "I absolutely loved playing up-front with [Bellamy] ... we hit it off straight away, probably more so than anyone else I ever played with. It was like telepathy between us." He described the relationship as "the classic big man, little man" and noted that in their first season together for Norwich, Roberts scored 24 goals and Bellamy 17.
## All I Want for Christmas ...
In 2004, Roberts published an account of his last season at Norwich, entitled All I want for Christmas .... The title of the book was a joke based on Roberts' missing front teeth, a reference to the song "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth". The book proved controversial, because it included an admission of a deliberate stamp on Wolves defender Kevin Muscat, an incident that had taken place in 2000:
> "As I got up I 'lost my balance' and trod on his back. Fourteen stone through eight studs, you do the maths. He was in agony, but the ref didn't see it so I got away with it. Of course, I pulled him up and said 'Sorry mate, sorry mate', but he knew."
Roberts stated in the book that the stamp was a payback for a serious injury that Muscat had inflicted on Craig Bellamy while Bellamy and Roberts were playing together for Norwich, and that Muscat held no grudges over it.
Because of the coverage in the book, the Football Association retrospectively investigated the incident and Roberts, then playing at Gillingham, was banned for three matches and fined £2,500 for the offence. Roberts commented that this "left 'a bitter taste' – especially after England captain David Beckham escaped without a punishment for his deliberate foul in the World Cup qualifier against Wales." The Football Association said there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Beckham with bringing the game into disrepute. This was "despite his admission in The Daily Telegraph and subsequent apology." At the time, Roberts told The Daily Telegraph, "I do not want players to get suspensions and fines, but there must be consistency, regardless of who the player is." The book was praised by critics. The Daily Telegraph called it "a rollicking good read. If it doesn't make you at least smile, then it's time to seek counselling."
## Post-playing career
Roberts has the UEFA A Licence for football coaching and, speaking in 2007, had not ruled out getting into management. He told the Eastern Daily Press, "I've done my qualifications. It's just getting a club to give me a chance and taking it." When Norwich sacked Nigel Worthington, Roberts applied for the manager's job. "I tried to go for it ... knowing I wasn't going to get it but I'd never really been for an interview and I thought if I did it would stand me in good stead. But I never got a response from the club and that really disappointed me. A week after Peter Grant got the job I got a letter through the post saying 'We won't be considering you this time'. And I thought 'I've known that for the past seven days'."
### Media work
Roberts works in the media. He is bilingual, speaking fluent Welsh, and provides Welsh-language commentary for Sky Sports and BBC Radio Cymru. He also works for BBC Cymru Wales. He writes regularly for the local press in Norfolk, commenting on Norwich City and also contributes to the weekly podcast Elis James Feast of Football with comedian Elis James and fellow Welsh former international player Danny Gabbidon.
## Personal life
Roberts was married in 2016, and has three children; a son and twin daughters.
In January 2020, it was reported that Roberts had volunteered for dementia research. It followed research, published by the University of Glasgow in 2019. He has "taken a series of simple memory, attention and spatial-awareness tests and he will repeat them every six months", and will ask former Norwich City colleagues to do the same. As early as in his 2004 autobiography, Roberts had attributed signs of memory loss to heading a football: "I haven't got the best memory ... and I think that comes from heading a football so often, especially in the early days when balls were that bit heavier ... it must have taken its toll."
## Legacy
In 2002, Roberts was made an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. In 2007, Roberts came third in a vote run by the Norwich Evening News to determine which Norwich legend would be inaugurated into the Professional Footballers' Association Centenary Hall of Fame.
## Career statistics
### Club
### International
## Honours
Norwich City
- First Division: 2003–04
Individual
- PFA Team of the Year: 1991–92 Third Division |
3,415 | Bulgaria | 1,173,837,169 | Country in Southeast Europe | [
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"Bulgaria",
"Countries and territories where Bulgarian is an official language",
"Countries in Europe",
"Member states of NATO",
"Member states of the European Union",
"Member states of the Three Seas Initiative",
"Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean",
"Member states of the United Nations",
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| Bulgaria (/bʌlˈɡɛəriə, bʊl-/ ; Bulgarian: България, romanized: Bŭlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river Bulgaria is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south. Bulgaria covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), and is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities are Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas.
One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Neolithic Karanovo culture, which dates back to 6,500 BC. In the 6th to 3rd century BC the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, tribal invasions in the region resumed. Around the 6th century, these territories were settled by the early Slavs. The Bulgars, led by Asparuh, attacked from the lands of Old Great Bulgaria and permanently invaded the Balkans in the late 7th century. They established the First Bulgarian Empire, victoriously recognised by treaty in 681 AD by the Eastern Roman Empire. It dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the empire disintegrated and in 1396 fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries.
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 resulted in the formation of the third and current Bulgarian state. Many ethnic Bulgarians were left outside the new nation's borders, which stoked irredentist sentiments that led to several conflicts with its neighbours and alliances with Germany in both world wars. In 1946, Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and became a socialist state. The ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multiparty elections. Bulgaria then transitioned into a democracy and a market-based economy. Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, Bulgaria has been a unitary parliamentary republic composed of 28 provinces, with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation.
Bulgaria is a developing country, with an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 68th in the Human Development Index. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. Widespread corruption is a major socioeconomic issue; Bulgaria ranks among the most corrupt countries in the European Union. The country also faces a demographic crisis, with its population slowly shrinking, down from a peak of 9 million in 1989, to roughly 6.4 million today. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, NATO, and the Council of Europe; it is also a founding member of the OSCE, and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times.
## Etymology
The name Bulgaria is derived from the Bulgars, a tribe of Turkic origin that founded the First Bulgarian Empire. Their name is not completely understood and is difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD, but it is possibly derived from the Proto-Turkic word bulģha ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative bulgak ("revolt", "disorder"). The meaning may be further extended to "rebel", "incite" or "produce a state of disorder", and so, in the derivative, the "disturbers". Tribal groups in Inner Asia with phonologically close names were frequently described in similar terms, as the Buluoji, a component of the "Five Barbarian" groups, which during the 4th century were portrayed as both: a "mixed race" and "troublemakers".
## History
### Prehistory and Antiquity
Neanderthal remains dating to around 150,000 years ago, or the Middle Paleolithic, are some of the earliest traces of human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria. Remains from Homo sapiens found there are dated c. 47,000 years BP. This result represents the earliest arrival of modern humans in Europe. The Karanovo culture arose c. 6,500 BC and was one of several Neolithic societies in the region that thrived on agriculture. The Copper Age Varna culture (fifth millennium BC) is credited with inventing gold metallurgy. The associated Varna Necropolis treasure contains the oldest golden jewellery in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years. The treasure has been valuable for understanding social hierarchy and stratification in the earliest European societies.
The Thracians, one of the three primary ancestral groups of modern Bulgarians, appeared on the Balkan Peninsula some time before the 12th century BC. The Thracians excelled in metallurgy and gave the Greeks the Orphean and Dionysian cults, but remained tribal and stateless. The Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered parts of present-day Bulgaria (in particular eastern Bulgaria) in the 6th century BC and retained control over the region until 479 BC. The invasion became a catalyst for Thracian unity, and the bulk of their tribes united under king Teres to form the Odrysian kingdom in the 470s BC. It was weakened and vassalised by Philip II of Macedon in 341 BC, attacked by Celts in the 3rd century, and finally became a province of the Roman Empire in AD 45.
By the end of the 1st century AD, Roman governance was established over the entire Balkan Peninsula and Christianity began spreading in the region around the 4th century. The Gothic Bible—the first Germanic language book—was created by Gothic bishop Ulfilas in what is today northern Bulgaria around 381. The region came under Byzantine control after the fall of Rome in 476. The Byzantines were engaged in prolonged warfare against Persia and could not defend their Balkan territories from barbarian incursions. This enabled the Slavs to enter the Balkan Peninsula as marauders, primarily through an area between the Danube River and the Balkan Mountains known as Moesia. Gradually, the interior of the peninsula became a country of the South Slavs, who lived under a democracy. The Slavs assimilated the partially Hellenised, Romanised, and Gothicised Thracians in the rural areas.
### First Bulgarian Empire
Not long after the Slavic incursion, Moesia was once again invaded, this time by the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh. Their horde was a remnant of Old Great Bulgaria, an extinct tribal confederacy situated north of the Black Sea in what is now Ukraine and southern Russia. Asparukh attacked Byzantine territories in Moesia and conquered the Slavic tribes there in 680. A peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire was signed in 681, marking the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire. The minority Bulgars formed a close-knit ruling caste.
Succeeding rulers strengthened the Bulgarian state throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. Krum introduced a written code of law and checked a major Byzantine incursion at the Battle of Pliska, in which Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I was killed. Boris I abolished paganism in favour of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 864. The conversion was followed by a Byzantine recognition of the Bulgarian church and the adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet, developed in the capital, Preslav. The common language, religion and script strengthened central authority and gradually fused the Slavs and Bulgars into a unified people speaking a single Slavic language. A golden age began during the 34-year rule of Simeon the Great, who oversaw the largest territorial expansion of the state.
After Simeon's death, Bulgaria was weakened by wars with Magyars and Pechenegs and the spread of the Bogomil heresy. Preslav was seized by the Byzantine army in 971 after consecutive Rus' and Byzantine invasions. The empire briefly recovered from the attacks under Samuil, but this ended when Byzantine emperor Basil II defeated the Bulgarian army at Klyuch in 1014. Samuil died shortly after the battle, and by 1018 the Byzantines had conquered the First Bulgarian Empire. After the conquest, Basil II prevented revolts by retaining the rule of local nobility, integrating them in Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy, and relieving their lands of the obligation to pay taxes in gold, allowing tax in kind instead. The Bulgarian Patriarchate was reduced to an archbishopric, but retained its autocephalous status and its dioceses.
### Second Bulgarian Empire
Byzantine domestic policies changed after Basil's death and a series of unsuccessful rebellions broke out, the largest being led by Peter Delyan. The empire's authority declined after a catastrophic military defeat at Manzikert against Seljuk invaders, and was further disturbed by the Crusades. This prevented Byzantine attempts at Hellenisation and created fertile ground for further revolt. In 1185, Asen dynasty nobles Ivan Asen I and Peter IV organised a major uprising and succeeded in re-establishing the Bulgarian state. Ivan Asen and Peter laid the foundations of the Second Bulgarian Empire with its capital at Tarnovo.
Kaloyan, the third of the Asen monarchs, extended his dominion to Belgrade and Ohrid. He acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the pope and received a royal crown from a papal legate. The empire reached its zenith under Ivan Asen II (1218–1241), when its borders expanded as far as the coast of Albania, Serbia and Epirus, while commerce and culture flourished. Ivan Asen's rule was also marked by a shift away from Rome in religious matters.
The Asen dynasty became extinct in 1257. Internal conflicts and incessant Byzantine and Hungarian attacks followed, enabling the Mongols to establish suzerainty over the weakened Bulgarian state. In 1277, swineherd Ivaylo led a great peasant revolt that expelled the Mongols from Bulgaria and briefly made him emperor. He was overthrown in 1280 by the feudal landlords, whose factional conflicts caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to disintegrate into small feudal dominions by the 14th century. These fragmented rump states—two tsardoms at Vidin and Tarnovo and the Despotate of Dobrudzha—became easy prey for a new threat arriving from the Southeast: the Ottoman Turks.
### Ottoman rule
The Ottomans were employed as mercenaries by the Byzantines in the 1340s but later became invaders in their own right. Sultan Murad I took Adrianople from the Byzantines in 1362; Sofia fell in 1382, followed by Shumen in 1388. The Ottomans completed their conquest of Bulgarian lands in 1393 when Tarnovo was sacked after a three-month siege and the Battle of Nicopolis which brought about the fall of the Vidin Tsardom in 1396. Sozopol was the last Bulgarian settlement to fall, in 1453. The Bulgarian nobility was subsequently eliminated and the peasantry was enserfed to Ottoman masters, while much of the educated clergy fled to other countries.
Bulgarians were subjected to heavy taxes (including Devshirme, or blood tax), their culture was suppressed, and they experienced partial Islamisation. Ottoman authorities established a religious administrative community called the Rum Millet, which governed all Orthodox Christians regardless of their ethnicity. Most of the local population then gradually lost its distinct national consciousness, identifying only by its faith. The clergy remaining in some isolated monasteries kept their ethnic identity alive, enabling its survival in remote rural areas, and in the militant Catholic community in the northwest of the country.
As Ottoman power began to wane, Habsburg Austria and Russia saw Bulgarian Christians as potential allies. The Austrians first backed an uprising in Tarnovo in 1598, then a second one in 1686, the Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688 and finally Karposh's Rebellion in 1689. The Russian Empire also asserted itself as a protector of Christians in Ottoman lands with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774.
The Western European Enlightenment in the 18th century influenced the initiation of a national awakening of Bulgaria. It restored national consciousness and provided an ideological basis for the liberation struggle, resulting in the 1876 April Uprising. Up to 30,000 Bulgarians were killed as Ottoman authorities put down the rebellion. The massacres prompted the Great Powers to take action. They convened the Constantinople Conference in 1876, but their decisions were rejected by the Ottomans. This allowed the Russian Empire to seek a military solution without risking confrontation with other Great Powers, as had happened in the Crimean War. In 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottomans and defeated them with the help of Bulgarian rebels, particularly during the crucial Battle of Shipka Pass which secured Russian control over the main road to Constantinople.
### Third Bulgarian state
The Treaty of San Stefano was signed on 3 March 1878 by Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was to set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality spanning Moesia, Macedonia and Thrace, roughly on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire, and this day is now a public holiday called National Liberation Day. The other Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty out of fear that such a large country in the Balkans might threaten their interests. It was superseded by the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13 July. It provided for a much smaller state, the Principality of Bulgaria, only comprising Moesia and the region of Sofia, and leaving large populations of ethnic Bulgarians outside the new country. This significantly contributed to Bulgaria's militaristic foreign affairs approach during the first half of the 20th century.
The Bulgarian principality won a war against Serbia and incorporated the semi-autonomous Ottoman territory of Eastern Rumelia in 1885, proclaiming itself an independent state on 5 October 1908. In the years following independence, Bulgaria increasingly militarised and was often referred to as "the Balkan Prussia". It became involved in three consecutive conflicts between 1912 and 1918—two Balkan Wars and World War I. After a disastrous defeat in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria again found itself fighting on the losing side as a result of its alliance with the Central Powers in World War I. Despite fielding more than a quarter of its population in a 1,200,000-strong army and achieving several decisive victories at Doiran and Monastir, the country capitulated in 1918. The war resulted in significant territorial losses and a total of 87,500 soldiers killed. More than 253,000 refugees from the lost territories immigrated to Bulgaria from 1912 to 1929, placing additional strain on the already ruined national economy.
The resulting political unrest led to the establishment of a royal authoritarian dictatorship by Tsar Boris III (1918–1943). Bulgaria entered World War II in 1941 as a member of the Axis but declined to participate in Operation Barbarossa and saved its Jewish population from deportation to concentration camps. The sudden death of Boris III in mid-1943 pushed the country into political turmoil as the war turned against Germany, and the communist guerrilla movement gained momentum. The government of Bogdan Filov subsequently failed to achieve peace with the Allies. Bulgaria did not comply with Soviet demands to expel German forces from its territory, resulting in a declaration of war and an invasion by the USSR in September 1944. The communist-dominated Fatherland Front took power, ended participation in the Axis and joined the Allied side until the war ended. Bulgaria suffered little war damage and the Soviet Union demanded no reparations. But all wartime territorial gains, with the notable exception of Southern Dobrudzha, were lost.
The left-wing coup d'état of 9 September 1944 led to the abolition of the monarchy and the executions of some 1,000–3,000 dissidents, war criminals, and members of the former royal elite. But it was not until 1946 that a one-party people's republic was instituted following a referendum. It fell into the Soviet sphere of influence under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov (1946–1949), who established a repressive, rapidly industrialising Stalinist state. By the mid-1950s, standards of living rose significantly and political repression eased. The Soviet-style planned economy saw some experimental market-oriented policies emerging under Todor Zhivkov (1954–1989). Compared to wartime levels, national GDP increased five-fold and per capita GDP quadrupled by the 1980s, although severe debt spikes took place in 1960, 1977 and 1980. Zhivkov's daughter Lyudmila bolstered national pride by promoting Bulgarian heritage, culture and arts worldwide. Facing declining birth rates among the ethnic Bulgarian majority, Zhivkov's government in 1984 forced the minority ethnic Turks to adopt Slavic names in an attempt to erase their identity and assimilate them. These policies resulted in the emigration of some 300,000 ethnic Turks to Turkey.
The Communist Party was forced to give up its political monopoly on 10 November 1989 under the influence of the Revolutions of 1989. Zhivkov resigned and Bulgaria embarked on a transition to a parliamentary democracy. The first free elections in June 1990 were won by the Communist Party, now rebranded as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. A new constitution that provided for a relatively weak elected president and for a prime minister accountable to the legislature was adopted in July 1991. The new system initially failed to improve living standards or create economic growth—the average quality of life and economic performance remained lower than under communism well into the early 2000s. After 2001, economic, political and geopolitical conditions improved greatly, and Bulgaria achieved high Human Development status in 2003. It became a member of NATO in 2004 and participated in the War in Afghanistan. After several years of reforms, it joined the European Union and the single market in 2007, despite EU concerns over government corruption. Bulgaria hosted the 2018 Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.
## Geography
Bulgaria is a middle-sized country situated in Southeastern Europe, in the east of the Balkans. Its territory covers an area of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), while land borders with its five neighbouring countries run a total length of 1,808 kilometres (1,123 mi), and its coastline is 354 kilometres (220 mi) long. Bulgaria's geographic coordinates are 43° N 25° E. The most notable topographical features of the country are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Thracian Plain, and the Rila-Rhodope massif. The southern edge of the Danubian Plain slopes upward into the foothills of the Balkans, while the Danube defines the border with Romania. The Thracian Plain is roughly triangular, beginning southeast of Sofia and broadening as it reaches the Black Sea coast.
The Balkan mountains run laterally through the middle of the country from west to east. The mountainous southwest has two distinct alpine type ranges—Rila and Pirin, which border the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains to the east, and various medium altitude mountains to west, northwest and south, like Vitosha, Osogovo and Belasitsa. Musala, at 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), is the highest point in both Bulgaria and the Balkans. The Black Sea coast is the country's lowest point. Plains occupy about one third of the territory, while plateaux and hills occupy 41%. Most rivers are short and with low water levels. The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory, the Iskar, has a length of 368 kilometres (229 mi). The Struma and the Maritsa are two major rivers in the south.
### Climate
Bulgaria has a varied and changeable climate, which results from being positioned at the meeting point of the Mediterranean, Oceanic and Continental air masses combined with the barrier effect of its mountains. Northern Bulgaria averages 1 °C (1.8 °F) cooler, and registers 200 millimetres (7.9 in) more precipitation, than the regions south of the Balkan mountains. Temperature amplitudes vary significantly in different areas. The lowest recorded temperature is −38.3 °C (−36.9 °F), while the highest is 45.2 °C (113.4 °F). Precipitation averages about 630 millimetres (24.8 in) per year, and varies from 500 millimetres (19.7 in) in Dobrudja to more than 2,500 millimetres (98.4 in) in the mountains. Continental air masses bring significant amounts of snowfall during winter.
Considering its relatively small area, Bulgaria has variable and complex climate. The country occupies the southernmost part of the continental climatic zone, with small areas in the south falling within the Mediterranean climatic zone. The continental zone is predominant, because continental air masses flow easily into the unobstructed Danubian Plain. The continental influence, stronger during the winter, produces abundant snowfall; the Mediterranean influence increases during the second half of summer and produces hot and dry weather. Bulgaria is subdivided into five climatic zones: continental zone (Danubian Plain, Pre-Balkan and the higher valleys of the Transitional geomorphological region); transitional zone (Upper Thracian Plain, most of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the lower Sub-Balkan valleys); continental-Mediterranean zone (the southernmost areas of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the eastern Rhodope Mountains, Sakar and Strandzha); Black Sea zone along the coastline with an average length of 30–40 km inland; and alpine zone in the mountains above 1000 m altitude (central Balkan Mountains, Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, western Rhodope Mountains, etc.).
### Biodiversity and conservation
The interaction of climatic, hydrological, geological and topographical conditions has produced a relatively wide variety of plant and animal species. Bulgaria's biodiversity, one of the richest in Europe, is conserved in three national parks, 11 nature parks, 10 biosphere reserves and 565 protected areas. Ninety-three of the 233 mammal species of Europe are found in Bulgaria, along with 49% of butterfly and 30% of vascular plant species. Overall, 41,493 plant and animal species are present. Larger mammals with sizable populations include deer (106,323 individuals), wild boar (88,948), golden jackal (47,293) and red fox (32,326). Partridges number some 328,000 individuals, making them the most widespread gamebird. A third of all nesting birds in Bulgaria can be found in Rila National Park, which also hosts Arctic and alpine species at high altitudes. Flora includes more than 3,800 vascular plant species of which 170 are endemic and 150 are considered endangered. A checklist of larger fungi in Bulgaria by the Institute of Botany identifies more than 1,500 species. More than 35% of the land area is covered by forests.
In 1998, the Bulgarian government adopted the National Biological Diversity Conservation Strategy, a comprehensive programme seeking the preservation of local ecosystems, protection of endangered species and conservation of genetic resources. Bulgaria has some of the largest Natura 2000 areas in Europe covering 33.8% of its territory. It also achieved its Kyoto Protocol objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 30% from 1990 to 2009.
Bulgaria ranks 30th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, but scores low on air quality. Particulate levels are the highest in Europe, especially in urban areas affected by automobile traffic and coal-based power stations. One of these, the lignite-fired Maritsa Iztok-2 station, is causing the highest damage to health and the environment in the European Union. Pesticide use in agriculture and antiquated industrial sewage systems produce extensive soil and water pollution. Water quality began to improve in 1998 and has maintained a trend of moderate improvement. Over 75% of surface rivers meet European standards for good quality.
## Politics
Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy where the prime minister is the head of government and the most powerful executive position. The political system has three branches—legislative, executive and judicial, with universal suffrage for citizens at least 18 years old. The Constitution also provides possibilities of direct democracy, namely petitions and national referendums. Elections are supervised by an independent Central Election Commission that includes members from all major political parties. Parties must register with the commission prior to participating in a national election. Normally, the prime minister-elect is the leader of the party receiving the most votes in parliamentary elections, although this is not always the case.
Unlike the prime minister, presidential domestic power is more limited. The directly elected president serves as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and has the authority to return a bill for further debate, although the parliament can override the presidential veto by a simple majority vote. Political parties gather in the National Assembly, a body of 240 deputies elected to four-year terms by direct popular vote. The National Assembly has the power to enact laws, approve the budget, schedule presidential elections, select and dismiss the prime minister and other ministers, declare war, deploy troops abroad, and ratify international treaties and agreements.
Overall, Bulgaria displays a pattern of unstable governments. Boyko Borisov, the leader of the centre-right, pro-EU party GERB, served three terms as prime minister between 2009 and 2021. It won the 2009 general election and formed a minority government, which resigned in February 2013 after nationwide protests over the low living standards, corruption and the perceived failure of the democratic system. The subsequent snap elections in May resulted in a narrow win for GERB, but the Bulgarian Socialist Party eventually formed a government led by Plamen Oresharski after Borisov failed to secure parliamentary support. The Oresharski government resigned in July 2014 amid continuing large-scale protests. The October 2014 elections resulted in a third GERB victory. Borisov formed a coalition with several right-wing parties, but resigned again after the candidate backed by his party failed to win the 2016 Presidential election. The March 2017 snap election was again won by GERB, but with 95 seats in Parliament. They formed a coalition with the far-right United Patriots, who held 27 seats.
Borisov's last cabinet saw a dramatic decrease in freedom of the press, and a number of corruption revelations that triggered yet another wave of mass protests in 2020. GERB came out first in the regular April 2021 election, but with its weakest result so far. All other parties refused to form a government, and after a brief deadlock, another election was called for July 2021. It too failed to break the stalemate, as no political party was able to form a coalition government.
In April 2023, because of the political deadlock, Bulgaria held its fifth parliamentary election since April 2021. GERB was the biggest, winning 69 seats. The bloc led by We Continue the Change won 64 seats in the 240-seat parliament. In June 2023, Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov formed a new coalition between We Continue The Change and GERB. According to the coalition agreement, Denkov will lead the government for the first nine months. He will be succeeded by former European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, of the GERB party. She will take over as Prime Minister after nine months.
Freedom House has reported a continuing deterioration of democratic governance after 2009, citing reduced media independence, stalled reforms, abuse of authority at the highest level and increased dependence of local administrations on the central government. Bulgaria is still listed as "Free", with a political system designated as a semi-consolidated democracy, albeit with deteriorating scores. The Democracy Index defines it as a "Flawed democracy". A 2018 survey by the Institute for Economics and Peace reported that less than 15% of respondents considered elections to be fair.
### Legal system
Bulgaria has a civil law legal system. The judiciary is overseen by the Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation are the highest courts of appeal and oversee the application of laws in subordinate courts. The Supreme Judicial Council manages the system and appoints judges. The legal system is regarded by both domestic and international observers as one of Europe's most inefficient due to pervasive lack of transparency and corruption. Law enforcement is carried out by organisations mainly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. The General Directorate of National Police (GDNP) combats general crime and maintains public order. GDNP fields 26,578 police officers in its local and national sections. The bulk of criminal cases are transport-related, followed by theft and drug-related crime; homicide rates are low. The Ministry of the Interior also heads the Border Police Service and the National Gendarmerie—a specialised branch for anti-terrorist activity, crisis management and riot control. Counterintelligence and national security are the responsibility of the State Agency for National Security.
### Administrative divisions
Bulgaria is a unitary state. Since the 1880s, the number of territorial management units has varied from seven to 26. Between 1987 and 1999, the administrative structure consisted of nine provinces (oblasti, singular oblast). A new administrative structure was adopted in parallel with the decentralisation of the economic system. It includes 27 provinces and a metropolitan capital province (Sofia-Grad). All areas take their names from their respective capital cities. The provinces are subdivided into 265 municipalities. Municipalities are run by mayors, who are elected to four-year terms, and by directly elected municipal councils. Bulgaria is a highly centralised state where the Council of Ministers directly appoints regional governors and all provinces and municipalities are heavily dependent on it for funding.
### Foreign relations
Bulgaria became a member of the United Nations in 1955 and since 1966 has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council three times, most recently from 2002 to 2003. It was also among the founding nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1975. Euro-Atlantic integration has been a priority since the fall of communism, although the communist leadership also had aspirations of leaving the Warsaw Pact and joining the European Communities by 1987. Bulgaria signed the European Union Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005, and became a full member of the European Union on 1 January 2007. In addition, it has a tripartite economic and diplomatic collaboration with Romania and Greece, good ties with China and Vietnam and a historical relationship with Russia.
Bulgaria deployed significant numbers of both civilian and military advisors in Soviet-allied countries like Nicaragua and Libya during the Cold War. The first deployment of foreign troops on Bulgarian soil since World War II occurred in 2001, when the country hosted six KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft and 200 support personnel for the war effort in Afghanistan. International military relations were further expanded with accession to NATO in March 2004 and the US-Bulgarian Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in April 2006. Bezmer and Graf Ignatievo air bases, the Novo Selo training range, and a logistics centre in Aytos subsequently became joint military training facilities cooperatively used by the United States and Bulgarian militaries. Despite its active international defence collaborations, Bulgaria ranks as among the most peaceful countries globally, tying 6th alongside Iceland regarding domestic and international conflicts, and 26th on average in the Global Peace Index.
### Military
The Bulgarian Armed Forces are the military of Bulgaria and they are composed of land forces, navy and an air force. The Armed Forces have 36,950 active troops, supplemented by 3,000 reservists. The land forces consist of two mechanised brigades and eight independent regiments and battalions; the air force operates 106 aircraft and air defence systems across six air bases, and the navy operates various ships, helicopters and coastal defence weapons. Military inventory mainly consists of Soviet equipment like Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-25 jets, S-300PT air defence systems and SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles.
## Economy
Bulgaria has an open, upper middle income range market economy where the private sector accounts for more than 70% of GDP. From a largely agricultural country with a predominantly rural population in 1948, by the 1980s Bulgaria had transformed into an industrial economy, with scientific and technological research at the top of its budgetary expenditure priorities. The loss of COMECON markets in 1990 and the subsequent "shock therapy" of the planned system caused a steep decline in industrial and agricultural production, ultimately followed by an economic collapse in 1997. The economy largely recovered during a period of rapid growth several years later, but the average salary of 1,036 leva (\$615) per month remains the lowest in the EU. More than a fifth of the labour force work for a minimum wage of \$1.16 per hour.
A balanced budget was achieved in 2003 and the country began running a surplus the following year. Expenditures amounted to \$21.15 billion and revenues were \$21.67 billion in 2017. Most government spending on institutions is earmarked for security. The ministries of defence, the interior and justice are allocated the largest share of the annual government budget, whereas those responsible for the environment, tourism and energy receive the least funding. Taxes form the bulk of government revenue at 30% of GDP. Bulgaria has some of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the EU at a flat 10% rate. The tax system is two-tier. Value added tax, excise duties, corporate and personal income tax are national, whereas real estate, inheritance, and vehicle taxes are levied by local authorities. Strong economic performance in the early 2000s reduced government debt from 79.6% in 1998 to 14.1% in 2008. It has since increased to 28.7% of GDP by 2016, but remains the third lowest in the EU.
The Yugozapaden planning area is the most developed region with a per capita gross domestic product (PPP) of \$29,816 in 2018. It includes the capital city and the surrounding Sofia Province, which alone generate 42% of national gross domestic product despite hosting only 22% of the population. GDP per capita (in PPS) and the cost of living in 2019 stood at 53 and 52.8% of the EU average (100%), respectively. National PPP GDP was estimated at \$143.1 billion in 2016, with a per capita value of \$20,116. Economic growth statistics take into account illegal transactions from the informal economy, which is the largest in the EU as a percentage of economic output. The Bulgarian National Bank issues the national currency, lev, which is pegged to the euro at a rate of 1.95583 levа per euro.
After several consecutive years of high growth, repercussions of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 resulted in a 3.6% contraction of GDP in 2009 and increased unemployment. Positive growth was restored in 2010 but intercompany debt exceeded \$59 billion, meaning that 60% of all Bulgarian companies were mutually indebted. By 2012, it had increased to \$97 billion, or 227% of GDP. The government implemented strict austerity measures with IMF and EU encouragement to some positive fiscal results, but the social consequences of these measures, such as increased income inequality and accelerated outward migration, have been "catastrophic" according to the International Trade Union Confederation.
Siphoning of public funds to the families and relatives of politicians from incumbent parties has resulted in fiscal and welfare losses to society. Bulgaria ranks 71st in the Corruption Perceptions Index and experiences the worst levels of corruption in the European Union, a phenomenon that remains a source of profound public discontent. Along with organised crime, corruption has resulted in a rejection of the country's Schengen Area application and withdrawal of foreign investment. Government officials reportedly engage in embezzlement, influence trading, government procurement violations and bribery with impunity. Government procurement in particular is a critical area in corruption risk. An estimated 10 billion leva (\$5.99 billion) of state budget and European cohesion funds are spent on public tenders each year; nearly 14 billion (\$8.38 billion) were spent on public contracts in 2017 alone. A large share of these contracts are awarded to a few politically connected companies amid widespread irregularities, procedure violations and tailor-made award criteria. Despite repeated criticism from the European Commission, EU institutions refrain from taking measures against Bulgaria because it supports Brussels on a number of issues, unlike Poland or Hungary.
### Structure and sectors
The labour force is 3.36 million people, of whom 6.8% are employed in agriculture, 26.6% in industry and 66.6% in the services sector. Extraction of metals and minerals, production of chemicals, machine building, steel, biotechnology, tobacco, food processing and petroleum refining are among the major industrial activities. Mining alone employs 24,000 people and generates about 5% of the country's GDP; the number of employed in all mining-related industries is 120,000. Bulgaria is Europe's fifth-largest coal producer. Local deposits of coal, iron, copper and lead are vital for the manufacturing and energy sectors. The main destinations of Bulgarian exports outside the EU are Turkey, China and the United States, while Russia and Turkey are by far the largest import partners. Most of the exports are manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals, fuel products and food. Two-thirds of food and agricultural exports go to OECD countries.
Although cereal and vegetable output dropped by 40% between 1990 and 2008, output in grains has since increased, and the 2016–2017 season registered the biggest grain output in a decade. Maize, barley, oats and rice are also grown. Quality Oriental tobacco is a significant industrial crop. Bulgaria is also the largest producer globally of lavender and rose oil, both widely used in fragrances. Within the services sector, tourism is a significant contributor to economic growth. Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, coastal resorts Albena, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach and winter resorts Bansko, Pamporovo and Borovets are some of the locations most visited by tourists. Most visitors are Romanian, Turkish, Greek and German. Tourism is additionally encouraged through the 100 Tourist Sites system.
### Science and technology
Spending on research and development amounts to 0.78% of GDP, and the bulk of public R&D funding goes to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). Private businesses accounted for more than 73% of R&D expenditures and employed 42% of Bulgaria's 22,000 researchers in 2015. The same year, Bulgaria ranked 39th out of 50 countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, the highest score being in education (24th) and the lowest in value-added manufacturing (48th). Bulgaria was ranked 35th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 40th in 2019. Chronic government underinvestment in research since 1990 has forced many professionals in science and engineering to leave Bulgaria.
Despite the lack of funding, research in chemistry, materials science and physics remains strong. Antarctic research is actively carried out through the St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Livingston Island in Western Antarctica. The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector generates three per cent of economic output and employs 40,000 to 51,000 software engineers. Bulgaria was known as a "Communist Silicon Valley" during the Soviet era due to its key role in COMECON computing technology production. A concerted effort by the communist government to teach computing and IT skills in schools also indirectly made Bulgaria a major source of computer viruses in the 1980s and 90s. The country is a regional leader in high performance computing: it operates Avitohol, the most powerful supercomputer in Southeast Europe, and will host one of the eight petascale EuroHPC supercomputers.
Bulgaria has made numerous contributions to space exploration. These include two scientific satellites, more than 200 payloads and 300 experiments in Earth orbit, as well as two cosmonauts since 1971. Bulgaria was the first country to grow wheat and vegetables in space with its Svet greenhouses on the Mir space station. It was involved in the development of the Granat gamma-ray observatory and the Vega program, particularly in modelling trajectories and guidance algorithms for both Vega probes. Bulgarian instruments have been used in the exploration of Mars, including a spectrometer that took the first high quality spectroscopic images of Martian moon Phobos with the Phobos 2 probe. Cosmic radiation en route to and around the planet has been mapped by Liulin-ML dosimeters on the ExoMars TGO. Variants of these instruments have also been fitted on the International Space Station and the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe. Another lunar mission, SpaceIL's Beresheet, was also equipped with a Bulgarian-manufactured imaging payload. Bulgaria's first geostationary communications satellite—BulgariaSat-1—was launched by SpaceX in 2017.
### Infrastructure
Telephone services are widely available, and a central digital trunk line connects most regions. Vivacom (BTC) serves more than 90% of fixed lines and is one of the three operators providing mobile services, along with A1 and Telenor. Internet penetration stood at 69.2% of the population aged 16–74 and 78.9% of households in 2020.
Bulgaria's strategic geographic location and well-developed energy sector make it a key European energy centre despite its lack of significant fossil fuel deposits. Thermal power plants generate 48.9% of electricity, followed by nuclear power from the Kozloduy reactors (34.8%) and renewable sources (16.3%). Equipment for a second nuclear power station at Belene has been acquired, but the fate of the project remains uncertain. Installed capacity amounts to 12,668 MW, allowing Bulgaria to exceed domestic demand and export energy.
The national road network has a total length of 19,512 kilometres (12,124 mi), of which 19,235 kilometres (11,952 mi) are paved. Railroads are a major mode of freight transportation, although highways carry a progressively larger share of freight. Bulgaria has 6,238 kilometres (3,876 mi) of railway track, with rail links available to Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Serbia, and express trains serving direct routes to Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Sofia is the country's air travel hub, while Varna and Burgas are the principal maritime trade ports.
## Demographics
The population of Bulgaria is 6,447,710 according to the government's official 2022 estimate. The majority of the population, 72.5%, reside in urban areas. As of 2019, Sofia is the most populated urban centre with 1,241,675 people, followed by Plovdiv (346,893), Varna (336,505), Burgas (202,434) and Ruse (142,902). Bulgarians are the main ethnic group and constitute 84.8% of the population. Turkish and Roma minorities account for 8.8 and 4.9%, respectively; some 40 smaller minorities account for 0.7%, and 0.8% do not self-identify with an ethnic group. The Roma minority is usually underestimated in census data and may represent up to 11% of the population. Population density is 65 per square kilometre, almost half the European Union average.
Bulgaria is in a state of demographic crisis. It has had negative population growth since 1989, when the post-Cold War economic collapse caused a long-lasting emigration wave. Some 937,000 to 1,200,000 people—mostly young adults—had left the country by 2005. The majority of children are born to unmarried women. In 2018, the average total fertility rate (TFR) in Bulgaria was 1.56 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1 and considerably below the historical high of 5.83 children per woman in 1905. Bulgaria thus has one of the oldest populations in the world, with an average age of 43 years. Furthermore, a third of all households consist of only one person and 75.5% of families do not have children under the age of 16. The resulting birth rates are among the lowest in the world while death rates are among the highest.
Bulgaria scores high in gender equality, ranking 18th in the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report. Although women's suffrage was enabled relatively late, in 1937, women today have equal political rights, high workforce participation and legally mandated equal pay. In 2021, market research agency Reboot Online ranked Bulgaria as the best European country for women to work. Bulgaria has the highest ratio of female ICT researchers in the EU, as well as the second-highest ratio of females in the technology sector at 44.6% of the workforce. High levels of female participation are a legacy of the Socialist era.
### Largest cities
### Health
High death rates result from a combination of an ageing population, high numbers of people at risk of poverty, and a weak healthcare system. Over 80% of deaths are due to cancer and cardiovascular conditions; nearly a fifth of those are avoidable. Although healthcare in Bulgaria is nominally universal, out-of-pocket expenses account for nearly half of all healthcare spending, significantly limiting access to medical care. Other problems disrupting care provision are the emigration of doctors due to low wages, understaffed and under-equipped regional hospitals, supply shortages and frequent changes to the basic service package for those insured. The 2018 Bloomberg Health Care Efficiency Index ranked Bulgaria last out of 56 countries. Average life expectancy is 74.8 years, compared with an EU average of 80.99 and a world average of 72.38.
### Education
Public expenditures for education are far below the European Union average as well. Educational standards were once high, but have declined significantly since the early 2000s. Bulgarian students were among the highest-scoring in the world in terms of reading in 2001, performing better than their Canadian and German counterparts; by 2006, scores in reading, math and science had dropped. By 2018, Programme for International Student Assessment studies found 47% of pupils in the 9th grade to be functionally illiterate in reading and natural sciences. Average basic literacy stands high at 98.4% with no significant difference between sexes. The Ministry of Education and Science partially funds public schools, colleges and universities, sets criteria for textbooks and oversees the publishing process. Education in primary and secondary public schools is free and compulsory. The process spans 12 grades, in which grades one through eight are primary and nine through twelve are secondary level. Higher education consists of a 4-year bachelor degree and a 1-year master's degree. Bulgaria's highest-ranked higher education institution is Sofia University.
### Language
Bulgarian is the only language with official status. It belongs to the Slavic group of languages but has a number of grammatical peculiarities, that set it apart from other Slavic languages: these include a complex verbal morphology (which also codes for distinctions in evidentiality), the absence of noun cases and infinitives, and the use of a suffixed definite article.
### Religion
Bulgaria is a secular state with guaranteed freedom of religion by constitution, but Eastern Orthodox Christianity is designated as the traditional religion of the country. More than three-quarters of Bulgarians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church gained autocephalous status in 927 AD, and has 12 dioceses and over 2,000 priests.
Sunni Muslims are the second-largest religious community and constitute 10% of Bulgaria's overall religious makeup. A 2011 survey of 850 Muslims in Bulgaria found 30% self-professing as deeply religious and 50% as just religious. According to the study, some religious teachings, like Islamic funeral, have been traditionally incorporated and are widely practiced while other major ones are less observed, such as the Muslim prayer or abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork, and cohabitation.
Less than 3% of the population are affiliated with other religions and 11.8% are irreligious or do not self-identify with any religion.
## Culture
Contemporary Bulgarian culture blends the formal culture that helped forge a national consciousness towards the end of Ottoman rule with millennia-old folk traditions. An essential element of Bulgarian folklore is fire, used to banish evil spirits and illnesses. Many of these are personified as witches, whereas other creatures like zmey and samodiva (veela) are either benevolent guardians or ambivalent tricksters. Some rituals against evil spirits have survived and are still practised, most notably kukeri and survakari. Martenitsa is also widely celebrated. Nestinarstvo, a ritual fire-dance of Thracian origin, is included in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Nine historical and natural objects are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Pirin National Park, Sreburna Nature Reserve, the Madara Rider, the Thracian tombs in Sveshtari and Kazanlak, the Rila Monastery, the Boyana Church, the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo and the ancient city of Nesebar. The Rila Monastery was established by Saint John of Rila, Bulgaria's patron saint, whose life has been the subject of numerous literary accounts since Medieval times.
The establishment of the Preslav and Ohrid literary schools in the 10th century is associated with a golden period in Bulgarian literature during the Middle Ages. The schools' emphasis on Christian scriptures made the Bulgarian Empire a centre of Slavic culture, bringing Slavs under the influence of Christianity and providing them with a written language. Its alphabet, Cyrillic script, was developed by the Preslav Literary School. The Tarnovo Literary School, on the other hand, is associated with a Silver age of literature defined by high-quality manuscripts on historical or mystical themes under the Asen and Shishman dynasties. Many literary and artistic masterpieces were destroyed by the Ottoman conquerors, and artistic activities did not re-emerge until the National Revival in the 19th century. The enormous body of work of Ivan Vazov (1850–1921) covered every genre and touched upon every facet of Bulgarian society, bridging pre-Liberation works with literature of the newly established state. Notable later works are Bay Ganyo by Aleko Konstantinov, the Nietzschean poetry of Pencho Slaveykov, the Symbolist poetry of Peyo Yavorov and Dimcho Debelyanov, the Marxist-inspired works of Geo Milev and Nikola Vaptsarov, and the Socialist realism novels of Dimitar Dimov and Dimitar Talev. Tzvetan Todorov is a notable contemporary author, while Bulgarian-born Elias Canetti was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981.
А religious visual arts heritage includes frescoes, murals and icons, many produced by the medieval Tarnovo Artistic School. Like literature, it was not until the National Revival when Bulgarian visual arts began to reemerge. Zahari Zograf was a pioneer of the visual arts in the pre-Liberation era. After the Liberation, Ivan Mrkvička, Anton Mitov, Vladimir Dimitrov, Tsanko Lavrenov and Zlatyu Boyadzhiev introduced newer styles and substance, depicting scenery from Bulgarian villages, old towns and historical subjects. Christo is the most famous Bulgarian artist of the 21st century, known for his outdoor installations.
Folk music is by far the most extensive traditional art and has slowly developed throughout the ages as a fusion of Far Eastern, Oriental, medieval Eastern Orthodox and standard Western European tonalities and modes. Bulgarian folk music has a distinctive sound and uses a wide range of traditional instruments, such as gadulka, gaida, kaval and tupan. A distinguishing feature is extended rhythmical time, which has no equivalent in the rest of European music. The State Television Female Vocal Choir won a Grammy Award in 1990 for its performances of Bulgarian folk music. Written musical composition can be traced back to the works of Yoan Kukuzel (c. 1280–1360), but modern classical music began with Emanuil Manolov, who composed the first Bulgarian opera in 1890. Pancho Vladigerov and Petko Staynov further enriched symphony, ballet and opera, which singers Ghena Dimitrova, Boris Christoff, Ljuba Welitsch and Nicolai Ghiaurov elevated to a world-class level.
Bulgarian performers have gained acclaim in other genres like electropop (Mira Aroyo), jazz (Milcho Leviev) and blends of jazz and folk (Ivo Papazov).
The Bulgarian National Radio, bTV and daily newspapers Trud, Dnevnik and 24 Chasa are some of the largest national media outlets. Bulgarian media were described as generally unbiased in their reporting in the early 2000s and print media had no legal restrictions. Since then, freedom of the press has deteriorated to the point where Bulgaria scores 111th globally in the World Press Freedom Index, lower than all European Union members and membership candidate states. The government has diverted EU funds to sympathetic media outlets and bribed others to be less critical on problematic topics, while attacks against individual journalists have increased. Collusion between politicians, oligarchs and the media is widespread.
Bulgarian cuisine is similar to that of other Balkan countries and demonstrates strong Turkish and Greek influences. Yogurt, lukanka, banitsa, shopska salad, lyutenitsa and kozunak are among the best-known local foods. Meat consumption is lower than the European average, given a cultural preference for a large variety of salads. Bulgaria was the world's second-largest wine exporter until 1989, but has since lost that position. The 2016 harvest yielded 128 million litres of wine, of which 62 million was exported mainly to Romania, Poland and Russia. Mavrud, Rubin, Shiroka melnishka, Dimiat and Cherven Misket are the typical grapes used in Bulgarian wine. Rakia is a traditional fruit brandy that was consumed in Bulgaria as early as the 14th century.
### Sports
Bulgaria appeared at the first modern Olympic games in 1896, when it was represented by gymnast Charles Champaud. Since then, Bulgarian athletes have won 55 gold, 90 silver, and 85 bronze medals, ranking 25th in the all-time medal table. Weight-lifting is a signature sport of Bulgaria. Coach Ivan Abadzhiev developed innovative training practices that have produced many Bulgarian world and Olympic champions in weight-lifting since the 1980s. Bulgarian athletes have also excelled in wrestling, boxing, gymnastics, volleyball and tennis. Stefka Kostadinova is the reigning world record holder in the women's high jump at 2.09 metres (6 feet 10 inches), achieved during the 1987 World Championships. Grigor Dimitrov is the first Bulgarian tennis player in the Top 3 ATP rankings.
Football is the most popular sport in the country by a substantial margin. The national football team's best performance was a semi-final at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, when the squad was spearheaded by forward Hristo Stoichkov. Stoichkov is the most successful Bulgarian player of all time; he was awarded the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball and was considered one of the best in the world while playing for FC Barcelona in the 1990s. CSKA and Levski, both based in Sofia, are the most successful clubs domestically and long-standing rivals. Ludogorets is remarkable for having advanced from the local fourth division to the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage in a mere nine years. Placed 39th in 2018, it is Bulgaria's highest-ranked club in UEFA.
## See also
- Outline of Bulgaria
## Explanatory notes |
12,558 | Galaxy | 1,172,835,379 | Large gravitationally bound system of stars and interstellar matter | [
"Articles containing video clips",
"Concepts in astronomy",
"Galaxies"
]
| A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. Galaxies, averaging an estimated 100 million stars, range in size from dwarfs with less than a hundred million stars, to the largest galaxies known – supergiants with one hundred trillion stars, each orbiting its galaxy's center of mass. Most of the mass in a typical galaxy is in the form of dark matter, with only a few percent of that mass visible in the form of stars and nebulae. Supermassive black holes are a common feature at the centres of galaxies.
Galaxies are categorized according to their visual morphology as elliptical, spiral, or irregular. Many are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A\*, has a mass four million times greater than the Sun. As of March 2016, GN-z11 is the oldest and most distant galaxy observed. It has a comoving distance of 32 billion light-years from Earth, and is seen as it existed just 400 million years after the Big Bang.
It is estimated that there are roughly 200 billion galaxies (2×10<sup>11</sup>) in the observable universe. Most galaxies are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in diameter (approximately 3,000 to 300,000 light years) and are separated by distances on the order of millions of parsecs (or megaparsecs). For comparison, the Milky Way has a diameter of at least 26,800 parsecs (87,400 ly) and is separated from the Andromeda Galaxy (with diameter of about 152,000 ly), its nearest large neighbor, by 780,000 parsecs (2.5 million ly.)
The space between galaxies is filled with a tenuous gas (the intergalactic medium) with an average density of less than one atom per cubic meter. Most galaxies are gravitationally organized into groups, clusters and superclusters. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group, which it dominates along with Andromeda Galaxy. The group is part of the Virgo Supercluster. At the largest scale, these associations are generally arranged into sheets and filaments surrounded by immense voids. Both the Local Group and the Virgo Supercluster are contained in a much larger cosmic structure named Laniakea.
## Etymology
The word galaxy was borrowed via French and Medieval Latin from the Greek term for the Milky Way, galaxías (kúklos) [] Error: : no text (help) ([] Error: : no text (help)) 'milky (circle)', named after its appearance as a milky band of light in the sky. In Greek mythology, Zeus places his son born by a mortal woman, the infant Heracles, on Hera's breast while she is asleep so the baby will drink her divine milk and thus become immortal. Hera wakes up while breastfeeding and then realizes she is nursing an unknown baby: she pushes the baby away, some of her milk spills, and it produces the band of light known as the Milky Way.
In the astronomical literature, the capitalized word "Galaxy" is often used to refer to the Milky Way galaxy, to distinguish it from the other galaxies in the observable universe. The English term Milky Way can be traced back to a story by Chaucer c. 1380:
> See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë
> Which men th the Milky Wey,
> For hit is whyt.
Galaxies were initially discovered telescopically and were known as spiral nebulae. Most 18th- to 19th-century astronomers considered them as either unresolved star clusters or anagalactic nebulae, and were just thought of as a part of the Milky Way, but their true composition and natures remained a mystery. Observations using larger telescopes of a few nearby bright galaxies, like the Andromeda Galaxy, began resolving them into huge conglomerations of stars, but based simply on the apparent faintness and sheer population of stars, the true distances of these objects placed them well beyond the Milky Way. For this reason they were popularly called island universes, but this term quickly fell into disuse, as the word universe implied the entirety of existence. Instead, they became known simply as galaxies.
## Nomenclature
Tens of thousands of galaxies have been catalogued, but only a few have well-established names, such as the Andromeda Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and the Sombrero Galaxy. Astronomers work with numbers from certain catalogues, such as the Messier catalogue, the NGC (New General Catalogue), the IC (Index Catalogue), the CGCG (Catalogue of Galaxies and of Clusters of Galaxies), the MCG (Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies), the UGC (Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies), and the PGC (Catalogue of Principal Galaxies, also known as LEDA). All the well-known galaxies appear in one or more of these catalogs but each time under a different number. For example, Messier 109 (or "M109") is a spiral galaxy having the number 109 in the catalog of Messier. It also has the designations NGC 3992, UGC 6937, CGCG 269–023, MCG +09-20-044, and PGC 37617 (or LEDA 37617). Millions of fainter galaxies are known by their identifiers in sky surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, in which M109 is cataloged as SDSS J115735.97+532228.9.
## Observation history
The realization that we live in a galaxy that is one among many parallels major discoveries about the Milky Way and other nebulae.
### Milky Way
Greek philosopher Democritus (450–370 BCE) proposed that the bright band on the night sky known as the Milky Way might consist of distant stars. Aristotle (384–322 BCE), however, believed the Milky Way was caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars that were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the World that is continuous with the heavenly motions." Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger (c. 495–570 CE) was critical of this view, arguing that if the Milky Way was sublunary (situated between Earth and the Moon) it should appear different at different times and places on Earth, and that it should have parallax, which it did not. In his view, the Milky Way was celestial.
According to Mohani Mohamed, Arabian astronomer Alhazen (965–1037) made the first attempt at observing and measuring the Milky Way's parallax, and he thus "determined that because the Milky Way had no parallax, it must be remote from the Earth, not belonging to the atmosphere." Persian astronomer al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) proposed the Milky Way galaxy was "a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars." Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bâjjah ("Avempace", d. 1138) proposed that it was composed of many stars that almost touched one another, and appeared to be a continuous image due to the effect of refraction from sublunary material, citing his observation of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars as evidence of this occurring when two objects were near. In the 14th century, Syrian-born Ibn Qayyim proposed the Milky Way galaxy was "a myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars."
Actual proof of the Milky Way consisting of many stars came in 1610 when the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study it and discovered it was composed of a huge number of faint stars. In 1750, English astronomer Thomas Wright, in his An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe, correctly speculated that it might be a rotating body of a huge number of stars held together by gravitational forces, akin to the Solar System but on a much larger scale, and that the resulting disk of stars could be seen as a band on the sky from a perspective inside it. In his 1755 treatise, Immanuel Kant elaborated on Wright's idea about the Milky Way's structure.
The first project to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the position of the Sun was undertaken by William Herschel in 1785 by counting the number of stars in different regions of the sky. He produced a diagram of the shape of the galaxy with the Solar System close to the center. Using a refined approach, Kapteyn in 1920 arrived at the picture of a small (diameter about 15 kiloparsecs) ellipsoid galaxy with the Sun close to the center. A different method by Harlow Shapley based on the cataloguing of globular clusters led to a radically different picture: a flat disk with diameter approximately 70 kiloparsecs and the Sun far from the center. Both analyses failed to take into account the absorption of light by interstellar dust present in the galactic plane; but after Robert Julius Trumpler quantified this effect in 1930 by studying open clusters, the present picture of the Milky Way galaxy emerged.
### Distinction from other nebulae
A few galaxies outside the Milky Way are visible on a dark night to the unaided eye, including the Andromeda Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, and the Triangulum Galaxy. In the 10th century, Persian astronomer Al-Sufi made the earliest recorded identification of the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as a "small cloud". In 964, he probably mentioned the Large Magellanic Cloud in his Book of Fixed Stars (referring to "Al Bakr of the southern Arabs", since at a declination of about 70° south it was not visible where he lived); it was not well known to Europeans until Magellan's voyage in the 16th century. The Andromeda Galaxy was later independently noted by Simon Marius in 1612. In 1734, philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg in his Principia speculated that there might be other galaxies outside that were formed into galactic clusters that were minuscule parts of the universe that extended far beyond what could be seen. These views "are remarkably close to the present-day views of the cosmos." In 1745, Pierre Louis Maupertuis conjectured that some nebula-like objects were collections of stars with unique properties, including a glow exceeding the light its stars produced on their own, and repeated Johannes Hevelius's view that the bright spots were massive and flattened due to their rotation. In 1750, Thomas Wright correctly speculated that the Milky Way was a flattened disk of stars, and that some of the nebulae visible in the night sky might be separate Milky Ways.
Toward the end of the 18th century, Charles Messier compiled a catalog containing the 109 brightest celestial objects having nebulous appearance. Subsequently, William Herschel assembled a catalog of 5,000 nebulae. In 1845, Lord Rosse constructed a new telescope and was able to distinguish between elliptical and spiral nebulae. He also managed to make out individual point sources in some of these nebulae, lending credence to Kant's earlier conjecture.
In 1912, Vesto Slipher made spectrographic studies of the brightest spiral nebulae to determine their composition. Slipher discovered that the spiral nebulae have high Doppler shifts, indicating that they are moving at a rate exceeding the velocity of the stars he had measured. He found that the majority of these nebulae are moving away from us.
In 1917, Heber Curtis observed nova S Andromedae within the "Great Andromeda Nebula" (as the Andromeda Galaxy, Messier object M31, was then known). Searching the photographic record, he found 11 more novae. Curtis noticed that these novae were, on average, 10 magnitudes fainter than those that occurred within this galaxy. As a result, he was able to come up with a distance estimate of 150,000 parsecs. He became a proponent of the so-called "island universes" hypothesis, which holds that spiral nebulae are actually independent galaxies.
In 1920 a debate took place between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis (the Great Debate), concerning the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the universe. To support his claim that the Great Andromeda Nebula is an external galaxy, Curtis noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds in the Milky Way, as well as the significant Doppler shift.
In 1922, the Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik gave a distance determination that supported the theory that the Andromeda Nebula is indeed a distant extra-galactic object. Using the new 100-inch Mt. Wilson telescope, Edwin Hubble was able to resolve the outer parts of some spiral nebulae as collections of individual stars and identified some Cepheid variables, thus allowing him to estimate the distance to the nebulae: they were far too distant to be part of the Milky Way. In 1936 Hubble produced a classification of galactic morphology that is used to this day.
### Modern research
In 1944, Hendrik van de Hulst predicted that microwave radiation with wavelength of 21 cm would be detectable from interstellar atomic hydrogen gas; and in 1951 it was observed. This radiation is not affected by dust absorption, and so its Doppler shift can be used to map the motion of the gas in this galaxy. These observations led to the hypothesis of a rotating bar structure in the center of this galaxy. With improved radio telescopes, hydrogen gas could also be traced in other galaxies. In the 1970s, Vera Rubin uncovered a discrepancy between observed galactic rotation speed and that predicted by the visible mass of stars and gas. Today, the galaxy rotation problem is thought to be explained by the presence of large quantities of unseen dark matter.
Beginning in the 1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope yielded improved observations. Among other things, its data helped establish that the missing dark matter in this galaxy could not consist solely of inherently faint and small stars. The Hubble Deep Field, an extremely long exposure of a relatively empty part of the sky, provided evidence that there are about 125 billion (1.25×10<sup>11</sup>) galaxies in the observable universe. Improved technology in detecting the spectra invisible to humans (radio telescopes, infrared cameras, and x-ray telescopes) allows detection of other galaxies that are not detected by Hubble. Particularly, surveys in the Zone of Avoidance (the region of sky blocked at visible-light wavelengths by the Milky Way) have revealed a number of new galaxies.
A 2016 study published in The Astrophysical Journal, led by Christopher Conselice of the University of Nottingham, used 20 years of Hubble images to estimate that the observable universe contained at least two trillion (2×10<sup>12</sup>) galaxies. However, later observations with the New Horizons space probe from outside the zodiacal light reduced this to roughly 200 billion (2×10<sup>11</sup>).
## Types and morphology
Galaxies come in three main types: ellipticals, spirals, and irregulars. A slightly more extensive description of galaxy types based on their appearance is given by the Hubble sequence. Since the Hubble sequence is entirely based upon visual morphological type (shape), it may miss certain important characteristics of galaxies such as star formation rate in starburst galaxies and activity in the cores of active galaxies.
### Ellipticals
The Hubble classification system rates elliptical galaxies on the basis of their ellipticity, ranging from E0, being nearly spherical, up to E7, which is highly elongated. These galaxies have an ellipsoidal profile, giving them an elliptical appearance regardless of the viewing angle. Their appearance shows little structure and they typically have relatively little interstellar matter. Consequently, these galaxies also have a low portion of open clusters and a reduced rate of new star formation. Instead, they are dominated by generally older, more evolved stars that are orbiting the common center of gravity in random directions. The stars contain low abundances of heavy elements because star formation ceases after the initial burst. In this sense they have some similarity to the much smaller globular clusters.
#### Type-cD galaxies
The largest galaxies are the type-cD galaxies. First described in 1964 by a paper by Thomas A. Matthews and others, they are a subtype of the more general class of D galaxies, which are giant elliptical galaxies, except that they are much larger. They are popularly known as the supergiant elliptical galaxies and constitute the largest and most luminous galaxies known. These galaxies feature a central elliptical nucleus with an extensive, faint halo of stars extending to megaparsec scales. The profile of their surface brightnesses as a function of their radius (or distance from their cores) falls off more slowly than their smaller counterparts.
The formation of these cD galaxies remains an active area of research, but the leading model is that they are the result of the mergers of smaller galaxies in the environments of dense clusters, or even those outside of clusters with random overdensities. These processes are the mechanisms that drive the formation of fossil groups or fossil clusters, where a large, relatively isolated, supergiant elliptical resides in the middle of the cluster and are surrounded by an extensive cloud of X-rays as the residue of these galactic collisions. Another older model posits the phenomenon of cooling flow, where the heated gases in clusters collapses towards their centers as they cool, forming stars in the process, a phenomenon observed in clusters such as Perseus, and more recently in the Phoenix Cluster.
#### Shell galaxy
A shell galaxy is a type of elliptical galaxy where the stars in its halo are arranged in concentric shells. About one-tenth of elliptical galaxies have a shell-like structure, which has never been observed in spiral galaxies. These structures are thought to develop when a larger galaxy absorbs a smaller companion galaxy—that as the two galaxy centers approach, they start to oscillate around a center point, and the oscillation creates gravitational ripples forming the shells of stars, similar to ripples spreading on water. For example, galaxy NGC 3923 has over 20 shells.
### Spirals
Spiral galaxies resemble spiraling pinwheels. Though the stars and other visible material contained in such a galaxy lie mostly on a plane, the majority of mass in spiral galaxies exists in a roughly spherical halo of dark matter which extends beyond the visible component, as demonstrated by the universal rotation curve concept.
Spiral galaxies consist of a rotating disk of stars and interstellar medium, along with a central bulge of generally older stars. Extending outward from the bulge are relatively bright arms. In the Hubble classification scheme, spiral galaxies are listed as type S, followed by a letter (a, b, or c) which indicates the degree of tightness of the spiral arms and the size of the central bulge. An Sa galaxy has tightly wound, poorly defined arms and possesses a relatively large core region. At the other extreme, an Sc galaxy has open, well-defined arms and a small core region. A galaxy with poorly defined arms is sometimes referred to as a flocculent spiral galaxy; in contrast to the grand design spiral galaxy that has prominent and well-defined spiral arms. The speed in which a galaxy rotates is thought to correlate with the flatness of the disc as some spiral galaxies have thick bulges, while others are thin and dense.
In spiral galaxies, the spiral arms do have the shape of approximate logarithmic spirals, a pattern that can be theoretically shown to result from a disturbance in a uniformly rotating mass of stars. Like the stars, the spiral arms rotate around the center, but they do so with constant angular velocity. The spiral arms are thought to be areas of high-density matter, or "density waves". As stars move through an arm, the space velocity of each stellar system is modified by the gravitational force of the higher density. (The velocity returns to normal after the stars depart on the other side of the arm.) This effect is akin to a "wave" of slowdowns moving along a highway full of moving cars. The arms are visible because the high density facilitates star formation, and therefore they harbor many bright and young stars.
#### Barred spiral galaxy
A majority of spiral galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy, have a linear, bar-shaped band of stars that extends outward to either side of the core, then merges into the spiral arm structure. In the Hubble classification scheme, these are designated by an SB, followed by a lower-case letter (a, b or c) which indicates the form of the spiral arms (in the same manner as the categorization of normal spiral galaxies). Bars are thought to be temporary structures that can occur as a result of a density wave radiating outward from the core, or else due to a tidal interaction with another galaxy. Many barred spiral galaxies are active, possibly as a result of gas being channeled into the core along the arms.
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a large disk-shaped barred-spiral galaxy about 30 kiloparsecs in diameter and a kiloparsec thick. It contains about two hundred billion (2×10<sup>11</sup>) stars and has a total mass of about six hundred billion (6×10<sup>11</sup>) times the mass of the Sun.
#### Super-luminous spiral
Recently, researchers described galaxies called super-luminous spirals. They are very large with an upward diameter of 437,000 light-years (compared to the Milky Way's 87,400 light-year diameter). With a mass of 340 billion solar masses, they generate a significant amount of ultraviolet and mid-infrared light. They are thought to have an increased star formation rate around 30 times faster than the Milky Way.
### Other morphologies
- Peculiar galaxies are galactic formations that develop unusual properties due to tidal interactions with other galaxies.
- A ring galaxy has a ring-like structure of stars and interstellar medium surrounding a bare core. A ring galaxy is thought to occur when a smaller galaxy passes through the core of a spiral galaxy. Such an event may have affected the Andromeda Galaxy, as it displays a multi-ring-like structure when viewed in infrared radiation.
- A lenticular galaxy is an intermediate form that has properties of both elliptical and spiral galaxies. These are categorized as Hubble type S0, and they possess ill-defined spiral arms with an elliptical halo of stars (barred lenticular galaxies receive Hubble classification SB0.)
- Irregular galaxies are galaxies that can not be readily classified into an elliptical or spiral morphology.
- An Irr-I galaxy has some structure but does not align cleanly with the Hubble classification scheme.
- Irr-II galaxies do not possess any structure that resembles a Hubble classification, and may have been disrupted. Nearby examples of (dwarf) irregular galaxies include the Magellanic Clouds.
- An ultra diffuse galaxy (UDG) is an extremely-low-density galaxy. It may be the same size as the Milky Way, but have a visible star count only one percent of the Milky Way's. Its lack of luminosity is due to a lack of star-forming gas, resulting in old stellar populations.
### Dwarfs
Despite the prominence of large elliptical and spiral galaxies, most galaxies are dwarf galaxies. They are relatively small when compared with other galactic formations, being about one hundredth the size of the Milky Way, with only a few billion stars. Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies have recently been discovered that are only 100 parsecs across.
Many dwarf galaxies may orbit a single larger galaxy; the Milky Way has at least a dozen such satellites, with an estimated 300–500 yet to be discovered. Dwarf galaxies may also be classified as elliptical, spiral, or irregular. Since small dwarf ellipticals bear little resemblance to large ellipticals, they are often called dwarf spheroidal galaxies instead.
A study of 27 Milky Way neighbors found that in all dwarf galaxies, the central mass is approximately 10 million solar masses, regardless of whether it has thousands or millions of stars. This suggests that galaxies are largely formed by dark matter, and that the minimum size may indicate a form of warm dark matter incapable of gravitational coalescence on a smaller scale.
## Other types of galaxies
### Interacting
Interactions between galaxies are relatively frequent, and they can play an important role in galactic evolution. Near misses between galaxies result in warping distortions due to tidal interactions, and may cause some exchange of gas and dust. Collisions occur when two galaxies pass directly through each other and have sufficient relative momentum not to merge. The stars of interacting galaxies usually do not collide, but the gas and dust within the two forms interacts, sometimes triggering star formation. A collision can severely distort the galaxies' shapes, forming bars, rings or tail-like structures.
At the extreme of interactions are galactic mergers, where the galaxies' relative momentums are insufficient to allow them to pass through each other. Instead, they gradually merge to form a single, larger galaxy. Mergers can result in significant changes to the galaxies' original morphology. If one of the galaxies is much more massive than the other, the result is known as cannibalism, where the more massive larger galaxy remains relatively undisturbed, and the smaller one is torn apart. The Milky Way galaxy is currently in the process of cannibalizing the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy and the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.
### Starburst
Stars are created within galaxies from a reserve of cold gas that forms giant molecular clouds. Some galaxies have been observed to form stars at an exceptional rate, which is known as a starburst. If they continue to do so, they would consume their reserve of gas in a time span less than the galaxy's lifespan. Hence starburst activity usually lasts only about ten million years, a relatively brief period in a galaxy's history. Starburst galaxies were more common during the universe's early history, but still contribute an estimated 15% to total star production.
Starburst galaxies are characterized by dusty concentrations of gas and the appearance of newly formed stars, including massive stars that ionize the surrounding clouds to create H II regions. These stars produce supernova explosions, creating expanding remnants that interact powerfully with the surrounding gas. These outbursts trigger a chain reaction of star-building that spreads throughout the gaseous region. Only when the available gas is nearly consumed or dispersed does the activity end.
Starbursts are often associated with merging or interacting galaxies. The prototype example of such a starburst-forming interaction is M82, which experienced a close encounter with the larger M81. Irregular galaxies often exhibit spaced knots of starburst activity.
### Radio galaxy
A radio galaxy is a galaxy with giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure. These energetic radio lobes are powered by jets from its active galactic nucleus. Radio galaxies are classified according to their Fanaroff–Riley (FR) classifications. The FR I class are a minority class – low-luminosity sources exhibiting structures usually known as plumes which are much more elongated. The FR II class are by far the most common, exhibiting large-scale structures are called lobes: these are double, often fairly symmetrical, roughly ellipsoidal structures placed on either side of the active nucleus.
Radio galaxies can also be classified as giant radio galaxies (GRGs), whose radio emissions can extend to scales of megaparsecs (3.26 million light-years). Alcyoneus is an FR II class low-excitation radio galaxy which has the largest observed radio emission, with lobed structures spanning 5 megaparsecs (16×10<sup>6</sup> ly). For comparison, another similarly sized giant radio galaxy is 3C 236, with lobes 15 million light-years across. It should however be noted that radio emissions are not always considered part of the main galaxy itself, and is usually not used as a standard in measuring the physical diameter of a galaxy. For insight on how physical diameters of galaxies are measured, see section Physical diameters below.
A giant radio galaxy is a special class of objects characterized by the presence of radio lobes generated by relativistic jets powered by the central galaxy's supermassive black hole. Giant radio galaxies are different from ordinary radio galaxies in that they can extend to much larger scales, reaching upwards to several megaparsecs across, far larger than the diameters of their host galaxies.
### Active galaxy
Some observable galaxies are classified as "active" if they contain an active galactic nucleus (AGN). A significant portion of the galaxy's total energy output is emitted by the active nucleus instead of its stars, dust and interstellar medium. There are multiple classification and naming schemes for AGNs, but those in the lower ranges of luminosity are called Seyfert galaxies, while those with luminosities much greater than that of the host galaxy are known as quasi-stellar objects or quasars. AGNs emit radiation throughout the electromagnetic spectrum from radio wavelengths to X-rays, though some of it may be absorbed by dust or gas associated with the AGN itself or with the host galaxy.
The standard model for an active galactic nucleus is based on an accretion disc that forms around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the galaxy's core region. The radiation from an active galactic nucleus results from the gravitational energy of matter as it falls toward the black hole from the disc. The AGN's luminosity depends on the SMBH's mass and the rate at which matter falls onto it. In about 10% of these galaxies, a diametrically opposed pair of energetic jets ejects particles from the galaxy core at velocities close to the speed of light. The mechanism for producing these jets is not well understood.
#### Blazars
Blazars are believed to be active galaxies with a relativistic jet pointed in the direction of Earth. A radio galaxy emits radio frequencies from relativistic jets. A unified model of these types of active galaxies explains their differences based on the observer's position.
#### LINERs
Possibly related to active galactic nuclei (as well as starburst regions) are low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). The emission from LINER-type galaxies is dominated by weakly ionized elements. The excitation sources for the weakly ionized lines include post-AGB stars, AGN, and shocks. Approximately one-third of nearby galaxies are classified as containing LINER nuclei.
#### Seyfert galaxy
Seyfert galaxies are one of the two largest groups of active galaxies, along with quasars. They have quasar-like nuclei (very luminous, distant and bright sources of electromagnetic radiation) with very high surface brightnesses; but unlike quasars, their host galaxies are clearly detectable. Seyfert galaxies account for about 10% of all galaxies. Seen in visible light, most look like normal spiral galaxies; but when studied under other wavelengths, their cores' luminosity is equivalent to the luminosity of whole galaxies the size of the Milky Way.
#### Quasar
Quasars are the most energetic and distant members of active galactic nuclei. Extremely luminous, they were first identified as high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that appeared more similar to stars than to extended sources similar to galaxies. Their luminosity can be 100 times that of the Milky Way.
### Luminous infrared galaxy
Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) are galaxies with luminosities—the measurement of electromagnetic power output—above 10<sup>11</sup> L☉ (solar luminosities). In most cases, most of their energy comes from large numbers of young stars which heat surrounding dust, which reradiates the energy in the infrared. Luminosity high enough to be a LIRG requires a star formation rate of at least 18 M☉ yr<sup>−1</sup>. Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) are at least ten times more luminous still and form stars at rates \>180 M☉ yr<sup>−1</sup>. Many LIRGs also emit radiation from an AGN. Infrared galaxies emit more energy in the infrared than all other wavelengths combined, with peak emission typically at wavelengths of 60 to 100 microns. LIRGs are uncommon in the local universe but were much more common when the universe was younger.
## Physical extent
Galaxies do not have a definite boundary by their nature, and are characterized by a gradually decreasing stellar density as a function of increasing distance from their center, making measurements of their true extents difficult. Nevertheless, astronomers over the past few decades have made several criteria in defining the sizes of galaxies. As early as the time of Edwin Hubble in 1936, there have been attempts to characterize the diameters of galaxies. With the advent of large sky surveys in the second half of the 20th century, the need for a standard for accurate determination of galaxy sizes has been in greater demand due to its enormous implications in astrophysics, such as the accurate determination of the Hubble constant. Various standards have been adapted over the decades, some more preferred than others. Below are some of these examples.
### Center
Many galaxies are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers. The center of the Milky Way is called the Galactic Center.
### Isophotal diameter
The isophotal diameter is introduced as a conventional way of measuring a galaxy's size based on its apparent surface brightness. Isophotes are curves in a diagram - such as a picture of a galaxy - that adjoins points of equal brightnesses, and are useful in defining the extent of the galaxy. The apparent brightness flux of a galaxy is measured in units of magnitudes per square arcsecond (mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup>; sometimes expressed as mag arcsec<sup>−2</sup>), which defines the brightness depth of the isophote. To illustrate how this unit works, a typical galaxy has a brightness flux of 18 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> at its central region. This brightness is equivalent to the light of an 18th magnitude hypothetical point object (like a star) being spread out evenly in a one square arcsecond area of the sky. For the purposes of objectivity, the spectrum of light being used is sometimes also given in figures. As an example, the Milky Way has an average surface brightness of 22.1 B-mag/arcsec<sup>−2</sup>, where B-mag refers to the brightness at the B-band (445 nm wavelength of light, in the blue part of the visible spectrum).
R.O. Redman in 1936 suggested that the diameters of galaxies (then referred to as "elliptical nebulae") should be defined at the 25.0 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> isophote at the B-band, which is expected to cover much of the galaxy's light profile. This isophote then became known simply as D<sub>25</sub> (short for "diameter 25"), and corresponds to at least 10% of the normal brightness of the night sky, which is very near the limitations of blue filters at that time. This method was particularly used during the creation of the Uppsala General Catalogue using blue filters from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey in 1972.
This conventional standard, however, is not universally agreed upon. Erik Holmberg in 1958 measured the diameters of at least 300 galaxies at the isophote of about 26.5 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> (originally defined as where the photographic brightness density with respect to plate background is 0.5%). Various other surveys such that of the ESO in 1989 use isophotes as faint as 27.0 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup>. Nevertheless, corrections of these diameters were introduced by both the Second and Third Reference Catalogue of Galaxies (RC2 and RC3), at least to those galaxies being covered by the two catalogues.
Examples of isophotal diameter measurements:
- Large Magellanic Cloud - 9.86 kiloparsecs (32,200 light-years) at the 25.0 B-mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> isophote.
- Milky Way - has a diameter at the 25.0 B-mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> isophote of 26.8 ± 1.1 kiloparsecs (87,400 ± 3,590 light-years).
- Messier 87 - has a has a diameter at the 25.0 B-mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> isophote of 40.55 kiloparsecs (132,000 light-years).
- Andromeda Galaxy - has a has a diameter at the 25.0 B-mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup> isophote of 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years).
### Effective radius (half-light) and its variations
The half-light radius (also known as effective radius; R<sub>e</sub>) is a measure that is based on the galaxy's overall brightness flux. This is the radius upon which half, or 50%, of the total brightness flux of the galaxy was emitted. This was first proposed by Gérard de Vaucouleurs in 1948. The choice of using 50% was arbitrary, but proved to be useful in further works by R. A. Fish in 1963, where he established a luminosity concentration law that relates the brightnesses of elliptical galaxies and their respective R<sub>e</sub>, and by J.L. Sérsic in 1968 that defined a mass-radius relation in galaxies.
In defining R<sub>e</sub>, it is necessary that the overall brightness flux galaxy should be captured, with a method employed by Bershady in 2000 suggesting to measure twice the size where the brightness flux of an arbitrarily chosen radius, defined as the local flux, divided by the overall average flux equals to 0.2. Using half-light radius allows a rough estimate of a galaxy's size, but is not particularly helpful in determining its morphology.
Variations of this method exist. In particular, in the ESO-Uppsala Catalogue of Galaxies values of 50%, 70%, and 90% of the total blue light (the light detected through a B-band specific filter) had been used to calculate a galaxy's diameter.
### Petrosian magnitude
First described by V. Petrosian in 1976, a modified version of this method has been used by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This method employs a mathematical model on a galaxy whose radius is determined by the azimuthally (horizontal) averaged profile of its brightness flux. In particular, the SDSS employed the Petrosian magnitude in the R-band (658 nm, in the red part of the visible spectrum) to ensure that the brightness flux of a galaxy would be captured as much as possible while counteracting the effects of background noise. For a galaxy whose brightness profile is exponential, it is expected to capture all of its brightness flux, and 80% for galaxies that follow a profile under de Vaucouleurs's law.
Petrosian magnitudes have the advantage that it is redshift and distance independent, allowing the measurement of the galaxy's apparent size since the Petrosian radius is defined in terms of the galaxy's overall luminous flux.
A critique of an earlier version of this method has been issued by IPAC, with the method causing a magnitude of error (upwards to 10%) of the values than using isophotal diameter. The use of Petrosian magnitudes also have the disadvantage of missing most of the light outside the Petrosian aperture, which is defined relative to the galaxy's overall brightness profile, especially for elliptical galaxies, with higher signal-to-noise ratios on higher distances and redshifts. A correction for this method has been issued by Graham et al. in 2005, based on the assumption that galaxies follow Sersic's law.
### Near-infrared method
This method has been used by 2MASS as an adaptation from the previously used methods of isophotal measurement. Since 2MASS operates in the near infrared, which has the advantage of being able to recognize dimmer, cooler, and older stars, it has a different form of approach compared to other methods that normally use B-filter. The detail of the method used by 2MASS has been described thoroughly in a document by Jarrett et al., with the survey measuring several parameters.
The standard aperture ellipse (area of detection) is defined by the infrared isophote at the K<sub>s</sub> band (roughly 2.2 μm wavelength) of 20 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup>. Gathering the overall luminous flux of the galaxy has been employed by at least four methods: the first being a circular aperture extending 7 arcseconds from the center, an isophote at 20 mag/arcsec<sup>2</sup>, a "total" aperture defined by the radial light distribution that covers the supposed extent of the galaxy, and the Kron aperture (defined as 2.5 times the first-moment radius, an integration of the flux of the "total" aperture).
## Properties
### Magnetic fields
Galaxies have magnetic fields of their own. They are strong enough to be dynamically important, as they:
- Drive mass inflow into the centers of galaxies
- Modify the formation of spiral arms
- Can affect the rotation of gas in the galaxies' outer regions
- Provide the transport of angular momentum required for the collapse of gas clouds, and hence the formation of new stars
The typical average equipartition strength for spiral galaxies is about 10 μG (microgauss) or 1 nT (nanotesla). By comparison, the Earth's magnetic field has an average strength of about 0.3 G (Gauss) or 30 μT (microtesla). Radio-faint galaxies like M 31 and M33, the Milky Way's neighbors, have weaker fields (about 5 μG), while gas-rich galaxies with high star-formation rates, like M 51, M 83 and NGC 6946, have 15 μG on average. In prominent spiral arms, the field strength can be up to 25 μG, in regions where cold gas and dust are also concentrated. The strongest total equipartition fields (50–100 μG) were found in starburst galaxies—for example, in M 82 and the Antennae; and in nuclear starburst regions, such as the centers of NGC 1097 and other barred galaxies.
## Formation and evolution
Galactic formation and evolution is an active area of research in astrophysics.
### Formation
Current models of the formation of galaxies in the early universe are based on the ΛCDM model. About 300,000 years after the big bang, atoms of hydrogen and helium began to form, in an event called recombination. Nearly all the hydrogen was neutral (non-ionized) and readily absorbed light, and no stars had yet formed. As a result, this period has been called the "dark ages". It was from density fluctuations (or anisotropic irregularities) in this primordial matter that larger structures began to appear. As a result, masses of baryonic matter started to condense within cold dark matter halos. These primordial structures eventually became the galaxies we see today.
#### Early galaxy formation
Evidence for the appearance of galaxies very early in the Universe's history was found in 2006, when it was discovered that the galaxy IOK-1 has an unusually high redshift of 6.96, corresponding to just 750 million years after the Big Bang and making it the most distant and earliest-to-form galaxy seen at that time. While some scientists have claimed other objects (such as Abell 1835 IR1916) have higher redshifts (and therefore are seen in an earlier stage of the universe's evolution), IOK-1's age and composition have been more reliably established. In December 2012, astronomers reported that UDFj-39546284 is the most distant object known and has a redshift value of 11.9. The object, estimated to have existed around 380 million years after the Big Bang (which was about 13.8 billion years ago), is about 13.42 billion light travel distance years away. The existence of galaxies so soon after the Big Bang suggests that protogalaxies must have grown in the so-called "dark ages". As of May 5, 2015, the galaxy EGS-zs8-1 is the most distant and earliest galaxy measured, forming 670 million years after the Big Bang. The light from EGS-zs8-1 has taken 13 billion years to reach Earth, and is now 30 billion light-years away, because of the expansion of the universe during 13 billion years. On 17 August 2022, NASA released a large mosaic image of 690 individual frames taken by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of numerous very early galaxies.
In May 2023, a study in the journal Nature identified an ultra-faint galaxy named JD1. Galaxy JD1 was observed by the JWST using the near-infrared spectrograph instrument NIRSpec and was found to have a distance value of redshift z=9.79. This means that JD1 was observed at 480 million years after the Big Bang when the universe was only about 4% of its present age. Observations of this ultra-faint galaxy were aided by the effect of a gravitational lens in the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 which helped make the image of JD1 larger and 13 times brighter than it otherwise would be. This effect and the use of the JWST's NIRCam showed JD1's structure to be three starforming clumps of dust and gas. One of the authors of the study Tommaso Treu said: "The combination of JWST and the magnifying power of gravitational lensing is a revolution. We are rewriting the book on how galaxies formed and evolved in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang."
The detailed process by which the earliest galaxies formed is an open question in astrophysics. Theories can be divided into two categories: top-down and bottom-up. In top-down correlations (such as the Eggen–Lynden-Bell–Sandage [ELS] model), protogalaxies form in a large-scale simultaneous collapse lasting about one hundred million years. In bottom-up theories (such as the Searle-Zinn [SZ] model), small structures such as globular clusters form first, and then a number of such bodies accrete to form a larger galaxy. Once protogalaxies began to form and contract, the first halo stars (called Population III stars) appeared within them. These were composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium and may have been more massive than 100 times the Sun's mass. If so, these huge stars would have quickly consumed their supply of fuel and became supernovae, releasing heavy elements into the interstellar medium. This first generation of stars re-ionized the surrounding neutral hydrogen, creating expanding bubbles of space through which light could readily travel.
In June 2015, astronomers reported evidence for Population III stars in the Cosmos Redshift 7 galaxy at z = 6.60. Such stars are likely to have existed in the very early universe (i.e., at high redshift), and may have started the production of chemical elements heavier than hydrogen that are needed for the later formation of planets and life as we know it.
### Evolution
Within a billion years of a galaxy's formation, key structures begin to appear. Globular clusters, the central supermassive black hole, and a galactic bulge of metal-poor Population II stars form. The creation of a supermassive black hole appears to play a key role in actively regulating the growth of galaxies by limiting the total amount of additional matter added. During this early epoch, galaxies undergo a major burst of star formation.
During the following two billion years, the accumulated matter settles into a galactic disc. A galaxy will continue to absorb infalling material from high-velocity clouds and dwarf galaxies throughout its life. This matter is mostly hydrogen and helium. The cycle of stellar birth and death slowly increases the abundance of heavy elements, eventually allowing the formation of planets.
The evolution of galaxies can be significantly affected by interactions and collisions. Mergers of galaxies were common during the early epoch, and the majority of galaxies were peculiar in morphology. Given the distances between the stars, the great majority of stellar systems in colliding galaxies will be unaffected. However, gravitational stripping of the interstellar gas and dust that makes up the spiral arms produces a long train of stars known as tidal tails. Examples of these formations can be seen in NGC 4676 or the Antennae Galaxies.
The Milky Way galaxy and the nearby Andromeda Galaxy are moving toward each other at about 130 km/s, and—depending upon the lateral movements—the two might collide in about five to six billion years. Although the Milky Way has never collided with a galaxy as large as Andromeda before, evidence of past collisions of the Milky Way with smaller dwarf galaxies is increasing.
Such large-scale interactions are rare. As time passes, mergers of two systems of equal size become less common. Most bright galaxies have remained fundamentally unchanged for the last few billion years, and the net rate of star formation probably also peaked about ten billion years ago.
### Future trends
Spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, produce new generations of stars as long as they have dense molecular clouds of interstellar hydrogen in their spiral arms. Elliptical galaxies are largely devoid of this gas, and so form few new stars. The supply of star-forming material is finite; once stars have converted the available supply of hydrogen into heavier elements, new star formation will come to an end.
The current era of star formation is expected to continue for up to one hundred billion years, and then the "stellar age" will wind down after about ten trillion to one hundred trillion years (10<sup>13</sup>–10<sup>14</sup> years), as the smallest, longest-lived stars in the visible universe, tiny red dwarfs, begin to fade. At the end of the stellar age, galaxies will be composed of compact objects: brown dwarfs, white dwarfs that are cooling or cold ("black dwarfs"), neutron stars, and black holes. Eventually, as a result of gravitational relaxation, all stars will either fall into central supermassive black holes or be flung into intergalactic space as a result of collisions.
## Larger-scale structures
Deep-sky surveys show that galaxies are often found in groups and clusters. Solitary galaxies that have not significantly interacted with other galaxies of comparable mass in the past billion years are relatively scarce. Only about 5% of the galaxies surveyed are truly isolated; however, they may have interacted and even merged with other galaxies in the past, and may still be orbited by smaller satellite galaxies. Isolated galaxies can produce stars at a higher rate than normal, as their gas is not being stripped by other nearby galaxies.
On the largest scale, the universe is continually expanding, resulting in an average increase in the separation between individual galaxies (see Hubble's law). Associations of galaxies can overcome this expansion on a local scale through their mutual gravitational attraction. These associations formed early, as clumps of dark matter pulled their respective galaxies together. Nearby groups later merged to form larger-scale clusters. This ongoing merging process (as well as an influx of infalling gas) heats the intergalactic gas in a cluster to very high temperatures of 30–100 megakelvins. About 70–80% of a cluster's mass is in the form of dark matter, with 10–30% consisting of this heated gas and the remaining few percent in the form of galaxies.
Most galaxies are gravitationally bound to a number of other galaxies. These form a fractal-like hierarchical distribution of clustered structures, with the smallest such associations being termed groups. A group of galaxies is the most common type of galactic cluster; these formations contain the majority of galaxies (as well as most of the baryonic mass) in the universe. To remain gravitationally bound to such a group, each member galaxy must have a sufficiently low velocity to prevent it from escaping (see Virial theorem). If there is insufficient kinetic energy, however, the group may evolve into a smaller number of galaxies through mergers.
Clusters of galaxies consist of hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. Clusters of galaxies are often dominated by a single giant elliptical galaxy, known as the brightest cluster galaxy, which, over time, tidally destroys its satellite galaxies and adds their mass to its own.
Superclusters contain tens of thousands of galaxies, which are found in clusters, groups and sometimes individually. At the supercluster scale, galaxies are arranged into sheets and filaments surrounding vast empty voids. Above this scale, the universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic and homogeneous)., though this notion has been challenged in recent years by numerous findings of large-scale structures that appear to be exceeding this scale. The Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall, currently the largest structure in the universe found so far, is 10 billion light-years (three gigaparsecs) in length.
The Milky Way galaxy is a member of an association named the Local Group, a relatively small group of galaxies that has a diameter of approximately one megaparsec. The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are the two brightest galaxies within the group; many of the other member galaxies are dwarf companions of these two. The Local Group itself is a part of a cloud-like structure within the Virgo Supercluster, a large, extended structure of groups and clusters of galaxies centered on the Virgo Cluster. And the Virgo Supercluster itself is a part of the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, a giant galaxy filament.
## Multi-wavelength observation
The peak radiation of most stars lies in the visible spectrum, so the observation of the stars that form galaxies has been a major component of optical astronomy. It is also a favorable portion of the spectrum for observing ionized H II regions, and for examining the distribution of dusty arms.
The dust present in the interstellar medium is opaque to visual light. It is more transparent to far-infrared, which can be used to observe the interior regions of giant molecular clouds and galactic cores in great detail. Infrared is also used to observe distant, red-shifted galaxies that were formed much earlier. Water vapor and carbon dioxide absorb a number of useful portions of the infrared spectrum, so high-altitude or space-based telescopes are used for infrared astronomy.
The first non-visual study of galaxies, particularly active galaxies, was made using radio frequencies. The Earth's atmosphere is nearly transparent to radio between 5 MHz and 30 GHz. (The ionosphere blocks signals below this range.) Large radio interferometers have been used to map the active jets emitted from active nuclei. Radio telescopes can also be used to observe neutral hydrogen (via 21 cm radiation), including, potentially, the non-ionized matter in the early universe that later collapsed to form galaxies.
Ultraviolet and X-ray telescopes can observe highly energetic galactic phenomena. Ultraviolet flares are sometimes observed when a star in a distant galaxy is torn apart from the tidal forces of a nearby black hole. The distribution of hot gas in galactic clusters can be mapped by X-rays. The existence of supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies was confirmed through X-ray astronomy.
## Gallery
## See also
- Dark galaxy
- Galactic orientation
- Galaxy formation and evolution
- Illustris project
- List of galaxies
- List of nearest galaxies
- List of largest galaxies
- Luminous infrared galaxy
- Outline of galaxies
- Supermassive black hole
- Timeline of knowledge about galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large-scale structure
- UniverseMachine |
1,903,351 | Metroid Prime 3: Corruption | 1,170,856,682 | 2007 video game | [
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| Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is an action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The seventh main game in the Metroid series, it was released in North America and Europe in 2007 and in Japan the following year.
Corruption is set six months after the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004). It follows the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who becomes infected with Phazon by her doppelgänger Dark Samus. Samus works to prevent the Phazon from spreading to other planets while being corrupted by the Phazon.
The player controls Samus using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk devices. The remote is used for jumping, aiming, and firing weapons, while the Nunchuk enables actions such as moving Samus and locking onto enemies. Corruption introduces features such as Hypermode, which allows Samus to use more powerful attacks, and the ability to command her gunship. The new control scheme took a year to develop and delayed the game's release several times. The game was first shown to the public at the E3 2005 trade show.
Like the previous Prime games, the game received critical acclaim, with reviews praising its gameplay, graphics and music, though some were divided on the controls. More than one million copies were sold in 2007. It was re-released in August 2009 as part of the compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy. A sequel, Metroid Prime 4, was announced in June 2017 for the Nintendo Switch.
## Gameplay
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a first-person action-adventure game. The player controls the protagonist, Samus Aran, using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk devices. The Nunchuk enables the player to perform actions such as moving Samus and locking on to enemies and targets. The Wii Remote allows the player to execute actions such as jumping, aiming, and firing weapons.
Corruption is a large, open-ended game that takes place across several planets, each with regions connected by elevators, rail systems and bridges. Each region has rooms separated by doors that can be opened when shot with the correct weapon. The gameplay revolves around solving puzzles to uncover secrets, jumping on platforms, and shooting enemies with the help of a "lock-on" mechanism that allows Samus to move in a circle while staying aimed on an enemy. The "lock-on" mechanism also allows Samus to use the Grapple Beam to attach onto and pull objects, such as enemy shields or certain doors. The game uses a first-person view, except in Morph Ball mode, in which Samus' suit transforms into an armored ball and the game uses a third-person camera. The third person camera is also used in conjunction with the Screw Attack power-up: in this case Samus' suit emits strange energy waves as she performs a continuous jump.
The game's heads-up display simulates the inside of Samus' helmet, and features a radar, map, ammunition gauge and health meter. The player can change visors to enable new abilities such as X-ray vision, collecting information on many items, creatures and enemies, and interfacing with certain mechanisms such as force fields and elevators. Corruption also includes a hint system that periodically displays on-screen instructions and navigation assistance. The game also has the addition of the Hypermode, a feature in which health is drained to give temporary invincibility and more powerful attacks. After a certain amount of time, the player will enter Corrupt Hypermode, and if not stopped leads to a non-standard game over due to Samus being overtaken by Phazon. Another new feature is the Command Visor, which allows Samus to summon remotely her gunship from a suitable landing site to save the game, or travel to another destination quickly. During the progress of the game, new abilities can be obtained to allow it to perform aerial attacks against enemy targets and transport heavy objects. The game also features an achievement system, with players able to earn special credits by completing specific in-game objectives. These credits can be exchanged for bonuses such as concept art, music for the sound test, and decorations for Samus' gunship.
## Synopsis
### Setting
The events in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption take place six months after Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The game's protagonist, Samus Aran, is a bounty hunter hired to assist the Galactic Federation during its ongoing conflict with the Space Pirates. After facing initial defeat on the planet Zebes during the events of the first Metroid, the Space Pirates sought to gain power by using a newly discovered mutagen called Phazon. However, Samus managed to disrupt their operations throughout the Prime trilogy, while the Galactic Federation confiscated and repurposed their Phazon armaments.
The Space Pirates' operation was left in disarray following defeat in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. They inadvertently encounter Dark Samus, Samus' sinister doppelgänger, while trying to harvest Phazon. Dark Samus eliminates a third of their forces while indoctrinating the remaining Space Pirates into servants. Their combined forces seek to corrupt the universe with Phazon by first executing a series of methodical attacks on three Federation planets: Norion, Bryyo, and Elysia. The game is primarily centered on these planets and three other locations that become accessible after completing certain in-game tasks.
### Plot
Fleet Admiral Castor Dane, the commander of the Galactic Federation flagship GFS Olympus, calls for a meeting with Samus Aran and three other bounty hunters—Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda. The bounty hunters receive orders to clear a virus from several organic supercomputers called "Aurora Units", located throughout the galaxy. The meeting ends abruptly when Space Pirates attack the Federation fleet. Samus and the other bounty hunters are deployed to the planet Norion, where the Space Pirates are concentrating an attack on the main Federation base. While suppressing the attack, Samus learns that a Phazon meteoroid, called a Leviathan Seed, will soon collide into Norion. Samus and the other bounty hunters attempt to activate the base's defense systems, when they are suddenly attacked by Dark Samus. With the other bounty hunters knocked out, a severely wounded Samus manages to activate the system just in time to destroy the Leviathan Seed before she falls unconscious.
A month later, Samus awakens aboard Olympus, where she learns that Dark Samus' Phazon-based attacks have corrupted her. The Federation equips her suit with a Phazon Enhancement Device (PED) that enables her to harness the Phazon energy within herself. She is informed that her fellow bounty hunters, also corrupted with Phazon and equipped with PEDs, have gone missing during their missions to investigate several planets embedded with Leviathan Seeds. Samus is first sent to the planet Bryyo and later Elysia to determine what happened to her missing comrades. She soon discovers that both planets and their inhabitants are slowly being corrupted by the Leviathan Seeds and that she must destroy the seeds to reverse this. Samus encounters heavy resistance from the Space Pirates, Phazon-corrupted monstrosities, and her fellow bounty hunters who have been corrupted by Dark Samus.
Throughout her mission, which eventually takes her to the Space Pirate homeworld, Samus slowly becomes further Phazon-corrupted. She manages to stop the Space Pirate assault with the assistance of the Federation troops. After stealing a Leviathan battleship, Samus and the Federation fleet use it to create a wormhole that leads to the planet Phaaze, the origin point of Phazon. Samus travels to the planet's core, where she finally defeats Dark Samus and then the corrupted Aurora Unit 313. As a result, Dark Samus is obliterated, and Phaaze explodes, rendering all Phazon in the galaxy inert. The Federation fleet escapes Phaaze's destruction, but loses contact with Samus in the process. Samus eventually appears in her gunship, and reports that the mission is accomplished before flying off into space.
Samus returns to Elysia, where she mourns the loss of her fellow bounty hunters. If the player completes the game with all of the items obtained, Samus is seen flying into hyperspace, with Sylux's spaceship following her.
## Development
Retro Studios intended to give Metroid Prime 3: Corruption larger environments than Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, including open world features, and enable the game to run at 60 frames per second. There were also plans to have more interactive sequences involving Samus' ship. However, when Retro learned of the Wii's technical specifications, they found the system was less powerful then they had anticipated and had to scale back on these plans. The developers were also interested in using the WiiConnect24 feature to provide additional content for the game that would be accessible from the Internet. Retro announced that Corruption would be the final chapter of the Prime series and would have a plot "about closure, told against the backdrop of an epic struggle". After the Wii Remote was revealed, Nintendo demonstrated how Metroid Prime 3 would take advantage of the controller's special abilities with a version of Echoes modified for the Wii and shown at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005. At the Media Summit held by Nintendo in May 2007, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said that Metroid games "never played this way before" when referring to Corruption. He also noted that Nintendo employees who had seen the game in action claimed that it "will reinvent the control scheme for a first-person shooter".
Game director Mark Pacini stated that the biggest concern Retro had during production was the controls, which had "too many functions for the amount of buttons". Pacini also said the Wii Zapper, a gun shell peripheral, was never considered because it was unveiled when the game's development was almost done. Retro president Michael Kelbaugh said that the delays for the game's release gave them more time to tune the controller, which took a year. He also stated that while Retro did "a great job on the multiplayer in Metroid Prime 2", focus was centered on the single player portion of the game, which was considered to be "the core strength of the franchise". Art director Todd Keller declared the graphics to be focused in both texture detail and variety, with every single texture being hand-made and trying to "make every room its own custom stage". During development, the Nintendo EAD team involved with Corruption suggested Retro to turn Hypermode into the core of the game, saying it would enhance the tension as it made players powerful but if used excessively would lead to a game over. Retro initially disagreed, saying it would be difficult to implement the feature without dampening the entertainment value, but after discussion decided to turn Hyper Mode into a regular functionality of the game.
The soundtrack for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was composed by Kenji Yamamoto, Minako Hamano and Masaru Tajima. The game took advantage of the increase in the amount of RAM that took place when the series switched from the GameCube to the Wii; this allowed for higher quality audio samples to be used and thus allowing a better overall audio quality. Yamamoto used Hirokazu Tanaka's musical design of the original Metroid in Corruption, by keeping the music and themes dark and scary until the very end, when uplifting music is played during the credits. Corruption is the first Metroid game to feature a significant amount of voice acting, compared to previous games in the series in which Samus "[acted] alone [... and] always came across as a lone wolf". The producers decided to include voices to create a stronger connection between players and the characters. The characters' voices were performed by Timothy Patrick Miller, Lainie Frasier, Christopher Sabat, Edwin Neal, Claire Hamilton, Brian Jepson, Gray Haddock, Clayton Kjas and Ken Webster.
## Release
The game was first shown to the public at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2005 in a short pre-rendered trailer. It was later announced during Nintendo's press conference at E3 2006. Nintendo revealed in May that Corruption would be released as a launch game for the Wii console, but a few months later it was delayed to 2007. That year in April, Fils-Aimé said in an interview that Corruption was "not going to ship by June" and set it at a summer release date at the earliest. In late April, IGN editor Matt Casamassina revealed that the game would be released on August 20 in the United States. Nintendo of America later moved the release date to August 27, but Nintendo finally revealed an "in stores" date of August 28. The game was later released in Europe on October 26, and in Japan on March 6, 2008. In the Japanese version, the game's difficulty level is decided by answering to "a questionnaire from the Galactic Federation", in contrast to the North American version where the difficulty level is chosen directly by the player. Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe said that an idea for a questionnaire came from Retro Studios.
Casamassina initially criticized Nintendo for its minimal marketing campaign for Corruption and compared it to the larger campaign for the original Metroid Prime, which included its own live action advertisement. He concluded that the campaign was the result of Nintendo's new focus on casual games for their console. When questioned on the company's actions, Nintendo of America responded: "Nintendo fans will be surprised by the quantity and quality of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption information that becomes available before the game launches on Aug. 27. Your patience will be rewarded (or Corrupted)". Following this promise, Nintendo released the "Metroid Prime 3 Preview" channel on August 10 in North America and on October 15 in Europe. The channel, available as a free download via the Wii Shop Channel, allowed Wii owners to view preview videos of the game that included a battle sequence and previously unannounced details on new characters. The Preview channel was the first in a series of new downloadable content including videos made available in North America. The "month of Metroid", as named by Nintendo, included Virtual Console versions of Metroid, available on August 13, and Super Metroid, available on August 20.
### Re-release
Metroid Prime 3 was re-released on August 24, 2009 in North America and Europe, alongside Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, as a single-disc compilation, Metroid Prime: Trilogy. Prime and Echoes feature the motion controls and achievement systems introduced in Corruption. The compilation was later re-released on the Wii U's Nintendo eShop on January 29, 2015.
## Reception
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption received critical acclaim. Nintendo Power praised the visuals and the immersive gameplay, calling it one the best Wii games. IGN awarded it the Editor's Choice Award, and noted that the game was beautifully designed and the best looking game for the Wii. They also praised the inclusion of "well-done" voice acting, in contrast to the lack of any voice acting in most other Nintendo games. Despite stating that Metroid Prime 3 was too similar to its predecessors, the review concluded that it was the best game in the Prime trilogy. IGN also said that it could be worthy of the same score as the original Metroid Prime (9.8), had it not been for the aforementioned reason. X-Play claimed that the game was enjoyable, but it had a few awkward control mechanics and was a little difficult to control on the Wii. They also said that although it was fun, there were problems that lead to odd lock-on mechanics and painful wrists from continuous motions.
Shane Satterfield from GameTrailers praised the more user-friendly and action-packed nature of the game compared to Metroid Prime and Echoes. Satterfield also praised the superior motion-sensitive controls and further added that those elements make Corruption "far superior to the original Metroid Prime". 1UP.com was enthusiastic about the new control system and said the graphics were "some of the best visuals in gaming, period". Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Corruption a Silver award and named it one of the Games of the Month. GameSpot stated the game had enjoyable puzzles, boss battles, atmospheric levels, and smooth gameplay. It also explained that the game was more like a traditional shooter video game than an adventure shooter, and stated that the motion activated actions were too unresponsive.
GamesRadar named Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the 10th best Wii game of all time out of a list of 25, stating that "Metroid Prime 3 is the ultimate achievement of the series. The formula, which was repeated several times by Corruption, has been tweaked and pruned to its most perfect point, with some of the best shooting on the system". In IGN's Best of 2007 Awards, Corruption received the awards for Best Wii Adventure Game, Best Artistic Design, and Best Overall Adventure Game. GameSpy ranked it as the second best Wii game of the year, behind Super Mario Galaxy, and honored it as the Best Innovation on the Wii. Australian website MyWii named Prime 3 as the second best Wii game currently available, behind Super Mario Galaxy. In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine called the game a "fantastic finale", placing it 35th on a list of greatest Nintendo games. Despite being released on August 27, Corruption was the fifth best-selling game of the month, with 218,100 copies sold. It also debuted at the fifth spot of the Japanese charts, with 34,000 units in the first week of release. More than one million copies of the game were sold in 2007, and as of March 2008, 1.31 million copies of the game were sold worldwide.
## Sequels
A spin-off, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, was developed by Next Level Games and released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016.
In 2015, Metroid Prime series producer Kensuke Tanabe said that they were doing a story on the Galactic Federation. Regarding Corruption's ending, Tanabe wanted to create a story that centers on Samus and Sylux, noting that "there's something going on between them. I want to make a game that touches upon it". Tanabe added that Nintendo had no plans on releasing the next Metroid Prime game for the Wii U at the time, and that a new installment would most likely be developed for the company's next home console, then known as the NX.
A fourth mainline installment, Metroid Prime 4, was announced during the Nintendo Spotlight presentation at E3 2017, in development for the Nintendo Switch. The game was headed by series producer Kensuke Tanabe. The development was reportedly originally led by Bandai Namco Studios in Singapore, which included some staff members who worked on the cancelled Star Wars 1313 game. In January 2019, development of Prime 4 was restarted, with Retro Studios returning to develop the game. |
2,852,763 | Anbe Sivam | 1,168,658,973 | 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy-drama film by Sundar C. | [
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| Anbe Sivam () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Madhan provided the dialogues. Anbe Sivam stars Haasan, Madhavan and Kiran Rathod, with Nassar, Santhana Bharathi, Seema and Uma Riyaz Khan playing supporting characters. The film tells the story of Nallasivam and Anbarasu, two men of contrasting personalities who undertake an unexpected journey from Bhubaneswar to Chennai.
Produced on a budget of ₹120 million, Anbe Sivam takes on themes such as communism, atheism, and altruism and depicts Haasan's humanist views. The music was composed by Vidyasagar. Arthur A. Wilson served as the cinematographer and M. Prabhaharan served as the art director.
The film was released on 15 January 2003 to positive reviews from critics but underperformed at the box office. Despite its initial failure, it has gained recognition over the years through re-runs on television channels and is now regarded as a classic of Tamil cinema and a cult film. Anbe Sivam was screened as part of the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India in 2003. At the 51st Filmfare Awards South, it received a Special Jury Award and nominations in the Best Film and Best Actor (Haasan) categories. Madhavan was awarded Best Actor at the 2003 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
## Plot
Two men waiting for a flight to Chennai at the Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar engage in conversation. One is a commercial director, Anbarasu, who prefers the abbreviated name A. Aras, and the other is a scarred and deformed socialist, Nallasivam (Nalla). When the flight is cancelled due to heavy rain, Aras initially suspects Nalla is a terrorist and informs the authorities, only to discover that he was mistaken. With the rain flooding the city, the two men are forced to share a room for the night. Both need to return to Chennai: Aras to be present at his wedding, and Nalla has to deliver a ₹32,00,000 cheque, recently awarded to him after he won a court case, to a group of union workers.
After a traumatic night, and no hope for a flight, the two men take a bus to board the Coromandel Express train. Aras's bag gets stolen on the way leaving him with only his credit card, which no one accepts. Using his presence of mind, Nalla repeatedly bails Aras out of trouble while Aras tries escaping from him at every juncture, only to end up with him again. While waiting for the train at the Ichchapuram railway station, Nalla begins to tell Aras his story.
A few years earlier, a healthy Nalla took part in various street theatre performances protesting against multinational corporation-driven industrialisation, which resulted in the marginalisation of the labour force. He was at odds with Kandasamy Padayatchi, a manipulative factory owner who refused to give his workers a raise. Nalla satirically imitated Padayatchi in many of his shows. In an unexpected turn of events, Nalla and Balasaraswathi (Bala), Padayatchi's daughter, fell in love with each other. To avoid a potential conflict with Padayatchi, the two decided to elope to Kerala.
Nalla boarded a bus bound for Kerala, and on his way to meet Bala, the bus met with an accident on a hillside, leaving him scarred, disfigured, and partially paralysed for life. After recovering from his wounds, he visited Bala only to be informed by Padayatchi that his daughter was already married and has settled abroad. Padayatchi had earlier lied to Bala that Nalla died in the accident. It was also at this time that Nalla became a firm believer in kindness and love. Despite suffering from an inferiority complex due to his scarred and deformed body, Nalla performs community service and social work with renewed fervour while continuing to fight for union causes.
Upon their arrival in Chennai, Aras delivers Nalla's cheque to the union workers. He invites Nalla to his wedding, where, to his utter astonishment, Nalla sees that Aras's bride is Bala. Padayatchi spots Nalla and asks him why he is at the wedding. He tells Padayatchi that he was invited by Aras, and later persuades him to sign the papers which will help Padayatchi's workers get a raise. To prevent the disruption of Bala's wedding and avoid damaging his own reputation, Padayatchi yields to Nalla's demands. After signing the papers, Padayatchi instructs his assistant to eliminate Nalla. However, his assistant has a change of heart as he is about to kill him. Padayatchi's assistant believes that the misdeeds he committed for Padayatchi resulted in the death of the assistant's daughter. Padayatchi's assistant requests Nalla to stay as far away from his boss as possible. Nalla assents and walks away.
## Cast
- Kamal Haasan as Nallasivam
- Madhavan as Anbarasu (A. Aras)
- Kiran Rathod as Balasaraswathi
- Nassar as Kandasamy Padayatchi
- Santhana Bharathi as Padayatchi's assistant
- Seema as Balasaraswathi's aunt
- Yugi Sethu as Uthaman
- R. S. Shivaji as the Ichchapuram railway station master
- Vishwanath as Padayatchi's assistant
- Balu Anand as the train ticket checker for the Coromandel Express
- Ilavarasu as a police inspector and aide of Padayatchi
- Muthukaalai as a roadside drunkard
- Uma Riyaz Khan as Mehrunissa
- Pasi Sathya as a tea stall owner
- Nellai Siva as a street theatre performer
- Benjamin as a street theatre performer
- Poovilangu Mohan as a grieving father
- Kalairani as a grieving mother
- Krishnamoorthy as a union worker
- Sujatha Narayanan as a tea shop owner who helps Nallasivam
- Madhan as himself
- Poo Ramu as a dancer in "Naatukkoru Seithi"[^1]
- Vasanthi as a dancer in "Naatukkoru Seithi"
## Production
### Development
In the late 1990s, Kamal Haasan narrated the premise of a film to the director K. S. Ravikumar as they sought to collaborate following Avvai Shanmughi (1996). The initial script followed two men who meet in a train, quarrel, become friends and ultimately, one of them sacrifices everything for the other man. One individual was a Sri Lankan Tamil communist, while the other was a person who followed a right-wing political belief. Haasan had wanted to act in the film alongside Mohanlal, but Ravikumar refused the opportunity, saying it was not his usual film genre of expertise. Haasan and Ravikumar instead moved on to work on a different project titled Thenali (2000) and chose to make the film's title character a Sri Lankan Tamil as discussed in the earlier script.
After completing the draft for the film's script with alterations in early 2002, Haasan approached the Malayalam filmmaker Priyadarshan to direct it. The two men were keen to work together since the late 1990s, and upon reading the script, Priyadarshan believed that it had the potential to be an "emotional love story". The film's title Anbe Sivam was derived from the Shaivite saint Tirumular's poem Tirumantiram. In June 2002, Priyadarshan opted out of the project owing to creative differences. Sundar C. came in as a replacement to work on the film. Anbe Sivam was co-produced and distributed by V. Swaminathan, K. Muralitharan and G. Venugopal under the production banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers.
### Cast and crew
In addition to being the film's writer, Haasan also played the central character, Nallasivam. Madhavan was selected to play Anbarasu in January 2002. According to Kiran Rathod, she received a phone call from Haasan's office informing her that she was offered the role of Balasaraswathi, which she accepted. Rathod's voice in the film was dubbed by the singer Anuradha Sriram. Uma Riyaz Khan played the role of Nallasivam's friend and professional colleague, Mehrunissa. In a 2019 interview with The Indian Express, the film's script assistant and costume designer, Sujatha Narayanan, revealed that Nandita Das and Shobana were the original choices for Balasaraswathi and Mehrunissa respectively and that both of them declined due to schedule conflicts.
> He [Kamal] came over to me and said, 'Madhavan, I have seen some of your work and they were good.' [...] Then he continued, 'I have something for you. We should catch up!' [...] that was how Anbe Sivam happened.
The actors Nassar and Santhana Bharathi played the roles of Kandasamy Padaiyatchi and his assistant, respectively, while cartoonist Madhan featured in a cameo appearance as himself in addition to writing the film's dialogues. Screenwriter Crazy Mohan also collaborated with Haasan on writing some dialogues for the film. In an interview with S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu in 2006, Bharathi considered both Anbe Sivam and Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990) to be the favourite roles of his career.
Arthur A. Wilson, M. Prabhaharan and P. Sai Suresh handled the film's cinematography, art direction and editing, respectively. Brinda, Chinni Prakash and Dinesh Kumar were in charge of the choreography while the stunt sequences were co-ordinated by Vikram Dharma. Muthulakshmi Varadhan, Bharathi's sister-in-law, worked as an assistant editor in the film. The make-up for Haasan's scars was designed by Michael Westmore and Anil Pemgirkar. In May 2002, Haasan completed the makeup for his character Nallasivam in Los Angeles after filming the song sequences for Panchatanthiram (2002).
### Filming
Principal photography for Anbe Sivam commenced in July 2002. The first scene featuring the lead actors was shot at Pollachi Junction railway station. Haasan and Madhavan interacted closely during the initial stages of the shoot to ensure that the on-screen chemistry between the pair was apparent.
Anbe Sivam was shot on a restricted budget of ₹120 million, with the train and bus disaster sequences involving the use of settings and CGI. Madhavan, who began shooting his portions in September 2002, stated the film was shot in relatively empty locations. The flood scenes set in Odisha were re-created with outdoor sets consisting of city roads submerged under water erected in the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Filming also took place in Chennai, Visakhapatnam and on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. For a brief sequence in the "Naatukkoru Seithi" song, Haasan learnt how to play the thavil, a barrel-shaped percussion instrument, over three weeks. The pre-climax scenes were filmed in what was then known as the Campa Cola compound in Guindy. The climax scenes were filmed in a single take.
## Themes and influences
Anbe Sivam follows the events of a journey from Bhubaneswar to Chennai undertaken by two men of contrasting personalities: Nallasivam, a physically challenged and witty socialist, and Anbarasu, a commercial director who supports capitalism and globalisation. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the two are forced to undertake the journey together. Throughout the narrative, a series of themes pertaining to communism, compassion, globalisation, atheism, and altruism are addressed; the film also showcases Haasan's views as a humanist. According to Haasan, the characterisation of Nallasivam was inspired by the life of Communist playwright, actor, director, lyricist and theorist Safdar Hashmi, who was chiefly associated with his work on street theatre in India. Hashmi died on 2 January 1989 after being attacked by members of the Indian National Congress while staging a play, Halla Bol. S. Anand of Outlook magazine notes that Haasan's views on humanism in the film also seemed to be inspired by those of Charlie Chaplin. M. Kalyanaraman and Abdullah Nurullah of The Times of India opined that Nallasivam shared similar characteristics with street theatre artist Pralayan. According to Kalyanaraman, Anbe Sivam proposes that man can make morally superior choices when he comes face to face with death. As a result, Haasan indicates that the belief of "Siva is love" is the "final stage of evolution of man into God".
The film critic Baradwaj Rangan, in his review of another Haasan film, Vishwaroopam (2013), found the ethnicity of the characters in the film to be a continuation of Haasan's inclusion of non-Tamil characters in his films. Rangan considered this to be Haasan's acknowledgement of the "interconnectedness of the nation" and "the world beyond India". He noted in his article that Haasan had experimented with the concept before by including the usage of Bengali language and meeting Bengalis in Mahanadhi (1994), a Telugu-speaking love interest in Nammavar (1994), marrying a Bengali woman in Hey Ram (2000), conducting investigations with an American associate in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), and marriage to a Frenchwoman in Manmadan Ambu (2010). Rangan notes that in Anbe Sivam, the inclusion of and interaction with the Odia people was another example of including non-Tamil characters in his films. Rangan also compared Haasan's fight sequence with the use of an umbrella to the way he used a book and stool in Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey (1983).
The basic plot of Anbe Sivam was reported to have similarities with the 1987 road film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles directed by John Hughes, which starred Steve Martin and John Candy. The critics noted Haasan and Madhavan's character share similar traits to that of the roles played by Candy and Martin in that film, respectively. The portrait painted by Nallasivam on the walls of Padayatchi's house is inspired by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera's fresco, Man at the Crossroads. Srinivasa Ramanujam, writing for The Times of India in 2008, noted that the religious undertone in the film was similar to that of Rajinikanth's Baba (2002).
## Music
The soundtrack album and background score for Anbe Sivam were composed by Vidyasagar and the lyrics for the songs were written by Vairamuthu and P. Vijay. After composing the tune for the title song, Vidyasagar explained the situation of the song to Haasan, who wanted the song to be performed in such a way that the protagonist is singing according to the situation he finds himself in. Vidyasagar suggested that Haasan should sing the song himself to achieve the desired result, which the latter accepted. The song "Mouname Paarvayai" was not included in the film. The song "Poovaasam" is based on the Shuddh Sarang raga. The male portions for the reprise of "Poovaasam" were sung by Sriram Parthasarathy, while the original version was sung by Vijay Prakash. Sadhana Sargam sang her portion of both versions of the song.
Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Vidyasagar is scaling great heights as a composer. The theme song and the melodious "Pon Vaasam" [sic] are pointers. Vairamuthu's lyrics deserve special mention here." Singer Charulatha Mani, in her column for The Hindu, "A Raga's Journey", noted, "Poovaasam" possessed "a charm that is born out of classicism incorporated in a populist piece". Arkay of Rediff.com found the songs to be "at best, okay". M. Suganth of The Times of India, in his review for the music album, "Lovers Special – Vol. 2–4", included "Poovaasam" among the "Hot Picks" of the album.
## Release
According to S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu, the producers were confident that Anbe Sivam would be a strong competitor at the 50th National Film Awards that they had the film reviewed by the Central Board of Film Certification before the end of 2002 so that they could enter the film into the annual awards list. The film was released on 15 January 2003, which coincided with the Thai Pongal festival. It opened alongside five other films, including Vikram's Dhool, Vijayakanth's Chokka Thangam, and Vaseegara, which featured Vijay.
Anbe Sivam was screened as a part of the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India in 2003. As a tribute to Safdar Hashmi, a special preview of the film was organised by Haasan in association with Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) on 9 January 2003 at Siri Fort Auditorium. The film was dubbed into Telugu as Sathyame Sivam and released on 28 February 2003. It was dubbed into Hindi as Shivam and was released two years later in 2005. After the release of the original Tamil version, the dubbing rights for the Hindi version were sold at a low price, much to the irritation of the lead actors as they were not able to dub for themselves in Hindi.
## Reception
### Critical response
Baradwaj Rangan described the film as "Kamal's latest solo attempt to bend, twist, shape-shift Tamil cinema into forms never-before seen." In his review of the film's DVD, M. Suganth, writing for The Times of India, called it "one of the finest movies of the decade" and praised the story, screenplay and dialogues before terming the film as "a modern classic". Reviewing the Telugu dubbed version, Sathyame Sivam, Jeevi of Idlebrain.com said that "this art-kind-of film does entertain the people who love Kamal Hassan flicks" while concluding that it "would remain as one of the good films made in the recent times".
Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu believed that "well-defined characters, a strong storyline and intelligent screenplay" were the film's "vital ingredients". She further complimented Haasan's treatment of the story, and that his "diligence that has gone into the chiselling of the story and screenplay is only too evident" while calling the film "a laudable effort". P. Devarajan of Business Line appreciated Haasan's performance and facial expressions and concluded his review by stating, "This man has intrigued me and will always." Another critic from The Hindu, Gudipoodi Srihari, appreciated the pair of Haasan and Madhavan, noting that the duo "make a fine combination of pals each with different mental make up, but goodness overflowing." Sujatha Narayanan, in a retrospective review for The New Indian Express commended Haasan's writing and Madhan's dialogue, finding them to be "peppered with sharp wit, trivia and emotional depth."
A reviewer from Sify, in comparison, labelled the film as "average", stating that it was "another predictable and corny film which is neither a comedy caper nor a class act." Similarly, Arkay of Rediff.com praised the performances of the lead cast but wrote the film "tries to do too many things, and ends up failing at most, if not all, of them." S. Anand of Outlook felt the film's thematic ideas of communism were presented in a "clichéd" manner, and summarised by saying, "If Rajnikant staked claim to divinity on a right-wing plank with Baba, Kamal does it with pretensions to rationalist-left rhetoric."
### Box office
During the first week of its theatrical run, an analysis by Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu showed the film to have grossed ₹13.1 million in Chennai alone. Despite this, the film underperformed at the box office and incurred heavy losses for Lakshmi Movie Makers, effectively stopping them from investing in other ventures for the year 2003. An estimate by D. Govardan of The Economic Times places the losses at ₹65 million, while Arun Ram of India Today states the losses incurred to be ₹50 million. Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Times of India compared the film's failure at the box office to that of Baba. Both K. Muralitharan and Haasan defended the film's failure by blaming video piracy, with the latter stating that "lots of people saw it, but they didn't pay".
## Awards and nominations
## Legacy
Following its release, Anbe Sivam has attained cult status in Tamil cinema and receives re-runs on television channels. When the film was in post-production, Haasan revealed to film critic and journalist Subhash K. Jha that he was impressed with Madhavan's enthusiasm and performance during the making of the film, subsequently signing him to appear as the protagonist in his production venture, Nala Damayanthi (2003).
Baradwaj Rangan wrote that Anbe Sivam was "leagues ahead of the average Tamilwhy, even Indianfilm", though he felt that "the masses were unwilling to accept the experimental nature of the film", while talking about the film's box office failure. During his acceptance speech after winning the Vijay Award for Best Director in 2010 for Naan Kadavul (2009), director Bala revealed that a scene in Anbe Sivam where Haasan says to Madhavan, "when we love others unconditionally without any expectation, we become Gods", inspired him to make his film. Bala also made a reference to Anbe Sivam in his 2003 film, Pithamagan, in a scene where Suriya's character goes for a screening of the film with his friends. A dialogue told by Haasan to Madhavan, "Do you know what a tsunami is? Periya alai illa ... malai." (It's not just a big wave ... it's a mountain) also attained popularity.
In 2008, S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu listed Anbe Sivam among the "top five directorial ventures of Sundar C." In a 2008 interview with The Times of India, Sundar C. stated that Anbe Sivam "changed [him] personally and professionally", making him a more confident person and altering his outlook towards life. He later contradicted his statement after revealing that the film's failure led him to become almost bankrupt and he remained unpaid for his work. The Income Tax Department froze his bank accounts for a year as he was not able to pay his taxes. He admitted that while he received praises for the film after its theatrical run, he would not make a film similar to Anbe Sivam anymore and that he chose to continue making commercial cinema, which he felt better matched his interests. In 2013, Haricharan Pudipeddi of the Indo-Asian News Service agency, included Anbe Sivam in his list of "Kamal's most underrated films". He believed the reason for the film's commercial failure was that audiences misunderstood the "sarcastic undertones associated with atheism". On Haasan's birthday, 7 November 2015, Latha Srinivasan of Daily News and Analysis considered Anbe Sivam to be one of the "films you must watch to grasp the breadth of Kamal Haasan's repertoire". The character of Nallasivam was ranked fourth in The Times of Indias list of "Kamal Haasan's top 10 mind-blowing avatars".
In Vasool Raja MBBS (2004), the character Vasool Raja (Haasan), while attending a class asks whether being a doctor is equivalent to being God, and in doing so says "Anbe Venkatachalam", to which one of his classmates gently asks him, "isn't it Anbe Sivam?". Haasan retorts: "Let it be. Let's try something different for a change." The street theatre sequence featuring Nallasivam and his friends performing to make people aware of the atrocities committed by Kandasamy Padayatchi was re-created at Tiruchirappalli in 2008 by Pralayan and his troupe from "Chennai Kalai Kuzhu" under the title Nammal Mudiyum. In contrast, Pralayan's play explored gender inequality and domestic violence instead of unemployment. Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan noted in 2010 that fellow actor Sudeep's film Just Maath Maathalli (2010) bears resemblance to Anbe Sivam. Hari Narayan, writing for The Hindu in 2014, mentions in his article on the Indian rationalist and author Narendra Dabholkar that Umesh Shukla's OMG – Oh My God! (2012) was "a toned down version of Anbe Sivam where rationality propels humans to find God in themselves, with flaws, which extols the virtue of becoming as much as that of being". In 2015 Uthiran of Hindu Tamil Thisai in Tamil, mentions in his review of Orange Mittai (2015) that the film's plot might remind viewers of Anbe Sivam.
## Film
[^1]: |
35,764,429 | Look Mickey | 1,163,456,647 | 1961 painting by Roy Lichtenstein | [
"1961 paintings",
"Collections of the National Gallery of Art",
"Donald Duck",
"Ducks in art",
"Mickey Mouse in art",
"Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein",
"Water in art"
]
| Look Mickey (also known as Look Mickey!) is a 1961 oil on canvas painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Widely regarded as the bridge between his abstract expressionism and pop art works, it is notable for its ironic humor and aesthetic value as well as being the first example of the artist's employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery as a source for a painting. The painting was bequeathed to the Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art upon Lichtenstein's death.
Building on his late 1950s drawings of comic strip characters, Look Mickey marks Lichtenstein's first full employment of painterly techniques to reproduce almost faithful representations of pop culture and so satirize and comment upon the then developing process of mass production of visual imagery. In this, Lichtenstein pioneered a motif that became influential not only in 1960s pop art but continuing to the work of artists today. Lichtenstein borrows from a Donald Duck illustrated story book, showing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during a fishing mishap. However, he makes significant alterations to the original source, including modifying the color scheme and perspective, while seeming to make statements about himself.
The work dates from Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition, and is regarded by art critics as revolutionary both as a progression of pop art and as a work of modern art in general. It was later reproduced in his 1973 painting Artist's Studio—Look Mickey, which shows the painting hanging prominently on a facing wall of Lichtenstein's studio.
## Background
During the late 1950s and early 1960s a number of American painters began to adapt the imagery and motifs of comic strips into their work. Lichtenstein was among them, and in 1958 began to make drawings of comic strip characters. Andy Warhol produced his earliest paintings in the style in 1960. Lichtenstein, unaware of Warhol's work, produced Look Mickey and Popeye in 1961. Lichtenstein's 1961 works, especially Look Mickey, are considered a minor step from his earlier comic strip pop art.
According to the Lichtenstein Foundation, Look Mickey was based on the Little Golden Book series. The National Gallery of Art notes that the source is entitled Donald Duck Lost and Found, written in 1960 by Carl Buettner and published through Disney Enterprises. The image was illustrated by Bob Grant and Bob Totten. An alternative theory suggests that Look Mickey and Popeye were enlargements of bubble gum wrappers. This image marked the first of numerous works in which Lichtenstein cropped his source to bring the viewer closer to the scene.
A number of stories purport to tell of the moment of inspiration for Look Mickey. Critic Alice Goldfarb Marquis writes that the artist recalled one of his sons pointing to a comic book and challenging: "I bet you can't paint as good as that". Another says that the painting resulted from an effort to prove his abilities to both his son and his son's classmates who mocked Lichtenstein's hard-to-fathom abstracts. American painter Allan Kaprow once stated, in reference to a Bazooka Dubble Bubble Gum wrapper, to Lichtenstein, "You can't teach color from Cézanne, you can only teach it from something like this." Lichtenstein then showed him one of his Donald Duck images.
During the comic book phase of his career, Lichtenstein often slightly altered the colorization of the original source. According to Marco Livingstone, his early comic subjects comprise a "loose and improvised style clearly derived from de Kooning." Art historian Jonathan Fineberg describes a Lichtenstein painting of 1960 as an "...abstract expressionist picture with Mickey Mouse in it, related stylistically to the de Kooning Women". When Leo Castelli saw both Lichtenstein's and Warhol's large comic strip-based works, he elected to show only Lichtenstein's, causing Warhol to create the Campbell's Soup Cans series to avoid competing with the more refined style of comics Lichtenstein was then producing. He once said "I've got to do something that really will have a lot of impact that will be different enough from Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist, that will be very personal, that won't look like I'm doing exactly what they're doing." Lichtenstein's foray into comics led to the abandonment of the topic by Warhol. Although Lichtenstein continued to work with comic sources, after 1961 he avoided the easily identified sources like Popeye and Mickey Mouse.
During autumn 1961, Allan Kaprow, a fellow teacher at Rutgers University, introduced Lichenstein to art dealer Ivan Karp, the director of the Leo Castelli Gallery. Lichtenstein showed Karp several paintings, but not Look Mickey. He instead impressed him with Girl with Ball, and Karp decided to represent Lichtenstein a few weeks later.
## Description
The painting is one of Lichtenstein's first non-expressionist works, and marks his initial employment of Ben-Day dots which he used to give it an "industrial" half-tone effect. The painting is his first use both of a speech balloon and comics as source material. The work has visible pencil marks and was produced using a plastic-bristle dog brush to apply the oil paint onto the canvas. By the time of his death, Look Mickey was regarded as Lichtenstein's breakthrough work.
In reproducing a mass-produced illustration in a painterly style, Lichtenstein simplifies by reducing the composition to primary colors, which serves to accentuate its mass appeal and largely gives it the "pop" look. Typically, Ben-Day dots enable an artist to produce a variety of colors by using dots of a few colors to give the illusion of a broader palette. By mixing dots of different colors, like an ink jet printer, just a few colors can create a broad spectrum using only a limited number of primary hues. Lichtenstein as a painter and not a mass production printer is able to avoid this, achieving his individual color tones without blending existing hues. Instead, for each color that he wanted to include in a work, he used that color paint.
Lichtenstein made several alterations to the original work: he eliminated various figures and rotated the dock so that Donald looks off the side rather than the end. At the same time, he kept Donald and Mickey in almost the same positions as they were in the original. Lichtenstein not only redesigned the space, but also altered the position of Donald's body and fishing rod and eliminated signs of stress and exertion. He also adds a speech balloon, making Donald seem unaware that he has failed to cast his rod. Walt Disney said about Donald Duck: "He's got a big mouth, a big belligerent eye, a twistable neck and a substantial backside that's highly flexible. The duck comes near being the animator's ideal subject." Lichtenstein's painting reflects many of these physical features.
Compared to the original source, Donald leans further forward towards the water, and Mickey less so. Mickey's face is more flushed. The composition incorporates some of the foibles of comic book printing, including misalignment of the contours of the waves with the yellow sky to give rise to an area of white space.
## Interpretation
The large scale reproduction of a comic strip frame was considered radical and revolutionary at the time. Critics applauded the work's playfulness, inherent humor and irreverence. According to Diane Waldman of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, "Look Mickey is broad comedy and falls into the category of slapstick ..." In Lichtenstein's obituary, Los Angeles Times critic Christopher Knight described the work as "a slyly hilarious riff on Abstract Expressionism". Lichtenstein's slight alterations to its "linear clarity and colour", the critic writes, add to its aesthetic value and grandeur, reinforced by his choice of scale. A common misconception about Lichtenstein comes from the fact that in his best known works, his meticulous approach to painting is purposely disguised because he superficially seeks his paintings to appear as if facsimiles of industrial produced pop culture icons. Graham Bader wrote that "Lichtenstein's painting in fact appears more the product of industrial manufacture than the very pulp image on which it is based." Look Mickey is considered self-referential in the sense that the artist is painting something through which the viewer may see elements of the artist.
Bader observes that Look Mickey is concerned both with the artistic process and Lichtenstein's new painting techniques. He believes it can be considered a self-portrait in the sense that it "explicitly situates the painting's maker himself within the self-enclosed narcissistic circuit at its center". The painting shows Donald looking into the reflective water at Lichtenstein's blue 'rfl' signature "as a kind of surrogate for the image's creator", in a manner that is reminiscent of Caravaggio's Narcissus, in which the subject gazes at his own reflection on the water. This is viewed as an allegory of Lichtenstein's position as an artist trained to develop his realist instincts despite the prominence of abstract expressionism. When viewed this way, Mickey serves as the "vanguard modernist" superego towering over Lichtenstein and laughing at his retrograde efforts.
Lichtenstein uses red Ben-Day dots to color Mickey's face. According to some art critics, this gives the character the appearance of blushing. Other interpretations are that the coloration is merely skin pigmentation or that it is the hue associated with a "healthy glow," since Mickey has historically been viewed as a creature with skin rather than fur. Another interpretation – supported by the original source in which Mickey says that if Donald can land the fish he can have it for lunch – is that Mickey's face is red due to the exertion necessary to contain his disbelief and laughter while he experiences his amused superiority. Those adhering to the blushing interpretation are bolstered by the uneven blotchiness of the red dots, but others are quick to point out that Lichtenstein's Ben-Day dot technique was still in a primitive stage. He did not develop the use of a stencil (i.e. the technique of pressing the liquid paint onto the surface through a screen of dots) to present uniformly distributed dots until 1963.
Graham Bader, describing it as the engine of the painting's narrative, notes the intrigue created by the juxtaposition of Donald's heightened sense of visual perception as it relates to his anticipated catch, and his deadened sense of tactile perception as it relates to having a fishing hook in the back of his own shirt. In this sense, Lichtenstein has chosen to depict a source that has as its subject a divide between raised visual awareness and an absent sense of touch:
> Donald is an explicitly divided subject, all sensory experience on one end and, literally, numbness on the other (and, visually, all depth and all flatness – for Donald's face is by far the painting's most spatially illusionistic element, while his caught jacket, merged with the schematic waves behind it, emphatically one of its flattest). Indeed, Donald is a portrait of precisely the separation of sight and feeling, vision and touch... What divides vision and touch in Look Mickey, what marks this shift between them, is text: the words that Donald (and Lichtenstein) introduces to the scene, and which the duck's pole-cum-brush passes through before snagging his own back end.
Lichtenstein frequently explored vision-related themes after he began to work in the pop art genre; early examples include I Can See the Whole Room...and There's Nobody in It! and Look Mickey. In this painting, Donald's large eyes indicate his belief that he has caught something big while Mickey's small eyes indicate his disbelief that Donald has caught anything significant. Like Lichenstein's works with subjects looking through a periscope (Torpedo...Los!), a mirror (Girl in Mirror) or a peephole (I Can See the Whole Room ... and There's Nobody in It!), Look Mickey, with a subject looking at his reflection in the water, is a prominent example of the theme of vision. He uses narrative to emphasize this motif, while presenting several visual elements.
## Legacy
The painting was included in Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition at The Leo Castelli Gallery, a show in which all the works had pre-sold before its opening in February 1962. The exhibition, which ran from February 10 through March 3, 1962, included Engagement Ring, Blam and The Refrigerator. He included the painting in his Artist's Studio—Look Mickey (1973), showing it hanging prominently on the wall of the pictorial space intended to depict his studio as the ideal studio, and implying that his popularity with critic and public ratifies his choice of popular culture subject matter. Reflecting on Look Mickey many years later, he said:
> The idea of doing [a cartoon painting] without apparent alteration just occurred to me ... and I did one really almost half seriously to get an idea of what it might look like. And as I was painting this painting I kind of got interested in organizing it as a painting and brought it to some kind of conclusion as an aesthetic statement, which I hadn't really intended to do to begin with. And then I really went back to my other kind of painting, which was pretty abstract. Or tried to. But I had this cartoon painting in my studio, and it was a little too formidable. I couldn't keep my eyes off it, and it sort of prevented me from painting in any other way, and then I decided this stuff was really serious ... I would say I had it on my easel for a week. I would just want to see what it looked like. I tried to make it a work of art. I wasn't trying just to copy. I realized that this was just so much more compelling.
The painting was bequeathed to the Washington National Gallery of Art after Lichtenstein's death in 1997, following a 1990 pledge in honor of the institution's 50th Anniversary. It remains in the gallery's collection, where, , it is on permanent view.
Harold Rosenberg once described Lichtenstein's reworking of the comics source as follows: "...the difference between a comic strip of Mickey Mouse and a Lichtenstein painting of the same was art history, or the fact that Lichtenstein paints with the idea of the museum in mind."
## See also
- 1961 in art |
29,812 | The Beatles | 1,173,519,233 | English rock band (1960–1970) | [
"1960 establishments in England",
"1970 disestablishments in England",
"Apple Corps",
"Apple Records artists",
"Atco Records artists",
"Beat groups",
"Brit Award winners",
"British Invasion artists",
"Capitol Records artists",
"English pop music groups",
"English psychedelic rock music groups",
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"Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners",
"Musical groups disestablished in 1970",
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"Psychedelic pop music groups",
"Swan Records artists",
"The Beatles",
"United Artists Records artists",
"Vee-Jay Records artists",
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"World record holders"
]
| The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting, and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.
Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after signing with EMI Records and achieving their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or another member of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a "fifth Beatle".
By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced records of greater sophistication, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They also enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded the album era, as albums became the dominant form of record consumption over singles. These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements in electronic music, album art, and music videos. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions have occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in the history of the US Billboard charts, holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be), and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
## History
### 1956–1963: formation
#### The Quarrymen and name changes
In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that another local group were already using the name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist.
By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art. The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simply the Beatles.
#### Early residencies and UK popularity
Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3+1⁄2-month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities."
Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr, who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.
During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records. As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart.
After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality."
#### First EMI recordings
Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage. Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band, saying, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein." However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label.
Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal, the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of "Love Me Do" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".
Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places. After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1."
In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist. Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...."
### 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years
#### Please Please Me and With the Beatles
On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer, where it peaked at number two.
Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers, à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant."
Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, "She Loves You", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.
The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison.
In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.
Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles, which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original".
In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack. When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow, used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which the media widely adopted as "the Fab Four".
#### First visit to the United States and the British Invasion
EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album Introducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally.
Epstein brought a demo copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to Capitol's Brown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a \$40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You".
On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum. Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall. The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.
The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.
The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion. The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Petula Clark, the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.
#### A Hard Day's Night
Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with the Marx Brothers.
United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.
#### 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights
Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York.
In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan. Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis. Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists."
Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture.
During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.
#### Beatles for Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul
According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.
In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society".
Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia.
In July, the Beatles' second film, Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: "Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride".
The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album, except for Let It Be's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday". Composed by and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills.
September 1965 saw the launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles, that echoed A Hard Day's Night's slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was a historical milestone as the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.
In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to the band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning.
While some of Rubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Rubber Soul fifth among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and AllMusic's Richie Unterberger describes it as "one of the classic folk-rock records".
#### Controversies, Revolver and final tour
Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched \$10,500 at a December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.
During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace. When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.
Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave. "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles' records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service. Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."
Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia. Abandoning the customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos", they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June.
Among the experimental songs on Revolver was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data. McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song". Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record. Among these, "Taxman", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Revolver at \#11 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by Vox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live. Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last.
The band performed none of their new songs on the tour. In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much "studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts." The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert. It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.
### 1966–1970: studio years
#### Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours. He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around." Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra. The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967; the Sgt. Pepper LP followed with a rush-release in May. The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists. Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal. Gould writes:
> The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception, Sgt. Pepper became the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.
In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries". The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover. Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier, who observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy". The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study. A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track standing in front of a crowd of famous people. The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of the hippie movement, while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment" display.
Sgt. Pepper topped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968. With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release, Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums. It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Sgt. Pepper at number one on its list of the greatest albums of all time.
#### Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine
Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completing Sgt. Pepper: Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, and Yellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced by United Artists. The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter. On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single "All You Need Is Love" to an estimated 350 million viewers on Our World, the first live global television link. Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem. The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer. In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-based commune off the coast of Greece.
On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died. The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide. His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future. Lennon recalled: "We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'" Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd remembered that "Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead." During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed with Magical Mystery Tour.
The Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play (EP) in early December 1967. It was the first example of a double EP in the UK. The record carried on the psychedelic vein of Sgt. Pepper, however, in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to Sgt. Pepper. In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles. In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.
Magical Mystery Tour first aired on Boxing Day to an audience of approximately 15 million. Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK. It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express; the Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit"; and The Guardian labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience". Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus". Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film.
The group were less involved with Yellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment. Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film. Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style. A soundtrack LP was issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued on Revolver), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.
#### India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album
In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their time in India marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album. However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later. For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him. In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."
In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture, Apple Corps. It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education. McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism". The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience. Among its numerous subsidiaries were Apple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived Apple Boutique in London. Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."
From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover. During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive. Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums. Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit". Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio. McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make". He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.
With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre. During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort. Describing the double album, Lennon later said: "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. [It's] John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band." The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "Revolution".
Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings. The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations. Its lyric content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture. Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that Sgt. Pepper had. General critical opinion eventually turned in favour of the White Album, and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it as the tenth-greatest album of all time.
#### Abbey Road, Let It Be and separation
Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before Abbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film". Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb." Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time". Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special. He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.
To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate in the last nine days of sessions. Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release. After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert, and the Colosseum. Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Back's "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".
New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke; McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman, whom McCartney married on 12 March. Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers. Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost. On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band, the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.
Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us". The primary recording sessions for Abbey Road began on 2 July. Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album. The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise. Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums.
On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio. On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas. On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
Released on 26 September, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side. Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim. Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record". Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley. Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".
For the still unfinished Get Back album, one last song, Harrison's "I Me Mine", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate. In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled Let It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producer Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!" In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble. McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first self-titled solo album.
On 8 May 1970, Let It Be was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK. The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. Sunday Telegraph critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings". Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks. Describing Let It Be as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'", and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back", and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".
McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970. Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974, when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
### 1970–present: after the break-up
#### 1970s
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again.
Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint. Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK. Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music. The only one to feature previously unreleased material was The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours.
The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon-McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it. Later that year, the off-Broadway musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road opened. All This and World War II (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra. The Broadway musical Beatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.
Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert. Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles \$10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to \$30 million in January 1976 and then to \$50 million the following month. On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live, producer Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles \$3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. In 1976, Alan Amron created the International Committee to Reunite the Beatles. Amron placed radio and newspaper advertisements asking everyone in the world to donate a dollar, which would then be given to the Beatles to reunite for a concert. The Amron effort had the distinction of being a people-based campaign. Boxer Muhammad Ali said that Alan Amron had been the "catalysts" for his involvement. In January 1977, the Daily Herald newspaper reported George Harrison as saying: "Will it happen? I suppose so."
#### 1980s
In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981. McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982.
In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street, and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the soundtrack. In 1987, Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era.
When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour. All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988). Except for the Red and Blue albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the Hollywood Bowl record – from its catalogue.
In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean. McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion". The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material.
#### 1990s
Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994. That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project. Anthology was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title The Long and Winding Road.
During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producer Jeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s, resulting in the release of two "new" Beatles singles, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". A third Lennon demo, "Now and Then", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.
The Anthology releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people. A book of the same name followed in October 2000.
In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued.
#### 2000s
The Beatles' 1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries. The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.
Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised by Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow, Olivia. The tribute event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death.
In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the Let It Be album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006; The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2 included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release.
As a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Beatles stage revue, Love, George Martin and his son Giles remixed and blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period". The show premiered in June 2006, and the Love album was released that November. In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.
On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years. Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the Past Masters compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set. A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions). The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in the Rock Band series, was issued on the same day. In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.
#### 2010s
Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services. Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them". In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, Past Masters, and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.
In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division. The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.
In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."
On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The following day, The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music.
In September 2016, the documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. An expanded, remixed and remastered version of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.
On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary. Similar box sets were released for The Beatles in November 2018, and Abbey Road in September 2019. On the first week of October 2019, Abbey Road returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as Abbey Road hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.
#### 2020s
In November 2021, The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed by Peter Jackson using footage captured for the Let It Be film, was released on Disney+ as a three-part miniseries. A book also titled The Beatles: Get Back was released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary. A super deluxe version of the Let It Be album was released on 15 October. In January 2022, an album titled Get Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of the Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.
In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of "Let It Be" with Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, set to be released on Parton's album Rockstar in November 2023. In October, a special edition of Revolver was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using AI de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentary Get Back.
In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release "the final Beatles record" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo.
## Musical style and development
In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution:
> In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.
In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."
Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts, and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".
### Influences
The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him." Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album Pet Sounds amazed and inspired McCartney. Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]." Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.
### Genres
Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre, and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music. Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of Beatles for Sale, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP", while Gould credits Rubber Soul as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".
Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes: "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars." They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; Sgt. Pepper's "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the mold of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".
The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record". Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature".
Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell: "'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively." Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "the Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way."
Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: "Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained in parallel their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy." As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the "proto-metal roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter".
### Contribution of George Martin
George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle". He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould. Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description. Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording. In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.
Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is an outstanding example." Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence:
> Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope, Pepper would never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?
Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape."
### In the studio
Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music. Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from Rubber Soul and, especially, Revolver onwards.
Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro, and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".
## Legacy
Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism", and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
The Beatles' 1964 arrival in the US is credited with initiating the album era; the music historian Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry. They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley and, later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964." According to Gilmore:
> Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus.
Established in 2009, Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles. The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the BBC programme Our World in 1967, performing "All You Need Is Love" broadcast to an international audience.
## Awards and achievements
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012. From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles have sold 57 million albums in United States according to Nielsen Soundscan. They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under UNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening of the Cavern Club in 1957. In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Earlier in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles and Yellow Submarine.
## Personnel
Principal members
- John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass (1960–1969; died 1980)
- Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums (1960–1970)
- George Harrison – guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass (1960–1970; died 2001)
- Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970)
Early members
- Stuart Sutcliffe – bass, vocals (1960–1961; died 1962)
- Norman Chapman – drums (1960; died 1995)
- Tommy Moore – drums (1960; died 1981)
- Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962)
- Chas Newby – bass (1960–1961; died 2023)
Touring musician
- Jimmie Nicol – drums (1964)
### Timeline
## Discography
The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of thirteen studio albums and a compilation of UK singles and EP tracks.
- Please Please Me (1963)
- With the Beatles (1963)
- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Beatles for Sale (1964)
- Help! (1965)
- Rubber Soul (1965)
- Revolver (1966)
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
- Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
- The Beatles ("The White Album") (1968)
- Yellow Submarine (1969)
- Abbey Road (1969)
- Let It Be (1970)
- Past Masters (1988, compilation)
## Song catalogue
Through 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee. In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000. At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.
Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You". The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights. Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owns the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding. The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City." By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973. In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.
In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for \$30 million. According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected. According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million.
In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported \$47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights. In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported \$110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for \$750 million.
Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%. Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in 1978, and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications. On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.
## Selected filmography
Fictionalised
- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Help! (1965)
- Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
- Yellow Submarine (1968) (brief cameo)
Documentaries and filmed performances
- The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966)
- Let It Be (1970)
- The Compleat Beatles (1982)
- It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987) (about Sgt. Pepper)
- The Beatles Anthology (1995)
- The Beatles: 1+ (2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos)
- The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years)
- The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
## Concert tours
Headlining
- 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn)
- Autumn 1963 Sweden tour
- Winter 1964 North American tour
- Spring 1964 UK tour
- 1964 world tour
- 1964 North American tour
- 1965 European tour
- 1965 US tour
- 1965 UK tour
- 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines
- 1966 US tour
Co-headlining
- Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour
- Spring 1963 Tommy Roe/Chris Montez UK tour
- Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour
## See also
- Grammy Award records – Most Grammys won by a group |
27,439,726 | Elizabeth Raffald | 1,130,405,300 | English writer, innovator and entrepreneur | [
"1733 births",
"1781 deaths",
"18th-century English businesspeople",
"18th-century English businesswomen",
"18th-century English women writers",
"18th-century English writers",
"People from Doncaster",
"Women cookbook writers"
]
| Elizabeth Raffald (née Whitaker; 1733 – 19 April 1781) was an English author, innovator and entrepreneur.
Born and raised in Doncaster, Yorkshire, Raffald went into domestic service for fifteen years, ending as the housekeeper to the Warburton baronets at Arley Hall, Cheshire. She left her position when she married John, the estate's head gardener. The couple moved to Manchester, Lancashire, where Raffald opened a register office to introduce domestic workers to employers; she also ran a cookery school and sold food from the premises. In 1769 she published her cookery book The Experienced English Housekeeper, which contains the first recipe for a "Bride Cake" that is recognisable as a modern wedding cake. She is also possibly the inventor of the Eccles cake.
In August 1772 Raffald published The Manchester Directory, a listing of 1,505 traders and civic leaders in Manchester—the first such listing for the up-and-coming town. The Raffalds went on to run two important post houses in Manchester and Salford before running into financial problems, possibly brought on by John's heavy drinking. Raffald began a business selling strawberries and hot drinks during the strawberry season. She died suddenly in 1781, just after publishing the third edition of her directory and while still updating the eighth edition of her cookery book.
After her death there were fifteen official editions of her cookery book, and twenty-three pirated ones. Her recipes were heavily plagiarised by other authors, notably by Isabella Beeton in her bestselling Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). Raffald's recipes have been admired by several modern cooks and food writers, including Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson.
## Biography
### Early life
Raffald was born Elizabeth Whitaker in Doncaster, one of the five daughters of Joshua and Elizabeth Whitaker. Raffald was baptised on 8 July 1733. She was given a good schooling, which included learning French. At fifteen she began working in service as a kitchen maid, and rose to the position of housekeeper. Her final post as a domestic servant was at Arley Hall, Cheshire, North West England, where she was housekeeper for Lady Elizabeth Warburton, from the family of the Warburton baronets. Starting work in December 1760, Raffald was paid £16 a year. In all she spent fifteen years in service.
After a few years working for the Warburtons, Elizabeth married John Raffald, the head gardener at Arley Hall. The ceremony took place on 3 March 1763 at St Mary and All Saints Church, Great Budworth, Cheshire; on 23 April the couple left the Warburtons' service and moved to Fennel Street, Manchester, where John's family tended market gardens near the River Irwell. Over the following years, the couple had probably six daughters. The girls each had their own nurse, and when going out, were dressed in clean white dresses, with the nurses in attendance; at least three of the girls went to boarding schools.
### Business career
John opened a floristry shop near Fennel Street; Raffald began an entrepreneurial career at the premises. She rented her spare rooms for storage, began a register office to bring together, for a fee, domestic staff with employers, and advertised that she was "pleased to give her business of supplying cold entertainments, hot French dishes, confectionaries, &c." Over the next few years her business grew, and she added cookery classes to the services she supplied. In August 1766 the Raffalds moved to what was probably a larger premises in Exchange Alley in Market Place. Here John sold seeds and plants, while Raffald, according to her advertisements in the local press, supplied "jellies, creams, possets, flummery, lemon cheese cakes, and all other decorations for cold entertainments; also, Yorkshire hams, tongues, brawn, Newcastle salmon, and sturgeon, pickles, and ketchups of all kinds, lemon pickles"; she also supplied the produce for, and organised, civic dinners. The following year, alongside confectionery, she was also selling:
> pistachio nuts, French olives, Portugal and French plumbs, prunellos [prunes], limes, preserved pine apples, and all sorts of dry and wet sweetmeats, both foreign and English. Also Turkey figs and other raisins, Jorden and Valencia almonds ... truffles, morels and all sorts of spices.
In 1769 Raffald published her cookery book, The Experienced English Housekeeper, which she dedicated to Lady Warburton. As was the practice for publishers at the time, Raffald had obtained subscribers—those who had pre-paid for a copy. The first edition was supported by more than 800 subscribers which raised over £800. The subscribers paid five shillings when the book was published; the non-subscribers paid six. The book was "printed by a neighbour whom I can rely on doing it the strictest justice, without the least alteration". The neighbour was Joseph Harrop, who published the Manchester Mercury, a weekly newspaper in which Raffald had advertised extensively. She described the book as a "laborious undertaking" that had damaged her health as she had been "too studious and giving too close attention" to it. In an attempt to avoid piracy of her work, Raffald signed the front page of each copy of the first edition.
In the introduction to The Experienced English Housekeeper, Raffald states "I can faithfully assure my friends that ... [the recipes] are wrote from my own experience and not borrowed from any other author". Like her predecessor Hannah Glasse, who wrote The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy in 1747, Raffald did not "gloss ... over with hard names or words of high style, but wrote in ...[her] own plain language". The historian Kate Colquhoun observes that Glasse and Raffald "wrote with an easy confidence", and both were the biggest cookery book sellers in the Georgian era.
In 1771 Raffald released a second edition of The Experienced English Housekeeper, which included a hundred additional recipes. The publisher was Robert Baldwin of 47 Paternoster Row, London, who had paid Raffald £1,400 for the copyright of the book. When he asked her to change some of the Mancunian vernacular, she declined, stating "What I have written I proposed to write at the time; it was written deliberately, and I cannot admit of any alteration". Further editions of the book appeared during her lifetime: in 1772 (printed in Dublin), 1773, 1775 and 1776 (all printed in London).
In May 1771 Raffald advertised that she had begun to sell cosmetics from her shop, and listed the availability of distilled lavender water, wash balls, French soap, swan-down powder puffs, tooth powder, lip salve and perfumes. The historian Roy Shipperbottom considers that her nephew—the perfumer to the King of Hanover—was probably the supplier of the items. The same year she also assisted in setting up Prescott's Manchester Journal, the second Mancunian newspaper.
In August 1772 Raffald published The Manchester Directory, a listing of 1,505 traders and civic leaders in Manchester. She wrote, "The want of a directory for the large and commercial town of Manchester having been frequently complained about ... I have taken on the arduous task of compiling a complete guide". The following year a larger edition followed, also covering Salford.
At some point the Raffalds had also run the Bulls Head tavern—an important post house in the area, but in August 1772 the couple took possession of a coaching inn they described as:
> the old accustomed and commodious inn, known by the sign of the Kings Head in Salford, Manchester, which they have fitted up in the neatest and most elegant manner, for the reception and accommodation of the nobility, gentry, merchants and tradesmen.
With a large function room at the premises, the Raffalds hosted the annual dinner of the Beefsteak Club and hosted weekly "card assemblies" during the winter season. Cox relates that Raffald's cuisine and her ability to speak French attracted foreign visitors to the inn. Raffald's sister, Mary Whitaker, opened a shop opposite the Kings Head and began selling the same produce Raffald had from the Fennel Street outlet; Mary also restarted the servants' register office.
The couple had problems at the Kings Head. John was drinking heavily and feeling suicidal; when he said he wanted to drown himself, Raffald replied "I do think that it might be the best step you could take, for then you would be relieved of all your troubles and anxieties and you really do harass me very much." Thefts at the inn were common and trade did not flourish; money problems—possibly because they had overstretched themselves with their business dealings over two decades—brought creditors with their demands for repayment. John, as all the financial dealings were in his name, settled the debts by assigning over all the couple's assets and leaving the Kings Head; he was declared bankrupt. They moved back to Market Place in October 1779 where they occupied the Exchange Coffee House. John was made master of the business and Raffald provided food, chiefly soups. During strawberry season she set up a business on the Kersal Moor Racecourse, near the ladies' stand, selling strawberries with cream, tea and coffee.
In 1781 the Raffalds' finances improved. Raffald updated The Manchester Directory and a third edition was published; she was compiling the eighth edition of The Experienced English Housekeeper and was writing a book on midwifery with Charles White, the physician and specialist in obstetrics. She died suddenly on 19 April 1781 of "spasms, after only one hour's illness"; the description is now considered to describe a stroke. The historian Penelope Corfield considers John's bankruptcy may have been a factor in Raffald's early death. She was buried at St Mary's Church, Stockport on 23 April.
A week after Raffald's death, John's creditors took action and he was forced to close the coffee shop and sell off all his assets; initially he attempted to let it as a going concern, but there were no offers, so the lease and all his furniture was handed over to settle the debts. The copyright for the midwifery manuscript seems to have been sold; it is not known if it was ever published, but if it was, Raffald's name did not appear in it. John moved to London soon after Raffald's death and "lived extravagantly", according to Cox. He remarried and returned to Manchester after his money had run out. He reformed on his return, and joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church, where he attended chapel for the next thirty years. He died in December 1809, aged 85 and was buried in Stockport.
## Works
### Cookery
For the first edition of The Experienced English Housekeeper, Raffald had tested all the recipes herself; for the second edition in 1771, she added 100 recipes, some of which she had bought and not tested, but, she informed her readers, she had "weighed them the best I could". Colquhoun considers that the recipes Raffald wrote were those that appealed to Middle England, including "shredded calves' feet, hot chicken pies and carrot puddings, poached eggs on toast, macaroni with parmesan, and lettuce stewed in mint and gravy". Raffald was, Colquhoun writes, typical of her time, as she did not want to use garlic, preferred to eat crisp vegetables, and used grated horseradish and cayenne pepper—the last of these Colquhoun describes as "the taste of Empire".
The Experienced English Housekeeper comprises recipes for food and drink only and, unlike many other cookery books of the time, there are no recipes for medicines or perfumes. The work contains one page with instructions for laying the table, and no instructions for servants. More than a third of the recipes in The Experienced English Housekeeper were given over to confectionery, including an early recipe for "Burnt Cream" (crème brûlée), details of how to spin sugar into sugar baskets and instructions of how to create multi-layered jellies, which included in them "fish made from flummery or hen's nests from thinly sliced, syrup poached lemon rind".
The food historian Esther Bradford Aresty considers that "fantasy was Mrs. Raffald's specialty", and cites examples of "A Transparent Pudding Cover'd with a Silver Web, and Globes of Gold with Mottoes in Them", "A Rocky Island", which has peaks of gilded Flummery, a sprig of myrtle decorated with meringue, and a calves-foot jelly sea. Colquhoun thinks some of the recipes are "just a bit bizarre", including the "Rabbit Surprised", where the cook is instructed, after roasting, to "draw out the jaw-bones and stick them in the eyes to appear like horns".
Colquhoun admires Raffald's turn of phrase, such as the advice to reserve water from a raised-pie pastry, as "it makes the crust sad". Shipperbottom highlights Raffald's phrases such as "dry salt will candy and shine like diamonds on your bacon", and that wine "summer-beams and blinks in the tub" if barm is not added in time.
According to the lexicographer John Ayto, Raffald was the first writer to provide a recipe for crumpets; she provided an early recipe in English cuisine for cooking yams, and an early reference to barbecuing. Ahead of her time, she was a proponent of adding wine to dishes while there was still cooking time left, "to take off the rawness, for nothing can give a made dish a more disagreeable taste than raw wine or fresh anchovy".
### Directory
Raffald published three editions of The Manchester Directory, in 1772, 1773 and 1781. To compile the listing, she sent "proper and intelligent Persons round the Town, to take down the Name, Business, and place of Abode of every Gentleman, Tradesman, and Shop-keeper, as well as others whose Business or Employment has any tendency to public Notice". The historian Hannah Barker, in her examination of businesswomen in northern England, observes that this process could take weeks or months to complete. The work was divided into two sections: first, a list of the town's traders and the civic elite, in alphabetical order; second, a list of Manchester's major religious, trade, philanthropic and governmental organisations and entities.
Raffald did not list her shop under her own name, but it was recorded under that of her husband, as "John Raffald Seedsman and Confectioner"; Barker observes that this was different from Raffald's usual approach, as her shop and book were both advertised under her own name. The Directory contains listings of 94 women in trade—only 6 per cent of the total listings; of those, 46 were listed as widows, which the historian Margaret Hunt considers "a suspiciously large proportion".
Historians have used Raffald's Directory to study the role of women in business in the 18th century. Barker warns of potential drawbacks with the material, including that only women trading independently of their families, or those who were widowed or single, were likely to be listed, but any woman who traded in partnership with her husband—such as Raffald—would be listed under her husband's name. Hunt points out that there are no keepers of lodging houses listed; directories that cover other towns list significant numbers, but the category is absent from Raffald's work.
## Legacy
Baldwin brought out the eighth edition of The Experienced English Housekeeper shortly after Raffald died. Throughout her life she had refused to have her portrait painted, but Baldwin included an engraving of her in this edition, wearing a headdress that one of her daughters had made. The Experienced English Housekeeper was a popular book and remained in print for nearly fifty years. Fifteen authorised editions of her book were published and twenty-three pirated ones: the last edition appeared in 1810. Along with Hannah Glasse's 1747 work The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy and Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife (1727), The Experienced English Housekeeper was one of the cookery books popular in colonial America. Copies had been taken over by travellers and "The Experienced Housekeeper" was printed there.
Raffald's work was plagiarised heavily throughout the rest of the 18th and 19th century; the historian Gilly Lehman writes that Raffald was one of the most copied cookery book writers of the century. Writers who copied Raffald's work include Isabella Beeton, in her bestselling Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861); Mary Cole's 1789 work The Lady's Complete Guide; Richard Briggs's 1788 book The English Art of Cookery; The Universal Cook (1773) by John Townshend; Mary Smith's The Complete House-keeper and Professed Cook (1772); and John Farley's 1783 book The London Art of Cookery.
Handwritten copies of individual recipes have been located in family recipe books around England, and Queen Victoria copied several of Raffald's recipes, including one for "King Solomon's Temple in Flummery", when she was a princess.
Ayto states that Raffald was possibly the person who invented the Eccles cake. The food writer Alan Davidson observes that Raffald's recipe—for "sweet patties"—was the basis from which the Eccles cake was later developed. Raffald also played an important role in the development of the wedding cake. Hers was the first recipe for a "Bride Cake" that is recognisable as a modern wedding cake. Although cakes had been a traditional part of nuptials, her version differed from previous recipes by the use of what is now called royal icing over a layer of almond paste or icing. Simon Charsley, in the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, considers that Raffald's basis for her cake "became the distinguishing formula for British celebration cakes of increasing variety" over the next century.
Raffald has been admired by several modern cooks and food writers. The 20th-century cookery writer Elizabeth David references Raffald several times in her articles, collected in Is There a Nutmeg in the House, which includes a recipe for apricot ice cream. In her 1984 book, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, David includes Raffald's recipes for potted ham with chicken, potted salmon, and lemon syllabub. In English Bread and Yeast Cookery (1977), David includes recipes for crumpets, barm pudding, "wegg" (caraway seed cake) and bath buns. The food writer Jane Grigson admired Raffald's work, and in her 1974 book English Food, she included five of Raffald's recipes: bacon and egg pie (a quiche lorraine with a pastry lid); "whet" (anchovy fillets and cheese on toast); potted ham with chicken; crème brûlée; and orange custards.
Raffald is quoted around 270 times in the Oxford English Dictionary, including for the terms "bride cake", "gofer-tongs", "hedgehog soup" and "Hottentot pie". A blue plaque marked the site of the Bulls Head pub which Raffald ran. It was damaged in the 1996 Manchester bombing and replaced in 2011 on the Marks & Spencer Building, Exchange Square.
In 2013 Arley Hall introduced some of Raffald's recipes into the menu at the hall's restaurant, which caters for public visitors. Steve Hamilton, Arley Hall's general manager stated that Raffald is "a huge character in Arley's history and it is only right that we mark her contribution to the estate's past". Arley Hall considers Raffald "the Delia Smith of the 18th century". |
1,973,155 | Parasaurolophus | 1,171,255,288 | Hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous Period | [
"Campanian genus extinctions",
"Campanian genus first appearances",
"Dinosaur Park fauna",
"Fossil taxa described in 1922",
"Kaiparowits Formation",
"Kirtland fauna",
"Lambeosaurines",
"Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America",
"Maastrichtian genus extinctions",
"Ornithischian genera",
"Paleontology in Alberta",
"Paleontology in New Mexico",
"Paleontology in Utah",
"Taxa named by William Parks"
]
| Parasaurolophus (/ˌpærəsɔːˈrɒləfəs, -ˌsɔːrəˈloʊfəs/; meaning "near crested lizard" in reference to Saurolophus) is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was a herbivore that could move as both as a biped and as a quadruped. Three species are universally recognized: P. walkeri (the type species), P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Additionally, a fourth species, P. jiayinensis, has been proposed, although it is more commonly placed in the separate genus Charonosaurus. Remains are known from Alberta, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as possibly Heilongjiang if Charonosaurus is in fact part of the genus. The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton found in Alberta.
Parasaurolophus was a hadrosaurid, part of a diverse family of large Late Cretaceous ornithopods that known for their range of bizarre head adornments, which were likely used for communication and increased hearing. This genus is known for its large, elaborate cranial crest, which forms a long curved tube projecting upwards and back from the skull in its largest form. Charonosaurus from China, which may have been its closest relative, had a similar skull and a potentially similar crest. Visual recognition of both species and sex, acoustic resonance, and thermoregulation have been proposed as functional explanations for the crest. It is one of the rarer hadrosaurids, known from only a handful of good specimens.
## Discovery and naming
Meaning "near crested lizard", the name Parasaurolophus is derived from the Greek words para/παρα ("beside" or "near"), saurus/σαυρος ("lizard"), and lophos/λοφος ("crest"). It is based on ROM 768, a skull and partial skeleton missing most of the tail and the back legs below the knees, which was found by a field party from the University of Toronto in 1920 near Sand Creek along the Red Deer River in Alberta. These rocks are now known as the Campanian age Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation. William Parks named the specimen P. walkeri in honor of Sir Byron Edmund Walker, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum. Parasaurolophus remains are rare in Alberta, with only one other partial skull that is possibly from the Dinosaur Park Formation and three Dinosaur Park specimens lacking their skulls that possibly belong to the genus. In some faunal lists, there is a mention of possible P. walkeri material in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, a rock unit of the late Maastrichtian age. This occurrence is not noted by Sullivan and Williamson in their 1999 review of the genus and has not been further elaborated upon elsewhere.
In 1921, Charles H. Sternberg recovered a partial skull (PMU.R1250) from what is now known as the slightly younger Kirtland Formation in San Juan County, New Mexico. This specimen was sent to Uppsala, where Carl Wiman described it as a second species, P. tubicen, in 1931. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word tǔbǐcěn, meaning "trumpeter". A second, nearly complete P. tubicen skull (NMMNH P-25100) was found in New Mexico in 1995. Using computed tomography of this skull, Robert Sullivan and Thomas Williamson gave the genus a monographic treatment in 1999 that covered aspects of its anatomy and taxonomy, as well as the functions of its crest. Williamson later published an independent review of the remains that disagreed with the taxonomic conclusions.
John Ostrom described another good specimen (FMNH P27393) from New Mexico as P. cyrtocristatus in 1961. It includes a partial skull with a short, rounded crest and much of the postcranial skeleton except for the feet, neck, and parts of the tail. Its specific name is derived from the Latin words curtus, meaning "shortened" and cristatus, meaning "crested". The specimen was found in either the top of the Fruitland Formation or, more likely, the base of the overlying Kirtland Formation. The range of this species was described in 1979, when David B. Weishampel and James A. Jensen described a partial skull with a similar crest (BYU 2467) from the Campanian age Kaiparowits Formation of Garfield County, Utah. Since then, another skull has been found in Utah with the short, rounded P. cyrtocristatus crest morphology.
### Species
Parasaurolophus is known from three certain species: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and P. cyrtocristatus. All of them can be clearly distinguished from each other and have many differences. The first named species, therefore the type, is P. walkeri. One certain specimen from the Dinosaur Park Formation is referred to it, but many more are almost certainly referable. Like stated above, it is different from the other two species, with it having a simpler internal structure than P. tubicen, along with a straighter crest and different internal structuring than P. cyrtocristatus.
The next named species is P. tubicen, which is the largest of the Parasaurolophus species. It lived in New Mexico, where three specimens are known, and can be differentiated from its other species. It possesses a long and straight crest, with a very complex interior compared to the other species. All known specimens of P. tubicen come from the De-Na-Zin Member of the Kirtland Formation.
In 1961, the third species, P. cyrtocristatus was named by John Ostrom. Its three known specimens have been found in the Fruitland and Kaiparowits formations of Utah and New Mexico. The second specimen, the first known from the Kaiparowits Formation, was originally unassigned to a specific taxon. Of the Parasaurolophus species, P. cyrtocristatus is the smallest and has the most curved crest. Because of its possession of the two above features, it has often been speculated that it was a female of P. walkeri or P. tubicen, which were all thought to be males, although P. tubicen lived approximately a million years later. As noted by Thomas Williamson, the type material of P. cyrtocristatus is about 72% the size of P. tubicen, close to the size at which other lambeosaurines are interpreted to begin showing definitive sexual dimorphism in their crests (\~70% of adult size). Even though many scientists have supported the possible fact of P. cyrtocristatus being a female, many other studies have found that it is not because of the differences in age, distribution, and the large differences in the crest and its internal structure.
A study published in PLoS ONE in 2014 found that one more species could be referred to Parasaurolophus. This study, led by Xing, found Charonosaurus jiayensis was actually nested deeply inside Parasaurolophus, which created the new species P. jiayensis. If this species is indeed inside Parasaurolophus, then the genus therefore lasted until the K-Pg extinction and is known from two continents.
## Description
Like most dinosaurs, the skeleton of Parasaurolophus is incompletely known. The length of the type specimen of P. walkeri is estimated at 11.45 m (37.6 ft) and its weight is estimated at 2.47 metric tons (2.72 short tons) according to Gregory S. Paul. Allometry-based body mass estimates indicate that it reached more than 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons). The three species of Parasaurolophus have been estimated at 33-49 ft (10-15 meters) and 4-18 tons by Fadeno in 2022. Its skull is about 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) long, including the crest, whereas the type skull of P. tubicen is over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long, indicating it was a larger animal. Its single known arm was relatively short for a hadrosaurid, with a short but wide shoulder blade. The thighbone measures 103 cm (41 in) long in P. walkeri and is robust for its length when compared to other hadrosaurids. The upper arm and pelvic bones were also heavily built.
Like other hadrosaurids, it was able to walk on either two legs or four. It probably preferred to forage for food on four legs, but ran on two. The neural spines of the vertebrae were tall, as was common in lambeosaurines. At their tallest over the hips, they increased the height of the back. Skin impressions are known for P. walkeri, showing uniform tubercle-like scales, but no larger structures.
### Skull
The most noticeable feature was the cranial crest that protruded from the rear of the head and was made up of the premaxilla and nasal bones. The crest was hollow, with distinct tubes leading from each nostril to the end of the crest before reversing direction and heading back down the crest and into the skull. The tubes were simplest in P. walkeri, and more complex in P. tubicen, where some tubes were blind and others met and separated. While P. walkeri and P. tubicen had long crests with slight curvature, P. cyrtocristatus had a short crest with a more circular profile.
## Classification
As its name implies, Parasaurolophus was initially thought to be closely related to Saurolophus because of its superficially similar crest. However, it was soon reassessed as a member of the lambeosaurine subfamily of hadrosaurids—Saurolophus is a hadrosaurine. It is usually interpreted as a separate offshoot of the lambeosaurines, distinct from the helmet-crested Corythosaurus, Hypacrosaurus, and Lambeosaurus. Its closest known relative appears to be Charonosaurus, a lambeosaurine with a similar skull (but no complete crest yet) from the Amur region of northeastern China. The two may form the clade Parasaurolophini. P. cyrtocristatus, with its short, rounded crest, may be the most basal of the three known Parasaurolophus species or it may represent subadult or female specimens of P. tubicen.
The following cladogram is after the 2007 redescription of Lambeosaurus magnicristatus (Evans and Reisz, 2007):
## Paleobiology
### Diet and feeding
As a hadrosaurid, Parasaurolophus was a large bipedal and quadrupedal herbivore, eating plants with a sophisticated skull that permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing. Its teeth were continually being replaced and were packed into dental batteries containing hundreds of teeth, but only a relative handful of which were in use at any time. It used its beak to crop plant material, which was held in the jaws by a cheek-like organ. Vegetation could have been taken from the ground up to a height of around 4 m (13 ft). As noted by Robert Bakker, lambeosaurines have narrower beaks than hadrosaurines, implying that Parasaurolophus and its relatives could feed more selectively than their broad-beaked, crestless counterparts. Parasaurolophus had a diet consisting of leaves, twigs, and pine needles which would imply that it was a browser.
### Growth
Parasaurolophus is known from many adult specimens, and a juvenile described in 2013, numbered RAM 140000 and nicknamed Joe, after a volunteer at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology (RAM). The juvenile was discovered in the Kaiparowits Formation in 2009. Excavated by the joint expedition by museum and The Webb Schools, the juvenile has been identified as around only one year old when it died. Referred to Parasaurolophus sp., the juvenile is the most complete, as well as youngest Parasaurolophus ever found, and measures 2.5 m (8.2 ft). This individual fits neatly into the currently known Parasaurolophus growth stages, and lived approximately 75 million years ago. Even though no complete skull of the intermediate age between RAM 14000 and adult Parasaurolophus has been found yet, a partial braincase of about the right size is known. At 25% of the total adult size, the juvenile show that crest growth of Parasaurolophus began sooner than in related genera, such as Corythosaurus. It has been suggested that Parasaurolophus adults bore such large crests, especially when compared to the related Corythosaurus, because of this difference in age between when their crests started developing. Its age also means that Parasaurolophus had a very fast growth rate, which took place in about a year. The crest of the juvenile is not long and tubular like the adults, but low and hemispherical.
The skull of RAM 14000 is almost complete, with the left side only lacking a piece of the maxilla. However, the skull was split down the middle by erosion, possibly when it was resting on the bottom of a river bed. The two sides are displaced slightly, with some bones of the right being moved off the main block, also by erosion. After reconstruction, the skull viewed from the side resembles other juvenile lambeosaurines found, being roughly a trapezoid in shape.
A partial cranial endocast for RAM 14000 was reconstructed from CT scan data, the first ever for a Parasaurolophus of any ontogenetic stage. The endocast was reconstructed in two sections, one on the portion of the braincase articulated with the left half of the skull and the remainder on the disarticulated portion of the braincase. Their relative position was then approximated based on cranial landmarks and comparison with other hadrosaurids. Because of weathering, many of the smaller neural canals and foramina could not be identified for certain.
### Cranial crest
Many hypotheses have been advanced as to what functions the cranial crest of Parasaurolophus performed, but most have been discredited. It is now believed that it may have had several functions: visual display for identifying species and sex, sound amplification for communication, and thermoregulation. It is not clear which was most significant at what times in the evolution of the crest and its internal nasal passages.
#### Differences in crests
As for other lambeosaurines, it is believed that the cranial crest of Parasaurolophus changed with age and was a sexually dimorphic characteristic in adults. James Hopson, one of the first researchers to describe lambeosaurine crests in terms of such distinctions, suggested that P. cyrtocristatus, with its small crest, was the female form of P. tubicen. Thomas Williamson suggested it was the juvenile form. Neither hypothesis became widely accepted. As only six good skulls, one juvenile braincase, and one recently discovered juvenile skull are known, additional material will help clear up these potential relationships. Williamson noted that in any case, juvenile Parasaurolophus probably had small, rounded crests like P. cyrtocristatus, that probably grew faster as individuals approached sexual maturity. Recent restudy of a juvenile braincase previously assigned to Lambeosaurus, now assigned to Parasaurolophus, provides evidence that a small tubular crest was present in juveniles. This specimen preserves a small upward flaring of the frontal bones that was similar to but smaller than what is seen in adult specimens; in adults, the frontals formed a platform that supported the base of the crest. This specimen also indicates that the growth of the crest in Parasaurolophus and the facial profile of juvenile individuals differed from the Corythosaurus-Hypacrosaurus-Lambeosaurus model, in part because the crest of Parasaurolophus lacks the thin bony 'coxcomb' that makes up the upper portion of the crest of the other three lambeosaurines.
#### Rejected function hypotheses
Many early suggestions focused on adaptations for an aquatic lifestyle, following the hypothesis that hadrosaurids were amphibious, a common line of thought until the 1960s. Thus, Alfred Sherwood Romer proposed it served as a snorkel, Martin Wilfarth that it was an attachment for a mobile proboscis used as a breathing tube or for food gathering, Charles M. Sternberg that it served as an airtrap to keep water out of the lungs, and Ned Colbert that it served as an air reservoir for prolonged stays underwater.
Other proposals were more mechanical in nature. William Parks, in 1922, suggested that the crest was joined to the vertebrae above the shoulders by ligaments or muscles, and helped with moving and supporting the head. This is unlikely, because in all modern archosaurs, the nuchal ligament attaches to the neck or base of the skull. Othenio Abel proposed it was used as a weapon in combat among members of the same species, and Andrew Milner suggested that it could be used as a foliage deflector, like the helmet crest (called a 'casque') of the cassowary. Still, other proposals made housing specialized organs the major function. Halszka Osmólska suggested that it housed salt glands, and John Ostrom suggested that it housed expanded areas for olfactory tissue and much improved sense of smell of the lambeosaurines, which had no obvious defensive capabilities.
Most of these hypotheses have been discredited or rejected. For example, there is no hole at the end of the crest for a snorkeling function. There are no muscle scars for a proboscis and it is dubious that an animal with a beak would need one. As a proposed airlock, it would not have kept out water. The proposed air reservoir would have been insufficient for an animal the size of Parasaurolophus. Other hadrosaurids had large heads without needing large hollow crests to serve as attachment points for supporting ligaments. Also, none of the proposals explain why the crest has such a shape, why other lambeosaurines should have crests that look much different but perform a similar function, how crestless or solid-crested hadrosaurids got along without such capabilities, or why some hadrosaurids had solid crests. These considerations particularly impact hypotheses based on increasing the capabilities of systems already present in the animal, such as the salt gland and olfaction hypotheses, and indicate that these were not primary functions of the crest. Additionally, work on the nasal cavity of lambeosaurines shows that olfactory nerves and corresponding sensory tissue were largely outside the portion of the nasal passages in the crest, so the expansion of the crest had little to do with the sense of smell.
#### Temperature regulation hypothesis
The large surface area and vascularization of the crest also suggests a thermoregulatory function. The first to propose the cranial crests of lambeosaurines related to temperature regulation was Wheeler (1978). He proposed that there was a nerve connection between the crest and the brain, so that the latter could be cooled by the former. The next people to publish a related idea were Teresa Maryańska and Osmólska, who realized that like modern lizards, dinosaurs could have possessed salt glands, and cooled off by osmo-regulation. In 2006 Evans published an argument about the functions of lambeosaurine crests, and supported why this could be a causing factor for the evolution of the crest.
#### Behavioral hypotheses
Parasaurolophus is often hypothesized to have used its crest as a resonating chamber to produce low frequency sounds to alert other members of a group or its species. This function was originally suggested by Wiman in 1931 when he described P. tubicen. He noted that the crest's internal structures are similar to those of a swan and theorized that an animal could use its elongated nasal passages to create noise. However, the nasal tubes of Hypacrosaurus, Corythosaurus, and Lambeosaurus are much more variable and complicated than the airway of Parasaurolophus. A large amount of material and data supports the hypothesis that the large, tubular crest of Parasaurolophus was a resonating chamber. Weishampel in 1981 suggested that Parasaurolophus made noises ranging between the frequencies 55 and 720 Hz, although there was some difference in the range of individual species because of the crest size, shape, and nasal passage length, most obvious in P. cyrtocristatus (interpreted as a possible female). Hopson found that there is anatomical evidence that hadrosaurids had a strong hearing. There is at least one example, in the related Corythosaurus, of a slender stapes (reptilian ear bone) in place, which combined with a large space for an eardrum implies a sensitive middle ear. Furthermore, the hadrosaurid lagena is elongate like a crocodilian's, indicating that the auditory portion of the inner ear was well-developed. Based on the similarity of hadrosaurid inner ears to those of crocodiles, he also proposed that adult hadrosaurids were sensitive to high frequencies, such as their offspring might produce. According to Weishampel, this is consistent with parents and offspring communicating.
Computer modeling of a well-preserved specimen of P. tubicen, with more complex air passages than those of P. walkeri, has allowed the reconstruction of the possible sound its crest produced. The main path resonates at around 30 Hz, but the complicated sinus anatomy causes peaks and valleys in the sound. The other main behavioral theory is that the crest was used for intra-species recognition. This means that the crest could have been used for species recognition, as a warning signal, and for other, non-sexual uses. These could have been some of the reasons crests evolved in Parasaurolophus and other hadrosaurids. Instead, social and physiological functions have become more supported as function(s) of the crest, focusing on visual and auditory identification and communication. As a large object, the crest has clear value as a visual signal and sets this animal apart from its contemporaries. The large size of hadrosaurid eye sockets and the presence of sclerotic rings in the eyes imply acute vision and diurnal habits, evidence that sight was important to these animals. If, as is commonly illustrated, a skin frill extended from the crest to the neck or back, the proposed visual display would have been even showier. As is suggested by other lambeosaurine skulls, the crest of Parasaurolophus likely permitted both species identification (such as separating it from Corythosaurus or Lambeosaurus) and sexual identification by shape and size.
#### Soft tissue frill
Barnum Brown (1912) noted the presence of fine striations near the back of the crest that he hypothesized could be associated with the presence of a frill of skin, comparable to the one found in the modern basilisk lizard. His hypothesis was seemingly supported by skin preserved above the neck and back of Corythosaurus and Edmontosaurus. Subsequently, reconstructions of Parasaurolophus with a substantial frill of skin between the crest and neck appeared in influential paleoart including murals by Charles R. Knight and in the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia. This led to the frill being depicted in many other sources, though the advent of the now-debunked "snorkel" hypothesis, and conflation of the frill hypothesis with the idea that the crest serves as an anchor point for neck ligaments, along with lack of strong evidence for its presence, has seen it fall out of favor in most modern depictions.
### Paleopathology
Parasaurolophus walkeri is known from one specimen which might contain a pathology. The skeleton shows a v-shaped gap or notch in the vertebrae at the base of the neck. Originally thought to be pathologic, Parks published a second interpretation of this, as a ligament attachment to support the head. The crest would attach to the gap via muscles or ligaments, and be used to support the head while bearing a frill, like predicted to exist in some hadrosaurids. One other possibility, is that during preparation, the specimen was damaged, creating the possible pathology. The notch, however, is still considered more likely to be a pathology, even though some illustrations of Parasaurolophus restore the skin flap.
Another possible pathology was noticed by Parks, and from around the notch. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth vertebrae, directly anterior to the notch, the neural spines were damaged. The fourth had an obvious fracture, with the other two possessing a swelling at the base of the break.
Analysis of the pathology undertaken by Bertozzo et al., published in December 2020, suggests the pathology to the shoulder and thoracic ribs in the holotype of P. walkeri was plausibly the result of the dinosaur being hit by a falling tree, perhaps during a severe storm. Based on the regrowth of bone, it is suggested that the hadrosaur survived for at least one to four months to perhaps years after being injured. None of the pathologies on the holotype individual are believed to have caused or contributed to its death.
## Paleoecology
### Alberta
Parasaurolophus walkeri, from the Dinosaur Park Formation, was a member of a diverse and well-documented fauna of prehistoric animals, including well-known dinosaurs such as the horned Centrosaurus, Chasmosaurus, and Styracosaurus; fellow duckbills Gryposaurus and Corythosaurus; tyrannosaurids Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus; and armored Edmontonia, Euoplocephalus and Dyoplosaurus. It was a rare constituent of this fauna. The Dinosaur Park Formation is interpreted as a low-relief setting of rivers and floodplains that became more swampy and influenced by marine conditions over time as the Western Interior Seaway transgressed westward. The climate was warmer than present-day Alberta, without frost, but with wetter and drier seasons. Conifers were apparently the dominant canopy plants, with an understory of ferns, tree ferns, and angiosperms.
Some of the less common hadrosaurs in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Dinosaur Provincial Park, such as Parasaurolophus, may represent the remains of individuals who died while migrating through the region. They might also have had a more upland habitat where they may have nested or fed. The presence of Parasaurolophus and Kritosaurus in northern latitude fossil sites may represent faunal exchange between otherwise distinct northern and southern biomes in Late Cretaceous North America. Both taxa are uncommon outside of the southern biome, where, along with Pentaceratops, they are predominate members of the fauna.
### New Mexico
In the Fruitland Formation of New Mexico, P. cyrtocristatus shared its habitat with other ornithischians and theropods. Specifically, its contemporaries were the ceratopsian Pentaceratops sternbergii; the pachycephalosaur Stegoceras novomexicanum; and some unidentified fossils belonging to Tyrannosauridae, ?Ornithomimus, ?Troodontidae, ?Saurornitholestes langstoni, ?Struthiomimus, Ornithopoda, ?Chasmosaurus, ?Corythosaurus, Hadrosaurinae, Hadrosauridae, and Ceratopsidae. When Parasaurolophus existed, the Fruitland Formation was swampy, positioned in the lowlands, and close to the shore of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. The lowermost part of the Fruitland Formation is just younger than 75.56 ± 0.41 mya, with the uppermost boundary dating to 74.55 ± 0.22 mya.
Existing slightly later than the species from the Fruitland Formation, P. tubicen is also found in New Mexico, in the Kirtland Formation. Numerous vertebrate groups are from this formation, including fishes, crurotarsans, ornithischians, saurischians, pterosaurs, and turtles. The fishes are represented by the two species Melvius chauliodous and Myledalphus bipartitus. The crurotarsans include Brachychampsa montana and Denazinosuchus kirtlandicus. Ornithischians from the formation are represented by the hadrosaurids Anasazisaurus horneri, Naashoibitosaurus ostromi, Kritosaurus navajovius, and P. tubicen; the ankylosaurids Ahshislepelta minor and Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis; the ceratopsians Pentaceratops sternbergii and Titanoceratops ouranos; and the pachycephalosaurs Stegoceras novomexicanum and Sphaerotholus goodwini. Saurischians include the tyrannosaurid Bistahieversor sealeyi; the ornithomimid Ornithomimus sp.; and the troodontid "Saurornitholestes" robustus. One pterosaur is known, named Navajodactylus boerei. Turtles are fairly plentiful, and are known from Denazinemys nodosa, Basilemys nobilis, Neurankylus baueri, Plastomenus robustus. and Thescelus hemispherica. Unidentified taxa are known, including the crurotarsan ?Leidyosuchus, and the theropods ?Struthiomimus, Troodontidae and Tyrannosauridae. The beginning of the Kirtland Formation dates to 74.55 ± 0.22 mya, with the formation ending at around 73.05 ± 0.25 mya.
### Utah
Argon-argon radiometric dating indicates that the Kaiparowits Formation was deposited between 76.6 and 74.5 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. During the Late Cretaceous period, the site of the Kaiparowits Formation was located near the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway, a large inland sea that split North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. The plateau where dinosaurs lived was an ancient floodplain dominated by large channels and abundant wetland peat swamps, ponds and lakes, and was bordered by highlands. The climate was wet and humid, and supported an abundant and diverse range of organisms. This formation contains one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world.
Parasaurolophus shared its paleoenvironment with other dinosaurs, such as dromaeosaurid theropods, the troodontid Talos sampsoni, ornithomimids like Ornithomimus velox, tyrannosaurids like Teratophoneus, armored ankylosaurids, the duckbilled hadrosaur Gryposaurus monumentensis, the ceratopsians Utahceratops gettyi, Nasutoceratops titusi and Kosmoceratops richardsoni and the oviraptorosaurian Hagryphus giganteus. Paleofauna present in the Kaiparowits Formation included chondrichthyans (sharks and rays), frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and crocodilians like the apex predator Deinosuchus. A variety of early mammals were present including multituberculates, marsupials, and insectivorans.
## See also
- Timeline of hadrosaur research |
42,719,144 | Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville | 1,173,184,817 | British soclialite and writer (1785–1862) | [
"1785 births",
"1862 deaths",
"19th-century British women writers",
"British countesses",
"British socialites",
"Cavendish family",
"Daughters of English dukes",
"Leveson-Gower family",
"People from Chiswick",
"People from Mayfair",
"Wives of knights"
]
| Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville (; 29 August 1785 – 25 November 1862) was a British society hostess and writer. The younger daughter of Lady Georgiana Spencer and the 5th Duke of Devonshire, she was a member of the wealthy Cavendish and Spencer families and spent her childhood under the care of a governess with her two siblings.
In 1809 Harriet married Granville Leveson-Gower, a diplomat who had been her maternal aunt's lover for seventeen years. Despite this unusual connection, the couple's marriage was happy and they had five children. During intermittent periods between 1824 and 1841, Granville served as the British ambassador to France, requiring Harriet to perform a relentless array of social duties in Paris that she often found exhausting and frivolous.
A prolific writer of letters, Harriet corresponded with others for most of her life, often humorously describing her observations of those around her. Historians have since found her detailed accounts to be a valuable source of information on life as an ambassadress as well as life in the 19th-century aristocracy. Between 1894 and 1990, four edited collections of Harriet's correspondence were published.
## Early life and family
Lady Henrietta Elizabeth Cavendish was born on 29 August 1785 at Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London. Her parents were William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and his first wife, Lady Georgiana Spencer. As major landowners, the Spencer family controlled one of the largest fortunes in England. The Duke of Devonshire possessed even more wealth, with an annual income that was twice as much as that of Georgiana's father; in addition to Devonshire House, he owned Chatsworth House and four other estates of similar opulence. Known as "Harriet" or "Harryo" to her family, the new baby was named after the Duchess's sister Henrietta, Countess of Bessborough and her friend Lady Elizabeth Foster.
The Devonshire marriage was contentious; they had little in common and the Duchess had difficulty bringing her pregnancies to term – their initial nine years together were childless. Seeking distraction from an unhappy match, she spent her time socialising and gambling. She became a prominent supporter and hostess of the Whig Party, as well as a leader of fashion. By the mid-1780s, Devonshire House had become the centre of fashionable life in the Georgian era. Elizabeth Foster, who began living with the Cavendishes in 1782, encouraged the Duchess to pursue a healthier lifestyle, which likely contributed to the successful births of Harriet and her elder sister, Georgiana. The birth of the long-desired heir, Harriet's brother William, arrived in 1790 after 16 years of marriage.
As Harriet was neither the eldest nor the desired male heir, she was probably the least favorite of her parents' three children. She had a somewhat uneasy relationship with her father throughout his life. In her early years she was devoted to her loving mother, though this relationship suffered a temporary setback in the 1790s. The Duchess, pregnant by the future prime minister Charles Grey, was forced to move abroad and give birth in secret. A two-year separation ensued before she saw her children again, and upon her return she observed that eight-year-old Harriet had become reserved and irritable. One biographer posits that this reticence carried into adulthood during "situations of great difficulty and tragedy", when Harriet would hide her emotions even from those to whom she was usually close.
## Upbringing and first London season
The Duke had two illegitimate children with Elizabeth Foster; they were raised alongside the legitimate Cavendishes. Harriet and her siblings, who did not understand why Elizabeth resided with them, disliked her; they also held antipathy for her two teenage sons from a previous marriage, who joined the household in 1796. The Dowager Countess Spencer felt the Devonshire household was amoral and took a prominent role in her grandchildren's upbringing. When Harriet was three, Lady Spencer hired Miss Selina Trimmer as their new governess. Selina agreed with Lady Spencer that in order to protect the children, the Devonshire household required moral guidance. Deeply religious, Selina encouraged her charges to be morally principled and pious, and strove to provide a stable upbringing with a good education. Though she was often severe, the Cavendish children came to view their governess with affection. Selina became another mother figure in Harriet's life, and had a lasting impact on her piety, which especially thrived in later life.
Harriet began writing letters from a young age; early topics included the activities of family members, and thoughts on the books she was reading. As she grew older it became readily apparent to all, including herself, that she lacked her mother's beauty and slim figure. But she was intelligent and witty in conversation, and did not have her sister's shyness. While Georgiana's first London season quickly drew two eligible admirers and ended in marriage to one of them in 1801, Harriet's first season two years later produced no such offers. As she remained single over the next several years, her family increasingly expected that she would marry her cousin John, Viscount Duncannon. Harriet herself had held this expectation since a young age, though she was unsure whether she cared for him enough to marry. But after three years of indecisiveness, Duncannon married another woman. Her family also unsuccessfully encouraged a match with another cousin, John, Viscount Althorp.
The Duchess's sudden death in 1806 contributed to profound changes in her younger daughter's life. Elizabeth Foster, the Duke's longtime mistress, took control of the Devonshire household and thus usurped this role from his unmarried daughter. Harriet, who had long disliked Elizabeth, avoided her as much as possible. While social norms dictated Harriet could not permanently move out, she was able to frequently stay with other family members, including with her sister at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. Harriet's son Frederick later wrote that the experience "strengthened the tie of sisterly affection, which bound them together during the whole of their joint lives". From 1801 onwards, Harriet wrote to her sister almost daily until the latter's death in 1858, corresponding in English and French.
## Marriage
The Duchess's sister, Henrietta, Countess of Bessborough, felt obligated to help her niece escape a difficult home situation. Harriet had previously been critical of her aunt, but with her mother gone, now turned to her for affection and support. When the Duke announced his desire to marry his mistress, Henrietta began searching for a suitable marriage prospect for her niece. The chosen candidate was Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, a politician and diplomat who had been her lover for seventeen years and the father of her two illegitimate children. Though still infatuated with him, she knew that Granville would need to eventually marry and produce legitimate offspring, and that when he did so, she would likely lose him. Convincing her niece to marry him was one way of keeping him within her social circle.
Though Granville had represented several constituencies in the House of Commons and served briefly in the cabinet of the Second Portland ministry, his career was primarily in diplomacy. He had been stationed in various European courts since 1796, and by 1809 had become a mid-career diplomat. Known to Harriet since her childhood, he was twelve years her senior. She had never particularly cared for him, having disapproved of his hauteur and illicit liaison with her aunt. But Harriet’s opinion of him now improved. Though he had little wealth of his own, he was a leading member of society as part of the prominent Leveson-Gower family; his half-brother was the very rich Marquess of Stafford (later Duke of Sutherland). Additionally, the historian K. D. Reynolds writes that Granville was "considered one of the most handsome men of his time; his curly brown hair, blue eyes, and sensuous features brought him strings of female admirers".
Though eager to leave Devonshire House, Harriet insisted that Granville's affair with her aunt be truly over. The prospective groom was unsure if he wanted the unglamorous Harriet as a marriage partner, however, and spent some time pursuing other candidates; their refusals, often due to his womanising reputation, led Granville to ultimately choose Harriet. They became engaged on 13 November 1809. The Duke provided his younger daughter with a dowry of £10,000 (), a relatively low sum compared to the nearly £30,000 () given to his illegitimate daughter Caroline St. Jules that same year. On 24 December 1809, Harriet married Granville in the drawing room of Chiswick House, an elegant London villa owned by her father.
## Social hostess
Despite the unusual circumstances surrounding the marriage, Harriet and Granville’s letters reveal both were very happy. After a long and difficult labour, their eldest child Susan was born healthy. They would have five children in total – Susan (1810–1866), later the wife of the 4th Baron Rivers; Georgiana Fullerton (1812–1885), a novelist; Granville, 2nd Earl Granville (1815–1891), the future foreign secretary; William (1816–1833), who died young; and Frederick (1819–1907), a Liberal politician. They also adopted Harriet and George Stewart, Granville's two illegitimate children with Henrietta; the pair flourished in the happy household. The elder Harriet found her twelve-year-old step-daughter and cousin to be a "most amiable little creature", and the two would grow especially close in the years that followed.
During their first few years together, the Leveson-Gowers split their time between London and the various country houses of friends and family. As neither brought significant wealth or an estate into the marriage, the smaller size of Harriet's dowry must have caused some disappointment; upon her father's death in 1811, her brother – now 6th Duke of Devonshire – quickly increased her settlement to £30,000. With this new income they were able to rent Tixall Hall in Staffordshire, taking up residence for eight years to raise their growing family and host visitors. In 1819, seeking to be closer to the government in London, they rented Wherstead Park in Suffolk, living there until 1824.
The Leveson-Gowers regularly attended large gatherings and parties at country houses. As Granville was gregarious and social, Harriet worked to be a great hostess; she was also a welcome guest when visiting others. Her letters reveal her amusement at those around her, particularly during the visits of dissimilar guests to Wherstead, where they hosted frequently. After one visit to Tixall Hall, Charles Greville – her normally hypercritical cousin – wrote that he could not "remember so agreeable a party", and described Harriet as possessing "a great deal of genius, humour, strong feelings, enthusiasm, delicacy, refinement, good taste, naïveté which just misses being affectation, and a bonhomie which extends to all around her".
For his service in government, Granville was raised to the peerage and given a viscountcy in 1815. An earldom followed in 1833, whereupon he and his wife became known as Earl and Countess Granville.
## Ambassadress
In February 1824, Granville moved to The Hague to begin his service as British ambassador to the Netherlands. Harriet, by now a thirty-nine-year-old mother of five, accompanied him along with their two daughters (their two youngest sons followed in April). Though she had not wished to leave her comfortable life in England, where she had been surrounded by friends and family, she did so to support her husband. After completing the first few days of official duties, Harriet devoted much of her time to domestic routine and being with her children. They only had a short period of time to get settled. In November, the Leveson-Gowers were again required to move upon Granville's appointment as ambassador to France. While Harriet had begun to acclimatise herself well to life in the Netherlands, where her social duties were more relaxed, she was less enthusiastic about the move to Paris. She dreaded the long hours and the superficiality of social life in France.
### Life in France
The Leveson-Gowers moved into the Hôtel de Charost, a stately Parisian townhouse purchased for the British government ten years earlier to serve as its embassy. During the first year, their ability to entertain was limited due to the residence's disrepair. But after overseeing restoration work, the couple hosted large dinner parties, balls, and receptions on a regular basis. As the wife of the British ambassador, Harriet was a prominent figure in Paris and her gatherings became popular events. Her duties required her to visit the royal court, attend and host parties, receive visitors and reciprocate their visits, and patronise local organisations. Harriet did not enjoy the relentlessness of her strictly regulated social duties, finding them exhausting and often frivolous. But she recognised that an embassy's effectiveness often depended on social capital.
At first Harriet viewed many of the French elite with dislike, believing they were superficial and vacuous. They possessed "not as much mind as would fill a pea-shell", she wrote in one letter. "It is odd that their effect on me is to crush me with the sense of my inferiority whilst I am absolutely gasping with the sense of my superiority", she wrote in another. But she was determined to earn their approval, especially as the British government's foreign policy was producing some resentment among the French. During a visit in March 1825, the Duke of Devonshire provided his sister with advice on French culture as well as her deportment and appearance. She invested in the latest fashions and became effective at managing the French elite, having come to the conclusion that they were like "children" whose "object is to be amused and received". After six months in Paris the new ambassadress had reached a point of amused acceptance with her social surroundings. She was successful in her efforts and soon became very popular.
Despite being inundated with politics from a young age due to her mother's prominence as a Whig supporter, Harriet cared little for the subject until later in life. Granville's family were firm Tories, though he was more flexible in his positions. As an ambassadress, Harriet viewed her role more as a facilitator of political activity rather than an active participant. When the Leveson-Gowers hosted parties, she paid careful attention to the needs of those in attendance; luxurious comfort was crucial, as was space for private conversation where important diplomatic and political matters could be discussed. In later years her enthusiasm for politics grew, and she became an ardent supporter of Lord Palmerston, the foreign secretary.
The Leveson-Gowers spent approximately seventeen years in Paris, serving from 1824–1828, 1830–1834, and 1835–1841. Each gap was due to a change of government leadership, when a transition of political party prompted Granville to resign his post in 1828 and then in 1834. They typically returned to England during each interval. In 1833 their second son William, who may have suffered from a chronic condition, died at the age of seventeen; he is rarely mentioned in his mother's letters. In 1841 Granville suffered a severe stroke which caused partial paralysis, and he resigned his ambassadorial post a few months later. For the next two years the family travelled across Europe, before returning to England in November 1843. They resided in houses in Brighton and London, and spent portions of their time visiting friends and family at their various country estates. Granville suffered another stroke in October 1845 and died in January of the following year.
## Death and legacy
Granville's death had an overwhelming effect on his wife's final years; later historians have described her behaviour as that of a typical Victorian era widow, as Harriet descended into a period of acute grief. In sharp contrast with her previous social activities, she lived in complete retirement. She found comfort in fervent piety and philanthropic works, donating as much as possible in private charity. After her brother's death in 1858, she inherited Chiswick House and took up residence. Her social circle was limited to immediate family members, and her household came to include her newly widowed son Frederick and his son George. She survived her husband by fifteen years, dying on 25 November 1862 of a stroke at her London home at 13 Hereford Street.
Lady Granville's life has largely been overlooked by historians, who have chosen to focus on her exceptional mother as well as her sister Georgiana. A lifetime of correspondence has proven to be a valuable source of information on both Harriet and the period in which she lived. According to the writer Charlotte Furness, Harriet's many letters "give us a remarkable insight into life in the nineteenth-century aristocracy, and life as the wife of a travelling diplomat". The historian Virginia Surtees adds that Harriet's letters "provide an entertaining peepshow into the manners, habits and morals of that much inter-married section of aristocratic nineteenth-century society which also embraced the dandies, wits, and beaux".
Since Harriet's death, four edited books containing her letters have been printed. In 1894, her son Frederick published a two-volume edition of letters written during his parents' marriage, condensing and cutting some of her correspondence in order to produce a shorter work. Harriet's granddaughter Susan Oldfield published another series of letters in 1901, this time drawing from Harriet's later life as a widow. In 1947 Iris Leveson-Gower, another descendant, published a volume of letters written in the years before Harriet's marriage. In 1990, Virginia Surtees produced another edited collection that focuses on Harriet's time as a social hostess as well as her close relationship with Georgiana.
## Issue
Earl and Countess Granville had five children:
- Lady Susan Georgiana Leveson-Gower (25 October 1810 – 30 April 1866); in 1833, she married George Pitt-Rivers, 4th Baron Rivers.
- Lady Georgiana Charlotte Leveson-Gower (23 September 1812 – 19 January 1885); in 1833, she married Alexander Fullerton.
- Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (11 May 1815 – 31 March 1891); in 1840, he married Marie-Louise de Dalberg, daughter and heiress of Emmerich Joseph de Dalberg; after her death in 1860 he remarried to Castila Campbell in 1865.
- The Honorable Granville William Leveson-Gower (28 September 1816 – 26 May 1833); he died unmarried.
- The Honorable Frederick Leveson-Gower (3 May 1819 – 30 May 1907); in 1851, he married Lady Margaret Compton, daughter of Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton.
## Ancestry |
37,252 | John Knox | 1,173,639,263 | Scottish clergyman, writer and historian (1514–1572) | [
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| John Knox (Scottish Gaelic: Iain Cnocc; c. 1514 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lothian, Knox is believed to have been educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal David Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549.
While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. He exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England, he met and married his first wife, Margery Bowes. When Mary I ascended the throne of England and re-established Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country. Knox moved to Geneva and then to Frankfurt. In Geneva, he met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a new order of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland. He left Geneva to head the English refugee church in Frankfurt but he was forced to leave over differences concerning the liturgy, thus ending his association with the Church of England. The University of Edinburgh Heritage Collection holds a copy of Knox's Liturgy, translated into Scots Gaelic by John Carswell. It is the first book printed in any Gaelic language.
On his return to Scotland, Knox led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution since it led to the ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter Mary, Queen of Scots. Knox helped write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. He wrote his five-volume The History of the Reformation in Scotland between 1559 and 1566. He continued to serve as the religious leader of the Protestants throughout Mary's reign. In several interviews with the Queen, Knox admonished her for supporting Catholic practices. After she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, and King James VI was enthroned in her stead, Knox openly called for her execution. He continued to preach until his final days.
## Early life, 1505–1546
John Knox was born sometime between 1505 and 1515 in or near Haddington, the county town of East Lothian. His father, William Knox, was a merchant. All that is known of his mother is that her maiden name was Sinclair and that she died when John Knox was a child. Their eldest son, William, carried on his father's business, which helped in Knox's international communications.
Knox was probably educated at the grammar school in Haddington. At this time, the priesthood was the only path for those whose inclinations were academic rather than mercantile or agricultural. He proceeded to further studies at the University of St Andrews or possibly at the University of Glasgow. He studied under John Major, one of the greatest scholars of the time. Knox was ordained a Catholic priest in Edinburgh on Easter Eve of 1536 by William Chisholm, Bishop of Dunblane.
Knox first appears in public records as a priest and a notary in 1540. He was still serving in these capacities as late as 1543 when he described himself as a "minister of the sacred altar in the diocese of St. Andrews, notary by apostolic authority" in a notarial deed dated 27 March. Rather than taking up parochial duties in a parish, he became tutor to two sons of Hugh Douglas of Longniddry. He also taught the son of John Cockburn of Ormiston. Both of these lairds had embraced the new religious ideas of the Reformation.
## Embracing the Protestant Reformation, 1546–1547
Knox did not record when or how he was converted to the Protestant faith, but perhaps the key formative influences on Knox were Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart. Wishart was a reformer who had fled Scotland in 1538 to escape punishment for heresy. He first moved to England, where in Bristol he preached against the veneration of the Virgin Mary. He was forced to make a public recantation and was burned in effigy at the Church of St Nicholas as a sign of his abjuration. He then took refuge in Germany and Switzerland. While on the Continent, he translated the First Helvetic Confession into English. He returned to Scotland in 1544, but the timing of his return was unfortunate. In December 1543, James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, the appointed regent for the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, had decided with the Queen Mother, Mary of Guise, and Cardinal David Beaton to persecute the Protestant sect that had taken root in Scotland. Wishart travelled throughout Scotland preaching in favour of the Reformation, and when he arrived in East Lothian, Knox became one of his closest associates. Knox acted as his bodyguard, bearing a two-handed sword in order to defend him. In December 1545, Wishart was seized on Beaton's orders by the Earl of Bothwell and taken to the Castle of St Andrews. Knox was present on the night of Wishart's arrest and was prepared to follow him into captivity, but Wishart persuaded him against this course saying, "Nay, return to your bairns [children] and God bless you. One is sufficient for a sacrifice." Wishart was subsequently prosecuted by Beaton's Public Accuser of Heretics, Archdeacon John Lauder. On 1 March 1546, he was burnt at the stake in the presence of Beaton.
Knox had avoided being arrested by Lord Bothwell through Wishart's advice to return to tutoring. He took shelter with Douglas in Longniddry. Several months later he was still in charge of the pupils, the sons of Douglas and Cockburn, who wearied of moving from place to place while being pursued. He toyed with the idea of fleeing to Germany and taking his pupils with him. While Knox remained a fugitive, Beaton was murdered on 29 May 1546, within his residence, the Castle of St Andrews, by a gang of five persons in revenge for Wishart's execution. The assassins seized the castle and eventually their families and friends took refuge with them, about a hundred and fifty men in all. Among their friends was Henry Balnaves, a former secretary of state in the government, who negotiated with England for the financial support of the rebels. Douglas and Cockburn suggested to Knox to take their sons to the relative safety of the castle to continue their instruction in reformed doctrine, and Knox arrived at the castle on 10 April 1547.
Knox's powers as a preacher came to the attention of the chaplain of the garrison, John Rough. While Rough was preaching in the parish church on the Protestant principle of the popular election of a pastor, he proposed Knox to the congregation for that office. Knox did not relish the idea. According to his own account, he burst into tears and fled to his room. Within a week, however, he was giving his first sermon to a congregation that included his old teacher, John Major. He expounded on the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel, comparing the Pope with the Antichrist. His sermon was marked by his consideration of the Bible as his sole authority and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, two elements that would remain in his thoughts throughout the rest of his life. A few days later, a debate was staged that allowed him to lay down additional theses including the rejection of the Mass, Purgatory, and prayers for the dead.
## Confinement in the French galleys, 1547–1549
John Knox's chaplaincy of the castle garrison was not to last long. While Hamilton was willing to negotiate with England to stop their support of the rebels and bring the castle back under his control, Mary of Guise decided that it could be taken only by force and requested the king of France, Henry II to intervene. On 29 June 1547, 21 French galleys approached St Andrews under the command of Leone Strozzi, prior of Capua. The French besieged the castle and forced the surrender of the garrison on 31 July. The Protestant nobles and others, including Knox, were taken prisoner and forced to row in the French galleys. The galley slaves were chained to benches and rowed throughout the day without a change of posture while an officer watched over them with a whip in hand. They sailed to France and navigated up the Seine to Rouen. The nobles, some of whom would have an impact later in Knox's life such as William Kirkcaldy and Henry Balnaves, were sent to various castle-prisons in France. Knox and the other galley slaves continued to Nantes and stayed on the Loire throughout the winter. They were threatened with torture if they did not give proper signs of reverence when mass was performed on the ship. Knox recounted an incident in which one of the prisoners—possibly himself, as Knox tended to narrate personal anecdotes in the third person—was required to show devotion to a picture of the Virgin Mary. The prisoner was told to give it a kiss of veneration. He refused and when the picture was pushed up to his face, the prisoner seized the picture and threw it into the sea, saying, "Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim." After that, according to Knox, the Scottish prisoners were no longer forced to perform such devotions.
In summer 1548, the galleys returned to Scotland to scout for English ships. Knox's health was now at its lowest point due to the severity of his confinement. He was ill with a fever and others on the ship were afraid for his life. Even in this state, Knox recalled, his mind remained sharp and he comforted his fellow prisoners with hopes of release. While the ships were lying offshore between St Andrews and Dundee, the spires of the parish church where he preached appeared in view. James Balfour, a fellow prisoner, asked Knox whether he recognised the landmark. He replied that he knew it well, recognising the steeple of the place where he first preached and he declared that he would not die until he had preached there again.
In February 1549, after spending a total of 19 months in the galley-prison, Knox was released. It is uncertain how he obtained his liberty. Later in the year, Henry II arranged with Edward VI of England the release of all remaining Castilian prisoners.
## Exile in England, 1549–1554
On his release, Knox took refuge in England. The Reformation in England was a less radical movement than its Continental counterparts, but there was a definite breach with Rome. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, and the regent of King Edward VI, the Duke of Somerset, were decidedly Protestant-minded. However, much work remained to bring reformed ideas to the clergy and to the people. On 7 April 1549, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England. His first commission was in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was obliged to use the recently released 1549 Book of Common Prayer, which maintained the structure of the Sarum Rite while adapting the content to the doctrine of the reformed Church of England. Knox, however, modified its use to accord with the doctrinal emphases of the Continental reformers. In the pulpit, he preached Protestant doctrines with great effect as his congregation grew. In England, Knox met his wife, Margery Bowes (died c. 1560). Her father, Richard Bowes (died 1558), was a descendant of an old Durham family and her mother, Elizabeth Aske, was an heiress of a Yorkshire family, the Askes of Richmondshire. Elizabeth presumably met Knox when he was employed in Berwick. Several letters reveal a close friendship between them. It is not recorded when Knox married Margery Bowes. Knox attempted to obtain the consent of the Bowes family, but her father and her brother Robert Bowes were opposed to the marriage.
Towards the end of 1550, Knox was appointed a preacher of St Nicholas' Church in Newcastle upon Tyne. The following year he was appointed one of the six royal chaplains serving the King. On 16 October 1551, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, overthrew the Duke of Somerset to become the new regent of the young King. Knox condemned the coup d'état in a sermon on All Saints Day. When Dudley visited Newcastle and listened to his preaching in June 1552, he had mixed feelings about the firebrand preacher, but he saw Knox as a potential asset. Knox was asked to come to London to preach before the Court. In his first sermon, he advocated a change for the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. The liturgy required worshippers to kneel during communion. Knox and the other chaplains considered this to be idolatry. It triggered a debate where Archbishop Cranmer was called upon to defend the practice. The end result was a compromise in which the famous Black Rubric, which declared that no adoration is intended while kneeling, was included in the second edition.
Soon afterwards, Dudley, who saw Knox as a useful political tool, offered him the bishopric of Rochester. Knox refused, and he returned to Newcastle. On 2 February 1553 Cranmer was ordered to appoint Knox as vicar of All Hallows, Bread Street, in London, placing him under the authority of the Bishop of London, Nicholas Ridley. Knox returned to London in order to deliver a sermon before the King and the Court during Lent and he again refused to take the assigned post. Knox was then told to preach in Buckinghamshire and he remained there until Edward's death on 6 July. Edward's successor, Mary Tudor, re-established Roman Catholicism in England and restored the Mass in all the churches. With the country no longer safe for Protestant preachers, Knox left for the Continent in January 1554 on the advice of friends. On the eve of his flight, he wrote:
> Sometime I have thought that impossible it had been, so to have removed my affection from the realm of Scotland, that any realm or nation could have been equal dear to me. But God I take to record in my conscience, that the troubles present (and appearing to be) in the realm of England are double more dolorous unto my heart than ever were the troubles of Scotland.
## From Geneva to Frankfurt and Scotland, 1554–1556
Knox disembarked in Dieppe, France, and continued to Geneva, where John Calvin had established his authority. When Knox arrived Calvin was in a difficult position. He had recently overseen the Company of Pastors, which prosecuted charges of heresy against the scholar Michael Servetus, although Calvin himself was not capable of voting for or against a civil penalty against Servetus. Knox asked Calvin four difficult political questions: whether a minor could rule by divine right, whether a female could rule and transfer sovereignty to her husband, whether people should obey ungodly or idolatrous rulers, and what party godly persons should follow if they resisted an idolatrous ruler. Calvin gave cautious replies and referred him to the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger in Zürich. Bullinger's responses were equally cautious, but Knox had already made up his mind. On 20 July 1554, he published a pamphlet attacking Mary Tudor and the bishops who had brought her to the throne. He also attacked the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, calling him "no less enemy to Christ than was Nero".
In a letter dated 24 September 1554, Knox received an invitation from a congregation of English exiles in Frankfurt to become one of their ministers. He accepted the call with Calvin's blessing. But no sooner had he arrived than he found himself in a conflict. The first set of refugees to arrive in Frankfurt had subscribed to a reformed liturgy and used a modified version of the Book of Common Prayer. More recently arrived refugees, however, including Edmund Grindal, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, favoured a stricter application of the book. When Knox and a supporting colleague, William Whittingham, wrote to Calvin for advice, they were told to avoid contention. Knox therefore agreed on a temporary order of service based on a compromise between the two sides. This delicate balance was disturbed when a new batch of refugees arrived that included Richard Cox, one of the principal authors of the Book of Common Prayer. Cox brought Knox's pamphlet attacking the emperor to the attention of the Frankfurt authorities, who advised that Knox leave. His departure from Frankfurt on 26 March 1555 marked his final breach with the Church of England.
After his return to Geneva, Knox was chosen to be the minister at a new place of worship petitioned from Calvin. As such, he exerted an influence on French Protestants, whether they were exiled in Geneva or in France. In the meantime, Elizabeth Bowes wrote to Knox, asking him to return to Margery in Scotland, which he did at the end of August. Despite initial doubts about the state of the Reformation in Scotland, Knox found the country significantly changed since he was carried off in the galley in 1547. When he toured various parts of Scotland preaching the reformed doctrines and liturgy, he was welcomed by many of the nobility including two future regents of Scotland, the Earl of Moray and the Earl of Mar.
Though the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, made no move against Knox, his activities caused concern among the church authorities. The bishops of Scotland viewed him as a threat to their authority and summoned him to appear in Edinburgh on 15 May 1556. He was accompanied to the trial by so many influential persons that the bishops decided to call the hearing off. Knox was now free to preach openly in Edinburgh. William Keith, the Earl Marischal, was impressed and urged Knox to write to the Queen Regent. Knox's unusually respectful letter urged her to support the Reformation and overthrow the church hierarchy. Queen Mary took the letter as a joke and ignored it.
## Return to Geneva, 1556–1559
Shortly after Knox sent the letter to the Queen Regent, he suddenly announced that he felt his duty was to return to Geneva. In the previous year on 1 November 1555, the congregation in Geneva had elected Knox as their minister and he decided to take up the post. He wrote a final letter of advice to his supporters and left Scotland with his wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in Geneva on 13 September 1556.
For the next two years, he lived a happy life in Geneva. He recommended Geneva to his friends in England as the best place of asylum for Protestants. In one letter he wrote:
> I neither fear nor eschame to say, is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles. In other places I confess Christ to be truly preached; but manners and religion so sincerely reformed, I have not yet seen in any other place ...
Knox led a busy life in Geneva. He preached three sermons a week, each lasting well over two hours. The services used a liturgy that was derived by Knox and other ministers from Calvin's Formes des Prières Ecclésiastiques. The church in which he preached, the Église de Notre Dame la Neuve—now known as the Auditoire de Calvin—had been granted by the municipal authorities, at Calvin's request, for the use of the English and Italian congregations. Knox's two sons, Nathaniel and Eleazar, were born in Geneva, with Whittingham and Myles Coverdale their respective godfathers.
In the summer of 1558, Knox published his best-known pamphlet, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women. In calling the "regimen" or rule of women "monstruous", he meant that it was "unnatural". Knox states that his purpose was to demonstrate "how abominable before God is the Empire or Rule of a wicked woman, yea, of a traiteresse and bastard". The women rulers that Knox had in mind were Queen Mary I of England and Mary of Guise, the Dowager Queen of Scotland and regent on behalf of her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. This biblical position was not unusual in Knox's day; however, even he was aware that the pamphlet was dangerously seditious. He therefore published it anonymously and did not tell Calvin, who denied knowledge of it until a year after its publication, that he had written it. In England, the pamphlet was officially condemned by royal proclamation. The impact of the document was complicated later that year when Elizabeth Tudor became Queen of England. Although Knox had not targeted Elizabeth, he had deeply offended her, and she never forgave him.
With a Protestant on the throne, the English refugees in Geneva prepared to return home. Knox himself decided to return to Scotland. Before his departure, various honours were conferred on him, including the freedom of the city of Geneva. Knox left in January 1559, but he did not arrive in Scotland until 2 May 1559, owing to Elizabeth's refusal to issue him a passport through England.
## Revolution and end of the regency, 1559–1560
Two days after Knox arrived in Edinburgh, he proceeded to Dundee where a large number of Protestant sympathisers had gathered. Knox was declared an outlaw, and the Queen Regent summoned the Protestants to Stirling. Fearing the possibility of a summary trial and execution, the Protestants proceeded instead to Perth, a walled town that could be defended in case of a siege. At the church of St John the Baptist, Knox preached a fiery sermon and a small incident precipitated into a riot. A mob poured into the church and it was soon gutted. The mob then attacked two friaries (Blackfriars and Greyfriars) in the town, looting their gold and silver and smashing images. Mary of Guise gathered those nobles loyal to her and a small French army. She dispatched the Earl of Argyll and Lord Moray to offer terms and avert a war. She promised not to send any French troops into Perth if the Protestants evacuated the town. The Protestants agreed, but when the Queen Regent entered Perth, she garrisoned it with Scottish soldiers on the French payroll. This was seen as treacherous by Lord Argyll and Lord Moray, who both switched sides and joined Knox, who now based himself in St Andrews. Knox's return to St Andrews fulfilled the prophecy he made in the galleys that he would one day preach again in its church. When he did give a sermon, the effect was the same as in Perth. The people engaged in vandalism and looting. In June 1559, a Protestant mob incited by the preaching of John Knox ransacked the cathedral; the interior of the building was destroyed. The cathedral fell into decline following the attack and became a source of building material for the town. By 1561 it had been abandoned and left to fall into ruin.
With Protestant reinforcements arriving from neighbouring counties, the Queen Regent retreated to Dunbar. By now, the mob fury had spilled over central Scotland. Her own troops were on the verge of mutiny. On 30 June, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation occupied Edinburgh, though they were able to hold it for only a month. But even before their arrival, the mob had already sacked the churches and the friaries. On 1 July, Knox preached from the pulpit of St Giles', the most influential in the capital. The Lords of the Congregation negotiated their withdrawal from Edinburgh by the Articles of Leith signed 25 July 1559, and Mary of Guise promised freedom of conscience.
Knox knew that the Queen Regent would ask for help from France, so he negotiated by letter under the assumed name John Sinclair with William Cecil, Elizabeth's chief adviser, for English support. Knox sailed secretly to Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England at the end of July, to meet James Croft and Sir Henry Percy at Berwick upon Tweed. Knox was indiscreet and news of his mission soon reached Mary of Guise. He returned to Edinburgh telling Croft he had to return to his flock, and suggested that Henry Balnaves should go to Cecil.
When additional French troops arrived in Leith, Edinburgh's seaport, the Protestants responded by retaking Edinburgh. This time, on 24 October 1559, the Scottish nobility formally deposed Mary of Guise from the regency. Her secretary, William Maitland of Lethington, defected to the Protestant side, bringing his administrative skills. From then on, Maitland took over the political tasks, freeing Knox for the role of religious leader. For the final stage of the revolution, Maitland appealed to Scottish patriotism to fight French domination. Following the Treaty of Berwick, support from England finally arrived and by the end of March, a significant English army joined the Scottish Protestant forces. The sudden death of Mary of Guise in Edinburgh Castle on 10 June 1560 paved the way for an end to hostilities, the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh, and the withdrawal of French and English troops from Scotland. On 19 July, Knox held a National Thanksgiving Service at St Giles'.
## Reformation in Scotland, 1560–1561
On 1 August, the Scottish Parliament met to settle religious issues. Knox and five other ministers, all called John, were called upon to draw up a new confession of faith. Within four days, the Scots Confession was presented to Parliament, voted upon, and approved. A week later, the Parliament passed three acts in one day: the first abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, the second condemned all doctrine and practice contrary to the reformed faith, and the third forbade the celebration of Mass in Scotland. Before the dissolution of Parliament, Knox and the other ministers were given the task of organising the newly reformed church or the Kirk. They would work for several months on the Book of Discipline, the document describing the organisation of the new church. During this period, in December 1560, Knox's wife, Margery, died, leaving Knox to care for their two sons, aged three and a half and two years old. John Calvin, who had lost his own wife in 1549, wrote a letter of condolence.
Parliament reconvened on 15 January 1561 to consider the Book of Discipline. The Kirk was to be run on democratic lines. Each congregation was free to choose or reject its own pastor, but once he was chosen he could not be fired. Each parish was to be self-supporting, as far as possible. The bishops were replaced by ten to twelve "superintendents". The plan included a system of national education based on universality as a fundamental principle. Certain areas of law were placed under ecclesiastical authority. The Parliament did not approve the plan, however, mainly for reasons of finance. The Kirk was to be financed out of the patrimony of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Much of this was now in the hands of the nobles, who were reluctant to give up their possessions. A final decision on the plan was delayed because of the impending return of Mary, Queen of Scots.
## Knox and Queen Mary, 1561–1564
On 19 August 1561, cannons were fired in Leith to announce Queen Mary's arrival in Scotland. When she attended Mass being celebrated in the royal chapel at Holyrood Palace five days later, this prompted a protest in which one of her servants was jostled. The next day she issued a proclamation that there would be no alteration in the current state of religion and that her servants should not be molested or troubled. Many nobles accepted this, but not Knox. The following Sunday, he protested from the pulpit of St Giles'. As a result, just two weeks after her return, Mary summoned Knox. She accused him of inciting a rebellion against her mother and of writing a book against her own authority. Knox answered that as long as her subjects found her rule convenient, he was willing to accept her governance, noting that Paul the Apostle had been willing to live under Nero's rule. Mary noted, however, that he had written against the principle of female rule itself. He responded that she should not be troubled by what had never harmed her. When Mary asked him whether subjects had a right to resist their ruler, he replied that if monarchs exceeded their lawful limits, they might be resisted, even by force.
On 13 December 1562, Mary sent for Knox again after he gave a sermon denouncing certain celebrations which Knox had interpreted as rejoicing at the expense of the Reformation. She charged that Knox spoke irreverently of the Queen in order to make her appear contemptible to her subjects. After Knox gave an explanation of the sermon, Mary stated that she did not blame Knox for the differences of opinion and asked that in the future he come to her directly if he heard anything about her that he disliked. Despite her gesture, Knox replied that he would continue to voice his convictions in his sermons and would not wait upon her.
During Easter in 1563, some priests in Ayrshire celebrated Mass, thus defying the law. Some Protestants tried to enforce the law themselves by apprehending these priests. This prompted Mary to summon Knox for the third time. She asked Knox to use his influence to promote religious toleration. He defended their actions and noted she was bound to uphold the laws and if she did not, others would. Mary surprised Knox by agreeing that the priests would be brought to justice.
The most dramatic interview between Mary and Knox took place on 24 June 1563. Mary summoned Knox to Holyrood after hearing that he had been preaching against her proposed marriage to Don Carlos, the son of Philip II of Spain. Mary began by scolding Knox, then she burst into tears. "What have ye to do with my marriage?" she asked, and "What are ye within this commonwealth?" "A subject born within the same, Madam," Knox replied. He noted that though he was not of noble birth, he had the same duty as any subject to warn of dangers to the realm. When Mary started to cry again, he said, "Madam, in God's presence I speak: I never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures; yea I can scarcely well abide the tears of my own boys whom my own hand corrects, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping." He added that he would rather endure her tears, however, than remain silent and "betray my Commonwealth". At this, Mary ordered him out of the room.
Knox's final encounter with Mary was prompted by an incident at Holyrood. While Mary was absent from Edinburgh on her summer progress in 1563, a crowd forced its way into her private chapel as Mass was being celebrated. During the altercation, the priest's life was threatened. As a result, two of the ringleaders, burgesses of Edinburgh, were scheduled for trial on 24 October 1563. In order to defend these men, Knox sent out letters calling the nobles to convene. Mary obtained one of these letters and asked her advisors if this was not a treasonable act. Stewart and Maitland, wanting to keep good relations with both the Kirk and the Queen, asked Knox to admit he was wrong and to settle the matter quietly. Knox refused and he defended himself in front of Mary and the Privy Council. He argued that he had called a legal, not an illegal, assembly as part of his duties as a minister of the Kirk. After he left, the councillors voted not to charge him with treason.
## Final years in Edinburgh, 1564–1572
On 26 March 1564, Knox stirred controversy again when he married Margaret Stewart, the daughter of an old friend, Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree, a member of the Stuart family and a distant relative of the Queen, Mary Stuart. The marriage was unusual because he was a widower of fifty, while the bride was only seventeen. Very few details are known of their domestic life. They had three daughters, Martha, Margaret, and Elizabeth.
When the General Assembly convened in June 1564, an argument broke out between Knox and Maitland over the authority of the civil government. Maitland told Knox to refrain from stirring up emotions over Mary's insistence on having mass celebrated and he quoted from Martin Luther and John Calvin about obedience to earthly rulers. Knox retorted that the Bible notes that Israel was punished when it followed an unfaithful king and that the Continental reformers were refuting arguments made by the Anabaptists who rejected all forms of government. The debate revealed his waning influence on political events as the nobility continued to support Mary.
After the wedding of Mary and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley on 29 July 1565, some of the Protestant nobles, including James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, rose up in a rebellion known as the "Chaseabout Raid". Knox revealed his own objection to the marriage while preaching in the presence of the new King Consort on 19 August 1565. He made passing allusions to ungodly rulers which caused Darnley to walk out. Knox was summoned and prohibited from preaching while the court was in Edinburgh.
On 9 March 1566, Mary's secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered by conspirators loyal to Darnley. Mary escaped from Edinburgh to Dunbar and by 18 March returned with a formidable force. Knox fled to Kyle in Ayrshire, where he completed the major part of his magnum opus, History of the Reformation in Scotland. When he returned to Edinburgh, he found the Protestant nobles divided over what to do with Mary. Lord Darnley had been murdered and the Queen almost immediately married the chief suspect, the Earl of Bothwell. The indictment of murder thus upon her, she was forced to abdicate and was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. Lord Moray had become the regent of King James VI. Other old friends of Knox, Lord Argyll and William Kirkcaldy, stood by Mary. On 29 July 1567, Knox preached James VI's coronation sermon at the church of the Holy Rude in Stirling. During this period Knox thundered against her in his sermons, even to the point of calling for her death. However, Mary's life was spared, and she escaped on 2 May 1568.
The fighting in Scotland continued as a civil war. Lord Moray was assassinated on 23 January 1570. The regent who succeeded him, the Earl of Lennox, was also a victim of violence. On 30 April 1571, the controller of Edinburgh Castle, Kirkcaldy of Grange, ordered all enemies of the Queen to leave the city. But for Knox, his former friend and fellow galley slave, he made an exception. If Knox did not leave, he could stay in Edinburgh, but only if he remained captive in the castle. Knox chose to leave, and on 5 May he left for St Andrews. He continued to preach, spoke to students, and worked on his History. At the end of July 1572, after a truce was called, he returned to Edinburgh. Although by this time exceedingly feeble and his voice faint, he continued to preach at St Giles'.
After inducting his successor, James Lawson of Aberdeen, as minister of St Giles' on 9 November, Knox returned to his home for the last time. With his friends and some of the greatest Scottish nobles around him, he asked for the Bible to be read aloud. On his last day, 24 November 1572, his young wife read from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. A testimony to Knox was pronounced at his grave in the churchyard of St Giles' by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, and newly elected regent of Scotland: "Here lies one who never feared any flesh". After the churchyard's destruction in 1633 the precise site of Knox's grave cannot be established.
## Legacy
In his will, Knox claimed: "None have I corrupted, none have I defrauded; merchandise have I not made." The paltry sum of money Knox bequeathed to his family, which would have left them in dire poverty, showed that he had not profited from his work in the Kirk. The regent, Lord Morton, asked the General Assembly to continue paying his stipend to his widow for one year after his death, and the regent ensured that Knox's dependents were decently supported.
Knox was survived by his five children and his second wife. Nathaniel and Eleazar, his two sons by his first wife, attended St John's College, Cambridge. Nathaniel became a Fellow of St John's but died early in 1580. Eleazar was ordained into the Church of England and served in the parish of Clacton Magna. He also died young and was buried in the chapel of St John's College in 1591. Knox's second wife, Margaret Knox, married a second time, to Andrew Ker, who was one of those involved in the murder of David Rizzio. Knox's three daughters also married: Martha to Alexander Fairlie; Margaret to Zachary Pont, son of Robert Pont and brother of Timothy Pont; and Elizabeth to John Welsh, a minister of the Kirk.
Knox's death was barely noticed at the time. Although his funeral was attended by the nobles of Scotland, no major politician or diplomat mentioned his death in their surviving letters. Mary, Queen of Scots, made only two brief references to him in her letters. However, what the rulers feared were Knox's ideas more than Knox himself. He was a successful reformer and it was this philosophy of reformation that had a great impact on the English Puritans. He has also been described as having contributed to the struggle for genuine human freedom, by teaching a duty to oppose unjust government in order to bring about moral and spiritual change. His epitaph reads: "Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man." This is a reference to Matthew 10:28.
Knox was notable not so much for the overthrow of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, but for assuring the replacement of the established Christian religion with Presbyterianism rather than Anglicanism. It was thanks to Knox that the Presbyterian polity was established, though it took 120 years following his death for this to be achieved in 1689. Meanwhile, he accepted the status quo and was happy to see his friends appointed bishops and archbishops, even preaching at the inauguration of the Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews John Douglas in 1571. In that regard, Knox is considered the notional founder of the Presbyterian denomination, whose members number millions worldwide.
A bust of Knox, by David Watson Stevenson, is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in Stirling.
## Selected works
- An Epistle to the Congregation of the Castle of St Andrews; with a Brief Summary of Balnaves on Justification by Faith (1548)
- A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry (1550)
- A Godly Letter of Warning or Admonition to the Faithful in London, Newcastle, and Berwick (1554)
- Certain Questions Concerning Obedience to Lawful Magistrates with Answers by Henry Bullinger (1554)
- A Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth in England (1554)
- A Narrative of the Proceedings and Troubles of the English Congregation at Frankfurt on the Maine (1554–1555)
- A Letter to the Queen Dowager, Regent of Scotland (1556)
- A Letter of Wholesome Counsel Addressed to his Brethren in Scotland (1556)
- The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments Used in the English Congregation at Geneva (1556)
- The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women (1558)
- A Letter to the Queen Dowager, Regent of Scotland: Augmented and Explained by the Author (1558)
- The Appellation from the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland (1558)
- A Letter Addressed to the Commonalty of Scotland (1558)
- On Predestination in Answer to the Cavillations by an Anabaptist (1560)
- The History of the Reformation in Scotland (1586–1587) |
16,066,169 | The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. | 1,107,882,709 | 1981 novella by George Steiner | [
"1981 British novels",
"Books by George Steiner",
"British novellas",
"Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler",
"English philosophical novels",
"Faber and Faber books",
"Novels about Adolf Hitler",
"Novels about Nazi hunters",
"PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction-winning works",
"Simon & Schuster books"
]
| The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. is a 1981 literary and philosophical novella by George Steiner. The story is about Jewish Nazi hunters who find a fictional Adolf Hitler (A.H.) alive in the Amazon jungle thirty years after the end of World War II. The book was controversial, particularly among reviewers and Jewish scholars, because the author allows Hitler to defend himself when he is put on trial in the jungle by his captors. There Hitler maintains that Israel owes its existence to the Holocaust and that he is the "benefactor of the Jews".
The novella was first published in a literary magazine, The Kenyon Review in 1979. After some minor revisions by Steiner, it was published in the United Kingdom in May 1981 as a paperback original by Faber and Faber, and in the United States in hardcover in April 1982 by Simon & Schuster. Adapted for the theatre by British playwright Christopher Hampton, it was staged in London in 1982 and in Hartford, Connecticut a year later. The productions generated further controversy, resulting in public pickets and condemnation being levelled against Steiner.
A central theme of The Portage is the nature of language, and revolves around Steiner's lifelong work on the subject and his fascination in the power and terror of human speech. Other themes include the philosophical and moral analysis of history, justice, guilt and revenge. Steiner makes no attempt to explain Hitler, but rather enters into a dialogue with him.
Reaction to the book was mixed: in a review in Time magazine, Otto Friedrich described it as "a philosophic fantasy of remarkable intensity", whereas John Leonard of The New York Times called Hitler's speech at the end of the book "obscene", and said Steiner's decision to leave it unchallenged "makes me sick to my stomach." Similarly, many readers and theatre-goers were disturbed by Steiner's fictional Hitler, and the author admitted that his character had got the better of him. Despite the controversy, The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. was a 1983 finalist in the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
## Plot
From his base in Tel Aviv, Holocaust survivor Emmanuel Lieber directs a group of Jewish Nazi hunters in search of Adolf Hitler. Lieber believes that the former Führer is still alive, and following rumours and hearsay, he tracks Hitler's movements through South America. After months of wading through swamps in the Amazon jungle, the search party finds the 90-year-old alive in a clearing. Lieber flies to San Cristóbal where he awaits the group's return with their captive. But getting the old man out of the jungle alive is more difficult than getting in, and their progress is further hampered by heavy thunderstorms.
Meanwhile, broken and incoherent radio messages between Lieber and the search party are intercepted by intelligence agents tracking their progress, and rumours begin to spread across the world of Hitler's capture. Debates flare up over his impending trial, where it will be held and under whose jurisdiction. Orosso is identified as the nearest airfield to the last known location of the search party, and aircraft begin arriving at the hitherto unknown town. But when the search party loses radio contact with Lieber, they must make a decision to either wait out the storms and deliver their captive to Lieber later, or try Hitler in the jungle. They choose the latter, given that they would likely lose control of the situation if they attempted to transport their prisoner. Against Lieber's advice ("You must not let him speak ... his tongue is like no other") they prepare for a trial with a judge, prosecution and defence attorneys selected from the members of the search party. Teku, a local Indian tracker, is asked to observe the trial as an independent witness.
The attention Hitler receives renews his strength, and when the trial begins, he brushes aside his "defence attorney" and begins a long speech in four parts in his own defence:
1. First, Hitler claims he took his doctrines from the Jews and copied the notion of the master race from the Chosen people and their need to separate themselves from the "unclean". "My racism is a parody of yours, a hungry imitation."
2. Next, Hitler justifies the Final Solution by maintaining that the Jews' God, purer than any other, enslaves His subjects, continually demanding more than they can give and "blackmailing" them with ideals that cannot be attained. The "virus of utopia" had to be stopped.
3. Hitler then states that he was not the originator of evil. "[Stalin] had perfected genocide" (Soviet famine of 1932–33) "when I was still a nameless scribbler in Munich." Further, Hitler asserts that the number of lives lost due to his actions are dwarfed by various world atrocities, including those in Russia, China and Africa.
4. Finally, Hitler maintains that the Reich begat Israel and suggests that he is the Messiah "whose infamous deeds were allowed by God in order to bring His people home." He closes by asking, "Should you not honour me who have made ... Zion a reality?"
At the end of his speech, Teku, who "had not understood the words, only their meaning", is the first to react and jumps up shouting "Proven". But he is drowned out by the appearance of a helicopter over the clearing.
## Main characters
- Emmanuel Lieber – Jewish Holocaust survivor and director of the search party to find Hitler; after crawling out of a death pit in Bialka he never took the time to mend and embarked on a life-consuming obsession to bring those responsible for the genocide to justice.
- Search party (all Jewish with family ties to the Holocaust, except for John Asher)
- Simeon – search party leader and "presiding judge" at Hitler's trial; he is Lieber's confidant and torn between leading the party into "unmapped quicksand and green bogs" and turning his back on the "quiet mania of Lieber's conviction".
- Gideon Benasseraf – falls ill and dies before the trial begins; during one of his fever-induced ramblings he suggests that Hitler is Jewish; he had sought out Lieber after being released from a sanatorium and spending three years recuperating in Paris where the care-free living consumed him with guilt.
- Elie Barach – Orthodox Jew and "prosecution attorney" at the trial; he is the moral compass of the group, but his convictions are disturbed by Gideon Benasseraf's fever-induced assertions that Hitler is Jewish and ends up believing that Hitler may be the second Messiah.
- Isaac Amsel – an 18-year-old boy and witness at the trial; he is the son of Isaac Amsel senior, former member of the search party killed earlier in a skirmish in São Paulo; he joined the party to avenge his father's death.
- John Asher – half-Jewish and reluctant "defence attorney" at the trial; fascinated by the capture of Martin Bormann and the rumours circulating that Hitler may be alive, he had approached Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal who directed him to Lieber; despite being an "outsider" (no ties to the Holocaust) Lieber assigned him to the search party because of his military training and his clear-headedness ("no metaphysical lusts, no cravings for retribution").
- Teku – local Indian tracker and independent witness at the trial; previously the search party's guide who had abandoned them when they insisted on entering uncharted regions of the jungle, he continued tracking them from a distance before revealing himself.
- Adolf Hitler – now 90 years old, the former leader of the Third Reich had not died in the Führerbunker in Berlin, but escaped to South America and hid in the Amazon jungle.
## Background and publication
George Steiner, academic, philosopher, writer and literary critic for The New Yorker and The New York Times, had written about the Holocaust in some of his previous books, including Anno Domini (1964), Language and Silence (1967) and In Bluebeard's Castle (1971). Many of the ideas Steiner expresses in The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. were drawn from these earlier works. Steiner told New York Times editor D. J. R. Bruckner that this book arose out of his lifelong work on language. "Central to everything I am and believe and have written is my astonishment ... that you can use human speech both to bless, to love, to build, to forgive and also to torture, to hate, to destroy and to annihilate."
Steiner wrote The Portage in 1975 and 1976 in Geneva, Switzerland, and the 120-page work originally appeared in the Spring 1979 issue of the US literary magazine, The Kenyon Review. An abridged version was published in the Spring 1980 issue of Granta, the British literary magazine. Its first publication in book form, with minor revisions by Steiner, was in May 1981 by Faber and Faber in the UK and, as requested by Steiner, it was a paperback original. The first US edition was published in hardcover in April 1982 by Simon & Schuster. The Portage has been translated into several languages, including French, German, Hebrew, Italian and Swedish.
Commenting on the controversy the book generated, Steiner admitted to literary journalist and critic Ron Rosenbaum (author of Explaining Hitler) that he too was disturbed by it, adding that his fictional Hitler had got the better of him, "golem- or Frankenstein-like". He said that it felt like the book "wrote me". Steiner also pointed out that the novella is not only about his thoughts on the Holocaust, but also about the horrific events that took place in countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, El Salvador and Burundi: "My feeling is that one has to grapple with the abyss if one can." In his 1997 memoir, Errata: An Examined Life, Steiner remarked that had he known what the response to The Portage and its stage interpretation would be, he would have made the novella "my foremost business".
## Stage adaptations
The only work of fiction by Steiner to have been adapted for the stage, The Portage was reworked in 1982 by British playwright Christopher Hampton. It was staged in April 1982 at London's Mermaid Theatre under the direction of John Dexter with Alec McCowen playing the part of Adolf Hitler. McCowen won the 1982 Evening Standard Theatre Award for best actor for this performance. The production generated "a storm of controversy". In "Stage Nazis: The Politics and Aesthetics of Memory", Robert Skloot described the play as "a rarely articulated fantasy about the causes of genocide" that "test[s] the limits of personal tolerance". He wrote that Steiner was "intentionally provocative" in choosing Hitler for the search party to pursue, and Hampton exploited this by giving the former Führer 25 minutes to present his case. Skloot added that while Hitler's speech is "a hodgepodge of misinformation, mendacity and slander", its delivery is captivating.
In 1983 the production moved to the US where it played at the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, Connecticut, directed by Mark Lamos and starring John Cullum as Hitler. At this premiere, Cullum's 25-minute speech at the end of the play was described by Mel Gussow in The New York Times as "a Wagnerian intensity without resorting to histrionics" that "almost succeeds in that most difficult of tasks—humanizing Hitler". In World Literature Today, Bettina L. Knapp wrote that the play presented theatre-goers with the dilemma: what would you do with Hitler were he to surface today? Skloot noted that while the "facts" in Steiner's work are pure fiction, the play confronts the audience with an event that cannot be resolved with traditional "logic, facticity and morality". Responding to theatre critics who objected to Hitler having the last word, Steiner said he wanted the audience to refute the former dictator's claims themselves.
## Controversy
The Portage generated considerable controversy because of its apparent "admiration for Hitler". The controversy grew further when the stage adaptation of the book ("too faithful", according to Steiner) was performed in the UK and the US.
Hitler's speech at the end of the book disturbed many readers and critics. Steiner not only lets Hitler justify his past, he allows him the (almost) last word before the outside world invades. The fact that Steiner was Jewish made this speech in particular even more contentious. One critic, while acknowledging that Steiner always saw Hitler as "the incarnation of unprecedented and unparalleled evil", felt that there was no clear distinction in the book between Steiner's own views and those of his fictional Hitler, even going so far as to accuse Steiner, who rejected Jewish nationalism and was a critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, of anti-Semitism.
In contrast, a Time magazine article felt that Steiner's intention for the Hitler speech was to use it to explore his belief "that Hitler wielded language as an almost supernatural force". Steiner articulated this in Lieber's warning in the book that "there shall come a man [who] ... will know the grammar of hell and ... will know the sounds of madness and loathing and make them seem music." Menachem Z. Rosensaft, chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors, said that "Nothing in [The Portage] was a trivialization of the Holocaust or a whitewash".
Rosenbaum remarked that as Hitler's trial in the book ended, so Steiner's trial began, with "manifold and stinging" accusations levelled against him, "from the artistic to the personal". The dramatisation of the novel and the subsequent stage performances escalated the criticism, and led to public pickets. By letting Hitler's "long, insidious, subversive, and disturbing speech" go unchallenged, Steiner was accused of "playing with fire". One of Steiner's most prominent critics, British Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby said:
> In a world historically receptive to any anti-Semitic argument, however crude, to put in Hitler's mouth a powerful rationale for blaming the Jews, however ironically, was feeding the same fires that sent Jews up the chimneys of the death camps.
One of the biggest criticisms Steiner received was that he himself believed what his fictive Hitler said about the Jews. It was also thought that at the end of the London theatre production, the audience were applauding Hitler and not the play.
Steiner responded to criticism that Hitler's speech in the book is unchallenged by saying that it had been done before: for example Satan's speech in Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), and The Grand Inquisitor's speech in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1880). He also reminded the reader that Hitler's speech is balanced out earlier in the book by Lieber's long monologue on the horrors of the Holocaust. Finally, Steiner said that his Hitler (A.H.) is "a fictive figure", and that it is not he who has the last word, but Teku, the Indian tracker, who shouts "Proven". Dominick LaCapra said that Teku's declaration is ambiguous, meaning either Hitler has proved his innocence or his guilt. Steiner explained this ambiguity by adding that Teku is the Hebrew word used to indicate that "there are issues here beyond our wisdom to answer or decide."
## Reception
Reaction to The Portage was mixed. Anthony Burgess in The Observer called it "astonishing", Christopher Booker of The Daily Telegraph described it as a "powerful piece", and English author A. S. Byatt said it was a "masterpiece". In Explaining Hitler (1998), Rosenbaum called The Portage "A Frankenstein story", referring to Steiner's fictive Hitler having taken on a life of its own. Writing in Time magazine, Otto Friedrich described the book as "a philosophic fantasy of remarkable intensity", adding that by not refuting Hitler's speech, Steiner deviates from the horrors of traditional Holocaust literature and ends the book "on a note of bleak ambiguity".
Morris Dickstein of The New York Times was more critical of the book, calling it "a misconceived and badly executed novel, a sideshow distraction from the serious business of thinking through the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi era." He described it as "wearisome", and "suffocate[d]" by too much "fine writing" (belles-lettres). He also complained that the characters are lifeless, and while they each have detailed histories, they are only "verbal figments" that do not separate them from one another. Finally Dickstein noted that because almost all the points of Hitler's speech are drawn from some of Steiner's earlier works, he "unwittingly creates sympathy for Hitler by making him old and pathetic yet also lucid and brilliant—at once absurdly harmless and unconvincingly dangerous."
In another review in The New York Times John Leonard wrote that while the book has its strong points, "some wit, a catholic disdain, multiplicity of character and a South American swamp-life that terrifies", its weaknesses are that "the characters are really ideas, ... the symbols clash and there are too many echoes of better books by Kafka and Proust". But Leonard's biggest criticism of the book was Hitler's speech, which he called "obscene", and Steiner's decision to end the book at that point, which Leonard said "not only denies the power of art to arrange and transcend, but ... makes me sick to my stomach."
Writing in the American literary magazine Salmagundi, Alvin H. Rosenfeld called The Portage a "breakthrough work" that "astonishes". He was struck by the book's interplay between the landscape of swamp and jungle, and the "landscape of speech"—the former being "brilliantly registered" with its "immense feeling of physicality", and the latter, "even more dramatic" in the way it exposes "the dark underside of words" and how its use and misuse reveals the true nature of a person. He was particularly impressed by the depiction of Nazi hunter Emmanuel Lieber and his role as representative of the Jewish consciousness. Rosenfeld noted that while Holocaust literature often either soars to "expostulation and apostrophe", or sinks to "a dwindling sob of elegiac lament", Steiner's Lieber "mediates between these two extremes, ... simultaneously records and mourns, coldly enumerates yet carries an immense affect". What concerned the reviewer was the way Steiner used ideas from his earlier works, that he had put them "virtually verbatim" into Hitler's mouth, creating the impression that "Steiner's understanding of Hitler were identical with the latter's self-understanding". Rosenfeld also questioned why the book had to end with Hitler's speech. He said that Steiner's fictive Hitler plays "the devil's game of language subversion", making "madness [sound] like music", something the real Hitler had perfected. By stopping at this point, Rosenfeld felt that Steiner "succumb[s], rhetorically, to the seductive eloquence of negation", which undermines his own "high standards of moral intelligence". But overall Rosenfeld said The Portage "must be counted among the most vigorous attempts to portray the presence and meaning of Hitler", forcing us to confront him "in a way hardly seen before in fiction".
The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. was a finalist in the 1983 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
## Themes
A central theme of The Portage is the nature of language. Rosenbaum says that Steiner's "fascination and ... distrust of speech, the love and hate for the power and terror of language, has been at the very heart of [his] remarkable career as literary prodigy and prodigal." Steiner told Rosenbaum that "in the German language, Hitler drew on a kind of rhetorical power which, in a way that is perhaps a little bit peculiar to German, allies highly abstract concepts with political, physical violence in a most unusual way". Hitler's genius lay "not so much in the written word, but the embodied voice", which Steiner described as "mesmeric". Rosenbaum notes that Steiner describes Hitler as "a kind of medium for the evil genius of the German language itself" and that his language is "like 'antimatter' to ordinary language".
Margaret Burton sees the language in the book as polarised between "a venue for truth" and "a source of destruction", with Lieber representing the former, and Hitler the latter. Bryan Cheyette considers that Steiner is not contrasting Lieber and Hitler, but is "portraying them as part of the same dialect", and that they reflect a dichotomy in Steiner himself. Alexander M. Sidorkin argues that Steiner's approach to Hitler was not to attempt to explain him, but rather to "enter ... into a dialogue" with him, a "dialogue with evil". Sidorkin suggests that Steiner had to "explore his own inner Hitler", his suppressed prejudices, to bring Hitler's speech to life.
Other themes in The Portage include the philosophical and moral analysis of history, justice, guilt and revenge. Having captured one of the world's greatest enemies, his Jewish captors are forced to examine their feelings on the situation they find themselves in. Hitler's historical significance features prominently in the book, and the recurring questions surrounding the meaning of Hitler, which Steiner makes no attempt to answer, surface periodically. Norwegian literary scholar Jakob Lothe felt that Steiner's attempts to dramatise these complex issues fail because his fiction "is too poor" for it to be effective.
## See also
- Adolf Hitler in popular culture
- The Holocaust in the arts and popular culture |
4,758,074 | Hoxne Hoard | 1,168,386,481 | Roman hoard found in England | [
"1992 archaeological discoveries",
"1992 in England",
"Archaeological sites in Suffolk",
"History of Suffolk",
"Hoards from Roman Britain",
"Hoards of jewellery",
"Hoxne",
"Metal detecting finds in England",
"Romano-British objects in the British Museum",
"Treasure troves in England",
"Treasure troves of Roman Britain",
"Treasure troves of late antiquity"
]
| The Hoxne Hoard (/ˈhɒksən/ HOK-sən) is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere within the former Roman Empire. It was found by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England in 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver, and bronze coins and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery. The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (about £ in ).
The hoard was buried in an oak box or small chest filled with items in precious metal, sorted mostly by type, with some in smaller wooden boxes and others in bags or wrapped in fabric. Remnants of the chest and fittings, such as hinges and locks, were recovered in the excavation. The coins of the hoard date it after AD 407, which coincides with the end of Britain as a Roman province. The owners and reasons for burial of the hoard are unknown, but it was carefully packed and the contents appear consistent with what a single very wealthy family might have owned. It is likely that the hoard represents only a part of the wealth of its owner, given the lack of large silver serving vessels and of some of the most common types of jewellery.
The Hoxne Hoard contains several rare and important objects, such as a gold body-chain and silver-gilt pepper-pots (piperatoria), including the Empress pepper pot. The hoard is also of particular archaeological significance because it was excavated by professional archaeologists with the items largely undisturbed and intact. The find helped to improve the relationship between metal detectorists and archaeologists, and influenced a change in English law regarding finds of treasure.
## Archaeological history
### Discovery and initial excavation
The hoard was discovered in a farm field southwest of the village of Hoxne in Suffolk on 16 November 1992. Tenant farmer Peter Whatling had lost a hammer and asked his friend Eric Lawes, a retired gardener and amateur metal detectorist, to help look for it. While searching the field with his metal detector, Lawes discovered silver spoons, gold jewelry, and numerous gold and silver coins. After retrieving a few items, he and Whatling notified the landowners (Suffolk County Council) and the police without attempting to dig out any more objects.
The following day, a team of archaeologists from the Suffolk Archaeological Unit carried out an emergency excavation of the site. The entire hoard was excavated in a single day, with the removal of several large blocks of unbroken material for laboratory excavation. The area was searched with metal detectors within a radius of 30 metres (98 ft) from the find spot. Peter Whatling's missing hammer was also recovered and donated to the British Museum.
The hoard was concentrated in a single location, within the completely decayed remains of a wooden chest. The objects had been grouped within the chest; for example, pieces such as ladles and bowls were stacked inside one another, and other items were grouped in a way consistent with being held within an inner box. Some items had been disturbed by burrowing animals and ploughing, but the overall amount of disturbance was low. It was possible to determine the original layout of the artefacts within the container, and the existence of the container itself, due to Lawes' prompt notification of the find, which allowed it to be excavated in situ by professional archaeologists.
The excavated hoard was taken to the British Museum. The discovery was leaked to the press, and the Sun newspaper ran a front-page story on 19 November, alongside a picture of Lawes with his metal detector. The full contents of the hoard and its value were still unknown, yet the newspaper article claimed that it was worth £10 million. In response to the unexpected publicity, the British Museum held a press conference at the museum on 20 November to announce the discovery. Newspapers lost interest in the hoard quickly, allowing British Museum curators to sort, clean, and stabilise it without further disruption from the press. The initial cleaning and basic conservation was completed within a month of its discovery.
### Inquest and valuation
A coroner's inquest was held at Lowestoft on 3 September 1993, and the hoard was declared a treasure trove, meaning that it was deemed to have been hidden with the intention of being recovered at a later date. Under English common law, anything declared as such belongs to the Crown if no one claims title to it. The customary practice at the time was to reward anyone who found and promptly reported a treasure trove with money equivalent to its market value, the money being provided by the national institution that wished to acquire the treasure. In November 1993, the Treasure Trove Reviewing Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (about £ in ), which was paid to Lawes as finder of the treasure, and he shared it with farmer Peter Whatling. The Treasure Act 1996 was later enacted, allowing the finder, tenant, and landowner to share in any reward.
### Subsequent archaeological investigations
The Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service surveyed the field in September 1993, after it was ploughed, finding four gold coins and 81 silver coins, all considered part of the same hoard. Both earlier Iron Age and later mediaeval materials were also discovered, but there was no evidence of a Roman settlement in the vicinity.
A follow-up excavation of the field was carried out by the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service in 1994, in response to illegal metal detecting near the hoard find. The hoard burial hole was re-excavated, and a single post hole was identified at the southwest corner; this may have been the location of a marker post to enable the depositors of the cache to locate and recover it in the future. Soil was removed in 10 cm (3.9 in) spits for analysis in the area 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft) around the find spot, and metal detectors were used to locate metal artefacts. This excavation recovered 335 items dating to the Roman period, mostly coins but also some box fittings. A series of late Bronze Age or early Iron Age post holes were found which may have formed a structure. However, no structural features of the Roman period were detected.
The coins discovered during the 1994 investigation were spread out in an ellipse centred on the hoard find spot, running east–west up to a distance of 20 metres (66 ft) on either side. This distribution can be explained by the fact that the farmer carried out deep ploughing in 1990 in an east–west direction on the part of the field where the hoard was found. The farmer had ploughed in a north–south direction since 1967 or 1968, when the land was cleared for agricultural use, but the absence of coins north and south of the find spot suggests that the ploughing before 1990 had not disturbed the hoard.
## Items discovered
The hoard is mainly made up of gold and silver coins and jewellery, amounting to a total of 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb) of gold and 23.75 kilograms (52.4 lb) of silver. It had been placed in a wooden chest, made mostly or entirely of oak, that measured approximately 60×45×30 cm (23.6×17.7×11.8 in). Within the chest, some objects had evidently been placed in smaller boxes made of yew and cherry wood, while others had been packed in with woollen cloth or hay. The chest and the inner boxes had decayed almost completely after being buried, but fragments of the chest and its fittings were recovered during the excavation. The main objects found are:
- 569 gold coins (solidi)
- 14,272 silver coins, comprising 60 miliarenses and 14,212 siliquae
- 24 bronze coins (nummi)
- 29 items of jewellery in gold
- 98 silver spoons and ladles
- A silver tigress, made as a handle for a vessel
- 4 silver bowls and a small dish
- 1 silver beaker
- 1 silver vase or juglet
- 4 pepper pots, including the "Empress" Pepper Pot
- Toiletry items such as toothpicks
- 2 silver locks from the decayed remains of wooden or leather caskets
- Traces of various organic materials, including a small ivory pyxis
### Coins
The Hoxne Hoard contains 569 gold solidi, struck between the reigns of Valentinian I (364–75) and Honorius (393–423); 14,272 silver coins, including 60 miliarenses and 14,212 siliquae, struck between the reigns of Constantine II (337–40) and Honorius; and 24 bronze nummi. It is the most significant coin find from the end of Roman Britain and contains all major denominations of coinage from that time, as well as many examples of clipped silver coinage typical of late Roman Britain. The only find from Roman Britain with a larger number of gold coins was the Eye Hoard found in 1780 or 1781, for which there are poor records. The largest single Romano-British hoard was the Cunetio Hoard of 54,951 third-century coins, but these were debased radiates with little precious-metal content. The Frome Hoard was unearthed in Somerset in April 2010 containing 52,503 coins minted between 253 and 305, also mostly debased silver or bronze. Larger hoards of Roman coins have been found at Misrata, Libya and reputedly also at Evreux, France (100,000 coins) and Komin, Croatia (300,000 coins).
The gold solidi are all close to their theoretical weight of 4.48 g (1⁄72 of a Roman pound). The fineness of a solidus in this period was 99% gold. The total weight of the solidi in the hoard is almost exactly 8 Roman pounds, suggesting that the coins had been measured out by weight rather than number. Analysis of the siliquae suggests a range of fineness of between 95% and 99% silver, with the highest percentage of silver found just after a reform of the coinage in 368. Of the siliquae, 428 are locally produced imitations, generally of high quality and with as much silver as the official siliquae of the period. However, a handful are cliché forgeries where a core of base metal has been wrapped in silver foil.
#### Historical spread and minting
Coins are the only items in the Hoxne Hoard for which a definite date and place of manufacture can be established. All of the gold coins, and many of the silver coins, bear the names and portraits of the emperor in whose reign they were minted. Most also retain the original mint marks that identify where they were minted, illustrating the Roman system of regional mints producing coins to a uniform design. The coins' manufacture has been traced back to a total of 14 sources: Trier, Arles and Lyon (in Gaul), Ravenna, Milan, Aquileia, Rome (in modern Italy); Siscia (modern Croatia), Sirmium (modern Serbia), Thessaloniki (Greece), Constantinople, Cyzicus, Nicomedia, and Antioch (modern Turkey).
The coins were minted under three dynasties of Roman emperors. The earliest are the successors of the Constantinian dynasty, followed by the Valentinianic emperors, and finally the Theodosian emperors. The collegiate system of rule (or Consortium imperii) meant that imperial partners would mint coins in each other's names at the mints under their jurisdiction. The overlapping reigns of Eastern and Western emperors often allow changes of type to be dated to within part of a reign. So the latest coins in the hoard, of Western ruler Honorius (393–423) and his challenger Constantine III (407–11), can be demonstrated to belong to the earlier parts of their reigns as they correspond to the lifetime of the Eastern Emperor Arcadius, who died in 408. Thus, the coins provide a terminus post quem or earliest possible date for the deposition of the hoard of 408.
The siliquae in the Hoard were struck mainly at Western mints in Gaul and Italy. It is unknown whether this is because coins from further East rarely reached Britain through trade, or because the Eastern mints rarely struck siliquae. The production of coins seems to follow the location of the Imperial court at the time; for instance, the concentration of Trier coins is much greater after 367, perhaps associated with Gratian moving his court to Trier.
#### Clipping of the silver coins
Almost every silver siliqua in the hoard had its edge clipped to some degree. This is typical of Roman silver coin finds of this period in Britain, although clipped coins are very unusual through the rest of the Roman Empire. The clipping process invariably leaves the imperial portrait intact on the front of the coin but often damages the mint mark, inscription, and image on the reverse.
The possible reasons for clipping coins are controversial. Possible explanations include fraud, a deliberate attempt to maintain a stable ratio between gold and silver coins, or an official attempt to provide a new source of silver bullion while maintaining the same number of coins in circulation.
The huge number of clipped coins in the Hoxne Hoard has made it possible for archaeologists to observe the process of coin-clipping in detail. The coins were evidently cut face-up to avoid damaging the portrait. The average level of clipping is roughly the same for coins dating from 350 onwards.
### Gold jewellery
All the jewellery in the hoard is gold, and all gold items in the hoard are jewellery, other than the coins. None of the jewellery is unequivocally masculine, although several pieces might have been worn by either sex, such as the rings. There are one body chain, six necklaces, three rings, and nineteen bracelets. The total weight of the gold jewellery is about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), and the average metal content of the jewellery pieces is 91.5% gold (about 22 carat), with small proportions of silver and copper in the metal.
The most important gold item in the hoard is the body chain, which consists of four finely looped gold chains, made using the "loop-in-loop" method called "fox tail" in modern jewellery, and attached at front and back to plaques. At the front, the chains have terminals in the shape of lions' heads and the plaque has jewels mounted in gold cells, with a large amethyst surrounded by four smaller garnets alternating with four empty cells which probably held pearls that have decayed. At the back, the chains meet at a mount centred on a gold solidus of Gratian (r. 375–383) which has been converted from an earlier use, probably as a pendant, and which may have been a family heirloom. Body chains of this type appear in Roman art, sometimes on the goddess Venus or on nymphs; some examples have erotic contexts, but they are also worn by respectable high-ranking ladies. They may have been regarded as a suitable gift for a bride. The Hoxne body chain, worn tightly, would fit a woman with a bust-size of 76–81 cm (30–32 in). Few body chains have survived; one of the most complete is from the early Byzantine era, found in Egypt, and it also is in the British Museum.
One of the necklaces features lion-headed terminals, and another includes stylised dolphins. The other four are relatively plain loop-in-loop chains, although one has a Chi-Rho symbol (☧) on the clasp, the only Christian element in the jewellery. Necklaces of similar lengths would normally be worn in the Roman period with a pendant, but no pendants were found in the hoard. The three rings were originally set with gems, which might have been natural gemstones or pieces of coloured glass; however, these were taken from the rings before they were buried, perhaps for re-use. The rings are of similar design, one with an oval bezel, one with a circular bezel, and one with a large oblong bezel. There were 19 bracelets buried in the hoard, including three matching sets of four made of gold. Many similar bracelets have survived, but sets of four are most unusual; they may have been worn two on each arm, or possibly were shared by two related women. One set has been decorated by corrugating the gold with lateral and transverse grooves; the other two sets bear pierced-work geometric designs. Another five bracelets bear hunting scenes, common in Late Roman decorative art. Three have the designs executed in pierced-work, whereas two others are in repoussé. One bracelet is the sole gold item in the hoard to carry an inscription; it reads: "VTERE FELIX DOMINA IVLIANE" in Latin, meaning "Use happily, Lady Juliane". The expression utere felix (or sometimes uti felix) is the second most common inscriptional formula on items from Roman Britain and is used to wish good luck, well-being, and joy. The formula is not specifically Christian, but it sometimes occurs in an explicitly Christian context, for example, together with a Chi-Rho symbol.
The jewellery may have represented the "reserve" items rarely or never used from the collection of a wealthy woman or family. Some of the most common types of jewellery are absent, such as brooches, pendants, and earrings. Items set with gems are notably missing, although they were very much in the taste of the day. Catherine Johns, former Senior Curator for Roman Britain at the British Museum, speculates that the current or favourite jewellery of the owner was not included in the hoard.
### Silver items
The hoard contains about 100 silver and silver-gilt items; the number is imprecise because there are unmatched broken parts. They include a statuette of a leaping tigress, made as a handle for an object such as a jug or lamp; four pepper-pots (piperatoria); a beaker; a vase or juglet (a small jug); four bowls; a small dish; and 98 silver spoons and ladles. The beaker and juglet are decorated with similar leaf and stem patterns, and the juglet has three gilded bands. In contrast, the small bowls and dish are plain, and it is presumed that the owners of the Hoard had many more such items, probably including the large decorated dishes found in other hoards. Many pieces are gilded in parts to accentuate the decoration. The technique of fire-gilding with mercury was used, as was typical at the time.
#### Piperatoria
The pepper-pots include one vessel, finely modelled after a wealthy or imperial lady, which soon became known as the "Empress" pepper-pot. The woman's hair, jewellery, and clothing are carefully represented, and gilding is used to emphasise many details. She is holding a scroll in her left hand, giving the impression of education as well as wealth. Other pepper-pots in the hoard are modelled into a statue of Hercules and Antaeus, an ibex, and a hare and hound together. Not all such spice dispensers held pepper — they were used to dispense other spices as well — but are grouped in discussions as pepper-pots. Each of those found in this hoard has a mechanism in the base to rotate an internal disc, which controls the aperture of two holes in the base. When fully open, the containers could have been filled using a funnel; when part-open they could have been shaken over food or drink to add the spices.
Piperatorium is generally translated as pepper-pot, and black pepper is considered the most likely condiment these were used for. Pepper is only one of a number of expensive, high-status spices which these vessels might have dispensed, however. The piperatoria are rare examples of this type of Roman silverware, and according to Johns the Hoxne finds have "significantly expanded the date range, the typology and the iconographic scope of the type". The trade and use of pepper in this period has been supported with evidence of mineralized black pepper at three Northern Province sites recovered in the 1990s, and from the Vindolanda tablets which record the purchase of an unspecified quantity of pepper for two denarii. Archaeological sites with contemporary finds have revealed spices, including coriander, poppy, celery, dill, summer savory, mustard, and fennel.
> They just couldn't get enough of it, wars were fought over it. And if you look at Roman recipes, every one starts with: 'Take pepper and mix with ...' (Christine McFadden, food writer)
>
> When the Romans came to Britain they brought a lot of material culture and a lot of habits with them that made the people of Britain feel Roman; they identified with the Roman culture. Wine was one of these – olive oil was another – and pepper would have been a more valuable one in this same sort of 'set' of Romanitas. (Roberta Tomber, British Museum Visiting Fellow)
>
> So regularly filling a large silver pepper pot like ours would have taken its toll on the grocery bills. And the household that owned our pepper pot had another three silver pots, for pepper or other spice – one shaped as Hercules in action, and two in the shape of animals. This is dizzying extravagance, the stuff of bankers' bonuses. But the pepper pots are just a tiny part of the great hoard of buried treasure. (Neil MacGregor, British Museum Director)
#### Other silver pieces
The tigress is a solid-cast statuette weighing 480 grams (17 oz) and measuring 15.9 cm (6.3 in) from head to tail. She was designed to be soldered onto some other object as its handle; traces of tin were found beneath her rear paws, which have a "smoothly concave curve". She looks most aesthetically pleasing when the serpentine curves of her head, back, rump, and tail form a line at an angle of about 45°, when the rear paws are flat, allowing for their curve. Her gender is obvious as there are six engorged teats under her belly. She is carefully decorated on her back, but her underside is "quite perfunctorily finished". Her stripes are represented by two engraved lines, with a black niello inlay between them, in most places not meeting the engraved lines. Neither her elongated body, nor the distribution of the stripes are accurate for the species; she has a long dorsal stripe running from the skull along the spine to the start of the tail, which is typical of tabby cats rather than tigers. The figure has no stripes around her tail, which thickens at the end, suggesting a thick fur tip as in a lion's tail, which tigers do not have, although Roman art usually gives them one.
The large collection of spoons includes 51 cochlearia, which are small spoons with shallow bowls and long, tapering handles with a pointed end which was used to pierce eggs and spear small pieces of food—as the Romans did not use forks at the table. There are 23 cigni, which are much rarer, having large rather shallow spoons with shorter, bird-headed handles; and about 20 deep round spoons or small ladles and strainer-spoons. Many are decorated with abstract motifs and some with dolphins or fanciful marine creatures. Many of the spoons are decorated with a Christian monogram cross or Chi-Rho symbol, and sometimes, also with the Greek letters alpha and omega (an appellation for Jesus, who is described as the alpha and omega in the Book of Revelation). Three sets of ten spoons, and several other spoons, are decorated with such Christian symbols. As is often the case with Roman silver spoons, many also have a Latin inscription on them, either simply naming their owner or wishing their owner long life. In total, eight different people are named; seven on the spoons, and one on the single beaker in the hoard: Aurelius Ursicinus, Datianus, Euherius, Faustinus, Peregrinus, Quintus, Sanctus, and Silvicola. The most common name is "Aurelius Ursicinus", which occurs on a set of five cochlearia and five ladles. It is unknown whether any of the people named in these inscriptions would have been involved in hiding the hoard or were even alive at the time it was buried.
Although only one of these inscriptions is explicitly Christian (vivas in deo), inscriptions on silver spoons comprising a name followed by vivas or vivat usually can be identified as Christian in other late Roman hoards; for example the Mildenhall Treasure has five spoons, three with Chi-Rho monograms, and two with vivas inscriptions (PASCENTIA VIVAS and PAPITTEDO VIVAS). The formula vir bone vivas also occurs on a spoon from the Thetford Hoard, but whereas the Thetford Hoard spoons have mostly pagan inscriptions (e.g. Dei Fau[ni] Medugeni "of the god Faunus Medugenus [the Mead begotten]"), the Hoxne Hoard does not have any inscriptions of a specifically pagan nature, and the hoard may be considered to have come from a Christian household (or households). It often is assumed that Roman spoons with Chi-Rho monograms or the vivas in deo formula are either christening spoons (perhaps presented at adult baptism) or were used in the Eucharist ceremony, but that is not certain.
There are also a number of small items of uncertain function, described as toiletry pieces. Some are picks, others perhaps scrapers, and three have empty sockets at one end, which probably contained organic material such as bristle, to make a brush. The size of these would be appropriate for cleaning the teeth or applying cosmetics, among other possibilities.
The average purity of the silver items is 96%. The remainder of the metal is made up of copper and a small amount of zinc, with trace amounts of lead, gold, and bismuth present. The zinc is likely to have been present in a copper brass used to alloy the silver when the objects were made, and the lead, gold, and bismuth probably were present in the unrefined silver ore.
### Iron and organic materials
The iron objects found in the hoard are probably the remains of the outer wooden chest. These consist of large iron rings, double-spiked loops and hinges, strap hinges, probable components of locks, angle brackets, wide and narrow iron strips, and nails.
Organic finds are rarely well documented with hoards because most coin and treasure finds are removed hastily by the finder or have previously been disrupted by farm work rather than excavated. The Hoxne organic finds included bone, wood, other plant material, and leather. Small fragments were found from a decorated ivory pyxis (a cylindrical lidded box), along with more than 150 tiny shaped pieces of bone inlay or veneer, probably from a wooden box or boxes that have decayed. Minuscule fragments of wood adhering to metal objects were identified as belonging to nine species of timber, all native to Britain; wood traces associated with the iron fittings of the outer chest established that it was made of oak. Silver locks and hinges were from two small wooden boxes or caskets, one made of decorative cherry wood and one made of yew. Some wheat straw survived from padding between the plain silver bowls, which also bore faint traces of linen cloth. Leather fragments were too degraded for identification.
## Scientific analysis of finds
The initial metallurgical analysis of the hoard was carried out in late 1992 and early 1993 by Cowell and Hook for the procedural purposes of the coroner's inquest. This analysis used X-ray fluorescence, a technique that was applied again later to cleaned surfaces on specimens.
All 29 items of gold jewellery were analysed, with silver and copper found to be present. Results were typical for Roman silver in hoards of the period, in terms of the presence of copper alloyed with the silver to harden it, and trace elements. One repaired bowl showed a mercury-based solder.
The large armlet of pierced gold (opus interrasile) showed traces of hematite on the reverse side, which probably would have been used as a type of jeweller's rouge. This is the earliest known and documented use of this technique on Roman jewellery. Gilt items showed the presence of mercury, indicating the mercury gilding technique. The black inlay on the cast silver tigress shows the niello technique, but with silver sulphide rather than lead sulphide. The settings of stones where garnet and amethyst remain, in the body chain, have vacant places presumed to be where pearls were set, and show elemental sulphur as adhesive or filler.
## Burial and historical background
The Hoxne Hoard was buried during a period of great upheaval in Britain, marked by the collapse of Roman authority in the province, the departure of the majority of the Roman army, and the first of a wave of attacks by the Anglo-Saxons. Attacks on Italy by the Visigoths around the turn of the fifth century caused the general Stilicho to recall Roman army units from Rhaetia, Gaul, and Britannia. While Stilicho held off the Visigoth attack, the Western provinces were left defenceless against Suebi, Alans, and Vandals who crossed the frozen Rhine in 406 and overran Gaul. The remaining Roman troops in Britain, fearing that the invaders would cross the Channel, elected a series of emperors of their own to lead the defence.
The first two such emperors were put to death by the dissatisfied soldiery in a matter of months, but the third, who would declare himself Constantine III, led a British force across the English Channel to Gaul in his bid to become Roman Emperor. After scoring victories against the "barbarians" in Gaul, Constantine was defeated by an army loyal to Honorius and beheaded in 411. Meanwhile, Constantine's departure had left Britain vulnerable to attacks from Saxon and Irish raiders.
After 410, Roman histories give little information about events in Britain. Writing in the next decade, Saint Jerome described Britain after 410 as a "province fertile of tyrants", suggesting the collapse of central authority and the rise of local leaders in response to repeated raids by Saxons and others. By 452, a Gaulish chronicler was able to state that some ten years previously "the Britons, which to this time had suffered from various disasters and misfortunes, are reduced by the power of the Saxons".
### Burial
Exactly who owned the Hoxne Hoard, and their reasons for burying it, are not known, and probably never will be. However, the hoard itself and its context provide some important clues. The hoard evidently was buried carefully, some distance from any buildings. The hoard very likely represents only a portion of the precious-metal wealth of the person, or people, who owned it; many common types of jewellery are missing, as are large tableware items such as those found in the Mildenhall Treasure. It is unlikely that anyone would have possessed the rich gold and silver items found in the Hoxne Hoard without owning items in those other categories. Whoever owned the hoard also would have had wealth in the form of land, livestock, buildings, furniture, and clothing. At most, the Hoxne Hoard represents a moderate portion of the wealth of someone rich; conversely, it may represent a minuscule fraction of the wealth of a family that was incredibly wealthy.
The appearance of the names "Aurelius Ursicinus" and "Juliane" on items in the Hoxne Hoard need not imply that people by those names owned the rest of the hoard, either at the time of its burial or previously. There are no historical references to an "Aurelius Ursicinus" in Britain in this period. While a "Marcus Aurelius Ursicinus" is recorded in the Praetorian Guard in Rome in the period 222–235, a soldier or official of the late fourth or early fifth century would be more likely to take the imperial nomen Flavius, rather than Aurelius. This leads Tomlin to speculate "The name "Aurelius Ursicinus" might sound old-fashioned; it would certainly have been more appropriate to a provincial landowner than an army officer or government official".
There are a number of theories about why the hoard was buried. One is that the hoard represented a deliberate attempt to keep wealth safe, perhaps in response to one of the many upheavals facing Roman Britain in the early fifth century. This is not the only hypothesis, however. Archaeologist Peter Guest argues that the hoard was buried because the items in it were used as part of a system of gift-exchange, and as Britain separated from the Roman Empire, they were no longer required. A third hypothesis is that the Hoxne Hoard represents the proceeds of a robbery, buried to avoid detection.
### Late Roman hoards
The Hoxne Hoard comes from the later part of a century (c. 350–450) from which an unusually large number of hoards have been discovered, mostly from the fringes of the Empire. Such hoards vary in character, but many include the large pieces of silver tableware lacking in the Hoxne Hoard: dishes, jugs and ewers, bowls and cups, some plain, but many highly decorated. Two other major hoards discovered in modern East Anglia in the last century are from the fourth century; both are now in the British Museum. The Mildenhall Treasure from Suffolk consists of thirty items of silver tableware deposited in the late fourth century, many large and elaborately decorated, such as the "Great Dish". The Water Newton Treasure from Cambridgeshire is smaller, but is the earliest hoard to have a clearly Christian character, apparently belonging to a church or chapel; the assorted collection probably includes items made in Britain. The Kaiseraugst Treasure from the site at Augusta Raurica in modern Switzerland (now in Basel) contained 257 items, including a banqueting service with sophisticated decoration. The Esquiline Treasure, found in Rome, evidently came from a wealthy Roman family of the late fourth century, and includes several large items, including the "Casket of Projecta". Most of the Esquiline Treasure is in the British Museum, as are bowls and dishes from the Carthage Treasure which belonged to a known family in Roman Africa around 400.
The Mildenhall, Kaiseraugst, and Esquiline treasures comprise large items of tableware. Other hoards, such as those found at Thetford and Beaurains, consist mostly of coins, jewellery, and small tableware items; these two hoards probably are pagan votive offerings. A hoard from Traprain Law in Scotland contains decorated Roman silver pieces cut up and folded, showing regard for the value of their metal alone, and may represent loot from a raid.
### Local context
Hoxne, where the hoard was discovered, is located in Suffolk in modern-day East Anglia. Although no large, aristocratic villa has been located in the Hoxne area, there was a Roman settlement nearby from the first through fourth centuries at Scole, about 3.2 km (2.0 mi) north–west of Hoxne, at the intersection of two Roman roads. One of these, Pye Road, (today's A140), linked Venta Icenorum (Caistor St Edmund) to Camulodunum (Colchester) and Londinium (London).
The field in which the hoard was discovered was shown by the 1994 excavation to probably have been cleared by the early Bronze Age, when it began to be used for agriculture and settlement. Some settlement activity occurred near the hoard findspot by the first half of the first millennium BC, but there is no evidence of Roman buildings in the immediate vicinity. The field where the hoard was deposited may have been in cultivation during the early phase of the Roman period but the apparent absence of fourth-century coins suggests that it may have been converted to pasture or else had reverted to woodland by that time.
The Hoxne Hoard is not the only cache of Roman treasure to have been discovered in the area. In 1781 some labourers unearthed a lead box by the river at Clint Farm in Eye, 4.8 km (3.0 mi) south of Scole and 3.2 km (2.0 mi) south–west of Hoxne. The box contained about 600 Roman gold coins dating to the reigns of Valens and Valentinian I (reigned 364–375), Gratian (375–383), Theodosius I (378–395), Arcadius (395–408), and Honorius (393–423). This was the largest hoard of Roman gold coins ever discovered in Britain, but the coins were dispersed during the 18th and 19th centuries, and cannot now easily be identified in coin collections. As a result, the relationship (if any) between the Eye hoard and that in Hoxne cannot be determined, even if the proximity suggests they may have been related.
Soon after the Hoxne Hoard was discovered, there was speculation, based on the name "Faustinus" engraved on one of the spoons, that it may have come from the "Villa Faustini" that is recorded in Itinerary V of the Antonine Itinerary. The exact location of Villa Faustini is unknown, but as it was the first station after Colchester, it is believed to have been somewhere on the Pye Road (modern A140) and one of the possible locations for it is the modern village of Scole, only a couple of miles from Hoxne. This early theory has since been rejected, however, because "Faustinus" was historically a common name, and it only occurs on a single spoon in the hoard. Furthermore, the logic of using inscriptions on individual items in the hoard to determine ownership of the hoard as a whole is considered flawed. Based on the dating of the coins in the hoard, the majority of which belong to the period 394–405, it also has been speculated that the contents of the hoard originally belonged to a military family that accompanied Count Theodosius to Britain in 368–369, and which may have left with Constantine III in 407.
## Acquisition, display, and impact
The hoard was acquired by the British Museum in April 1994. As the Museum's entire purchase fund amounted to only £1.4 million at the time, the hoard had to be purchased with the assistance of donors that included the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Art Collections Fund (now the Art Fund), and the J. Paul Getty Trust. The grants from these and other benefactors enabled the museum to raise the £1.75 million needed for the acquisition.
Items from the hoard have been on display almost continuously since the treasure was received at the British Museum. Some items were displayed at the Museum as early as September 1993 in response to public interest. Much of the hoard was exhibited at Ipswich Museum in 1994–1995. From 1997, the most important items went on permanent display at the British Museum in a new and enlarged Roman Britain gallery (Room 49), alongside the roughly contemporary Thetford Hoard, and adjacent to the Mildenhall Treasure, which contains large silver vessels of types that are absent from the Hoxne Hoard. Some items from the Hoxne Hoard were included in Treasure: Finding Our Past, a touring exhibition that was shown in five cities in England and Wales in 2003. A perspex reconstruction of the chest and inner boxes in which it was deposited was created for this tour, showing the arrangement of the different types of items with sample items inside. It is now part of the permanent display in London, along with other items laid out more traditionally.
The first comprehensive research on the Hoard was published in the full catalogue of the coins by Peter Guest in 2005, and the catalogue of the other objects by Catherine Johns in 2010. The hoard was third in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the 2003 BBC Television documentary Our Top Ten Treasures, which included archive footage of its finder, Eric Lawes, and the "Empress" pepper-pot was selected as item 40 in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects.
The discovery and excavation of the Hoxne Hoard improved the relationship between the archaeological profession and the community of metal detectorists. Archaeologists were pleased that Lawes reported the find promptly and largely undisturbed, allowing a professional excavation. Metal detectorists noted that Lawes' efforts were appreciated by the archaeological profession. The Treasure Act 1996 is thought to have contributed to more hoards being made available to archaeologists. The act changed the law so that the owner of the land and the person who finds the hoard have a strong stake in the value of the discovery. The manner of the finding of the Hoxne Hoard by metal detector, and its widespread publicity, contributed to changing the previous system of common law for dealing with treasure trove into a statutory legal framework that takes into account technology such as metal detectors, provides incentives for treasure hunters to report finds, and considers the interests of museums and scholars.
## See also
- Romano-British culture
- Lava Treasure
- Trier Gold Hoard |
252,950 | Vespro della Beata Vergine | 1,149,404,848 | Musical composition by Claudio Monteverdi | [
"1610 works",
"Baroque compositions",
"Compositions by Claudio Monteverdi",
"Magnificat settings",
"Marian hymns",
"Psalm settings",
"Vespers settings"
]
| Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin), SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice (with a dedication to Pope Paul V dated 1 September 1610) as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata ("Mass for the Most Holy Virgin for six voices, and Vespers for several voices with some sacred songs, suitable for chapels and ducal chambers"), it is sometimes called Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.
Monteverdi composed the music while musician and composer for the Gonzagas, the dukes of Mantua. The libretto is compiled from several Latin Biblical and liturgical texts. The thirteen movements include the introductory Deus in adiutorium, five Psalms, four concertato motets and a vocal sonata on the "Sancta Maria" litany, several differently scored stanzas of the hymn "Ave maris stella", and a choice of two Magnificats. A church performance would have included antiphons in Gregorian chant for the specific feast day. The composition demonstrates Monteverdi's ability to assimilate both the new seconda pratica, such as in the emerging opera, and the old style of the prima pratica, building psalms and Magnificat on the traditional plainchant as a cantus firmus. The composition is scored for up to ten vocal parts and instruments including cornettos, violins, viole da braccio, and basso continuo. Monteverdi travelled to Rome to deliver the composition to the Pope in person, and a partbook is held by the Vatican Library.
No performance during the composer's lifetime can be positively identified from surviving documents, though parts of the work might have been performed at the ducal chapels in Mantua and at San Marco in Venice, where the composer became director of music in 1613. The work received renewed attention from musicologists and performers in the 20th century. They have discussed whether it is a planned composition in a modern sense or a collection of music suitable for Vespers, and have debated the role of the added movements, instrumentation, keys and other issues of historically informed performance. The first recording of excerpts from the Vespers was released in 1953; many recordings that followed presented all the music printed in 1610. In some recordings and performances, antiphons for a given occasion of the church year are added to create a liturgical vespers service, while others strictly present only the printed music. Monteverdi's Vespers are regarded as a unique milestone of music history, at the transition from Renaissance to Baroque.
## History and context
### Monteverdi in Mantua
Monteverdi, who was born in Cremona in 1567, was a court musician for the Gonzaga dukes of Mantua from 1590 to 1612. He began as a viol player under Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga and advanced to become maestro della musica in late 1601. He was responsible for the duke's sacred and secular music, in regular church services and soirées on Fridays, and for extraordinary events. While Monteverdi was court musician in Mantua, the opera genre emerged, first as entertainment for nobility, to become public musical theatre later. The first work now considered as an opera is Jacopo Peri's Dafne of 1597. In the new genre, a complete story was told through characters; as well as choruses and ensembles, the vocal parts included recitative, aria, and arioso. Monteverdi's first opera was L'Orfeo which premiered in 1607. The duke was quick to recognise the potential of this new musical form for bringing prestige to those willing to sponsor it.
Monteverdi wrote the movements of the Vespers piece by piece, while responsible for the ducal services which were held at the Santa Croce chapel at the palace. He completed the large-scale work in 1610. He possibly composed the Vespers aspiring to a better position, and the work demonstrates his abilities as a composer in a great variety of styles. The setting was Monteverdi's first published sacred composition after his initial publications nearly thirty years before and stands out for its assimilation of both the old and the new styles.
### Vespers
The liturgical vespers is an evening prayer service according to the Catholic Officium Divinum (Divine Office). At Monteverdi's time, it was sung in Latin, as were all Catholic services then. A vespers service at the time contained five psalms, a hymn and the Magnificat (Mary's song of praise). The five psalms for Marian feasts (as well as other female saints) begin with Psalm 110 in Hebrew counting, but known to Monteverdi as Psalmus 109 in the numbering of the Vulgate:
The individual psalms and the Magnificat are concluded by the doxology Gloria Patri. The hymn for Marian feasts was "Ave maris stella". Variable elements, changing with the liturgical occasion, are antiphons, inserted before each psalm and the Magnificat, which reflect the specific feast and connect the Old Testament psalms to Christian theology. Vespers are traditionally framed by the opening versicle and response from Psalm 70, and the closing blessing.
On ordinary Sundays, the vespers service might by sung in Gregorian chant, while on high holidays, such as the feast day of a patron saint, elaborate concertante music was preferred. In his Vespers, Monteverdi may have offered such music without necessarily expecting that all of it would be performed in a given service.
Monteverdi deviated from the typical vespers liturgy by adding motets (concerti or sacri concentus) between the psalms. Scholars debate if they were meant to replace antiphons or rather as embellishments of the preceding psalm. Monteverdi also included a Marian litany, "Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis" (Holy Mary, pray for us). All liturgical texts are set using their psalm tones in Gregorian chant, often as a cantus firmus.
Graham Dixon suggests the setting is more suited for the feast of Saint Barbara, claiming, for example, that the texts from the Song of Songs are applicable to any female saint but that a dedication to fit a Marian feast made the work more "marketable". There are just two Marian songs in the whole work ("Audi coelum" and "Ave maris stella"); and the sonata could easily be rearranged to any saint's name.
### First publication
The first mention of the work's publication is in a July 1610 letter by Monteverdi's assistant, Bassano Casola, to Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga, the duke's younger son. Casola described that two compositions were in the process to be printed, a six-part mass (Messa da Capella) on motifs from Nicolas Gombert's In illo tempore, and psalms for a vespers setting for the Virgin (Salmi del Vespro della Madonna). He described the psalms as "varying and diverse inventions and harmonies over a canto fermo" (cantus firmus), and noted that Monteverdi would travel to Rome to personally dedicate the publication to the Pope in the autumn.
The printing was completed in Venice, then an important centre for music printing. The printing of collections of sacred music in Italy at the period was described as "a fast-growing and very large and lucrative market", with around 50 collections in 1610 alone, 36 of them for offices such as Vespers. The publisher was Ricciardo Amadino, who had published Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo in 1609. While the opera was published as a score, the Vespers music appeared as a set of partbooks. It was published together with Monteverdi's mass Missa in illo tempore. The cover describes both works: "Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ad ecclesiarum choros, ac Vespere pluribus decantandae cum nonnullis sacris concentibus ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata" (Mass for the Most Holy Virgin for six voices for church choirs, and vespers for several voices with some sacred songs, suitable for chapels and ducal chambers).
One of the partbooks contains the basso continuo and provides a kind of short score for the more complicated movements: it gives the title of the Vespers as: "Vespro della Beata Vergine da concerto composta sopra canti firmi" (Vesper for the Blessed Virgin for concertos, composed on cantus firmi).
Monteverdi's notation is still in the style of Renaissance music, for example regarding the duration of notes and the absence of bar lines. There is no score, but a partbook for each voice and instrument. The corresponding continuo notes the beginnings of text lines, for example Magnificat, "Et exultauit", "Quia respexit" and "Quia fecit", and the names of instruments, for example cornetto, trombone and flauto. The initials of a title are embellished, such as the M of Magnificat, and in the voice part, the initials of a cantus firmus line begins with a larger letter, e.g. "E t exultauit ..." and "Q uia respexit ...". Sections where the voice or instrument is silent are marked "Tacet.". The notation poses challenges to editors adopting the current system of notation, which was established about a half-century after Vespers was written.
Monteverdi dedicated the work to Pope Paul V, who had recently visited Mantua, and dated the dedication 1 September 1610. The schedule seems to have resulted in some of the movements being printed in haste and some corrections had to be made. Monteverdi visited Rome, as anticipated, in October 1610 and it is likely that he delivered a copy to the Pope, given that the Papal Library holds an alto partbook. It is not clear whether he was honoured with a papal audience. The alto partbook which the Pope received, with hand-written corrections, survived in the Biblioteca Doria Pamphilij.
Monteverdi later wrote further music for vespers services, in the collection Selva morale e spirituale, published in 1641, and in another collection, Messa e Salmi (Mass and Psalms) which was published after his death in 1650. There is no indication that any of his publications of sacred music received a second edition.
### Later publication
After the original print, the next time parts from the Vespers were published was in an 1834 book by Carl von Winterfeld devoted to the music of Giovanni Gabrieli. He chose the beginning of the Dixit Dominus and of the Deposuit from the Magnificat, discussing the variety of styles in detail. Luigi Torchi published the Sonata as the first complete movement from the Vespers at the turn of the 20th century. The first modern edition of the Vespers appeared in 1932 as part of Gian Francesco Malipiero's edition of Monteverdi's complete works. Two years later, Hans F. Redlich published an edition which dropped two psalms, arranged the other movements in different order, and implemented the figured bass in a complicated way. In 1966, Gottfried Wolters edited the first critical edition. Critical editions were published by, among others, Clifford Bartlett in 1986, Jerome Roche in 1994, and Uwe Wolf in 2013, while Antonio Delfino has edited the Vespers for a complete edition of the composer's works.
### Performance
The historical record does not indicate whether Monteverdi actually performed the Vespers in Mantua or in Rome, where he was not offered a post. He assumed the position of maestro di cappella at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice in 1613 and a performance there seems likely. Church music in Venice is well documented and performers can draw information for historically informed performances from that knowledge, for example that Monteverdi expected a choir of all male voices.
The Vespers is monumental in scale and requires a choir of ten or more vocal parts split into separate choirs, and seven soloists. Solo instrumental parts are written for violin and cornetto. Antiphons preceding each psalm and the Magnificat, sung in plainchant, would vary with the occasion. Some scholars have argued that the Vespers was not intended as a single work but rather as a collection to choose from.
The edition by Hans Redlich was the basis for performances in Zurich in February 1935 and of parts in New York in 1937, followed by Switzerland (mid-1940s), Brussels (1946) and London (on 14 May 1946 at Westminster Central Hall). It was printed in 1949 and used for the first recording in 1953. The first recording of the work with added antiphons was conducted in 1966 by Jürgen Jürgens. More recent performances have usually aimed to provide the complete music Monteverdi published.
## Music
### Structure
Vespro della Beata Vergine is made up of 13 sections. The "Ave maris stella" is in seven stanzas set to different scoring, with interspersed ritornelli. The Magnificat is in twelve movements, which Monteverdi wrote in two versions.
The following table shows the section numbers according to the 2013 edition by Carus, then the function of the section within the Vespers, its text source, and the beginning of the text both in Latin and in English. The column for the voices has abbreviations SATB for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. A repeated letter means the voice part is divided, for example TT means "tenor 1 and tenor 2". The column for instruments often contains only their number, because Monteverdi did not always specify the instruments. The continuo plays throughout but is listed below (as "continuo") only when it has a role independent of the other instruments or voices. The last column lists the page number of the beginning of the section in the Carus edition.
### Sections
#### 1 Deus in adjutorium meum intende/Domine ad adjuvandum me festina
The work opens with the traditional versicle and response for vespers services, the beginning of Psalm 70 (Psalm 69 in the Vulgate), Deus in adjutorium meum intende (Make haste, O God, to deliver me). It is sung by a solo tenor, with the response from the same verse, Domine ad adjuvandum me festina (Make haste to help me, O LORD), sung by a six-part choir. The movement is accompanied by a six-part orchestra with two cornettos, three trombones (which double the lower strings), strings, and continuo.
The music is based on the opening toccata from Monteverdi's 1607 opera L'Orfeo, to which the choir sings a falsobordone (a style of recitation) on the same chord. The music has been described as "a call to attention" and "a piece whose brilliance is only matched by the audacity of its conception".
#### 2 Dixit Dominus
The first psalm, Psalm 110, begins with Dixit Dominus Dominum meum (The LORD said unto my Lord). Monteverdi set it for a six-part choir with divided sopranos and tenors, and six instruments, prescribing sex vocibus & sex instrumentis. The first tenor begins alone with the cantus firmus. The beginnings of verses are often in falsobordone recitation, leading to six-part polyphonic settings.
#### 3 Nigra sum
The first motet begins Nigra sum, sed formosa (I am black, but beautiful), from the Song of Songs. It is written for tenor solo in the new style of monody (a melodic solo line with accompaniment).
#### 4 Laudate pueri
Psalm 113 begins Laudate pueri Dominum (literally: 'Praise, children, the Lord'; in the KJV: 'Praise ye the Lord, O ye servants of the Lord'), and contains eight vocal parts and continuo. The second tenor begins alone with the cantus firmus.
#### 5 Pulchra es
The second motet begins Pulchra es (You are beautiful) from the Song of Songs. Monteverdi set it for two sopranos, who often sing in third parallels.
#### 6 Laetatus sum
The third psalm is Psalm 122, beginning Laetatus sum (literally: 'I was glad'), a pilgrimage psalm. The music begins with a walking bass, which the first tenor enters with the cantus firmus. The movement is based on four patterns in the bass line and includes complex polyphonic settings and duets.
#### 7 Duo Seraphim
The third motet begins Duo Seraphim (Two angels were calling one to the other), a text combined from Isaiah 6:2–3 and the First Epistle of John, 5:7. Monteverdi set it for three tenors. The first part, talking about the two angels, is a duet. When the text turns to the epistle mentioning the Trinity, the third tenor joins. They sing the text "these three are one" in unison. The vocal lines are highly ornamented.
#### 8 Nisi Dominus
The fourth psalm, Psalm 127, opens with the words Nisi Dominus (Except the Lord [build the house]), and is for two tenors singing the cantus firmus and two four-part choirs, one echoing the other in overlapped singing.
#### 9 Audi coelum
The fourth motet opens with the words Audi coelum verba mea (Hear my words, Heaven), based on an anonymous liturgical poem. It is set for two tenors, who sing in call and response (prima ad una voce sola), and expands to six voices at the word omnes (all).
#### 10 Lauda Jerusalem
The fifth psalm, Psalm 147, begins Lauda Jerusalem (Praise, Jerusalem), and is set for two three-part choirs (SAB) and tenors singing the cantus firmus.
#### 11 Sonata sopra Sancta Maria
The sonata is an instrumental movement with soprano singing of a cantus firmus from the Litany of Loreto (Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis – Holy Mary, pray for us), with rhythmic variants. The movement opens with an instrumental section comparable to a pair of pavane and galliard, the same material first in even metre, then in triple metre. The vocal line appears eleven times, while the instruments play uninterrupted virtuoso music reminiscent of vocal parts in the motets.
#### 12 Hymnus: Ave maris stella
The penultimate section is devoted to the 8th century Marian hymn "Ave maris stella". Its seven stanzas are set in different scoring. The melody is in the soprano in all verses except verse 6, which is for tenor solo. Verse 1 is a seven-part setting. Verses 2 and 3 are the same vocal four-part setting, verse 2 for choir 1, verse 3 for choir 3. Similarly, verses 4 and 5 are set for soprano, first soprano 1, then soprano 2. Verses 1 to 5 are all followed by the same ritornello for five instruments. Verse 7 is the same choral setting as verse 1, followed by Amen.
The hymn setting has been regarded as conservative, the chant melody in the upper voice throughout, but variety is achieved by different numbers of voices and interspersion of a ritornello. The instruments are not specified, to provide further variety. The last stanza repeats the first for formal symmetry.
#### 13 Magnificat
The last movement of a vespers service is the Magnificat. Monteverdi devotes a movement to every verse of the canticle, and two to the doxology. Depending on the mood of the text, the Magnificat is scored for a choir of up to seven voices, in solo, duo, or trio singing. Monteverdi uses the Magnificat tone in every movement, a tone similar to the psalm tones but with an initium (beginning) which provides the possibility of more harmonic variety.
The publication contains a second setting of the Magnificat for six voices and continuo accompaniment.
## Analysis
Monteverdi achieved a collection of great variety both in style and structure, which was unique at the time. Styles range from chordal falsobordone to virtuoso singing, from recitative to polyphonic setting of many voices, and from continuo accompaniment to extensive instrumental obbligato. Structurally, he demonstrated different organisation in all movements.
John Butt, who conducted a recording in 2017 with the Dunedin Consort using one voice per part, summarised the many styles:
> ... polychoral textures, virtuoso vocal coloratura, madrigalian vocal polyphony and expressive solo monody and duets, together with some of the most ambitious instrumental music to date. Yet the whole work is suffused with references to the church at its most traditional, with Monteverdi's incessant use of the Gregorian psalm tones for the five extensive psalm settings, the seven-part Magnificat, ... the chant for the Litany, which is integrated within an exuberant instrumental sonata, and the multi-verse setting of the Latin hymn "Ave maris stella".
Butt described the first three psalms as radical in style, while the other two rather follow the polychoral style of Gabrieli, suggesting that the first three may have been composed especially with the publication in mind.
The musicologist Jeffrey Kurtzman observed that the five free concertos (or motets) follow a scheme to first increase then decrease the number of singers, from one to three and back to one, but they increase the number of performers from the first to the last, adding more voices at the end of the fourth and having eight instruments play for the last. In prints by other composers, such concertos appear as a group, usually sorted by number of voices, while Monteverdi interspersed them with the psalms.
In Monteverdi's time, it was common to improvise and make adjustments during performances, depending on the acoustics and the availability and capability of performers. The print of his Vespers shows unusual detail in reducing this freedom, for example, by precise notation of embellishments and even organ registration.
## Recordings
The first recording of the Vespers was arguably an American performance in 1952, featuring musicians from the University of Illinois conducted by Leopold Stokowski. The recording was released in LP format, probably in 1953, but appears not to have been commercially distributed. The work has since been recorded many times in several versions, involving both modern and period instruments. Some recordings allocate the voice parts to choirs, while others use the "one voice per part" concept.
In 1964, John Eliot Gardiner assembled a group of musicians to perform the work in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. The event became the birth of the later Monteverdi Choir. Gardiner recorded the Vespers twice, in 1974 and in 1989.
Although some musicologists argue that Monteverdi was offering a compendium of music for vespers services from which a selection could be made, most recordings present the composition as a unified work, deciding which of the two versions of scoring to perform. Recordings differ in presenting strictly what Monteverdi composed, or in liturgical context, with added antiphons for a specific feast day. In his 2005 version, Paul McCreesh also included music from other publications and changed the order of several movements.
## Modern reception
Kurtzman, who edited a publication of the work for Oxford University Press, notes: "... it seems as if Monteverdi were intent in displaying his skills in virtually all contemporary styles of composition, using every modern structural technique". Monteverdi achieved overall unity by using the Gregorian plainchant as a cantus firmus, for the beginning, the psalms, the litany and the Magnificat. This "rigorous adhesion to the psalm tones" is similar to the style of Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, who was choirmaster at the Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara at the ducal palace in Mantua. Whenham summarised about the use of chant:
> It allowed him to show that such settings, though conservative at base, could incorporate thoroughly up-to-date elements of musical style. And, perhaps not least, it helped him solve a problem inherent in setting the psalms and Magnificat – that of achieving musical coherence when working with texts that were sometimes long and unwieldy and certainly not designed for setting by an early seventeenth-century madrigalist.
Musicologists have debated topics such as the role of the sacri concentus and sonata, instrumentation, keys (chiavette), and issues of historically informed performance.
The musicologist Tim Carter summarised in his entry for the composer for Grove in 2007: "His three major collections of liturgical and devotional music transcend the merely functional, exploiting a rich panoply of text-expressive and contrapuntal-structural techniques." Kurtzmann concluded from his detailed research of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine and contemporary sacred music:
> Monteverdi's objective was clearly to carry to new heights the Renaissance concept of varietas and to provide as many forms of musical splendour as he could muster. In this respect his collection of vesper music goes far beyond any other publication of sacred music of his day. |
264,310 | Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve | 1,164,011,906 | National monument in Idaho, United States | [
"1924 establishments in Idaho",
"Bureau of Land Management National Monuments",
"Bureau of Land Management areas in Idaho",
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"Landforms of Blaine County, Idaho",
"Landforms of Butte County, Idaho",
"Landforms of Lincoln County, Idaho",
"Landforms of Minidoka County, Idaho",
"Landforms of Power County, Idaho",
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"Lava tubes",
"National Natural Landmarks in Idaho",
"National Park Service National Monuments in Idaho",
"National Preserves of the United States",
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"Protected areas of Butte County, Idaho",
"Protected areas of Lincoln County, Idaho",
"Protected areas of Minidoka County, Idaho",
"Protected areas of Power County, Idaho",
"Quaternary Idaho",
"Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America",
"Rift volcanoes",
"Rock formations of Idaho",
"Tourist attractions in Blaine County, Idaho",
"Tourist attractions in Butte County, Idaho",
"Tourist attractions in Lincoln County, Idaho",
"Tourist attractions in Minidoka County, Idaho",
"Tourist attractions in Power County, Idaho",
"Units of the National Landscape Conservation System",
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| Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along US 20 (concurrent with US 93 and US 26), between the small towns of Arco and Carey, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level.
The Monument was established on May 2, 1924. In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The 410,000-acre National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as Craters of the Moon National Preserve in August 2002. It spreads across Blaine, Butte, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Power counties. The area is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles (1,000 km<sup>2</sup>) of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 1,117 square miles (2,893 km<sup>2</sup>). The Monument alone covers 343,000 acres (139,000 ha). All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet (240 m). There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.
## Geography and geologic setting
Craters of the Moon is in south-central Idaho, midway between Boise and Yellowstone National Park. The lava field reaches southeastward from the Pioneer Mountains. Combined U.S. Highway 20–26–93 cuts through the northwestern part of the monument and provides access to it. However, the rugged landscape of the monument itself remains remote and undeveloped, with only one paved road across the northern end.
The Craters of the Moon Lava Field spreads across 618 square miles (1,601 km<sup>2</sup>) and is the largest mostly Holocene-aged basaltic lava field in the contiguous United States. The Monument and Preserve contain more than 25 volcanic cones, including outstanding examples of spatter cones. The 60 distinct solidified lava flows that form the Craters of the Moon Lava Field range in age from 15,000 to just 2,000 years. The Kings Bowl and Wapi lava fields, both about 2,200 years old, are part of the National Preserve.
This lava field is the largest of several large beds of lava that erupted from the 53-mile (85 km) south-east to north-west trending Great Rift volcanic zone, a line of weakness in the Earth's crust. Together with fields from other fissures they make up the Lava Beds of Idaho, which in turn are in the much larger Snake River Plain volcanic province. The Great Rift extends across almost the entire Snake River Plain.
Elevation at the visitor center is 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level.
Total average precipitation in the Craters of the Moon area is between 15–20 inches (380–510 mm) per year. Most of this is lost in cracks in the basalt, only to emerge later in springs and seeps in the walls of the Snake River Canyon. Older lava fields on the plain have been invaded by drought-resistant plants such as sagebrush, while younger fields, such as Craters of the Moon, only have a seasonal and very sparse cover of vegetation. From a distance this cover disappears almost entirely, giving an impression of utter black desolation. Repeated lava flows over the last 15,000 years have raised the land surface enough to expose it to the prevailing southwesterly winds, which help to keep the area dry. Together these conditions make life on the lava field difficult.
## Climate
## History
### Native American history
Paleo-Indians visited the area about 12,000 years ago, but did not leave much in the way of archaeological evidence. The Northern Shoshone created trails through the Craters of the Moon Lava Field, during their summer migrations from the Snake River to the camas prairie (west of the lava field). Stone windbreaks at Indian Tunnel were used to protect campsites from the dry summer wind. No evidence exists for permanent habitation, by any Native American group. A hunter-gatherer culture, the Northern Shoshone subsisted off of the land's bounty; in addition to gathering edible plants, nuts, roots, and berries, numerous game animals were hunted and trapped, both for meat and supplies, as well as for insulating skins and furs. Larger game hides were used in construction of shelters and windbreaks, while the more delicate furs of smaller mammals were often fashioned into many unisex articles of clothing, used to keep warm; smaller trapped and hunted species included animals such as squirrel, red fox, coyote, river otter, raccoon, pine marten, and rabbit, in addition to numerous bird species. For meat and larger hides, they pursued elk, mule deer, pronghorn, black bear, grizzly bear, American bison, cougar, and bighorn sheep — large game, which no longer inhabit the immediate area; these species are still present outside of the national monument, and in other, further remote reaches of the state. At one time, woodland caribou ranged this far south, likely aiding in sustaining the Shoshone. The most recent volcanic eruptions ended about 2,100 years ago and were likely witnessed by the Shoshone people. Ella E. Clark has recorded a Shoshone legend which speaks of a serpent on a mountain who, angered by lightning, coiled around and squeezed the mountain until liquid rock flowed, fire shot from cracks, and the mountain exploded.
### Goodale's Cutoff
Pioneers traveling in wagon trains on the Oregon Trail in the 1850s and 1860s followed an alternative route in the area that used old Indian trails that skirted the lava flows. This alternative route was later named Goodale's Cutoff and part of it is in the northern part of the monument. The cutoff was created to reduce the possibility of ambush by Shoshone warriors along the Snake River such as the one that occurred at Massacre Rocks, which today is memorialized in Idaho's Massacre Rocks State Park.
After gold was discovered in the Salmon River area of Idaho, a group of immigrants persuaded an Illinois-born trapper and trader named Tim Goodale to lead them through the cutoff. A large wagon train left in July 1862 and met up with more wagons at Craters of the Moon Lava Field. Numbering 795 men and 300 women and children, the unusually large group was relatively unmolested during its journey and named the cutoff for their guide. Improvements to the cutoff such as adding a ferry to cross the Snake River made it into a popular alternative route of the Oregon Trail.
### Exploration and early study
In 1879, two Arco cattlemen named Arthur Ferris and J.W. Powell became the first known European-Americans to explore the lava fields. They were investigating its possible use for grazing and watering cattle but found the area to be unsuitable and left.
U.S. Army Captain and western explorer B.L.E. Bonneville visited the lava fields and other places in the West in the 19th century and wrote about his experiences in his diaries. Washington Irving later used Bonneville's diaries to write the Adventures of Captain Bonneville, saying this unnamed lava field is a place "where nothing meets the eye but a desolate and awful waste, where no grass grows nor water runs, and where nothing is to be seen but lava."
In 1901 and 1903, Israel Russell became the first geologist to study this area while surveying it for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). In 1910, Samuel Paisley continued Russell's work and later became the monument's first custodian. Others followed and in time much of the mystery surrounding this and the other Lava Beds of Idaho was lifted.
The few European settlers who visited the area in the 19th century created local legends that it looked like the surface of the Moon. Geologist Harold T. Stearns coined the name "Craters of the Moon" in 1923 while trying to convince the National Park Service to recommend protection of the area in a national monument.
### Limbert's expedition
Robert Limbert, a sometime taxidermist, tanner, and furrier from Boise, explored the area, which he described as "practically unknown and unexplored ..." in the 1920s after hearing stories from fur trappers about "strange things they had seen while ranging the region".
Limbert wrote:
> I had made two trips into the northern end, covering practically the same region as that traversed by a Geological Survey party in 1901. My first was a hiking and camping trip with Ad Santel (the wrestler), Dr. Dresser, and Albert Jones; the second was with Wes Watson and Era Martin (ranchers living about four miles [6 km] from the northern edge). The peculiar features seen on those trips led me to take a third across the region in the hope that even more interesting phenomena might be encountered.
Limbert set out on his third and most ambitious foray to the area in May 1920, this time with Walter Cole and an Airedale Terrier to accompany him. Starting from Minidoka, Idaho, they explored what is now the monument area from south to north passing Two Point Butte, Echo Crater, Big Craters, North Crater Flow, and out of the lava field through the Yellowstone Park and Lincoln Highway (now known as the Old Arco-Carey Road). Taking the dog along was a mistake, Limbert wrote, "for after three days' travel his feet were worn and bleeding."
A series of newspaper and magazine articles written by Limbert were later published about this and previous treks, which increased public awareness of the area. The most famous of these was an article that appeared in a 1924 issue of National Geographic where he called the area "Craters of the Moon," helping to solidify the use of that name. In the article he had this to say about the cobalt blue of the Blue Dragon Flows:
> It is the play of light at sunset across this lava that charms the spectator. It becomes a twisted, wavy sea. In the moonlight its glazed surface has a silvery sheen. With changing conditions of light and air, it varies also, even while one stands and watches. It is a place of color and silence ...
### Protection and later history
In large part due to Limbert's work, the 54,000-acre Craters of the Moon National Monument was proclaimed on May 2, 1924, by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge to "preserve the unusual and weird volcanic formations." The Craters Inn and several cabins were built in 1927 for the convenience of visitors. The Mission 66 Program initiated construction of today's road system, visitor center, shop, campground and comfort station in 1956, and in 1959 the Craters of the Moon Natural History Association was formed to assist the monument in educational activities. The addition of an island of vegetation completely surrounded by lava known as Carey Kipuka (air photo) increased the size of the monument by 5,360 acres (22 km<sup>2</sup>) in 1962.
Since then the monument has been enlarged. On October 23, 1970, Congress set aside a large part of it—43,243 acres (175 km<sup>2</sup>)—as Craters of the Moon National Wilderness, protecting that part under the National Wilderness Preservation System.
From 1969 to 1972, NASA visited the real Moon through the Apollo program and found that its surface does not closely resemble this part of Idaho. NASA astronauts discovered that real Moon craters were almost all created by meteorites while their namesakes on Earth were created by volcanic eruptions. Apollo astronauts performed part of their training at Craters of the Moon Lava Field by learning to look for and collect good rock specimens in an unfamiliar and harsh environment.
For many years, geologists, biologists and environmentalists have advocated expansion of the monument and its transformation into a national park. Part of that goal was reached in 2000 when the monument was expanded 13-fold, from 53,545 acres (217 km<sup>2</sup>) to its current size, to encompass the entire Great Rift zone and its three lava fields. The entire addition is called the Backcountry Area while the two older parts are called the Developed Area and Wilderness Area. Opposition by cattle interests and hunters to a simple expansion plan led to a compromise of having the National Park Service portion of the addition, which comprises the lava flows, become a national preserve in 2002 (which allows hunting, not ordinarily permitted in national parks and monuments in the U.S.). Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is co-managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, both under the Department of the Interior; the BLM monument area is the non-lava grasslands. In March 2017, the Idaho Senate voted in favor of petitioning Congress to designate Craters of the Moon a national park.
## Geology
The Snake River Plain is a volcanic province that was created by a series of cataclysmic caldera-forming eruptions which started about 15 million years ago. A migrating hotspot thought to now exist under Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park has been implicated. This hot spot was under the Craters of the Moon area some 10 to 11 million years ago but 'moved' as the North American Plate migrated northwestward. Pressure from the hot spot heaves the land surface up, creating fault-block mountains. After the hot spot passes the pressure is released and the land subsides.
Leftover heat from this hot spot was later liberated by Basin and Range-associated rifting and created the many overlapping lava flows that make up the Lava Beds of Idaho. The largest rift zone is the Great Rift; it is from this 'Great Rift fissure system' that Craters of the Moon, Kings Bowl, and Wapi lava fields were created. The Great Rift is a National Natural Landmark.
In spite of their fresh appearance, the oldest flows in the Craters of the Moon Lava Field are 15,000 years old and the youngest erupted about 2000 years ago, according to Mel Kuntz and other USGS geologists. Nevertheless, the volcanic fissures at Craters of the Moon are considered to be dormant, not extinct, and are expected to erupt again in less than a thousand years. There are eight major eruptive periods recognized in the Craters of the Moon Lava Field. Each period lasted about 1000 years or less and were separated by relatively quiet periods that lasted between 500 and as long as 3000 years. Individual lava flows were up to 30 miles (50 km) long with the Blue Dragon Flow being the longest.
Kings Bowl Lava Field erupted during a single fissure eruption on the southern part of the Great Rift about 2,250 years ago. This eruption probably lasted only a few hours to a few days. The field preserves explosion pits, lava lakes, squeeze-ups, basalt mounds, and an ash blanket. The Wapi Lava Field probably formed from a fissure eruption at the same time as the Kings Bowl eruption. More prolonged activity over a period of months to a few years led to the formation of low shield volcanoes in the Wapi field. The Bear Trap lava tube, between the Craters of the Moon and the Wapi lava fields, is a cave system more than 15 miles (24 km) long. The lava tube is remarkable for its length and for the number of well-preserved lava cave features, such as lava stalactites and curbs, the latter marking high stands of the flowing lava frozen on the lava tube walls. The lava tubes and pit craters of the monument are known for their unusual preservation of winter ice and snow into the hot summer months, due to shielding from the sun and the insulating properties of basalt.
A typical eruption along the Great Rift and similar basaltic rift systems starts with a curtain of very fluid lava shooting up to 1,000 feet (300 m) high along a segment of the rift up to 1 mile (1.6 km) long. As the eruption continues, pressure and heat decrease and the chemistry of the lava becomes slightly more silica rich. The curtain of lava responds by breaking apart into separate vents. Various types of volcanoes may form at these vents: gas-rich pulverized lava creates cinder cones (such as Inferno Cone – stop 4), and pasty lava blobs form spatter cones (such as Spatter Cones – stop 5). Later stages of an eruption push lava streams out through the side or base of cinder cones, which usually ends the life of the cinder cone (North Crater, Watchmen, and Sheep Trail Butte are notable exceptions). This will sometimes breach part of the cone and carry it away as large and craggy blocks of cinder (as seen at North Crater Flow – stop 2 – and Devils Orchard – stop 3). Solid crust forms over lava streams, and lava tubes (a type of cave) are created when lava vacates its course (examples can be seen at the Cave Area – stop 7).
Geologists feared that a large earthquake that shook Borah Peak, Idaho's tallest mountain, in 1983 would restart volcanic activity at Craters of the Moon, though this proved not to be the case. Geologists predict that the area will experience its next eruption some time in the next 900 years with the most likely period in the next 100 years.
## Biology
### Conditions
All plants and animals that live in and around Craters of the Moon are under great environmental stress due to constant dry winds and heat-absorbing black lavas that tend to quickly sap water from living things. Summer soil temperatures often exceed 150 °F (66 °C) and plant cover is generally less than 5% on cinder cones and about 15% over the entire monument. Adaptation is therefore necessary for survival in this semi-arid harsh climate.
Water is usually only found deep inside holes at the bottom of blow-out craters. Animals therefore get the moisture they need directly from their food. The black soil on and around cinder cones does not hold moisture for long, making it difficult for plants to establish themselves. Soil particles first develop from direct rock decomposition by lichens and typically collect in crevices in lava flows. Successively more complex plants then colonize the microhabitat created by the increasingly productive soil.
The shaded north slopes of cinder cones provide more protection from direct sunlight and prevailing southwesterly winds and have a more persistent snow cover (an important water source in early spring). These parts of cinder cones are therefore colonized by plants first.
Gaps between lava flows were sometimes cut off from surrounding vegetation. These literal islands of habitat are called kīpukas, a Hawaiian name used for older land surrounded by younger lava. Carey Kīpuka is one such area in the southernmost part of the monument and is used as a benchmark to measure how plant cover has changed in less pristine parts of southern Idaho.
### Plants
There are 375 species of plants known to grow in the monument. When wildflowers are not in bloom, most of the vegetation is found in semi-hidden pockets and consists of pine trees, cedars, junipers, and sagebrush. Strategies used by plants to cope with the adverse conditions include:
- Drought tolerance by physiological adaptations such as the ability to survive extreme dehydration or the ability to extract water from very dry soil. Sagebrush and antelope bitterbrush are examples.
- Drought avoidance by having small, hairy, or succulent leaves to minimize moisture loss or otherwise conserve water. Hairs on scorpionweed, the succulent parts of the pricklypear cactus, and the small leaves of the wirelettuce are all local examples.
- Drought escape by growing in small crevices or near persistent water supplies, or by staying dormant for about 95% of the year. Mosses and ferns in the area grow near constant water sources such as natural potholes and seeps from ice caves. Scabland penstemon, fernleaf fleabane, and gland cinquefoil grow in shallow crevices. Syringa, bush rockspirea, tansy bush, and even limber pine grow in large crevices. While dwarf monkeyflowers (photo) carry out their entire life cycle during the short wet part of the year and survive in seed form the rest of the time.
A plant commonly seen on the lava field is the dwarf buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium var. depressum) (photo), a flowering plant 4 inches (100 mm) tall with a root system 3 feet (0.91 m) wide. The root system monopolizes soil moisture in its immediate area, resulting in individual plants that are evenly spaced. Consequently, many visitors have asked park rangers if the buckwheat were systematically planted.
Wildflowers bloom from early May to late September but most are gone by late August. Moisture from snow-melt along with some rainfall in late spring kick-starts the germination of annual plants, including wildflowers. Most of these plants complete their entire life cycle in the few months each year that moisture levels are good. The onset of summer decreases the number of wildflowers and by autumn only the tiny yellow flowers of sagebrush and rabbitbrush remain. Some wildflowers that grow in the area are the arrow-leaved balsamroot, bitterroot, blazingstar, desert parsley, dwarf monkeyflower, paintbrush, scorpionweed, scabland penstemon and the wild onion.
### Animals
Years of cataloging by biologists and park rangers have recorded 2000 species of insects, 8 reptiles, 169 birds, 48 mammals, and even one amphibian (the western toad). Birds and some rodents are seen most frequently in the Craters of the Moon area. Brown bears once roamed this area but have long ago become locally extinct. Traditional livestock grazing continues within the grass/shrublands administered by the BLM.
Most desert animals are nocturnal, or mainly active at night. Nocturnal behavior is an adaptation to both predation and hot summer daytime temperatures. Nocturnal animals at Craters of the Moon include woodrats (also called packrats), skunks, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, bats, nighthawks, owls, and most other small desert rodents.
Animals that are most active at dawn and dusk, when temperatures are cooler than mid-day, are called crepuscular. The subdued morning and evening light helps make them less visible to predators, but is bright enough to allow them to locate food. Some animals are crepuscular mainly because their prey is. Crepuscular animals in the area include mule deer, coyotes, porcupines, mountain cottontails, jackrabbits, and many songbirds.
Some desert animals are diurnal, or primarily active during the day. These include ground squirrels, marmots, chipmunks, lizards, snakes, hawks, and eagles.
Many animals have a specific temperature range where they are active, meaning the times they are active vary with the seasons. Snakes and lizards hibernate during the winter months, are diurnal during the late spring and early fall, and become crepuscular during the heat of summer. Many insects and some birds also alter their times of activity. Some animals, like ground squirrels and marmots, have one or more periods of estivation, a summer hibernation that allows them to avoid the hottest and driest periods.
Several animals are unique to Craters of the Moon and the surrounding area. Subspecies of Great Basin pocket mouse, American pika, yellow-pine chipmunk, and yellow-bellied marmot are found nowhere else. Lava tube beetles and many other cave animals are found only in the lava tubes of eastern Idaho.
#### Mule deer
In May 1980 wildlife researcher Brad Griffith of the University of Idaho started a three-year study to mark and count the mule deer in the monument. The National Park Service was concerned that the local herd might grow so large that it would damage its habitat. Griffith found that this group of mule deer has developed a drought evasion strategy unique for its species.
The deer arrive in the southern part of the pre-2000 extent of the monument mid-April each year once winter snows have melted away enough to allow for foraging. Griffith found that by late summer plants in the area have already matured and dried to the point that they can no longer provide enough moisture to sustain the deer. In late July after about 12 days above 80 °F (27 °C) and warm nights above 50 °F (10 °C) the herd migrates 5 to 10 miles (8.0 to 16.1 km) north to the Pioneer Mountains to obtain water from free-flowing streams and shade themselves in aspen and Douglas-fir groves. Rain in late September prompts the herd to return to the monument to feed on bitterbrush until snow in November triggers them to migrate back to their winter range. This herd, therefore, has a dual summer range. It is also very productive with one of the highest fawn survival rates of any herd in the species.
Afternoon winds usually die down in the evening, prompting behavioral modifications in the herd. The deer avoid the dry wind by being more active at night when the wind is not blowing. In 1991 there was a three-year average of 420 mule deer.
## Recreational activities
A series of fissure vents, cinder cones, spatter cones, rafted blocks, and overlapping lava flows are accessible from the Loop Drive, 7 miles (11 km) long. Wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and wild animals can be seen by hiking on one of the many trails in the monument or by just pulling over into one of the turn-offs. More rugged hiking opportunities are available in the Craters of the Moon Wilderness Area and Backcountry Area, the roadless southern and major part of the monument.
1. The Visitor Center is near the monument's only entrance. Various displays and publications along with a short film about the geology of the area help to orient visitors. Ranger-led walks are available in summer and cover topics such as wildlife, flowers, plants, or geology. Self-guiding tours and displays are available year-round and are easily accessible from the Loop Drive.
2. A paved trail less than 1⁄4 mile (400 m) long at North Crater Flow (photo) crosses the North Crater Lava Flow, which formed about 2200 years ago, making it one of the youngest lava flows on the Craters of the Moon Lava Field. This lava is named for the purplish-blue tint that tiny pieces of obsidian (volcanic glass) on its surface exhibit. Good examples of pahoehoe (ropey), aa (jagged), and some block lava are readily visible along with large rafted crater wall fragments. The rafted crater wall fragments seen on the flow were once part of this cinder cone but were torn away when the volcano's lava-filled crater was breached. A 1.8-mile-long trail (2.9 km) includes the 1⁄2 mile (800 m) overlook trail but continues on through the crater and to the Big Craters/Spatter Cones parking lot.
3. Devils Orchard (photo) is a group of lava-transported cinder cone fragments (also called monoliths or cinder crags) that stand in cinders. Like the blocks at stop 2 they were once part of the North Crater cinder cone but broke off during an eruption of lava. A 1/2 mile-long (800 m) paved loop trial through the formations and trees of the "orchard" is available. The interpretive displays on the trail emphasize human impacts to the area.
4. Inferno Cone Viewpoint (photo) is on top of Inferno Cone cinder cone. A short but steep trail up the cinder cone leads to an overlook of the entire monument. From there the Spatter Cones can be seen just to the south along with a large part of the Great Rift. In the distance is the over 700-foot-tall (\>200 m) Big Cinder Butte, one of the world's largest, purely basaltic, cinder cones. Further away are the Pioneer Mountains (behind the Visitor Center) and beyond the monument are the White Knob Mountains, the Lost River Range, and the Lemhi Range.
5. Big Craters and Spatter Cones (photo) sit directly along the local part of the Great Rift fissure. Spatter cones are created by accumulations of pasty gas-poor lava as they erupt from a vent. Big Craters is a cinder cone complex less than 300 feet (91 m) up a steep foot trail.
6. Tree Molds (photo) is an area within the Craters of the Moon Wilderness where lava flows overran part of a forest. The trees were incinerated but as some of them burned they released enough water to cool the lava to form a cast. Some of these casts survived the eruption and mark the exact location and shape of the burning trees in the lava. Both holes and horizontal molds were left, some still showing shapes indicative of bark. The actual Tree Molds area is a mile (1.6 km) from the Tree Molds parking lot and picnic area off a moderately difficult wilderness trail. The Wilderness trail also leaves from this parking lot, and extends nearly 6 miles (9.7 km) into the wilderness area before gradually disappearing near The Sentinel cinder cone. The 1.8 miles (2.9 km) Broken Top loop trail encircles the youngest cinder cone in the monument and can be done separately or as part of a longer trek on the Wilderness trail. A pull off on the spur road leading to the Tree Molds area presents the Lava Cascades, a frozen river of Blue Dragon Flow lava that temporarily pooled in the Big Sink.
7. Cave Area is the final stop on Loop Drive and, as the name indicates, has a collection of lava tube caves. Formed from the Blue Dragon Flow, the caves are a half-mile (800 m) from the parking lot and include,
: \* Dewdrop Cave,
: \* Boy Scout Cave,
: \* Beauty Cave, and
: \* Indian Tunnel.
The caves are open to visitors but flashlights are needed except in Indian Tunnel and some form of head protection is highly recommended when exploring any of the caves. Lava tubes are created when the sides and surface of a lava flow hardens. If the fluid interior flows away a cave is left behind. Entering caves requires a free permit.
Craters of the Moon Campground has 51 sites – none of which can be reserved in advance. Camping facilities are basic but do include water, restrooms, charcoal grills, and trash containers. National Park Service rangers present evening programs at the campground amphitheater in the summer. Camping enables visitors to enjoy the park during the evening and morning, when the heat, glare and wind are far less.
A Lunar Ranger program enables children to earn an embroidered patch in a few hours.
Backcountry hiking is available in the Craters of the Moon Wilderness and the much larger Backcountry Area beyond (added in 2000). Only two trails enter the wilderness area and even those stop after a few miles or kilometers. From there most hikers follow the Great Rift and explore its series of seldom-visited volcanic features. All overnight backcountry hikes require registration with a ranger. No drinking water is available in the backcountry and the dry climate quickly dehydrates hikers. Avoiding summer heat and winter cold are therefore recommended by rangers. Pets, camp fires, and all mechanized vehicles, including bicycles, are not allowed in the wilderness area.
Skiing is allowed on the Loop Drive after it is closed to traffic in late November because of snow drifts. Typically there are 20 inches (51 cm) of snow by January and 25 in (64 cm) by February. Cross-country skiing off Loop Drive is allowed but may be dangerous owing to sharp lava and hidden holes under the snow. Blizzards and other inclement weather may occur.
## See also
- List of national monuments of the United States |
1,507,963 | HMS Temeraire (1798) | 1,141,711,711 | British Royal Navy ship of the line | [
"1798 ships",
"Neptune-class ships of the line",
"Ships built in Chatham",
"Ships of the line of the Royal Navy"
]
| HMS Temeraire was a 98-gun second-rate ship of the line of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Launched in 1798, she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. She fought only one fleet action, the Battle of Trafalgar, but became so well known for that action and her subsequent depictions in art and literature that she has been remembered as The Fighting Temeraire.
Built at Chatham Dockyard, Temeraire entered naval service on the Brest blockade with the Channel Fleet. Missions were tedious and seldom relieved by any action with the French fleet. The first incident of note came when several of her crew, hearing rumours they were to be sent to the West Indies at a time when peace with France seemed imminent, refused to obey orders. This act of mutiny eventually failed and a number of those responsible were tried and executed. Laid up during the Peace of Amiens, Temeraire returned to active service with the resumption of the wars with France, again serving with the Channel Fleet, and joined Horatio Nelson's blockade of the Franco-Spanish fleet in Cadiz in 1805. At the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, the ship went into action immediately astern of Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. During the battle Temeraire came to the rescue of the beleaguered Victory, and fought and captured two French ships, winning public renown in Britain.
After undergoing substantial repairs, Temeraire was employed blockading the French fleets and supporting British operations off the Spanish coasts. She went out to the Baltic in 1809, defending convoys against Danish gunboat attacks, and by 1810 was off the Spanish coast again, helping to defend Cadiz against a French army. Her last action was against the French off Toulon, when she came under fire from shore batteries. The ship returned to Britain in 1813 for repairs, but was laid up. She was converted to a prison ship and moored in the River Tamar until 1819. Further service brought her to Sheerness as a receiving ship, then a victualling depot, and finally a guard ship. The Admiralty ordered her to be sold in 1838, and she was towed up the Thames to be broken up.
This final voyage was depicted in a J. M. W. Turner oil painting greeted with critical acclaim, entitled The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838. The painting continues to be held in high regard: it was voted Britain's favourite painting in a BBC radio poll in 2005 and it appears briefly in the James Bond movie Skyfall. A reproduction of the painting appears on the back of the Bank of England £20 note issued in 2020.
## Construction and commissioning
Temeraire was ordered from Chatham Dockyard on 9 December 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Neptune and HMS Dreadnought.
She was primarily made from English oak from nearby Hainault Forest. The keel was laid down at Chatham in July 1793. Her construction was initially overseen by Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard and completed by his successor Edward Sison. Temeraire was launched in the rain on Tuesday 11 September 1798 and the following day was taken into the graving dock to be fitted for sea. Her hull was fitted with copper sheathing, a process that took two weeks to complete. Refloated, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards. Her final costs came to £73,241, and included £59,428 spent on the hull, masts and yards, and a further £13,813 on rigging and stores.
She was commissioned on 21 March 1799 under Captain Peter Puget, becoming the second ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Temeraire. Her predecessor had been the 74-gun third-rate HMS Temeraire, a former French ship taken as a prize at the Battle of Lagos on 19 August 1759 by a fleet under Admiral Edward Boscawen. Puget was in command only until 26 July 1799, during which time he oversaw the process of fitting the new Temeraire for sea. He was superseded by Captain Thomas Eyles on 27 July 1799, while the vessel was anchored off St Helens, Isle of Wight.
## With the Channel Fleet
Under Eyles's command Temeraire finally put to sea at the end of July, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, and joined the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Lord Bridport. The Channel Fleet was at that time principally engaged in the blockade of the French port of Brest, and Temeraire spent several long cruises of two or three months at a time patrolling the area. Eyles was superseded during this period by Temeraire's former commander, Captain Puget, who resumed command on 14 October 1799, and the following month Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral James Whitshed.
Lord Bridport had been replaced as commander of the Channel Fleet by Admiral Lord St Vincent in mid-1799, and the long blockade cruises were sustained throughout the winter and into the following year. On 20 April 1800 Puget was superseded as commander by Captain Edward Marsh. Marsh commanded Temeraire through the remainder of that year and for the first half of 1801, until his replacement, Captain Thomas Eyles, arrived to resume command on 31 August. Rear Admiral Whitshed had also struck his flag by now, and Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral George Campbell. By this time the Second Coalition against France had collapsed, and negotiations for peace were underway at Amiens. Lord St Vincent had been promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty, and command of the Channel Fleet passed to Admiral Sir William Cornwallis. With the end of the war imminent, Temeraire was taken off blockade duty and sent to Bantry Bay to await the arrival of a convoy, which she would then escort to the West Indies. Many of the crew had been serving continuously in the navy since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, and had looked forward to returning to England now that peace seemed imminent. On hearing rumours that instead they were to be sent to the West Indies, around a dozen men began to agitate for the rest of the crew to refuse orders to sail for anywhere but England.
## Mutiny
On the morning of 3 December, a small group of sailors gathered on the forecastle and, refusing orders to leave, began to argue with the officers. Captain Eyles asked to know their demands, which were an assurance that Temeraire would not go to the West Indies, but instead would return to England. Eventually Rear Admiral Campbell came down to speak to the men, and having informed them that the officers did not know the destination of the ship, he ordered them to disperse. The men went below decks and the incipient mutiny appeared to have been quashed. The ringleaders, numbering around a dozen, remained determined however, and made discreet inquiries among the rest of the crew. Having eventually determined that the majority of the crew would, if not actually support a mutiny, at least not oppose it, and that Temeraire's crew would be supported by the ship's marines as well as the crews of some of the other warships in Bantry Bay, they decided to press ahead with their plans. The mutiny began with the crew closing the ship's gunports, effectively barricading themselves below deck. Having done so, they refused orders to open them again, jeered the officers and threatened violence. The crew then came up on deck and once again demanded to know their destination and refused to obey orders to sail for anywhere but England. Having presented their demands they returned below decks and resumed the usual shipboard routine as much as they could.
Alarmed by the actions of Temeraire's crew, Campbell met with Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell the following day and informed him of the mutineers' demands. Mitchell reported the news to the Admiralty while Campbell returned to Temeraire and summoned the crew on deck once more. He urged them to return to duty, and then dismissed them. Meanwhile, discipline had begun to break down among the mutineers. Several of the crew became drunk, and some of the officers were struck by rowdy seamen. When one of the marines who supported the mutiny was placed in irons for drunken behaviour and insolence, a crowd formed on deck and tried to free him. The officers resisted these attempts and as sailors began to push and threaten them, Campbell gave the order for the marines to arrest those he identified as the ringleaders. The marines hesitated, but then obeyed the order, driving the unruly seamen back and arresting a number of them, who were immediately placed in irons. Campbell ordered the remaining crew to abandon any mutinous actions, and deprived of its leaders, the mutiny collapsed, though the officers were on their guard for several days afterwards and the marines were ordered to carry out continuous patrols.
News of the mutiny created a sensation in England, and the Admiralty ordered Temeraire to sail immediately for Spithead while an investigation was carried out. Vice-Admiral Mitchell was granted extraordinary powers regarding the death sentence and Temeraire's complement of marines was hastily augmented for the voyage to England. On the ship's arrival, the 14 imprisoned ringleaders were swiftly court-martialled in Portsmouth aboard HMS Gladiator, some on 6 January 1802 and the rest on 14 January. After deliberations, twelve were sentenced to be hanged at the yardarm, and the remaining two were to receive two hundred lashes each. Four men were duly hanged aboard Temeraire, and the remainder were hanged aboard several of the ships anchored at Portsmouth, including HMS Majestic, HMS Formidable, HMS Achille and HMS Centaur. A further seven men involved were sent to prison hulks for life.
## West Indies and the peace
After the executions, Temeraire was immediately sent to sea, sailing from Portsmouth for the Isle of Wight the day after and beginning preparations for her delayed voyage to the West Indies. She sailed for Barbados, arriving there on 24 February, and remained in the West Indies until the summer. During her time there the Treaty of Amiens was finally signed and ratified, and Temeraire was ordered back to Britain. She arrived at Plymouth on 28 September and Eyles paid her off on 5 October. Because of the drawdown in the size of the active navy as a result of the peace, Temeraire was laid up in the Hamoaze for the next eighteen months.
## Return to service
The peace of Amiens was a brief interlude in the wars with Revolutionary France, and in 1803 the War of the Third Coalition began. Temeraire had deteriorated substantially during her long period spent laid up, and she was taken into dry dock on 22 May to repair and refit, starting with the replacement of her copper sheathing. Work was delayed when a heavy storm hit Plymouth in January 1804, causing appreciable damage to Temeraire, but was finally completed by February 1804, at a cost of £16,898.
Command was assigned to Captain Eliab Harvey, and he arrived to take up his commission on 1 January 1804. The crew were largely from Liverpool. They left Cawsand Bay on 11 March 1804, sailing to join the Channel Fleet off Brest, still under the overall command of Admiral Cornwallis.
As a much forgotten part of history, Napoleon had assembled his Grand Army, 160,000 men, near Boulogne as part of a plan to invade England. The bulk of the French navy: 21 ships of the line, were harboured at Brest but were needed for the invasion plan.
Temeraire now resumed her previous duties blockading the French at Brest, patrolling between Ushant Island and Cape Finisterre. Heavy weather took its toll, forcing her to put into Torbay for extensive repairs after her long patrols, repairs which eventually amounted to £9,143. During this time Harvey was often absent from his command, usually attending to his duties as Member of Parliament for Essex. He was temporarily replaced by Captain William Kelly on 27 August 1804, and he in turn was succeeded by Captain George Fawke on 6 April 1805. Harvey returned to his ship on 9 July 1805, and it was while he was in command that the reinforced Rochefort squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder intercepted and attacked a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre. The French commander, Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, was thwarted in his attempt to join the French forces at Brest, and instead sailed south to Ferrol, and then to Cadiz. When news of the Franco-Spanish fleet's location reached the Admiralty, they appointed Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to take command of the blockading force at Cadiz, which at the time was being commanded by Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Nelson was told to pick whichever ships he liked to serve under him, and one of those he specifically chose was Temeraire.
Collingwood replaced Calder on the Temeraire in August 1804.
The ship sheltered with the Channel Fleet at Douarnenez Bay during the storms of November 1804. Further winter storms caused her to go to Torbay for repairs in January 1805 and she did not return to the squadron at Brest until April.
Command returned to Calder again on 16 August 1805 and headed for Ferrol to intercept Admiral Vileneuve and the French fleet. The French unexpectedly turned south and the British fleet followed them down to Cadiz.
## Battle of Trafalgar
Temeraire duly received orders to join the Cadiz blockade, and having sailed to rendezvous with Collingwood, Harvey awaited Nelson's arrival. Nelson's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Victory, arrived off Cadiz on 28 September, and he took over command of the fleet from Collingwood. He spent the next few weeks forming his plan of attack in preparation for the expected sortie of the Franco-Spanish fleet, issuing it to his captains on 9 October in the form of a memorandum. The memorandum called for two divisions of ships to attack at right angles to the enemy line, severing its van from the centre and rear. A third advance squadron would be deployed as a reserve, with the ability to join one of the lines as the course of the battle dictated. Nelson placed the largest and most powerful ships at the heads of the lines, with Temeraire assigned to lead Nelson's own column into battle. The fleet patrolled a considerable distance from the Spanish coast to lure the combined fleet out, and the ships took the opportunity to exercise and prepare for the coming battle. For Temeraire this probably involved painting her sides in the Nelson Chequer design, to enable the British ships to tell friend from foe in the confusion of battle.
The combined Franco-Spanish fleet left Cadiz and put to sea on 19 October 1805, and by 21 October was in sight of the British ships. Nelson formed up his lines and the British began to converge on their distant opponents. Contrary to his original instructions, Nelson took the lead of the weather column in Victory. Concerned for the commander-in-chief's safety in such an exposed position, Henry Blackwood, a long-standing friend of Nelson and commander of the frigate HMS Euryalus that day, suggested Nelson come aboard his ship to better observe and direct the battle. Nelson refused, so Blackwood instead tried to convince him to let Harvey come past him in the Temeraire, and so lead the column into battle. Nelson agreed to this, and signalled for Harvey to come past him. As Temeraire drew up towards Victory, Nelson decided that if he was standing aside to let another ship lead his line, so too should Collingwood, commanding the lee column of ships. He signalled Collingwood, aboard his flagship HMS Royal Sovereign, to let another ship come ahead of him, but Collingwood continued to surge ahead. Reconsidering his plan, Nelson is reported to have hailed Temeraire, as she came up alongside Victory, with the words "I'll thank you, Captain Harvey, to keep in your proper station, which is astern of the Victory." Nelson's instruction was followed up by a formal signal and Harvey dropped back reluctantly, but otherwise kept within one ship's length of Victory as she sailed up to the Franco-Spanish line.
Closely following Victory as she passed through the Franco-Spanish line across the bows of the French flagship Bucentaure, Harvey was forced to sheer away quickly, just missing Victory's stern. Turning to starboard, Harvey made for the 140-gun Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad and engaged her for twenty minutes, taking raking fire from two French ships, the 80-gun Neptune and the 74-gun Redoutable, as she did so. Redoutable's broadside carried away Temeraire's mizzen topmast. While avoiding a broadside from Neptune, Temeraire narrowly avoided a collision with Redoutable. Another broadside from Neptune brought down Temeraire's fore-yard and main topmast, and damaged her fore mast and bowsprit. Harvey now became aware that Redoutable had come up alongside Victory and swept her decks with musket fire and grenades. A large party of Frenchmen now gathered on her decks ready to board Victory. Temeraire was brought around; appearing suddenly out of the smoke of the battle and slipping across Redoutable's stern, Temeraire discharged a double-shotted broadside into her. Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas, captain of Redoutable, recorded that "... the three-decker [Temeraire] – who had doubtless perceived that the Victory had ceased fire and would inevitably be taken – ran foul of the Redoutable to starboard and overwhelmed us with the point-blank fire of all her guns. It would be impossible to describe the horrible carnage produced by the murderous broadside of this ship. More than two hundred of our brave lads were killed or wounded by it."
### Temeraire and Redoutable
Temeraire then rammed into Redoutable, dismounting many of the French ship's guns, and worked her way alongside, after which her crew lashed the two ships together. Temeraire now poured continuous broadsides into the French ship, taking fire as she did so from the 112-gun Spanish ship Santa Ana lying off her stern, and from the 74-gun French ship Fougueux, which came up on Temeraire's un-engaged starboard side. Harvey ordered his gun crews to hold fire until Fougueux came within point blank range. Temeraire's first broadside against Fougueux at a range of 100 yards (91 m) caused considerable damage to the Frenchman's rigging, and she drifted into Temeraire, whose crew promptly lashed her to the side. Temeraire was now lying between two French 74-gun ships. As Harvey later recalled in a letter to his wife "Perhaps never was a ship so circumstanced as mine, to have for more than three hours two of the enemy's line of battle ships lashed to her." Redoutable, sandwiched between Victory and Temeraire, suffered heavy casualties, reported by Captain Lucas as amounting to 300 dead and 222 wounded. During the fight grenades thrown from the decks and topmasts of Redoutable killed and wounded a number of Temeraire's crew and set her starboard rigging and foresail on fire. There was a brief pause in the fighting while both sides worked to douse the flames. Temeraire narrowly escaped destruction when a grenade thrown from Redoutable exploded on her maindeck, nearly igniting the after-magazine. Master-At-Arms John Toohig prevented the fire from spreading and saved not only Temeraire, but the surrounding ships, which would have been caught in the explosion.
After twenty minutes' fighting both Victory and Temeraire, Redoutable had been reduced to a floating wreck. Temeraire had also suffered heavily, damaged when Redoutable's main mast fell onto her poop deck, and having had her own topmasts shot away. Informed that his ship was in danger of sinking, Lucas finally called for quarter to Temeraire. Harvey sent a party across under the second lieutenant, John Wallace, to take charge of the ship.
### Temeraire and Fougueux
Lashed together, Temeraire and Fougueux exchanged fire, Temeraire initially clearing the French ship's upper deck with small arms fire. The French rallied, but the greater height of the three-decked Temeraire compared to the two-decked Fougueux thwarted their attempts to board. Instead Harvey dispatched his own boarding party, led by First-Lieutenant Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, which entered Fougueux via her main deck ports and chains. The French tried to defend the decks port by port, but were steadily overwhelmed. Fougueux's captain, Louis Alexis Baudoin, had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting, leaving Commander François Bazin in charge. When he learned that nearly all the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action, Bazin surrendered the ship to the boarders.
Temeraire had by now fought both French ships to a standstill, at considerable cost to herself. She had sustained casualties of 47 killed and 76 wounded. All her sails and yards had been destroyed, only her lower masts remained, and the rudder head and starboard cathead had been shot away. Eight feet (2.4 m) of her starboard hull was staved in and both quarter galleries had been destroyed. Harvey signalled for a frigate to tow his damaged ship out of the line, and HMS Sirius came up to assist. Before Sirius could make contact, Temeraire came under fire from a counter-attack by the as-yet unengaged van of the combined fleet, led by Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Harvey ordered the few guns that could be brought to bear fired in response, and the attack was eventually beaten off by fresh British ships arriving on the scene.
## Storm
Shortly after the battle had ended, a severe gale struck the area. Several of the captured French and Spanish ships foundered in the rising seas, including both of Temeraire's prizes, Fougueux and Redoutable. Lost in the wrecks were a considerable number of their crews, as well as 47 Temeraire crewmen, serving as prize crews. Temeraire rode out the storm following the battle, sometimes being taken in tow by less damaged ships, sometimes riding at anchor. She took aboard a number of Spanish and French prisoners transferred from other prizes, including some transferred from Euryalus, which was serving as the temporary flagship of Cuthbert Collingwood, who was now in command as Nelson had been killed during the battle. Harvey took the opportunity to go aboard Euryalus and present his account of the battle to Collingwood, and so became the only captain to do so before Collingwood wrote his dispatch about the victory.
### Return to England
Temeraire finally put into Gibraltar on 2 November, eleven days after the battle had been fought. After undergoing minor repairs she sailed for England, arriving at Portsmouth on 1 December, three days before Victory passed by carrying Nelson's body. The battle-damaged ships quickly became tourist attractions, and visitors flocked to tour them. Temeraire was particularly popular on her arrival, being the only ship singled out by name in Collingwood's dispatch for her heroic conduct. Collingwood wrote:
> A circumstance occurred during the action which so strongly marks the invincible spirit of British seamen, when engaging the enemies of their country, that I cannot resist the pleasure I have in making it known to their Lordships; the Temeraire was boarded by accident; or design, by a French ship on one side, and a Spaniard on the other; the contest was vigorous, but, in the end the combined ensigns were torn from the poop and the British hoisted in their places.
Collingwood's account, probably based largely on Harvey's report in the immediate aftermath of the battle, contained several errors. Temeraire had closely engaged two French ships, rather than a French and a Spanish ship, and had not been boarded by either during the action. Nevertheless, the account was popular and a print was rushed out purporting to show Harvey taking the lead in clearing Temeraire's decks of enemy seamen.
A number of artists visited the newly returned Trafalgar ships, including John Livesay, drawing master at the Royal Naval Academy. Livesay produced several sketches of battle-damaged ships, sending them to Nicholas Pocock to be used for Pocock's large paintings of the battle. Temeraire was one of the ships he sketched. Another visitor to Portsmouth was J. M. W. Turner. It is not known whether he visited Temeraire, though he did go aboard Victory, making preparatory notes and sketches and interviewing sailors who had been in the battle. The story of Temeraire had become firmly ingrained in the public mind, so much so that when the House of Commons passed a vote of thanks to the men who had fought at Trafalgar, only three were specifically named. Nelson, Collingwood, and Harvey of Temeraire.
## Mediterranean and Baltic service
The battle-damaged Temeraire was almost immediately dry-docked in Portsmouth to undergo substantial repairs, which eventually lasted sixteen months and cost £25,352. She finally left the dockyard in mid-1807, now under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton. Having fitted her for sea, Hamilton sailed to the Mediterranean in September and joined the fleet blockading the French in Toulon. The service was largely uneventful, and Temeraire returned to Britain in April 1808 to undergo repairs at Plymouth. During her time in Britain the strategic situation in Europe changed as Spain rebelled against French domination and entered the war against France. Temeraire sailed in June to join naval forces operating off the Spanish coast in support of anti-French forces in the Peninsular War.
This service continued until early 1809, when she returned to Britain. By now Britain was heavily involved in the Baltic, protecting mercantile interests. An expedition under Sir James Gambier in July 1807 had captured most of the Danish Navy at the Second Battle of Copenhagen, in response to fears that it might fall into Napoleon's hands, at the cost of starting a war with Denmark. Captain Hamilton left the ship, and was superseded by Captain Edward Sneyd Clay. Temeraire now became the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, with orders to go to the Baltic to reinforce the fleet stationed there under Sir James Saumarez. Temeraire arrived in May 1809 and was sent to blockade Karlskrona on the Swedish coast.
While on patrol with the 64-gun HMS Ardent and the frigate HMS Melpomene, Temeraire became involved in one of the heaviest Danish gunboat attacks of the war. A party of men from Ardent had been landed on the island of Romsø, but were taken by surprise in a Danish night attack, which saw most of the Ardent men captured. The Melpomene was sent under a flag of truce to negotiate for their release, but on returning from this mission, was becalmed. A flotilla of thirty Danish gunboats then launched an attack, taking advantage of the stranded Melpomene's inability to bring her broadside to bear on them. Melpomene signalled for help to the Temeraire, which immediately dispatched boats to her assistance. They engaged and then drove off the Danish ships, and then helped the Melpomene to safety. She had been heavily damaged and suffered casualties of five killed and twenty-nine wounded. Temeraire's later Baltic service involved being dispatched to observe the Russian fleet at Reval, during which time she made a survey of the island of Nargen. After substantial blockading and convoy escort work, Temeraire was ordered back to Britain as winter arrived, and she arrived in Plymouth in November 1809.
## Iberian service
After a period under repair in Plymouth, Temeraire was recommissioned under the command of Captain Edwin H. Chamberlayne in late January 1810. The Peninsular War had reached a critical stage, with the Spanish government besieged in Cadiz by the French. Temeraire, now the flagship of Rear Admiral Francis Pickmore, was ordered to reinforce the city's water defences, and provided men from her sailor and marine complement to crew batteries and gunboats. Men from Temeraire were heavily involved in the fighting until July 1810, when Pickmore was ordered to sail to the Mediterranean and take up a new position as port admiral at Mahón. Temeraire was thereafter based either at Mahón or off Toulon with the blockading British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew. Chamberlayne was replaced by Captain Joseph Spear in March 1811, and for the most part the blockade was uneventful. Though possessing a powerful fleet, the French commander avoided any contact with the blockading force and stayed in port, or else made very short voyages, returning to the harbour when the British appeared.
Temeraire's one brush with the French during this period came on 13 August 1811. Having received orders to sail to Menorca, Spear attempted to tack out of Hyères Bay. As he tried to do so, the wind fell away, leaving Temeraire becalmed and caught in a current which caused her to drift towards land. She came under fire from a shore battery on Pointe des Medes, which wounded several of her crew. Her boats were quickly manned, and together with boats sent from the squadron, Temeraire was towed out of range of the French guns. She then sailed to Menorca and underwent repairs. During this period an epidemic of yellow fever broke out, infecting nearly the entire crew and killing around a hundred crewmen. Pellew ordered her back to Britain, and health gradually improved as she sailed through the Atlantic.
## Retirement
Temeraire arrived in Plymouth on 9 February 1812 and was docked for a survey several weeks later. The survey reported that she was "a well built and strong ship but apparently much decay'd". Spear was superseded on 4 March by Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, but Linzee's command was short-lived. Temeraire left the dock on 13 March and was paid off one week later. Advances in naval technology had developed more powerful and strongly built warships, and though still comparatively new, Temeraire was no longer considered desirable for front-line service. While laid up the decision was taken to convert her into a prison ship to alleviate overcrowding caused by large influxes of French prisoners from the Peninsular War campaigns. Conversion work was carried out at Plymouth between November and December 1813, after which she was laid up in the River Tamar as a prison hulk. From 1814 she was under the nominal command of Lieutenant John Wharton. Despite being laid up and disarmed Temeraire and the rest of her class were nominally re-rated as 104-gun first rates in February 1817.
Temeraire's service as a prison ship lasted until 1819, at which point she was selected for conversion to a receiving ship. She was extensively refitted at Plymouth between September 1819 and June 1820 at a cost of £27,733, and then sailed to Sheerness Dockyard. As a receiving ship she served as a temporary berth for new naval recruits until they received a posting to a ship. She fulfilled this role for eight years, until becoming a victualling depot in 1829. Her final role was as a guard ship at Sheerness, under the title "Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain-Superintendent's ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway". This final post as flagship of the Medway Reserve involved her being repainted and rearmed, and she was used to train boys belonging to The Marine Society. For the last two years of her service, from 1836 to 1838 she was under the nominal command of Captain Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, in his post as Captain-Superintendent of Sheerness. Kennedy had been Temeraire's first-lieutenant at Trafalgar.
## Sale and disposal
Kennedy received orders from the Admiralty in June 1838 to have Temeraire valued in preparation for her sale out of the service. She fired her guns for the last time on 28 June in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and work began on dismantling her on 4 July. Kennedy delegated this task to Captain Sir John Hill, commander of HMS Ocean. Her masts, stores and guns were all removed and her crew paid off, before Temeraire was put up for sale with twelve other ships. She was sold by Dutch auction on 16 August 1838 to John Beatson, a shipbreaker based at Rotherhithe for £5,530. Beatson was then faced with the task of transporting the ship 55 miles from Sheerness to Rotherhithe, the largest ship to have attempted this voyage. To accomplish this he hired two steam tugs from the Thames Steam Towing Company and employed a Rotherhithe pilot named William Scott and twenty five men to sail her up the Thames, at a cost of £58.
## Last voyage
The tugs took the hulk of Temeraire in tow at 7:30 am on 5 September 1838, taking advantage of the beginning of the slack water. They had reached Greenhithe by 1:30 pm at the ebb of the tide, where they anchored overnight. They resumed the journey at 8:30 am the following day, passing Woolwich and then Greenwich at noon. They reached Limehouse Reach shortly afterward, and brought her safely to Beatson's Wharf at Rotherhithe at 2 pm. This was a breakers' yard owned by the Beatson family.
Temeraire was hauled up onto the mud, where she lay as she was slowly broken up. The final voyage was announced in a number of newspapers, and thousands of spectators came to see her towed up the Thames or laid up at Beatson's yard. The shipbreakers undertook a thorough dismantling, removing all the copper sheathing, rudder pintles and gudgeons, copper bolts, nails and other fastenings to be sold back to the Admiralty. The timber was mostly sold to house builders and shipyard owners, though some was retained for working into specialist commemorative furniture.
## Legacy
The immediate legacy of Temeraire was the use of the timber taken from her as she was broken up. A gong stand made from Temeraire timber was a wedding present to the future King George V on the occasion of his marriage to Mary of Teck, and is held at Balmoral Castle. A barometer, gavel, and some miscellaneous timber are in the collections of the National Maritime Museum, and chairs made from Temeraire oak are in the possession of the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, Lloyd's Register, London and the Whanganui Regional Museum, Whanganui. An altar, communion rail and two bishop's chairs survive in St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe. A ship model of Temeraire made by prisoners of war uses a stand made from wood taken from her, and is currently in the Watermen's Hall in London. Other relics of Temeraire known to exist or have existed are a tea caddy made for her signal midshipman at Trafalgar, James Eaton, and sold at auction in 2000, the frame for an oil painting by Sir Edwin Landseer titled Neptune, and a mantelpiece made for Beatson's office, supported by figures of Atlas supposedly taken from Temeraire's stern gallery. The mantelpiece can no longer be traced, nor can a plaque once fixed to Temeraire's deck commemorating Nelson's signal at Trafalgar, nor a wooden leg made for a Trafalgar veteran from Temeraire's wood. John Ruskin foreshadowed the fate of Temeraire's wood in an essay which claimed that "Perhaps, where the low gate opens to some cottage garden, the tired traveller may ask, idly, why the moss grows so green on its rugged wood, and even the sailor's child may not answer nor know that the night dew lies deep in the war rents of the wood of the old Temeraire."
### Art
Temeraire features in a number of paintings and prints, the earliest commemorating her role in the battle of Trafalgar. She can be seen at least partially in paintings of the battle by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, John Christian Schetky, Nicholas Pocock, Thomas Buttersworth and Thomas Whitcombe. A fictionalized depiction of her launch was produced by Philip Burgoyne. Later representations of the retired Temeraire were also popular. Though no known contemporary image of her in the prison ship role exists, she was painted while a guardship on the Medway in 1833 by Edward William Cooke, and by William Beatson and J. J. Williams while laid up at Rotherhithe in 1838. More recently she has been the subject of paintings by Geoff Hunt. The most famous painting of Temeraire was made by J. M. W. Turner and titled The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1838. Turner depicts Temeraire on her last voyage, towed up the Thames by a small black steam tug as the sun sets (or dawns). In choosing his title Turner created an enduring appellation, as previously she had been known to her crew as the "saucy" Temeraire. Turner presented it for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1839 with an accompanying excerpt, slightly altered, of Thomas Campbell's poem Ye Mariners of England.
> The flag which braved the battle and the breeze,
> no longer owns her.
Turner's painting achieved widespread critical acclaim, and accolades from the likes of John Ruskin and William Makepeace Thackeray. It was Turner's particular favourite; he lent it only once and refused to ever do so again. He also refused to sell it at any price, and on his death bequeathed it to the nation. It hangs today in the National Gallery, and in 2005 it was voted the nation's favourite painting in a poll organized by BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
### Books
The Fighting Temeraire is a historical narrative written by Sam Willis and details the "extraordinary story of the mighty Temeraire, the ship behind J. M. W. Turner's iconic painting". It includes a detailed history of the ship, history of both the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) and the Napoleonic Wars (1798–1815), and 50 full-color illustrations and 60 black-and-white photographs.
The Temeraire series is a historical fantasy/alternate history written by Naomi Novik. While HMS Temeraire herself is only briefly featured, the ship becomes the namesake of the series' main character, a large black dragon who sees naval and aerial action alongside his British captain. The series takes place in an alternate version of the Napoleonic Wars, in which the various nations of the world fight with air forces made up of manned dragons. HMS Temeraire appears briefly in the ninth and final book.
### Poetry and songs
Temeraire became the subject of a number of poems and songs commemorating her life and fate. An early work by James Duff written between 1813 and 1819 referenced her role as a prison ship, and was set to music in 1857 under the title The Brave Old Temeraire. More generally, an anonymous poem entitled The Wooden Walls of Old England appeared in Fraser's Magazine shortly after Temeraire's arrival at Rotherhithe, and lamented the fate of the great sailing warships. Turner's painting created an enduring interest in the story of Temeraire and several poems appeared in the decades following her breaking-up. Gerald Massey wrote The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth, Herman Melville produced The Temeraire, and Henry Newbolt wrote The Fighting Temeraire, with its closing lines
> Now the sunset's breezes shiver,
> And she's fading down the river,
> But in England's song forever,
> She's the Fighting Temeraire. |
2,877 | Augustine of Canterbury | 1,173,495,867 | 6th-century missionary, archbishop, and saint | [
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| Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – most likely 26 May 604) was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founding figure of the Church of England.
Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Kent was probably chosen because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I the King of Paris, who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Before reaching Kent, the missionaries had considered turning back, but Gregory urged them on, and in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury.
King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated as a bishop and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597. Pope Gregory sent more missionaries in 601, along with encouraging letters and gifts for the churches, although attempts to persuade the native British bishops to submit to Augustine's authority failed. Roman bishops were established at London, and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. Augustine also arranged the consecration of his successor, Laurence of Canterbury. The archbishop probably died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint.
## Background to the mission
After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from their province of Britannia in 410, the inhabitants were left to defend themselves against the attacks of the Saxons. Before the Roman withdrawal, Britannia had been converted to Christianity and produced the ascetic Pelagius. Britain sent three bishops to the Council of Arles in 314, and a Gaulish bishop went to the island in 396 to help settle disciplinary matters. Material remains testify to a growing presence of Christians, at least until around 360. After the Roman legions departed, pagan tribes settled the southern parts of the island while western Britain, beyond the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, remained Christian. This native British Church developed in isolation from Rome under the influence of missionaries from Ireland and was centred on monasteries instead of bishoprics. Other distinguishing characteristics were its calculation of the date of Easter and the style of the tonsure haircut that clerics wore. Evidence for the survival of Christianity in the eastern part of Britain during this time includes the survival of the cult of Saint Alban and the occurrence in place names of eccles, derived from the Latin ecclesia, meaning "church". There is no evidence that these native Christians tried to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The invasions destroyed most remnants of Roman civilisation in the areas held by the Saxons and related tribes, including the economic and religious structures.
It was against this background that Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission, often called the Gregorian mission, to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in 595. The Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht, who married a Christian princess named Bertha before 588, and perhaps earlier than 560. Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks. As one of the conditions of her marriage, she brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent. Together in Canterbury, they restored a church that dated to Roman times – possibly the current St Martin's Church. Æthelberht was a pagan at this point but allowed his wife freedom of worship. One biographer of Bertha states that under his wife's influence, Æthelberht asked Pope Gregory to send missionaries. The historian Ian N. Wood feels that the initiative came from the Kentish court as well as the queen. Other historians, however, believe that Gregory initiated the mission, although the exact reasons remain unclear. Bede, an 8th-century monk who wrote a history of the English church, recorded a famous story in which Gregory saw fair-haired Saxon slaves from Britain in the Roman slave market and was inspired to try to convert their people. More practical matters, such as the acquisition of new provinces acknowledging the primacy of the papacy, and a desire to influence the emerging power of the Kentish kingdom under Æthelberht, were probably involved. The mission may have been an outgrowth of the missionary efforts against the Lombards who, as pagans and Arian Christians, were not on good relations with the Catholic church in Rome.
Aside from Æthelberht's granting of freedom of worship to his wife, the choice of Kent was probably dictated by a number of other factors. Kent was the dominant power in southeastern Britain. Since the eclipse of King Ceawlin of Wessex in 592, Æthelberht was the bretwalda, or leading Anglo-Saxon ruler; Bede refers to Æthelberht as having imperium (overlordship) south of the River Humber. Trade between the Franks and Æthelberht's kingdom was well established, and the language barrier between the two regions was apparently only a minor obstacle, as the interpreters for the mission came from the Franks. Lastly, Kent's proximity to the Franks allowed support from a Christian area. There is some evidence, including Gregory's letters to Frankish kings in support of the mission, that some of the Franks felt that they had a claim to overlordship over some of the southern British kingdoms at this time. The presence of a Frankish bishop could also have lent credence to claims of overlordship, if Bertha's Bishop Liudhard was felt to be acting as a representative of the Frankish church and not merely as a spiritual advisor to the queen. Frankish influence was not merely political; archaeological remains attest to a cultural influence as well.
In 595, Gregory chose Augustine, who was the prior of the Abbey of St Andrew in Rome, to head the mission to Kent. The pope selected monks to accompany Augustine and sought support from the Frankish royalty and clergy in a series of letters, of which some copies survive in Rome. He wrote to King Theuderic II of Burgundy and to King Theudebert II of Austrasia, as well as their grandmother Brunhild, seeking aid for the mission. Gregory thanked King Chlothar II of Neustria for aiding Augustine. Besides hospitality, the Frankish bishops and kings provided interpreters and Frankish priests to accompany the mission. By soliciting help from the Frankish kings and bishops, Gregory helped to assure a friendly reception for Augustine in Kent, as Æthelbert was unlikely to mistreat a mission which visibly had the support of his wife's relatives and people. Moreover, the Franks appreciated the chance to participate in mission that would extend their influence in Kent. Chlothar, in particular, needed a friendly realm across the Channel to help guard his kingdom's flanks against his fellow Frankish kings.
Sources make no mention of why Pope Gregory chose a monk to head the mission. Pope Gregory once wrote to Æthelberht complimenting Augustine's knowledge of the Bible, so Augustine was evidently well educated. Other qualifications included administrative ability, for Gregory was the abbot of St Andrews as well as being pope, which left the day-to-day running of the abbey to Augustine, the prior.
## Arrival and first efforts
Augustine was accompanied by Laurence of Canterbury, his eventual successor to the archbishopric, and a group of about 40 companions, some of whom were monks. Soon after leaving Rome, the missionaries halted, daunted by the nature of the task before them. They sent Augustine back to Rome to request papal permission to return. Gregory refused and sent Augustine back with letters encouraging the missionaries to persevere. In 597, Augustine and his companions landed in Kent. They achieved some initial success soon after their arrival: Æthelberht permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his capital of Canterbury where they used the church of St Martin's for services. Neither Bede nor Gregory mentions the date of Æthelberht's conversion, but it probably took place in 597. In the early medieval period, large-scale conversions required the ruler's conversion first, and Augustine is recorded as making large numbers of converts within a year of his arrival in Kent. Also, by 601, Gregory was writing to both Æthelberht and Bertha, calling the king his son and referring to his baptism. A late medieval tradition, recorded by the 15th-century chronicler Thomas Elmham, gives the date of the king's conversion as Whit Sunday, or 2 June 597; there is no reason to doubt this date, although there is no other evidence for it. Against a date in 597 is a letter of Gregory's to Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria in June 598, which mentions the number of converts made by Augustine, but does not mention any baptism of the king. However, it is clear that by 601 the king had been converted. His baptism likely took place at Canterbury.
Augustine established his episcopal see at Canterbury. It is not clear when and where Augustine was consecrated as a bishop. Bede, writing about a century later, states that Augustine was consecrated by the Frankish Archbishop Ætherius of Arles, Gaul (France) after the conversion of Æthelberht. Contemporary letters from Pope Gregory, however, refer to Augustine as a bishop before he arrived in England. A letter of Gregory's from September 597 calls Augustine a bishop, and one dated ten months later says Augustine had been consecrated on Gregory's command by bishops of the German lands. The historian R. A. Markus discusses the various theories of when and where Augustine was consecrated, and suggests he was consecrated before arriving in England, but argues the evidence does not permit deciding exactly where this took place.
Soon after his arrival, Augustine founded the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, which later became St Augustine's Abbey, on land donated by the king. In a letter Gregory wrote to the patriarch of Alexandria in 598, he claimed that more than 10,000 Christians had been baptised; the number may be exaggerated but there is no reason to doubt that a mass conversion took place. However, there were probably some Christians already in Kent before Augustine arrived, remnants of the Christians who lived in Britain in the later Roman Empire. Little literary traces remain of them, however. One other effect of the king's conversion by Augustine's mission was that the Frankish influence on the southern kingdoms of Britain was decreased.
After these conversions, Augustine sent Laurence back to Rome with a report of his success, along with questions about the mission. Bede records the letter and Gregory's replies in chapter 27 of his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; this section of the History is usually known as the Libellus responsionum. Augustine asked for Gregory's advice on a number of issues, including how to organise the church, the punishment for church robbers, guidance on who was allowed to marry whom, and the consecration of bishops. Other topics were relations between the churches of Britain and Gaul, childbirth and baptism, and when it was lawful for people to receive communion and for a priest to celebrate mass.
Further missionaries were sent from Rome in 601. They brought a pallium for Augustine and a present of sacred vessels, vestments, relics, and books. The pallium was the symbol of metropolitan status, and signified that Augustine was now an archbishop unambiguously associated with the Holy See. Along with the pallium, a letter from Gregory directed the new archbishop to consecrate 12 suffragan bishops as soon as possible and to send a bishop to York. Gregory's plan was that there would be two metropolitans, one at York and one at London, with 12 suffragan bishops under each archbishop. As part of this plan, Augustine was expected to transfer his archiepiscopal see to London from Canterbury. This move never happened; no contemporary sources give the reason, but it was probably because London was not part of Æthelberht's domains. Instead, London was part of the kingdom of Essex, ruled by Æthelberht's nephew Saebert of Essex, who converted to Christianity in 604. The historian S. Brechter has suggested that the metropolitan see was indeed moved to London, and that it was only with the abandonment of London as a see after the death of Æthelberht that Canterbury became the archiepiscopal see. This theory contradicts Bede's version of events, however.
## Additional work
In 604, Augustine founded two more bishoprics in Britain. Two men who had come to Britain with him in 601 were consecrated, Mellitus as Bishop of London and Justus as Bishop of Rochester. Bede relates that Augustine, with the help of the king, "recovered" a church built by Roman Christians in Canterbury. It is not clear if Bede meant that Augustine rebuilt the church or that Augustine merely reconsecrated a building that had been used for pagan worship. Archaeological evidence seems to support the latter interpretation; in 1973 the remains of an aisled building dating from the Romano-British period were uncovered just south of the present Canterbury Cathedral. The historian Ian Wood argues that the existence of the Libellus points to more contact between Augustine and the native Christians because the topics covered in the work are not restricted to conversion from paganism, but also dealt with relations between differing styles of Christianity.
Augustine failed to extend his authority to the Christians in Wales and Dumnonia to the west. Gregory had decreed that these Christians should submit to Augustine and that their bishops should obey him, apparently believing that more of the Roman governmental and ecclesiastical organisation survived in Britain than was actually the case. According to the narrative of Bede, the Britons in these regions viewed Augustine with uncertainty, and their suspicion was compounded by a diplomatic misjudgement on Augustine's part. In 603, Augustine and Æthelberht summoned the British bishops to a meeting south of the Severn. These guests retired early to confer with their people, who, according to Bede, advised them to judge Augustine based upon the respect he displayed at their next meeting. When Augustine failed to rise from his seat on the entrance of the British bishops, they refused to recognise him as their archbishop. There were, however, deep differences between Augustine and the British church that perhaps played a more significant role in preventing an agreement. At issue were the tonsure, the observance of Easter, and practical and deep-rooted differences in approach to asceticism, missionary endeavours, and how the church itself was organised. Some historians believe that Augustine had no real understanding of the history and traditions of the British church, damaging his relations with their bishops. Also, there were political dimensions involved, as Augustine's efforts were sponsored by the Kentish king, and at this period the Wessex and Mercian kingdoms were expanding to the west, into areas held by the Britons.
## Further success
Gregory also instructed Augustine on other matters. Temples were to be consecrated for Christian use, and feasts, if possible, moved to days celebrating Christian martyrs. One religious site was revealed to be a shrine of a local St Sixtus, whose worshippers were unaware of details of the martyr's life or death. They may have been native Christians, but Augustine did not treat them as such. When Gregory was informed, he told Augustine to stop the cult and use the shrine for the Roman St Sixtus.
Gregory legislated on the behaviour of the laity and the clergy. He placed the new mission directly under papal authority and made it clear that English bishops would have no authority over Frankish counterparts nor vice versa. Other directives dealt with the training of native clergy and the missionaries' conduct.
The King's School, Canterbury claims Augustine as its founder, which would make it the world's oldest existing school, but the first documentary records of the school date from the 16th century. Augustine did establish a school, and soon after his death Canterbury was able to send teachers out to support the East Anglian mission. Augustine received liturgical books from the pope, but their exact contents are unknown. They may have been some of the new mass books that were being written at this time. The exact liturgy that Augustine introduced to England remains unknown, but it would have been a form of the Latin language liturgy in use at Rome.
## Death and legacy
Before his death, Augustine consecrated Laurence of Canterbury as his successor to the archbishopric, probably to ensure an orderly transfer of office. Although at the time of Augustine's death, 26 May 604, the mission barely extended beyond Kent, his undertaking introduced a more active missionary style into the British Isles. Despite the earlier presence of Christians in Ireland and Wales, no efforts had been made to try to convert the Saxon invaders. Augustine was sent to convert the descendants of those invaders, and eventually became the decisive influence in Christianity in most of the British Isles. Much of his success came about because of Augustine's close relationship with Æthelberht, which gave the archbishop time to establish himself. Augustine's example also influenced the great missionary efforts of the Anglo-Saxon Church.
Augustine's body was originally buried in the portico of what is now St Augustine's, Canterbury, but it was later exhumed and placed in a tomb within the abbey church, which became a place of pilgrimage and veneration. After the Norman Conquest the cult of St Augustine was actively promoted. After the Conquest, his shrine in St Augustine's Abbey held a central position in one of the axial chapels, flanked by the shrines of his successors Laurence and Mellitus. King Henry I of England granted St. Augustine's Abbey a six-day fair around the date on which Augustine's relics were translated to his new shrine, from 8 September through 13 September.
A life of Augustine was written by Goscelin around 1090, but this life portrays Augustine in a different light, compared to Bede's account. Goscelin's account has little new historical content, mainly being filled with miracles and imagined speeches. Building on this account, later medieval writers continued to add new miracles and stories to Augustine's life, often quite fanciful. These authors included William of Malmesbury, who claimed that Augustine founded Cerne Abbey, the author (generally believed to be John Brompton) of a late medieval chronicle containing invented letters from Augustine, and a number of medieval writers who included Augustine in their romances. Another problem with investigating Augustine's saintly cult is the confusion resulting because most medieval liturgical documents mentioning Augustine do not distinguish between Augustine of Canterbury and Augustine of Hippo, a fourth-century saint. Medieval Scandinavian liturgies feature Augustine of Canterbury quite often, however. During the English Reformation, Augustine's shrine was destroyed and his relics were lost.
Augustine's shrine was re-established in March 2012 at the church of St. Augustine in Ramsgate, Kent, very close to the mission's landing site. St Augustine's Cross, a Celtic cross erected in 1884, marks the spot in Ebbsfleet, Thanet, East Kent, where the newly arrived Augustine is said to have first met and preached to the awaiting King Ethelbert.
## See also
- List of members of the Gregorian mission |
25,103,025 | Trial by Jury | 1,171,354,731 | 1875 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan | [
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| Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its popular companion piece, Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole. The story concerns a "breach of promise of marriage" lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of lighthearted satire. Gilbert based the libretto of Trial by Jury on an operetta parody that he had written in 1868.
The opera premiered more than three years after Gilbert and Sullivan's only previous collaboration, Thespis, an 1871–72 Christmas season entertainment. In the intervening years, both the author and the composer were busy with separate projects. Beginning in 1873, Gilbert tried several times to get the opera produced before the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte suggested that he collaborate on it with Sullivan. Sullivan was pleased with the piece and promptly wrote the music.
As with most Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the plot of Trial by Jury is ludicrous, but the characters behave as if the events were perfectly reasonable. This narrative technique blunts some of the pointed barbs aimed at hypocrisy, especially of those in authority, and the sometimes base motives of supposedly respectable people and institutions. These themes became favourites of Gilbert through the rest of his collaborations with Sullivan. Critics and audiences praised how well Sullivan's witty and good-humoured music complemented Gilbert's satire. The success of Trial by Jury launched the famous series of 13 collaborative works between Gilbert and Sullivan that came to be known as the Savoy Operas.
After its original production in 1875, Trial by Jury toured widely in Britain and elsewhere and was frequently revived and recorded. It also became popular for benefit performances. The work continues to be frequently played, especially as a companion piece to other short Gilbert and Sullivan operas or other works. According to the theatre scholar Kurt Gänzl, it is "probably the most successful British one-act operetta of all time".
## Background
Before Trial by Jury, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had collaborated on one previous opera, Thespis; or, The Gods Grown Old, in 1871. Although reasonably successful, it was a Christmas entertainment, and such works were not expected to endure. Between Thespis and Trial by Jury, Gilbert and Sullivan did not collaborate on any further operas, and each man separately produced works that further built his reputation in his own field. Gilbert wrote several short stories, edited the second volume of his comic Bab Ballads, and created a dozen theatrical works, including Happy Arcadia in 1872; The Wicked World, The Happy Land and The Realm of Joy in 1873; Charity, Topsyturveydom and Sweethearts in 1874. At the same time, Sullivan wrote various pieces of religious music, including the Festival Te Deum (1872) and an oratorio, The Light of the World (1873), and edited Church Hymns, with Tunes (1874), which included 45 of his own hymns and arrangements. Two of his most famous hymn tunes from this period are settings of "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Nearer, my God, to Thee" (both in 1872). He also wrote a suite of incidental music to The Merry Wives of Windsor (1874) and many parlour ballads and other songs, including three in 1874–75 with words by Gilbert: "The Distant Shore", "Sweethearts" (inspired by Gilbert's play) and "The Love that Loves Me Not".
### Genesis of the opera
The genesis of Trial by Jury was in 1868, when Gilbert wrote a single-page illustrated comic piece for the magazine Fun entitled Trial by Jury: An Operetta. Drawing on Gilbert's training and brief practice as a barrister, it detailed a "breach of promise" trial going awry, in the process spoofing the law, lawyers and the legal system. (In the Victorian era, a man could be required to pay compensation should he fail to marry a woman to whom he was engaged.) The outline of this story was followed in the later opera, and two of its numbers appeared in nearly their final form in Fun. The skit, however, ended abruptly: the moment the attractive plaintiff stepped into the witness box, the judge leapt into her arms and vowed to marry her, whereas in the opera, the case is allowed to proceed further before this conclusion is reached.
In 1873, the opera manager and composer Carl Rosa asked Gilbert for a piece to use as part of a season of English opera that Rosa planned to present at the Drury Lane Theatre; Rosa was to write or commission the music. Gilbert expanded Trial into a one-act libretto. Rosa's wife, Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, a childhood friend of Gilbert's, died after an illness in 1874, and Rosa dropped the project. Later in the same year, Gilbert offered the libretto to the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, but Carte knew of no composer available to set it to music.
Meanwhile, Sullivan may have been considering a return to light opera: Cox and Box, his first comic opera, had received a London revival (co-starring his brother, Fred Sullivan) in September 1874. In November, Sullivan travelled to Paris and contacted Albert Millaud, one of the librettists for Jacques Offenbach's operettas. However, he returned to London empty-handed and worked on incidental music for the Gaiety Theatre's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. By early 1875, Carte was managing Selina Dolaro's Royalty Theatre, and he needed a short opera to be played as an afterpiece to Offenbach's La Périchole, which was to open on 30 January (with Fred Sullivan in the cast), in which Dolaro starred. Carte had asked Sullivan to compose something for the theatre and advertised in The Times in late January: "In Preparation, a New Comic Opera composed expressly for this theatre by Mr. Arthur Sullivan in which Madame Dolaro and Nellie Bromley will appear." But around the same time, Carte also remembered Gilbert's Trial by Jury and knew that Gilbert had worked with Sullivan to create Thespis. He suggested to Gilbert that Sullivan was the man to write the music for Trial.
Gilbert finally called on Sullivan and read the libretto to him on 20 February 1875. Sullivan was enthusiastic, later recalling, "[Gilbert] read it through ... in the manner of a man considerably disappointed with what he had written. As soon as he had come to the last word, he closed up the manuscript violently, apparently unconscious of the fact that he had achieved his purpose so far as I was concerned, inasmuch as I was screaming with laughter the whole time." Trial by Jury, described as "A Novel and Original Dramatic Cantata" in the original promotional material, was composed and rehearsed in a matter of weeks.
### Production and aftermath
The result of Gilbert and Sullivan's collaboration was a witty, tuneful and very "English" piece, in contrast to the bawdy burlesques and adaptations of French operettas that dominated the London musical stage at that time.
Initially, Trial by Jury, which runs only 30 minutes or so, was played last on a triple bill, on which the main attraction, La Périchole (starring Dolaro as the title character, Fred Sullivan as Don Andres and Walter H. Fisher as Piquillo), was preceded by the one-act farce Cryptoconchoidsyphonostomata. The latter was immediately replaced by a series of other curtain raisers. The composer conducted the first night's performance, and the theatre's music director, B. Simmons, conducted thereafter. The composer's brother, Fred Sullivan, starred as the Learned Judge, with Nellie Bromley as the Plaintiff. One of the choristers in Trial by Jury, W. S. Penley, was promoted in November 1875 to the small part of the Foreman of the Jury and made a strong impact on audiences with his amusing facial expressions and gestures. In March 1876, he temporarily replaced Fred Sullivan as the Judge, when Fred's health declined from tuberculosis. With this start, Penley went on to a successful career as comic actor, culminating with the lead role in the record-breaking original production of Charley's Aunt. Fred Sullivan died in January 1877.
Jacques Offenbach's works were then at the height of their popularity in Britain, but Trial by Jury proved even more popular than La Périchole, becoming an unexpected hit. Trial by Jury drew crowds and continued to run after La Périchole closed. While the Royalty Theatre closed for the summer in 1875, Dolaro immediately took Trial on tour in England and Ireland. The piece resumed at the Royalty later in 1875 and was revived for additional London seasons in 1876 at the Opera Comique and in 1877 at the Strand Theatre.
Trial by Jury soon became the most desirable supporting piece for any London production, and, outside London, the major British theatrical touring companies had added it to their repertoire by about 1877. The original production was given a world tour by the Opera Comique's assistant manager Emily Soldene, which travelled as far as Australia. Unauthorised "pirate" productions quickly sprang up in America, taking advantage of the fact that American courts did not enforce foreign copyrights. It also became popular as part of the Victorian tradition of "benefit concerts", where the theatrical community came together to raise money for actors and actresses down on their luck or retiring. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued to play the work for a century, licensing the piece to amateur and foreign professional companies, such as the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. Since the copyrights to Gilbert and Sullivan works ran out in 1961, the piece has been available to theatre companies around the world free of royalties. The work's enduring popularity since 1875 makes it, according to theatrical scholar Kurt Gänzl, "probably the most successful British one-act operetta of all time".
The success of Trial by Jury spurred several attempts to reunite Gilbert and Sullivan, but difficulties arose. Plans for a collaboration for Carl Rosa in 1875 fell through because Gilbert was too busy with other projects, and an attempted Christmas 1875 revival of Thespis by Richard D'Oyly Carte failed when the financiers backed out. Gilbert and Sullivan continued their separate careers, though both continued writing light opera, among other projects: Sullivan's next light opera, The Zoo, opened while Trial by Jury was still playing, in June 1875; and Gilbert's Eyes and No Eyes premiered a month later, followed by Princess Toto in 1876. Gilbert and Sullivan were not reunited until The Sorcerer in 1877.
## Roles
- The Learned Judge (comic baritone)
- The Plaintiff (soprano)
- The Defendant (tenor)
- Counsel for the Plaintiff (lyric baritone)
- Usher (bass-baritone)
- Foreman of the Jury (bass)
- Associate (silent)
- First Bridesmaid
- Chorus of Bridesmaids, Gentlemen of the Jury, Barristers, Attorneys and Public.
## Synopsis
It is 10 a.m. at the Court of the Exchequer, where a jury and the public assemble to hear a case of breach of promise of marriage.
The Usher advises the jury to listen to the broken-hearted Plaintiff's case, adding that they "needn't mind" what the "ruffianly defendant" has to say. He notes, for the record, that "From bias free of every kind, this trial must be tried!" The Defendant (Edwin) arrives, and the jurymen greet him with hostility, even though, as he points out, they have as yet no idea of the merits of his case. He candidly tells them that he jilted the Plaintiff because she became a "bore intense" to him, and he then quickly took up with another woman. The jurymen recall their own wayward youth, but as they are now respectable gentlemen they have no sympathy for the Defendant.
The Judge enters with great pomp and describes how he rose to his position – by courting a rich attorney's "elderly, ugly daughter". The rich attorney then aided his prospective son-in-law's legal career until the Judge "became as rich as the Gurneys" and "threw over" the daughter. The jury and public are delighted with the Judge, although he has just admitted to the same wrong of which the Defendant is accused.
The jury is sworn in, and the Plaintiff (Angelina) is summoned. She is preceded into the courtroom by her bridesmaids, one of whom catches the eye of the Judge. However, when Angelina herself arrives in full wedding dress, she instantly captures the heart of both Judge and jury. The Counsel for the Plaintiff makes a moving speech detailing Edwin's betrayal. Angelina feigns distress and staggers, first into the arms of the Foreman of the Jury, and then of the Judge. Edwin counters, explaining that his change of heart is only natural:
> Oh, gentlemen, listen, I pray,
>
> ` Though I own that my heart has been ranging,`
>
> Of nature the laws I obey,
>
> ` For nature is constantly changing.`
>
> The moon in her phases is found,
>
> ` The time and the wind and the weather,`
>
> The months in succession come round,
>
> ` And you don't find two Mondays together.`
He offers to marry both the Plaintiff and his new love, if that would satisfy everyone. The Judge at first finds this "a reasonable proposition", but the Counsel argues that from the days of James II, it has been "a rather serious crime / To marry two wives at a time"; he labels the crime not "bigamy", but rather "burglary". Perplexed, everyone in court ponders the "nice dilemma" in a parody of Italian opera ensembles.
Angelina desperately embraces Edwin, demonstrating the depth of her love, and bemoans her loss – all in evidence of the large amount of damages that the jury should require Edwin to pay. Edwin, in turn, says he is a smoker, a drunkard, and a bully (when tipsy), and that the Plaintiff could not have endured him even for a day; thus the damages should be small. The Judge suggests making Edwin tipsy to see if he would really "thrash and kick" Angelina, but everyone else (except Edwin) objects to this experiment. Impatient at the lack of progress, the Judge resolves the case by offering to marry Angelina himself. This is found quite satisfactory and the proceedings are concluded with "joy unbounded".
## Musical numbers
- 1\. "Hark, the hour of ten is sounding" (Chorus) and "Now, Jurymen, hear my advice" (Usher)
- 1a. "Is this the Court of the Exchequer?" (Defendant)
- 2\. "When first my old, old love I knew" (Defendant and Chorus) and "Silence in Court!" (Usher)
- 3\. "All hail great Judge!" (Chorus and Judge)
- 4\. "When I, good friends, was call'd to the Bar" (Judge and Chorus)
- 5\. "Swear thou the Jury" (Counsel, Usher) and "Oh will you swear by yonder skies" (Usher and Chorus)
- 6\. "Where is the Plaintiff?" (Counsel, Usher) and "Comes the broken flower" (Chorus of Bridesmaids and Plaintiff)
- 7\. "Oh, never, never, never, since I joined the human race" (Judge, Foreman, Chorus)
- 8\. "May it please you, my lud!" (Counsel for Plaintiff and Chorus)
- 9\. "That she is reeling is plain to see!" (Judge, Foreman, Plaintiff, Counsel, and Chorus)
- 10\. "Oh, gentlemen, listen, I pray" (Defendant and Chorus of Bridesmaids)
- 11\. "That seems a reasonable proposition" (Judge, Counsel, and Chorus)
- 12\. "A nice dilemma we have here" (Ensemble)
- 13\. "I love him, I love him, with fervour unceasing" (Plaintiff, Defendant and Chorus) and "The question, gentlemen, is one of liquor" (Judge and Ensemble)
- 14\. "Oh, joy unbounded, with wealth surrounded" (Ensemble)
For clarity, only characters with a major role in each particular song have been listed.
## Reception
Reviews of the first performance of Trial by Jury were uniformly glowing. Fun magazine declared the opera "extremely funny and admirably composed", while the rival Punch magazine wrote that it "is the funniest bit of nonsense your representative has seen for a considerable time", only regretting that it was too short. The Daily News praised the author: "In whimsical invention and eccentric humour Mr. W. S. Gilbert has no living rival among our dramatic writers, and never has his peculiar vein of drollery and satire been more conspicuous than in a little piece entitled Trial by Jury". The Daily Telegraph concluded that the piece illustrated the composer's "great capacity for dramatic writing of the lighter class". Many critics emphasised the happy combination of Gilbert's words and Sullivan's music. One noted that "so completely is each imbued with the same spirit, that it would be as difficult to conceive the existence of Mr. Gilbert's verses without Mr. Sullivan's music, as of Mr. Sullivan's music without Mr. Gilbert's verses. Each gives each a double charm." Another agreed that "it seems, as in the great Wagnerian operas, as though poem and music had proceeded simultaneously from one and the same brain."
<table>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>In 1880, Punch magazine prematurely anticipated Sullivan's knighthood, publishing a cartoon accompanied by a parody version of "When I, good friends", from Trial by Jury, that summarised Sullivan's career to that date:</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>Excerpt from A Humorous Knight</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>["It is reported that after the Leeds Festival Dr. Sullivan will be knighted." Having read this in a column of gossip, a be-nighted Contributor, who has "the Judge's Song" on the brain, suggests the following verse....]</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><blockquote>
<p>As a boy I had such a musical bump,</p>
<p><code> And its size so struck Mr. HELMORE,</code></p>
<p>That he said, "Though you sing those songs like a trump,</p>
<p><code> You shall write some yourself that will sell more."</code></p>
<p>So I packed off to Leipsic, without looking back,</p>
<p><code> And returned in such classical fury,</code></p>
<p>That I sat down with HANDEL and HAYDN and BACH,—</p>
<p><code> And turned out "Trial by Jury."</code></p>
<p>But W.S.G. he jumped for joy</p>
<p><code> As he said, "Though the job dismay you,</code></p>
<p>Send Exeter Hall to the deuce, my boy;</p>
<p><code> It's the haul with me that'll pay you."</code></p>
<p>And we hauled so well, mid jeers and taunts,</p>
<p><code> That we've settled, spite all temptations,</code></p>
<p>To stick to our Sisters and our Cousins and our Aunts,—</p>
<p><code> And continue our pleasant relations.</code></p>
</blockquote></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The opening night audience was also delighted by the piece, preferring it even to the Offenbach work: "To judge by the unceasing and almost boisterous hilarity which formed a sort of running commentary on the part of the audience, Trial by Jury suffered nothing whatever from so dangerous a juxtaposition [with a piece by the popular Offenbach]. On the contrary, it may fairly be said to have borne away the palm." A reviewer noted that "Laughter more frequent or more hearty was never heard in any theatre than that which more than once brought the action ... to a temporary standstill." Another paper summed up its popular appeal: "Trial by Jury is but a trifle – it pretends to be nothing more – but it is one of those merry bits of extravagance which a great many will go to see and hear, which they will laugh at, and which they will advise their friends to go and see, and therefore its success cannot be doubtful."
Among the actors, special critical praise was reserved for the composer's brother, Fred Sullivan, in the role of the Learned Judge: "The greatest 'hit' was made by Mr. F. Sullivan, whose blending of official dignity, condescension, and, at the right moment, extravagant humour, made the character of the Judge stand out with all requisite prominence, and added much to the interest of the piece." The Times concurred that his portrayal deserved "a special word of praise for its quiet and natural humour." Nelly Bromley (the Plaintiff), Walter H. Fisher (the Defendant), John Hollingsworth (the Counsel) and others were also praised for their acting.
Later assessments of the work have been no less positive. In 1907, Gilbert's first biographer, Edith A. Browne, concluded: "In Trial by Jury we find author and composer looking at the humorous side of life from exactly the same point of view, and we at once realise how Gilbert and Sullivan have been able to do for Comic Opera what Wagner has done for Grand Opera by combining words and music so as to make them one." H. M. Walbrook similarly wrote in 1922:
> Trial by Jury ... satirizes the procedure in an average breach of promise, and also the insincerity which may sometimes underlie the pose of "respectability." Everything done or sung is ludicrous, and yet beneath it all lies a recognisable substratum of truth. The piece is a riot of laughter. The Judge's ditty, "When first, my friends, I was called to the Bar," [sic] is the best-known comic song in the English language. In none of the operas is the genius of Gilbert as an inventor of "comic business" more daringly and irresistibly exhibited. One can see the piece again and again and discover fresh strokes of comicality. Its place in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory is as secure as ever; and whatever reforms may be hereafter effected in this particular department of the King's Bench Division, Trial by Jury will probably long continue to be one of the English-speaking world's refreshments.
The Gilbert and Sullivan biographer Michael Ainger, writing in 2002, 127 years after the premiere of the opera, explained its enduring appeal: "Nothing could be more serious than a court of law ... and now the world had been turned upside down. The court of law had become the scene of humor and frivolity; the learned judge had shown himself to be as fickle as the defendant, and the justice system turned out to be flawed by human frailty. And Sullivan had grasped the joke.... From the first chords ... Sullivan's music sets the scene of mock-seriousness and proceeds to dance its way through the whole piece."
## Impact and analysis
### Impact
As the first Savoy opera, Trial by Jury marked an important moment in the history of the Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, as well as in the careers of each of the two men and in Victorian drama in general. The historian Reginald Allen sums up the historical import of the opera:
> Most scholars of the Victorian theatre date the birth of Gilbert & Sullivan opera with the first performance of Trial by Jury.... Some will maintain that there is no single date of comparable importance in the history of the modern lyric theatre than this occasion which first brought together the triumvirate of W. S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and their catalyst business genius, Richard D'Oyly Carte. The next twenty-five years witnessed the spectacular, worldwide success of this collaboration: the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, initiated by Trial by Jury. Without this spark, who can say that any of the instantaneous hits of G[ilbert] & S[ullivan] that followed would ever have been written?
Sidney Dark and Rowland Grey also give a high value to the importance of Trial by Jury and the operas that followed: "There is not a little historical interest in the genesis of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the one English contribution of any value to dramatic literature for many generations." In addition, references to the opera continue today in the popular media and even in law cases.
### Pattern for later Savoy operas
Trial by Jury is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera played in one act and the only theatrical work by W. S. Gilbert without spoken dialogue. However, later Gilbert and Sullivan operas retained a number of patterns seen in Trial. For example, all except The Yeomen of the Guard begin with a chorus number. Also, like Trial by Jury, the later operas generally end with a relatively short finale consisting of a chorus number interspersed with short solos by the principal characters. "Comes the broken flower" (part of No. 3) was the first in a string of meditative "Horatian" lyrics, "mingling happiness and sadness, an acceptance and a smiling resignation". These would, from this point forward, allow the characters, in each of the Savoy operas, an introspective scene where they stop and consider life, in contrast to the foolishness of the surrounding scenes. Like both of the tenor's arias in Trial by Jury, tenor arias in later Savoy operas were set in time so frequently that Anna Russell, in her 1953 parody, "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera", exclaimed, "the tenor ... according to tradition, must sing an aria in time, usually accompanying himself on a stringed instrument". In Trial by Jury hypocrisy is revealed as the characters' motivations are held up to satire, and Gilbert mocks the underlying absurdity of the judicial procedures. As Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther explains, Gilbert combines his criticisms with comic entertainment, which renders them more palatable, while at the same time underlining their truth: "By laughing at a joke you show that you accept its premise." This too would become characteristic of Gilbert's work.
The judge's song, "When I, good friends, was called to the Bar" was followed by a string of similar patter songs that would come to epitomise Gilbert and Sullivan's collaboration. In these, often, a "dignified personage [would, just like the Judge,] supply a humorous biography of himself." Just as in Gilbert's earlier play, The Palace of Truth, in these songs, the characters "naïvely reveal their innermost thoughts, unconscious of their egotism, vanity, baseness, or cruelty". Crowther points out that such revelations work particularly well in Trial by Jury, because people commonly expect "characters singing in opera/operetta will communicate at a deeper level of truth than they would in mere speech." In "When I, good friends", the judge outlines the path of corruption that led to his becoming a judge, and this, too, would set the pattern for many of the patter songs in Gilbert and Sullivan operas to follow.
One of Gilbert's most notable innovations, first found in Thespis and repeated in Trial by Jury and all of the later Savoy operas, is the use of the chorus as an essential part of the action. In most earlier operas, burlesques, and comedies, the chorus had very little impact on the plot and served mainly as "noise or ornament". In the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, however, the chorus is essential, taking part in the action and often acting as an important character in its own right. Sullivan recalled, "Until Gilbert took the matter in hand choruses were dummy concerns, and were practically nothing more than a part of the stage setting. It was in 'Thespis' that Gilbert began to carry out his expressed determination to get the chorus to play its proper part in the performance. At this moment it seems difficult to realise that the idea of the chorus being anything more than a sort of stage audience was, at that time, a tremendous novelty." Another Gilbert innovation, following the example of his mentor, T. W. Robertson, was that the costumes and sets were made as realistic as possible: Gilbert based the scenery for the production on the Clerkenwell Sessions House, where he had practised law in the 1860s. The costumes were contemporary, and Angelina and her bridesmaids were dressed in real wedding attire. This attention to detail and careful creation of realistic sets and scenes were typical of Gilbert's stage management and would be repeated in all of Gilbert's work. For instance, when preparing the sets for H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), Gilbert and Sullivan visited Portsmouth to inspect ships. Gilbert made sketches of H.M.S. Victory and H.M.S. St Vincent and created a model set for the carpenters to work from. This was far from standard procedure in Victorian drama, where naturalism was still a relatively new concept, and where most authors had very little influence on how their plays and libretti were staged.
### Analysis
Andrew Crowther places Trial by Jury at the centre of Gilbert's development as a librettist. He notes that in some of Gilbert's early libretti, such as Topsyturveydom (1874), the songs simply emphasise the dialogue. In others, such as Thespis (1871), some songs are relatively disconnected from both the story and characterisation, such as "I once knew a chap" or "Little maid of Arcadee", which simply convey a moral lesson. In Trial by Jury, however, each song carries the plot forward and adds depth to the characters. In addition, unlike some of Gilbert's more fantastical early plots, "Aside from the ending, nothing essentially improbable happens." Gänzl agrees, writing that "Gilbert's libretto was superior to any of his previous efforts. It was concise, modern and satirical without being impossibly whimsical. Having no spoken dialogue it was perforce tightly constructed and allowed of no interpolation or alteration." Sullivan's development as a comic opera writer, too, would mature with Trial by Jury. Except for incidental music for productions of Shakespeare, he had not written any music for the stage since Thespis. Gänzl wrote that Trial by Jury "brought Sullivan firmly and finally into the world of the musical" stage and confirmed, after his previous success with Cox and Box and Thespis, that "Sullivan was a composer of light lyric and comic music who could rival Offenbach, Lecocq and any English musician alive."
Sullivan used the opportunities suggested by Gilbert's satire of the pomp and ceremony of the law to provide a variety of musical jokes. "From the first chords ... Sullivan's music sets the scene of mock-seriousness.... His ... humorous use of the orchestra runs throughout". For example, counterpointing the plaintiff's calculated swooning in "That she is reeling is plain to see!" (No. 9) with a reeling, minor-key theme in the string accompaniment, heading up and down the octaves. The instruments are also used to comically set the scene; for instance, he underlines the Counsel's misstatement in the line "To marry two at once is burglaree" with a comic bassoon "sting" in octaves and has the Defendant tune his guitar on stage (simulated by a violin in the orchestra) in the opening to his song.
The score also contains two parodies or pastiches of other composers: No. 3, "All hail great Judge" is an elaborate parody of Handel's fugues, and No. 12, "A nice dilemma", parodies "dilemma" ensembles of Italian opera in the Bel canto era; in particular "D'un pensiero" from Act I of Bellini's La sonnambula. "A nice dilemma" uses the dominant rhythm and key of "D'un pensiero" and divides up some of the choral lines between the basses and higher voices to create an oom-pa-pa effect common in Italian opera choruses.
## Productions
After the premiere of Trial by Jury in 1875, operetta companies in London, the British provinces and elsewhere picked it up rapidly, usually playing it as a forepiece or an afterpiece to a French operetta. The first American showings were an unauthorized production by Alice Oates at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia on 22 October 1875 and another at the Eagle Theatre in New York City on 15 November 1875. The world tour of the original British production took it to America, Australia, and elsewhere. It was even translated into German, and premièred as Im Schwurgericht, at the Carltheater on 14 September 1886, and as Das Brautpaar vor Gericht at Danzer's Orpheum on 5 October 1901.
Richard D'Oyly Carte's opera companies (of which there were often several playing simultaneously) usually programmed Trial by Jury as a companion piece to The Sorcerer or H.M.S. Pinafore. In the 1884–85 London production, a transformation scene was added at the end, in which the Judge and Plaintiff became the Harlequinade characters Harlequin and Columbine and the set was consumed by red fire and flames. From 1894, the year when the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company established a year-round touring company that had most of the Gilbert and Sullivan works in its repertory, Trial by Jury was always included, except for 1901 to 1903, and then again from 1943 until 1946, when the company played a reduced repertory during World War II. From 1919, costumes were by Percy Anderson, and a new touring set was designed by Peter Goffin in 1957.
During the company's 1975 centennial performances of all thirteen Gilbert and Sullivan Operas at the Savoy Theatre, Trial was given four times, as a curtain raiser to The Sorcerer, Pinafore and Pirates and as an afterpiece following The Grand Duke. Before the first of the four performances of Trial, a specially written curtain raiser by William Douglas-Home, called Dramatic Licence, was played by Peter Pratt as Carte, Kenneth Sandford as Gilbert and John Ayldon as Sullivan, in which Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte plan the birth of Trial in 1875. Trial by Jury was eliminated from the D'Oyly Carte repertory in 1976 as a cost-saving measure.
### Production history
The following table summarises the main London productions of Trial by Jury up to the time of Sullivan's death in 1900:
The exclusive performing rights to Trial by Jury and the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas were held by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company until their expiration in 1961, 50 years after Gilbert's death, and no other professional company was authorised to present the Savoy operas in Britain from 1877 until that date. The following tables show the casts of the principal original D'Oyly Carte productions and touring companies at approximately 10-year intervals through to the 1975 centenary season.
## Benefit performances
Starting in 1877, Trial by Jury was often given at benefit performances, usually for an actor or actress who had fallen on hard times, but occasionally for other causes. These were glittering affairs, with various celebrities appearing in principal roles or as part of the chorus. Gilbert himself played the silent role of the Associate on at least four occasions.
Arthur Sullivan conducted the 1877 benefit for the actor Henry Compton. At the Compton benefit, Penley and George Grossmith were members of the Jury, and a number of other famous actors and actresses were in the chorus. Sullivan also conducted the 1889 benefit for Barrington.
At the Nellie Farren benefit, many of the performers listed below sat in the jury or the gallery, and Trial by Jury was followed by a six-hour-long concert. Performances were given by Henry Irving, Ellaline Terriss, Marie Tempest, Hayden Coffin, Arthur Roberts, Letty Lind, Edmund Payne and many others.
The Ellen Terry benefit in 1906 was also a particularly well-attended affair, with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle numbered among the jury and Enrico Caruso singing, among many star performances.
<sup>1</sup>The role of the Associate's Wife was especially created for the disabled soldiers' benefit performance and does not appear in any standard performances.
## Recordings
Trial by Jury has been recorded many times. Of the recordings by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, those recorded in 1927 and 1964 are ranked the best, according to the "Gilbert and Sullivan Discography", edited by Marc Shepherd. The 1961 Sargent and especially the 1995 Mackerras recordings are also rated highly by the Discography. The reviewer Michael Walters gives his highest praise to the 1927 recording, but he also likes the 1961 recording.
The Discography recommends the 1982 Brent Walker video, which is paired with Cox and Box. More recent professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.
Selected recordings
- 1927 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Harry Norris
- 1961 Sargent/Glyndebourne – Pro Arte Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent
- 1964 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
- 1975 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Royston Nash
- 1982 Brent Walker Productions video – Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Alexander Faris
- 1995 Mackerras/Telarc – Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera, Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras
- 2005 Opera Australia video (modern dress) – Stage Director: Stuart Maunder; conductor: Andrew Greene
## Textual changes
Before the first performance of Trial by Jury, some material was cut, including two songs and a recitative: a song for the foreman of the jury, "Oh, do not blush to shed a tear", which was to be sung just after "Oh, will you swear by yonder skies"; and a recitative for the Judge and song for the Usher, "We do not deal with artificial crime" and "His lordship's always quits", which came just before "A nice dilemma". The melody for "His Lordship's always quits" is known, and it was reused in "I loved her fondly" in The Zoo and later modified into the main tune from "A wand'ring minstrel, I" in The Mikado. A few changes were made to the end of "I love him, I love him!" after the first night. A third verse for "Oh, gentlemen, listen I pray" was sung, at least on the first night, and part was quoted in a review in the Pictorial World.
Trial by Jury'' underwent relatively minor textual changes after its first run, mainly consisting of insignificant amendments to wording. The most significant changes involve the ending. The original stage directions set up a simple pantomime-style tableau:
> Judge and Plaintiff dance back, hornpipe step, and get onto the Bench – the Bridesmaids take the eight garlands of roses from behind the Judge's desk and draw them across floor of court, so that they radiate from the desk. Two plaster Cupids in bar wigs descend from flies. Red fire.
This became much more elaborate in the 1884 revival, with the entire set being transformed, and the plaintiff climbing onto the Judge's back "à la fairy". In the 1920s, the plaster cupids were evidently damaged on a tour, and the transformation scene was abandoned completely.
## Notes, references and sources |
10,373,719 | Nights: Journey of Dreams | 1,163,064,378 | 2007 video game | [
"2007 video games",
"Action games",
"Fantasy video games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games",
"Platform games",
"Sega Studio USA games",
"Video game sequels",
"Video games about dreams",
"Video games about magic",
"Video games about nightmares",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Video games scored by Naofumi Hataya",
"Video games scored by Tomoko Sasaki",
"Video games set in England",
"Video games set in London",
"Video games set in the United Kingdom",
"Video games with 2.5D graphics",
"Wii Wi-Fi games",
"Wii games",
"Wii-only games"
]
| is an action video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Wii. The sequel to the 1996 Sega Saturn title Nights into Dreams, it was released in Japan and North America in December 2007, and in Australia and Europe the following month. The story follows two children, William Taylor and Helen Cartwright, who enter a dream world called Nightopia. When their nightmares come to life, they enlist the help of Nights, an exiled "Nightmaren", as they journey through Nightopia to stop the evil ruler Wizeman from escaping into the real world.
As with its predecessor, gameplay is centred around Nights flying through the dreams of the two children. The main objective of the game is to fly through rings while gathering enough keys to proceed to the next level. Development of Journey of Dreams began shortly after the release of Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005, and was headed by Sonic Team veteran Takashi Iizuka. The team took steps to ensure that the game stayed faithful to the original, while incorporating a variety of new mechanics and features. The game's setting was designed to resemble England, especially parts of London.
Journey of Dreams received mixed reviews; critics praised the game's colourful visuals, boss battles, soundtrack, and special effects, but criticised its controls, camera, aesthetics, and aspects of its gameplay. Despite the mixed reception, Iizuka said that he would be interested in making a third Nights game, should Sega commission one.
## Plot
### Setting
Every night, all human dreams are played out in Nightopia and Nightmare, the two parts of the dream world. In Nightopia, distinct aspects of dreamers' personalities are represented by luminous coloured spheres known as "Ideya". The evil ruler of Nightmare, Wizeman the Wicked, is stealing this dream energy from sleeping visitors to gather power and take control of Nightopia and eventually the real world. To achieve this, he creates "Nightmaren"—jester-like beings who can fly—including Jackle, Clawz, Gulpo, Gillwing and Puffy, and many minor maren. He also creates two "Level One" Nightmaren: Nights and Reala. Nights rebels against Wizeman's plans, and is imprisoned inside an Ideya palace, a gazebo-like container for dreamers' Ideya.
### Synopsis
William Taylor and Helen Cartwright are two children who live in the city of Bellbridge (a fictionalised version of London). Will is an aspiring football player, Helen a prodigy violinist. Over the years, both have grown apart from their respective parents; Helen has chosen to spend more time with her friends rather than practising the violin with her mother, a choice which has begun to fill her with guilt, while Will's father is transferred to another city for work and leaves his son by himself. Both children suffer nightmares and come under attack by the Nightmaren, who chase them into the world of Nightopia. There, the two children meet and free Nights, who has the ability to merge with the children, allowing them to share Nights' body and fly through the skies. Learning that Wizeman is plotting to take over the dream world and consequently enter the real world, the children and Nights resolve to stop Wizeman, but face resistance from the Nightmaren he commands, particularly Nights' sibling, Reala.
Though different, the children's stories share similar structures. The story reaches its climax as a stairway appears at the Dream Gate and Helen and Nights ascend, only to be trapped by Wizeman and pulled into darkness. Will arrives too late and dives in after them, arriving in the night skies above Bellbridge, where he finds that he has the ability to fly without Nights or their Ideya. He rescues Helen, and the two attempt to save Nights, who has been imprisoned at the top of Bellbridge's clock tower. Reala arrives to stop their efforts and accepts Nights' challenge to battle. After defeating Reala, the trio prepare to face Wizeman. Both Will and Helen defeat Wizeman, who is subsequently destroyed. Since Wizeman kept all of his creations alive, Nights vanishes in a white light, bowing as if it were the end of a performance, and the children wake up and cry. That evening, Helen plays her violin for her mother in a crowded hall, while Will celebrates with his father after winning a football game. He then loses the ball and goes after it, only to come upon Helen playing her violin for her mother. The lights suffer a temporary blackout, and when they turn back on, Helen sees Will extending a friendly hand to her. Recognising each other from their adventures in Nightopia, the two reach for each other as it begins to snow. The final scene is of either child sleeping in their rooms at home as the camera pulls back towards Bellbridge's clock tower, atop which Nights is seen to be alive and peacefully watching over the city.
## Gameplay
Nights: Journey of Dreams is split into seven levels. The levels are distributed equally between the two children characters: three are unique to Will, three to Helen, and both share a final boss stage. Gameplay is centred around controlling Nights' flight along a predetermined route through each level, resembling that of a 2D platformer or a racing game. In each level, players initially control Will or Helen but will later on assume control of Nights. The player may collect various pick-ups while exploring the level on foot, but will be pursued by "Awakers" which will awaken the player-character and end the game, should three of them come into contact at once. The main objective of the game is to fly through rings and capture bird-like Nightmaren, who possess keys that unlock a series of cages. There are three cages in each level, and all must be unlocked within a set time before the player can proceed. Each collision with an enemy subtracts five seconds from the time remaining, and if the time runs out, the game will end prematurely. While flying, Nights can use a boost to travel faster, but the boost meter is slowly depleted while doing this. If it is fully depleted, the player will no longer be able to use boosts.
The game features items and traps which will either help or impede the player's progress. Collecting blue chips scattered around the levels will increase the player's score; time chips will extend the player's time and slow "Awakers" (if collected on foot). Flying through gold rings will replenish the player's boost meter, spiked rings will harm the player if flown through, and green rings will never disappear (unlike ordinary gold rings). The gameplay also involves the use of "persona masks", which will transform Nights into a different entity, thus granting new abilities to the player. There are three personas: transforming into a dolphin allows the player to swim underwater, a rocket speeds up Nights' flight, and a dragon will increase resistance to wind. Bosses are encountered twice in each level—an easier version early in a level, and a more difficult one at the end.
The artificial life system feature from its predecessor returns in Journey of Dreams, known as "My Dream". This feature revolves around the player raising entities called Nightopians and keeping track of their moods. "My Dreams" connects with the Wii's Forecast Channel, which will change the weather conditions in the player's "My Dream" world according to real-world forecasts. Cosmetic changes are visible every month, for example in February Nightopians hold a giant dragon for the Chinese New Year, whereas in December they are dressed as Father Christmas. Players may visit other players' "My Dreams" through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. In order to increase the population in a "My Dream", Nightopians must be captured in the game's story mode. If there are more Nightopians than Nightmarens in the player's "My Dream", then the environment will look more like Nightopia and if there are more Nightmarens the landscape will change accordingly.
Journey of Dreams features four different control options: the Wii remote as a standalone controller, the Wii remote in combination with the Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, and the GameCube controller. If the Wii remote is used by itself, Nights' flight is controlled by pointing it at the screen. Additionally, the game offers two multiplayer modes: "Battle Mode" and "Speed Mode", the latter of which is playable only online via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. "Battle Mode" allows two local players to battle each other by using a splitscreen, and "Speed Mode" revolves around players competing in races against online opponents.
## Development
### Prelude
A sequel to Nights into Dreams with the working title Air Nights was originally outlined for the Sega Saturn and subsequently developed for the Dreamcast with motion control being a central element of gameplay. In an August 1999 interview, Yuji Naka confirmed that a sequel was in development, but by December 2000 the project had been cancelled. Naka expressed reluctance to develop a sequel after the Dreamcast's discontinuation, but later noted in 2003 that he would be interested in using the licence of Nights into Dreams to reinforce Sega's identity as a video game developer. Around the same time, Nights into Dreams designer Takashi Iizuka said "as long as I'm with Sega, I will create Nights again" in an interview concerning Sonic Heroes. Discussion concerning a new game in the series had increased in frequency by 2006. Rumours regarding a Wii version continued to appear when a list of upcoming games was published by Japanese developer G.rev, which included an unspecified Nights title. Before the development of Journey of Dreams, Naka confirmed in retrospective interviews that he had intended to base the next Nights game around a unique motion controller.
### Design
Nights: Journey of Dreams was first conceptualised in November 2005 after the release of Sonic Team's Shadow the Hedgehog. Game design was primarily prepared by Iizuka and took around six months to reach the development process. Iizuka wanted to ensure that the next Nights game would stay faithful to the original, and felt the need to keep the game's concept fundamentally the same while incorporating a variety of new mechanics. Despite the cancellation of Air Nights, Iizuka stressed that he had always wanted to make a sequel and asserted that Sega's exit from hardware manufacturing had no effect on the delay. Iizuka felt that it was the appropriate time to release a Nights game—he felt that the industry was dominated by violence and was keen to release a more family-friendly title. The team realised that Nintendo's upcoming Wii was marketed as a family-orientated console, and factored in its online features and user-friendly design.
The team wanted Journey of Dreams to revolve around a dramatic storyline in the hope that the player would find it more engaging and intuitive, as Iizuka thought the original Nights into Dreams was not user-friendly. Originally, the game had a full free-roaming 3D flight system, but Iizuka thought it was too complex and "not as fun" as the core flight element featured in the original game. Iizuka thought the most difficult challenge of the development process was keeping the game's flight mechanics fun while building upon elements of the original game. To recreate the experience, the team tested a variety of controller schemes which included the Wii remote and Nunchuk, the GameCube controller, and the Classic Controller—the latter two left for players who preferred using a traditional controller configuration. Initially, the game used the Wii remote by having the player point it at the screen, but the team discovered that its motion sensors would not pick up small movements, so Iizuka created an alternative hybrid motion-pointer system, which he believed would retain the game's fun-to-fly experience. In a retrospective interview, Iizuka said that the entire game was created from scratch and used a new engine specifically designed for the Wii.
The original character designer of Nights into Dreams, Naoto Ohshima, had left Sega by the time its sequel was under development, with Kazuyuki Hoshino being placed in charge of character design for Journey of Dreams. Takashi Iizuka, the lead game designer, felt that, with Hoshino, they captured the style used for the character in the original game. Sonic Team decided to give all characters in the game voices as Iizuka believed that full dialogue helps add depth to both the story and gameplay. With Nights already designed as an androgynous character, the team wanted to leave impressions regarding gender up to the player, despite Nights being voiced by actress Julissa Aguirre, who portrayed the character with a British accent. This is because the team designed the Nights franchise to have a distinctly British style, in contrast to Sonic the Hedgehog, which was designed to be more American. Thus, Bellbridge—the game's main setting—closely resembles London, and all of the game's characters have English accents. The development team consisted of 26 members of Sonic Team in the United States, while all sound work and CGI was developed in Japan.
### Audio
Tomoko Sasaki reprised her role of lead composer from the original Nights into Dreams, and was rejoined by Sonic Team veterans Naofumi Hataya and Fumie Kumatani. Additionally, series newcomers Tomoya Ohtani, Teruhiko Nakagawa, and Tatsuyuki Maeda each contributed a few musical pieces. The game's sound effects were created primarily by Jun Senoue, better known for his musical compositions in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. According to Iizuka, the team understood that they could not compose the same style of music featured in the original game, owing to the technical revamp of Journey of Dreams. Sasaki elaborated that the original Saturn version used the console's internal music sequencer, which allowed them more control over changing the game's music as the player progressed through the game, whereas the Wii version only played the recorded music directly. Despite the limitations, both Sasaki and Hataya were able to produce a better quality soundtrack by using a wider range of instruments than what was used in the previous game. In addition, Sasaki asked an employee from Delfi Sound Inc. to record an orchestral piece for the game. Since the team were aware that the game's characters would have more dialogue than the original game, they requested that the orchestra perform a dramatic arrangement in order to put more emphasis on the game's storyline.
To make the development process as smooth as possible, Hataya tried to work in the same environment as Sasaki so that they could exchange data more efficiently. The main tools and software used during development were Digital Performer and Pro Tools, which, according to Hataya, were the standard tools used in music production. In order to stress that the atmosphere of Journey of Dreams was centred around surrealism and dreams themselves, Sasaki discarded tying the game's music down to a single genre and took the approach of not having a clear musical policy. Sasaki also ensured that each theme included the exhilaration of "flying in the air", as it was a core element of gameplay. Hataya echoed that the music of the game was produced by focusing on being able to empathise with the feeling of flying, as well as to exemplify the game's atmosphere and characters. Since the team were aware that Journey of Dreams had a greater sense of adventure than the original, the team knew that they could incorporate a larger variety of music into it so that players would enjoy a wider range of emotions. In addition to composing the music itself, Hataya took the responsibility of re-arranging Sasaki's music in different ways so that the theme matched the in-game situation. Hataya said that he and Sasaki produced around 70 percent of the game's music between them; the rest was produced by Sega's sound team.
Nights: Journey Of Dreams: Original Soundtrack was released on 26 January 2008 exclusively in Japan and contains three separate CDs with all of the music featured on the Wii version. An unofficial two-CD tribute album, Nights: Lucid Dreaming, was released by OverClocked ReMix in 2011. There are 25 tracks in total, with arrangements of the game's original soundtrack in a variety of styles. In January 2017, over 50 songs from the game and its predecessor, Nights into Dreams, became available to download on Spotify.
## Reception
Nights: Journey of Dreams received mixed to positive reviews. As of February 2017 it holds an aggregate score of 69% at Metacritic, based on an average of 47 reviews.
Many critics praised the game's colourful visuals and special effects. Chris Scullion from the Official Nintendo Magazine thought the game design had all the speed and charm of the original, and enjoyed its "lush" atmosphere and landscapes. Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot also appreciated the game's artistic design, visual "dreaminess" and elegance, and Gerald Villoria of GameSpy liked the game's colourful and vibrant levels. Nintendo Life's Anthony Dickens praised the general visual style of the game, noting that its boss battles in particular "ooze" with bright and exotic colours. Despite the general praise of the game's colourful palette, some critics viewed the aesthetics unfavourably. GameZone's Louis Bedigan felt that Nights: Journey of Dreams lacked the "eye-popping effects" of other contemporaries such as Super Mario Galaxy (2007) and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006), and Dickens opined that the game's cutscenes were more akin to PlayStation 2 titles. Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer felt that the environments looked like they were from 1996, despite the attempts made to distract the player from the game's simple premise. Paul Govan of GamesTM found that the game engine struggled to match the cutscene's visual fluidity with its actual gameplay, and expressed disappointment that Wii owners would be unfazed by its graphical prowess, unlike Sega Saturn owners at the time of the original Nights into Dreams release. Dickens thought the game was graphically rushed by Sega, and speculated that it was "cobbled together quickly" by artists who had focused too much on designing the game's introduction sequence. Adam Rosenberg from UGO Networks found the graphics to be a disappointment, saying that its environments were "drab" considering it was based on the dreams of twelve-year-old children, and also noticed frame rate issues. Likewise, two reviewers from Electronic Gaming Monthly, Shane Bettenhausen and Sam Kennedy, thought the 3D was "amateurish" and suffered from basic issues including uneven graphics and unskippable cutscenes.
Some reviewers criticised various aspects of gameplay, in particular the lack of checkpoints. Scullion noted how the game retained its "old school" feeling despite being aimed at a new audience, and disliked its "die, retry" style of gameplay, which he considered old-fashioned. Mark Bozon from IGN similarly criticised the game's tendencies to make the player restart an entire level upon death, calling it "a momentum killer", and Rosenberg said the automatic restarts were the game's "worst offender". Most reviewers praised the eccentricity and fun-factor of the boss battles; VanOrd believed they were enjoyable and memorable, and Jeuxvideo.com's reviewer liked the bosses' appearances and originality, but found defeating them more than once in each world repetitive. In contrast, Bramwell thought that the game's boss characters channelled a mix between Tim Burton and CBeebies, and Bozon felt that boss battles did not blend well with the main story since they were in self-contained arenas.
Reviewers disliked the game's control scheme, many stating that the use of the Wii remote was awkward and difficult to master. Bozon condemned the lack of refined flight control and noted that it was easier to use either the Classic Controller or the GameCube controller. Similarly, Scullion said that out of the three control schemes, the Wii remote was the least accurate option. VanOrd also criticized the poorly implemented use of the Wii remote, and Rosenberg thought its controls were overly responsive and unpolished; both reviewers recommended using the Classic Controller's analogue stick as an alternative. Dickens recognised that the original Nights into Dreams was one of the first games to benefit from an analogue stick, and was therefore surprised at how the sequel had a "control scheme crisis": multiple control schemes might add confusion for new players. Govan suggested that the reason why the game featured alternative control schemes was that Sonic Team wanted to emulate the original Saturn controls. In contrast, the reviewer from Jeuxvideo.com found little fault with any of the game's control schemes, and Bedigan labelled them as "excellent". Both reviewers, however, agreed that the Wii remote's motion controls did not work well with the game.
## Legacy
In 2010, Iizuka expressed his interest in making a third Nights game if Sega were to commission one. Sega Japan filed a trademark in 2019 for Nights: Dream Wheel. On 24 June 2021, it was revealed to be a Slot machine when the Yaamava' Resort & Casino posted a screenshot of the machine on their twitter. |
19,447 | Group (mathematics) | 1,170,688,991 | Set with associative invertible operation | [
"Algebraic structures",
"Group theory",
"Symmetry"
]
| In mathematics, a group is a non-empty set with an operation that satisfies the following constraints: the operation is associative, has an identity element, and every element of the set has an inverse element.
Many mathematical structures are groups endowed with other properties. For example, the integers with the addition operation is an infinite group, which is generated by a single element called 1 (these properties characterize the integers in a unique way).
The concept of a group was elaborated for handling, in a unified way, many mathematical structures such as numbers, geometric shapes and polynomial roots. Because the concept of groups is ubiquitous in numerous areas both within and outside mathematics, some authors consider it as a central organizing principle of contemporary mathematics.
In geometry, groups arise naturally in the study of symmetries and geometric transformations: The symmetries of an object form a group, called the symmetry group of the object, and the transformations of a given type form a general group. Lie groups appear in symmetry groups in geometry, and also in the Standard Model of particle physics. The Poincaré group is a Lie group consisting of the symmetries of spacetime in special relativity. Point groups describe symmetry in molecular chemistry.
The concept of a group arose in the study of polynomial equations, starting with Évariste Galois in the 1830s, who introduced the term group (French: groupe) for the symmetry group of the roots of an equation, now called a Galois group. After contributions from other fields such as number theory and geometry, the group notion was generalized and firmly established around 1870. Modern group theory—an active mathematical discipline—studies groups in their own right. To explore groups, mathematicians have devised various notions to break groups into smaller, better-understandable pieces, such as subgroups, quotient groups and simple groups. In addition to their abstract properties, group theorists also study the different ways in which a group can be expressed concretely, both from a point of view of representation theory (that is, through the representations of the group) and of computational group theory. A theory has been developed for finite groups, which culminated with the classification of finite simple groups, completed in 2004. Since the mid-1980s, geometric group theory, which studies finitely generated groups as geometric objects, has become an active area in group theory.
## Definition and illustration
### First example: the integers
One of the more familiar groups is the set of integers $\Z = \{\ldots,-4,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,\ldots\}$ together with addition. For any two integers $a$ and $b$, the sum $a+b$ is also an integer; this closure property says that $+$ is a binary operation on $\Z$. The following properties of integer addition serve as a model for the group axioms in the definition below.
- For all integers $a$, $b$ and $c$, one has $(a+b)+c=a+(b+c)$. Expressed in words, adding $a$ to $b$ first, and then adding the result to $c$ gives the same final result as adding $a$ to the sum of $b$ and $c$. This property is known as associativity.
- If $a$ is any integer, then $0+a=a$ and $a+0=a$. Zero is called the identity element of addition because adding it to any integer returns the same integer.
- For every integer $a$, there is an integer $b$ such that $a+b=0$ and $b+a=0$. The integer $b$ is called the inverse element of the integer $a$ and is denoted $-a$.
The integers, together with the operation $+$, form a mathematical object belonging to a broad class sharing similar structural aspects. To appropriately understand these structures as a collective, the following definition is developed.
### Definition
A group is a non-empty set $G$ together with a binary operation on $G$, here denoted "$\cdot$", that combines any two elements $a$ and $b$ of $G$ to form an element of $G$, denoted $a\cdot b$, such that the following three requirements, known as group axioms, are satisfied:
Associativity: For all $a$, $b$, $c$ in $G$, one has $(a\cdot b)\cdot c=a\cdot(b\cdot c)$.
Identity element: There exists an element $e$ in $G$ such that, for every $a$ in $G$, one has $e\cdot a=a$ and $a\cdot e=a$.
Such an element is unique (see below). It is called the identity element of the group.
Inverse element: For each $a$ in $G$, there exists an element $b$ in $G$ such that $a\cdot b=e$ and $b\cdot a=e$, where $e$ is the identity element.
For each $a$, the element $b$ is unique (see below); it is called the inverse of $a$ and is commonly denoted $a^{-1}$.
### Notation and terminology
Formally, the group is the ordered pair of a set and a binary operation on this set that satisfies the group axioms. The set is called the underlying set of the group, and the operation is called the group operation or the group law.
A group and its underlying set are thus two different mathematical objects. To avoid cumbersome notation, it is common to abuse notation by using the same symbol to denote both. This reflects also an informal way of thinking: that the group is the same as the set except that it has been enriched by additional structure provided by the operation.
For example, consider the set of real numbers $\R$, which has the operations of addition $a+b$ and multiplication $ab$. Formally, $\R$ is a set, $(\R,+)$ is a group, and $(\R,+,\cdot)$ is a field. But it is common to write $\R$ to denote any of these three objects.
The additive group of the field $\R$ is the group whose underlying set is $\R$ and whose operation is addition. The multiplicative group of the field $\R$ is the group $\R^{\times}$ whose underlying set is the set of nonzero real numbers $\R \smallsetminus \{0\}$ and whose operation is multiplication.
More generally, one speaks of an additive group whenever the group operation is notated as addition; in this case, the identity is typically denoted $0$, and the inverse of an element $x$ is denoted $-x$. Similarly, one speaks of a multiplicative group whenever the group operation is notated as multiplication; in this case, the identity is typically denoted $1$, and the inverse of an element $x$ is denoted $x^{-1}$. In a multiplicative group, the operation symbol is usually omitted entirely, so that the operation is denoted by juxtaposition, $ab$ instead of $a\cdot b$.
The definition of a group does not require that $a\cdot b=b\cdot a$ for all elements $a$ and $b$ in $G$. If this additional condition holds, then the operation is said to be commutative, and the group is called an abelian group. It is a common convention that for an abelian group either additive or multiplicative notation may be used, but for a nonabelian group only multiplicative notation is used.
Several other notations are commonly used for groups whose elements are not numbers. For a group whose elements are functions, the operation is often function composition $f\circ g$; then the identity may be denoted id. In the more specific cases of geometric transformation groups, symmetry groups, permutation groups, and automorphism groups, the symbol $\circ$ is often omitted, as for multiplicative groups. Many other variants of notation may be encountered.
### Second example: a symmetry group
Two figures in the plane are congruent if one can be changed into the other using a combination of rotations, reflections, and translations. Any figure is congruent to itself. However, some figures are congruent to themselves in more than one way, and these extra congruences are called symmetries. A square has eight symmetries. These are:
- the identity operation leaving everything unchanged, denoted id;
- rotations of the square around its center by 90°, 180°, and 270° clockwise, denoted by $r_1$, $r_2$ and $r_3$, respectively;
- reflections about the horizontal and vertical middle line ($f_{\mathrm{v}}$ and $f_{\mathrm{h}}$), or through the two diagonals ($f_{\mathrm{d}}$ and $f_{\mathrm{c}}$).
These symmetries are functions. Each sends a point in the square to the corresponding point under the symmetry. For example, $r_1$ sends a point to its rotation 90° clockwise around the square's center, and $f_{\mathrm{h}}$ sends a point to its reflection across the square's vertical middle line. Composing two of these symmetries gives another symmetry. These symmetries determine a group called the dihedral group of degree four, denoted $\mathrm{D}_4$. The underlying set of the group is the above set of symmetries, and the group operation is function composition. Two symmetries are combined by composing them as functions, that is, applying the first one to the square, and the second one to the result of the first application. The result of performing first $a$ and then $b$ is written symbolically from right to left as $b\circ a$ ("apply the symmetry $b$ after performing the symmetry $a$"). This is the usual notation for composition of functions.
The group table lists the results of all such compositions possible. For example, rotating by 270° clockwise ($r_3$) and then reflecting horizontally ($f_{\mathrm{h}}$) is the same as performing a reflection along the diagonal ($f_{\mathrm{d}}$). Using the above symbols, highlighted in blue in the group table: $f_\mathrm h \circ r_3= f_\mathrm d.$
Given this set of symmetries and the described operation, the group axioms can be understood as follows.
Binary operation: Composition is a binary operation. That is, $a\circ b$ is a symmetry for any two symmetries $a$ and $b$. For example, $r_3\circ f_\mathrm h = f_\mathrm c,$ that is, rotating 270° clockwise after reflecting horizontally equals reflecting along the counter-diagonal ($f_{\mathrm{c}}$). Indeed, every other combination of two symmetries still gives a symmetry, as can be checked using the group table.
Associativity: The associativity axiom deals with composing more than two symmetries: Starting with three elements $a$, $b$ and $c$ of $\mathrm{D}_4$, there are two possible ways of using these three symmetries in this order to determine a symmetry of the square. One of these ways is to first compose $a$ and $b$ into a single symmetry, then to compose that symmetry with $c$. The other way is to first compose $b$ and $c$, then to compose the resulting symmetry with $a$. These two ways must give always the same result, that is, $(a\circ b)\circ c = a\circ (b\circ c),$ For example, $(f_{\mathrm{d}}\circ f_{\mathrm{v}})\circ r_2=f_{\mathrm{d}}\circ (f_{\mathrm{v}}\circ r_2)$ can be checked using the group table: $\begin{align}
(f_\mathrm d\circ f_\mathrm v)\circ r_2 &=r_3\circ r_2=r_1\\
f_\mathrm d\circ (f_\mathrm v\circ r_2) &=f_\mathrm d\circ f_\mathrm h =r_1.
\end{align}$
Identity element: The identity element is $\mathrm{id}$, as it does not change any symmetry $a$ when composed with it either on the left or on the right.
Inverse element: Each symmetry has an inverse: $\mathrm{id}$, the reflections $f_{\mathrm{h}}$, $f_{\mathrm{v}}$, $f_{\mathrm{d}}$, $f_{\mathrm{c}}$ and the 180° rotation $r_2$ are their own inverse, because performing them twice brings the square back to its original orientation. The rotations $r_3$ and $r_1$ are each other's inverses, because rotating 90° and then rotation 270° (or vice versa) yields a rotation over 360° which leaves the square unchanged. This is easily verified on the table.
In contrast to the group of integers above, where the order of the operation is immaterial, it does matter in $\mathrm{D}_4$, as, for example, $f_{\mathrm{h}}\circ r_1=f_{\mathrm{c}}$ but $r_1\circ f_{\mathrm{h}}=f_{\mathrm{d}}$. In other words, $\mathrm{D}_4$ is not abelian.
## History
The modern concept of an abstract group developed out of several fields of mathematics. The original motivation for group theory was the quest for solutions of polynomial equations of degree higher than 4. The 19th-century French mathematician Évariste Galois, extending prior work of Paolo Ruffini and Joseph-Louis Lagrange, gave a criterion for the solvability of a particular polynomial equation in terms of the symmetry group of its roots (solutions). The elements of such a Galois group correspond to certain permutations of the roots. At first, Galois's ideas were rejected by his contemporaries, and published only posthumously. More general permutation groups were investigated in particular by Augustin Louis Cauchy. Arthur Cayley's On the theory of groups, as depending on the symbolic equation $\theta^n=1$ (1854) gives the first abstract definition of a finite group.
Geometry was a second field in which groups were used systematically, especially symmetry groups as part of Felix Klein's 1872 Erlangen program. After novel geometries such as hyperbolic and projective geometry had emerged, Klein used group theory to organize them in a more coherent way. Further advancing these ideas, Sophus Lie founded the study of Lie groups in 1884.
The third field contributing to group theory was number theory. Certain abelian group structures had been used implicitly in Carl Friedrich Gauss's number-theoretical work Disquisitiones Arithmeticae (1798), and more explicitly by Leopold Kronecker. In 1847, Ernst Kummer made early attempts to prove Fermat's Last Theorem by developing groups describing factorization into prime numbers.
The convergence of these various sources into a uniform theory of groups started with Camille Jordan's Traité des substitutions et des équations algébriques (1870). Walther von Dyck (1882) introduced the idea of specifying a group by means of generators and relations, and was also the first to give an axiomatic definition of an "abstract group", in the terminology of the time. As of the 20th century, groups gained wide recognition by the pioneering work of Ferdinand Georg Frobenius and William Burnside, who worked on representation theory of finite groups, Richard Brauer's modular representation theory and Issai Schur's papers. The theory of Lie groups, and more generally locally compact groups was studied by Hermann Weyl, Élie Cartan and many others. Its algebraic counterpart, the theory of algebraic groups, was first shaped by Claude Chevalley (from the late 1930s) and later by the work of Armand Borel and Jacques Tits.
The University of Chicago's 1960–61 Group Theory Year brought together group theorists such as Daniel Gorenstein, John G. Thompson and Walter Feit, laying the foundation of a collaboration that, with input from numerous other mathematicians, led to the classification of finite simple groups, with the final step taken by Aschbacher and Smith in 2004. This project exceeded previous mathematical endeavours by its sheer size, in both length of proof and number of researchers. Research concerning this classification proof is ongoing. Group theory remains a highly active mathematical branch, impacting many other fields, as the examples below illustrate.
## Elementary consequences of the group axioms
Basic facts about all groups that can be obtained directly from the group axioms are commonly subsumed under elementary group theory. For example, repeated applications of the associativity axiom show that the unambiguity of $a\cdot b\cdot c=(a\cdot b)\cdot c=a\cdot(b\cdot c)$ generalizes to more than three factors. Because this implies that parentheses can be inserted anywhere within such a series of terms, parentheses are usually omitted.
### Uniqueness of identity element
The group axioms imply that the identity element is unique: If $e$ and $f$ are identity elements of a group, then $e=e\cdot f=f$. Therefore, it is customary to speak of the identity.
### Uniqueness of inverses
The group axioms also imply that the inverse of each element is unique: if a group element $a$ has both $b$ and $c$ as inverses, then
<math>\begin{align}
b &= b\cdot e
` && \text{(}e \text { is the identity element)}\\`
` &= b\cdot (a \cdot c) `
` && \text{(}c \text { is an inverse)}\\`
` &= (b\cdot a) \cdot c `
` && \text{(associativity)}\\`
` &= e \cdot c `
` && \text{(}b \text { is an inverse)}\\`
` &= c `
` && \text{(}e \text { is the identity element)}`
\end{align}</math>
Therefore, it is customary to speak of the inverse of an element.
### Division
Given elements $a$ and $b$ of a group $G$, there is a unique solution $x$ in $G$ to the equation $a\cdot x=b$, namely $a^{-1}\cdot b$. It follows that for each $a$ in $G$, the function $G\to G$ that maps each $x$ to $a\cdot x$ is a bijection; it is called left multiplication by $a$ or left translation by $a.$
Similarly, given $a$ and $b$, the unique solution to $x\cdot a=b$ is $b\cdot a^{-1}$. For each $a$, the function $G\to G$ that maps each $x$ to $x\cdot a$ is a bijection called right multiplication by $a$ or right translation by $a.$
### Equivalent definition with relaxed axioms
The group axioms for identity and inverses may be "weakened" to assert only the existence of a left identity and left inverses. From these one-sided axioms, one can prove that the left identity is also a right identity and a left inverse is also a right inverse for the same element. Since they define exactly the same structures as groups, collectively the axioms are not weaker.
In particular, assuming associativity and the existence of a left identity $e$ (that is, $e\cdot f=f$) and a left inverse $f^{-1}$ for each element $f$ (that is, $f^{-1}\cdot f=e$), one can show that every left inverse is also a right inverse of the same element as follows. Indeed, one has
<math>\begin{align}
f \cdot f^{-1}
` &=e \cdot (f \cdot f^{-1}) `
` && \text{(left identity)}\\`
` &=((f^{-1})^{-1} \cdot f^{-1}) \cdot (f \cdot f^{-1})`
` && \text{(left inverse)}\\`
` &=(f^{-1})^{-1} \cdot ((f^{-1} \cdot f) \cdot f^{-1})`
` && \text{(associativity)}\\`
` &=(f^{-1})^{-1} \cdot (e \cdot f^{-1})`
` && \text{(left inverse)}\\`
` &=(f^{-1})^{-1} \cdot f^{-1}`
` && \text{(left identity)}\\`
` &=e`
` && \text{(left inverse)}`
\end{align}</math>
Similarly, the left identity is also a right identity:
<math>\begin{align}
f\cdot e
` &= f \cdot ( f^{-1} \cdot f)`
` && \text{(left inverse)}\\`
` &= (f \cdot f^{-1}) \cdot f`
` && \text{(associativity)}\\`
` &= e \cdot f`
` && \text{(right inverse)}\\`
` &= f`
` && \text{(left identity)}`
\end{align}</math>
These proofs require all three axioms (associativity, existence of left identity and existence of left inverse). For a structure with a looser definition (like a semigroup) one may have, for example, that a left identity is not necessarily a right identity.
The same result can be obtained by only assuming the existence of a right identity and a right inverse.
However, only assuming the existence of a left identity and a right inverse (or vice versa) is not sufficient to define a group. For example, consider the set $G = \{ e,f \}$ with the operator $\cdot$ satisfying $e \cdot e = f \cdot e = e$ and $e \cdot f = f \cdot f = f$. This structure does have a left identity (namely, $e$), and each element has a right inverse (which is $e$ for both elements). Furthermore, this operation is associative (since the product of any number of elements is always equal to the rightmost element in that product, regardless of the order in which these operations are done). However, $( G , \cdot )$ is not a group, since it lacks a right identity.
## Basic concepts
When studying sets, one uses concepts such as subset, function, and quotient by an equivalence relation. When studying groups, one uses instead subgroups, homomorphisms, and quotient groups. These are the analogues that take the group structure into account.
### Group homomorphisms
Group homomorphisms are functions that respect group structure; they may be used to relate two groups. A homomorphism from a group $(G,\cdot)$ to a group $(H,*)$ is a function $\varphi \colon G\to H$ such that
It would be natural to require also that $\varphi$ respect identities, $\varphi(1_G)=1_H$, and inverses, $\varphi(a^{-1})=\varphi(a)^{-1}$ for all $a$ in $G$. However, these additional requirements need not be included in the definition of homomorphisms, because they are already implied by the requirement of respecting the group operation.
The identity homomorphism of a group $G$ is the homomorphism $\iota_G \colon G\to G$ that maps each element of $G$ to itself. An inverse homomorphism of a homomorphism $\varphi \colon G\to H$ is a homomorphism $\psi \colon H\to G$ such that $\psi\circ\varphi=\iota_G$ and $\varphi\circ\psi=\iota_H$, that is, such that $\psi\bigl(\varphi(g)\bigr)=g$ for all $g$ in $G$ and such that $\varphi\bigl(\psi(h)\bigr)=h$ for all $h$ in $H$. An isomorphism is a homomorphism that has an inverse homomorphism; equivalently, it is a bijective homomorphism. Groups $G$ and $H$ are called isomorphic if there exists an isomorphism $\varphi \colon G\to H$. In this case, $H$ can be obtained from $G$ simply by renaming its elements according to the function $\varphi$; then any statement true for $G$ is true for $H$, provided that any specific elements mentioned in the statement are also renamed.
The collection of all groups, together with the homomorphisms between them, form a category, the category of groups.
An injective homomorphism $\phi \colon G' \to G$ factors canonically as an isomorphism followed by an inclusion, $G' \;\stackrel{\sim}{\to}\; H \hookrightarrow G$ for some subgroup H of G. Injective homomorphisms are the monomorphisms in the category of groups.
### Subgroups
Informally, a subgroup is a group $H$ contained within a bigger one, $G$: it has a subset of the elements of $G$, with the same operation. Concretely, this means that the identity element of $G$ must be contained in $H$, and whenever $h_1$ and $h_2$ are both in $H$, then so are $h_1\cdot h_2$ and $h_1^{-1}$, so the elements of $H$, equipped with the group operation on $G$ restricted to $H$, indeed form a group. In this case, the inclusion map $H \to G$ is a homomorphism.
In the example of symmetries of a square, the identity and the rotations constitute a subgroup $R=\{\mathrm{id},r_1,r_2,r_3\}$, highlighted in red in the group table of the example: any two rotations composed are still a rotation, and a rotation can be undone by (i.e., is inverse to) the complementary rotations 270° for 90°, 180° for 180°, and 90° for 270°. The subgroup test provides a necessary and sufficient condition for a nonempty subset H of a group G to be a subgroup: it is sufficient to check that $g^{-1}\cdot h\in H$ for all elements $g$ and $h$ in $H$. Knowing a group's subgroups is important in understanding the group as a whole.
Given any subset $S$ of a group $G$, the subgroup generated by $S$ consists of all products of elements of $S$ and their inverses. It is the smallest subgroup of $G$ containing $S$. In the example of symmetries of a square, the subgroup generated by $r_2$ and $f_{\mathrm{v}}$ consists of these two elements, the identity element $\mathrm{id}$, and the element $f_{\mathrm{h}}=f_{\mathrm{v}}\cdot r_2$. Again, this is a subgroup, because combining any two of these four elements or their inverses (which are, in this particular case, these same elements) yields an element of this subgroup.
### Cosets
In many situations it is desirable to consider two group elements the same if they differ by an element of a given subgroup. For example, in the symmetry group of a square, once any reflection is performed, rotations alone cannot return the square to its original position, so one can think of the reflected positions of the square as all being equivalent to each other, and as inequivalent to the unreflected positions; the rotation operations are irrelevant to the question whether a reflection has been performed. Cosets are used to formalize this insight: a subgroup $H$ determines left and right cosets, which can be thought of as translations of $H$ by an arbitrary group element $g$. In symbolic terms, the left and right cosets of $H$, containing an element $g$, are
The left cosets of any subgroup $H$ form a partition of $G$; that is, the union of all left cosets is equal to $G$ and two left cosets are either equal or have an empty intersection. The first case $g_1H=g_2H$ happens precisely when $g_1^{-1}\cdot g_2\in H$, i.e., when the two elements differ by an element of $H$. Similar considerations apply to the right cosets of $H$. The left cosets of $H$ may or may not be the same as its right cosets. If they are (that is, if all $g$ in $G$ satisfy $gH=Hg$), then $H$ is said to be a normal subgroup.
In $\mathrm{D}_4$, the group of symmetries of a square, with its subgroup $R$ of rotations, the left cosets $gR$ are either equal to $R$, if $g$ is an element of $R$ itself, or otherwise equal to $U=f_{\mathrm{c}}R=\{f_{\mathrm{c}},f_{\mathrm{d}},f_{\mathrm{v}},f_{\mathrm{h}}\}$ (highlighted in green in the group table of $\mathrm{D}_4$). The subgroup $R$ is normal, because $f_{\mathrm{c}}R=U=Rf_{\mathrm{c}}$ and similarly for the other elements of the group. (In fact, in the case of $\mathrm{D}_4$, the cosets generated by reflections are all equal: $f_{\mathrm{h}}R=f_{\mathrm{v}}R=f_{\mathrm{d}}R=f_{\mathrm{c}}R$.)
### Quotient groups
Suppose that $N$ is a normal subgroup of a group $G$, and $G/N = \{gN \mid g\in G\}$ denotes its set of cosets. Then there is a unique group law on $G/N$ for which the map $G\to G/N$ sending each element $g$ to $gN$ is a homomorphism. Explicitly, the product of two cosets $gN$ and $hN$ is $(gh)N$, the coset $eN = N$ serves as the identity of $G/N$, and the inverse of $gN$ in the quotient group is $(gN)^{-1} = \left(g^{-1}\right)N$. The group $G/N$, read as "$G$ modulo $N$", is called a quotient group or factor group. The quotient group can alternatively be characterized by a universal property.
The elements of the quotient group $\mathrm{D}_4/R$ are $R$ and $U=f_{\mathrm{v}}R$. The group operation on the quotient is shown in the table. For example, $U\cdot U=f_{\mathrm{v}}R\cdot f_{\mathrm{v}}R=(f_{\mathrm{v}}\cdot f_{\mathrm{v}})R=R$. Both the subgroup $R=\{\mathrm{id},r_1,r_2,r_3\}$ and the quotient $\mathrm{D}_4/R$ are abelian, but $\mathrm{D}_4$ is not. Sometimes a group can be reconstructed from a subgroup and quotient (plus some additional data), by the semidirect product construction; $\mathrm{D}_4$ is an example.
The first isomorphism theorem implies that any surjective homomorphism $\phi \colon G \to H$ factors canonically as a quotient homomorphism followed by an isomorphism: $G \to G/\ker \phi \;\stackrel{\sim}{\to}\; H$. Surjective homomorphisms are the epimorphisms in the category of groups.
### Presentations
Every group is isomorphic to a quotient of a free group, in many ways.
For example, the dihedral group $\mathrm{D}_4$ is generated by the right rotation $r_1$ and the reflection $f_{\mathrm{v}}$ in a vertical line (every element of $\mathrm{D}_4$ is a finite product of copies of these and their inverses). Hence there is a surjective homomorphism φ from the free group $\langle r,f \rangle$ on two generators to $\mathrm{D}_4$ sending $r$ to $r_1$ and $f$ to $f_1$. Elements in $\ker \phi$ are called relations; examples include $r^4,f^2,(r \cdot f)^2$. In fact, it turns out that $\ker \phi$ is the smallest normal subgroup of $\langle r,f \rangle$ containing these three elements; in other words, all relations are consequences of these three. The quotient of the free group by this normal subgroup is denoted $\langle r,f \mid r^4=f^2=(r\cdot f)^2=1 \rangle$. This is called a presentation of $\mathrm{D}_4$ by generators and relations, because the first isomorphism theorem for φ yields an isomorphism $\langle r,f \mid r^4=f^2=(r\cdot f)^2=1 \rangle \to \mathrm{D}_4$.
A presentation of a group can be used to construct the Cayley graph, a graphical depiction of a discrete group.
## Examples and applications
Examples and applications of groups abound. A starting point is the group $\Z$ of integers with addition as group operation, introduced above. If instead of addition multiplication is considered, one obtains multiplicative groups. These groups are predecessors of important constructions in abstract algebra.
Groups are also applied in many other mathematical areas. Mathematical objects are often examined by associating groups to them and studying the properties of the corresponding groups. For example, Henri Poincaré founded what is now called algebraic topology by introducing the fundamental group. By means of this connection, topological properties such as proximity and continuity translate into properties of groups. For example, elements of the fundamental group are represented by loops. The second image shows some loops in a plane minus a point. The blue loop is considered null-homotopic (and thus irrelevant), because it can be continuously shrunk to a point. The presence of the hole prevents the orange loop from being shrunk to a point. The fundamental group of the plane with a point deleted turns out to be infinite cyclic, generated by the orange loop (or any other loop winding once around the hole). This way, the fundamental group detects the hole.
In more recent applications, the influence has also been reversed to motivate geometric constructions by a group-theoretical background. In a similar vein, geometric group theory employs geometric concepts, for example in the study of hyperbolic groups. Further branches crucially applying groups include algebraic geometry and number theory.
In addition to the above theoretical applications, many practical applications of groups exist. Cryptography relies on the combination of the abstract group theory approach together with algorithmical knowledge obtained in computational group theory, in particular when implemented for finite groups. Applications of group theory are not restricted to mathematics; sciences such as physics, chemistry and computer science benefit from the concept.
### Numbers
Many number systems, such as the integers and the rationals, enjoy a naturally given group structure. In some cases, such as with the rationals, both addition and multiplication operations give rise to group structures. Such number systems are predecessors to more general algebraic structures known as rings and fields. Further abstract algebraic concepts such as modules, vector spaces and algebras also form groups.
#### Integers
The group of integers $\Z$ under addition, denoted $\left(\Z,+\right)$, has been described above. The integers, with the operation of multiplication instead of addition, $\left(\Z,\cdot\right)$ do not form a group. The associativity and identity axioms are satisfied, but inverses do not exist: for example, $a=2$ is an integer, but the only solution to the equation $a\cdot b=1$ in this case is $b=\tfrac{1}{2}$, which is a rational number, but not an integer. Hence not every element of $\Z$ has a (multiplicative) inverse.
#### Rationals
The desire for the existence of multiplicative inverses suggests considering fractions $$\frac{a}{b}.</math> Fractions of integers (with $b$ nonzero) are known as rational numbers. The set of all such irreducible fractions is commonly denoted $\Q$. There is still a minor obstacle for $\left(\Q,\cdot\right)$, the rationals with multiplication, being a group: because zero does not have a multiplicative inverse (i.e., there is no $x$ such that $x\cdot 0=1$), $\left(\Q,\cdot\right)$ is still not a group.
However, the set of all nonzero rational numbers $\Q\smallsetminus\left\{0\right\}=\left\{q\in\Q\mid q\neq 0\right\}$ does form an abelian group under multiplication, also denoted $\Q^{\times}$. Associativity and identity element axioms follow from the properties of integers. The closure requirement still holds true after removing zero, because the product of two nonzero rationals is never zero. Finally, the inverse of $a/b$ is $b/a$, therefore the axiom of the inverse element is satisfied.
The rational numbers (including zero) also form a group under addition. Intertwining addition and multiplication operations yields more complicated structures called rings and – if division by other than zero is possible, such as in $\Q$ – fields, which occupy a central position in abstract algebra. Group theoretic arguments therefore underlie parts of the theory of those entities.
### Modular arithmetic
Modular arithmetic for a modulus $n$ defines any two elements $a$ and $b$ that differ by a multiple of $n$ to be equivalent, denoted by $a \equiv b\pmod{n}$. Every integer is equivalent to one of the integers from $0$ to $n-1$, and the operations of modular arithmetic modify normal arithmetic by replacing the result of any operation by its equivalent representative. Modular addition, defined in this way for the integers from $0$ to $n-1$, forms a group, denoted as $\mathrm{Z}_n$ or $(\Z/n\Z,+)$, with $0$ as the identity element and $n-a$ as the inverse element of $a$.
A familiar example is addition of hours on the face of a clock, where 12 rather than 0 is chosen as the representative of the identity. If the hour hand is on $9$ and is advanced $4$ hours, it ends up on $1$, as shown in the illustration. This is expressed by saying that $9+4$ is congruent to $1$ "modulo $12$" or, in symbols, $9+4\equiv 1 \pmod{12}.$
For any prime number $p$, there is also the multiplicative group of integers modulo $p$. Its elements can be represented by $1$ to $p-1$. The group operation, multiplication modulo $p$, replaces the usual product by its representative, the remainder of division by $p$. For example, for $p=5$, the four group elements can be represented by $1,2,3,4$. In this group, $4\cdot 4\equiv 1\bmod 5$, because the usual product $16$ is equivalent to $1$: when divided by $5$ it yields a remainder of $1$. The primality of $p$ ensures that the usual product of two representatives is not divisible by $p$, and therefore that the modular product is nonzero. The identity element is represented by $1$, and associativity follows from the corresponding property of the integers. Finally, the inverse element axiom requires that given an integer $a$ not divisible by $p$, there exists an integer $b$ such that $a\cdot b\equiv 1\pmod{p},$ that is, such that $p$ evenly divides $a\cdot b-1$. The inverse $b$ can be found by using Bézout's identity and the fact that the greatest common divisor $\gcd(a,p)$ equals $1$. In the case $p=5$ above, the inverse of the element represented by $4$ is that represented by $4$, and the inverse of the element represented by $3$ is represented by $2$, as $3\cdot 2=6\equiv 1\bmod{5}$. Hence all group axioms are fulfilled. This example is similar to $\left(\Q\smallsetminus\left\{0\right\},\cdot\right)$ above: it consists of exactly those elements in the ring $\Z/p\Z$ that have a multiplicative inverse. These groups, denoted $\mathbb F_p^\times$, are crucial to public-key cryptography.
### Cyclic groups
A cyclic group is a group all of whose elements are powers of a particular element $a$. In multiplicative notation, the elements of the group are $\dots, a^{-3}, a^{-2}, a^{-1}, a^0, a, a^2, a^3, \dots,$ where $a^2$ means $a\cdot a$, $a^{-3}$ stands for $a^{-1}\cdot a^{-1}\cdot a^{-1}=(a\cdot a\cdot a)^{-1}$, etc. Such an element $a$ is called a generator or a primitive element of the group. In additive notation, the requirement for an element to be primitive is that each element of the group can be written as $\dots, (-a)+(-a), -a, 0, a, a+a, \dots.$
In the groups $(\Z/n\Z,+)$ introduced above, the element $1$ is primitive, so these groups are cyclic. Indeed, each element is expressible as a sum all of whose terms are $1$. Any cyclic group with $n$ elements is isomorphic to this group. A second example for cyclic groups is the group of $n$th complex roots of unity, given by complex numbers $z$ satisfying $z^n=1$. These numbers can be visualized as the vertices on a regular $n$-gon, as shown in blue in the image for $n=6$. The group operation is multiplication of complex numbers. In the picture, multiplying with $z$ corresponds to a counter-clockwise rotation by 60°. From field theory, the group $\mathbb F_p^\times$ is cyclic for prime $p$: for example, if $p=5$, $3$ is a generator since $3^1=3$, $3^2=9\equiv 4$, $3^3\equiv 2$, and $3^4\equiv 1$.
Some cyclic groups have an infinite number of elements. In these groups, for every non-zero element $a$, all the powers of $a$ are distinct; despite the name "cyclic group", the powers of the elements do not cycle. An infinite cyclic group is isomorphic to $(\Z, +)$, the group of integers under addition introduced above. As these two prototypes are both abelian, so are all cyclic groups.
The study of finitely generated abelian groups is quite mature, including the fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups; and reflecting this state of affairs, many group-related notions, such as center and commutator, describe the extent to which a given group is not abelian.
### Symmetry groups
Symmetry groups are groups consisting of symmetries of given mathematical objects, principally geometric entities, such as the symmetry group of the square given as an introductory example above, although they also arise in algebra such as the symmetries among the roots of polynomial equations dealt with in Galois theory (see below). Conceptually, group theory can be thought of as the study of symmetry. Symmetries in mathematics greatly simplify the study of geometrical or analytical objects. A group is said to act on another mathematical object X if every group element can be associated to some operation on X and the composition of these operations follows the group law. For example, an element of the (2,3,7) triangle group acts on a triangular tiling of the hyperbolic plane by permuting the triangles. By a group action, the group pattern is connected to the structure of the object being acted on.
In chemistry, point groups describe molecular symmetries, while space groups describe crystal symmetries in crystallography. These symmetries underlie the chemical and physical behavior of these systems, and group theory enables simplification of quantum mechanical analysis of these properties. For example, group theory is used to show that optical transitions between certain quantum levels cannot occur simply because of the symmetry of the states involved.
Group theory helps predict the changes in physical properties that occur when a material undergoes a phase transition, for example, from a cubic to a tetrahedral crystalline form. An example is ferroelectric materials, where the change from a paraelectric to a ferroelectric state occurs at the Curie temperature and is related to a change from the high-symmetry paraelectric state to the lower symmetry ferroelectric state, accompanied by a so-called soft phonon mode, a vibrational lattice mode that goes to zero frequency at the transition.
Such spontaneous symmetry breaking has found further application in elementary particle physics, where its occurrence is related to the appearance of Goldstone bosons.
Finite symmetry groups such as the Mathieu groups are used in coding theory, which is in turn applied in error correction of transmitted data, and in CD players. Another application is differential Galois theory, which characterizes functions having antiderivatives of a prescribed form, giving group-theoretic criteria for when solutions of certain differential equations are well-behaved. Geometric properties that remain stable under group actions are investigated in (geometric) invariant theory.
### General linear group and representation theory
Matrix groups consist of matrices together with matrix multiplication. The general linear group $\mathrm {GL}(n, \R)$ consists of all invertible $n$-by-$n$ matrices with real entries. Its subgroups are referred to as matrix groups or linear groups. The dihedral group example mentioned above can be viewed as a (very small) matrix group. Another important matrix group is the special orthogonal group $\mathrm{SO}(n)$. It describes all possible rotations in $n$ dimensions. Rotation matrices in this group are used in computer graphics.
Representation theory is both an application of the group concept and important for a deeper understanding of groups. It studies the group by its group actions on other spaces. A broad class of group representations are linear representations in which the group acts on a vector space, such as the three-dimensional Euclidean space $\R^3$. A representation of a group $G$ on an $n$-dimensional real vector space is simply a group homomorphism $\rho : G \to \mathrm {GL}(n, \R)$ from the group to the general linear group. This way, the group operation, which may be abstractly given, translates to the multiplication of matrices making it accessible to explicit computations.
A group action gives further means to study the object being acted on. On the other hand, it also yields information about the group. Group representations are an organizing principle in the theory of finite groups, Lie groups, algebraic groups and topological groups, especially (locally) compact groups.
### Galois groups
Galois groups were developed to help solve polynomial equations by capturing their symmetry features. For example, the solutions of the quadratic equation $ax^2+bx+c=0$ are given by $x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt {b^2-4ac}}{2a}.$ Each solution can be obtained by replacing the $\pm$ sign by $+$ or $-$; analogous formulae are known for cubic and quartic equations, but do not exist in general for degree 5 and higher. In the quadratic formula, changing the sign (permuting the resulting two solutions) can be viewed as a (very simple) group operation. Analogous Galois groups act on the solutions of higher-degree polynomials and are closely related to the existence of formulas for their solution. Abstract properties of these groups (in particular their solvability) give a criterion for the ability to express the solutions of these polynomials using solely addition, multiplication, and roots similar to the formula above.
Modern Galois theory generalizes the above type of Galois groups by shifting to field theory and considering field extensions formed as the splitting field of a polynomial. This theory establishes—via the fundamental theorem of Galois theory—a precise relationship between fields and groups, underlining once again the ubiquity of groups in mathematics.
## Finite groups
A group is called finite if it has a finite number of elements. The number of elements is called the order of the group. An important class is the symmetric groups $\mathrm{S}_N$, the groups of permutations of $N$ objects. For example, the symmetric group on 3 letters $\mathrm{S}_3$ is the group of all possible reorderings of the objects. The three letters ABC can be reordered into ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA, forming in total 6 (factorial of 3) elements. The group operation is composition of these reorderings, and the identity element is the reordering operation that leaves the order unchanged. This class is fundamental insofar as any finite group can be expressed as a subgroup of a symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_N$ for a suitable integer $N$, according to Cayley's theorem. Parallel to the group of symmetries of the square above, $\mathrm{S}_3$ can also be interpreted as the group of symmetries of an equilateral triangle.
The order of an element $a$ in a group $G$ is the least positive integer $n$ such that $a^n=e$, where $a^n$ represents $\underbrace{a \cdots a}_{n \text{ factors}},$ that is, application of the operation "$\cdot$" to $n$ copies of $a$. (If "$\cdot$" represents multiplication, then $a^n$ corresponds to the $n$th power of $a$.) In infinite groups, such an $n$ may not exist, in which case the order of $a$ is said to be infinity. The order of an element equals the order of the cyclic subgroup generated by this element.
More sophisticated counting techniques, for example, counting cosets, yield more precise statements about finite groups: Lagrange's Theorem states that for a finite group $G$ the order of any finite subgroup $H$ divides the order of $G$. The Sylow theorems give a partial converse.
The dihedral group $\mathrm{D}_4$ of symmetries of a square is a finite group of order 8. In this group, the order of $r_1$ is 4, as is the order of the subgroup $R$ that this element generates. The order of the reflection elements $f_{\mathrm{v}}$ etc. is 2. Both orders divide 8, as predicted by Lagrange's theorem. The groups $\mathbb F_p^\times$ of multiplication modulo a prime $p$ have order $p-1$.
### Finite abelian groups
Any finite abelian group is isomorphic to a product of finite cyclic groups; this statement is part of the fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups.
Any group of prime order $p$ is isomorphic to the cyclic group $\mathrm{Z}_p$ (a consequence of Lagrange's theorem). Any group of order $p^2$ is abelian, isomorphic to $\mathrm{Z}_{p^2}$ or $\mathrm{Z}_p \times \mathrm{Z}_p$. But there exist nonabelian groups of order $p^3$; the dihedral group $\mathrm{D}_4$ of order $2^3$ above is an example.
### Simple groups
When a group $G$ has a normal subgroup $N$ other than $\{1\}$ and $G$ itself, questions about $G$ can sometimes be reduced to questions about $N$ and $G/N$. A nontrivial group is called simple if it has no such normal subgroup. Finite simple groups are to finite groups as prime numbers are to positive integers: they serve as building blocks, in a sense made precise by the Jordan–Hölder theorem.
### Classification of finite simple groups
Computer algebra systems have been used to list all groups of order up to 2000. But classifying all finite groups is a problem considered too hard to be solved.
The classification of all finite simple groups was a major achievement in contemporary group theory. There are several infinite families of such groups, as well as 26 "sporadic groups" that do not belong to any of the families. The largest sporadic group is called the monster group. The monstrous moonshine conjectures, proved by Richard Borcherds, relate the monster group to certain modular functions.
The gap between the classification of simple groups and the classification of all groups lies in the extension problem.
## Groups with additional structure
An equivalent definition of group consists of replacing the "there exist" part of the group axioms by operations whose result is the element that must exist. So, a group is a set $G$ equipped with a binary operation $G \times G \rightarrow G$ (the group operation), a unary operation $G \rightarrow G$ (which provides the inverse) and a nullary operation, which has no operand and results in the identity element. Otherwise, the group axioms are exactly the same. This variant of the definition avoids existential quantifiers and is used in computing with groups and for computer-aided proofs.
This way of defining groups lends itself to generalizations such as the notion of group object in a category. Briefly, this is an object with morphisms that mimic the group axioms.
### Topological groups
Some topological spaces may be endowed with a group law. In order for the group law and the topology to interweave well, the group operations must be continuous functions; informally, $g \cdot h$ and $g^{-1}$ must not vary wildly if $g$ and $h$ vary only a little. Such groups are called topological groups, and they are the group objects in the category of topological spaces. The most basic examples are the group of real numbers under addition and the group of nonzero real numbers under multiplication. Similar examples can be formed from any other topological field, such as the field of complex numbers or the field of p-adic numbers. These examples are locally compact, so they have Haar measures and can be studied via harmonic analysis. Other locally compact topological groups include the group of points of an algebraic group over a local field or adele ring; these are basic to number theory Galois groups of infinite algebraic field extensions are equipped with the Krull topology, which plays a role in infinite Galois theory. A generalization used in algebraic geometry is the étale fundamental group.
### Lie groups
A Lie group is a group that also has the structure of a differentiable manifold; informally, this means that it looks locally like a Euclidean space of some fixed dimension. Again, the definition requires the additional structure, here the manifold structure, to be compatible: the multiplication and inverse maps are required to be smooth.
A standard example is the general linear group introduced above: it is an open subset of the space of all $n$-by-$n$ matrices, because it is given by the inequality $\det (A) \ne 0,$ where $A$ denotes an $n$-by-$n$ matrix.
Lie groups are of fundamental importance in modern physics: Noether's theorem links continuous symmetries to conserved quantities. Rotation, as well as translations in space and time, are basic symmetries of the laws of mechanics. They can, for instance, be used to construct simple models—imposing, say, axial symmetry on a situation will typically lead to significant simplification in the equations one needs to solve to provide a physical description. Another example is the group of Lorentz transformations, which relate measurements of time and velocity of two observers in motion relative to each other. They can be deduced in a purely group-theoretical way, by expressing the transformations as a rotational symmetry of Minkowski space. The latter serves—in the absence of significant gravitation—as a model of spacetime in special relativity. The full symmetry group of Minkowski space, i.e., including translations, is known as the Poincaré group. By the above, it plays a pivotal role in special relativity and, by implication, for quantum field theories. Symmetries that vary with location are central to the modern description of physical interactions with the help of gauge theory. An important example of a gauge theory is the Standard Model, which describes three of the four known fundamental forces and classifies all known elementary particles.
## Generalizations
More general structures may be defined by relaxing some of the axioms defining a group. The table gives a list of several structures generalizing groups.
For example, if the requirement that every element has an inverse is eliminated, the resulting algebraic structure is called a monoid. The natural numbers $\mathbb N$ (including zero) under addition form a monoid, as do the nonzero integers under multiplication $(\Z \smallsetminus \{0\}, \cdot)$. Adjoining inverses of all elements of the monoid $(\Z \smallsetminus \{0\}, \cdot)$ produces a group $(\Q \smallsetminus \{0 \}, \cdot)$, and likewise adjoining inverses to any (abelian) monoid M produces a group known as the Grothendieck group of M.
A group can be thought of as a small category with one object x in which every morphism is an isomorphism: given such a category, the set $\operatorname{Hom}(x,x)$ is a group; conversely, given a group G, one can build a small category with one object x in which $\operatorname{Hom}(x,x) \simeq G$. More generally, a groupoid is any small category in which every morphism is an isomorphism. In a groupoid, the set of all morphisms in the category is usually not a group, because the composition is only partially defined: fg is defined only when the source of f matches the target of g. Groupoids arise in topology (for instance, the fundamental groupoid) and in the theory of stacks.
Finally, it is possible to generalize any of these concepts by replacing the binary operation with an n-ary operation (i.e., an operation taking n arguments, for some nonnegative integer n). With the proper generalization of the group axioms, this gives a notion of n-ary group.
## See also
- List of group theory topics |
11,253,941 | Flight feather | 1,156,939,020 | Long, stiff, feathers on the wings or tail of a bird that aid in the generation of lift and thrust | [
"Bird flight",
"Birds",
"Feathers"
]
| Flight feathers (Pennae volatus) are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (/ˈrɛmɪdʒiːz/), singular remex (/ˈriːmɛks/), while those on the tail are called rectrices (/rɛkˈtraɪsiːs/), singular rectrix (/ˈrɛktrɪks/). The primary function of the flight feathers is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The flight feathers of some birds perform additional functions, generally associated with territorial displays, courtship rituals or feeding methods. In some species, these feathers have developed into long showy plumes used in visual courtship displays, while in others they create a sound during display flights. Tiny serrations on the leading edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently (and therefore hunt more successfully), while the extra-stiff rectrices of woodpeckers help them to brace against tree trunks as they hammer on them. Even flightless birds still retain flight feathers, though sometimes in radically modified forms.
The remiges are divided into primary and secondary feathers based on their position along the wing. There are typically 11 primaries attached to the manus (six attached to the metacarpus and five to the phalanges), but the outermost primary, called the remicle, is often rudimentary or absent; certain birds, notably the flamingos, grebes, and storks, have seven primaries attached to the metacarpus and 12 in all. Secondary feathers are attached to the ulna. The fifth secondary remex (numbered inwards from the carpal joint) was formerly thought to be absent in some species, but the modern view of this diastataxy is that there is a gap between the fourth and fifth secondaries. Tertiary feathers growing upon the adjoining portion of the brachium are not considered true remiges.
The moult of their flight feathers can cause serious problems for birds, as it can impair their ability to fly. Different species have evolved different strategies for coping with this, ranging from dropping all their flight feathers at once (and thus becoming flightless for some relatively short period of time) to extending the moult over a period of several years.
## Remiges
Remiges (from the Latin for "oarsman") are located on the posterior side of the wing. Ligaments attach the long calami (quills) firmly to the wing bones, and a thick, strong band of tendinous tissue known as the postpatagium helps to hold and support the remiges in place. Corresponding remiges on individual birds are symmetrical between the two wings, matching to a large extent in size and shape (except in the case of mutation or damage), though not necessarily in the pattern. They are given different names depending on their position along the wing.
### Primaries
Primaries are connected to the manus (the bird's "hand", composed of carpometacarpus and phalanges); these are the longest and narrowest of the remiges (particularly those attached to the phalanges), and they can be individually rotated. These feathers are especially important for flapping flight, as they are the principal source of thrust, moving the bird forward through the air. The mechanical properties of primaries are important in supporting flight. Most thrust is generated on the downstroke of flapping flight. However, on the upstroke (when the bird often draws its wing in close to its body), the primaries are separated and rotated, reducing air resistance while still helping to provide some thrust. The flexibility of the remiges on the wingtips of large soaring birds also allows for the spreading of those feathers, which helps to reduce the creation of wingtip vortices, thereby reducing drag. The barbules on these feathers, friction barbules, are specialized with large lobular barbicels that help grip and prevent slippage of overlying feathers and are present in most of the flying birds.
Species vary somewhat in the number of primaries they possess. The number in non-passerines generally varies between 9 and 11, but grebes, storks and flamingos have 12, and ostriches have 16. While most modern passerines have ten primaries, some have only nine. Those with nine are missing the most distal primary (sometimes called the remicle) which is typically very small and sometimes rudimentary in passerines.
The outermost primaries—those connected to the phalanges—are sometimes known as pinions.
### Secondaries
Secondaries are connected to the ulna. In some species, the ligaments that bind these remiges to the bone connect to small, rounded projections, known as quill knobs, on the ulna; in other species, no such knobs exist. Secondary feathers remain close together in flight (they cannot be individually separated like the primaries can) and help to provide lift by creating the airfoil shape of the bird's wing. Secondaries tend to be shorter and broader than primaries, with blunter ends (see illustration). They vary in number from 6 in hummingbirds to as many as 40 in some species of albatross. In general, larger and longer-winged species have a larger number of secondaries. Birds in more than 40 non-passerine families seem to be missing the fifth secondary feather on each wing, a state known as diastataxis (those that do have the fifth secondary are said to eutaxic). In these birds, the fifth set of secondary covert feathers does not cover any remiges, possibly due to a twisting of the feather papillae during embryonic development. Loons, grebes, pelicans, hawks and eagles, cranes, sandpipers, gulls, parrots, and owls are among the families missing this feather.
### Tertials
Tertials arise in the brachial region and are not considered true remiges as they are not supported by attachment to the corresponding bone, in this case the humerus. These elongated "true" tertials act as a protective cover for all or part of the folded primaries and secondaries, and do not qualify as flight feathers as such. However, many authorities use the term tertials to refer to the shorter, more symmetrical innermost secondaries of passerines (arising from the olecranon and performing the same function as true tertials) in an effort to distinguish them from other secondaries. The term humeral is sometimes used for birds such as the albatrosses and pelicans that have a long humerus.
### Tectrices
The calami of the flight feathers are protected by a layer of non-flight feathers called covert feathers or tectrices (singular tectrix), at least one layer of them both above and beneath the flight feathers of the wings as well as above and below the rectrices of the tail. These feathers may vary widely in size – in fact, the upper tail tectrices of the male peafowl, rather than its rectrices, are what constitute its elaborate and colorful "train".
### Emargination
The outermost primaries of large soaring birds, particularly raptors, often show a pronounced narrowing at some variable distance along the feather edges. These narrowings are called either notches or emarginations depending on the degree of their slope. An emargination is a gradual change, and can be found on either side of the feather. A notch is an abrupt change, and is only found on the wider trailing edge of the remex. (Both are visible on the primary in the photo showing the feathers; they can be found about halfway along both sides of the left hand feather—a shallow notch on the left, and a gradual emargination on the right.) The presence of notches and emarginations creates gaps at the wingtip; air is forced through these gaps, increasing the generation of lift.
### Alula
Feathers on the alula or bastard wing are not generally considered to be flight feathers in the strict sense; though they are asymmetrical, they lack the length and stiffness of most true flight feathers. However, alula feathers are definitely an aid to slow flight. These feathers—which are attached to the bird's "thumb" and normally lie flush against the anterior edge of the wing—function in the same way as the slats on an airplane wing, allowing the wing to achieve a higher than normal angle of attack – and thus lift – without resulting in a stall. By manipulating its thumb to create a gap between the alula and the rest of the wing, a bird can avoid stalling when flying at low speeds or landing.
### Delayed development in hoatzins
The development of the remiges (and alulae) of nestling hoatzins is much delayed compared to the development of these feathers in other young birds, presumably because young hoatzins are equipped with claws on their first two digits. They use these small rounded hooks to grasp branches when clambering about in trees, and feathering on these digits would presumably interfere with that functionality. Most youngsters shed their claws sometime between their 70th and 100th day of life, but some retain them— though callused-over and unusable— into adulthood.
## Rectrices
Rectrices (singular rectrix) from the Latin word for "helmsman", help the bird to brake and steer in flight. These feathers lie in a single horizontal row on the rear margin of the anatomic tail. Only the central pair are attached (via ligaments) to the tail bones; the remaining rectrices are embedded into the rectricial bulbs, complex structures of fat and muscle that surround those bones. Rectrices are always paired, with a vast majority of species having six pairs. They are absent in grebes and some ratites, and greatly reduced in size in penguins. Many grouse species have more than 12 rectrices. In some species (including ruffed grouse, hazel grouse and common snipe), the number varies among individuals. Domestic pigeons have a highly variable number as a result of changes brought about over centuries of selective breeding.
## Numbering conventions
In order to make the discussion of such topics as moult processes or body structure easier, ornithologists assign a number to each flight feather. By convention, the numbers assigned to primary feathers always start with the letter P (P1, P2, P3, etc.), those of secondaries with the letter S, those of tertials with T and those of rectrices with R.
Most authorities number the primaries descendantly, starting from the innermost primary (the one closest to the secondaries) and working outwards; others number them ascendantly, from the most distal primary inwards. There are some advantages to each method. Descendant numbering follows the normal sequence of most birds' primary moult. In the event that a species is missing the small distal 10th primary, as some passerines are, its lack does not impact the numbering of the remaining primaries. Ascendant numbering, on the other hand, allows for uniformity in the numbering of non-passerine primaries, as they almost invariably have four attached to the manus regardless of how many primaries they have overall. This method is particularly useful for indicating wing formulae, as the outermost primary is the one with which the measurements begin.
Secondaries are always numbered ascendantly, starting with the outermost secondary (the one closest to the primaries) and working inwards. Tertials are also numbered ascendantly, but in this case, the numbers continue on consecutively from that given to the last secondary (e.g. ... S5, S6, T7, T8, ... etc.).
Rectrices are always numbered from the centermost pair outwards in both directions.
## Specialized flight feathers
The flight feathers of some species provide additional functionality. In some species, for example, either remiges or rectrices make a sound during flight. These sounds are most often associated with courtship or territorial displays. The outer primaries of male broad-tailed hummingbirds produce a distinctive high-pitched trill, both in direct flight and in power-dives during courtship displays; this trill is diminished when the outer primaries are worn, and absent when those feathers have been moulted. During the northern lapwing's zigzagging display flight, the bird's outer primaries produce a humming sound. The outer primaries of the male American woodcock are shorter and slightly narrower than those of the female, and are likely the source of the whistling and twittering sounds made during his courtship display flights. Male club-winged manakins use modified secondaries to make a clear trilling courtship call. A curve-tipped secondary on each wing is dragged against an adjacent ridged secondary at high speeds (as many as 110 times per second—slightly faster than a hummingbird's wingbeat) to create a stridulation much like that produced by some insects. Both Wilson's and common snipe have modified outer tail feathers which make noise when they are spread during the birds' roller coaster display flights; as the bird dives, wind flows through the modified feathers and creates a series of rising and falling notes, which is known as "winnowing". Differences between the sounds produced by these two former conspecific subspecies—and the fact that the outer two pairs of rectrices in Wilson's snipe are modified, while only the single outermost pair are modified in common snipe—were among the characteristics used to justify their splitting into two distinct and separate species.
Flight feathers are also used by some species in visual displays. Male standard-winged and pennant-winged nightjars have modified P2 primaries (using the descendant numbering scheme explained above) which are displayed during their courtship rituals. In the standard-winged nightjar, this modified primary consists of an extremely long shaft with a small "pennant" (actually a large web of barbules) at the tip. In the pennant-winged nightjar, the P2 primary is an extremely long (but otherwise normal) feather, while P3, P4 and P5 are successively shorter; the overall effect is a broadly forked wingtip with a very long plume beyond the lower half of the fork.
Males of many species, ranging from the widely introduced ring-necked pheasant to Africa's many whydahs, have one or more elongated pairs of rectrices, which play an often-critical role in their courtship rituals. The outermost pair of rectrices in male lyrebirds are extremely long and strongly curved at the ends. These plumes are raised up over the bird's head (along with a fine spray of modified uppertail coverts) during his extraordinary display. Rectrix modification reaches its pinnacle among the birds of paradise, which display an assortment of often bizarrely modified feathers, ranging from the extremely long plumes of the ribbon-tailed astrapia (nearly three times the length of the bird itself) to the dramatically coiled twin plumes of the magnificent bird-of-paradise.
Owls have remiges which are serrated rather than smooth on the leading edge. This adaptation disrupts the flow of air over the wings, eliminating the noise that airflow over a smooth surface normally creates, and allowing the birds to fly and hunt silently.
The rectrices of woodpeckers are proportionately short and very stiff, allowing them to better brace themselves against tree trunks while feeding. This adaptation is also found, though to a lesser extent, in some other species that feed along tree trunks, including woodcreepers and treecreepers.
Scientists have not yet determined the function of all flight feather modifications. Male swallows in the genera Psalidoprocne and Stelgidopteryx have tiny recurved hooks on the leading edges of their outer primaries, but the function of these hooks is not yet known; some authorities suggest they may produce a sound during territorial or courtship displays.
## Vestigiality in flightless birds
Over time, a small number of bird species have lost their ability to fly. Some of these, such as the steamer ducks, show no appreciable changes in their flight feathers. Some, such as the Titicaca grebe and a number of the flightless rails, have a reduced number of primaries.
The remiges of ratites are soft and downy; they lack the interlocking hooks and barbules that help to stiffen the flight feathers of other birds. In addition, the emu's remiges are proportionately much reduced in size, while those of the cassowaries are reduced both in number and structure, consisting merely of 5–6 bare quills. Most ratites have completely lost their rectrices; only the ostrich still has them.
Penguins have lost their differentiated flight feathers. As adults, their wings and tail are covered with the same small, stiff, slightly curved feathers as are found on the rest of their bodies.
The ground-dwelling kakapo, which is the world's only flightless parrot, has remiges which are shorter, rounder and more symmetrically vaned than those of parrots capable of flight; these flight feathers also contain fewer interlocking barbules near their tips.
## Moult
Once they have finished growing, feathers are essentially dead structures. Over time, they become worn and abraded, and need to be replaced. This replacement process is known as moult (molt in the United States). The loss of wing and tail feathers can affect a bird's ability to fly (sometimes dramatically) and in certain families can impair the ability to feed or perform courtship displays. The timing and progression of flight feather moult therefore varies among families.
For most birds, moult begins at a certain specific point, called a focus (plural foci), on the wing or tail and proceeds in a sequential manner in one or both directions from there. For example, most passerines have a focus between the innermost primary (P1, using the numbering scheme explained above) and outermost secondary (S1), and a focus point in the middle of the center pair of rectrices. As passerine moult begins, the two feathers closest to the focus are the first to drop. When replacement feathers reach roughly half of their eventual length, the next feathers in line (P2 and S2 on the wing, and both R2s on the tail) are dropped. This pattern of drop and replacement continues until moult reaches either end of the wing or tail. The speed of the moult can vary somewhat within a species. Some passerines that breed in the Arctic, for example, drop many more flight feathers at once (sometimes becoming briefly flightless) in order to complete their entire wing moult prior to migrating south, while those same species breeding at lower latitudes undergo a more protracted moult.
In many species, there is more than one focus along the wing. Here, moult begins at all foci simultaneously, but generally proceeds only in one direction. Most grouse, for example, have two wing foci: one at the wingtip, the other between feathers P1 and S1. In this case, moult proceeds descendantly from both foci. Many large, long-winged birds have multiple wing foci.
Birds that are heavily "wing-loaded"—that is, heavy-bodied birds with relatively short wings—have great difficulty flying with the loss of even a few flight feathers. A protracted moult like the one described above would leave them vulnerable to predators for a sizeable portion of the year. Instead, these birds lose all their flight feathers at once. This leaves them completely flightless for a period of three to four weeks, but means their overall period of vulnerability is significantly shorter than it would otherwise be. Eleven families of birds, including loons, grebes and most waterfowl, have this moult strategy.
The cuckoos show what is called saltatory or transilient wing moults. In simple forms, this involves the moulting and replacement of odd-numbered primaries and then the even-numbered primaries. There are however complex variations with differences based on life history.
Arboreal woodpeckers, which depend on their tails—particularly the strong central pair of rectrices—for support while they feed, have a unique tail moult. Rather than moulting their central tail feathers first, as most birds do, they retain these feathers until last. Instead, the second pair of rectrices (both R2 feathers) are the first to drop. (In some species in the genera Celeus and Dendropicos, the third pair is the first dropped.) The pattern of feather drop and replacement proceeds as described for passerines (above) until all other rectrices have been replaced; only then are the central tail rectrices moulted. This provides some protection to the growing feathers, since they're always covered by at least one existing feather, and also ensures that the bird's newly strengthened tail is best able to cope with the loss of the crucial central rectrices. Ground-feeding woodpeckers, such as the wrynecks, do not have this modified moult strategy; in fact, wrynecks moult their outer tail feathers first, with moult proceeding proximally from there.
## Age differences in flight feathers
There are often substantial differences between the remiges and rectrices of adults and juveniles of the same species. Because all juvenile feathers are grown at once—a tremendous energy burden to the developing bird—they are softer and of poorer quality than the equivalent feathers of adults, which are moulted over a longer period of time (as long as several years in some cases). As a result, they wear more quickly.
As feathers grow at variable rates, these variations lead to visible dark and light bands in the fully formed feather. These growth bars and their widths have been used to determine the daily nutritional status of birds. Each light and dark bar correspond to around 24 hours and the use of this technique has been called ptilochronology (analogous to dendrochronology).
In general, juveniles have feathers which are narrower and more sharply pointed at the tip. This can be particularly visible when the bird is in flight, especially in the case of raptors. The trailing edge of the wing of a juvenile bird can appear almost serrated, due to the feathers' sharp tips, while that of an older bird will be straighter-edged. The flight feathers of a juvenile bird will also be uniform in length, since they all grew at the same time. Those of adults will be of various lengths and levels of wear, since each is moulted at a different time.
The flight feathers of adults and juveniles can differ considerably in length, particularly among the raptors. Juveniles tend to have slightly longer rectrices and shorter, broader wings (with shorter outer primaries, and longer inner primaries and secondaries) than do adults of the same species. However, there are many exceptions. In longer-tailed species, such as swallow-tailed kite, secretary bird and European honey buzzard, for example, juveniles have shorter rectrices than adults do. Juveniles of some Buteo buzzards have narrower wings than adults do, while those of large juvenile falcons are longer. It is theorized that the differences help young birds compensate for their inexperience, weaker flight muscles and poorer flying ability.
## Wing formula
A wing formula describes the shape of distal end of a bird's wing in a mathematical way. It can be used to help distinguish between species with similar plumages, and thus is particularly useful for those who ring (band) birds.
To determine a bird's wing formula, the distance between the tip of the most distal primary and the tip of its greater covert (the longest of the feathers that cover and protect the shaft of that primary) is measured in millimeters. In some cases, this results in a positive number (e.g., the primary extends beyond its greater covert), while in other cases it is a negative number (e.g. the primary is completely covered by the greater covert, as happens in some passerine species). Next, the longest primary feather is identified, and the differences between the length of that primary and that of all remaining primaries and of the longest secondary are also measured, again in millimeters. If any primary shows a notch or emargination, this is noted, and the distance between the feather's tip and any notch is measured, as is the depth of the notch. All distance measurements are made with the bird's wing closed, so as to maintain the relative positions of the feathers.
While there can be considerable variation across members of a species—and while the results are obviously impacted by the effects of moult and feather regeneration—even very closely related species show clear differences in their wing formulas.
## Primary extension
The distance that a bird's longest primaries extend beyond its longest secondaries (or tertials) when its wings are folded is referred to as the primary extension or primary projection. As with wing formulae, this measurement is useful for distinguishing between similarly plumaged birds; however, unlike wing formulae, it is not necessary to have the bird in-hand to make the measurement. Rather, this is a useful relative measurement—some species have long primary extensions, while others have shorter ones. Among the Empidonax flycatchers of the Americas, for example, the dusky flycatcher has a much shorter primary extension than does the very similarly plumaged Hammond's flycatcher. Europe's common skylark has a long primary projection, while that of the near-lookalike Oriental skylark is very short.
As a general rule, species which are long-distance migrants will have longer primary projection than similar species which do not migrate or migrate shorter distances.
## See also
- Bird anatomy
- Bird flight
- Drumming (snipe)
- Pinioning
- Plumage
- Delayed feathering in chickens |
32,252,837 | Keechaka Vadham | 1,160,121,579 | Silent film by R. Nataraja Mudaliar | [
"1910s directorial debut films",
"1910s historical films",
"1910s in Indian cinema",
"1910s lost films",
"Films based on the Mahabharata",
"Hindu mythological films",
"Indian black-and-white films",
"Indian historical films",
"Indian silent films",
"Lost Indian films"
]
| Keechaka Vadham () is an Indian silent film produced, directed, filmed and edited by R. Nataraja Mudaliar. The first film to have been made in South India, it was shot in five weeks at Nataraja Mudaliar's production house, India Film Company. As the members of the cast were Tamils, Keechaka Vadham is considered to be the first Tamil film. No print of it is known to have survived, making it a lost film.
The screenplay, written by C. Rangavadivelu, is based on an episode from the Virata Parva segment of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, focusing on Keechaka's attempts to woo Draupadi. The film stars Raju Mudaliar and Jeevarathnam as the central characters.
Released in the late 1910s, Keechaka Vadham was commercially successful and received positive critical feedback. The film's success prompted Nataraja Mudaliar to make a series of similar historical films, which laid the foundation for the South Indian cinema industry and led to his being recognised as "the father of Tamil cinema." Nataraja Mudaliar's works were an inspiration to other filmmakers including Raghupathi Surya Prakasa and J. C. Daniel.
## Plot
Keechaka, the commander of King Virata's forces, attempts to woo and marry Draupadi by any means necessary; he even tries to molest Draupadi, prompting her to tell Bhima, her husband and one of the Pandava brothers, about it. Later, when Keechaka meets Draupadi, she requests him to rendezvous with her at a secret hiding place. He arrives there, only to find Bhima instead of Draupadi; Bhima kills him.
## Cast
- Raju Mudaliar as Keechaka
- Jeevarathnam as Draupadi
## Production
### Development
R. Nataraja Mudaliar, a car dealer who was based in Madras, developed an interest in motion pictures after watching Dadasaheb Phalke's 1913 mythological film, Raja Harishchandra at the Gaiety theatre in Madras. The former then learned the basics of photography and filmmaking from Stewart Smith, a Poona-based British cinematographer who had worked on a documentary that chronicled the viceroyship of Lord Curzon (1899–1905). Nataraja Mudaliar bought a Williamson 35 mm camera and printer from Mooppanar, a wealthy landowner based in Thanjavur, for ₹1,800. In 1915, he established the India Film Company, which was South India's first production company. He then set up a film studio on Miller's Road in Purasawalkam with the help of business associates who invested in his production house.
Nataraja Mudaliar sought advice from his friend, theatrical artist Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar, who suggested that he depict the story of Draupadi and Keechaka from the Virata Parva segment of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Some of Nataraja Mudaliar's relatives objected, feeling that it was an inappropriate story for his debut venture, but Sambandha Mudaliar persuaded him to proceed with making the film as audiences were familiar with the story. Attorney C. Rangavadivelu, a close friend of Nataraja Mudaliar, assisted him in writing the screenplay as the latter was not a writer by profession. The paintings of Raja Ravi Varma provided Nataraja Mudaliar with a source of inspiration for recreating the story on celluloid. Nataraja Mudaliar cast stage actors Raju Mudaliar and Jeevarathnam as Keechaka and Draupadi, respectively.
### Filming
Keechaka Vadham was filmed on a budget of ₹35,000 (worth ₹6 crore in 2021 prices). Principal photography began in 1916–1917, and the film was shot over 35–37 days. Nataraja Mudaliar imported the film stock from London with the help of an Englishman named Carpenter, who worked for the Bombay division of the photographic technology company, Kodak. Film historian Randor Guy noted in his 1997 book Starlight Starbright: The Early Tamil Cinema that a thin white piece of cloth was used as a ceiling for filming and sunlight was filtered through it onto the floor. Rangavadivelu was also experienced in playing female roles on stage for the Suguna Vilasa Sabha, and coached the artists on set. The film's production, cinematography and editing were handled by Nataraja Mudaliar himself.
The film was shot with a speed of 16 frames per second, which was the standard rate for a silent film, at the India Film Company, with intertitles in English, Tamil and Hindi. The Tamil and Hindi intertitles were written by Sambandha Mudaliar and Devdas Gandhi respectively, while Nataraja Mudaliar wrote the English intertitles himself with the assistance of Guruswami Mudaliar and Thiruvengada Mudaliar, a professor from Pachaiyappa's College.
Keechaka Vadham was the first film made in South India; as the cast was Tamil, it is also the first Tamil film. According to Guy, Nataraja Mudaliar established a laboratory in Bangalore to process the film negatives since there was no film laboratory in Madras. Nataraja Mudaliar believed that Bangalore's colder climate "would be kind to his exposed film stock"; he processed the film negatives there each weekend and returned on Monday morning to resume filming. The film's final reel length was 6,000 ft (1,800 m).
## Release, reception and legacy
According to Muthiah, Keechaka Vadham was first released at the Elphinstone Theatre in Madras; the film netted ₹50,000 after being screened in India, Burma, Ceylon, the Federated Malay States and Singapore. The film yielded ₹15,000 which Muthiah noted to be a "tidy profit in those days." Writer Firoze Rangoonwalla notes that a reviewer for The Mail praised the film: "It has been prepared with great care and is drawing full houses". Guy pointed out that with the film's critical and commercial success, Nataraja Mudaliar had "created history". Since no print is known to have survived, it appears to be a lost film.
Keechaka Vadham's success inspired Nataraja Mudaliar to make a series of films based on Hindu mythology: Draupadi Vastrapaharanam (1918), Lava Kusa (1919), Shiva Leela (1919), Rukmini Satyabhama (1922) and Mahi Ravana (1923). He retired from filmmaking in 1923 after a fire killed his son and destroyed his production house. Nataraja Mudaliar is widely regarded as "the father of Tamil cinema," and his films helped lay the foundation for the South Indian cinema industry; his works inspired Raghupathi Surya Prakasa, the son of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, and J. C. Daniel.
## See also
- Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian silent film
- Kalidas, the first sound film in Tamil and Telugu cinema
- List of lost films |
4,107,359 | Thomas A. Spragens | 1,165,369,591 | American academic administrator (1917–2006) | [
"1917 births",
"2006 deaths",
"Burials in Bellevue Cemetery (Danville, Kentucky)",
"Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel",
"Kentucky Democrats",
"People from Lebanon, Kentucky",
"Presidents of Centre College",
"Stanford University staff",
"Stephens College people",
"University of Kentucky alumni"
]
| Thomas Arthur Spragens (/ˈspreɪ.ɡɪnz/ SPRAY-ginz; April 25, 1917 – February 11, 2006) was an American administrator who was the 17th president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Spragens worked for the state and federal government early in his career, before joining the staff at Stanford University as a presidential advisor. He was the president of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, for a five-year term, and left Stephens to go to Centre in 1957.
The first Centre president who was not a member of the clergy, Spragens worked to lessen the ties between the college and the Presbyterian Church, which led to a significant rise in students reporting that they were non-denominational; it also led to attendance at chapel becoming optional for students. Spragens was an effective fundraiser for the school; his Fund for the Future Campaign ultimately raised \$34 million. He was instrumental in the integration of the school, and admitted Centre's first black student in 1962. The same year, he led an effort to consolidate the school's women's department, formerly the Kentucky College for Women, onto Centre's campus. Many parts of campus were upgraded during his presidency; after twenty years, three quarters of Centre's facilities had been either built or renovated. During his term, which ended in 1981, Centre's student enrollment and faculty numbers both nearly doubled, its endowment increased, and the property value of its campus rose.
He was selected by two governors to be a part of commissions which studied higher education in Kentucky, and was a part of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the American Council on Education at different times. He was active in Democratic Party politics, and was a delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in support of Senator Eugene McCarthy. Additionally, he was a part of an effort which culminated in the 1962 founding of what is now the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, of which Centre remained a charter member until 2011.
## Early life and education
Spragens was born on April 25, 1917, in Lebanon, Kentucky. He was the third of seven children in his family. His father, William Henry Spragens, was a lawyer and circuit court judge from Casey County, Kentucky, and his mother, Lillian Brewer Spragens, was from Lancaster, Kentucky. He attended Lebanon High School, graduating in 1934, and was recruited by then-president Charles J. Turck to attend Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, alongside three classmates with whom he formed a locally popular singing quartet. Turck's hope was that the four of them would attend Centre and replace the "Centre College Quartet", the members of which were soon graduating. Spragens's three classmates decided to attend Centre but he ultimately opted for the University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington instead, though he did join the glee club at UK. He enrolled in, and attended, the University's College of Commerce (now the Gatton College of Business and Economics) for a year and a half, but afterwards transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences and majored in economics. He graduated from UK in 1938. After a summer employed by the Kentucky state government, he won a public administration fellowship and began graduate work at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He completed only one year of his graduate program; after spending the summer following the first year working for the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget), he decided to forgo the second year in favor of a permanent position with the Bureau.
## Career
### Early career, 1940–1957
Spragens worked for the federal government from 1940 to 1945 in multiple positions, including in his new permanent job as a senior analyst at the Bureau of the Budget, and in a job with the Foreign Economic Administration, which operated during World War II. In mid-1946, Spragens left his government positions to work at Stanford University as an assistant to the college president and as Stanford's representative in Washington, D.C. In this position, he assisted two presidents: Donald Tresidder, who originally hired him, and Wallace Sterling, who took over after Tresidder's death. He helped the college to manage its increasing enrollment numbers, which spiked from 4,500 in June 1946 to 7,200 in November of the same year. Spragens intended to remain in this position for only one to two years, and afterwards return to government work, but ended up working there for five years.
In 1951, Spragens left Stanford to accept a position as the secretary and treasurer of the Fund for the Advancement of Education, which was a newly-formed subsidiary of the Ford Foundation. He worked in this position for just over a year before he was offered the presidency of Stephens College, a women's college in Columbia, Missouri. An announcement of his hiring was made to students and faculty at Stephens on November 1, 1952, and he began in this role exactly one month later, on December 1. At Stephens, he implemented a plan which saw the use of closed-circuit television as an academic aid, for which the school received "wide notice in educational circles". Television was used mainly as a supplement to seminar-style classes with small numbers of students, and it allowed lecturers to speak to multiple sections of a class simultaneously. During this time, he was selected to be a part of a commission that produced a report, "The Church and Higher Education", to the Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina, which was completed in July 1955. He was a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools's commission on colleges universities and the board of directors of Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri; he was elected to the latter position on May 28, 1956. In his final week at Stephens, the college announced a 40-year campus relocation project at a total cost of \$12 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) with the eventual goal of abandoning its current facilities and constructing new instructional, residential, and athletic buildings at a site near U.S. Route 63.
In 1957, he was contacted by Don Campbell, a friend of his and chairman of the trustee presidential search committee at Centre, regarding the school's vacant presidency. He was offered the job, and despite having turned down a similar offer from what he later called a "stronger" college, he accepted the position at Centre. He was replaced by dean of instruction James G. Rice as acting president upon his departure on November 11, 1957.
### President of Centre College, 1957–1981
Spragens was announced as Centre's next president by their board of trustees on August 22, 1957. On November 11, he began his term as the 17th president of Centre College. In doing so, he became the fourth president in the college's history who was not an ordained minister, the first who was not a member of the clergy at all, and the youngest in the college's history. He spent his first full day on campus the following day, when he presided over his first faculty meeting, and addressed the student body for the first time at a convocation on November 19. He was formally inaugurated in a ceremony on the morning of April 21, 1959, which included an inaugural address given by Stanford president Wallace Sterling.
In 1959, he introduced a ten-year plan with the goals of increasing the college's enrollment (with the specific goal of 750 students), adding to the faculty, and increasing the number of majors offered by the college. The following year, the college announced a \$6.5 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) fundraising campaign in celebration of Centre's 150-year anniversary, a marked increase from the \$20,000 () to \$25,000 () typically raised every year. On June 9, 1958, he received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Westminster College, which was conferred upon him at their commencement ceremony. After beginning his term, he immediately declared that the school would move towards full integration and not discriminate by race when determining admissions, and the college admitted its first black student when Timothy Kusi, a Ghanaian student who transferred from Kentucky State College (now Kentucky State University), enrolled in 1962. This change was received well by much of the campus community. The campus of the former Kentucky College for Women, at the time operating as Centre's women's department, closed that same year, at which point it was consolidated onto Centre's campus, with Spragens presiding over the merger. He hired Shirley Anne Walker, a French language professor who became Centre's first black faculty member at the start of the 1971–1972 academic year.
As football grew more popular at Centre during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Spragens sought to keep the college's priorities on academics rather than athletics. After he was announced as president in August 1957, he said that he would continue the existing policy of lessened emphasis on athletics, saying that they were a "corollary aspect" of the school. His scholarship policy stipulated that financial awards would not be given solely for athletics, but rather to all students based on merit and need. He advocated for the creation of a new athletic association which would eliminate gate receipts; Centre was joined in this association by Washington and Lee University, Southwestern University at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and the University of the South, with Washington University in St. Louis added later the same year as the league's fifth charter member. This association ultimately became the College Athletic Conference (now the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) and was formally founded on September 1, 1962. Centre remained a member of the conference until 2011, when they left, along with six other SCAC schools and one independent school, to form the Southern Athletic Association. During the 1960s, Spragens decided to end the agreement under which Centre leased its football field to Danville High School, and underwent a facilities exchange with the local school district by which the Centre women's campus was given to the district and the old Danville High School site was given to the college.
Spragens was supportive of peaceful protests held by students on campus and around the city; his "'good citizenship' policy" took effect in the 1960s, and student protests increased in frequency as the decade continued, particularly with respect to racial segregation and the Vietnam War. In December 1966, he introduced a plan under which classes at Centre would be held during four days of the week, rather than five, as part of a trimester system that was in effect for some time beginning with the fall semester of the 1966–1967 academic year. This trimester system, referred to as "The New Curriculum", consisted of two terms of regular length, during which students would take four courses, with a six-week two-course winter term in between. He was selected as a delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago, after serving as the chair of the Boyle County Democratic Convention and attending the state convention. He did both in support of Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, though McCarthy eventually lost the nomination to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, also of Minnesota. Following the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, he declared all classes suspended on May 8, and addressed much of the student body and faculty on the campus lawn.
Many of the changes that took place on Centre's campus during Spragens's presidency were long-lasting. Numerous buildings were constructed or upgraded during his time in office, including the Grace Doherty Library (which took the place of Old Main, which was demolished), the new Young Hall, Sutcliffe Hall, the Regional Arts Center (now the Norton Center for the Arts), Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, fraternity residences, and multiple dormitory buildings. After twenty years of Spragens's presidency, three quarters of the buildings on campus had been constructed or renovated. These upgrades increased the property value of the campus to \$21.2 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) by the time he left office. An effective fundraiser, he led the Fund for the Future campaign, which ultimately raised about \$34 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) for the college. A chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society (of which Spragens was a member) opened at Centre during Spragens' tenure. In 1961, Centre purchased land from the city of Danville at a cost of \$175,000 (); a federal law that was new at the time allowed the city to start a community development project with funding totaling \$2.5 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) as a direct result. Under Spragens, the college contributed to the city's economy, with one estimate stating that five to ten percent of the city's business revenue was generated by the college during fiscal year 1980–1981.
His presidency ended upon his resignation, which became effective November 16, 1981. Provost Edgar C. Reckard finished the academic year as interim president; Spragens was formally succeeded by Richard L. Morrill on June 1, 1982. He worked as a fundraiser for, and advisor to, the college for six months following his resignation.
During his time at Centre, Spragens was a member of a number of other institutions related to higher education, including the Kentucky Independent College Foundation, Independent College Funds of America, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. He was the director of the American Council on Education for three years, and as the director of the Southern University Union for a time. During his presidency, he was selected as part of two commissions, appointed by Governors Bert Combs and Ned Breathitt, to study higher education in Kentucky. On two occasions, he was asked to interview with the search committee for the presidency of the University of Kentucky, but never received a formal offer, and he was contacted by Kentucky State University with a possibility of being their interim president after he retired from Centre. He ended up as a consultant for one year to the newly-hired president of Kentucky State, Raymond Burse, a Centre alumnus himself. He received honorary degrees from a number of colleges and universities: Westminster College, the University of Kentucky, the University of Alabama, Berea College, and Kentucky State University, in addition to Centre.
## Personal life and death
Spragens met Catharine Smallwood, a native of Oxford, Mississippi, and an alumna of the University of Mississippi, in the early 1940s and the pair married on May 24, 1941. The couple had two sons, Thomas Jr. and David, and one daughter, Barbara. David, who was their youngest child, graduated from Centre in 1973, during his father's presidency.
In an interview shortly following his resignation, Spragens stated that his personal hobbies included playing tennis and golf, as well as water skiing. He was Presbyterian, and had been an elder in the Presbyterian Church since the age of 29. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies. In 1990, Thomas and Catharine received the Honorary Alumni Award from Centre.
Spragens died on February 11, 2006, in Columbia, South Carolina, at the age of 88. His memorial service was scheduled for March 4, 2006, at the First Presbyterian Church in Danville. He is buried in Danville's Bellevue Cemetery.
## Legacy
During his 24-year tenure as president, the college's enrollment nearly doubled, from 380 students to nearly 700, and the size of its faculty followed the same trend, increasing from 38 members to 68. Centre's endowment also grew, from \$2.8 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) to \$18 million (equivalent to \$ million in ). Three of Kentucky's four Rhodes Scholars at the time of his resignation had graduated from Centre over the previous fifteen years. After his retirement from the presidency he joined the Kentucky Council on Higher Education, the boards of numerous organizations including Shaker Village, Leadership Kentucky, Presbyterian Homes and Services, and Pikeville College (now the University of Pikeville), and was a city commissioner in Danville.
His tenure saw the college become more distanced from the church than in the past, as the portion of the college's budget obtained from the church decreased and chapel attendance became voluntary for students beginning in 1965. Two years later, he was elected moderator of the Northern Synod of Kentucky and recommended that Centre remove many of its remaining ties to the Presbyterian Church. In 1968, Centre withdrew from the Kentucky Synod for financial reasons and the following year it removed its policies which required the president and most board members to be Presbyterian. The effects of this were seen on the student body in the following years, with the percentage of students reporting themselves as Presbyterian falling from 32% in 1967 to 17% in 1971, and the percentage of students reporting themselves as non-denominational rising from 0.5% to 27% in the same time period. His presidency is remembered for his successful fundraising efforts and for the numerous buildings that were constructed. The Thomas A. Spragens Rare Book Room and Archives, located in the Grace Doherty Library at Centre, is named in his honor. |
43,575,836 | Stanley Price Weir | 1,157,747,138 | Public servant and Australian Army officer | [
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| Brigadier General Stanley Price Weir, (23 April 1866 – 14 November 1944) was a public servant and Australian Army officer. During World War I, he commanded the 10th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the landing at Anzac Cove and the subsequent Gallipoli Campaign, and during the Battles of Pozières and Mouquet Farm in France.
Weir returned to Australia at his own request in late 1916 at the age of 50, and in 1917 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was mentioned in dispatches for his performance at Pozières and Mouquet Farm. He went on to become the first South Australian Public Service Commissioner. He was given an honorary promotion to brigadier general on his retirement from the Australian Military Forces in 1921. Weir was retired as public service commissioner in 1931. In retirement he contributed to various benevolent and charitable organisations, and died in 1944.
## Early life
Weir was born in Norwood, South Australia, on 23 April 1866, a son of Alfred Weir and Susannah Mary (née Price). His father was a carpenter, who had emigrated to South Australia from Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1839, two years after the colony was founded. Weir attended Moore's School, the Norwood Public School, and Pulteney Street School. In 1879, at the age of 13, he joined the Surveyor General's Department as an office assistant. He assisted the surveyor who pegged out the land at the rear of Government House, Adelaide, for the Torrens Parade Ground, and was later promoted to clerk. On 14 May 1890, he married Rosa Wadham at the Christian Chapel, Norwood. He rose through the department to be appointed Survey Storekeeper, Custodian of Plans and Custodian of Government Motor Cars, on 1 July 1911. He was appointed a justice of the peace on 10 September 1914.
## Early military service
Weir enlisted in the part-time South Australian Volunteer Military Force in March 1885, joining the 1st Battalion, Adelaide Rifles, as a private. By 1890, he had been promoted to colour sergeant. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Adelaide Rifles, on 19 March 1890, and was promoted to captain on 25 May 1893. When the South African War broke out he volunteered for service with the South Australian Bushmen's Corps, but mounted officers were preferred, and he was not selected.
On 1 July 1903, the Adelaide Rifles became the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Commonwealth Military Forces, and Weir was appointed adjutant. He was promoted to major on 1 January 1904, and appointed as regimental second-in-command. He was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1905, and the Volunteer Officers' Decoration in 1908. On 22 June 1908, Weir was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed the commanding officer of the 10th Infantry Regiment. On 1 January 1912, he was transferred to the unattached list but this only lasted until 1 July, when the universal training scheme was introduced. He was soon appointed to command the 19th Infantry Brigade, and on 9 September 1913 he was promoted to colonel.
## World War I
On 12 August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, Weir received a telegram from Colonel Ewen Sinclair-MacLagan, the designated commander of the 3rd Brigade, offering him the command of the 10th Battalion. Weir promptly accepted, and on 17 August was appointed as a lieutenant colonel in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), making him the first South Australian to be commissioned in the AIF. He retained his rank of colonel in the part-time forces in an honorary capacity.
### Gallipoli
Weir assembled and trained his battalion at the Morphettville Racecourse, then embarked with them on the transport Ascanius on 20 October 1914 as the first convoy of Australian troops departed for overseas service. On arrival in Fremantle, six companies of the 11th Battalion were embarked on the transport, and Weir was appointed Officer Commanding Troops for the voyage. The troops began disembarking at Alexandria on 6 December 1914, and were entrained for Cairo, where they began to set up camp at Mena. The Australian Official War Historian, Charles Bean, described Weir as being "somewhat above average in years" for a battalion commander. Following the Allied decision to land a force on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the 3rd Brigade was selected as the covering force for the landing at Anzac Cove. The 10th Battalion embarked for the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea on 1 March 1915, and after further training on Lemnos, the battalion was one of the first two battalions ashore on the morning of 25 April 1915.
During the landing, when the boats carrying the lead elements of the battalion were around 40 yards (37 m) from shore, according to Bean, Weir observed to another officer in his boat that everything was silent, but soon after Ottoman troops began firing at the landing force. Weir landed with the scout platoon, and urged both his men and those of the 9th Battalion to immediately begin climbing the cliffs that overlooked the beach. Weir, along with "B" and "C" Companies of the battalion, reached what later became known as "Plugge's Plateau". Heavy fighting followed the initial landing and, within five days, half of Weir's battalion had been killed or wounded. The Australian and New Zealand advance inland from Anzac Cove was subsequently checked by the defending Ottoman forces and was eventually contained in a small beachhead inside a series of ridges that ranged around the cove. Weir was the only commanding officer from the 3rd Brigade to go forward of the first ridge, and a ridge running off the 400 Plateau subsequently became known as "Weir Ridge".
As stalemate set in, Weir continued to command his battalion throughout the early stages of the campaign until 25 August, when he was appointed acting brigadier general and placed in command of the 3rd Brigade. On 11 September, he became ill and was evacuated to Malta, where he was admitted to hospital. He was subsequently evacuated to the United Kingdom, where he convalesced until January 1916, when he was appointed commandant of the Australian reinforcement camp at Weymouth, Dorset.
### Western Front
Weir's health had not completely recovered by the time he embarked for Egypt, and he rejoined his battalion on 4 March 1916. After his departure, the 10th had fought through the remainder of the campaign before being withdrawn along with the rest of the Allied force in December 1915. The battalion was subsequently moved back to Egypt. In mid-1916, the bulk of the AIF was transferred to the Western Front, and Weir led the 10th Battalion through July and August 1916 during the Battles of Pozières and Mouquet Farm. At Pozières, the battalion suffered 350 casualties in four days. By the time of the battle, Weir was the only original battalion commander remaining in the 1st Australian Division, and had turned 50 years of age. On 23 August, immediately after Mouquet Farm, Weir was again appointed acting commander of the 3rd Brigade. Exhausted, on 7 September 1916 he asked to be relieved, and his request was granted. He returned to Australia on 23 September 1916, and his AIF appointment was terminated on 14 December. In the Australian official history of the war, Bean observed that despite his age, Weir "took his battalion into the front line, commanded it there throughout its first battle, and remained longer in the field than almost any of the senior militia officers who had left with the original force".
## Post-war military service
After his AIF appointment was terminated, Weir resumed his service in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF). In 1917, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Russian Empire Order of St. Anne, 2nd Class, with Swords, and was mentioned in dispatches for his performance at Pozières and Mouquet Farm. From 1917 to 1920, he was aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro Ferguson. Weir retired from the CMF as an honorary brigadier general in March 1921, his last appointment being as commander of the 20th Infantry Brigade. He was only the second South Australia-born officer to reach the rank of brigadier general. On 31 March 1921, Weir was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 10th Battalion, a position he held for many years.
## Later life
Weir had two significant advantages in his return to a civilian career. Firstly, he was repatriated well before most servicemen and, secondly, South Australia had implemented a policy of preferment of returned servicemen for government employment. These circumstances helped him gain appointment as the first South Australian Public Service Commissioner in 1916. Weir was not suited to this role, being unable to navigate the competing personal and political agendas of senior public servants and politicians, and was soon sidelined. In 1925, legislative changes made it possible for the government to replace Weir, and this took place in 1930. In the last year-and-a-half before his retirement in 1931, Weir was the chairman of both the Central Board of Health and the Public Relief Board, excelling at the latter.
On 8 June 1923, after many years of poor health, Weir's wife Rosa died. He married Lydia Maria Schrapel in 1926. Weir led an active retirement, contributing to several religious, charitable and welfare organisations and activities. These included the Norwood and Maylands Churches of Christ, Benevolent and Stranger's Friend Society, the Our Boys Institute (OBI), the Masonic Lodge, Cheer-Up Society, and YMCA. At various times he served as President of the Commonwealth Club, the Churches of Christ Union, the St. Peters Sub-Branch of the Returned and Services League, and the Cheer Up Society.
Weir wrote the foreword for the history of the 10th Battalion, titled The Fighting 10th: A South Australian Centenary Souvenir of the 10th Battalion, AIF 1914–1919, which was written by a former member of the battalion, Cecil Lock, and published in 1936. In 1943, Weir was badly injured in a car accident while returning from an OBI camp at Victor Harbor. It was believed that his injuries in the accident contributed to his death on 14 November 1944. Weir was survived by his wife Lydia, and his son Lionel and daughter Beryl from his first marriage. His brother, Harrison Weir, was the State Government Printer. Weir was buried in West Terrace Cemetery.
## Awards
Weir received the following honours and awards:
- Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1905
- Volunteer Officers' Decoration on 11 April 1908
- Distinguished Service Order on 1 January 1917
- Mentioned in despatches on 4 January 1917
- Order of St. Anne, 2nd Class, with Swords (Russian Empire) on 15 February 1917
- King George V Silver Jubilee Medal on 6 May 1935
## Promotions
Weir's military career commenced in March 1885, when he enlisted as a private. He quickly rose to the rank of colour sergeant before being commissioned in 1890. He rose from private to brigadier general over a career spanning 36 years. His officer promotion dates were:
- Lieutenant on 19 March 1890
- Captain on 25 May 1893
- Major on 1 January 1904
- Lieutenant colonel on 22 June 1908
- Colonel on 9 September 1913
- Lieutenant colonel (AIF) on 17 August 1914
- Brigadier general (honorary) on 17 March 1921 |
3,218,853 | Cloud (video game) | 1,169,017,044 | 2005 video game | [
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| Cloud is a 2005 puzzle video game developed by a team of students in the University of Southern California's (USC) Interactive Media Program. The team began development of the game for Microsoft Windows in January 2005 with a US\$20,000 grant from the USC Game Innovation Lab; the game was released as a free download that October. By July 2006, the hosting website had received 6 million visits, and the game had been downloaded 600,000 times.
The game centers on a boy who dreams of flying while asleep in a hospital bed. The concept was partially based on lead designer Jenova Chen's childhood; he was often hospitalized for asthma and would daydream while alone in his room. Assuming the role of the boy, the player flies through a dream world and manipulates clouds to solve puzzles. The game was intended to spark emotions in the player that the video game industry usually ignored.
Cloud won the Best Student Philosophy award at the 2006 Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition, and a Student Showcase award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival. The game was received well by critics, who cited its visuals, music, and relaxing atmosphere as high points. Chen and producer Kellee Santiago went on to co-found the studio Thatgamecompany, which has considered remaking Cloud as a commercial video game.
## Gameplay
Cloud, a single-player video game for Microsoft Windows, centers on a boy who dreams of flying through the sky while asleep in a hospital bed. The player assumes control of the sleeping boy's avatar—the projection of the boy into his dream world—and guides him through his dream of a small group of islands with a light gathering of clouds. The avatar's direction and speed are controlled with a mouse; movement is generally on a horizontal plane, but vertical flight can be attained by holding down the third button of the mouse. The player may interact with clouds only while flying horizontally.
The game contains three types of clouds: white clouds, which follow the avatar; gray, neutral clouds, which become white when touched; and black clouds, which may be combined with white clouds to cause rain, dissolving both clouds. A large number of white clouds more easily dissolves a small number of dark clouds than an equal number, and vice versa. White clouds stop following the avatar if the player moves too quickly and they resume following if approached again. Each of the four missions in Cloud has a different objective, including forming patterns in the sky with clouds, eliminating black clouds, and creating rain over each of the islands.
## Development
Cloud was designed and released in 2005 by a team of seven students in the Interactive Media master's degree program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The game was made as a funded research project in the USC Game Innovation Lab. Development began in January 2005 and the game was released in late October, receiving its final update in December. The group was headed by Jenova Chen and included Stephen Dinehart, Erik Nelson, Aaron Meyers, Glenn Song, composer Vincent Diamante, producer Kellee Santiago and advisor Tracy Fullerton, director of the Game Innovation Lab. The game won the 2005 Game Innovation Grant of \$20,000 from the lab, which was intended to support the production of experimental games. The idea for the game was partially based on Chen's childhood experience, as he was often hospitalized for asthma and would daydream while waiting for the doctors.
According to Chen, Cloud was designed to "expand the spectrum of emotions video games evoke". Chen had the first idea for the game; while walking to school one day he looked up at the sky, noticing the difference between the fluffy clouds there and the "polluted and gray" clouds of Shanghai where he was born, and thought about making a game about clouds. It was given a story to "create the premise and help player to be emotionally invested"; however, the team avoided making the story too strong, as it would "distract the player from the core experience" of flying freely and shaping clouds. In the early stages of development, the game had an involved backstory about an alien who attempts to clean up the environment, but this was cut down to "a simple 'poetic' introduction to the cloud child trapped in a hospital bed". The team intended Cloud to "communicate a feeling of youthfulness, freedom, and the wonder of imagination". It was built on a modified version of a game engine developed by several team members for their previous game, Dyadin. At the 2006 Game Developers Conference student showcase, Chen and Santiago pitched Cloud to Sony representative John Hight as the first game in the "Zen" genre. Hight was interested, but Sony declined to publish the game.
## Reception and legacy
Cloud won the Best Student Philosophy award for artistic achievement at the Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition and a Student Showcase award at the Independent Games Festival. It was featured on Spike TV, G4TV, and CBS Sunday. The game immediately received a great deal of attention when it was released; site traffic overran the server that hosted the website, and then crashed those of the school. By February 2006, just over three months after the game's release, the website had been viewed over one million times and the game downloaded over 300,000 times. By July 2006, it had reached six million visits and 600,000 downloads.
The game received positive reviews from critics. Joel Durham, Jr. of GameSpy claimed that "everything about Cloud is simply jaw-dropping", and cited its music, visuals, and sensation of flying as high points. William Usher of Game Tunnel also praised the visuals and audio: he believed that its graphics created a relaxing atmosphere, and that the "touching musical score" would emotionally move any player. A reviewer for Game Informer said that the game pointed "to a bright future" in which games would inspire a wider range of emotions; however, the writer called Cloud more of an "experience" than a game. Ron White of PC World similarly called it "the most relaxing experience I've ever had that involved a computer". Durham concluded that Cloud "would set your mind free".
Chen and Santiago went on to co-found the video game studio Thatgamecompany. Composer Vincent Diamante and Erik Nelson worked for the company on its second game, Flower. Thatgamecompany has considered remaking Cloud as a commercial video game, but has decided to do so only if the staff cannot conceive any other game ideas. |
55,188 | Barbara McClintock | 1,173,532,972 | American scientist and cytogeneticist (1902–1992) | [
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"Women physiologists"
]
| Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There she started her career as the leader of the development of maize cytogenetics, the focus of her research for the rest of her life. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. She developed the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas. One of those ideas was the notion of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits. She demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized as among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944.
During the 1940s and 1950s, McClintock discovered transposition and used it to demonstrate that genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on and off. She developed theories to explain the suppression and expression of genetic information from one generation of maize plants to the next. Due to skepticism of her research and its implications, she stopped publishing her data in 1953.
Later, she made an extensive study of the cytogenetics and ethnobotany of maize races from South America. McClintock's research became well understood in the 1960s and 1970s, as other scientists confirmed the mechanisms of genetic change and protein expression that she had demonstrated in her maize research in the 1940s and 1950s. Awards and recognition for her contributions to the field followed, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded to her in 1983 for the discovery of genetic transposition; as of 2022, she remains the only woman who has received an unshared Nobel Prize in that category.
## Early life
Barbara McClintock was born Eleanor McClintock on June 16, 1902, in Hartford, Connecticut, the third of four children born to homeopathic physician Thomas Henry McClintock and Sara Handy McClintock. Thomas McClintock was the child of British immigrants. Marjorie, the oldest child, was born in October 1898; Mignon, the second daughter, was born in November 1900. The youngest, Malcolm Rider (called Tom), was born 18 months after Barbara. When she was a young girl, her parents determined that Eleanor, a "feminine" and "delicate" name, was not appropriate for her, and chose Barbara instead. McClintock was an independent child beginning at a very young age, a trait she later identified as her "capacity to be alone". From the age of three until she began school, McClintock lived with an aunt and uncle in Brooklyn, New York, in order to reduce the financial burden on her parents while her father established his medical practice. She was described as a solitary and independent child. She was close to her father, but had a difficult relationship with her mother, tension that began when she was young.
The McClintock family moved to Brooklyn in 1908 and McClintock completed her secondary education there at Erasmus Hall High School; she graduated early in 1919. She discovered her love of science and reaffirmed her solitary personality during high school. She wanted to continue her studies at Cornell University's College of Agriculture. Her mother resisted sending McClintock to college for fear that she would be unmarriageable, a common attitude at the time. McClintock was almost prevented from starting college, but her father allowed her to just before registration began, and she matriculated at Cornell in 1919.
## Education and research at Cornell
McClintock began her studies at Cornell's College of Agriculture in 1919. There, she participated in student government and was invited to join a sorority, though she soon realized that she preferred not to join formal organizations. Instead, McClintock took up music, specifically jazz. She studied botany, receiving a BSc in 1923. Her interest in genetics began when she took her first course in that field in 1921. The course was based on a similar one offered at Harvard University, and was taught by C. B. Hutchison, a plant breeder and geneticist. Hutchison was impressed by McClintock's interest, and telephoned to invite her to participate in the graduate genetics course at Cornell in 1922. McClintock pointed to Hutchison's invitation as a catalyst for her interest in genetics: "Obviously, this telephone call cast the die for my future. I remained with genetics thereafter." Although it has been reported that women could not major in genetics at Cornell, and therefore her MS and PhD—earned in 1925 and 1927, respectively—were officially awarded in botany, recent research has revealed that women were permitted to earn graduate degrees in Cornell's Plant Breeding Department during the time that McClintock was a student at Cornell.
During her graduate studies and postgraduate appointment as a botany instructor, McClintock was instrumental in assembling a group that studied the new field of cytogenetics in maize. This group brought together plant breeders and cytologists, and included Marcus Rhoades, future Nobel laureate George Beadle, and Harriet Creighton. Rollins A. Emerson, head of the Plant Breeding Department, supported these efforts, although he was not a cytologist himself.
She also worked as a research assistant for Lowell Fitz Randolph and then for Lester W. Sharp, both Cornell botanists.
McClintock's cytogenetic research focused on developing ways to visualize and characterize maize chromosomes. This particular part of her work influenced a generation of students, as it was included in most textbooks. She also developed a technique using carmine staining to visualize maize chromosomes, and showed for the first time the morphology of the 10 maize chromosomes. This discovery was made because she observed cells from the microspore as opposed to the root tip. By studying the morphology of the chromosomes, McClintock was able to link specific chromosome groups of traits that were inherited together. Marcus Rhoades noted that McClintock's 1929 Genetics paper on the characterization of triploid maize chromosomes triggered scientific interest in maize cytogenetics, and attributed to her 10 of the 17 significant advances in the field that were made by Cornell scientists between 1929 and 1935.
In 1930, McClintock was the first person to describe the cross-shaped interaction of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. The following year, McClintock and Creighton proved the link between chromosomal crossover during meiosis and the recombination of genetic traits. They observed how the recombination of chromosomes seen under a microscope correlated with new traits. Until this point, it had only been hypothesized that genetic recombination could occur during meiosis, although it had not been shown genetically. McClintock published the first genetic map for maize in 1931, showing the order of three genes on maize chromosome 9. This information provided necessary data for the crossing-over study she published with Creighton; they also showed that crossing-over occurs in sister chromatids as well as homologous chromosomes. In 1938, she produced a cytogenetic analysis of the centromere, describing the organization and function of the centromere, as well as the fact that it can divide.
McClintock's breakthrough publications, and support from her colleagues, led to her being awarded several postdoctoral fellowships from the National Research Council. This funding allowed her to continue to study genetics at Cornell, the University of Missouri, and the California Institute of Technology, where she worked with E. G. Anderson. During the summers of 1931 and 1932, she worked at the University of Missouri with geneticist Lewis Stadler, who introduced her to the use of X-rays as a mutagen. Exposure to X-rays can increase the rate of mutation above the natural background level, making it a powerful research tool for genetics. Through her work with X-ray-mutagenized maize, she identified ring chromosomes, which form when the ends of a single chromosome fuse together after radiation damage. From this evidence, McClintock hypothesized that there must be a structure on the chromosome tip that would normally ensure stability. She showed that the loss of ring-chromosomes at meiosis caused variegation in maize foliage in generations subsequent to irradiation resulting from chromosomal deletion. During this period, she demonstrated the presence of the nucleolus organizer region on a region on maize chromosome 6, which is required for the assembly of the nucleolus. In 1933, she established that cells can be damaged when nonhomologous recombination occurs. During this same period, McClintock hypothesized that the tips of chromosomes are protected by telomeres.
McClintock received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation that made possible six months of training in Germany during 1933 and 1934. She had planned to work with Curt Stern, who had demonstrated crossing-over in Drosophila just weeks after McClintock and Creighton had done so; however, Stern emigrated to the United States. Instead, she worked with geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt, who was a director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin. She left Germany early amidst mounting political tension in Europe, returned to Cornell, but found that the university would not hire a woman professor. In 1936, she accepted an Assistant Professorship offered to her by Lewis Stadler in the Department of Botany at the University of Missouri in Columbia. While still at Cornell, she was supported by a two-year Rockefeller Foundation grant obtained for her through Emerson's efforts.
## University of Missouri
During her time at Missouri, McClintock expanded her research on the effect of X-rays on maize cytogenetics. McClintock observed the breakage and fusion of chromosomes in irradiated maize cells. She was also able to show that, in some plants, spontaneous chromosome breakage occurred in the cells of the endosperm. Over the course of mitosis, she observed that the ends of broken chromatids were rejoined after the chromosome replication. In the anaphase of mitosis, the broken chromosomes formed a chromatid bridge, which was broken when the chromatids moved towards the cell poles. The broken ends were rejoined in the interphase of the next mitosis, and the cycle was repeated, causing massive mutation, which she could detect as variegation in the endosperm. This breakage–rejoining–bridge cycle was a key cytogenetic discovery for several reasons. First, it showed that the rejoining of chromosomes was not a random event, and second, it demonstrated a source of large-scale mutation. For this reason, it remains an area of interest in cancer research today.
Although her research was progressing at Missouri, McClintock was not satisfied with her position at the university. She recalled being excluded from faculty meetings, and was not made aware of positions available at other institutions. In 1940, she wrote to Charles Burnham, "I have decided that I must look for another job. As far as I can make out, there is nothing more for me here. I am an assistant professor at \$3,000 and I feel sure that that is the limit for me." Initially, McClintock's position was created especially for her by Stadler, and might have depended on his presence at the university. McClintock believed she would not gain tenure at Missouri, even though according to some accounts, she knew she would be offered a promotion from Missouri in the spring of 1942. Recent evidence reveals that McClintock more likely decided to leave Missouri because she had lost trust in her employer and in the university administration, after discovering that her job would be in jeopardy if Stadler were to leave for Caltech, as he had considered doing. The university's retaliation against Stadler amplified her sentiments.
In early 1941, she took a leave of absence from Missouri in hopes of finding a position elsewhere. She accepted a visiting Professorship at Columbia University, where her former Cornell colleague Marcus Rhoades was a professor. Rhoades also offered to share his research field at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. In December 1941, she was offered a research position by Milislav Demerec, the newly appointed acting director of the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Genetics Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; McClintock accepted his invitation despite her qualms and became a permanent member of the faculty.
## Cold Spring Harbor
After her year-long temporary appointment, McClintock accepted a full-time research position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. There, she was highly productive and continued her work with the breakage-fusion-bridge cycle, using it to substitute for X-rays as a tool for mapping new genes. In 1944, in recognition of her prominence in the field of genetics during this period, McClintock was elected to the National Academy of Sciences—only the third woman to be elected. The following year she became the first female president of the Genetics Society of America; she had been elected its vice-president in 1939. In 1944 she undertook a cytogenetic analysis of Neurospora crassa at the suggestion of George Beadle, who used the fungus to demonstrate the one gene–one enzyme relationship. He invited her to Stanford to undertake the study. She successfully described the number of chromosomes, or karyotype, of N. crassa and described the entire life cycle of the species. Beadle said, "Barbara, in two months at Stanford, did more to clean up the cytology of Neurospora than all other cytological geneticists had done in all previous time on all forms of mold." N. crassa has since become a model species for classical genetic analysis.
### Discovery of controlling elements
In the summer of 1944 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, McClintock began systematic studies on the mechanisms of the mosaic color patterns of maize seed and the unstable inheritance of this mosaicism. She identified two new dominant and interacting genetic loci that she named Dissociation (Ds) and Activator (Ac). She found that the Dissociation did not just dissociate or cause the chromosome to break, it also had a variety of effects on neighboring genes when the Activator was also present, which included making certain stable mutations unstable. In early 1948, she made the surprising discovery that both Dissociation and Activator could transpose, or change position, on the chromosome.
She observed the effects of the transposition of Ac and Ds by the changing patterns of coloration in maize kernels over generations of controlled crosses, and described the relationship between the two loci through intricate microscopic analysis. She concluded that Ac controls the transposition of the Ds from chromosome 9, and that the movement of Ds is accompanied by the breakage of the chromosome. When Ds moves, the aleurone-color gene is released from the suppressing effect of the Ds and transformed into the active form, which initiates the pigment synthesis in cells. The transposition of Ds in different cells is random, it may move in some but not others, which causes color mosaicism. The size of the colored spot on the seed is determined by stage of the seed development during dissociation. McClintock also found that the transposition of Ds is determined by the number of Ac copies in the cell.
Between 1948 and 1950, she developed a theory by which these mobile elements regulated the genes by inhibiting or modulating their action. She referred to Dissociation and Activator as "controlling units"—later, as "controlling elements"—to distinguish them from genes. She hypothesized that gene regulation could explain how complex multicellular organisms made of cells with identical genomes have cells of different function. McClintock's discovery challenged the concept of the genome as a static set of instructions passed between generations. In 1950, she reported her work on Ac/Ds and her ideas about gene regulation in a paper entitled "The origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize" published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In summer 1951, she reported her work on the origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize at the annual symposium at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, presenting a paper of the same name. The paper delved into the instability caused by Ds and Ac or just Ac in four genes, along with the tendency of those genes to unpredictably revert to the wild phenotype. She also identified "families" of transposons, which did not interact with one another.
Her work on controlling elements and gene regulation was conceptually difficult and was not immediately understood or accepted by her contemporaries; she described the reception of her research as "puzzlement, even hostility". Nevertheless, McClintock continued to develop her ideas on controlling elements. She published a paper in Genetics in 1953, where she presented all her statistical data, and undertook lecture tours to universities throughout the 1950s to speak about her work. She continued to investigate the problem and identified a new element that she called Suppressor-mutator (Spm), which, although similar to Ac/Ds, acts in a more complex manner. Like Ac/Ds, some versions could transpose on their own and some could not; unlike Ac/Ds, when present, it fully suppressed the expression of mutant genes when they normally would not be entirely suppressed. Based on the reactions of other scientists to her work, McClintock felt she risked alienating the scientific mainstream, and from 1953 was forced to stop publishing accounts of her research on controlling elements.
### The origins of maize
In 1957, McClintock received funding from the National Academy of Sciences to start research on indigenous strains of maize in Central America and South America. She was interested in studying the evolution of maize through chromosomal changes, and being in South America would allow her to work on a larger scale. McClintock explored the chromosomal, morphological, and evolutionary characteristics of various races of maize. After extensive work in the 1960s and 1970s, McClintock and her collaborators published the seminal study The Chromosomal Constitution of Races of Maize, leaving their mark on paleobotany, ethnobotany, and evolutionary biology.
### Rediscovery
McClintock officially retired from her position at the Carnegie Institution in 1967, and was made a Distinguished Service Member of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. This honor allowed her to continue working with graduate students and colleagues in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as scientist emerita; she lived in the town. In reference to her decision 20 years earlier to stop publishing detailed accounts of her work on controlling elements, she wrote in 1973:
> Over the years I have found that it is difficult if not impossible to bring to consciousness of another person the nature of his tacit assumptions when, by some special experiences, I have been made aware of them. This became painfully evident to me in my attempts during the 1950s to convince geneticists that the action of genes had to be and was controlled. It is now equally painful to recognize the fixity of assumptions that many persons hold on the nature of controlling elements in maize and the manners of their operation. One must await the right time for conceptual change.
The importance of McClintock's contributions was revealed in the 1960s, when the work of French geneticists François Jacob and Jacques Monod described the genetic regulation of the lac operon, a concept she had demonstrated with Ac/Ds in 1951. Following Jacob and Monod's 1961 Journal of Molecular Biology paper "Genetic regulatory mechanisms in the synthesis of proteins", McClintock wrote an article for American Naturalist comparing the lac operon and her work on controlling elements in maize. Even late in the twentieth century, McClintock's contribution to biology was still not widely acknowledged as amounting to the discovery of genetic regulation.
McClintock was widely credited with discovering transposition after other researchers finally discovered the process in bacteria, yeast, and bacteriophages in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period, molecular biology had developed significant new technology, and scientists were able to show the molecular basis for transposition. In the 1970s, Ac and Ds were cloned by other scientists and were shown to be class II transposons. Ac is a complete transposon that can produce a functional transposase, which is required for the element to move within the genome. Ds has a mutation in its transposase gene, which means that it cannot move without another source of transposase. Thus, as McClintock observed, Ds cannot move in the absence of Ac. Spm has also been characterized as a transposon. Subsequent research has shown that transposons typically do not move unless the cell is placed under stress, such as by irradiation or the breakage-fusion-bridge cycle, and thus their activation during stress can serve as a source of genetic variation for evolution. McClintock understood the role of transposons in evolution and genome change well before other researchers grasped the concept. Nowadays, Ac/Ds is used as a tool in plant biology to generate mutant plants used for the characterization of gene function.
## Honors and recognition
In 1947, McClintock received the Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959. In 1967, McClintock was awarded the Kimber Genetics Award; three years later, she was given the National Medal of Science by Richard Nixon in 1970. She was the first woman to be awarded the National Medal of Science. Cold Spring Harbor named a building in her honor in 1973. She received the Louis and Bert Freedman Foundation Award and the Lewis S. Rosensteil Award in 1978. In 1981, she became the first recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Grant, and was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Wolf Prize in Medicine and the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal by the Genetics Society of America. In 1982, she was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University for her research in the "evolution of genetic information and the control of its expression."
Most notably, she received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983, the first woman to win that prize unshared, and the first American woman to win any unshared Nobel Prize. It was given to her by the Nobel Foundation for discovering "mobile genetic elements"; this was more than 30 years after she initially described the phenomenon of controlling elements. She was compared to Gregor Mendel in terms of her scientific career by the Swedish Academy of Sciences when she was awarded the Prize.
She was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1989. McClintock received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences of the American Philosophical Society in 1993. She had been previously elected to the APS in 1946. She was awarded 14 Honorary Doctor of Science degrees and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. In 1986 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. During her final years, McClintock led a more public life, especially after Evelyn Fox Keller's 1983 biography of her, A Feeling for the Organism, brought McClintock's story to the public. She remained a regular presence in the Cold Spring Harbor community, and gave talks on mobile genetic elements and the history of genetics research for the benefit of junior scientists. An anthology of her 43 publications The Discovery and Characterization of Transposable Elements: The Collected Papers of Barbara McClintock was published in 1987.
The McClintock Prize is named in her honor. Laureates of the award include David Baulcombe, Detlef Weigel, Robert A. Martienssen, Jeffrey D. Palmer and Susan R. Wessler.
In May 2005 the U.S. Postal Service issued a panel of first-class stamps honoring Barbara McClintock, along with Richard Feynman, Josiah Willard Gibbs, and John von Neumann.
## Later years
McClintock spent her later years, post Nobel Prize, as a key leader and researcher in the field at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York. McClintock died of natural causes in Huntington, New York, on September 2, 1992, at the age of 90; she never married or had children.
## Legacy
McClintock was the subject of a 1983 biography by physicist Evelyn Fox Keller, titled A Feeling for the Organism. Keller argued that because McClintock felt like an outsider within her field, (in part, because of her sex) she was able to look at her scientific subjects from a perspective different from the dominant one, leading to several important insights. Keller shows how this led many of her colleagues to reject her ideas and undermine her abilities for many years. For example, when McClintock presented her findings that the genetics of maize did not conform to Mendelian distributions, geneticist Sewall Wright expressed the belief that she did not understand the underlying mathematics of her work, a belief he had also expressed towards other women at the time. In addition, geneticist Lotte Auerbach recounted that Joshua Lederberg returned from a visit to McClintock's lab with the remark: 'By God, that woman is either crazy or a genius.' " As Auerbach recounts, McClintock had thrown Lederberg and his colleagues out after half an hour 'because of their arrogance. She was intolerant of arrogance ... She felt she had crossed a desert alone and no one had followed her.'"
In 2001, a second biography by science historian Nathaniel C. Comfort's The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock's Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control challenged this narrative. Comfort's biography contests the claim that McClintock was marginalized by other scientists, which he calls the "McClintock Myth" and argues was perpetuated both by McClintock herself as well as in the earlier biography by Keller. Comfort, however, asserts that McClintock was not discriminated against because of her gender, citing that she was well regarded by her professional peers, even in the early years of her career.
Many recent biographical works on women in science feature accounts of McClintock's work and experience. She is held up as a role model for girls in such works of children's literature as Edith Hope Fine's Barbara McClintock, Nobel Prize Geneticist, Deborah Heiligman's Barbara McClintock: Alone in Her Field and Mary Kittredge's Barbara McClintock. A recent biography for young adults by Naomi Pasachoff, Barbara McClintock, Genius of Genetics, provides a new perspective, based on the current literature.
On May 4, 2005, the United States Postal Service issued the "American Scientists" commemorative postage stamp series, a set of four 37-cent self-adhesive stamps in several configurations. The scientists depicted were Barbara McClintock, John von Neumann, Josiah Willard Gibbs, and Richard Feynman. McClintock was also featured in a 1989 four-stamp issue from Sweden which illustrated the work of eight Nobel Prize-winning geneticists. A laboratory building at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory were named for her. A street has been named after her in the new "Adlershof Development Society" science park in Berlin.
A 103,835 square-foot residence hall at Cornell University was named for McClintock in 2022.
Some of McClintock's personality and scientific achievements were referred to in Jeffrey Eugenides's 2011 novel The Marriage Plot, which tells the story of a yeast geneticist named Leonard who has bipolar disorder. He works at a laboratory loosely based on Cold Spring Harbor. The character reminiscent of McClintock is a reclusive geneticist at the fictional laboratory, who makes the same discoveries as her factual counterpart.
Judith Pratt wrote a play about McClintock, called MAIZE, which was read at Artemesia Theatre in Chicago in 2015, and was produced in Ithaca NY, the home of Cornell University, in February–March 2018.
## Key publications
- McClintock, B., Kato Yamakake, T. A. & Blumenschein, A. (1981). Chromosome constitution of races of maize. Its significance in the interpretation of relationships between races and varieties in the Americas. Chapingo, Mexico: Escuela de Nacional de Agricultura, Colegio de Postgraduados.
## See also
- Timeline of women in science |
13,667,573 | Sarcoscypha coccinea | 1,159,618,529 | Species of fungus | [
"Edible fungi",
"Fungi described in 1772",
"Fungi of Africa",
"Fungi of Asia",
"Fungi of Australia",
"Fungi of Europe",
"Fungi of North America",
"Fungi of South America",
"Fungi of Western Asia",
"Sarcoscyphaceae"
]
| Sarcoscypha coccinea, commonly known as the scarlet elf cup, scarlet elf cap, or the scarlet cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The fungus, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. The type species of the genus Sarcoscypha, S. coccinea has been known by many names since its first appearance in the scientific literature in 1772. Phylogenetic analysis shows the species to be most closely related to other Sarcoscypha species that contain numerous small oil droplets in their spores, such as the North Atlantic island species S. macaronesica. Due to similar physical appearances and sometimes overlapping distributions, S. coccinea has often been confused with S. occidentalis, S. austriaca, and S. dudleyi.
The saprobic fungus grows on decaying sticks and branches in damp spots on forest floors, generally buried under leaf litter or in the soil. The cup-shaped fruit bodies are usually produced during the cooler months of winter and early spring. The brilliant red interior of the cups—from which both the common and scientific names are derived—contrasts with the lighter-colored exterior. The edibility of the fruit bodies is well established, but its small size, small abundance tough texture and insubstantial fruitings would dissuade most people from collecting for the table. The fungus has been used medicinally by the Oneida Native Americans, and also as a colorful component of table decorations in England. In the northern part of Russia, where fruitings are more frequent, it is consumed in salads, fried with smetana, or just used as colored dressing for meals. Molliardiomyces eucoccinea is the name given to the imperfect form of the fungus that lacks a sexually reproductive stage in its life cycle.
## Taxonomy, naming, and phylogeny
The species was originally named Helvella coccinea by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772. Other early names include Peziza coccinea (Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, 1774) and Peziza dichroa (Theodor Holmskjold, 1799). Although some authors in older literature have applied the generic name Plectania to the taxon following Karl Fuckel's 1870 name change (e.g. Seaver, 1928; Kanouse, 1948; Nannfeldt, 1949; Le Gal, 1953), that name is now used for a fungus with brownish-black fruit bodies. Sarcoscypha coccinea was given its current name by Jean Baptiste Émil Lambotte in 1889. Obligate synonyms (different names for the same species based on one type) include Lachnea coccinea Gillet (1880), Macroscyphus coccineus Gray (1821), and Peziza dichroa Holmskjold (1799). Taxonomic synonyms (different names for the same species, based on different types) include Peziza aurantia Schumacher (1803), Peziza aurantiaca Persoon (1822), Peziza coccinea Jacquin (1774), Helvella coccinea Schaeffer (1774), Lachnea coccinea Phillips (1887), Geopyxis coccinea Massee (1895), Sarcoscypha coccinea Saccardo ex Durand (1900), Plectania coccinea (Fuckel ex Seaver), and Peziza cochleata Batsch (1783).
Sarcoscypha coccinea is the type species of the genus Sarcoscypha, having been first explicitly designated as such in 1931 by Frederick Clements and Cornelius Lott Shear. A 1990 publication revealed that the genus name Sarcoscypha had been used previously by Carl F. P. von Martius as the name of a tribe in the genus Peziza; according to the rules of Botanical Nomenclature, this meant that the generic name Peziza had priority over Sarcoscypha. To address the taxonomical dilemma, the genus name Sarcoscypha was conserved against Peziza, with S. coccinea as the type species, to "avoid the creation of a new generic name for the scarlet cups and also to avoid the disadvantageous loss of a generic name widely used in the popular and scientific literature". The specific epithet coccinea is derived from the Latin word meaning "deep red". The species is commonly known as the "scarlet elf cup", the "scarlet elf cap", or the "scarlet cup fungus".
S. coccinea var. jurana was described by Jean Boudier (1903) as a variety of the species having a brighter and more orange-colored fruit body, and with flattened or blunt-ended ascospores. Today it is known as the distinct species S. jurana. S. coccinea var. albida, named by George Edward Massee in 1903 (as Geopyxis coccinea var. albida), has a cream-colored rather than red interior surface, but is otherwise identical to the typical variety.
Within the large area that includes the temperate to alpine-boreal zone of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe and North America), only S. coccinea had been recognized until the 1980s. However, it had been known since the early 1900s that there existed several macroscopically indistinguishable taxa with various microscopic differences: the distribution and number of oil droplets in fresh spores; germination behavior; and spore shape. Detailed analysis and comparison of fresh specimens revealed that what had been collectively called "S. coccinea" actually consisted of four distinct species: S. austriaca, S. coccinea, S. dudleyi, and S. jurana.
The phylogenetic relationships in the genus Sarcoscypha were analyzed by Francis Harrington in the late 1990s. Her cladistic analysis combined comparisons of the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer in the non-functional RNA with fifteen traditional morphological characteristics, such as spore features, fruit body shape, and degree of curliness of the "hairs" that form the tomentum. Based on her analysis, S. coccinea is part of a clade that includes the species S. austriaca, S. macaronesica, S. knixoniana and S. humberiana. All of these Sarcoscypha species have numerous, small oil droplets in their spores. Its closest relative, S. macaronesica, is found on the Canary Islands and Madeira; Harrington hypothesized that the most recent common ancestor of the two species originated in Europe and was later dispersed to the Macaronesian islands.
## Description
Initially spherical, the fruit bodies are later shallowly saucer- or cup-shaped with rolled-in rims, and measure 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) in diameter. The inner surface of the cup is deep red (fading to orange when dry) and smooth, while the outer surface is whitish and covered with a dense matted layer of tiny hairs (a tomentum). The stipe, when present, is stout and up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long (if deeply buried) by 0.3–0.7 cm (0.1–0.3 in) thick, and whitish, with a tomentum. Color variants of the fungus exist that have reduced or absent pigmentation; these forms may be orange, yellow, or even white (as in the variety albida). In the Netherlands, white fruit bodies have been found growing in the polders.
Sarcoscypha coccinea is one of several fungi whose fruit bodies have been noted to make a "puffing" sound—an audible manifestation of spore-discharge where thousands of asci simultaneously explode to release a cloud of spores.
Spores are 26–40 by 10–12 μm, elliptical, smooth, colorless, hyaline (translucent), and have small lipid droplets concentrated at either end. The droplets are refractive to light and visible with light microscopy. In older, dried specimens (such as herbarium material), the droplets may coalesce and hinder the identification of species. Depending on their geographical origin, the spores may have a delicate mucilaginous sheath or "envelope"; European specimens are devoid of an envelope while specimens from North America invariably have one.
The asci are long and cylindrical, and taper into a short stem-like base; they measure 300–375 by 14–16 μm. Although in most Pezizales all of the ascospores are formed simultaneously through delimitation by an inner and outer membrane, in S. coccinea the ascospores located in the basal parts of the ascus develop faster. The paraphyses (sterile filamentous hyphae present in the hymenium) are about 3 μm wide (and only slightly thickened at the apex), and contain red pigment granules.
### Anamorph form
Anamorphic or imperfect fungi are those that seem to lack a sexual stage in their life cycle, and typically reproduce by the process of mitosis in structures called conidia. In some cases, the sexual stage—or teleomorph stage—is later identified, and a teleomorph-anamorph relationship is established between the species. The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants permits the recognition of two (or more) names for one and the same organism, one based on the teleomorph, the other(s) restricted to the anamorph. The name of the anamorphic state of S. coccinea is Molliardiomyces eucoccinea, first described by Marin Molliard in 1904. Molliard found the growth of the conidia to resemble those of the genera Coryne and Chlorosplenium rather than the Pezizaceae, and he considered that this suggested an affinity between Sarcoscypha and the family Helvellaceae. In 1972, John W. Paden again described the anamorph, but like Molliard, failed to give a complete description of the species. In 1984, Paden created a new genus he named Molliardiomyces to contain the anamorphic forms of several Sarcoscypha species, and set Molliardiomyces eucoccinea as the type species. This form produces colorless conidiophores (specialized stalks that bear conidia) that are usually irregularly branched, measuring 30–110 by 3.2–4.7 μm. The conidia are ellipsoidal to egg-shaped, smooth, translucent (hyaline), and 4.8–16.0 by 2.3–5.8 μm; they tend to accumulate in "mucilaginous masses".
### Similar species
Similar species include S. dudleyi and S. austriaca, and in the literature, confusion amongst the three is common. Examination of microscopic features is often required to definitively differentiate between the species. Sarcoscypha occidentalis has smaller cups (0.5–2.0 cm wide), a more pronounced stalk that is 1–3 cm long, and a smooth exterior surface. Unlike S. coccinea, it is only found in the New World and in east and midwest North America, but not in the far west. It also occurs in Central America and the Caribbean. In North America, S. austriaca and S. dudleyi are found in eastern regions of the continent. S. dudleyi has elliptical spores with rounded ends that are 25–33 by 12–14 μm and completely sheathed when fresh. S. austriaca has elliptical spores that are 29–36 by 12–15 μm that are not completely sheathed when fresh, but have small polar caps on either end. The Macaronesian species S. macaronesica, frequently misidentified as S. coccinea, has smaller spores, typically measuring 20.5–28 by 7.3–11 μm and smaller fruit bodies—up to 2 cm (0.8 in) wide.
Other similar species include Plectania melastoma, Plectania nannfeldtii, and Scutellinia scutellata.
## Ecology, habitat and distribution
A saprobic species, Sarcoscypha coccinea grows on decaying woody material from various plants: the rose family, beech, hazel, willow, elm, and, in the Mediterranean, oak. The fruit bodies of S. coccinea are often found growing singly or clustered in groups on buried or partly buried sticks in deciduous forests. A Hungarian study noted that the fungus was found mainly on twigs of European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) that were typically less than 5 cm (2.0 in) long. Fruit bodies growing on sticks above the ground tend to be smaller than those on buried wood. Mushrooms that are sheltered from wind also grow larger than their more exposed counterparts. The fruit bodies are persistent and may last for several weeks if the weather is cool. The time required for the development of fruit bodies has been estimated to be about 24 weeks, although it was noted that "the maximum life span may well be more than 24 weeks because the decline of the colonies seemed to be associated more with sunny, windy weather rather than with old age." One field guide calls the fungus "a welcome sight after a long, desperate winter and ... the harbinger of a new year of mushrooming."
Common over much of the Northern Hemisphere, S. coccinea occurs in the Midwest, in the valleys between the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Range. Its North American distribution extends north to various locations in Canada and south to the Mexican state Jalisco. The fungus has also been collected from Chile in South America. It is also found in the Old World—Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and India. Specimens collected from the Macaronesian islands that once thought to be S. coccinea were later determined to be the distinct species S. macaronesica. A 1995 study of the occurrence of British Sarcoscypha (including S. coccinea and S. austriaca) concluded that S. coccinea was becoming very rare in Great Britain. All species of Sarcoscypha, including S. coccinea, are Red-Listed in Europe. In Turkey, it is considered critically endangered.
## Chemistry
The red color of the fruit bodies is caused by five types of carotenoid pigments, including plectaniaxanthin and β-carotene. Carotenoids are lipid-soluble and are stored within granules in the paraphyses. British-Canadian mycologist Arthur Henry Reginald Buller suggested that pigments in fruit bodies exposed to the Sun absorb some of the Sun's rays, raising the temperature of the hymenium—hastening the development of the ascus and subsequent spore discharge.
Lectins are sugar-binding proteins that are used in blood typing, biochemical studies and medical research. A lectin has been purified and characterized from S. coccinea fruit bodies that can bind selectively to several specific carbohydrate molecules, including lactose.
## Uses
Sarcoscypha coccinea was used as a medicinal fungus by the Oneida people and possibly by other tribes of the Iroquois Six Nations. The fungus, after being dried and ground up into a powder, was applied as a styptic, particularly to the navels of newborn children that were not healing properly after the umbilical cord had been severed. Pulverized fruit bodies were also kept under bandages made of soft-tanned deerskin. In Scarborough, England, the fruit bodies used to be arranged with moss and leaves and sold as a table decoration.
The species is said to be edible, inedible, or "not recommended", depending on the author. Although its insubstantial fruit body and low numbers do not make it particularly suitable for the table, one source claims "children in the Jura are said to eat it raw on bread and butter; and one French author suggests adding the cups, with a little Kirsch, to a fresh fruit salad." The fruit bodies have been noted to be a source of food for rodents in the winter, and slugs in the summer. |
10,314,930 | Union Station (Erie, Pennsylvania) | 1,155,451,918 | Railroad station in Erie, Pennsylvania | [
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| Union Station is an Amtrak railroad station and mixed-use commercial building in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It is served by the Lake Shore Limited route, which provides daily passenger service between Chicago and (via two sections east of Albany) New York City or Boston; Erie is the train's only stop in Pennsylvania. The station's ground floor has been redeveloped into commercial spaces, including The Brewerie at Union Station, a brewpub. The building itself is privately owned by the global logistics and freight management company Logistics Plus and serves as its headquarters.
The first railroad station in Erie was established in 1851 but was replaced with the Romanesque Revival-style Union Depot in 1866. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions by competing railroad companies which started not long after the establishment of Erie's first railroads, Union Depot became jointly owned and operated by the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads. To meet the changing needs of the rapidly growing city, planners designed a more modern structure to replace the original depot. The new Art Deco Union Station, dedicated on December 3, 1927, was the first railroad station of that style in the United States.
While Union Station was busy from its opening and through World War II, passenger rail service began to dwindle after the war when air and highway travel became more popular. By the 1960s, the New York Central drastically cut service, while the Pennsylvania abandoned service to Erie altogether. Both railroads were merged in 1968 to form Penn Central, and passenger rail was transferred from Penn Central to Amtrak in 1971. At one point, from 1972 to 1975, even Amtrak service in Erie was suspended. With reduced demand for train travel, Union Station was neglected and allowed to decay until Logistics Plus bought it in 2003. Since then it has been restored, with portions re-purposed as commercial and retail space.
## Design
Union Station is in downtown Erie on West 14th Street between Peach and Sassafras Streets. Designed by architects Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, it was the first Art Deco railroad station to be designed and built in the United States. Previously, Fellheimer had been influential in the design of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, and both architects collaborated on several railroad stations for the New York Central Railroad, including Buffalo Central Terminal in 1929 and Cincinnati Union Terminal in 1933.
The main building of Erie's Union Station, three stories tall, is of steel and masonry construction. The entire exterior is clad in "rough brown" brick and sandstone layered in a Flemish bond, trimmed in terracotta, and lined with granite at the ground level. The main station building has a frontage of 116 feet (35 m) along Peach Street and 206 feet (63 m) on 14th Street; a narrow two-story extension continues another 403 feet (123 m) towards Sassafras before terminating at a small, attached office building. The extension eased the transfer of mail, baggage, and freight between trains and street level while the offices of the freight company were housed in the attached building at the Sassafras Street end of the station complex.
When the station initially opened, entrances from 14th Street opened into a large, octagonal rotunda where ticket offices, checked baggage, and a newsstand were located. As the railroad tracks are grade separated behind Union Station, the platforms are accessed by a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks with stairs that lead to the platforms. The tunnel entrance is directly across the rotunda from the street entrance—a portion of which is now used as the kitchen for a brewpub housed inside the station. The concourse, off the rotunda, led to the Peach Street entrances, and contained space for a soda fountain, a barber shop, and telegraph offices, as well as access to the station's 111-by-35-foot (34 m × 11 m) waiting room. Facing Peach Street, a dining room and lunch counter run by the Union News Company, which operated the majority of the dining services in New York Central stations, were at the opposite end of Union Station from the rotunda. The entire ground floor was laid with terrazzo featuring a mosaic border and Botticino marble paneling along the plaster walls. A green and tan color scheme was originally used throughout the entire building. Superintendents for both the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads, as well as other railroad officials, had offices on the second floor of Union Station.
The station's low-level, concrete platforms are approximately 450 feet (137 m) long covered by steel, "butterfly-style" canopies with wooden roof decking. New York Central made use of four tracks situated on two island platforms; the Pennsylvania Railroad used two tracks on a single island platform. A network of tunnels beneath the station facilitated the transfer of mail to and from the former Griswold Plaza Post Office nearby. A bomb shelter, still stocked with cases of "U.S. Civil Defense All-Purpose Survival Crackers" from the early 1960s, is next to the station's boiler room and its three coal-fed furnaces.
## History
During the 1840s and 1850s, a flurry of railroad-building activity led to the completion of four separate railroads converging in Erie. A break of gauge between the first two railroads—the Erie and North East Railroad and the Franklin Canal Company—ensured that the citizens of Erie profited from the delays necessary to transfer cargo between the lines. When it was proposed in 1853 to standardize the track gauge to allow through traffic, a conflict that became known as the Erie Gauge War ensued. The residents of Erie, who saw it as an affront to their desire that the city become a major lake port, dismantled railroad bridges and tore up railroad tracks in the city in an effort to prevent the impending standardization. As part of the dispute's settlement, both railroads provided financial support for the construction of the Erie and Pittsburgh and Sunbury and Erie railroads. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad acquired the Franklin Canal Company in 1854, and the Erie and North East was merged with the Buffalo and State Line to form the Buffalo and Erie Railroad a few years later. The Sunbury and Erie was renamed the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad in 1861. The Pennsylvania Railroad soon acquired the Sunbury and Erie through a 999-year lease and funded completion of the line by 1864.
### Predecessor stations
The first railroad station in Erie was built in 1851 and consisted of a "clumsy looking" or "rude brick structure". President-elect Abraham Lincoln addressed a crowd outside of this station on February 16, 1861, while traveling to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration. Construction on a new station was started in early 1865 as a joint venture between the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula and the Buffalo and Erie railroads, and was completed in February 1866. Both the Erie and Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia and Erie railroads also leased portions of the new station for their services. In addition to the leased space, the Philadelphia and Erie continued to maintain a freight station on State Street below Hamot Hospital for several years afterward.
The station, known as Union Depot, consisted of a brick Romanesque Revival structure facing Peach Street between two sets of railroad tracks. It stood 40 feet (10 m) tall, topped with a distinctive cupola, and its platforms extended 480 feet (150 m) towards Sassafras Street along both sides of the depot. The depot was equipped with the modern amenities of the day including outdoor gas lighting, a barber shop, gentleman's and ladies' parlors, and a dining room; the second floor contained offices and sleeping quarters for railroad officials.
The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula became the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1869, and absorbed the Buffalo and Erie Railroad later that year. The Pennsylvania Railroad leased the Erie and Pittsburgh for 999 years in 1870. On March 5, 1902, nearly 10,000 people turned out at Union Depot to greet Prince Henry of Prussia during his tour of the United States; the prince remained in Erie for approximately 10 minutes before his train continued to Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York. On December 22, 1914, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad was merged with the New York Central.
### Construction
In 1913, the city of Erie appointed a committee of city planners and civil engineers led by John Nolen that was tasked with determining the best course of action to support the continued growth of the city. In its final report, the committee recommended, among other civic improvements, that "for the improvement of the railroad facilities in Erie" a new Union Station be constructed, as well as the "abolition of all [railroad] crossings". At the time, the only streets in Erie where the railroad was grade separated were State, French, and Ash Streets, and Buffalo Road, while the remainder had level crossings. The committee felt it was desirable that, on account of Erie's topography and the existing railroad grades, the tracks be raised in the downtown to accommodate new roadway underpasses. The city signed an agreement on September 30, 1915 with the New York Central and the Pennsylvania railroads to eliminate every level crossing between Ash and Cascade Streets through the construction of bridges or the closing of the streets. As compensation, both railroads pledged to replace Union Depot with a new station.
The work to re-grade and install drainage on Peach and Sassafras Streets coincided with the building of the station from 1925 to 1927, and cost the city approximately \$110,000. A temporary station was also erected at 14th and French Streets, and was used after the old Union Depot was demolished in 1925 until the completion of the new station. Union Station was dedicated on December 3, 1927, in a ceremony presided over by the presidents of the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads, the mayor of Erie Joseph Williams, and former mayor William Stern who helped initiate the project. The Griswold Plaza Post Office, on the north side of 14th Street, opened in 1932 along with the tunnel connecting it to Union Station.
### Operations
When service from Union Station was inaugurated in 1928, both eastbound and westbound trains were departing the station almost every hour bound for destinations across the United States. Passengers in the station's expansive waiting room could patronize its news stand, telegraph office, barber shop, shoeshine stand, or its lunch counter and soda fountain. Train schedules were handwritten on a large blackboard, while station staff announced the arrival and impending departures of the trains by megaphone.
In the 1930s, the New York Central provided the majority of the service in Erie with over 20 trains daily, including the original Lake Shore Limited and the New England States. The famed 20th Century Limited, however, passed through Union Station nightly without stopping. Union Station was on the New York Central's main line, often referred to as the "Water Level Route", with trains that traveled west to Cleveland, Toledo and Chicago, and east to Buffalo, New York City, and Boston. The New York Central also had the Pittsburgh-Buffalo Express and other service from Erie, to Ashtabula, then via a branch line to Youngstown, Ohio, along the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. The NYC's Southwestern Limited went southwest to St. Louis. The company's Ohio State Limited went southwest to Cincinnati.
Conversely, the Pennsylvania Railroad ran only a few trains from Erie—mainly the Northern and Southern Expresses to Wiliamsport, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., as well as a daily train to Pittsburgh.
The Bliley Electric Company, a manufacturer of crystal oscillators used in radio transmitters and receivers, moved from 8th and Peach Streets to space on the second floor of Union Station in 1933. Despite the possibility that soot and vibrations from passing locomotives could cause calibration problems for Bliley's quartz crystals, Union Station's proximity to the railroad provided "efficient transfers of [the] heavy crystal stock from the train to the [crystal] slicing department." Bliley Electric soon grew to occupy the entire second and third floors of the station. During World War II, the company operated 24 hours a day and employed local women to grind and fashion the crystals; the crystals used in the operation were stockpiled in the rail yard, where it and the entire complex were guarded by soldiers with Great Danes. Bliley Electric eventually moved its entire operation to a larger, purpose-built facility in 1966.
### Decline
The post-war boom in automobile travel and the construction of the Interstate Highway System, as well as competition from commercial airlines, led to the decline of passenger rail. The Pennsylvania Railroad eliminated passenger service between Erie and Pittsburgh in April 1948. It eventually ended through service to Philadelphia, requiring passengers to transfer in Emporium, Pennsylvania, and discontinued service from Erie altogether on March 27, 1965. By 1968, the number of New York Central trains was also reduced to five per day. The two railroads were merged on February 1, 1968, and formed the Penn Central Transportation Company. Penn Central continued to run the former New York Central passenger trains, until the last departed Union Station on April 30, 1971. The newly created National Passenger Rail Corporation, more commonly known as Amtrak, took over nationwide passenger rail operations the next day. Amtrak continued to operate a New York-to-Chicago train until January 1972, the Lake Shore, which had a station stop in Erie starting in November 1971. However, the poor condition of the track between Buffalo and Chicago, as well as the service's general lack of profitability, led to the Lake Shore's demise. Erie remained devoid of any passenger rail service until Amtrak reintroduced the former New York Central train, the Lake Shore Limited, on November 30, 1975.
During that time, upkeep of Union Station became neglected by the railroads, and the station gradually deteriorated from its heyday. The presence of dirt, trash, and human waste were a normal occurrence at the station. At one point, in 1973, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry ordered Penn Central to close Union Station citing "sanitary reasons"; at the time, it was only used by the crews of its freight trains. In the winter, the station often became an "unsanctioned shelter" for the homeless, who burned the station's wooden doors for heat. The few passengers that did travel by train were often reluctant to use Amtrak's makeshift waiting room in the station rotunda, due to the unsettling sights and fear of being accosted. Penn Central persisted with freight service until it declared bankruptcy and became a part of Conrail on April 1, 1976. Conrail, in turn, was dismantled on June 6, 1998, and the former New York Central rail lines were transferred to CSX, and Norfolk Southern Railway gained control of the former Pennsylvania lines.
### Renovation and restoration
Union Station was purchased for \$1.5 million by the Erie-based logistics and transportation firm Logistics Plus on October 30, 2003. The company renovated the station's third floor and part of the second floor for use as its corporate headquarters, thus restoring a landmark and revitalizing the surrounding neighborhood. The chief executive officer of Logistics Plus, Jim Berlin, observed that the building's transportation motif made the building ideal. "[T]hough Union Station will never be the center of transportation again," he said, "it can be a place from which transportation—global transportation—can be managed". The original proposed plan included revamping Union Station into an urban, mixed-use development with retail spaces, a pedestrian mall and a museum similar to Pittsburgh's Station Square. In May 2007, Logistics Plus lined the parapet of Union Station with 50 flags symbolizing the locations it does business in and the home countries of its employees.
Since the 1990s, Union Station has also been "an incubator of Erie's modern [beer] brewing" starting with the brewpub Hoppers, which operated in the station from 1994 to 1999. When Hoppers relocated and became a full production brewery under the name of Erie Brewing Company, Porters, a fine dining restaurant and beer bar, opened in its place. The Brewerie at Union Station took over the space, and opened in October 2006 after the closure of the restaurant earlier that year. During the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Union Station was site of a "whistle-stop" by ABC's Good Morning America news team on a charter Amtrak train. Sam Champion, Chris Cuomo, Robin Roberts, and Diane Sawyer, the news anchors, interviewed local residents at the Brewerie about campaign issues. The Good Morning America stop lasted about 30 minutes, and the resulting television segment aired on September 18, 2008.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Federal Railroad Administration identified ten regions for potential development as high-speed rail corridors—Erie lies in a gap near three corridors: the Chicago Hub Network, the Empire Corridor, and the Keystone Corridor. The local passenger rail advocacy group, All Aboard Erie, proposed a feasibility study in 2014 for high-speed rail service to connect to the corridors at Cleveland and Buffalo. The group also sought to determine if rail service would be possible using the existing tracks and right of way between Erie, Youngstown and Pittsburgh.
## Services and facilities
### Amtrak
Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited arrives at Union Station twice daily, westbound from New York Penn Station and Boston South Station, and eastbound from Chicago Union Station, with scheduled arrivals in the middle of the night and in the early morning, respectively, as of April 8, 2017. Union Station is on the Lake Shore Subdivision, the CSX Transportation main line from Erie to Buffalo, New York, at railroad milepost 86.9. It is 436 miles (702 km) east of Chicago, 523 miles (842 km) west of New York City, and 723 miles (1,164 km) from Boston. The next station west of Erie is Cleveland, and eastbound is Buffalo–Depew. The station was the 15th busiest in Pennsylvania during fiscal year 2021 with an annual ridership of 9,001 passengers, a decrease of 11.5 percent from the previous year.
Service on the Lake Shore Limited consists of reserved coach and business class seating, and Viewliner sleeping accommodations. As the Erie station is not equipped with a ticket office, nor Amtrak's Quik-Trak ticket machines, all tickets from the station have to be pre-paid. The station is, however, equipped with a waiting room and public restrooms. The Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority's Route 20A, the downtown circulator, provides service between the station and downtown Erie. The bus only operates, however, at the scheduled arrival time of the eastbound Lake Shore Limited.
### Commercial tenants
Union Station serves as the corporate headquarters for Logistics Plus. It was formed in 1996 to manage domestic logistics for GE Transportation, the largest employer in Erie. The company's offices were relocated from Jamestown, New York to the station in 2004. Logistics Plus occupies the 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m<sup>2</sup>) third floor and 5,000 square feet (500 m<sup>2</sup>) of the second floor. The rest of the building is leased out to a variety of tenants including Amtrak, the Brewerie, a hookah lounge, a wine shop, a hair salon, a banquet hall, and an art studio.
The Brewerie at Union Station is a microbrewery and restaurant—officially categorized as a "brewpub" by the Brewers Association—that operates out of Union Station. The brewpub makes use of a portion of the station's ground floor and its octagonal rotunda. In 2013, the Brewerie produced approximately 500 barrels of beer (15,500 gal; 59,000 L) from its 3.5-barrel (109 gal; 410 L) Price-Schonstrom brewing system.
## See also
- List of Amtrak stations
- List of microbreweries
- Union station |
261,798 | Colossal Cave Adventure | 1,170,209,419 | 1976 video game | [
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| Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as Adventure or ADVENT) is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the player explores a cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The game is composed of dozens of locations, and the player moves between these locations and interacts with objects in them by typing one- or two-word commands which are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake.
The original game, written in 1975 and 1976, was based on Crowther's maps and experiences caving in Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the longest cave system in the world; further, it was intended, in part, to be accessible to non-technical players, such as his two daughters. Woods's version expanded the game in size and increased the number of fantasy elements present in it, such as a dragon and magic spells. Both versions, typically played over teleprinters connected to mainframe computers, were spread around the nascent ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, which Crowther was involved in developing.
Colossal Cave Adventure was one of the first teletype games and was massively popular in the computer community of the late 1970s, with numerous ports and modified versions being created based on Woods's source code. It directly inspired the creation of numerous games, including Zork (1977), Adventureland (1978), Mystery House (1980), Rogue (1980), and Adventure (1980), which went on to be the foundations of the interactive fiction, adventure, roguelike, and action-adventure genres. It also influenced the creation of the MUD and computer role-playing game genres. It has been noted as one of the most influential video games, and in 2019 was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame by The Strong and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
## Gameplay
Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based adventure game wherein the player explores a mysterious cave that is rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The player must explore the cave system and solve puzzles by using items that they find to obtain the treasures and leave the cave. The player types in one- or two-word commands to move their character through the cave system, interact with objects in the cave, pick up items to put into their inventory, and perform other actions. The allowable commands are contextual to the location, or room, the player is in; for example, "get lamp" only has an effect if there is a lamp present. There are dozens of rooms, each of which has a name such as "Debris Room" and a description, and may contain objects or obstacles. The program acts as a narrator, describing to the player their location in the cave and the results of certain actions. If it does not understand the player's commands, it asks for the player to retype their actions. The program's replies are typically in a humorous, conversational tone, much as a Dungeon Master would use in leading players in a tabletop role-playing game.
The original 1976 version of the game contains five treasures which can be collected. Although it is based on a real cave system, it contains a few fantasy elements such as a crystal bridge, magic words, and axe-wielding dwarves. The player can die by falling into a pit or being killed by the dwarves, but otherwise the game has no ending or goal beyond finding the treasures. The 1977 version of the game, upon which later versions were based, adds ten more treasures and more fantasy elements. It also adds a points system, whereby completing certain goals earns a predetermined number of points. The ultimate goal is to earn the maximum number of points—350, in the 1977 version—which involves finding all the treasures in the game and safely leaving the cave.
## Development
### Crowther's original version
Colossal Cave Adventure was originally created by William Crowther in 1975 and 1976. Crowther and his ex-wife Patricia were both programmers and cavers and had extensively explored Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the longest cave system in the world, in the early 1970s as part of the Cave Research Foundation. In 1972, Patricia led the expedition that found a connection between Mammoth Cave and the larger Flint Ridge Cave System. In addition to caving, the pair produced vector map surveys of the cave: they transcribed the survey data of the cave from "muddy little books" into a teleprinter terminal in their house, which could send and print messages from programs running on the central computer and was connected to a PDP-1 mainframe computer at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) where William Crowther worked. This data was then fed into a program developed by the pair that generated plotting commands onto punched tape, which were then fed into a Honeywell 316 minicomputer attached to a Calcomp drum plotter at BBN to print paper maps. These maps were some of the earliest computer-drawn maps of caves.
In 1975, after he and Patricia divorced, William Crowther stopped caving with the Cave Research Foundation. Driven by what he later described as an increase in spare time combined with missing his two daughters, he began working on a text-based game in Fortran on BBN's PDP-10 mainframe, interfacing through a teletype printer, that they could play. He combined his memories and maps of the Mammoth Cave system, particularly a 1975 map of the Bedquilt area of the caves, including Colossal Cavern, with elements of the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns that he played with friends to design a game around exploring a cave for treasure. Crowther wanted the game to be accessible and not intimidating to non-technical players such as his children, and so developed a natural language input system to control the game so that it would be "a thing that gave you the illusion anyway that you'd typed in English commands and it did what you said". Crowther later commented that this approach allowed the game to appeal to both non-programmers and programmers alike, as in the latter case, it gave programmers a challenge of how to make "an obstinate system" perform in a manner they wanted it to. This approach was also developed to allow the game to be played on a teletype printer, rather than rely on user interface elements used in programs designed for monitors.
The initial version of the game was about 700 lines of code, plus another 700 lines of data such as descriptions for 66 rooms, navigational messages, 193 vocabulary words, and miscellaneous messages. Once the game was complete, in early 1976, Crowther showed it off to his co-workers at BBN for feedback, and then considered his work on the game finished, leaving the compiled game on the mainframe before taking a month off for vacation. According to one of Crowther's then-coworkers in 2007, "once it was working, Will wasn't very interested in perfecting or expanding it." Crowther's work at BBN was in developing ARPANET, one of the first networks of computers and a precursor to the Internet, and the PDP-10 mainframe was part of that network. During his vacation, others found the game and it was distributed widely across the network to computers at other companies and universities, which surprised Crowther on his return. The game did not have an explicit title in it, simply stating "WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!!" as a part of the opening message and having a file name of ADVENT; it was referred to as both Adventure and Colossal Cave Adventure, with the latter becoming the more common name over time. Most computer terminals at the time did not have monitors, and players would instead play the game over teleprinters connected to the mainframe.
### Woods's modifications
One person who discovered the game was Don Woods, a graduate student at Stanford University. Woods found the game on a PDP-10 at the Stanford Medical School and wanted to expand upon the game. He contacted Crowther to gain access to the source code by emailing "crowther" at every domain that existed on the ARPANET. Woods built upon Crowther's code, introducing more high fantasy-related elements such as a dragon. He changed the puzzles, adding new elements and complexities, and added new puzzles and features such as a pirate that roams the map and steals treasure from the player or objects that could exist in multiple states. He also introduced a scoring system within the game and added ten more treasures to collect in addition to the five in Crowther's original version. According to cavers who have played the game, much of Crowther's original version matches the Bedquilt section of Mammoth Cave with some passages removed for gameplay purposes, though Woods's additions do not as he had never been there. According to William Mann, a caving compatriot of Crowther who played both versions when they were developed, Crowther was focused on creating the cave system as a setting for a game, while Woods was interested in making a game and not in replicating the feeling of caving.
Woods's version, released in 1977, expanded Crowther's game to approximately 3,000 lines of code and 1,800 lines of data, growing to 140 map locations, 293 vocabulary words, and 53 objects. Woods also added access controls to the game, allowing mainframe administrators to restrict the game from running during business hours. Woods began working on the game in March 1977; by May his version was complete enough to release, and was soon attracting attention around the United States. Woods continued releasing updated editions in Fortran until 1995. Crowther later said that Woods's bringing fantasy elements earlier into the gameplay was an improvement to his version, though Crowther's daughters also recall him telling them when they were frustrated at puzzles in the game that it was one of Woods's additions, not his.
Crowther did not distribute the source code to his version to anyone else, and it was later believed to be lost until it was rediscovered on an archive of Woods's student account at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 2005. Woods, however, distributed the code to his version alongside the compiled executable. Woods's 1977 version became the more recognizable and widespread version of Colossal Cave Adventure, in part due to its wider code availability, as it led to several other variants of the game being produced.
### Later versions
Both Crowther's and Woods's version were designed to run on the PDP-10 and used features unique to DECSYSTEMS-10 Fortran IV on that architecture, meaning that the program could not be easily moved to other systems, even those that could run Fortran programs. One of the first efforts to port the code to other languages or systems was by RAND Corporation researcher James Gillogly in 1977. Gillogly, with agreement from Crowther and Woods, spent several weeks porting the code to the C programming language to run on the more generic Unix architecture. It can still be found as part of the BSD Operating Systems distributions, or as part of the "bsdgames" package under most Linux distributions, under the command name "adventure". Bob Supnik of Digital Equipment Corporation also ported the game in Fortran to the PDP-11 minicomputer in mid-1977, spreading it to other minicomputer systems. Afterwards, numerous other ports were made of the game to different languages and systems, sometimes identified by the number of points available in the game. There were enough ports and variants and alternate takes of the game by 1982 that an article in Your Computer described the entire set of games wherein the player enters short commands to move between set locations as "Adventure games", and provided code for the ZX81 computer for an "Adventure-writing kit" program that could be used to generate a game with that gameplay. In 2017, Eric S. Raymond created a port for modern computers of Woods's 1995 version of the game as Open Adventure and released the source code under an open-source license with permission from Crowther and Woods.
Commercial versions of the game were also released. Microsoft published a version titled Microsoft Adventure in 1979 for the Apple II Plus and TRS-80 computers, and again in 1981 for MS-DOS as a launch title for IBM PCs, one of the few software programs and the only game at launch. The Software Toolworks released The Original Adventure for IBM PCs in 1981; endorsed by Crowther and Woods in exchange for a nominal payment, it was the only version for which they received any money. Level 9 Computing released multiple versions of the game for different computer platforms under the name Colossal Adventure, beginning with a version in 1982 for the Nascom that includes an entire extra section where the player saves elves from flooding caves, as well as later versions that include pictures of the areas.
A 3D remake of the game, under the title Colossal Cave, was released by Cygnus Entertainment as its first title in on January 19, 2023, for Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Meta Quest 2. Designed by Ken and Roberta Williams, co-founders of Sierra Entertainment, the game was started as a hobby project by the pair during the COVID-19 pandemic, before being expanded into a full commercial product by a team of thirty. It was intended by lead designer Roberta to be a recreation of how playing the game felt like to her in 1979.
## Legacy
### Video games
Colossal Cave Adventure is considered one of the most influential video games. In 2019, it was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame by The Strong and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The game is the first well-known example of interactive fiction and established conventions that have since become standard in interactive fiction titles, such as the use of shortened cardinal directions for commands like "e" for "east", as well as inspiring the contents of the fiction titles themselves. The game is the namesake and the first well-known example of an adventure game, as it combined the interactivity of computer programs with the storytelling of literature or role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, despite its lack of linear plot. The only text adventure game known to precede it is Wander from 1974, which did not have the spread or influence of Adventure.
Colossal Cave Adventure was immensely popular among the small computer-using population of the time. Historian Alexander Smith described it as "ubiquitous" on computer networks by the end of 1977, alongside Star Trek and Lunar Lander. Computer game programmers of the time were greatly inspired by the game; according to game designer and creator of the Inform interactive fiction language Graham Nelson, "for the five years to 1982 almost every game created was another 'Advent'". Several of these games were the initial releases of companies that would go on to become key innovators for the early adventure game genre. These included Zork (1977)—which began development within a month of the release of Woods's version—first by the team of Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Tim Anderson, and Bruce Daniels at MIT and later by Infocom; Adventureland (1978) by Scott Adams of Adventure International; and Mystery House (1980) by Roberta and Ken Williams of On-Line Systems. The 1980 Atari 2600 video game Adventure was an attempt to create a graphical version of Colossal Cave Adventure, and itself became the first known example of an action-adventure game and introduced the fantasy genre to video game consoles. Carmen Sandiego, an early educational game series begun in 1985, was inspired by transforming the idea of moving around the caverns of Colossal Cave Adventure looking for treasure into moving around the globe searching for clues.
In addition to inspiring adventure games, as described by Matt Barton in Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games, Colossal Cave Adventure demonstrated the "creation of a virtual world and the means to explore it", and the inclusion of monsters and simplified combat. For this, it is considered a precursor of computer role-playing games, though it was lacking several elements of the genre. Glenn Wichman and Michael Toy name the game as an influence for their game Rogue in 1980, which went on to become the namesake of the roguelike genre. Colossal Cave Adventure also inspired the development of online multiplayer games like MUDs, the precursors of the modern-day massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
### Other media
Two phrases from the game have gone on to have a lasting impact in programming and video games. "Xyzzy" is a magic word that teleports the player between two locations ("inside building" and the "debris room"). It was added by Crowther at a request by his sister when play-testing the game to skip the early section of the game. As an in-joke tribute to Adventure, many later games and computer programs include a hidden "xyzzy" command, the results of which range from the straightforward to the humorous. Crowther stated that for its purpose in the game, "magic words should look queer, and yet somehow be pronounceable", leading him to select "xyzzy". Additionally, in the game there is a maze created by Crowther where each of ten room descriptions was exactly the same: "YOU ARE IN A MAZE OF TWISTY LITTLE PASSAGES, ALL ALIKE." The layout of this "all alike" maze was fixed, so the player would have to figure out how to map the maze. The phrase "you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike" has become memorialized and popularized in the hacker culture, where "passages" may be replaced with a different word, as the situation warrants. This phrase came to signify a situation when whatever action is taken does not change the result.
Colossal Cave Adventure has continued to be referenced by media for decades since. The 2003 book on the history of interactive fiction Twisty Little Passages was named after the "all alike" maze, and the 2010 documentary on the history of text adventure games Get Lamp is named for the command to get one of the first objects the player encounters and must carry to solve the game. The 2013 game Kentucky Route Zero's third act draws direct inspiration from the game, showing a computer simulation set up inside of a cave, which is itself depicting a massive cave system. The game is also a key plot point in an episode of the 2014 TV series Halt and Catch Fire, a period drama taking place in the early days of the personal computing revolution. In it, the chief software designer uses the game as a competency test to determine which programmers will remain on the team. As a tie-in, a fully playable version of the game augmented with player hints and artwork revealed when certain locations are visited was made available on the show's official website. |
1,376,980 | Providence and Worcester Railroad | 1,168,881,032 | Regional railroad in the Northeastern United States | [
"2016 mergers and acquisitions",
"Companies affiliated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad",
"Connecticut railroads",
"Genesee & Wyoming",
"Massachusetts railroads",
"New York (state) railroads",
"Providence and Worcester Railroad",
"Railway companies established in 1844",
"Regional railroads in the United States",
"Rhode Island railroads"
]
| The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W; ) is a Class II railroad operating 612 miles (985 km) of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and ran its first trains in 1847. A successful railroad, the P&W subsequently expanded with a branch to East Providence, Rhode Island, and for a time leased two small Massachusetts railroads. Originally a single track, its busy mainline was double-tracked after a fatal 1853 collision in Valley Falls, Rhode Island.
The P&W operated independently until 1888, when the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) leased it; four years later, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad obtained the lease when it purchased the NYP&B. The P&W continued to exist as a company, as special rules protecting minority shareholders made it prohibitively expensive for the New Haven to purchase the company outright. The New Haven continued to lease the Providence and Worcester for 76 years, until the former was merged into Penn Central (PC) at the end of 1968. Penn Central demanded the shareholder rules keeping P&W alive be rewritten, and also threatened to abandon the company's tracks. In response, a group of P&W shareholders launched a fight with PC, asking the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to cancel the lease and let the P&W leave the New Haven's merger and go free. Against expectations, the ICC agreed, and after court battles, P&W prevailed and began operating independently again after 85 years. Upon regaining its independence, the railroad purchased railroad lines from the Boston and Maine Railroad and PC successor Conrail in the 1970s and 1980s. The company turned a profit operating lines bigger companies lost money on, and invested heavily in its infrastructure. P&W also absorbed a number of shortline railroads in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Entering the 1990s, P&W had expanded to several hundred miles of track. After several of the company's largest customers shut down or ended rail service during this decade, the railroad responded by expanding interchange with other railroads. P&W also signed an agreement to run unit trains of crushed stone from Connecticut quarries to Queens, New York, over the Northeast Corridor. In 2016, the Providence and Worcester was purchased by railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming, without significant changes to operations.
P&W is headquartered in Worcester, and maintains significant facilities there, in Valley Falls, in Plainfield, Connecticut, and in New Haven, Connecticut. It operates a variety of GE and EMD diesel locomotives. P&W serves major ports in New Haven, Providence, and Davisville, Rhode Island (the latter via a connection to switching-and-terminal railroad Seaview Transportation Company). In addition to the lines it directly owns and operates, P&W freight trains share tracks with Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad, and MBTA Commuter Rail passenger trains on the Northeast Corridor and two Metro-North branches in Connecticut. Key commodities carried by P&W include lumber, paper, chemicals, steel, construction materials and debris, crushed stone, automobiles, and plastics. While the company is primarily a freight railroad, it has since the 1980s occasionally operated passenger excursions, using refurbished passenger cars purchased from Amtrak.
## Original Providence and Worcester Railroad
### Background and founding
The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) was preceded by the Blackstone Canal, which opened between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1828. While initially somewhat successful, the canal's business was severely harmed by the completion of the Boston and Worcester Railroad between its namesake cities in 1835, with shippers fleeing the slow and unreliable canal for rail transport. Providence therefore lost much of the business the canal had provided, and residents began to plan a response to the opening of the Boston and Providence. The canal company went bankrupt after its canal was severely damaged by flooding in 1841, and was forced to petition the state of Rhode Island for additional funds. The canal also competed for water with the many mills along the Blackstone Valley, which used water power to operate their machinery. As plans for other railroads across New England began, in January 1844 a group of citizens, primarily from Providence, petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for a charter to build a railroad from Providence to the Massachusetts state line. This group also petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for a charter to build in that state from the state line to Worcester.
The railroad was incorporated in Massachusetts as the Providence and Worcester Railway on March 12, 1844, and in Rhode Island as the Providence and Worcester Railroad in May 1844. Two aspects of the charter were unusual. One provision capped the company's maximum dividend at twelve percent; additional profit beyond that amount was to be invested in improving the railroad rather than rewarding shareholders. A second part of the charter heavily curtailed the voting power of larger shareholders – each shareholder got one vote per share for their first fifty shares, but additional shares granted just one vote per twenty shares. In effect, this made it impossible for any one shareholder to control the company, no matter how many shares they owned. Both provisions were designed to ensure the P&W provided effective rail service and remained in the hands of local shareholders.
As their first order of business, the company's founders commissioned engineer Thomas Willis Pratt to complete a survey of the proposed route, which was completed in the fall of that year. The two companies were merged November 25, 1845, as the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The company bought the Blackstone Canal and began construction, partly on its banks, in 1845. The canal was shut down in 1848, shortly after the railroad was completed.
### Delays in construction
Local enthusiasm was high for the new railroad, with one Providence resident quoted as saying "[it is] not so much what will the projected route add to the prosperity of Providence, as can we do without it?" The city's residents feared that without a railroad to connect their city to others, Providence would be reduced in importance compared to other cities in the region. Despite high local support, in July 1845, the railroad was still short \$200,000 (\$ in 2021) out of a needed sum of \$1,000,000 (\$ in 2021) per the company's charter, and had not begun construction. Residents began to doubt the railroad would ever be built, with one citizen writing in a letter to the editor to a local newspaper that "... any hope of its completion, founded upon the present condition of the corporation, is desperate indeed."
By September 1845, residents worried over rumors that investors from Boston were planning to build a new railroad between Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and Dedham, Massachusetts, which would not serve Providence. Despite fears the company would fail, it announced on October 8, 1845, that thanks to additional funding, including a \$100,000 (\$ in 2021) investment by Jacob Little, the requisite \$1,000,000 had been reached, plus a further \$100,000 for the Massachusetts section of the line, and that construction would begin immediately. The funding was obtained entirely from private sources.
### Construction and operations
Many immigrants helped build the Providence and Worcester Railroad, particularly from Ireland. The line opened in two sections: the part south of Millville on September 27, 1847, and the rest on October 20. The line from Providence to Central Falls was shared with the Boston and Providence Railroad, which at the same time built a connection from its old line (which ended at India Point via East Providence) over to the P&W. The companies shared the P&W-built Providence Union Station, which opened in 1848; the station was also served by New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (commonly known as the Stonington Line) trains. This station was originally planned to be placed over the Great Salt Cove, a large cove in the city; public opposition led by Zachariah Allen convinced the city to preserve the cove and change the station's location.
Construction was more expensive than anticipated, due to difficulties encountered in building earthworks and to the relatively high prices for iron and labor from 1845 to 1847. The company also spent much money on a large depot in Providence. Still, healthy traffic made the company profitable quickly and to the end of its independent operation. The opening of the P&W and other railroads spurred the region's commercial growth; Providence in particular developed textile, jewelry, and metals industries. The P&W, along with the Boston and Providence, were also credited with bringing the city of Pawtucket out of an economic downturn. Mills in the Blackstone Valley found that the railroads offered more reliable and cheaper transportation than canals. Affordable passenger trains also increased the mobility of residents along the railroad, whose line linked the communities along its route to the busy railroad junction in Worcester. To better reach the docks in Providence, tracks were constructed south towards the water along city streets between 1852 and 1853, eventually reaching Fox Point where steamships docked.
In May 1853, the owners of the Norfolk County Railroad (NCR) attempted a hostile takeover of the Providence and Worcester. They wanted to use the P&W to route more traffic along their NCR, which was bankrupt as a result of insufficient business, and so increase the value of NCR stock. They purchased a majority of the P&W stock, paying well above market value for shares, and moved to add ten members to the company's board of directors. But the P&W's president and clerk refused to recognize a vote to approve the new directors, defeating the attempt and leaving the stockholders from the "ricketty and bankrupt" NCR with nothing but \$100,000 (\$ in 2021) in debt to show for their efforts.
That same year, the worst accident in the company's history occurred in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. Two trains collided head-on, killing 14 people. The incident helped convince the P&W to double-track its mainline. The work began shortly after the accident but proceeded slowly; the final section of single track was upgraded in 1885, 32 years later.
The P&W benefited from a general increase in economic activity and shipping during the American Civil War, though little of its freight was directly related to the war effort. The company paid off its debts and invested \$20,000 (\$ in 2021) on track improvements in 1864 alone.
### Expansion and improvements
The Providence and Worcester leased two other railroads: the Milford and Woonsocket Railroad in 1868, and the Hopkinton Railroad, a northward extension of the Milford and Woonsocket, in 1872. Neither company directly connected to any P&W line; the leases were motivated by a desire to prevent either company from competing with the P&W for traffic. Both leases expired in 1883, with the two railroads resuming independent operation that year; the Milford and Woonsocket took over the Hopkinton the following year.
Following an 1872 agreement with the New Jersey Central Railroad and a coal company to build a coal dock near Providence, the company began construction in 1874 on the seven-mile (11 km) long East Providence Branch between Valley Falls and East Providence. The branch opened the same year, and provided an alternate routing for coal imports that avoided the use of horses through downtown Providence. The East Providence Branch briefly saw passenger service between 1893 and 1896; it was otherwise exclusively used for freight trains. The completion of the branch increased the importance of Valley Falls to the P&W, and in 1878 the company completed a new engine house there. This was followed in the next few years by a variety of repair and maintenance shops, which were all relocated from sites in Providence. An early form of railroad signaling was completed on the joint P&W-B&P line through Providence and Pawtucket in 1882, and upon proving successful it was expanded to the entire P&W main line by 1884, making the P&W the very first American railroad to fully signalize its main line with electric signals.
## End of independence
From the 1870s onward, several railroad companies in New England began a wave of consolidation, leasing or merging other lines to form large networks. The P&W ignored this trend, although it had opportunities to combine with several of its connections at Worcester. The first of the larger companies to approach the P&W was the Stonington Line (formally the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad), the Providence and Worcester's southern connection in Providence. In February 1888, the Stonington Line announced plans to lease the Providence and Worcester Railroad, effective May 1, 1888, subject to approval by shareholders of both companies. The Stonington Line agreed to pay \$310,000 (\$ in 2021) per year, plus up to \$50,000 a year in stock-related payments, in exchange for the lease. As part of the lease, the Stonington also agreed to maintain all P&W trackage and equipment to high standards. A member of the special committee appointed by the P&W board of directors, at the vote to ratify the lease, noted that "there were 372 women stockholders, representing 8,975 shares, equivalent at par to \$897,500 – a peculiar holding which was not found in any other corporation in the country." Both railroads' stockholders and boards of directors approved the lease, with P&W shareholders unanimously in favor, and in May 1888, the Providence and Worcester ceased to be an independent railroad. As part of the Stonington Line, operations were changed little, apart from integration with the P&W's new lessee as the "Worcester Division".
Control by the Stonington Line lasted only a few years, as wealthy financer J. P. Morgan had aspirations to build a railroad empire, and both the Stonington Line and the Old Colony Railroad were in his sights. Acting through J.P. Morgan & Co., he bought controlling stock of each company and had them leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (commonly known as the New Haven), which he held an interest in. As part of these transactions, the P&W lease was transferred from the Stonington Line to the New Haven under the same terms as originally written. The New Haven operated the P&W for the next 77 years.
### Under the New Haven
Despite the company's lease, the New Haven owned only a very small number of shares – 91 out of 35,000 – by 1905, finding that P&W shareholders were very reluctant to part with their shares. That year, the New Haven attempted to get a bill passed in the Rhode Island General Assembly that would allow it to condemn the shares of minority shareholders who owned stock in the companies it leased, as long as the New Haven held a simple majority of all shares. Due to significant opposition, most fiercely by the Providence and Worcester Railroad, this attempt was defeated; the bill was amended to require the owning railroad to hold at least 75 percent of a company's shares before condemnation of minority shareholders' shares was possible. This meant that the New Haven could not purchase the P&W unless it was willing to buy 75 percent of the company's shares, securing the P&W's continued existence as a company. These same rules protecting minority shareholders would pave the way for the Providence and Worcester to regain its independence in the future.
The New Haven's monopolistic tendencies attracted attention from regulators, and many of its acquisitions were obtained well above market value. These factors combined to cause economic problems for the company, and as a result the P&W facilities in Valley Falls were largely closed from 1907 to the 1920s. Continued money problems and the Great Depression brought the New Haven into bankruptcy in 1935, but the P&W's lessee continued to make its lease payments on time. When the New Haven emerged from its long bankruptcy in 1947, the P&W remained a leased property, along with the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and Holyoke and Westfield Railroad; it did not join the fate of most New Haven lessors which were consolidated.
Both freight and passenger train traffic were initially strong under New Haven control. Fifteen passenger trains traveled the line each day in 1919, but by 1935 just one passenger train ran each way. The State of Maine Express, which connected New York City and Portland, Maine, began using the P&W route in 1946, adding a second train on the line each way daily. The New Haven began removing the double track on the P&W mainline in the 1950s, and it was reduced to a single track with passing sidings by 1963. Passenger train service on the line was cut back during the 1950s as well; after experimenting with four local trains each way in 1953, the New Haven cut the schedule back to one local round trip per day in 1954; this round trip was also discontinued by 1957. The State of Maine Express ended operations in 1960, leaving no passenger trains on the line.
Freight traffic also declined from the 1950s onward, as the Blackstone Valley's mills largely closed down and relocated to the Southern United States and trucking eroded railroad market share. In response to the declines in both passenger and freight traffic, the P&W's electric signal system was dismantled and the second track largely removed to lower maintenance costs. On July 7, 1961, the New Haven declared bankruptcy for a second and final time.
### Plans for regained independence
While the New Haven was bankrupt again, it continued its lease payments just as it had done during the previous bankruptcy. This time, however, the New Haven's condition was much worse and the possibility of survival was remote; its operations and physical plant had both become seriously neglected. Starting in 1964, a group of Providence and Worcester shareholders began plotting to acquire the company. They recruited Robert H. Eder, a businessman from Providence, to lead their efforts. The group launched three proxy fights to take control; the last one ended in 1966 with Eder as the Providence and Worcester's new president. Under his presidency, the P&W released its first ever audited annual report, had all P&W property appraised, and also commissioned a third party firm to write a report evaluating whether the P&W could successfully resume operations as an independent railroad, if necessary. While attempting to restore the P&W as an independent company was an option, the P&W's leadership was primarily seeking inclusion of the company within another railroad by a new lease or merger. The possibility of an independent P&W was meant as leverage to help secure this goal.
As part of negotiations to include the New Haven into the planned Penn Central Transportation Company merger, to be created by the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads, the New Haven's bankruptcy trustees were told to disaffirm the P&W lease in January 1967, and this was completed on May 1 of that year. The P&W objected to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which intervened in the company's favor and ordered the New Haven to continue operating the P&W as before, despite the disaffirmation. The Penn Central did not want the P&W, and in October 1968 specifically asked the ICC for it to be excluded from the merger, calling the lease situation "unfair and unreasonable". Despite its objections, and threatening to the ICC that it would abandon the Providence and Worcester's tracks if it were forced to include it in the merger, Penn Central was ordered to assume operation of the P&W when the New Haven was finally merged into PC at the end of 1968.
## The new Providence and Worcester Railroad
### Separation from Penn Central
The New Haven had purchased a number of the P&W's shares in the three-quarters of a century it had held the lease, holding 28 percent of the company's total shares by the time Penn Central took over. While the New Haven had long tolerated the peculiar rules that kept the P&W alive as a company, the railroad's new lessor was not willing to tolerate them any longer and demanded the voting rules and clauses that heavily restricted its control be rewritten. The same rules that left the New Haven unable to take over the P&W also frustrated the Penn Central, which found itself with only three percent voting power, despite both leasing the company and inheriting the New Haven's portion of the company's shares.
As part of its order requiring Penn Central to take over the P&W under the terms of the lease, the ICC also required the P&W to change its voting clauses by June 30, 1969, or else Penn Central would be allowed to take direct control and be able to proceed with abandonment. Eder and the rest of the P&W leadership had considered seeking merger into another railroad, such as the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) or the Norfolk and Western Railway (though the latter company did not connect to the Providence and Worcester, at that time it was considering a purchase of the Delaware and Hudson Railway). Now, however, time was short and the previously half-hearted idea of returning the P&W to independence was the best path to saving the company.
Ignoring Penn Central's objections, in 1969 the P&W incorporated a new version of the company in Delaware and merged the existing company into the new one, while maintaining the voting rules from the company's original 1844 charter; this was done for "the simplification of the corporate structure" of the company. Then, on April 6, 1970, the P&W formally asked the ICC to allow their company to exit the New Haven merger and become independent; the previously commissioned report was updated and found profitable operations feasible. While it did not want the P&W, Penn Central was unwilling to allow this to happen either, as it wanted both to continue serving large customers in East Providence and Worcester and access to the P&W's real estate holdings in Providence, leading to a series of court battles. Penn Central itself went bankrupt in June 1970 and ended its lease payments.
In response to P&W's appeal, the ICC took up the matter in January 1971. P&W could point to the support of potential P&W customers along with politicians and railroad regulatory agencies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the hearings concluded on June 11, 1971, with the presiding ICC examiner approving P&W's request for independence. P&W also worked out an agreement with the relevant railroad worker unions, guaranteeing a high salary, a profit-sharing agreement, and representation on the P&W's board. In exchange, P&W would implement a maximum crew size of three people and abolish the distinctions between engineer, conductor, and other train crew roles, allowing any employee to fill any position as needed. While the ICC and unions had given the P&W's independence their blessing, Penn Central was unmoved and exhausted its appeals until December 20, 1972, when a federal judge assigned to Penn Central's own bankruptcy court ordered the company to allow the Providence and Worcester to end its lease and assume control of its lines. On February 3, 1973, the Providence and Worcester Railroad became an independent railroad again after 85 years.
### Expansion
The newly independent P&W began with 45 miles (72 km) of track between its two namesake cities in addition to the East Providence Branch and two isolated Penn Central lines (3 miles (4.8 km) from Slatersville to Woonsocket and a 1-mile (1.6 km) branch at Valley Falls) which were transferred as well. For motive power, P&W initially operated a small fleet of five ALCO RS-3 locomotives, plus five cabooses, all leased from fellow Northeastern United States railroad Delaware and Hudson Railway. The Providence and Worcester found its first opportunity for expansion in a recently abandoned line cast off by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). In 1974, P&W purchased this 23-mile (37 km) long branch between Worcester and Gardner, Massachusetts, from B&M, connecting it with the latter company's main line. Penn Central had not forgotten how the P&W had escaped from its control, and created delays in car interchange between itself and the P&W, until the latter company once again appealed to the ICC for assistance. The new connection with the B&M in Gardner allowed P&W access to a more friendly interchange partner. Almost immediately, the independent P&W was recognized for providing exemplary service to its customers, in direct contrast with Penn Central; in 1974 the Rhode Island Department of Transportation recommended giving sole responsibility for all freight rail in Providence to P&W.
Needing a more permanent solution than its leased ALCOs, P&W first reached out to dominant American locomotive manufacturers GE Transportation and General Motors' Electro Motive Division, but both refused to give the newly independent company quotes for new locomotives. Shunned by American manufacturers, P&W turned to Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW), the Canadian affiliate of ALCO which survived ALCO's dissolution in 1969. MLW saw an opportunity to sell its first locomotives in America, and accepted P&W's order for five new MLW M-420R locomotives, tagging on to an order for 80 M-420s by Canadian National Railway. These new locomotives became the backbone of the Providence and Worcester fleet, and the older RS3s were given back to the Delaware and Hudson.
The federal government created the United States Railway Association (USRA) in 1974 to manage the formation of Conrail, which was to take over a number of bankrupt railroads in the Northeast, including Penn Central. Penn Central owned a 71-mile (114 km) line that connected Worcester to Groton, Connecticut, via Plainfield, Connecticut. The USRA decided to include only the portion between Groton and Plainfield in Conrail, with the remaining portion reverting to its original owner: the Norwich and Worcester Railroad (N&W). The N&W had been leased by a variety of railroads since 1869, but was now independent again, and proposed to resume operating its portion of the line. Seeing an opportunity for expansion, the Providence and Worcester made a bid for the line from Plainfield to Worcester as well, winning the support of Connecticut business groups, unions, and Chris Dodd, at the time a U.S. Representative. The latter stated in January 1974 that it was "extremely questionable whether the Norwich and Worcester has demonstrated the ability to provide even minimal service to eastern Connecticut". The USRA found the arguments of the Providence and Worcester and its supporters that it was in a better position to take over the line on account of its years of profitable operations persuasive, and transferred it to the railroad later that year.
The remaining 27 miles (43 km) of the N&W went to Conrail, but the Providence and Worcester was not satisfied with its share of the line and sought to acquire the rest of the line from the newly formed railroad. Conrail initially was unprofitable, and in 1976 the Providence and Worcester approached the company with an offer to buy its 27-mile line between Plainfield and Groton. Conrail was unwilling to give up the line, which was one of its most profitable in the state, leading the Connecticut Department of Transportation to request that the federal government order the line transferred that year. The following year, Conrail was forced to sell the line, due to the law that established the company requiring it to sell lines to any private companies offering a fair price. Despite this, Conrail continued to operate the line while debate continued between the two railroads over what constituted a "fair price" – Conrail wanted over \$3 million, while the Providence and Worcester offered under \$1 million. Finally, on May 20, 1980, a federal court announced it was ordering Conrail to sell the line to the P&W for \$1.75 million, which the three justices on the court decided was a fair price.
### 1980s
As P&W expanded its network, the company spent heavily to improve the condition of lines it purchased, many of which had been poorly maintained by previous owners. The repairs were partially funded by the federal government and by the states served by P&W.
In 1982, the Providence and Worcester acquired all of Conrail's lines in Rhode Island, along with some in Connecticut. While P&W wanted all 530 miles (850 km) of Conrail's lines in Southern New England, it had to compete with the Boston & Maine, at the time in the sights of newly formed Guilford Transportation Industries, which bought portions of Conrail's network in Connecticut. The Providence and Worcester objected to allowing Guilford to form a major railroad network in New England, to no avail. The P&W also purchased two shortline railroads in Rhode Island between 1981 and 1982: the Moshassuck Valley Railroad and the Warwick Railway.
In December 1987, P&W owner Capital Properties Inc. of Providence, announced it was divesting the railroad, with Capital's shareholders each getting 2 shares of the railroad's stock per share of Capital stock.
### 1990s
The Providence and Worcester further expanded into Connecticut in 1993, when it purchased Conrail's line between Cedar Hill Yard in North Haven and Middletown. Between November 1993 and June 1994, the railroad improved the line in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, replacing more than 5,000 ties and 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of rail in a \$650,000 project. After the project was complete, its speed limit increased from 10 to 25 miles per hour. The increased speed and frequency of trains concerned some residents along the line, who advocated for the installation of gates and lights at railroad crossings for safety. P&W bought the Middletown-based shortline Connecticut Central Railroad in 1998, adding a cluster of branch lines in that city to its network.
In the mid-1990s, P&W traffic decreased when a number of its major customers closed or moved. In response, the company expanded interchange traffic with other railroads. The company reached an agreement in 1996 for trackage rights over the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and the New York and Atlantic Railway's Fresh Pond Junction yard in Queens, New York. The Providence and Worcester uses the tracks to haul stone between its connection with the Branford Steam Railroad and New York City.
### 21st century
The Boston Surface Railroad was formed in 2014 to restore passenger service on the P&W main line between Providence and Worcester, which was discontinued by the New Haven in 1960. Boston Surface intended to contract its train operations—commuter service with a stop in Woonsocket—to the Providence and Worcester. In 2019, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation reported that no substantial progress on launching train operations had been made. The railroad filed for bankruptcy later that year, though company officials said in 2021 that they intended to begin operations eventually.
P&W formed an agreement with the New England Central Railroad in 2012 to move Canadian National Railway trains between Canada and southern New England. A similar agreement was signed in 2014 to move Canadian Pacific Railway freight, with Vermont Rail System joining along with NECR. This was made possible by the reopening of a mothballed P&W line between Willimantic and Versailles, Connecticut in 2007, which had been out of service for several decades. P&W trains connect with New England Central at Willimantic via this line.
Shortline holding company Genesee & Wyoming announced in August 2016 that it intended to buy the Providence and Worcester Railroad for \$25.00 per share, or approximately \$126 million. The acquisition was completed on November 1, 2016, with P&W's shares placed in a trust pending Surface Transportation Board approval. The STB approved the acquisition on December 16, 2016, subject to a condition that G&W not interfere with the ability of Pan Am Railways (via its operating subsidiary Springfield Terminal) to connect with CSX in Worcester. G&W stated that it "does not contemplate any material changes to P&W's operations, maintenance, or service" following the purchase. P&W sold its former headquarters at 75 Hammond Street in Worcester in October 2022, relocating to 381 Southbridge Street, also in Worcester.
In 2019, the Providence and Worcester reopened 8 miles (13 km) of track between Hartford and Rocky Hill, known as the Wethersfield Secondary, which had been out of service since 2008. The reopened line provided a more direct route for freight to reach Middletown.
## Operations
The Providence and Worcester Railroad is headquartered in Worcester, an important interchange point with CSX Transportation. Other interchange points include:
- Pan Am Southern in Gardner, Massachusetts
- New England Central Railroad in Willimantic, Connecticut
- New York and Atlantic Railway in Queens
- CSX in New Haven
- Housatonic Railroad in Danbury, Connecticut
- Connecticut Southern Railroad in Hartford, Connecticut
Through haulage agreements, the railroad also connects with Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Norfolk Southern Railway. As of 2016, P&W served 140 distinct customers on its lines, and had a workforce of 138 employees.
### Facilities
P&W's primary maintenance facility for locomotives and railcars is located in Worcester near the company's headquarters building. A secondary facility in Plainfield, Connecticut, is responsible for maintenance of trucks and also houses the company's paint shop for repainting locomotives.
### Train operations
As of 2016, Providence and Worcester freight trains are based out of the following locations:
- Worcester: Trains based out of Worcester operate between Gardner, Massachusetts, where P&W connects to Pan Am Southern, and both Plainfield and Davisville, with freight exchanged with the Seaview Transportation Company at the latter location. Local trains based out of Worcester serve facilities in the city, including a significant intermodal yard.
- Plainfield: From Plainfield, P&W operates trains southward to Willimantic, site of a connection with the New England Central Railroad. Another regularly operated train operates between Plainfield and Cedar Hill Yard in North Haven, Connecticut, via Groton, Connecticut.
- Valley Falls: A pair of local freight trains are based in Valley Falls. These serve customers in Rhode Island, particularly the Port of Providence.
- North Haven: P&W leases track space at Cedar Hill Yard from its owners, CSX and Amtrak. Local freight trains based at Cedar Hill operate to Middletown, Connecticut, and the Port of New Haven. Other local freights based here provide freight service for rail-based shippers on Metro-North Railroad's Danbury Branch, and the Waterbury Branch from Derby southward. Cedar Hill is also the base of operations for unit trains of construction aggregate. These trains originate at quarries in Plainfield and Wallingford, Connecticut, as well as an interchange with the Branford Steam Railroad in Branford, Connecticut. Some trains are destined for Tilcon Connecticut facilities in Danbury, Old Saybrook, and Groton, Connecticut, while the remainder travel to Fresh Pond Junction where trains are handed off to the New York and Atlantic Railway for destinations on Long Island.
### System
The Providence and Worcester directly owns and operates:
- Its main line, connecting Providence and Worcester via Woonsocket.
- The Slatersville branch, between Woonsocket and Slatersville.
- The East Providence Branch and East Junction Branch, two connected branch lines. The East Providence Branch originates at Valley Falls Yard where it meets the P&W main line and ends in East Providence, where it meets the East Junction Branch. The latter branch runs between East Providence and the end of P&W's operating rights in Seekonk, Massachusetts.
- The Moshassuck Industrial Track and the Warwick Industrial Track, which are remnants of the Moshassuck Valley Railroad in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and the Warwick Railway in Cranston, Rhode Island, respectively.
- The Norwich and Worcester main line, between Worcester and Norwich.
- A branch of this line between Plainfield and Versailles, Connecticut.
- A three-mile-long branch line in Groton, Connecticut, which connects to the Northeast Corridor.
- The Belle Dock line which serves the Port of New Haven.
P&W operates on but does not own the following:
- The Harbor Junction Industrial Track, a branch serving the Port of Providence, owned by the City of Providence.
- A branch between Versailles and Willimantic, Connecticut, owned by CTDOT.
- The former Connecticut Valley Railroad route between Middletown and Wethersfield, Connecticut, owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
- The Middletown Secondary (former Boston and New York Air-Line Railroad) between North Haven and Durham, Connecticut, owned by Tilcon Connecticut.
- The Middletown Cluster, which includes several short branches in Middletown and the northern portion of the Middletown Secondary between Durham and Middletown, all owned by the State of Connecticut.
- P&W has rights on the line between Fall River, Massachusetts, and the former Sakonnet River rail bridge in Tiverton, Rhode Island, but does not use them, as the line, owned by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, is out of service.
P&W has freight rights on several passenger lines, owned by Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad, meaning it can both serve freight customers and run through trains on them:
- Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Providence and New Haven.
- Metro-North Railroad's Danbury Branch.
- Metro-North Railroad's Waterbury Branch, from Derby southward.
Finally, P&W has overhead trackage rights on several lines, meaning the company may operate trains over them but cannot serve customers on them:
- The Housatonic Railroad between Derby and Danbury.
- CSX between New Haven and North Haven, to access P&W's trackage to Middletown
- The Northeast Corridor between New Haven and New Rochelle, then over the Hell Gate Line and the New York Connecting Railroad to Fresh Pond Junction.
- The Northeast Corridor from Providence to Attleboro, Massachusetts, then the New Bedford Secondary and Fall River Secondary to Fall River. These rights allow access to P&W's operating rights south of Fall River, but are unused, as the tracks south of Fall River are out of service.
#### Former system
Several lines acquired from Penn Central or Conrail have been abandoned, including:
- The Washington Secondary between Washington and Providence.
- The former Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad between Southbridge and Webster.
- The former Pawtuxet Valley Railroad between Pontiac and Cranston.
- A short spur in Valley Falls.
- The northern portion of the former Moshassuck Valley Railroad in Lincoln.
- The former Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad from East Providence southward.
- Freight rights on Aquidneck Island, following the closure of the Sakonnet River rail bridge in 1980.
The Providence and Worcester Railroad has been noted for maintaining its tracks to a high standard. Generally, all main lines are maintained to allow a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). The concern that G&W might reduce these high maintenance standards was raised by a shipper during G&W's acquisition of P&W.
### Commodities carried
P&W reported carrying 34,402 carloads in 2013. Some significant types of cargo transported by the P&W including construction debris, aggregates, construction materials, lumber, steel, plastics, and chemicals.
P&W formerly transported unit trains of coal to several power plants in New England. The trains originated at ports in Providence and New Haven and were handed off to Pan Am Railways for final delivery. Between 2000 and 2016, the railroad reported hauling more than 21,000 carloads of coal.
Intermodal traffic is carried by P&W between the connection with CSX in Worcester and an intermodal facility just south of Worcester.
The P&W makes a point to serve small customers. An example is Arnold Lumber in West Kingston, Rhode Island. Serving this company, which receives one or two cars of freight at a time, requires P&W trains to travel 5 miles (8.0 km) farther southward on the Northeast Corridor than for any other customer, finding space between Amtrak trains that travel up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h).
### Passenger trains
The Providence and Worcester does not operate regularly scheduled passenger train service, but has maintained a small fleet of ex-Amtrak passenger cars since the 1980s, which have been used both as a business train for the company and for a variety of chartered passenger trains in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. The company also operates a Christmas train in November and December of each year. The train, themed on the movie The Polar Express, departs from Woonsocket station and travels along the company's main line, and has operated since 1999.
## Rolling stock
As of 2016, the Providence and Worcester Railroad operated the following locomotives:
## Real estate
For many years, the Providence and Worcester Railroad held real estate in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. P&W retained ownership of parts of the Northeast Corridor upon gaining independence; following Amtrak's assumption of passenger service on the corridor in 1976, it signed an agreement with P&W in 1978 to take ownership of P&W-owned parts of the corridor in exchange for making P&W's freight rights on Amtrak lines permanent.
In 1976, the railroad began building the South Quay Marine Terminal in East Providence, next to the terminus of the East Providence Branch. P&W filled in a portion of the Providence River and planned to turn it into a major shipping facility, but failed to find a partner to develop the project. The land went unused for decades, and P&W finally sold it in 2019 to RI Waterfront Enterprises, which in September 2022 began developing the site to support construction of wind turbines.
Several P&W-built stations are preserved. In addition to the Woonsocket station, which still sees seasonal passenger service from P&W's Polar Express trains, freight or passenger stations also exist in Manville, Rhode Island; Uxbridge, Massachusetts (Uxbridge station); and Whitinsville, Massachusetts.
## Station listing
The following stations all had passenger train service, unless noted. Passenger train service on the main line ended in 1957, apart from the non-stopping State of Maine Express; the East Providence Branch had passenger service only from 1893 to 1896.
## See also
- List of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad precursors
- Railroads in New England |
2,995 | Archaeopteryx | 1,173,473,693 | Genus of early bird-like dinosaur | [
"Feathered dinosaurs",
"Fossil taxa described in 1861",
"Fossils of Germany",
"Jurassic Germany",
"Jurassic birds",
"Late Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe",
"Mesozoic birds of Europe",
"Prehistoric avialans",
"Solnhofen fauna",
"Taxa named by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer",
"Transitional fossils"
]
| Archaeopteryx (/ˌɑːrkiːˈɒptərɪks/; lit. 'old-wing'), sometimes referred to by its German name, "Urvogel" (lit. Primeval Bird), is a genus of avian dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek [] Error: : no text (help) (archaīos), meaning "ancient", and [] Error: : no text (help) (ptéryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, Archaeopteryx was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird (member of the group Avialae). Older potential avialans have since been identified, including Anchiornis, Xiaotingia, and Aurornis.
Archaeopteryx lived in the Late Jurassic around 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany, during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size to a Eurasian magpie, with the largest individuals possibly attaining the size of a raven, the largest species of Archaeopteryx could grow to about 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) in length. Despite their small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx had more in common with other small Mesozoic dinosaurs than with modern birds. In particular, they shared the following features with the dromaeosaurids and troodontids: jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest warm-bloodedness), and various features of the skeleton.
These features make Archaeopteryx a clear candidate for a transitional fossil between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role, not only in the study of the origin of birds, but in the study of dinosaurs. It was named from a single feather in 1861, the identity of which has been controversial. That same year, the first complete specimen of Archaeopteryx was announced. Over the years, ten more fossils of Archaeopteryx have surfaced. Despite variation among these fossils, most experts regard all the remains that have been discovered as belonging to a single species, although this is still debated.
Archaeopteryx was long considered to be the beginning of the evolutionary tree of birds. However, in recent years, the discovery of several small, feathered dinosaurs has created a mystery for palaeontologists, raising questions about which animals are the ancestors of modern birds and which are their relatives. Most of these eleven fossils include impressions of feathers. Because these feathers are of an advanced form (flight feathers), these fossils are evidence that the evolution of feathers began before the Late Jurassic. The type specimen of Archaeopteryx was discovered just two years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Archaeopteryx seemed to confirm Darwin's theories and has since become a key piece of evidence for the origin of birds, the transitional fossils debate, and confirmation of evolution.
## History of discovery
Over the years, twelve body fossil specimens of Archaeopteryx have been found. All of the fossils come from the limestone deposits, quarried for centuries, near Solnhofen, Germany.
The initial discovery, a single feather, was unearthed in 1860 or 1861 and described in 1861 by Hermann von Meyer. It is currently located at the Natural History Museum of Berlin. Though it was the initial holotype, there were indications that it might not have been from the same animal as the body fossils. In 2019 it was reported that laser imaging had revealed the structure of the quill (which had not been visible since some time after the feather was described), and that the feather was inconsistent with the morphology of all other Archaeopteryx feathers known, leading to the conclusion that it originated from another dinosaur. This conclusion was challenged in 2020 as being unlikely; the feather was identified on the basis of morphology as most likely having been an upper major primary covert feather.
The first skeleton, known as the London Specimen (BMNH 37001), was unearthed in 1861 near Langenaltheim, Germany, and perhaps given to local physician Karl Häberlein in return for medical services. He then sold it for £700 (roughly £83,000 in 2020) to the Natural History Museum in London, where it remains. Missing most of its head and neck, it was described in 1863 by Richard Owen as Archaeopteryx macrura, allowing for the possibility it did not belong to the same species as the feather. In the subsequent fourth edition of his On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin described how some authors had maintained "that the whole class of birds came suddenly into existence during the eocene period; but now we know, on the authority of Professor Owen, that a bird certainly lived during the deposition of the upper greensand; and still more recently, that strange bird, the Archaeopteryx, with a long lizard-like tail, bearing a pair of feathers on each joint, and with its wings furnished with two free claws, has been discovered in the oolitic slates of Solnhofen. Hardly any recent discovery shows more forcibly than this how little we as yet know of the former inhabitants of the world."
The Greek word archaīos () means 'ancient, primeval'. Ptéryx primarily means 'wing', but it can also be just 'feather'. Meyer suggested this in his description. At first he referred to a single feather which appeared to resemble a modern bird's remex (wing feather), but he had heard of and been shown a rough sketch of the London specimen, to which he referred as a "Skelett eines mit ähnlichen Federn bedeckten Tieres" ("skeleton of an animal covered in similar feathers"). In German, this ambiguity is resolved by the term Schwinge which does not necessarily mean a wing used for flying. Urschwinge was the favoured translation of Archaeopteryx among German scholars in the late nineteenth century. In English, 'ancient pinion' offers a rough approximation to this.
Since then, twelve specimens have been recovered:
The Berlin Specimen (HMN 1880/81) was discovered in 1874 or 1875 on the Blumenberg near Eichstätt, Germany, by farmer Jakob Niemeyer. He sold this precious fossil for the money to buy a cow in 1876, to innkeeper Johann Dörr, who again sold it to Ernst Otto Häberlein, the son of K. Häberlein. Placed on sale between 1877 and 1881, with potential buyers including O. C. Marsh of Yale University's Peabody Museum, it eventually was bought for 20,000 Goldmark by the Berlin's Natural History Museum, where it now is displayed. The transaction was financed by Ernst Werner von Siemens, founder of the company that bears his name. Described in 1884 by Wilhelm Dames, it is the most complete specimen, and the first with a complete head. In 1897 it was named by Dames as a new species, A. siemensii; though often considered a synonym of A. lithographica, several 21st century studies have concluded that it is a distinct species which includes the Berlin, Munich, and Thermopolis specimens.
Composed of a torso, the Maxberg Specimen (S5) was discovered in 1956 near Langenaltheim; it was brought to the attention of professor Florian Heller in 1958 and described by him in 1959. The specimen is missing its head and tail, although the rest of the skeleton is mostly intact. Although it was once exhibited at the Maxberg Museum in Solnhofen, it is currently missing. It belonged to Eduard Opitsch, who loaned it to the museum until 1974. After his death in 1991, it was discovered that the specimen was missing and may have been stolen or sold.
The Haarlem Specimen (TM 6428/29, also known as the Teylers Specimen) was discovered in 1855 near Riedenburg, Germany, and described as a Pterodactylus crassipes in 1857 by Meyer. It was reclassified in 1970 by John Ostrom and is currently located at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands. It was the very first specimen found, but was incorrectly classified at the time. It is also one of the least complete specimens, consisting mostly of limb bones, isolated cervical vertebrae, and ribs. In 2017 it was named as a separate genus Ostromia, considered more closely related to Anchiornis from China.
The Eichstätt Specimen (JM 2257) was discovered in 1951 near Workerszell, Germany, and described by Peter Wellnhofer in 1974. Currently located at the Jura Museum in Eichstätt, Germany, it is the smallest known specimen and has the second-best head. It is possibly a separate genus (Jurapteryx recurva) or species (A. recurva).
The Solnhofen Specimen (unnumbered specimen) was discovered in the 1970s near Eichstätt, Germany, and described in 1988 by Wellnhofer. Currently located at the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen, it originally was classified as Compsognathus by an amateur collector, the same mayor Friedrich Müller after which the museum is named. It is the largest specimen known and may belong to a separate genus and species, Wellnhoferia grandis. It is missing only portions of the neck, tail, backbone, and head.
The Munich Specimen (BSP 1999 I 50, formerly known as the Solenhofer-Aktien-Verein Specimen) was discovered on 3 August 1992 near Langenaltheim and described in 1993 by Wellnhofer. It is currently located at the Paläontologisches Museum München in Munich, to which it was sold in 1999 for 1.9 million Deutschmark. What was initially believed to be a bony sternum turned out to be part of the coracoid, but a cartilaginous sternum may have been present. Only the front of its face is missing. It has been used as the basis for a distinct species, A. bavarica, but more recent studies suggest it belongs to A. siemensii.
An eighth, fragmentary specimen was discovered in 1990 in the younger Mörnsheim Formation at Daiting, Suevia. Therefore, it is known as the Daiting Specimen, and had been known since 1996 only from a cast, briefly shown at the Naturkundemuseum in Bamberg. The original was purchased by palaeontologist Raimund Albertsdörfer in 2009. It was on display for the first time with six other original fossils of Archaeopteryx at the Munich Mineral Show in October 2009. The Daiting Specimen was subsequently named Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi by Kundrat et al. (2018). After a lengthy period in a closed private collection, it was moved to the Museum of Evolution at Knuthenborg Safaripark (Denmark) in 2022, where it has since been on display and also been made available for researchers.
Another fragmentary fossil was found in 2000. It is in private possession and, since 2004, on loan to the Bürgermeister-Müller Museum in Solnhofen, so it is called the Bürgermeister-Müller Specimen; the institute itself officially refers to it as the "Exemplar of the families Ottman & Steil, Solnhofen". As the fragment represents the remains of a single wing of Archaeopteryx, it is colloquially known as "chicken wing".
Long in a private collection in Switzerland, the Thermopolis Specimen (WDC CSG 100) was discovered in Bavaria and described in 2005 by Mayr, Pohl, and Peters. Donated to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wyoming, it has the best-preserved head and feet; most of the neck and the lower jaw have not been preserved. The "Thermopolis" specimen was described on 2 December 2005 Science journal article as "A well-preserved Archaeopteryx specimen with theropod features"; it shows that Archaeopteryx lacked a reversed toe—a universal feature of birds—limiting its ability to perch on branches and implying a terrestrial or trunk-climbing lifestyle. This has been interpreted as evidence of theropod ancestry. In 1988, Gregory S. Paul claimed to have found evidence of a hyperextensible second toe, but this was not verified and accepted by other scientists until the Thermopolis specimen was described. "Until now, the feature was thought to belong only to the species' close relatives, the deinonychosaurs." The Thermopolis Specimen was assigned to Archaeopteryx siemensii in 2007. The specimen is considered to represent the most complete and best-preserved Archaeopteryx remains yet.
The discovery of an eleventh specimen was announced in 2011; it was described in 2014. It is one of the more complete specimens, but is missing much of the skull and one forelimb. It is privately owned and has yet to be given a name. Palaeontologists of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich studied the specimen, which revealed previously unknown features of the plumage, such as feathers on both the upper and lower legs and metatarsus, and the only preserved tail tip.
A twelfth specimen had been discovered by an amateur collector in 2010 at the Schamhaupten quarry, but the finding was only announced in February 2014. It was scientifically described in 2018. It represents a complete and mostly articulated skeleton with skull. It is the only specimen lacking preserved feathers. It is from the Painten Formation and somewhat older than the other specimens.
### Authenticity
Beginning in 1985, an amateur group including astronomer Fred Hoyle and physicist Lee Spetner, published a series of papers claiming that the feathers on the Berlin and London specimens of Archaeopteryx were forged. Their claims were repudiated by Alan J. Charig and others at the Natural History Museum in London. Most of their supposed evidence for a forgery was based on unfamiliarity with the processes of lithification; for example, they proposed that, based on the difference in texture associated with the feathers, feather impressions were applied to a thin layer of cement, without realizing that feathers themselves would have caused a textural difference. They also misinterpreted the fossils, claiming that the tail was forged as one large feather, when visibly this is not the case. In addition, they claimed that the other specimens of Archaeopteryx known at the time did not have feathers, which is incorrect; the Maxberg and Eichstätt specimens have obvious feathers.
They also expressed disbelief that slabs would split so smoothly, or that one half of a slab containing fossils would have good preservation, but not the counterslab. These are common properties of Solnhofen fossils, because the dead animals would fall onto hardened surfaces, which would form a natural plane for the future slabs to split along and would leave the bulk of the fossil on one side and little on the other.
Finally, the motives they suggested for a forgery are not strong, and are contradictory; one is that Richard Owen wanted to forge evidence in support of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which is unlikely given Owen's views toward Darwin and his theory. The other is that Owen wanted to set a trap for Darwin, hoping the latter would support the fossils so Owen could discredit him with the forgery; this is unlikely because Owen wrote a detailed paper on the London specimen, so such an action would certainly backfire.
Charig et al. pointed to the presence of hairline cracks in the slabs running through both rock and fossil impressions, and mineral growth over the slabs that had occurred before discovery and preparation, as evidence that the feathers were original. Spetner et al. then attempted to show that the cracks would have propagated naturally through their postulated cement layer, but neglected to account for the fact that the cracks were old and had been filled with calcite, and thus were not able to propagate. They also attempted to show the presence of cement on the London specimen through X-ray spectroscopy, and did find something that was not rock; it was not cement either, and is most probably a fragment of silicone rubber left behind when moulds were made of the specimen. Their suggestions have not been taken seriously by palaeontologists, as their evidence was largely based on misunderstandings of geology, and they never discussed the other feather-bearing specimens, which have increased in number since then. Charig et al. reported a discolouration: a dark band between two layers of limestone – they say it is the product of sedimentation. It is natural for limestone to take on the colour of its surroundings and most limestones are coloured (if not colour banded) to some degree, so the darkness was attributed to such impurities. They also mention that a complete absence of air bubbles in the rock slabs is further proof that the specimen is authentic.
## Description
Most of the specimens of Archaeopteryx that have been discovered come from the Solnhofen limestone in Bavaria, southern Germany, which is a Lagerstätte, a rare and remarkable geological formation known for its superbly detailed fossils laid down during the early Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 150.8–148.5 million years ago.
Archaeopteryx was roughly the size of a raven, with broad wings that were rounded at the ends and a long tail compared to its body length. It could reach up to 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in) in body length and 0.7 metres (2 ft 4 in) in wingspan, with an estimated mass of 0.5 to 1 kilogram (1.1 to 2.2 lb). Archaeopteryx feathers, although less documented than its other features, were very similar in structure to modern-day bird feathers. Despite the presence of numerous avian features, Archaeopteryx had many non-avian theropod dinosaur characteristics. Unlike modern birds, Archaeopteryx had small teeth, as well as a long bony tail, features which Archaeopteryx shared with other dinosaurs of the time.
Because it displays features common to both birds and non-avian dinosaurs, Archaeopteryx has often been considered a link between them. In the 1970s, John Ostrom, following Thomas Henry Huxley's lead in 1868, argued that birds evolved within theropod dinosaurs and Archaeopteryx was a critical piece of evidence for this argument; it had several avian features, such as a wishbone, flight feathers, wings, and a partially reversed first toe along with dinosaur and theropod features. For instance, it has a long ascending process of the ankle bone, interdental plates, an obturator process of the ischium, and long chevrons in the tail. In particular, Ostrom found that Archaeopteryx was remarkably similar to the theropod family Dromaeosauridae.
Archaeopteryx had three separate digits on each fore-leg each ending with a "claw". Few birds have such features. Some birds, such as ducks, swans, Jacanas (Jacana sp.), and the hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), have them concealed beneath their leg-feathers.
### Plumage
Specimens of Archaeopteryx were most notable for their well-developed flight feathers. They were markedly asymmetrical and showed the structure of flight feathers in modern birds, with vanes given stability by a barb-barbule-barbicel arrangement. The tail feathers were less asymmetrical, again in line with the situation in modern birds and also had firm vanes. The thumb did not yet bear a separately movable tuft of stiff feathers.
The body plumage of Archaeopteryx is less well-documented and has only been properly researched in the well-preserved Berlin specimen. Thus, as more than one species seems to be involved, the research into the Berlin specimen's feathers does not necessarily hold true for the rest of the species of Archaeopteryx. In the Berlin specimen, there are "trousers" of well-developed feathers on the legs; some of these feathers seem to have a basic contour feather structure, but are somewhat decomposed (they lack barbicels as in ratites). In part they are firm and thus capable of supporting flight.
A patch of pennaceous feathers is found running along its back, which was quite similar to the contour feathers of the body plumage of modern birds in being symmetrical and firm, although not as stiff as the flight-related feathers. Apart from that, the feather traces in the Berlin specimen are limited to a sort of "proto-down" not dissimilar to that found in the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx: decomposed and fluffy, and possibly even appearing more like fur than feathers in life (although not in their microscopic structure). These occur on the remainder of the body—although some feathers did not fossilize and others were obliterated during preparation, leaving bare patches on specimens—and the lower neck.
There is no indication of feathering on the upper neck and head. While these conceivably may have been nude, this may still be an artefact of preservation. It appears that most Archaeopteryx specimens became embedded in anoxic sediment after drifting some time on their backs in the sea—the head, neck and the tail are generally bent downward, which suggests that the specimens had just started to rot when they were embedded, with tendons and muscle relaxing so that the characteristic shape (death pose) of the fossil specimens was achieved. This would mean that the skin already was softened and loose, which is bolstered by the fact that in some specimens the flight feathers were starting to detach at the point of embedding in the sediment. So it is hypothesized that the pertinent specimens moved along the sea bed in shallow water for some time before burial, the head and upper neck feathers sloughing off, while the more firmly attached tail feathers remained.
#### Colouration
In 2011, graduate student Ryan Carney and colleagues performed the first colour study on an Archaeopteryx specimen. Using scanning electron microscopy technology and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, the team was able to detect the structure of melanosomes in the isolated feather specimen described in 1861. The resultant measurements were then compared to those of 87 modern bird species, and the original colour was calculated with a 95% likelihood to be black. The feather was determined to be black throughout, with heavier pigmentation in the distal tip. The feather studied was most probably a dorsal covert, which would have partly covered the primary feathers on the wings. The study does not mean that Archaeopteryx was entirely black, but suggests that it had some black colouration which included the coverts. Carney pointed out that this is consistent with what we know of modern flight characteristics, in that black melanosomes have structural properties that strengthen feathers for flight. In a 2013 study published in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, new analyses of Archaeopteryxs feathers revealed that the animal may have had complex light- and dark-coloured plumage, with heavier pigmentation in the distal tips and outer vanes. This analysis of colour distribution was based primarily on the distribution of sulphate within the fossil. An author on the previous Archaeopteryx colour study argued against the interpretation of such biomarkers as an indicator of eumelanin in the full Archaeopteryx specimen. Carney and other colleagues also argued against the 2013 study's interpretation of the sulphate and trace metals, and in a 2020 study published in Scientific Reports demonstrated that the isolated covert feather was entirely matte black (as opposed to black and white, or iridescent) and that the remaining "plumage patterns of Archaeopteryx remain unknown".
## Classification
Today, fossils of the genus Archaeopteryx are usually assigned to one or two species, A. lithographica and A. siemensii, but their taxonomic history is complicated. Ten names have been published for the handful of specimens. As interpreted today, the name A. lithographica only referred to the single feather described by Meyer. In 1954 Gavin de Beer concluded that the London specimen was the holotype. In 1960, Swinton accordingly proposed that the name Archaeopteryx lithographica be placed on the official genera list making the alternative names Griphosaurus and Griphornis invalid. The ICZN, implicitly accepting De Beer's standpoint, did indeed suppress the plethora of alternative names initially proposed for the first skeleton specimens, which mainly resulted from the acrimonious dispute between Meyer and his opponent Johann Andreas Wagner (whose Griphosaurus problematicus – 'problematic riddle-lizard' – was a vitriolic sneer at Meyer's Archaeopteryx). In addition, in 1977, the Commission ruled that the first species name of the Haarlem specimen, crassipes, described by Meyer as a pterosaur before its true nature was realized, was not to be given preference over lithographica in instances where scientists considered them to represent the same species.
It has been noted that the feather, the first specimen of Archaeopteryx described, does not correspond well with the flight-related feathers of Archaeopteryx. It certainly is a flight feather of a contemporary species, but its size and proportions indicate that it may belong to another, smaller species of feathered theropod, of which only this feather is known so far. As the feather had been designated the type specimen, the name Archaeopteryx should then no longer be applied to the skeletons, thus creating significant nomenclatorial confusion. In 2007, two sets of scientists therefore petitioned the ICZN requesting that the London specimen explicitly be made the type by designating it as the new holotype specimen, or neotype. This suggestion was upheld by the ICZN after four years of debate, and the London specimen was designated the neotype on 3 October 2011.
Below is a cladogram published in 2013 by Godefroit et al.
### Species
It has been argued that all the specimens belong to the same species, A. lithographica. Differences do exist among the specimens, and while some researchers regard these as due to the different ages of the specimens, some may be related to actual species diversity. In particular, the Munich, Eichstätt, Solnhofen, and Thermopolis specimens differ from the London, Berlin, and Haarlem specimens in being smaller or much larger, having different finger proportions, having more slender snouts lined with forward-pointing teeth, and the possible presence of a sternum. Due to these differences, most individual specimens have been given their own species name at one point or another. The Berlin specimen has been designated as Archaeornis siemensii, the Eichstätt specimen as Jurapteryx recurva, the Munich specimen as Archaeopteryx bavarica, and the Solnhofen specimen as Wellnhoferia grandis.
In 2007, a review of all well-preserved specimens including the then-newly discovered Thermopolis specimen concluded that two distinct species of Archaeopteryx could be supported: A. lithographica (consisting of at least the London and Solnhofen specimens), and A. siemensii (consisting of at least the Berlin, Munich, and Thermopolis specimens). The two species are distinguished primarily by large flexor tubercles on the foot claws in A. lithographica (the claws of A. siemensii specimens being relatively simple and straight). A. lithographica also had a constricted portion of the crown in some teeth and a stouter metatarsus. A supposed additional species, Wellnhoferia grandis (based on the Solnhofen specimen), seems to be indistinguishable from A. lithographica except in its larger size.
### Synonyms
If two names are given, the first denotes the original describer of the "species", the second the author on whom the given name combination is based. As always in zoological nomenclature, putting an author's name in parentheses denotes that the taxon was originally described in a different genus.
- Archaeopteryx lithographica Meyer, 1861 [conserved name]
- Archaeopterix lithographica Anon., 1861 [lapsus]
- Griphosaurus problematicus Wagner, 1862 [rejected name 1961 per ICZN Opinion 607]
- Griphornis longicaudatus Owen vide Woodward, 1862 [rejected name 1961 per ICZN Opinion 607]
- Archaeopteryx macrura Owen, 1862 [rejected name 1961 per ICZN Opinion 607]
- Archaeopteryx oweni Petronievics, 1917 [rejected name 1961 per ICZN Opinion 607]
- Archaeopteryx recurva Howgate, 1984
- Jurapteryx recurva (Howgate, 1984) Howgate, 1985
- Wellnhoferia grandis Elżanowski, 2001
- Archaeopteryx siemensii Dames, 1897
- Archaeornis siemensii (Dames, 1897) Petronievics, 1917
- Archaeopteryx bavarica Wellnhofer, 1993
"Archaeopteryx" vicensensis (Anon. fide Lambrecht, 1933) is a nomen nudum for what appears to be an undescribed pterosaur.
### Phylogenetic position
Modern palaeontology has often classified Archaeopteryx as the most primitive bird. However, it is not thought to be a true ancestor of modern birds, but rather a close relative of that ancestor. Nonetheless, Archaeopteryx was often used as a model of the true ancestral bird. Several authors have done so. Lowe (1935) and Thulborn (1984) questioned whether Archaeopteryx truly was the first bird. They suggested that Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur that was no more closely related to birds than were other dinosaur groups. Kurzanov (1987) suggested that Avimimus was more likely to be the ancestor of all birds than Archaeopteryx. Barsbold (1983) and Zweers and Van den Berge (1997) noted that many maniraptoran lineages are extremely birdlike, and they suggested that different groups of birds may have descended from different dinosaur ancestors.
The discovery of the closely related Xiaotingia in 2011 led to new phylogenetic analyses that suggested that Archaeopteryx is a deinonychosaur rather than an avialan, and therefore, not a "bird" under most common uses of that term. A more thorough analysis was published soon after to test this hypothesis, and failed to arrive at the same result; it found Archaeopteryx in its traditional position at the base of Avialae, while Xiaotingia was recovered as a basal dromaeosaurid or troodontid. The authors of the follow-up study noted that uncertainties still exist, and that it may not be possible to state confidently whether or not Archaeopteryx is a member of Avialae or not, barring new and better specimens of relevant species.
Phylogenetic studies conducted by Senter, et al. (2012) and Turner, Makovicky, and Norell (2012) also found Archaeopteryx to be more closely related to living birds than to dromaeosaurids and troodontids. On the other hand, Godefroit et al. (2013) recovered Archaeopteryx as more closely related to dromaeosaurids and troodontids in the analysis included in their description of Eosinopteryx brevipenna. The authors used a modified version of the matrix from the study describing Xiaotingia, adding Jinfengopteryx elegans and Eosinopteryx brevipenna to it, as well as adding four additional characters related to the development of the plumage. Unlike the analysis from the description of Xiaotingia, the analysis conducted by Godefroit, et al. did not find Archaeopteryx to be related particularly closely to Anchiornis and Xiaotingia, which were recovered as basal troodontids instead.
Agnolín and Novas (2013) found Archaeopteryx and (possibly synonymous) Wellnhoferia to be form a clade sister to the lineage including Jeholornis and Pygostylia, with Microraptoria, Unenlagiinae, and the clade containing Anchiornis and Xiaotingia being successively closer outgroups to the Avialae (defined by the authors as the clade stemming from the last common ancestor of Archaeopteryx and Aves). Another phylogenetic study by Godefroit, et al., using a more inclusive matrix than the one from the analysis in the description of Eosinopteryx brevipenna, also found Archaeopteryx to be a member of Avialae (defined by the authors as the most inclusive clade containing Passer domesticus, but not Dromaeosaurus albertensis or Troodon formosus). Archaeopteryx was found to form a grade at the base of Avialae with Xiaotingia, Anchiornis, and Aurornis. Compared to Archaeopteryx, Xiaotingia was found to be more closely related to extant birds, while both Anchiornis and Aurornis were found to be more distantly so.
Hu et al. (2018), Wang et al. (2018) and Hartman et al. (2019) found Archaeopteryx to have been a deinonychosaur instead of an avialan. More specifically, it and closely related taxa were considered basal deinonychosaurs, with dromaeosaurids and troodontids forming together a parallel lineage within the group. Because Hartman et al. found Archaeopteryx isolated in a group of flightless deinonychosaurs (otherwise considered "anchiornithids"), they considered it highly probable that this animal evolved flight independently from bird ancestors (and from Microraptor and Yi). The following cladogram illustrates their hypothesis regarding the position of Archaeopteryx:
The authors, however, found that the Archaeopteryx being an avialan was only slightly less likely than this hypothesis, and as likely as Archaeopterygidae and Troodontidae being sister clades.
## Palaeobiology
### Flight
As in the wings of modern birds, the flight feathers of Archaeopteryx were somewhat asymmetrical and the tail feathers were rather broad. This implies that the wings and tail were used for lift generation, but it is unclear whether Archaeopteryx was capable of flapping flight or simply a glider. The lack of a bony breastbone suggests that Archaeopteryx was not a very strong flier, but flight muscles might have attached to the thick, boomerang-shaped wishbone, the platelike coracoids, or perhaps, to a cartilaginous sternum. The sideways orientation of the glenoid (shoulder) joint between scapula, coracoid, and humerus—instead of the dorsally angled arrangement found in modern birds—may indicate that Archaeopteryx was unable to lift its wings above its back, a requirement for the upstroke found in modern flapping flight. According to a study by Philip Senter in 2006, Archaeopteryx was indeed unable to use flapping flight as modern birds do, but it may well have used a downstroke-only flap-assisted gliding technique. However, a more recent study solves this issue by suggesting a different flight stroke configuration for non-avian flying theropods.
Archaeopteryx wings were relatively large, which would have resulted in a low stall speed and reduced turning radius. The short and rounded shape of the wings would have increased drag, but also could have improved its ability to fly through cluttered environments such as trees and brush (similar wing shapes are seen in birds that fly through trees and brush, such as crows and pheasants). The presence of "hind wings", asymmetrical flight feathers stemming from the legs similar to those seen in dromaeosaurids such as Microraptor, also would have added to the aerial mobility of Archaeopteryx. The first detailed study of the hind wings by Longrich in 2006, suggested that the structures formed up to 12% of the total airfoil. This would have reduced stall speed by up to 6% and turning radius by up to 12%.
The feathers of Archaeopteryx were asymmetrical. This has been interpreted as evidence that it was a flyer, because flightless birds tend to have symmetrical feathers. Some scientists, including Thomson and Speakman, have questioned this. They studied more than 70 families of living birds, and found that some flightless types do have a range of asymmetry in their feathers, and that the feathers of Archaeopteryx fall into this range. The degree of asymmetry seen in Archaeopteryx is more typical for slow flyers than for flightless birds.
In 2010, Robert L. Nudds and Gareth J. Dyke in the journal Science published a paper in which they analysed the rachises of the primary feathers of Confuciusornis and Archaeopteryx. The analysis suggested that the rachises on these two genera were thinner and weaker than those of modern birds relative to body mass. The authors determined that Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis, were unable to use flapping flight. This study was criticized by Philip J. Currie and Luis Chiappe. Chiappe suggested that it is difficult to measure the rachises of fossilized feathers, and Currie speculated that Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis must have been able to fly to some degree, as their fossils are preserved in what is believed to have been marine or lake sediments, suggesting that they must have been able to fly over deep water. Gregory Paul also disagreed with the study, arguing in a 2010 response that Nudds and Dyke had overestimated the masses of these early birds, and that more accurate mass estimates allowed powered flight even with relatively narrow rachises. Nudds and Dyke had assumed a mass of 250 g (8.8 oz) for the Munich specimen Archaeopteryx, a young juvenile, based on published mass estimates of larger specimens. Paul argued that a more reasonable body mass estimate for the Munich specimen is about 140 g (4.9 oz). Paul also criticized the measurements of the rachises themselves, noting that the feathers in the Munich specimen are poorly preserved. Nudds and Dyke reported a diameter of 0.75 mm (0.03 in) for the longest primary feather, which Paul could not confirm using photographs. Paul measured some of the inner primary feathers, finding rachises 1.25–1.4 mm (0.049–0.055 in) across. Despite these criticisms, Nudds and Dyke stood by their original conclusions. They claimed that Paul's statement, that an adult Archaeopteryx would have been a better flyer than the juvenile Munich specimen, was dubious. This, they reasoned, would require an even thicker rachis, evidence for which has not yet been presented. Another possibility is that they had not achieved true flight, but instead used their wings as aids for extra lift while running over water after the fashion of the basilisk lizard, which could explain their presence in lake and marine deposits (see Origin of avian flight).
In 2004, scientists analysing a detailed CT scan of the braincase of the London Archaeopteryx concluded that its brain was significantly larger than that of most dinosaurs, indicating that it possessed the brain size necessary for flying. The overall brain anatomy was reconstructed using the scan. The reconstruction showed that the regions associated with vision took up nearly one-third of the brain. Other well-developed areas involved hearing and muscle coordination. The skull scan also revealed the structure of its inner ear. The structure more closely resembles that of modern birds than the inner ear of non-avian reptiles. These characteristics taken together suggest that Archaeopteryx had the keen sense of hearing, balance, spatial perception, and coordination needed to fly. Archaeopteryx had a cerebrum-to-brain-volume ratio 78% of the way to modern birds from the condition of non-coelurosaurian dinosaurs such as Carcharodontosaurus or Allosaurus, which had a crocodile-like anatomy of the brain and inner ear. Newer research shows that while the Archaeopteryx brain was more complex than that of more primitive theropods, it had a more generalized brain volume among Maniraptora dinosaurs, even smaller than that of other non-avian dinosaurs in several instances, which indicates the neurological development required for flight was already a common trait in the maniraptoran clade.
Recent studies of flight feather barb geometry reveal that modern birds possess a larger barb angle in the trailing vane of the feather, whereas Archaeopteryx lacks this large barb angle, indicating potentially weak flight abilities.
Archaeopteryx continues to play an important part in scientific debates about the origin and evolution of birds. Some scientists see it as a semi-arboreal climbing animal, following the idea that birds evolved from tree-dwelling gliders (the "trees down" hypothesis for the evolution of flight proposed by O. C. Marsh). Other scientists see Archaeopteryx as running quickly along the ground, supporting the idea that birds evolved flight by running (the "ground up" hypothesis proposed by Samuel Wendell Williston). Still others suggest that Archaeopteryx might have been at home both in the trees and on the ground, like modern crows, and this latter view is what currently is considered best-supported by morphological characters. Altogether, it appears that the species was not particularly specialized for running on the ground or for perching. A scenario outlined by Elżanowski in 2002 suggested that Archaeopteryx used its wings mainly to escape predators by glides punctuated with shallow downstrokes to reach successively higher perches, and alternatively, to cover longer distances (mainly) by gliding down from cliffs or treetops.
In March 2018, scientists reported that Archaeopteryx was likely capable of flight, but in a manner distinct and substantially different from that of modern birds. This study on Archaeopteryxs bone histology suggests that it was closest to true flying birds, and in particular to pheasants and other burst flyers.
Studies of Archaeopteryx's feather sheaths revealed that like modern birds, it had a center-out, flight related molting strategy. As it was a weak flier, this was extremely advantageous in preserving its maximum flight performance.
### Growth
An histological study by Erickson, Norell, Zhongue, and others in 2009 estimated that Archaeopteryx grew relatively slowly compared to modern birds, presumably because the outermost portions of Archaeopteryx bones appear poorly vascularized; in living vertebrates, poorly vascularized bone is correlated with slow growth rate. They also assume that all known skeletons of Archaeopteryx come from juvenile specimens. Because the bones of Archaeopteryx could not be histologically sectioned in a formal skeletochronological (growth ring) analysis, Erickson and colleagues used bone vascularity (porosity) to estimate bone growth rate. They assumed that poorly vascularized bone grows at similar rates in all birds and in Archaeopteryx. The poorly vascularized bone of Archaeopteryx might have grown as slowly as that in a mallard (2.5 micrometres per day) or as fast as that in an ostrich (4.2 micrometres per day). Using this range of bone growth rates, they calculated how long it would take to "grow" each specimen of Archaeopteryx to the observed size; it may have taken at least 970 days (there were 375 days in a Late Jurassic year) to reach an adult size of 0.8–1 kg (1.8–2.2 lb). The study also found that the avialans Jeholornis and Sapeornis grew relatively slowly, as did the dromaeosaurid Mahakala. The avialans Confuciusornis and Ichthyornis grew relatively quickly, following a growth trend similar to that of modern birds. One of the few modern birds that exhibit slow growth is the flightless kiwi, and the authors speculated that Archaeopteryx and the kiwi had similar basal metabolic rate.
### Daily activity patterns
Comparisons between the scleral rings of Archaeopteryx and modern birds and reptiles indicate that it may have been diurnal, similar to most modern birds.
## Palaeoecology
The richness and diversity of the Solnhofen limestones in which all specimens of Archaeopteryx have been found have shed light on an ancient Jurassic Bavaria strikingly different from the present day. The latitude was similar to Florida, though the climate was likely to have been drier, as evidenced by fossils of plants with adaptations for arid conditions and a lack of terrestrial sediments characteristic of rivers. Evidence of plants, although scarce, include cycads and conifers while animals found include a large number of insects, small lizards, pterosaurs, and Compsognathus.
The excellent preservation of Archaeopteryx fossils and other terrestrial fossils found at Solnhofen indicates that they did not travel far before becoming preserved. The Archaeopteryx specimens found were therefore likely to have lived on the low islands surrounding the Solnhofen lagoon rather than to have been corpses that drifted in from farther away. Archaeopteryx skeletons are considerably less numerous in the deposits of Solnhofen than those of pterosaurs, of which seven genera have been found. The pterosaurs included species such as Rhamphorhynchus belonging to the Rhamphorhynchidae, the group which dominated the ecological niche currently occupied by seabirds, and which became extinct at the end of the Jurassic. The pterosaurs, which also included Pterodactylus, were common enough that it is unlikely that the specimens found are vagrants from the larger islands 50 km (31 mi) to the north.
The islands that surrounded the Solnhofen lagoon were low lying, semi-arid, and sub-tropical with a long dry season and little rain. The closest modern analogue for the Solnhofen conditions is said to be Orca Basin in the northern Gulf of Mexico, although it is much deeper than the Solnhofen lagoons. The flora of these islands was adapted to these dry conditions and consisted mostly of low (3 m (10 ft)) shrubs. Contrary to reconstructions of Archaeopteryx climbing large trees, these seem to have been mostly absent from the islands; few trunks have been found in the sediments and fossilized tree pollen also is absent.
The lifestyle of Archaeopteryx is difficult to reconstruct and there are several theories regarding it. Some researchers suggest that it was primarily adapted to life on the ground, while other researchers suggest that it was principally arboreal on the basis of the curvature of the claws which has since been questioned. The absence of trees does not preclude Archaeopteryx from an arboreal lifestyle, as several species of bird live exclusively in low shrubs. Various aspects of the morphology of Archaeopteryx point to either an arboreal or ground existence, including the length of its legs and the elongation in its feet; some authorities consider it likely to have been a generalist capable of feeding in both shrubs and open ground, as well as along the shores of the lagoon. It most likely hunted small prey, seizing it with its jaws if it was small enough, or with its claws if it was larger.
## See also
- Dinosaur colouration
- Evolution of birds
- Feathered dinosaurs
- Origin of birds
- Ostromia
- Rhamphorhynchus
- Temporal paradox (paleontology)
- Xiaotingia |
18,756 | Master of Puppets | 1,173,184,187 | null | [
"1986 albums",
"Albums produced by Flemming Rasmussen",
"Cthulhu Mythos music",
"Elektra Records albums",
"Featured articles",
"Metallica albums",
"United States National Recording Registry albums",
"United States National Recording Registry recordings",
"Vertigo Records albums"
]
| Master of Puppets is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band's last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album's promotional tour.
The album's artwork, designed by Metallica and Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam, depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a clouded, blood-red sky, with a fiery orange glow on the horizon. Instead of releasing a single or video in advance of the album's release, Metallica embarked on a five-month American tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne. The European leg was canceled after Burton's death in September 1986, and the band returned home to audition a new bassist.
Master of Puppets peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its music and political lyrics. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential metal albums of all time, and is credited with consolidating the American thrash metal scene. It was certified six times platinum by the RIAA in 2003 for shipping six million copies in the United States, and was later certified six times platinum by Music Canada and platinum by the BPI. In 2015, Master of Puppets became the first metal recording to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
## Background and recording
Metallica's 1983 debut Kill 'Em All laid the foundation for thrash metal with its aggressive musicianship and vitriolic lyrics. The album revitalized the American underground scene, and inspired similar records by contemporaries. The band's second album Ride the Lightning extended the limits of the genre with its more sophisticated songwriting and improved production. The album caught the attention of Elektra Records representative Michael Alago, who signed the group to an eight-album deal in the fall of 1984. Elektra reissued Ride the Lightning on November 19, and the band began touring larger venues and festivals throughout 1985. After parting with manager Jon Zazula, Metallica hired Q Prime executives Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch. During the summer, the band played the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, alongside Bon Jovi and Ratt to an audience of 70,000.
Metallica was motivated to make an album that would impress critics and fans, and began writing new material in mid-1985. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich were the main songwriters on the album, already titled Master of Puppets. The two developed ideas at a garage in El Cerrito, California, before inviting bassist Cliff Burton and guitarist Kirk Hammett for rehearsals. Hetfield and Ulrich described the songwriting process as starting with "guitar riffs, assembled and reassembled until they start to sound like a song". After that, the band came up with a song title and topic, and Hetfield wrote lyrics to match the title. Master of Puppets is Metallica's first album not to feature songwriting contributions from former lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. Mustaine claimed he had co-written "Leper Messiah", based on an old song called "The Hills Ran Red". The band denied this, but stated that one section incorporated Mustaine's ideas.
The band was not satisfied with the acoustics of the American studios they considered, and decided to record in Ulrich's native Denmark. Ulrich took drum lessons, and Hammett worked with Joe Satriani to learn how to record more efficiently. Ulrich was in talks with Rush's bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee to produce the album, but the collaboration never materialized because of uncoordinated schedules. Metallica recorded the album with producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark, from September 1 to December 27, 1985. The writing of all the songs except "Orion" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" was completed before the band's arrival in Copenhagen. Rasmussen stated that the band brought well-prepared demos of the songs, and only slight changes were made to the compositions in the studio. The recording took longer than the previous album because Metallica had developed a sense of perfectionism and had higher ambitions.
Metallica eschewed the slick production and synthesizers of contemporary hard rock and glam metal albums. With a reputation for drinking, the band stayed sober on recording days. Hammett recalled that the group was "just making another album" at the time and "had no idea that the record would have such a range of influence that it went on to have". He also said that the group was "definitely peaking" at the time and that the album had "the sound of a band really gelling, really learning how to work well together."
Rasmussen and Metallica did not manage to complete the mixtapes as planned. Instead, the multitrack recordings were sent in January 1986 to Michael Wagener, who finished the album's mixing. The cover was designed by Metallica and Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam. It depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a blood-red sky. Ulrich explained that the artwork summarized the lyrical content of the album—people being subconsciously manipulated. The original artwork was sold at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City for \$28,000 in 2008. The band mocked the warning stickers promoted by the PMRC with a facetious Parental Advisory label on the cover: "The only track you probably won't want to play is 'Damage, Inc.' due to multiple use of the infamous 'F' word. Otherwise, there aren't any 'shits', 'fucks', 'pisses', 'cunts', 'motherfuckers', or 'cocksuckers' anywhere on this record".
The album was recorded with the following equipment: Hammett's guitars were a 1974 Gibson Flying V, a Jackson Randy Rhoads, and a Fernandes Stratocaster copy; Hetfield used a Jackson King V played through a Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ amplifier modified as a pre-amp; Burton played an Aria Pro II SB1000 through Mesa Boogie amplifier heads and cabinets; Ulrich played Tama drum equipment, and borrowed a rare Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum from Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen.
## Music and lyrics
Master of Puppets features dynamic music and thick arrangements. Metallica delivered a more refined approach and performance compared to the previous two albums, with multilayered songs and technical dexterity. This album and its predecessor Ride the Lightning follow a similar track sequencing: both open with an up-tempo song with an acoustic intro, followed by a lengthy title track, and a fourth track with ballad qualities. Although both albums are similarly structured, the musicianship on Master of Puppets is more powerful and epic in scope, with tight rhythms and delicate guitar solos. According to music writer Joel McIver, Master of Puppets introduced a new level of heaviness and complexity in thrash metal, displaying atmospheric and precisely executed songs. Hetfield's vocals had matured from the hoarse shouting of the first two albums to a deeper, in-control, yet aggressive style.
The songs explore themes such as control and the abuse of power. The lyrics describe the consequences of alienation, oppression, and feelings of powerlessness. Author Ryan Moore thought the lyrics depicted "ominous yet unnamed forces of power wielding total control over helpless human subjects". The lyrics were considered perceptive and harrowing, and were praised for being honest and socially conscious by writer Brock Helander. Referring to the epic proportions of the songs, BBC Music's Eamonn Stack stated that "at this stage in their careers Metallica weren't even doing songs, they were telling stories". The compositions and arrangements benefited from bassist Cliff Burton's classical training and understanding of harmony.
"Battery" refers to angry violence, as in the term "assault and battery". Some critics contended that the title actually refers to an artillery battery, and interpreted it as "Hetfield of a war tactic as the aggressor" personifying destruction. The song begins with bass-heavy acoustic guitars that build upon multitracked layers until they are joined by a sonic wall of distorted electric guitars. It then breaks into fast, aggressive riffing, featuring off-beat rhythms and heavily distorted minor dyads where root-fifth power chords might be expected. Hetfield improvised the riff while relaxing in London.
"Master of Puppets" consists of several riffs with odd meters and a cleanly picked middle section with melodic solo. The song shares a similar structure with "The Four Horsemen" from the band's first album: two verse-chorus sets lead to a lengthy interlude to another verse-chorus set. The opening and pre-verse sections feature fast downpicked chromatic riffing at around 212 beats per minute in mostly time. Every fourth bar of each verse and the outro is cut short by more than a beat; the time signature of these bars is often idealistically analyzed as being , but it is performed with a delay after the third beat, making it closer to (). A lengthy interlude follows the second chorus, beginning with a clean, arpeggiated section over which Hetfield contributes a melodic solo; the riffing becomes distorted and progressively more heavy and Hammett provides a more virtuosic solo before the song eventually returns to the main verse. The song closes with a fade-out of sinister laughter. The lyrical theme is cocaine addiction.
"The Thing That Should Not Be" was inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos created by famed horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, with notable direct references to The Shadow over Innsmouth and to Cthulhu himself, who is the subject matter of the song's chorus. It is considered the heaviest track on the album, with the main riff emulating a beast dragging itself into the sea. The Black Sabbath-influenced guitars are down-tuned, creating slow and moody ambience.
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" was based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and conveys the thoughts of a patient unjustly caged in a mental institution. The song opens with a section of clean single strings and harmonics. The clean, arpeggiated main riff is played in alternating and time signatures. The song is structured with alternating somber clean guitars in the verses, and distorted heavy riffing in the choruses, unfolding into an aggressive finale. This structure follows a pattern of power ballads Metallica set with "Fade to Black" on Ride the Lightning, "One" on ...And Justice for All and later "The Day That Never Comes" on Death Magnetic.
"Disposable Heroes" is an anti-war song about a young soldier whose fate is controlled by his superiors. With sections performed at 220 beats per minute, it is one of the most intense tracks on the record. The guitar passage at the end of each verse was Hammett's imitation of the sort of music he found in war films.
The syncopated riffing of "Leper Messiah" challenges the hypocrisy of the televangelism that emerged in the 1980s. The song describes how people are willingly turned into blind religious followers who mindlessly do whatever they are told. The 136 beats per minute mid-tempo riffing of the verses culminates in a descending chromatic riff in the chorus; it increases to a galloping 184 beats per minute for the middle section that climaxes in a distorted scream of "Lie!". The title derives from the lyrics to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust".
"Orion" is a multipart instrumental highlighting Burton's bass playing. It opens with a fade-in bass section, heavily processed to resemble an orchestra. It continues with mid-tempo riffing, followed by a bass riff at half-tempo. The tempo accelerates during the latter part, and ends with music fading out. Burton arranged the middle section, which features its moody bass line and multipart guitar harmonies.
"Damage, Inc." rants about senseless violence and reprisal at an unspecified target. It starts with a series of reversed bass chords based on the chorale prelude of Bach's "Come, Sweet Death". The song then jumps into a rapid rhythm with a pedal-point riff in E that Hammett says was influenced by Deep Purple.
## Reception
Master of Puppets was hailed as a masterpiece by critics outside of the thrash metal audience and cited by some as the genre's greatest album. In a contemporary review, Tim Holmes of Rolling Stone asserted that the band had redefined heavy metal with the technical skill and subtlety showcased on the album, which he described as "the sound of global paranoia". Kerrang! wrote that Master of Puppets "finally put Metallica into the big leagues where they belong". Editor Tom King said Metallica was at an "incredible song-writing peak" during the recording sessions, partially because Burton contributed to the songwriting. By contrast, Spin magazine's Judge I-Rankin was disappointed with the album and said, although the production is exceptional and Metallica's experimentation is commendable, it eschews the less "intellectual" approach of Kill 'Em All for a MDC-inspired direction that is inconsistent.
In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey viewed Master of Puppets as Metallica's best album and remarked that, although it was not as unexpected as Ride the Lightning, it is a more musically and thematically consistent album. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said the songs were the band's most intense at that point, and veer toward "the progressive tendency of Rush." Adrien Begrand of PopMatters praised the production as "a metal version of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound" and believed none of Metallica's subsequent albums could match its passionate and intense musical quality. BBC Music's Eamonn Stack called the album "hard, fast, rock with substance" and likened the songs to stories of "biblical proportions". Canadian journalist Martin Popoff compared the album to Ride the Lightning and found Master of Puppets not a remake, though similar in "awesome power and effect". Robert Christgau was more critical. Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said the band's energy and political motivations are respectable, but the music evokes clichéd images of "revolutionary heroes" who are "male chauvinists too inexperienced to know better".
Released on March 3, 1986, the album had a 72-week run on the Billboard 200 album charts and earned the band its first gold certification. The album debuted on March 29 at number 128 and peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. Billboard reported that 300,000 copies were sold in its first three weeks. More than 500,000 copies were sold in its first year, even with virtually no radio airplay and no music videos. In 2003, Master of Puppets was certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with six million copies shipped in the United States. Between the beginning of the Nielsen SoundScan era in 1991 and 2023, 7,980,000 copies were sold. The album was less successful on an international level, despite entering the top 5 on the Finnish and the top 40 on the German and Swiss album charts in its inaugural year. In 2004, it peaked within the top 15 in Sweden. In 2008, the album reached the top 40 on the Australian and Norwegian album charts. It received 6× platinum certification from Music Canada and a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 and 100,000 copies, respectively.
Bassist Robert Trujillo cited Master of Puppets as his favorite album, "I feel Master of Puppets has a lot of everything. It's got instrumentals, it's got great segues, great riffs. It's got one of my favorite songs ever by Metallica, and that song is "Disposable Heroes". So any time I can hear that particular song, count me in. "Battery" is an amazing song. So it's just got everything that I love about Metallica."
## Accolades and legacy
Master of Puppets has appeared in several publications' best album lists. It was ranked number 167 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and upgrading to number 97 in a 2020 revised list. The magazine would also later rank it second on its 2017 list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time", behind Black Sabbath's Paranoid. Time included the album in its list of the 100 best albums of all time. According to the magazine's Josh Tyrangiel, Master of Puppets reinforced the velocity of playing in heavy metal and diminished some of its clichés. Slant Magazine placed the album at number 90 on its list of the best albums of the 1980s, saying Master of Puppets is Metallica's best and most sincere recording. The album is featured in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. IGN named Master of Puppets the best heavy metal album of all time. The website stated it was Metallica's best because it "built upon and perfected everything they had experimented with prior" and that "all the pieces come together in glorious cohesion". Music journalist Martin Popoff also ranked it the best heavy metal album. The album was voted the fourth greatest guitar album of all time by Guitar World in 2006, and the title track ranked number 61 on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar solos. Total Guitar ranked the main riff of the title track at number 7 among the top 20 guitar riffs. The April 2006 edition of Kerrang! was dedicated to the album and gave away to readers the cover album Master of Puppets: Remastered.
Master of Puppets became thrash metal's first platinum album and by the early 1990s thrash metal successfully challenged and redefined the mainstream of heavy metal. Metallica and a few other bands headlined arena concerts and appeared regularly on MTV, although radio play remained incommensurate with their popularity. Master of Puppets is widely accepted as the genre's most accomplished album, and paved the way for subsequent development. The album, in the words of writer Christopher Knowles, "ripped Metallica away from the underground and put them atop the metal mountain". David Hayter from Guitar Planet recognized the album as one of the most influential records ever made and a benchmark by which other metal albums should be judged. MTV's Kyle Anderson had similar thoughts, saying that 25 years after its release the album remained a "stone cold classic". Carlos Ramirez from Noisecreep believes that Master of Puppets stands as one of the most representative albums of its genre.
1986 is seen as a pinnacle year for thrash metal in which the genre broke out of the underground due to albums such as Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? and Slayer's Reign in Blood. Anthrax released Among the Living in 1987, and by the end of the year these bands, alongside Metallica, were being called the "Big Four" of thrash metal. Master of Puppets frequently tops critic and fan polls of favorite thrash metal albums. Histories of the band tend to position Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All as a trilogy over the course of which the band's music progressively matured and became more sophisticated. In 2015, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Kerrang! released a tribute album titled Master of Puppets: Remastered with the April 8, 2006, edition of the magazine to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Master of Puppets. The album featured cover versions of Metallica songs by Machine Head, Bullet for My Valentine, Chimaira, Mastodon, Mendeed, and Trivium—all of which are influenced by Metallica.
The title track was also featured in the fourth season finale of the Netflix series Stranger Things, as the character Eddie Munson plays the song in the Upside Down dimension to draw the dimension's monsters away from his friends. Kelly McClure of Salon compares the song's newfound popularity to Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", another song featured in the show's fourth season. The song's appearance on Stranger Things saw the song resurging on Spotify's charts, behind "Running Up That Hill", and the band stated on social media that "It’s an incredible honor to be such a big part of Eddie’s journey and to once again be keeping company with all of the amazing artists featured in the show."
## Tour and Burton's death
Metallica opted for extensive touring instead of releasing a single or video to promote the album. The Damage, Inc. Tour began in March 1986, and the band spent March to August touring as the opening act for Ozzy Osbourne in the United States, the first tour Metallica played to arena-sized audiences. During sound checks, the group played riffs from Osbourne's previous band Black Sabbath, which Osbourne perceived as mockery. Ulrich, however, stated that Metallica was honored to play with Osbourne, who treated the band well on the tour. Metallica was noted by the media for their excessive drinking habit while touring and earned the nickname "Alcoholica". The band members occasionally even wore satirical T-shirts reading "Alcoholica/Drank 'Em All".
The band usually played a 45-minute set often followed by an encore. According to Ulrich, the audiences in bigger cities were already familiar with Metallica's music, unlike in the smaller towns they've visited. "In the B-markets, people really don't know what we're all about. But after 45 or 50 minutes we can tell we've won them over. And fans who come to hear Ozzy go home liking Metallica." Metallica won over Osbourne's fans and slowly began to establish a mainstream following. Hetfield broke his wrist in a mid-tour skateboarding accident, and guitar technician John Marshall played rhythm guitar on several dates.
The European leg of the tour commenced in September, with Anthrax as the supporting band. The morning after a performance on September 26 in Stockholm, the band's bus rolled off the road, and Burton was thrown through a window and killed instantly. The driver claimed he hit a patch of black ice, but others believed he was either drunk or fell asleep at the wheel. The driver was charged with manslaughter but was not convicted. The band returned to San Francisco and hired Flotsam and Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted to replace Burton. Many of the songs that appeared on the band's next album, ...And Justice for All, were composed during Burton's career with the band.
### Later live performances
All of the songs have been performed live, and some became permanent setlist features. Four tracks were featured on the nine-song set list for the album's promotional tour: "Battery" as opener, "Master of Puppets", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", and "Damage, Inc." The title track, which was issued as a single in France, became a live staple and the most-played Metallica song. Loudwire's Chad Childers characterized the band's performance as "furious" and the song as the set's highlight. Rolling Stone described the live performance as "a classic in all its eight-minute glory". While filming its 3D movie Metallica: Through the Never (2013) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, crosses were rising from the stage during the song, reminiscent of the album's cover art.
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is the second-most performed song from the album. The live performance is often accompanied by lasers, pyrotechnical effects and film screens. "Battery" is usually played at the beginning of the setlist or during the encore, accompanied by lasers and flame plumes. "Disposable Heroes" is featured in the video album Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México (2009) filmed in Mexico City, in which the song was played on the second of three nights at the Foro Sol. "Orion" is the least-performed song from the album. Its first live performance was during the Escape from the Studio '06 tour, when the band performed the album in its entirety, honoring the 20th anniversary of its release. The band performed the album in the middle of the set. "Battery", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Damage, Inc." and the full-length "Master of Puppets" were revived for the band's concerts in 1997 and 1998, after having been retired for a number of years.
## Track listing
### Original release
All lyrics written by James Hetfield. The bonus tracks on the digital re-release were recorded live at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, Washington, on August 29 and 30, 1989, and also appeared on the live album Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993).
### 2017 deluxe box set
In 2017, the album was remastered and reissued in a limited edition deluxe box set with an expanded track listing and bonus content. The deluxe edition set includes the original album on vinyl and CD, with two additional vinyl records containing a live recording from Chicago; nine CDs of interviews, rough mixes, demo recordings, outtakes, and live recordings recorded from 1985 to 1987; a cassette of a fan recording of Metallica's September 1986 live concert in Stockholm, which was Cliff Burton's final performance before his death; and two DVDs of interviews and live recordings recorded in 1986.
## Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Metallica
- James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar, 1st guitar solo on "Master of Puppets", 2nd guitar solo on "Orion"
- Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion
- Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
- Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals
Production
- Metallica – production
- Flemming Rasmussen – production, engineering
- Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer
- Michael Wagener – mixing
- Mark Wilzcak – assistant mixing engineer
- George Marino – mastering, remastering on 1995 re-release
- Howie Weinberg, Gentry Studer – 2017 remastering
Artwork
- Metallica, Peter Mensch – cover concept
- Don Brautigam – cover illustration
- Ross Halfin – inner sleeve photos
- Rich Likong, Ross Halfin, Rob Ellis – back cover photos
Digital reissue bonus tracks
- Jason Newsted – bass and backing vocals
- Mike Gillies – mixing
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications |
61,175,027 | 1987 Football League Third Division play-off final | 1,170,272,762 | null | [
"1987 Football League play-offs",
"EFL League One play-off finals",
"Football League Third Division play-off finals",
"Gillingham F.C. matches",
"May 1987 sports events in the United Kingdom",
"Swindon Town F.C. matches"
]
| The 1987 Football League Third Division play-off Final was an association football match contested by Gillingham and Swindon Town over two legs on 22 and 25 May 1987, followed by a replay on 29 May, to determine which club would play the next season in the Second Division. Gillingham had finished in fifth place in the Third Division while Swindon finished third. They were joined in the play-offs by fourth-placed Wigan Athletic and Sunderland, who had finished 20th in the division above. Gillingham defeated Sunderland in their semi-final on away goals and Swindon defeated Wigan in the other semi-final. Swindon had previously had two spells in the Second Division, but Gillingham were aiming to reach the second tier of English football for the first time in their history. The 1986–87 season was the first in which the teams who had missed out on automatic promotion had the opportunity to compete in play-offs for a further promotion place.
The first leg of the final was played at Priestfield Stadium, in front of a crowd of 16,775. Dave Smith scored the only goal of the game to give Gillingham a one-goal lead heading into the second leg. Three days later at the County Ground, 14,382 people saw Karl Elsey score the opening goal of the match in the 17th minute, to double Gillingham's lead. This was followed by two goals from Peter Coyne and Charlie Henry to give Swindon a 2–1 victory in the match. Although Gillingham's semi-final had been decided on away goals, the same rule did not apply in the final, so a replay was held at Selhurst Park, where two goals from Steve White secured Swindon a place in the Second Division.
The following season, Swindon finished in 12th position in the Second Division and Gillingham finished 13th in the Third Division, only nine points ahead of the relegation zone.
## Background
Gillingham and Swindon Town were competing to be promoted from the Football League Third Division to the Second Division for the 1987–88 season. The 1986–87 season was the inaugural season of the Football League play-offs, which were introduced as part of the Heathrow Agreement, a ten-point proposal to restructure the Football League. For the first two years of the play-offs, the club which had finished immediately above the automatic relegation places in the Second Division competed with three clubs from the Third Division for a place in the Second Division for the following season. The play-offs raised an extra £1 million in revenue in their first year, half of which would be shared by all member clubs, and a spokesman for the Football League dubbed them "a phenomenal success". They were criticised by some in the game, however. Oldham Athletic manager Joe Royle was scathing of them after losing in the semi-final of the Second Division play-offs, saying "We finished seven points clear of Leeds. So to go out on away goals to them means there is something unjust. I welcomed the play-offs but possibly hadn't considered the long-term ramifications." The Swindon manager Lou Macari was also dissatisfied with the play-offs, arguing "we have proved ourselves the better team over 46 games this season but then see our future decided in Cup-style matches".
Swindon had played in the Second Division between 1963 and 1965 and between 1969 and 1974, but Gillingham were aiming to reach the second tier of English football for the first time in their history. After being relegated to the Fourth Division in 1982, Swindon had slumped to a lowest-ever finish of 17th in the Football League's lowest division in 1984, after which Macari was appointed as the club's new manager. Two years later he had led the team to the championship of the Fourth Division with a Football League record total of 102 points, and was aiming for a second consecutive promotion. Under manager Keith Peacock, Gillingham had come close to promotion from the Third Division in both the two previous seasons, having finished in fourth place in 1984–85 and fifth in 1985–86. The teams had met twice during the regular season; Swindon had won 3–1 at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium in December, and the match at Swindon's County Ground in May had ended in a 1–1 draw. According to bookmakers, Swindon were clear favourites to secure promotion to the Second Division.
## Route to the final
Swindon finished in third place in the Third Division, seven points behind Middlesbrough and ten behind Bournemouth, both of whom were promoted automatically. At Christmas 1986, Gillingham had been in second place, but the team's form declined in the second half of the season, with 9 defeats in 20 games between January and April. As a result, Gillingham ended the regular season in fifth place, 9 points behind Swindon and 16 points outside the automatic promotion places.
Gillingham's opposition for their play-off semi-final were Sunderland, who finished the 1986–87 season in 20th place in the Second Division. The first match of the two-legged tie took place at Priestfield Stadium in Gillingham on 14 May 1987. Mark Proctor scored a penalty kick to give Sunderland a 1–0 lead at half-time, but in the second half Tony Cascarino scored a hat-trick to put Gillingham 3–1 up. Proctor scored a second goal late in the game to make the final score 3–2. The second leg was held at Roker Park in Sunderland three days later. After just four minutes, Howard Pritchard scored for Gillingham, but two goals from Eric Gates put Sunderland in front. In the second half, a goal from Cascarino made the scoreline 2–2 on the day and 5–4 on aggregate, but with less than a minute remaining, Gary Bennett of Sunderland brought the aggregate scores level to send the game into extra time. Both teams scored one more goal in the extra period, making the score 6–6 on aggregate, but as Gillingham had now scored more away goals, they progressed to the final. Sunderland were thus relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in the club's history.
In the other semi-final, Swindon faced Wigan Athletic, and the first leg was held at Springfield Park in Wigan on 14 May 1987. The home side took an early lead after two minutes when Chris Thompson scored from around 20 yards (18 m). Wigan doubled their lead after 15 minutes when Swindon's goalkeeper Fraser Digby dropped a free kick, allowing Bobby Campbell to put the loose ball into the Swindon goal. In the second half, Digby saved from Paul Jewell and Swindon started to dominate. Wigan's goalkeeper Roy Tunks dived at the feet of Jimmy Quinn to deny a goalscoring chance, but the ball fell to Dave Bamber, who scored. In the 80th minute, Quinn equalised with a firm header from a Steve Berry free kick. With two minutes remaining, Swindon's Mark Jones crossed from the right and Peter Coyne scored with a header, making the final score 3–2. The return leg took place at the County Ground three days later. As the match ended in a 0–0 draw, Swindon progressed to the final with a 3–2 aggregate score.
## Match
Alf Buksh was selected as the referee for the first leg and Lester Shapter for the second. The latter referee had caused controversy when he disallowed a goal in a match involving Swindon earlier in the season; Macari had been reported to the Football Association, the governing body of the sport in England, for his comments about Shapter after the match. Tickets for both legs went on sale before the first, and such was the demand that fans camped outside Priestfield Stadium overnight to secure them. David Powell of The Times highlighted the clash between Gillingham's Colin Greenall and Swindon's Bamber, close friends off the pitch, as a potential key element of the final. Clive King of the Swindon Evening Advertiser said that his local team's main concern would be preventing Cascarino from scoring.
### First leg
#### Summary
The first leg of the final drew a crowd of 16,775 and gate receipts of £49,377, a new record for Priestfield Stadium. Chris Kamara was an injury doubt for Swindon, and Gillingham's Steve Lovell, Joe Hinnigan, Mark Weatherly and Irvin Gernon were all out. Gillingham manager Peacock told the press "Everyone here is very excited to be so close, but Lou Macari has done a terrific job at Swindon, and you can be sure any team he fields will run for 90 minutes. We will have our hands full." Before the match, trouble flared between rival groups of fans and two British Transport Police officers were injured by thrown projectiles.
Having scored five goals in the semi-final, Gillingham centre-forward Cascarino found himself closely marked by Swindon's Tim Parkin and Colin Calderwood. Phil Kite made two saves from Kamara before Quinn headed over the bar and Bamber's goal was disallowed for offside. Quinn was later substituted after receiving a strong tackle from Gillingham defender Les Berry. According to Powell of The Times, Swindon were "superior in all departments except the telling ones – finishing and goalkeeping", and Kite made two further saves, both from Steve Berry. The game remained goalless until the 81st minute when Gillingham took the lead. Dave Smith received the ball on the edge of the Swindon penalty area following Trevor Quow's free kick and hit a fierce shot past Swindon goalkeeper Digby, to give his team a one-goal lead going into the second leg.
#### Details
### Second leg
#### Summary
Both teams made one change for the second leg, which took place three days later. Gillingham manager Peacock picked Steve Lovell in place of goalscorer Smith, who was named as a substitute. Swindon's Macari brought in Coyne in place of Quinn.
Gillingham took the lead in the 17th minute against the run of play. Paul Haylock played a cross towards the edge of the Swindon penalty area which Karl Elsey struck on the volley into the net past a static Digby. Swindon's Kamara sustained an injury during the first half and was replaced by Charlie Henry. Bamber, Parkin and Henry all had headers saved by Kite in the Gillingham goal, who was described in The Guardian as "unbeatable ... for a good hour". Further goalbound efforts from both White and Henry struck the Gillingham crossbar before Swindon equalised just after the hour mark. Henry controlled a pass from Berry with his chest and passed to Coyne, who took the ball past two Gillingham players before hitting a fierce shot into the goal from around 15 yards (14 m). Gillingham attacked again after Smith came on in place of Elsey, but Swindon's defenders closed down their opponents. In the 79th minute, Swindon's Dave Hockaday crossed for Henry to score with a left-footed drive from the edge of the Gillingham penalty area, making the final score on the day 2–1 to Swindon and the aggregate score across the two legs 2–2.
If the rules governing the play-off final had been the same as the semi-final, Gillingham would have won on away goals; the rules for the final, however, stated that if the aggregate scores were level at the end of the second leg, away goals would not be taken into consideration but instead a replay would take place at a neutral stadium. Robert Armstrong, writing in The Guardian, described the second leg as "an epic battle, in the best Anglo-Saxon tradition of the knockout competition". After the match, Peacock said "It was disappointing to give away two goals after getting ourselves into a commanding position....we must now pick ourselves up and prepare for the game on Friday." Macari said "I knew that if we could keep them under the kind of pressure we were putting them under they would have to crack."
#### Details
### Replay
#### Summary
The replay took place at Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace, four days after the second leg; the game was scheduled for the slightly later than usual time of 8.00 pm to allow the two sets of fans time to travel to the ground. As a result of their participation in the FA Cup and Football League Cup, and a run to the southern section semi-finals of the Associate Members' Cup, all alongside the Football League programme, it was Gillingham's 63rd match of the season, a new record for the most games the team had played in a season since joining the Football League. Both teams again made one change for the replay. Swindon's Henry, who had come on as a substitute in both previous games, was named in the starting line-up in place of Kamara, who was hospitalised after his injury in the previous match. Gillingham brought in Martin Robinson in place of Lovell. Swindon remained the bookmakers' favourites to win promotion.
Swindon took the lead after just two minutes, when an error by the Gillingham defence allowed Steve White to score. A long pass from a King free kick was headed on by Henry to White who outran Berry to score past Kite in the Gillingham goal. Neither side dominated the first half; just before half-time, Elsey played a one-two with Quow, but his shot went outside the far post. The second half saw Gillingham begin to dominate possession and Digby saved a Cascarino header at full stretch. A shot from Shearer then passed over the bar with Digby motionless in the goal.
Midway through the second half Swindon's Bamber began an attack and Leigh Barnard played the ball to White, who scored again to double his team's lead. Gillingham increased the pressure, Digby denying Pritchard and then saving from Quow before punching away a header from Cascarino. With seven minutes remaining Gillingham's Smith set up a goal-scoring opportunity for Dave Shearer but his close-range shot went wide of the goal.
#### Details
## Post-match
Despite his team's victory, Swindon manager Macari was sympathetic to his opposition because of the manner in which they missed out on promotion: "Nothing can compensate for the feeling of disappointment in the Gillingham dressing room at this moment." He was critical of the play-off system, saying "This is one of the greatest moments of my career, but I never want to go through a game like this again. The League should scrap the play-offs." After he led the team to a second consecutive promotion, reporters asked Macari if he would be joining a more high-profile club, but he was focused on the play-off victory: "This is the greatest feeling of triumph in my career, even better than playing at the FA Cup Final at Wembley." Gillingham manager Peacock called the play-offs "good for the game", but noted that he felt "as low as I have ever felt in football". Roy Wood, chairman of Gillingham's board of directors, said "we are bloody disappointed, but we are not going to sit down and cry".
The following season, Swindon began the season strongly in the Second Division and in October were in 4th place, challenging for a third consecutive promotion. Their performances declined in the second half of the season, and they finished in 12th position. Gillingham began the season mounting another challenge for promotion from the Third Division, including defeating Southend United 8–1 and Chesterfield 10–0 on consecutive Saturdays, but the team's form slumped and manager Peacock was sacked in December 1987. Gillingham finished the 1987–88 season in 13th place in the Third Division, only nine points above the relegation zone. They finally reached the second tier of English football in 2000. |
17,256,357 | Fanno Creek | 1,160,993,698 | River in Oregon, United States | [
"Geography of Portland, Oregon",
"Rivers of Multnomah County, Oregon",
"Rivers of Oregon",
"Rivers of Washington County, Oregon",
"Tualatin River"
]
| Fanno Creek is a 15-mile (24 km) tributary of the Tualatin River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its watershed covers about 32 square miles (83 km<sup>2</sup>) in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, including about 7 square miles (18 km<sup>2</sup>) within the Portland city limits.
From its headwaters in the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills) in southwest Portland, the creek flows generally west and south through the cities of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard and Durham, and unincorporated areas of Washington County. It enters the Tualatin River about 9 miles (14 km) above the Tualatin's confluence with the Willamette River at West Linn.
When settlers of European origin arrived, the Kalapuya lived in the area, having displaced the Multnomahs in pre-contact times. In 1847, the first settler of European descent, Augustus Fanno, for whom the creek is named, established an onion farm in what became Beaverton. Fanno Farmhouse, the restored family home, is a Century Farm on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of 16 urban parks in a narrow corridor along the creek.
Although heavily polluted, the creek supports aquatic life, including coastal cutthroat trout (leopard spotted) in its upper reaches. Watershed councils such as the Fans of Fanno Creek and government agencies have worked to limit pollution and to restore native vegetation in riparian zones.
## Course
Fanno Creek arises at an elevation of 478 feet (146 m) above sea level and falls 370 feet (110 m) between source and mouth to an elevation of 108 feet (33 m). The main stem begins at about river mile (RM) 15 or river kilometer (RK) 24 in the Hillsdale neighborhood of southwest Portland, in Multnomah County. The creek flows west along the north side of Oregon Route 10 (the Beaverton–Hillsdale Highway), passing Albert Kelly Park and receiving Ivey Creek and Bridlemile Creek on the right before reaching the United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge at Southwest 56th Avenue 11.9 miles (19.2 km) from the mouth. Shortly thereafter and in quick succession, it enters Washington County and the unincorporated community of Raleigh Hills, crosses under Route 10, and receives Sylvan Creek on the right. Here the stream turns south, passing through Bauman Park, where Vermont Creek enters on the left about 10 miles (16 km) from the mouth, and then southwest to flow through the Portland Golf Club and Vista Brook Park, where Woods Creek enters on the left. From here it flows west again for about 1 mile (1.6 km), passing through Fanno Creek Trail Park and entering Beaverton about 8 miles (13 km) from the mouth before turning sharply south and flowing under Oregon Route 217 (Beaverton–Tigard Highway).
Fanno Creek then flows roughly parallel to Route 217 for about 2 miles (3 km) through Fanno Creek Park and Greenway Park. Near the southern end of Greenway Park, the creek passes under Oregon Route 210 (Scholls Ferry Road), and enters Tigard about 5 miles (8 km) from the mouth. In quick succession, Hiteon Creek enters on the right, Ash Creek on the left, and Summer Creek on the right before the creek reaches Woodard Park, goes under Oregon Route 99W (Southwest Pacific Highway), and flows through Fanno Park and Bonita Park as well as residential neighborhoods. Between the two parks, Red Rock Creek enters on the left about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the mouth. Slightly downstream of Bonita Park, Ball Creek enters on the left. Fanno Creek then enters Durham, passes a USGS gauging station 1.13 miles (1.82 km) from the mouth, flows through Durham City Park, and empties into the Tualatin River 9.3 miles (15.0 km) from its confluence with the Willamette River.
### Discharge
The USGS monitors the flow of Fanno Creek at two stations, one in Durham, 1.13 miles (1.82 km) from the mouth, and the other in Portland, 11.9 miles (19.2 km) from the mouth. The average flow of the creek at the Durham station is 43.9 cubic feet per second (1.24 m<sup>3</sup>/s). This is from a drainage area of 31.5 square miles (81.6 km<sup>2</sup>), more than 99 percent of the total Fanno Creek watershed. The maximum flow recorded there was 1,670 cubic feet per second (47 m<sup>3</sup>/s) on December 3, 2007, and the minimum flow was 1 cubic foot per second (0.03 m<sup>3</sup>/s) on September 13, 2001, and September 15, 2009. At the Portland station, the average flow is 3.15 cubic feet per second (0.09 m<sup>3</sup>/s). This is from a drainage area of 2.37 square miles (6.1 km<sup>2</sup>) or about 7 percent of the total Fanno Creek watershed. The maximum flow recorded there was 733 cubic feet per second (21 m<sup>3</sup>/s) on February 8, 1996, and the minimum flow was 0.01 cubic feet per second (0.0003 m<sup>3</sup>/s) on September 4, 2001.
## Watershed
`Draining 31.7 square miles (82.1 km`<sup>`2`</sup>`), Fanno Creek receives water from Portland's West Hills, Sexton Mountain in Beaverton, and Bull Mountain near Tigard. Nearly all of the watershed is urban. About 7 square miles (18 km`<sup>`2`</sup>`), roughly 22 percent of the total, lies inside the Portland city limits. The highest elevation in the watershed is 1,060 feet (320 m) at Council Crest in the West Hills. The peak elevation on Sexton Mountain is 476 feet (145 m), while Bull Mountain rises to 715 feet (218 m). About 117 miles (188 km) of streams flow through the watershed, including Ash Creek, Summer Creek, and 12 smaller tributaries. A small part of the drainage basin lies in the city of Lake Oswego in Clackamas County, near the headwaters of Ball Creek, a Fanno Creek tributary.`
The slopes at the headwaters of Fanno Creek consist mainly of Columbia River Basalt exposed in ravines but otherwise covered by up to 25 feet (8 m) of wind-deposited silt. Silts and clays are the most common watershed soils, and significant erosion is common. About 50 inches (1,300 mm) of precipitation, almost all of which is rain and about half of which arrives in November, December, and January, falls on the watershed each year. Although significant flooding occurred in 1977, the watershed has not experienced a 100-year flood since the area became urban.
Small watersheds adjacent to the Fanno Creek watershed include those of minor tributaries of the Willamette or Tualatin rivers. Tryon Creek, Balch Creek, and other small streams east of Fanno Creek flow down the eastern flank of the West Hills into the Willamette. To the northwest, Hall Creek, Cedar Mill Creek, and Bronson Creek flow into Beaverton Creek, a tributary of Rock Creek, which empties into the Tualatin River at the larger stream's RM 38.4 (RK 61.8), about 29 miles (47 km) upriver from the mouth of Fanno Creek.
### Annual report card
In 2015, Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) began issuing annual "report cards" for watersheds or fractions thereof that lie within the city. BES assigns grades for each of four categories: hydrology, water quality, habitat, and fish and wildlife. Hydrology grades depend on the amount of pavement and other impervious surfaces in the watershed and the degree to which its streams flow freely, not dammed or diverted. Water-quality grades are based on measurements of dissolved oxygen, E-coli bacteria, temperature, suspended solids, and substances such as mercury and phosphorus. Habitat ranking depends on the condition of stream banks and floodplains, riparian zones, tree canopies, and other variables. The fish and wildlife assessment includes birds, fish, and macroinvertebrates. In 2015, the BES grades for the Fanno Creek watershed fraction within Portland are hydrology, C; water quality, C+; habitat, B−, and fish and wildlife, D−.
## History
The previous people of the Fanno Creek watershed were the Atfalati or Tualaty tribe of the Kalapuya, said to have displaced even earlier inhabitants, the Multnomahs, prior to European contact. The valleys of the Willamette River and its major tributaries such as the Tualatin River consisted of open grassland maintained by annual burning, with scattered groves of trees along the rivers and creeks. The Kalapuya moved from place to place in good weather to fish, to hunt small animals, birds, waterfowl, deer, and elk, and to gather nuts, seeds, roots, and berries. Important foods included camas and wapato. In addition to fishing for eels, suckers, and trout, the Atfalati traded for salmon from Chinookan tribes near Willamette Falls. During the winter, the Kalapuya lived in longhouses in settled villages. Their population was greatly reduced after contact in the late 18th century with Europeans, who carried malaria, smallpox, measles, and other diseases. Added pressure came from white settlers who seized and fenced native land, regarded it as private property, and sometimes punished natives for trespassing. Of the original population of 1,000 to 2,000 Atfalati reported in 1780, only 65 remained in 1851. In 1855, the U.S. government sent the survivors to the Grande Ronde reservation further west.
Fanno Creek is named after Augustus Fanno, the first European American settler along the creek. In 1847, he started an onion farm on a 640-acre (260 ha) donation land claim in what later became part of Beaverton. Other 19th century newcomers along the creek engaged mainly in logging, farming, and dairy farming until the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Electric Railway lines made the watershed more accessible for urban development around the turn of the 20th century. The Oregon Electric, a 49-mile (79 km) system built between 1903 and 1915, ran between downtown Portland and Garden Home in the Fanno Creek watershed, where it split into branches leading to Salem and Forest Grove. The Southern Pacific began running electric passenger trains, known as the Red Electric, in the watershed in 1914. The company that eventually became Portland General Electric installed electric service in the area, and by 1915 the population of the upper Fanno Creek neighborhoods of Multnomah, Maplewood, Hillsdale, and West Portland Park had grown to 2,000.
Passenger service on the Red Electric line ended in 1929, and the Oregon Electric Railway ceased passenger operations in 1933. Private autos largely replaced interurban rail service. Oregon Highway 217 between Durham and Beaverton, and Oregon Highway 10 between Beaverton and Portland, follow the creek. Although passenger rail ceased for nearly 80 years, freight trains continued to use the tracks. In 2009, a new rail passenger service began along a former Oregon Electric line owned by Portland and Western Railroad in Washington County. The Westside Express Service (WES) runs 14.7 miles (23.7 km) between Beaverton on the north and Wilsonville on the south. The middle stretch of this run lies close to the lower 8 miles (13 km) of Fanno Creek between Beaverton and Durham. WES is the first modern commuter rail in Oregon and one of the few suburb-to-suburb commuter rail lines in the United States. At the northern end of the line, WES connects to the MAX Blue Line, an east-west light rail line linking Hillsboro and Gresham via Portland and the MAX Red Line, with connections to Portland International Airport.
The highways and railroads serve a population that increased most dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. When Beaverton was incorporated as a city in 1893, it had a population of 400. By 2010, the number had soared to 94,000, although not all of them lived in the watershed. Tigard, which did not exist as a city until 1961, grew to 49,000 by the year 2013, all in the watershed. Fanno Creek, which had few people living near it until 1850, "is surrounded by the most populous region in Oregon".
## Pollution
Although the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rated the average water quality of Fanno Creek as "very poor" between 1986 and 1995, it also noted steady improvement over that span. Historically, Fanno Creek has been polluted by urban and industrial sources, small sewage treatment plants, ineffective septic systems, farming and grazing operations, and illegal dumping. Health and environmental concerns led to the closing of substandard wastewater treatment plants in the 1970s, and urban development reduced the number of farms and farm animals along the creek. A ban in 1991 on phosphate detergents, increased connection to municipal sewers, stormwater management, and greater public awareness helped to reduce urban pollution not coming from point sources, and water quality improved.
DEQ monitors Fanno Creek at Bonita Road in Tigard, at about 2 miles (3 km) from the mouth. On the Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) used by DEQ, water quality scores can vary from 10 (worst) to 100 (ideal). The average for Fanno Creek between 1986 and 1995 was 55 but steadily improved to 65, or "poor", by the end of the period. By comparison, the average in the nearby Willamette River at the Hawthorne Bridge in downtown Portland was 74 during the same years. Measurements of water quality at the Tigard site during the years covered by the DEQ report showed high concentrations of phosphates, fecal coliform bacteria, and suspended solids, and a high biochemical oxygen demand. Moderately high concentrations of ammonia and nitrate nitrogen occurred during high flows during fall, winter, and spring. High temperatures and low dissolved oxygen concentration in the summer were evidence of eutrophication.
The high fraction of impervious surfaces in the watershed makes it difficult to improve water quality in the creek. The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services estimates that one-third of the surface area of the watershed that lies within its jurisdiction is impervious. All of the roughly 12 square miles (31 km<sup>2</sup>) of the surface of Tigard, much of it impervious, drains into Fanno Creek. The watershed watch coordinator for Tualatin Riverkeepers, a volunteer group, was quoted in a July 2008 newspaper article saying that "the biggest impact to Fanno Creek is the impervious area". To slow run-off, reduce erosion, and keep pollutants out of streams, watershed councils, neighborhood groups, and government agencies have been planting native species of vegetation at selected sites throughout the watershed.
## Biology
### Fish and wildlife
About 100 bird species, several kinds of mammals, and a few fish species live in the watershed. Mammals commonly seen include beaver, raccoon, opossum, spotted skunk, Douglas squirrel, and Townsend's chipmunk; black-tail deer and coyotes are more rare. Fanno Creek supports non-migrating coastal cutthroat trout that spawn in the fast-flowing, gravel-bottomed headwaters and grow to as long as 14 inches (36 cm). Other fish species found in the creek include sculpins, mosquitofish and eel.
Beavers, rodents weighing up to 60 pounds (27 kg), have sometimes caused problems along Fanno Creek. In 2014 and 2015, a growing population of beavers gnawed down trees and dammed the creek in Greenway Park in Beaverton. Rising waters have covered one of the side trails in the park, which has been gated and closed. During heavy rains, water from the beaver pond sometimes covers the main trail. Park officials are considering a variety of options, including re-routing the trails, building a boardwalk over the water, or removing the beaver dams.
### Vegetation
`The creek begins in the Coast Range ecoregion designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and flows thereafter through the Willamette Valley ecoregion. The narrow riparian corridors along streams in the watershed commonly include native species such as western redcedar, Douglas fir, vine maple, and sword fern as well as invasive species like English ivy. Many red alder and big leaf maple grow in the watershed, and shrubs include red huckleberry, Oregon-grape, elderberry, wood rose, and salmonberry. A restoration project in Tigard along the main stem has removed invasive plants such as reed canary grass and Himalayan blackberry and replaced them with native species. A project in Beaverton is replacing turf and degraded habitat along the creek with native shrubs and trees such as Oregon white oak.`
The Tualatin Riverkeepers, a nonprofit watershed council based in Tigard; Clean Water Services, a public utility that protects water resources in the Tualatin River watershed, and the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) have formed the Tualatin Basin Invasive Species Working Group to identify and eradicate invasive plants that displace native plants, cause erosion, and diminish water quality. The five plants considered most threatening are Japanese knotweed, meadow knapweed, giant hogweed, garlic mustard and purple loosestrife. The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the city of Tigard are working to eradicate giant hogweed from lower Fanno Creek.
## Parks
Fanno Creek passes through or near 16 parks in several jurisdictions. Portland Parks & Recreation manages three: Hillsdale Park, 5 acres (2.0 ha) with picnic tables and a dog park near the headwaters; Albert Kelly Park, 12 acres (4.9 ha) with unpaved paths, picnic tables, play areas, and Wi-Fi north of the creek about 14 miles (23 km) from the mouth, and the Fanno Creek Natural Area, 7 acres (2.8 ha) north of the creek about 12 miles (19 km) from the mouth.
The Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) manages seven Fanno Creek parks in Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County. The district, tax-supported and governed by an elected board, is the largest special park and recreation district in Oregon. The seven include Bauman Park, about 8 acres (3.2 ha) at about 10 miles (16 km) from the mouth. Slightly downstream from Bauman Park are Vista Brook Park, about 4 acres (1.6 ha) with trails including one that is accessible to people with physical handicaps, a playground, and courts for basketball and tennis, and Fanno Creek Trail, about 2 acres (0.8 ha), with picnic tables and trails. Other THPRD parks lie along Fanno Creek from roughly 7 miles (11 km) to roughly 5 miles (8 km) from the mouth. These are Fanno Creek Park, about 21 acres (8.5 ha), with trails including one accessible to people with handicaps; Fanno Farmhouse, about 1 acre (0.4 ha) with an accessible trail and picnic tables as well as the Fanno family home, restored by THPRD and listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Greenway Park, about 87 acres (35 ha) with trails including an accessible trail, picnic tables, a playground, and sports fields, and Koll Center Wetlands, about 13 acres (5.3 ha) with wildlife.
The five Fanno Creek parks managed by the city of Tigard include Englewood Park, 15 acres (6.1 ha) with play structures and trails, including a segment of the Fanno Creek Trail; Woodard Park, 15 acres (6.1 ha) of big trees, trails, and play structures; Bonita Park, 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) including a playground and picnic areas; Dirksen Nature Park, 48 acres (19 ha) of forest, wetlands, and open space, and Fanno Creek Park, a 30-acre (12 ha) natural area in downtown Tigard. About 20 percent of the small city of Durham is parkland. Surrounded by the larger cities of Tigard and Tualatin, the city covers 265 acres (107 ha) occupied by about 1,400 people. Durham City Park, at the confluence of Fanno Creek and the Tualatin River, consists of 46 acres (19 ha) of heavily wooded floodplain with paved trails, children's play areas, and a picnic shelter.
Sections of trail along the main stem of Fanno Creek form part of a planned 15-mile (24 km) Fanno Creek Greenway Trail linking Willamette Park on the Willamette River in southwest Portland to the confluence of the creek with the Tualatin River in Durham. The trail, for pedestrians and bicyclists, is accessible to people with disabilities. Several unfinished segments remained as of 2013.
## See also
- List of rivers of Oregon |
9,831,608 | Frank Berryman | 1,153,553,444 | Australian Army general | [
"1894 births",
"1981 deaths",
"Australian Army personnel of World War II",
"Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire",
"Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order",
"Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath",
"Australian Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order",
"Australian generals",
"Australian military personnel of World War I",
"Australian recipients of the Medal of Freedom",
"Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich",
"Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley",
"Military personnel from Victoria (state)",
"People educated at Melbourne High School",
"People from Geelong",
"Recipients of the Medal of Freedom",
"Royal Military College, Duntroon graduates"
]
| Lieutenant General Sir Frank Horton Berryman, KCVO, CB, CBE, DSO (11 April 1894 – 28 May 1981) was an Australian Army officer who served as a general during the Second World War. The son of an engine driver, he entered Duntroon in 1913. His class graduated early after the First World War broke out, and he served on the Western Front with the field artillery. After the war, he spent nearly twenty years as a major.
Berryman joined the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, and became General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of the 6th Division. He was responsible for the staff work for the attacks on Bardia and Tobruk. In January 1941, Berryman became Commander, Royal Artillery, 7th Division, and was promoted to brigadier. During the Syria-Lebanon campaign, he commanded "Berryforce". He returned to Australia in 1942, becoming Major General, General Staff, of the First Army. Later that year, he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff under the Commander in Chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey, who brought him up to Port Moresby to simultaneously act as chief of staff of New Guinea Force. Berryman was intimately involved with the planning and execution of the Salamaua–Lae campaign and the Huon Peninsula campaign. In November 1943 he became acting commander of II Corps, which he led in the Battle of Sio. In the final part of the war, he was Blamey's representative at General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's headquarters and the Australian Army representative at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.
After the war, Berryman commanded Eastern Command. He directed the military response to the 1949 Australian coal strike. Berryman hoped to become Chief of the General Staff but was passed over as he was seen as a "Blamey man" by Prime Minister Ben Chifley. He retired and became the Director General of the Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954. He was chief executive officer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1954 to 1961.
## Education and early life
Frank Horton Berryman was born in Geelong, Victoria, on 11 April 1894, the fourth of six children and the eldest of three sons of William Lee Berryman, a Victorian Railways engine driver, and his wife, Annie Jane, née Horton. William Berryman joined in the 1903 Victorian Railways strike and, when it failed, was reinstated with a 14 per cent pay cut, only regaining his 1903 pay level in 1916. Frank was educated at Melbourne High School, where he served in the school Cadet Unit, and won the Rix prize for academic excellence. On graduation, he took a job with the Victorian railways as a junior draughtsman.
In 1913, Berryman entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, having ranked first among the 154 candidates on the entrance examination. Of the 33 members in his class, nine died in the First World War, and six later became generals: Leslie Beavis, Berryman, William Bridgeford, John Chapman, Edward Milford and Alan Vasey. Berryman rose to fifth in order of merit before his class graduated early, in June 1915, because of the outbreak of the First World War.
## First World War
Berryman's Duntroon class had not yet completed its military training. Major General William Throsby Bridges decided that regimental duty would rectify that deficiency, so he assigned the Duntroon cadets as regimental officers of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF), rather than as staff officers. Cadets were given the choice of service in the infantry or light horse. One cadet, Lawrence Wackett, protested that he wished to serve in the technical services. When asked if they would prefer the technical services, twelve cadets, including Berryman, Beavis, Clowes, Vasey, and Wackett stepped forward. Berryman was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces (PMF) on 29 June 1915 and again in the First AIF on 1 July 1915. He was posted to Lieutenant Colonel Harold Grimwade's 4th Field Artillery Brigade of the 2nd Division Artillery, along with Vasey and Milford. Berryman embarked for Egypt with the 4th Field Artillery Brigade on the transport Wiltshire on 17 November 1915. In Egypt, Berryman briefly commanded the 4th Brigade Ammunition Column before it was absorbed into the 2nd Division Ammunition Column.
The 2nd Division moved to France in March 1916. Berryman became a temporary captain on 1 April 1916, a rank which became substantive on 10 June 1916. In January 1917, he was posted to the 7th Infantry Brigade as a trainee staff captain. During the Second Battle of Bullecourt he served with 2nd Division headquarters. He was appointed to command the 18th Field Artillery Battery, and became a temporary major on 1 September 1917, which became substantive on 10 September 1917. This was as far as he could go, for Duntroon graduates could not be promoted above major in the AIF. This policy was aimed at giving them a broad range of experience, which would benefit the Army, while not allowing them to outnumber the available post-war positions.
While commanding the 18th Field Battery, Berryman saw action at the Battle of Passchendaele. For his service as a battery commander in this battle, he received a Mention in Despatches:
> This officer has commanded the Battery during the whole of the period under review and did particularly good and effective work during the operations in September, October and November in the Hooge area [in Belgium]. He showed great initiative in reconnoitring Battery positions often under heavy fire; in keeping touch with the Infantry Companies in the front line area and in observing and reporting on hostile movements rendering many useful reports. In particular he did a very fine piece of work on 14th September in moving his Battery forward behind Clapham Junction in the dusk under very heavy shelling over a very difficult road. He subsequently during the very heavy German counter attacks on 16th September succeeded in registering his Battery and using it in the operation notwithstanding the heavy hostile fire. The Battery suffered many casualties both in personnel and materiel but it fought with splendid determination and the men who had never previously been under the command of this officer in action throughout the operations before Hooge were kept in the most excellent fighting spirit by his determination, lead and strong personality. He has shewn himself to be an officer of remarkable judgement and great technical ability.
In September 1918, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His citation, signed by Major General Charles Rosenthal, read:
> This officer has commanded the 14th Battery from 8th May 1918 to the present date [September 1918]. During the recent operations on the Somme he has shown conspicuous activity and ability and as Group liaison with Infantry Brigades has earned great praise from Infantry Brigade commanders for his conscientious and untiring work. The work and appearance of his Battery both when in and out of the line, has been excellent, and his sound judgement and technical ability have been of the greatest assistance to his Brigade.
Berryman was later nominated for a bar to his Distinguished Service Order for the September 1918 fighting, but this was subsequently downgraded to a second Mention in Despatches. He was wounded in the right eye in September 1918 while he was commanding the 14th Field Artillery Battery. Although his wound was serious enough to warrant hospitalisation, there was no permanent damage to his vision. It was however the end of his career as a battery commander, as the Army took the opportunity to transfer him to a staff post. From 28 October 1918 to 1 July 1919, he was brigade major of the 7th Infantry Brigade. With the war over, he returned to Australia in October 1919.
## Between the wars
Berryman was appointed to the Staff Corps on 1 October 1920. Although he was entitled to keep his AIF rank of major as an honorary rank, his substantive rank—and pay grade—was still lieutenant. Promotion was painfully slow. He was promoted to captain and brevet major on 1 March 1923, but was not promoted to the substantive rank of major until 1 March 1935.
Berryman attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from 1920 to 1923. On returning to Australia, he became an inspecting ordnance officer at the 2nd Military District. From its headquarters at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, the 2nd Military District administered the Army in most of New South Wales. He enrolled in a Bachelor of Science program at the University of Sydney. On 30 November 1925, he married Muriel Whipp. They eventually had a daughter and a son.
Berryman discontinued his university studies to prepare for the entrance examination for Staff College, Camberley. Eighteen Australian Army officers sat the exam that year, but only Berryman and one other officer passed. Only two Australian officers were accepted into staff college each year, so Berryman's attendance from 1926 to 1928 marked him out as one of the Australian Army's rising talents. It also allowed him to forge useful contacts with the British Army. Berryman later recalled, "The advantage of this was that in war we had the same doctrine of tactics and administration, which was essential if we had to work together. More than that, the officers who had to carry out their duties in cooperation knew each other personally." After graduation he was posted to the High Commission of Australia, London, from 1929 to 1932, where he served under the Military Liaison Officer, Major General Julius Bruche.
After nearly twenty years as a major, Berryman was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 12 May 1935. Promotion to substantive rank, which carried the rank's pay as well as status, occurred on 1 July 1938, when he became assistant director of Military Operations at Army Headquarters. From December 1938 to April 1940 he was General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of the 3rd Division. The slow rate of promotion of regular officers in the inter-war years fostered a sense of injustice and frustration among officers with good war records who found themselves outranked by Militia officers who had enjoyed faster promotion.
## Second World War
### Libya
The final straw for many regular officers was Prime Minister Robert Menzies' announcement that all commands in the Second AIF would go to Militia officers, which Berryman considered "a damn insult to the professional soldier, calculated to split the Army down the centre. We were to be the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. We, the only people who really knew the job, were to assist these Militia fellows."
Berryman joined the Second AIF on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, receiving the AIF serial number of VX20308, and became General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of Major General Iven Mackay's 6th Division, in succession to Sydney Rowell who stepped up to become chief of staff of I Corps. Berryman soon established a good working relationship with Mackay. Despite the friction between Militia and Staff Corps officers, Berryman chose to assess officers on performance. This meant that while Berryman viewed some Militia officers, like Brigadier Stanley Savige of the 17th Infantry Brigade, with disdain, he maintained good relations with others. There were also personal and professional rivalries with other Staff Corps officers, such as Alan Vasey. Yet even those who disliked Berryman personally for his lack of patience and tact and referred to him as "Berry the Bastard" respected his abilities as a staff officer.
Mackay and Berryman were determined that the Battle of Bardia would not be a repeat of the disastrous landing at Anzac Cove in 1915. Berryman's talent for operational staff work came to the fore. From studies of aerial photographs, he selected a spot for the attack where the terrain was most favourable. His plan provided for the coordination of infantry, armour and artillery. Though at times he proved secretive and hard to deal with, during the battle his forceful personality provided a good foil to the sometimes indecisive Mackay. Later that month Berryman planned the equally successful Battle of Tobruk. For his services in this campaign, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
### Syria
In January 1941, Berryman became Commander, Royal Artillery, in Arthur "Tubby" Allen's 7th Division, and was promoted to brigadier. During the Syria-Lebanon campaign, Berryman demonstrated that he was a thrusting commander who led from the front and repeatedly demonstrated his coolness under fire. When his headquarters came under shell fire for the first time, Berryman sat calmly eating his breakfast "among the flying brick dust and bursting shells", simply telling the men to shut the door, "so they can eat breakfast without being covered in dust".
During the Vichy French counterattack, Berryman was given command of the Australian forces in the centre of the position around Merdjayoun. This scratch force became known as "Berryforce". His mission was to check the enemy advance in the Merdjayoun area. Berryman decided that the best way to do this would be to recapture Merdjayoun. This presented considerable difficulty, for although his force contained two infantry battalions, the 2/25th and 2/33rd, and a pioneer battalion, the 2/2nd, his headquarters was not equipped to control a battle in the manner of an infantry brigade, as it lacked appropriate staff and communications. Moreover, though he was supported by mechanised cavalry and 22 artillery pieces, the opposing French forces had tanks.
For the next two weeks, the outnumbered Berryforce attempted to retake the strategically important town in the Battle of Merdjayoun. His first attempt was a failure. After carrying out a personal reconnaissance on 18 June, Berryman tried again. This time his attack was halted by staunch defence by the French Foreign Legion and tanks. Berryman then tried a different approach. Instead of attempting to capture the town, he seized high ground overlooking the French supply lines. Faced with being cut off, the French withdrew from the town. Berryforce was then dissolved and Berryman returned to his role as commander of the 7th Division artillery.
The 7th Division was now concentrated in the coastal sector. Berryman clashed with Brigadier Jack Stevens of the 21st Infantry Brigade over the siting of Berryman's artillery observation posts, which were forward of the infantry's front lines. Berryman wanted Stevens' positions advanced so as to obtain effective observation of the enemy's lines for Berryman's gunners. Stevens refused, hampering Berryman's efforts to support him in the Battle of Damour. Despite this, Berryman implemented an effective artillery plan. In the final stage of the battle, Berryman, without authority, ordered Lieutenant Colonel Denzil MacArthur-Onslow of the 2/6th Cavalry Regiment to pursue the retreating French forces, but was overruled by Savige and Allen. For his part in the campaign, Berryman received a third Mention in Despatches.
### Papua
On 3 August 1941, Berryman became Brigadier, General Staff (chief of staff) of I Corps under Lieutenant General John Lavarack, again in succession to Rowell, who became Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS). Berryman arrived in Jakarta by air with the advanced party of the I Corps headquarters staff on 26 January 1942 to plan its defence. Berryman reconnoitred Java and prepared an appreciation of the situation. Berryman also attempted to find out as much as possible about Japanese tactics through interviewing Colonel Ian MacAlister Stewart. This information found its way into papers circulated throughout the Army in Australia. It soon became apparent that the situation was hopeless and any troops committed to the defence of Java would be lost.
Berryman returned to Australia, where he was promoted to major general on 6 April 1942, when he became Major General, General Staff (chief of staff) of Lavarack's First Army. On 14 September 1942, Berryman became DCGS under the Commander in Chief, General Sir Sir Thomas Blamey, in succession to Vasey. When New Guinea Force split into a rear headquarters under Blamey and an advanced headquarters under Lieutenant General Edmund Herring, so the latter could go forward to direct the Battle of Buna-Gona, Blamey brought Berryman up from Advanced LHQ in Brisbane to simultaneously act as chief of staff of New Guinea Force from 11 December 1942. Berryman formed a very close professional and personal relationship with Blamey, and henceforth Berryman would be Blamey's chief of staff and head of operational planning, which made him "one of the most important officers in the Australian Army in its struggle against the Japanese."
### New Guinea
Blamey and Berryman remained close for the rest of the war, and Blamey came to rely heavily on Berryman for advice. It was Berryman who was sent to Wau to investigate the difficulties that Savige was having, and it was Berryman who exonerated Savige. "I reported the situation [to Blamey and Herring]," Berryman record in his diary, "and said Savige had done well and we had misjudged him." Berryman was intimately involved with the planning of the Salamaua–Lae campaign, working closely with Brigadier General Stephen J. Chamberlin at General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane. Berryman established good working relations with the Americans, even though their staff practices were quite different from those of the Australian Army.
Berryman was also involved in the plan's execution, once more becoming chief of staff at New Guinea Force under Blamey in August 1943. Berryman was frustrated at the failure of Vasey's 7th Division to destroy the Japanese retreating from Lae, and personally annoyed by the way that Vasey forwarded compliments to Major General Ennis Whitehead while leaving any complaints about air support to be taken up by Berryman. Berryman was next involved with the planning for the landing at Finschhafen, brokering a compromise landing plan between Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey and Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring. When Berryman discovered that the United States Seventh Fleet did not intend to reinforce the 9th Division he immediately went to Blamey, who took the matter up with MacArthur. In the event it was Berryman who brokered a compromise deal with Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender to reinforce Finschhafen with a battalion in APDs.
On 7 November 1943, Berryman became acting commander of II Corps, a post which became permanent on 20 January 1944, superseding Vasey, whose 7th Division was diplomatically placed directly under Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead's New Guinea Force. II Corps was left with the 5th and 9th Divisions. Berryman was promoted to lieutenant general on 20 January 1944. As in Syria, Berryman proved a hard-driving commander. In December 1943, II Corps broke out of the position around Finschhafen and began a pursuit along the coast. Whenever the Japanese Army attempted to make a stand, Berryman attacked with 25-pounder artillery barrages and Matilda tanks. Berryman was aware that seasonal changes were making the surf rougher and making it ever harder to operate the US Army landing craft (LCMs) and Australian Army amphibious trucks (DUKWs) that he depended on for the logistical support of his troops, but he realised that the Japanese Army's supply difficulties were greater than his own, and he gambled that if he pushed hard enough the Japanese would be unable to regroup and organise a successful defence.
In the first phase of the Battle of Sio, the advance from Finschhafen to Sio, 3,099 Japanese dead were counted and 38 prisoners taken, at a cost of 8 Australians killed and 48 wounded. In the 5th Division's subsequent drive from Sio to link up with the US 32nd Infantry Division at Saidor, 734 Japanese were killed and 1,775 found dead, while 48 prisoners were taken. Australian casualties were 4 killed and 6 wounded. MacArthur considered Berryman's performance "quite brilliant". For his part in the campaign, Berryman was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 8 March 1945.
### Borneo
II Corps was renumbered I Corps on 13 April 1944 and returned to Australia, where Blamey gave Berryman his next assignment. In preparation for the Philippines Campaign, General MacArthur moved the advanced element of GHQ to Hollandia in Dutch West Papua, where it opened in late August 1944. To maintain contact with GHQ, Blamey formed a new headquarters, Forward Echelon LHQ, which opened at Hollandia on 7 September under Berryman, who became Blamey's personal representative at GHQ. Forward Echelon LHQ subsequently moved with GHQ to Leyte in February 1945, and Manila in April 1945. Berryman's role was to "safeguard Australian interests" at GHQ, but he also defended GHQ against criticism from the Australian Army. As well as liaising with GHQ, Forward Echelon LHQ became responsible for planning operations involving Australian troops. It worked on plans for operations on Luzon and Mindanao before it was finally decided that Borneo would be the Australian Army's next objective. In all of this Berrymen kept in close contact with Blamey, and the two were Australian Army representatives at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. For his services in the final campaigns, Berryman received a fourth and final Mention in Despatches on 6 March 1947.
## Later life
After the war, Berryman took charge of Eastern Command, an appointment he held from March 1946 to February 1951 and again from March 1952 to December 1953. Berryman became known for his involvement in charitable organisations such as the War Widows Association, and as head of the Remembrance Drive Project. For this and his commitment to beautifying the Army barracks, Berryman became colloquially known in the Army as "Frank the Florist".
In June 1949, the country was rocked by the 1949 Australian coal strike. The strike began when stocks of coal were already low, especially in New South Wales, and rationing was introduced. Prime Minister Ben Chifley turned to the Army to get the troops to mine coal. This became possible when the transport unions agreed to transport coal that was mined. Responsibility for planning and organising the effort fell to Berryman. Soldiers began mining at Muswellbrook and Lithgow on 1 August, and by 15 August, when the strike ended, some 4,000 soldiers and airmen were employed. They continued work until production was fully restored.
Berryman hoped to become Chief of the General Staff in succession to Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee but he was seen as a "Blamey man" by Chifley and his Labor government colleagues, who disliked the former Commander-in-Chief. The job was instead given to Rowell. The United States government awarded Berryman the Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm in 1948. Following the change of government in 1949, Berryman lobbied Sir Eric Harrison, the Liberal Minister for Defence Production, for the job on the retirement of Rowell in 1954, but he was now considered too old for the job. He instead retired from the army, at age 60, in April 1954.
Berryman became the Director General of the Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954, for which he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). He was chief executive officer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1954 to 1961. He died on 28 May 1981 at Rose Bay, New South Wales, and was cremated with full military honours. At the time of his funeral the Ambassador for Lebanon, Raymond Heneine, wrote in the Canberra Times: "The inhabitants of Jezzine will never forget General Berryman, who liberated their town from the forces of the Vichy French in collaboration with the Italian and German forces. He was for them not only a great general but also a great benefactor who provided them with food supplies and medical care. In fact he was the example of humanitarianism". |
26,901,564 | DNA nanotechnology | 1,173,398,061 | The design and manufacture of artificial nucleic acid structures for technological uses | [
"DNA nanotechnology"
]
| DNA nanotechnology is the design and manufacture of artificial nucleic acid structures for technological uses. In this field, nucleic acids are used as non-biological engineering materials for nanotechnology rather than as the carriers of genetic information in living cells. Researchers in the field have created static structures such as two- and three-dimensional crystal lattices, nanotubes, polyhedra, and arbitrary shapes, and functional devices such as molecular machines and DNA computers. The field is beginning to be used as a tool to solve basic science problems in structural biology and biophysics, including applications in X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of proteins to determine structures. Potential applications in molecular scale electronics and nanomedicine are also being investigated.
The conceptual foundation for DNA nanotechnology was first laid out by Nadrian Seeman in the early 1980s, and the field began to attract widespread interest in the mid-2000s. This use of nucleic acids is enabled by their strict base pairing rules, which cause only portions of strands with complementary base sequences to bind together to form strong, rigid double helix structures. This allows for the rational design of base sequences that will selectively assemble to form complex target structures with precisely controlled nanoscale features. Several assembly methods are used to make these structures, including tile-based structures that assemble from smaller structures, folding structures using the DNA origami method, and dynamically reconfigurable structures using strand displacement methods. The field's name specifically references DNA, but the same principles have been used with other types of nucleic acids as well, leading to the occasional use of the alternative name nucleic acid nanotechnology.
## Fundamental concepts
### Properties of nucleic acids
Nanotechnology is often defined as the study of materials and devices with features on a scale below 100 nanometers. DNA nanotechnology, specifically, is an example of bottom-up molecular self-assembly, in which molecular components spontaneously organize into stable structures; the particular form of these structures is induced by the physical and chemical properties of the components selected by the designers. In DNA nanotechnology, the component materials are strands of nucleic acids such as DNA; these strands are often synthetic and are almost always used outside the context of a living cell. DNA is well-suited to nanoscale construction because the binding between two nucleic acid strands depends on simple base pairing rules which are well understood, and form the specific nanoscale structure of the nucleic acid double helix. These qualities make the assembly of nucleic acid structures easy to control through nucleic acid design. This property is absent in other materials used in nanotechnology, including proteins, for which protein design is very difficult, and nanoparticles, which lack the capability for specific assembly on their own.
The structure of a nucleic acid molecule consists of a sequence of nucleotides distinguished by which nucleobase they contain. In DNA, the four bases present are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). Nucleic acids have the property that two molecules will only bind to each other to form a double helix if the two sequences are complementary, meaning that they form matching sequences of base pairs, with A only binding to T, and C only to G. Because the formation of correctly matched base pairs is energetically favorable, nucleic acid strands are expected in most cases to bind to each other in the conformation that maximizes the number of correctly paired bases. The sequences of bases in a system of strands thus determine the pattern of binding and the overall structure in an easily controllable way. In DNA nanotechnology, the base sequences of strands are rationally designed by researchers so that the base pairing interactions cause the strands to assemble in the desired conformation. While DNA is the dominant material used, structures incorporating other nucleic acids such as RNA and peptide nucleic acid (PNA) have also been constructed.
### Subfields
DNA nanotechnology is sometimes divided into two overlapping subfields: structural DNA nanotechnology and dynamic DNA nanotechnology. Structural DNA nanotechnology, sometimes abbreviated as SDN, focuses on synthesizing and characterizing nucleic acid complexes and materials that assemble into a static, equilibrium end state. On the other hand, dynamic DNA nanotechnology focuses on complexes with useful non-equilibrium behavior such as the ability to reconfigure based on a chemical or physical stimulus. Some complexes, such as nucleic acid nanomechanical devices, combine features of both the structural and dynamic subfields.
The complexes constructed in structural DNA nanotechnology use topologically branched nucleic acid structures containing junctions. (In contrast, most biological DNA exists as an unbranched double helix.) One of the simplest branched structures is a four-arm junction that consists of four individual DNA strands, portions of which are complementary in a specific pattern. Unlike in natural Holliday junctions, each arm in the artificial immobile four-arm junction has a different base sequence, causing the junction point to be fixed at a certain position. Multiple junctions can be combined in the same complex, such as in the widely used double-crossover (DX) structural motif, which contains two parallel double helical domains with individual strands crossing between the domains at two crossover points. Each crossover point is, topologically, a four-arm junction, but is constrained to one orientation, in contrast to the flexible single four-arm junction, providing a rigidity that makes the DX motif suitable as a structural building block for larger DNA complexes.
Dynamic DNA nanotechnology uses a mechanism called toehold-mediated strand displacement to allow the nucleic acid complexes to reconfigure in response to the addition of a new nucleic acid strand. In this reaction, the incoming strand binds to a single-stranded toehold region of a double-stranded complex, and then displaces one of the strands bound in the original complex through a branch migration process. The overall effect is that one of the strands in the complex is replaced with another one. In addition, reconfigurable structures and devices can be made using functional nucleic acids such as deoxyribozymes and ribozymes, which can perform chemical reactions, and aptamers, which can bind to specific proteins or small molecules.
## Structural DNA nanotechnology
Structural DNA nanotechnology, sometimes abbreviated as SDN, focuses on synthesizing and characterizing nucleic acid complexes and materials where the assembly has a static, equilibrium endpoint. The nucleic acid double helix has a robust, defined three-dimensional geometry that makes it possible to simulate, predict and design the structures of more complicated nucleic acid complexes. Many such structures have been created, including two- and three-dimensional structures, and periodic, aperiodic, and discrete structures.
### Extended lattices
Small nucleic acid complexes can be equipped with sticky ends and combined into larger two-dimensional periodic lattices containing a specific tessellated pattern of the individual molecular tiles. The earliest example of this used double-crossover (DX) complexes as the basic tiles, each containing four sticky ends designed with sequences that caused the DX units to combine into periodic two-dimensional flat sheets that are essentially rigid two-dimensional crystals of DNA. Two-dimensional arrays have been made from other motifs as well, including the Holliday junction rhombus lattice, and various DX-based arrays making use of a double-cohesion scheme. The top two images at right show examples of tile-based periodic lattices.
Two-dimensional arrays can be made to exhibit aperiodic structures whose assembly implements a specific algorithm, exhibiting one form of DNA computing. The DX tiles can have their sticky end sequences chosen so that they act as Wang tiles, allowing them to perform computation. A DX array whose assembly encodes an XOR operation has been demonstrated; this allows the DNA array to implement a cellular automaton that generates a fractal known as the Sierpinski gasket. The third image at right shows this type of array. Another system has the function of a binary counter, displaying a representation of increasing binary numbers as it grows. These results show that computation can be incorporated into the assembly of DNA arrays.
DX arrays have been made to form hollow nanotubes 4–20 nm in diameter, essentially two-dimensional lattices which curve back upon themselves. These DNA nanotubes are somewhat similar in size and shape to carbon nanotubes, and while they lack the electrical conductance of carbon nanotubes, DNA nanotubes are more easily modified and connected to other structures. One of many schemes for constructing DNA nanotubes uses a lattice of curved DX tiles that curls around itself and closes into a tube. In an alternative method that allows the circumference to be specified in a simple, modular fashion using single-stranded tiles, the rigidity of the tube is an emergent property.
Forming three-dimensional lattices of DNA was the earliest goal of DNA nanotechnology, but this proved to be one of the most difficult to realize. Success using a motif based on the concept of tensegrity, a balance between tension and compression forces, was finally reported in 2009.
### Discrete structures
Researchers have synthesized many three-dimensional DNA complexes that each have the connectivity of a polyhedron, such as a cube or octahedron, meaning that the DNA duplexes trace the edges of a polyhedron with a DNA junction at each vertex. The earliest demonstrations of DNA polyhedra were very work-intensive, requiring multiple ligations and solid-phase synthesis steps to create catenated polyhedra. Subsequent work yielded polyhedra whose synthesis was much easier. These include a DNA octahedron made from a long single strand designed to fold into the correct conformation, and a tetrahedron that can be produced from four DNA strands in one step, pictured at the top of this article.
Nanostructures of arbitrary, non-regular shapes are usually made using the DNA origami method. These structures consist of a long, natural virus strand as a "scaffold", which is made to fold into the desired shape by computationally designed short "staple" strands. This method has the advantages of being easy to design, as the base sequence is predetermined by the scaffold strand sequence, and not requiring high strand purity and accurate stoichiometry, as most other DNA nanotechnology methods do. DNA origami was first demonstrated for two-dimensional shapes, such as a smiley face, a coarse map of the Western Hemisphere, and the Mona Lisa painting. Solid three-dimensional structures can be made by using parallel DNA helices arranged in a honeycomb pattern, and structures with two-dimensional faces can be made to fold into a hollow overall three-dimensional shape, akin to a cardboard box. These can be programmed to open and reveal or release a molecular cargo in response to a stimulus, making them potentially useful as programmable molecular cages.
### Templated assembly
Nucleic acid structures can be made to incorporate molecules other than nucleic acids, sometimes called heteroelements, including proteins, metallic nanoparticles, quantum dots, amines, and fullerenes. This allows the construction of materials and devices with a range of functionalities much greater than is possible with nucleic acids alone. The goal is to use the self-assembly of the nucleic acid structures to template the assembly of the nanoparticles hosted on them, controlling their position and in some cases orientation. Many of these schemes use a covalent attachment scheme, using oligonucleotides with amide or thiol functional groups as a chemical handle to bind the heteroelements. This covalent binding scheme has been used to arrange gold nanoparticles on a DX-based array, and to arrange streptavidin protein molecules into specific patterns on a DX array. A non-covalent hosting scheme using Dervan polyamides on a DX array was used to arrange streptavidin proteins in a specific pattern on a DX array. Carbon nanotubes have been hosted on DNA arrays in a pattern allowing the assembly to act as a molecular electronic device, a carbon nanotube field-effect transistor. In addition, there are nucleic acid metallization methods, in which the nucleic acid is replaced by a metal which assumes the general shape of the original nucleic acid structure, and schemes for using nucleic acid nanostructures as lithography masks, transferring their pattern into a solid surface.
## Dynamic DNA nanotechnology
Dynamic DNA nanotechnology focuses on forming nucleic acid systems with designed dynamic functionalities related to their overall structures, such as computation and mechanical motion. There is some overlap between structural and dynamic DNA nanotechnology, as structures can be formed through annealing and then reconfigured dynamically, or can be made to form dynamically in the first place.
### Nanomechanical devices
DNA complexes have been made that change their conformation upon some stimulus, making them one form of nanorobotics. These structures are initially formed in the same way as the static structures made in structural DNA nanotechnology, but are designed so that dynamic reconfiguration is possible after the initial assembly. The earliest such device made use of the transition between the B-DNA and Z-DNA forms to respond to a change in buffer conditions by undergoing a twisting motion. This reliance on buffer conditions caused all devices to change state at the same time. Subsequent systems could change states based upon the presence of control strands, allowing multiple devices to be independently operated in solution. Some examples of such systems are a "molecular tweezers" design that has an open and a closed state, a device that could switch from a paranemic-crossover (PX) conformation to a (JX2) conformation with two non-junction juxtapositions of the DNA backbone, undergoing rotational motion in the process, and a two-dimensional array that could dynamically expand and contract in response to control strands. Structures have also been made that dynamically open or close, potentially acting as a molecular cage to release or reveal a functional cargo upon opening.
DNA walkers are a class of nucleic acid nanomachines that exhibit directional motion along a linear track. A large number of schemes have been demonstrated. One strategy is to control the motion of the walker along the track using control strands that need to be manually added in sequence. It is also possible to control individual steps of a DNA walker by irradiation with light of different wavelengths. Another approach is to make use of restriction enzymes or deoxyribozymes to cleave the strands and cause the walker to move forward, which has the advantage of running autonomously. A later system could walk upon a two-dimensional surface rather than a linear track, and demonstrated the ability to selectively pick up and move molecular cargo. In 2018, a catenated DNA that uses rolling circle transcription by an attached T7 RNA polymerase was shown to walk along a DNA-path, guided by the generated RNA strand. Additionally, a linear walker has been demonstrated that performs DNA-templated synthesis as the walker advances along the track, allowing autonomous multistep chemical synthesis directed by the walker. The synthetic DNA walkers' function is similar to that of the proteins dynein and kinesin.
### Strand displacement cascades
Cascades of strand displacement reactions can be used for either computational or structural purposes. An individual strand displacement reaction involves revealing a new sequence in response to the presence of some initiator strand. Many such reactions can be linked into a cascade where the newly revealed output sequence of one reaction can initiate another strand displacement reaction elsewhere. This in turn allows for the construction of chemical reaction networks with many components, exhibiting complex computational and information processing abilities. These cascades are made energetically favorable through the formation of new base pairs, and the entropy gain from disassembly reactions. Strand displacement cascades allow isothermal operation of the assembly or computational process, in contrast to traditional nucleic acid assembly's requirement for a thermal annealing step, where the temperature is raised and then slowly lowered to ensure proper formation of the desired structure. They can also support catalytic function of the initiator species, where less than one equivalent of the initiator can cause the reaction to go to completion.
Strand displacement complexes can be used to make molecular logic gates capable of complex computation. Unlike traditional electronic computers, which use electric current as inputs and outputs, molecular computers use the concentrations of specific chemical species as signals. In the case of nucleic acid strand displacement circuits, the signal is the presence of nucleic acid strands that are released or consumed by binding and unbinding events to other strands in displacement complexes. This approach has been used to make logic gates such as AND, OR, and NOT gates. More recently, a four-bit circuit was demonstrated that can compute the square root of the integers 0–15, using a system of gates containing 130 DNA strands.
Another use of strand displacement cascades is to make dynamically assembled structures. These use a hairpin structure for the reactants, so that when the input strand binds, the newly revealed sequence is on the same molecule rather than disassembling. This allows new opened hairpins to be added to a growing complex. This approach has been used to make simple structures such as three- and four-arm junctions and dendrimers.
## Applications
DNA nanotechnology provides one of the few ways to form designed, complex structures with precise control over nanoscale features. The field is beginning to see application to solve basic science problems in structural biology and biophysics. The earliest such application envisaged for the field, and one still in development, is in crystallography, where molecules that are difficult to crystallize in isolation could be arranged within a three-dimensional nucleic acid lattice, allowing determination of their structure. Another application is the use of DNA origami rods to replace liquid crystals in residual dipolar coupling experiments in protein NMR spectroscopy; using DNA origami is advantageous because, unlike liquid crystals, they are tolerant of the detergents needed to suspend membrane proteins in solution. DNA walkers have been used as nanoscale assembly lines to move nanoparticles and direct chemical synthesis. Further, DNA origami structures have aided in the biophysical studies of enzyme function and protein folding.
DNA nanotechnology is moving toward potential real-world applications. The ability of nucleic acid arrays to arrange other molecules indicates its potential applications in molecular scale electronics. The assembly of a nucleic acid structure could be used to template the assembly of molecular electronic elements such as molecular wires, providing a method for nanometer-scale control of the placement and overall architecture of the device analogous to a molecular breadboard. DNA nanotechnology has been compared to the concept of programmable matter because of the coupling of computation to its material properties.
In a study conducted by a group of scientists from iNANO and CDNA centers in Aarhus University, researchers were able to construct a small multi-switchable 3D DNA Box Origami. The proposed nanoparticle was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). The constructed box was shown to have a unique reclosing mechanism, which enabled it to repeatedly open and close in response to a unique set of DNA or RNA keys. The authors proposed that this "DNA device can potentially be used for a broad range of applications such as controlling the function of single molecules, controlled drug delivery, and molecular computing."
There are potential applications for DNA nanotechnology in nanomedicine, making use of its ability to perform computation in a biocompatible format to make "smart drugs" for targeted drug delivery, as well as for diagnostic applications. One such system being investigated uses a hollow DNA box containing proteins that induce apoptosis, or cell death, that will only open when in proximity to a cancer cell. There has additionally been interest in expressing these artificial structures in engineered living bacterial cells, most likely using the transcribed RNA for the assembly, although it is unknown whether these complex structures are able to efficiently fold or assemble in the cell's cytoplasm. If successful, this could enable directed evolution of nucleic acid nanostructures. Scientists at Oxford University reported the self-assembly of four short strands of synthetic DNA into a cage which can enter cells and survive for at least 48 hours. The fluorescently labeled DNA tetrahedra were found to remain intact in the laboratory cultured human kidney cells despite the attack by cellular enzymes after two days. This experiment showed the potential of drug delivery inside the living cells using the DNA ‘cage’. A DNA tetrahedron was used to deliver RNA Interference (RNAi) in a mouse model, reported a team of researchers in MIT. Delivery of the interfering RNA for treatment has showed some success using polymer or lipid, but there are limits of safety and imprecise targeting, in addition to short shelf life in the blood stream. The DNA nanostructure created by the team consists of six strands of DNA to form a tetrahedron, with one strand of RNA affixed to each of the six edges. The tetrahedron is further equipped with targeting protein, three folate molecules, which lead the DNA nanoparticles to the abundant folate receptors found on some tumors. The result showed that the gene expression targeted by the RNAi, luciferase, dropped by more than half. This study shows promise in using DNA nanotechnology as an effective tool to deliver treatment using the emerging RNA Interference technology. The DNA tetrahedron was also used in an effort to overcome the phenomena multidrug resistance. Doxorubicin (DOX) was conjugated with the tetrahedron and was loaded into MCF-7 breast cancer cells that contained the P-glycoprotein drug efflux pump. The results of the experiment showed the DOX was not being pumped out and apoptosis of the cancer cells was achieved. The tetrahedron without DOX was loaded into cells to test its biocompatibility, and the structure showed no cytotoxicity itself. The DNA tetrahedron was also used as barcode for profiling the subcellular expression and distribution of proteins in cells for diagnostic purposes. The tetrahedral-nanostructured showed enhanced signal due to higher labeling efficiency and stability.
Applications for DNA nanotechnology in nanomedicine also focus on mimicking the structure and function of naturally occurring membrane proteins with designed DNA nanostructures. In 2012, Langecker et al. introduced a pore-shaped DNA origami structure that can self-insert into lipid membranes via hydrophobic cholesterol modifications and induce ionic currents across the membrane. This first demonstration of a synthetic DNA ion channel was followed by a variety of pore-inducing designs ranging from a single DNA duplex, to small tile-based structures, and large DNA origami transmembrane porins. Similar to naturally occurring protein ion channels, this ensemble of synthetic DNA-made counterparts thereby spans multiple orders of magnitude in conductance. The study of the membrane-inserting single DNA duplex showed that current must also flow on the DNA-lipid interface as no central channel lumen is present in the design that lets ions pass across the lipid bilayer. This indicated that the DNA-induced lipid pore has a toroidal shape, rather than cylindrical, as lipid headgroups reorient to face towards the membrane-inserted part of the DNA. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign then demonstrated that such a DNA-induced toroidal pore can facilitate rapid lipid flip-flop between the lipid bilayer leaflets. Utilizing this effect, they designed a synthetic DNA-built enzyme that flips lipids in biological membranes orders of magnitudes faster than naturally occurring proteins called scramblases. This development highlights the potential of synthetic DNA nanostructures for personalized drugs and therapeutics.
## Design
DNA nanostructures must be rationally designed so that individual nucleic acid strands will assemble into the desired structures. This process usually begins with specification of a desired target structure or function. Then, the overall secondary structure of the target complex is determined, specifying the arrangement of nucleic acid strands within the structure, and which portions of those strands should be bound to each other. The last step is the primary structure design, which is the specification of the actual base sequences of each nucleic acid strand.
### Structural design
The first step in designing a nucleic acid nanostructure is to decide how a given structure should be represented by a specific arrangement of nucleic acid strands. This design step determines the secondary structure, or the positions of the base pairs that hold the individual strands together in the desired shape. Several approaches have been demonstrated:
- Tile-based structures. This approach breaks the target structure into smaller units with strong binding between the strands contained in each unit, and weaker interactions between the units. It is often used to make periodic lattices, but can also be used to implement algorithmic self-assembly, making them a platform for DNA computing. This was the dominant design strategy used from the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, when the DNA origami methodology was developed.
- Folding structures. An alternative to the tile-based approach, folding approaches make the nanostructure from one long strand, which can either have a designed sequence that folds due to its interactions with itself, or it can be folded into the desired shape by using shorter, "staple" strands. This latter method is called DNA origami, which allows forming nanoscale two- and three-dimensional shapes (see Discrete structures above).
- Dynamic assembly. This approach directly controls the kinetics of DNA self-assembly, specifying all of the intermediate steps in the reaction mechanism in addition to the final product. This is done using starting materials which adopt a hairpin structure; these then assemble into the final conformation in a cascade reaction, in a specific order (see Strand displacement cascades below). This approach has the advantage of proceeding isothermally, at a constant temperature. This is in contrast to the thermodynamic approaches, which require a thermal annealing step where a temperature change is required to trigger the assembly and favor proper formation of the desired structure.
### Sequence design
After any of the above approaches are used to design the secondary structure of a target complex, an actual sequence of nucleotides that will form into the desired structure must be devised. Nucleic acid design is the process of assigning a specific nucleic acid base sequence to each of a structure's constituent strands so that they will associate into a desired conformation. Most methods have the goal of designing sequences so that the target structure has the lowest energy, and is thus the most thermodynamically favorable, while incorrectly assembled structures have higher energies and are thus disfavored. This is done either through simple, faster heuristic methods such as sequence symmetry minimization, or by using a full nearest-neighbor thermodynamic model, which is more accurate but slower and more computationally intensive. Geometric models are used to examine tertiary structure of the nanostructures and to ensure that the complexes are not overly strained.
Nucleic acid design has similar goals to protein design. In both, the sequence of monomers is designed to favor the desired target structure and to disfavor other structures. Nucleic acid design has the advantage of being much computationally easier than protein design, because the simple base pairing rules are sufficient to predict a structure's energetic favorability, and detailed information about the overall three-dimensional folding of the structure is not required. This allows the use of simple heuristic methods that yield experimentally robust designs. Nucleic acid structures are less versatile than proteins in their function because of proteins' increased ability to fold into complex structures, and the limited chemical diversity of the four nucleotides as compared to the twenty proteinogenic amino acids.
## Materials and methods
The sequences of the DNA strands making up a target structure are designed computationally, using molecular modeling and thermodynamic modeling software. The nucleic acids themselves are then synthesized using standard oligonucleotide synthesis methods, usually automated in an oligonucleotide synthesizer, and strands of custom sequences are commercially available. Strands can be purified by denaturing gel electrophoresis if needed, and precise concentrations determined via any of several nucleic acid quantitation methods using ultraviolet absorbance spectroscopy.
The fully formed target structures can be verified using native gel electrophoresis, which gives size and shape information for the nucleic acid complexes. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay can assess whether a structure incorporates all desired strands. Fluorescent labeling and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) are sometimes used to characterize the structure of the complexes.
Nucleic acid structures can be directly imaged by atomic force microscopy, which is well suited to extended two-dimensional structures, but less useful for discrete three-dimensional structures because of the microscope tip's interaction with the fragile nucleic acid structure; transmission electron microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy are often used in this case. Extended three-dimensional lattices are analyzed by X-ray crystallography.
## History
The conceptual foundation for DNA nanotechnology was first laid out by Nadrian Seeman in the early 1980s. Seeman's original motivation was to create a three-dimensional DNA lattice for orienting other large molecules, which would simplify their crystallographic study by eliminating the difficult process of obtaining pure crystals. This idea had reportedly come to him in late 1980, after realizing the similarity between the woodcut Depth by M. C. Escher and an array of DNA six-arm junctions. Several natural branched DNA structures were known at the time, including the DNA replication fork and the mobile Holliday junction, but Seeman's insight was that immobile nucleic acid junctions could be created by properly designing the strand sequences to remove symmetry in the assembled molecule, and that these immobile junctions could in principle be combined into rigid crystalline lattices. The first theoretical paper proposing this scheme was published in 1982, and the first experimental demonstration of an immobile DNA junction was published the following year.
In 1991, Seeman's laboratory published a report on the synthesis of a cube made of DNA, the first synthetic three-dimensional nucleic acid nanostructure, for which he received the 1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. This was followed by a DNA truncated octahedron. It soon became clear that these structures, polygonal shapes with flexible junctions as their vertices, were not rigid enough to form extended three-dimensional lattices. Seeman developed the more rigid double-crossover (DX) structural motif, and in 1998, in collaboration with Erik Winfree, published the creation of two-dimensional lattices of DX tiles. These tile-based structures had the advantage that they provided the ability to implement DNA computing, which was demonstrated by Winfree and Paul Rothemund in their 2004 paper on the algorithmic self-assembly of a Sierpinski gasket structure, and for which they shared the 2006 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. Winfree's key insight was that the DX tiles could be used as Wang tiles, meaning that their assembly could perform computation. The synthesis of a three-dimensional lattice was finally published by Seeman in 2009, nearly thirty years after he had set out to achieve it.
New abilities continued to be discovered for designed DNA structures throughout the 2000s. The first DNA nanomachine—a motif that changes its structure in response to an input—was demonstrated in 1999 by Seeman. An improved system, which was the first nucleic acid device to make use of toehold-mediated strand displacement, was demonstrated by Bernard Yurke the following year. The next advance was to translate this into mechanical motion, and in 2004 and 2005, several DNA walker systems were demonstrated by the groups of Seeman, Niles Pierce, Andrew Turberfield, and Chengde Mao. The idea of using DNA arrays to template the assembly of other molecules such as nanoparticles and proteins, first suggested by Bruche Robinson and Seeman in 1987, was demonstrated in 2002 by Seeman, Kiehl et al. and subsequently by many other groups.
In 2006, Rothemund first demonstrated the DNA origami method for easily and robustly forming folded DNA structures of arbitrary shape. Rothemund had conceived of this method as being conceptually intermediate between Seeman's DX lattices, which used many short strands, and William Shih's DNA octahedron, which consisted mostly of one very long strand. Rothemund's DNA origami contains a long strand which folding is assisted by several short strands. This method allowed forming much larger structures than formerly possible, and which are less technically demanding to design and synthesize. DNA origami was the cover story of Nature on March 15, 2006. Rothemund's research demonstrating two-dimensional DNA origami structures was followed by the demonstration of solid three-dimensional DNA origami by Douglas et al. in 2009, while the labs of Jørgen Kjems and Yan demonstrated hollow three-dimensional structures made out of two-dimensional faces.
DNA nanotechnology was initially met with some skepticism due to the unusual non-biological use of nucleic acids as materials for building structures and doing computation, and the preponderance of proof of principle experiments that extended the abilities of the field but were far from actual applications. Seeman's 1991 paper on the synthesis of the DNA cube was rejected by the journal Science after one reviewer praised its originality while another criticized it for its lack of biological relevance. By the early 2010s the field was considered to have increased its abilities to the point that applications for basic science research were beginning to be realized, and practical applications in medicine and other fields were beginning to be considered feasible. The field had grown from very few active laboratories in 2001 to at least 60 in 2010, which increased the talent pool and thus the number of scientific advances in the field during that decade.
## See also
- International Society for Nanoscale Science, Computation, and Engineering
- Comparison of nucleic acid simulation software
- Molecular models of DNA
- Nanobiotechnology |
521,205 | Japanese battleship Fusō | 1,171,147,889 | Battleship of the Imperial Japanese navy | [
"1914 ships",
"2017 archaeological discoveries",
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"Maritime incidents in October 1944",
"Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan",
"Ships built by Kure Naval Arsenal",
"Shipwreck discoveries by Paul Allen",
"Shipwrecks in the Surigao Strait",
"World War I battleships of Japan",
"World War II battleships of Japan",
"World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean",
"World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea"
]
| Fusō (扶桑, a classical name for Japan) was the lead ship of the two Fusō-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1914 and commissioned in 1915, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake.
Fusō was modernized in 1930–1935 and again in 1937–1941, with improvements to her armor and propulsion machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. With only 14-inch (356 mm) guns, she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war.
Fusō was part of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was sunk in the early hours of 25 October 1944 by torpedoes and naval gunfire during the Battle of Surigao Strait. Some reports claimed Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour; according to survivors' accounts, however, the ship sank after 40 minutes of flooding and caught fire when her fuel bunkers spilled open. Of the few dozen crewmen who escaped, only 10 survived to return to Japan.
## Description
The ship had a length of 192.1 meters (630 ft 3 in) between perpendiculars and 202.7 meters (665 ft) overall. She had a beam of 28.7 meters (94 ft 2 in) and a draft of 8.7 meters (29 ft). Fusō displaced 29,326 long tons (29,797 t) at standard load and 35,900 long tons (36,500 t) at full load. Her crew consisted of 1,198 officers and enlisted men in 1915 and 1,396 in 1935. During World War II, the crew probably totalled around 1,800–1,900 men.
During the ship's first modernization during 1930–1933, her forward superstructure was enlarged with multiple platforms added to her tripod foremast. Her rear superstructure was rebuilt to accommodate mounts for 127-millimeter (5 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns and additional fire-control directors. Fusō was also given torpedo bulges to improve her underwater protection and to compensate for the weight of the additional armor and equipment. During the second phase of her first reconstruction in 1934–1935, Fusō's torpedo bulge was enlarged and her stern was lengthened by 7.62 meters (25.0 ft). These changes increased her overall length to 212.75 m (698.0 ft), her beam to 33.1 m (108 ft 7 in) and her draft to 9.69 meters (31 ft 9 in). Her displacement increased by nearly 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) to 39,154 long tons (39,782 t) at deep load.
### Propulsion
The ship had two sets of Brown-Curtis direct-drive steam turbines, each of which drove two propeller shafts. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW), using steam provided by 24 Miyahara-type water-tube boilers, each of which consumed a mixture of coal and oil. Fusō had a stowage capacity of 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) of coal and 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of fuel oil, giving her a range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The ship exceeded her design speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) during her sea trials, reaching 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) at 46,500 shp (34,700 kW).
During her first modernization, the Miyahara boilers were replaced by six new Kampon oil-fired boilers fitted in the former aft boiler room, and the forward funnel was removed. The Brown-Curtis turbines were replaced by four geared Kanpon turbines with a designed output of 75,000 shp (56,000 kW). During her 1933 trials, Fusō reached a top speed of 24.7 knots (45.7 km/h; 28.4 mph) from 76,889 shp (57,336 kW). The fuel storage of the ship was increased to a total of 5,100 long tons (5,200 t) of fuel oil that gave her a range of 11,800 nautical miles (21,900 km; 13,600 mi) at a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).
### Armament
The twelve 45-caliber 14-inch guns of Fusō were mounted in six twin-gun turrets, numbered one through six from front to rear, each with an elevation range of −5 to +30 degrees. The turrets were arranged in an uncommon 2-1-1-2 style with superfiring pairs of turrets fore and aft; the middle turrets were not superfiring, and had a funnel between them. The main guns and their turrets were modernized during the ship's 1930 reconstruction; the elevation of the main guns was increased to +43 degrees, increasing their maximum range from 27,800 to 35,450 yards (25,420 to 32,420 m). Initially, the guns could fire at a rate of 1.5 rounds per minute, and this was also improved during her first modernization. The orientation of Turret No. 3 was reversed during the modernization; it now faced forward.
Originally, Fusō was fitted with a secondary armament of sixteen 50-caliber six-inch 41st Year Type guns mounted in casemates on the upper sides of the hull. The gun had a maximum range of 22,970 yards (21,000 m) and fired at a rate of up to six shots per minute. She was fitted with five 40-caliber three-inch (76 mm) AA guns in 1918. The high-angle guns were in single mounts on both sides of the forward superstructure and both sides of the second funnel, as well as on the port side of the aft superstructure. These guns had a maximum elevation of +75 degrees, and could fire a 5.99-kilogram (13.2 lb) shell at a rate of 13 to 20 rounds per minute to a maximum height of 7,200 meters (23,600 ft). The ship was also fitted with six submerged 533-millimeter (21.0 in) torpedo tubes, three on each broadside.
During the first phase of Fusō's modernization of the early 1930s, all five three-inch guns were removed and replaced with eight 40-caliber 127-millimeter dual-purpose guns, fitted on both sides of the fore and aft superstructures in four twin-gun mounts. When firing at surface targets, the guns had a range of 14,700 meters (16,100 yd); they had a maximum ceiling of 9,440 meters (30,970 ft) at their maximum elevation of +90 degrees. Their maximum rate of fire was 14 rounds a minute, but their sustained rate of fire was around eight rounds per minute. At this time, the ship was also provided with four quadruple mounts for the license-built Type 93 13.2 mm machine guns, two on the pagoda mast and one on each side of the funnel. The maximum range of these guns was 6,500 meters (7,100 yd), but the effective range against aircraft was only 1,000 meters (1,100 yd). The cyclic rate was adjustable between 425 and 475 rounds per minute, but the need to change 30-round magazines reduced the effective rate to 250 rounds per minute.
The improvements made during the first reconstruction increased Fusō's draft by 1 meter (3 ft 3 in), soaking the two foremost six-inch guns, so they were removed during the first phase of the ship's second modernization in 1937 and 1938. During this same phase, the Type 93 13.2-millimeter (0.52 in) machine guns were replaced by eight 25 mm Type 96 light AA guns in twin-gun mounts. Four of these mounts were fitted on the forward superstructure, one on each side of the funnel and two on the rear superstructure. This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it a largely ineffective weapon. According to historian Mark Stille, the twin and triple mounts "lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation; the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets; the gun exhibited excessive vibration; the magazine was too small, and, finally, the gun produced excessive muzzle blast". The configuration of the AA guns varied significantly; in July 1943, 17 single and two twin-mounts were added for a total of 37. In July 1944, the ship was fitted with additional AA guns: 23 single, six twin and eight triple-mounts, for a total of 95 in her final configuration. These 25-millimeter (0.98 in) guns had an effective range of 1,500–3,000 meters (1,600–3,300 yd), and an effective ceiling of 5,500 meters (18,000 ft) at an elevation of +85 degrees. The maximum effective rate of fire was only between 110 and 120 rounds per minute because of the frequent need to change the fifteen-round magazines.
### Armor
The ship's waterline armor belt was 305 to 229 millimeters (12 to 9 in) thick; below it was a strake of 102 mm (4 in) armor. The deck armor ranged in thickness from 32 to 51 mm (1.3 to 2.0 in). The turrets were protected with an armor thickness of 279.4 mm (11.0 in) on the face, 228.6 mm (9.0 in) on the sides, and 114.5 mm (4.51 in) on the roof. The barbettes of the turrets were protected by armor 305 mm thick, while the casemates of the 152 mm guns were protected by 152 mm armor plates. The sides of the conning tower were 351 millimeters (13.8 in) thick. The vessel contained 737 watertight compartments (574 underneath the armor deck, 163 above) to preserve buoyancy in the event of battle damage.
During her first reconstruction Fusō's armor was substantially upgraded. The deck armor was increased to a maximum thickness of 114 mm (4.5 in). A longitudinal bulkhead of 76 mm (3.0 in) of high-tensile steel was added to improve underwater protection.
### Aircraft
Fusō was briefly fitted with an aircraft flying-off platform on Turret No. 2 in 1924. During the first phase of her first modernization, a catapult was fitted on the roof of Turret No. 3 and the ship was equipped to operate three floatplanes, although no hangar was provided. The initial Nakajima E4N2 biplanes were replaced by Nakajima E8N2 biplanes in 1938. Fusō's ability to operate her aircraft was greatly improved during the second phase of her second modernization in 1940–41 when the aircraft handling equipment was moved to the stern and a new catapult was installed. Mitsubishi F1M biplanes replaced the E8Ns from 1942 on.
### Fire control and sensors
When completed in 1915, Fusō had two 3.5-meter (11 ft 6 in) and two 1.5-meter (4 ft 11 in) rangefinders in her forward superstructure, a 4.5-meter (14 ft 9 in) rangefinder on the roof of Turret No. 2, and 4.5-meter rangefinders in Turrets 3, 4, and 5. In late 1917 a fire-control director was installed on a platform on the foremast. The 4.5-meter rangefinders were replaced by 8-meter (26 ft 3 in) instruments in 1923. During the ship's first modernization, four directors for the 12.7 mm AA guns were added, one each on each side of the fore and aft superstructures, and an eight-meter rangefinder was installed at the top of the pagoda mast. This was replaced by a 10-meter (32 ft 10 in) rangefinder during 1938. At this same time, the two 3.5-meter rangefinders on the forward superstructure were replaced by directors for the 25 mm AA guns. Additional 25 mm directors were installed on platforms on each side of the funnel.
While in drydock in July 1943, Type 21 air search radar was installed on the roof of the 10-meter rangefinder at the top of the pagoda mast. In August 1944, two Type 22 surface search radar units were installed on the pagoda mast and two Type 13 early warning radar units were fitted on the funnel. Fusō was the only Japanese battleship to mount radar on her funnel.
## Construction and service
Given a classical name for Japan, Fusō was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal on 11 March 1912 and launched on 28 March 1914. She was commissioned on 8 November 1915 and assigned to the 1st Division, of the 1st Fleet on 13 December under the command of Captain Kōzō Satō. The ship did not take part in any combat during World War I, as there were no longer any forces of the Central Powers in Asia by the time she was completed; she patrolled off the coast of China during that time. The ship served as the flagship of the 1st Division during 1917 and 1918. During the ship's period in reserve in 1918, five 76.2 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed. She aided survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake between 9 and 22 September 1923. Captain Mitsumasa Yonai assumed command on 1 July 1924 and was relieved on 1 November by Captain Sankichi Takahashi. In the 1920s, Fusō conducted training off the coast of China and was often placed in reserve.
The first phase of the ship's first modernization began on 12 April 1930 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal; machinery was replaced, armor was reinforced, and torpedo bulges were fitted. Fusō arrived on 26 September 1932 at Kure Naval Arsenal, where her armament was upgraded and her torpedo tubes were removed. Her sea trials began on 12 May 1933, and the second phase of her modernization began less than a year later. The ship's stern was lengthened and work was completed in March 1935. Captain Jinichi Kusaka was assigned command from November 1935 to December 1936. After sporadic use for training for the next two years, Fusō was assigned as a training ship in 1936 and 1937.
Fusō began the first phase of her second modernization on 26 February 1937, and Captain Hiroaki Abe assumed command on 1 December. He was relieved by Captain Ruitaro Fujita on 1 April 1938, the day after this phase of her modernization was completed. The ship was again assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet on 15 November. She briefly operated in Chinese waters in early 1939 before the second phase of her second modernization began on 12 December 1940. This was completed on 10 April 1941, and Fusō was assigned to the 2nd Division of the 1st Fleet. Captain Mitsuo Kinoshita assumed command on 15 September, when the division consisted of the two Fusō-class and the two Ise-class battleships.
### World War II
On 10 April 1941, Fusō was assigned to the 2nd Division of the 1st Fleet. When the war started for Japan on 8 December, the division, reinforced by the battleships Nagato and Mutsu and the light carrier Hōshō, sortied from Hashirajima to the Bonin Islands as distant support for the 1st Air Fleet attacking Pearl Harbor, and returned six days later. On 21 February 1942, the ship returned to the shipyard at Kure to replace her gun barrels, departing on 25 February. Together with the rest of the 2nd Battleship Division, she pursued but did not catch the American carrier force that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942.
Fusō and the rest of the 2nd Battleship Division set sail on 28 May 1942 with the Aleutian Support Group at the same time that most of the Imperial Fleet began an attack on Midway Island (Operation MI). Commanded by Vice-Admiral Shirō Takasu, the division was composed of Japan's four oldest battleships, including Fusō, accompanied by two light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and two oilers. Official records do not show the division as part of the larger Midway operation, known as Operation AL; they were to accompany the fleet under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, but were only to provide support to the Aleutian task force if needed.
On 14 June, Fusō returned to Yokosuka and arrived back at Hashirajima on 24 June. In an effort to replace the aircraft carriers lost at the Battle of Midway, the navy made plans to convert the two Fusō-class ships to hybrid battleship-carriers, but the two Ise-class battleships were chosen instead. The ship was assigned to the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima, Hiroshima, for use as a training ship between 15 November 1942 and 15 January 1943. Captain Keizō Komura assumed command on 5 December, and was relieved by Captain Nobumichi Tsuruoka on 1 June the next year. Seven days later, Fusō rescued 353 survivors from Mutsu when that ship exploded at Hashirajima.
Between 18 and 24 July 1943, the ship was at the Kure drydock for fitting of radar and additional 25 mm AA guns. Fusō sailed from the Inland Sea on 18 August for Truk Naval Base, carrying supplies, and arrived five days later. The Japanese had intercepted American radio traffic that suggested an attack on Wake Island, and on 17 October, Fusō and the bulk of the 1st Fleet sailed for Eniwetok to be in a position to intercept any such attack. The fleet arrived on the 19th, departed four days later, and arrived back at Truk on 26 October.
On 1 February 1944, Fusō departed Truk with Nagato to avoid an American air raid, and arrived at Palau on 4 February. They left on 16 February to escape another air raid. The ships arrived on 21 February at Lingga Island, and Fusō was employed there as a training ship. A week later, Captain Masami Ban relieved Tsuruoka. The ship was refitted at Singapore between 13 and 27 April, and returned to Lingga. She was transferred to Tawi-Tawi on 11 May and provided cover for the convoy that failed to reinforce Biak Island at the end of the month. Fusō transferred to Tarakan Island off Borneo to refuel in early July before returning to Japan and escaping an attack by the submarine Pomfret. In early August at Kure, she was refitted with additional radars and light AA guns. Fusō and her sister ship were transferred to Battleship Division 2 of the 2nd Fleet on 10 September, and Fusō became the flagship of the division under the command of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura on 23 September. They departed Kure on 23 September for Lingga, escaping an attack by the submarine Plaice the next day, and arrived on 4 October, where Nishimura transferred his flag to Yamashiro. The ships then transferred to Brunei to refuel in preparation for Operation Shō-Gō, the attempt to destroy the American fleet conducting the invasion of Leyte.
#### Battle of Surigao Strait
Commanded by Rear Admiral Masami Ban, Fusō left Brunei at 15:30 on 22 October 1944 as part of Nishimura's Southern Force, heading east into the Sulu Sea and then northeast into the Mindanao Sea. Intending to join Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's force in Leyte Gulf, the force passed west of Mindanao Island into Surigao Strait, where it met a large force of battleships and cruisers lying in wait. The Battle of Surigao Strait became the southernmost action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
At 09:08 on 24 October, Fusō, Yamashiro, and the heavy cruiser Mogami spotted a group of 27 planes, including Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers escorted by Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters from the carrier Enterprise. A bomb from one of them destroyed the catapult and both floatplanes. Another bomb hit the ship near Turret No. 2 and penetrated the decks, killing everyone in No. 1 secondary battery; the ship began to list 2 degrees to starboard. Early the next morning, Fusō opened fire around 01:05 after a shape was spotted off the port bow; it turned out to be Mogami; Fusō's fire killed three sailors in that ship's sick bay.
One or two torpedoes, possibly fired by the destroyer Melvin, hit Fusō amidships on the starboard side at 03:09 on the 25th; she listed to starboard, slowed down, and fell out of formation. Some Japanese and American eyewitnesses later claimed Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour, but they specifically mentioned only the size of the fire on the water, and not any details of the ship. Historian John Toland agreed in 1970 that Fusō had broken in two, but according to historian Anthony Tully in 2009:
> [Survivors' accounts] and the USS Hutchins report are describing a sinking and event at odds with the conventional record—one that seems far removed from the spectacle of the invariably alleged huge magazine explosion and blossom of light at 0338 that supposedly blew the battleship in half! ... Fuso was torpedoed, and as a result of progressive flooding, upended and capsized within forty minutes.
Fusō sank between 03:38 and 03:50, releasing a large quantity of oil which ignited on the surface as she went down; only a few dozen men survived the rapid sinking and subsequent oil fire. There is evidence that some of these were rescued by the destroyer Asagumo, which was itself sunk a short time later; it is also possible that some who escaped the sinking reached Leyte only to be killed by Filipinos, as is known to have happened to survivors from other Japanese warships sunk in the Battle of Surigao Strait. Ten crew members are known to have survived, all of whom returned to Japan. The total number of casualties is estimated at 1,620 sailors.
Fusō was removed from the navy list on 31 August 1945.
#### Wreck
RV Petrel discovered the wreck of Fusō on 25 November 2017. The ship lies upside down in 185 m (607 ft) of water and is in one piece on the seabed, with the hull broken amidships from the impact with the bottom. The pagoda mast broke off during the sinking and is some distance away from the wreck. |
47,399 | Edgar, King of England | 1,161,657,754 | Anglo-Saxon King of England from 959 to 975 | [
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"975 deaths",
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| Edgar (or Eadgar; c. 944 – 8 July 975) was King of England from 959 until his death. He became king of all England on his brother's death. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu. A detailed account of Edgar's reign is not possible, because only a few events were recorded by chroniclers and monastic writers were more interested in recording the activities of the leaders of the church.
Edgar mainly followed the political policies of his predecessors, but there were major changes in the religious sphere. The English Benedictine Reform, which he strongly supported, became a dominant religious and social force. It is seen by historians as a major achievement, and it was accompanied by a literary and artistic flowering, mainly associated with Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. Monasteries aggressively acquired estates from lay landowners with Edgar's assistance, leading to disorder when he died and former owners sought to recover their lost property, sometimes by force. Edgar's major administrative reform was the introduction of a standardised coinage in the early 970s to replace the previous decentralised system. He also issued legislative codes which mainly concentrated on improving procedures for enforcement of the law.
England had suffered from Viking invasions for over a century when Edgar came to power, but there were none during his reign, which fell in a lull in attacks between the mid-950s and the early 980s. After his death the throne was disputed between the supporters of his two surviving sons; the elder one, Edward the Martyr, was chosen with the support of Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Three years later Edward was murdered and succeeded by his younger half-brother, Æthelred the Unready. Later chroniclers presented Edgar's reign as a golden age when England was free from external attacks and internal disorder, especially compared with Æthelred's disastrous rule. Modern historians see Edgar's reign as the pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon culture, but they disagree about his political legacy, and some see the disorders following his death as a natural reaction to his overbearing control.
## Background
In the ninth century, Anglo-Saxon England came under increasing attack from Viking raids, culminating in invasion by the Viking Great Heathen Army in 865. By 878, the Vikings had overrun the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia, and nearly conquered Wessex, but in that year the West Saxons achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington under King Alfred the Great. By 883, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, had accepted Alfred's overlordship, and in the 880s and 890s the Anglo-Saxons ruled Wessex and western Mercia, but the rest of England remained under Viking rule. Alfred died in 899, and in the 910s his son King Edward the Elder and daughter Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who was Æthelred's widow, conquered Viking-ruled eastern Mercia and East Anglia. Æthelflæd died in 918 and the Mercians installed her daughter Ælfwynn as the second Lady of the Mercians, but Edward seized her and established full control over Mercia.
Edward died in 924 and was succeeded by his eldest son Æthelstan, who may have been king only of Mercia at first, but ruled the whole of his father's realm by the next year. In 927 he conquered Northumbria, and thus became the first king of all England. He died in October 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother and Edgar's father, Edmund, who almost immediately lost control of the north to the Vikings, but recovered full control of England by 944. In May 946 he was stabbed to death trying to protect his seneschal from attack by a convicted outlaw, and as his sons Eadwig and Edgar were infants, their uncle Eadred became king. Like Edmund, Eadred inherited the kingship of the whole of England and soon lost it when York (southern Northumbria) accepted a Viking king, but he recovered it when the York magnates expelled Erik Bloodaxe in 954.
Eadred was very close to Edmund and inherited his leading counsellors, which resulted in a high degree of continuity of government when he became king. These counsellors included their mother, Eadgifu; Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury; Ælfsige, Bishop of Winchester; and Æthelstan, ealdorman of East Anglia, who was known as the Half-King because it was believed that kings depended on his advice. Another key adviser was Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and future Archbishop of Canterbury. Eadred suffered from ill health, which became much worse towards the end of his reign. Most surviving charters of the last two years of his reign were produced by an agency associated with Glastonbury Abbey, and almost all of these were not attested by the king, suggesting that Dunstan was authorised to issue charters in Eadred's name when he was too ill to carry out his duties. Eadred was in his early thirties when he died on 23 November 955, and Eadwig succeeded at the age of around fifteen. He was the first king since the early ninth century not to face the threat of imminent foreign invasion, and England remained free from Viking attacks until 980.
## Early life
Edgar was the younger son of Edmund and his first wife, Ælfgifu, and he was born in 943 or 944, the year his mother died. She was a benefactor of Shaftesbury Abbey, an establishment for nuns, and was buried and venerated as a saint there. Her mother Wynflæd, who died around 950, was a vowess (religious woman), who was also a benefactor of the nunnery. Edgar was brought up by Ælfwynn, the wife of Æthelstan Half-King, and in about 958 Edgar gave her a ten-hide (400 hectares (1,000 acres)) estate at Old Weston in Huntingdonshire in gratitude. Æthelstan was a strong supporter of the Benedictine reform movement, which became dominant during Edgar's reign, and the historian Robin Fleming comments that Edgar ætheling (prince eligible for the throne) was profoundly influenced by his upbringing:
Thus, the ætheling was reared in the household of one of his father's closest allies and raised among Half-King's own brothers and sons, five of whom at one time or another were ealdormen. Since Half-King was an intimate of the reform circle, and St Dunstan in particular, Edgar came of age in an atmosphere dominated by the ideals of monastic reform. Some of Edgar's affection for monks and his determination to revive Benedictine monasticism must have been acquired in this household of his youth.
Eadwig and Edgar are not recorded in contemporary sources until 955, when they first attested charters, suggesting that they did not regularly attend court when they were young. Shortly before his death Eadred granted the secular (non-monastic) minster at Abingdon to Æthelwold, the future Bishop of Winchester, who converted it into a monastic establishment, Abingdon Abbey, with himself as its abbot. Edgar was educated there by Æthelwold, who was another leader of the monastic reform movement, and who was thus able to reinforce the young prince's belief in its virtues. As Eadwig succeeded shortly after Æthelwold's appointment, it is likely that Edgar's education at Abingdon was approved by his elder brother as king, and that Æthelwold and Eadwig were on good terms.
## Edgar in Eadwig's early reign, 955 to 957
Eadwig became king on Eadred's death on 23 November 955. Historians have often been critical of Eadwig, portraying him as irresponsible or incompetent, and one piece of evidence cited for this view is the exceptional number of charters he issued in 956. His sixty-odd gifts of land in that year make up around five per cent of all genuine Anglo-Saxon charters, and no other ruler in Europe is known to have matched that yearly total before the twelfth century. The historian Ann Williams observes that the many charters may indicate that Eadwig had to buy support, but too little is known about the background to be certain.
When Eadwig succeeded, the court was ruled by powerful factions, and he appears to have been determined to show his independence of action from the start. In the view of the historian Ben Snook, "Eadwig, unlike his brother Edgar, was clearly his own man. Immediately on coming to power, he acted to put a stop to all this." Simon Keynes argues that "whether Eadwig and Edgar were able to assert their own independence of action, or remained at the mercy of established interests at court, is unclear". Eadwig quarrelled with some of his uncle's leading counsellors, especially Dunstan, who he exiled abroad. Eadgifu had frequently attested charters in the reigns of her sons Edmund and Eadred, but she only attested one of Eadwig's, and she later alleged that she had been "despoiled of all her property" during his reign. On the other hand, Edgar was prominent at his brother's court between 955 and 957, attesting many of his charters, in one of which he is shown as regulus (underking).
Some of the hostility towards Eadwig was probably due to his promotion of his friends, especially Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia, at the expense of the old guard, such as Dunstan. Ælfhere and his brothers were acknowledged by several kings as relatives, but the nature of the relationship is unknown. They were close to Eadwig and he made the eldest brother, Ælfheah, his discifer (seneschal). Ælfheah and his wife Ælfswith, who was also acknowledged by Eadwig as a relative, benefited from his generosity. Ælfhere, who was to become the pre-eminent lay magnate until his death in 983, was appointed an ealdorman in Mercia in 956. Other ealdormen appointed were Æthelstan Rota in Mercia in late 955 and Byrhtnoth, the future hero of the Battle of Maldon, who became ealdorman of Essex in 956. Eadwig appointed Æthelwold, the eldest son of Æthelstan Half-King, as an ealdorman in East Anglia. These were sound appointments of men from established families and Edgar kept them when he came to power. Frank Stenton, in his volume in the Oxford History of England, Anglo-Saxon England (described by Keynes as "magisterial and massively authoritative"), comments that "it can at least be said for King Eadwig that he agreed to the promotion of good servants".
## King of Mercia, 957 to 959
In 957 the kingdom of England was divided between Eadwig, who kept Wessex, and Edgar who became king of Mercia, with the River Thames forming the boundary. It is uncertain whether this was the result of a coup against Eadwig or a decision to divide the kingdom between the brothers. The historian Christopher Lewis sees the division as the solution to "a dangerously unstable government and a court in deep crisis"; Sean Miller and Rory Naismith attribute it to an unsuccessful attempt by Eadwig to promote a powerful new faction at the expense of the old guard. According to Dunstan's first biographer, who only named himself as "B": "King Eadwig was totally abandoned by the people north [of the Thames]. They despised him for his imprudent discharge of the power entrusted to him. The wise and sensible he destroyed in a spirit of idle hatred, replacing them with ignoramuses like himself to whom he took a liking." This is the view of a partisan of Dunstan, who was Eadwig's enemy. B was probably in exile with Dunstan when the division took place. Archbishop Oda forced Eadwig to divorce his wife Ælfgifu on the ground that they were too closely related, but Edgar was on good terms with her when he became king.
Four versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mention the division of the kingdom, and they all state that Edgar "succeeded" to the kingship of the Mercians, as if it was a normal and expected event. Manuscripts D and F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC D and ASC F), date the division to 955, whereas ASC B and ASC C correctly date it to 957. The difference in dates may be because it was agreed in Eadred's reign that the kingdom would be divided between the brothers, but he died before Edgar was old enough to act in person and had to wait until he reached the age of majority of fourteen in 957. Charter attestations show that the magnates did not decide which court to attend on the basis of personal loyalty: ealdormen and bishops with jurisdictions south of the Thames stayed with Eadwig, and those north of it served Edgar. Keynes comments: "One need not imagine that the unity of England would have been regarded in the 950s as something necessarily desirable for its own sake, not least because it was of such recent creation." Almost all thegns who had attested Eadwig's charters before the division stayed with him. The historian Frederick Biggs argues that the division was a revival of the earlier Anglo-Saxon practice of joint kingship, against the opposition of the Church, and Bishop Æthelwold complained that Eadwig had "through the ignorance of childhood dispersed his kingdom and divided its unity".
Eadwig retained some degree of seniority, as he attested charters as "King of the English", whereas Edgar was usually "King of the Mercians", and also occasionally of the Northumbrians and the British. All coins, including those issued in Mercia, were in Eadwig's name until his death, The contemporary chronicler Æthelweard, who may have been Eadwig's brother-in-law, wrote that he "held the kingdom continuously for four years". There is no evidence of rivalry between the brothers, but they did disagree over Dunstan. Edgar recalled him from his exile, and soon afterwards appointed him to the Mercian bishoprics of London and Worcester. Æthelstan Half-King retired when the division took place, perhaps because Edgar had reached an age to take over. In 958 Edgar gave an estate at Sutton in Nottinghamshire to Oscytel, Archbishop of York, probably in support of a policy initiated by Eadwig of strengthening control over this area of Viking settlement by granting land in it to the archbishop.
## Consorts and children
Edgar had children by three consorts. Almost all historians accept that he married the third one, but some question whether he married the first one and others the second. Yorke sees a case for recognising three marriages, as well as temporary liaisons. The name of his first consort, who was the mother of his eldest son, Edward the Martyr, was not recorded until after the Norman Conquest. According to Osbern of Canterbury, writing in the late eleventh century, she was a nun who was seduced by Edgar, but this is rejected by later chroniclers, and historians generally accept the statements of the twelfth-century writers John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury that she was Æthelflæd Eneda, the daughter of Ordmær. Ann Williams describes her as his wife, but Cyril Hart says that Edward the Martyr was of doubtful legitimacy. The chroniclers described Ordmær as an ealdorman, but no ealdorman or thegn with that name attested any surviving tenth-century charter. According to the Liber Eliensis, a vir potens (powerful man) called Ordmær and his wife Ealde exchanged land with Æthelstan Half-King, and Edgar may have met Æthelflæd when he was Æthelstan's foster son. She probably died around 960. The historian Nicholas Brooks argues that Edgar must have married Æthelflæd because Dunstan backed her son's succession to the throne, and he would not have supported an illegitimate son.
Edgar's second consort was called Wulfthryth. According to the late eleventh-century Benedictine writer Goscelin, Edgar wished to marry her cousin Saint Wulfhild, the daughter of a nobleman called Wulfhelm who had sent her to Wilton Abbey to be educated. Goscelin stated in his hagiography of Wulfhild that she resisted his determined advances as she wished to become a nun, and he agreed to marry Wulfthryth, who was also being educated at Wilton. They had a daughter, Edith. Williams regards it as uncertain whether they married, but Yorke argues that they did, pointing out that Goscelin stated that she and Edgar were "bound by indissoluble vows", and that Edith's personal seal, which still survives, describes her as the "royal sister" of Kings Edward and Æthelred, implying that they recognised her legitimacy. Wulfthryth returned to Wilton Abbey with her daughter by 964 and became a nun, allowing Edgar to remarry. He employed the renowned Lotharingian scholar, Radbod of Rheims, and the artist Benna of Trier, to educate Edith. Anglo-Saxon custom allowed for remarriage after a spouse entered a religious community, but on a strict interpretation of canon law, this was forbidden so long as the spouse lived, and so Edgar's third marriage may have had political repercussions. Wulfthryth and Edith were both later regarded as saints, but Wulfthryth's cult never became widely established, unlike that of Edith, who was the subject of another hagiography by Goscelin.
William of Malmesbury wrote that the Danish king Cnut had no affection for English saints, and "when at Wilton one Whitsun he poured out his customary jeers at Edith herself: he would never credit the sanctity of the daughter of King Edgar, a vicious man, an especial slave to lust, and more tyrant than king". William claimed that Cnut ordered her tomb to be broken into so that she could prove her sanctity, and when this was done she threatened to attack him, terrifying him into submission. Yorke comments that the story has been used by William "to highlight her father's reputation for immorality". Yorke sees a provision in the Regularis Concordia that monasteries were under the protection of the king and nunneries of the queen to avoid scandal as "a pointed reference to Edgar's priapic interest in nuns", which would have been seen as normal royal behaviour by most people. Williams observes that "the king's devotion to the Benedictine reform movement should not be taken as evidence of high personal morals".
Edgar's third consort was Ælfthryth, who was the widow of Ealdorman Æthelwold. He died in 962 and she married Edgar in 964. They had two sons, Edmund, who died young, and Æthelred, whose disastrous reign earned him the epithet of "the Unready". In 966 she attested the Winchester New Minster Charter as the "legitimate wife" of the king, and her recently born elder son Edmund attested as his "legitimate son", whereas Edward was described as "begotten by the same king", but it is uncertain whether this was on the king's instruction, which would indicate that he wished to cut Edward out of the succession, or was ordered by Bishop Æthelwold, who was a friend and ally of Ælfthryth. She was consecrated as queen in 973 and thereafter attested charters as regina, the first West Saxon queen to do so on a regular basis. Her consecration was a major change in status as previous West Saxon's kings' consorts had only been described as the king's wife, whereas she also had the status of being the queen.
Unlike Edgar's earlier consorts, Ælfthryth became politically influential, and Edgar appointed her father, Ordgar, as ealdorman of Devon. She is described by Williams as "a force to be reckoned with"; Pauline Stafford regards her as "one of the most important tenth-century queens" and comments that "Ælfthryth, if not Eadgifu, heralded a new dawn in the history of English queens". Both women had a dominant position over other royal women, and both were most powerful as queen mothers, in Ælfthryth's case during the minority of her son Æthelred. She was later accused of being responsible for the murder of Edward the Martyr to make her own son king.
## King of England
Edmund was killed in 946 trying to protect his seneschal from attack by an outlaw, and because his children were infants he was succeeded by his younger brother Eadred, who ruled until his death in 955. Edgar's older brother, Eadwig, then became king and in 957 the kingdom was divided, Eadwig ruling south of the Thames and Edgar north of it. Historians disagree whether this was the result of a revolt by Edgar's supporters against Eadwig's incompetent rule or had been previously agreed.
### Administration
Edgar became king of the whole of England when Eadwig died on 1 October 959, and his former tutor Æthelwold became one of the most powerful figures at court. He was probably in Edgar's personal service as an adviser from 960 until 963, when the king appointed him Bishop of Winchester. Dunstan, who became Archbishop of Canterbury at the start of Edgar's reign, was diligent in attending court, and in the historian Alan Thacker's view: "While Æthelwold's characteristic context is his monastic empire, Dunstan's is the royal court". In the early 970s the leading secular magnates were Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia (Æthelwold's brother and successor), Ælfhere of Mercia, Oslac of York and Byrhtnoth of Essex.
The charters of the 960s and early 970s are similar and do not suggest political change in the period, but from the late 960s northern magnates were more regularly represented. In 954 Eadred had appointed Osulf, the ruler of the north Northumbrian territory of Bamburgh, as the ealdorman of the whole of Northumbria following the expulsion of the Viking king of York, Erik Bloodaxe. Osulf did not owe his power to southern English support, and when he died in the 960s Edgar again divided Northumbria and appointed Oslac as ealdorman of York (southern Northumbria), increasing his control over the area, but he was not able to choose who held power in Bamburgh.
Ealdormen were important in providing stability in a period when kings died young, but the families of Æthelwine of East Anglia and Ælfhere of Mercia gained unassailable positions and their rivalries were a threat to the stability of the kingdom. Edgar was able to keep them under control, but these tensions collapsed into open hostilities after his death. Ealdormen for areas south of the Thames do not attest after 970, and this may be because Edgar chose to govern these areas through royal officials of lower status. Reeves may have been entrusted with duties which were previously carried out by ealdormen. This made his rule less uniform, with different methods of government in different areas. The gap was filled after his death by the appointment of three new southern ealdormen.
Kingship was peripatetic. There was no fixed capital city and the court moved from one royal estate to another, four or five times a year. According to John of Worcester, each winter and spring Edgar would travel round the kingdom to enquire whether the statutes he had promulgated were being observed and whether the poor were being unjustly treated by the powerful. The historian Richard Huscroft describes this account as "perhaps a little rose-tinted". Harrying was a standard punishment for crimes committed by communities, and in 974 Edgar ordered the people of Thanet to be deprived of their property and some of them executed, because they had robbed passing traders from York. Forfeiture of land for wrongdoing gave the king opportunities for patronage or receiving payments for remission of punishment. In one case, Edgar rescinded a forfeiture for 100 mancuses of gold, and in another he restored several confiscated estates for 120 mancuses.
### Charters
Since the 930s, charters had been produced by a royal secretariat, but this probably did not survive the division of 957 to 959 in unchanged form. When Edgar succeeded in 959 he appears to have preferred to retain the secretariat he had employed as king of Mercia rather than use the one he had inherited from Eadwig. Edgar's charters were written in competent but formulaic and derivative Latin, drawing on the prose of much earlier charters. They are more diverse in style than those of previous kings, and Snook argues that this does not indicate a decline in central control, but rather the increasing sophistication of the Anglo-Saxon bureaucracy. Although there is great variety in the charters' proems (introductions), and in the sanctions against anyone defying the provisions of the charter, the political and legal protocols follow a stable tradition.
The charters fall into several groups. Most belong to the "diplomatic mainstream", including those produced by the scribe known as Edgar A. Scholars disagree about his location. Richard Drögereit [de] in the 1930s and Pierre Chaplais in the 1960s linked the scribe with Æthelwold's Abingdon, and perhaps with Æthelwold himself. Keynes argued in 1980 that he was probably a priest in the royal writing office, and Susan Kelly defended the older view in 2000. Edgar A started drafting when Edgar was king of Mercia and a significant proportion of charters in the early 960s were produced by him. He ceased work in 963, but some charters later in the reign were produced by scribes who adopted his style. Another group is associated with Dunstan and called the Dunstan B charters. They were produced between 951 and 975, with a break in Eadwig's reign. The ones dating to the period when Edgar was only king of Mercia were not personally attested by him. There were also charters produced by midlands and west country agencies, and in some cases the beneficiary may have played an important role in the drafting.
Charters are problematic sources because of the difficulty of distinguishing genuine ones from the many forgeries. About 160 surviving charters of Edgar survive, including 10 dating to 957 to 959 when he was king of Mercia. Most of the Mercian ones, and around 100 of those he issued as king of the English, are substantially genuine, the highest numbers being in 961 to 963 and 968. They are mainly standard grants of land to religious houses or individuals, with a few more complex ones such as the one granting privileges to the New Minster, Winchester (see image below). Most charters are only known from later copies, but sixteen survive as single sheets which are or may be originals. Some give Edgar's regnal year, and the start date they were based on varied, some being from 959, 960 and 973, but most often 957. Like Æthelstan, Edgar used the title king of the English in some charters and king of Britain in other ones, and Keynes comments that "the consistent usages of Edgar's reign represent nothing less than a determined reaffirmation of the polity created by Æthelstan in the 930s".
### Law
Four law codes have been attributed to Edgar, but the correct number is two. The Hundred Ordinance was formerly called I Edgar by historians, but it does not say who issued it, and it may date to an earlier king. II and III Edgar are the ecclesiastical and secular sections of one set of provisions, known as the Andover Code. IV Edgar is thus the second code. Edgar was more concerned with the administration of the law than its substance. His primary concern was to ensure that existing laws were properly enforced. Law codes were not unilateral royal pronouncements, but issued with the advice of the king's councillors.
The legal historian Patrick Wormald describes the Andover Code as impressive and rational. II Edgar covers ecclesiastical matters, especially church dues. For the first time, a specific penalty was prescribed for non-payment of tithes, and anyone who did not pay Romescot, the penny due to the Pope, had to take it to Rome – a penalty theoretical rather than real. III Edgar is concerned with making justice accessible, preventing unjust judgments, standardisation of weights and measures, and that "one coinage is to be current throughout all the king's dominion". Plaintiffs had to exhaust other avenues before they were allowed recourse to the king, judgements had to be just and punishments had to be appropriate. Courts were to be held regularly, and every man was to provide himself with a surety to hold him to his legal duty. The preservation of order required the cooperation of the secular and religious authorities, but it is not until III Edgar that ealdormen and bishops were required to work together in the judgement of legal cases.
IV Edgar is more wordy than the Andover Code and more rhetorical than any previous one. It has attracted the most attention by historians as it recognises the separate customs of the former Viking Kingdom of York, which was to have "such good laws as they best decide on". Wapentakes, the name in the northern Danelaw for the administrative divisions known to the Anglo-Saxons as hundreds, are first mentioned in this law code. One exception to the concession that the Danelaw was to have its own customs was a provision to make the sale of stolen goods more difficult. At least twelve sworn witnesses were to be appointed in each burh, hundred and wapentake, and all transactions had to be witnessed by two or three of these witnesses. Shires, hundreds and wapentakes began to play an important part in the king's control over the population around this time. IV Edgar refers "to all the nation, whether Englishmen, Danes or Britons, in every province of my dominion", recognising that Edgar's subjects were made up of three distinct political communities. He ordered that many copies of the code be sent to ealdormen Ælfhere and Æthelwine, so that they can be widely distributed and made known to rich and poor.
The late tenth-century hagiographer, Lantfred of Winchester, writing at about the time that Edgar died, stated:
At the command of the glorious King Edgar, a law...was promulgated throughout England, to serve as a deterrent against all sorts of crime...that if any thief or robber were found anywhere in the patria, he would be tortured at length by having his eyes put out, his hands cut off, his ears torn off, his nostrils carved open and his feet removed; and finally, with the skin and hair of his head shaved off, he would be abandoned in the open fields dead in respect of nearly all his limbs, to be devoured by wild beasts and birds and hounds of the night.
Edgar's known laws do not specify mutilation, although IV Edgar does refer a list of punishments which do not survive. A code of Cnut specifies similar punishments, and its author, Archbishop Wulfstan of York, stated that Cnut's legislation was based on the laws of Edgar. Wormald describes the punishments as "ghastly", and Keynes observes that it is no wonder that Edgar was hailed as "the strongest of all kings", but that if we are disposed to admire the peace he brought then we should bear in mind the measures he took to enforce it.
Cnut held up Edgar's legislation as the precedent to be followed, and declared in a proclamation of 1020 that everyone should "steadfastly observe the law of Edgar." ASC D states that in 1018 the Danes and the English reached an agreement "according to Edgar's law". In a letter from Cnut to his subjects in 1019/20 he referred to a law code agreed at Oxford, which he described as Edgar's law, and urged people to keep to it. In Wormald's view, Cnut considered that his regime was based on the Oxford agreement to keep to Edgar's law. However, the code bears little resemblance to Edgar's legislation, and the reference to him was probably symbolic as a revered lawmaker, rather than practical as a source. Edgar's legislation continued to be held in high regard after the Norman Conquest, and the twelfth-century historian Eadmer referred to the "holy laws" of "the most glorious king Edgar", although there is no evidence that he knew the codes.
### Coinage
The only coin in common use in late Anglo-Saxon England was the silver penny, but a few halfpennies were also produced and nine are known for Edgar. Edgar's coinage is divided into two phases, pre-reform which broadly carried on the diverse coinage design of his immediate predecessors, and the major reform near the end of his reign.
There had been an increase in regional variation in coinage in the reigns of Edmund and Eadred, especially in Northumbria, which switched back and forth between English and Viking control, and the permanent restoration of control over the north after 954 allowed a gradual return to the greater unity of Æthelstan's coinage. Edgar's pre-reform coin designs included Horizontal types, which continued from Eadwig's reign. The Circumscription Cross type was introduced under Æthelstan and was rare for the next twenty years, before becoming common under Edgar. The Bust Crowned type (see image) also became much more common in Edgar's reign. Edgar's early coinage is described by Naismith as "an important step towards the fundamental change" of the reformed coinage. Æthelstan's reign and Edgar's pre-reform coinage are the only pre-reform periods when the mint place was commonly shown, and even in these periods many coins did not show the information. Thirty mint-places are named on Edgar's pre-reform coins, and another six are inferred by numismatists for coins which do not show the town. There was a gradual decline in the standard of coinage from the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder until Edgar's reform. In most of the first half of the tenth century the fineness of the coinage was maintained at a high level, with over 90% silver. A few less fine coins were produced in the 950s, and the number increased significantly in Edgar's pre-reform coinage. The average weight of coins had gradually declined since the reign of Edward the Elder, and this continued into Edgar's time.
Edgar's reformed coinage brought in standardised designs over the whole country. It was modelled on Æthelstan's coinage and had been partly prefigured in the previous fifteen years. It was of a high and uniform fineness (proportion of siver), compared both with the preceding period and with most other contemporary European coinages, with about 96% silver. The weight increased, but there were still regional variations. All mints used the same design, with the king's bust facing left on the obverse in an inner circle with his name around the outside as +EADGAR REX ANGLOR[UM]. On the reverse was a small cross in the middle, surrounded by the moneyer's name and the mint location. The design was not original: it was very similar to Æthelstan's Bust Crowned coinage, but uniformity over the whole kingdom was completely new. The reform of the coinage is not recorded in documentary sources until the thirteenth century, when Roger of Wendover was the only chronicler to mention it. It is not known exactly when the reform was introduced, but it was towards the end of his reign. The fineness of coins became more geographically uneven after his death.
Edgar's standardization of the coinage reflects his concern with uniformity, and his ability to impose the change shows the strength of his control. It was part of his determined effort towards the end of his reign to increase the secular and spiritual cohesion of his kingdom. For the first time, all of the approximately forty mints were producing a uniform design of coin. Edgar's coinage reform is described by the historian Levi Roach as "one of the crowning achievements of late Anglo-Saxon kingship". It lasted for more than one hundred and fifty years.
### Religion
As king of Mercia in 958, Edgar granted land to St Werburgh's Minster, Chester. This was an unreformed community, a house of secular clergy, and would have been an unlikely beneficiary of royal patronage later in Edgar's reign. The Benedictine reformers later presented his accession as a victory for their cause, but this donation shows that monastic status was not then crucial for him and his advisers.
Earlier kings had supported reform, but there were only two Benedictine monasteries when Edgar came to the throne, and his support was key to the wider success of the movement. In Stenton's view, his accession to the throne of England led to few changes in secular personnel, but it caused momentous changes in the church. He comments: "There is no doubt that in the re-establishment of English monasticism, which is the principal achievement of this period, the enthusiasm of King Edgar was the decisive factor." He favoured all three of the leading figures in the movement, Dunstan, Oswald and Æthelwold. Oda had died in 958, and Eadwig's choice of successor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfsige, froze to death in the Alps on the way to get his pallium from the Pope. Byrhthelm, Bishop of Wells, was Eadwig's second choice, but when Edgar succeeded, he dismissed Byrhthelm on the ground that he was too gentle to maintain discipline and appointed Dunstan. Oswald became bishop of Worcester in 962 and then archbishop of York in 971 without relinquishing Worcester.
In the early years of Edgar's reign, the third monastic leader, Æthelwold, was the only abbot who attested charters, showing his special status. He was a strong critic of secular clergy (sometimes called canons), who were able to marry, unlike monks. Following his appointment as Bishop of Winchester in 963, Æthelwold converted the city's New Minster into an institution exclusively of monks. Edgar successfully sought papal authority for the forcible expulsion of the canons and sent an armed force under a royal official to help in carrying it out. In 966 he granted privileges to the new community in a magnificent charter (see image), which referred to the cleansing of the church by the driving out of the canons and recorded the grant of the New Minster to Christ by Edgar, who is described as vicarius christi (vicar of Christ). One of the main justifications for the king's involvement was that the canons' sinful nature meant that their prayers for him were worthless.
Edgar and Ælfthryth granted Æthelwold an estate at Sudbourne on condition that he translated the Regula S. Benedicti (Rule of Saint Benedict) from Latin into English to assist the religious instruction of the laity, and the translation survives. The Regularis Concordia laid down rules for English monasteries. It was written as a result of instructions sent by Edgar to a synod at Winchester to draw up a single monastic rule for all England, and it exhibits his desire for unity and unformity. He urged his bishops, abbots and abbesses, "to be of one mind regarding monastic usage...lest differing ways of observing the customs of one Rule and one country ahould bring their holy conversation into disrepute". The Regularis Concordia instructed that psalms be said several times a day for the king and queen in all monasteries, and required the consent of the king for the election of abbots. The document dates to around 973, perhaps after Edgar's coronation in Bath on 11 May.
Continental reformers accepted that secular clergy had their place in the church, and Dunstan and Oswald agreed. They did not expel the canons from their cathedral communities. Æthelwold was more extreme, and in a text known as "King Edgar's Establishment of Monasteries", he wrote that Edgar
cleansed holy places from all men's foulnesses, not only in the kingdom of the West Saxons, but in the land of the Mercians also. Assuredly he drove out canons who abounded beyond measure in the aforesaid sins, and he established monks in the foremost places of all his dominion for the glorious service of the Saviour Christ. In some places also he established nuns and entrusted them to his consort, Ælfthryth, that she might help them in every necessity.
The reformers practised personal austerity, but their masses, liturgy and prayers became more and more lavish along Continental lines, and they worked vigorously to increase the land and wealth of the monasteries to pay for the buildings and objects required. The reformers did not only receive physical and financial support from Edgar and his officials, but also from other members of the laity. In addition, the leaders of the movement were wealthy aristocrats who used their own resources to support the movement. Æthelwold paid Edgar 200 mancuses of gold and a silver cup worth five pounds to renew privileges of Winchester Old Minster, granted by Edward the Elder, in relation to a large estate at Taunton, and Æthelwold also paid Ælfthryth 50 mancuses "in return for her help in his just mission". Æthelwold relentlessly pursued land claims through the courts on behalf of monasteries in his diocese, and Edgar frequently intervened to support him. After his death landowners brought legal actions, and sometimes used violence, to recover estates lost by the aggressive and dubious claims of monasteries. Even the greatest magnates were not immune from the reformers' demands, and Æthelwine brought a successful action to recover an estate of forty hides in Hatfield, complaining that Edgar had forced him and his brothers to surrender it to Æthelwold. The anti-monastic reaction following Edgar's death shows how dependent the reformers were on the king's support, but no writings survive of the reformers' opponents to show how they saw Edgar.
Edgar's support for the reformers earned him extravagant praise in the works of Benedictine authors such as Byrhtferth and Wulfstan, both writing in the late 990s. The reformers gave Edgar a status which was almost theocratic, and he is compared in the Regularis Concordia to the Good Shepherd. The contemporary theologian Ælfric of Eynsham also praised Edgar; he urged obedience to monarchy, which he regarded as divinely instituted. The historian Catherine Karkov observes that: "From the very beginning of his reign Edgar had been portrayed as an able and powerful basileus, whose kingship derived directly from God". The reform was the English branch of a European movement, and monasteries in post-Carolingian Europe universally followed the Regula S. Benedicti, but Wormald comments that "England was the only place in post-Carolingian Europe where monastic uniformity was a matter of political principle".
Like other kings, Edgar was generous in his donations to churches. In 970 Æthelwold re-founded the community of secular priests at Ely Abbey as a house for monks with the generous support of Edgar, whose gifts included a cross covered in gold and silver gilt, together with golden images and precious stones; a cloak embellished with gold; and a gospel book gilded with precious stones and enamels. He was a major patron of Romsey Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery which was founded or refounded in 967, and his son Edmund was buried there. Edgar also supported the Old Minster, Winchester, which had the body of Saint Swithun. In 971 the saint's body was translated from its tomb in the grounds to one inside the minster, on the order of Edgar and with the support of Æthelwold. This was the start of a major new cult. A second translation was carried out in around 974. Swithun's relics were carried in a barefoot procession for three miles before being placed in a grand new reliquary of gold, silver and rubies which Edgar had ordered to be made. He was also the greatest benefactor of Æthelwold's Abingdon Abbey.
Reformed Benedictine monasteries were mainly confined to Wessex and some areas of Mercia, and they were greatly outnumbered by the many secular minsters, although the reformed monasteries were much wealthier. The reformers portrayed Edgar's reign as a golden age which fundamentally changed the English church, but the historian John Blair is sceptical: "The polemic may belie a religious culture in Edgar's reign which, when we probe beneath the surface, starts to look less exclusive and more like that of Æthelstan's and Edmund's."
### Learning and art
When Alfred came to the throne in 871, learning had declined to a low level and the knowledge of Latin was very poor. He started the revival of learning, and it was brought to its height by Edgar. Lapidge comments that his reign "marks a decisive turning-point in English literary history". No Latin works by Oswald are known, but Æthelwold and Dunstan were outstanding scholars. Æthelwold's translation of the Regula S. Benedicti is of the highest standard, and his New Minster Charter was written in elaborate hermeneutic Latin to display the dazzling erudition of the Benedictine movement and glorify King Edgar and the reform. Some of the works in Old English produced by Æthelwold are so lavishly and expensively produced that they cannot have been for the instruction of young oblates and were probably intended for nobles and royalty. There was also a great increase in Latin literature in Edgar's reign, all of it apparently associated with Æthelwold's Winchester. Much of this literature consisted of poetry, often containing many grecisms. The three leading reformers were strongly influenced by Continental scholarship and welcomed learned foreign clerics, such as Lantfred from Fleury Abbey, to their households. The art historian David Wilson states that Edgar's reign "produced some of the highest achievements in painting and sculpture ever seen in England". The Benedictional of St. Æthelwold is one of the greatest examples of English art. Several half-sisters of Edgar's father had married Continental royalty, and these connections helped Edgar to bring in foreign scholars such as Radbod and painters and goldsmiths such as Benna, who made metalwork for the king and decorated the ceiling of Wilton church.
### Warfare and foreign relations
Peter Rex observes in his biography of Edgar that his reign was remarkable for the lack of opposition to his rule both from within and outside his kingdom. Although no Viking attacks on England are recorded in his reign, there were several battles fought by ealdormen and neighbouring kings. In 966, Thored, son of Gunnar, ravaged Westmorland, perhaps as part of English resistance to the southward expansion of Strathclyde, and King Kenneth of Scotland conducted raids on Northumbria in the early 970s. In the late 960s there was dissension between the princes of the north Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd, and in 967 the English under Ælfhere laid waste to it; in the early 970s Anglesey was twice attacked by the Vikings. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle boasted of the strength of Edgar's navy. ASC D and E, after declaring that many kings honoured Edgar, go on: "Nor was there fleet so proud nor host so strong that it got itself prey in England as long as the noble king held the throne." Later chroniclers made exaggerated claims, such as John of Worcester, who wrote that Edgar had 3,600 ships, and that he used to circumnavigate the island of Britain each summer, but there is evidence for naval organisation in the reign of his son Æthelred, and Edgar probably had a substantial fleet which laid the foundation for it.
A poem in the northern versions ASC D and E, which is thought on stylistic grounds to have been written by Wulfstan, praises Edgar, but then goes on "Yet he did one ill-deed too greatly: he loved evil foreign customs and brought too firmly heathen manners within this land, and attracted hither foreigners and enticed harmful people to this country." This probably refers to Edgar hiring Viking mercenaries and their ships, an expedient which was employed by Alfred and probably Æthelstan before Edgar, and Æthelred after him.
In 972/973 Edgar sent an embassy to the German emperor, Otto the Great. According to Byrhtferth:
Edgar sent some wonderful gifts to the emperor, through the agency of Abbot Æscwig and Wulfmær, his thegn; they brought back to him even more wonderful gifts, which served to establish a treaty of steadfast peace. The king was bountiful in his generosity, as befits a king. As a result of his abundant generosity, the kings of other peoples praised him exceedingly, and because he displayed the rage of a savage lion against his enemies, neighbouring kings and princes feared him.
### The events of 973
Naismith describes the year 973 as an annus mirabilis for the English kingdom. Edgar and Ælfryth were consecrated king and queen at Bath on Whit Sunday, 11 May 973. Kings were normally formally elected by their leading men and then crowned soon after their accession, but there is no record of Edgar being crowned early in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle implies that it was a first coronation. ASC A, ASC B and ASC C say "Edmund's son, bold in battle, had spent 29 years in the world when this came about, and then in the thirtieth was consecrated king."; ASC D and ASC E describe him as "the ætheling Edgar". Historians debate whether it was a second coronation, and if not, the reason for the delay. One theory is that he waited until he was in his thirtieth year because thirty was the minimum age for consecration as a priest, but this has been questioned because at twenty-nine he was still too young. According to Nicholas, a twelfth-century prior of Worcester, Edgar postponed his consecration until he had outgrown the passions of his youth, and Stenton thinks that he may have waited "until he felt that he had come to full maturity of mind and conduct". Other historians, such as Janet Nelson, think that he was almost certainly crowned at the start of his reign. She argues that Edgar must have been crowned early in his reign because his legitimacy as king would otherwise have been impaired, and that the 973 consecration was intended to celebrate and display his claim to imperial status as overlord of Britain." The fact that it was recorded in verse in early versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC A and B), whereas it was rare for the Chronicle to mention coronations at all, suggests that there was something special about this one. The German court was the leader in elaborate ritual and display, and the information learned by Edgar's embassy to Otto I may have played a major role in planning the coronation in Bath.
A northern version of the Chronicle dating to the second half of the eleventh or early twelfth centuries, ASC D, says that Edgar then sailed with his navy to Chester, where six kings promised to be his allies on land and sea. Ælfric of Eynsham, writing no more than twenty-five years later, apparently about the same event, says that "all the kings who were in this island, Cumbrians and Scots, came to Edgar, once eight kings on one day, and they all submitted to Edgar's direction". In the twelfth century, John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury gave accounts of the Chester meeting. They stated that the kings rowed Edgar on the River Dee as a symbol of their submission. Unlike earlier sources, they name the kings, and the historian of Wales Thomas Charles-Edwards gives their probable identities: Kenneth of Scotland, Dufnal and his son Malcolm of Strathclyde, Maccus, King of the Isles, Iacob and his nephew Hywel of Gwynedd, and two who are otherwise unknown, Siferth, who may have been a Viking, and Iuchil, perhaps a version of the Old Welsh name Iudhail. John of Worcester gives the fullest account, stating that the kings, who he calls underkings,
went to meet him, as he had commanded, and swore that they would be loyal to, and cooperate with, him by land and sea. With them, on a certain day, he boarded a skiff; having set them to the oars, and having taken the helm himself, he skilfully steered it through the course of the River Dee, and with a crowd of ealdormen and nobles following in a similar boat, sailed from the palace to the monastery of St John the Baptist, where, when he had prayed, he returned with the same pomp to the palace. As he was entering it he is reported to have declared to his nobles at length that each of his successors would be able to boast that he was king of the English, and would enjoy the pomp of such honour with so many kings at his command.
Some historians see the meeting as a parley between equals. The Chester meeting may have been a conference of kings following the English attacks on Wales and Scottish on England. Lothian had probably been under Scottish control since the 950s, and around this time Edgar formally ceded it to them. Kenneth may have attended the meeting to secure this concession and in Williams's view it is unlikely that he saw himself as Edgar's subordinate. The historian Christopher Lewis comments: "Precisely what happened at Chester has been irretrievably obscured by the embellishments of twelfth-century historians".
Other historians are more ready to accept claims of English superiority. Levi Roach and Richard Huscroft think that it makes better sense to see the events at Chester as a display of Edgar's overlordship. Molyneaux agrees, arguing that the English king was able to intimidate other rulers because he possessed far greater military strength: "If Edgar's neighbours wished to avoid their lands being ravaged, the invitation to Chester was probably not one that they could decline." Edgar claimed dominion over Britain by describing himself as ruler of "Britannia" and "Albion" in charters. Such claims, which are also found in the writings of the monastic reformers, are displayed in the titles of other tenth-century kings. They reached a peak during Edgar's reign, but in reality English power over the other nations of Britain was lower than at times earlier in the century. Scottish and Welsh kings sometimes attested Æthelstan's charters, but never those of Edgar. His coronation at Bath was only attended by English magnates, whereas at least two Welsh kings were present at that of Eadred in 946. After his reign, southern kings' hegemony over other parts of Britain weakened further, and there is no evidence of Scottish, Welsh or Cumbrian kings acknowledging English overlordship until 1031.
## Death and aftermath
Edgar was thirty-one or thirty-two years old when died on 8 July 975. He was buried at Glastonbury Abbey, which was the burial place of his father and a monastery particularly associated with Dunstan and Benedictine reform. His burial at Glastonbury helped to make it a leading royal cult centre, although there is no evidence that he was revered as a saint earlier than the mid-eleventh century. The historian David Rollason comments that his cult had surprisingly little success in view of his role in monastic reform, "although presumably weakened by stories of his sexual adventures, notably with nuns". He is listed as a saint in some modern Catholic sources with a feast day of 8 July. Two of his children, Edith and Edward, were widely revered as saints shortly after their deaths.
The succession to the throne was disputed between the supporters of his two surviving sons. Æthelred had the powerful backing of his mother and her ally, Bishop Æthelwold, but Edgar's eldest son Edward became king with the support of Dunstan and Æthelwine. The dispute was personal, between the supporters of Edward and Æthelred, not between the supporters and opponents of monastic reform. The fact that there was no question of dividing the country between the two claimants may be a tribute to the success of Edgar's reforms aimed at unifying the country. Edward was murdered in 978 and he was succeeded by Æthelred, whose disastrous reign ended with the Danish conquest of England.
## Assessment
The historian Judith Green describes Edgar's reign as "in many respects the apogee of Old English kingship", and Eric John comments that it "marks the high point in the history of the Anglo-Saxon state. One sign of this is, paradoxically, that we know little of secular events in Edgar's time. Violent incident was staple fare for annalists." Other historians also praise Edgar. Levi Roach sees his reign as "noteworthy for its stability, as both monastic reform and administrative developments served to provide a more secure basis for a unified kingdom. In the view of Martin Ryan: "By the end of the reign of King Edgar, Anglo-Saxon England possessed a sophisticated machinery of rule, capable of significant and, in medieval terms, precocious administrative feats." In Molyneaux's view, the mid- to late-tenth century was a crucial period for administrative development, although it is uncertain how far Edgar was personally responsible: "this period, far more than the reigns of either Alfred or Æthelstan, was probably the most pivotal phase in the development of the institutional structures that were fundamental to royal rule in the eleventh-century English kingdom". The fact that such a major change as his reform of the currency was not recorded until after the Conquest suggests that other important changes in his reign may have been wrongly attributed to the later time when they were first recorded.
Stenton's praise is more moderate. He describes Edgar's reign as "singularly devoid of recorded incident", which he attributes to Edgar's competence as a ruler, but he also writes that:
when Edgar is compared with other outstanding members of his house – with Alfred or with Æthelstan – he falls at once into a lower class than theirs. He was never required to defend English civilization against barbarians from over sea, nor to deal with the problems raised by the existence of barbarian states within England itself. His part in history was to maintain the peace established in England by earlier kings.
Some historians are more critical. Keynes comments: "It is a sign of Edgar's 'strength' as a ruler that when he died, on 8 July 975, the 'peace' of his kingdom was immediately disturbed...In general terms, the disturbances of Edward's reign should be regarded as a manifestation of the kind of social and political disorder which might be expected to attend the unexpected removal of one who was seen as the personification of an overbearing regime." His rule appears to have depended to a great degree on his personal control, which makes it understandable that his death should have created so many problems. Williams takes a similar view, and Snook argues that the infighting after his death and the disintegration of the state under his son Æthelred shows that the factionalism of the 950s had only been temporarily suppressed by Edgar. Commenting on the flattering portrait of Edgar by monastic writers, Stafford comments: "Sparse sources make the construction of any alternative to this plaster saint of monastic hagiography difficult."
Almost all of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is in prose, but three tenth-century kings are the subjects of panegyric poems. Two are about specific events, Æthelstan's victory at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 and Edmund's recovery of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw in 942, whereas three are general, all of them commemorating Edgar's reign. They are placed in the years of his accession, coronation and death, and the historian Mercedes Salvador-Bello sees them as products of monastic reformers who celebrated him as a patron of their cause and compared him to Christ. After the troubles of the reigns of Edgar's sons, his rule came to be seen as a golden age, but his byname, Pacificus, is not recorded until the twelfth-century, in the chronicle of John of Worcester. Its translation as "Peaceful" is common in popular sources, but very rare in academic works on the period. The historian Sean Miller argues that as Edgar was very ready to resort to violence, the term is better translated as "peacemaker", someone who preserved peace through "strict control backed up by military force rather than serenity of character". |
32,529 | Velociraptor | 1,172,582,299 | Dromaeosaurid dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous | [
"Campanian genus first appearances",
"Djadochta fauna",
"Eudromaeosaurs",
"Feathered dinosaurs",
"Fossil taxa described in 1924",
"Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia",
"Taxa named by Henry Fairfield Osborn"
]
| Velociraptor (/vəˌlɒsɪˈræptər, vəˈlɒsɪræptər/; lit. 'swift thief') is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils of this species have been discovered in the Djadochta Formation, Mongolia. A second species, V. osmolskae, was named in 2008 for skull material from the Bayan Mandahu Formation, China.
Smaller than other dromaeosaurids like Deinonychus and Achillobator, Velociraptor was about 1.5–2.07 m (4.9–6.8 ft) long with a body mass around 14.1–19.7 kg (31–43 lb). It nevertheless shared many of the same anatomical features. It was a bipedal, feathered carnivore with a long tail and an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on each hindfoot, which is thought to have been used to tackle and restrain prey. Velociraptor can be distinguished from other dromaeosaurids by its long and low skull, with an upturned snout.
Velociraptor (commonly referred to as "raptor") is one of the dinosaur genera most familiar to the general public due to its prominent role in the Jurassic Park films. In real life, however, Velociraptor was roughly the size of a turkey, considerably smaller than the approximately 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 90 kg (200 lb) reptiles seen in the novels and films (which were based on members of the related genus Deinonychus). Today, Velociraptor is well known to paleontologists, with over a dozen described fossil skeletons, the most of any dromaeosaurid. One particularly famous specimen preserves a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops.
## History of discovery
During an American Museum of Natural History expedition to the Flaming Cliffs (Bayn Dzak or Bayanzag) of the Djadochta Formation, Gobi Desert, on 11 August 1923, Peter Kaisen discovered the first Velociraptor fossil known to science—a crushed but complete skull, associated with one of the raptorial second toe claws (AMNH 6515). In 1924, museum president Henry Fairfield Osborn designated the skull and claw (which he assumed to come from the hand) as the type specimen of his new genus, Velociraptor. This name is derived from the Latin words velox ('swift') and raptor ('robber' or 'plunderer') and refers to the animal's cursorial nature and carnivorous diet. Osborn named the type species V. mongoliensis after its country of origin. Earlier that year, Osborn had informally mentioned the animal in a popular press article, under the name "Ovoraptor djadochtari" (not to be confused with the similarly named Oviraptor), eventually changed into V. mongoliensis during its formal description.
While North American teams were shut out of communist Mongolia during the Cold War, expeditions by Soviet and Polish scientists, in collaboration with Mongolian colleagues, recovered several more specimens of Velociraptor. The most famous is part of the "Fighting Dinosaurs" specimen (MPC-D 100/25; formerly IGM, GIN, or GI SPS), discovered by a Polish-Mongolian team in 1971. The fossil preserves a Velociraptor in battle against a Protoceratops. It is considered a national treasure of Mongolia, and in 2000 it was loaned to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for a temporary exhibition.
Between 1988 and 1990, a joint Chinese-Canadian team discovered Velociraptor remains in northern China. American scientists returned to Mongolia in 1990, and a joint Mongolian-American expedition to the Gobi, led by the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, turned up several well-preserved skeletons. One such specimen, MPC-D 100/980, was nicknamed "Ichabodcraniosaurus" by Norell's team because the fairly complete specimen was found without its skull (an allusion to the Washington Irving character Ichabod Crane). While Norell and Makovicky provisionally considered it a specimen of Velociraptor mongoliensis, it was named as a new species Shri devi in 2021.
### Additional species
Maxillae and a lacrimal (the main tooth-bearing bones of the upper jaw, and the bone that forms the anterior margin of the eye socket, respectively) recovered from the Bayan Mandahu Formation in 1999 by the Sino-Belgian Dinosaur Expeditions were found to pertain to Velociraptor, but not to the type species V. mongoliensis. Pascal Godefroit and colleagues named these bones V. osmolskae (for Polish paleontologist Halszka Osmólska) in 2008. However, the 2013 study noted that while "the elongate shape of the maxilla in V. osmolskae is similar to that of V. mongoliensis," phylogenetic analysis found it to be closer to Linheraptor, making the genus paraphyletic; thus, V. osmolskae might not actually belong to the genus Velociraptor and requires reassessment.
Paleontologists Mark A. Norell and Peter J. Makovicky in 1997 described new and well preserved specimens of V. mongoliensis, namely MPC-D 100/985 collected from the Tugrik Shireh locality in 1993, and MPC-D 100/986 collected in 1993 from the Chimney Buttes locality. The team briefly mentioned another specimen, MPC-D 100/982, which by the time of this publication remained undescribed. In 1999 Norell and Makovicky provided more insights into the anatomy of Velociraptor with additional specimens. Among these, MPC-D 100/982 was partially described and figured, and referred to V. mongoliensis mainly based on cranial similarities with the holotype skull, although they stated that differences were present between the pelvic region of this specimen and other Velociraptor specimens. This relatively well-preserved specimen including the skull was discovered and collected in 1995 at the Bayn Dzak locality (specifically at the "Volcano" sub-locality). Martin Kundrát in a 2004 abstract compared the neurocranium of MPC-D 100/982 to another Velociraptor specimen, MPC-D 100/976. He concluded that the overall morphology of the former was more derived (advanced) than the latter, suggesting that they could represent distinct taxa.
Mark J. Powers in his 2020 master thesis fully described MPC-D 100/982, which he concluded to represent a new and third species of Velociraptor. This species, which he informally named "V. vadarostrum", was stated to mainly differ from other Velociraptor species in having a shallow maxilla morphology. Powers and colleagues also in 2020 used morphometric analyses to compare several dromaeosaurid maxillae, and found the maxilla of MPC-D 100/982 to strongly differ from specimens referred to Velociraptor. They indicated that this specimen, based on these results, represents a different species. In 2021 Powers with team used Principal Component Analysis to separate dromaeosaurid maxillae, most notably finding that MPC-D 100/982 falls outside the instraspecific variability of V. mongoliensis, arguing for a distinct species. They considered that both V. mongoliensis and this new species were ecologically separated based on their skull anatomy. The team in another 2021 abstract reinforced again the species-level separation, noting that additional differences can be found in the hindlimbs.
## Description
Velociraptor was a small to medium-sized dromaeosaurid, with adults measuring between 1.5–2.07 m (4.9–6.8 ft) long, approximately 0.5 m (1.6 ft) high at the hips, and weighing about 14.1–19.7 kg (31–43 lb).
Prominent quill knobs—attachment site of "wing" feathers and direct indicator of a feather covering—have been reported from the ulna of a single Velociraptor specimen (IGM 100/981), which represents an animal of estimated 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long and 15 kg (33 lb) in weight. The spacing of 6 preserved knobs suggests that 8 additional knobs may have been present, giving a total of 14 quill knobs that developed large secondaries ("wing" feathers stemming from the forearm). However, the specimen number has been corrected to IGM 100/3503 and its referral to Velociraptor may require reevaluation, pending further study. Nevertheless, there is strong phylogenetic evidence from other dromaeosaurid relatives that indicates the presence of feathers in Velociraptor, including dromaeosaurids such as Daurlong, Microraptor, or Zhenyuanlong.
### Skull
The skull of Velociraptor was rather elongated and grew up to 23 cm (9.1 in) long. It was uniquely up-curved at the snout region, concave on the upper surface, and convex on the lower surface. The snout, which occupied about 60% of the entire skull length, was notably narrow and mainly formed by the nasal, premaxilla, and maxilla bones. The premaxilla was the anteriormost bone in the skull, and it was longer than taller. While its posterior end joined the nasal, the main body of the premaxilla touched the maxilla. The maxilla was nearly triangular in shape and the largest element of the snout. On its center or main body, there was a depression developing a small oval to circular-shaped hole, called maxillary fenestra. Though in front of this fenestra were two small openings, referred to as promaxillary fenestrae. The posterior border of the maxilla formed (predominantly) the antorbital fenestra, one of the several large holes in the skull. Both premaxilla and maxilla had several alveoli (tooth sockets) on their bottom surfaces. Above the maxilla and making contact with the premaxilla, there was the nasal bone. It was a thin/narrow and elongated bone contributing to the top surface of the snout. Together, both premaxilla and nasal bones gave form to the naris or narial fenestra (nostril opening), which was relatively large and circular. The posterior end of the nasal was joined by the frontal and lacrimal bones.
The back or anterior region of the skull was built by the frontal, lacrimal, postorbital, jugal, parietal, quadrate, and quadratojugal bones. The frontal was large element, having a vaguely rectangular shape when seen from above. On its posterior end, this bone was in contact with the parietal, and such elements were the main bodies of the skull roof. The lacrimal was a T-shaped bone and its main body was thin and delicated. Its lower end meet the jugal (often called cheek bone), which was a large, sub-triangular-shaped element. Its lower border was notably straight/horizontal. The postorbital was located just above the jugal: a stocky and strongly T-shaped bone. As a whole, the orbit or orbital fenestra (eye socket)—formed by the lacrimal, jugal, frontal, and postorbital—was large and near circular in shape, being longer than taller. When seen from above, a pair of large and markedly rounded holes were present near the rear of the skull (the temporal fenestrae), whose main components were the postorbital and squamosal. Behind the jugal, an inverted T-shaped bone (also seen in other dromaeosaurids), known as the quadratojugal, was developed. While the upper end of the quadratojugal joined the squamosal, an irregularly-shaped element, its inner side meet the quadrate. The latter was of great importance for the articulation with the lower jaw. The posteriormost bone was the occipital bone and its projection the occipital condyle: a rounded and bulbous protuberance that meet the first vertebra of the neck.
The lower jaw of Velociraptor comprised mainly the dentary, splenial, angular, surangular, and articular bones. The dentary was a very long, weakly curved, and narrow element that developed several alveoli on its top surface. On its posterior end, it meet the surangular. It had a small hole near its posterior end, called surangular foramen or fenestra. Both bones were the largest elements of the lower jaw of Velociraptor, contributing to virtually its entire length. Below them were the smaller splenial and angular, closely articulated to each other. The articular, located on the inner side of the surangular, was a small element that joined the quadrate of the upper skull, enabling the articulation with the lower jaw. An elongated, near oval-shaped hole was developed in the center of the lower jaw (the mandibular fenestra), and it was produced by the joint of the dentary, surangular, and angular bones.
The teeth of Velociraptor were fairly homodont (equal in shape) and had several denticles (serrations), each more strongly serrated on the back edge than the front. The premaxilla had 4 alveoli (meaning that 4 teeth were developed), and the maxilla had 11 alveoli. At the dentary, between 14–15 alveoli were present. All teeth present at the premaxilla were poorly curved, and the two first teeth were the longest, with the second having a characteristic large size. The maxillary teeth were more slender, recurved, and most notably, the lower end was strongly more serrated than the upper one.
### Postcranial skeleton
The arm of Velociraptor was formed by the humerus (upper arm bone), radius and ulna (forearm bones), and manus (hand). Velociraptor, like other dromaeosaurids, had a large manus with three elongated digits (fingers), which ended up in strongly curved unguals (claw bones) that were similar in construction and flexibility to the wing bones of modern birds. The second digit was the longest of the three digits present, while the first was shortest. The structure of the carpal (wrist) bones prevented pronation of the wrist and forced the manus to be held with the palmar surface facing inward (medially), not downward. The pes (foot) anatomy of Velociraptor consisted of the metatarsus—a large element composed of three metatarsals of which the first one was extremely reduced in size—and four digits that developed large unguals. The first digit, as in other theropods, was a small dewclaw. The second digit, for which Velociraptor is most famous, was highly modified and held retracted off the ground, which caused Velociraptor and other dromaeosaurids to walk on only their third and fourth digits. It bore a relatively large, sickle-shaped claw, typical of dromaeosaurid and troodontid dinosaurs. This enlarged claw, which could grow to over 6.5 cm (2.6 in) long around its outer edge, was most likely a predatory device used to restrain struggling prey.
As in other dromaeosaurs, Velociraptor tails had prezygapophyses (long bony projections) on the upper surfaces of the vertebrae, as well as ossified tendons underneath. The prezygapophyses began on the tenth tail (caudal) vertebra and extended forward to brace four to ten additional vertebrae, depending on position in the tail. These were once thought to fully stiffen the tail, forcing the entire tail to act as a single rod-like unit. However, at least one specimen has preserved a series of intact tail vertebrae curved sideways into an S-shape, suggesting that there was considerably more horizontal flexibility than once thought.
## Classification
Velociraptor is a member of the group Eudromaeosauria, a derived sub-group of the larger family Dromaeosauridae. It is often placed within its own subfamily, Velociraptorinae. In phylogenetic taxonomy, Velociraptorinae is usually defined as "all dromaeosaurs more closely related to Velociraptor than to Dromaeosaurus." However, dromaeosaurid classification is highly variable. Originally, the subfamily Velociraptorinae was erected solely to contain Velociraptor. Other analyses have often included other genera, usually Deinonychus and Saurornitholestes, and more recently Tsaagan. Several studies published during the 2010s, including expanded versions of the analyses that found support for Velociraptorinae, have failed to resolve it as a distinct group, but rather have suggested it is a paraphyletic grade which gave rise to the Dromaeosaurinae.
When first described in 1924, Velociraptor was placed in the family Megalosauridae, as was the case with most carnivorous dinosaurs at the time (Megalosauridae, like Megalosaurus, functioned as a sort of 'wastebin' taxon, where many unrelated species were grouped together). As dinosaur discoveries multiplied, Velociraptor was later recognized as a dromaeosaurid. All dromaeosaurids have also been referred to the family Archaeopterygidae by at least one author (which would, in effect, make Velociraptor a flightless bird). In the past, other dromaeosaurid species, including Deinonychus antirrhopus and Saurornitholestes langstoni, have sometimes been classified in the genus Velociraptor. Since Velociraptor was the first to be named, these species were renamed Velociraptor antirrhopus and V. langstoni. As of 2008, the only currently recognized species of Velociraptor are V. mongoliensis and V. osmolskae. However, several studies have found "V." osmolskae to be distantly related to V. mongoliensis.
Below are the results for the Eudromaeosauria phylogeny based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by James G. Napoli and team in 2021 during the description of Kuru, showing the position of Velociraptor:
## Paleobiology
### Feathers
In 2007 Alan H. Turner and colleagues reported the presence of six quill knobs in the ulna of a referred Velociraptor specimen (IGM 100/981) from the Ukhaa Tolgod locality of the Djadochta Formation. Turner and colleagues interpreted the presence of feathers on Velociraptor as evidence against the idea that the larger, flightless maniraptorans lost their feathers secondarily due to larger body size. Furthermore, they noted that quill knobs are almost never found in flightless bird species today, and that their presence in Velociraptor (presumed to have been flightless due to its relatively large size and short forelimbs) is evidence that the ancestors of dromaeosaurids could fly, making Velociraptor and other large members of this family secondarily flightless, though it is possible the large wing feathers inferred in the ancestors of Velociraptor had a purpose other than flight. The feathers of the flightless Velociraptor may have been used for display, for covering their nests while brooding, or for added speed and thrust when running up inclined slopes. Because of the presence of another dromaeosaurid in Ukhaa Tolgod, Tsaagan, Napoli and team have noted that the referral of this specimen to Velociraptor is currently subject to reexamination.
### Senses
Examinations of the endocranium of Velociraptor indicate that it was able to detect and hear a wide range of sound frequencies (2,368–3,965 Hz) and could track prey with ease as a result. The endocranium examinations also further cemented the theory that the dromaeosaur was an agile, swift predator. Fossil evidence suggesting Velociraptor scavenged also indicates that it was an opportunistic and actively predatory animal, feeding on carrion during times of drought or famine, if in poor health, or depending on the animal's age.
### Feeding
In 2020, Powers and colleagues re-examined the maxillae of several eudromaeosaur taxa concluding that most Asian and North American eudromaeosaurs were separated by snout morphology and ecological strategies. They found the maxilla to be a reliable reference when inferring the shape of the premaxilla and overall snout. For instance, most Asian species have elongated snouts based on the maxilla (namely velociraptorines), indicating a selective feeding in Velociraptor and relatives, such as picking up small, fast prey. In contrast, most North American eudromaeosaurs, mostly dromaeosaurines, feature a robust and deep maxillar morphology. However, the large dromaeosurine Achillobator is a unique exception to Asian taxa with its deep maxilla.
### Predatory behavior
The "Fighting Dinosaurs" specimen, found in 1971, preserves a Velociraptor mongoliensis and Protoceratops andrewsi in combat and provides direct evidence of predatory behavior. When originally reported, it was hypothesized that the two animals drowned. However, as the animals were preserved in ancient sand dune deposits, it is now thought that the animals were buried in sand, either from a collapsing dune or in a sandstorm. Burial must have been extremely fast, judging from the lifelike poses in which the animals were preserved. Parts of the Protoceratops are missing, which has been seen as evidence of scavenging by other animals. Comparisons between the scleral rings of Velociraptor, Protoceratops, and modern birds and reptiles indicates that Velociraptor may have been nocturnal, while Protoceratops may have been cathemeral, active throughout the day during short intervals, suggesting that the fight may have occurred at twilight or during low-light conditions.
The distinctive claw, on the second digit of dromaeosaurids, has traditionally been depicted as a slashing weapon; its assumed use being to cut and disembowel prey. In the "Fighting Dinosaurs" specimen, the Velociraptor lies underneath, with one of its sickle claws apparently embedded in the throat of its prey, while the beak of Protoceratops is clamped down upon the right forelimb of its attacker. This suggests Velociraptor may have used its sickle claw to pierce vital organs of the throat, such as the jugular vein, carotid artery, or trachea (windpipe), rather than slashing the abdomen. The inside edge of the claw was rounded and not unusually sharp, which may have precluded any sort of cutting or slashing action, although only the bony core of the claw is preserved. The thick abdominal wall of skin and muscle of large prey species would have been difficult to slash without a specialized cutting surface. The slashing hypothesis was tested during a 2005 BBC documentary, The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs. The producers of the program created an artificial Velociraptor leg with a sickle claw and used a pork belly to simulate the dinosaur's prey. Though the sickle claw did penetrate the abdominal wall, it was unable to tear it open, indicating that the claw was not used to disembowel prey.
Remains of Deinonychus, a closely related dromaeosaurid, have commonly been found in aggregations of several individuals. Deinonychus has also been found in association with the large ornithopod Tenontosaurus, which has been cited as evidence of cooperative (pack) hunting. However, the only solid evidence for social behavior of any kind among dromaeosaurids comes from a Chinese trackway which shows six individuals of a large species moving as a group. Although many isolated fossils of Velociraptor have been found in Mongolia, none were closely associated with other individuals. Therefore, while Velociraptor is commonly depicted as a pack hunter, as in Jurassic Park, there is only limited fossil evidence to support this theory for dromaeosaurids in general and none specific to Velociraptor itself. Dromeosaur footprints in China suggest that a few other raptor genera may have hunted in packs, but there have been no conclusive examples of pack behavior found.
In 2011, Denver Fowler and colleagues suggested a new method by which dromaeosaurs like Velociraptor and similar dromaeosaurs may have captured and restrained prey. This model, known as the "raptor prey restraint" (RPR) model of predation, proposes that dromaeosaurs killed their prey in a manner very similar to extant accipitrid birds of prey: by leaping onto their quarry, pinning it under their body weight, and gripping it tightly with the large, sickle-shaped claws. These researchers proposed that, like accipitrids, the dromaeosaur would then begin to feed on the animal while it was still alive, and prey death would eventually result from blood loss and organ failure. This proposal is based primarily on comparisons between the morphology and proportions of the feet and legs of dromaeosaurs to several groups of extant birds of prey with known predatory behaviors. Fowler found that the feet and legs of dromaeosaurs most closely resemble those of eagles and hawks, especially in terms of having an enlarged second claw and a similar range of grasping motion. The short metatarsus and foot strength, however, would have been more similar to that of owls. The RPR method of predation would be consistent with other aspects of Velociraptor's anatomy, such as their unusual jaw and arm morphology. The arms, which could exert a lot of force but were likely covered in long feathers, may have been used as flapping stabilizers for balance while atop a struggling prey animal, along with the stiff counterbalancing tail. The jaws, thought by Fowler and colleagues to be comparatively weak, would have been useful for row saw motion bites like the modern day Komodo dragon, which also has a weak bite, to finish off its prey if the kicks weren't powerful enough. These predatory adaptations working together may also have implications for the origin of flapping in paravians.
### Scavenging behavior
In 2010, Hone and colleagues published a paper on their 2008 discovery of shed teeth of what they believed to be a Velociraptor near a tooth-marked jaw bone of what they believed to be a Protoceratops in the Bayan Mandahu Formation. The authors concluded that the find represented "late-stage carcass consumption by Velociraptor" as the predator would have eaten other parts of a freshly killed Protoceratops before biting in the jaw area. The evidence was seen as supporting the inference from the "Fighting Dinosaurs" fossil that Protoceratops was part of the diet of Velociraptor. In 2012, Hone and colleagues published a paper that described a Velociraptor specimen with a long bone of an azhdarchid pterosaur in its gut. This was interpreted as showing scavenging behaviour.
### Metabolism
Velociraptor was warm-blooded to some degree, as it required a significant amount of energy to hunt. Modern animals that possess feathery or furry coats, like Velociraptor did, tend to be warm-blooded, since these coverings function as insulation. However, bone growth rates in dromaeosaurids and some early birds suggest a more moderate metabolism, compared with most modern warm-blooded mammals and birds. The kiwi is similar to dromaeosaurids in anatomy, feather type, bone structure and even the narrow anatomy of the nasal passages (usually a key indicator of metabolism). The kiwi is a highly active, if specialized, flightless bird, with a stable body temperature and a fairly low resting metabolic rate, making it a good model for the metabolism of primitive birds and dromaeosaurids. Velociraptor possessed a nasal thermoregulation apparatus for its brain that was not as well developed as that of modern birds.
### Paleopathology
Norell with colleagues in 1995 reported one V. mongoliensis skull bearing two parallel rows of small punctures on its frontal bones that, upon closer examination, match the spacing and size of Velociraptor teeth. They suggested that the wound was likely inflicted by another Velociraptor during a fight between the species. Because its bone structure shows no sign of healing near the bite wounds and the overall specimen was not scavenged, this individual was likely killed by this fatal wound. In 2001 Molnar and team noted that this specimen is MPC-D 100/976 hailing from the Tugrik Shireh locality, which has also yielded the Fighting Dinosaurs specimen.
In 2012 David Hone and team reported another injured Velociraptor specimen (MPC-D 100/54, roughly a sub-adult individual) found with the bones of an azhdarchid pterosaur within its stomach cavity, was carrying or recovering from an injury sustained to one broken rib. From evidence on the pterosaur bones, which were devoid of pitting or deformations from digestion, the Velociraptor died shortly after, possibly from the earlier injury. Nevertheless, the team noted that this broken ribs shows signs of bone healing.
## Paleoenvironment
### Bayan Mandahu Formation
In both Bayan Mandahu and Djadochta formations many of the same genera were present, though they varied at the species level. These differences in species composition may be due a natural barrier separating the two formations, which are relatively close to each other geographically. However, given the lack of any known barrier which would cause the specific faunal compositions found in these areas, it is more likely that those differences indicate a slight time difference.
V. osmolskae lived alongside the ankylosaurid Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus; alvarezsaurid Linhenykus; closely related dromaeosaurid Linheraptor; oviraptorids Machairasaurus and Wulatelong; protoceratopsids Bagaceratops and Protoceratops hellenikorhinus; and troodontids Linhevenator, Papiliovenator, and Philovenator. Sediments across the formation indicate a similar depositional environment to that of the Djadochta Formation.
### Djadochta Formation
Known specimens of Velociraptor mongoliensis have been recovered from the Djadochta Formation (also spelled Djadokhta), in the Mongolian province of Ömnögovi. This geological formation is estimated to date back to the Campanian stage (between 75 million and 71 million years ago) of the Late Cretaceous epoch. The abundant sediments—sands, sandstones, or caliche—of the Djadochta Formation were deposited by eolian (wind) processes in arid settings with fields of sand dunes and only intermittent streams, as indicated by very sparse fluvial (river-deposited) sedimentation, under a semi-arid climate.
The Djadochta Formation is separated into a lower Bayn Dzak Member and upper Turgrugyin Member. V. mongoliensis is known from both members, represented by numerous specimens. The Bayn Dzak Member (mainly Bayn Dzak locality) has yielded the oviraptorid Oviraptor; ankylosaurid Pinacosaurus grangeri; protoceratopsid Protoceratops andrewsi; and troodontid Saurornithoides. The younger Turgrugyin Member (mainly Tugriken Shireh locality) has produced the bird Elsornis; dromaeosaurid Mahakala: ornithomimid Aepyornithomimus; and protoceratopsid Protoceratops andrewsi.
V. mongoliensis has been found at many of the most famous and prolific Djadochta localities. The type specimen was discovered at the Flaming Cliffs site (sublocality of the larger Bayn Dzak locality/region), while the "Fighting Dinosaurs" were found at the Tugrik Shire locality (also known as Tugrugeen Shireh and many other spellings). The latter is notorious for its exceptional in situ fossil preservation. Based on deposits (such as structureless sandstones), it has been concluded that a large number of specimens were buried alive during powerful sand-bearing events, common to the these paleoenvironments.
## Cultural significance
Velociraptor is commonly perceived as a vicious and cunning killer thanks to their portrayal in the 1990 novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and its 1993 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. The "raptors" portrayed in Jurassic Park were actually modeled after the closely related dromaeosaurid Deinonychus. Paleontologists in both the novel and film excavate a skeleton in Montana, far from the central Asian range of Velociraptor but characteristic of the Deinonychus range. Crichton met with the discoverer of Deinonychus, John Ostrom, several times at Yale University to discuss details of the animal's possible range of behaviors and appearance. Crichton at one point apologetically told Ostrom that he had decided to use the name Velociraptor in place of Deinonychus because the former name was "more dramatic." According to Ostrom, Crichton stated that the Velociraptor of the novel was based on Deinonychus in almost every detail, and that only the name had been changed. The Jurassic Park filmmakers also requested all of Ostrom's published papers on Deinonychus during production. They portrayed the animals with the size, proportions, and snout shape of Deinonychus rather than Velociraptor.
Production on Jurassic Park began before the discovery of the large dromaeosaurid Utahraptor was made public in 1991, but as Jody Duncan wrote about this discovery: "Later, after we had designed and built the raptor, there was a discovery of a raptor skeleton in Utah, which they labeled 'super-slasher.' They had uncovered the largest Velociraptor to date and it measured five-and-a-half-feet tall, just like ours. So we designed it, we built it, and then they discovered it. That still boggles my mind." Spielberg's name was briefly considered for naming of the new dinosaur in exchange for funding of field work, but no agreement was reached.
Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park were released before the discovery that dromaeosaurs had feathers, so the Velociraptor in both films were depicted as scaled and featherless. For Jurassic Park III, the male Velociraptor was given quill-like structures along the back of the head and neck, but these structures do not resemble the feathers that Velociraptor would have had in reality due to reasons of continuity. The Jurassic World sequel trilogy ignored the feathers of Velociraptor, adhering to the designs from Jurassic Park. However, the dromaeosaur Pyroraptor was feathered for Jurassic World Dominion, along with other changes such as stiffening the tail to account for ossified tendons and de-pronating the hands.
## See also
- Fighting Dinosaurs
- Timeline of dromaeosaurid research |
224,880 | Five pounds (British gold coin) | 1,169,975,793 | Gold five pound coin | [
"British gold coins",
"Bullion coins",
"Five-base-unit coins"
]
| The five pound British gold coin, or quintuple sovereign, has a nominal value of five pounds sterling. It has been struck intermittently since 1820, though as a circulation coin only in 1887, 1893 and 1902. Through most of its history, it has depicted, on its reverse, Benedetto Pistrucci's portrayal of St George and the Dragon, which has traditionally been used on the sovereign, or one-pound gold coin.
The five-pound piece was one of the original denominations of gold coins authorised as part of the Great Recoinage of 1816. It was not struck until 1820, and then only as a pattern coin. It was issued again in small numbers in 1826, 1829 and 1839, with the last using the well-regarded depiction of Una and the Lion by William Wyon. Although the Una coin was for sale for almost half a century at the Royal Mint, only about 400 are believed to have been struck.
In 1887, it was struck for the first time for circulation, and this also took place in 1893 and 1902, though few actually circulated; examples struck in 1911 were only available as part of a proof set. In 1887 and 1902 it was struck in very small numbers at the Sydney Mint, with examples bearing its mint mark S. The examples struck in preparation for the coinage of Edward VIII are highly prized; one sold in 2021 for £1,654,000, the highest price paid for a British coin.
Since 1980, the five-pound gold piece has been struck in most years by the Royal Mint for sale to collectors and holders of bullion. Although generally featuring Pistrucci's design, commemorative versions have been issued, such as in 2022, as a memorial following the death of Elizabeth II, featuring the bust of her son and successor, Charles III.
## Origins
The five guinea gold coin started out in 1668 as a coin worth one hundred shillings (five pounds), and was sometimes called a five-pound coin. This was before the fluctuating value of the guinea settled at twenty-one shillings in 1717. According to Richard Lobel, in his Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, there is some case that the five-pound piece issued after the Great Recoinage of 1816 is merely a continuation of the earlier coin, which was last struck in 1753. However, Lobel separates the two series in his catalogue.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Parliament, by the Coinage Act 1816, placed Britain officially on the gold standard, with the pound to be defined as a given quantity of gold. Almost every speaker supported having a coin valued at twenty shillings, rather than continuing to use the guinea. One reason for the introduction of gold coinage based on the sovereign was that its value, equal to one pound sterling, was more convenient than the guinea, equal to twenty-one shillings. Nevertheless, the Coinage Act did not specify which coins the Mint should strike.
A committee of the Privy Council recommended gold coins of ten shillings, twenty shillings, two pounds and five pounds be issued, and this was accepted by George, Prince Regent on 3 August 1816. The twenty-shilling piece was named a sovereign, with the resurrection of the old name possibly promoted by antiquarians with numismatic interests. The sovereign and half sovereign were both first issued in 1817, but there was initially no striking of the two larger coins. Since 1754, there had been no issuance of coins more valuable than a guinea intended for general circulation; the need for higher value tender had been met by bank notes. The St George and the dragon design was suggested as an appropriate motif for the sovereign by its creator, Benedetto Pistrucci, based on a cameo he had carved.
## Early issues
The first striking of the five-pound denomination after the coinage reform was in 1820 as a pattern coin, depicting George III (r. 1760–1820). The obverse shows the right-facing bust of the king with the legend GEORGIUS III D G BRITANNIAR REX F D (George III by the grace of God king of the Britains, defender of the faith) and the date, while the reverse shows Pistrucci's George and dragon design with no legend or date. This design had first appeared on the sovereign in 1817, surrounded by a Garter. The design has Pistrucci's surname at the lower left, with the initials of the master of the Mint, William Wellesley-Pole, near the broken spear.
Lobel, in describing the 1820 five-pound piece, noted that on a copy of G. F. Crowther's 1887 book, A Guide to English Pattern Coins presented to an unknown person with the publisher's compliments, there is a pencil notation that work on the 1820 piece was completed a few days before George III's death, and after Pistrucci, walking home on the day the king died, heard church bells announcing the demise. He then returned to the Royal Mint and instructed that some five-pound coins be struck the next morning. Lobel described this as a "fascinating episode of numismatic history". The numismatist Edward Hawkins, writing in 1850, also wrote dramatically, describing what he deemed heroic efforts to ensure that the pattern double sovereigns and five-pound coins were actually struck before the king died, but William John Hocking and others have since studied the matter, concluding the coinage dies were not completed until after the king's death on 29 January. The approximately 25 specimens were distributed among Royal Mint officials, prominent numismatists and other important people of the day, as well as given to the Royal Mint and British Museum. One sold in October 2021 for about £635,000.
The next appearance of the denomination was in the reign of George IV (r. 1820–1830), in 1826, included in the proof set of that year. One piece is known dated 1829. The obverse shows the left-facing bust of the king with the legend GEORGIUS IV DEI GRATIA (George IV by the grace of God ...) while the reverse shows a crowned shield within a mantle cape with the legend BRITANNIARUM REX FID DEF (King of the Britains, defender of the faith). The 1826 coin has the edge inscription DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI SEPTIMO (An ornament and a safeguard; seventh year of the reign), while the 1829 coin has a plain edge. No five-pound coins were issued during the reign of William IV (r. 1830–1837).
## Victoria five-pound coins
The next coin of this value did not appear until early in the reign of Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901), when what Lobel deems one of the most famous and attractive of all British coins was produced. This piece, known as the Una and the Lion coin, is described by him as having "cult status". Una and the Lion appear in Edmund Spenser's 16th century epic The Faerie Queene. The obverse shows the young head of the queen, facing left with the legend VICTORIA D G BRITANNIARUM REGINA F D (Victoria by the grace of God queen of the Britains, defender of the faith), while the reverse shows her as Una leading the lion to the left, with the legend DIRIGE DEUS GRESSUS MEOS (May the Lord direct my steps), though some coins say DIRIGIT DEUS GRESSUS MEOS, thus "The Lord directs my steps" – with the date MDCCCXXXIX (1839) in the exergue under the lion. The edge may either have the inscription DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI TERTIO (an ornament and a safeguard; in the third year of the reign) or be plain. These coins were struck on demand and were sold by the Royal Mint until 1886; there are a number of varieties and a total mintage of perhaps 400. A specimen in exceptional condition sold in 2021 for US\$1.44 million (£1.04 million).
Pistrucci's George and dragon depiction returned to the five-pound coin in 1887, as part of the Jubilee coinage, with an obverse by Joseph Boehm. The new coin bears the wording VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D (Victoria by the grace of God queen of the Britains, defender of the faith). The abbreviated form of Britanniarum is rendered as BRITT rather than with a single "T": Gladstone, a classical scholar as well as a politician, had pointed out that the abbreviation of a Latin plural noun should end with a doubled consonant.
The 1887 five-pound coin marked the first time that the denomination was available to the public at its face value; previous issues had been pattern or proof coins. In addition to those available for purchase at face value, proof coins were struck as part of the 1887 proof set. The five-pound and two-pound pieces did not circulate to any great extent, and were kept primarily as souvenirs. Nevertheless, the 1887 issue made the five-pound piece the highest-denomination circulating coin in Britain. A few of the 1887 five-pound coins were struck at the Sydney Mint and bear its mint mark S on the reverse. This is an extreme rarity, with only two being known in private hands—one sold in 2021 for US\$660,000 (£480,000).
The Pistrucci reverse was used again in 1893, when the obverse used the "Old Head" or "Veil Head" of the queen, with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP (Victoria, by the grace of God queen of the Britains, defender of the faith, empress of India), and the edge, like that of the Jubilee issue, is milled. Victoria had been lobbying since 1888 for her title as empress of India, granted by the Royal Titles Act 1876, to be included on the coinage, and on 12 February 1892, the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, wrote to her, "Your Majesty's Servants are of opinion that the title of Empress of India, indicating, as it does, Your Majesty's relation to far the larger portion of Your subjects, ought to appear on the coin, in the shape of the letters 'Ind Imp' or 'I.I.' or some such abbreviation." IND IMP, short for INDIAE IMPERATRIX or "empress of India", thus appears on the 1893 issue, which was available both at face value and as part of a proof set.
## Early 20th-century five-pound coins
Following the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, preparations began for the coinage of her son and successor, Edward VII (r. 1901–1910), and a five-pound coin, with an obverse by George William de Saulles, was made current by proclamation dated 1 January 1902. The Royal Mint had decided to make as few changes as possible for King Edward's coinage, and the Pistrucci reverse continued for the gold coins. Five-pound coins were issued both at face value and in the proof sets issued to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII. The legend on the obverse reads EDWARDVS VII D G BRITT OMN REX F D IND IMP. (Edward VII, by the grace of God king of all the Britains, defender of the faith, emperor of India). The word OMN (short for omnium, meaning "of all"), was added after BRITT in recognition of the empire's assistance during the Boer War, these words last appeared on British coinage in 1953. During Edward's reign, five-pound coins were only struck in 1902. A small number of coins, with the mint mark "S", were struck in 1902 at Sydney, and are extremely rare.
Five-pound coins dated 1911 were struck as part of the coronation proof sets that year for George V (r. 1910–1936), but for uncertain reasons, no ordinary, non-proof specimens were coined. This was the only issuance of five-pound coins during that reign. These coins featured a bust of King George by Bertram Mackennal, Pistrucci's reverse and a legend that was unaltered except to substitute the name of the king, rendered as GEORGIVS V.
Following the death of King George in 1936, preparations began for the coinage of his son and successor, Edward VIII (r. 1936–1936). The new king wanted his profile to face left on the new coinage, the same way as his father, which would break a tradition to reverse the direction on the commencement of a new reign which dated back to 1660. Following extensive correspondence between the king and the chancellor of the exchequer, Neville Chamberlain, Edward got his way, and pattern coins bearing a left-facing bust of the king by Thomas Humphrey Paget were struck. The Pistrucci reverse was used, but the king's abdication in December 1936 ended the preparations. Edward later requested a set of the pattern coins prepared for him, but was refused by his brother and successor, George VI (r. 1936–1952). Edward's five-pound coin is extremely rare, with only two known to be in private hands, of which one sold in 2021 for US\$2,280,000 (£1,654,000), a record for a British coin. The legend on Edward's five-pound piece was identical to that of the previous reign but for the name and date; only a similar change was made for George VI, whose five-pound coin features a left-facing bust by Paget and the Pistrucci reverse. This was only struck in 1937, with a plain edge, as part of the coronation proof sets. None were issued for general circulation; but gold had vanished from circulation in Britain twenty years previously.
## Elizabeth II and Charles III
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II (r. 1952–2022) saw a departure from the normal practice in issuing gold coinage, in which the four denominations of gold coins (the half sovereign, sovereign, double sovereign and five-pound piece) were available to the public in the coronation year. A small number of gold £5 pieces were struck in 1953, the year of Elizabeth's coronation, in order to provide continuity of the series, and again in 1957, with an obverse depicting Elizabeth by Mary Gillick and the Pistrucci reverse, but neither of these strikings were released to the public. The 1953 strikings bore an obverse legend of ELIZABETH II DEI GRA BRITT OMN REGINA F D (Elizabeth II by the grace of God queen of all the Britains, defender of the faith) but this was changed for 1957, removing BRITT OMN (of all the Britains). This change was made to acknowledge the evolving British Commonwealth, which by then contained some republics. The resulting wording continued to be used on Elizabeth's coinage, with variations in the abbreviations.
No further £5 gold pieces were struck until 1980, nine years after decimalisation. The Royal Mint realised there was a market for sovereign coins, and began to sell them to collectors at well over face or bullion value. Beginning in 1980, five-pound gold coins were sold every year, except 1983, sometimes in a four-piece proof set with the half sovereign, sovereign and double sovereign, and sometimes sold individually. The pieces sold individually were in uncirculated, rather than proof, condition, and display an encircled U to the left of the date. Pieces up to 1984 used an obverse portrait of Elizabeth by Arnold Machin, and later ones up to 1997 by Raphael Maklouf, excepting the 1989 issue, which featured special designs by Bernard Sindall in honour of the 500th anniversary of the sovereign coin.
From 1998, a new obverse portrait of Elizabeth by Ian Rank-Broadley was used on the five-pound piece. This was used up to 2015. The Pistrucci design continued on the reverse, except in 2002, 2005 and 2012, when commemorative designs were used instead. The special designs for the reverse which were substituted for Pistrucci's were for Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002 (by Timothy Noad, depicting a crowned shield within a wreath), in 2005 (a more modern interpretation of the George and dragon, also by Noad) and in 2012 for Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee (another modern interpretation of the George and dragon, by Paul Day). Beginning in 2009, the Pistrucci reverse for the five-pound coin was revised to closely resemble the denomination's original 1820 pattern coin, with the designer's last name in full to the left of the date, and a broader rim to the coin.
Beginning with some 2015 issues, an obverse portrait of Elizabeth by Jody Clark was used, though in 2016, some coins bore a different portrait of the queen by James Butler. In 2017, a version with the original, 1817 sovereign design was struck. This was for the 200th anniversary of the modern sovereign.
In 2022, the Royal Mint struck five-pound coins with a reverse design by Noad showing an interpretation of the Royal Arms. This design, used for the sovereign and its multiples and fractions, was to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Later in the year, following the death of Elizabeth II, the Royal Mint issued memorial coins in the sovereign range, including the five-pound coin, featuring an interpretation of the Royal Arms by Clark as the reverse, and for the obverse, the first coinage portrait of Elizabeth's successor, Charles III (r. 2022– ), by Martin Jennings. In addition to a left-facing bust of Charles, the obverse carried the wording CHARLES III DEI GRA REX FID DEF (Charles III by the grace of God king, defender of the faith). In 2023, a five-pound piece commemorating the coronation of Charles III was struck, with the obverse a crowned portrait of the king by Jennings and the reverse the Pistrucci George and dragon. |
28,922 | Scorpion | 1,170,716,935 | Predatory order of arachnids | [
"Extant Silurian first appearances",
"Scorpions",
"Wenlock first appearances"
]
| Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always ending with a stinger. The evolutionary history of scorpions goes back 435 million years. They mainly live in deserts but have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions, and can be found on all continents except Antarctica. There are over 2,500 described species, with 22 extant (living) families recognized to date. Their taxonomy is being revised to account for 21st-century genomic studies.
Scorpions primarily prey on insects and other invertebrates, but some species hunt vertebrates. They use their pincers to restrain and kill prey, or to prevent their own predation. The venomous sting is used for offense and defense. During courtship, the male and female grasp each other's pincers and dance while he tries to move her onto his sperm packet. All known species give live birth and the female cares for the young as their exoskeletons harden, transporting them on her back. The exoskeleton contains fluorescent chemicals and glows under ultraviolet light.
The vast majority of species do not seriously threaten humans, and healthy adults usually do not need medical treatment after a sting. About 25 species (fewer than one percent) have venom capable of killing a human, which happens frequently in the parts of the world where they live, primarily where access to medical treatment is unlikely.
Scorpions appear in art, folklore, mythology, and commercial brands. Scorpion motifs are woven into kilim carpets for protection from their sting. Scorpius is the name of a constellation; the corresponding astrological sign is Scorpio. A classical myth about Scorpius tells how the giant scorpion and its enemy Orion became constellations on opposite sides of the sky.
## Etymology
The word "scorpion" originated in Middle English between 1175 and 1225 AD from Old French scorpion, or from Italian scorpione, both derived from the Latin scorpio, equivalent to scorpius, which is the romanization of the Greek σκορπίος – skorpíos, with no native IE etymology (cfr. Arabic ʕaqrab 'scorpion', Proto-Germanic \*krabbô 'crab').
## Evolution
### Fossil record
Scorpion fossils have been found in many strata, including marine Silurian and estuarine Devonian deposits, coal deposits from the Carboniferous Period and in amber. Whether the early scorpions were marine or terrestrial has been debated, though they had book lungs like modern terrestrial species. Over 100 fossil species of scorpion have been described. The oldest found as of 2021 is Dolichophonus loudonensis, which lived during the Silurian, in present-day Scotland. Gondwanascorpio from the Devonian is among the earliest-known terrestrial animals on the Gondwana supercontinent. Some Palaeozoic scorpions possessed compound eyes similar to those of eurypterids. The Triassic fossils Protochactas and Protobuthus belong to the modern clades Chactoidea and Buthoidea respectively, indicating that the crown group of modern scorpions had emerged by this time.
### Phylogeny
The Scorpiones are a clade within the pulmonate Arachnida (those with book lungs). Arachnida is placed within the Chelicerata, a subphylum of Arthropoda that contains sea spiders and horseshoe crabs, alongside terrestrial animals without book lungs such as ticks and harvestmen. The extinct Eurypterida, sometimes called sea scorpions, though they were not all marine, are not scorpions; their grasping pincers were chelicerae, not homologous with the pincers (second appendages) of scorpions. Scorpiones is sister to the Tetrapulmonata, a terrestrial group of pulmonates containing the spiders and whip scorpions. This 2019 cladogram summarizes:
Recent studies place pseudoscorpions as the sister group of scorpions in the clade Panscorpiones, which together with Tetrapulmonata makes up the clade Arachnopulmonata.
The internal phylogeny of the scorpions has been debated, but genomic analysis consistently places the Bothriuridae as sister to a clade consisting of Scorpionoidea and Chactoidea. The scorpions diversified between the Devonian and the early Carboniferous. The main division is into the clades Buthida and Iurida. The Bothriuridae diverged starting before temperate Gondwana broke up into separate land masses, completed by the Jurassic. The Iuroidea and Chactoidea are both seen not to be single clades, and are shown as "paraphyletic" (with quotation marks) in this 2018 cladogram.
### Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus described six species of scorpion in his genus Scorpio in 1758 and 1767; three of these are now considered valid and are called Scorpio maurus, Androctonus australis, and Euscorpius carpathicus; the other three are dubious names. He placed the scorpions among his "Insecta aptera" (wingless insects), a group that included Crustacea, Arachnida and Myriapoda. In 1801, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck divided up the "Insecta aptera", creating the taxon Arachnides for spiders, scorpions, and acari (mites and ticks), though it also contained the Thysanura (thrips), Myriapoda and parasites such as lice. German arachnologist Carl Ludwig Koch created the order Scorpiones in 1837. He divided it into four families, the six-eyed scorpions "Scorpionides", the eight-eyed scorpions "Buthides", the ten-eyed scorpions "Centrurides", and the twelve-eyed scorpions "Androctonides".
More recently, some twenty-two families containing over 2,500 species of scorpions have been described, with many additions and much reorganization of taxa in the 21st century. There are over 100 described taxa of fossil scorpions. This classification is based on Soleglad and Fet (2003), which replaced Stockwell's older, unpublished classification. Further taxonomic changes are from papers by Soleglad et al. (2005).
The extant taxa to the rank of family (numbers of species in parentheses) are:
Order Scorpiones
- Parvorder Pseudochactida Soleglad & Fet, 2003
- - Superfamily Pseudochactoidea Gromov, 1998
- Family Pseudochactidae Gromov, 1998 (1 sp.) (Central Asian scorpions of semi-savanna habitats)
- Parvorder Buthida Soleglad & Fet, 2003
- - Superfamily Buthoidea C. L. Koch, 1837
- Family Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837 (1209 spp.) (thick-tailed scorpions, including the most dangerous species)
- Family Microcharmidae Lourenço, 1996, 2019 (17 spp.) (African scorpions of humid forest leaf litter)
- Parvorder Chaerilida Soleglad & Fet, 2003
- - Superfamily Chaeriloidea Pocock, 1893
- Family Chaerilidae Pocock, 1893 (51 spp.) (South and Southeast Asian scorpions of non-arid places)
- Parvorder Iurida Soleglad & Fet, 2003
- - Superfamily Chactoidea Pocock, 1893
- Family Akravidae Levy, 2007 (1 sp.) (cave-dwelling scorpions of Israel)
- Family Belisariidae Lourenço, 1998 (3 spp.) (cave-related scorpions of Southern Europe)
- Family Chactidae Pocock, 1893 (209 spp.) (New World scorpions, membership under revision)
- Family Euscorpiidae Laurie, 1896 (170 spp.) (harmless scorpions of the Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa)
- Family Superstitioniidae Stahnke, 1940 (1 sp.) (cave scorpions of Mexico and Southwestern United States)
- Family Troglotayosicidae Lourenço, 1998 (4 spp.) (cave-related scorpions of South America)
- Family Typhlochactidae Mitchell, 1971 (11 spp.) (cave-related scorpions of Eastern Mexico)
- Family Vaejovidae Thorell, 1876 (222 spp.) (New World scorpions)
- - Superfamily Iuroidea Thorell, 1876
- Family Caraboctonidae Kraepelin, 1905 (23 spp.) (hairy scorpions)
- Family Hadruridae Stahnke, 1974 (9 spp.) (large North American scorpions)
- Family Iuridae Thorell, 1876 (21 spp.) (scorpions with a large tooth on inner side of moveable claw)
- - Superfamily Scorpionoidea Latreille, 1802
- Family Bothriuridae Simon, 1880 (158 spp.) (Southern hemisphere tropical and temperate scorpions)
- Family Hemiscorpiidae Pocock, 1893 (16 spp.) (rock, creeping, or tree scorpions of the Middle East)
- Family Hormuridae Laurie, 1896 (92 spp.) (flattened, crevice-living scorpions of Southeast Asia and Australia)
- Family Rugodentidae Bastawade et al., 2005 (1 sp.) (burrowing scorpions of India)
- Family Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802 (183 spp.) (burrowing or pale-legged scorpions)
- Family Diplocentridae Karsch, 1880 (134 spp.) (closely related to and sometimes placed in Scorpionidae, but have spine on telson)
- Family Heteroscorpionidae Kraepelin, 1905 (6 spp.) (scorpions of Madagascar)
## Geographical distribution
Scorpions are found on all continents except Antarctica. The diversity of scorpions is greatest in subtropical areas; it decreases toward the poles and equator, though scorpions are found in the tropics. Scorpions did not occur naturally in Great Britain but were accidentally introduced by humans, and have now established a population. New Zealand, and some of the islands in Oceania, have in the past had small populations of introduced scorpions, but they were exterminated. Five colonies of Euscorpius flavicaudis have established themselves since the late 19th century in Sheerness in England at 51°N, while Paruroctonus boreus lives as far north as Red Deer, Alberta, at 52°N. A few species are on the IUCN Red List; Lychas braueri is classed as critically endangered (2014), Isometrus deharvengi as endangered (2016) and Chiromachus ochropus as vulnerable (2014).
Scorpions are xerocoles, meaning they primarily live in deserts, but they can be found in virtually every terrestrial habitat including high-elevation mountains, caves, and intertidal zones. They are largely absent from boreal ecosystems such as the tundra, high-altitude taiga, and mountain tops. The highest altitude reached by a scorpion is 5,500 meters (18,000 ft) in the Andes, for Orobothriurus crassimanus.
As regards microhabitats, scorpions may be ground-dwelling, tree-loving, rock-loving or sand-loving. Some species, such as Vaejovis janssi, are versatile and are found in all habitats on Socorro Island, Baja California, while others such as Euscorpius carpathicus, endemic to the littoral zone of rivers in Romania, occupy specialized niches.
## Morphology
Scorpions range in size from the 8.5 mm (0.33 in) Typhlochactas mitchelli of Typhlochactidae, to the 23 cm (9.1 in) Heterometrus swammerdami of Scorpionidae. The body of a scorpion is divided into two parts or tagmata: the cephalothorax or prosoma, and the abdomen or opisthosoma. The opisthosoma is subdivided into a broad anterior portion, the mesosoma or pre-abdomen, and a narrow tail-like posterior, the metasoma or post-abdomen. External differences between the sexes are not obvious in most species. In some, the metasoma is more elongated in males than females.
### Cephalothorax
The cephalothorax comprises the carapace, eyes, chelicerae (mouth parts), pedipalps (which have chelae, commonly called claws or pincers) and four pairs of walking legs. Scorpions have two eyes on the top of the cephalothorax, and usually two to five pairs of eyes along the front corners of the cephalothorax. While unable to form sharp images, their central eyes are amongst the most light sensitive in the animal kingdom, especially in dim light, which makes it possible for nocturnal species to use starlight to navigate at night. The chelicerae are at the front and underneath the carapace. They are pincer-like and have three segments and sharp "teeth". The brain of a scorpion is in the back of the cephalothorax, just above the esophagus. As in other arachnids, the nervous system is highly concentrated in the cephalothorax, but has a long ventral nerve cord with segmented ganglia which may be a primitive trait.
The pedipalp is a segmented, clawed appendage used for prey immobilization, defense and sensory purposes. The segments of the pedipalp (from closest to the body outward) are coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia (including the fixed claw and the manus) and tarsus (moveable claw). A scorpion has darkened or granular raised linear ridges, called "keels" or "carinae" on the pedipalp segments and on other parts of the body; these are useful as taxonomic characters. Unlike those of some other arachnids, the legs have not been modified for other purposes, though they may occasionally be used for digging, and females may use them to catch emerging young. The legs are covered in proprioceptors, bristles and sensory setae. Depending on the species, the legs may have spines and spurs.
### Mesosoma
The mesosoma or preabdomen is the broad part of the opisthosoma. In the early stages of embryonic development the mesosoma consist of eight segments, but the first segment disappear before birth, so the mesosoma in scorpions actually consist of segments 2-8. These anterior seven somites (segments) of the opisthosoma are each covered dorsally by a sclerotized plate called the tergite. Ventrally, somites 3 to 7 are armored with matching plates called sternites. The ventral side of somite 1 has a pair of genital opercula covering the gonopore. Sternite 2 forms the basal plate bearing the pectines, which function as sensory organs.
The next four somites, 3 to 6, all bear pairs of spiracles. They serve as openings for the scorpion's respiratory organs, known as book lungs. The spiracle openings may be slits, circular, elliptical or oval according to the species. There are thus four pairs of book lungs; each consists of some 140 to 150 thin lamellae filled with air inside a pulmonary chamber, connected on the ventral side to an atrial chamber which opens into a spiracle. Bristles hold the lamellae apart. A muscle opens the spiracle and widens the atrial chamber; dorsoventral muscles contract to compress the pulmonary chamber, forcing air out, and relax to allow the chamber to refill. The 7th and last somite does not bear appendages or any other significant external structures.
The mesosoma contains the heart or "dorsal vessel" which is the center of the scorpion's open circulatory system. The heart is continuous with a deep arterial system which spreads throughout the body. Sinuses return deoxygenated blood (hemolymph) to the heart; the blood is re-oxygenated by cardiac pores. The mesosoma also contains the reproductive system. The female gonads are made of three or four tubes that run parallel to each other and are connected by two to four transverse anastomoses. These tubes are the sites for both oocyte formation and embryonic development. They connect to two oviducts which connect to a single atrium leading to the genital orifice. Males have two gonads made of two cylindrical tubes with a ladder-like configuration; they contain cysts which produce spermatozoa. Both tubes end in a spermiduct, one on each side of the mesosoma. They connect to glandular symmetrical structures called paraxial organs, which end at the genital orifice. These secrete chitin-based structures which come together to form the spermatophore.
### Metasoma
The "tail" or metasoma consists of five segments and the telson, which is not strictly a segment. The five segments are merely body rings; they lack apparent sterna or terga, and become larger distally. These segments have keels, setae and bristles which may be used for taxonomic classification. The anus is at the distal and ventral end of the last segment, and is encircled by four anal papillae and the anal arch. The tails of some species contain light receptors.
The telson includes the vesicle, which contains a symmetrical pair of venom glands. Externally it bears the curved stinger, the hypodermic aculeus, equipped with sensory hairs. Each of the venom glands has its own duct to convey its secretion along the aculeus from the bulb of the gland to immediately near of the tip, where each of the paired ducts has its own venom pore. An extrinsic muscle system in the tail moves it forward and propels and penetrates with the aculeus, while an intrinsic muscle system attached to the glands pumps venom through the stinger into the intended victim. The stinger contains metalloproteins with zinc, hardening the tip. The optimal stinging angle is around 30 degrees relative to the tip.
## Biology
Most scorpion species are nocturnal or crepuscular, finding shelter during the day in burrows, cracks in rocks and tree bark. Many species dig a shelter underneath stones a few centimeters long. Some may use burrows made by other animals including spiders, reptiles and small mammals. Other species dig their own burrows which vary in complexity and depth. Hadrurus species dig burrows as over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) deep. Digging is done using the mouth parts, claws and legs. In several species, particularly of the family Buthidae, individuals may gather in the same shelter; bark scorpions may aggregate up to 30 individuals. In some species, families of females and young sometimes aggregate.
Scorpions prefer areas where the temperature remains in the range of 11–40 °C (52–104 °F), but may survive temperatures from well below freezing to desert heat. Scorpions can withstand intense heat: Leiurus quinquestriatus, Scorpio maurus and Hadrurus arizonensis can live in temperatures of 45–50 °C (113–122 °F) if they are sufficiently hydrated. Desert species must deal with the extreme changes in temperature from day to night or between seasons; Pectinibuthus birulai lives in a temperature range of −30–50 °C (−22–122 °F). Scorpions that live outside deserts prefer lower temperatures. The ability to resist cold may be related to the increase in the sugar trehalose when the temperature drops. Some species hibernate. Scorpions appear to have resistance to ionizing radiation. This was discovered in the early 1960s when scorpions were found to be among the few animals to survive nuclear tests at Reggane, Algeria.
Desert scorpions have several adaptations for water conservation. They excrete insoluble compounds such as xanthine, guanine, and uric acid, not requiring water for their removal from the body. Guanine is the main component and maximizes the amount of nitrogen excreted. A scorpion's cuticle holds in moisture via lipids and waxes from epidermal glands, and protects against ultraviolet radiation. Even when dehydrated, a scorpion can tolerate high osmotic pressure in its blood. Desert scorpions get most of their moisture from the food they eat but some can absorb water from the humid soil. Species that live in denser vegetation and in more moderate temperatures will drink water on plants and in puddles.
A scorpion uses its stinger both for killing prey and defense. Some species make direct, quick strikes with their tails while others make slower, more circular strikes which can more easily return the stinger to a position where it can strike again. Leiurus quinquestriatus can whip its tail at a speed of up to 128 cm/s (50 in/s) in a defensive strike.
### Mortality and defense
Scorpions may be attacked by other arthropods like ants, spiders, solifugids and centipedes. Major predators include frogs, lizards, snakes, birds, and mammals. Meerkats are somewhat specialized in preying on scorpions, biting off their stingers and being immune to their venom. Other predators adapted for hunting scorpions include the grasshopper mouse and desert long-eared bat, which are also immune to their venom. In one study, 70% of the latter's droppings contained scorpion fragments. Scorpions host parasites including mites, scuttle flies, nematodes and some bacteria. The immune system of scorpions gives them resistance to infection by many types of bacteria.
When threatened, a scorpion raises its claws and tail in a defensive posture. Some species stridulate to warn off predators by rubbing certain hairs, the stinger or the claws. Certain species have a preference for using either the claws or stinger as defense, depending on the size of the appendages. A few scorpions, such as Parabuthus, Centruroides margaritatus, and Hadrurus arizonensis, squirt venom in a narrow jet as far as 1 meter (3.3 ft) to warn off potential predators, possibly injuring them in the eyes. Some Ananteris species can shed parts of their tail to escape predators. The parts do not grow back, leaving them unable to sting and defecate, but they can still catch small prey and reproduce for at least eight months afterward.
### Diet and feeding
Scorpions generally prey on insects, particularly grasshoppers, crickets, termites, beetles and wasps. Other prey include spiders, solifugids, woodlice and even small vertebrates including lizards, snakes and mammals. Species with large claws may prey on earthworms and mollusks. The majority of species are opportunistic and consume a variety of prey though some may be highly specialized; Isometroides vescus specializes on burrowing spiders. Prey size depends on the size of the species. Several scorpion species are sit-and-wait predators, which involves them waiting for prey at or near the entrance to their burrow. Others actively seek them out. Scorpions detect their prey with mechanoreceptive and chemoreceptive hairs on their bodies and capture them with their claws. Small animals are merely killed with the claws, particularly by large-clawed species. Larger and more aggressive prey is given a sting.
Scorpions, like other arachnids, digest their food externally. The chelicerae, which are very sharp, are used to pull small amounts of food off the prey item into a pre-oral cavity below the chelicerae and carapace. The digestive juices from the gut are egested onto the food, and the digested food is then sucked into the gut in liquid form. Any solid indigestible matter (such as exoskeleton fragments) is trapped by setae in the pre-oral cavity and ejected. The sucked-in food is pumped into the midgut by the pharynx, where it is further digested. The waste passes through the hindgut and out of the anus. Scorpions can consume large amounts of food during one meal. They have an efficient food storage organ and a very low metabolic rate, and a relatively inactive lifestyle. This enables some to survive six to twelve months of starvation.
### Mating
Most scorpions reproduce sexually, with male and female individuals; species in some genera, such as Hottentotta and Tityus, and the species Centruroides gracilis, Liocheles australasiae, and Ananteris coineaui have been reported, not necessarily reliably, to reproduce through parthenogenesis, in which unfertilized eggs develop into living embryos. Receptive females produce pheromones which are picked up by wandering males using their pectines to comb the substrate. Males begin courtship by moving their bodies back and forth, without moving the legs, a behavior known as juddering. This appears to produce ground vibrations that are picked up by the female.
The pair then make contact using their pedipalps, and perform a dance called the promenade à deux (French for "a walk for two"). In this dance, the male and female move back and forth while facing each other, as the male searches for a suitable place to deposit his spermatophore. The courtship ritual can involve several other behaviors such as a cheliceral kiss, in which the male and female grasp each other's mouth-parts, arbre droit ("upright tree") where the partners elevate their posteriors and rub their tails together, and sexual stinging, in which the male stings the female in the chelae or mesosoma to subdue her. The dance can last from a few minutes to several hours.
When the male has located a suitably stable substrate, such as hard ground, agglomerated sand, rock, or tree bark, he deposits the spermatophore and guides the female over it. This allows the spermatophore to enter her genital opercula, which triggers release of the sperm, thus fertilizing the female. A mating plug then forms in the female to prevent her from mating again before the young are born. The male and female then abruptly separate. Sexual cannibalism after mating has only been reported anecdotally in scorpions.
### Birth and development
Gestation in scorpions can last for over a year in some species. They have two types of embryonic development; apoikogenic and katoikogenic. In the apoikogenic system, which is mainly found in the Buthidae, embryos develop in yolk-rich eggs inside follicles. The katoikogenic system is documented in Hemiscorpiidae, Scorpionidae and Diplocentridae, and involves the embryos developing in a diverticulum which has a teat-like structure for them to feed though. Unlike the majority of arachnids, which are oviparous, hatching from eggs, scorpions seem to be universally viviparous, with live births. They are unusual among terrestrial arthropods in the amount of care a female gives to her offspring. The size of a brood varies by species, from 3 to over 100. The body size of scorpions is not correlated either with brood size or with life cycle length.
Before giving birth, the female elevates the front of her body and positions her pedipalps and front legs under her to catch the young ("birth basket"). The young emerge one by one from the genital opercula, expel the embryonic membrane, if any, and are placed on the mother's back where they remain until they have gone through at least one molt. The period before the first molt is called the pro-juvenile stage; the young are unable to feed or sting, but have suckers on their tarsi, used to hold on to their mother. This period lasts 5 to 25 days, depending on the species. The brood molt for the first time simultaneously in a process that lasts 6 to 8 hours, marking the beginning of the juvenile stage.
Juvenile stages or instars generally resemble smaller versions of adults, with fully developed pincers, hairs and stingers. They are still soft and lack pigments, and thus continue to ride on their mother's back for protection. They become harder and more pigmented over the next couple of days. They may leave their mother temporarily, returning when they sense potential danger. Once the exoskeleton is fully hardened, the young can hunt prey on their own and may soon leave their mother. A scorpion may molt six times on average before reaching maturity, which may not occur until it is 6 to 83 months old, depending on the species. Some species may live up to 25 years.
### Fluorescence
Scorpions glow a vibrant blue-green when exposed to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light, such as that produced by a black light, due to fluorescent chemicals such as beta-carboline in the cuticle. Accordingly, a hand-held ultraviolet lamp has long been a standard tool for nocturnal field surveys of these animals. Fluorescence occurs as a result of sclerotization and increases in intensity with each successive instar. This fluorescence may have an active role in the scorpion's ability to detect light.
## Relationship with humans
### Stings
Scorpion venom serves to kill or paralyze prey rapidly. The stings of many species are uncomfortable, but only 25 species have venom that is deadly to humans. Those species belong to the family Buthidae, including Leiurus quinquestriatus, Hottentotta spp., Centruroides spp., and Androctonus spp. People with allergies are especially at risk; otherwise, first aid is symptomatic, with analgesia. Cases of very high blood pressure are treated with medications that relieve anxiety and relax the blood vessels. Scorpion envenomation with high morbidity and mortality is usually due to either excessive autonomic activity and cardiovascular toxic effects, or neuromuscular toxic effects. Antivenom is the specific treatment for scorpion envenomation combined with supportive measures including vasodilators in patients with cardiovascular toxic effects, and benzodiazepines when there is neuromuscular involvement. Although rare, severe hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis to scorpion antivenin are possible.
Scorpion stings are a public health problem, particularly in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, North Africa, the Middle East and India. Around 1.5 million scorpion envenomations occur each year with around 2,600 deaths. Mexico is one of the most affected countries, with the highest biodiversity of scorpions in the world, some 200,000 envenomations per year and at least 300 deaths.
Efforts are made to prevent envenomation and to control scorpion populations. Prevention encompasses personal activities such as checking shoes and clothes before putting them on, not walking in bare feet or sandals, and filling in holes and cracks where scorpions might nest. Street lighting reduces scorpion activity. Control may involve the use of insecticides such as pyrethroids, or gathering scorpions manually with the help of ultraviolet lights. Domestic predators of scorpions, such as chickens and turkeys, can help to reduce the risk to a household.
### Potential medicinal use
Scorpion venom is a mixture of neurotoxins; most of these are peptides, chains of amino acids. Many of them interfere with membrane channels that transport sodium, potassium, calcium, or chloride ions. These channels are essential for nerve conduction, muscle contraction and many other biological processes. Some of these molecules may be useful in medical research and might lead to the development of new disease treatments. Among their potential therapeutic uses are as analgesic, anti-cancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic, bradykinin-potentiating, and immunosuppressive drugs. As of 2020, no scorpion toxin-based drug is for sale, though chlorotoxin is being trialled for use against glioma, a brain cancer.
### Consumption
Scorpions are eaten by people in West Africa, Myanmar and East Asia. Fried scorpion is traditionally eaten in Shandong, China. There, scorpions can be cooked and eaten in a variety of ways, including roasting, frying, grilling, raw, or alive. The stingers are typically not removed, since direct and sustained heat negates the harmful effects of the venom. In Thailand, scorpions are not eaten as often as other arthropods, such as grasshoppers, but they are sometimes fried as street food. They are used in Vietnam to make snake wine (scorpion wine).
### Pets
Scorpions are often kept as pets. They are relatively simple to keep, the main requirements being a secure enclosure such as a glass terrarium with a lockable lid and the appropriate temperature and humidity for the chosen species, which typically means installing a heating mat and spraying regularly with a little water. The substrate needs to resemble that of the species' natural environment, such as peat for forest species, or lateritic sand for burrowing desert species. Scorpions in the genera Pandinus and Heterometrus are docile enough to handle. A large Pandinus may consume up to three crickets each week. Cannibalism is more common in captivity than in the wild and can be minimized by providing many small shelters within the enclosure and ensuring there is plenty of prey. The pet trade has threatened wild populations of some scorpion species, particularly Androctonus australis and Pandinus imperator.
### Culture
The scorpion is a culturally significant animal, appearing as a motif in art, especially in Islamic art in the Middle East. A scorpion motif is often woven into Turkish kilim flatweave carpets, for protection from their sting. The scorpion is perceived both as an embodiment of evil and as a protective force such as a dervish's powers to combat evil. In Muslim folklore, the scorpion portrays human sexuality. Scorpions are used in folk medicine in South Asia, especially in antidotes for scorpion stings.
One of the earliest occurrences of the scorpion in culture is its inclusion, as Scorpio, in the 12 signs of the Zodiac by Babylonian astronomers during the Chaldean period. This was then taken up by western astrology; in astronomy the corresponding constellation is named Scorpius. In ancient Egypt, the goddess Serket, who protected the Pharaoh, was often depicted as a scorpion. In ancient Greece, a warrior's shield sometimes carried a scorpion device, as seen in red-figure pottery from the 5th century BC. In Greek mythology, Artemis or Gaia sent a giant scorpion to kill the hunter Orion, who had said he would kill all the world's animals. Orion and the scorpion both became constellations; as enemies they were placed on opposite sides of the world, so when one rises in the sky, the other sets. Scorpions are mentioned in the Bible and the Talmud as symbols of danger and maliciousness.
The fable of The Scorpion and the Frog has been interpreted as showing that vicious people cannot resist hurting others, even when it is not in their interests. More recently, the action in John Steinbeck's 1947 novella The Pearl centers on a poor pearl fisherman's attempts to save his infant son from a scorpion sting, only to lose him to human violence. Scorpions have equally appeared in western artforms including film and poetry: the surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel made symbolic use of scorpions in his 1930 classic L'Age d'or (The Golden Age), while Stevie Smith's last collection of poems was entitled Scorpion and other Poems. A variety of martial arts films and video games have been entitled Scorpion King.
Since classical times, the scorpion with its powerful stinger has been used to provide a name for weapons. In the Roman army, the scorpio was a torsion siege engine used to shoot a projectile. The British Army's FV101 Scorpion was an armored reconnaissance vehicle or light tank in service from 1972 to 1994. A version of the Matilda II tank, fitted with a flail to clear mines, was named the Matilda Scorpion. Several ships of the Royal Navy and of the US Navy have been named Scorpion including an 18-gun sloop in 1803, a turret ship in 1863, a patrol yacht in 1898, a destroyer in 1910, and a nuclear submarine in 1960.
The scorpion has served as the name or symbol of products and brands including Italy's Abarth racing cars and a Montesa scrambler motorcycle. A hand- or forearm-balancing asana in modern yoga as exercise with the back arched and one or both legs pointing forward over the head in the manner of the scorpion's tail is called Scorpion pose. |
1,157,626 | Imogen Holst | 1,169,913,123 | English composer and conductor (1907–1984) | [
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| Imogen Clare Holst CBE (née von Holst; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her educational work at Dartington Hall in the 1940s, and for her 20 years as joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival. In addition to composing music, she wrote composer biographies, much educational material, and several books on the life and works of her father.
From a young age, Holst showed precocious talent in composing and performance. After attending Eothen School and St Paul's Girls' School, she entered the Royal College of Music, where she developed her skills as a conductor and won several prizes for composing. Unable to follow her initial ambitions to be a pianist or a dancer due to health reasons, Holst spent most of the 1930s teaching, and as a full-time organiser for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. These duties reduced her compositional activities, although she made many arrangements of folksongs. After serving as an organiser for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts at the start of the Second World War, in 1942 she began working at Dartington. In her nine years there she established Dartington as a major centre of music education and activity.
In the early 1950s Holst became Benjamin Britten's musical assistant, moved to Aldeburgh, and began helping with the organisation of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. In 1956 she became joint artistic director of the festival, and during the following 20 years helped it to a position of pre-eminence in British musical life. In 1964 she gave up her work as Britten's assistant to resume her own compositional career and to concentrate on the preservation of her father's musical legacy. Her own music is not widely known and has received little critical attention; much of it is unpublished and unperformed. The first recordings dedicated to her works, issued in 2009 and 2012, were warmly received by critics. She was appointed CBE in 1975 and received numerous academic honours. She died at Aldeburgh and is buried in the churchyard there.
## Background
### Early life and family
Imogen Holst was born on 12 April 1907 at 31 Grena Road, Richmond, a riverside town to the west of London. Her parents were Gustav Theodore Holst, an aspiring composer then working as a music teacher, and Isobel, née Harrison. The Holst family, of mixed Swedish, German and Latvian ancestry, had been in England since 1802 and had been musicians for several generations. Gustav followed this family tradition; while studying at the Royal College of Music (RCM), he met Isobel Harrison, who sang in one of the amateur choirs that he conducted. He was immediately attracted to her, and they were married on 22 July 1901.
While attempting to establish himself as a composer, Gustav Holst worked first as an orchestral trombonist, and later as a teacher. In 1907 he held teaching posts at James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, and St Paul's Girls' School (SPGS) in Hammersmith, where he was director of music. From 1907 he acted as director of music at Morley College, an adult education centre in the Waterloo district of London. When Imogen was still very small the family moved from Richmond to a small house by the river in nearby Barnes, which they rented from a relative. Imogen's main memories of this house were of her father working in his composing room on the top floor, which she was forbidden to visit, and of his efforts to teach her folk-songs.
### Schooling
Descriptions of Imogen as a small child indicate that she had blue eyes, fair hair, an oval face reminiscent of her father's, and a rather prominent nose inherited from her mother. In 1912, at the age of five, she joined the kindergarten class at the Froebel Institute, and remained at the school for five years. Summers were often spent at the Holsts' rented country cottage at Thaxted in Essex, where Gustav Holst began an annual Whitsun Festival in 1916.
In 1917 Imogen began boarding at Eothen, a small, private school for girls in Caterham, where Jane Joseph, Gustav's star pupil from SPGS, taught music. A letter home, dated 17 July 1917, tells of "compertishions [sic], and ripping prizes, and strawberries and cream for tea". At the school, Imogen studied piano with Eleanor Shuttleworth, violin with André Mangeot (described as "topping") and theory with Jane Joseph ("ripping"). Under Joseph's tuition Imogen produced her first compositions—two instrumental pieces and four Christmas carol tunes—which she numbered as Ops. 1, 2, and 3. In the summer term of 1920, she composed and choreographed a "Dance of the Nymphs and Shepherds", which was performed at the school under her direction on 9 July.
Imogen left Eothen in December 1920 hoping to study under Ruby Ginner at the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama, but was rejected on health grounds, although there appeared to be no significant medical issue. She then studied at home under a governess, while waiting to start at St Paul's Girls School in the autumn. At Whitsun 1921 she took part as a dancer in her father's production of Purcell's semi-opera from 1690, Masque of Dioclesian, held in the St Paul's School grounds and repeated a week later in Hyde Park.
In September 1921 Imogen began at St Paul's Girls School, and became a boarder from Spring 1922. In July 1922 she performed a Bach Prelude and Fugue on the piano, for which Joseph praised her warmly, writing: "I think everyone enjoyed the Bach from beginning to end, they all made nice contented noises at the end of it". Imogen's SPGS years were generally happy and successful. In July 1923 she won the junior Alice Lupton piano prize, but her chances of distinction as a pianist were marred when she began to develop phlebitis in her left arm. Among other activities she became interested in folk music and dance, and in 1923 became a member of the English Folk Dance Society (EFDS). In 1924–25, her final year at SPGS, Imogen founded a folk dance society in the school. At an end-of-term school concert late in July 1925, she played Chopin's étude in E major and gave the first performance of Gustav Holst's Toccata.
#### Royal College of Music
Although destined like her father for the RCM, Holst first spent a year studying composition with Herbert Howells, piano with Adine O'Neill and the French horn with Adolph Borsdorf, while participating in the EFDS summer schools and other musical activities. In July 1926 she arranged and conducted the music for an EFDS pageant, held at Thaxted as a fund-raiser towards the building of the society's new headquarters at Regent's Park. Holst began at the RCM in September 1926, studying piano with Kathleen Long, composition with George Dyson, and conducting under W. H. Reed. Her aptitude as a conductor was evident in December 1926, when she led the college's Third Orchestra in the opening movement of Mozart's "Prague" Symphony. This and other performances on the podium led The Daily Telegraph to speculate that Holst might eventually become the first woman to "establish a secure tenure of the conductor's platform".
In her second RCM year Holst concentrated on composition, producing several chamber works including a violin sonata, an oboe quintet, and a suite for woodwind. She took her first steps towards personal independence when she moved from the family home to a bedsit near Kensington Gardens. In 1928 she went to Belgium with the EFDS, took an Italian holiday, and made an extended trip to Germany with a group known as "The Travelling Morrice" which promoted international understanding through music and dance. In October 1928 she won the RCM's Cobbett prize for an original chamber composition, her Phantasy String Quartet, and shortly afterwards was awarded the Morley Scholarship for the "best all-round student". The quartet was broadcast by the BBC on 20 March 1929, but for her, the achievement was overshadowed by the news that month of the premature death at 34 of her early mentor Jane Joseph.
In the winter of 1929 Holst made her first visit to Canada and the United States, as part of an EFDS party. Back home, she worked on her RCM finals composition, a suite for brass band entitled The Unfortunate Traveller. Despite some apprehension on her part, the piece passed the examiners' scrutiny and was played at the college's end-of-year concert in July 1930. Before then, in June, Holst learned that she had been awarded an Octavia Travelling Scholarship worth £100, which would enable her to study composition abroad.
## Career
### European travels, 1930–31
Holst spent much of the period between September 1930 and May 1931 travelling. A hectic visit to Liège in September, for the International Society of Contemporary Music Congress, was followed immediately by a three-month round trip, to Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and Hungary, returning to England via Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Amsterdam. Her musical experiences included a Mozart pilgrimage in Salzburg, performances of Der Rosenkavalier and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Vienna State Opera, Bach in Berlin and Mahler's Seventh Symphony in Amsterdam. On 1 February 1932 she left England again, this time for Italy. After a two-month tour Holst came home with mixed views on Italian music-making. She concluded that "the Italians are a nation of singers ... But music is a different language in that part of the world". Back in London, she decided that despite her experiences, "if it is music one is wanting, there is no place like London."
### Mainly teaching, 1931–38
With her scholarship funds exhausted, Holst needed a job, and in June 1931 took charge of music at the Citizen House arts and education centre in Bath. She disliked the disciplines imposed by an unsympathetic and unyielding superior, but stayed until the end of the year, by which time Citizen House had relocated to Hampstead. She worked briefly as a freelance conductor and accompanist before joining the staff of the EFDS early in 1932. The organisation had by now expanded to become the "English Folk Dance and Song Society" (EFDSS) and was based in new headquarters at Cecil Sharp House. The duties, mainly teaching, were not full-time, and she was able to take up part-time teaching posts at her old school, Eothen, and at Roedean School. Although she composed little original music during these years, she made many instrumental and vocal arrangements of traditional folk melodies.
Gustav Holst's health had been poor for years; in the winter of 1933–34 it deteriorated, and he died on 25 May 1934. Imogen Holst privately determined that she would establish and protect her father's musical legacy. On 24 March 1935 she took part in a Gustav Holst memorial concert, in which she conducted her own arrangement of one of her father's brass band suites. Meanwhile, her own music was beginning to attract attention. Her carol arrangement "Nowell and Nowell" was performed in a 1934 Christmas concert in Chichester Cathedral, and the following year saw the premiere of her Concerto for Violin and Strings, with Elsie Avril as the soloist. In 1936 she paid a visit to Hollywood, where she stayed with her uncle (Gustav's brother), the actor Ernest Cossart. Back in England, Holst worked on recorder arrangements of music by the neglected 16th-century composer Pelham Humphrey. These were published in 1936 to a positive critical reception.
In 1938 Holst published a biography of her father. Among many positive comments from friends and critics, the composer Edmund Rubbra praised her for producing a book that was not "clouded by sentiment ... her biography is at once intimate and objective".
### War: travelling for CEMA
In 1938 Holst decided to abandon amateur music-making and teaching to concentrate on her own professional development. She resigned her EFDSS post while continuing to honour existing commitments to the organisation. She had given up her work at Roedean in 1936; at Easter 1939 she resigned from Eothen. In June 1939 she began a tour of Switzerland which included the Lucerne Festival. Towards the end of August, as war became increasingly likely, she broke off the trip and returned home.
After the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, Holst worked for the Bloomsbury House Refugee Committee, which supported German and Austrian refugee musicians interned under emergency regulations. In January 1940 she accepted a position under a scheme organised by the Pilgrim Trust, to act as one of six "music travellers", whose brief was to boost morale by encouraging musical activities in rural communities. Holst was assigned to cover the west of England, a huge area stretching from Oxfordshire to Cornwall. When the government set up the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), responsibility for the music travellers passed to that body.
With little practical support from CEMA, Holst's organisational talents, according to her friend Ursula Vaughan Williams, "developed brilliantly". According to Holst's own account, her duties included conducting local brass bands and Women's Institute choirs ("fourteen very old women in hats sitting round the edge of a dark, empty hideous tin hut"), and organising sing-songs for evacuee children. She arranged performances by professional groups, and what she termed "drop-in-and-sing" festivals in which anyone could join. She wrote of "idyllic days" spent over cups of tea, discussing the hopes and dreams of would-be music makers. Her compositional activity in these years was limited by time and pressures of work, but she produced two recorder trios—the Offley and Deddington suites—and made numerous arrangements for female voices of carols and traditional songs.
### Dartington
In 1938, Holst had visited Dartington Hall, a progressive school and crafts community near Totnes in Devon, which had been founded in 1925 by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. In 1941–42, while travelling for CEMA in Devon and Cornwall, she was invited by the Elmhirsts to make her base at Dartington. In the summer of 1942 she was persuaded by Christopher Martin, the centre's administrator, to resign her CEMA role and work at Dartington. He had in mind a music course, "the sort of thing that your father did in the old days at Morley College". Beginning in 1943, Holst established a one-year course, initially designed to train young women to organise amateur orchestras and musical events in rural communities. Gradually it developed into a more general musical education for a broader student intake. Under Holst's leadership the course quickly became the hub of a range of musical activities, including the foundation of an amateur orchestra: "Hardly any of us could play ... However bad we were, we went on". Holst's teaching methods, heavily based on "learning by doing" and without formal examinations, at first disconcerted her students and puzzled the school inspectors, but eventually gained acceptance and respect. Rosamond Strode, a pupil at Dartington who later worked with Holst at Aldeburgh, said of her approach: "She knew exactly how, and when, to push her victims in at the deep end, and she knew, also, that although they would flounder and splash about at first, it wouldn't be long before ... they would be swimming easily while she beamed approval from the bank".
In the conducive atmosphere of Dartington Holst resumed serious composition, largely abandoned during the hectic CEMA years. In 1943 she completed a Serenade for flute, viola and bassoon, a Suite for String Orchestra, and a choral work, Three Psalms. All these works were performed at a Wigmore Hall concert on 14 June 1943 devoted to her music. Other compositions from the Dartington years included Theme and Variations for solo violin, String Trio No. 1 (premiered by the Dartington Hall String Trio at the National Gallery on 17 July 1944), songs from the 16th-century anthology Tottel's Miscellany, an oboe concerto, and a string quartet. In October 1943 the composer Benjamin Britten and the tenor Peter Pears gave the first of several recitals at Dartington. A mutual respect and friendship developed between Britten and Holst, strengthened by their shared love of neglected music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Holst was convinced that Britten was the composer to continue and complete the work of her father in redefining the character of English music.
From 1945, while maintaining her commitment to Dartington, Holst began to widen her musical activities. As well as editing and preparing scores for Britten, she promoted Dartington as the base for Britten's new English Opera Group, although eventually Glyndebourne was preferred. In 1947 she encouraged the refugee violinist Norbert Brainin to form his own string quartet, and arranged its debut at Dartington, as the "Brainin Quartet", on 13 July 1947. Six months later, renamed the Amadeus Quartet, the group appeared at the Wigmore Hall, and went on to worldwide recognition. In 1948 she began work on a critical study of her father's music, a companion volume to her 1938 Gustav Holst biography. When this was published in 1951, most critics praised its objectivity, one critic venturing that she had been "unnecessarily harsh" in her judgements.
On 23 July 1950 Holst conducted the premiere of Britten's Five Flower Songs part songs in the open air at Dartington, composed for the 25th wedding anniversary of its owners. Rising standards of achievement at Dartington enabled Holst to organise performances of more demanding works, such as Bach's Mass in B minor in July 1950 to honour the 200th anniversary of Bach's death. Three years in preparation, this endeavour brought a tribute from one of the audience: "I don't know, and can't imagine what the music of heaven is like. But when we all get there, please God, if any conducting is still necessary I hope your services will be required and that I will be in the chorus".
By the middle of 1950 Holst's professional focus was changing. She had attended the first two Aldeburgh Festivals in 1948 and 1949, and in 1950 accepted a commission to provide a choral work for performance at the 1951 festival; The work was the song cycle for female voices and harp, Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow. Sensing that it was time to leave Dartington, she gave a year's notice, part of which was spent on sabbatical, studying Indian music at Rabindranath Tagore's university in West Bengal. A fruit of this visit was her Ten Indian Folk Tunes for recorder. On 21 July 1951 her one-act opera, Benedick and Beatrice, was performed at Dartington, to mark her departure.
### Aldeburgh
Without definite plans for her future after Dartington, Holst toured Europe, collecting music that she would later edit for performance, including madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo which she found "very exciting". At home, although not formally employed by Britten, she worked with him on several projects, including a new performing version of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and the preparation of the vocal and full scores for Britten's opera Billy Budd. Pears, who had observed Holst's overall contributions to musical life at Dartington, believed she could help Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival on a more formal basis, and shortly after the 1952 festival Britten invited her to come and work with him. She agreed, and moved to lodgings in Aldeburgh.
#### Assistant to Britten
When Holst joined Britten, the financial arrangement was vague; Britten paid her on a piecemeal basis rather than a regular salary, unaware that she had made over her rights to her father's estate to her mother and had little money of her own. As a result, she lived very frugally in Aldeburgh, but her commitment to Britten overrode her own physical comfort. For the next dozen years her life was organised around the joint objectives of assisting Britten and developing the Aldeburgh Festival. Alongside this work, she made many choral and vocal arrangements, promoted her father's music, and wrote books, articles and programme notes.
For the first 18 months of her association with Britten, Holst kept a diary which, Grogan says, forms a record of her "unconditional belief in Britten's achievement and status, and her absolute devotion to his work". The first of Britten's works to which she made a significant contribution was the opera Gloriana, scheduled to form part of the 1953 Coronation celebrations. The short timescale for the writing of the opera placed considerable pressure on the composer and his new assistant, strains that were dramatised 60 years later in a radio play, Imo and Ben. Holst's main task with Gloriana was to copy Britten's pencil sketches and prepare the vocal and piano scores which the singers needed for rehearsals by February 1953. Later she assisted him with the writing of the full orchestral score, and performed similar services with his next opera, The Turn of the Screw (1954). When Britten was under pressure during the composition of his ballet The Prince of the Pagodas (1956), Holst accompanied him to Switzerland, to remain by his side as he completed the work. She took great pleasure in her association with Britten's opera for children, Noye's Fludde (1957), for which she showed Britten how to achieve a unique raindrop effect by hitting a row of china mugs with a wooden spoon. She and Britten combined to collect and publish music for the recorder, in a series published by Boosey and Hawkes (1954–59), and jointly wrote a popular introductory book, The Story of Music (1958).
Holst continued to assist Britten with all his major compositions until 1964, at that point she determined to give priority to the final securing of her father's musical legacy, to re-establish her career as a composer, and to pursue a more independent path. She relinquished her post as Britten's assistant, while remaining personally devoted to Britten. She did not leave Aldeburgh, and continued her work with the annual Aldeburgh Festival.
#### Artistic director
In 1956 Holst's role in the Aldeburgh Festival was formalised when she joined Britten and Pears as one of the festival's artistic directors, taking responsibility for programmes and performers. For the 1956 festival she scheduled a performance of Gustav Holst's opera Savitri, the first of several Gustav Holst works that she introduced to the festival in the ensuing years. Savitri was offered as part of a double bill that included Imogen's arrangement of John Blow's 17th century opera Venus and Adonis. In 1957 she instituted late-night concerts, and in 1962 she organised a series devoted to Flemish music, in which she had recently become interested. She also devised frequent programmes of church music, for performance at Aldeburgh parish church. Since moving to Aldeburgh in 1952, Holst had lived in a series of lodgings and rented flats. In 1962 she moved to a small contemporary bungalow built for her in Church Walk, where she lived for the rest of her life. The house was built on the edge of the site where it had been hoped to build a Festival Theatre. When that plan was abandoned in favour of a move to Snape Maltings, the bungalow was built anyway by the architect H. T. Cadbury-Brown, who allowed Holst to live there rent-free.
In 1964 Holst began composing again, and in 1965 accepted commissions for two large-scale works: The Sun's Journey, a cantata for female voices, and the Trianon Suite, composed for the Trianon Youth Orchestra of Ipswich. In 1965 and 1966 she published two books, studies of Bach and Britten. The latter work caused some shock and surprise by failing to mention the contributions to Britten's successes of several key figures in Britten's earlier career who had subsequently fallen out of favour, such as his former librettists Eric Crozier and Ronald Duncan. Between 1966 and 1970 Holst recorded a number of her father's works with the Purcell Singers and the English Chamber Orchestra, under the Argo and Lyrita labels. Among these recordings was the Double Violin Concerto, which she conducted with Emanuel Hurwitz as soloist. Forty years earlier she had acted as the rehearsal pianist before the work's first performance.
Holst had formed the Purcell Singers, a small semi-professional choir, in October 1952, largely at the instigation of Pears. From 1954 the choir became regular performers at the Aldeburgh Festival, with programmes ranging from rarely heard medieval music to 20th-century works. Among choir members who later achieved individual distinction were the bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk, the tenors Robert Tear and Philip Langridge, and the founder and conductor of the Heinrich Schütz Choir, Roger Norrington. Langridge remembered with particular pleasure a performance in Orford church of Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet Spem in alium, on 2 July 1963. When she gave up the conductorship of the choir in 1967, much of its musical mission, in particular its commitment to early music, was assumed by other groups, such as Norrington's Schütz Choir and the Purcell Consort formed by the ex-Purcell Singers chorister Grayston Burgess.
On 2 June 1967 Holst shared the podium with Britten in the concert inaugurating the Aldeburgh Festival's new home at the Snape Maltings. From 1972 Holst was involved with the development of educational classes at the Maltings, which began with weekend singing classes and developed into the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies, with its own training orchestra. By this time Imogen's performances at the festival had become increasingly rare, but in 1975 she conducted a concert of Gustav Holst's brass band music, held outdoors at Framlingham Castle. A report of the event described an evening of "persistent drizzle ... until a diminutive figure in a special scarlet dress took the conductor's baton. The band was transformed, and played Holst's Suite as it has never been played before".
Britten had been in poor health since undergoing heart surgery in 1973, and on 4 December 1976 he died. Holst was unsure that she could maintain a working relationship with Pears alone, and on reaching the age of 70 in 1977, decided she would retire as artistic director after that year's festival. She made her final festival appearance as a performer when she stood in for the indisposed conductor André Previn at the Snape Maltings Training Orchestra's inaugural festival concert. On retirement, she accepted the honorary title of Artistic Director Emeritus.
## Later career
Gustav Holst's centenary was celebrated in 1974, when Imogen published a Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst's Music and founded the Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham. The centenary was the occasion for the publication of the first volume of a facsimile edition of Gustav Holst's manuscripts, on which Imogen worked with the help of the composer Colin Matthews. Three more facsimile volumes followed in the years up to 1983, at which point the increasing costs, and Imogen's failing health led to the abandonment of the project. As part of the 1974 centenary, she negotiated performances of Savitri and The Wandering Scholar at Aldeburgh and Sadler's Wells, and helped to arrange exhibitions of Gustav Holst's life and works at Aldeburgh and the Royal Festival Hall.
Apart from her books concerned with her father's life and works, Holst continued to write on other aspects of music. In addition to numerous articles she published a short study of the Renaissance composer William Byrd (1972) and a handbook for conductors of amateur choirs (1973). She continued to compose, usually short pieces but with occasional larger-scale orchestral works such as the Woodbridge Suite (1970) and the Deben Calendar (1977), the latter a series of twelve sketches depicting the River Deben in Suffolk at different phases of the year. Her last major composition was a String Quintet, written in 1982 and performed in October of that year by the Endellion Quartet, augmented by the cellist Steven Isserlis.
In April 1979 Holst was present when the Queen Mother opened the new Britten–Pears School building in Snape. The building included a new library—the Gustav Holst Library—to which Holst had donated a large amount of material, including books which her father had used in his own teaching career. She had intended that, after 1977, her retirement from the Aldeburgh Festival would be total, but she made an exception in 1980 when she organised a 70th birthday celebration concert for Pears.
## Death
Shortly after the 1977 Aldeburgh Festival, Holst became seriously ill with what she described as "a coronary angina". Thereafter, angina was a recurrent problem, although she continued to work and fulfil engagements. However, by early 1984 the deterioration in her health was noticeable to her friends. She died at home of heart failure on 9 March 1984 and was buried in Aldeburgh churchyard five days later in a plot a few yards away from Britten's. An obituary tribute in the magazine Early Music emphasised her long association with music in the Aldeburgh church, where she "[brought] iridescently to life facets of that tradition to which her own life had been dedicated and which she presented as a continuing source of strength and wonder". Ursula Vaughan Williams wrote: "Imogen had something of the medieval scholar about her ... content with few creature comforts if there was enough music, enough work, enough books to fill her days. Indeed, she always filled her days, making twenty-four hours contain what most of us need twice that time to do".
In 2007, Holst's centenary was recognised at Aldeburgh by several special events, including a recital in the parish church by the Navarra Quartet in which works by Purcell and Schubert were mixed with Imogen's own The Fall of the Leaf for solo cello, and the String Quintet. The latter work was described by Andrew Clements in The Guardian as "genuinely memorable ... The set of variations with which the quintet ends dissolves into a series of bare solo lines, linking Holst's music to her father's".
Holst never married, though she enjoyed a number of romantic friendships, notably with the future poet Miles Tomalin, whom she met when she was a pupil at St Paul's. The two were close until 1929, and exchanged poetry; Tomalin married in 1931. Many years after the relationship ended, Holst admitted to Britten that she would have married Tomalin.
### Honours
Holst was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1966. She was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Essex (1968), Exeter (1969), and Leeds (1983). She was given honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in 1970. Holst was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1975 New Year Honours for services to music.
## Music
Imogen Holst was a part-time composer, intermittently productive within her extensive portfolio of musical activities. In her earlier years she was among a group of young British women composers—Elizabeth Maconchy and Elisabeth Lutyens were others—whose music was regularly performed and broadcast. According to a later critic, her Mass in A minor of 1927 showed "confident and imaginative layering of voices, building to a satisfying Agnus Dei". However, for long periods in her subsequent career Holst barely composed at all. After the RCM, her most active years as a composer were at Dartington in the 1940s and the "post-Britten" period after 1964. Her output of compositions, arrangements and edited music is extensive but has received only limited critical attention. Much of it is unpublished and has usually been neglected after its initial performance.
The oeuvre comprises instrumental, vocal, orchestral and choral music. Holst was primarily influenced, as Gustav Holst's daughter, by what the analyst Christopher Tinker terms "her natural and inescapable relationship with the English musical establishment", by her close personal relationship with her father, and her love of folksong. Some of her first compositions reflect the pastoralism of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who taught her at the RCM. In her teaching and EFDSS years during the 1930s she became known for her folksong arrangements but composed little music herself. The personal style that emerged in the 1940s incorporated her affinity with folksong and dance, her intense interest in English music of the 16th and 17th centuries, and her taste for innovation. In her 1930 suite for solo viola, she had begun experimenting with scale patterns; by the 1940s she was incorporating her own six- and eight-note scales into her chamber music and occasionally into choral works such as the Five Songs (1944). This experimentation reappears in later works; in Hallo My Fancy (1972) a new scale is introduced for each verse, while the choir provides free harmonisation to a solo voice. In Homage to William Morris (1984), among her final works, Tinker notes her use of dissonance "to add strength to the musical articulation of the text". By contrast, the String Quintet of 1982, the work which Holst herself thought made her "a real composer", is characterised by the warmth of its harmonies.
Much of Holst's choral music was written for amateur performance. Critics have observed a clear distinction in quality between these pieces and the choral works written for professional choirs, particularly those for women's voices. These latter pieces, says Tinker, incorporate her best work as an original composer. Record companies were slow in recognising her commercial potential, and not until 2009 was a CD issued devoted entirely to her music—a selection of her works for strings. The Guardian's reviewer welcomed the recording: "[T]here is a great deal of English music of far less worth that is frequently praised to the skies". In 2012 a selection of her choral music, sung by the Clare College Choir, was recorded by Harmonia Mundi. One review of this recording picks out Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow, written for female voices with harp accompaniment, as "[giving] an insight into her own, softly nuanced, pioneering voice". Another mentions the "Three Psalms" setting, where "inner rhythms are underscored by the subtle string ostinatos pulsing beneath".
## Published texts
Publication details refer to the book's first UK publication.
- (revised edition 1969)
- (revised editions 1968 and 1985, the latter with Holst's Music Reconsidered added)
- (co-author with Benjamin Britten)
- (co-editor with Ursula Vaughan Williams):
- (editor)
- (second edition 1981)
Imogen Holst also wrote numerous articles, pamphlets, essays, introductions and programme notes during the period 1935–1984. |
1,055,890 | Sustainable energy | 1,172,385,449 | Energy that responsibly meets social, economic, and environmental needs | [
"Climate change mitigation",
"Climate change policy",
"Emissions reduction",
"Energy economics",
"Environmental impact of the energy industry",
"Sustainable development",
"Sustainable energy"
]
| Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as greenhouse gas emissions and social and economic aspects such as energy poverty. Renewable energy sources such as wind, hydroelectric power, solar, and geothermal energy are generally far more sustainable than fossil fuel sources. However, some renewable energy projects, such as the clearing of forests to produce biofuels, can cause severe environmental damage.
The role of non-renewable energy sources in sustainable energy has been controversial. Nuclear power is a low-carbon source whose historic mortality rates are comparable to those of wind and solar, but its sustainability has been debated because of concerns about radioactive waste, nuclear proliferation, and accidents. Switching from coal to natural gas has environmental benefits, including a lower climate impact, but may lead to a delay in switching to more sustainable options. Carbon capture and storage can be built into power plants to remove their carbon dioxide () emissions, but this technology is expensive and has rarely been implemented.
Fossil fuels provide 85% of the world's energy consumption, and the energy system is responsible for 76% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Around 790 million people in developing countries lack access to electricity, and 2.6 billion rely on polluting fuels such as wood or charcoal to cook. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to levels consistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement will require a system-wide transformation of the way energy is produced, distributed, stored, and consumed. The burning of fossil fuels and biomass is a major contributor to air pollution, which causes an estimated 7 million deaths each year. Therefore, the transition to a low-carbon energy system would have strong co-benefits for human health. Pathways exist to provide universal access to electricity and clean cooking in ways that are compatible with climate goals while bringing major health and economic benefits to developing countries.
Climate change mitigation pathways have been proposed to limit global warming to 2 °C (3.6 °F). These pathways include phasing out coal-fired power plants, producing more electricity from clean sources such as wind and solar, and shifting towards using electricity instead of fossil fuels in sectors such as transport and heating buildings. For some energy-intensive technologies and processes that are difficult to electrify, many pathways describe a growing role for hydrogen fuel produced from low-emission energy sources. To accommodate larger shares of variable renewable energy, electrical grids require flexibility through infrastructure such as energy storage. To make deep reductions in emissions, infrastructure and technologies that use energy, such as buildings and transport systems, would need to be changed to use clean forms of energy and also conserve energy. Some critical technologies for eliminating energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are not yet mature.
Wind and solar energy generated 8.5% of worldwide electricity in 2019. This share has grown rapidly while costs have fallen and are projected to continue falling. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that 2.5% of world gross domestic product (GDP) would need to be invested in the energy system each year between 2016 and 2035 to limit global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Well-designed government policies that promote energy system transformation can lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. In many cases, they also increase energy security. Policy approaches include carbon pricing, renewable portfolio standards, phase-outs of fossil fuel subsidies, and the development of infrastructure to support electrification and sustainable transport. Funding the research, development, and demonstration of new clean energy technologies is also an important role of the government.
## Definitions and background
### Definitions
The United Nations Brundtland Commission described the concept of sustainable development, for which energy is a key component, in its 1987 report Our Common Future. It defined sustainable development as meeting "the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". This description of sustainable development has since been referenced in many definitions and explanations of sustainable energy.
No single interpretation of how the concept of sustainability applies to energy has gained worldwide acceptance. Working definitions of sustainable energy encompass multiple dimensions of sustainability such as environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Historically, the concept of sustainable energy development has focused on emissions and on energy security. Since the early 1990s, the concept has broadened to encompass wider social and economic issues.
The environmental dimension of sustainability includes greenhouse gas emissions, impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, hazardous waste and toxic emissions, water consumption, and depletion of non-renewable resources. Energy sources with low environmental impact are sometimes called green energy or clean energy. The economic dimension of sustainability covers economic development, efficient use of energy, and energy security to ensure that each country has constant access to sufficient energy. Social issues include access to affordable and reliable energy for all people, workers' rights, and land rights.
### Environmental impacts
The current energy system contributes to many environmental problems, including climate change, air pollution, biodiversity loss, the release of toxins into the environment, and water scarcity. As of 2019, 85% of the world's energy needs are met by burning fossil fuels. Energy production and consumption are responsible for 76% of annual human-caused greenhouse gas emissions as of 2018. The 2015 international Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit global warming to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) and preferably to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F); achieving this goal will require that emissions be reduced as soon as possible and reach net-zero by mid-century.
The burning of fossil fuels and biomass is a major source of air pollution, which causes an estimated 7 million deaths each year, with the greatest attributable disease burden seen in low and middle-income countries. Fossil-fuel burning in power plants, vehicles, and factories is the main source of emissions that combine with oxygen in the atmosphere to cause acid rain. Air pollution is the second-leading cause of death from non-infectious disease. An estimated 99% of the world's population lives with levels of air pollution that exceed the World Health Organization recommended limits.
Cooking with polluting fuels such as wood, animal dung, coal, or kerosene is responsible for nearly all indoor air pollution, which causes an estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million deaths annually, and also contributes significantly to outdoor air pollution. Health effects are concentrated among women, who are likely to be responsible for cooking, and young children.
Environmental impacts extend beyond the by-products of combustion. Oil spills at sea harm marine life and may cause fires which release toxic emissions. Around 10% of global water use goes to energy production, mainly for cooling in thermal energy plants. In dry regions, this contributes to water scarcity. Bioenergy production, coal mining and processing, and oil extraction also require large amounts of water. Excessive harvesting of wood and other combustible material for burning can cause serious local environmental damage, including desertification.
In 2021, UNECE published a lifecycle analysis of the environmental impact of numerous electricity generation technologies, accounting for the following: resource use (minerals, metals); land use; resource use (fossils); water use; particulate matter; photochemical ozone formation; ozone depletion; human toxicity (non-cancer); ionising radiation; human toxicity (cancer); eutrophication (terrestrial, marine, freshwater); ecotoxicity (freshwater); acidification; climate change.
### Sustainable development goals
Meeting existing and future energy demands in a sustainable way is a critical challenge for the global goal of limiting climate change while maintaining economic growth and enabling living standards to rise. Reliable and affordable energy, particularly electricity, is essential for health care, education, and economic development. As of 2020, 790 million people in developing countries do not have access to electricity, and around 2.6 billion rely on burning polluting fuels for cooking.
Improving energy access in the least-developed countries and making energy cleaner are key to achieving most of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which cover issues ranging from climate action to gender equality. Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for "access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all", including universal access to electricity and to clean cooking facilities by 2030.
## Energy conservation
Energy efficiency—using less energy to deliver the same goods or services, or delivering comparable services with less goods—is a cornerstone of many sustainable energy strategies. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that increasing energy efficiency could achieve 40% of greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to fulfil the Paris Agreement's goals.
Energy can be conserved by increasing the technical efficiency of appliances, vehicles, industrial processes, and buildings. Another approach is to use fewer materials whose production requires a lot of energy, for example through better building design and recycling. Behavioural changes such as using videoconferencing rather than business flights, or making urban trips by cycling, walking or public transport rather than by car, are another way to conserve energy. Government policies to improve efficiency can include building codes, performance standards, carbon pricing, and the development of energy-efficient infrastructure to encourage changes in transport modes.
The energy intensity of the global economy (the amount of energy consumed per unit of gross domestic product (GDP)) is a rough indicator of the energy efficiency of economic production. In 2010, global energy intensity was 5.6 megajoules (1.6 kWh) per US dollar of GDP. United Nations goals call for energy intensity to decrease by 2.6% each year between 2010 and 2030. In recent years this target has not been met. For instance, between 2017 and 2018, energy intensity decreased by only 1.1%. Efficiency improvements often lead to a rebound effect in which consumers use the money they save to buy more energy-intensive goods and services. For example, recent technical efficiency improvements in transport and buildings have been largely offset by trends in consumer behaviour, such as selecting larger vehicles and homes.
## Sustainable energy sources
### Renewable energy sources
Renewable energy sources are essential to sustainable energy, as they generally strengthen energy security and emit far fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. Renewable energy projects sometimes raise significant sustainability concerns, such as risks to biodiversity when areas of high ecological value are converted to bioenergy production or wind or solar farms.
Hydropower is the largest source of renewable electricity while solar and wind energy are growing rapidly. Photovoltaic solar and onshore wind are the cheapest forms of new power generation capacity in most countries. For more than half of the 770 million people who currently lack access to electricity, decentralised renewable energy such as solar-powered mini-grids is likely the cheapest method of providing it by 2030. United Nations targets for 2030 include substantially increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the world's energy supply. According to the International Energy Agency, renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are now a commonplace source of electricity, making up 70% of all new investments made in the world's power generation. The Agency expects renewables to become the primary energy source for electricity generation globally in the next three years, overtaking coal.
#### Solar
The Sun is Earth's primary source of energy, a clean and abundantly available resource in many regions. In 2019, solar power provided around 3% of global electricity, mostly through solar panels based on photovoltaic cells (PV). Solar PV is expected to be the electricity source with the largest installed capacity worldwide by 2027. The panels are mounted on top of buildings or installed in utility-scale solar parks. Costs of solar photovoltaic cells have dropped rapidly, driving strong growth in worldwide capacity. The cost of electricity from new solar farms is competitive with, or in many places, cheaper than electricity from existing coal plants. Various projections of future energy use identify solar PV as one of the main sources of energy generation in a sustainable mix.
Most components of solar panels can be easily recycled, but this is not always done in the absence of regulation. Panels typically contain heavy metals, so they pose environmental risks if put in landfills. It takes fewer than two years for a solar panel to produce as much energy as was used for its production. Less energy is needed if materials are recycled rather than mined.
In concentrated solar power, solar rays are concentrated by a field of mirrors, heating a fluid. Electricity is produced from the resulting steam with a heat engine. Concentrated solar power can support dispatchable power generation, as some of the heat is typically stored to enable electricity to be generated when needed. In addition to electricity production, solar energy is used more directly; solar thermal heating systems are used for hot water production, heating buildings, drying, and desalination.
#### Wind power
Wind has been an important driver of development over millennia, providing mechanical energy for industrial processes, water pumps, and sailing ships. Modern wind turbines are used to generate electricity and provided approximately 6% of global electricity in 2019. Electricity from onshore wind farms is often cheaper than existing coal plants and competitive with natural gas and nuclear. Wind turbines can also be placed offshore, where winds are steadier and stronger than on land but construction and maintenance costs are higher.
Onshore wind farms, often built in wild or rural areas, have a visual impact on the landscape. While collisions with wind turbines kill both bats and to a lesser extent birds, these impacts are lower than from other infrastructure such as windows and transmission lines. The noise and flickering light created by the turbines can cause annoyance and constrain construction near densely populated areas. Wind power, in contrast to nuclear and fossil fuel plants, does not consume water. Little energy is needed for wind turbine construction compared to the energy produced by the wind power plant itself. Turbine blades are not fully recyclable, and research into methods of manufacturing easier-to-recycle blades is ongoing.
#### Hydropower
Hydroelectric plants convert the energy of moving water into electricity. In 2020, hydropower supplied 17% of the world's electricity, down from a high of nearly 20% in the mid-to-late 20th century.
In conventional hydropower, a reservoir is created behind a dam. Conventional hydropower plants provide a highly flexible, dispatchable electricity supply. They can be combined with wind and solar power to meet peaks in demand and to compensate when wind and sun are less available.
Compared to reservoir-based facilities, run-of-the-river hydroelectricity generally has less environmental impact. However, its ability to generate power depends on river flow, which can vary with daily and seasonal weather. Reservoirs provide water quantity controls that are used for flood control and flexible electricity output while also providing security during drought for drinking water supply and irrigation.
Hydropower ranks among the energy sources with the lowest levels of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy produced, but levels of emissions vary enormously between projects. The highest emissions tend to occur with large dams in tropical regions. These emissions are produced when the biological matter that becomes submerged in the reservoir's flooding decomposes and releases carbon dioxide and methane. Deforestation and climate change can reduce energy generation from hydroelectric dams. Depending on location, large dams can displace residents and cause significant local environmental damage; potential dam failure could place the surrounding population at risk.
#### Geothermal
Geothermal energy is produced by tapping into deep underground heat and harnessing it to generate electricity or to heat water and buildings. The use of geothermal energy is concentrated in regions where heat extraction is economical: a combination is needed of high temperatures, heat flow, and permeability (the ability of the rock to allow fluids to pass through). Power is produced from the steam created in underground reservoirs. Geothermal energy provided less than 1% of global energy consumption in 2020.
Geothermal energy is a renewable resource because thermal energy is constantly replenished from neighbouring hotter regions and the radioactive decay of naturally occurring isotopes. On average, the greenhouse gas emissions of geothermal-based electricity are less than 5% that of coal-based electricity. Geothermal energy carries a risk of inducing earthquakes, needs effective protection to avoid water pollution, and releases toxic emissions which can be captured.
#### Bioenergy
Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. It can either be burned to produce heat and electricity or be converted into biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol, which can be used to power vehicles.
The climate impact of bioenergy varies considerably depending on where biomass feedstocks come from and how they are grown. For example, burning wood for energy releases carbon dioxide; those emissions can be significantly offset if the trees that were harvested are replaced by new trees in a well-managed forest, as the new trees will absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. However, the establishment and cultivation of bioenergy crops can displace natural ecosystems, degrade soils, and consume water resources and synthetic fertilisers. Approximately one-third of all wood used for traditional heating and cooking in tropical areas is harvested unsustainably. Bioenergy feedstocks typically require significant amounts of energy to harvest, dry, and transport; the energy usage for these processes may emit greenhouse gases. In some cases, the impacts of land-use change, cultivation, and processing can result in higher overall carbon emissions for bioenergy compared to using fossil fuels.
Use of farmland for growing biomass can result in less land being available for growing food. In the United States, around 10% of motor gasoline has been replaced by corn-based ethanol, which requires a significant proportion of the harvest. In Malaysia and Indonesia, clearing forests to produce palm oil for biodiesel has led to serious social and environmental effects, as these forests are critical carbon sinks and habitats for diverse species. Since photosynthesis captures only a small fraction of the energy in sunlight, producing a given amount of bioenergy requires a large amount of land compared to other renewable energy sources.
Second-generation biofuels which are produced from non-food plants or waste reduce competition with food production, but may have other negative effects including trade-offs with conservation areas and local air pollution. Relatively sustainable sources of biomass include algae, waste, and crops grown on soil unsuitable for food production.
Carbon capture and storage technology can be used to capture emissions from bioenergy power plants. This process is known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and can result in net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. However, BECCS can also result in net positive emissions depending on how the biomass material is grown, harvested, and transported. Deployment of BECCS at scales described in some climate change mitigation pathways would require converting large amounts of cropland.
#### Marine energy
Marine energy has the smallest share of the energy market. It includes tidal power, which is approaching maturity, and wave power, which is earlier in its development. Two tidal barrage systems in France and in South Korea make up 90% of global production. While single marine energy devices pose little risk to the environment, the impacts of larger devices are less well known.
### Non-renewable energy sources
#### Fossil fuel switching and mitigation
Switching from coal to natural gas has advantages in terms of sustainability. For a given unit of energy produced, the life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of natural gas are around 40 times the emissions of wind or nuclear energy but are much less than coal. Burning natural gas produces around half the emissions of coal when used to generate electricity and around two-thirds the emissions of coal when used to produce heat. Natural gas combustion also produces less air pollution than coal. However, natural gas is a potent greenhouse gas in itself, and leaks during extraction and transportation can negate the advantages of switching away from coal. The technology to curb methane leaks is widely available but it is not always used.
Switching from coal to natural gas reduces emissions in the short term and thus contributes to climate change mitigation. However, in the long term it does not provide a path to net-zero emissions. Developing natural gas infrastructure risks carbon lock-in and stranded assets, where new fossil infrastructure either commits to decades of carbon emissions, or has to be written off before it makes a profit.
The greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel and biomass power plants can be significantly reduced through carbon capture and storage (CCS). Most studies use a working assumption that CCS can capture 85–90% of the carbon dioxide () emissions from a power plant. Even if 90% of emitted is captured from a coal-fired power plant, its uncaptured emissions would still be many times greater than the emissions of nuclear, solar or wind energy per unit of electricity produced. Since coal plants using CCS would be less efficient, they would require more coal and thus increase the pollution associated with mining and transporting coal. The CCS process is expensive, with costs depending considerably on the location's proximity to suitable geology for carbon dioxide storage. Deployment of this technology is still very limited, with only 21 large-scale CCS plants in operation worldwide as of 2020.
#### Nuclear power
Nuclear power has been used since the 1950s as a low-carbon source of baseload electricity. Nuclear power plants in over 30 countries generate about 10% of global electricity. As of 2019, nuclear generated over a quarter of all low-carbon energy, making it the second largest source after hydropower.
Nuclear power's lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions—including the mining and processing of uranium—are similar to the emissions from renewable energy sources. Nuclear power uses little land per unit of energy produced, compared to the major renewables. Reason magazine reported in May 2023 that "...biomass, wind, and solar power are set to occupy an area equivalent of the size of the European Union by 2050." Additionally, Nuclear power does not create local air pollution. Although the uranium ore used to fuel nuclear fission plants is a non-renewable resource, enough exists to provide a supply for hundreds to thousands of years. However, uranium resources that can be accessed in an economically feasible manner, at the present state, are limited and uranium production could hardly keep up during the expansion phase. Climate change mitigation pathways consistent with ambitious goals typically see an increase in power supply from nuclear.
There is controversy over whether nuclear power is sustainable, in part due to concerns around nuclear waste, nuclear weapon proliferation, and accidents. Radioactive nuclear waste must be managed for thousands of years and nuclear power plants create fissile material that can be used for weapons. For each unit of energy produced, nuclear energy has caused far fewer accidental and pollution-related deaths than fossil fuels, and the historic fatality rate of nuclear is comparable to renewable sources. Public opposition to nuclear energy often makes nuclear plants politically difficult to implement.
Reducing the time and the cost of building new nuclear plants have been goals for decades but costs remain high and timescales long. Various new forms of nuclear energy are in development, hoping to address the drawbacks of conventional plants. Fast breeder reactors are capable of recycling nuclear waste and therefore can significantly reduce the amount of waste that requires geological disposal, but have not yet been deployed on a large-scale commercial basis. Nuclear power based on thorium (rather than uranium) may be able to provide higher energy security for countries that do not have a large supply of uranium. Small modular reactors may have several advantages over current large reactors: It should be possible to build them faster and their modularization would allow for cost reductions via learning-by-doing.
Several countries are attempting to develop nuclear fusion reactors, which would generate small amounts of waste and no risk of explosions. Although fusion power has taken steps forward in the lab, the multi-decade timescale needed to bring it to commercialization and then scale means it will not contribute to a 2050 net zero goal for climate change mitigation.
## Energy system transformation
The emissions reductions necessary to keep global warming below 2 °C will require a system-wide transformation of the way energy is produced, distributed, stored, and consumed. For a society to replace one form of energy with another, multiple technologies and behaviours in the energy system must change. For example, transitioning from oil to solar power as the energy source for cars requires the generation of solar electricity, modifications to the electrical grid to accommodate fluctuations in solar panel output or the introduction of variable battery chargers and higher overall demand, adoption of electric cars, and networks of electric vehicle charging facilities and repair shops.
Many climate change mitigation pathways envision three main aspects of a low-carbon energy system:
- The use of low-emission energy sources to produce electricity
- Electrification – that is increased use of electricity instead of directly burning fossil fuels
- Accelerated adoption of energy efficiency measures
Some energy-intensive technologies and processes are difficult to electrify, including aviation, shipping, and steelmaking. There are several options for reducing the emissions from these sectors: biofuels and synthetic carbon-neutral fuels can power many vehicles that are designed to burn fossil fuels, however biofuels cannot be sustainably produced in the quantities needed and synthetic fuels are currently very expensive. For some applications, the most prominent alternative to electrification is to develop a system based on sustainably-produced hydrogen fuel.
Full decarbonisation of the global energy system is expected to take several decades and can mostly be achieved with existing technologies. The IEA states that further innovation in the energy sector, such as in battery technologies and carbon-neutral fuels, is needed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Developing new technologies requires research and development, demonstration, and cost reductions via deployment. The transition to a zero-carbon energy system will bring strong co-benefits for human health: The World Health Organization estimates that efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 °C could save millions of lives each year from reductions to air pollution alone. With good planning and management, pathways exist to provide universal access to electricity and clean cooking by 2030 in ways that are consistent with climate goals. Historically, several countries have made rapid economic gains through coal usage. However, there remains a window of opportunity for many poor countries and regions to "leapfrog" fossil fuel dependency by developing their energy systems based on renewables, given adequate international investment and knowledge transfer.
### Integrating variable energy sources
To deliver reliable electricity from variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, electrical power systems require flexibility. Most electrical grids were constructed for non-intermittent energy sources such as coal-fired power plants. As larger amounts of solar and wind energy are integrated into the grid, changes have to be made to the energy system to ensure that the supply of electricity is matched to demand. In 2019, these sources generated 8.5% of worldwide electricity, a share that has grown rapidly.
There are various ways to make the electricity system more flexible. In many places, wind and solar generation are complementary on a daily and a seasonal scale: there is more wind during the night and in winter when solar energy production is low. Linking different geographical regions through long-distance transmission lines allows for further cancelling out of variability. Energy demand can be shifted in time through energy demand management and the use of smart grids, matching the times when variable energy production is highest. With grid energy storage, energy produced in excess can be released when needed. Further flexibility could be provided from sector coupling, that is coupling the electricity sector to the heat and mobility sector via power-to-heat-systems and electric vehicles.
Building overcapacity for wind and solar generation can help ensure that enough electricity is produced even during poor weather. In optimal weather, energy generation may have to be curtailed if excess electricity cannot be used or stored. The final demand-supply mismatch may be covered by using dispatchable energy sources such as hydropower, bioenergy, or natural gas.
#### Energy storage
Energy storage helps overcome barriers to intermittent renewable energy and is an important aspect of a sustainable energy system. The most commonly used and available storage method is pumped-storage hydroelectricity, which requires locations with large differences in height and access to water. Batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries, are also deployed widely. Batteries typically store electricity for short periods; research is ongoing into technology with sufficient capacity to last through seasons. Costs of utility-scale batteries in the US have fallen by around 70% since 2015, however the cost and low energy density of batteries makes them impractical for the very large energy storage needed to balance inter-seasonal variations in energy production. Pumped hydro storage and power-to-gas (converting electricity to gas and back) with capacity for multi-month usage has been implemented in some locations.
### Electrification
Compared to the rest of the energy system, emissions can be reduced much faster in the electricity sector. As of 2019, 37% of global electricity is produced from low-carbon sources (renewables and nuclear energy). Fossil fuels, primarily coal, produce the rest of the electricity supply. One of the easiest and fastest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to phase out coal-fired power plants and increase renewable electricity generation.
Climate change mitigation pathways envision extensive electrification—the use of electricity as a substitute for the direct burning of fossil fuels for heating buildings and for transport. Ambitious climate policy would see a doubling of energy share consumed as electricity by 2050, from 20% in 2020.
One of the challenges in providing universal access to electricity is distributing power to rural areas. Off-grid and mini-grid systems based on renewable energy, such as small solar PV installations that generate and store enough electricity for a village, are important solutions. Wider access to reliable electricity would lead to less use of kerosene lighting and diesel generators, which are currently common in the developing world.
Infrastructure for generating and storing renewable electricity requires minerals and metals, such as cobalt and lithium for batteries and copper for solar panels. Recycling can meet some of this demand if product lifecycles are well-designed, however achieving net zero emissions would still require major increases in mining for 17 types of metals and minerals. A small group of countries or companies sometimes dominate the markets for these commodities, raising geopolitical concerns. Most of the world's cobalt, for instance, is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a politically unstable region where mining is often associated with human rights risks. More diverse geographical sourcing may ensure a more flexible and less brittle supply chain.
### Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a gas that can be burned to produce heat or combined with oxygen in fuel cells to generate electricity directly, with water being the only emissions at the point of usage. The overall lifecycle emissions of hydrogen depend on how it is produced. Nearly all of the world's current supply of hydrogen is created from fossil fuels. The main method is steam methane reforming, in which hydrogen is produced from a chemical reaction between steam and methane, the main component of natural gas. Producing one tonne of hydrogen through this process emits 6.6–9.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide. While carbon capture can remove a large fraction of these emissions, the overall carbon footprint of hydrogen from natural gas is difficult to assess as of 2021, in part because of emissions created in the production of the natural gas itself.
Electricity can be used to split water molecules, producing sustainable hydrogen provided the electricity was generated sustainably. However, this electrolysis process is currently financially more expensive than creating hydrogen from methane and the efficiency of energy conversion is inherently low. Hydrogen can be produced when there is a surplus of variable renewable electricity, then stored and used to generate heat or to re-generate electricity. It can be further transformed into synthetic fuels such as ammonia and methanol.
Innovation in hydrogen electrolysers could make large-scale production of hydrogen from electricity more cost-competitive. There is potential for hydrogen to play a significant role in decarbonising energy systems because in certain sectors, replacing fossil fuels with direct use of electricity would be very difficult. Hydrogen fuel can produce the intense heat required for industrial production of steel, cement, glass, and chemicals. For steelmaking, hydrogen can function as a clean energy carrier and simultaneously as a low-carbon catalyst replacing coal-derived coke. Disadvantages of hydrogen as an energy carrier include high costs of storage and distribution due to hydrogen's explosivity, its large volume compared to other fuels, and its tendency to make pipes brittle.
### Energy usage technologies
#### Transport
Transport accounts for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but there are multiple ways to make transport more sustainable. Public transport typically emits fewer greenhouse gases per passenger than personal vehicles, since trains and buses can carry many more passengers at once. Short-distance flights can be replaced by high-speed rail, which is more efficient, especially when electrified. Promoting non-motorised transport such as walking and cycling, particularly in cities, can make transport cleaner and healthier.
The energy efficiency of cars has increased over time, but shifting to electric vehicles is an important further step towards decarbonising transport and reducing air pollution. A large proportion of traffic-related air pollution consists of particulate matter from road dust and the wearing-down of tyres and brake pads. Substantially reducing pollution from these non-tailpipe sources cannot be achieved by electrification; it requires measures such as making vehicles lighter and driving them less. Light-duty cars in particular are a prime candidate for decarbonization using battery technology. 25% of the world's emissions still originate from the transportation sector.
Long-distance freight transport and aviation are difficult sectors to electrify with current technologies, mostly because of the weight of batteries needed for long-distance travel, battery recharging times, and limited battery lifespans. Where available, freight transport by ship and rail is generally more sustainable than by air and by road. Hydrogen vehicles may be an option for larger vehicles such as lorries. Many of the techniques needed to lower emissions from shipping and aviation are still early in their development, with ammonia (produced from hydrogen) a promising candidate for shipping fuel. Aviation biofuel may be one of the better uses of bioenergy if emissions are captured and stored during manufacture of the fuel.
#### Buildings and cooking
Over one-third of energy use is in buildings and their construction. To heat buildings, alternatives to burning fossil fuels and biomass include electrification through heat pumps or electric heaters, geothermal energy, central solar heating, reuse of waste heat, and seasonal thermal energy storage. Heat pumps provide both heat and air conditioning through a single appliance. The IEA estimates heat pumps could provide over 90% of space and water heating requirements globally.
A highly efficient way to heat buildings is through district heating, in which heat is generated in a centralised location and then distributed to multiple buildings through insulated pipes. Traditionally, most district heating systems have used fossil fuels, but modern and cold district heating systems are designed to use high shares of renewable energy.
Cooling of buildings can be made more efficient through passive building design, planning that minimises the urban heat island effect, and district cooling systems that cool multiple buildings with piped cold water. Air conditioning requires large amounts of electricity and is not always affordable for poorer households. Some air conditioning units still use refrigerants that are greenhouse gases, as some countries have not ratified the Kigali Amendment to only use climate-friendly refrigerants.
In developing countries where populations suffer from energy poverty, polluting fuels such as wood or animal dung are often used for cooking. Cooking with these fuels is generally unsustainable, because they release harmful smoke and because harvesting wood can lead to forest degradation. The universal adoption of clean cooking facilities, which are already ubiquitous in rich countries, would dramatically improve health and have minimal negative effects on climate. Clean cooking facilities, e.g. cooking facilities that produce less indoor soot, typically use natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (both of which consume oxygen and produce carbon-dioxide) or electricity as the energy source; biogas systems are a promising alternative in some contexts. Improved cookstoves that burn biomass more efficiently than traditional stoves are an interim solution where transitioning to clean cooking systems is difficult.
#### Industry
Over one-third of energy use is by industry. Most of that energy is deployed in thermal processes: generating heat, drying, and refrigeration. The share of renewable energy in industry was 14.5% in 2017—mostly low-temperature heat supplied by bioenergy and electricity. The most energy-intensive activities in industry have the lowest shares of renewable energy, as they face limitations in generating heat at temperatures over 200 °C (390 °F).
For some industrial processes, commercialisation of technologies that have not yet been built or operated at full scale will be needed to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Steelmaking, for instance, is difficult to electrify because it traditionally uses coke, which is derived from coal, both to create very high-temperature heat and as an ingredient in the steel itself. The production of plastic, cement, and fertilisers also requires significant amounts of energy, with limited possibilities available to decarbonise. A switch to a circular economy would make industry more sustainable as it involves recycling more and thereby using less energy compared to investing energy to mine and refine new raw materials.
## Government policies
Well-designed government policies that promote energy system transformation can lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality simultaneously, and in many cases can also increase energy security and lessen the financial burden of using energy.
Environmental regulations have been used since the 1970s to promote more sustainable use of energy. Some governments have committed to dates for phasing out coal-fired power plants and ending new fossil fuel exploration. Governments can require that new cars produce zero emissions, or new buildings are heated by electricity instead of gas. Renewable portfolio standards in several countries require utilities to increase the percentage of electricity they generate from renewable sources.
Governments can accelerate energy system transformation by leading the development of infrastructure such as long-distance electrical transmission lines, smart grids, and hydrogen pipelines. In transport, appropriate infrastructure and incentives can make travel more efficient and less car-dependent. Urban planning that discourages sprawl can reduce energy use in local transport and buildings while enhancing quality of life. Government-funded research, procurement, and incentive policies have historically been critical to the development and maturation of clean energy technologies, such as solar and lithium batteries. In the IEA's scenario for a net zero-emission energy system by 2050, public funding is rapidly mobilised to bring a range of newer technologies to the demonstration phase and to encourage deployment.
Carbon pricing (such as a tax on emissions) gives industries and consumers an incentive to reduce emissions while letting them choose how to do so. For example, they can shift to low-emission energy sources, improve energy efficiency, or reduce their use of energy-intensive products and services. Carbon pricing has encountered strong political pushback in some jurisdictions, whereas energy-specific policies tend to be politically safer. Most studies indicate that to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, carbon pricing would need to be complemented by stringent energy-specific policies. As of 2019, the price of carbon in most regions is too low to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Carbon taxes provide a source of revenue that can be used to lower other taxes or help lower-income households afford higher energy costs. Some governments, such as the EU and the UK, are exploring the use of carbon border adjustments. These place tariffs on imports from countries with less stringent climate policies, to ensure that industries subject to internal carbon prices remain competitive.
The scale and pace of policy reforms that have been initiated as of 2020 are far less than needed to fulfil the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. In addition to domestic policies, greater international cooperation will be required to accelerate innovation and to assist poorer countries in establishing a sustainable path to full energy access.
Countries may support renewables to create jobs. The International Labour Organization estimates that efforts to limit global warming to 2 °C would result in net job creation in most sectors of the economy. It predicts that 24 million new jobs would be created by 2030 in areas such as renewable electricity generation, improving energy-efficiency in buildings, and the transition to electric vehicles. Six million jobs would be lost, in sectors such as mining and fossil fuels. Governments can make the transition to sustainable energy more politically and socially feasible by ensuring a just transition for workers and regions that depend on the fossil fuel industry, to ensure they have alternative economic opportunities.
## Finance
Raising enough money for innovation and investment is a prerequisite for the energy transition. The IPCC estimates that to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, US\$2.4 trillion would need to be invested in the energy system each year between 2016 and 2035. Most studies project that these costs, equivalent to 2.5% of world GDP, would be small compared to the economic and health benefits. Average annual investment in low-carbon energy technologies and energy efficiency would need to be six times more by 2050 compared to 2015. Underfunding is particularly acute in the least developed countries, which are not attractive to the private sector.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that climate financing totalled \$681 billion in 2016. Most of this is private-sector investment in renewable energy deployment, public-sector investment in sustainable transport, and private-sector investment in energy efficiency. The Paris Agreement includes a pledge of an extra \$100 billion per year from developed countries to poor countries, to do climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, this goal has not been met and measurement of progress has been hampered by unclear accounting rules. If energy-intensive businesses like chemicals, fertilizers, ceramics, steel, and non-ferrous metals invest significantly in R&D, its usage in industry might amount to between 5% and 20% of all energy used.
Fossil fuel funding and subsidies are a significant barrier to the energy transition. Direct global fossil fuel subsidies were \$319 billion in 2017. This rises to \$5.2 trillion when indirect costs are priced in, like the effects of air pollution. Ending these could lead to a 28% reduction in global carbon emissions and a 46% reduction in air pollution deaths. Funding for clean energy has been largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and pandemic-related economic stimulus packages offer possibilities for a green recovery. |
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| James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, letters, and occasional journalism.
Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class family. He attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's unpredictable finances, he excelled at the Jesuit Belvedere College and graduated from University College Dublin in 1902. In 1904, he met his future wife, Nora Barnacle, and they moved to mainland Europe. He briefly worked in Pula and then moved to Trieste in Austria-Hungary, working as an English instructor. Except for an eight-month stay in Rome working as a correspondence clerk and three visits to Dublin, Joyce resided there until 1915. In Trieste, he published his book of poems Chamber Music and his short story collection Dubliners, and he began serially publishing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the English magazine The Egoist. During most of World War I, Joyce lived in Zürich, Switzerland, and worked on Ulysses. After the war, he briefly returned to Trieste and then moved to Paris in 1920, which became his primary residence until 1940.
Ulysses was first published in Paris in 1922, but its publication in the United Kingdom and the United States was prohibited because of its perceived obscenity. Copies were smuggled into both countries and pirated versions were printed until the mid-1930s, when publication finally became legal. Joyce started his next major work, Finnegans Wake, in 1923, publishing it sixteen years later in 1939. Between these years, Joyce travelled widely. He and Nora were married in a civil ceremony in London in 1930. He made a number of trips to Switzerland, frequently seeking treatment for his increasingly severe eye problems and psychological help for his daughter, Lucia. When France was occupied by Germany during World War II, Joyce moved back to Zürich in 1940. He died there in 1941 after surgery for a perforated ulcer, less than one month before his 59th birthday.
Ulysses frequently ranks high in lists of great books of literature, and the academic literature analysing his work is extensive and ongoing. Many writers, film-makers, and other artists have been influenced by his stylistic innovations, such as his meticulous attention to detail, use of interior monologue, wordplay, and the radical transformation of traditional plot and character development. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, his fictional universe centres on Dublin and is largely populated by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there. Ulysses in particular is set in the streets and alleyways of the city. Joyce is quoted as saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."
## Early life
Joyce was born on 2 February 1882 at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland, to John Stanislaus Joyce and Mary Jane "May" (née Murray). He was the eldest of ten surviving siblings. He was baptised with the name James Augustine Joyce according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church in the nearby St Joseph's Church in Terenure on 5 February 1882 by Rev. John O'Mulloy. His godparents were Philip and Ellen McCann. John Stanislaus Joyce's family came from Fermoy in County Cork, where they owned a small salt and lime works. Joyce's paternal grandfather, James Augustine, married Ellen O'Connell, daughter of John O'Connell, a Cork alderman who owned a drapery business and other properties in Cork City. Ellen's family claimed kinship with the political leader Daniel O'Connell, who had helped secure Catholic emancipation for the Irish in 1829.
Joyce's father was appointed rate collector by Dublin Corporation in 1887. The family moved to the fashionable small town of Bray, 12 miles (19 km) from Dublin. Joyce was attacked by a dog around this time, leading to his lifelong fear of dogs. He later developed a fear of thunderstorms, which he acquired through a superstitious aunt who had described them as a sign of God's wrath.
In 1891, nine-year-old Joyce wrote the poem "Et Tu, Healy" on the death of Charles Stewart Parnell that his father printed and distributed to friends. The poem expressed the sentiments of the elder Joyce, who was angry at Parnell's apparent betrayal by the Irish Catholic Church, the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the British Liberal Party that resulted in a collaborative failure to secure Irish Home Rule in the British Parliament. This sense of betrayal, particularly by the church, left a lasting impression that Joyce expressed in his life and art.
That year, his family began to slide into poverty, worsened by his father's drinking and financial mismanagement. John Joyce's name was published in Stubbs' Gazette, a blacklist of debtors and bankrupts, in November 1891, and he was temporarily suspended from work. In January 1893, he was dismissed with a reduced pension.
Joyce began his education in 1888 at Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare, but had to leave in 1891 when his father could no longer pay the fees. He studied at home and briefly attended the Christian Brothers O'Connell School on North Richmond Street, Dublin. Joyce's father then had a chance meeting with the Jesuit priest John Conmee, who knew the family. Conmee arranged for Joyce and his brother Stanislaus to attend the Jesuits' Dublin school, Belvedere College, without fees starting in 1893. In 1895, Joyce, now aged 13, was elected by his peers to join the Sodality of Our Lady. Joyce spent five years at Belvedere, his intellectual formation guided by the principles of Jesuit education laid down in the Ratio Studiorum (Plan of Studies). He displayed his writing talent by winning first place for English composition in his final two years before graduating in 1898.
## University years
Joyce enrolled at University College in 1898 to study English, French and Italian. While there, he was exposed to the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas, which had a strong influence on his thought for the rest of his life. He participated in many of Dublin's theatrical and literary circles. His closest colleagues included leading Irish figures of his generation, most notably, George Clancy, Tom Kettle and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. Many of the acquaintances he made at this time appeared in his work. His first publication— a laudatory review of Henrik Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken—was printed in The Fortnightly Review in 1900. Inspired by Ibsen's works, Joyce sent him a fan letter in Norwegian and wrote a play, A Brilliant Career, which he later destroyed.
In 1901 the National Census of Ireland listed Joyce as a 19-year-old Irish- and English-speaking unmarried student living with his parents, six sisters and three brothers at Royal Terrace (now Inverness Road) in Clontarf, Dublin. During this year he became friends with Oliver St. John Gogarty, the model for Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. In November, Joyce wrote an article, The Day of the Rabblement, criticising the Irish Literary Theatre for its unwillingness to produce the works of playwrights like Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, and Gerhart Hauptmann. He protested against nostalgic Irish populism and argued for an outward-looking, cosmopolitan literature. Because he mentioned Gabriele D'Annunzio's novel, Il fuoco (The Flame), which was on the Roman Catholic list of prohibited books, his college magazine refused to print it. Joyce and Sheehy-Skeffington—who had also had an article rejected—had their essays jointly printed and distributed. Arthur Griffith decried the censorship of Joyce's work in his newspaper United Irishman.
Joyce graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in October 1902. He considered studying medicine and began attending lectures at the Catholic University Medical School in Dublin. When the medical school refused to provide a tutoring position to help finance his education, he left Dublin to study medicine in Paris, where he received permission to attend the course for a certificate in physics, chemistry, and biology at the École de Médecine. By the end of January 1903, he had given up plans to study medicine but he stayed in Paris, often reading late in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. He frequently wrote home claiming ill health due to the water, the cold weather, and his change of diet, appealing for money his family could ill-afford.
## Post-university years in Dublin
In April 1903, Joyce learned his mother was dying and immediately returned to Ireland. He would tend to her, reading aloud from drafts that would eventually be worked into his unfinished novel Stephen Hero. During her final days, she unsuccessfully tried to get him to make his confession and to take communion. She died on 13 August. Afterwards, Joyce and Stanislaus refused to kneel with other members of the family praying at her bedside. John Joyce's drinking and abusiveness increased in the months following her death, and the family began to fall apart. Joyce spent much of his time carousing with Gogarty and his medical school colleagues, and tried to scrape together a living by reviewing books.
Joyce's life began to change when he met Nora Barnacle on 10 June 1904. She was a twenty-year-old woman from Galway city, who was working in Dublin as a chambermaid. They had their first outing together on 16 June 1904, walking through the Dublin suburb of Ringsend, where Nora masturbated him. This event was commemorated as the date for the action of Ulysses, known in popular culture as "Bloomsday" in honour of the novel's main character Leopold Bloom. This began a relationship that continued for thirty-seven years until Joyce died. Soon after this outing, Joyce, who had been carousing with his colleagues, approached a young woman in St Stephen's Green and was beaten up by her companion. He was picked up and dusted off by an acquaintance of his father's, Alfred H. Hunter, who took him into his home to tend to his injuries. Hunter, who was rumoured to be a Jew and to have an unfaithful wife, became one of the models for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses.
Joyce was a talented tenor and explored becoming a musical performer. On 8 May 1904, he was a contestant in the Feis Ceoil, an Irish music competition for promising composers, instrumentalists and singers. In the months before the contest, Joyce took singing lessons with two voice instructors, Benedetto Palmieri and Vincent O'Brien. He paid the entry fee by pawning some of his books. For the contest, Joyce had to sing three songs. He did well with the first two, but when he was told he had to sight read the third, he refused. Joyce won the third-place medal anyway. After the contest, Palmieri wrote Joyce that Luigi Denza, the composer of the popular song Funiculì, Funiculà who was the judge for the contest, spoke highly of his voice and would have given him first place but for the sight-reading and lack of sufficient training. Palmieri even offered to give Joyce free singing lessons afterwards. Joyce refused the lessons, but kept singing in Dublin concerts that year. His performance at a concert given on 27 August may have solidified Nora's devotion to him.
Throughout 1904, Joyce sought to develop his literary reputation. On 7 January he attempted to publish a prose work examining aesthetics called A Portrait of the Artist, but it was rejected by the intellectual journal Dana. He then reworked it into a fictional novel of his youth that he called Stephen Hero that he labored over for years but eventually abandoned. He wrote a satirical poem called "The Holy Office", which parodied William Butler Yeats's poem "To Ireland in the Coming Times" and once more mocked the Irish Literary Revival. It too was rejected for publication; this time for being "unholy". He wrote the collection of poems Chamber Music at this time; which was also rejected. He did publish three poems, one in Dana and two in The Speaker, and George William Russell published three of Joyce's short stories in the Irish Homestead. These stories—"The Sisters", "Eveline", and "After the Race"—were the beginnings of Dubliners.
In September 1904, Joyce was having difficulties finding a place to live and moved into a Martello tower near Dublin, which Gogarty was renting. Within a week, Joyce left when Gogarty and another roommate, Dermot Chenevix Trench, fired a pistol in the middle of the night at some pans hanging directly over Joyce's bed. With the help of funds from Lady Gregory and a few other acquaintances, Joyce and Nora left Ireland less than a month later.
## 1904–1906: Zürich, Pula and Trieste
### Zürich and Pula
In October 1904, Joyce and Nora went into self-imposed exile. They briefly stopped in London and Paris to secure funds before heading on to Zürich. Joyce had been informed through an agent in England that there was a vacancy at the Berlitz Language School, but when he arrived there was no position. The couple stayed in Zürich for a little over a week. The director of the school sent Joyce on to Trieste, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the First World War. There was no vacancy either. The director of the school in Trieste, Almidano Artifoni, secured a position for him in Pola, then Austria-Hungary's major naval base, where he mainly taught English to naval officers. Less than one month after the couple had left Ireland, Nora had already become pregnant. Joyce soon became close friends with Alessandro Francini Bruni, the director of the school at Pola, and his wife Clothilde. By the beginning of 1905, both families were living together. Joyce kept writing when he could. He completed a short story for Dubliners, "Clay", and worked on his novel Stephen Hero. He disliked Pola, calling it a "back-of-God-speed place—a naval Siberia", and soon as a job became available, he went to Trieste.
### First stay in Trieste
When 23 year-old Joyce first moved to Trieste in March 1905, he immediately started teaching English at the Berlitz school. By June, Joyce felt financially secure enough to have his satirical poem "Holy Office" printed and asked Stanislaus to distribute copies to his former associates in Dublin. After Nora gave birth to their first child, Giorgio, on 27 July 1905, Joyce convinced Stanislaus to move to Trieste and got a position for him at the Berlitz school. Stanislaus moved in with Joyce as soon as he arrived in October, and most of his salary went directly to supporting Joyce's family. In February 1906, the Joyce household once more shared an apartment with the Francini Brunis.
Joyce kept writing despite all these changes. He completed 24 chapters of Stephen Hero and all but the final story of Dubliners. But he was unable to get Dubliners in press. Though the London publisher Grant Richards had contracted with Joyce to publish it, the printers were unwilling to print passages they found controversial because English law could hold them liable if they were brought to court for indecent language. Richards and Joyce went back and forth trying to find a solution where the book could avoid legal liability while preserving Joyce's sense of artistic integrity. As they continued to negotiate, Richards began to scrutinise the stories more carefully. He became concerned that the book might damage his publishing house's reputation and eventually backed down from his agreement.
Trieste was Joyce's main residence until 1920. Although he would temporarily leave the city—briefly staying in Rome, travelling to Dublin, and emigrating to Zürich during World War I— it became a second Dublin for him and played an important role in his development as a writer. He completed Dubliners, reworked Stephen Hero into A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, wrote his only published play Exiles, and decided to make Ulysses a full-length novel as he created his notes and jottings for the work. He worked out the characters of Leopold and Molly Bloom in Trieste. Many of the novel's details were taken from Joyce's observation of the city and its people, and some of its stylistic innovations appear to have been influenced by Futurism. There are even words of the Triestine dialect in Finnegans Wake.
## 1906–1915: Rome, Trieste, and sojourns to Dublin
### Rome
In late May 1906, the head of the Berlitz school ran away after embezzling its funds. Artifoni took over the school but let Joyce know that he could only afford to keep one brother on. Tired of Trieste and discouraged that he could not get a publisher for Dubliners, Joyce found an advertisement for a correspondence clerk in a Roman bank that paid twice his current salary. He was hired for the position, and went to Rome at the end of July.
Joyce felt he accomplished very little during his brief stay in Rome, but it had a large impact on his writing. Though his new job took up most of his time, he revised the Dubliners and worked on Stephen Hero. Rome was the birthplace of the idea for "The Dead", which would become the final story of Dubliners, and for Ulysses, which was originally conceived as a short story. His stay in the city was one of his inspirations for Exiles. While there, he read the socialist historian Guglielmo Ferrero in depth. Ferrero's anti-heroic interpretations of history, arguments against militarism, and conflicted attitudes toward Jews would find their way into Ulysses, particularly in the character of Leopold Bloom. In London, Elkin Mathews published Chamber Music on the recommendation of the British poet Arthur Symons. Nonetheless, Joyce was dissatisfied with his job, had exhausted his finances, and realised he would need additional support when he learned Nora was pregnant again. He left Rome after only seven months.
### Second stay in Trieste
Joyce returned to Trieste in March 1907, but was unable to find full-time work. He went back to being an English instructor, working part time for Berlitz and giving private lessons. The author Ettore Schmitz, better known by pen name Italo Svevo, was one of his students. Svevo was a Catholic of Jewish origin who became one of the models for Leopold Bloom. Joyce learned much of what he knew about Judaism from him. The two became lasting friends and mutual critics. Svevo supported Joyce's identity as an author, helping him work through his writer's block with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Roberto Prezioso, editor of the Italian newspaper Piccolo della Sera, was another of Joyce's students. He helped Joyce financially by commissioning him to write for the newspaper. Joyce quickly produced three articles aimed toward the Italian irredentists in Trieste. He indirectly paralleled their desire for independence from Austria-Hungary with the struggle of the Irish from British rule. Joyce earned additional money by giving a series of lectures on Ireland and the arts at Trieste's Università Popolare. In May, Joyce was struck by an attack of rheumatic fever, which left him incapacitated for weeks. The illness exacerbated eye problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. While Joyce was still recovering from the attack, Lucia was born on 26 July 1907. During his convalescence, he was able to finish "The Dead", the last story of Dubliners.
Although a heavy drinker, Joyce gave up alcohol for a period in 1908. He reworked Stephen Hero as the more concise and interior A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He completed the third chapter by April and translated John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea into Italian with the help of Nicolò Vidacovich. He even took singing lessons again. Joyce had been looking for an English publisher for Dubliners but was unable to find one, so he submitted it to a Dublin publisher, Maunsel and Company, owned by George Roberts.
#### Visits to Dublin
In July 1909, Joyce received a year's advance payment from one of his students and returned to Ireland to introduce Giorgio to both sides of the family (his own in Dublin and Nora's in Galway). He unsuccessfully applied for the position of Chair of Italian at his alma mater, which had become University College Dublin. He met with Roberts, who seemed positive about publishing the Dubliners. He returned to Trieste in September with his sister Eva, who helped Nora run the home. Joyce only stayed in Trieste for a month, as he almost immediately came upon the idea of starting a cinema in Dublin, which unlike Trieste had none. He quickly got the backing of some Triestine business men and returned to Dublin in October, launching Ireland's first cinema, the Volta Cinematograph. It was initially well-received, but fell apart after Joyce left. He returned to Trieste in January 1910 with another sister, Eileen.
From 1910 to 1912, Joyce still lacked a reliable income. This brought his conflicts with Stanislaus, who was frustrated with lending him money, to their peak. In 1912, Joyce once more lectured at the Università Popolare on various topics in English literature and applied for a teaching diploma in English at the University of Padua. He performed very well on the qualification tests, but was denied because Italy did not recognise his degree from an Irish university. In 1912, Joyce and his family returned to Dublin briefly in the summer. While there, his three-year-long struggle with Roberts over the publication of Dubliners came to an end as Roberts refused to publish the book due to concerns of libel. Roberts had the printed sheets destroyed, though Joyce was able to obtain a copy of the proof sheets. When Joyce returned to Trieste, he wrote an invective against Roberts, "Gas from a Burner". He never went to Dublin again.
#### Publication of Dubliners and A Portrait
Joyce's fortunes changed for the better in 1913 when Richards agreed to publish Dubliners. It was issued on 15 June 1914, eight and a half years since Joyce had first submitted it to him. Around the same time, he found an unexpected advocate in Ezra Pound, who was living in London. On the advice of Yeats, Pound wrote to Joyce asking if he could include a poem from Chamber Music, "I Hear an Army Charging upon the Land" in the journal Des Imagistes. They struck up a correspondence that lasted until the late 1930s. Pound became Joyce's promoter, helping ensure that Joyce's works were both published and publicized.
After Pound persuaded Dora Marsden to serially publish A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the London literary magazine The Egoist, Joyce's pace of writing increased. He completed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by 1914; resumed Exiles, completing it in 1915; started the novelette Giacomo Joyce, which he eventually abandoned; and began drafting Ulysses.
In August 1914, World War I broke out. Although Joyce and Stanislaus were subjects of the United Kingdom, which was now at war with Austria-Hungary, they remained in Trieste. Even when Stanislaus, who had publicly expressed his sympathy for the Triestine irredentists, was interned at the beginning of January 1915, Joyce chose to stay. In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and less than a month later Joyce took his family to Zürich in neutral Switzerland.
## 1915–1920: Zürich and Trieste
### Zürich
Joyce arrived in Zürich as a double exile: he was an Irishman with a British passport and a Triestine on parole from Austria-Hungary. To get to Switzerland, he had to promise the Austro-Hungarian officials that he would not help the Allies during the war, and he and his family had to leave almost all of their possessions in Trieste. During the war, he was kept under surveillance by both the British and Austro-Hungarian secret services.
Joyce's first concern was earning a living. One of Nora's relatives sent them a small sum to cover the first few months. Pound and Yeats worked with the British government to provide a stipend from the Royal Literary Fund in 1915 and a grant from the British civil list the following year. Eventually, Joyce received large regular sums from the editor Harriet Shaw Weaver, who operated The Egoist, and the psychotherapist Edith Rockefeller McCormick, who lived in Zürich studying under Carl Jung. Weaver financially supported Joyce throughout the entirety of his life and even paid for his funeral. Between 1917 and the beginning of 1919, Joyce was financially secure and lived quite well; the family sometimes stayed in Locarno in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. However, health problems remained a constant issue. During their time in Zürich, both Joyce and Nora suffered illnesses that were diagnosed as "nervous breakdowns" and he had to undergo many eye surgeries.
#### Ulysses
During the war, Zürich was the centre of a vibrant expatriate community. Joyce's regular evening hangout was the Cafe Pfauen, where he got to know a number of the artists living in the city at the time, including the sculptor August Suter and the painter Frank Budgen. He often used the time spent with them as material for Ulysses. He made the acquaintance of the writer Stefan Zweig, who organised the premiere of Exiles in Munich in August 1919. He became aware of Dada, which was coming into its own at the Cabaret Voltaire. He may have even met the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin at the Cafe Odeon, a place they both frequented.
Joyce kept up his interest in music. He met Ferruccio Busoni, staged music with Otto Luening, and learned music theory from Philipp Jarnach. Much of what Joyce learned about musical notation and counterpoint found its way into Ulysses, particularly the "Sirens" section.
Joyce avoided public discussion of the war's politics and maintained a strict neutrality. He made few comments about the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland; although he was sympathetic to the Irish independence movement, he disagreed with its violence. He stayed intently focused on Ulysses and the ongoing struggle to get his work published. Some of the serial instalments of "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" in The Egoist had been censored by the printers, but the entire novel was published by B. W. Huebsch in 1916. In 1918, Pound got a commitment from Margaret Caroline Anderson, the owner and editor of the New York-based literary magazine The Little Review, to publish Ulysses serially.
#### The English Players
Joyce co-founded an acting company, the English Players, and became its business manager. The company was pitched to the British government as a contribution to the war effort, and mainly staged works by Irish playwrights, such as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and John Millington Synge. For Synge's Riders to the Sea, Nora played a principal role and Joyce sang offstage, which he did again when Robert Browning's In a Balcony was staged. He hoped the company would eventually stage his play, Exiles, but his participation in the English Players declined in the wake of the Great Influenza epidemic of 1918, though the company continued until 1920.
Joyce's work with the English Players involved him in a lawsuit. Henry Wilfred Carr, a wounded war veteran and British consul, accused Joyce of underpaying him for his role in The Importance of Being Earnest. Carr sued for compensation; Joyce countersued for libel. The cases were resolved in 1919, with Joyce winning the compensation case but losing the one for libel. The incident ended up creating acrimony between the British consulate and Joyce for the rest of his time in Zürich.
### Third stay in Trieste
By 1919, Joyce was in financial straits again. McCormick stopped paying her stipend, partly because he refused to submit to psychoanalysis from Jung, and Zürich had become expensive to live in after the war. Furthermore, he was becoming isolated as the city's emigres returned home. In October 1919, Joyce's family moved back to Trieste, but it had changed. The Austro-Hungarian empire had ceased to exist, and Trieste was now an Italian city in post-war recovery. Eight months after his return, Joyce went to Sirmione, Italy, to meet Pound, who made arrangements for him to move to Paris. Joyce and his family packed their belongings and headed for Paris in June 1920.
## 1920–1941: Paris and Zürich
### Paris
When Joyce and his family arrived in Paris in July 1920, their visit was intended to be a layover on their way to London. For the first four months, he stayed with Ludmila Savitzky [fr] and met Sylvia Beach, who ran the Rive Gauche bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. Beach quickly became an important person in Joyce's life, providing financial support, and becoming one of Joyce's publishers. Through Beach and Pound, Joyce quickly joined the intellectual circle of Paris and was integrated into the international modernist artist community. Joyce met Valery Larbaud, who championed Joyce's works to the French and supervised the French translation of Ulysses. Paris became the Joyces' regular residence for twenty years, though they never settled into a single location for long.
#### Publication of Ulysses
Joyce finished writing Ulysses near the end of 1921, but had difficulties getting it published. With financial backing from the lawyer John Quinn, Margaret Anderson and her co-editor Jane Heap had begun serially publishing it in The Little Review in March 1918 but in January and May 1919, two instalments were suppressed as obscene and potentially subversive. In September 1920, an unsolicited instalment of the "Nausicaa" episode was sent to the daughter of a New York attorney associated with the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, leading to an official complaint. The trial proceedings continued until February 1921, when both Anderson and Healy, defended by Quinn, were fined \$50 each for publishing obscenity and ordered to cease publishing Ulysses. Huebsch, who had expressed interest in publishing the novel in the United States, decided against it after the trial. Weaver was unable to find an English printer, and the novel was banned for obscenity in the United Kingdom in 1922, where it was blacklisted until 1936.
Almost immediately after Anderson and Healy were ordered to stop printing Ulysses, Beach agreed to publish it through her bookshop. She had books mailed to people in Paris and the United States who had subscribed to get a copy; Weaver mailed books from Beach's plates to subscribers in England. Soon, the postal officials of both countries began confiscating the books. They were then smuggled into both countries. Because the work had no copyright in the United States at this time, "bootleg" versions appeared, including pirate versions from publisher Samuel Roth, who only ceased his actions in 1928 when a court enjoined publication. Ulysses was not legally published in the United States until 1934 after Judge John M. Woolsey ruled in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses that the book was not obscene.
#### Finnegans Wake
In 1923, Joyce began his next work, an experimental novel that eventually became Finnegans Wake. It would take sixteen years to complete. At first, Joyce called it Work in Progress, which was the name Ford Madox Ford used in April 1924 when he published its "Mamalujo" episode in his magazine, The Transatlantic Review. In 1926, Eugene and Maria Jolas serialised the novel in their magazine, transition. When parts of the novel first came out, some of Joyce's supporters—like Stanislaus, Pound, and Weaver— wrote negatively about it, and it was criticised by writers like Seán Ó Faoláin, Wyndham Lewis, and Rebecca West. In response, Joyce and the Jolas organised the publication of a collection of positive essays titled Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress, which included writings by Samuel Beckett and William Carlos Williams. An additional purpose of publishing these essays was to market Work in Progress to a larger audience. Joyce publicly revealed the novel's title as Finnegans Wake in 1939, the same year he completed it. It was published in London by Faber and Faber with the assistance of T. S. Eliot.
Joyce's health problems afflicted him throughout his Paris years. He had over a dozen eye operations, but his vision severely declined. By 1930, he was practically blind in the left eye and his right eye functioned poorly. He even had all of his teeth removed because of infection. At one point, Joyce became worried that he could not finish Finnegans Wake, asking the Irish author James Stephens to complete it if something should happen.
His financial problems continued. Although he was now earning a good income from his investments and royalties, his spending habits often left him without available money. Despite these issues, he published Pomes Penyeach in 1927, a collection of thirteen poems he wrote in Trieste, Zürich and Paris.
#### Marriage in London
In 1930, Joyce began thinking of establishing a residence in London once more, primarily to assure that Giorgio, who had just married Helen Fleischmann, would have his inheritance secured under British law. Joyce moved to London, obtained a long-term lease on a flat, registered on the electoral roll, and became liable for jury service. After living together for twenty-seven years, Joyce and Nora got married at the Register Office in Kensington on 4 July 1931. Joyce stayed in London for at least six months to establish his residency, but abandoned his flat and returned to Paris later in the year when Lucia showed signs of mental illness. He planned to return, but never did and later became disaffected with England.
In later years, Joyce lived in Paris but frequently travelled to Switzerland for eye surgery or for treatment for Lucia, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Lucia was analysed by Carl Jung, who had previously written that Ulysses was similar to schizophrenic writing. Jung suggested that she and her father were two people going into a river, except that Joyce was diving and Lucia was falling. In spite of Joyce's attempts to help Lucia, she remained permanently institutionalised after his death.
### Final return to Zürich
In the late 1930s, Joyce became increasingly concerned about the rise of fascism and antisemitism. As early as 1938, Joyce was involved in helping a number of Jews escape Nazi persecution. After the fall of France in 1940, Joyce and his family fled from Nazi occupation, returning to Zürich a final time.
## Death
On 11 January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. He fell into a coma the following day. He awoke at 2 am on 13 January 1941, and asked a nurse to call his wife and son. They were en route when he died 15 minutes later, less than a month before his 59th birthday.
His body was buried in the Fluntern Cemetery in Zürich. Swiss tenor Max Meili sang "Addio terra, addio cielo" from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the burial service. Joyce had been a subject of the United Kingdom all of his life, and only the British consul attended the funeral. Although two senior Irish diplomats were in Switzerland at the time, neither attended Joyce's funeral. When Joseph Walshe, secretary at the Department of External Affairs in Dublin, was informed of Joyce's death by Frank Cremins, chargé d'affaires at Bern, Walshe responded, "Please wire details of Joyce's death. If possible find out did he die a Catholic? Express sympathy with Mrs Joyce and explain inability to attend funeral." Buried originally in an ordinary grave, Joyce was moved in 1966 to a more prominent "honour grave", with a seated portrait statue by American artist Milton Hebald nearby. Nora, whom he had married in 1931, survived him by 10 years. She is buried by his side, as is their son Giorgio, who died in 1976.
After Joyce's death, the Irish government declined Nora's request to permit the repatriation of Joyce's remains, despite being persistently lobbied by the American diplomat John J. Slocum. In October 2019, a motion was put to Dublin City Council to plan and budget for the costs of the exhumations and reburials of Joyce and his family somewhere in Dublin, subject to his family's wishes. The proposal immediately became controversial, with the Irish Times commenting: " ... it is hard not to suspect that there is a calculating, even mercantile, aspect to contemporary Ireland's relationship to its great writers, whom we are often more keen to 'celebrate', and if possible monetise, than read".
## Joyce and politics
Throughout his life, Joyce stayed actively interested in Irish national politics and in its relationship to British colonialism. He studied socialism and anarchism. He attended socialist meetings and expressed an individualist view influenced by Benjamin Tucker's philosophy and Oscar Wilde's essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism". He described his opinions as "those of a socialist artist". Joyce's direct engagement in politics was strongest during his time in Trieste, when he submitted newspaper articles, gave lectures, and wrote letters advocating for Ireland's independence from British rule. After leaving Trieste, Joyce's direct involvement in politics waned, but his later works still reflect his commitment. He remained sympathetic to individualism and critical toward coercive ideologies such as nationalism. His novels address socialist, anarchist and Irish nationalist issues. Ulysses has been read as a novel critiquing the effect of English colonialism on the Irish people. Finnegans Wake has been read as a work that investigates the divisive issues of Irish politics, the interrelationship between colonialism and race, and the coercive oppression of nationalism and fascism.
Joyce's politics is reflected in his attitude toward his British passport. He wrote about the negative effects of English occupation in Ireland and was sympathetic to the attempts of the Irish to free themselves from it. In 1907, he expressed his support for the early Sinn Féin movement before the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, throughout his life, Joyce refused to exchange his British passport for an Irish one. When he had a choice, he opted to renew his British passport in 1935 instead of obtaining one from the Irish Free State, and he chose to keep it in 1940 when accepting an Irish passport could have helped him to more easily leave Vichy France. His refusal to change his passport was partly due to the advantages that a British passport gave him internationally, his being out of sympathy with the violence of Irish politics, and his dismay with the Irish Free State's political relationship with the church.
## Joyce and religion
Joyce had a complex relationship with religion. Early in life, he lapsed from Roman Catholicism. First-hand statements by himself, Stanislaus, and Nora attest that he did not consider himself a Catholic. Nevertheless, his work is deeply influenced by Catholicism. In particular, his intellectual foundations were grounded in his early Jesuitical education. Even after he left Ireland, he sometimes went to church. When living in Trieste, he woke up early to attend Catholic Mass on Holy Thursday and Good Friday or occasionally attended Eastern Orthodox services, stating that he liked the ceremonies better.
A number of Catholic critics suggest that Joyce never fully abandoned his faith, wrestling with it in his writings and becoming increasingly reconciled with it. They argue that Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are expressions of a Catholic sensibility, insisting that the critical views of religion expressed by Stephen, the protagonist of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, do not represent the views of Joyce the author.
Joyce's attitude toward Catholicism has been described as an enigma in which there are two Joyces: a modern one who resisted Catholic tradition and another who maintained his allegiance to it. It has alternatively been described as a dialectic that is both affirming and denying. For example, Stephen Dedalus's statement in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man "non-serviam (I will not serve)" is qualified—"I will not serve that which I no longer believe", and that the non-serviam will always be balanced by Stephen's "I am ... [a] servant too" and the "yes" of Molly Bloom's final soliloquy in Ulysses. Some critics have suggested that Joyce's apparent apostasy was less a denial of faith than a transmutation, a criticism of the Church's adverse impact on spiritual life and personal development. He has been compared to the medieval episcopi vagantes (wandering bishops), who left their discipline but not their cultural heritage of thought.
Joyce's own responses to questions about his faith were often ambiguous. For example, during an interview after the completion of Ulysses, Joyce was asked, "When did you leave the Catholic Church?" He answered, "That's for the Church to say."
## Major works
### Dubliners
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories first published in 1914, that form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle-class life in and around the city in the early 20th century. The tales were written when Irish nationalism and the search for national identity was at its peak. Joyce holds up a mirror to that identity as a first step in the spiritual liberation of Ireland. The stories centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment when a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The initial stories are narrated by child protagonists. Later stories deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This aligns with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence, and maturity.
### A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is a shortened rewrite of the abandoned novel Stephen Hero. It is a Künstlerroman, a kind of coming-of-age novel depicting the childhood and adolescence of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus and his gradual growth into artistic self-consciousness. It functions both as an autobiographical fiction of the author and a biography of the fictional protagonist. Some hints of the techniques Joyce frequently employed in later works, such as stream of consciousness, interior monologue, and references to a character's psychic reality rather than to his external surroundings are evident throughout this novel.
### Exiles and poetry
Despite early interest in the theatre, Joyce published only one play, Exiles, begun shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and published in 1918. A study of a husband-and-wife relationship, the play looks back to "The Dead" (the final story in Dubliners) and forward to Ulysses, which Joyce began around the time of the play's composition.
He published three books of poetry. The first full-length collection was Chamber Music (1907), which consisted of 36 short lyrics. It led to his inclusion in the Imagist Anthology, edited by Ezra Pound, a champion of Joyce's work. Other poetry Joyce published in his lifetime includes "Gas from a Burner" (1912), Pomes Penyeach (1927), and "Ecce Puer" (written in 1932 to mark the birth of his grandson and the recent death of his father). These were published by the Black Sun Press in Collected Poems (1936).
### Ulysses
The action of Ulysses starts on 16 June 1904 at 8 am and ends sometime after 2 am the following morning. Much of it occurs inside the minds of the characters, who are portrayed through techniques such as interior monologue, dialogue, and soliloquy. The novel consists of 18 episodes, each covering roughly one hour of the day using a unique literary style. Joyce structured each chapter to refer to an individual episode in Homer's Odyssey, as well as a specific colour, a particular art or science, and a bodily organ. Ulysses sets the characters and incidents of Homer's Odyssey in 1904 Dublin, representing Odysseus (Ulysses), Penelope, and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus. It uses humor, including parody, satire and comedy, to contrast the novel's characters with their Homeric models. Joyce played down the mythic correspondences by eliminating the chapter titles so the work could be read independently of its Homeric structure.
Ulysses can be read as a study of Dublin in 1904, exploring various aspects of the city's life, dwelling on its squalor and monotony. Joyce claimed that if Dublin were to be destroyed in some catastrophe, it could be rebuilt using his work as a model. To achieve this sense of detail, he relied on his memory, what he heard other people remember, and his readings to create a sense of fastidious detail. Joyce regularly used the 1904 edition of Thom's Directory—a work that listed the owners and tenants of every residential and commercial property in the city—to ensure his descriptions were accurate. This combination of kaleidoscopic writing, reliance on a formal schema to structure the narrative, and an exquisite attention to detail represents one of the book's major contributions to the development of 20th-century modernist literature.
### Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake is an experimental novel that pushes stream of consciousness and literary allusions to their extremes. Although the work can be read from beginning to end, Joyce's writing transforms traditional ideas of plot and character development through his wordplay, allowing the book to be read nonlinearly. Much of the word play stems from the work being written in a peculiar and obscure English, based mainly on complex multilevel puns. This approach is similar to, but far more extensive than, that used by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky and draws on a wide range of languages. The associative nature of its language has led to it being interpreted as the story of a dream.
The metaphysics of Giordano Bruno of Nola, who Joyce had read in his youth, plays an important role in Finnegans Wake, as it provides the framework for how the identities of the characters interplay and are transformed. Giambattista Vico's cyclical view of history (in which civilisation rises from chaos, passes through theocratic, aristocratic, and democratic phases, and then lapses back into chaos) structures the text's narrative, as evidenced by the opening and closing words of the book: Finnegans Wake opens with the words "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs" and ends "A way a lone a last a loved a long the". In other words, the book ends with the beginning of a sentence and begins with the end of the same sentence, turning the narrative into one great cycle.
## Legacy
Joyce's work still has a profound influence on contemporary culture. Ulysses is a model for fiction writers, particularly its explorations in the power of language. Its emphasis on the details of everyday life have opened up new possibilities of expression for authors, painters and film-makers. It retains its prestige among readers, often ranking high on 'Great Book' lists. Joyce's innovations extend beyond English literature: his writing has been an inspiration for Latin American writers, and Finnegans Wake has become one of the key texts for French post-structuralism. It also provided the name for the quark, one of the elementary particles proposed by physicist Murray Gell-Mann.
The open-ended form of Joyce's novels keep them open to constant reinterpretation. They inspire an increasingly global community of literary critics. Joyce studies—based on a relatively small canon of three novels, a small short story collection, one play, and two small books of poems—have generated over 15,000 articles, monographs, theses, translations, and editions.
In popular culture, the work and life of Joyce is celebrated annually on 16 June, known as Bloomsday, in Dublin and in an increasing number of cities worldwide.
### Museums and study centres
The National Library of Ireland holds a large collection of Joycean material including manuscripts and notebooks, much of it available online. A joint venture between the library and University College Dublin, the Museum of Literature Ireland (branded MoLI in homage to Molly Bloom), the majority of whose exhibits are about Joyce and his work, has both a small permanent Joyce-related collection, and borrows from its parent institutions; its displays include "Copy No. 1" of Ulysses. Dedicated centres in Dublin include the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, the James Joyce Tower and Museum in Sandycove (the Martello tower where Joyce once lived, and the setting for the opening scene in Ulysses), and the Dublin Writers Museum. University College London holds the only major research collection of Joyce's work in the United Kingdom, including first editions of all of Joyce’s major works, most other early and later editions (including translations), as well as critical and background literature.
## Further viewing |
5,806,040 | Hrithik Roshan | 1,172,361,307 | Indian actor (born 1974) | [
"1974 births",
"20th-century Indian male actors",
"21st-century Indian male actors",
"Bengali people",
"Dancers from Maharashtra",
"Filmfare Awards winners",
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"Indian male dancers",
"Indian male film actors",
"International Indian Film Academy Awards winners",
"Living people",
"Male actors from Mumbai",
"Male actors in Hindi cinema",
"People with polydactyly",
"Popping dancers",
"Punjabi people",
"Screen Awards winners",
"Zee Cine Awards winners"
]
| Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including six Filmfare Awards, of which four were for Best Actor. Starting from 2012, he has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 several times based on his income and popularity.
Roshan has frequently collaborated with his father, Rakesh Roshan. He made brief appearances as a child actor in several films in the 1980s and later worked as an assistant director on four of his father's films. His first leading role was in the box-office success Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), for which he received several awards. Performances in the 2000 terrorism drama Fiza and the 2001 ensemble family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... consolidated his reputation but were followed by several poorly received films.
The 2003 science fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya, for which Roshan won two Filmfare Awards, was a turning point in his film career; he later starred as the titular superhero in its sequels: Krrish (2006) and Krrish 3 (2013). He earned praise for his portrayal of a thief in Dhoom 2 (2006), Mughal emperor Akbar in Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and a quadriplegic in Guzaarish (2010). He achieved further commercial success by playing the lead in the 2011 drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the 2012 revenge drama Agneepath, the 2014 action thriller Bang Bang!, the 2019 biopic Super 30, and the 2019 action thriller War; the lattermost ranks as his highest-grossing release.
Roshan has also performed on stage and debuted on television with the dance reality show Just Dance (2011). As a judge on the latter, he became the highest-paid film star on Indian television at that time. He is involved with a number of humanitarian causes, endorses several brands and products and has launched his own clothing line. Roshan was married for fourteen years to Sussanne Khan, with whom he has two children.
## Early life and background
Roshan was born on 10 January 1974 in Bombay to a family prominent in Bollywood. He is of Punjabi and Bengali descent on his paternal side. Hrithik's paternal grandmother Ira Roshan was a Bengali. His father, film director Rakesh Roshan, is the son of music director Roshanlal Nagrath; his mother, Pinky, is the daughter of producer and director J. Om Prakash. His uncle, Rajesh, is a music composer. Roshan has an older sister, Sunaina, and was educated at the Bombay Scottish School. Roshan belongs to a Hindu family, though he considers himself more spiritual than religious.
Roshan felt isolated as a child; he was born with an extra thumb fused to the one on his right hand, which led some of his peers to avoid him. He has stammered since the age of six; this caused him problems at school, and he feigned injury and illness to avoid oral tests. He was helped by daily speech therapy.
Roshan's grandfather, Prakash first brought him on-screen at the age of six in the film Aasha (1980); he danced in a song enacted by Jeetendra, for which Prakash paid him ₹100. Roshan made uncredited appearances in various family film projects, including his father's production Aap Ke Deewane (1980). In Prakash's Aas Paas (1981), he appeared in the song "Shehar Main Charcha Hai". The actor's only speaking role during this period came when he was 12; he was seen as Govinda, the title character's adopted son, in Prakash's Bhagwaan Dada (1986). Roshan decided that he wanted to be a full-time actor, but his father insisted that he focus on his studies. In his early 20s, he was diagnosed with scoliosis that would not allow him to dance or perform stunts. Initially devastated, he eventually decided to become an actor anyway. Around a year after the diagnosis, he took a chance by jogging on a beach when he was caught in a downpour. There was no pain, and becoming more confident, he was able to increase his pace with no adverse effects. Roshan sees this day as "the turning point of [his] life."
Roshan attended Sydenham College, where he took part in dance and music festivals while studying, graduating in commerce. Roshan assisted his father on four films—Khudgarz (1987), King Uncle (1993), Karan Arjun (1995) and Koyla (1997)—while also sweeping the floor and making tea for the crew. After pack-up, Roshan would enact Shah Rukh Khan's scenes from Koyla and film himself to make a judgement about his performance as an actor. While he assisted his father, he studied acting under Kishore Namit Kapoor.
## Film career
### 2000–2002: Debut, success and setback
Roshan was originally scheduled to make his screen debut as a lead actor opposite Preity Zinta in the cancelled film Shekhar Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum. Instead, he starred in his father's romantic drama Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) opposite another debutante, Ameesha Patel. Roshan played dual roles: Rohit, an aspiring singer brutally killed after witnessing a murder, and Raj, an NRI who falls in love with Patel's character. To prepare, he trained with the actor Salman Khan to bulk up physically, worked to improve his diction and took lessons in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and riding. With global revenues of ₹800 million (US\$10 million), Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2000. His performance was acclaimed by critics; Suggu Kanchana on Rediff.com wrote, "[Roshan] is good. The ease and style with which he dances, emotes, fights, makes one forget this is his debut film ... He seems to be the most promising among the recent lot of star sons we have been subjected to." For the role, Roshan received Best Male Debut and Best Actor Awards at the annual Filmfare Awards, IIFA Awards, and Zee Cine Awards. He became the first actor to win both Filmfare Best Debut and Best Actor awards the same year. The film established Roshan as a prominent actor in Bollywood. The actor found life hard after his overnight success, particularly the demands on his time.
In his second release, Khalid Mohammed's crime drama Fiza, Roshan played Amaan, an innocent Muslim boy who becomes a terrorist after the 1992–93 Bombay riots. Roshan appeared in the film to expand his horizons as an actor. Co-starring Karisma Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan, Fiza was moderately successful at the box office, and Roshan's performance earned him a second nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised him as the production's prime asset, commending his "body language, his diction, his expressions, [and] his overall persona." Roshan next appeared in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's action drama Mission Kashmir (2000) alongside Sanjay Dutt, Preity Zinta, and Jackie Shroff. Set in the valley of Kashmir during the Indo-Pakistani conflicts, the film addressed the topics of terrorism and crime, and was a financial success. Roshan was drawn to his complex role of a young man traumatised by the discovery that his adoptive father had been responsible for the death of his entire birth family. In Adarsh's opinion, Roshan "brightens up the screen with his magnetic presence. His body language, coupled with his expressions, is sure to win him plaudits."
In 2001, Roshan appeared in two films, the first of which was Subhash Ghai's Yaadein, a romantic drama which paired him with Kareena Kapoor and reunited him with Shroff. Although highly anticipated, Yaadein was reviled by critics; in The Hindu, Ziya Us Salam criticised the director for relying on Roshan's commercial appeal. Roshan next had a supporting role in Karan Johar's ensemble melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. He was cast as Rohan Raichand—the younger son of Bachchan's character who plots to reunite him with his adopted son (played by Khan)—after Johar had watched a rough cut of Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... finished as India's highest-grossing film of the year, and among the most successful Bollywood films in the overseas market, earning ₹1.36 billion (US\$17 million) worldwide. Writing for Rediff.com, Anjum N described Roshan as "the surprise scene-stealer", praising him for holding his own against the established actors. Roshan received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
In 2002 Vikram Bhatt's romance Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage reunited him with Ameesha Patel but failed at the box office, as did Arjun Sablok's romance Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (2002), in which he co-starred with Saif Ali Khan and Esha Deol. The latter film was named after a song of the same name from his debut film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. Roshan's final role that year was in a Yash Raj Films production, the high-profile Mujhse Dosti Karoge! co-starring Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. The romantic comedy was heavily promoted before its release and made money internationally, though not in India. In another commercial failure, Sooraj R. Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, Roshan was cast alongside Kareena Kapoor for the fourth time, and Abhishek Bachchan. The press labelled Roshan a "one-trick pony" and suggested that the failure of these films would end his career.
### 2003–2008: Revival and awards success
Roshan's career began to revive with a starring role in Koi... Mil Gaya (2003). The film, directed and produced by his father, centers on his character Rohit Mehra, a developmentally disabled young man, who comes in contact with an extraterrestrial being—a role that required him to lose nearly 8 kilograms (18 lb). Roshan recalls the experience of starring in the film fondly: "I could live my childhood [again]. I could eat as many chocolates as I wanted. I became a baby and everybody was so caring towards me." In the book Film Sequels, Carolyn Jess-Cooke drew similarities between the character and Forrest Gump, portrayed by Tom Hanks in the titular film, but this idea was dismissed by Roshan. Film critics were polarised on their view of the film—some of them negatively compared its storyline to the 1982 Hollywood release E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial—but were unanimous in their praise for Roshan. In a 2010 retrospective of the Top 80 Iconic Performances of Bollywood, Filmfare noted "how flesh and blood Hrithik's act is. Simply because he believes he is the part. Watch him laugh, cry or bond with his remote controlled alien friend and note his nuanced turn." A Rediff.com critic agreed that Roshan was "the turbojet that propels the film to the realm of the extraordinary." Koi... Mil Gaya was one of the most popular Bollywood films of the year, earning ₹823.3 million (US\$10 million) worldwide and Roshan won both Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Actor (Critics).
The following year, Roshan collaborated with Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta on Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya (2004), a fictionalised coming-of-age story set against events from the 1999 Kargil War. He also featured in the item number "Main Aisa Kyun Hoon" (choreographed by Prabhu Deva) which proved popular with audiences. Roshan found it "one of the most challenging films" of his career at the time and said it made him respect soldiers. Although trade journalists expected the film to do well commercially, it failed to attract a wide audience. Over the years, it has attained a cult status in India. For the film, Roshan earned Best Actor nominations at the Filmfare and Zee Cine ceremony. Manish Gajjar of the BBC praised Roshan's versatility and his transformation from a carefree youth to a determined and courageous soldier. Reviewing the film in 2016, Tatsam Mukherjee of India Today described his performance as career-best, highlighting his scene before the climax.
Roshan was not seen on screen again until 2006, with three new releases, including a cameo at the end of the year in the romance I See You. He co-starred with Naseeruddin Shah and Priyanka Chopra in his father's superhero production Krrish. A follow-up to his family's production Koi... Mil Gaya, it saw him play dual roles—the title superhero and his character from the original film. Before production, Roshan travelled to China to train with Tony Ching for the cable work that would be needed to make his character fly. Among the several injuries he sustained during production, Roshan tore the hamstring in his right leg and broke his thumb and toe. Krrish became the third-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2006 with a worldwide revenue of ₹1.26 billion (US\$16 million). It garnered him Best Actor awards at the 2007 Screen and the International Indian Film Academy Awards. Ronnie Scheib of Variety considered Roshan a prime asset of the film, noting that he "pulls off the pic's wilder absurdities with considerable panache."
For his role as an enigmatic master thief in Dhoom 2 (2006)—an action sequel co-starring Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu and Abhishek Bachchan—Roshan won his third Filmfare Award for Best Actor. The film critic Rajeev Masand called him "the heart, the soul, and the spirit of the film", and praised his stunts, concluding that he "holds the film together and even manages to take your attention away from its many flaws". Bored by playing the "good guy", Roshan was excited to play an anti-hero who lacks heroic attributes, for the first time. At the request of the film's producer Aditya Chopra, Roshan lost 12 pounds (5.4 kg) for the role; he also learnt skateboarding, snow boarding, rollerblading and sand surfing. With earnings of , Dhoom 2 became the highest grossing Indian film at that time, a distinction that was held for two years. In the 2007 melodrama Om Shanti Om, he made a cameo alongside several Bollywood stars.
In 2008, Roshan was cast in Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar, a partly fictionalised account of a marriage of convenience between the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (played by Roshan) and the Rajput princess Jodha Bai (played by Rai). Gowariker believed Roshan possessed the regal bearing and physique required to play the role of a king. For the role, Roshan learned sword-fighting and horse-riding, and also took Urdu lessons. Jodhaa Akbar earned ₹1.2 billion (US\$15 million) worldwide. Roshan's performance earned him his fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award. Critics were generally appreciative of Roshan's performance. Raja Sen of Rediff.com thought that Roshan "proves a very good Akbar. There are times when his inflection seems too modern, but the actor gives the performance his all, slipping into the skin of the character and staying there." Roshan ended 2008 with an appearance in the popular item number "Krazzy 4" from the film of same name.
### 2009–2012: Critical acclaim
Following a small role in Zoya Akhtar's Luck by Chance in 2009, Roshan starred in and recorded "Kites in the Sky" for the multi-national romantic thriller Kites (2010). In the film, produced by his father, he played a man running a green card scam in Las Vegas in which he has married 11 different women in exchange for money. Kites opened on a record-breaking 3000 screens, and became the first Bollywood film to break into the North American top 10. However, the film eventually underperformed at India's box office and received negative reviews from critics. The website Box Office India attributed this failure to its multilingual dialogues. In a review for Rediff.com, Matthew Schneeberger thought that Roshan "overacts. A lot. In Kites, he nails a few scenes, but bungles many more, particularly the film's catastrophically bad ending."
Roshan then collaborated with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the drama Guzaarish (2010) in which he had the role of Ethan Mascarenhas, a former magician suffering from quadriplegia, who after years of struggle, files an appeal for euthanasia. Roshan had reservations about the role but agreed to the project after reading the film's story. To understand his role better, he interacted with paraplegic patients. In his own words, "I used to spend six hours with the patients, initially once a week and then once a month. I used to go to understand what they go through, what they think, what their needs are. They have taught me a lot of things." He also trained with a Ukrainian magician to perform the film's magic stunts, and put on weight to look the part. The film failed at the box office, though it and Roshan's performance were positively received by critics. A writer for Zee News praised the chemistry between Roshan and Rai, adding that they "break the Bollywood mould of stereotypes." Roshan received the Zee Cine Award for Best Actor (Critics) and nominations for Filmfare, IIFA and Zee Cine Award for Best Actor.
In 2011, Roshan appeared in Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara alongside Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar as three friends who embark on a bachelor trip where they overcome their insecurities. Zoya cast Roshan in the role of an uptight workaholic as she considers him her favourite actor. For the film's soundtrack, Roshan recorded the song "Señorita" with his co-stars and María del Mar Fernández. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was released to positive reviews and Roshan's performance was praised. Rajeev Masand wrote, "Hrithik Roshan once again brings real depth to his character with a spectacular performance. He's shy and restrained, then lets go with such fantastic intensity that you make the inward journey with his character." The film grossed ₹1.53 billion (US\$19 million) worldwide and became Roshan's first commercial success in three years. Later that year, he made a special appearance in Farhan's Don 2.
Roshan's only screen appearance in 2012 was in Karan Malhotra's Agneepath, a retelling of the 1990 film of the same name. Cast alongside Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra, Roshan reinterpreted the character Vijay Deenanath Chauhan (originally played by Amitabh Bachchan), a common man who seeks revenge against an unscrupulous man for framing and murdering his father. Roshan was initially sceptical of taking up a role earlier played by Bachchan, and thought hard before accepting. He did not watch the original film for inspiration as he found his role to be completely different. In one of several accidents to happen during production, Roshan suffered a painful back injury. He deemed Agneepath "the hardest [project] I've ever worked in my life" owing to the exhaustion he felt while filming. The film broke Bollywood's highest opening-day earnings record, and had a worldwide gross of ₹1.93 billion (US\$24 million). A Firstpost reviewer thought Roshan "breathes fire and soul into Agneepath". The actor received a third consecutive Stardust Award for Best Actor in a Drama, having won previously for Guzaarish and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
### 2013–present: Commercial success with limited work
Roshan appeared in the third instalment of the Krrish film series—Krrish 3 (2013) which also starred Priyanka Chopra, Vivek Oberoi and Kangana Ranaut. During production, Roshan was injured when he fell down, which resulted in back pain. Critics thought that the film was entertaining but lacking in originality, though Roshan's performance garnered praise. The editor Komal Nahta lauded Roshan for playing three different characters in the film. Krrish 3 grossed ₹3.93 billion (US\$49 million) worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. Roshan received a fourth and fifth consecutive Filmfare nomination for his performances in Krrish 3, and the 2014 action comedy Bang Bang!, a remake of the 2010 Hollywood release Knight and Day and one of the most expensive Bollywood films. Playing the role of an eccentric secret agent who plots to track down a terrorist, Roshan became the first actor to perform a flyboarding stunt in film. While filming in Thailand, Roshan suffered a head injury from a stunt accident and underwent brain surgery at the Hinduja Hospital performed by Dr. B. K. Misra to relieve subacute-subdural hematoma. Writing for Bollywood news website Koimoi, critic Mohar Basu noted that Roshan was "pitch perfect" and "breez[ed] through his part brilliantly." The film earned ₹3.4 billion (US\$43 million) in global ticket sales, making it among the highest-grossing Indian films.
For playing the role of a farmer in 2016 BC who travels to Mohenjo-daro in Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro (2016), Roshan was paid ₹500 million (US\$6.3 million), a record-breaking remuneration for an Indian actor. He underwent a three-month training to achieve the "lithe" and "agile" physique required for his role. Despite being a highly anticipated release, it failed commercially, and critics were generally unenthusiastic. Dismissing the film as an "unintentional comedy", Anupama Chopra wrote that Roshan "pours his soul into every scene. But the burden of carrying this leaden, cartoon-like narrative proves too much even for his Herculean shoulders." Roshan was next seen alongside Yami Gautam in Sanjay Gupta's Kaabil (2017), a romantic thriller about a blind man who avenges the rape of his blind wife. To ensure authenticity in his portrayal, Roshan locked himself in a room for four days and avoided contact with people. Reviews for the film were generally positive with particular praise for Roshan's performance. Meena Iyer of The Times of India found his performance to be his best to date, and Shubhra Gupta on The Indian Express considered him "the only bright spot in this dispirited mess of a movie." The film accumulated ₹1.96 billion (US\$25 million) worldwide.
After two years of screen absence, Roshan starred in two films in 2019, first in Vikas Bahl's biographical film Super 30, based on the mathematician Anand Kumar and his eponymous educational program. For the role, Roshan hired a trainer from Bhagalpur to learn Bihari accent. The film was released to mixed reviews but was a commercial success, grossing ₹2 billion (US\$25 million) worldwide. While NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee found Roshan miscast in his role, Michael Gomes of Khaleej Times called it one of his best performances. Roshan found his biggest commercial success in the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2019, the ₹4.75 billion (US\$59 million)-earning action thriller War. The film, Roshan's first with Yash Raj Films since Dhoom 2, tells the story of an Indian soldier (Tiger Shroff) tasked with eliminating his former mentor (Roshan) who has gone rogue. Reviews for the film and the performances were positive; Rajeev Masand praised Roshan and Shroff for their commitment to the action, "bringing swag to the big stylish sequences and a visceral energy to the one-on-one punch-ups in the movie".
Roshan's next release was three years later in Vikram Vedha (2022), a remake of the Tamil film of the same name. The film tells the story of Vikram, a police inspector (Saif Ali Khan) who sets out to track down and kill Vedha (Roshan), a gangster. It received positive reviews from critics. Rachana Dubey of The Times of India praised Roshan's performance, writing that he "is menacing, ruthless and extremely emotional in parts". The film did not perform well commercially, leading Roshan to question the kind of roles he would do in the future.
Roshan will next star in Siddharth Anand's action film Fighter (2024), with Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor.
## Other work
Roshan has performed on stage, appeared on television, and launched a clothing line. His first tour (Heartthrobs: Live in Concert (2002) with Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Aftab Shivdasani) was successful in the United States and Canada. At the end of that year, he danced on stage with Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji and Shah Rukh Khan at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa in the show Now or Never. In 2011, Roshan served as a judge alongside Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant for the dance competition reality show, Just Dance. He became the highest-paid film star on Indian television after he was paid ₹20 million (US\$250,000) per episode. The show ran from June to October 2011. In November 2013, Roshan launched his clothing line, the casual wear brand HRx.
Roshan is vocal about his childhood stammer. He actively supports the Dilkhush Special School for mentally challenged children in Mumbai. In 2008, he donated to the Nanavati Hospital for the treatment of stammering children. Roshan set up a charity foundation in 2009 that aims to work for handicapped people. He donates roughly for charity every month, and believes that people should publicise their philanthropic work to set an example for others. In 2013, he took part in a festivity at Ghatkopar, whose proceeds went to an NGO supporting tribal girls suffering from malnutrition and starvation. Also that year, he donated to help the victims of the 2013 North India floods.
Alongside other Bollywood stars, Roshan played a football match for charity organised by Aamir Khan's daughter, Ira, in 2014. The following year, he appeared with Sonam Kapoor in the music video for "Dheere Dheere", whose profits were donated to charity. Later that year, Roshan became the Indian brand ambassador for UNICEF and the Global Goals campaign's World's Largest Lesson that aims to educate children in over 100 countries about the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2016, Roshan and other Bollywood actors made donations for building homes for families affected by the 2015 South Indian floods.
Following his debut film, Roshan signed on for endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, Tamarind and Hero Honda, all for three years and for at least . As of 2010, he is celebrity endorser for such brands and products as Provogue, Parle Hide and Seek, Reliance Communications and Hero Honda and recently roshan has completed six years with Rado. The Times of India reported that Roshan received to for each endorsement, making him one of the highest-paid male celebrity endorsers. In 2016, Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US\$34.1 million, the eighth highest of Indian celebrities. In 2017, Roshan was signed as the brand ambassador of a Health and wellness startup Cure.fit and is touted as one of the largest endorsement deal signed by an Indian startup.
## Personal life
On 20 December 2000, Roshan married Sussanne Khan in a private ceremony in Bangalore. Despite their religious difference—Roshan is a Hindu and Khan is a Muslim—Roshan says that he equally valued her beliefs. The couple has two sons, Hrehaan (born in 2006) and Hridhaan (born in 2008). They separated in December 2013 and their divorce was finalised in November 2014.
Roshan and Sussanne maintained that they parted amicably. In 2016, he filed a lawsuit against his Krrish 3 co-star Kangana Ranaut, accusing her of cyber stalking and harassment. Denying the charges, Ranaut filed a counter-charge against Roshan, claiming that his lawsuit was an attempt to cover up their affair. Owing to a lack of evidence, the Mumbai Police closed the case later that year.
Roshan considered quitting the film industry after two assailants fired bullets at his father in 2000. Later that December, he was involved in a controversy when Nepalese newspapers accused him of stating in a Star Plus interview that he hated Nepal and its people. This led to protests in the country, a ban on screening of his films, and four people's deaths after street violence. Nepalese people threatened to "bury [him] alive" if he ever visited the country. Star Plus, for its part, stated that Roshan "did not touch upon Nepal." The violence calmed down after Roshan wrote a two-page rejoinder in which he denied having made any claim against the country. Nepali actress Manisha Koirala helped distribute it to newspapers and a local television station.
## Artistry and media image
As the son of the filmmaker Rakesh, Roshan faced the media spotlight from a young age. Discussing nepotism in Bollywood, Shama Rana views him as one of several actors who managed film careers with the help of family relations in the industry. On the other hand, Roshan is acknowledged in the media for his devotion to his work and for his ability to commit heavily to each role. He insists on learning any necessary skills and performing stunts himself, and is particularly known for his professionalism. The director Ashutosh Gowariker praised Roshan when he continued filming Mohenjo Daro despite several injuries and being in a troubled state of mind. Zoya Akhtar, who considers Roshan her favourite actor, and directed him in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, remarks on his ability to display a range of emotions on screen.
In an attempt to avoid typecasting, Roshan takes on diverse parts. He looks at the scripts as a platform to inspire with the strength and courage of his characters and to make his audiences smile. Roshan was noted by critics for his versatility in portraying a variety of characters in Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Lakshya (2004), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and Guzaarish (2010). Box Office India ranked him first on its top actors listing in 2000 and later included him in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Roshan topped Rediff.com's list of best Bollywood actors in 2003, and was ranked fourth in 2006. Filmfare magazine included two of his performances—from Koi... Mil Gaya and Lakshya—on its 2010 list of 80 Iconic Performances. In March 2011, Roshan placed fourth on Rediff.com's list of Top 10 Actors of 2000–2010. Roshan's dancing ability has also drawn praise from the media, an opinion he disagrees with. The Los Angeles Times finds him to be "a sensational dancer" who "has the dashing, chiseled looks of a silent movie matinee idol." Some critics also believe that he is only able to dance and act in his father's films. His inclination towards "glamorous, albeit empty parts", which conform to character stereotypes, has been criticised.
Roshan is among Bollywood's highest-paid actors. Discussing his success ratio at the box office in a 2014 article, Daily News and Analysis credited him as "the most bankable star" in Bollywood. One of the most high-profile Indian celebrities, he was named the second most powerful Indian film star by Forbes in 2001. He ranked fourth in Filmfare Power List in 2007. In a 2009 poll conducted by Daily News and Analysis Roshan was voted one of India's most popular icons. At the 2009 FICCI-IIFA Awards, Roshan was one of the ten recipients of the most powerful Bollywood entertainers of the 2000s. From 2012 to 2018, Roshan was placed on Forbes India's Celebrity 100—a list based on the income and popularity of Indian celebrities—peaking at ninth position in 2014 with an annual income of .
Roshan has established himself as a sex symbol and a style icon in India. In 2006, Roshan was one of the four Bollywood actors, along with Priyanka Chopra, Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan, whose miniature dolls were launched in the United Kingdom, under the name of "Bollywood Legends". He topped The Times of India's listing of 50 Most Desirable Men in 2010 and ranked among the top five for the next five years. In 2010 and 2012, the Indian edition of GQ included him in their listing of Bollywood's best dressed men. A life-size, wax figure of him was installed at London's Madame Tussauds museum in January 2011, making him the fifth Indian actor to have been replicated as a wax statue there. Versions of the statue were installed at Madame Tussauds' museums in New York, Washington and other cities in the world. Roshan regularly features in the magazine Eastern Eye's listing of the 50 Sexiest Asian Men. He topped the list in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and featured among the top five in 2010, 2013 and 2015 to 2018.
## See also
- List of awards and nominations received by Hrithik Roshan
- Hrithik Roshan filmography
- List of dancers
- List of Indian male film actors |
60,636,394 | Hyborian War | 1,172,587,032 | Fantasy role-playing game | [
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"Origins Award winners",
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"Role-playing games based on Conan the Barbarian",
"Role-playing games introduced in 1985",
"Role-playing games introduced in the 1980s",
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| Hyborian War is a play-by-mail game published by Reality Simulations, Inc. It takes place during the Hyborian Age in the world of Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The game has been continuously available for worldwide play since its inception in 1985 and has changed little in its overall format. It uses a computer program to adjudicate player orders. Although it relies on postal mail or email and has turnaround times which are relatively long for the digital age of video games, Hyborian War has remained active into the 21st century.
The game is set within the heroic fantasy genre, also known as sword and sorcery. The central figure is Conan of Cimmeria, appearing in the game as a wandering hero whom players can employ until fortune takes him elsewhere. Game designer Edward Schoonover wove multiple aspects of Howard's stories into Hyborian War including diverse landscapes and cultures, grand armies, large-scale battles, wizards tipping the scales of power, and stories of courageous and heroic deeds.
Gameplay is multifaceted: play-by-mail commentator Mike Scheid described it as "marvelously complex". There are 36 kingdoms available to players in small, medium, and large sizes, each with different victory conditions. A central focus of the game is conquest and expansion through military action and diplomacy. Intrigue, magic and other tools of statecraft in a fantasy setting are available to players. They can also collaborate to progress their game goals. A number of fan-based websites support the game with reference material and provide forums for player communication. The game has had an active player base since 1985. Its nadir for ratings and customer service was in the late 1980s and the 1990s, while its high points were in its early years and in the 21st century—periods during which it won multiple awards.
## Play-by-mail genre
Play-by-mail (PBM) games feature a number of differences from tabletop games. The typical PBM game involves many more players than an average tabletop game can support. PBM game lengths are usually longer, depending on a number of factors. Turnaround time is how long a player has to prepare and submit "orders" (moves and changes to make in the game) and the company has to process them and send back turn results. The average turnaround time in the 1980s was two weeks, but some modern PBM games are play-by-email (PBEM) with shorter turnaround times of twice per week or faster. Open ended games allow players to strengthen their positions without end, with players continually entering and leaving the game. Examples include Heroic Fantasy and Monster Island. Conversely, closed end games typically have all players starting on equal terms, with rapid, intense, player vs. player gameplay that ends when a player or group achieves some victory condition or is unopposed. Examples include Hyborian War and It's a Crime. The complexity of PBM games can range from the relatively simple to the PBM game Empyrean Challenge, once described as "the most complex game system on Earth".
Once a player has chosen a game and receives an initial game setup, gameplay begins. This generally involves players filling out order sheets for a game (see example image) and sending them to the gaming company. The company processes the turns and returns the results to the player, who completes a subsequent order sheet. Diplomacy is also frequently an important—sometimes indispensable—part of gameplay. The initial choice of a PBM game requires consideration as there is a wide array of possible roles to play, from pirates to space characters to "previously unknown creatures". Close identification with a role typically increases a player's game satisfaction.
### History
Some games have long been played by mail, such as chess and Go, and more recently Diplomacy. The professional PBM industry began in 1970 when Flying Buffalo Inc. launched its first multi-player PBM game, Nuclear Destruction, in the United States. Flying Buffalo dominated the industry from 1970 to 1975, with Schubel & Son and Superior Simulations introducing games later in the decade. By 1980, the PBM field was growing but still nascent; there were only two sizable commercial PBM companies, and a few small ones.
In the 1980s, the PBM industry grew rapidly. Many small PBM companies opened as there were few barriers to entry, although most of these companies failed. Three independent PBM gaming magazines also began in the early 1980s: Gaming Universal, Paper Mayhem, and the UK-based Flagship. It was in this environment that Reality Simulations, Inc. (RSI) offered Hyborian War for play in 1985. The game has garnered numerous articles in the specialist PBM and gaming press since its release. In periodic PBM Game Ratings votes in Paper Mayhem, Hyborian War invariably attracted a relatively large number of votes, regardless of its final standing.
The 1990s brought additional changes to the PBM world. In the early 1990s, email became an option to transmit turn orders and results. In 1994, David Webber, Paper Mayhem's editor in chief expressed concern about disappointing growth in the PBM community and a reduction in play by established gamers. By the end of the 1990s, the number of PBM publications had also declined. Gaming Universal's final publication run ended in 1988. Paper Mayhem ceased publication unexpectedly in early 1998 after Webber's death. Flagship also later ceased publication. In the 21st century, a single PBM magazine exists—Suspense and Decision—which began publication in November 2013. This online magazine is supported by a smaller PBM community than in previous decades.
## Setting
Robert E. Howard created Conan, among other characters, while writing articles for the pulp magazine Weird Tales in the 1920s and 1930s. While doing so, he created what would become the sword and sorcery genre. It was not until after Howard's death in 1936 that Conan's star would reach its greatest heights. Conan has been published globally and featured in media including cartoons, comic books, role-playing games, toys, and motion pictures. Universal Pictures released the film Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and its sequel Conan the Destroyer in 1984, the latter a year before RSI offered Hyborian War for play.
Hyborian War takes place during the fictional Hyborian Age created by Howard who described it as occurring after the sinking of Atlantis, in "an Age undreamed of". Aspects of this setting that influenced Hyborian War game designer, Edward Schoonover, included its vast, diverse landscapes and its "splendid cultures". Another notable feature of Howard's stories that finds echoes in the game are the large-scale battles, with grand armies clashing in massive engagements and the fate of empires hanging in the balance. Howard also narrowed his storytelling focus to battlefield leaders to highlight individual feats of military skill, personal courage, and inspiration; providing a balance between grand, sweeping conflicts and personal battlefield deeds. Magic is also part of the Hyborian Age, with wizards wielding great, but not overwhelming, power.
The central figure of the Hyborian Age is Conan of Cimmeria, one of the northern, barbarian countries. Schoonover described Conan as Howard's "grim, brooding, bloodthirsty, and riveting hero". Conan fights in his first battle at age 15, already strong in stature. Soon after, he began his travels through the Hyborian Age nations as a mercenary, a pirate, "a kozak, a penniless vagabond, [and] a general". His adventures involved romances with women such as the pirate queen Bêlit and the mercenary Valeria; as well as fights with evil magicians such as Thoth-Amon. Later in life, he seized the throne of the mightiest kingdom of the age, Aquilonia, and ruled as its king.
## Gameplay
According to RSI, players in each game of Hyborian War are able to create an "alternate history" of the Hyborian Age. As in Howard's tales, Conan adventures through the lands of the Hyborian Age, but the events that surround him depend on the decisions of the players. To begin, players request a setup package and express kingdom preferences. There are numerous non-player kingdoms (those run by computer) within the game and 36 playable kingdoms available in three sizes—small, medium, and large—each with varying costs per turn. The setup kit includes a game map by Liz Danforth and a set of detailed game rules, while initial kingdom reports come in varying lengths. Orders are submitted by mail or email for simultaneous processing every 16 or 28 days for regular or slow games, respectively—the latter noted as suitable for international players or those needing more time for turns, as all turn results are sent back by postal mail. Turn results run to dozens of pages, providing detailed descriptions of kingdom facts and events in a narrative fashion.
Gameplay is multifaceted: PBM commentator Mike Scheid described it as "marvelously complex". Players must account for multiple interrelated factors, including balancing the ambition to expand with the management of their royal courts, diplomacy, economics, and the loyalty of subjects while conscripting troops. The game begins when Conan is sixteen years old and spans a period of about two hundred years. Conan appears in the game as a wandering hero whom players can use, when available before fortune takes him elsewhere. Players take an indirect role—that of power behind the throne of one of the playable kingdoms. The primary elements of gameplay include troops, provinces, and characters; the latter are able to conduct tasks such as adventuring, assassinating or kidnapping characters from other kingdoms, commanding large armies or navies, using magic, spying, and negotiating treaties.
Conquest and expansion to gain provinces and sea zones through military operations and diplomatic activities play a central role in Hyborian War. Military activities such as raids and invasions figure prominently, and there are hundreds of troop types and naval units: from standard infantry, cavalry and archer units, to more unusual unit types such as mammoths, undead, infantry, and mounted flying reptiles. Players can also augment their armies with magic. Invasions result in either open field battles, with large swirling masses of unorganized troops, or in set-piece battles with more options to arrange forces. In set-piece battles, different troop types are optimal for the center, the left and right lines, and the flanks. Terrain types also drive allowable battle configurations. The order for a set-piece battle pictured here shows eight units in columns and represents a battle occurring in the province of Xachotl in open, tundra, or oasis terrain. Only the victor of an invasion battle controls the province or sea zone.
Players may interact, both before and during games, to further their goals. RSI designed the game so players could conduct all necessary diplomacy within the game. This includes activities via the player command sheet such as negotiating peace treaties, disrupting external alliances and avoiding the influence of other kingdoms to prevent unwanted peace negotiations. Players not electing a privacy option can request the mailing address for the players of two other kingdoms per turn. Players can then use mail or online forums to conduct diplomatic activities outside the structure of the game.
Games usually last at least thirty turns but can continue for up to fifty. The game can end in two ways: one is by the map being dominated by a few players; the other is by an ice age beginning. At the start of an ice age, the four northern, "barbarian" countries of Asgard, Pictland, Vanaheim, and Conan's homeland of Cimmeria, are forced south and are each given a large kingdom to migrate to as well as the ability to freely move within the borders of any kingdom—friendly or enemy. This more unconstrained gameplay continues until the glacier encroachment of the ice age reaches an advanced stage.
Each kingdom has unique victory conditions, with some relying on wealth, some on mere survival, some requiring minimal expansion, and others requiring domination of half of the map. An initial goal a player can pursue is achieving imperial status, which provides a player with ten new military units. Pursuing this intermediate goal typically places players in competition for the same resources, whereas winning the game does not require achieving the status of empire. The player with the highest rating at the game conclusion is the winner; but, ratings are based on optimal performance from available starting resources, not on having the largest kingdom. For example, in Game No.38—played in the late 1980s—gamer Mark Sheron noted that the small kingdom of Khoraja placed first over the large kingdom of Vendhya as Khoraja's relative improvement was superior, even though Vendhya's final territory size was more than twice that of Khoraja. This type of result is not unusual, and victory is not dependent on how large a kingdom becomes, but on how skillfully a kingdom has been played, among other factors.
## Game analysis
Analysis of game results has provided insights on victory trends and kingdom choices. For example—from a 1994 look at the first 200 Hyborian War games, of which 175 had listed winners—an assumption in the early years of play that large kingdoms were easier to win with was proven false, and a belief that some countries were easier to play and win with was proven true. Out of the 8 large, 8 small, and 20 medium playable kingdoms, the large countries were the most challenging to win with—the kingdom of Turan ended up as the most winning "large" choice, while the large kingdom of Nemedia scored the worst of all countries, regardless of size, with a single win out of 175. For medium kingdoms, Uttara Kuru was the easiest to win with, while the countries of Asgard, Cimmeria, and Zembabwei provided decent showings. Brythunia, Kosala, and Zamora were extremely challenging medium kingdoms to take first place with. The small kingdoms had the largest playability spread with Amazonia on the most playable end with 17 victories and Kusan and Punt with one victory each. Rick Cote suggests that this type of analysis allows players to play the odds on easier countries or to "champion a dark horse" for a more challenging game.
A more comprehensive 21st century listing with more than 400 Hyborian War victory listings appears to validate these trends. In this listing, Uttara Kuru (medium kingdom) remains the top winning kingdom with 34 wins, followed by Amazonia (small) with 32, Turan (large) with 25, Asgard (medium) with 23, and Cimmeria (medium) with 22. Rounding out the bottom of this list is Nemedia (large) with one win, Hyperborea (large) with two wins, Pictland (medium) and Khauran (medium) tied with three wins each, and Ophir (medium), Juma's Kingdom (small) Punt (small), and Zamora (medium) tied with four wins each.
## Development
Game designer Edward Schoonover created Hyborian War for gameplay within the world of Conan, as an homage to both the character and his creator, Robert E. Howard. A year of research reportedly went into game development. Schoonover designed the game with "sweeping history, great battles", and other aspects such as kingdoms, grand armies, and diverse leaders reflecting elements of Howard's Hyborian Age. In the Conan stories magic plays an important, but not decisive, role—a factor which Schoonover replicated in the game design.
In 1985, RSI opened the game for play. Over time, RSI moved the game to a new mini-computer system—later named ICARUS—and processed the game there as of March 30, 1986. Program modifications continued in the early years after release in order to further improve gameplay. After the game's first four years, Schoonover said Hyborian War was a "very good game" but would continue to receive programming improvement, not because it wasn't commercially successful, but because the game deserved high standards as a tribute to Conan and Howard.
The basic tenets of the game remain largely similar to their original form. However, over the years players have recommended additional changes, and RSI has made game improvements. Charles Mosteller, in the September 2017 issue of Suspense and Decision, an online play-by-mail magazine, noted that in his communications with RSI leadership that the company appeared to be receptive to future game adjustments.
New possibilities emerged for players with the advent of the internet. While the play-by-mail format remained, RSI added an option to submit turns orders by email. Multiple online fan sites also emerged, providing collections of reference material and commentaries about the game as well as forums for players to collaborate. These websites allow the organization of specifically-formatted games (such as no contact between players) and to practice interpersonal game statecraft—in some cases before a game begins.
## Reception and legacy
Hyborian War opened in 1985 to a generally positive reception. It was reviewed in 1987 in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer, with the comment that minor improvements were still needed but RSI deserved credit for delivering the game at the promised level of quality. Reviewer Bud Link said in the August/September 1987 issue of Gaming Universal it was "perhaps one of the finest demonstrations of creative writing in the rulebook and turn reports, upon a continuing basis". In the same year, Link also published "The Hyborian Chronicles", one of several fiction articles to be written about the game in the 1980s and 1990s. The game tied for the No.1 spot for Best Play By Mail Game of 1987 in Paper Mayhem, a magazine for play-by-mail games. The following year, it had slipped to the No.2 spot for Best PBM Game of 1988. In 1989, it was tied for No.5, and in 1990 tied for No.8.
In 1988, Vickie Lloyd's review in Paper Mayhem noted that the game had several positive aspects with some challenges in gameplay remaining. Other observers noted significant issues with RSI's customer service during this period. In reviews of play-by-mail games in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Paper Mayhem readers ranked Hyborian War consistently in the bottom 25percent of games based on playability, design, and product understanding. In 1991, reviewer Rick Cote noted this trend, while also identifying that RSI had made improvements to the game over the previous years.
In the digital age, Hyborian War has secured a largely positive reputation. In 2008, the game won the Origins Award for Best Play By Mail Game. In January 2014, reviewer J.D. gave the game a 7 out of 10 in the online magazine Suspense and Decision, noting drawbacks such as "forced peace treaties", troop type issues, and character skill gaps in certain kingdoms—balanced by the game accounting for the factors of actual warfare along with diplomacy, intrigue, and other positives which retain players. In March 2014, reviewer Robert Paquin identified the diversity of the 36playable kingdoms as a "major drawing point", noting that he had "yet to encounter such a gaming experience quite like this one anywhere else". Though most play-by-mail companies have fallen by the wayside, RSI's Hyborian War continues to remain active into the 21stcentury.
## See also
- List of play-by-mail games |
55,326,272 | The Princesse de Broglie | 1,160,872,079 | Painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres | [
"1851 paintings",
"1853 paintings",
"Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art",
"Portraits by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres",
"Portraits of women"
]
| The Princesse de Broglie (French: La Princesse de Broglie ) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It was painted between 1851 and 1853, and shows Pauline de Broglie [fr], who adopted the courtesy title 'Princesse'. Born Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn, she married Albert de Broglie, the future 28th Prime Minister of France, in 1845. Pauline was 28 at the time of the painting's completion. She was highly intelligent and widely known for her beauty, but she suffered from profound shyness and the painting captures her melancholia. Pauline contracted tuberculosis in her early 30s and died in 1860 aged 35. Although Albert lived until 1901, he was heartbroken and did not remarry.
Ingres undertook a number of preparatory pencil sketches for the commission, each of which captures her personality and taste. They show her in various poses, including standing, and in differently styled dresses. The final painting is considered one of Ingres's finest later-period portraits of women, along with the Portraits of Comtesse d'Haussonville, Baronne de Rothschild and Madame Moitessier. As with many of Ingres's portraits of women, details of the costume and setting are rendered with precision while the body seems to lack a solid bone structure. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and is signed and dated 1853.
## Commission
Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860) married Albert, 4th Duke de Broglie on 18 June 1845, and they had five sons together. On the occasion of their marriage, they styled themselves 'Princesse' and 'Prince' respectively, due the former title of 'Prince of the Holy Roman Empire' granted to the House of Broglie (1759). Pauline was a highly intelligent and religious woman, who was well read and wrote a number of texts over her lifetime. Her shyness was well known; she was widely considered strikingly beautiful and charming, but those around her would often avoid eye contact so as not to embarrass her. Albert was devoted to his wife, and commissioned the painting after being impressed by Ingres's 1845 portrait of his sister, the Comtesse d'Haussonville. Albert approached Ingres around 1850 to undertake the portrait. Ingres dined with the de Broglie family in January 1850, and according to one eyewitness, "seemed to be very happy with his model".
Although Ingres's chief source of income came from portraiture, it distracted from his main interest in history painting, which early in his career, was far less lucrative. He found acclaim in the 1840s, when he became successful enough to no longer depend on commissions. This painting was Ingres's second-last female portrait, and final society portrait. Influenced by the working methods of Jacques-Louis David, Ingres began with a number of nude preparatory sketches, for which he employed professional models. He built up a picture of the sitter's underlying anatomical structure, as seen in the Musée Bonnat study, before deciding how to build the lavish costume and accessories. Although there is no surviving record of the commission, and the exact sequence of events is uncertain, the sketches can be dated from 1850, the year the style of her evening dress came into fashion. Ingres signed and dated the final picture at the left center "J. INGRES. pit 1853".
Pauline died in 1860 aged 35 from tuberculosis. After her death, Albert published three volumes of her essays on religious history. Albert (who, in 1873, became the 28th Prime Minister of France) lived until 1901, but was heartbroken and did not remarry. He kept her portrait for the remainder of his life draped in fabric and hidden behind a velvet curtain, lending it only to select exhibitions. After his death, the painting passed within the family until 1958 when it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art via the banker and art collector Robert Lehman, and is today held in the Lehman Wing. The family kept most of the jewelry and accessories seen in the painting, although the marabou feathers were sold to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum.
## Preparatory studies
There are comparatively few extant preparatory sketches for the de Broglie painting compared to other of his later period portraits. Ingres's usual technique was to use sketches both to plot the final work and to provide guidance for assistants on whom he relied to paint in the less important passages. Some others have been lost or destroyed.
The extant sketches date from 1850 to 1853 and are drawn with graphite on paper or tracing paper. They vary in elaboration and detail, but show Ingres thinking through the eventual form and pose of the sitter. The earliest consists of a brief sketch of the princess in a seated pose. There is a full-length study of a nude standing in essentially the final pose, in which Ingres experimented with two different positions of the crossed arms. A second full-length study shows a clothed figure. Two others are focused on her hands. A highly finished drawing of the princess standing with her left hand at the neck and dressed in a simpler costume than in the painting, may be a study for the painting or an independent work. Besides these five or six extant sketches, about the same number are known to be lost.
The painting's central motifs were already established in the earliest studies, in which her oval face, arched eyebrows, and habit of folding her arms with one stuffed into the opposing sleeve appear. Ingres found the sittings difficult and agonised over every detail. He wrote to his friend and patron Charles Marcotte that he was "killing [his] eyes on the background of the Princesse de Broglie, which I am painting at her house, and that helps me advance a great deal; but, alas, how these portraits make me suffer, and this will surely be the last one, excepting, however, the portrait of [his second wife] Delphine."
## Description
The Princesse de Broglie is shown in three-quarters view, her arms resting on a lavishly upholstered, pale gold damask easy chair. Her head is tilted to the viewer's left, and her black hair tightly pulled back and bound by blue satin ribbons. She is pictured in the family home at 90 rue de l'Université in Paris, in an evening dress that implies she is about to go out for the evening. She is dressed in the height of contemporary Parisian fashion, in particular the opulent Second Empire fashions then current in clothing, jewelry and furniture. She wears a gold embroidered evening shawl, and an off-the-shoulder, pale blue satin hoop skirt gown, with short sleeves and a lace and ribbon trim, highly emblematic of 1850s evening dress. Her hair is covered with a sheer frill trimmed with matching blue ribbon knots, and is swept back with a centre parting.
Her adornments include a necklace, tasseled earrings and bracelets on each wrist. Her pendant with cross pattée signifies her piety, and was perhaps designed by Fortunato Pio Castellani or Mellerio dits Meller. Her earrings are made from cascades of small natural pearls. Her left wrist has a bracelet of roped pearls; the one on her right is made of enameled red and diamond set gold links. The necklace is held by a double looped chain holding a gold pendant, which appears to be an original Roman bulla.
As with all of Ingres's portraits of women, her body seems to lack a solid bone structure. Her neck is unusually elongated, and her arms seem boneless or dislocated, while her left forearm appears to be under modeled and lacking in musculature. Her oval face and her expression are idealised, lacking the level of detail given to other foreground elements, although she was widely known as a great beauty.
The painting is composed of gray, white, blue, yellow and gold hues. The costume and decor are painted with a supreme precision, crispness and realism that art historians have compared to the work of Jan van Eyck. In many ways the painting is austere; art historian Robert Rosenblum describes a "glassy chill", and "astonishing chromatic harmonies that, for exquisite, silvery coolness, are perhaps only rivaled by Vermeer". Her facial features are statuesque and in places display the quality of porcelain. The painting contains a number of pentimenti, including around the contours of her hair, and the yellow chair. There are horizontal bands about 2.5 cm wide in yellow paint on either side of her head near the earrings. They seem to have been used to plot the positioning of the moldings. The black hat on the chair seems to have been a late addition. There are visible passages of underdrawing where the artist seems to trace out shapes and positions, established in the preparatory sketches, onto the grounded canvas. These include squared lines around the left shoulder and chest areas. There are lines mapping out the throat and top edge of the bodice.
Compared to the Portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville, or most of Ingres's later portraits, the background is flat and featureless, probably to place emphasis on the coat of arms. It comprises a neutral soft pale gray and evenly textured wall, with a linear structured gilded wood mouldings, and a fictitious coat of arms combining the heraldics of the de Broglie and de Bearn families. The grey wall is underlined with a barely discernible deep blue pigment. This minimalist approach reflects the "ascetic elegance" of his early female portraits, where the sitter was often set against featureless backdrops. The precisely rendered details and geometric background create an impression of immobility, though subtle movement is implied by the tilt of her head and the shimmering folds of her dress.
The current frame measures 157 × 125.6 cm at the exterior and is made of pink-orange pine, lined with a garland of gilt-plastered ornament flowers. Its ornaments lie on ovolo molding. It was produced in the United States between 1950 and 1960 (around the time the Metropolitan acquired the work) in the French Louis XIII style fashionable in Ingres's period. It is similar to, and probably modeled on, the frame used for Madame Moitessier, which is most likely an original and is dated 1856. The original de Broglie plaster frame was made in 1860 at the latest, and is thought to have been similar to the current one.
## Reception
The painting remained in Ingres's possession until 1854, when it was first exhibited that December in his studio, alongside his unfinished Madame Moitessier (c. 1844–1856), Portrait of Lorenzo Bartolini, and c. 1808 Venus Anadyomene. One critic wrote that the painting showed Pauline as "refined, delicate, elegant to her finger tips ... a marvelous incarnation of nobility." In general, it is held in the same high regard as Ingres's Comtesse d'Haussonville, and Portrait of Baronne de Rothschild.
The work was an instant critical and popular success, and widely admired and written about. Most critics understood the artfulness of physical deformations, although one writer, writing under the byline A. de. G., and representing a minority, academic view, describes her as a "puny, wilted, sickly, woman; her thin arms rest on an armchair placed in front of her. M. Ingres has rendered in an unheard-of manner these large, veiled eyes, deprived of sight. He has given this face a negative expression that he must have seen in real life, and reproduced it with a sure touch." The majority of critics noted Ingres's attention to detail in describing her clothes, accessories and decor, and saw an artist at the height of his creativity, with a few invoking the precision of van Eyck. Some writers detected a hint of melancholy in de Broglie's eyes and expression.
## See also
- List of paintings by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres |
36,078,060 | Sudirman | 1,171,162,249 | First commander-in-chief of the Indonesian armed forces | [
"1916 births",
"1950 deaths",
"20th-century deaths from tuberculosis",
"BPUPK",
"Banyumasan people",
"Commanders of the Indonesian National Armed Forces",
"Indonesian Muslims",
"Indonesian collaborators with Imperial Japan",
"Indonesian generals",
"Indonesian revolutionaries",
"Javanese people",
"Members of Pembela Tanah Air",
"National Heroes of Indonesia",
"People from Purbalingga Regency",
"People of the Indonesian National Revolution",
"Tuberculosis deaths in Indonesia"
]
| Sudirman (Old Spelling: Soedirman; 24 January 1916 – 29 January 1950) was a high-ranking Indonesian military officer during the Indonesian National Revolution. The first commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, he continues to be widely respected in the country.
Born in Purbalingga, Dutch East Indies, Sudirman moved to Cilacap in 1916 and was raised by his uncle. A diligent student at a Muhammadiyah-run school, he became respected within the community for his devotion to Islam. After dropping out of teacher's college, in 1936 he began working as a teacher, and later headmaster, at a Muhammadiyah-run elementary school. After the Japanese occupied the Indies in 1942, Sudirman continued to teach, before joining the Japanese-sponsored Defenders of the Homeland as a battalion commander in Banyumas in 1944. In this position he put down a rebellion by his fellow soldiers, but was later interned in Bogor. After Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945, Sudirman led a break-out then went to Jakarta to meet President Sukarno. Tasked with overseeing the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Banyumas, he established a division of the People's Safety Body there. On 12 November 1945, at an election to decide the military's commander-in-chief in Yogyakarta, Sudirman was chosen over Oerip Soemohardjo in a close vote. While waiting to be confirmed, Sudirman ordered an assault on British and Dutch forces in Ambarawa. The ensuing battle and British withdrawal strengthened Sudirman's popular support, and he was ultimately confirmed on 18 December.
During the following three years Sudirman saw negotiations with the returning Dutch colonial forces fail, first after the Linggadjati Agreement – which Sudirman participated in drafting – and then the Renville Agreement; he was also faced with internal dissent, including a 1948 coup d'état attempt. He later blamed these issues for his tuberculosis, which led to his right lung collapsing in November 1948. On 19 December 1948, several days after Sudirman's release from the hospital, the Dutch launched an assault on the capital. Sudirman and a small contingent escaped Dutch forces and left the city, making their headquarters at Sobo, near Mount Lawu. There Sudirman commanded military activities throughout Java, including a show of force in Yogyakarta on 1 March 1949. When the Dutch began withdrawing, in July 1949 Sudirman was recalled to Yogyakarta and forbidden to fight further. In late 1949 Sudirman's tuberculosis relapsed, and he retired to Magelang, where he died slightly more than a month after the Dutch recognised Indonesia's independence. He is buried at Semaki Heroes' Cemetery in Yogyakarta.
Sudirman's death was mourned throughout Indonesia, with flags flown at half-mast and thousands gathering to see his funeral convoy and procession. He continues to be highly respected in Indonesia. His guerrilla campaign has been credited with developing the army's esprit de corps, and the 100-kilometre (62 mi) long route he took must be followed by Indonesian cadets before graduation. Sudirman featured prominently on the 1968 series of rupiah banknotes, and has numerous streets, museums, and monuments named after him. On 10 December 1964, he was declared a National Hero of Indonesia.
## Early life
Sudirman was born to Karsid Kartawiraji (father) and Siyem while they lived with Siyem's sister Tarsem, one of three women married to the sub-district head Raden Cokrosunaryo, in Rembang, Bodas Karangjati, Purbalingga, Dutch East Indies. According to the family's records, Sudirman – named by his uncle – was born on a pon Sunday in the month of Maulud in the Javanese calendar; the Indonesian government later established 24 January 1916 as Sudirman's birthday. As Cokrosunaryo was in a better financial situation, he adopted Sudirman and gave him the title Raden, reserved for Javanese nobility; however, Sudirman was not told that Cokrosunaryo was not his birth father until he was eighteen. When Cokrosunaryo retired from his position as chief in late 1916, Sudirman went with the family to Manggisan, Cilacap, where he was raised. In Cilacap Karsid and Siyem had another son, Muhammad Samingan. Karsid died when Sudirman was six, at which time Siyem left the boys with her brother-in-law and went back to her village at Parakan Onje, Ajibarang.
Sudirman was raised with stories of heroic deeds and taught the etiquette and ways of the priyayi, or noble caste, as well as the work ethic and simplicity of the wong cilik, or commoners. For his religious education, he studied Islam under Kyai Hajji Qahar with his brother; Sudirman was a religious child, and always prayed on time. He was soon entrusted with performing both the adhan and iqama, or calls to prayer. When he was seven years old, Sudirman was enrolled at a school for natives (hollandsch inlandsche school), where he was an average student. The family, although it had enough to live by, was not rich. During his tenure as sub-district head, Cokrosunaryo had not accumulated much wealth, and in Cilacap he became a distributor of Singer sewing machines.
In his fifth year of school, Sudirman asked to leave his studies, concerned with the ridicule he faced at the government-run school; this request was at first refused, but Sudirman was transferred to a junior high school run by Taman Siswa in his seventh year of school. In his eighth year, Sudirman transferred to Wirotomo Junior High School after the Taman Siswa School was found to be unregistered and closed under the Wild School Ordinance. Many of Sudirman's teachers at Wirotomo were Indonesian nationalists, which influenced his views of the Dutch colonists. Sudirman studied diligently at school; his teacher Suwarjo Tirtosupono later recalled that Sudirman would already be studying second-term lessons while the class was still in term one. Although he performed poorly in Javanese calligraphy, Sudirman was strong in mathematics, science, and writing in both Dutch and Indonesian. Sudirman also became more religious under the guidance of his teacher Raden Mohamad Kholil; his classmates named him "hajji" because of his devotion to his prayers, and Sudirman took up preaching to other students. Aside from his studies and religious activities, Sudirman also served in the school's musical troupe and on the football team, on which he was a defender. Although Cokrosunaryo's death in 1934 left the family poor, Sudirman was allowed to continue his studies without paying until he graduated later that year; after his step-father's death, Sudirman also devoted more time to studying the Sunnah and prayer. By age 19, Sudirman had become a pupil teacher at Wirotomo.
### Muhammadiyah
While at Wirotomo Sudirman was a member of the Wirotomo Student Union, drama club, and band. He helped establish a branch of the Hizboel Wathan, an organisation similar to the Boy Scouts, which was run by the Islamic establishment Muhammadiyah. Sudirman became the leader of the Cilacap division after graduating from Wirotomo; he was tasked with deciding and planning his groups' activities. He emphasised the need for religious studies, insisting that the contingents from Cilacap attend Muhammadiyah conferences throughout Java. He taught the younger members about the history of Islam and the importance of morality, while with older members he enforced near-military discipline.
## Teaching
After graduating from Wirotomo, Sudirman spent a year at a Muhammadiyah-run teacher's college in Surakarta, but later dropped out owing to a lack of funds. In 1936 he returned to Cilacap to teach at a Muhammadiyah-run elementary school, having been trained by his teachers at Wirotomo; that year he married Alfiah, a former schoolmate and the daughter of the rich batik merchant Raden Sastroatmojo. After the marriage Sudirman lived at his father-in-law's house in Cilacap so he could save money for his own home. The couple went on to have three sons, Ahmad Tidarwono, Muhammad Teguh Bambang Tjahjadi, and Taufik Effendi, and four daughters, Didi Praptiastuti, Didi Sutjiati, Didi Pudjiati, and Titi Wahjuti Satyaningrum.
As a teacher, Sudirman taught his students lessons on morality using examples from the lives of the prophets and traditional wayang stories. One of his students later recalled that Sudirman was an even-handed and patient teacher who would mix humour and nationalism in his lessons; this made him popular with the students. A hard-working teacher despite poor pay, within several years Sudirman had become headmaster despite not having a teacher's certificate. As a result, his monthly wages quadrupled from three gulden to twelve and a half. As headmaster, Sudirman worked on numerous administrative duties, including finding middle ground between feuding teachers. A coworker later recalled that Sudirman was a moderate, democratic leader. He was also active in fundraising, both for the needs of his school and the construction of others.
During this time Sudirman also continued to serve as a member of the Muhammadiyah Youth Group. Within the group he was known as a keen negotiator and mediator, working to resolve issues between members; he also preached at the local mosque. He was elected as Chair of the Banyumas District of the Muhammadiyah Youth Group at the end of 1937. In this role he enacted policies facilitating members' studies and activities, both religious and secular. He was later put in charge of Youth Group activities throughout Central Java and spent much of his free time travelling and preaching Islam, putting an emphasis on self-awareness. Alfiah was also active in Muhammadiyah-sponsored activities through the group's branch for women, Nasyiatul Aisyiyah.
## Japanese occupation
When World War II broke out in Europe, it was expected that the Japanese, who had already made aggressive moves against mainland China, would try to invade the Indies. In response, the Dutch colonial government – which had previously limited military training for native Indonesians – began teaching the populace how to deal with air raids. To co-ordinate the preparations, the Dutch formed Air Raid Preparation teams. Sudirman, respected in the community, was asked to lead the Cilacap chapter. Aside from teaching local citizens the safety procedures for dealing with an air raid, Sudirman established watchposts throughout the area. He and the Dutch would also have passing aircraft drop materials to simulate a bombing run; this was intended to improve response time.
After the Japanese began occupying the Indies in early 1942, winning several battles against Dutch and Dutch-trained forces of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, or KNIL), on 9 March 1942 Governor-General Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer and head of the KNIL General Hein ter Poorten capitulated. This brought drastic changes in the governance of the archipelago and reduced the quality of life for non-Japanese in the Indies, many of whom suffered from widespread human rights violations at the hands of the Japanese. In Cilacap, Sudirman's school had been closed and turned into a military outpost; this was part of a widespread effort to close private schools. After Sudirman convinced the Japanese to reopen the school, he and the other teachers were forced to use substandard supplies. Sudirman was also involved in several social and humanitarian organisations during this period, including as chair of the Indonesian People's Cooperative. This brought him greater recognition among the people of Cilacap.
### Pembela Tanah Air
In early 1944, after a year as a representative at the Japanese-run regency council board (Syu Sangikai), Sudirman was asked to join the Defenders of the Homeland (PETA; Pembela Tanah Air); the Japanese occupation government had established PETA in October 1943 to help repel any Allied invasion, and were focused on recruiting younger men, those who had "not yet been 'contaminated'" by Dutch rule. After a few days of hesitance, caused in part by a knee injury he had occurred as a youth, Sudirman agreed to begin training in Bogor. Owing to his standing in the community, Sudirman was made a commander (daidanco) and trained with other persons of that rank. Trained by Japanese officers and soldiers, the cadets were armed with confiscated Dutch equipment. After four months of training Sudirman was put in charge of the battalion stationed at Kroya, Banyumas, Central Java, not far from Cilacap.
Sudirman's time as a PETA commander passed uneventfully until 21 April 1945, when PETA troops under the command of Kusaeri began to rebel against the Japanese. Ordered to stop the rebellion, Sudirman agreed to do so only if the PETA rebels would not be harmed, and places harbouring them not razed; this condition was accepted by the Japanese commander, and Sudirman and his troops began searching for the rebels.
Although Kusaeri's men initially shot at the commander, after Sudirman used a loudspeaker to tell them they would not be harmed, they backed down. Kusaeri surrendered on 25 April. This garnered support for Sudirman within the occupation forces, although several high-ranking Japanese officers expressed concern over Sudirman's support for Indonesian independence. Sudirman and his men were soon sent to a camp in Bogor, ostensibly for training; however, they were tasked with hard labour as a way to prevent a further uprising, and rumours circulated that the PETA officers would be killed.
## National revolution
### Commander of the Armed Forces
After news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reached the Indies in early August 1945, followed by the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August, it was evident that Japanese control was weakening. Sudirman led a break out from the camp in Bogor. Although his fellow internees wanted to attack the Japanese soldiers, Sudirman convinced them against it. After ordering the others to their hometowns, Sudirman made his way to Jakarta and met with President Sukarno, who asked him to lead resistance against Japanese forces in the city. Unfamiliar with Jakarta, Sudirman refused, instead offering to lead forces in Kroya. He left for his former command on 19 August 1945. At the same time, Allied forces were in the process of retaking the Indonesian archipelago for the Netherlands. The first British forces arrived on 8 September 1945.
In late August, Sukarno established the People's Safety Bureau (Badan Keamanan Rakjat, or BKR), which united troops from the former PETA, Heiho, and KNIL. The BKR served mostly as a police organisation, partly because the political leadership were intent on using diplomacy to garner international recognition of the new country and partly to avoid appearing overly aggressive to the Japanese forces still in the archipelago. Sudirman and several of his fellow PETA soldiers formed a BKR branch in Banyumas in late August, after stopping at Kroya and discovering that his battalion had been disbanded. In a meeting with the Japanese commander for the region, Saburo Tamura, and the resident of Banyumas, Iwashige, Sudirman and Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo forced the Japanese to surrender and hand over their weapons while a crowd of armed Indonesians encircled the Japanese camp. Many of these weapons were later used by Sudirman's BKR unit, making it one of the best equipped in the country; surplus weapons were distributed to other battalions.
As the newly independent nation did not yet have a professional military, on 5 October 1945 Sukarno passed a decree establishing the People's Security Armed Forces (Tentara Keamaanan Rakjat or TKR, now known as the Tentara Nasional Indonesia). Most officers were former KNIL officers, while rank-and-file soldiers were mostly PETA and Heiho personnel. As the decreed Commander of the Armed Forces, Soeprijadi, failed to come forward, chief of staff Lieutenant General Oerip Soemohardjo served as an interim leader. That October British-led forces, tasked with disarming Japanese troops and repatriating Dutch prisoners of war, arrived in Semarang, then made their way south to Magelang. When the British began rearming repatriated Dutch prisoners and seemed to be preparing a military base in Magelang, Sudirman – now a colonel – sent some of his troops under Lieutenant Colonel Isdiman to drive them away; the mission was successful, and the European soldiers withdrew to Ambarawa, midway between Magelang and Semarang. On 20 October Sudirman was put in command of the Fifth Division, after Oerip began dividing Java into different military commands.
On 12 November 1945, at the first general meeting of Army leadership, Sudirman was elected Commander of the Armed Forces (Panglima Besar) following two deadlocked votes. In the third round, Oerip had 21 votes to Sudirman's 22; the division commanders from Sumatra voted unanimously for Sudirman and swayed the ballot in his favour. Sudirman, aged 29 at the time, was surprised at his selection and offered to relinquish the leadership position to Oerip, but the meeting did not allow it. Oerip himself, who had lost control of the meeting prior to the vote, was glad to no longer be in charge of the entire Army. Sudirman kept Oerip to serve as chief of staff under him. In accordance with his new role, Sudirman was promoted to general. After the meeting, Sudirman returned to Banyumas to await confirmation as leader of the TKR and began developing strategies on how repel Allied advances. The Indonesians feared that the Dutch, through the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (Nederlandsch Indië Civil Administratie, or NICA), would attempt to retake the archipelago; soldiers of the Dutch-British alliance had landed in Java in September, and a large battle had occurred in Surabaya during late October and early November. This instability, as well as Sukarno's uncertainty about Sudirman's qualifications, led to a delay in Sudirman's confirmation.
While waiting for his appointment to be confirmed, in late November Sudirman ordered the Fifth Division to attack Allied forces stationed in Ambarawa, once again with Isdiman in charge; the city was considered strategically important owing to its military barracks and training facilities dating from the colonial period. This assault was countered by an air strike and the use of tanks, which forced the division to retreat; Isdiman died in the battle, killed by a strafing P-51 Mustang Sudirman then led the Division in another assault against Allied forces; the Indonesian troops were armed with a variety of weapons, ranging from bamboo spears and confiscated katanas to rifles, while the British were armed with modern equipment. Sudirman led from the front, wielding a katana. The Allies, whose air support had been cut off when guerrilla soldiers attacked Kalibenteng Airfield in Semarang, were forced onto the defensive and holed up in Willem Fortress. On 12 December Sudirman led a four-day siege, which resulted in the Allied force withdrawing to Semarang.
The Battle of Ambarawa brought Sudirman greater attention at a national level, and generally silenced whispers that he was unfit for military command because of his lack of military experience and previous employment as a schoolteacher. Ultimately, Sudirman was chosen as his loyalty was undoubted, while Oerip's former pledge of loyalty to the Dutch led to him being viewed with suspicion. Sudirman was confirmed as commander of the Armed Forces on 18 December 1945. He was replaced as head of the Fifth Division by Colonel Sutiro, and began to focus on strategic problems. This was done partly by establishing a board of advisors, which gave the general advice on both political and military issues. Oerip handled many of the military matters.
Together, Sudirman and Oerip were able to reduce the differences and mistrust between former KNIL and PETA troops, although some troops were reluctant to be subordinated to a central command, instead choosing to follow their popularly selected battalion commanders. The government renamed the Army twice in January 1946, first to the Peoples' Salvation Armed Forces (Tentara Keselamatan Rakjat), then to the Republic of Indonesia Military Forces (Tentara Repoeblik Indonesia, or TRI/RIMF). This was followed by the formal establishment of a navy and air force in early 1946. In the meantime, the Indonesian government had moved from Jakarta – now under Dutch control – to Yogyakarta in January; delegates led by Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir spent much of April and May unsuccessfully negotiating for Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty. On 25 May Sudirman was reconfirmed as commander of the Armed Forces of the expanded military, after its reorganisation. At the ceremony, Sudirman swore to protect the republic "until he shed his last drop of blood."
The leftist Minister of Defence Amir Sjarifuddin, who had received greater power in the reorganisation, began collecting socialist and communist troops under his direct control, as well as leftist paramilitary units (laskar) that were funded by and loyal to the various political parties. The minister instituted political education programmes in the army, which were meant to spread leftist ideology. This use of the military for political manoeverings disappointed both Sudirman and Oerip, who were at the time busy ensuring equal treatment for soldiers from different military backgrounds. However, rumours among the populace had spread that Sudirman was preparing for a coup d'état; although an attempt did occur in early July 1946, Sudirman's role, if any, is not certain. In July Sudirman addressed these rumours through a speech broadcast on Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), stating that he, like all Indonesians, was a servant of the State, and that, if he were offered the presidency, he would refuse it. In his later career he stated that the military had no place in politics, and vice versa.
### Negotiations with the Dutch
Meanwhile, Sjahrir continued to work on negotiations with the Allied forces. On 7 October 1946, Sjahrir and the former Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Schermerhorn, agreed to work towards a ceasefire. The discussions were to be moderated by the British diplomat Lord Killearn and involved Sudirman. He took a specially commissioned train to Jakarta, departing on 20 October. However, he ordered it to return to Yogyakarta when Dutch troops refused to allow him and his men to enter the city with their weapons, feeling that such an order violated his sense of honour; the Dutch apologised, construing the events as a misunderstanding. Sudirman took another train in late October, arriving at Gambir Station in Jakarta on 1 November, where he was greeted by large crowds. The discussions in Jakarta resulted in the drafting of the Linggadjati Agreement on 15 November; the agreement was ratified on 25 March 1947, despite heavy opposition from Indonesian nationalists. Sudirman was vocally against the agreement, which he found to be detrimental to Indonesian interests, but considered himself obliged to follow his orders.
In early 1947, with the Linggadjati Agreement granting relative peace, Sudirman began work on consolidating the TKR with various laskar. As part of a committee, Sudirman began reorganising the military; they reached an agreement in May 1947, and on 3 June 1947 the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) was formalised; it consisted of TKR forces and various laskar groups, which Sudirman had included only after realising the extent of their manipulation by the political parties. However, the ceasefire obtained through the Linggadjati Agreement was not long lasting. On 21 July 1947 the Dutch forces – which had occupied areas left by the British during their withdrawal – launched Operation Product, and quickly gained control of large swaths of Java and Sumatra; the national government in Yogyakarta remained untouched. Sudirman called the army to fight, using the code "Ibu Pertiwi is calling! Ibu Pertiwi is calling!", and later delivered several speeches over RRI in an unsuccessful attempt to encourage soldiers to fight against the Dutch. However, the Indonesian soldiers were unprepared and their lines crumbled quickly.
Pressured by the United Nations, which had looked at the situation in the former East Indies with disdain, on 29 August 1947 the Dutch established the Van Mook Line, which divided Dutch and Indonesian-controlled areas. Along this line a ceasefire was called. Sudirman recalled the Indonesian guerrillas hiding in Dutch-held lands, ordering them to return to Indonesian-held areas. To keep their spirits up, he referred to the withdrawal as a hijrah, reminiscent of Muhammad's migration to Medina in 622 AD, implying that they would return. Over 35,000 troops left western Java at this order, travelling to Yogyakarta by train and ship. This boundary was formalised by the Renville Agreement on 17 January 1948; among the signatories was Amir Sjarifuddin, by then also serving as prime minister. Meanwhile, Sjarifuddin began rationalising the army, cutting back on the number of troops. At the time the regular army consisted of 350,000 men, with a further 470,000 in the laskar.
In this programme, by presidential decree Sudirman was no longer commander-in-chief of the military starting on 2 January 1948. He was demoted to lieutenant general, while Chief of the Air Force Soerjadi Soerjadarma was intended to be commander-in-chief. Shortly afterwards, Sjarifuddin was ousted in a vote of no confidence for his involvement in the Renville Agreement, and the new prime minister, Mohammad Hatta, worked to implement the rationalisation programme. This led to a several months-long debate between pro- and anti-rationalisation groups. Sudirman served as a rallying point and driving force for soldiers, including numerous older commanders, who were against the programme. Sudirman was formally reinstated on 1 June 1946, upon which he effectively rescinded the command to rationalise. He chose Colonel Abdul Haris Nasution as his deputy, but remained a lieutenant general.
As the rationalisation programme was winding down, Sjarifuddin began gathering soldiers from the Socialist Party, Communist Party, and members of the All Indonesia Centre of Labour Organizations for a would-be proletarian revolution in Madiun, East Java, which occurred on 18 September 1948. Sudirman, ill at the time, sent Nasution to deal with the revolution; Sudirman also sent two other officers as peace feelers before the attacks. Although the revolutionary leader Muso was amenable to peace, Nasution and his soldiers had quashed the uprising by 30 September. Sudirman visited Madiun not long after the battle, later telling his wife that he had been unable to sleep there for all the bloodshed.
This rebellion, and ongoing political instability, sapped Sudirman of much of his remaining strength. On 5 October 1948, after celebrations of the military's third anniversary, Sudirman collapsed. After being examined by numerous doctors, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the end of the month he was brought to Panti Rapih Hospital and had his right lung collapsed, in hope that it would stop the spread of the disease. During his time at the hospital, he delegated most of his duties to Nasution. However, the two continued to discuss plans for the war against the Dutch, and Sudirman continued to receive status reports. They agreed that guerrilla warfare, which had been applied on raids into Dutch-held territory since May, would be best suited for their needs; towards this goal, Sudirman issued a general order on 11 November, with Nasution handling most of the preparations. Sudirman was released from the hospital on 28 November 1948.
Although he continued to issue orders, Sudirman only returned to active duty on 17 December; in light of the growing tension between the Dutch and Indonesian forces, he ordered the TNI soldiers to maintain an increased level of awareness; he also ordered large-scale military exercises as a in an unsuccessful attempt to convince the Dutch that the TNI was too strong to be attacked. Two days later, after a nighttime announcement that they were no longer bound by the Renville Agreement, on 19 December the Dutch launched Operation Kraai, an attempt to capture the capital at Yogyakarta. By 07:10 local time (UTC+7), the airfield at Maguwo had been taken by paratroopers under the command of Captain Eekhout. Sudirman, upon becoming aware of the attack, had an order read over RRI which stated that soldiers should fight as they had been trained – as guerrillas.
He then went to the Presidential Palace in central Yogyakarta, where the government leaders were discussing an ultimatum which stated that the city would be stormed unless the leadership accepted colonial rule. Sudirman urged that the president and vice-president leave the city and fight as guerrillas, actions they had previously promised, but this suggestion was rejected. Although his doctors forbade it, Sudirman received permission from Sukarno to join his men. The central government evacuated to the Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat at the urging of Sultan Hamengkubuwana IX, but were captured and exiled.
### Guerrilla warfare
Sudirman first went to his official home and gathered sensitive documents, which he burned to prevent them falling into Dutch hands. His convoy, consisting of Sudirman, a small group of soldiers, and his personal doctor, then made their way south, towards Kretek, Parangtritis, Bantul. There they were received by the district head at 18:00. After several days in Kretek, during which time Sudirman sent undercover troops into the Dutch-occupied city for reconnaissance and to ask his wife for jewellery to sell and help fund the guerrilla movement, he and his group travelled east along the south coast to Wonogiri. Before the Dutch attack it had already been decided that Sudirman would be able to better control the guerrillas from eastern Java, where there were still several bases. Meanwhile, Alfiah and the children were ordered to stay in the Kraton. Aware that he was being pursued by the Dutch, on 23 December Sudirman ordered his troops to continue to Ponorogo, where they stopped at the home of Mahfuz, a kyai and Islamic religious leader; Mahfuz gave the general a cane to help him walk, although Sudirman was, and continued to be, carried on a litter. They then continued east.
Outside of Trenggalek, Sudirman and his group were stopped by TNI soldiers belonging to 102 Battalion. These soldiers, who were told that Sudirman – who was in civilian clothes and unrecognised by the troops holding them – had been taken prisoner, refused to allow the group to pass; they were suspicious as Sudirman's convoy carried maps and notes on Indonesian military movements, things which may have belonged to spies. When the group's commander, Major Zainal Fanani, came to check the situation, he realised that Sudirman was with them and apologised. Told that his men were right to guard their areas diligently, Fanani called a post in Kediri and ordered that a car be sent to pick up the general and his troops. After a time in Kediri, they continued further east; as they left the city on 24 December, Dutch planes attacked Kediri.
The constant Dutch attacks led Sudirman, perhaps at the suggestion of one of his men, to change his clothes and give his old outfit to one of his soldiers, Second Lieutenant Heru Kesser – who bore a resemblance to Sudirman. Kesser was ordered to head south with a large company of soldiers, remove the clothes, and furtively return north, while Sudirman waited in Karangnongko. The diversion was successful, and on 27 December Sudirman and his men made their way to Jambu Village. Arriving on 9 January 1949, Sudirman met with several government ministers who had not been present during the Dutch attack on Yogyakarta: Supeno, Susanto Tirtoprojo, and Susilowati. With the politicians, Sudirman made his way to Banyutuwo, ordering some of his soldiers to linger back and hold off Dutch ground troops. In Banyutuwo, they held for over a week. However, on 21 January, when Dutch forces approached the village, Sudirman and his entourage were forced to leave, fighting their way out in heavy rain.
Sudirman and his troops continued to make their way through the jungles and forests, eventually arriving at Sobo, near Mount Lawu, on 18 February. During the journey, Sudirman used a radio set to convey orders to local TNI troops if he believed that the region was secure. Feeling weaker because of the physical hardships he had faced, including travelling through the forests and a lack of food, and believing the area to be safe, Sudirman decided that Sobo would serve as his guerrilla headquarters. The local commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wiliater Hutagalung, served as his go-between with the other TNI leaders. Aware that international opinion, which was beginning to condemn Dutch actions in Indonesia, could bring Indonesia greater recognition, Sudirman and Hutagalung discussed possible terms of action, before agreeing on a large-scale assault. Meanwhile, the Dutch began to spread propaganda claiming that they had captured Sudirman; this claim was intended to break the morale of the guerrillas.
Sudirman ordered Hutagalung to begin planning a full-scale assault, in which TNI soldiers – in uniform – would attack the Dutch and show their strength in front of foreign reporters and United Nations investigative teams. Hutagalung, together with officers under his commander Colonel Bambang Sugeng and government officials under Governor Wongsonegoro, spent several days discussing ways to ensure the attack could be successful. The discussion may have resulted in the General Offensive of 1 March 1949, which saw TNI soldiers attack Dutch outposts throughout central Java. Troops under Lieutenant Colonel Suharto retook Yogyakarta for six hours before withdrawing, a successful show of force which caused the Dutch to lose face internationally; they had previously declared the TNI eradicated. However, who truly ordered the offensive remains uncertain: Suharto and Hamengkubuwana IX claimed responsibility, while Bambang Sugeng's brother reportedly overheard him ordering the assault.
Under increased pressure from the United Nations, on 7 May 1949 Dutch–Indonesian negotiations resulted in the Roem–Van Roijen Agreement, a controversial measure which guaranteed Dutch withdrawal from Yogyakarta, among other points; The Dutch withdrawal commenced in late June, and the Indonesian leadership began returning to Yogyakarta from exile in early July. Sukarno ordered Sudirman to return to Yogyakarta as well, but Sudirman refused to let the Dutch withdraw without a fight; he considered the TNI to now be strong enough to defeat the dispirited Dutch. Although he was promised medicine and support in Yogyakarta, Sudirman refused to return to the political leadership, whom he considered acquiescent to the Dutch. He only agreed to return after receiving a letter, although sources disagree on its sender. On 10 July, Sudirman and his group returned to Yogyakarta, where they were greeted by thousands of civilians and warmly received by the political elite there. The reporter Rosihan Anwar, who was present when the letter was delivered, wrote in 1973 that "Sudirman had to return to Yogyakarta to avoid any perceptions of a rift among the republic's top leaders".
## Post-war and death
In early August Sudirman approached Sukarno and asked him to continue the guerrilla war; Sudirman did not expect the Dutch to abide by the Roem-Royen Agreement, based on the failings of the previous agreements. Sukarno disagreed, which was a blow to Sudirman. When Sudirman threatened to resign his post, blaming the government's inconsistency for his tuberculosis and Oerip's death in November 1948, Sukarno threatened to do so as well. As he thought that such a resignation would have a destabilising effect, Sudirman stayed his hand, and a Java-wide cease fire came into effect on 11 August 1949.
Continuing to suffer from tuberculosis, Sudirman was checked into Panti Rapih hospital, where he stayed until October, when he was transferred to a sanatorium in nearby Pakem. As a result of his illness, Sudirman made few public appearances. Sudirman was transferred to a home in Magelang in December. In the meantime, the Indonesian and Dutch governments held a several-month-long conference which resulted in Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty on 27 December 1949. Sudirman, despite his illness, was reconfirmed that day as commander-in-chief of the TNI, now serving the newly established Republic of the United States of Indonesia. On 28 December, Jakarta once again became the nation's capital.
Sudirman died in Magelang at 18:30 on 29 January 1950; this was reported in a special broadcast over RRI. Upon receiving news of his death, the Sudirman family home received numerous visitors, including the entirety of the 9th Brigade, which was stationed nearby. The following morning Sudirman's body was brought to Yogyakarta. As the funeral convoy passed, led by four tanks and consisting of eighty motor vehicles, thousands of mourners stood at the sides of the streets. The convoy was organised by members of the 9th Brigade.
The viewing, held at the Great Mosque of Yogyakarta in the afternoon, was attended by numerous political and military elite from both Indonesia and foreign countries; this included Prime Minister Abdul Halim, Minister of Defence Hamengkubuwana IX, Minister of Health Johannes Leimena, Minister of Justice Abdoel Gaffar Pringgodigdo, Minister of Information Arnold Mononutu, Chief of the Air Force Soerjadi Soerjadarma, Colonel Paku Alam VIII, and Suharto. The viewing was closed with a 24-gun salute. Sudirman's body was brought to Semaki Heroes' Cemetery on foot, with a crowd of mourners 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long trailing behind. He was interred next to Oerip, after another gun salute. His wife filled in the first scoop of dirt, followed by the government ministers. The national government ordered flags to be flown at half-mast throughout the country, and Sudirman was promoted to full general. Major-General Tahi Bonar Simatupang was selected as the new leader of the armed forces. Sudirman's memoirs were published later that year; a series of his speeches were also published in 1970.
## Legacy
An obituary in the Yogyakarta-based daily Kedaulatan Rakjat wrote that Indonesia had lost a "brave and true hero". Colonel Paku Alam VIII, in charge of the Yogyakarta area, told the national news agency Antara that all Indonesians, especially the armed forces, had "lost a father figure who did uncountable deeds for his country". The Indonesian Muslim leader Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, writing soon after Sudirman's death, described the general as a "symbol of the strength of spirit shown by Indonesian heroes," while the Muslim politician Muhammad Isa Anshary described Sudirman as a "son of the revolution, as he was born in the revolution, and raised by the revolution."[^1] In a radio speech, Hatta described Sudirman as impossible to control and hard-headed, but ultimately intent on doing what was right for the country; Hatta noted that, although Sudirman often did not like the government's position, he would generally obey his orders. However, Hamengkubuwana IX noted that KNIL trained soldiers such as Abdul Haris Nasution and Tahi Bonar Simatupang were disappointed in Sudirman because of his background and poor knowledge of military techniques.
Modern opinions in Indonesia tend to be laudatory. Sardiman, a professor of history at Yogyakarta State University, writes that Sudirman was as lively a speaker as Sukarno, who was known for his fiery speeches, and a devoted, incorruptible leader. The Indonesian historian and former Minister of Education and Culture Nugroho Notosusanto described Sudirman as "his only idol", citing the general's guerrilla period as the origin of the army's esprit de corps. The general's guerrilla campaign is emphasised in biographies of him because, during that period, the army had a greater role than the exiled political leadership; beginning in the 1970s, all military cadets had to retrace the 100-kilometre (62 mi) long route prior to graduation, a "pilgrimage" meant to instill a sense of struggle. Sudirman's grave is also a pilgrimage destination, both for the military and general public. According to Katharine McGregor of the University of Melbourne, the Indonesian military has elevated Sudirman to a saint-like status.
Sudirman received numerous awards from the national government posthumously, including the Bintang Sakti, Bintang Gerilya, Bintang Mahaputera Adipurna, Bintang Mahaputera Pratama, Bintang Republik Indonesia Adipurna, and Bintang Republik Indonesia Adipradana. On 10 December 1964 Sudirman was declared a National Hero of Indonesia by Presidential Decree 314 of 1964. Oerip was declared a National Hero by the same decree. He was posthumously promoted to General of the Army in 1997.
According to McGregor, the military increasingly used Sudirman's image as a symbol of leadership as it gained more political power. An image of Sudirman was featured on every denomination of the 1968 series of rupiah. He featured as a major character in several war films, including Janur Kuning (Yellow Coconut Leaf; 1979) and Serangan Fajar (Dawn Attack''; 1982).
Numerous museums have been dedicated to Sudirman. His childhood home in Purbalingga is now the Sudirman Museum, while his official home in Yogyakarta is now the Sasmitaloka Museum to General Sudirman. The house in Magelang where he died is also now the Sudirman Museum, established on 18 May 1967 and containing artefacts belonging to the general. Other museums, including the Monument Yogya Kembali in Yogyakarta and the Satriamandala Museum in Jakarta have rooms dedicated to him. Numerous streets are named after Sudirman, including a major street in Jakarta; McGregor states that nearly every city in the country has a General Sudirman Street. Statues and monuments to him are spread throughout the archipelago, most of which were built after 1970. Jenderal Sudirman University in Banyumas, established in 1963, is named after him.
[^1]: Original: "Putera revolusi, karena dia lahir dalam revolusi, dan dibesarkan oleh revolusi. |
910,996 | Pepi I Meryre | 1,169,673,540 | Egyptian pharaoh, third ruler of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt in the late 24th century BC | [
"23rd-century BC Pharaohs",
"23rd-century BC deaths",
"24th-century BC Pharaohs",
"24th-century BC births",
"Pepi I Meryre",
"Pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt",
"Year of birth unknown"
]
| Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of Teti, the founder of the dynasty, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the shadowy Userkare. His mother was Iput, who may have been a daughter of Unas, the final ruler of the preceding Fifth Dynasty. Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his son Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign. Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been Pepi I's son, succeeded Merenre.
Several difficulties accumulated during Pepi's reign, beginning with the possible murder of his father and the ensuing reign of Userkare. Later, probably after his twentieth year of reign, Pepi faced a harem conspiracy hatched by one of his consorts who may have tried to have her son designated heir to the throne, and possibly another conspiracy involving his vizier at the end of his reign. Confronted with the protracted decline of pharaonic power and the emergence of dynasties of local officials, Pepi reacted with a vast architectural program involving the construction of temples dedicated to local gods and numerous chapels for his own cult throughout Egypt, reinforcing his presence in the provinces. Egypt's prosperity allowed Pepi to become the most prolific builder of the Old Kingdom. At the same time, Pepi favored the rise of small provincial centres and recruited officials of non-noble extraction to curtail the influence of powerful local families. Continuing Teti's policy, Pepi expanded a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys and from which taxes and labor could easily be collected. Finally, he buttressed his power after the harem conspiracy by forming alliances with Khui, the provincial nomarch of Abydos, marrying two of his daughters, Ankhesenpepi I and Ankhesenpepi II, and making both Khui's wife Nebet and her son Djau viziers. The Egyptian state's external policy under Pepi comprised military campaigns against Nubia, Sinai and the southern Levant, landing troops on the Levantine coast using Egyptian transport boats. Trade with Byblos, Ebla and the oases of the Western Desert flourished, while Pepi launched mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and further afield.
Pepi had a pyramid complex built for his funerary cult in Saqqara, next to which he built at least a further six pyramids for his consorts. Pepi's pyramid, which originally stood 52.5 m (172 ft) tall, and an accompanying high temple, followed the standard layout inherited from the late Fifth Dynasty. The most extensive corpus of Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom cover the walls of Pepi I's burial chamber, antechamber and much of the corridor leading to it. For the first time, these texts also appear in some of the consorts' pyramids. Excavations revealed a bundle of viscera and a mummy fragment, both presumed to belong to the pharaoh. Pepi's complex, called Pepi Mennefer, remained the focus of his funerary cult well into the Middle Kingdom and ultimately gave its name to the nearby capital of Egypt, Memphis. Pepi's cult stopped early in the Second Intermediate Period. Pepi's monuments began to be quarried for their stone in the New Kingdom, and in the Mamluk era they were almost entirely dismantled.
## Family
### Parents
Pepi was the son of the pharaoh Teti and Iput. Her parentage is directly attested to by a relief on a decree uncovered in Coptos that mentions Iput as Pepi's mother, by inscriptions in her mortuary temple mentioning her titles as mother of a king and as mother of Pepi, by the architecture of her tomb which had been changed from an original mastaba form into a pyramid on the accession of her son to the throne, and by her mention as being Pepi's mother on the Sixth Dynasty royal annals. Iput may have been a daughter of Unas, the last pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty, although this remains uncertain and debated. She seems to have died before Pepi's accession to the throne. The observation that Teti was most probably Pepi's father follows from the location of Iput's tomb, next to Teti's pyramid as was customary for a queen consort.
### Consorts
Egyptologists have identified six consorts of Pepi I with near certainty. Pepi's best-attested consorts were Ankhesenpepi I and Ankhesenpepi II, who both bore future pharaohs and were daughters of the nomarch of Abydos Khui and his wife Nebet. Further consorts are Nubwenet, Inenek-Inti, who became one of Pepi's viziers, and Mehaa (also called Haaheru). All were buried in pyramids adjacent to that of Pepi. Relief fragments from the necropolis surrounding Pepi's pyramid mention another consort, Sebwetet.
Two more consorts have been proposed for Pepi I based on partial evidence. The first is Nedjeftet, whose name is recorded on blocks excavated in the necropolis adjacent to Pepi's pyramid. The identification of Nedjeftet as Pepi's consort remains uncertain owing to the lack of inscriptions explicitly naming her husband. Given the location of Nedjeftet's blocks in the necropolis, she may be the owner of a pyramid west of Pepi's. The second is another consort, named Behenu, who was buried in the second largest queen pyramid of Pepi's necropolis, north of his. She could either be one of his consorts or a consort of Pepi II.
A final unnamed consort, only referred to by her title "Weret-Yamtes" meaning "great of affection", is known from inscriptions uncovered in the tomb of Weni, an official serving Pepi. This consort, whose name is purposefully left unmentioned by Weni, conspired against Pepi and was prosecuted when the conspiracy was discovered.
### Children
Pepi fathered at least four sons. Ankhesenpepi I probably bore him the future pharaoh Merenre Nemtyemsaf I. Ankhesenpepi II was the mother of Pepi II Neferkare, who was probably born at the very end of Pepi I's reign given he was only six upon ascending the throne after Merenre's rule. While a majority of Egyptologists favor this hypothesis, an alternative one holds that Pepi II could be a son of Merenre. Another of Pepi I's sons was Teti-ankh, meaning "Teti lives", whose mother has yet to be identified. Teti-ankh is known only from an ink inscription bearing his name discovered in Pepi's pyramid. Buried nearby is Prince Hornetjerkhet, a son of Pepi with Mehaa.
At least three of Pepi I's daughters have been tentatively identified, all future consorts of Pepi II. The first, Meritites IV, was the king's eldest daughter and was buried in the necropolis surrounding her father's pyramid. The second is Neith, whom he fathered with Ankhesenpepi I. She may have been the mother of Pepi II's successor Merenre Nemtyemsaf II. The third is Iput II, whose identity as Pepi's daughter remains uncertain because her title of "daughter of the king" may only be honorary.
## Chronology
### Relative chronology
The relative chronology of Pepi I's reign is well established by historical records, contemporary artifacts and archeological evidence, which agree he succeeded Userkare and was succeeded by Merenre I Nemtyemsaf. For example, the near-contemporary South Saqqara Stone, a royal annal inscribed during the reign of Pepi II, gives the succession "Teti → Userkare → Pepi I → Merenre I", making Pepi the third king of the Sixth Dynasty. Two more historical sources agree with this chronology: the Abydos king list, written under Seti I which places Pepi I's cartouche as the 36th entry between those of Userkare and Merenre, and the Turin canon, a list of kings on papyrus dating to the reign of Ramses II which records Pepi I in the fourth column, third row.
Historical sources against this order of succession include the Aegyptiaca (Αἰγυπτιακά), a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II (283 – 246 BC) by Manetho. No copies of the Aegyptiaca have survived, and it is now known only through later writings by Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius. According to the Byzantine scholar George Syncellus, Africanus wrote that the Aegyptiaca mentioned the succession "Othoês → Phius → Methusuphis" at the start of the Sixth Dynasty. Othoês, Phius (in Greek, φιός), and Methusuphis are understood to be the Hellenized forms for Teti, Pepi I and Merenre, respectively, meaning that the Aegyptiaca omits Userkare. Manetho's reconstruction of the early Sixth Dynasty agrees with the Karnak king list written under Thutmosis III. This list places Pepi's birth name immediately after that of Teti in the seventh entry of the second row. Unlike other sources such as the Turin canon, the purpose of the Karnak king list was not to be exhaustive, but rather to list a selection of royal ancestors to be honoured. Similarly the Saqqara Tablet, written under Ramses II, omits Userkare, with Pepi's name given as the 25th entry after that of Teti.
### Length of reign
The length of Pepi I's reign remains somewhat uncertain, although as of 2021, the consensus is that he ruled over Egypt for over 40 years, possibly 49 or 50 years and possibly longer.
During the Old Kingdom period, the Egyptians counted years from the beginning of the reign of the current king. These years were referred to by the number of cattle counts which had taken place since the reign's start. The cattle count was an important event aimed at evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied on the population. This involved counting cattle, oxen and small livestock. During the early Sixth Dynasty, this count was probably biennial, occurring every two years.
The South Saqqara Stone and an inscription in Hatnub both record the 25th cattle count under Pepi I, his highest known date. Accepting a biennial count, this indicates that Pepi reigned for 49 years. That a 50th year of reign could have also been recorded on the royal annal cannot be discounted, however, because of the damaged state of the South Saqqara Stone. Another historical source supporting such a long reign is Africanus' epitome of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, which credits Pepi I with a reign of 53 years.
Archaeological evidence in favor of a long reign for Pepi I includes his numerous building projects and many surviving objects made in celebration of his first Sed festival, which was meant to rejuvenate the king and was first celebrated on the 30th year of a king's rule. For example, numerous alabaster ointment vessels celebrating Pepi's first Sed festival have been discovered. They bear a standard inscriptions reading, "The king of Upper and Lower Egypt Meryre, may he be given life for ever. The first occasion of the Sed festival." Examples can now be found in museums throughout the world:
The Sed festival had a considerable importance for Old Kingdom kings. Representations of it were part of the typical decoration of temples associated with the ruler during the Old Kingdom, whether the king had actually celebrated it or not. As further evidence of the importance of this event in Pepi's case, the state administration seems to have had a tendency to mention his first jubilee repeatedly in the years following its celebration until the end of his rule in connection with building activities. For example, Pepi's final 25th cattle count reported on the Sixth Dynasty royal annals is associated with his first Sed festival even though it probably had taken place some 19 years prior.
## Politics
### Ascending the throne
Pepi's accession to the throne may have occurred in times of discord. Manetho, writing nearly 2000 years after Pepi's reign, claims that Pepi's father Teti was assassinated by his own bodyguards. The Egyptologist Naguib Kanawati has argued in support of Manetho's claim, noting for example that Teti's reign saw a significant increase in the number of guards at the Egyptian court, who became responsible for the everyday care of the king. At the same time, the figures and names of several contemporary palace officials as represented in their tombs have been erased purposefully. This seems to be an attempt at a damnatio memoriae targeting three men in particular: the vizier Hezi, the overseer of weapons Mereri and chief physician Seankhuiptah. These men could therefore be behind the regicide.
Pepi may have been too young to be king. In any case, he did not immediately succeed his father. King Userkare succeeded him instead, but Userkare's identity and relationship to the royal family remain uncertain. It is possible Userkare served only as a regent with Pepi's mother Iput as Pepi reached adulthood, occupying the throne in the interregnum until Pepi's coming of age. The apparent lack of resistance to Pepi's eventual accession supports such hypotheses.
Against this view, however, Kanawati has argued that Userkare's short reign—lasting perhaps only one year—cannot be a regency as a regent would not have assumed a full royal titulary as Userkare did, nor would he be included in king lists. Rather, Userkare could have been an usurper and a descendant of a lateral branch of the Fifth Dynasty royal family who seized power briefly in a coup, possibly with the support of the priesthood of the sun god Ra. This hypothesis finds indirect evidence in Userkare's theophoric name which incorporates the name of Ra, a naming fashion common during the preceding Fifth Dynasty that had fallen out of use since Unas's reign. Further archeological evidence of Userkare's illegitimacy in the eyes of his successor is the absence of any mention of him in the tombs and biographies of the many Egyptian officials who served under both Teti and Pepi I. For example, the viziers Inumin and Khentika, who served both Teti and Pepi I, are completely silent about Userkare and none of their activities during his time on the throne are reported in their tomb. The tomb of Mehi, a guard who lived under Teti, Userkare and Pepi, yielded an inscription showing that the name of Teti was first erased to be replaced by that of another king, whose name was itself erased and replaced again by that of Teti. Kanawati argues the intervening name was that of Userkare to whom Mehi may have transferred his allegiance. Mehi's attempt to switch back to Teti was seemingly unsuccessful, as there is evidence that work on his tomb stopped abruptly and that he was never buried there.
For the Egyptologist Miroslav Bárta (cs), further troubles might have arisen directly between Pepi and relatives of his father Teti. Bárta and Baud point to Pepi's apparent decision to dismantle the funerary complex of his paternal grandmother Sesheshet, as witnessed by blocks from this queen's complex which were found reused as construction material in Pepi's own mortuary temple. On the other hand, Wilfried Seipel disagrees with this interpretation of the blocks being reused by Pepi, instead, he thinks the blocks bear witness to Pepi's foundation of a pious memorial to his grandmother. At the same time as he apparently distanced himself from his father's line, Pepi transformed his mother's tomb into a pyramid and posthumously bestowed a new title on her, "Daughter of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt", thereby emphasising his royal lineage as a descendant of Unas, last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty.
Pepi chose the Horus name of Mery-tawy, meaning "He who is loved by the two lands" or "Beloved of the Two Lands", which Nicolas Grimal sees as a clear indication that he desired political appeasement in times of troubles. Similarly, Pepi chose the throne name Nefersahor, meaning "Perfect is the protection of Horus". Bárta adds that Pepi's writing of his own name "Mery-tawy" is also highly unusual: he chose to invert the order of the hieroglyphic signs composing it, placing the sign for "Beloved" before that for "Two Lands". For Bárta and Yannis Gourdon, this deliberate choice shows Pepi's deference to the powerful nobility of the country, on which he was dependent. Although there seems to be no direct relation between Userkare's brief reign and one or more later conspiracies against him, this evidence suggests some form of political instability at the time.
### Provincial administration
In a long trend that began earlier in the Fifth Dynasty, the Old Kingdom Egyptian state was the subject of increasing decentralisation and regionalisation. Provincial families played an increasingly important role, marrying into the royal family, accessing the highest offices of the state administration and having a strong influence at the court, while also consolidating their hold over regional power bases by creating local dynasties. These processes, well under way during Pepi I's reign, progressively weakened the king's primacy and ascendancy over his own administration and would ultimately result in the princedoms of the First Intermediate Period. Teti and Pepi I seem to have developed several policies to counteract this. They both changed the organisation of the territorial administration during their reigns: many provincial governors were nominated, especially in Upper Egypt, while Lower Egypt was possibly under direct royal administration. In addition, Pepi instigated the construction of royal Ka-chapels throughout Egypt to strengthen the royal presence in the provinces. These expensive policies suggest Egypt was prosperous during Pepi's reign. Small provincial centres in areas historically associated with the crown became more important, suggesting that pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty tried to diminish the power of regional dynasties by recruiting senior officials who did not belong to them and were loyal to the pharaoh. Some of these new officials have no known background, indicating they were not of noble extraction. The circulation of high officials, who were moved from key positions of power to other duties, occurred at an "astonishing" pace under Teti and Pepi I according to the Egyptologist Juan Carlos Moreno García, in what might have been a deliberate attempt to curtail the concentration of power in the hands of a few officials.
The Sixth Dynasty royal annals, only a small part of which are still legible, record further activities during Pepi's reign, including the offering of milk and young cows for a feast of Ra, the building of a "south chapel" on the occasion of the new year and the arrival of messengers at court. Further offerings of lapis-lazuli, cattle, bread and beer are mentioned, for gods including Horus and the Ennead.
### Conspiracy
At some point in his reign, Pepi faced a conspiracy hatched by one of his harem consorts, only known by her title "Weret-Yamtes". Although Weni, who served as a judge during the subsequent trial, does not report the precise nature of her crime, this at least shows that the person of the king was not untouchable. If the conspiracy happened early in Pepi's reign as proposed by Wilfried Seipel and Vivienne Callender, the queen concerned could have been Userkare's mother and Teti's consort rather than Pepi's. Most scholars, however, agree with Hans Goedicke's thesis that the conspiracy occurred after more than two decades into Pepi's reign. For Goedicke, the queen could have been Merenre's mother. Nicolas Grimal and Baud see this as highly unlikely and outright outlandish respectively, as this queen's son would have been punished along with her. Rather, the queen might have attempted unsuccessfully to secure the throne for her son, whose name is now lost.
Perhaps in response to these events, Pepi changed his prenomen Nefersahor to Meryre, meaning "Beloved of Ra", even updating the inscriptions inside his pyramid. This late change with Pepi incorporating the sun god Ra's name into his own may reflect some agreement with the influential priesthood of Ra. Around this time, Pepi married two daughters of Khui, the provincial governor of Abydos. This may also have served to counteract the weakening of the king's authority over Middle and Upper Egypt by securing the allegiance of a powerful family. For Baud and Christopher Eyre, this also demonstrates that at the time of the Sixth Dynasty, government and power was still largely determined by family relationships rather than by bureaucracy.
The political importance of these marriages is furthered by the fact that for the first and last time until the 26th Dynasty some 1800 years later, a woman, Khui's wife Nebet, bore the title of vizier of Upper Egypt. Egyptologists debate whether this title was purely honorific or whether she really assumed the duties of a vizier. Later, Khui's and Nebet's son Djau was made vizier as well. Pepi's marriages might be at the origin of a trend which continued during the later Sixth and Eighth Dynasties, in which the temple of Min in Coptos—Khui's seat of power—was the focus of much royal patronage. The Coptos Decrees, which record successive pharaohs granting tax exemptions to the temple, as well as official honours bestowed by the kings on the local ruling family while the Old Kingdom society was collapsing, manifest this.
### End of reign: coregency
The end of Pepi's rule may have been no less troubled than his early reign, as Kanawati conjectures that Pepi faced yet another conspiracy against him, in which his vizier Rawer may have been involved. To support his theory, Kanawati observes that Rawer's image in his tomb has been desecrated, with his name, hands and feet chiselled off, while this same tomb is dated to the second half of Pepi's reign on stylistic grounds. Kanawati further posits that the conspiracy may have aimed at having someone else designated heir to the throne at the expense of Merenre. Because of this failed conspiracy, Pepi I may have taken the drastic step of crowning Merenre during his own reign, thereby creating the earliest documented coregency in the history of Egypt. That such a coregency took place was first proposed by Étienne Drioton. A gold pendant bearing the names of both Pepi I and Merenre I as living kings, and the copper statues of Hierakonpolis, discussed below, indirectly support this. Goedicke has suggested further that an inscription mentioning King Merenre's tenth year of reign in Hatnub, contradicting Manetho's figure of seven years, is evidence that Merenre dated the start of his reign before the end of his father's reign, as a coregency would permit.
The coregency remains uncertain. The Sixth Dynasty Royal annals bear no trace either for or against it, but the shape and size of the stone on which the annals are inscribed makes it more probable that Merenre did not start to count his years of reign until soon after the death of his father. Furthermore, William J. Murnane writes that the gold pendant's context is unknown, making its significance regarding the coregency difficult to appraise. The copper statues are similarly inconclusive as the identity of the smaller one, and whether they originally formed a group, remains uncertain.
### Military campaigns
Militarily, aggressive expansion into Nubia marked Pepi I's reign. The walls of the tombs of the contemporary nomarchs of Elephantine, alabaster vessels bearing Pepi's cartouche found in Kerma and inscriptions in Tumas report this. The Sixth Dynasty royal annals also recount at least one campaign into Nubia. Although the campaign narrative is now largely illegible, according to the Egyptologists Baud and Dobrev, it comprised three phases: first, messengers were sent to Nubia for negotiation and surveillance purposes; then the military campaign took place and finally a booty of men and goods was brought back to Egypt for presentation to the pharaoh.
To the north-east of Egypt, Pepi launched at least five military expeditions against the "sand dwellers" of Sinai and southern Canaan. These campaigns are recounted on the walls of the tomb of Weni, then officially a palace superintendent but given tasks befitting a general. Weni states that he ordered nomarchs in Upper Egypt and the Nile Delta region to "call up the levies of their own subordinates, and these in turn summoned their subordinates down through every level of the local administration". Meanwhile, Nubian mercenaries were also recruited and endowed with the power to enroll men and seize goods, so that in total tens of thousands of men were at Weni's disposal. This is the only text relating the raising of an Egyptian army during the Old Kingdom, and it indirectly reveals the absence of a permanent, standing army at the time. The goal of this army was either to repulse rebelling Semitic people or to seize their properties and conquer their land in southern Canaan, an action possibly motivated by the intense commercial activities between Egypt and this region. The Egyptians campaigned up to what was probably Mount Carmel or Ras Kouroun, landing troops on the coast using transport boats. Weni reports that walled towns were destroyed, fig trees and grape vines were cut down, and local shrines were burned.
## Economy
The reign of Pepi I marks the apogee of the Sixth Dynasty foreign policy, with flourishing trade, several mining and quarrying expeditions and major military campaigns.
### Foreign trade and mining
Trade with settlements along the Levantine coast, which had existed during the Fifth Dynasty, seems to have peaked under Pepi I and Pepi II. Their chief trade partner there might have been Byblos, where dozens of inscriptions on stone vessels showing Pepi's cartouches have been found, and a large alabaster vessel bearing Pepi's titulary and commemorating his jubilee from the Temple of Baalat Gebal. The high official, Iny, served Pepi during several successful expeditions to Byblos for which the king rewarded him with the name "Inydjefaw", meaning, "He who brings back provisions". Through Byblos, Egypt, had indirect contacts with the city of Ebla in modern-day Syria. The contact with Ebla is established by alabaster vessels bearing Pepi's name found near its royal palace G, destroyed in the 23rd century BC, possibly by the Akkadian Empire under Sargon. Trading parties departed Egypt for the Levant from a Nile Delta port called Ra-Hat, "the first mouth [of the Nile]". This trade benefited the nearby city of Mendes, from which one of Pepi's viziers probably originated. Further contacts with Canaan may be inferred from a statue of Pepi, which is said to have been unearthed in Gezer but has since been lost.
Expeditions and mining activities that were already taking place in the Fifth and early Sixth Dynasty continued unabated. These include at least one expedition of workmen and their military escort to the mines of turquoise and copper in Wadi Maghareh, Sinai, around Pepi's 36th year on the throne. In all likelihood, this expedition departed Egypt from the Red Sea coast port of Ayn Soukhna, which was active during Pepi's reign. The same port may also have been the origin of an expedition to the southern Red Sea, possibly to Punt, as witnessed by Ethiopian obsidian discovered on the site. There were also one or more expeditions to Hatnub, where alabaster was extracted at least once in Pepi's 49th year of reign, as well as visits to the Gebel el-Silsila and Sehel Island. A trading expedition fetching lapis-lazuli and lead or tin may also have passed further south through Mirgissa. Greywacke and siltstone for building projects originated from quarries of the Wadi Hammamat, where some eighty graffiti mention Pepi I. At the same time, an extensive network of caravan routes traversed Egypt's Western Desert, for example, from Abydos to the Kharga Oasis and from there to the Dakhla and Selima Oases.
### Domestic policies
Agricultural estates affiliated with the crown in the provinces during the preceding dynasty were replaced by novel administrative entities, the ḥwt, which were agricultural centres controlling tracts of land, livestock and workers. Together with temples and royal domains, these numerous ḥwt represented a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys and from which taxes and labor could easily be collected. This territorial mode of organisation disappeared nearly 300 years after Pepi I's reign, at the dawn of the Middle Kingdom period.
Pepi decreed tax-exemptions to various institutions. He gave an exemption to a chapel dedicated to the cult of his mother located in Coptos. Another decree has survived on a stele discovered near the Bent Pyramid in Dashur, whereby in his 21st year of reign, Pepi grants exemptions to the people serving in the two pyramids towns of Sneferu:
> My majesty has commanded that these two pyramid towns be exempt for him throughout the course of eternity from doing any work of the palace, from doing any forced labor for any part of the royal residence throughout the course of eternity, or from doing any forced labor at the word of anybody in the course of eternity.
The Egyptologist David Warburton sees such perpetual tax exemptions as capitulations by a king confronted with rampant corruption. Whether they were the result of religious or political motives, exemptions created precedents that encouraged other institutions to request similar treatment, weakening the power of the state as they accumulated over time.
Further domestic activities related to agriculture and the economy may be inferred from the inscriptions found in the tomb of Nekhebu, a high official belonging to the family of Senedjemib Inti, a vizier during the late Fifth Dynasty. Nekhebu reports overseeing the excavations of canals in Lower Egypt and at Cusae in Middle Egypt.
## Building activities
Pepi I built extensively throughout Egypt, so much so that in 1900 the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie stated "this king has left more monuments, large and small, than any other ruler before the Twelfth Dynasty". The Egyptologist Jean Leclant reached a similar conclusion in 1999. He sees Pepi's rule as marking the apogee of the Old Kingdom owing to the flurry of building activities, administrative reforms, trade and military campaigns at the time. Pepi devoted most of his building efforts to local cults and royal Ka-chapels, seemingly with the objective of affirming the king's stature and presence in the provinces.
### Ka-chapels
Ka-chapels were small cult buildings comprising one or more chambers to hold offerings dedicated to the cult of the Ka of a deceased or, in this case, the king. Such chapels dedicated to Pepi I were uncovered or are known from contemporary sources to have stood in Hierakonpolis, in Abydos, and in the central Nile Delta region, in Memphis, Zawyet el-Meytin, Assiut, Qus and beyond the Nile Valley in Balat, a settlement of the Dakhla Oasis. In addition, two chapels were built in Bubastis and probably more than one stood in Dendera. Finally, yet another chapel is believed to have existed in Elkab, where rock inscriptions refer to his funerary cult. All these buildings were probably peripheral to or inside larger temples hosting extensive cult activities. For example, the chapel at Abydos was next to the temple of Khenti-Amentiu. For the Egyptologist Juan Moreno García, this proximity demonstrates the direct power that the king still held over the temples' economic activities and internal affairs during the Sixth Dynasty.
In an underground store beneath the floor of Hierakonpolis' Ka-chapel of Pepi, the Egyptologist James Quibell uncovered a statue of King Khasekhemwy of the Second Dynasty, a terracotta lion cub made during the Thinite era, a golden mask representing Horus and two copper statues. Originally fashioned by hammering plates of copper over a wooden base, these statues had been disassembled, placed inside one another and then sealed with a thin layer of engraved copper bearing the titles and names of Pepi I "on the first day of the Heb Sed" feast. The two statues were symbolically "trampling underfoot the Nine bows"—the enemies of Egypt—a stylized representation of Egypt's conquered foreign subjects. While the identity of the larger adult figure as Pepi I is revealed by the inscription, the identity of the smaller statue showing a younger person remains unresolved. The most common hypothesis among Egyptologists is that the young man shown is Merenre. As Alessandro Bongioanni and Maria Croce write: "[Merenre] was publicly associated as his father's successor on the occasion of the Jubilee [the Heb Sed feast]. The placement of his copper effigy inside that of his father would therefore reflect the continuity of the royal succession and the passage of the royal sceptre from father to son before the death of the pharaoh could cause a dynastic split." Alternatively, Bongioanni and Croce have also proposed the smaller statue may represent "a more youthful Pepy I, reinvigorated by the celebration of the Jubilee ceremonies".
### Temples
The close association between Ka-chapels and temples to deities might have spurred building activities for the latter. For example, the Bubastis ensemble of Pepi I comprised a 95 m × 60 m (312 ft × 197 ft) enclosure wall with a small rectangular Ka-chapel housing eight pillars near its north corner. This ensemble was peripheral to the main Old Kingdom temple dedicated to the goddess Bastet. In Dendera, where a fragmentary statue of a seated Pepi I has been uncovered, Pepi restored the temple complex to the goddess Hathor. He seems particularly to have desired to be associated with her, using the epithet "son of Hathor of Dendera" on numerous vessels found throughout Egypt and abroad. In Abydos, he built a small rock cut chapel dedicated to the local god Khenti-Amentiu, where he is again referred to as "Pepi, son of Hathor of Dendera". Pepi also referred to himself as the son of Atum of Heliopolis, direct evidence for the strengthening of the Heliopolitan cults at the time.
At the southern border of Egypt, in Elephantine, several faience plaques bearing Pepi's cartouche have been uncovered in the temple of Satet. These may suggest royal interest in the local cult. An alabaster statue of an ape with its offspring bearing Pepi I's cartouche was uncovered in the same location, but it was probably a gift of the king to a high official who then dedicated it to Satet. In this temple, Pepi built a red granite naos, destined either to house the goddess's statue, or a statue of Pepi I himself, which would mean the naos was yet another Ka-chapel. Pepi I's cartouche and the epithet "beloved of Satet" is inscribed on the naos, which stands 1.32 m (4.3 ft) high. Pepi seems to have undertaken wider works in the temple, possibly reorganising its layout by adding walls and an altar. In this context, the faience tablets bearing his cartouche may be foundation offerings made at the start of the works, although this has been contested. For the Egyptologist David Warburton, the reigns of Pepi I and II mark the first period during which small stone temples dedicated to local deities were built in Egypt.
### Pyramid complex
Pepi I had a pyramid complex built for himself in South Saqqara, which he named Men-nefer-Pepi variously translated as "Pepi's splendour is enduring", "The perfection of Pepi is established", "The beauty of Pepi endures", or "The perfection of Pepi endures". The shortened name Mennefer for the pyramid complex progressively became the name of the nearby capital of Egypt—which had originally been called Ineb-hedj. In particular, the Egyptian Mennefer ultimately gave Memphis in Greek, a name which is still in use for this ancient city. Pepi I's mortuary complex is neighboured on its south-west corner by a necropolis built during his own reign and the reigns of Merenre and Pepi II. The necropolis housed the pyramids of Pepi I's consorts and their dedicated funerary temples.
#### Main pyramid
Pepi's main pyramid was constructed in the same fashion as royal pyramids since the reign of Djedkare Isesi some 80 years earlier: a core built six steps high from small roughly dressed blocks of limestone bound together using clay mortar encased with fine limestone blocks. The pyramid, now destroyed, had a base length of 78.75 m (258 ft; 150 cu) converging to the apex at \~ 53° and once stood 52.5 m (172 ft; 100 cu) tall. Its remains now form a meager mound of 12 m (39 ft; 23 cu), containing a pit in its centre dug by stone thieves.
The substructure of the pyramid was accessed from the north chapel which has since disappeared. From the entrance, a descending corridor gives way to a vestibule leading into the horizontal passage. Halfway along the passage, three granite portcullises guard the chambers. As in preceding pyramids, the substructure contains three chambers: an antechamber on the pyramids vertical axis, a serdab with three recesses to its east, and a burial chamber containing the king's sarcophagus to the west. Extraordinarily, the pink granite canopic chest that is sunk into the floor at the foot of the sarcophagus has remained undisturbed. Discovered alongside it was a bundle of viscera presumed to belong to the pharaoh. The provenance of a mummy fragment and fine linen wrappings discovered in the burial chamber are unknown, but they are hypothesized to belong to Pepi I.
The walls of Pepi I's antechamber, burial chamber, and much of the corridor are covered with vertical columns of inscribed hieroglyphic text. The hieroglyphs are painted green with ground malachite and gum arabic, a colour symbolising renewal. His sarcophagus is also inscribed on its east side with the king's titles and names, as part of a larger set of spells that includes texts at the bottom of the north and south walls opposite the sarcophagus, and in a line running across the top of the north, west, and south walls of the chamber. The writing comprises 2,263 columns and lines of text from 651 spells, of which 82 are unique to Pepi's pyramid. This is the most extensive corpus of Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom. The tradition of inscribing texts inside the pyramid was begun by Unas at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, but originally discovered in Pepi I's pyramid in 1880. Their function, like that of all funerary literature, was to enable the reunion of the ruler's ba and Ka, leading to the transformation into an akh, and to secure eternal life among the gods in the sky.
#### Mortuary temple
Pepi's pyramid was part of a wider funerary complex comprising a small cult pyramid and mortuary temple surrounded by an enclosure wall. The purpose of the cult pyramid remains unclear. While it had a burial chamber, it was never used as such and must have been a purely symbolic structure. It may have hosted the pharaoh's Ka, or a miniature statue of the king, and could have been used for ritual performances centring around the burial and resurrection of the Ka spirit during the Sed festival. Excavations of the small cult pyramid yielded statue fragments, pieces of stelae and offering tables which indicate the continuation of Pepi's funerary cult into the Middle Kingdom.
A valley temple by the Nile and a causeway leading from this temple up to the pyramid on the desert plateau completed the overall construction. The high temple, next to the pyramid, was laid out according to a standard plan, making it nearly the same as the temples of Djedkare Isesi, Unas, and Teti. The temple had an entrance hall some 6.29 m (20.6 ft) high, now almost completely destroyed, leading into an open columned courtyard. Storage rooms to the north and south flanked the hall. The inner temple contained a chapel with five statue niches, an offering hall and other core chambers. Either the mortuary temple or the causeway might have been lined with statues of kneeling bound captives representing Egypt's traditional enemies. Both the temple and the causeway are now heavily damaged due the activity of lime makers, who extracted and burned the construction stones to turn them into mortar and whitewash in later times. In particular, the original location of the statues remains uncertain as they had been displaced, ready to be thrown into a lime furnace.
### Necropolis of Pepi I
Pepi's mortuary complex was the centre of a wider necropolis which comprised the tombs of the royal family and further afield those of the high officials of the state administration including a tomb for Weni. Pepi had pyramids built for his consorts to the south and south-west of his pyramid. These were all located outside the complex' enclosure wall but inside an area delimited by a street to the west. Three of the main queens' pyramids were built in a row on an east–west axis, each with a base side dimension of about 20 m (66 ft). The Ancient Egyptians referred to the owners of these pyramids as the "Queen of the East", "Queen of the Centre" and "Queen of the West".
#### Pyramid of Nebwenet
The pyramid of the queen of the east belonged to Nebwenet, whose name, image and titles are preserved on a fallen jamb uncovered in the attached mortuary temple. The pyramid had a base of 26.2 m (86 ft), making it similar in size to the other pyramids of the necropolis. On its northern face was a small mudbrick chapel, which hosted a limestone altar, now broken. The pyramid's substructures were accessed from a descending passageway leading first to an antechamber and, from there, to the burial chamber slightly to the south of the pyramid's apex. This chamber yielded fragments of pink granite sarcophagus and pieces of inscribed alabaster. To the east was a serdab and the scant remnants of funerary equipment.
#### Pyramid of Inenek-Inti
Immediately west of the pyramid of the queen of the east was the pyramid of the queen of the centre, Inenek-Inti. The name, image and titles of this queen are inscribed on jambs and two 2.2 m (7.2 ft) high red-painted obelisks on either side of the gateway to the mortuary temple, establishing that Inenek-Inti was buried there. With a base of 22.53 m (73.9 ft), the pyramid size and layout is similar to that of Nebwenet, except that the burial chamber is located precisely beneath the pyramid apex. Fragments of a greywacke sarcophagus and pieces of stone vessels were uncovered there. Unlike Ankhesenpepi II's burial chamber, that of Inenek-Inti had no inscriptions on its walls. Inenek's mortuary temple was much larger than Nebwenet's, surrounding her pyramid on its eastern, northern and southern sides. Inenek's complex also comprised a small cult pyramid, 6.3 m (21 ft) at the base, on the south-east corner of the mortuary temple.
#### Queen of the West
West of Inenek's pyramid is that of the queen of the west. The identity of this pyramid's owner is preserved on an obelisk in front of her pyramid only as "the eldest daughter of the king". The pyramid had a base length of around 20 m (66 ft), similar to those of Inenek and Nebwenet, and now stands 3 m (9.8 ft) tall. Entry into the substructure is gained on the north face. The burial chamber is located under the vertical axis of the pyramid. The location of the serdab is unusual, being to the south of the burial chamber instead of east. Substantial remains of funerary equipment were found inside including wooden weights, ostrich feathers, copper fish hooks, and fired-clay vessels, but none bore their owner's name. It has a hastily built mortuary temple, with an offering hall and a room with two statue niches. Relief fragments discovered depict scenes of processions and estates, along with an incomplete cartouche of Pepi I's name.
#### Pyramid of Ankhesenpepi II
The pyramid of Ankhesenpepi II occupies the south-western extremity of the necropolis of Pepi I. With a base of 31.4 m (103 ft), the pyramid once reached 30 m (98 ft) high, making it the largest of the queens' pyramids. The funerary complex of Ankhesenpepi II was also the largest in the necropolis except for that of Pepi himself, covering an area of 3,500 m<sup>2</sup> (38,000 sq ft). It comprised a mortuary temple to the north of the pyramid and 20 storage rooms for offerings. The queen's funerary complex had a monumental entrance with a granite frame, its lintel bearing the queen's name and titles being more than 3.6 m (12 ft) wide and weighing over 17 tons. A small chapel stood on the pyramid northern face, at the entrance of the substructures. Painted reliefs of which only scant remains have been found including a small scene depicting the queen and a princess on a boat among papyrus plants, adorned the accompanying funerary temple. The burial chamber walls were inscribed with spells from the pyramid texts, a privilege that had been the preserve of kings. Fragments from a black basalt sarcophagus were uncovered onsite.
#### Pyramid of Behenu
With a base of 26.2 m (86 ft), Queen Behenu's pyramid was of similar size and layout to the other queens' pyramids of the necropolis. Located on the western end of the necropolis, immediately north-west of Mehaa's tomb on which it intrudes, Behenu's mortuary temple was on the pyramid's southern face with a cult pyramid on its south-east corner. The entrance of the temple, flanked with two granite obelisks, led to several rooms, which once housed statues and offering altars, while a further 10 rooms served for storage. The burial chamber measured 6.24 m × 2.88 m (20.5 ft × 9.4 ft), and its walls were inscribed with numerous spells of the pyramid texts. The head of a wooden statue of the queen as well as her opened basalt sarcophagus were unearthed there.
#### Pyramid of Mehaa
Pepi's consort Mehaa was buried in a pyramid on the south-west corner of Pepi's enclosure wall. Directly adjacent to Mehaa's pyramid's eastern face was her mortuary temple, where a relief bearing the name and image of Prince Hornetjerykhet, her son, was uncovered. Mehaa's pyramid is intruded upon by the pyramid of Behenu, establishing that Mehaa was a consort of Pepi I early in his reign while Behenu lived in the later part of his rule.
## Legacy
### Old Kingdom
Pepi I was the object of a funerary cult after his death. For the remainder of the Old Kingdom period, the funerary cult of Pepi had active priests even outside of his Saqqara mortuary complex, for example inscriptions in Elkab attest to the presence of priests of his cult officiating in or in the vicinity of the local temple of Nekhbet. The ritual activities taking place in his main funerary complex continued up until the Middle Kingdom. This means that Pepi's cult continued to be celebrated during the First Intermediate Period, a period during which the Egyptian state seems to have collapsed, with only brief interruptions of the cultic activities at times of important political instability.
As members of the royal family and high officials had continued to be buried in the necropolis next to Pepi's pyramid during the reigns of Merenre and Pepi II, including Ankhesenpepi II and III and Pepi's daughter Meritites, Pepi's necropolis had grown and had attracted burials from the highest officials such as vizier Weni. Starting with the reign of Pepi II, the necropolis also attracted burials from private individuals as well as popular devotion to him and his consorts. The deposit of numerous offering tables throughout the site confirms this.
### Middle Kingdom
The conquest of Egypt under Mentuhotep II seems to have interrupted all activities in the necropolis. These resumed towards the end of the Eleventh Dynasty, when the state-sponsored funerary cult of Pepi was renewed, albeit in a more limited form than earlier. At this time, private cultic activities seem to cease in the wider necropolis of Pepi, rather concentrating in Pepi's own mortuary temple, mainly around his statues, then accessible to important officials participating in the pharaoh's cult. Meanwhile, the abandonment of certain parts of the mortuary temple and the queens' necropolis led to the installation of novel tombs. The most prominent of these was that of the high official Reheryshefnakht, who had a small pyramid complex built for himself in the midst of the tombs of the Sixth Dynasty royal family. The royal cult of Pepi I seems to have ended with the onset of the Second Intermediate Period.
### New Kingdom
The New Kingdom period witnessed renewed private burials in the necropolis of Pepi, including in several rooms of his mortuary temple which were used as a catacomb at the time, although no such tomb was found in the main room hosting the royal funerary cult, suggesting continued use. The individuals buried in the necropolis belonged to the lower ranks of Egyptian society, as shown by the simplicity, if not the absence, of funerary equipment, while those using the catacombs were richer.
The consequences of the long-lasting cults of Old Kingdom pharaohs during the New Kingdom are apparent in the Karnak king list. It was composed during the reign of Thutmosis III to honour a selection of royal ancestors. Several pharaohs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty including Nyuserre Ini, Djedkare Isesi, Teti and Pepi I are mentioned on the list by their birth name, rather than throne name. The Egyptologist Antonio Morales believes this is because the popular cults for these kings, which existed well into the New Kingdom, referred to these kings using their birth name.
Later, during the reign of Ramses II, limited restoration works on the Old Kingdom monuments took place in the Memphite area under the direction of Prince Khaemweset. Pepi's pyramid complex was among those restored, as shown by inscriptions left on-site by Khaemweset, even though it was actively being used for private burials. Pepi I's necropolis was, therefore, probably in a ruined state at this point, with the area with the queens' pyramids serving as a stone quarry. Khaemweset stated he had found the pyramid "abandoned" and "recalled his proprietor for posterity". The progressive accumulation of burials in the passages leading up to the temple cult rooms blocked all access to it, demonstrating that Pepi's funerary cult had ceased.
### Late Period
The stone quarrying activities, which were limited to Pepi's necropolis during the New Kingdom and had spared his mortuary temple, became widespread during the Late Period of Egypt, with intermittent burials continuing nonetheless. Both the stone robbing and funerary activities stopped at some point during the period, and the necropolis was abandoned until the Mamluk period when intense stone quarrying resumed. |
56,001,795 | Tomb of Philippe Pot | 1,152,317,560 | Sculpted tomb dedicated to Philippe Pot | [
"15th-century sculptures",
"Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy"
]
| The tomb of Philippe Pot is a life-sized funerary monument commissioned by the military leader and diplomat Philippe Pot for his burial at the chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Cîteaux Abbey, Dijon, France. His effigy shows him recumbent on a slab, his hands raised in prayer, and wearing armour and a heraldic tunic. The eight mourners (pleurants) are dressed in black hoods, and act as pallbearers carrying him towards his grave. Pot commissioned the tomb when he was around 52 years old, some 13 years before his death in 1493. The detailed inscriptions written on the sides of the slab emphasise his achievements and social standing.
Pot was a godson of Philip the Good and became a knight of the Golden Fleece. He served under two of the last Valois Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. After the latter's defeat by René II, Duke of Lorraine, at the battle of Nancy in 1477, Pot switched allegiance to the French king, Louis XI, who eventually appointed him grand seneschal of Burgundy. He later served under Louis' son Charles VIII.
The tomb is made of limestone, paint, gold and lead. It is recorded as having been completed in 1480 but there is no mention of its designers or craftsmen. Art historians generally cite Antoine Le Moiturier as the most likely designer of the pleurants, based on circumstantial evidence including similarities to other of his known works. The monument was stolen during the French Revolution, and after changing hands several times was placed in a private garden in Dijon in the 19th century. Since 1899 it has been in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, where it is on permanent display. The tomb underwent a major restoration between 2016 and 2018.
## Life and death of Philippe Pot
Philippe Pot was born in 1428 at the Château de la Rochepot, outside Dijon in today's France. The region was then part of the Duchy of Burgundy and his father, Jacques, was an adviser and senior official to Duke Philip the Good. Pot was raised and educated at the Burgundian court. He was a scholar and bibliophile, and served during the politically fraught years of the last two Valois dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good (r. 1419–1467) and Charles the Bold (r. 1467–1477). During this period, he rose to become a knight of the Golden Fleece and seigneur, or lord, of La Rochepot (his ancestral home) and Thorey-sur-Ouche in Burgundy. He was instrumental in arranging both Charles' betrothal to Catherine of France, and second marriage to Isabella of Bourbon.
Soon after Charles' defeat and death in January 1477 at the battle of Nancy, Burgundy came under French control, and Pot seemingly changed allegiance to Louis XI, king of France (r. 1461–1483). Suspicious of his association with Louis, Charles and Isabella's daughter Mary of Burgundy expelled him from her realm and the court at Lille in June 1477. In disgrace, he fled to the then French city of Tournai, and was removed from the order of the Golden Fleece in 1481.
He travelled in August 1477 on behalf of Louis to Lens in northern France to negotiate a truce with Mary and her husband and co-ruler, Maximilian of Austria. The truce was signed on 8 September, and Louis eventually appointed him as grand seneschal of Burgundy. Following the king's death in 1483, Pot served under Louis' son Charles VIII (r. 1483–1498). Pot died in Dijon on 20 September 1493 aged around 65, having already made detailed plans for his burial place, funeral monument and epitaph.
## Commission
Plans for Pot's tomb first appear in the historical records on 28 August 1480, when Pot paid the abbot of Cîteaux Abbey, Jean de Cirey, one thousand livres for a burial place in the abbey's chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Although the dates of its construction are unknown, it is generally assumed to have been between 1480 and 1483 given that the inscriptions mention events after the January 1477 death of Charles the Bold, and mention Louis XI as king. Pot's motto "Tant L. vaut, était" (So much was he worth) was painted in several locations within the chapel. The floor of the Jean-Baptiste chapel is lined with rows of medieval burial plots, although few are marked. It was placed at the corner of the south arm of the chapel's transept. He was buried underneath his monument, located to the left of the altar.
Pot's monument was one of the last of the Burgundian-style tombs, whose characteristics include the deceased having naturalised faces, open eyes and angels above their heads. The portrayal of the mourners (pleurants) is their defining motif. The style began with the tomb of Philip the Bold (d. 1404), built by the sculptors Jean de Marville (d. 1389) and Claus Sluter (d. 1405/6) from 1381, for the Chartreuse de Champmol, outside Dijon. Described by the art historian Frits Scholten as "one of the most magnificent tombs of the Late Middle Ages", its innovation was in transforming the mourners from the earlier static and unemotional figures to, according to the art historian John Moffitt, individualised weepers that "stumble forward in mutual anguish while praying in perpetuity for the late Duke's soul". This treatment was often copied and developed over the following century. By the time of Pot's commission the figures had become much larger – Sluter's have an average height of 40 cm (16 in) – and were free-standing rather than attached to the monument.
Pot commissioned his tomb some 13 years before he died, with his date of death left blank during construction; the current one was probably added in the 19th century. The tomb's extensive inscriptions indicate he wished to leave a record of his importance and prosperity, and to explain his change in allegiance to Louis XI. He probably first employed a painter to agree an overall design and then hired stonemasons, sculptors and craftsmen to construct the tomb.
## Description
### Effigy
The monument is made of limestone. Pot's effigy is carved in the round so it can be seen from all sides. His skin is painted in vermilion and lead white. His body rests on a slab, and his head is nested within a stone cushion. He is dressed in a tunic, silver armour decorated with a gilded breastplate, and a knight's helmet. Pot's eyes are open and his hands are clasped in prayer. A sword lies to his side and his feet rest on a brown animal of uncertain species; as a result of unsympathetic restoration before the era of photography of the animal and feet, art historians disagree whether the animal is a lion or a dog, and there are conflicting interpretations as to its iconography. Most see it as a dog – a traditional symbol of fidelity in Burgundian tomb art.
The coats of arms on his shield and on those of the mourners are painted in a variety of colours including gold, white, red, blue and black. They represent the insignia of his ancestral families of Pot, Courtiamble, Anguissola, Blaisy, Guénant, Nesles and Montagu. The effigy does not contain the angels often found in contemporary northern European tombs, guiding the deceased to the afterlife.
### Pleurants
The eight mourners carrying Pot's slab were carved from limestone that was then polychromed, with four shades of black paint for their robes and hoods. Their rigid forms and austere poses give the impression of the slow movement of a funeral procession. They range in height from 134 cm (53 in) to 144 cm (57 in), slightly less than life-sized, allowing the recumbent figure to align with the viewer's line of sight. The full weight of the stone slab is supported by a narrow point on a shoulder of each figure, a feat described by Jugie, as "masterful...in its technical audacity".
The mourners wear full-length black cloaks and shoulder-length hoods that mostly cover their faces. The hoods identify them as laity participating in a ceremonial burial rite often held in the region from the 13th to the 16th century. Although mourners with black hoods were not common in contemporary sculpture or painting, they can be found on works such as the mid-15th century "Office of the Dead" miniature from Jean Fouquet's illuminated manuscript the "Hours of Étienne Chevalier".
Each bears a painted and gilded heraldic shield that refers to specific members of Pot's lineage, indicating the monument is of the "kinship tomb" type. The four shields on the left represent the heraldries of Guillaume III Pot (d. c. 1390) and Raguenonde Guénant, the Cortiambles family, the Anguissola family, and the de Blaisy family. Those on the left represent the de Montagus and de Nesles, and two unidentified families.
Although their faces are mostly covered and thus do not have individualised features, the mourners have different poses, heraldic shields and folded drapes. The clothing contains deep, angular folds, and seems influenced by the works of the mid-15th century Early Netherlandish painters such as Rogier van der Weyden (d. 1464). Other potential influences include the relief of four monks with covered heads on a short side of the tomb of Pierre de Bauffremont (d. 1472), commissioned in 1453 for his planned burial in Dijon, and a near-contemporary tomb in Semur-en-Auxois that was likely known to Philippe.
### Inscriptions
The extensive carved inscriptions on the edges of the slab are in Gothic script. They are written in three rows, each beginning on the right side of the head of the effigy and ending behind his head on the opposite side. The text outlines his career with Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, as well as his reasons for switching sides to serve under Louis XI and Charles VIII following the Burgundian's 1477 defeat at Nancy. Most of the text was written before Pot's death. His year of death is erroneously recorded as l'an mil ccccxci[v] ("in the year 149[4]").
## Attribution
Art historians have not identified the artists or craftsmen responsible for designing and building the tomb. Antoine Le Moiturier (d. 1495) is often suggested as likely to have designed the pleurants, given the similarity of the solid and rigid rendering of their clothing to the Mourners of Dijon which are often attributed to him. Guillaume Chandelier, a painter active in Dijon at the time, has been suggested as involved, although with little supporting evidence.
Art historians generally distinguish between the conventional design of the effigy, the expressive form of the mourners, and the inventive placing of the slab on narrow points above each of their shoulders. While it is possible that a single artist, who was both a painter and sculptor, oversaw the tomb's completion, the variation in the quality of sculpture indicates several hands. The art historian Robert Marcoux notes variabilities in skill, and believes that parts of the sculpture are so sparsely detailed that they were likely completed by workshop members.
## Provenance
The tomb passed through several owners and locations over the centuries, and its complex history was only fully pieced together in the mid-20th century. It was first mentioned as completed in 1649 by Pierre Palliot, a bookseller and printer in Dijon, when he described the coats of arms and the inscriptions. The antiquarian and collector François Roger de Gaignières (d. 1715) made drawings of the tomb between 1699 and 1700, which are lost and known only from copies by the artist Louis Boudan (fl. 1687–1709); these are uninformative as they contain inaccuracies. The tomb was nationalised during the early years of the French Revolution when the state took ownership of all church property.
Sometime between 1791 and 1793 François Devosge, an artist and director of the Dijon School of Drawing, was employed to relocate it to the Benedictine abbey in Saint-Bénigne. It was next mentioned in September 1808 when it was acquired for fifty-three livres by Count Richard de Vesvrotte, following a legal case against the French state. He placed it under trees in the garden of his hôtel particulier (townhouse), the Hôtel de Ruffey at 33 rue Berbisey in Dijon.
Richard's son Pierre sold the townhouse in 1850 and relocated the tomb to the Château de Vesvrotte in Beire-le-Châtel, Côte-d'Or, where it was again placed in an outdoor garden. It was photographed for the first time in a series of photolithographs commissioned by Pierre's son Alphonse Richard de Vesvrotte. They were published in 1863, and inspired the artist, antiquarian and collector Charles Édouard de Beaumont's 1875 painting Au solei (or At the Tomb of Philippe Pot), which shows a couple lying at the foot of the tomb in a meadow surrounded by trees.
The Vesvrotte family attempted to sell the tomb some time after Richard's death in 1873. The French state sought to block the sale, claiming it was by now public property, a claim eventually rejected in 1886 by a Dijon court who gave full ownership to Pierre's son, Armand de Vesvrotte. It was nationalised by the French state that August on the grounds that it was an "object of national historical importance". It was acquired for the Louvre in 1889 by the intermediator Charles Mannheim.
## Condition and restorations
The tomb was cleaned and restored several times in the 19th century, as evidenced by comparison to earlier reproductions, such as an engraving that shows Pot's fingers as being badly damaged. Early drawings show his feet and the animal in very poor condition until c. 1816. Some of the letters and words on the inscription were restored before 1880 by the archivist Jean-Baptiste Peincedé. The tomb underwent a major restoration between 2018 and 2019 in a project led by Sophie Jugie, director of the Department of Sculptures at the Louvre. It had been in poor condition, covered by accumulated layers of brown dirt around the heraldry, and had layers of gloss and polyvinyl alcohol from earlier cleanings. The restoration was preceded by an in-depth technical analysis conducted between 2016 and 2017 by the Centre for Research and Restoration of Museums of France. Surface layers of bleach, gloss and brown fouling of the blazons were taken off, the unpainted stone was cleaned, and additions from earlier restorations were removed.
## Imitations and replicas
The monument had a significant influence on later funerary tombs. It transformed the conventional size and placement of pleurants, which previously had mostly been relatively small figures standing in niches. The motif of eight mourners carrying an effigy's slab can be seen on the tombs of Louis de Savoisy (d. 1515) and Jacques de Mâlain (d. 1527). The tomb was photographed several times in the mid-19th century before it was acquired by the Louvre, It was portrayed in 2010 by the American sculptor Matthew Day Jackson in a wood and plastic installation showing astronauts carrying a glass box containing a human skeleton. |
184,836 | Ring ouzel | 1,172,597,995 | Species of birds mainly in Europe | [
"Birds described in 1758",
"Birds of Europe",
"Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus",
"Turdus"
]
| The ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus) is a mainly European member of the thrush family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized thrush, 23–24 centimetres (9.1–9.4 in) in length and weighing 90–138 grams (3.2–4.9 oz). The male is predominantly black with a conspicuous white crescent across its breast. Females are browner and duller than males, and young birds may lack the pale chest markings altogether. In all but the northernmost part of its range, this is a high-altitude species, with three races breeding in mountains from Ireland east to Iran. It breeds in open mountain areas with some trees or shrubs, the latter often including heather, conifers, beech, hairy alpenrose or juniper. It is a migratory bird, leaving the breeding areas to winter in southern Europe, North Africa and Turkey, typically in mountains with juniper bushes. The typical clutch is 3–6 brown-flecked pale blue or greenish-blue eggs. They are incubated almost entirely by the female, with hatching normally occurring after 13 days. The altricial, downy chicks fledge in another 14 days and are dependent on their parents for about 12 days after fledging.
The ring ouzel is omnivorous, eating invertebrates, particularly insects and earthworms, some small vertebrates, and a wide range of fruit. Most animal prey is caught on the ground. During spring migration and the breeding season, invertebrates dominate the adult's diet and are also fed to the chicks. Later in the year, fruit becomes more important, particularly the common juniper.
With an extensive range and a large population, the ring ouzel is evaluated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There are signs of decline in several countries; suspected causes including climate change, human disturbance, hunting and outdoor leisure activities. Loss of junipers may also be a factor in some areas. Natural hazards include predation by mammalian carnivores and birds of prey, and locally there may also be competition from other large thrushes such as the common blackbird, mistle thrush and fieldfare.
## Etymology
"Ouzel" is an old name for the common blackbird, the word being cognate with the German Amsel. "Ouzel" may also be applied to a group of superficially similar but more distantly related birds, the dippers, the European representative of which is sometimes known as the water ouzel. "Ring Ouzel" was first used by John Ray in his 1674 Collection of English Words not Generally Used and became established with his 1678 book The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick. As with the English term, the scientific name also refers to the male's prominent white neck crescent, being derived from the Latin words turdus, "thrush", and torquatus, "collared". Old and local names for the ring ouzel include "fell blackbird", "hill blackbird", "moor blackbird", "rock ouzel" and "mountain blackbird".
## Taxonomy
The ring ouzel was first described by Carl Linnaeus under its current scientific name in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. He noted earlier descriptions by Francis Willughby and Eleazar Albin, both of whom gave it the name Merula torquata.
There are about 85 species of medium to large thrushes in the genus Turdus. They are characterised by rounded heads, medium or longish pointed wings, and usually melodious songs.
A 2020 study of the genetics of Turdus suggested that the genus arose about 9.37 million years ago (Mya), expanding out of Africa around 7.2 Mya, and diverging into Palearctic and Oriental groups about 5.7 Mya. Further radiation from Africa to the Americas followed at about 5.3 Mya. Details of the study suggest that the ring ouzel, a member of the Eurasian group, may be more closely related to Naumann's and dusky thrushes than to the superficially more similar common blackbird.
### Subspecies
The ring ouzel has three recognised subspecies: The northern ring ouzel, Turdus torquatus torquatus Linnaeus (1758) is the nominate subspecies (the subspecies that repeats the name of the species). It breeds across western and northern Europe from Ireland through Scandinavia to northwest Russia and winters in southern Europe and northwest Africa. The Alpine ring ouzel, T. t. alpestris Brehm, C L (1831) breeds in mountain ranges from Iberia through southern and central Europe to the Balkans, Greece and western Turkey, and also in North Africa. It winters in North Africa, southern Europe and southern Turkey. The Caucasian ring ouzel, T. t. amicorum Hartert E (1923) breeds in central and eastern Turkey east to Turkmenistan, and winters mainly in Iran and parts of Iraq. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA samples from across Europe suggests that this species had a much broader distribution after the Last Glacial Period that ended about 11,700 years ago than it does now.
## Description
The ring ouzel is 23–24 centimetres (9.1–9.4 in) in length and weighs 90–138 grams (3.2–4.9 oz). The plumage of the male of the nominate race is entirely black except for a conspicuous white crescent on the breast, narrow greyish scaling on the upperparts and belly and pale edges to the wing feathers. The bill is yellow and the legs are greyish brown. The female resembles the male but is browner and with a duller breast band. Juveniles are like the female, but with a faint or non-existent breast crescent.
The pale breast marking makes adults of this species unmistakeable; first-winter males also sometimes show a pale crescent. Other young ouzels can be confused with the common blackbird, but always show a paler wing panel than that species.
Males of T. t. alpestris have broader white scalloping (repeated small curves) on their underparts than T. t. torquatus, giving a distinctly scaly appearance below. The wing panel is also paler than in the nominate subspecies. Females are much as the nominate race, but with broad white fringes on the chin and throat. Males of T. t. amicorum have the largest and whitest breast band of the three subspecies, and the broader white edges and tips of the wing feathers form a distinctive whitish panel in the wing. Females have narrow white fringes on their underparts. Adult ring ouzels undergo a complete moult after breeding from late June to early September, before their autumn migration. Juveniles have a partial moult between July and September, replacing their head, body and wing covert feathers.
### Voice
The male ring ouzel sings from a low perch or occasionally in flight. The song consists of a repetition of 2–4 plaintive fluty notes, tri-ríí, tri-ríí, ti-ríí with pauses between repeats. The call is a loud tac-tac-tac, becoming harsher if the bird is alarmed. The contact call is a soft cherrr in flight. Males sing most frequently at dawn and sunset.
## Distribution and habitat
The ring ouzel breeds discontinuously across western and northern Europe from north-west Ireland through Scandinavia to northwest Russia, and in mountains across central southern Europe from the Pyrenees through the Alps, the Balkans, Greece and Turkey east to Turkmenistan. In 2014, breeding was recorded on the Timan Ridge, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) further east than previously known breeding sites in north Russia.
The species is migratory, birds leaving the breeding areas in September and October. Birds of the nominate subspecies winter in southern Spain and northwest Africa. Central European populations of T. t. alpestris move to higher elevations initially before moving south or southwest through the Swiss Alps; some two weeks later migrants of the nominate form pass through the same area to winter in the south of the breeding range or around the Mediterranean. Eastern alpestris ouzels migrate through the Balkans and Turkey. T. t. amoricus moves south to Egypt and neighbouring areas. The return migration is mainly in March and April, the males arriving some days before the females. Northern breeders arrive later, and in the mountains, some birds may ascend in stages as the snow melts. Many birds stop off at traditional well-grazed grassland locations in both spring and autumn.
The ring ouzel is extinct in Latvia and occurs only on migration in Denmark. It is a passage migrant in Syria and a vagrant to Iceland, Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Svalbard and Jan Mayen. In the Atlantic, it is a regular winter visitor to the Canary Islands but a rarity in the Azores and Madeira.
In middle latitudes, the ring ouzel is a bird of continental mountains, but in the north of its range, it is found in coastal uplands. It can cope with wind and rain but avoids ice and snow. Nominate T. t. torquatus is usually found on open moorland with a few stunted trees above 250 metres (820 ft), and reaching 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) in Scotland and northern Europe. In Switzerland, ring ouzels breed on rugged upland slopes with heather, conifers, beech or hairy alpenrose at 1,100–1,300 metres (3,600–4,300 ft), although in Turkey birds are found from sea level to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). In Armenia and the Caucasus, it occupies similar steep habitat with conifer stands, rhododendron thickets, and juniper scrub and shrub, from sea level to 2,000–3,000 metres (6,600–9,800 ft).
In northwest Africa ring ouzels winter in juniper forest at 1,800–2,200 metres (5,900–7,200 ft), often near rivers or ponds. On migration, ouzels may occur on coastal grassland and steep hillsides with short, unsown wild grass and sparse scrub.
## Behaviour
The ring ouzel is territorial and normally seen alone or in pairs, although loose flocks may form on migration. When not breeding, several birds may be loosely associated in good feeding areas, such as a fruiting tree, often with other thrushes such as song thrushes or redwings. The ouzel's flight is direct, and birds often perch on rocks or heather clumps.
### Breeding
Ring ouzels nest from mid-April to mid-July in the Alps and the British Isles, and from May to August in Scandinavia. Territories may be strung out along streams, 160–200 metres (520–660 ft) apart and the ranges may overlap, but this species does not form breeding colonies. The nest, built by the female, is a cup of leaves, dry grass and other plant material consolidated with mud. In the west of the range nests are almost always built on the ground, but T. t. alpestris may also nest in a small tree or scrub at an average height of 3.5 metres (11 ft).
The clutch is 3–6 pale blue or greenish-blue eggs flecked with reddish-brown. The eggs are 30 mm × 22 mm (1.18 in × 0.87 in) in size and weigh 7.4 grams (0.26 oz) of which 6% is shell. Incubation is almost always by the female, hatching typically occurring after 13 days. The altricial, downy chicks fledge in another 14 days. The young are dependent on their parents for about 12 days after fledging.
Adults breed after their first year and their average lifespan is two years, although nine years has been recorded. There may be two broods, especially in the south of the range, although triple-brooding is rare. This species is philopatric, returning to the same area to breed each year. Around 36% of juveniles survive their first year, while the annual survival rate for adults is 47% for males and 37% for females. The main causes of death in northwest Europe are predation (9%), accidental human-related incidents (10%), and hunting, mainly in France (77%).
### Diet
The ring ouzel is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, small amphibians and reptiles and fruit. Most animal prey is caught on the ground.
During spring migration and the breeding season, invertebrates dominate the diet, and include earthworms, beetles flies, ants, spiders and snails. Later in the year, fruit becomes more important, including bramble, strawberry, cherry, hawthorn, rowan and juniper. Where it is available common juniper makes up more than 90% of the ring ouzel's winter diet, with arthropods constituting most of the rest. As a result, the ring ouzel is an important vector for dispersing the juniper's seeds, and is key to the dispersal of the endemic Canary Islands juniper.
The young are mainly fed invertebrates, caterpillars and earthworms being major items where available. Although birds migrating in autumn use similar habitat to that used in spring, seasonal berries make up most of their diet, particularly elderberries, haws and, where available, juniper berries.
## Predators and parasites
Predators of the ring ouzel include the tawny owl, long-eared owl, common buzzard, common kestrel and Eurasian sparrowhawk, least weasel and stoat. Most deaths are of young juveniles, and birds hatched early in the season are more likely to survive than later broods. A Scottish study showed that raptors were responsible for 59% of deaths and mammals for 27%. In Romania, eggs were taken by red squirrels and spotted nutcrackers. As with other Turdus thrushes, the ring ouzel is rarely a host of the common cuckoo, a brood parasite. If the thrush's nest cup is too deep for the cuckoo to evict the host's chicks, the young cuckoo cannot successfully compete for food with the fast-growing host species' chicks, and if the cuckoo does manage to expel its nest-mates, the parents are reluctant to feed it; either way, the young cuckoo will starve.
A study in the Carpathian Mountains found that a significant proportion of ring ouzels carried trombiculid mites, commonly known as chiggers. These mites commonly infect ground-feeding birds, and heavy infestations can cause birds to lose condition and stop feeding. The hard-bodied tick Ixodes festai commonly parasitises thrushes, including the ring ouzel. There is a record of this species carrying a Haemoproteus blood parasite.
## Status and conservation
The ring ouzel has an extensive range, estimated at 9.17 million square kilometres (3.54 million sq mi), and a large population, estimated at 600,000–2 million individuals in Europe (which comprises 95% of the breeding range). The species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criteria of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as least concern. The breeding population in Europe was estimated to be 299,000–598,000 pairs in 2019.
There are signs of decline in several countries. Its decline in Ireland in recent years has been striking, with regular breeding now confined to two counties. Suspected causes include climate change, human disturbance, hunting and outdoor leisure activities. Loss of junipers may be a factor in southern Spain and north-west Africa, as may upland forestation in the UK. There may also be competition from larger thrushes like the common blackbird, mistle thrush and fieldfare. A Scottish study suggested that sites at higher altitudes and with a good cover of heather were less likely to have been deserted by breeding ring ouzels than lower or more open locations.
In the Alps, the density of breeding pairs can reach 60–80 per square kilometre (160–210/sq mi) but is generally much lower with 37 per square kilometre (96/sq mi) in Haute-Savoie, 22 per square kilometre (57/sq mi) in the Jura Mountains, and 8 per square kilometre (21/sq mi) in more open habitats in Britain.
## Explanatory notes
## Cited texts |
17,543,924 | Spotted green pigeon | 1,170,006,738 | Extinct species of bird | [
"Bird extinctions since 1500",
"Birds described in 1789",
"Caloenas",
"Collection of the World Museum",
"Extinct birds",
"Species known from a single specimen",
"Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin"
]
| The spotted green pigeon or Liverpool pigeon (Caloenas maculata) is a species of pigeon which is most likely extinct. It was first mentioned and described in 1783 by John Latham, who had seen two specimens of unknown provenance and a drawing depicting the bird. The taxonomic relationships of the bird were long obscure, and early writers suggested many different possibilities, though the idea that it was related to the Nicobar pigeon (C. nicobarica) prevailed, and it was therefore placed in the same genus, Caloenas. Today, the species is only known from a specimen kept in World Museum, Liverpool. Overlooked for much of the 20th century, it was recognised as a valid extinct species by the IUCN Red List only in 2008. It may have been native to an island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean, and it has been suggested that a bird referred to as titi by Tahitian islanders was this bird. In 2014, a genetic study confirmed it as a distinct species related to the Nicobar pigeon, and showed that the two were the closest relatives of the extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire.
The surviving specimen is 32 cm (13 in) long, and has very dark, brownish plumage with a green gloss. The neck feathers are elongated, and most of the feathers on the upperparts and wings have a yellowish spot on their tips. It has a black bill with a yellow tip, and the end of the tail has a pale band. It has relatively short legs and long wings. It has been suggested it had a knob on its bill, but there is no evidence for this. Unlike the Nicobar pigeon, which is mainly terrestrial, the physical features of the spotted green pigeon suggest it was mainly arboreal, and fed on fruits. The spotted green pigeon may have been close to extinction by the time Europeans arrived in its native area, and may have disappeared due to over-hunting and predation by introduced animals around the 1820s.
## Taxonomy
The spotted green pigeon was first mentioned and described by the English ornithologist John Latham in his 1783 work A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham stated that he had seen two specimens, in the collections of the English major Thomas Davies and the naturalist Joseph Banks, but it is uncertain how these ended up in the respective collections, and their provenance is unknown. Though Banks received many specimens from the British explorer James Cook, and Davies received specimens from contacts in New South Wales, implying a location in the South Pacific Ocean, there are no records of spotted green pigeons having been sent from these sources. After Davies' death, his specimen was bought in 1812 by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, who kept it in Knowsley Hall. Smith-Stanley's collection was transferred to the Derby Museum in 1851, where the specimen was prepared from the original posed mount (which had perhaps been taxidermised by Davies himself) into a study skin. This museum later became World Museum, where the specimen is housed today, but Banks' specimen is now lost. Latham also mentioned a drawing of a spotted green pigeon in the collection of the British antiquarian Ashton Lever, but it is unknown which specimen this was based on; it could have been either, or a third individual. Latham included an illustration of the spotted green pigeon in his 1823 work A General History of Birds, and though the basis for his illustration is unknown, it differs from Davies' specimen in some details. It is possible that it was based on the drawing in the Leverian collection, since Latham stated that this drawing showed the end of the tail as "deep ferruginous" (rust-coloured), a feature also depicted in his own illustration.
The spotted green pigeon was scientifically named by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789, based on Latham's description. The original binomial name Columba maculata means "spotted pigeon" in Latin. Latham himself accepted this name, and used it in his 1790 work Index ornithologicus. Since Latham appears to have based his 1783 description on Davies' specimen, this can therefore be considered the holotype specimen of the species. Subsequent writers were uncertain about the validity and relationships of the species; the English naturalist James Francis Stephens suggested that it belonged in the fruit pigeon genus Ptilinopus in 1826, and the German ornithologist Johann Georg Wagler instead suggested that it was a juvenile Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) in 1827. The Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori listed the bird in an appendix about "doubtful species of pigeons, which have not yet been identified" in 1893. In 1898, the Scottish ornithologist Henry Ogg Forbes supported the validity of the species, after examining Nicobar pigeon specimens and concluding that none resembled the spotted green pigeon at any stage of development. He therefore considered it a distinct species of the same genus as the Nicobar pigeon, Caloenas. In 1901, the British zoologist Walter Rothschild and the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert agreed that the pigeon belonged to Caloenas, but suggested that it was probably an "abnormity", though more than one specimen had been recorded.
The spotted green pigeon was only sporadically mentioned in the literature throughout the 20th century; little new information was published, and the bird remained an enigma. In 2001, the English writer Errol Fuller suggested that the bird had been historically overlooked because Rothschild (an avid collector of rare birds) dismissed it as an aberration, perhaps because he did not own the surviving specimen himself. Fuller considered it a valid, extinct species, and also coined an alternative common name for the bird: the Liverpool pigeon. On the basis of Fuller's endorsement, BirdLife International listed the spotted green pigeon as "Extinct" on the IUCN Red List in 2008; it was previously "Not Recognized". In 2001, the British ornithologist David Gibbs stated that the spotted green pigeon was only superficially similar to the Nicobar pigeon, and possibly distinct enough to warrant its own genus (related to Ptilinopus, Ducula, or Gymnophaps). He also hypothesised that the bird might have inhabited a Pacific island, based on stories told by Tahitian islanders to the Tahitian scholar Teuira Henry in 1928 about a green and white speckled bird called titi. The American palaeontologist David Steadman disputed the latter claim in a book review, noting that titi is an onomatopoeic word (resembling the sound of the bird) used especially for shearwaters (members of Procellariidae) in east Polynesia. The English ornithologists Julian P. Hume and Michael Walters, writing in 2012, agreed with Gibbs that the bird warranted generic status.
In 2020, after examining historical texts to clarify the origin and extinction date of the spotted green pigeon, the French ornithologist Philippe Raust pointed out that the information in Henry's 1928 book Ancient Tahiti was not gathered by her, but by her grandfather, the English reverend John Muggridge Orsmond, who collected ancient Tahitian traditions during the first half of the 19th century. The book devotes several pages to birds of Tahiti and its surroundings, including extinct ones, and the entry that Gibbs had linked to the spotted green pigeon reads: "The titi, which cried “titi”, now extinct in Tahiti, was speckled green and white and it was the shadow of the mountain gods". The titi was included in the paragraph relating to pigeons, which suggests it was well recognised as such, and Raust found it consistent with the spotted green pigeon. Though Steadman had dismissed the idea based on the name titi also being used for shearwaters, Raust pointed out that this name was used for a wider variety of birds with vocalisations that sound like "titi". Raust also noted that an 1851 Tahitian dictionary compiled by the Welsh reverend John Davies included the word tītīhope’ore, which was used as a synonym for the titi of Henry in a 1999 dictionary. Based on definitions in Davies' dictionary, Raust translated this name as "tītī without (a long) tail." Raust suggested this name was used to distinguish it from the long-tailed koel (Urodynamis taitensis), which is called "tītī oroveo", and which is somewhat similar to Latham's illustration of the spotted green pigeon, being dark brown with paler spots and underparts. Raust believed that the study of these texts reinforced the Tahitian origin of the spotted green pigeon, and suggested this could be confirmed if possible bones of this species were one day found on Tahiti and analysed for DNA. So far, few paleontological sites on Tahiti have been studied, and fossils found there have not yet revealed unknown species.
The only specimen is today catalogued as WML 3538 at World Museum, Liverpool, where it is locked under environmentally-controlled conditions outside public view. It is kept in a cabinet in the museum's basement with other particularly important bird specimens, such as other extinct birds and type specimens. The store room is monitored for pests, and the temperature and humidity is kept stable to avoid infestations and damp. The specimen is handled with gloves when examined by researchers, and exposure to light is limited.
### Evolution
In 2014, an ancient DNA analysis by the geneticist Tim H. Heupink and colleagues compared the genes of the only spotted green pigeon specimen with that of other pigeons, based on samples extracted from two of its feathers. One of the resulting phylogenetic trees (or cladograms) is shown below:
The spotted green pigeon was shown to be closest to the Nicobar pigeon. The genetic distance between the two was more than is seen within other pigeon species, but similar to the distance between different species within the same genus. This confirmed that the two were distinct species in the same genus, and that the spotted green pigeon was a unique, extinct taxon. The genus Caloenas was placed in a wider clade in which most members showed a mixture of arboreal (tree-dwelling) and terrestrial (ground-dwelling) traits. That Caloenas was placed in such a morphologically diverse clade may explain why many different relationships have previously been proposed for the members of the genus. A third species in the genus Caloenas, the Kanaka pigeon (C. canacorum), is only known from subfossils discovered in New Caledonia and Tonga. This species was larger than the two other members of the genus, so it is unlikely that it represents the same species as the spotted green pigeon. The possibility that the spotted green pigeon was a hybrid between other species can also be disregarded based on the genetic results. The genetic findings were confirmed by a 2016 study by the geneticist André E. R. Soares and colleagues, which managed to assemble complete mitochondrial genomes from eleven pigeon species, including the spotted green pigeon.
The distribution of the Nicobar pigeon and the Kanaka pigeon (which does not appear to have had diminished flight abilities) suggests dispersal through island hopping and an origin for the spotted green pigeon in Oceania or southeast Asia. The fact that the closest relatives of Caloenas were the extinct subfamily Raphinae (first demonstrated in a 2002 study), which consists of the dodo from Mauritius and the Rodrigues solitaire from Rodrigues, indicates that the spotted green pigeon could also have originated somewhere in the Indian Ocean. In any case, it seems most likely that the bird inhabited an island location, like its relatives. That the Caloenas pigeons were grouped in a clade at the base of the lineage leading to Raphinae indicates that the ancestors of the flightless dodo and Rodrigues solitaire were able to fly, and reached the Mascarene Islands by island hopping from south Asia.
## Description
Latham's 1823 description of the spotted green pigeon from A General History of Birds (expanded from the one in A General Synopsis of Birds) reads as follows:
> Length twelve inches. Bill black, tipped with pale yellow; round the eye somewhat naked; general colour of the plumage dark green, and glossy; the head and neck are darker than the rest, and of one plain colour; the feathers of the neck long and narrow, like the hackles of a Cock; every feather of the wings and scapulars tipped with a spot of very pale cinereous white, with a point running upwards, somewhat triangular: quills and tail black; the feathers of the first tipped with cinereous white, those of the last with ferruginous white, and even at the end: belly, thighs, and vent, dusky black: the legs are brown, and the shins covered half way with downy feathers; claws black. We have only seen two specimens; one in the collection of Gen. Davies, the other in possession of Sir Joseph Banks. In a drawing of one at Sir Ashton Lever's, the end of the tail is deep ferruginous.
Most literature addressing the spotted green pigeon simply repeated Latham's descriptions, adding little new information, until Gibbs published a more detailed description in 2001, followed by the museum curator Hein van Grouw in 2014. The surviving specimen measures 32 cm (12.6 in) in length, though study specimens are often stretched or compressed during taxidermy, and may therefore not reflect the length of a living bird. The weight has not been recorded. The spotted green pigeon appears to have been smaller and slenderer than the Nicobar pigeon, which reaches 40 cm (15.7 in), and the Kanaka pigeon appears to have been 25% larger than the latter. At 126 mm (5 in) in length, the tail is longer than that of the Nicobar pigeon, but the head is smaller in relation. The bill is 20 mm (0.8 in), and the tarsus measures 33 mm (1.3 in). Though the wings of the specimen appear to be short and rounded, and have been described as being 175 mm (6.9 in) long, van Grouw discovered that the five outer primary feathers have been pulled out of each wing, and suggested that the wings would therefore had been about 50 mm (2 in) longer in life, around 225 mm (9 in) in total. This is in accordance with Latham's 1823 illustration, which shows a bird with longer wings.
The bill of the specimen is black with a yellowish tip, and the cere is also black, with feathers on the upper side, almost to the nostrils. The lores are naked, and the upper part of the head is sooty black. The rest of the head is mostly brownish-black. The feathers of the nape and the neck are slightly bifurcated and have a dark green gloss, the latter with coppery reflections. The feathers of the neck are elongated (sometimes referred to as hackles), and some of those on the sides and lower part have paler spots near the tips. Most of the feathers on the upperparts and wings are dark brown or brownish-black with a dark green gloss. Almost all of these feathers have a triangular, yellowish-buff spot at their tips. The spots are almost whitish on some of the scapular feathers, vague and dark on the primary feathers. The underside of the wings is black with browner flight feathers, which have a pale spot or band at the tips. The breast is brownish-black with a faint green sheen. The tail is blackish with a dark green sheen, brownish-black on the underside, with a narrow, cinnamon-coloured band at the end. This differs from the rust-coloured tail-tip apparently shown in the drawing owned by Lever, and Latham's own illustration. The legs are small and slender, have long toes, large claws, and a comparatively short tarsus, whereas the Nicobar pigeon has shorter claws and a longer tarsus.
When examining the specimen, van Grouw noticed that the legs had at one point been detached and are now attached opposite their natural positions. The short feathering of the legs would therefore have been attached to the inner side of the upper tarsus in life, not the outer. The plate accompanying Forbes' 1898 article shows the feathers on the outer side, and depicts the legs as pinkish, whereas they are yellow in the skin. The spotted green pigeon has at times been described as having a knob at the base of its bill, similar to that of the Nicobar pigeon. This idea seems to have originated with Forbes, who had the bird depicted with this feature, perhaps due to his conviction that it was a species of Caloenas; it was depicted with a knob as late as 2002. This is despite the fact that the surviving specimen does not possess a knob, and Latham did not mention or depict this feature, so such depictions are probably incorrect. The artificial eyes of the specimen were removed when it was prepared into a study skin, but red paint around the right eye-socket suggests that it was originally intended to have red eyes. It is unknown whether this represents the natural eye colour of the bird, yet the eyes were also depicted as red in Latham's illustration, which does not appear to have been based on the existing specimen. Forbes had the iris depicted as orange and the skin around the eye as green, though this was probably guesswork.
The triangular spots of the spotted green pigeon are not unique among pigeons, but are also seen in the spot-winged pigeon (Columba maculosa) and the speckled pigeon (C. guinea), and are the result of lack of melanin deposition during development. The yellow-buff coloured spots are very worn, while less worn feathers have white tips; this indicates that the former were stained during life or represent a different stage of plumage, and that the latter were fresher. The plumage of the spotted green pigeon was distinct in being very soft compared to that of other pigeons, perhaps due to the body feathers being proportionally long. The hackles were not as elongated as those of the Nicobar pigeon, and the feathers did not differ from those of other pigeons in their microstructure. The plumage was also distinct in being very pigmented, except for the tips of the feathers, and even the down was dark, unlike that of most other birds (a feature otherwise seen in aberrant plumage).
Though the plumage of the spotted green pigeon resembles that of the Nicobar pigeon in some respects, it is also similar to that of species in the imperial pigeon genus Ducula. The metallic-green colouration is commonly found among them, and similar hackles can be seen in the goliath imperial pigeon (D. goliath). The Polynesian imperial pigeon (D. aurorae) has similar soft feathers, and immature individuals of this species and the Pacific imperial pigeon (D. pacifica) have plumage different from that of juvenile and adult birds until they moult. Therefore, van Grouw found it possible that the dull, brownish-black underparts of the surviving spotted green pigeon specimen represents the plumage of an immature bird, as the adults of similar birds have stronger and more glossy iridescence. He suggested that the brighter bird with paler underparts and whiter wing tips seen in Latham's illustration may represent the adult plumage.
## Behaviour and ecology
The behaviour of the spotted green pigeon was not recorded, but theories have been proposed based on its physical features. Gibbs found the delicate, part-feathered legs and long tail indicative of at least partially arboreal habits. After noting that the wings were not short after all, van Grouw stated that the bird would not have been terrestrial, unlike the related Nicobar pigeon. He pointed out that the overall proportions and shape of the bird (longer tail, shorter legs, primary feathers probably reaching the middle of the tail) was more similar to the pigeons of the genus Ducula. It may therefore have been ecologically similar to those birds, have likewise been strongly arboreal, and kept to the dense canopy of forests. By contrast, the mainly terrestrial Nicobar pigeon forages on the forest floor. The dark eyes of the Nicobar pigeon are typical of species that forage on forest floors, whereas the coloured bill and presumably coloured eyes of the spotted green pigeon are similar to those of frugivorous (fruit-eating) pigeons. The feet of the spotted green pigeon are also similar to those of pigeons that forage in trees. The slender bill indicates that it fed on soft fruits.
Believing that the wings were short and round, Gibbs thought the bird was not a strong flyer, and therefore not nomadic (periodically moving from place to place). In spite of the evidently longer wings which might have made it a strong flyer, van Grouw also thought it would have been a sedentary (mostly staying at the same location) bird, that preferred not to fly across open water, similar to species in Ducula. It may have had a limited distribution on a small, remote island, which may explain why its provenance remains unknown. Raust pointed out that the fact that Polynesians considered the titi to emanate from mountain gods suggests that it lived in remote, high-altitude forests.
## Extinction
The spotted green pigeon is most likely extinct, and may already have been close to extinction by the time Europeans arrived in its native area. The species may have disappeared due to being over-hunted and being preyed upon by introduced animals. Hume suggested that the bird may have survived until the 1820s. Raust agreed that the bird's extinction occurred during the 1820s, pointing out that the entry of the titi in Henry's 1928 book was based on much older accounts. |
35,514,699 | Etta Lemon | 1,170,100,866 | English bird conservationist (1860–1953) | [
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| Margaretta "Etta" Louisa Lemon MBE (; 22 November 1860 – 8 July 1953) was an English bird conservationist and a founding member of what is now the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). She was born into an evangelical Christian family in Kent, and after her father's death she increasingly campaigned against the use of plumage in hatmaking which had led to billions of birds being killed for their feathers. She founded the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk with Eliza Phillips in Croydon in 1889, which two years later merged with Emily Williamson's Manchester-based Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), also founded in 1889. The new organisation adopted the SPB title, and the constitution for the merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who became its legal adviser. Etta married Frank Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary of the SPB, a post she kept until 1904, when the society became the RSPB.
The Lemons led the RSPB for more than three decades, although Etta's conservatism, authoritarian management and opposition to scientific ornithology increasingly led to clashes with the organisation's committee. She was pressured to resign from her leadership role in 1938, aged 79. During her tenure, the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921 restricted the international trade in feathers, but did not prevent their being sold or worn.
Lemon was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1920 for her management of the Redhill War Hospital during the First World War. She worked for many other organisations, including the Royal Earlswood Hospital, the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League, and the local Red Cross branch. Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) admitted in 1909, although she never considered herself to be an ornithologist. She died at Redhill aged 92 in 1953 and was buried next to her husband at Reigate cemetery.
## Early life
Margaretta Louisa Smith was born on 22 November 1860 in Hythe, Kent, to William Elisha Smith and Louisa Smith ( Barclay). William Smith was a captain of musketry in the Royal Sherwood Fusiliers, later to become the Sherwood Foresters, and was adjutant at the musketry training school in Hythe. Etta was the oldest of three children, followed by her brother Edward and sister Woltera Mercy. Etta's mother had a stillborn baby in 1866 and died giving birth in 1867, along with the newborn child. Her father married 26-year-old Mary Anne Wollaston later in the same year. Etta and Mercy (the names that the sisters preferred to be called) initially lived with Captain Smith and his second wife at their new home in Blackheath, London. At about this time, Captain Smith left the army and became honorary secretary of the Evangelisation Society from 1868 until his death in 1899. The society aimed to promote the gospel in hard-to-reach situations.
Etta was soon sent to Hill House boarding school in Belstead, Suffolk, run by Maria Umphelby—another evangelical Christian—and remained there until she was 16. She returned briefly to Blackheath before being sent to a finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she became fluent in French. Her brother Edward went to study medicine at Cambridge. He later took on the name Barclay-Smith and served as a professor of anatomy.
After returning to Blackheath aged 18, Etta joined her father in his evangelical work, writing pamphlets and accompanying him on daily train journeys to London, where she learned to speak in public at evangelical meetings. On these journeys, they often met William Lemon and his son, both lawyers. The younger Lemon shared Etta's views on cruelty to animals and the practice of using birds in millinery.
## The feather trade
A major threat to birds from the late eighteenth century up to just after the First World War was the demand for feathers to decorate women's hats. Although some were obtained from farmed ostriches, huge numbers of wild birds were killed for the millinery trade, many of which were egrets, leading to the trade term "aigrette" for such plumes. Many other species were also used in fashion, ranging from hummingbirds to storks and cranes.
Between 1870 and 1920, 18,400 tonnes (20,300 tons) of wild bird feathers were imported into the UK, and since 150–300 birds were needed for 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of their decorative breeding plumes, this implied that billions of birds were killed to meet the British demand alone. Shooting breeding birds effectively led to the failure of their eggs and chicks to survive, causing actual losses to be much higher. At its peak, the British trade was worth £20 million annually, around £204 million at 2021 prices.
### Anti-plume movements
Smith was inspired by Scottish naturalist Eliza Brightwen's Wild Nature Won by Kindness (1890) on the killing of birds for the plume trade. At church she would see women who were wearing feathered hats, and send them a note explaining how birds were killed to make them. Together with the wildlife activist Eliza Phillips, in 1889 she founded the all-women Fur, Fin and Feather Folk at Phillips's home in Croydon to campaign against the plume trade. Other early members included the wealthy, unmarried Catherine Hall, and the 15-year-old Hannah Poland, a fish merchant's daughter. Members pledged not to wear the feathers of any bird not killed for food, excepting the ostrich, which was farmed for its plumes. The organisation had a subscription of two pence, and in its first year its membership was nearly 5,000.
The Fur, Fin and Feather Folk society merged in 1891 with the Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), also founded in 1889 by philanthropist Emily Williamson at Didsbury, Manchester. The SPB was also all-female, and had similar objectives and the same subscription rate. The amalgamation was brokered by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) which did not itself wish to take up the plumage cause; as a moderate mainstream organisation, it was politic for it to keep some distance from what was seen as an extremist movement. Although the new organisation adopted the SPB title, in practice the London group provided most of its administration. The constitution for the newly merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who also served as its legal advisor. Etta married Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary, a post she kept until 1904. In 1898 she was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London.
The SPB had its own office in London by 1897, and sent more than 16,000 letters and 50,000 leaflets; it had 20,000 members by the following year. Although the organisation was founded as all-female, the nature writer William Henry Hudson was associated with Smith and Phillips from the start, and generous donations came from ornithologists including Professor Alfred Newton, who gave one guinea, Lord Lilford, president of the British Ornithologists' Union, and J. A. Harvie-Brown, who both donated £10. Prominent men were also enlisted as speakers or supporters. These included Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, the politician Sir Edward Grey and the soldier Lord Wolseley.
Two earlier campaigning organisations founded in 1885, the Selborne League and the Plumage League, had amalgamated in the following year as the Selborne Society, but were soon outstripped by the SPB because of the latter organisation's extensive network of local branches and its single-issue focus.
### RSPB
From 1891 to her death in 1954, the president of the SPB was Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland. Teetotaler, vegetarian and a supporter of many humanitarian causes, she was important to the society because of her aristocratic connections. She was as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward VII, and her Duke was Master of the Horse, both roles that placed the couple close to the monarchy. The duchess left Etta Lemon to deal with much of her correspondence on bird matters.
In 1904, the queen gave her approval for the SPB to be incorporated by Royal Charter and become the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds RSPB. Lemon could not continue as honorary secretary since the charter excluded women from leading the organisation. She therefore conducted the society's daily business as the honorary secretary of the society's publishers and watchers committees. Her previous position was taken up by Frank Lemon, and the couple remained in their posts for the next 31 years. In 1913, Lemon arranged for lighthouses be fitted with perches for migrating birds to rest on, and established a system of "watchers" to monitor vulnerable bird breeding sites.
A bill to control the trade in feathers was unsuccessfully introduced in parliament in 1908. Feathers were among the luxury items whose import was banned from February 1917 for the duration of the First World War. In July 1919, Lemon and the Duchess of Portland delivered a letter signed by 150 men, including celebrities such as H. G. Wells and Thomas Hardy, to the president of the Board of Trade, Sir Auckland Geddes, asking that the war-time restriction on the importation of plumage should be continued until legislation was passed. Geddes replied that the import restriction would continue "as long as possible" and that he "hoped" that the bill would be passed early in 1920. The Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act was passed in 1921 and received royal assent on 1 April 1922. The Act had limited effect, since it only banned the import of feathers, not the sale or wearing of plumes.
Frank Lemon died suddenly in April 1935, aged 76, and Etta took over his role as honorary secretary. When the secretary of the RSPB, Linda Gardiner, retired in 1935, there was a proposal to replace her with a man, apparently to give the society greater acceptability. This idea was opposed by the two women assistant secretaries Beatrice Solly and Lemon's niece Phyllis Barclay-Smith. Lemon did not support the women assistants' plea for gender equality, and when they threatened to resign, she accepted their resignations, and did not give their names when she mentioned their departure in the society's magazine.
Lemon soon came under scrutiny in The Field where an editorial in 1936 questioned the Society's inaction on cage birds, its gambling on real estate investment, its high expenditure, and its elderly management. This led to the establishment of a six-member committee headed by Julian Huxley of the Zoological Society of London that proposed changes in the management which included fixed terms for elected members. These rules came into effect in 1960, well after Lemon's death. By 1938, the 79-year-old Lemon had lost much of her influence. The post of honorary secretary had been abolished, and practices she disapproved of, such as bird ringing and close photography, had been adopted by the RSPB, whereas she felt that her watchers were undervalued. She bowed to the inevitable and submitted her resignation from the committee to the Duchess of Portland in the same year.
## Other activities
Apart from the anti-plumage organisations, the other mass female-based movement at the turn of the century was women's suffrage, spearheaded in the UK by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union. Many of the conservative and religious leaders of the SPB were opposed to women's suffrage, and many suffragettes wore plumed hats as a badge of identity. An 1896 SPB pamphlet A Woman's Question written by Blanche Atkinson and distributed by Lemon noted that the wearing of plumes by women was a good reason to deny the right to vote: "if women are so empty-headed and stupid that they cannot be made to understand the cruelty of which they are guilty in that matter, they certainly prove themselves to be unfit to be voters, and to enter the learned professions on equal terms with men." Lemon became a committee member of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League founded in 1908.
Lemon also worked with the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, one of the first establishments to cater specifically for people with developmental disabilities, and the Crescent House Convalescent Home, Brighton.
In 1911, Frank Lemon became mayor of Reigate, and as lady mayoress, Etta became involved in his civic duties, including organising a Christmas party for 100 children. She was a quartermaster of the local Red Cross branch, member of the workhouse board of guardians, and treasurer of the Children's Care Association.
In 1917, during the First World War, the British Army requisitioned Redhill workhouse infirmary as a war hospital, and Lemon, now 57, was appointed as its commandant in charge of 50 staff and 80 patients. She raised funds for a recreation room, rest chairs and 100 feeding cups for her patients. She was made an MBE in 1920 in recognition of her work at the hospital, and in the following year she was appointed as a justice of the peace, thereby becoming one of Reigate's first two women magistrates.
Lemon died at Redhill on 8 July 1953 aged 92, and was buried next to her husband at St Mary's Church Cemetery, Reigate. Her estate was valued at probate at £13,770 5s 5d.
## Recognition and legacy
Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU), admitted in 1909; the others were the Duchess of Bedford, Dorothea Bate and Emma Turner. Despite her election to this previously all-male organisation, Lemon never considered herself an ornithologist. She saw professional ornithologists as largely unsupportive of her cause, and since much BOU activity at the time involved egg-collecting and killing birds for study and for their skins, she saw them as part of the problem she was trying to solve.
Lemon's selflessness won her the admiration of many, particularly her watchers and the soldiers from the war hospital, but her conservatism and authoritarian methods earned her the nickname of "The Dragon" at the RSPB. Perhaps due to this, recognition of her work decreased after her death, but from 2018 her reputation began to be rehabilitated. Her picture now hangs in the RSPB headquarters and she is featured on its website. In 2021, Nature's Home, the RSPB magazine, published an article commemorating the women who founded the society, Lemon, Williamson, Phillips and Winifred Portland.
## Publications
## Cited texts
- (Originally published as Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather, 2018) |
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| Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher early in his life but, by the early 1730s, he had joined a gang of deer thieves and, later, became a poacher, burglar, horse thief and killer. He is also known for a fictional 200-mile (320 km) overnight ride from London to York on his horse Black Bess, a story that was made famous by the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth almost 100 years after Turpin's death.
Turpin's involvement in the crime with which he is most closely associated—highway robbery—followed the arrest of the other members of his gang in 1735. He then disappeared from public view towards the end of that year, only to resurface in 1737 with two new accomplices, one of whom Turpin may have accidentally shot and killed. Turpin fled from the scene and shortly afterwards killed a man who attempted his capture.
Later that year, he moved to Yorkshire and assumed the alias of John Palmer. While he was staying at an inn, local magistrates became suspicious of "Palmer" and made enquiries as to how he funded his lifestyle. Suspected of being a horse thief, "Palmer" was imprisoned in York Castle, to be tried at the next assizes. Turpin's true identity was revealed by a letter he wrote to his brother-in-law from his prison cell, which fell into the hands of the authorities. On 22 March 1739, Turpin was found guilty on two charges of horse theft and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Knavesmire on 7 April 1739.
Turpin became the subject of legend after his execution, romanticised as dashing and heroic in English ballads and popular theatre of the 18th and 19th centuries and in film and television of the 20th century.
## Early life
Richard (Dick) Turpin was born at the Blue Bell Inn (later the Rose and Crown) in Hempstead, Essex, the fifth of six children to John Turpin and Mary Elizabeth Parmenter. He was baptised on 21 September 1705, in the same parish where his parents had been married more than ten years earlier.
Turpin's father was a butcher and innkeeper. Several stories suggest that Dick Turpin may have followed his father into these trades; one hints that, as a teenager, he was apprenticed to a butcher in the village of Whitechapel, while another proposes that he ran his own butcher's shop in Thaxted. Testimony from his trial in 1739 suggests that he had a rudimentary education and, although no records survive of the date of the union, that in about 1725 he married Elizabeth Millington. Following his apprenticeship they moved north to Buckhurst Hill, Essex, where Turpin opened a butcher's shop.
## Essex gang
Turpin most likely became involved with the Essex gang of deer thieves in the early 1730s. Deer poaching had long been endemic in the Royal Forest of Waltham, and in 1723 the Black Act (so called because it outlawed the blackening or disguising of faces while in the forests) was enacted to deal with such problems. Deer stealing was a domestic offence that was judged not in civil courts, but before justices of the peace; it was not until 1737 that the more severe penalty of seven years' transportation was introduced. However, in 1731 seven verderers became so concerned by the increase in activity that they signed an affidavit which demonstrated their worries. The statement was lodged with the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State, who responded by offering a reward to anyone who helped identify the thieves, plus a pardon for those thieves who gave up their colleagues. Following a series of nasty incidents, including the threatened murder of a keeper and his family, in 1733 the government increased the reward to .
The Essex gang (sometimes called the Gregory Gang), which included Samuel Gregory, his brothers Jeremiah and Jasper, Joseph Rose, Mary Brazier (the gang's fence), John Jones, Thomas Rowden and a young John Wheeler, needed contacts to help them to dispose of the deer. Turpin, a young butcher who traded in the area, almost certainly became involved with their activities. By 1733 the changing fortunes of the gang may have prompted him to leave the butchery trade, and he became the landlord of a public house, most likely the Rose and Crown at Clay Hill. Although there is no evidence to suggest that Turpin was directly involved in the thefts, by summer 1734 he was a close associate of the gang, which may indicate that he had been known to them for some time.
By October 1734 several in the gang had either been captured or had fled, and the remaining members moved away from poaching, raiding the home of a chandler and grocer named Peter Split, at Woodford. Although the identities of the perpetrators are unknown, Turpin may have been involved. Two nights later they struck again, at the Woodford home of a gentleman named Richard Woolridge, a Furnisher of Small Arms in the Office of Ordnance at the Tower of London. In December Jasper and Samuel Gregory, John Jones, and John Wheeler, attacked the home of John Gladwin (a higler) and John Shockley, in Chingford. On 19 December Turpin and five other men raided the home of Ambrose Skinner, a 73-year-old farmer from Barking, leaving with an estimated .
Two days later, the gang—minus Turpin—attacked the home of a Keeper, William Mason, at Epping Forest. During the robbery Mason's servant managed to escape, and returned about an hour later with several neighbours, by which time the house was ransacked and the thieves long gone. On 11 January 1735 the gang raided the Charlton home of a Mr. Saunders. For the robbery of a gentleman named Sheldon, one week later at Croydon, Turpin arrived masked and armed with pistols, with four other members of the gang. In the same month two men, possibly from the same gang, raided the home of a Reverend Mr. Dyde. The clergyman was absent but the two cut his manservant around the face "in a barbarous manner". Another brutal attack occurred on 1 February 1735 at Loughton:
> On Saturday night last, about seven o'clock, five rogues entered the house of the Widow Shelley at Loughton in Essex, having pistols &c. and threatened to murder the old lady, if she would not tell them where her money lay, which she obstinately refusing for some time, they threatened to lay her across the fire, if she did not instantly tell them, which she would not do. But her son being in the room, and threatened to be murdered, cried out, he would tell them, if they would not murder his mother, and did, whereupon they went upstairs, and took near £100, a silver tankard, and other plate, and all manner of household goods. They afterwards went into the cellar and drank several bottles of ale and wine, and broiled some meat, ate the relicts of a fillet of veal &c. While they were doing this, two of their gang went to Mr Turkles, a farmer's, who rents one end of the widow's house, and robbed him of above £20 and then they all went off, taking two of the farmer's horses, to carry off their luggage, the horses were found on Sunday the following morning in Old Street, and stayed about three hours in the house.
The gang lived in or around London. For a time Turpin stayed at Whitechapel, before moving to Millbank. On 4 February 1735 he met John Fielder, Samuel Gregory, Joseph Rose, and John Wheeler, at an inn along The Broadway in London. They planned to rob the house of Joseph Lawrence, a farmer at Earlsbury Farm in Edgware. Late that afternoon, after stopping twice along the way for food and drink, they captured a shepherd boy and burst into the house, armed with pistols. They bound the two maidservants, and brutally attacked the 70-year-old farmer. They pulled his breeches around his ankles, and dragged him around the house, but Lawrence refused to reveal the whereabouts of his money. Turpin beat Lawrence's bare buttocks with his pistols, badly bruising him, and other members of the gang beat him around the head with their pistols. They emptied a kettle of water over his head, forced him to sit bare-buttocked on the fire, and pulled him around the house by his nose, and hair. Gregory took one of the maidservants upstairs and raped her. For their trouble, the gang escaped with a haul of less than .
Three days later Turpin, accompanied by the same men along with William Saunders and Humphrey Walker, brutally raided a farm in Marylebone. The attack netted the gang just under . The next day the Duke of Newcastle offered a reward of in exchange for information leading to the conviction of the "several persons" involved in the two Woodford robberies, and the robberies of the widow Shelley and Reverend Dyde. On 11 February Fielder, Saunders, and Wheeler, were apprehended. Two accounts of their capture exist. One claims that on their way to rob the Lawrence household the gang had stopped at an alehouse in Edgware, and that on 11 February, while out walking, the owner noticed a group of horses outside an alehouse in Bloomsbury. He recognised these horses as those used by the same group of men who had stopped at his alehouse before the Lawrence attack, and called for the parish constable. Another account claims that two of the gang were spotted by a servant of Joseph Lawrence. Regardless, the three, who were drinking with a woman (possibly Mary Brazier) were promptly arrested and committed to prison. Wheeler, who may have been as young as 15, quickly betrayed his colleagues, and descriptions of those yet to be captured were circulated in the press. In The London Gazette, Turpin was described as "Richard Turpin, a butcher by trade, is a tall fresh coloured man, very much marked with the small pox, about 26 years of age, about five feet nine inches high, lived some time ago in Whitechapel and did lately lodge somewhere about Millbank, Westminster, wears a blue grey coat and a natural wig".
## Breakup of the Essex gang
Once Wheeler's confession became apparent, the other members of the gang fled their usual haunts. Turpin informed Gregory and the others of Wheeler's capture, and left Westminster. On 15 February 1735, while Wheeler was busy confessing to the authorities, "three or four men" (most likely Samuel Gregory, Herbert Haines, Turpin, and possibly Thomas Rowden) robbed the house of a Mrs St. John at Chingford. On the following day Turpin (and Rowden, if present) parted company with Gregory and Haines, and headed for Hempstead to see his family. Gregory and Haines may have gone looking for Turpin, because on 17 February they stopped at an alehouse in Debden and ordered a shoulder of mutton, intending to stay for the night. However, a man named Palmer recognised them, and called for the parish constable. A fracas ensued, during which the two thieves escaped. They rejoined Turpin, and along with Jones and Rowden may have travelled to Gravesend before returning to Woodford. Another robbery was reported at Woodford toward the end of February—possibly by Gregory and his cohorts—but with most avenues of escape cut off, and with the authorities hunting them down, the remaining members of the Essex gang kept their heads down and remained under cover, probably in Epping Forest.
Six days after the arrest of Fielder, Saunders, and Wheeler – just as Turpin and his associates were returning from Gravesend – Rose, Brazier, and Walker were captured at a chandler's shop in Westminster, while drinking punch. Fielder, Rose, Saunders and Walker were tried at the Middlesex General Session between 26 February and 1 March 1735. Turpin and Gregory were also named on the indictments for burglary. Walker died while still in Newgate Prison, but the remaining three were hanged at Tyburn gallows on 10 March, before their bodies were hung to rot in gibbets on Edgware Road. Walker's body was hung in chains. Two days before the hanging, a report of "four suspicious men" being driven away from an alehouse at East Sheen appeared in a newspaper, and was likely describing Gregory and his companions, but the remaining members of the Essex gang were not reported again until 30 March, when three of them (unsuccessfully) tried to steal a horse from a servant of the Earl of Suffolk.
Turpin was present with four of the gang at another robbery, reported on 8 March. Jasper Gregory meanwhile was captured, and then executed late in March. His brothers were arrested on 9 April in Rake, West Sussex, after a struggle during which Samuel lost the tip of his nose to a sword, and Jeremy was shot in the leg. He died in Winchester gaol; Samuel was tried in May, and executed on 4 June. His body was later moved, to hang in chains alongside those of his colleagues at Edgware. Mary Brazier was transported to the Thirteen Colonies. Herbert Haines was captured on 13 April, and executed in August. John Wheeler, who had been instrumental in proving the cases against his former colleagues, and who was freed, died at Hackney in January 1738. The reason for his death is not recorded, but is assumed to be natural causes.
## Highwayman
With the Essex gang now smashed by the authorities, Turpin turned instead to the crime he became most noted forhighway robbery. Although he may have been involved in earlier highway robberies on 10 and 12 April, he was first identified as a suspect in one event on 10 July, as "Turpin the butcher", along with Thomas Rowden, "the pewterer". Several days later the two struck at Epping Forest, depriving a man from Southwark of his belongings. With a further bounty of £100 on their heads they continued their activities through the latter half of 1735. In August they robbed five people accompanying a coach on Barnes Common, and shortly after that they attacked another coach party, between Putney and Kingston Hill. On 20 August the pair relieved a Mr Godfrey of six guineas and a pocket book, on Hounslow Heath. Fearing capture, they moved on to Blackheath in Hertfordshire, and then back to London. On 5 December the two were seen near Winchester, but in late December, following the capture of John Jones, they separated. Rowden had previously been convicted of counterfeiting, and in July 1736 he was convicted of passing counterfeit coin, under the alias Daniel Crispe. Crispe's true name was eventually discovered and he was transported in June 1738. Jones also suffered transportation, to the Thirteen Colonies.
Little is known of Turpin's movements during 1736. He may have travelled to Holland, as various sightings were reported there, but he may also have assumed an alias and disappeared from public view. In February 1737 though, he spent the night at Puckeridge, with his wife, her maid and a man called Robert Nott. Turpin arranged the meeting by letter, which was intercepted by the authorities. While Turpin eluded his enemies, making his escape to Cambridge, the others were arrested on charges of "violent suspicion of being dangerous rogues and robbing upon the highway". They were imprisoned at Hertford gaol, although the women were later acquitted (Nott was released at the next Assize). Although one report late in March suggests, unusually, that Turpin alone robbed a company of higlers, in the same month he was reported to be working alongside two other highwaymen, Matthew King (then, and since, incorrectly identified as Tom King), and Stephen Potter. The trio were responsible for a string of robberies between March and April 1737, which ended suddenly in an incident at Whitechapel, after King (or Turpin, depending upon which report is read) had stolen a horse near Waltham Forest. Its owner, Joseph Major, reported the theft to Richard Bayes, landlord of the Green Man public house at Leytonstone. Bayes (who later wrote a biography of Turpin), tracked the horse to the Red Lion at Whitechapel. Major identified the animal, but as it was late evening and the horses had not yet been collected by their owners, they elected to hold a vigil. John King (Matthew King's brother) arrived late that night, and was quickly apprehended by the party, which included the local constable. John King told him the whereabouts of Matthew King, who was waiting nearby. During the resulting mêlée, Matthew King was wounded by gunfire, and died on 19 May. Potter was later caught, but at his trial was released for lack of evidence against him.
## Fatal shooting
Bayes' statement regarding the death of Matthew King may have been heavily embellished. Several reports, including Turpin's own account, offer different versions of what actually happened on that night early in May 1737; early reports claimed that Turpin had shot King, however by the following month the same newspapers retracted this claim, and stated that Bayes had fired the fatal shot. The shooting of King, however, preceded an event that changed Turpin's life significantly. He escaped to a hideaway in Epping Forest, where he was seen by Thomas Morris, a servant of one of the Forest's Keepers. Turpin shot and killed Morris on 4 May with a carbine when, armed with pistols, Morris attempted to capture him. The shooting was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine:
> It having been represented to the King, that Richard Turpin did on Wednesday the 4th of May last, barbarously murder Thomas Morris, Servant to Henry Tomson, one of the Keepers of Epping-Forest, and commit other notorious Felonies and Robberies near London, his Majesty is pleased to promise his most gracious Pardon to any of his Accomplices, and a Reward of 200l. to any Person or Persons that shall discover him, so as he may be apprehended and convicted. Turpin was born at Thacksted in Essex, is about Thirty, by Trade a Butcher, about 5 Feet 9 Inches high, brown Complexion, very much mark'd with the Small Pox, his Cheek-bones broad, his Face thinner towards the Bottom, his Visage short, pretty upright, and broad about the Shoulders.
Several newspapers suggested that on 6 and 7 May, he committed two highway robberies near Epping. Turpin may also have lost his mount; on 7 May. Elizabeth King, the wife of Turpin's accomplice, attempted to secure two horses left by Matthew King, at an inn called the Red Lion. The horses were suspected as belonging to "highwaymen" and Elizabeth King was arrested for questioning, but she was later released without charge. Morris's killing unleashed a flood of Turpin reports, and a reward of £200 was offered for his capture.
## As John Palmer
Sometime around June 1737 Turpin boarded at the Ferry Inn at Brough, under the alias of John Palmer (or Parmen). Travelling across the River Humber between the historic counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, he posed as a horse trader, and often hunted alongside local gentlemen. On 2 October 1738 Turpin shot another man's game cock in the street. While being rebuked by John Robinson, he then threatened to shoot him also. Three East Riding justices (JPs), George Crowle (Member of Parliament for Hull), Hugh Bethell, and Marmaduke Constable, travelled to Brough and took written depositions about the incident. They intended to bind him over, but Turpin refused to pay the required surety, and was committed to the House of Correction at Beverley. Turpin was escorted to Beverley by the parish constable, Carey Gill. He made no attempt at escape; It has been suggested that Turpin may have been depressed about failures in his life.
Robert Appleton, Clerk of the Peace for the East Riding, and the man whose account details the above incident, later reported that the three JPs made enquiries as to how "Palmer" had made his money, suspecting that his lifestyle was funded by criminal activities. Turpin claimed that he was a butcher who had fallen into debt, and that he had levanted from his home in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire. When contacted, the JP at Long Sutton (a Mr Delamere) confirmed that John Palmer had lived there for about nine months, but that he was suspected of stealing sheep, and had escaped the custody of the local constable. Delamere also suspected that Palmer was a horse-thief and had taken several depositions supporting his view, and told the three JPs that he would prefer him to be detained. The three JPs now presumed that the case was too serious for Palmer to remain at Beverley House of Correction, and demanded sureties for his appearance at York Assizes. Turpin refused, and so on 16 October he was transferred to York Castle in handcuffs.
Horse theft became a capital offence in 1545, punishable by death. During the 17th and 18th centuries, crimes in violation of property rights were some of the most severely punished; most of the 200 capital statutes were property offences. Robbery combined with violence was "the sort of offence, second only to premeditated murder (a relatively uncommon crime), most likely to be prosecuted and punished to [the law's] utmost rigour". Turpin had stolen several horses while operating under the pseudonym of Palmer. In July 1737 he stole a horse from Pinchbeck in Lincolnshire, and took it to visit his father at Hempstead. When Turpin returned to Brough (stealing three horses along the way) he left the gelding with his father. The identity of John Turpin's son was well known, and the horse's identity was soon discovered. On 12 September 1738 therefore, John Turpin was committed to gaol in Essex on charges of horse theft, but following his help in preventing a gaolbreak, the charges were dropped on 5 March 1739. About a month after "Palmer" had been moved to York Castle, Thomas Creasy, the owner of the three horses stolen by Turpin, managed to track them down and recover them, and it was for these thefts that he was eventually tried.
From his cell, Turpin wrote to his brother-in-law, Pompr Rivernall, who also lived at Hempstead. Rivernall was married to Turpin's sister, Dorothy. The letter was kept at the local post office, but seeing the York post stamp Rivernall refused to pay the delivery charge, claiming that he "had no correspondent at York". Rivernall may not have wanted to pay the charge for the letter, or he may have wished to distance himself from Turpin's affairs. The letter was then moved to the post office at Saffron Walden where James Smith, who had taught his younger schoolmate Turpin how to write while they were at school, recognised the handwriting. He alerted JP Thomas Stubbing, who paid the postage and opened the letter. Smith travelled to York Castle and on 23 February identified Palmer as Turpin. He received the £200 (about £ as of ) reward originally offered by the Duke of Newcastle following Turpin's murder of Thomas Morris.
## Trial
Although there was some question as to where the trial should be held—the Duke of Newcastle wanted him tried in London—Turpin was tried at York Assizes. Proceedings began three days after the winter Assizes opened, on 22 March. Turpin was charged with the theft of Creasy's horses: a mare worth three pounds, a foal worth 20 shillings, and a gelding worth three pounds. The indictments stated that the alleged offences had occurred at Welton on 1 March 1739, and described Turpin as "John Palmer alias Pawmer alias Richard Turpin ... late of the castle of York in the County of York labourer". Technically the charges were invalid—the offences had occurred at Heckington, not Welton, and the date was also incorrect; the offences were in August 1738.
Presiding over the trial was Sir William Chapple, a senior and respected judge in his early sixties. The prosecution was directed by King's Counsel Thomas Place and Richard Crowle (brother of George), and proceedings were recorded by a York resident, Thomas Kyll. Turpin had no defence barrister; during this period of English history, for those accused of felonies it was costly to find legal representation, their interests were cared for by the presiding judge. Among the seven witnesses called to testify were Thomas Creasy, and James Smith, the man who had recognised Turpin's handwriting. Turpin offered little in the way of questioning his accusers; when asked if he had anything to ask of Creasy, he replied "I cannot say anything, for I have not any witnesses come this day, as I have expected, and therefore beg of your Lordship to put off my trial 'till another day", and when asked about Smith, he claimed not to know him. When questioned himself, Turpin told the court that he had bought the mare and foal from an inn-keeper near Heckington. He repeated his original story of how he had come to use the pseudonym Palmer, claiming that it was his mother's maiden name. When asked by the judge for his name before he came to Lincolnshire, he said "Turpin". Without leaving the courtroom the jury found Turpin guilty of the first charge of stealing the mare and foal, and following further proceedings, guilty of stealing the gelding. Throughout the trial Turpin had repeatedly claimed that he had not been allowed enough time to form his defence, that proceedings should be delayed until he could call his witnesses, and that the trial should be held at Essex. Before sentencing him, the judge asked Turpin if he could offer any reason why he should not be sentenced to death; Turpin said: "It is very hard upon me, my Lord, because I was not prepar'd for my Defence." The judge replied: "Why was you not? You knew the Time of the Assizes as well as any Person here." Despite Turpin's pleas that he had been told the trial would be held in Essex, the judge replied: "Whoever told you so were highly to blame; and as your country have found you guilty of a crime worthy of death, it is my office to pronounce sentence against you", sentencing him to death.
## Execution
Before his execution, Turpin frequently received visitors (the gaoler was reputed to have earned £100 from selling drinks to Turpin and his guests), although he refused the efforts of a local clergyman who offered him "serious remonstrances and admonitions". Turpin's father may have sent him letter, dated 29 March, urging him to "beg of God to pardon your many transgressions, which the thief upon the cross received pardon for at the last hour". Turpin bought a new frock coat and shoes, and on the day before his execution hired five mourners for three pounds and ten shillings to be shared between them.
On 7 April 1739, followed by his mourners, Turpin and John Stead (a horse thief) were taken through York by open cart to Knavesmire, which was then the city's equivalent of London's Tyburn gallows. Turpin "behav'd himself with amazing assurance", and "bow'd to the spectators as he passed". He climbed a ladder to the gallows and spoke to his executioner. York had no permanent hangman, and it was the custom to pardon a prisoner on condition that he acted as executioner. On this occasion, the pardoned man was a fellow highwayman, Thomas Hadfield. An account in The Gentleman's Magazine for 7 April 1739 notes Turpin's brashness: "Turpin behaved in an undaunted manner; as he mounted the ladder, feeling his right leg tremble, he spoke a few words to the topsman, then threw himself off, and expir'd in five minutes."
The short drop method of hanging meant that those executed were killed by slow strangulation, and so Turpin was left hanging until late afternoon, before being cut down and taken to a tavern in Castlegate. The next morning, Turpin's body was buried in the graveyard of St George's Church, Fishergate, opposite what is now the Roman Catholic St George's Church. On the Tuesday following the burial, the corpse was reportedly stolen by body-snatchers. The theft of cadavers for medical research was a common enough occurrence, and was possibly tolerated by the authorities in York. The practice was however unpopular with the general public, and the body-snatchers, together with Turpin's corpse, were soon apprehended by a mob. The body was recovered and reburied, supposedly this time with quicklime. Turpin's body is purported to lie in St George's graveyard, although some doubt persists as to the grave's authenticity.
## Later views
Some of the Turpin legend can be sourced directly to Richard Bayes' The Genuine History of the Life of Richard Turpin (1739), a mixture of fact and fiction hurriedly put together in the wake of the trial, to satisfy a gullible public. The speeches of the condemned, biographies of criminals, and trial literature, were popular genres during the late 17th and early 18th centuries; written for a mass audience and a precursor to the modern novel, they were "produced on a scale which beggars comparison with any period before or since". Such literature functioned as news and a "forum in which anxieties about crime, punishment, sin, salvation, the workings of providence and social and moral transgression generally could be expressed and negotiated."
Bayes' document contains elements of conjecture; for instance, his claim that Turpin was married to a Miss Palmer (and not Elizabeth Millington) is almost certainly incorrect, and the date of Turpin's marriage, for which no documentary evidence has been found, appears to be based solely on Bayes' claim that in 1739 Turpin had married 11 or 12 years earlier. His account of those present during the robberies committed by the Essex Gang often contains names that never appeared in contemporary newspaper reports, suggesting, according to author Derek Barlow, that Bayes embellished his story. Bayes' description of Turpin's relationship with "King the Highwayman" is almost certainly fictional. Turpin may have known Matthew King as early as 1734, and had an active association with him from February 1737, but the story of the "Gentleman Highwayman" may have been created only to link the end of the Essex gang with the author's own recollection of events. Barlow also views the account of the theft of Turpin's corpse, appended to Thomas Kyll's publication of 1739, as "handled with such delicacy as to amount almost to reverence", and therefore of suspect provenance.
No contemporary portrait exists of Turpin, who as a notorious but unremarkable figure was not considered sufficiently important to be immortalised. An engraving in one edition of Bayes' 1739 publication, of a man hiding in a cave, is sometimes supposed to be him, but the closest description that exists is that given by John Wheeler, of "a fresh coloured man, very much marked with the small pox, about five feet nine inches high ... wears a blue grey coat and a light coloured wig". An E-FIT of Turpin, created from such reports, was published by the Castle Museum in York in 2009.
Turpin is best known for his exploits as a highwayman, but before his execution the only contemporary report of him as such was in June 1737, when a broadsheet entitled "News news: great and wonderful news from London in an uproar or a hue and cry after the Great Turpin, with his escape into Ireland" was published. Although some of his contemporaries became the subject of chapbooks, names such as James Hind, Claude Duval and William Nevison, are not nearly as well-known today as the legend of Dick Turpin, whose fictionalised exploits first began to appear around the turn of the 19th century. It was, however, the story of a fabled ride from London to York that provided the impetus for 19th-century author William Harrison Ainsworth to include and embellish the exploit in his 1834 novel Rookwood. Ainsworth used Turpin as a plot device, describing him in a manner that makes him more lively than the book's other characters. Turpin is introduced with the pseudonym Palmer, and is later forced to escape on his horse, Black Bess. Although fast enough to keep ahead of those in pursuit, Black Bess eventually dies under the stress of the journey. This scene appealed more to readers than the rest of the work, and as Turpin was depicted as a likeable character who made the life of a criminal seem appealing, the story came to form part of the modern legend surrounding Turpin. The artist Edward Hull capitalised on Ainsworth's story, publishing six prints of notable events in Turpin's career.
Ainsworth's tale of Turpin's overnight journey from London to York on his mare Black Bess has its origins in an episode recorded by Daniel Defoe, in his 1727 work A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain. After committing a robbery in Kent in 1676, William Nevison apparently rode to York to establish an alibi, and Defoe's account of that journey became part of folk legend. A similar ride was attributed to Turpin as early as 1808, and was being performed on stage by 1819, but the feat as imagined by Ainsworth (about 200 miles in less than a day) is impossible. Nevertheless, Ainsworth's legend of Black Bess was repeated in works such as Black Bess or the Knight of the Road, a 254-part penny dreadful published in 1867–68. In these tales, Turpin was the hero, accompanied by his trusty colleagues Claude Duval, Tom King, and Jack Rann. These narratives, which transformed Turpin from a pockmarked thug and murderer into "a gentleman of the road [and] a protector of the weak", followed a popular cultural tradition of romanticising English criminals. This practice is reflected in the ballads written about Turpin, the earliest of which, Dick Turpin, would appear to have been published in 1737. Later ballads presented Turpin as an 18th-century Robin Hood figure: "Turpin was caught and his trial was passed, and for a game cock he died at last. Five hundred pounds he gave so free, all to Jack Ketch as a small legacy."
### Legacy
Stories about Turpin continued to be published well into the 20th century, and the legend was also transferred to the stage and film.
In 1845 the playwright George Dibdin Pitt recreated the most notable "facts" of Turpin's life, and in 1846 Marie Tussaud added a wax sculpture of Turpin to her collection at Madame Tussauds. Astley's Amphitheatre put on a hippodrama of Dick Turpin's Ride to York.
In 1906 actor Fred Ginnett wrote and starred in the film Dick Turpin's Last Ride to York. Dick Turpin's Ride to York is a 1922 British historical silent film drama directed by Maurice Elvey, the first feature-length film of the story. It was for many years assumed by film historians to be completely lost, but two reels were rediscovered in 2003. Other silent versions appeared for the silver screen, and some adaptations even moulded Turpin into a figure styled on Robin Hood. Sid James appeared as Turpin in the 1974 Carry On film Carry On Dick, and LWT cast Richard O'Sullivan as Turpin in their eponymous series Dick Turpin (1979–1982). Noel Fielding will star as Turpin in a planned television series for Apple TV+.
There is a street in Feltham, near Hatton Cross tube station on the edge of London's Heathrow Airport, named Dick Turpin Way, owing to the belief that Turpin lurked in nearby Hounslow Heath. |
18,621,887 | Ted Kaczynski | 1,173,882,269 | American domestic terrorist (1942–2023) | [
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]
| Theodore John Kaczynski (/kəˈzɪnski/ kə-ZIN-skee; May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber (/ˈjuːnəbɒmər/ YOO-nə-bom-ər), was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. He was a mathematics prodigy, but abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a primitive lifestyle.
Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski murdered three individuals and injured 23 others in a nationwide mail bombing campaign against people he believed to be advancing modern technology and the destruction of the natural environment. He authored Industrial Society and Its Future, a 35,000-word manifesto and social critique opposing industrialization, rejecting leftism, and advocating a nature-centered form of anarchism.
In 1971, Kaczynski moved to a remote cabin without electricity or running water near Lincoln, Montana, where he lived as a recluse while learning survival skills to become self-sufficient. After witnessing the destruction of the wilderness surrounding his cabin, he concluded that living in nature was becoming impossible and resolved to fight industrialization and its destruction of nature through terrorism. In 1979, Kaczynski became the subject of what was, by the time of his arrest in 1996, the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI used the case identifier UNABOM (University and Airline Bomber) before his identity was known, resulting in the media naming him the "Unabomber".
In 1995, Kaczynski sent a letter to The New York Times promising to "desist from terrorism" if the Times or The Washington Post published his manifesto, in which he argued that his bombings were extreme but necessary in attracting attention to the erosion of human freedom and dignity by modern technologies. The FBI and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno pushed for the publication of the essay, which appeared in The Washington Post in September 1995. Upon reading it, Kaczynski's brother, David, recognized the prose style and reported his suspicions to the FBI. After his arrest in 1996, Kaczynski—maintaining that he was sane—tried and failed to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers because they wished him to plead insanity to avoid the death penalty. He pleaded guilty to all charges in 1998 and was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. Kaczynski died in prison of suicide in June 2023.
## Early life
### Childhood
Theodore John Kaczynski was born in Chicago on May 22, 1942, to working-class parents Wanda Theresa (née Dombek) and Theodore Richard Kaczynski, a sausage maker. The two were Polish Americans who were raised as Roman Catholics but later became atheists. They married on April 11, 1939.
From first to fourth grade (ages six to nine), Kaczynski attended Sherman Elementary School in Chicago, where administrators described him as healthy and well-adjusted. In 1952, three years after David was born, the family moved to suburban Evergreen Park, Illinois, and Ted transferred to Evergreen Park Central Junior High School. After testing scored his IQ at 167, he skipped the sixth grade. Kaczynski later described this as a pivotal event: previously he had socialized with his peers and was even a leader, but after skipping ahead of them he felt he did not fit in with the older children, who bullied him.
Neighbors in Evergreen Park later described the Kaczynski family as "civic-minded folks", one recalling the parents "sacrificed everything they had for their children." Both Ted and David were intelligent, but Ted was exceptionally bright. Neighbors described him as a smart but lonely individual.
### High school
Kaczynski attended Evergreen Park Community High School, where he excelled academically. He played the trombone in the marching band and was a member of the mathematics, biology, coin, and German clubs. In 1996, a former classmate said: "He was never really seen as a person, as an individual personality ... He was always regarded as a walking brain, so to speak." During this period, Kaczynski became intensely interested in mathematics, spending hours studying and solving advanced problems. He became associated with a group of like-minded boys interested in science and mathematics, known as the "briefcase boys" for their habit of carrying briefcases.
Throughout high school, Kaczynski was ahead of his classmates academically. Placed in a more advanced mathematics class, he soon mastered the material. He skipped the eleventh grade, and, by attending summer school, he graduated at age 15. Kaczynski was one of his school's five National Merit finalists and was encouraged to apply to Harvard University. While still at age 15, he was accepted to Harvard and entered the university on a scholarship in 1958 at age 16. A classmate later said Kaczynski was emotionally unprepared: "They packed him up and sent him to Harvard before he was ready ... He didn't even have a driver's license."
### Harvard University
During his first year at Harvard, Kaczynski lived at 8 Prescott Street, which was intended to provide a small, intimate living space for the youngest, most precocious incoming students. For the following three years, he lived at Eliot House. His housemates and other students at Harvard described Kaczynski as a very intelligent but socially reserved person. Kaczynski earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Harvard in 1962, finishing with a GPA of 3.12.
#### Psychological study
In his second year at Harvard, Kaczynski participated in a study described by author Alston Chase as a "purposely brutalizing psychological experiment" led by Harvard psychologist Henry Murray. Subjects were told they would debate personal philosophy with a fellow student and were asked to write essays detailing their personal beliefs and aspirations. The essays were given to an anonymous individual who would confront and belittle the subject in what Murray himself called "vehement, sweeping, and personally abusive" attacks, using the content of the essays as ammunition. Electrodes monitored the subject's physiological reactions. These encounters were filmed, and subjects' expressions of anger and rage were later played back to them repeatedly. The experiment lasted three years, with someone verbally abusing and humiliating Kaczynski each week. Kaczynski spent 200 hours as part of the study.
Kaczynski's lawyers later attributed his hostility towards mind control techniques to his participation in Murray's study. During the Second World War, Murray had worked with the Office of Strategic Services, a U.S. intelligence agency often referred to as the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he conducted psychological experiments. Some sources have suggested that Murray's experiments were part of Project MKUltra, the CIA's program of research into mind control. Chase and others have also suggested that this experience may have motivated Kaczynski's criminal activities. Kaczynski stated he resented Murray and his co-workers, primarily because of the invasion of his privacy he perceived as a result of their experiments. Nevertheless, he said he was "quite confident that [his] experiences with Professor Murray had no significant effect on the course of [his] life."
## Mathematics career
In 1962, Kaczynski enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in mathematics in 1964 and 1967, respectively. Michigan was not his first choice for postgraduate education; he had applied to the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago, both of which accepted him but offered him no teaching position or financial aid. Michigan offered him an annual grant of \$2,310 () and a teaching post.
At Michigan, Kaczynski specialized in complex analysis, specifically geometric function theory. Professor Peter Duren said of Kaczynski, "He was an unusual person. He was not like the other graduate students. He was much more focused about his work. He had a drive to discover mathematical truth." George Piranian, another of his Michigan mathematics professors, said, "It is not enough to say he was smart." Professor Allen Shields wrote about Kaczynski in a grade evaluation that he was the "best man I have seen." Kaczynski received one F, five Bs and twelve As in his eighteen courses at the university. In 2006, he said he had unpleasant memories of Michigan and felt the university had low standards for grading, considering his relatively high grades.
For a period of several weeks in 1966, Kaczynski experienced intense sexual fantasies of being female and decided to undergo gender transition. He arranged to meet with a psychiatrist, but changed his mind in the waiting room and discussed other things instead, without disclosing his original reason for making the appointment. Afterwards, enraged, he considered killing the psychiatrist and other people whom he hated. Kaczynski described this episode as a "major turning point" in his life. He recalled: "I felt disgusted about what my uncontrolled sexual cravings had almost led me to do. And I felt humiliated, and I violently hated the psychiatrist. Just then there came a major turning point in my life. Like a Phoenix, I burst from the ashes of my despair to a glorious new hope."
In 1967, Kaczynski's dissertation, Boundary Functions, won the Sumner B. Myers Prize for Michigan's best mathematics dissertation of the year. Allen Shields, his doctoral advisor, called it "the best I have ever directed", and Maxwell Reade, a member of his dissertation committee, said, "I would guess that maybe 10 or 12 men in the country understood or appreciated it."
In late 1967, the 25-year-old Kaczynski became an acting assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught mathematics. By September 1968, Kaczynski was appointed as an assistant professor, a sign that he was on track for tenure. His teaching evaluations suggest he was not well-liked by his students: he seemed uncomfortable teaching, taught straight from the textbook and refused to answer questions. Without any explanation, Kaczynski resigned on June 30, 1969. In a 1970 letter written by John W. Addison Jr., the chairman of the mathematics department, to Kaczynski's doctoral advisor Shields, Addison referred to the resignation as "quite out of the blue". He added that "Kaczynski seemed almost pathologically shy", and that, as far as he knew, Kaczynski made no close friends in the department, noting that efforts to bring him more into the "swing of things" had failed.
In 1996, reporters for the Los Angeles Times interviewed mathematicians about Kaczynski's work and concluded that Kaczynski's subfield effectively ceased to exist after the 1960s, as most of its conjectures had been proven. According to mathematician Donald Rung, if Kaczynski had continued to work in mathematics, he "probably would have gone on to some other area".
## Life in Montana
After resigning from Berkeley, Kaczynski moved to his parents' home in Lombard, Illinois. Two years later, in 1971, he moved to a remote cabin he had built outside Lincoln, Montana, where he could live a simple life with little money and without electricity or running water, working odd jobs and receiving significant financial support from his family.
Kaczynski's original goal was to become self-sufficient so he could live autonomously. He used an old bicycle to get to town, and a volunteer at the local library said he visited frequently to read classic works in their original languages. Other Lincoln residents said later that such a lifestyle was typical in the area. Kaczynski's cabin was described by a census taker in the 1990 census as containing a bed, two chairs, storage trunks, a gas stove, and lots of books.
Starting in 1975, Kaczynski performed acts of sabotage including arson and booby trapping against developments near his cabin. He also dedicated himself to reading about sociology and political philosophy, including the works of Jacques Ellul. Kaczynski's brother David later stated that Ellul's book The Technological Society "became Ted's Bible". Kaczynski recounted in 1998, "When I read the book for the first time, I was delighted, because I thought, 'Here is someone who is saying what I have already been thinking.'"
In an interview after his arrest, Kaczynski recalled being shocked on a hike to one of his favorite wild spots:
> It's kind of rolling country, not flat, and when you get to the edge of it you find these ravines that cut very steeply in to cliff-like drop-offs and there was even a waterfall there. It was about a two days' hike from my cabin. That was the best spot until the summer of 1983. That summer there were too many people around my cabin so I decided I needed some peace. I went back to the plateau and when I got there I found they had put a road right through the middle of it ... You just can't imagine how upset I was. It was from that point on I decided that, rather than trying to acquire further wilderness skills, I would work on getting back at the system. Revenge.
Kaczynski was visited multiple times in Montana by his father, who was impressed by Ted's wilderness skills. Kaczynski's father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1990 and held a family meeting without Kaczynski later that year to map out their future. On October 2, 1990, Kaczynski's father shot and killed himself in his home.
## Bombings
Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski mailed or hand-delivered a series of increasingly sophisticated bombs that cumulatively killed three people and injured 23 others. Sixteen bombs were attributed to Kaczynski. While the bombing devices varied widely through the years, many contained the initials "FC", which Kaczynski later said stood for "Freedom Club", inscribed on parts inside. He purposely left misleading clues in the devices and took extreme care in preparing them to avoid leaving fingerprints; fingerprints found on some of the devices did not match those found on letters attributed to Kaczynski.
### Initial bombings
Kaczynski's first mail bomb was directed at Buckley Crist, a professor of materials engineering at Northwestern University. On May 25, 1978, a package bearing Crist's return address was found in a parking lot at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The package was "returned" to Crist, who was suspicious because he had not sent it, so he contacted campus police. Officer Terry Marker opened the package, which exploded and caused minor injuries. Kaczynski had returned to Chicago for the May 1978 bombing and stayed there for a time to work with his father and brother at a foam rubber factory. In August 1978, his brother fired him for writing insulting limericks about a female supervisor Ted had courted briefly. The supervisor later recalled Kaczynski as intelligent and quiet, but remembered little of their acquaintanceship and firmly denied they had had any romantic relationship. Kaczynski's second bomb was sent nearly one year after the first one, again to Northwestern University. The bomb, concealed inside a cigar box and left on a table, caused minor injuries to graduate student John Harris when he opened it.
### FBI involvement
In 1979, a bomb was placed in the cargo hold of American Airlines Flight 444, a Boeing 727 flying from Chicago to Washington, D.C. A faulty timing mechanism prevented the bomb from exploding, but it released smoke, which caused the pilots to carry out an emergency landing. Authorities said it had enough power to "obliterate the plane" had it exploded. Kaczynski sent his next bomb to the president of United Airlines, Percy Wood. Wood received cuts and burns over most of his body.
Kaczynski left false clues in most bombs, which he intentionally made hard to find to make them appear more legitimate. Clues included metal plates stamped with the initials "FC" hidden somewhere (usually in the pipe end cap) in bombs, a note left in a bomb that did not detonate reading "Wu—It works! I told you it would—RV," and the Eugene O'Neill one-dollar stamps often used as postage on his boxes. He sent one bomb embedded in a copy of Sloan Wilson's novel Ice Brothers. The FBI theorized that Kaczynski's crimes involved a theme of nature, trees and wood. He often included bits of a tree branch and bark in his bombs; his selected targets included Percy Wood and Leroy Wood. The crime writer Robert Graysmith noted his "obsession with wood" was "a large factor" in the bombings.
### Later bombings
In 1981, a package bearing the return address of a Brigham Young University professor of electrical engineering, LeRoy Wood Bearnson, was discovered in a hallway at the University of Utah. It was brought to the campus police, and was defused by a bomb squad. In May of the following year, a bomb was sent to Patrick C. Fischer, a professor of computer science at Vanderbilt University. When Fischer's secretary, Janet Smith, opened the package it exploded, and Smith received injuries to her face and arms.
Kaczynski's next two bombs targeted people at the University of California, Berkeley. The first, in July 1982, caused serious injuries to engineering professor Diogenes Angelakos. Nearly three years later, in May 1985, John Hauser, a graduate student and captain in the United States Air Force, lost four fingers and the vision in one eye. Kaczynski handcrafted the bomb from wooden parts. A bomb sent to the Boeing Company in Auburn, Washington, was defused by a bomb squad the following month. In November 1985, professor James V. McConnell and research assistant Nicklaus Suino were both severely injured after Suino opened a mail bomb addressed to McConnell.
In late 1985, a nail-and-splinter-loaded bomb in the parking lot of a computer store in Sacramento, California, killed 38-year-old owner of the store, Hugh Scrutton. On February 20, 1987, a bomb disguised as a piece of lumber injured Gary Wright in the parking lot of a computer store in Salt Lake City, Utah; nerves in Wright's left arm were severed, and at least 200 pieces of shrapnel entered his body. Kaczynski was spotted while planting the Salt Lake City bomb. This led to a widely distributed sketch of the suspect as a hooded man with a mustache and aviator sunglasses.
In 1993, after a six-year break, Kaczynski mailed a bomb to the home of Charles Epstein from the University of California, San Francisco. Epstein lost several fingers upon opening the package. In the same weekend, Kaczynski mailed a bomb to David Gelernter, a computer science professor at Yale University. Gelernter lost sight in one eye, hearing in one ear, and a portion of his right hand.
In 1994, Burson-Marsteller executive Thomas J. Mosser was killed after opening a mail bomb sent to his home in New Jersey. In a letter to The New York Times, Kaczynski wrote he had sent the bomb because of Mosser's work repairing the public image of Exxon after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This was followed by the 1995 murder of Gilbert Brent Murray, president of the timber industry lobbying group California Forestry Association, by a mail bomb addressed to previous president William Dennison, who had retired. Geneticist Phillip Sharp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received a threatening letter shortly afterwards.
## Manifesto
In 1995, Kaczynski mailed several letters to media outlets outlining his goals and demanding a major newspaper print his 35,000-word essay Industrial Society and Its Future (dubbed the "Unabomber manifesto" by the FBI) verbatim. He stated he would "desist from terrorism" if this demand was met. There was controversy as to whether the essay should be published, but Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh recommended its publication out of concern for public safety and in the hope that a reader could identify the author. Bob Guccione of Penthouse volunteered to publish it. Kaczynski replied Penthouse was less "respectable" than The New York Times and The Washington Post, and said that, "to increase our chances of getting our stuff published in some 'respectable' periodical", he would "reserve the right to plant one (and only one) bomb intended to kill, after our manuscript has been published" if Penthouse published the document instead of The Times or The Post. The Washington Post published the essay on September 19, 1995.
Kaczynski used a typewriter to write his manuscript, capitalizing entire words for emphasis, in lieu of italics. He always referred to himself as either "we" or "FC" ("Freedom Club"), though there is no evidence that he worked with others. Donald Wayne Foster analyzed the writing at the request of Kaczynski's defense team in 1996 and noted that it contained irregular spelling and hyphenation, along with other linguistic idiosyncrasies. This led him to conclude that Kaczynski was its author.
### Summary
Industrial Society and Its Future begins with Kaczynski's assertion: "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race." He wrote that technology has had a destabilizing effect on society, has made life unfulfilling, and has caused widespread psychological suffering. Kaczynski argued that most people spend their time engaged in useless pursuits because of technological advances; he called these "surrogate activities", wherein people strive toward artificial goals, including scientific work, consumption of entertainment, political activism, and following sports teams. He predicted that further technological advances would lead to extensive human genetic engineering, and that human beings would be adjusted to meet the needs of social systems rather than vice versa. Kaczynski stated that technological progress can be stopped, in contrast to the viewpoint of people who he said understand technology's negative effects yet passively accept technology as inevitable. He called for a return to primitivist lifestyles. Kaczynski's critiques of civilization bore some similarities to anarcho-primitivism, but he rejected and criticized anarcho-primitivist views.
Kaczynski argued that the erosion of human freedom is a natural product of an industrial society because, in his words, "the system has to regulate human behavior closely in order to function", and that reform of the system is impossible as drastic changes to it would not be implemented because of their disruption of the system. He said that the system has not yet fully achieved control over all human behavior and is in the midst of a struggle to gain that control. Kaczynski predicted that the system would break down if it cannot achieve significant control, and that it is likely this issue would be decided within the next 40 to 100 years. He stated that the task of those who oppose industrial society is to promote stress within and upon the society and to propagate an anti-technology ideology, one that offers the counter-ideal of nature. Kaczynski added that a revolution would be possible only when industrial society is sufficiently unstable.
A significant portion of the document is dedicated to discussing left-wing politics, with Kaczynski attributing many of society's issues to leftists. He defined leftists as "mainly socialists, collectivists, 'politically correct' types, feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and the like". He believed that over-socialization and feelings of inferiority are primary drivers of leftism, and derided it as "one of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of our world". Kaczynski added that the type of movement he envisioned must be anti-leftist and refrain from collaboration with leftists as, in his view, "leftism is in the long run inconsistent with wild nature, with human freedom and with the elimination of modern technology".
Although Kaczynski and his manifesto has been embraced by ecofascists, he rejected fascism, including those whom he referred to as "the 'ecofascists'", describing ecofascism as "an aberrant branch of leftism". In "Ecofascism: An Aberrant Branch of Leftism", he wrote: "The true anti-tech movement rejects every form of racism or ethnocentrism. This has nothing to do with 'tolerance,' 'diversity,' 'pluralism,' 'multiculturalism,' 'equality,' or 'social justice.' The rejection of racism and ethnocentrism is – purely and simply – a cardinal point of strategy." Kaczynski wrote that he considered fascism a "kook ideology" and Nazism as "evil". Kaczynski never tried to align himself with the far-right at any point before or after his arrest. He also criticized conservatives, describing them as "fools who whine about the decay of traditional values, yet ... enthusiastically support technological progress and economic growth"—things he argues have led to this decay.
### Contemporary reception
James Q. Wilson, in a 1998 New York Times op-ed, wrote: "If it is the work of a madman, then the writings of many political philosophers—Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Paine, Karl Marx—are scarcely more sane." He added: "The Unabomber does not like socialization, technology, leftist political causes or conservative attitudes. Apart from his call for an (unspecified) revolution, his paper resembles something that a very good graduate student might have written."
Alston Chase, a fellow alumnus at Harvard University, wrote in 2000 for The Atlantic that "it is true that many believed Kaczynski was insane because they needed to believe it. But the truly disturbing aspect of Kaczynski and his ideas is not that they are so foreign but that they are so familiar." He argued: "We need to see Kaczynski as exceptional—madman or genius—because the alternative is so much more frightening."
### Other works
University of Michigan–Dearborn philosophy professor David Skrbina helped to compile Kaczynski's work into the 2010 anthology Technological Slavery, including the original manifesto, letters between Skrbina and Kaczynski, and other essays. Kaczynski updated his 1995 manifesto as Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How to address advances in computers and the internet. He advocates practicing other types of protest and makes no mention of violence.
According to a 2021 study, Kaczynski's manifesto "is a synthesis of ideas from three well-known academics: French philosopher Jacques Ellul, British zoologist Desmond Morris, and American psychologist Martin Seligman."
## Investigation
Because of the material used to make the mail bombs, U.S. postal inspectors, who initially had responsibility for the case, labeled the suspect the "Junkyard Bomber". FBI Inspector Terry D. Turchie was appointed to run the UNABOM (University and Airline Bomber) investigation. In 1979, an FBI-led task force that included 125 agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was formed. The task force grew to more than 150 full-time personnel, but minute analysis of recovered components of the bombs and the investigation into the lives of the victims proved of little use in identifying the suspect, who built the bombs primarily from scrap materials available almost anywhere. Investigators later learned that the victims were chosen indiscriminately from library research.
In 1980, chief agent John Douglas, working with agents in the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit, issued a psychological profile of the unidentified bomber. It described the offender as a man with above-average intelligence and connections to academia. This profile was later refined to characterize the offender as a neo-Luddite holding an academic degree in the hard sciences, but this psychologically based profile was discarded in 1983. FBI analysts developed an alternative theory that concentrated on the physical evidence in recovered bomb fragments. In this rival profile, the suspect was characterized as a blue-collar airplane mechanic. The UNABOM Task Force set up a toll-free telephone hotline to take calls related to the investigation, with a \$1 million reward for anyone who could provide information leading to the Unabomber's capture.
Before the publication of Industrial Society and Its Future, Kaczynski's brother, David, was encouraged by his wife to follow up on suspicions that Ted was the Unabomber. David was dismissive at first, but he took the likelihood more seriously after reading the manifesto a week after it was published in September 1995. He searched through old family papers and found letters dating to the 1970s that Ted had sent to newspapers to protest the abuses of technology using phrasing similar to that in the manifesto.
Before the manifesto's publication, the FBI held many press conferences asking the public to help identify the Unabomber. They were convinced that the bomber was from the Chicago area where he began his bombings, had worked in or had some connection to Salt Lake City, and by the 1990s had some association with the San Francisco Bay Area. This geographical information and the wording in excerpts from the manifesto that were released before the entire text of the manifesto was published persuaded David's wife to urge him to read it.
### After publication
After the manifesto was published, the FBI received thousands of tips. While the FBI reviewed new leads, Kaczynski's brother, David, hired private investigator Susan Swanson in Chicago to investigate Ted's activities discreetly. David later hired Washington, D.C., attorney Tony Bisceglie to organize the evidence acquired by Swanson and contact the FBI, given the presumed difficulty of attracting the FBI's attention. Kaczynski's family wanted to protect him from the danger of an FBI raid, such as those at Ruby Ridge or Waco, since they feared a violent outcome from any attempt by the FBI to contact Kaczynski.
In early 1996, an investigator working with Bisceglie contacted former FBI hostage negotiator and criminal profiler Clinton R. Van Zandt. Bisceglie asked him to compare the manifesto to typewritten copies of handwritten letters David had received from his brother. Van Zandt's initial analysis determined that there was better than a 60 percent chance that the same person had written the manifesto, which had been in public circulation for half a year. Van Zandt's second analytical team determined a higher likelihood. He recommended Bisceglie's client contact the FBI immediately.
In February 1996, Bisceglie gave a copy of the 1971 essay written by Kaczynski to Molly Flynn at the FBI. She forwarded the essay to the San Francisco-based task force. FBI profiler James R. Fitzgerald recognized similarities in the writings using linguistic analysis and determined that the author of the essays and the manifesto was almost certainly the same person. Combined with facts gleaned from the bombings and Kaczynski's life, the analysis provided the basis for an affidavit signed by Terry Turchie, the head of the entire investigation, in support of the application for a search warrant.
Kaczynski's brother, David, had tried to remain anonymous, but he was soon identified. Within a few days an FBI agent team was dispatched to interview David and his wife with their attorney in Washington, D.C. At this and subsequent meetings, David provided letters written by his brother in their original envelopes, allowing the FBI task force to use the postmark dates to add more detail to their timeline of Ted's activities.
David had once admired and emulated his older brother, but had since left the survivalist lifestyle behind. He had received assurances from the FBI that he would remain anonymous and that his brother would not learn who had turned him in, but his identity was leaked to CBS News in early April 1996. CBS anchorman Dan Rather called FBI director Louis Freeh, who requested 24 hours before CBS broke the story on the evening news. The FBI scrambled to finish the search warrant and have it issued by a federal judge in Montana; afterwards, the FBI conducted an internal leak investigation, but the source of the leak was never identified.
FBI officials were not unanimous in identifying Ted as the author of the manifesto. The search warrant noted that several experts believed the manifesto had been written by another individual.
### Arrest
FBI agents arrested an unkempt Kaczynski at his cabin on April 3, 1996. A search revealed a cache of bomb components, 40,000 hand-written journal pages that included bomb-making experiments, descriptions of the Unabomber crimes and one live bomb. They also found what appeared to be the original typed manuscript of Industrial Society and Its Future. By this point, the Unabomber had been the target of the most expensive investigation in FBI history at the time. A 2000 report by the United States Commission on the Advancement of Federal Law Enforcement stated that the task force had spent over \$50 million throughout the course of the investigation.
After his capture, theories emerged naming Kaczynski as the Zodiac Killer, who murdered five people in Northern California from 1968 to 1969. Among the links that raised suspicion was that Kaczynski lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1967 to 1969 (the same period that most of the Zodiac's confirmed killings occurred in California), that both individuals were highly intelligent with an interest in bombs and codes, and that both wrote letters to newspapers demanding the publication of their works with the threat of continued violence if the demand was not met. Additionally, Kaczynski's whereabouts could not be verified for all of the killings. Since the gun and knife murders committed by the Zodiac Killer differed from Kaczynski's bombings, authorities did not pursue him as a suspect. Robert Graysmith, author of the 1986 book Zodiac, said the similarities are "fascinating" but purely coincidental.
At one point in 1993, investigators sought an individual whose first name was "Nathan" because the name was imprinted on the envelope of a letter sent to the media.
### Guilty plea
A federal grand jury indicted Kaczynski in June 1996 on ten counts of illegally transporting, mailing, and using bombs. Kaczynski's lawyers, headed by Montana federal public defenders Michael Donahoe and Judy Clarke, attempted to enter an insanity defense to avoid the death penalty, but Kaczynski rejected this strategy. On January 8, 1998, he asked to dismiss his lawyers and hire Tony Serra as his counsel; Serra had agreed not to use an insanity defense and instead promised to base a defense on Kaczynski's anti-technology views. After this request was unsuccessful, Kaczynski tried to kill himself on January 9. Sally Johnson, the psychiatrist who examined Kaczynski, concluded that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz said Kaczynski was not psychotic but had a schizoid or schizotypal personality disorder. In his 2010 book Technological Slavery, Kaczynski said that two prison psychologists who visited him frequently for four years told him they saw no indication that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and the diagnosis was "ridiculous" and a "political diagnosis". Some contemporary authors suggested that multiple people, most notably Kaczynski's brother and mother, purposely spread the image of Kaczynski as mentally ill with the aim to save him from execution.
On January 21, 1998, Kaczynski was declared competent to stand trial by federal prison psychiatrist Johnson, "despite the psychiatric diagnoses", and prosecutors sought the death penalty. Kaczynski pled guilty to all charges on January 22, 1998, accepting life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He later tried to withdraw this plea, claiming the judge had coerced him, but Judge Garland Ellis Burrell Jr. denied his request and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that denial.
In 2006, Burrell ordered that items from Kaczynski's cabin be sold at a "reasonably advertised Internet auction". Items considered to be bomb-making materials, such as diagrams and "recipes" for bombs, were excluded. The net proceeds went toward the \$15 million in restitution Burrell had awarded Kaczynski's victims. Kaczynski's correspondence and other personal papers were also auctioned. Burrell ordered the removal, before sale, of references in those documents to Kaczynski's victims; Kaczynski unsuccessfully challenged those redactions as a violation of his freedom of speech. The auction ran for two weeks in 2011, and raised over \$232,000.
## Incarceration and death
Almost immediately after being convicted, Kaczynski began serving his eight life sentences without the possibility of parole at ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Early in his imprisonment, Kaczynski befriended Ramzi Yousef and Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, respectively; they discussed religion and politics and formed a friendship which lasted until McVeigh's execution in 2001. Kaczynski stated about Timothy McVeigh "On a personal level I like McVeigh and I imagine that most people would like him", but also stated "assuming that the Oklahoma City bombing was intended as a protest against the U.S. government in general and against the government’s actions at Waco in particular, I will say that I think the bombing was a bad action because it was unnecessarily inhumane."
In October 2005, Kaczynski offered to donate two rare books to the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, the location of his first two attacks. The library rejected the offer on the grounds that it already had copies of the works. The Labadie Collection, part of the University of Michigan's Special Collections Library, houses Kaczynski's correspondence with over 400 people since his arrest, including replies, legal documents, publications, and clippings. His writings are among the most popular selections in the University of Michigan's special collections. The identity of most correspondents will remain sealed until 2049. In 2012, Kaczynski responded to the Harvard Alumni Association's directory inquiry for the fiftieth reunion of the class of 1962; he listed his occupation as "prisoner" and his eight life sentences as "awards".
In 2011, Kaczynski was a person of interest in the Chicago Tylenol murders. Kaczynski was willing to provide a DNA sample to the FBI, but later withheld it as a bargaining chip for his legal efforts against the FBI's private auction of his confiscated property. The U.S. government seized Kaczynski's cabin, which they put on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., until late 2019, when it was transferred to a nearby FBI museum.
On December 14, 2021, the 79-year-old Kaczynski was transferred to the Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina.
At 12:23 a.m. on June 10, 2023, Kaczynski was found in his cell unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Prison officials concluded his death to be a suicide, resulting from "neglect and lax patrol practices". He was in the late stages of cancer. The prison guards' union blamed the death on insufficient staffing.
## Legacy
Kaczynski has been portrayed in and inspired multiple artistic works in the realm of popular culture. These include the 1996 television film Unabomber: The True Story, the 2011 play P.O. Box Unabomber, Manhunt: Unabomber, the 2017 season of the television series Manhunt, and the 2021 film Ted K. The moniker "Unabomber" was also applied to the Italian Unabomber, a terrorist who conducted attacks similar to Kaczynski's in Italy from 1994 to 2006. Prior to the 1996 United States presidential election, a campaign called "Unabomber for President" was launched with the goal of electing Kaczynski as president through write-in votes. He was portrayed by Sharlto Copley in the film Ted K.
In his book The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999), futurist Ray Kurzweil quoted a passage from Kaczynski's manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future. In turn, Kaczynski was referenced by Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, in the 2000 Wired article "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us". Joy stated that Kaczynski "is clearly a Luddite, but simply saying this does not dismiss his argument". Professor Jean-Marie Apostolidès has raised questions surrounding the ethics of spreading Kaczynski's views. Various radical movements and extremists have been influenced by Kaczynski. People inspired by Kaczynski's ideas show up in unexpected places, from nihilist, anarchist, and eco-extremist movements to conservative intellectuals. Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, published a manifesto which copied large portions from Industrial Society and Its Future, with certain terms substituted (e.g., replacing "leftists" with "cultural Marxists" and "multiculturalists").
Over twenty years after Kaczynski's imprisonment, his views had inspired an online community of primitivists and neo-Luddites. One explanation for the renewal of interest in his views is the television series Manhunt: Unabomber, which aired in 2017. Kaczynski is also frequently referred to by ecofascists online. Although some militant fascist and neo-Nazi groups idolize him, Kaczynski described fascism in his manifesto as a "kook ideology" and Nazism as "evil".
Merrick Garland, who would later serve as United States Attorney General, has cited the Unabomber case as among the most important cases he worked on.
## See also |
1,615,894 | Second Battle of Newtonia | 1,172,634,770 | Battle of the American Civil War | [
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"Battles of the American Civil War in Missouri",
"Battles of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War",
"Conflicts in 1864",
"Newton County, Missouri",
"Newtonia, Missouri",
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"Price's Missouri Expedition",
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]
| The Second Battle of Newtonia was fought on October 28, 1864, near Newtonia, Missouri, between cavalry commanded by Major General James G. Blunt of the Union Army and Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby's rear guard of the Confederate Army of Missouri. In September 1864, Confederate Major General Sterling Price had entered the state of Missouri with hopes of creating a popular uprising against Union control of the state. A defeat at the Battle of Pilot Knob in late September and the strength of Union positions at Jefferson City led Price to abandon the main objectives of the campaign; instead he moved his force west towards Kansas City, where it was badly defeated at the Battle of Westport by Major General Samuel R. Curtis on October 23. Following a set of three defeats on October 25, Price's army halted to rest near Newtonia on October 28.
On the afternoon of the 28th, Union pursuers commanded by Blunt caught up with Price and drove back his skirmishers. Price ordered the withdrawal of his main army, and tasked Shelby with holding a rear guard. Shelby initially had a numerical advantage, and used it to outflank Blunt's shorter line. With his men low on ammunition, Blunt was considering a retreat shortly before sundown when reinforcements arrived in the form of Brigadier General John B. Sanborn and his brigade. Sanborn formed on Blunt's left, and the Union troops counterattacked. Shelby ordered a retreat, and the Union troops did not begin to pursue until October 30. Once the pursuit began, it continued until they reached the Arkansas River. The Confederates did not stop retreating until they reached Texas; Price had lost over two-thirds of his army during the campaign. Though both sides initially claimed victory, modern historians credit the Union with a victory at Newtonia. Estimates of casualties suffered during the battle range greatly.
## Background
When the American Civil War began in 1861, the state of Missouri was a slave state, but did not secede. The state was politically divided: Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Missouri State Guard (MSG) supported secession and the Confederate States of America, while Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon and the Union Army supported the United States and opposed secession. Under Major General Sterling Price, the MSG won several victories over the Union Army in 1861, but by the end of the year, Price and his men were restricted to the southwestern portion of the state. Meanwhile, Jackson and a portion of the state legislature voted to secede and join the Confederacy, while another element of the legislature voted to reject secession, giving the state two competing governments. In March 1862, a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas gave the Union control of Missouri, and Confederate activity in the state was largely restricted to guerrilla warfare and raids throughout 1862 and 1863.
By the beginning of September 1864, events in the eastern United States, especially the Confederate defeat in the Atlanta campaign, gave Abraham Lincoln an advantage in the 1864 United States presidential election. Lincoln supported continuing the war, while his opponent, George B. McClellan, favored ending the conflict. At this point, the Confederacy had very little chance of winning. As events east of the Mississippi River turned against the Confederates, General Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, was ordered to transfer the infantry under his command to the fighting in the Eastern and Western Theaters. This proved impossible, as the Union Navy controlled the Mississippi River, preventing a large-scale crossing.
Despite having limited resources for an offensive, Smith decided that an attack designed to divert Union troops from the principal theaters of combat would have an equivalent effect as the proposed transfer of troops, through decreasing the Confederates' numerical disparity east of the Mississippi. Price and the Confederate Governor of Missouri Thomas Caute Reynolds suggested that an invasion of Missouri would be an effective offensive; Smith approved the plan and appointed Price to command the offensive. Price expected that the offensive would create a popular uprising against Union control of Missouri, divert Union troops away from principal theaters of combat (many of the Union troops previously defending Missouri had been transferred out of the state, leaving the Missouri State Militia as the state's primary defensive force), and aid McClellan's chance of defeating Lincoln in the election. On September 19, Price entered the state from Arkansas with the Army of Missouri.
Originally, Price and his army had hoped to capture St. Louis, but a defeat at the Battle of Pilot Knob in late September dissuaded the Confederates from assaulting that city. Jefferson City, a secondary target, was deemed too strong to attack when it was reached in early October, so the Confederates began moving westwards towards Kansas City. Major General William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Union Department of the Missouri, began mobilizing troops against Price. On October 23, Union Major General Samuel R. Curtis and the Army of the Border caught up with Price near Kansas City and badly defeated him in the Battle of Westport. The Army of Missouri then began retreating through Kansas, and was defeated three times on October 25, including the Battle of Mine Creek, which was a disastrous rout in which large quantities of supplies and soldiers were captured.
The Confederates were able to get an eight-hour lead over the Union troops, although the pursuers soon narrowed the gap to two-and-a-half hours by the afternoon of the 26th. Union troops reported finding Confederate stragglers dying of starvation during the retreat, and Price lost many men to desertion. Claims of the execution of prisoners were made against both armies. On October 28, Price halted his retreat near Newtonia, Missouri, (the site of the 1862 First Battle of Newtonia) hoping to give his weary men a rest. Grain could be obtained in the Newtonia area, while Price's path of retreat would soon go through a relatively barren part of Arkansas. A small Union outpost was located in the town. Confederate soldiers who were Newtonia locals were aware of the outpost, and two detachments were sent to drive out the Union defenders. The flat prairie terrain around Newtonia precluded any element of surprise, and the defenders fled the town. One Union soldier, Lieutenant Robert H. Christian, was captured, killed (possibly after surrendering), and mutilated.
## Battle
Price's men encamped south of Newtonia, in some woods near the McClain Farm. Some of the soldiers were sent into town to bring a flour mill into use. A report of approaching Union soldiers reached the Confederate camp, and Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson attempted to organize a group of soldiers of his brigade to meet the threat. Thompson was unable to convince many of the tired Confederates to break their rest, and was only able to get about 200 men to follow him. When no Union soldiers arrived and straggling Confederate soldiers arrived to dispute the rumor, Thompson sent his men back to the camp. At around 14:00, Union soldiers under the command of Colonel James H. Ford arrived, having approached the battlefield from the northwest. Ford deployed McLain's Colorado Battery and the 2nd Colorado and 16th Kansas Cavalry Regiments. The Confederates were harvesting corn when the Union troops arrived and their skirmishers were quickly driven away from their position west of the town near the Mathew H. Ritchey Farm. While this action was occurring, Union Major General James G. Blunt arrived to take command of the action; he personally fought with the 16th Kansas Cavalry during this stage of the fighting.
Price was caught by surprise; he ordered Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby to provide a rear guard while the rest of his army withdrew, as he believed that Curtis and the entire Union army was attacking him. This movement prevented Price from sending any reinforcements to Shelby during the ensuing battle, even though they would be requested; Shelby's command was the only effective force left in the Confederate army anyway. An element of Major General James F. Fagan's division had previously reported the approach of Union troops, but this report had been dismissed by Fagan. Meanwhile, Blunt made two incorrect assumptions: that Curtis was close behind his force in support, and that the Confederates would not act aggressively. As a result, Blunt decided to attack with his two brigades, which numbered only about 1,000 men; the brigades were nominally under the command of Colonel Charles R. Jennison and Ford, although Lieutenant Colonel George H. Hoyt held temporary command of the former unit as Jennison was sick. Hoyt's unit had arrived on the field not long after Ford's, having been close enough behind the leading unit that it was forced to ride through the dust cloud formed by Ford's movement.
The Union troopers then moved up to the northern edge of the McClain Farm with four cavalry regiments in a line from left to right in the order of the 16th Kansas Cavalry, the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment, the 2nd Colorado Cavalry, and the 15th Kansas Cavalry Regiment; McLain's Battery formed up in a supporting position with four Parrott rifles. Shelby deployed his men 500 yards (460 m) away on the other side of the farm, with the brigades of Thompson and Colonel Sidney D. Jackman in the center and two small mounted detachments covering the flanks. Slayback's Missouri Cavalry Battalion and the 5th Missouri Regiment were positioned between Thompson's main body and the mounted group on the Confederate left. The two guns of Collins's Missouri Battery provided artillery support; and was in turn supported by Nichols's Missouri Cavalry Regiment and Hunter's Missouri Cavalry Regiment. The modern historian Charles D. Collins Jr. estimates that Shelby's division fielded about 1,500 to 2,000 men at Newtonia, while the historian Mark A. Lause states that no more than 3,500 to 4,000 Confederates would have fought in the battle. The two sides' artillery opened fire, Collins's Battery having the early advantage over McLain, whose pieces had trouble finding the range of the Confederates. The distance between the two units was great enough that small arms fire was not attempted in large-scale, and what was shot had essentially no effect. Either two or four mountain howitzers were added to the Union line by Hoyt; they were more effective than McLain's pieces, but could not gain an advantage over Collins. Fearing that the Union guns' numerical advantage would eventually overwhelm Collins, Shelby ordered an attack, which outflanked the Union line and had initial success. The Union soldiers fell back about 200 yards (180 m). Only Thompson's brigade participated in the attack, as Jackman's men were left behind to support Collins's battery. Colonel Moses W. Smith, commander of the 11th Missouri Cavalry Regiment, suffered a mortal wound during the charge.
While the two mountain howitzers helped hold the Union right against Confederate threats, the mounted detachment on the Confederate right outflanked the Union left, causing the retreat of McLain's Battery. Blunt had ordered an orderly retreat of about 300 yards (270 m), but the sight of the guns retreating demoralized some of the men of the 15th and 16th Kansas Cavalry Regiments, parts of which were routed. Watching elements of their opponents flee emboldened the Confederates, and the attack was pressed harder. The Union lines fell back all the way to the Ritchey Farm, where they reformed their lines, a process which was aided by the redeployment of McLain's battery. Even after this line was formed, some of the Union troops were still heading for the rear. A charge by two companies of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry surprised the Confederates and temporarily threw them into disorder. Confederate troops were also threatening to turn the Union left. Blunt, concerned that his men would run out of ammunition, began making preparations to withdraw from the field and positioned McLain's Battery on an elevation behind his main line. By now, it was approaching sundown, and Union reinforcements commanded by Brigadier General John B. Sanborn arrived on the field at around 17:00, having made a forced march from Fort Scott, Kansas after receiving orders from Curtis to join Blunt earlier in the day. After arriving, Sanborn formed his men to Blunt's left; there were now about 1,500 or 2,000 Union soldiers in the fight.
Curtis arrived with Sanborn, and watched McLain's Battery withdraw in a state that Curtis described as "badly cut up". He helped to rally the Colorado battery, while Sanborn dismounted his men and prepared for an assault. Once Sanborn's men began attacking, Blunt's rejuvenated troopers joined in the counterattack. Two Rodman guns of Battery H, 2nd Missouri Light Artillery Regiment had arrived, giving the Union an artillery advantage of eight guns to two. These newly arrived guns fired 22 shots during the battle. With the Union having thrown fresh troops into the fray and with the artillery advantage growing more marked, Shelby ordered a withdrawal. The Union counterattack drove for about 1 mile (1.6 km) before halting. Elements of Fagan's command arrived to reinforce Shelby during the retreat, but the Confederates still withdrew to some woods near their original camp. Lause believes that part of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's Confederate division also participated in the battle. By this time, both sides were heavily fatigued, and Curtis and Blunt decided to postpone any pursuit until morning. Ford's and Hoyt's men left the battlefield at about 21:00, after which they occupied the town.
## Aftermath and preservation
Both armies claimed victory. Curtis reported that the Confederates had been "conquered", while Price claimed that Blunt had been driven back 3 miles (5 km) and to have inflicted severe casualties. Shelby's chief of staff, John Newman Edwards, stated that "another beautiful victory had crowned the Confederate arms". Both the American Battlefield Trust and the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission interpret the outcome as a Union victory. Likewise, estimates of casualties vary greatly. A contemporary newspaper reported 113 Union casualties, and under 200 for the Confederates. The modern historian Albert E. Castel places total Confederate casualties at 24 and those for the Union at 26, while the modern historian Kyle Sinisi places Union losses at 114 and estimates that Confederate losses were probably similar or less than those of the Union. Lause states that Blunt reported Union losses as 118 killed and wounded and that Union officer Richard J. Hinton provided a figure of 114 Union casualties. Higher figures for Confederate losses are given by Lause, who reports that the Confederates "supposedly" lost about 275 men. The frequently unreliable Edwards later stated that the Confederates lost about 800 men at Newtonia. The American Battlefield Trust estimates 250 and 400, respectively. It is known that 46 wounded Confederates were captured by Union troops when they were abandoned after the battle due to Price's army's inability to transport them. The Ritchey and McLain houses were both used as field hospitals, as was the Witherspoon house, which was southwest of the McLain farm. Both contemporary and postwar writers either praised Blunt for playing a decisive role in the victory or criticized his decision to attack with a small force as reckless.
During the night after the battle, most of Shelby's men left the field to rejoin Price's main command, having completed their mission of providing a rear guard. The Confederate 12th Missouri Cavalry Regiment was left on the field until morning as an observation force. Sanborn's men spent the night east of Newtonia, while the other two Union brigades fell back to the northwest of the town. Price's army, which Castel described as being essentially an armed mob after the October 25 Battle of Marmiton River, began falling completely apart. Rosecrans had received orders from General Ulysses S. Grant to divert any troops not needed to deal with Price east of the Mississippi, so two brigades, including Sanborn's, were detached from Curtis on October 29. Curtis planned on stopping the pursuit, but the detached troops were returned to him the next day, and the pursuit resumed. Price withdrew to the Arkansas River via Cane Hill, Arkansas; Curtis's pursuit ended on November 8, at the Arkansas River. After marching through the Indian Territory, the Confederates reached Texas. The campaign had cost Price more than two-thirds of the men he had taken into Missouri.
The battlefield was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Second Battle of Newtonia Site on December 23, 2004. Within the historic district are four contributing properties: the battlefield proper, the position of McLain's Battery on the ridge, a cornfield at the site of the Ritchey Farm, and the site of a historic road that led to Granby. Most of the areas where fighting occurred are preserved in the district, which shares a boundary with the First Battle of Newtonia Historic District at two places. Modern landscape use is similar to that in 1864, although railroad construction and open-pit mining have intruded on the site. The American Battlefield Trust has been involved in the preservation of 8 acres (3.2 ha) at Newtonia.
The Ritchey House and 25 acres of the battlefields including the Old Newtonia Cemetery were added to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in 2022 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, despite National Park Service opposition due to the lack of connection, need for protection, or enhancement of public enjoyment. |
39,241,303 | Little Nemo (1911 film) | 1,148,755,853 | Silent animated short film by Winsor McCay | [
"1910s American animated films",
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"1911 animated films",
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"Short films with live action and animation",
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| Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, more commonly known as Little Nemo, is a 1911 silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. One of the earliest animated films, it was McCay's first, and featured characters from McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Its expressive character animation distinguished the film from the experiments of earlier animators.
Inspired by flip books his son brought home, McCay came to see the potential of the animated film medium. He claimed to be the first to make such films, though James Stuart Blackton and Émile Cohl were among those who preceded him. The short's four thousand drawings on rice paper were shot at Vitagraph Studios under Blackton's supervision. Most of the film's running time is made up of a live-action sequence in which McCay bets his colleagues that he can make drawings that move. He wins the bet with four minutes of animation in which the Little Nemo characters perform, interact, and metamorphose to McCay's whim.
Little Nemo debuted in movie theaters on April 8, 1911, and four days later McCay began using it as part of his vaudeville act. Its good reception motivated him to hand-color each of the animated frames of the original black-and-white film. The film's success led McCay to devote more time to animation. He followed up Little Nemo with How a Mosquito Operates in 1912 and his best-known film, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914.
In 2009, Little Nemo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
## Background
Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – 1934) had worked prolifically as a commercial artist and cartoonist by the time he started making newspaper comic strips such as Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (1904–11) and his signature strip Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905–14). In 1906, McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit, doing chalk talk performances in which he drew before live audiences.
Inspired by flip books his son Robert brought home, McCay said he "came to see the possibility of making moving pictures" of his cartoons. McCay, then in his early forties, asserted he was "the first man in the world to make animated films", but he was likely familiar with the earlier work of American James Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl. In 1900, Blackton produced The Enchanted Drawing, a trick film in which an artist interacts with a drawing on an easel. Blackton used chalk drawings in 1906 to animate the film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, and used stop motion techniques to animate a scene in the 1907 film The Haunted Hotel. Cohl's films, such as 1908's Fantasmagorie, were dreamlike nonnarrative pieces in which characters and scenes continually changed shape. Cohl's films were first distributed in the United States in 1909, the year McCay said he first became interested in animation. According to McCay biographer John Canemaker, McCay combined the interactive qualities of Blackton's films with the abstract, shapeshifting qualities of Cohl's into his own films. In the films of all three, the artist interacts with the animation.
### Little Nemo
Considered McCay's masterpiece, Little Nemo in Slumberland debuted in October 1905 as a full-page Sunday strip in the New York Herald. Its child protagonist, whose appearance was based on McCay's son Robert, had fabulous dreams that would be interrupted with his awakening in the last panel. McCay experimented with timing and pacing, the form of the comics page, the size and shape of panels, perspective, and architectural and other details.
The strip has seen a number of other adaptations. An extravagant \$100,000 Little Nemo stage show with score by Victor Herbert and lyrics by Harry B. Smith played to sold-out audiences in 1907. A joint American-Japanese feature-length film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland appeared in 1989, with contributions by Ray Bradbury, Chris Columbus, and Moebius. Little Nemo: The Dream Master was a 1990 side-scrolling platform video game adaptation of the 1989 film.
## Synopsis
Following credits proclaiming McCay as "The Famous Cartoonist of the New York Herald and "the first artist to attempt drawing pictures that will move", McCay sits in a restaurant with a group of colleagues, cartoonist George McManus, actor John Bunny and publisher Eugene V. Brewster among them. McCay bets the group that in one month he can make 4000 drawings move. The group laughs and gestures that he is drunk or crazy. McCay sets to work in a studio where he directs workers to move around bundles of paper and barrels of ink. A month later, McCay gathers his colleagues in front of a film projector. McCay rapidly sketches characters from the cast of his Little Nemo comic strip.
McCay places a drawing of the character Flip in a wooden slot in front of the camera. The words "Watch me move" appear above Flip's head, and he begins to make gestures while smoking his cigar. Blocks fall from the sky and assemble themselves into the character Impie, and the pair's figures distort, disappear, and reappear before a fantastically-dressed Little Nemo magically materializes. Nemo prevents the two others from fighting and takes control of their forms—he stretches and squashes them with the raising and lowering of his arms. Nemo then draws the Princess and brings her to animated life. He gives her a rose which has suddenly grown nearby, just as a gigantic dragon appears. The pair seat themselves on a throne in the dragon's mouth and wave to the audience as the dragon carries them away.
Flip and Impie attempt to follow the dragon in a jalopy, but the car explodes and sends them into the air. Doctor Pill arrives to help, but cannot find anyone until Flip and Impie land on him. The pair try to help the doctor to his feet when the animation freezes. The camera zooms out to reveal the serial number "No. 4000", and a thumb holding the drawing.
## Production
By late 1910, McCay had made the 4000 rice-paper drawings for the animated portion of the film. Each was assigned a serial number, and marks were made in the top corners for registration. They were mounted on sheets of cardboard to make them easier to handle and photograph. Before he had them photographed, he tested them on a hand-cranked 24 by 12 by 20 in (61 by 30 by 51 cm) Mutoscope-like machine to ensure the animation was fluid. Photography was done at the Vitagraph Studios under the supervision of Blackton. The animated portion took up about four minutes of the film's total length. In only one sequence did McCay use an animation loop for a repeated action: he re-used a series of seven drawings six times (three forward, three back) to have Flip move his cigar up and down in his mouth three times. McCay made more extensive use of this technique in his later films.
## Style
McCay's drawings are in the heavily outlined Art Nouveau style familiar to the readers of his comics. Its expressive character animation differentiated Little Nemo from the films of Blackton and Cohl. There are no backgrounds; McCay's first film with backgrounds was 1914's Gertie the Dinosaur. McCay demonstrated his mastery of linear perspective in scenes such as when the dragon disappears smoothly into the distance.
The film's positive reception motivated McCay to hand-color each of the 35mm frames of the originally black-and-white film. The dragon chariot that carries off Nemo and the Princess originally appeared in three episodes of Little Nemo in Slumberland in mid-1906.
## Reception and legacy
Distributed by Vitagraph, the film debuted in theaters on April 8, 1911. McCay included the film as part of his vaudeville act beginning April 12. Little Nemo was popular with audiences and earned positive reviews. Film magazine The Moving Picture World called Nemo "an admirable piece of work ... one of those films which have a natural advertising heritage in the great and wide popularity of its subject—Little Nemo is known everywhere." The Morning Telegraph called McCay's new film-enhanced act "even a greater go than his previous one", and put McCay on its "Blue List" of vaudeville "Actors and Acts of the Highest Ratings". In 1938 architect Claude Bragdon reminisced of the excitement he felt when he saw Little Nemo, saying he "had witnessed the birth of a new art". Nemo appeared on stage and in theaters within the same week, but McCay postponed the theatrical releases of his next two films, How a Mosquito Operates (1912) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), for some time after he used them in his stage show.
Animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi saw the transforming series of images in the plotless Nemo serving as little more than a demonstration of the animation medium's capabilities. Bendazzi wrote that McCay overcame this overt experimentalism in How a Mosquito Operates.
McCay's working method was laborious, and animators developed a number of methods to reduce the workload and speed production to meet the demand for animated films. Within a few years of Nemo's release, Canadian Raoul Barré's registration pegs combined with American Earl Hurd's cel technology became near-universal methods in animation studios. In 1916, McCay himself adopted the cel method, beginning with his fourth film The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).
In 2009, Little Nemo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
## See also
- Animation in the United States during the silent era
- Pauvre Pierrot (1894) |
693,082 | Sonic Spinball | 1,173,337,744 | 1993 video game | [
"1993 video games",
"Game Gear games",
"IOS games",
"Master System games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Nintendo Switch Online games",
"Pinball video games",
"Sega Genesis games",
"Sega Technical Institute games",
"Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games",
"Video games developed in the United States",
"Video games scored by Howard Drossin",
"Virtual Console games",
"Windows games"
]
| Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, also known as Sonic Spinball, is a 1993 pinball video game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. It is a spinoff of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who must stop Doctor Robotnik from enslaving the population in a giant pinball-like mechanism. The game is set in a series of pinball machine-like environments with Sonic acting as the pinball.
Sonic Spinball was developed by the American staff of Sega Technical Institute, as the Japanese staff was occupied with developing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. When Sega management realized that Sonic 3 would not be completed in time for the 1993 holiday shopping season, they commissioned another Sonic game. After a hasty two-month development, Sonic Spinball was released for the Sega Genesis in November 1993 and for the Game Gear and Master System in 1994.
Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, with critics praising the novelty and graphics but criticizing the controls. A second pinball game, Sonic Pinball Party, was released in 2003, and a Sonic Spinball spinning rollercoaster opened in Alton Towers theme park, in 2010. Spinball has been ported to various consoles and included in Sega compilations.
## Gameplay
Sonic Spinball is a pinball game in which the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who acts as the pinball. The majority of the game takes place within the "Pinball Defense System", which resembles a series of large pinball machines. The game comprises four levels, each containing numerous flippers that can be used to aim Sonic's trajectory and launch him through the level. Sonic can be maneuvered while airborne with input from the directional pad, which can be used for better positioning following an impact with a bumper or target or when Sonic is descending toward the drain, bumpers or flippers.
The goal of each level is to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and subsequently defeat the newly accessible boss located at the top of the level. Some Chaos Emeralds are blocked off by obstacles that require Sonic to hit certain switches or bumpers in order to create a clear path. The boss at the top of each level requires a specific strategy to defeat. A "status strip" at the top of the screen provides hints for defeating bosses, as well as encouraging messages when the player makes progress. The strip also tells the player how many Chaos Emeralds are left to collect in a level. Following the defeat of an boss enemy, a bonus round is initiated. These rounds are shown as Sonic playing a regular pinball machine. The player is given three balls to shoot around the board, the object being to accumulate points by hitting as many bumpers and targets as possible. At any point in the bonus round, the player may trigger a tilt shake that rattles the table and affects the ball's trajectory. If the tilt shake is used too often, however, all flippers will lock out, leaving the ball to fall down the drain. When the goal of the bonus round is fulfilled, or if all three balls fall through the flippers, the bonus round will end, and the next level will commence. When all the game's Chaos Emeralds are collected and all four boss enemies are defeated, the player wins.
Sonic starts the game with three lives. A life is lost when Sonic falls through a drain. An extra life can be earned by accumulating 20,000,000 points, which can be accumulated by hitting bumpers, navigating through loops, collecting rings and destroying enemy characters.
## Plot
The evil scientist Doctor Robotnik has built a fortress on top of a volcano to transform the animals of planet Mobius into robot slaves. The volcano's magma fuels the fortress and the pinball machine-like defense systems. The volcano is kept in stable condition with Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehog and his friend Tails mount an aerial assault on the fortress. Sonic is knocked into the waters that surround the volcano, but surfaces in the caves below the fortress. He infiltrates the defenses, absconds with the Chaos Emeralds, and frees the animals. Without the Chaos Emeralds, an eruption begins to destroy the fortress. Sonic destroys Robotnik's escape ship. Tails rescues Sonic, while Robotnik falls into the volcano, which sinks into the ocean and explodes.
## Development
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 boosted sales of the Sega Genesis in the 1992 holiday shopping season. When Sega of America's management realized that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would not be ready until next year, they commissioned another game that could be completed in time for the 1993 holiday season. Sonic Spinball was developed by mostly American staff from Sega Technical Institute while the Japanese staff were producing Sonic 3.
Sega's research suggested that the Casino Night Zone was one of the most popular levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This provided designer Peter Morawiec with a direction for the new game. Morawiec drew inspiration from the 1992 Amiga game Pinball Dreams to combine pinball mechanics with the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog. Collaborating with three colleagues, Morawiec designed basic animations depicting Sonic as a pinball. The animations were demonstrated to Sega's senior management, who approved the project.
The game would have to be completed in under a year to be ready in time for the 1993 holiday season. Morawiec considered this a "tight" schedule for a game that would capitalize on the series' popularity in North America. To speed up production, Sega sent veteran staff from Japan to assist, including regular Sonic the Hedgehog artist Katsuhiko Sato. Despite the transfer of these staff, the game was still not predicted to be complete in time. As a result, Sega Technical Institute staff changed the programming language from assembly to C, an unusual choice for Genesis games at the time. Morawiec said the choice caused frame rate and optimization problems, but greatly accelerated development. In the space of 61 days between June and August 1993, the project evolved from a roughly playable build with no collision detection systems or character animations to a completed game.
Immediately before the game was due to ship, the team was informed that Sega did not own the rights to the Sonic the Hedgehog theme tune. Morawiec recalled uproar among the team after Hirokazu Yasuhara, the lead designer on Sonic Team, explained that the tune was owned by the Japanese band Dreams Come True, whose member Masato Nakamura composed the soundtrack for the first two Sonic games. Morawiec tasked lead composer Howard Drossin to write a new theme within two hours.
### Release
Morawiec believed that the game would face "acceptance challenges" from both fans and the gaming media, as Sonic the Hedgehog Pinball strayed away from the traditional platforming genre. After returning to the United States from Europe, Morawiec was surprised to find that the game had sold well, and was pleased that it benefited from the franchise's popularity. Nonetheless, he regretted that the team had lacked time to "polish" the game.
After the Game Gear game Sonic Drift received poor reviews in Japan, Sega released an 8-bit port of Sonic Spinball for the Game Gear in its place worldwide in late 1994. It was also released for the Master System in Brazil and Europe in 1995. The 8-bit version is mostly identical to the Genesis game, with downgraded visuals and different, more platforming-oriented bonus stages. The Master System version was released near the end of the console's lifetime and did not sell well, and became a valuable collector's item.
Sonic Spinball has been rereleased on 11 different platforms. The Genesis version of the game has been rereleased on the Sonic Mega Collection compilation for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and multiple iterations of the Sega Smash Pack series of compilations, including a port to Game Boy Advance. The Game Gear version appears as an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube and Windows, as well as Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The game was intended to be included in the Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS, but was cut for unspecified reasons. The Genesis version was released on the Wii's Virtual Console on March 12, 2007, in North America and April 5, 2007, in Europe. An emulated form of the game was also made available for iOS devices via Apple's App Store in 2010, but was later removed along with other Sega games in 2015. It was released on Steam in 2010 and Nintendo Switch Online in 2022.
## Reception
The Genesis version received generally positive reviews upon release. Laurie Yates of Electronic Games gave it a highly positive review, with scores of 90% for graphics and sound, and 95% for playability and replayability. Scary Larry of GamePro gave it a positive review, calling it "a fun, fast, and frenetic" pinball game.
The visuals were generally well received. Ed Semrad of Electronic Gaming Monthly thought that the game being set inside a pinball machine was a novel idea, and also labelled the game's visuals, music, and sound effects as "top-notch". Al Manuel of the same publication opined that the graphics were not as "sharp" as other Sonic the Hedgehog titles, and also thought the sound was unimpressive.
Bob Strauss of Entertainment Weekly felt that the game initially boasted a terrific concept, but had an ultimately flawed execution, saying that Sonic, acting as a pinball, often moved like a "leaden marble". Rich Leadbetter from Mean Machines also expressed concern over the game's lack of replay value, saying that despite its addictive gameplay, the four levels were not enough, especially given the price.
Andromeda of GamePro, in a mixed review of the Game Gear version, criticized the control configuration and felt that the game was a mediocre example of a pinball game, but admitted that it had a similar feel to previous Sonic the Hedgehog titles.
### Retrospective
Retrospectively, Sonic Spinball received mixed reviews, holding a score of 61% at the video game review aggregator GameRankings.
In a retrospective review, Lucas Thomas from IGN felt that the game's graphics matched those of later Sonic games on the Genesis, and considered Spinball's minigames to be "visually distinct and well-done." A reviewer from Jeuxvideo.com thought the graphics were "generally good", but indicated that there were other visually superior games for the Genesis. In similar vein, William Avery of GameSpot noticed that the game contained some slowdown. Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead criticized the game's sluggish frame rate and slowdown that occurred when "things threaten to get hectic" in-game, noting that it suffered from "the old Mega Drive problem".
Various aspects of the gameplay garnered a mixed reception from critics, though the game's control scheme received the most criticism. Jeuxvideo.com's reviewer enjoyed how Sonic himself acted as a pinball, but noticed that the controls were less precise and responsive when compared to other platformers. Dan Whitehead asserted that the game's controls were "muddled by the half-and-half approach", and criticized its "clunky" game engine, saying that the game's control scheme ruined the pinball environments. Thomas stated, "There are aspects of the control that could have been tighter, and its difficulty level may be a bit too extreme for new players." Damien McFarren from Nintendo Life said that the game comes across as both a poor platformer and a poor pinball game due to its unconvincing ball physics and frustrating platform elements.
## Legacy
A second pinball game in the series, Sonic Pinball Party, was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 to generally favorable reviews.
In 2010, a spinning rollercoaster, Sonic Spinball, opened in the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire. Although the rollercoaster was not originally designed with a Sonic the Hedgehog theme, the ride became part of a sponsorship deal between Sega and Alton Towers. A Sonic the Hedgehog-themed hotel room was later made available at Alton Towers Hotel, which featured various playable Sonic the Hedgehog games, as well as wallpaper based on Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I. |
9,650,877 | Liverpool F.C. in international football | 1,162,943,858 | Football club in international competitions | [
"English football clubs in international competitions",
"Liverpool F.C."
]
| Liverpool Football Club is a professional association football club in Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) competitions. Since 1964, they have won fourteen European and Worldwide trophies, more than any other British club. These consist of the UEFA Champions League (formerly known as the European Cup) six times, the UEFA Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) three times, the UEFA Super Cup four times, and the FIFA Club World Cup once.
Qualification for European competitions is determined by a team's success in its domestic league and cup competitions from the previous season. Liverpool competed in European competitions for 21 consecutive seasons until the 1985 European Cup Final, the occasion of the Heysel Stadium disaster, following which the club was banned from European competitions for six seasons. Since being readmitted in 1991, they have qualified for the UEFA Champions League (the successor to the European Cup) fifteen times, the UEFA Europa League (the successor to the UEFA Cup) twelve times, and the (now-defunct) UEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice.
As a result of their victory in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, Liverpool won the European Champion Clubs' Cup trophy outright and were awarded a multiple winner badge. Only 2 teams have won more Champions Leagues than Liverpool – Real Madrid and A.C. Milan with 14 and 7 respectively. Liverpool's total of three UEFA Cup wins has been bettered only by Sevilla, who have won the competition six times. They have also won the UEFA Super Cup on four occasions; only Barcelona, Milan and Real Madrid (with 5 each) have won the competition more. Liverpool won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in 2019.
Bob Paisley is the club's most successful manager in Europe, with five trophies. Liverpool's biggest-margin win in Europe is an 11–0 victory over Strømsgodset in the 1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup. In European competitions, Jamie Carragher holds the club record for the most appearances, with 150, and Steven Gerrard is the club's record goalscorer, with 41 goals.
## Background
Club competitions between teams from different European countries can trace their origins as far back as 1897 when the Challenge Cup was created for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who did not meet under normal circumstances. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, named after entrepreneur and sportsman Thomas Lipton, was established in 1909 and was contested between clubs from Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland; the competition lasted for two years. The earliest attempt to create a cup for national champion clubs of Europe was made by Swiss club FC Servette. Founded in 1930, the Coupe des Nations featured clubs of ten major European football leagues and was deemed a success. Due to financial reasons, the competition was abandoned.
The first continental competition organised by UEFA was the European Cup in 1955. Conceived by Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L'Équipe, as a competition for winners of the European national football leagues, it is considered the most prestigious European football competition. When the European Cup was first played, Liverpool were in the Second Division, following relegation from the First Division after the 1953–54 season, and thus were ineligible for the competition. During their time in the Second Division, two further competitions were created: the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Established in 1955, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was later re-branded as the UEFA Cup when it came under the auspices of UEFA in 1971. Since the 2009–10 season, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League. The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was inaugurated in 1960 for the winners of domestic cup competitions.
In 1962, Liverpool were promoted to the First Division. Two years later, they won the Football League championship, thus making their European debut in the 1964–65 European Cup. In the following years, further European competitions were inaugurated. The first, the UEFA Super Cup, was originally a match played between the winners of the European Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. First established in 1973, it changed formats in 2000; since then, it has been contested between the winners of the Champions League (formerly the European Cup) and the Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup), following the Cup Winners' Cup amalgamation into the latter. The Intercontinental Cup was a competition for the winners of the European Cup (later, the UEFA Champions League) and the South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores. Established in 1960, the Intercontinental Cup was jointly organised by UEFA and the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL). It ran until 2004, when the FIFA Club World Cup, which includes the winners of all six confederations' regional championships replaced it.
## History
### First steps in Europe – the Shankly years (1965–74)
Bill Shankly began managing Liverpool in 1959, and it was under him that the team first competed in European competition in 1964–65, qualifying for the European Cup by winning the First Division championship the previous season. The club's first opponents were Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur of Iceland, who they played in the preliminary round. Liverpool won 11–1 on aggregate. The next round, against Belgian club Anderlecht, was the first time in Liverpool's history that they wore their now common all-red strip. The decision was made to change from red shirts, white shorts and socks by Shankly, who wanted his players to make more of a psychological impact on opponents. They beat Anderlecht and progressed to the semi-finals, where they met Italian team Inter Milan. Before the first leg at Anfield, Shankly asked two injured players to parade the FA Cup, which Liverpool had won the previous week, to intimidate the Italians. The team won the match 3–1, but Inter won the second leg 3–0, securing a 4–3 aggregate victory. The second leg was controversial; Shankly described it as "a war". He felt that the referee, José María Ortiz de Mendíbil, had shown bias towards Inter, and the Liverpool players felt cheated by his decisions. The club's 1964–65 FA Cup victory ensured qualification for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season, and in that competition, they reached their first European final. Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool's opponents, employed counter-attacking tactics that had paid dividends in previous rounds and did so again, with the West Germans beating Liverpool 2–1 after extra time. Striker, Roger Hunt, described the defeat as "an off night" and said, "it was probably the most disappointing defeat over the years because we just didn't play.
In the next four seasons, they competed in the European Cup and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but failed to progress past the third round in either competition. A tie against Dutch team Ajax during the 1966–67 European Cup was to prove pivotal in the history of Liverpool in European competition. Ajax beat Liverpool 7–3 on aggregate. However, the style of football that Ajax played – a patient passing game, inspired by Johann Cruyff – convinced Shankly that Liverpool had to replicate this style to be successful in Europe. Liverpool reached the semi-finals of the 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing 1–0 on aggregate to Leeds United. They competed in the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, despite losing the 1971 FA Cup Final, as the FA Cup winners, Arsenal, had also qualified for the European Cup by winning the league championship. Liverpool were eliminated in the second round by Bayern Munich of Germany, losing 3–1 on aggregate.
The changes made to Liverpool's tactics came to fruition during the 1972–73 UEFA Cup. The club reached their second European final, where they faced Borussia Mönchengladbach of Germany. Liverpool won the first leg 3–0 as a result of two goals from Kevin Keegan and one from Larry Lloyd. Victory in this first leg meant Liverpool only needed to avoid losing by three or more goals in order to win the final. This influenced their tactics – The Times reported that Liverpool employed a "holding action" against the "attacking Germans". The tactics worked, allowing Mönchengladbach only two goals, granting Liverpool a 3–2 aggregate victory. Liverpool also won the First Division championship that season, and as a result, qualified for the 1973–74 European Cup, where they were eliminated in the second round by Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia. The defeat marked a shift in emphasis in the style of Liverpool's play to a more patient approach. At the end of that season, Shankly retired.
### European domination – the Paisley years (1974–83)
Shankly was succeeded by his assistant, Bob Paisley, in 1974. Liverpool competed in the Cup Winners' Cup during Paisley's first season and defeated Strømsgodset of Norway 11–0 at Anfield. This remains the club's largest margin of victory in all matches. They lost in the next round to Hungarian side Ferencváros on the away goals rule. In 1975–76 the club entered the UEFA Cup after a second-place finish in the First Division. Victories over Hibernian (Scotland), Real Sociedad (Spain), Śląsk Wrocław (Poland), Dynamo Dresden (East Germany) and Barcelona (Spain) took Liverpool to their third European final. Crucial to their progress was goalkeeper Ray Clemence, who made two important penalty saves against Hibernian and Dresden, saving Liverpool from elimination on the away goals rule on both occasions. Their opponents in the final were Club Brugge of Belgium. Liverpool recovered from a two-goal deficit to win the first leg at Anfield 3–2, with Ray Kennedy, Jimmy Case, and Keegan scoring a goal each in a span of six minutes. A 1–1 draw at the Jan Breydel Stadion in Bruges meant Liverpool won 4–3 on aggregate, earning their second UEFA Cup.
As the 1975–76 league champions, the club entered the 1976–77 European Cup. They defeated Crusaders of Northern Ireland and Trabzonspor of Turkey to reach the quarter-finals, where they faced the runners-up from the previous season, Saint-Étienne. The French team won the first leg 1–0. The second leg at Anfield began well for Liverpool when Keegan scored in the first two minutes. Saint-Étienne equalised to make the score 2–1 on aggregate in their favour. Kennedy scored for Liverpool, but the away goals rule meant they still needed another goal to win the tie. With six minutes remaining, David Fairclough was brought on to replace John Toshack; he immediately scored in front of the Kop, ensuring a 3–2 aggregate victory for Liverpool. In the semi-finals, they defeated FC Zürich of Switzerland 6–1 on aggregate to reach the final, where they met their opponents from the 1973 UEFA Cup Final, Borussia Mönchengladbach. The final was held in Rome, four days after the club had lost the 1977 FA Cup Final to Manchester United. Before the match, Paisley announced that striker Toshack would be fit to start. However, he was not named in the matchday squad. This change upset the Germans' game plan and allowed Keegan to torment his marker, Berti Vogts. Liverpool won 3–1 to become European champions for the first time.
By winning the European Cup, they qualified for the European Super Cup and played the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup, German team Hamburg, who had just signed Keegan. Liverpool won the tie 7–1 on aggregate. Liverpool entered the 1977–78 European Cup as champions and received a bye in the first round. They defeated Dynamo Dresden and Portuguese team Benfica in the second round and quarter-finals, respectively. In the semi-final, the club again met Borussia Mönchengladbach, who won the first leg 2–1. Liverpool won the second leg 3–0, progressing to a second successive European Cup final, this time against Club Brugge at Wembley Stadium in London. In the final Kenny Dalglish, who had been signed to replace Keegan, scored the winning goal after receiving the ball from a Graeme Souness pass. The 1–0 victory meant Liverpool became the first British team to retain the European Cup. They faced Anderlecht in the 1978 European Super Cup, but failed to retain the trophy, losing 4–3 on aggregate against the Belgian side. Liverpool were eliminated in the first round of the 1978–79 European Cup by English champions Nottingham Forest. Nottingham Forest won the tie 2–0 on aggregate, and went on to win the competition. Liverpool entered the 1979–80 European Cup as English champions but were again eliminated in the first round, this time beaten 4–2 on aggregate by Dinamo Tbilisi of the Soviet Union.
Liverpool participated in the 1980–81 European Cup as English league champions, defeating Finnish champions Oulun Palloseura, Scottish club Aberdeen and CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria to qualify for the semi-finals, where they faced three-time champions Bayern Munich. The first leg at Anfield finished goalless. In the second leg at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Ray Kennedy scored in the 83rd minute and, although the German side equalised, Liverpool went through to the final on the away goals rule. They faced Spanish side Real Madrid in the final, held at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Alan Kennedy scored the only goal to give Liverpool a 1–0 victory, which secured the club's—and Paisley's—third European Cup. As champions of Europe, Liverpool competed in the Intercontinental Cup against South American champions Flamengo of Brazil. Liverpool lost the match 3–0. The club's defence of the European Cup in 1981–82 was ended by CSKA Sofia in the quarter-finals. Another quarter-final exit occurred in the 1982–83 European Cup when Polish club Widzew Łódź eliminated Liverpool 4–3 on aggregate. Paisley retired as manager at the end of the season and was succeeded by his assistant, Joe Fagan.
### Triumph and tragedy – the Fagan years (1983–85)
Liverpool entered the 1983–84 European Cup as league champions for the fourth time in five seasons. Victories over Odense of Denmark and Spanish champions Athletic Bilbao brought Liverpool to face Portuguese champions Benfica in the quarter-finals. Liverpool won the first leg at Anfield 1–0. In the second leg, their tactic of withdrawing Dalglish into midfield put Benfica's game plan into disarray, leading to a 4–1 match victory and a 5–1 aggregate victory. Their opponents in the semi-finals were Dinamo București of Romania. The tie proved a brutal encounter, characterised by Souness breaking the jaw of the Bucharest captain Lică Movilă, and was won 3–1 on aggregate by Liverpool.
Fagan's first season in charge of Liverpool had been a successful one. When they reached their fourth European Cup final, they had already won the Football League Cup and the league championship; victory in the European final against Italian side Roma would complete an unprecedented treble. The final was played at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, and Liverpool went ahead in the 13th minute when Phil Neal scored, though Roma equalised towards the end of the first half. The score remained the same throughout full and extra time; Liverpool won the subsequent penalty shoot-out, with Alan Kennedy scoring the winning penalty after goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar had put off Francesco Graziani, causing him to place his penalty over the crossbar. After the game, gangs of Roma fans assaulted Liverpool supporters travelling back to their hotels. Success in the European Cup entitled Liverpool to compete in the 1984 Intercontinental Cup. However, they were unable to beat the winners of the Copa Libertadores, Independiente of Argentina, who claimed a 1–0 victory.
Liverpool entered the 1984–85 European Cup as champions, and once again progressed to the final, where their opponents were Juventus of Italy. They aimed to win their fifth European Cup and keep the trophy. The 1985 European Cup Final was held at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. The choice of venue had been criticised due to the dilapidated state of the stadium, and the club tried to persuade UEFA to change the venue. Before the kick-off, Liverpool fans breached a fence separating the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 people and injuring hundreds more. Despite calls for an abandonment, the match was played, as it was felt that further trouble would be caused otherwise.
Juventus won the match 1–0; Michel Platini scored from the penalty spot to give Juventus their first European Cup. UEFA laid the blame for the incident solely on the Liverpool fans: the official UEFA observer stated, "Only the English fans were responsible. Of that there is no doubt". Three days after the final, UEFA banned all English clubs from European competition for an indefinite period. Liverpool were initially given an additional three-year ban. Fagan retired after the 1984–85 season and was succeeded by Dalglish, who took over as player-manager.
The ban on English clubs in European competitions ultimately lasted for five years, and even when the ban was lifted in 1990, Liverpool were not re-admitted; they had to serve an extra year. The ban prevented them qualifying for the European Cup in 1986, 1988 and 1990 (as league champions), the UEFA Cup in 1987 (as league runners-up), and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989 (as FA Cup winners). The only international matches of a somewhat competitive nature played in that time were in the Dubai Champions Cup against the champions of Scotland; Liverpool defeated Celtic on penalties in December 1986, then lost to the same opposition by the same method in April 1989, nine days prior to the Hillsborough disaster.
### Return to Europe (1991–2004)
Liverpool were allowed to return to European competition in the 1991–92 season, a year later than other English clubs. They qualified for the UEFA Cup as runners-up in the English league. Their manager by this stage was Graeme Souness, who had taken over towards the end of the previous season following Dalglish's resignation. Their first match, in the UEFA Cup, was against Finnish side Kuusyi Lahti, which they won 6–1. A 6–2 aggregate victory set up a tie against Auxerre of France in the second round who they beat 3–2 on aggregate. The club defeated Swarovski Tirol of Austria in the third round 6–0 on aggregate before losing to Genoa (Italy) 4–1 over two legs in the quarter-finals.
Liverpool's victory over Sunderland in the 1992 FA Cup Final qualified them for the 1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup, but this campaign was short-lived, as they were eliminated in the second round by Russian side Spartak Moscow. Liverpool finished no higher than sixth in the Premier League during the next two seasons, thus failing to qualify for European competition. In the 1995–96 season, they entered the UEFA Cup, but again progressed no further than the second round, this time losing to Brøndby of Denmark.
As runners-up to League champions Manchester United in the 1996 FA Cup Final, Liverpool were able to compete in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. This proved the club's most successful campaign since their return to European competition, as they reached the semi-finals, where they were eliminated 3–2 on aggregate by Paris Saint–Germain. In the next two seasons, Liverpool played in the UEFA Cup but were eliminated at an early stage of the competition, by Strasbourg and Celta de Vigo, respectively. A seventh-place finish in the 1998–99 FA Premier League meant the club did not qualify for Europe in 1999–2000.
Having finished fourth in the 1999–2000 FA Premier League, Liverpool qualified for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup. Their victory in this competition marked a third win for a club. The entire season was the club's most successful since the 1983–84 season, as they won a cup treble consisting of the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the League Cup. Their opponents in the final in Dortmund were Alavés of Spain. The match was tied at 4–4 in extra time when Alavés defender Delfí Geli scored an own goal to give Liverpool victory on the golden goal rule. The performance of Gary McAllister, whose free-kick resulted in the winning goal, was praised as "outstanding" by Trevor Brooking. This was the club's first European trophy since their European Cup victory in 1984. As UEFA Cup winners, Liverpool played in the 2001 UEFA Super Cup against Champions League winners Bayern Munich and won 3–2.
In the 2001–02 season, Liverpool returned to the European Cup, now called the UEFA Champions League, for the first time since the Heysel disaster. A 2–0 victory over Roma in the second group stage meant they progressed to the quarter-finals. They faced German club Bayer Leverkusen and won the first leg 1–0. The outlook for the second leg appeared to be to Liverpool's advantage, as their counter-attacking style of play had served them well during away matches throughout the season; however, they lost the second leg 4–2 and were eliminated 4–3 on aggregate.
A second-place finish in the 2001–02 FA Premier League entitled Liverpool to participate in the Champions League for a second successive season, but they only finished third in their group and were eliminated from the competition. The third-place finish meant they entered the 2002–03 UEFA Cup. Liverpool beat Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem and Auxerre to set up an all-British tie with Scottish team Celtic. A 1–1 draw in the first leg meant Liverpool would progress to the semi-finals if they did not concede a goal in the second leg at Anfield. However, Celtic scored before half-time and again in the second half to win 3–1 on aggregate.
Liverpool entered the UEFA Cup for the 2003–04 season, after Chelsea beat them on the final day of the previous league season to claim the fourth place needed to qualify for the Champions League. Liverpool were eliminated in the fourth round by eventual runners-up Marseille of France. At the end of the season, manager Gérard Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benítez.
### Renewed European success – the Benítez years (2004–10)
Liverpool had finished fourth in the 2003–04 season, which qualified them to compete in the Champions League in the 2004–05 season. A poor start in the group stages, with two losses in their first five games, had the club facing elimination. A 3–1 victory over Greek side Olympiacos, however, eventually ensured their passage to the knock-out rounds. Liverpool beat Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus to reach the semi-finals, and progressed to the final after they beat Chelsea 1–0 on aggregate; the goal scored by Luis García was referred to as a "ghost goal" by Chelsea manager José Mourinho, as it was unclear whether the ball crossed the goal line. Liverpool's performances in Europe contrasted strongly with their league form, where they struggled to finish in the top-four and thus ensure qualification for the next Champions League season.
Liverpool faced six-time European champions Milan in the final at the Atatürk Stadium in Istanbul on 25 May 2005. Trailing 3–0 at half-time, they scored three goals in a six-minute spell in the second half to level the score at 3–3. There were no goals during extra time, so the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out. With the shoot-out score at 3–2, Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek saved Andriy Shevchenko's penalty to give Liverpool victory. The nature of Liverpool's comeback victory has led to the match being referred to as the "miracle of Istanbul." As this was the club's fifth European Cup victory, Liverpool were allowed to keep the European Champion Clubs' Cup permanently, and a new trophy was commissioned for the following year's competition. The victory also entitled Liverpool to compete in the 2005 UEFA Super Cup at Stade Louis II, Monaco in August. They defeated UEFA Cup winners CSKA Moscow of Russia 3–1 (a.e.t.) to win their third Super Cup. Their success in the Champions League meant Liverpool also qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, where they lost 1–0 in the final to Brazilian team São Paulo.
A fifth-place finish in the Premier League in 2004–05 meant Liverpool were not guaranteed entry into the Champions League, and faced the prospect of not being able to defend their European title. UEFA eventually ruled that they were allowed to defend their title but have to start in the first qualifying round, with no country protection, meaning they could face any team from England in any round. This turned out to be the case — Liverpool advanced through three qualifying rounds and were drawn with Chelsea in the group stages. They progressed from their group as winners but were beaten by Benfica in the first knock-out round.
In the 2006–07 Champions League, Liverpool progressed from the group stages and beat holders Barcelona, PSV and Chelsea to face Milan in a rematch of the 2005 final. The Liverpool team, which contained only five players from the 2005 final, enjoyed more possession than in 2005, but two goals from Filippo Inzaghi gave Milan their seventh European Cup in a 2–1 win.
Liverpool were eliminated from the 2007–08 Champions League in the semi-finals by Chelsea, who they had beaten in the semi-finals in 2005 and 2007. A fourth-place finish in the 2007–08 Premier League secured their entry into the 2008–09 Champions League. Liverpool reached the quarter-finals and again faced Chelsea, but lost 7–5 on aggregate.
A second-place finish in the 2008–09 Premier League entitled Liverpool to compete in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, but their campaign was short-lived; they finished third in their group, and were eliminated from the competition. They entered the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, progressing to the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Atlético Madrid of Spain on the away goals rule after the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate.
### Decline (2010–15)
Rafael Benítez left the club at the end of the 2009–10 season and was replaced by Roy Hodgson. A seventh-place finish in the 2009–10 Premier League meant Liverpool would be competing in the 2010–11 Europa League. They beat Rabotnički of Macedonia and Trabzonspor of Turkey to progress to the group stage, where Liverpool were drawn alongside Napoli, FC Utrecht and Steaua București. They won two games and drew four to finish top of their group with ten points and progress to the round of 32. They were drawn against Sparta Prague in the next round. Before the tie was played, however, Hodgson was replaced by former manager Kenny Dalglish, who initially served as a caretaker manager. A 1–0 aggregate victory ensured progression to the round of 16, in which Liverpool lost 1–0 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Braga. A sixth-place finish in the 2010–11 Premier League meant the club failed to qualify for European competition for the first time since 1999. On the following season, victory in the League Cup final ensured Liverpool a place in the 2012–13 Europa League.
Liverpool qualified for the knockout phase of the 2012–13 Europa League after winning their group at the group stage, but were eliminated from the competition at the round of 32 by Zenit Saint Petersburg on the away goals rule after a 0–2 loss away and a 3–1 win at home. A seventh-place finish in the 2012–13 Premier League and a failure to secure qualification via domestic cups meant Liverpool failed to qualify for any European competition in the 2013–14 season. A second-placed finish in the 2013–14 Premier League, ensured Liverpool qualified for the group stage of the 2014–15 Champions League. One win out of six in the group stage meant they were eliminated and demoted to the knockout phase of the 2014–15 Europa League. The campaign was short-lived, as Liverpool were eliminated by Beşiktaş in the round of 32.
### Resurgence – the Klopp years (2015–present)
Finishing sixth in the 2014–15 Premier League qualified Liverpool directly to the group stage of the 2015–16 Europa League, where they faced Sion, Bordeaux and for the first time, Russian side Rubin Kazan. During the group stage, manager Brendan Rodgers was replaced by Jürgen Klopp. After winning the group, Liverpool qualified for the knockout phase, beating FC Augsburg in the round of 32 before facing bitter rivals Manchester United in the round of 16, the two clubs' first meeting in Europe. Liverpool defeated them 3–1 on aggregate and victory led to a quarter-final tie with Klopp's former team Borussia Dortmund. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund went 3–1 up in the return leg at Anfield with 33 minutes remaining, requiring Liverpool to score three goals due to the away goals rule. Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren (with a last minute winner) provided the necessary goals, as Liverpool completed the comeback and qualified for their first European semi-final since 2010. There they faced Villarreal, completing a second comeback after overturning a 1–0 defeat in the first leg at El Madrigal to qualify for the final with a 3–1 aggregate win. Liverpool played Sevilla in the final at St. Jakob-Park, Basel, on 18 May, losing 3–1. A 4th-place finish in the 2016–17 Premier League qualified Liverpool for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League and saw them return to Europe's premier club tournament for only the second time in 8 years during the 2010s.
On 17 October 2017, Liverpool won 7–0 away to Maribor in the third round of matches of the group stage of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League. The win was a record away win for Liverpool in European competitions and also the biggest away win by an English team in the history of the European Cup. They also defeated Spartak Moscow at home by the same scoreline on the last matchday to qualify top of their group, proceeding to defeat Porto 5–0 at the Estadio de Dragao in the round of 16, before holding them to a 0–0 draw on the return leg. Liverpool then defeated domestic rivals Manchester City 3–0 and 2–1, and in the semi-finals, defeated Roma 5–2 at Anfield, before a 4–2 away loss led to a 7–6 aggregate win, taking them to the final, against holders Real Madrid. Liverpool lost the final 3–1 but finished 4th in the 2017–18 Premier League to qualify for the next year's edition. Liverpool reached the Champions League final for the second consecutive year in 2018–19 after overcoming a 3–0 first-leg deficit by beating Barcelona 4–0 in the second leg at Anfield, with the match being considered one of the greatest Champions League comebacks of all time. This time, the Reds won the final 2–0, beating fellow English side Tottenham Hotspur, thus securing the club's sixth European title and lifting their first European trophy since 2005. Liverpool went on to win the 2019 UEFA Super Cup after extra time on penalties. It was their fourth title, placing them behind Barcelona and Milan, who have won the competition five times each. In December 2019, Liverpool won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time. After defeating Mexican club Monterrey 2–1 in the semi-final, Liverpool defeated Brazilian club Flamengo 1–0 in the final, with Roberto Firmino scoring the winning goal in both games.
The Champions League title defense ended early for the Reds, as they were eliminated by Atlético Madrid following a 4–2 defeat across two legs after extra time in the round of 16. Liverpool qualified for the 2020–21 edition group stage by winning the Premier League. The club reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated 3–1 on aggregate by Real Madrid. Liverpool finished third in the 2020–21 Premier League, meaning the team qualified for the premier European competition for the fifth consecutive year. On 19 October 2021, Liverpool won 3–2 away versus Atlético Madrid with Mohamed Salah scoring twice to become Liverpool's record goalscorer in the Champions League, surpassing the previous record of 30 goals by Steven Gerrard. On 7 December, Liverpool won 2–1 against AC Milan at the San Siro and became the first English club to win all six Champions League group games in the competition's history. On 3 May 2022, the club reached an English record-extending 10th European Cup final after a 5–2 aggregate win over Villarreal in the Champions League semi-finals. This was also Klopp's third Champions League and fourth European final in charge of Liverpool. Liverpool were then narrowly defeated by Real Madrid to deny them a cup treble that season.
The club qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League after finishing second in the league, ensuring the sixth consecutive campaign in Europe's premier competition. Though their campaign began with a 4–1 thrashing by Napoli on 7 September 2022, they went on to win their five remaining group stage games, finishing as runners-up in their group. Liverpool were drawn against defending champions Real Madrid in the round of 16, in a rematch of the 2022 final. Liverpool took an early two-goal lead in the first leg on 21 February 2023 at Anfield, after goals from Salah and new signing Darwin Núñez; however, they were eventually comprehensively beaten 5–2. A 1–0 defeat in the reverse fixture on 15 March sealed their elimination. It was the third consecutive season in which Real Madrid had knocked Liverpool out of the competition. At the end of the Premier League season, Liverpool finished in 5th place, qualifying for the following season's Europa League, the first time since the 2015-16 season.
## Records
- Most appearances in European competition: Jamie Carragher, 150
- Most goals in European competition: Mohamed Salah, 42
- Most continental goals in a season: Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, 11 (during the 2017–18 season)
- First European match: Liverpool 6–0 Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, European Cup, first round, 17 August 1964
- First goal scored in Europe: Gordon Wallace, against KR Reykjavik
- Biggest win: Liverpool 11–0 Strømsgodset, in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 17 September 1974
- Biggest defeat: Liverpool 1–5 Ajax, in the European Cup, 7 December 1966
- Highest European home attendance: 55,104, against Barcelona in the 1975–76 UEFA Cup, 14 April 1976
- Lowest European home attendance: 12,021 against Dundalk in the 1982–83 European Cup
### By season
Key
- Pld = Played
- W = Games won
- D = Games drawn
- L = Games lost
- GF = Goals for
- GA = Goals against
- GD = Goal difference
- Grp = Group stage
- R1 = First round
- R2 = Second round
- R3 = Third round
- R4 = Fourth round
- R16 = Round of 16
- R32 = Round of 32
- QF = Quarter-final
- SF = Semi-final
Key to colours:
### By competition
### By country
## Honours |
4,335,043 | Operation Tractable | 1,149,636,755 | 1944 battle in France during World War II | [
"1944 in France",
"August 1944 events",
"Battles and operations of World War II involving Poland",
"Battles of World War II involving Canada",
"Conflicts in 1944",
"Land battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom",
"Military history of Canada during World War II",
"Military operations of World War II involving Germany",
"Operation Overlord",
"Tank battles involving Germany",
"Tank battles involving Poland"
]
| Operation Tractable was the final attack conducted by Canadian and Polish troops, supported by a British tank brigade, during the Battle of Normandy during World War II. The operation was to capture the tactically important French town of Falaise and then the smaller towns of Trun and Chambois. This operation was undertaken by the First Canadian Army with the 1st Polish Armoured Division (Generał brygady Stanisław Maczek) and a British armoured brigade against Army Group B of the Westheer in what became the largest encirclement on the Western Front during the Second World War. Despite a slow start and limited gains north of Falaise, novel tactics by the 1st Polish Armoured Division during the drive for Chambois enabled the Falaise Gap to be partially closed by 19 August 1944, trapping about 150,000 German soldiers in the Falaise Pocket.
Although the Falaise Gap was narrowed to a distance of several hundred metres, by attacks and counter-attacks between battle groups of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and the II SS Panzer Corps on Hill 262 (Mont Ormel) the gap was not closed quickly and thousands of German troops escaped on foot. During two days of nearly continuous fighting, the Polish forces assisted by artillery-fire, managed to hold off counter-attacks by parts of seven German divisions in hand-to-hand fighting. On 21 August, elements of the First Canadian Army relieved the Polish survivors and sealed the Falaise Pocket by linking up with the Third US Army. This led to the surrender and capture of the remaining units of the German 7th Army in the pocket.
## Background
Following break-out by the US 1st and 3rd Armies from the beachhead during the Battle of Normandy after Operation Cobra on 25 July 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered a counter-offensive against Allied forces in the form of Operation Lüttich. Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander of the US 12th Army Group, was notified of the counter-offensive by signals deciphered via Ultra radio intercepts and prepared to defeat the counter-offensive and to encircle as much of the Heer force as possible. By the afternoon of 7 August, Operation Lüttich had been defeated. Parts of the German 7th Army became further enveloped by the Allied advance out of Normandy.
Following the failure of Lüttich, the town of Falaise became an objective of the Commonwealth forces, since its capture would cut off virtually all of Army Group B (Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge). To achieve this, General Harry Crerar, commanding the new Canadian 1st Army and Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds (II Canadian Corps), planned an Anglo-Canadian offensive, Operation Totalize. The attack was to break through the defences in the Anglo-Canadian sector of the Normandy front. Totalize would rely on an unusual night attack using the new Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers to achieve a breakthrough of German defences supported by US heavy bombers the next day. Despite initial gains on Verrières Ridge and near Cintheaux, the Canadian offensive stalled on 9 August, with powerful German counterattacks resulting in many casualties for the Canadian and Polish armoured and infantry divisions. By 10 August, Canadian troops had reached Hill 195, north of Falaise but needed another set-piece attack to overcome the German defences.
## Prelude
### Tactics
Operation Tractable incorporated lessons learned from Operation Totalize, notably the effectiveness of mechanized infantry units and tactical bombing raids by heavy bombers. Tractable was launched a daylight attack. An initial bombing raid was to weaken German defences and was to be followed by an advance by the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division on the western flank of Hill 195, while the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division attacked on the eastern flank with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade in support. Their advance would be protected by a large smokescreen laid down by Canadian artillery. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery hoped that Canadian forces would achieve control of Falaise by midnight on August 14. From there, all three formations would advance towards Trun, 18 km (11 mi) east of Falaise, with the additional assistance of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, numbering approximately 10,000 men. Once in Trun, a linkup with the Third US Army at Chambois could be quickly accomplished.
The main defence of the road to Falaise was the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, which included the remnants of two infantry divisions. German forces within the Falaise Pocket approached 350,000 men. Had surprise been achieved, the Canadians would likely have succeeded in a rapid break-through. On the night of 13/14 August, a Canadian officer lost his way while moving between divisional headquarters. He drove into German lines and was promptly killed. The Germans discovered a copy of Simonds' orders on his body. As a result, the 12th SS Panzer Division placed the bulk of its remaining strength—500 grenadiers and 15 tanks, along with twelve 8.8 cm PaK 43 anti-tank guns— along the Allies' expected line of approach.
## Battle
### Initial drive for Falaise
Operation Tractable began at 12:00 on 14 August, when 800 Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers of RAF Bomber Command struck German positions along the front. As with Totalize, many of the bombers mistakenly dropped their bombs short of their targets, causing 400 Polish and Canadian casualties. Covered by a smoke screen laid down by their artillery, two Canadian divisions moved forwards. Although their line of sight was reduced, German units still managed to inflict severe casualties on the Canadian 4th Armoured Division, which included its Armoured Brigade commander Brigadier Leslie Booth, as the division moved south toward Falaise. Throughout the day, continual attacks by the Canadian 4th and Polish 1st Armoured Divisions managed to force a crossing of the Laison River. Limited access to the crossing points over the Dives River allowed counterattacks by the German 102nd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. The town of Potigny fell to Polish forces in the late afternoon. By the end of the first day, elements of the Canadian 3rd and 4th Divisions had reached Point 159, directly north of Falaise, although they had been unable to break into the town. To bolster his offensive, Simonds ordered the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division to move toward the front, with the hope that this reinforcement would be sufficient to enable his divisions to capture the town.
Although the first day's progress was slower than expected, Operation Tractable resumed on 15 August; both armoured divisions pushed southeast toward Falaise. The Canadian 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions—with the support of the Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade—continued their drive south towards the town. After harsh fighting, the 4th Armoured Division captured Soulangy but the gains made were minimal as strong German resistance prevented a breakthrough to Trun. On 16 August, the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division broke into Falaise, encountering minor opposition from Waffen-SS units and scattered pockets of German infantry. Although it would take two more days to clear all resistance in the town, the first major objective of Operation Tractable had been achieved. Simonds began to reorganize the bulk of his armoured forces for a renewed push towards Trun to close the Falaise Pocket.
### 16–19 August
#### Drives for Trun and Chambois
The drive for Trun by Polish and Canadian Armoured Divisions began on 16 August, with preliminary attacks in preparation for an assault against Trun and Chambois. On 17 August, both armoured divisions of the Canadian 1st Army advanced. By early afternoon, the Polish 1st Armoured Division had outflanked the 12th SS Panzer Division, enabling several Polish formations to both reach the 4th Armoured Division's objectives and significantly expand the bridgehead northwest of Trun. Stanisław Maczek—the Polish divisional commander—split his forces into three battlegroups each of an armoured regiment and an infantry battalion. One of these struck southwest, cutting off Trun and establishing itself on the high ground dominating the town and the Dives river valley, allowing for a powerful assault by the Canadian 4th Armoured Division on Trun. The town was liberated on the morning of 18 August.
As Canadian and Polish forces liberated Trun, Maczek's second armoured battlegroup manoeuvred southeast, capturing Champeaux and anchoring future attacks against Chambois across a 10 km (6 mi) front. At its closest, the front was 6 km (4 mi) from forces of the US V Corps in the town. By the evening of 18 August, all of Maczek's battlegroups had established themselves directly north of Chambois (one outside of the town, one near Vimoutiers and one at the foot of Hill 262). With reinforcements quickly arriving from the 4th Canadian 4th Armoured Division, Maczek was in an ideal position to close the gap the following day. The presence of the Polish Armoured Division also alerted Generalfeldmarshall Walther Model of the need to keep the pocket open.
#### Closing the Gap
Early on 19 August, LGen Simonds met with his divisional commanders to finalize plans for closing the gap. The 4th Armoured Division would attack toward Chambois, on the western flank of two battlegroups of the Polish 1st Armoured Division. Two additional Polish battlegroups would strike eastward, securing Hill 262 to cover the eastern flanks of the assault. The 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions would continue their grinding offensives against the northern extremities of the Falaise Pocket, inflicting heavy casualties on the exhausted remains of the 12th SS Panzer Division. The assault began almost immediately after the meeting, with one battlegroup of the Polish 1st advancing toward Chambois and "Currie Task Force" of the 4th Armoured Division covering their advance. Simultaneously, two Polish battlegroups moved for Hill 262. Despite heavy German resistance, Battlegroup Zgorzelski was able to secure Point 137, directly west of Hill 262. By early afternoon, Battlegroup Stefanowicz had captured the hill, annihilating a German infantry company in the process. As a result of the fighting, Polish casualties accounted for nearly 50% of those sustained by the Canadian 1st Army.
By late afternoon of 19 August, Canadian and Polish forces had linked with the US 80th Division and 90th Division already stationed in the town. The Falaise Gap had been closed, trapping Model's forces. As the linkup occurred, the II SS Panzer Corps had begun its counterattack against Polish forces on Hill 262, to reopen the pocket. With American and Canadian forces facing German counterattacks in their sectors, the Polish forces would have to defend against two veteran Panzer divisions to keep the gap closed.
### 20 August
#### St. Lambert-sur-Dives and Hill 117
On the morning of 20 August, two German formations—the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions, attacked Polish positions on Hill 262. At the same time, the 16th Infantry and 12th SS Panzer Divisions attacked American and Canadian forces from within the pocket, opening small channels through Allied positions. By mid-morning, 2,000 survivors of the German 2nd Parachute Division had managed to breach Canadian positions along the Dives River, as well as at Point 117. At approximately noon, several units of the 10th SS, 12th SS and 116th Panzer Divisions managed to break through these weakened positions.
By mid afternoon, reinforcements from an armoured battlegroup formed from the South Alberta Regiment and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada under Major David Vivian Currie managed to reach St. Lambert-sur-Dives, denying two German armies evacuation of the pocket. Over the next 36 hours, the battlegroup repulsed almost continual attacks by German forces, destroying seven German tanks, twelve 88 mm (3.46 in) anti-tank guns and 40 vehicles. In the brutal fighting around Lambert-sur-Dives, Currie's battlegroup was able to inflict nearly 2,000 casualties on attacking German forces, including 300 killed and 1,100 captured. By the evening of 20 August, the Germans had exhausted their attack against St. Lambert-sur-Dives; the surviving members of the 84th Corps—commanded by General Elfeld—surrendered to Canadian and American forces near Chambois. For his actions at St. Lambert-sur-Dives, Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross, the only Canadian so honoured for service in the Normandy Campaign.
#### Hill 262 (Mont Ormel)
While Currie's force stalled German forces outside of St. Lambert, two battlegroups of Maczek's Polish 1st Armoured Division were engaged in a protracted battle with two well-trained SS Panzer divisions. Throughout the night of the 19th, Polish forces had entrenched themselves along the south, southwest and northeastern lines of approach to Hill 262. Directly southwest of Mont Ormel, German units moved along what would later become known as "The Corridor of Death", as the Polish inflicted heavy casualties on German forces moving towards Mont Ormel with a well-coordinated artillery barrage. The Polish infantry and armour were supported by the guns of the 58th Battery, 4th Medium Regiment, 2nd Canadian Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA) and assisted by the artillery observer, Pierre Sévigny. Captain Pierre Sévigny's assistance was crucial in defending Hill 262 and he later received the Virtuti Militari (Poland's highest military decoration) for his exertions during the battle.
From the northeast, the 2nd SS Panzer Division planned an assault in force against the four infantry battalions and two armoured regiments of the Polish 1st Armoured Division dug in on Hill 262. The 9th SS Panzer Division would attack from the north, while simultaneously preventing Canadian units from reinforcing the Polish armoured division. Having managed to break out of the Falaise Pocket, the 10th SS, 12th SS and 116th Panzer Divisions would then attack Hill 262 from the southwest. If this major obstacle could be cleared, German units could initiate a full withdrawal from the Falaise Pocket.
The first attack against Polish positions was by the "Der Führer" Regiment of the 2nd SS Panzer Division. Although the Podhale Rifles battalion was able to repel the attack, it expended a substantial amount of its ammunition in doing so. The second attack was devastating to the dwindling armoured forces of the Polish battlegroups. A single German tank, positioned on Point 239 (northeast of Mont Ormel), was able to destroy five Sherman medium tanks within two minutes. At this time, the 3rd Parachute Division—along with an armoured regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division—attacked Mont Ormel from inside the Falaise Pocket. This attack was repulsed by the artillery, which "massacred" German infantry and armour closing in on their positions.
As the assault from the southwest ran out of steam, the 2nd SS Panzer Division resumed its attack on the northeast of the ridge. Since Polish units were now concentrated on the southern edges of the position, the 2nd SS was able to force a path through to the 3rd Parachute Division by noon, opening a corridor out of the pocket. By mid-afternoon, close to 10,000 German troops had escaped through the corridor. Despite being overwhelmed by strong counterattacks, Polish forces continued to hold the high ground on Mont Ormel, which they referred to as "The Mace" (Maczuga), inflicting many casualties on the German forces escaping through the gap by artillery fire. Irritated by the presence of these units, which were exacting a heavy toll on his men, Generaloberst Paul Hausser, commander of the 7th Army, ordered the positions to be "eliminated". Although substantial forces, including the 352nd Infantry Division and several battlegroups from the 2nd SS Panzer Division inflicted heavy casualties on the 8th and 9th Battalions of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, the counterattack was defeated. The battle had cost the Poles almost all of their ammunition, leaving them in a precarious position.
At 19:00 on 20 August, a 20-minute ceasefire was arranged to allow German forces to evacuate a large convoy of medical vehicles. Immediately following the passage of these vehicles, the fighting resumed and intensified. Although the Germans were incapable of dislodging the Polish forces, the defenders had reached the point of exhaustion. With little ammunition left, the Poles were forced to watch as the remnants of the XLVII Panzer Corps escaped from the pocket. Despite this, Polish artillery continued to bombard every German unit that entered the evacuation corridor. Stefanowicz—commander of the Polish battlegroups on Hill 262—was sceptical of his force's chance of survival:
> Gentlemen. Everything is lost. I do not believe [the] Canadians will manage to help us. We have only 110 men left, with 50 rounds per gun and 5 rounds per tank ... Fight to the end! To surrender to the SS is senseless, you know it well. Gentlemen! Good luck—tonight, we will die for Poland and civilization. We will fight to the last platoon, to the last tank, then to the last man.
### 21 August
Night was welcomed by the German and Polish forces surrounding Mont Ormel. Fighting was sporadic, as both sides avoided contact with one another. Frequent Polish artillery barrages interrupted German attempts to retreat from the sector. In the morning, German attacks on the position resumed. Although not as coordinated as on the day before, the attack still managed to reach the last of the Polish defenders on Mont Ormel. As the remaining Polish forces repelled the assault, their tanks were forced to use the last of their ammunition.
At approximately 12:00, the last SS remnants launched a final assault on the positions of the 9th Battalion. Polish forces defeated them at point-blank range. There would be no further attacks; the two battlegroups of the Polish 1st Armoured Division had survived the onslaught, despite being surrounded by German forces for three days. Both Reynolds and McGilvray place the Polish losses on the Maczuga at 351 killed and wounded and 11 tanks lost, although Jarymowycz gives higher figures of 325 killed, 1,002 wounded, and 114 missing—approximately 20% of the division's combat strength. Within an hour, The Canadian Grenadier Guards managed to link up with what remained of Stefanowicz's men. By late afternoon, the remainder of the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions had begun their retreat to the Seine River. The Falaise Gap had been permanently closed, with a large number of German forces still trapped in the pocket.
## Aftermath
### Analysis
By the evening of 21 August 1944, most of the German forces in the Falaise Pocket had surrendered. Nearly all of the German formations that had caused significant damage to the Canadians throughout the Normandy campaign had been destroyed. The Panzer Lehr and 9th SS Panzer divisions existed in name only. The 12th SS Panzer Division had lost 94% of its armour, nearly all of its field-guns and 70% of its vehicles. Several German units, notably the 2nd and the 12th SS Panzer Divisions had managed to escape east toward the Seine River, albeit without most of their motorized equipment. Conservative estimates for the number of German soldiers captured in the Falaise Pocket approach 50,000, although some estimates put total German losses in the pocket as high as 200,000. By 23 August, the remainder of the 7th Army had entrenched itself along the Seine River to defend Paris. Simultaneously, elements of Army Group G including the 15th Army and the 5th Panzer Army moved to engage American forces in the south. In the following week, elements of the 1st Canadian Army attacked the Germans on the Seine to break through to the Channel Ports. On the evening of 23 August, French and American troops entered Paris.
### Casualties
Due to the successive offensives of early August, exact Canadian casualties for Operation Tractable are not known. Losses during Totalize and Tractable are put at 5,500 men. German casualties during Operation Tractable are also uncertain; approximate figures can be found for casualties within the Falaise Pocket but not for the Canadian operations during Tractable. After the Falaise Pocket, the German 7th Army was severely depleted, having lost from 50,000 to 200,000 men, over 200 tanks, 1,000 guns and 5,000 other vehicles. In the fighting around Hill 262, the Germans lost 2,000 men killed, 5,000 taken prisoner, 55 tanks, 152 other armoured vehicles and 44 guns. Polish casualties for Operation Tractable (until 22 August) are 1,441 men, of whom 325 were killed (including 21 officers), 1,002 were wounded (35 officers) and 114 missing, which includes 263 men lost before the Chambois and Ormel actions from 14 to 18 August.
### Battle honours
In the British and Commonwealth system of battle honours, participation in Operation Tractable (included as part of the honour Falaise for service from 7 to 22 August) was recognized in 1957, 1958, and 1959 by the award of the battle honours Laison (or "The Laison" for Canadian units), for service from 14 to 17 August, Chambois from 18 to 22 August and St Lambert-sur-Dives from 19 to 22 August. |
43,673,658 | 2017–2018 Bergen County eruv controversy | 1,171,061,318 | Establishment of religion controversy | [
"2017 controversies in the United States",
"2017 in New Jersey",
"2018 controversies in the United States",
"2018 in New Jersey",
"Antisemitism in New Jersey",
"Bergen County, New Jersey",
"Eruvin",
"Jewish courts and civil law",
"Judaism-related controversies",
"Laws of Shabbat",
"Mahwah, New Jersey",
"Montvale, New Jersey",
"Orthodox Judaism in New Jersey",
"Shabbat innovations",
"Upper Saddle River, New Jersey"
]
| In July 2017, the municipalities of Mahwah, Upper Saddle River, and Montvale in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the United States, opposed extension of an eruv within their borders. An eruv is a land area surrounded by a boundary of religious significance, often marked by small plastic pipes (called lechis) attached to utility poles. The demarcation permits Orthodox Jews to push or carry objects (such as prayer books, keys, or baby strollers) within the eruv on the Jewish Sabbath that otherwise is considered forbidden under Orthodox Jewish law.
The three municipalities ordered that the borders of the eruv be dismantled having been erected without the appropriate consents. Many Mahwah residents protested against the prospect of Orthodox Jews from Rockland County, New York using local parks or seeking to buy homes there.
After no agreement could be reached, the eruv association brought suit against each of the municipalities. Mahwah's actions in passing a township ordinance to bar nonresidents of New Jersey from its parks, and the hostility of some residents and council members towards those who supported the eruv led Democratic candidate for Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy and others to make accusations of antisemitism. The presiding judge in the lawsuits, John Michael Vazquez, in January 2018 made it clear he felt the municipalities did not have a strong case, and urged them to settle. The three municipalities settled with the eruv association, allowing the eruv borders to remain. Mahwah settled a lawsuit from the New Jersey Attorney General accusing it of discrimination.
## Background
The township of Mahwah, and the boroughs of Upper Saddle River and Montvale, are neighboring municipalities in northwestern Bergen County, New Jersey. All three are adjacent to the state line with New York, on the other side of which is Rockland County, where there are large communities of Orthodox Jews.
An eruv (plural "eruvin", or sometimes "eruvim") is an enclosure defined by string, rope, wires, cables, etc., that allows observant Jews, including the Orthodox, to carry or push objects further than is normally permitted on the Jewish Sabbath (or Shabbat). Normally, on Shabbat, an object may not be taken from a private domain, such as a house, into a public one, such as a street or sidewalk, or moved, in a public area, more than 4 cubits (about 6 feet; 1.7 meters). "Domain" is a technical term referring to how enclosed an area is, not property ownership.
Objects may be moved freely if they remain within a private domain, and an eruv effectively extends the private domain through the area it encloses, including streets and sidewalks. The boundary of an eruv is often marked by utility poles surrounding a given area, with the space between regarded as doorways, topped by lintels, the telephone or power wires. The poles are regarded as doorposts, and are marked by lechis (singular: lechi), solid objects such as lengths of twine or of plastic pipe, which run from near the ground to just below the wires. In short, the act of stringing such a boundary around a public area by a Jewish community creates the pretense for its members that that public area is enclosed for the limited purpose of allowing the members to do some otherwise forbidden things in that public area on the Sabbath.
There are many requirements for eruvin; the Talmud devotes an entire tractate to the subject. This complexity makes rabbinic supervision and regular inspection mandatory. An operating eruv allows observant Jews to carry prayer books from home to synagog on Shabbat, or to push strollers or baby carriages.
In Teaneck, in southeastern Bergen County and home to large numbers of Orthodox Jews, an eruv has existed since the 1970s with little controversy, and, as the Jewish population increased, was extended to nearby Bogota and Bergenfield. Other eruvin in Bergen County are in Fair Lawn and in Paramus.
A previous instance in which an eruv had been constructed in Bergen County, and had been challenged by local authorities, occurred in Tenafly, in the eastern part of the county. Attempts by municipal authorities to ban eruvin had failed when challenged in the federal courts, and the settlement in 2006 after a six-year battle obliged the borough to pay \$325,000 for the eruv association's legal costs. In most cases involving conflict over whether an eruv should be permitted, the municipality has lost and the construction of the eruv allowed to continue.
## Construction and controversy
Orthodox Jews in Rockland County gained a license from Orange and Rockland Utilities (which serves parts of both Rockland County in New York and Bergen County in New Jersey) to construct an eruv using its utility poles in 2015, and in March 2017 the company granted permission for the South Monsey Eruv Fund to install lechis, made from white PVC pipe, on its utility poles in northwestern Bergen County. This was an extension of an existing eruv in Rockland County, and was intended to run through Mahwah, Upper Saddle River and Montvale. According to Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, head of the eruv association, the purpose was to accommodate those living in Rockland County close to the border, near New York State Route 59. The boundaries had to be run through New Jersey due to the lack of a road along the state line. Mahwah police noted construction being done on utility poles in May and made inquiries. On learning that Orange and Rockland had authorized the work, they provided police protection, for which the department was paid about \$2,000 by the eruv fund. The work in Mahwah was complete by June.
When the matter became generally known in mid-July, there was what local reporter Tom Nobile called a "firestorm of opposition" from local residents, with some expressing concerns that the eruv would allow Orthodox communities in Rockland County to expand into New Jersey. Groups formed on social media, including one named Mahwah Strong, in opposition to the eruv. Mahwah Strong claimed 3,000 members within days; a founder, Robert Ferguson, stated that his group would act as a check and balance to ensure the township enforced its laws, and noted, "I don't view this as a hostile takeover of the town." Two hundred people gathered in a Mahwah park on July 22 to support the eruv's removal. An online petition to "Protect the Quality of Our Community in Mahwah", initiated by former township council member John Roth, reached 1,200 names before being taken down due to what Roth called inappropriate comments, made by some signers. Similarly, Mahwah Strong lost its Facebook page following an influx of comments deemed "hateful".
## Municipal and public reaction
In early July 2017, the eruv was completed in part of Upper Saddle River. Montvale acted first against the eruv, with Mayor Michael Ghassali issuing a stop work order on July 10, after the eruv association had rented equipment and arranged with local police to provide security. Montvale authorities objected on the grounds that the lechis constituted a sign, forbidden by borough ordinance. This was done prior to construction with the result that the eruv did not extend into Montvale. On July 18, Upper Saddle River's attorney sent a letter demanding the removal of the lechis that had been erected there, with a deadline of July 26, but the borough agreed to let them remain for the time being after two New York State residents filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, requesting a temporary restraining order against the borough and Mayor Joanne Minichetti. The borough's agreement was in exchange for an undertaking from the eruv association not to expand the eruv, and the motion for a restraining order was withdrawn. The eruv was vandalized on July 26 and 27, requiring immediate repair work. Mahwah's township engineer, Mike Kelly, sent a letter to the eruv association on July 21, taking a stance similar to Montvale's, and demanding the removal of the eruv by August 4. Mayor Bill Laforet stated, "This sends a very strong message to those who choose to violate our sign ordinances."
On June 29, the Mahwah Township Council had passed an ordinance, effective July 27, barring nonresidents of New Jersey from its parks. Residents had complained that out-of-staters were flooding Mahwah's parks, sometimes by the busload. After the ordinance passed, but before it went into effect, Mahwah police chief James Batelli received many phone calls from residents asking that it be enforced against Orthodox Jews. He contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor, Gurbir Grewal, for advice. On July 27, the date the ordinance was to go into effect, Grewal issued a directive ordering Mahwah police to disregard the ban, stating that the ban could lead to racial profiling, unlawful searches and seizures and the illegal targeting of Orthodox Jews. In response, Rob Hermansen, president of the township council, stated that that body would rework the ordinance to continue putting Mahwah residents first.
When the Mahwah Township Council met on the evening of July 27, it did so before an overflow crowd. Despite warnings from the township attorney not to discuss issues of religion, some did. Others complained of nonresidents crowding parks, and that they had been visited by people wanting to buy their homes. The lawyer for Mahwah Strong urged the council to enforce the law by requiring the takedown of the eruv. Ferguson was quoted as saying at the meeting, "We do not NOT want these people living in our neighborhoods. We want them following the law."
As the eruv controversy intensified, Mahwah and Montvale, as well as neighboring boroughs, enacted or made stricter ordinances restricting those making unsolicited offers to buy houses from knocking on doors. Municipal officials stated that this was being done because of the concerns of residents, who feared the Orthodox moving in would result in a population explosion, that the schools would suffer, and high-density housing built. Residents cited Lakewood in Ocean County as an example of such problems.
To a standing ovation from some 200 residents in attendance, the Mahwah council on August 10 unanimously voted to issue summonses because the eruv had not been taken down. Mayor Laforet, though, urged the council not to take this step, pointing to the large expense the unsuccessful eruv litigation had cost Tenafly, and advocated negotiation. In response to the council's action, the Bergen-Rockland Eruv Association (of which the South Monsey group is a part) and several Orthodox Jews resident in Rockland County filed suit in federal court against Mahwah on August 11, and promised to defy any summonses. Residents of Teaneck and Englewood, each in southeastern Bergen County and home to large communities of Orthodox Jews, had gone to Mahwah and Upper Saddle River to make known their views at council meetings. Council members from Teaneck and Englewood had spoken there in support of the eruv's retention, only to meet a hostile reception. Citizens for a Better Upper Saddle River posted a screenshot of the Teaneck council schedule online, urging members to mark their calendars with the dates. Council member Mark Schwartz of Teaneck stated that visitors would be welcome, and could view how a diverse community functioned. Michael Cohen of the Englewood council stated, "We have repeatedly attempted to communicate to the leadership of Upper Saddle River and Mahwah why it is that the rhetoric and actions being seen and taken by certain members of their governing bodies and by certain members of their communities are being viewed by the outside world as anti-Semitic. However, those attempts have largely continued to fall on deaf ears."
## Litigation
Following failed settlement negotiations and a closed-door council meeting on October 10, the Bergen-Rockland Eruv Association and individual plaintiffs sued Montvale on October 18, alleging that Mayor Ghassali's stop work order inhibited them in practicing their religion. They cited a 2015 statement from then-mayor Roger Fyfe, from when rumors of an eruv had first circulated, that an eruv was a simple accommodation and a matter in which the borough had only a slight part. The plaintiffs also alleged that Mahwah and Upper Saddle River were aware of the eruv construction, but had no problem with it until they gave in to a campaign of xenophobia and antisemitism. The next day, the Democratic candidate for governor, Phil Murphy, accused the residents of Mahwah of causing an "overarching perception of anti-Semitism and discrimination". According to Murphy, "When a Holocaust survivor at a public meeting is heckled, and then denounced as a fraud, there is a problem. When well-intentioned residents are disparaged as 'paid actors' for a 'Jewish money conspiracy scheme' there is a problem."
On October 24, the Attorney General of New Jersey, Christopher Porrino, sued Mahwah and its council, alleging that by voting for the parks ban and for the summonses, they had violated the constitutional rights of Orthodox Jews. The case, filed in state court in Hackensack, sought nullification of the council's actions, statutory penalties, attorney's fees, and the return of \$3.5 million in state-provided Green Acres funds with which Mahwah had purchased and maintained parks. Under the Green Acres program, parks benefitting from the funds may not discriminate, including on the basis of religion or residency. Porrino stated, "To think that there are local governments here in New Jersey, in 2017, making laws on the basis of some archaic, fear-driven and discriminatory mindset, is deeply disappointing and shocking to many, but it is exactly what we are alleging in this case. Of course, in this case we allege the target of the small-minded bias is not African-Americans, but Orthodox Jews. Nonetheless, the hateful message is the same." Mayor Laforet accused Council President Hermansen of fear-mongering and stoking passions, "His disgraceful behavior is now worsened by the severe potential financial penalties facing the township's taxpayer." In the municipal election on November 7, Mahwah voters easily re-elected two anti-eruv council members, defeating challengers supported by Laforet. The case was removed from state to federal court by Mahwah on November 22 as it raised questions under the federal constitution. On December 1, the council voted unanimously to allocate \$175,000 to fight the lawsuits, which supplemented the \$90,000 previously appropriated.
In the Upper Saddle River case, on October 10, 2017, the eruv association moved for a preliminary injunction allowing the eruv to remain pending the outcome of the litigation. In support, the association provided documentation showing that Mayor Minichetti had told the borough council about the proposed eruv in 2015, and the new sign ordinance had rapidly followed. In response to the motion, filed on November 2, Upper Saddle River stated that the sign law was tightened because of a divisive municipal election in 2014, that had seen many signs. The borough argued that the lawsuit was premature, as the eruv association had not sought permission. It argued that it had not violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs; its sign ordinance was content-neutral, banning all signs of whatever sort, and thus the plaintiffs had not been discriminated against. It alleged that permission to erect the lechis from Orange and Rockland was insufficient; the eruv association also had to comply with local law, and in any event the communications company Verizon had joint use of the poles and had not been asked for consent. Upper Saddle River distinguished its situation from that of Tenafly, stating that in Tenafly, exceptions had been made to the sign ordinance, but in Upper Saddle River it had been strictly enforced. Towards the end of December, Montvale Mayor Ghassali indicated that his borough was negotiating with the plaintiffs, seeking to reach an amicable settlement of the federal lawsuit.
## Settlements
Murphy was elected governor in November and designated Bergen County Prosecutor Grewal as the new Attorney General. Thus, once they took office, opponents of Mahwah's position would hold powerful posts in the state capital of Trenton, and municipal officials began to have second thoughts about whether to fight the eruv. On December 14, 2017, following the advice of legal counsel, the Mahwah council repealed the still-unenforced ban on out-of-state park users, and abandoned an attempt to amend the sign ordinance to bar "other matter" (the lechis) from being affixed to utility poles. The "other matter" language would have imitated the 2015 changes to the Upper Saddle River sign law which had followed Minichetti informing the borough council about the plans for the eruv, and was withdrawn, according to Hermansen, lest Mahwah's motives be misinterpreted. The vote to repeal the park ban was unanimous, with one council member absent. After the vote, Laforet called the ordinances "ill-advised" before being silenced by the council. He resumed outside the council chamber and disclosed that the members could have faced prosecution. "They are hiding from you that if they failed to do so, the Attorney General can come into Mahwah to press civil or criminal bias charges. For people who did a lot of shouting, and shouting down the past several months, they are strangely quiet about that."
The Upper Saddle River lawsuit was scheduled for argument before Judge John Michael Vazquez of the federal court for New Jersey. When he convened that hearing on January 9, 2018, rather than hear the lawyers argue the positions set forth in the legal briefs, Judge Vazquez told them his views. He questioned whether the borough had consistently enforced the ordinance, as plaintiffs' lawyers had discovered a number of signs and even mailboxes attached to utility poles, that Upper Saddle River had not taken down. The judge voiced his skepticism that the 2015 sign ordinance had been passed because of a contentious municipal election the previous year, as the borough maintained, and indicated that he was inclined to believe it was passed because of the eruv. He urged Upper Saddle River to try to settle the case, and to do so in coordination with the other two municipalities—he was also presiding judge in those cases.
On January 30, 2018, the Mahwah council voted 5–2 to accept a negotiated settlement of the eruv litigation, despite some residents who urged the council to fight all the way to the Supreme Court. Council President Hermansen supported the deal as the best possible outcome, "We're trying to do the right thing. This is a good town with good people, and we're making this decision for good people." He wrote on Facebook that Mahwah "should be known more for our open space, parks and our overall community than the negative comments made about our residents from outsiders." The terms of the settlement were not announced at that meeting as the deal was still pending agreement by the plaintiffs, but were disclosed the following day. The eruv would remain, but the lechis were to be painted to match the pole, or replaced with ones of that color, The township was to pay the association \$10,000 or such other sum as mutually agreed for legal fees. The association was allowed to expand the eruv, but was to consult with the council before doing so. On February 7, a public meeting that was called for that day to discuss the terms of the settlement was postponed to a future date on the advice of the township's attorneys.
Montvale also undertook negotiations with the eruv association plaintiffs. Some Montvale residents sought to minimize the land covered by the eruv within the borough by having the boundary run through backyards close to the state line, but the consent of all landowners could not be obtained. On February 13, the Montvale council voted to approve a settlement whereby the eruv boundary would be placed on streets in the northern part of the borough, with efforts to be made to reroute it through private land. Montvale was to pay the eruv association attorneys at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP \$10,000 towards legal costs and be shielded from further lawsuits from it for two years. Yehudah Buchweitz, an attorney for the eruv association, stated: "Our lawsuit against Montvale was filed to permit an eruv in a small portion of Montvale, so families could enjoy the same religious freedom as so many others throughout Bergen and Rockland counties and beyond. This settlement preserves and protects the people's right to have an eruv." A map showing the eruv boundary's route through Montvale was posted on the borough website on March 1, 2018.
After a closed-door meeting, the Upper Saddle River Borough Council voted on January 15 to attempt to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs. On February 21, the borough announced over its emergency notification system that it had reached a tentative agreement whereby the eruv boundary would be run along the roads until it could be relocated as close to the state line as possible. The borough stated that the agreement was being entered into "because of a variety of reasons outside of the Borough’s control, including the recent settlements by Mahwah and Montvale". The borough agreed to pay \$75,000 towards the eruv association's legal costs. The agreement went into force on April 5, 2018. Under the agreement, 12 poles are to be erected on the municipal right-of-way to allow the eruv boundary to run on a shortened route through the borough, close to the state line. The lechis were to be made of black plastic, and the eruv association was not allowed to not ask for a change of route for three years.
On February 15, 2018, Judge Vazquez accepted the Mahwah and Montvale settlements, and on April 19, that of Upper Saddle River. He retained continuing jurisdiction over the matters, and granted permission for them to be re-opened if a dispute was to arise. A temporary eruv boundary was run across the original Upper Saddle River route, pending a final routing. On July 17, 2018, Upper Saddle River posted maps and stated that work on implementing the settlement would occur over the following several weeks.
In September 2018, a settlement between the Attorney General and Mahwah was announced. The township was to repeal the two controversial ordinances and agreed not to enact the new sign ordinance and to notify the Attorney General of any proposed legislation on these subjects for the following four years. The mayor and council were to issue a joint statement affirming that the existing sign ordinance, and those dealing with parks and recreation, would be enforced in a nondiscriminatory manner. A breach by Mahwah within the four-year period risked penalties of up to \$100,000; a proposed \$350,000 fine was suspended.
On November 6, 2018, Mahwah voters recalled Laforet from office, electing John Roth in his place. Hermansen was defeated for re-election, with Robert Ferguson among those elected to the new council. |
50,635,030 | History of US science fiction and fantasy magazines to 1950 | 1,169,387,788 | Science-fiction and fantasy magazine history | [
"20th-century American literature",
"Fantasy fiction magazines",
"Science fiction magazines published in the United States"
]
| Science-fiction and fantasy magazines began to be published in the United States in the 1920s. Stories with science-fiction themes had been appearing for decades in pulp magazines such as Argosy, but there were no magazines that specialized in a single genre until 1915, when Street & Smith, one of the major pulp publishers, brought out Detective Story Magazine. The first magazine to focus solely on fantasy and horror was Weird Tales, which was launched in 1923, and established itself as the leading weird fiction magazine over the next two decades; writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard became regular contributors. In 1926 Weird Tales was joined by Amazing Stories, published by Hugo Gernsback; Amazing printed only science fiction, and no fantasy. Gernsback included a letter column in Amazing Stories, and this led to the creation of organized science-fiction fandom, as fans contacted each other using the addresses published with the letters. Gernsback wanted the fiction he printed to be scientifically accurate, and educational, as well as entertaining, but found it difficult to obtain stories that met his goals; he printed "The Moon Pool" by Abraham Merritt in 1927, despite it being completely unscientific. Gernsback lost control of Amazing Stories in 1929, but quickly started several new magazines. Wonder Stories, one of Gernsback's titles, was edited by David Lasser, who worked to improve the quality of the fiction he received. Another early competitor was Astounding Stories of Super-Science, which appeared in 1930, edited by Harry Bates, but Bates printed only the most basic adventure stories with minimal scientific content, and little of the material from his era is now remembered.
In 1933 Astounding was acquired by Street & Smith, and it soon became the leading magazine in the new genre, publishing early classics such as Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time" in 1934. A couple of competitors to Weird Tales for fantasy and weird fiction appeared, but none lasted, and the 1930s is regarded as Weird Tales' heyday. Between 1939 and 1941 there was a boom in science-fiction and fantasy magazines: several publishers entered the field, including Standard Magazines, with Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories (a retitling of Wonder Stories); Popular Publications, with Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories; and Fiction House, with Planet Stories, which focused on melodramatic tales of interplanetary adventure. Ziff-Davis launched Fantastic Adventures, a fantasy companion to Amazing. Astounding extended its pre-eminence in the field during the boom: the editor, John W. Campbell, developed a stable of young writers that included Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and A.E. van Vogt. The period starting in 1938, when Campbell took control of Astounding, is often referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Well-known stories from this era include Slan, by van Vogt, and "Nightfall", by Asimov. Campbell also launched Unknown, a fantasy companion to Astounding, in 1939; this was the first serious competitor for Weird Tales. Although wartime paper shortages forced Unknown's cancellation in 1943, it is now regarded as one of the most influential pulp magazines.
Only eight science-fiction and fantasy magazines survived World War II. All were still in pulp magazine format except for Astounding, which had switched to a digest format in 1943. Astounding continued to publish popular stories, including "Vintage Season" by C. L. Moore, and "With Folded Hands ..." by Jack Williamson. The quality of the fiction in the other magazines improved over the decade: Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder in particular published some excellent material and challenged Astounding for the leadership of the field. A few more pulps were launched in the late 1940s, but almost all were intended as vehicles to reprint old classics. One exception, Out of This World Adventures, was an experiment by Avon, combining fiction with some pages of comics. It was a failure and lasted only two issues. Magazines in digest format began to appear towards the end of the decade, including Other Worlds, edited by Raymond Palmer. In 1949, the first issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction appeared, followed in October 1950 by the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction; both were digests, and between them soon dominated the field. Very few science-fiction or fantasy pulps were launched after this date; the 1950s was the beginning of the era of digest magazines, though the leading pulps continued until the mid-1950s, and authors began selling to mainstream magazines and large book publishers.
## Early magazines
By the end of the 19th century, stories with recognizably science fictional content were appearing regularly in American magazines. These magazines typically did not print fiction to the exclusion of other content; they would include non-fiction articles and poetry as well. In October 1896, the Frank A. Munsey company's Argosy magazine was the first to switch to printing only fiction, and in December of that year it began using cheap wood-pulp paper. This is now regarded by magazine historians as having been the start of the pulp magazine era. For twenty years the pulps were successful without restricting their fiction content to any specific genre, but in 1915 the influential magazine publisher Street & Smith began to issue titles that focused on a particular niche, such as Detective Story Magazine and Western Story Magazine, thus pioneering the specialized and single-genre pulps.
As the pulps proliferated, they continued to carry science fiction (SF), both in the general fiction magazines such as Argosy and All-Story, and in the more specialized titles such as sports, detective fiction, and (especially) the hero pulps. Science fiction also appeared outside the world of pulps: Hugo Gernsback, who had begun his career as an editor and publisher in 1908 with a radio hobbyist magazine called Modern Electrics, soon began including articles speculating about future uses of science, such as "Wireless on Saturn", which appeared in the December 1908 issue. The article was written with enough humour to make it clear to his readers that it was simply an imaginative exercise, but in 1911 Modern Electrics began serializing Ralph 124C 41+, a novel set in the year 2660. In 1913 Gernsback launched another magazine, The Electrical Experimenter (retitled Science and Invention in 1920), which frequently ran science fictional tales, written both by Gernsback and others.
In 1919, Street & Smith launched The Thrill Book, a magazine for stories that were unusual or unclassifiable in some way, which in most cases meant that they included either fantasy or science-fiction elements. The Thrill Book ceased publication in October 1919, having lasted sixteen issues; it carried some SF, particularly towards the end of its short run, but is not generally regarded as a science-fiction or fantasy pulp. Two years later, Gernsback launched yet another magazine, titled Practical Electrics, and in 1924 he sent a letter to its subscribers suggesting a magazine that would publish only scientific fiction. The response was weak, and Gernsback shelved the project.
## Weird Tales and Amazing Stories
The first magazine to be primarily associated with fantasy and science fiction was Weird Tales, which appeared in March 1923. It was initially edited by Edwin Baird and issued by Rural Publishing, a company owned by Jacob Clark Henneberger and John M. Lansinger. Rural had previously launched the magazine Detective Tales. Weird Tales was intended to provide a market for fantasy and weird fiction, and Henneberger was keen to obtain material unusual enough that it could not be sold to the existing pulp magazines. The planned monthly schedule soon began to slip, skipping July and December. As early as February 1924, Farnsworth Wright took over from Baird as interim editor. After the May–June–July 1924 Anniversary Issue was published, Henneberger and Lansinger split the company, each taking one of the magazines. Henneberger kept nominal control of Weird Tales, while the Cornelius Printing Company, of Indianapolis, to whom Rural owed most of its debt, took over primary ownership. The magazine went on hiatus for five months while Cornelius built a new printing plant. Weird Tales resumed publication with the November 1924 issue, with Farnsworth Wright as permanent editor. The magazine quickly began to improve, both in appearance and quality, as Wright nurtured talented fantasy writers such as Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft.
Wright frequently published science fiction, including Edmond Hamilton's first story, which appeared in August 1926, and work by J. Schlossel and Otis Adelbert Kline, as well as weird and occult fiction. The first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction joined Weird Tales on the newsstands on 10 March 1926, titled Amazing Stories and dated April. Gernsback had delayed the launch a couple of years after his subscriber survey had shown only limited interest in an SF magazine, but finally decided to take the plunge. He ceased publication of Practical Electrics (recently retitled The Experimenter) but retained the editor, T. O'Conor Sloane, to edit the new magazine, though Gernsback had final say over the fiction content. The first issue of Amazing consisted entirely of reprinted material, including Jules Verne's novel Off on a Comet, and stories by H.G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe, but new fiction quickly appeared, with Clare Winger Harris and A. Hyatt Verrill each finding success in one of Gernsback's early reader competitions. Both went on to become established writers. Gernsback also introduced a letter column, and encouraged his readers to join in lively discussions there. In the view of Mike Ashley, a historian of science fiction, this was "the real secret of the success of Amazing Stories and is the cause of the popularity of science fiction": the letter column gave science-fiction fans, many of whom were lonely, a forum in which to make friends and talk about their interests. The resulting community of like-minded readers gave birth to science-fiction fandom, and also to a generation of writers who had grown up reading the genre.
Amazing was very successful, reaching a circulation of 100,000 in less than a year. It was some time before significant competition appeared, but two minor fantasy magazines were launched the year after Amazing's first issue. One, Tales of Magic and Mystery, appeared in 1927 and lasted only five issues; it specialized in stories about magic, including a series on Houdini. It was a financial failure, and is now remembered mainly for having published "Cool Air", a story by Lovecraft. The other was Ghost Stories, which was launched in mid-1926 by Bernarr Macfadden, who also published confessional magazines such as True Story. Much of the material in Ghost Stories was written in a similar confessional style, featuring tales of encounters with ghosts presented as true events.
In June 1927 Gernsback published Amazing Stories Annual, twice the size (and twice the price) of the regular Amazing Stories. It carried a new Mars novel, The Mastermind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which Burroughs had been unable to sell elsewhere, perhaps because it contained satirical elements aimed at religious fundamentalism. Burroughs' name was a powerful aid to sales, and since Gernsback had secured two stories by Abraham Merritt, who was also very popular, the magazine sold out all 150,000 copies, despite the high price. This success convinced Gernsback to launch another science-fiction title, and the first issue of Amazing Stories Quarterly appeared in 1928 with a Spring cover date. In the same year Gernsback printed E.E. Smith's first novel, in Amazing, titled The Skylark of Space. It was enormously successful, and on the strength of Smith's Skylark series of novels, and his later Lensman series, Smith became "one of the greatest names, if not the greatest of all" to SF readers of the 1930s.
Gernsback's declared goals for Amazing were to educate and to entertain. In the editorial for the first issue he asserted that "Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading – they are also always instructive. They supply knowledge that we might not otherwise obtain – and they supply it in a very palatable form. For the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge and even inspiration without once making us aware that we are being taught". It was difficult for Gernsback to find high-quality new material that was both entertaining and met his declared goal of providing scientific information, and the early issues of Amazing contained a high proportion of reprints. He discovered that his readers preferred the fantastical romances of Burroughs and Merritt to the more scientific stories of Verne and Wells, and perhaps in response published Merritt's "The Moon Pool" in the May 1927 issue of Amazing. The story was completely unscientific; Gernsback's introduction to the story claimed that Merritt was introducing a new science, but Ashley comments that Gernsback was simply "looking for an excuse for including such fantastic fiction in the magazine when it did not fit in with his basic creed".
## Wonder Stories and Astounding
In early 1929 Gernsback went bankrupt, and his magazines were sold to Bergan A. Mackinnon; both Amazing Stories and Amazing Stories Quarterly continued publication under their new ownership, and Sloane remained as editor. Within two months Gernsback had launched two new magazines, Air Wonder Stories and Science Wonder Stories. Gernsback still believed in the educational value of science fiction, and contrasted his goals for Air Wonder Stories with the fiction appearing in aviation pulps such as Sky Birds and Flying Aces, which were "purely 'Wild-West'-world war adventure-sky busting" stories, in his words. He planned to fill Air Wonder with "flying stories of the future, strictly along scientific-mechanical-technical lines, full of adventure, exploration and achievement". Both Air Wonder and Science Wonder were edited by David Lasser, who had no prior experience as an editor and who knew little about SF, but whose degree from MIT had convinced Gernsback to take him on. Lasser printed work by some popular authors, including Fletcher Pratt, Stanton Coblentz, and David H. Keller, and two of the winners of the contests Gernsback frequently ran subsequently became well known in the field: Raymond Palmer, later the editor of Amazing Stories, and John Wyndham, best known for his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids. The readership of the two magazines overlapped strongly, most readers being science-fiction fans rather than aviation fans. With these two titles established, Gernsback added Science Wonder Quarterly in October 1929, also edited by Lasser. At the same time Gernsback sent a letter to some of the writers he had already bought stories from, asking for "detective or criminal mystery stories with a good scientific background", and in January 1930 he launched Scientific Detective Monthly, edited by his deputy, Hector Grey, as a new cross-genre title, giving him four magazines in all.
January 1930 also saw the first issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, which would go on to become the most influential magazine in the field within a decade. The publisher was William Clayton, a successful publisher of pulp titles. In 1928 Harold Hersey, who by then was working for Clayton, had suggested a new science-fiction magazine to add to the line-up; Clayton was unconvinced, but changed his mind the following year. Astounding's editor, Harry Bates, was uninterested in the educational goals that motivated Gernsback. Bates filled Astounding with adventure stories with minimal scientific content: the stories are generally considered to have been poor quality, and Ashley considers Bates to have been "destroying the ideals of science fiction" with formulaic plots. Gernsback's magazines were infamous for low rates and very slow payment, and Astounding's high rates and quick payment attracted some well-known pulp writers such as Murray Leinster and Jack Williamson. (Asimov later said that in the early industry payment was "not on publication but (the saying went) on lawsuit".) Astounding was also better value for money than its competitors, with both the lowest price and, along with Amazing, the most pages. By mid-1930, Gernsback began to consolidate his magazines, merging Air Wonder with Science Wonder Stories. The combined magazine was titled Wonder Stories, and Science Wonder Quarterly was similarly retitled Wonder Stories Quarterly. At the same time Scientific Detective Monthly was retitled Amazing Detective Tales. Dropping "Science" and "Scientific" from the titles may have been intended to avoid giving readers the impression that these were actually scientific periodicals. Amazing Detective Tales, at least, was not helped by the title change, and after the October issue Gernsback sold the magazine to Wallace Bamber, who published five more issues the following year, though there was no longer any SF or fantasy content.
Meanwhile, Ghost Stories, the Macfadden title launched in 1926, was suffering declining sales. Hersey, who by 1930 had gone into business as an independent publisher, acquired the title from Macfadden, and started another magazine, Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, the following year, with Elliott Dold as editor. Neither venture was a success. Miracle ceased publication after only two issues when Dold fell ill, though sales were poor in any case, and Hersey was unable to revive Ghost Stories' fortunes; it was cancelled at the start of 1932. 1931 also saw Amazing Stories change hands once again; this time it was acquired by Macfadden, whose deep pockets helped insulate Amazing from the effects of the Depression. Sloane continued as editor.
Weird Tales was by now well established, but in 1931 Clayton finally gave it some direct competition with Strange Tales, which was also edited by Bates. Like its competitor, Strange Tales frequently published science fiction as well as fantasy; as with Astounding it paid better rates than the competition, and as a result attracted some good writers, including Jack Williamson, whose "Wolves of Darkness", about an invasion by beings from another dimension, is one of its better-remembered stories. Strange Tales did not last long: by late 1932, Clayton was in financial difficulties, and Astounding switched to a bimonthly schedule. Already bimonthly, Strange Tales also reduced its publication frequency. The bulk of Clayton's debts were owed to his printer, which Clayton tried to acquire to prevent it buying out his publishing house, but this proved a disastrous move. He lacked funds to complete the transaction, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. The January 1933 issue of both magazines was intended to be the last, but enough stories remained in inventory to produce one more issue of Astounding, which appeared in March 1933. Street & Smith acquired Astounding and Strange Tales from the sale of Clayton's assets, and relaunched Astounding in October that year. Strange Tales did not reappear; Street & Smith decided to run the stories in Strange Tales' inventory in Astounding instead.
At Wonder Stories, David Lasser remained as editor during the early 1930s, though Wonder Stories Quarterly had to be cut for budget reasons at the start of 1933. Lasser corresponded with his authors to help improve both their level of scientific literacy, and the quality of their writing; Asimov has described Wonder Stories as a "forcing ground", where young writers learned their trade. Lasser was willing to print material that lay outside the usual pulp conventions, such as Eric Temple Bell's The Time Stream and Festus Pragnell's The Green Man of Graypec. Sf critic John Clute gives Lasser credit for making Wonder Stories the best science-fiction magazine of his day, and critics Peter Nicholls and Brian Stableford consider it to be the best of Gernsback's forays into the genre. Despite his success, Lasser was let go in mid-1933, perhaps because he was very well-paid, since there is some evidence of a financial crisis in Gernsback's affairs at the time. Lasser was spending more time working on labor rights, and Gernsback may also have felt he was neglecting his editorial duties. Gernsback replaced Lasser with a 17-year-old SF fan, Charles Hornig, at less than a third of Lasser's salary.
## From Gernsback to Campbell
Street & Smith was a well-established pulp publisher, with an excellent distribution network, and the revived Astounding was quickly competitive. It was edited by F. Orlin Tremaine, with assistance from Desmond Hall; both had come to Street & Smith from the wreckage of Clayton. Tremaine was an experienced pulp editor, and Street & Smith gave him a budget of one cent per word, which was better than the competing magazines could pay. In December 1933 Tremaine wrote an editorial calling for "thought variant" stories that contained original ideas and did not simply reproduce adventure themes in a science-fiction context. The early stories identified by Tremaine as "thought variants" were not always particularly original, but it soon became apparent that Tremaine was willing to take risks by publishing stories that would have fallen foul of editorial taboos at other magazines. By the end of 1934, Astounding was the leading SF magazine; important stories published that year include Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time", the first genre SF story to use the idea of alternate history; The Legion of Space, by Jack Williamson; and "Twilight", by John W. Campbell, writing as Don A. Stuart. Within a year Astounding's circulation was estimated at 50,000, about twice that of the competition.
The month after Tremaine announced his "thought variant" policy, Hornig launched his own "New Policy" at Wonder Stories; as with thought variants, the goal was to emphasize originality and bar stories that merely reworked well-worn ideas. Hornig's rates were lower than Astounding's, and sometimes his writers were paid very late, or not at all; despite these handicaps, Hornig managed to find some good material, including Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey", which appeared in the July 1934 Wonder and has been frequently reprinted.
Amazing Stories, and its sister magazine, Amazing Stories Quarterly, both of which had been edited by T. O'Conor Sloane since Gernsback lost control of them in 1929, published little of note during the early 1930s, though Sloane did print the first story by several writers later to become well-known, including John W. Campbell, John Wyndham, and Howard Fast. The Quarterly schedule became irregular in 1932, and it finally ceased publication with the Fall 1934 issue. Weird Tales had survived a bank failure in 1930 that froze most of the magazine's cash, and was continuing to publish well-received material—mostly fantasy and horror, but still including some science fiction. H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard became regular contributors, and Margaret Brundage monopolized the covers for a while, becoming perhaps the best-known artist to work for the magazine; almost all her covers included a nude figure. Virgil Finlay began contributing interior artwork in the mid-1930s; both Finlay and Brundage were very popular with the readers.
Gernsback experimented with some companion fiction titles in other genres in 1934, but was unsuccessful, and Wonder Stories' decline proved irreversible. After a failed attempt to persuade his readers to support a subscription-only model, he gave up and sold the magazine to Ned Pines of Standard Magazines in February 1936. It was retitled Thrilling Wonder Stories to fit in with Pines' other titles such as Thrilling Detective, and given to Mort Weisinger to edit, under the supervision of Leo Margulies, Standard's editor-in-chief. The format was left unchanged, but the stories and covers became much more action-oriented. Standard's first issue, dated August 1936, contained stories by several well-known writers, including Ray Cummings, Eando Binder, and Stanley G. Weinbaum, but overall the fiction was unsophisticated compared to what could be found in Astounding. A comic strip, "Zarnak", was tried, but this only lasted eight issues.
Two more science-fiction and fantasy magazines were launched in 1936, but neither lasted beyond the end of the year. Hersey, who had tried the market in 1931 with Miracle, brought out Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine, in an attempt to market pulp magazines to comics fans. Everett Bleiler, a historian of science fiction, describes the stories as "moronic" and "third-rate". Although the magazine was timed to exploit the release of the first Flash Gordon serial, it was a failure, and only one issue appeared. The Witch's Tales, a fantasy and horror pulp with ties to a popular radio show of the same name, was slightly more successful, with two issues in November and December 1936. Ashley considers the fiction to have been of reasonable quality, and the magazine's failure may have been because Carwood, the publisher, was small and relatively inexperienced, and may have had weak financing and distribution.
At the end of 1937, Street & Smith promoted Tremaine to assistant editorial director, and his place as editor of Astounding was taken by John W. Campbell. A few months later Street & Smith let Tremaine go, and gave Campbell a freer hand with the magazine. Campbell immediately changed the title from Astounding Stories to Astounding Science-Fiction; his editorial policy was targeted at the more mature readers of science fiction, and he felt that "Astounding Stories" did not convey the right image. He also asked his cover artists to produce more sober and less sensational artwork than had been the case under Tremaine. His most important change was in the expectations he placed on his writers: he asked them to write stories that felt as though they could have been published as non-SF stories in a magazine of the future. A reader of the future would not need long explanations for the gadgets in their lives, so Campbell asked his writers to find ways of naturally introducing technology to their stories. He also began running regular scientific fact articles, with the goal of stimulating story ideas. Campbell's approach differentiated Astounding from rivals; Algis Budrys recalled that "it didn't look like an SF magazine" because covers did not show men with ray guns and women with large breasts.
Meanwhile, Bernarr Macfadden's Teck Publications, the owner of Amazing Stories, was running into financial difficulties, and in 1938 the magazine was sold to Ziff-Davis, a Chicago-based publisher. Raymond Palmer, the editor, was a local fan. Under Sloane Amazing had been dull; Palmer wanted it to be fun, and soon transformed the magazine, publishing escapist stories. He was unable to make Amazing into a real rival to Astounding, and Ashley speculates that Bernard G. Davis, who ran the editorial offices of Ziff-Davis, may have instructed Palmer to focus on entertainment rather than on serious science fiction.
During the 1930s the hero pulps were among the most popular titles on the newsstands; these were magazines focused on the adventures of a single character, such as Doc Savage or The Shadow. These often had science-fictional plots, but were not primarily science-fiction or fantasy magazines. One example that was clearly fantasy was Doctor Death, which featured an evil genius who had supernatural powers. It appeared in February 1935 and lasted for only three issues.
## Start of the boom
As Campbell began to hit his stride as editor of Astounding, the first boom in science-fiction magazine publishing took off, starting with Marvel Science Stories' appearance in 1938. This was an attempt by publishers Abraham and Martin Goodman to expand their list of titles into science fiction and fantasy. They were known for "weird menace" magazines, a genre incorporating "sex and sadism" into story lines that placed women in danger, usually because of a threat that appeared to be supernatural but was ultimately revealed to be the work of a human villain. For Marvel Science Stories, the Goodmans asked their authors to include more sex in their stories than was usual in the SF field; reader reaction was strongly negative to the spicier stories, but the Goodmans kept the magazine going until early 1941, and eventually revived it in 1950 for a few more issues when another SF magazine boom began. A companion magazine, Dynamic Science Stories, appeared in February 1939; it was intended to carry longer stories but only lasted two issues.
Of more importance to the science-fiction and fantasy genres were several other magazines that debuted in 1939. The first to appear, from Standard Magazines, were Startling Stories and Strange Stories, launched in January and February respectively as companions to Thrilling Wonder Stories; Mort Weisinger edited all three. Startling included a lead novel and a "Hall of Fame" reprint section in every issue; the latter was possible because the publisher, Standard Magazines, owned the back catalog of Wonder Stories. At that time no other SF pulp was including novels; readers approved, and Startling quickly became one of the most popular SF magazines. Strange Stories was launched as a direct competitor to Weird Tales, and the first issue featured many of Weird Tales' most popular authors, including Robert Bloch, August Derleth, Henry Kuttner and Manly Wade Wellman. Bloch, Derleth, and Kuttner were all frequent contributors over the magazine's life, but Ashley regards it as a poor imitation of Weird Tales, fewer of its stories having been anthologized since. At the end of 1938 Weird Tales' owner, B. Cornelius, sold his interest in the magazine to William J. Delaney, the publisher of Short Stories, a general fiction magazine. Delaney's offices were in New York, and Weird Tales' editor, Farnsworth Wright, moved there from Chicago. Delaney made several changes to page count and frequency to try to increase circulation, but none were successful. While this took place, another competitor to Weird Tales was launched, this time by Street & Smith. The new magazine, titled Unknown, was a companion to Astounding and was also edited by John W. Campbell. Campbell's declared policy for the magazine was to "offer fantasy of a quality so far different from that which has appeared in the past as to change your entire understanding of the term"; the goal was to bring "the science fiction rationale to fantasy", in Ashley's words. Unknown's first issue was dated March 1939, with L. Ron Hubbard and L. Sprague de Camp soon among the most frequent contributors.
Also in March 1939, a new publisher entered the field: Louis Silberkleit, who had once worked for Gernsback, was the owner of the Blue Ribbon Magazines imprint; he launched Science Fiction, following up with Future Fiction in November that year. Both were edited by Charles Hornig, who had edited Wonder Stories for Gernsback. Silberkleit gave Hornig a very limited budget, so he rarely saw submissions from established writers unless they had already been rejected by the better-paying markets. The result was mediocre fiction. Silberkleit was also slow to pay, which was an additional discouragement to authors deciding where to send their work. In May Ziff-Davis, the publishers of Amazing Stories, joined the fray, with Fantastic Adventures, also edited by Raymond Palmer. As with Amazing, Palmer focused on entertainment, rather than trying to break new ground. Fantastic Adventures was not positioned as a rival to Weird Tales or Unknown, but focused instead on other-worldly adventures in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and soon developed a reputation for whimsical fantasy as well.
The original pulp publisher, the Munsey Company, still had no dedicated science-fiction or fantasy magazine by this time, but frequently published stories in Argosy and All-Story which were clearly within the genre. At the end of 1939 Munsey launched Famous Fantastic Mysteries as a vehicle to reprint these older stories. The editor, Mary Gnaedinger, choose Merritt's "The Moon Pool" and Ray Cummings' "The Girl in the Golden Atom" for the first issue, dated September/October; both titles were likely to attract readers. Gnaedinger engaged Virgil Finlay to do interior illustrations for the second issue, and the magazine was soon successful enough to switch from bimonthly to monthly publication.
The ninth and last new science-fiction or fantasy magazine to appear with a 1939 cover date was Planet Stories, its first issue dated December. The publisher was Fiction House, which had been a successful pulp publisher in the 1920s, though the Depression temporarily closed its doors. After a relaunch in 1934 Fiction House specialized in detective and romance magazines, and Planet was published by its Love Romances, Inc. imprint. The editor, Malcolm Reiss, targeted younger readers, and focused solely on interplanetary fiction, though initially the stories were so weak that Ashley speculates Reiss was forced to start the magazine without enough time to acquire worthwhile material.
## Golden Age
When Campbell took over as editor of Astounding, he began to attract some of the major writers in the field, including Clifford D. Simak, L. Ron Hubbard, and Jack Williamson. The launch of Unknown strengthened Campbell's dominance of the field; Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, and L. Sprague de Camp contributed to both of Campbell's magazines. As well as developing working relationships with these and other established writers, Campbell discovered and nurtured many new talents. In 1938, he bought Lester del Rey's first story, "The Faithful"; the following year, he published the first stories of A.E. van Vogt, Robert A. Heinlein, and Theodore Sturgeon, along with an early story by Isaac Asimov. All these writers were strongly associated with Astounding over the next few years, and the period starting with Campbell's editorship is sometimes called the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Heinlein rapidly became one of the most prolific contributors to Astounding, publishing almost two dozen short stories in the next two years, along with three novels: If This Goes On—, Sixth Column, and Methuselah's Children. In September 1940, van Vogt's first novel, Slan, began serialization; the book was partly inspired by a challenge Campbell laid down to van Vogt that it was impossible to tell a superman story from the point of view of the superman. It proved to be one of the most popular stories Campbell published, and is an example of the way Campbell worked with his writers to feed them ideas and generate the material he wanted to buy. Asimov's "Robot" series began to take shape in 1941, "Reason" and "Liar!" appearing in the April and May issues; as with Slan, these stories were partly inspired by conversations with Campbell. The September 1941 issue included Asimov's short story "Nightfall", one of the most lauded SF stories ever written, and in November, Second Stage Lensmen, a novel in Smith's Lensman series, began serialization. The following year saw the beginning of Asimov's "Foundation" stories, with "Foundation" appearing in May and "Bridle and Saddle" in June. Van Vogt's "Recruiting Station", in the March issue, was the first story in his "Weapon Shop" series, described by John Clute as the most compelling of all van Vogt's work.
Many of the stories from the Golden Age have demonstrated enduring popularity, but in the words of Peter Nicholls and Mike Ashley, "the soaring ideas of Golden Age SF were all too often clad in an impoverished pulp vocabulary aimed at the lowest common denominator of a mass market". Nicholls and Ashley acknowledge that, despite the uneven literary quality of the stories, the era did produce something extraordinary: "the wild and yearning imaginations of a handful of genre writers – who were mostly very young, and conceptually very energetic indeed – laid down entire strata of SF motifs which enriched the field greatly", and they consider that the Golden Age generated "a quantum jump in quality, perhaps the greatest in the history of the genre".
## Boom continues
The boom in SF magazine publishing continued into 1940, Standard Magazines adding yet another title to Mort Weisinger's portfolio. This was Captain Future, a hero pulp with simple space opera plots in which Captain Future and his friends saved the solar system or the entire universe from a villain. Nearly all the lead novels were written by Edmond Hamilton. It appeared quarterly, the first issue dated Winter 1940. Standard's SF titles were unabashedly aimed at young readers, with patronizing gimmicks such as "Sergeant Saturn", who answered readers' letters in all three magazines.
Captain Future was followed by Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories, two new titles from Popular Publications, a well-established pulp publisher. Both magazines were bimonthly, Astonishing's first issue dated February 1940, and Super Science Stories appearing the following month; and both were edited by nineteen-year-old Frederik Pohl—he had shown up at Popular's offices looking for editorial work just as they were considering starting a new magazine, and left as the editor of both new titles. Pohl had a very limited budget, but his contacts with other budding SF writers such as Cyril Kornbluth and James Blish meant he was able to find surprisingly good material. Popular paid promptly, which was more than could be said for some of the other publishers, and so despite the low rates Pohl soon began to see submissions that had been rejected by Campbell at Astounding but not sent anywhere else. As a result, he occasionally printed material by some of the Astounding regulars, including "Genus Homo", a collaboration between L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller, and "Lost Legion", by Robert A. Heinlein.
In mid-1940 Louis Silberkleit, who already had two titles on the market (Science Fiction and Future Fiction, both edited by Charles Hornig), added a third, titled Science Fiction Quarterly, with the intention of including a full-length novel in every issue. Silberkleit obtained reprint rights to some of the lead novels from Gernsback's Science Wonder Quarterly that had appeared a decade earlier. The new magazine was added to Hornig's responsibilities, but by the end of the year Hornig had moved to California and all three titles were given to Robert W. Lowndes to edit. Mid-1940 also saw Munsey launch Fantastic Novels, a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries; like Science Fiction Quarterly it was planned as a vehicle for novel-length works, though in this case the novels were reprints from Munsey's backlog.
In December 1940 the first issue of Comet appeared. This saw the return to the field of F. Orlin Tremaine, who had been influential in the mid-1930s when he edited Astounding. The publisher, H-K Publications, was owned by Harold Hersey, who had previously been involved with several failed magazines—The Thrill Book, Ghost Stories, Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, and Flash Gordon Strange Adventures. Tremaine had a relatively high budget for fiction compared to many of the new magazines, but this may have put Comet under greater financial pressure, and it only survived for five issues, ceasing publication with the July 1941 issue.
Two more magazines appeared in early 1941, Stirring Science Stories and Cosmic Stories, on alternating months, starting in February. These were published by a father and son operating under the name of Albing Publications; they had almost no capital, but persuaded Donald Wollheim to edit the magazine for no salary at all, with no budget for fiction. The plan was to start paying contributors once the magazine was profitable. Like Pohl, Wollheim knew several budding writers who were willing to donate stories, and managed to acquire some good fiction, including "Thirteen O'Clock" and "The City in the Sofa", by Kornbluth, which Ashley describes as "enjoyable tongue-in-cheek fantasies". In the event only six issues appeared in 1941 before Albing failed financially, though Wollheim was able to find another publisher for one more issue of Stirring in March 1942.
The final magazine to launch during 1941 was titled Uncanny Stories, published by the Goodman brothers. Marvel Science Stories ceased publication in 1941, and Uncanny was probably created to use up some remaining stories in its inventory. It was dated the same month as the last issue of Marvel: April 1941, and contained little worthwhile; Ashley comments that the lead story, "Coming of the Giant Germs" by Ray Cummings, was "one of his most appalling stories".
## War years
In early 1940, Farnsworth Wright was replaced as editor of Weird Tales by Dorothy McIlwraith, who also edited Short Stories. McIlwraith had no particular expertise in the horror field and, although she was a competent editor, the Wright era is generally considered to have been Weird Tales heyday. With Wright's departure, Unknown quickly became the leading magazine in its small field. Unknown acquired a stable of regular writers, many of whom were also appearing in Astounding, and all of whom were comfortable with the rigor that Campbell demanded even of a fantasy plot. Frequent contributors included L. Ron Hubbard, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Sprague de Camp, who, in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt, contributed three stories about a world where magic operates by logical rules. The stories were later collected as part of Pratt and de Camp's "Incompleat Enchanter" series; John Clute has commented that the title of one of them, "The Mathematics of Magic", is "perfectly expressive of the terms under which magic found easy mention in Unknown". Other stories still regarded as classics include "They" by Heinlein, "Smoke Ghost" by Fritz Leiber, along with several stories in Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, and "Trouble With Water" by H.L. Gold. Unknown's influence was far-reaching; according to Ashley, the magazine created the modern genre of fantasy, and science-fiction scholar Thomas Clareson suggests that by destroying the genre boundaries between SF and fantasy it allowed stories such as Simak's City series to be written. Clareson also proposes that Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, two of the most important and successful science-fiction and fantasy magazines, were direct descendants of Unknown.
In 1941 Weisinger left Standard Magazines to work on the early DC Superman comics, and Oscar J. Friend took over as editor of Startling, Thrilling Wonder, and Captain Future; Strange Stories, which had been Weisinger's idea, was killed off with the January issue. Friend continued the juvenile focus of the three SF magazines, and the covers, often by Earle K. Bergey, reinforced the editorial policy: they frequently included women in implausibly revealing spacesuits or wearing Bergey's trademark "brass brassières". Captain Future ceased publication in early 1944, and later that year Friend was replaced as editor by Sam Merwin on both Startling and Thrilling. Planet Stories' first few issues contained little notable fiction, but it improved throughout the war. Leigh Brackett was a regular contributor of planetary romances—melodramatic tales of action and adventure on alien planets and in interplanetary space—and her work had a strong influence on other writers, including Marion Zimmer Bradley. Other well-known writers who sold to Planet included Simak, Blish, Fredric Brown, and Asimov.
At Ziff-Davis, Palmer remained editor of both Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories throughout World War II. Much of the material in both magazines came from a group of Chicago-based writers who published under both their own names and various house pseudonyms; among the most prolific were William P. McGivern, David Wright O'Brien, Don Wilcox, and Chester S. Geier. The fiction was rarely noteworthy; Ashley describes the wartime Fantastic Adventures as "concentrat[ing] more on quantity than quality, on brash sensationalism than subtlety", though he also comments that it was the most attractive science-fiction or fantasy magazine on newsstands at the time, with covers by J. Allen St. John, Harold McCauley, and Robert Gibson Smith. Similarly, the fiction in Amazing was of uneven quality, though occasionally Palmer obtained good material, including stories by Ray Bradbury, Eric Frank Russell, and John Wyndham.
Few of the new magazines launched during the boom lasted until the end of the war, which brought paper shortages that forced difficult decisions on the publishers. Not every magazine cancellation was because of the war; the usual vicissitudes of magazine publishing also played a role. In 1941, Silberkleit cancelled Science Fiction after 12 issues because of poor sales, merging it with Future Fiction. Two years later Silberkleit ceased publication of both Future and Science Fiction Quarterly when he decided to use the limited paper he could acquire for his western and detective titles instead. Both Science Fiction and Future eventually reappeared in the 1950s. Fantastic Novels merged with its stablemate, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, in 1941, probably because of wartime difficulties, after only five issues. In 1942 Famous Fantastic Mysteries was sold by Munsey to Popular, who were already the publishers of Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. Mary Gnaedinger continued as editor, but the editorial policy changed to exclude reprints of stories that had appeared in magazine form. Booklength work was still reprinted, including G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. In the event, Famous Fantastic Mysteries was the only one of Popular's science-fiction and fantasy titles to survive the war. Both Astonishing and Super Science Stories ceased publication in 1943 when Frederik Pohl, the editor of both titles, enlisted in the army; the publisher was having difficulty obtaining enough paper and decided to close the magazines down. The same year, paper shortages forced John Campbell to choose between Astounding and Unknown, which had already gone to a bimonthly schedule; he decided to keep Astounding on a monthly schedule, and Unknown ceased publication with the October 1943 issue. Astounding switched to digest format the following month; this was a leading indicator for the direction the field would take, though it would be over a decade before the rest of the field followed suit.
## Post-war
Asimov said that "The dropping of the atom bomb in 1945 made science fiction respectable" to the general public, but only eight US science-fiction or fantasy magazines survived World War II: Astounding Science Fiction, published by Street & Smith; Weird Tales, from Delaney's Short Stories, Inc.; Standard Magazines' Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories; Ziff-Davis's Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures; Popular's Famous Fantastic Mysteries; and Planet Stories, published by Love Romances, Inc. All had been forced to quarterly schedules by the war, except Weird Tales, which was bimonthly, and Astounding, still the leading SF magazine. Mainstream magazines began publishing science fiction after the war. Heinlein amazed fans and fellow writers when, Asimov recalled in 1969, "an undiluted science fiction story of his" appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. According to Asimov, the loss of experienced authors from small science-fiction magazines to mass-market publications like Playboy often prevented the small magazines from benefiting from "the field's new-won respectability".
Campbell continued to find new writers: William Tenn, H. Beam Piper, Arthur C. Clarke and John Christopher all made their first sales to Astounding in the late 1940s, and he published many stories now regarded as classics, including "Vintage Season" by C.L. Moore, "With Folded Hands ..." by Jack Williamson, Children of the Lens by E.E. Smith, and The Players of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt. The pace of invention which had marked the war years for Astounding was now slackening, however, and in Ashley's words the magazine was now "resting on its laurels". In 1950, Campbell published an article on dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard; this was a psychological theory that would eventually evolve into Scientology, a new religion. Dianetics was denounced as pseudoscience by the medical profession, but to the dismay of many of Astounding's readers it was not until 1951 that Campbell disavowed it.
Sam Merwin, who had taken over from Oscar Friend at Standard Magazines towards the end of the war, abandoned the juvenile approach that had characterized both Startling and Thrilling; he asked Bergey to make his covers more realistic, and started to publish more hard science fiction, including work by Murray Leinster, George O. Smith, and Hubbard. He bought Jack Vance's first sale, "The World Thinker", which appeared in 1945, and published a good deal of material by Ray Bradbury, including several of his Martian Chronicle stories. Some of the highest-profile names from Campbell's stable of Astounding writers sold to Merwin, including van Vogt, Heinlein, and Sturgeon, whose "The Sky Was Full of Ships" appeared in 1947 and was much praised by readers. Other notable stories include Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe, which appeared in 1948, and Kuttner's Valley of the Flame, one of several science-fantasy novels he published in Startling. Writers such as John D. MacDonald, Margaret St. Clair, William Tenn, Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish, and Damon Knight all sold to Merwin, and the net effect was a dramatic improvement in the quality of both magazines, to the point where Ashley suggests that by the late 1940s, Thrilling Wonder, in particular, was a serious challenger to Astounding for the leadership of the field.
Planet Stories also improved dramatically by the end of the decade. Several well-known writers, including Blish, Brown, and Knight, published good material in Planet, but the overall improvement was largely due to the contributions of Bradbury and Leigh Brackett, both of whom set many of their stories on a version of Mars that owed much to the Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Brackett, one of Planet's most prolific contributors, developed her style over the 1940s and eventually became the leading exponent of planetary romances. Her series of stories about Eric John Stark, considered by Ashley to be her best work, began in Planet with "Queen of the Martian Catacombs" in the Summer 1949 issue. Bradbury's work for Planet included two of his Martian Chronicles stories, and a collaboration with Brackett, "Lorelei of the Red Mist", which appeared in 1946. Tim Forest, a historian of the pulps, considers Bradbury's work to be Planet's "most important contribution to the genre". The covers were generally simple action scenes, featuring a helpless damsel threatened by a bug-eyed monster, but according to Clute "the content was far more sophisticated than the covers".
Weird Tales had lost much of its unique flavor with the departure of Farnsworth Wright, but in Ashley's view McIlwraith made the magazine more consistent: "though the issues edited by McIlwraith "seldom attain[ed] Wright's highpoints, they also omitted the lows". McIlwraith continued to publish some of Weird Tales most popular authors, such as Fredric Brown and Fritz Leiber, but eliminated sword and sorcery fiction, which Robert E. Howard had popularized under Wright with his stories of Conan, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn. August Derleth, who had corresponded with Lovecraft until the latter's death in 1937, continued to send Lovecraft manuscripts to McIlwraith during the 1940s, and at the end of the decade decided to issue a magazine to publicize Arkham House, a publishing venture he had begun in 1939 that reprinted largely from the pages of Weird Tales. The title was The Arkham Sampler; Derleth intended it to be a more literary magazine than the current crop of SF and fantasy pulps. It published both new and reprint material. Some of the stories were of good quality, including work by Robert Bloch and Lord Dunsany, but it closed down after eight quarterly issues for financial reasons.
At Ziff-Davis, Fantastic Adventures continued as it had during the war, with an occasional noteworthy story such as "Largo", by Theodore Sturgeon, and "I'll Dream of You" by Charles F. Myers. Both Fantastic Adventures and its sister magazine, Amazing Stories, were able to return to monthly publication by late 1947 because of the "Shaver Mystery", a series of stories by Richard Shaver. In the March 1945 issue of Amazing Palmer published a story by Shaver called "I Remember Lemuria". The story, about prehistoric civilizations, was presented by Palmer as a mixture of truth and fiction, and the result was a dramatic boost to Amazing's circulation. Palmer ran a new Shaver story in every issue, culminating in a special issue in June 1947 devoted entirely to the Shaver Mystery. Amazing soon drew ridicule for these stories and William Ziff ordered Palmer to limit the amount of Shaver-related material in the magazine; Palmer complied, but his interest (and possibly belief) in this sort of material was now significant, and he soon began planning to leave Ziff-Davis. In 1947 he formed Clark Publications, launching Fate the following year, and in 1949 he resigned from Ziff-Davis to edit that and other magazines.
In March 1948, Fantastic Novels reappeared; it had been published by Munsey as a reprint companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries, now owned by Popular, and it took on the same role in its new incarnation. Gnaedinger, the editor, was a fan of Abraham Merritt's work, and the first three issues of the new version included stories by Merritt. Reprints of old classics such as George Allan England's The Flying Legion and Garrett P. Serviss's The Second Deluge constituted most of Fantastic Novels' contents, with some more recent material such as Earth's Last Citadel, by Kuttner and Moore, which had only previously appeared as a serial in Argosy in 1943.
## Beginning of the digest era
Street & Smith, one of the longest established and most respected magazine publishers, shut down all their pulps in the summer of 1949. The pulps were dying, largely as a result of the success of pocketbooks, and Street & Smith decided to concentrate on their slick magazines. The only survivor of Street & Smith's pulp titles was the digest-format Astounding Science Fiction. By the end of 1955, Fantastic Adventures, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Thrilling Wonder, Startling Stories, Planet Stories, Weird Tales, and Fantastic Story Quarterly had all ceased publication. Despite the pulps' decline, a few new magazines did appear in pulp format at the end of the 1940s, though these were all short-lived, and several of them focused on reprints rather than new material.
One of the first new post-war titles was Fantasy Book, which appeared in 1947. It was the work of William Crawford, a specialty publisher, and varied between pulp and digest sizes. Crawford ran into problems with distribution and production, and the magazine was never regular, but he produced eight issues over the next four years that included some worthwhile material, most notably Cordwainer Smith's first story, "Scanners Live in Vain", in the January 1950 issue.
Popular had added Fantastic Novels as a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries in 1948; the following year it launched A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, in an attempt to cash in on Merritt's popularity, and Captain Zero, a science-fictional hero pulp. Both were failures, lasting only five and three issues, respectively. Standard's Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder, both well-regarded by the end of the decade, were joined in 1950 by two reprint magazines. One was Fantastic Story Quarterly, which was intended to carry reprints that were too long to run in Startling's "Hall of Fame" department. This was initially a financial success, and Standard decided to add another title, Wonder Story Annual. Both titles survived into the mid-1950s. Two exceptions to the reprint rule were Future Science Fiction, which Silberkleit brought back as a bimonthly pulp in May 1950, still edited by Lowndes, and Out of This World Adventures, also in pulp format, which combined science-fiction material with a few pages of comics. The publisher, Avon, also launched a romance magazine and a western magazine with the same format, but the experiment was a failure and Out of This World Adventures only lasted for two issues, dated July and December 1950. At the end of 1950 Marvel Science Stories reappeared as the Goodman brothers saw a new boom in SF magazines getting under way; it began as a pulp, but changed to a digest the following year. The fiction was of higher quality than in the first incarnation of the magazine, but it lasted less than two years.
Although Astounding had been in digest format since 1943, few new digest magazines had been launched since then. One of the first into the fray was Other Worlds, Raymond Palmer's first new SF magazine since he had left Ziff-Davis. It appeared in November 1949, and was bimonthly for the first year. Palmer acquired stories by Ray Bradbury, A.E. van Vogt, and Raymond F. Jones, but the overall quality was not high; Ashley characterizes the magazine as "good, but not quite good enough". Howard Browne took over from Palmer as editor of Amazing and Fantastic Adventures, and made strides in improving the quality of both magazines, though much of his impact only became visible after 1950.
In December 1949, Lawrence Spivak, the editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, launched The Magazine of Fantasy as a fantasy companion, in digest format. The editors were Anthony Boucher, a well-regarded mystery writer who wrote some science fiction, and J. Francis McComas. It was retitled The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the following issue, and four more quarterly issues appeared in 1950. The contents were of the same standard as the fiction that appeared in slick magazines of the day, and it was soon successful. In October 1950 the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction appeared, edited by H.L. Gold, also in digest format; it too did well, and in the 1950s both magazines became very highly regarded, supplanting Astounding as the leading science-fiction magazines.
Three more magazines began publication in 1950, all in digest format. The first was Fantasy Fiction, which produced two issues. It included some respectable reprinted material from 1930s issues of Argosy, but none of the new stories were memorable. In October 1950, Raymond Palmer, who had left Ziff-Davis to become a publisher in his own right, launched Imagination. A serious accident in the summer forced him to turn most of the editing work over to Bea Mahaffey, and after two issues he sold the magazine to William Hamling, who kept it going until 1958. The final magazine of the decade was Worlds Beyond, edited by Damon Knight, which appeared in December 1950, and lasted for three monthly issues; the publisher, Hillman Periodicals, decided to scrap the magazine only days after the first issue went on sale. All three issues featured quality work, and many of the stories have been reprinted frequently; Willam Tenn's "Null-P" and C.M. Kornbluth's "The Mindworm" being perhaps the best-known. Knight included material by non-genre writers such as Graham Greene and Rudyard Kipling, along with genre names such as Katherine MacLean and Lester del Rey. Ashley suggests that had Knight been allowed to continue, the magazine would have been a significant contribution to 1950s science fiction.
Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, and other large, mainstream companies began publishing science-fiction books around 1950. They issued fixups and collections of magazine fiction, but also original stories; authors no longer only had magazines as buyers.
## List of magazines
This table provides the following information:
- Title. The title that the magazine is usually indexed under. Many magazines changed their title multiple times.
- First and last issue. The year of the first and last issues. If the magazine is still being published, the last issue field is blank.
- Publisher. The name of the publisher(s). Some publishers used multiple imprints; to make it easier to see which magazines were controlled by which individuals or groups, the main person or company behind each publisher is noted where it is not obvious.
- \# issues. The number of issues through the end of 1950. If the magazine continued to publish after 1950, the notes column gives the total number of issues.
- New or reprint? Indicates whether the magazine was primarily intended to print new fiction, or reprints. In some cases a magazine printed both, or the focus changed over time; in these cases the table lists whichever was dominant.
- Notes. Among other things, this column notes if a magazine was published in two separate runs. |
5,830,658 | Jethro Sumner | 1,172,153,816 | Continental Army officer | [
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| Jethro Exum Sumner (c. 1733 – c. March 18, 1785) was a senior officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Virginia, Sumner's military service began in the French and Indian War as a member of the state's Provincial forces. After the conclusion of that conflict, he moved to Bute County, North Carolina, where he acquired a substantial area of land and operated a tavern. He served as Sheriff of Bute County, but with the coming of the American Revolution, he became a strident patriot, and was elected to North Carolina's Provincial Congress.
Sumner was named the commanding officer of the 3rd North Carolina Regiment of the North Carolina Line, a formation of the Continental Army, in 1776, and served in both the Southern theater and Philadelphia campaign. He was one of five brigadier generals from North Carolina in the Continental Army, in which capacity he served between 1779 and 1783. He served with distinction in the battles of Stono Ferry and Eutaw Springs, but recurring bouts of poor health often forced him to play an administrative role, or to convalesce in North Carolina. Following a drastic reduction in the number of North Carolinians serving with the Continental Army, Sumner became a general in the state's militia but resigned in protest after the North Carolina Board of War awarded overall command of the militia to William Smallwood, a Continental Army general from Maryland. At the end of the war in 1783, Sumner helped to establish the North Carolina Chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati, and became its first president. He died in 1785 with extensive landholdings and 35 slaves.
## Early life
Sumner was born in Nansemond County, Virginia, in 1733 to Jethro and Margaret Sullivan Sumner. His family had originally settled in Nansemond County in 1691.
Between 1758 and 1761, during the French and Indian War, he was a lieutenant in the Virginia Provincial forces in Pennsylvania under the command of William Byrd III. On November 25, 1758, Sumner participated in the capture of Fort Duquesne. He was made commander at Pennsylvania's Fort Bedford in 1760.
After his regiment was disbanded in 1761, he returned home to Nansemond County. Between 1761 and 1764, he moved to Bute County in North Carolina, and married Mary Hurst of Granville County, with whom he had three children. One daughter, Mary, went on to wed Thomas Blount, who later served multiple terms in the United States House of Representatives.
Sumner owned substantial property inherited through his wife's family in Bute County, where he also owned and possibly operated a tavern on land that he leased for £36 annually. Like many former Virginians who moved across the border into North Carolina during the colonial era, it is likely that Sumner would have retained close business ties with the province of his birth.
Between 1772 and 1776, he served as sheriff of Bute County, resigning when he became an officer during the American Revolutionary War. Sumner was active in pre-Revolution protests and politics, as he believed a separation from Great Britain was inevitable.
## American Revolutionary War
In 1775, the North Carolina Provincial Congress passed legislation to raise militia forces throughout the state, and to that end it organized six militia districts, including one, centered on the town of Halifax, which contained Sumner's home.
The soldiers comprising the militia throughout the state were to enlist for six-month periods. Sumner was chosen to be a major in the Halifax District militia, and was instructed to drill his men so that they would be prepared for the expected conflict. Between August and September 1775, he served as Bute County's representative at the Third North Provincial Congress. In November 1775, Sumner summoned his militia into active service, and marched north to join Robert Howe in capturing (and later burning) Norfolk, Virginia.
### Southern theater, 1776
On April 4, 1776, after the American Revolutionary war had been raging in Massachusetts for nearly a year, the Provincial Congress at Halifax chose Sumner to be colonel, and thus commanding officer, of the 3rd North Carolina Regiment. He likely participated in the defense of Charleston against a British invasion attempt in 1776, after which he was involved in the aborted plans of Major General Charles Lee to invade British Florida. During the planning stages for the Florida invasion, Sumner disagreed with Peter Muhlenberg of the 8th Virginia Regiment over which of the two was to be given command over Lee's Virginia and North Carolina troops while the commanding general was traveling in advance of his men. This dispute was resolved only when a military court of inquiry awarded Muhlenberg temporary command after Sumner failed to appear and plead his case. By August 18, 1776, Sumner's 3rd Regiment had reached Savannah, Georgia, where they joined Lee, who had arrived earlier in the month. The planned invasion of Florida did not materialize, though, and Sumner left his regiment at Savannah in September 1776 to recruit more soldiers from North Carolina.
### Philadelphia campaign and Valley Forge
In early 1777, Sumner resumed command of the 3rd North Carolina regiment, and marched the unit north to serve under George Washington in the Philadelphia campaign. In early and mid-1777, he remained encamped with the main portion of the Continental Army at Morristown, New Jersey. He and his men drilled regularly and had their supplies and arms inspected and repaired, although many of the North Carolinians had such poor muskets that a substantial number were discarded. Sumner and his regiment fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and spent the winter of 1777 to 1778 in Valley Forge with Washington's army.
After the death at Germantown of General Francis Nash, the regiments of his North Carolina brigade were left without a commanding general. Generals Alexander McDougall of New York and Lachlan McIntosh of Georgia were appointed in succession to temporary command of the North Carolinians while in winter quarters. Many North Carolina officers believed the state was due the appointment of two additional brigadier generals based on the number of soldiers it provided to the Continental Army. At Valley Forge, the North Carolina brigade had a total strength of 1,051, but 353 were ill, and 164 lacked sufficient clothes to be fit for service. Sumner himself became ill in early 1778, and was forced to return home to recuperate; he continued to recruit soldiers in North Carolina during his recovery. Despite his recruitment efforts, in February 1778, North Carolina's regiments were consolidated because of a lack of available soldiers, and Sumner's 3rd Regiment absorbed the 5th North Carolina Regiment.
### Promotion and campaigning in the Carolinas
Although North Carolina believed it was owed additional general officer positions, conflicts between members of the North Carolina General Assembly over who was to be considered for the positions stalled the appointment of officers to assume those positions. Thomas Burke, one of North Carolina's leading delegates to the Continental Congress, apparently lacked interest in any of the suggested candidates. To complicate matters further, Alexander Martin, once a leading candidate for generalship, resigned after charges of cowardice were leveled against him, and was no longer seen as an appropriate candidate. The General Assembly deferred discussion of possible replacement generals for more than a month after convening on November 7, 1777. By December 15, the North Carolina General Assembly instructed its representatives in the Second Continental Congress to nominate Sumner for promotion to general. It was not until January 9, 1779, though, that the Continental Congress commissioned Sumner as brigadier general (along with fellow North Carolinian James Hogun), and ordered him to join General Benjamin Lincoln in South Carolina. Sumner received the highest number of congressional votes, thirteen to Hogun's nine and Thomas Clark's four.
On June 20, 1779, Sumner led a Continental Army brigade at the Battle of Stono Ferry, assaulting the British right flank and routing the Hessian von Trümbach Regiment. The Continentals and the Patriot militia began to run out of ammunition during the battle, and Lincoln was forced to order a general retreat. At least seven Continental officers under Sumner's command were wounded, and future United States President Andrew Jackson's brother Hugh was among ten North Carolinians killed. After the engagement at Stono Ferry, Sumner experienced another bout of poor health. He returned to North Carolina to recover, continuing to recruit troops during his convalescence. He suffered financially during his recovery, as a monetary crisis at the time left many officers in his position barely able to support themselves at home. He was also tasked by Lincoln with finding deserters in North Carolina and pressing them back into service. Sumner was on a leave of absence in September and October 1779, during the Patriot defeat at the siege of Savannah.
### Militia command
Between the siege of Charleston in May 1780 and the Battle of Camden in August that year, the North Carolina Line (a loose organizational structure that encompassed all of North Carolina's Continental Army units) was virtually annihilated, suffering substantial casualties and the loss of many men as prisoners of war. During at least part of the intervening time, Sumner was in North Carolina on a recruiting mission. Rather than rebuild the Line, the North Carolina General Assembly determined to rely on militia for the defense of the state. In September 1780, Sumner temporarily transferred to command of the Hillsborough District Brigade, under the statewide leadership of Richard Caswell. As commander of a brigade of North Carolina militia, Sumner was tasked with defending the state from the advances of British General Charles Cornwallis, but the militiamen were poorly equipped and ill-trained.
In late 1780, the North Carolina Board of War removed Caswell from command of North Carolina's militia, and the General Assembly awarded command of the militia to Continental Army Brigadier General William Smallwood of Maryland, citing the Assembly's lack of confidence in their own state's military commanders. Sumner was further offended when command of the dwindling number of North Carolina Continentals in the southern theater was given to Smallwood as well. Despite persistent urging from Alexander Martin and others, Sumner resigned from his militia command in October 1780, and returned to the Continental service. A political backlash by prominent militia commanders like Caswell and Martin and their supporters led to the abolition of the Board of War by the General Assembly soon after Sumner's resignation, and Caswell in particular came back to power on the Board's replacement organ, called the "Council Extraordinary".
### Return to the Continental Army
Sumner next served under General Nathanael Greene, who arrived in the southern theater in December 1780 and directed Sumner to recruit further Continental soldiers from North Carolina. On June 2, 1781, Greene ordered Sumner to join him in South Carolina, which he did along with 350 new recruits on August 1. Despite the passage of a draft law in North Carolina, the number of men under his command fluctuated from day to day because of both temporary and permanent desertions. These desertions eventually elicited his personal apology to Greene, as Sumner felt unable to control the ebb of soldiers in camp. On September 8, his regiments were positioned on the right flank of the Continental Army at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, where his units served a vital role in halting several British assaults. Greene commented on the North Carolinians' actions at Eutaw Springs, stating that they "fought with a degree of obstinacy that would do honor to the best of veterans".
Following his success at Eutaw Springs, Sumner was made commanding officer of Continental Army forces in North Carolina by Greene in 1781. Greene primarily wanted him to regain control of the military situation in the state, as then-Governor and former Continental Congress delegate Thomas Burke had been captured by David Fanning in a stunning daylight raid on Hillsborough, North Carolina on September 12, 1781. Combat between the British and Continental armies effectively ceased in late 1781. After that point, Sumner failed to make any reports to Greene, who remained his commanding officer, for several months at a time, partly because of Sumner's recurring bouts of illness.
## Later life and legacy
Following the war's end in 1783, Sumner returned to Bute County, which had been renamed Warren County after Joseph Warren, the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill. It appears that Sumner's wife died at some point between 1781 and 1785. For his service in the Continental Army, he received a land warrant on October 23, 1783, which represented compensation for 84 months of service. Sumner helped create North Carolina's chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati in October 1783, and served as its first president.
Sumner died in Warren County between March 15 and March 19, 1785, at the age of 52. At his death, he owned 20,000 acres (8,000 ha) of land in North Carolina and Tennessee (much of which in the latter was part of the Continental Army land warrant he received), as well as 35 slaves. He was originally buried eight miles (13 km) outside of Warrenton, but in 1891 his remains were moved to the Guilford Courthouse Battlefield, where they were interred under a monument intended as part of a "shrine to patriots". In March 2012, a driver struck Sumner's monument after going off-road to avoid hitting a deer, nearly destroying the stone structure. The monument was restored by May 2012, and Sumner was reburied in a public ceremony. Sumner County, Tennessee, originally in the western portion of North Carolina, was named for him, although Sumner never visited the county. |
13,740,467 | Cogan House Covered Bridge | 1,112,105,623 | Covered bridge in Pennsylvania, US | [
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| The Cogan House Covered Bridge is a Burr arch truss covered bridge over Larrys Creek in Cogan House Township, Lycoming County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built in 1877 and is 94 feet 2 inches (28.7 m) long. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and had a major restoration in 1998. The Cogan House bridge is named for the township and village of Cogan House, and is also known by at least four other names: Buckhorn, Larrys Creek, Day's, and Plankenhorn.
The Cogan House Covered Bridge was constructed by a millwright who assembled the timber framework in a field next to the sawmill, before it was reassembled at the bridge site. It was the only bridge on Larrys Creek that survived the flood of June 1889, and one of only a handful that were left intact in the county. Although the bridge used to carry a steady flow of tannery and sawmill traffic, the clearcutting of the surrounding forests meant the end of those industries by the early 20th century.
Since then much of the surrounding area has reverted to second growth forest, and the one-lane bridge is now on a dead end road in a remote valley with little traffic. It is the oldest and longest of the three covered bridges remaining in the county. Despite the 1998 restoration and other repairs, as of 2009 the bridge structure's sufficiency rating on the National Bridge Inventory was 17.2 percent and its condition was deemed "basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action".
## Names
The covered bridge is 1.4 miles (2.3 km) south of Pennsylvania Route 184 on Campbell Road (Township Road 784), 0.1 miles (0.2 km) past the intersection with Covered Bridge Road. Its official name on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is "Cogan House Covered Bridge". It is the only covered bridge ever built in Cogan House Township and the name comes from the township, as well as the village of Cogan House, which is northeast of the bridge. Cogan House Township and the village are named for David Cogan, who settled on Larrys Creek in 1825. Cogan was one of the few settlers in the area for many years and grew tired of living nearly alone in the wilderness. In 1842 he abandoned his homestead, as did a neighbor named Carter. Their houses were used by hunters and travelers and the name Cogan's House was given to the area. Cogan House Township was formed from parts of Jackson and Mifflin Townships on December 6, 1843.
Since the bridge's 1998 restoration, the Lycoming County Commissioners have officially called it the "Buckhorn Covered Bridge". The name comes from the bridge's location at the base of Buckhorn Mountain, and from the road to the former village of Buckhorn, which crossed the creek on it. This is the name used on the official plaque erected by the commissioners to mark its restoration and placement on the NRHP, despite the different name used on the Register itself. The commissioners chose "Buckhorn Covered Bridge" based on one of the names used in Benjamin and June Evans' 1993 book Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide. Historically, the commissioners used "Cogan House Covered Bridge" as the official name.
Historian Milton W. Landis uses "Larrys Creek Covered Bridge" since it crosses Larrys Creek, and notes this was the name used by other local historians. Larrys Creek is named for Larry Burt, who was the first settler at the mouth of the creek when the surveyors came through in 1769. Landis acknowledges the "Cogan House" name, and says the bridge has also been known by the names of "several tenants who lived in the little farm adjacent" to it.
While Landis does not give these different names, two other names for the bridge are known and may come from some of these tenants. The first of these is "Day's Bridge" and it is clear that this is another name for the Cogan House Covered Bridge. The second of these, "Plankenhorn Bridge", is a name in a list of existing and vanished covered bridges in Lycoming County. Although the association of this name with the Cogan House Covered Bridge is not made explicitly, it is described as still standing on Larrys Creek and being north of a bridge in Mifflin Township. This is the only known covered bridge that meets those criteria.
## History
### Background
The first covered bridge in the United States was built over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1800. Some of the first Burr arch truss covered bridges were also built in the state. Pennsylvania is estimated to have once had at least 1,500 covered bridges, and is believed to have had the most in the country between 1830 and 1875. In 2001 Pennsylvania had more surviving historic covered bridges than any other state, with 221 remaining in 40 of the commonwealth's 67 counties.
Covered bridges were a transition between stone and cast-iron and steel bridges. In 19th-century Pennsylvania, lumber was an abundant resource for bridge construction, but did not last long when exposed to weather and the elements. The roof and enclosed sides of covered bridges protected the structural elements, allowing some of these bridges to survive well over a century. A Burr arch truss consists of a load-bearing arch sandwiching multiple King posts, resulting in a bridge which is both stronger and more rigid than one built using either element alone.
In 1850 a plank road was built in Lycoming County, from the mouth of Larrys Creek to the borough of Salladasburg, Pennsylvania. It was later extended north along the Second Fork of Larrys Creek as far as the unincorporated villages of Brookside and White Pine in Cogan House Township, and eventually went as far as the large tannery in the village of English Center in Pine Township on Little Pine Creek. Another branch of the plank road followed Larrys Creek itself north from Salladasburg. While its exact length is unknown, Landis reports it may have reached nearly to the site of the covered bridge.
Before there was a bridge, there was a ford at the site where the bridge was later built. Wagons of finished leather and raw hides came from and went to the English Center tannery via White Pine, seeking to avoid traffic on the plank road along the Second Fork. Other traffic went to and from a large sawmill at White Pine and other mills to the west and north. Traffic from the north crossed Larrys Creek, and continued either east over Buckhorn Mountain to the Williamsport and Elmira Railroad at the village of Cogan Station on Lycoming Creek, or south down the road along Larrys Creek. This road led to a tannery on Larrys Creek about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the ford, and to the plank road along the main branch of the creek. The plank road was a toll road and connected with another railroad, the West Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, and the West Branch Susquehanna River at the creek's mouth.
Because the ford was often impassable in winter or bad weather, or during high water, a petition from the citizens of Cogan House Township for a bridge to be built was filed in September 1876. They asked the county to build the bridge as it was beyond the resources of the township to do so. The petition was read on September 30, 1876, and three viewers were appointed on November 3 to examine the site and report back. The viewers reported back in favor of building the bridge on November 25. On January 23, 1877, the county grand jury approved the report and the construction of the bridge.
### Construction and description
Landis is not certain if the bridge was built in 1877 or 1878, but every other source that mentions the date agrees it was 1877. Valentine ("Tine") Meyers (or Meyer), a millwright and resident of the hamlet of Quiggleville in Lycoming Township, built the bridge. The timbers for the bridge were cut at an "up and down", steam powered sawmill owned by Robert Wood, a short distance north of the bridge site. The head sawyer at the mill was John Mecum. The wood used was pine, cut in nearby forests and hauled in ox carts to the mill. The largest timbers used in the bridge are up to 16 feet (4.9 m) long.
Meyers is not believed to have had much experience building bridges and set about construction in a unique manner. The timber framework was first assembled in a field next to the sawmill, with each new piece bolted into place after being cut. If a piece did not fit, more careful measurements were made and a new piece was cut and tested. The outlines of the sections for curved beams for the Burr arch were first marked with chalk on the wood, then the saw crew lifted and guided it by hand against the sawblade to cut the curve. After the framework was completed in the field, it was taken apart, loaded onto the same ox carts used to bring the logs to the mill, and taken to the bridge site. There the framework was reassembled on the bridge abutments. Bolts were used to hold all of the large pieces together, while cross-pieces and small braces were nailed in place.
The Cogan House Covered Bridge was added to the NRHP in 1980 and was listed on the 2009 National Bridge Inventory (NBI). According to the NBI, the covered bridge is 94 feet 2 inches (28.7 m) long, with a roadway 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m) wide, and a maximum load of 7.2 short tons (6.5 t). According to the NRHP, the bridge's "road surface width" is 19 feet 7 inches (6.0 m), the load is 4.0 short tons (3.6 t), and the clearance height is 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m). The width is only sufficient for a single lane of traffic. As of 2011, the clearance height posted on the bridge itself has been reduced to 8 feet 6 inches (2.6 m), and the posted maximum load has been reduced to 3.0 short tons (2.7 t). According to Landis, the top of the Burr arch is nearly 11 feet (3.4 m) above the floor of the bridge.
The covered bridge rests on the original stone abutments, which have since been reinforced with concrete made of cement. The bridge deck is made of crosswise planking, overlaid with runners in the western half and lengthwise planking in the eastern half. The upper part of the portals and the clapboard siding is made of pine boards, and stops 3 feet (0.9 m) below the roof line. Although the bridge was painted red as part of its 1998 restoration, in 1964 it was described as unpainted, and it does not seem to have been painted in 1980, as the NRHP nomination form describes how "its rough horizontal siding ... help[s] this small bridge blend into the surrounding forest". The roof was originally covered with wooden shingles. The bridge does not have parapets and has "no steel reinforcements".
### Use and restoration
The Cogan House Covered Bridge was the only one on Larrys Creek to survive a major flood on June 1, 1889, which washed out most other bridges throughout Lycoming County. A large fallen maple tree formed a dam across Larrys Creek, just upstream of the bridge; this dam blocked debris and diverted the brunt of the floodwaters. The same flood destroyed the Larrys Creek plank road and the canal at the creek's mouth. The same storm system also caused the Johnstown Flood, which killed over 2,200 people.
After the flood the plank road was only reconstructed as far north as Salladasburg, so for a time all the traffic from the English Center tannery went over the bridge on the way to the railroad at Cogan Station. However, the virgin timber which supplied the local tanneries and sawmills was all clear-cut within several years of the flood. Without timber, the industries that used the roads leading to the bridge closed and the local villages declined, or, in the case of Buckhorn, disappeared.
By 1900, there were four remaining covered bridges on Larrys Creek: going upstream they were at the hamlet of Larryville in Piatt Township, at or near Mud Run in Mifflin Township, in Salladasburg, and in Cogan House Township. As of 2011, the Cogan House Covered Bridge is the oldest and longest of three 19th-century covered bridges remaining in Lycoming County (the others are the Buttonwood Covered Bridge in Jackson Township over Blockhouse Creek, and the Lairdsville Covered Bridge in Moreland Township over Little Muncy Creek).
The bridge had "needed repairs" made in 1964, and the original stone abutments were reinforced with concrete prior to 1966. It was added to the NRHP on July 24, 1980 in a Multiple Property Submission of seven Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties, and was "painted and creosoted" in 1981. The 1980 NRHP form and Zacher's 1994 book both list the bridge's condition as good. The Lycoming County Commissioners had the bridge "rehabilitated" in 1998, at a cost of \$105,493. The general contractor for the restoration was Lycoming Supply Inc., which replaced some structural beams with treated southern pine and the "Dutch lap" or clapboard siding with white pine. The purlins and rafters were reconstructed using treated yellow pine, and support a new roof of cedar shake shingles. The deck and floor of the bridge were solid and required few repairs. The bridge was painted red, and a stone pillar was built with plaques marking the restoration and the bridge's inclusion on the NRHP.
Because the bridge is listed on the NRHP, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission had to approve the renovation. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funds helped pay for the work done. The dedication ceremony was held on October 30, 1998, with Lycoming County Commissioner Russell Reitz and PennDOT Director of Municipal Services Thomas Lyons cutting a plank on wooden sawhorses with an old crosscut saw as the ribbon cutting ceremony. The other county commissioners and the local state representative and state senator were also present and spoke, as did a representative of the "Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania".
In August 2000 an inspection revealed that one of the timber arches of the Cogan House Covered Bridge was damaged by a vehicle which was over the weight limit crossing the bridge. A propane delivery truck making a delivery to the private hunting cabin served by the bridge is thought to have caused the damage. Lycoming Supply Inc. won the bid to do the repair work in December, at a cost of \$6,300. Before the repair the bridge remained open and was safe to use. The Evans' 2001 book describes the condition of the bridge as excellent.
Despite the restoration and repairs, the 2009 FHWA National Bridge Inventory found the sufficiency rating of the bridge structure to be 17.2 percent. The inventory found the condition of the bridge deck and the substructure was satisfactory, while the superstructure was poor. It further found that the bridge's foundations were "determined to be stable for assessed or calculated scour conditions", however the railings "do not meet currently acceptable standards". Its overall condition was deemed "basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action"; the 2006 NBI estimated the cost to improve the bridge at \$143,000.
The bridge is still used, although the public dirt road to it ends in a cul de sac on the east side. A gated private road continues to the private hunting camp and provides access to Pennsylvania State Game Lands No. 114. The bridge has a posted speed limit of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) and its average daily traffic was ten vehicles in 2009. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide notes that despite being "located in a rather remote area, it is worth the trip to see this beautifully restored historic treasure."
## Bridge data
The following table is a comparison of published measurements of length, width and load recorded in five different sources using different methods, as well as the name or names cited. The NBI measures bridge length between the "backwalls of abutments" or pavement grooves and the roadway width as "the most restrictive minimum distance between curbs or rails". The NRHP form was prepared by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), which surveyed county engineers, historical and covered bridge societies, and others for all the covered bridges in the commonwealth. The Evans visited every covered bridge in Pennsylvania in 2001 and measured each bridge's length (portal to portal) and width (at the portal) for their book. The data in Zacher's book was based on a 1991 survey of all covered bridges in Pennsylvania by the PHMC and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, aided by local government and private agencies. The article uses primarily the NBI and NRHP data, as they are national programs.
## See also
- List of covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
- List of tributaries of Larrys Creek
## Note |
20,893,431 | Juan Davis Bradburn | 1,168,380,243 | Brigadier general in the Mexican Army (1787–1842) | [
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| Juan Davis Bradburn (born John Davis Bradburn; 1787 – April 20, 1842) was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances.
Born and raised in the United States, Bradburn's first career was as a merchant and slave trader. He likely first entered Mexico in 1812 as part of the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition fighting Spanish control of Texas. When the expedition was quashed, Bradburn moved to Louisiana, where he served in the Louisiana militia during the Battle of New Orleans. After his discharge, Bradburn spent several years fighting for Mexican independence. After Spain relinquished its hold on Mexico in 1821, Bradburn became an officer in the new Mexican Army, in which he served as a courier for Emperor Agustín de Iturbide.
In 1830, Bradburn established a new military and customs post, Anahuac, in Texas. The local settlers resented Bradburn's efforts to withhold land titles from those who had squatted in unauthorized areas. They were further angered by his attempts to enforce customs laws which had been largely ignored. The hard feelings escalated when Bradburn, following Mexican law, refused to return runaway slaves to their owners in the United States. After receiving a hoax letter claiming that armed men were marching on Anahuac to retrieve runaway slaves, Bradburn arrested local lawyers William B. Travis and Patrick Churchill Jack. Settlers were outraged that Travis did not receive some of the protections offered by the United States Bill of Rights, even though these rights were not guaranteed in Mexico. A large force of Texians marched on Anahuac to secure Travis's release. The resulting confrontation forced Bradburn's expulsion from Texas and encouraged other immigrants to take armed action against Mexican soldiers. As a result of his actions, Bradburn was "one of the most maligned men in historical accounts of" Texas in the 19th century.
## Early years
John Davis Bradburn was born in 1787 in Virginia. His father was probably William C. Bradburn, and John likely had an elder brother, also named William. At some point after 1800, the family moved to Christian County, Kentucky. As a young adult, Bradburn became a merchant in nearby Springfield, Tennessee. He trafficked in slaves and was once jailed in Natchez, Mississippi, over a disputed slave sale.
It is likely that Bradburn participated in the 1812 Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition, which intended to establish independent Mexican control of Spanish Texas. The rebels were initially successful, taking Nacogdoches, Goliad, and provincial capital San Antonio de Béxar. After the execution of Governor Manuel María de Salcedo, many Americans left the movement in disgust. The remaining members of the expedition were decisively defeated by royalist forces at the Battle of Medina in August 1813; a few Americans escaped to Louisiana.
By 1814, Bradburn resided in Louisiana. Rumors abounded that British troops were preparing to land troops to capture the New Orleans region. After the December call for volunteers to help defend the state, Bradburn enlisted in the Eighteenth Louisiana Regiment and was elected third lieutenant. His unit arrived in New Orleans on January 24, just after the Battle of New Orleans, and remained until martial law ended March 11.
## Mexican War of Independence
Following his discharge from the militia, Bradburn remained in New Orleans. The Mexican War of Independence was raging, and many filibusters—men planning unauthorized military expeditions—gathered in the city to plan the liberation of Texas from Spanish control. Bradburn became a sergeant major in the movement led by Juan Pablo Anaya and Henry Perry. When Perry's forces entered Texas in early 1816, Bradburn was initially stationed in Nacogdoches to direct recruits and supplies to the main body of the expedition. In June, Bradburn joined Perry at his headquarters, a bluff along the Trinity River which became known as Perry's Point. Little activity occurred over the next few months.
In November 1816, another filibuster, Martín Javier Mina y Larrea, arrived with more men and supplies. Mina planned to invade Tampico and assist the revolutionary army in the Mexican interior. Bradburn allied himself with Mina, whose plan was better-developed than Perry's, and was soon appointed second-in-command of the American troops, under Colonel Gilford Young. The filibusters traveled to Fort Sombrero, an insurgent stronghold in Guanajuato province. Rebel supplies dwindled when the fort was besieged by Spanish royalist troops. Mina attempted to negotiate a surrender, but the Spanish offered safe passage only to native Mexicans; Americans and other foreigners were required to surrender at discretion. As the filibusters pondered this development, Young was killed, leaving Bradburn in sole command of the American troops. On August 19, he ordered a retreat. Spanish cavalrymen attacked, and less than one-quarter of the Americans escaped.
Bradburn remained in Mexico and soon joined the forces led by Vicente Guerrero. Despite Guerrero's reputation for cruelty, the two men developed a close relationship. At least once, Bradburn countermanded Guerrero's orders, refusing to allow the execution of captured Spanish officers. His action impressed Agustín de Iturbide, the commander of the Spanish forces fighting Guerrero. In December 1820, Bradburn left the insurgent army to join Iturbide. Most Mexican historians believe his defection was due to a weariness with the conflict, though at least one historian speculates that Bradburn joined the Spanish Army as Guerrero's spy. Within a month, Bradburn had been appointed intermediary between Iturbide and Guerrero.
Iturbide defected from the Spanish Army, intending to place himself at the head of a new independent Mexico. He recruited his forces from both the Spanish and rebel armies, offering all who joined him an equal or higher rank in his new organization. Bradburn was appointed a colonel.
## Independent Mexico
In August 1821, Mexico officially received its independence from Spain. The following year Iturbide became emperor of Mexico and sent Bradburn as an envoy to the United States. Bradburn returned with news that the United States was prepared to recognize Mexico as an independent country. Later that year, Iturbide arranged Bradburn's marriage to a well-connected Mexican woman, María Josefa Hurtado de Mendoza y Caballero de los Olivos. Her brother, Agustín Hurtado, was the 9th Count of the Valley of Orizaba. Bradburn and his wife had one son, who entered the priesthood as a young man.
Iturbide was overthrown in 1823. The new government was based on federalist principles, and Bradburn, a staunch centralist, kept a discreet distance from politics over the next few years. He reappears in Mexican records in 1828, when he was granted a monopoly on steamboat traffic on the Rio Grande from the Gulf of Mexico through Coahuila. His charter was revoked in 1830 when he was unable to meet its terms.
## Texas
The new federalist government officially authorized immigration from the United States to Mexican Texas in 1824. The resulting mass influx of settlers, combined with failed attempts by the United States government to purchase the territory, concerned Mexican authorities, who feared that the United States wished to forcibly take Texas. In response, on April 6, 1830, the Mexican government enacted a series of laws restricting immigration from the United States. The laws also called for the establishment of customs houses within Texas to begin enforcing customs duties. On October 4, 1830, Bradburn was ordered to create the first customs post, to be located at Galveston Bay. He was chosen for the assignment partly because he was bilingual and would be able to communicate with both the immigrants from the United States and the native Mexicans and partly due to his knowledge of the area and its terrain.
Bradburn and his men arrived at Galveston Bay on October 26 and established a post atop the same 30-foot (9.1 m) bluff where Bradburn had camped with Perry. As ordered, Bradburn named the fort Anahuac after the Anahuac Valley, the ancient capital of the Aztecs. The soldiers erected two large kilns to produce bricks to build a more permanent fort. When the kilns were operational, however, Bradburn sold the bricks to settlers who wished to live near the fort. The town grew quickly and by June 1 the population had reached 300 civilians and 170 military personnel. At this point, Bradburn redirected his attention to building a permanent fort. The soldiers, who had been largely idle while the kilns produced bricks for settlers, were angry that they were now expected to do significant physical labor. Their displeasure was augmented by Bradburn's high standards; he often forced the men to tear down and rebuild sections that did not meet his benchmark for quality. Many soldiers deserted.
Bradburn also angered the colonists. The Mexican Constitution of 1824 prohibited immigrants from settling with 26 miles (42 km) of the coast, and many foreigners had established homes close to the coast. In January 1831, a new state land commissioner, José Francisco Madero, arrived to grant land titles to people who had settled in the area before 1830. Bradburn believed that only the federal government had the authority to grant titles in the area near the coast, and that as the representative of the federal government he was the only individual who could authorize surveys of the land.
Bradburn arrested Madero and his assistant, José María Jesús Carbajal. Within 10 days, Bradburn received orders from his superiors to release the men. Madero issued deeds as quickly as he could. Madero then established an official council, an ayuntamiento, for the residents in the disputed area. The new community, "Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad", is now known as Liberty, Texas. Although Bradburn believed that Liberty was created illegally, as the town was too close to the coast, he made no attempt to interfere with its establishment. On December 9, Bradburn's superior, Commandant General Manuel Mier y Terán, ordered Bradburn to dismantle the town and establish the ayuntamiento at Anahuac.
### Tariffs
The Mexican government had granted specific tariff exemptions to the first group of immigrants to Texas. Known as the Old Three Hundred, this initial colony had been established by empresario Stephen F. Austin. Most Texas colonists, including those who settled in Austin's other land grants, erroneously assumed the exemption applied to all settlers. With Bradburn's arrival, tariff collections began. After hearing complaints from ship captains, Bradburn's influence helped the law be amended to curtail some excessive charges. Nevertheless, colonists were angry that their goods were more expensive. Many of the settlers in Austin's colony also refused to accept that their exemption had expired and were vocal in their dislike of the tariffs and Bradburn. To keep the peace, Bradburn appointed local men to collect fees near Austin's colony; these men did not try to enforce the law rigidly, and tensions cooled.
In an effort to resolve the issues, Stephen F. Austin wrote Bradburn seeking help in getting the tariffs repealed throughout Texas. Bradburn promptly forwarded the letter up the chain of command. Bradburn's commander sent Austin a sharply-worded letter which, according to Bradburn's biographer Margaret Swett Henson, "remind[ed] the empresario that tariff was collected by every nation in the world but that only in Brazoria did it cause rioting". Austin blamed Bradburn for the reprimand.
### Anahuac Disturbances
In January 1832, Bradburn received a letter listing 10 men in his jurisdiction who favored separating Texas from Mexico. From that point on, according to Henson, "Bradburn became increasingly obsessed about the Anglo-Americans and their intentions, believing that every event was part of a conspiracy to detach Texas". Several months later, local men organized a militia, supposedly to protect the settlement from Indian attacks. Mexican law forbade residents from creating militias, so Bradburn arrested the ringleader, Patrick Jack. Although citizens were outraged, few were willing to intervene. An exception was Robert "Three-Legged Willie" Williamson—his threat to kill Bradburn resulted in Jack's release.
Bradburn was also worried about the intentions of Jack's law partner, William Barret Travis. The previous year, Bradburn had granted asylum to two men who had escaped slavery in Louisiana. Travis represented the men's owner in a series of failed attempts to return the former slaves to the United States. In May 1832, Bradburn received a letter warning that 100 armed men were stationed 40 miles (64 km) away, intent on reclaiming the slaves. After realizing the letter was a hoax, Bradburn arrested Travis for questioning. He intended to send Travis to Matamoros for a military trial on charges of attempted insurrection. Conviction on this charge would have led to Travis's execution. The settlers were outraged that the arrest did not require a warrant, a statement of charges, or trial by jury. Most were unfamiliar with Mexican law and assumed that the United States Bill of Rights still applied to them.
Jack threatened Bradburn, who angrily rearrested him. Colonists had reached their limit, and men began marching towards Anahuac from various Texas settlements. By early June, over 150 Texians had gathered. They elected Frank W. Johnson as commander. Without firing a shot, Johnson's group soon captured Bradburn's 19 cavalry officers, who had been trying to reconnoiter the Texian position. This left Bradburn with only 80 soldiers; the rest had deserted.
On June 10, the insurgents occupied buildings in northern Anahuac and began negotiations to peacefully end the dispute. Mexican officers agreed to release their prisoners into civilian custody if the Texians would release the captured cavalry officers and then withdraw from the town to Turtle Bayou. Although most of the rebels left Anahuac, 15 to 30 men remained scattered through the town. Bradburn believed this violated their agreement and in retaliation threatened to fire on the village within two hours. Most of the Texians believed that Bradburn had never intended to follow the agreement.
Fearing imminent cannon fire, the women and children of Anahuac fled. Mexican soldiers briefly engaged the men who remained, leading to the deaths of five Mexican soldiers and one Texan. After the skirmish, the remaining Texians gathered at Turtle Bayou to await the arrival of cannons that were stored at Brazoria. Taking advantage of the civil war currently engulfing the Mexican interior, the Texians drafted the Turtle Bayou Resolutions. In this document, they declared themselves federalists who supported rebellious Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna and decried "the present dynasty" which gave them military order instead of civil authority.
While the Texians waited for their artillery, Bradburn sent messages to Colonel Piedras, stationed at Nacogdoches (200 miles (320 km) north), and Colonel Elosúa at San Antonio (300 miles (480 km) to the west). On June 19, Piedras and about 100 of his men set out to reinforce Bradburn. Unsure how many Texians he actually faced, Piedras was eager to defuse the conflict without violence. At his urging, Bradburn agreed to relinquish his authority, but his chosen successor, Lieutenant Colonel Félix María Subarán, refused to take his place. Piedras agreed to take temporary command of the garrison. On July 2, he transferred the prisoners to civilian authorities; within a week they were all released with no charges filed. Piedras left for Nacogdoches on July 8; three days later, the bulk of the Anahuac troops declared themselves federalists. Only Bradburn and a few others remained committed to the centralist cause.
## Later life
After an aborted assassination attempt—widely attributed to Travis—Bradburn resolved to leave Texas. None of the local ship captains would allow him passage. On July 13, Subarán announced that he would not guarantee the safety of any officers who still supported the centralist government. That night, Bradburn left Anahuac on foot. Years later, Anahuac carpenter William B. Scates related that after Bradburn's departure, locals gathered up the other centralist officers and tarred and feathered them before taking them into the water and "scour[ing] them with corn cobs to scrub their Bradburn sins off".
On August 6, Bradburn arrived in New Orleans and sought refuge with the Mexican consul. Many New Orleans residents had a highly unfavorable view of Bradburn; ten days earlier the local paper had published a letter from Travis describing Bradburn as a "tyrant" and saying that Travis had been jailed solely for his political opinions. Bradburn quickly booked passage to Matamoros. On arriving in Mexico, he learned that he had been officially relieved of his duties in Anahuac on June 29, before his superiors had learned of the armed conflict.
Bradburn remained in the army, fighting for the centralist government. Acting president Anastasio Bustamante promoted Bradburn to brigadier general after his bravery in a major battle on September 18. For the next few months, Bradburn commanded a regiment near Reynosa. In December, Bustamante and Santa Anna negotiated an end to the war. Bradburn's forces were merged with that of the federalist general operating in the same area, Lorenzo Cortina. Cortina commanded the joint regiment, and Bradburn retired from military service. For several years, Bradburn raised vegetables near Matamoros. Henson related that "a Texas visitor noted that [Bradburn] had the respect of the foreign community in the city, even the Anglo merchants".
When the Texas Revolution erupted in 1835, Bradburn rejoined the military under General José de Urrea on the condition that he was not required to fight in eastern Texas. Urrea's forces eradicated opposition along the Texas Gulf Coast, and Bradburn was left to command the small port at Copano, just north of the Nueces River. In April 1836, Santa Anna (now president of Mexico) was captured at the Battle of San Jacinto and all Mexican troops were ordered to retreat beyond the Rio Grande. Bradburn remained at Copano to intercept Mexican supply vessels before they could fall into the hands of the Texians. In mid-May, he was ordered to retreat south to Refugio and wait for the arrival of a specific supply ship. His force was reduced to five men. After two deserted and the remainder fell ill, Bradburn set out alone and on foot for Mexico. He reached Matamoros in ill health on June 13.
Bradburn again served in the army during the federalist war in 1838, but by the end of 1840 he had retired to Matamoros. He died on April 20 and was buried on his ranch, likely east of present-day Mission. The property is now the home of the La Lomita Seminary, but there is no record of the location of Bradburn's grave.
## Legacy
Bradburn's death was announced in Texas newspapers in a very neutral manner. The Telegraph and Texas Register said simply that "Gen. Bradburn, who had long been in the Mexican service, and formerly commanded the garrison of Anahuac, lately died at Matamoros". The history books of the time did not speak kindly of his actions. In his 1841 book Texas and the Texans; or, Advance of the Anglo-Americans to the South-West Henry Stuart Foote described Bradburn as an "evil spirit, hovering, with gloomy and malignant aspect, in the rear of Santa Anna's army". Henson posits that Bradburn was "one of the most maligned men in historical accounts of that period", partially because he had no descendants to try to "preserv[e] his name and reputation in Texas".
Many of Bradburn's contemporaries appeared to share Stephen F. Austin's belief: "The fact is [Bradburn] is incompetent to such a command and is half crazy part of his time." His actions "appeared arbitrary and authoritarian to the colonists, who were ignorant about the power traditionally exercised by the Mexican military". Texians were further disgusted that Bradburn, who shared their American roots, often sided against American immigrants. According to historian J. R. Edmondson, colonists "would probably have resented any officer—Anglo or not—sent among them to initiate the collection of customs". Few Texans in the 19th century understood that Bradburn was following orders and attempting to enforce the national laws of Mexico, and that he was no longer bound by the laws of the United States. Even as late as the 20th century, historians often described Bradburn as a "petty tyrant".
The historian William C. Davis believes that Bradburn "overreacted and made heroes of two local malcontents whose actions their own people otherwise had not been much inclined to sanction". The resulting Turtle Bayou Resolutions empowered other Texians to follow a similar course of action. Many communities began declaring in favor of Santa Anna, and in August Piedras and his troops were driven from Nacogdoches. Their retreat into the Mexican interior temporarily left eastern Texas free of Mexican military control, encouraging the colonists to increase their political activity. Shortly thereafter, colonists organized the Convention of 1832, which marked the first attempt to gather Texians from each of the colonies to discuss their common goals.
Shortly after Bradburn left Texas, the garrison at Anahuac was dismantled. With no troops to purchase supplies, the civilians in the area soon dispersed. The fort was not regarrisoned until January 1835, when Captain Antonio Tenorio arrived with 40 men. His command was no more successful than Bradburn's. Within months, Travis led a group of insurgents to overthrow Tenorio in the second of the Anahuac Disturbances. |
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| Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016, then its sister streaming service HBO Max in 2020. Sesame Street is one of the longest-running shows in the world.
The show's format consists of a combination of commercial television production elements and techniques which have evolved to reflect changes in American culture and audiences' viewing habits. It was the first children's TV show to use educational goals and a curriculum to shape its content, and the first show whose educational effects were formally studied. Its format and content have undergone significant changes to reflect changes to its curriculum.
Shortly after its creation, its producers developed what came to be called the CTW Model (after the production company's previous name), a system of planning, production and evaluation based on collaboration between producers, writers, educators and researchers. The show was initially funded by government and private foundations, but has become somewhat self-supporting due to revenues from licensing arrangements, international sales and other media. By 2006, independently produced versions ("co-productions") of Sesame Street were broadcast in 20 countries. In 2001, there were over 120 million viewers of various international versions of Sesame Street; and by its 40th anniversary in 2009, it was broadcast in more than 140 countries.
Sesame Street was by then the 15th-highest-rated children's television show in the United States. A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched it by the time they were three. In 2018, it was estimated that 86 million Americans had watched it as children. As of 2022, it has won 222 Emmy Awards and 11 Grammy Awards, more than any other children's show.
## History
Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Foundation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a children's television show that would "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them," such as helping young children prepare for school. After two years of research, the newly formed Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of US\$8 million (\$ million in dollars) from the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children's television show.
Sesame Street was officially announced at a press conference on May 6, 1969. Joan Ganz Cooney, Children's Television Workshop's executive director, said that Sesame Street would use the techniques of commercial television programs to teach young children. Live shorts and animated cartoons would teach young children the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, shapes, and basic reasoning skills. By repeating concepts throughout an episode, young children's interest would be held while they learn the concepts. Guest cameos would help attract older children and adults. Cooney said that the name Sesame Street came from the saying "open sesame", which gives the idea of a place where exciting things occur. The show was given an initial six-month run in order to determine whether it was effective and would continue to air.
The program premiered on public television stations on November 10, 1969. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research. Initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings.
According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution." The cast and crew expanded during this time, with emphasis on the hiring of women crew members and the addition of minorities to the cast. The show's success continued into the 1980s. In 1981, when the federal government withdrew its funding, CTW turned to and expanded other revenue sources, including its magazine division, book royalties, product licensing, and foreign broadcast income. Its curriculum has expanded to include more affective topics such as relationships, ethics and emotions. Many of its storylines have been inspired by the experiences of its writing staff, cast and crew—most notably, the 1982 death of Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper; and the marriage of Luis and Maria in 1988.
By the end of the 1990s, the show faced societal and economic challenges, including changes in young children's viewing habits, competition from other shows, the development of cable television, and a drop in ratings. As the 21st century began, the show made major changes. Starting in 2002, its format became more narrative-focused and included ongoing storylines. After its 30th anniversary in 1999, due to the popularity of the Muppet Elmo, the show also incorporated a popular segment known as Elmo's World. In 2009, the show won the Outstanding Achievement Emmy for its 40 years on the air.
In late 2015, in response to "sweeping changes in the media business" and as part of a five-year programming and development deal, premium television service HBO began airing first-run episodes of Sesame Street. The episodes became available on PBS stations and websites nine months after they aired on HBO. The deal allowed Sesame Workshop to produce more episodes—increasing from 18 to 35 per season—and to create a spinoff series with the Sesame Street Muppets, and a new educational series.
At its 50th anniversary in 2019, Sesame Street had produced over 4,500 episodes, two feature-length movies (Follow That Bird in 1985 and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in 1999), 35 TV specials, 200 home videos, and 180 albums. Its YouTube channel has almost five million subscribers. It was announced in October 2019 that first-run episodes will move to HBO Max beginning with the show's 51st season in 2020.
## Format
From its first episode, Sesame Street's format has utilized "a strong visual style, fast-moving action, humor, and music," as well as animation and live-action short films. When it premiered, most researchers believed that young children did not have long attention spans, and the show's producers were concerned that an hour-long show would not hold their attention. At first, its "street scenes"—the action recorded on its set—consisted of character-driven interactions. Rather than ongoing stories, they were written as individual, curriculum-based segments interrupted by "inserts" of puppet sketches, short films and animations. This structure allowed producers to use a mixture of styles and characters, and to vary its pace, presumably keeping it interesting to young viewers. However, by season 20, research showed that children were able to follow a story—and the street scenes, while still interspersed with other segments, became evolving storylines.
On recommendations by child psychologists, the producers initially decided that the show's human actors and Muppets would not interact because they were concerned it would confuse young children. When CTW tested the new show, they found that children paid attention during the Muppet segments, and that their interest was lost during the "Street" segments. They requested that Henson and his team create Muppets such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to interact with the human actors, and the Street segments were re-shot.
Sesame Street's format remained intact until the 2000s, when the changing audience required that producers move to a more narrative format. In 1998, the popular "Elmo's World," a 15-minute-long segment hosted by the Muppet Elmo, was created. Starting in 2014, during the show's 45th season, the producers introduced a half-hour version of the program. The new version, which originally complemented the full-hour series, was broadcast weekday afternoons and streamed on the Internet. In 2017, in response to the changing viewing habits of toddlers, the show's producers decreased the show's length from one hour to 30 minutes across all its broadcast platforms. The new version focused on fewer characters, reduced pop culture references "once included as winks for their parents", and focused "on a single backbone topic."
## Educational goals
Author Malcolm Gladwell said that "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them." Gerald S. Lesser, the CTW's first advisory board chair, went even further, saying that the effective use of television as an educational tool needed to capture, focus, and sustain children's attention. Sesame Street was the first children's show to structure each episode, and the segments within them, to capture children's attention, and to make, as Gladwell put it, "small but critical adjustments" to keep it. According to CTW researchers Rosemarie Truglio and Shalom Fisch, it was one of the few children's shows to utilize a detailed and comprehensive educational curriculum, garnered from formative and summative research.
Sesame Street's creators and researchers formulated both cognitive and affective goals for the show. They initially focused on cognitive goals, while addressing affective goals indirectly, believing it would increase children's self-esteem and feelings of competency. One of their primary goals was preparing young children for school, especially children from low-income families, using modeling, repetition, and humor. They adjusted its content to increase viewers' attention and the show's appeal, and encouraged older children and parents to "co-view" it by including more sophisticated humor, cultural references, and celebrity guests; by 2019, 80% of parents watched Sesame Street with their children, and 650 celebrities had appeared on the show.
During Sesame Street's first season, some critics felt that it should address more overtly such affective goals as social competence, tolerance of diversity, and nonaggressive ways of resolving conflict. The show's creators and producers responded by featuring these themes in interpersonal disputes between its Street characters. During the 1980s, the show incorporated real-life experiences of its cast and crew, including the death of Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) and the pregnancy of Sonia Manzano (Maria). In later seasons, it addressed real-life disasters such as the September 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
In its first season, the show addressed its outreach goals by focusing on the promotion of educational materials used in preschool settings; and in subsequent seasons, by focusing on their development. Innovative programs were developed because their target audience, children and their families in low-income, inner-city homes, did not traditionally watch educational programs on television and because traditional methods of promotion and advertising were not effective with these groups.
Starting in 2006, the Workshop expanded its outreach by creating a series of PBS specials and DVDs focusing on how military deployment affects the families of servicepeople. Its outreach efforts also focused on families of prisoners, health and wellness, and safety. In 2013, SW started Sesame Street in Communities, to help families dealing with difficult issues.
## Funding
As a result of Cooney's initial proposal in 1968, the Carnegie Institute awarded her an \$1 million grant to create a new children's television program and establish the CTW, renamed in June 2000 to Sesame Workshop (SW). Cooney and Morrisett procured additional multimillion-dollar grants from the U.S. federal government, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, CPB, and the Ford Foundation. Davis reported that Cooney and Morrisett decided that if they did not procure full funding from the beginning, they would drop the idea of producing the show. As Lesser reported, funds gained from a combination of government agencies and private foundations protected them from the economic pressures experienced by commercial broadcast television networks, but created challenges in procuring future funding.
After Sesame Street's initial success, its producers began to think about its survival beyond its development and first season and decided to explore other funding sources. From the first season, they understood that the source of their funding, which they considered "seed" money, would need to be replaced. The 1970s were marked by conflicts between the CTW and the federal government; in 1978, the U.S. Department of Education refused to deliver a \$2 million check until the last day of CTW's fiscal year. As a result, the CTW decided to depend upon licensing arrangements with toy companies and other manufacturers, publishing, and international sales for their funding.
In 1998, the CTW accepted corporate sponsorship to raise funds for Sesame Street and other projects. For the first time, they allowed short advertisements by indoor playground manufacturer Discovery Zone, their first corporate sponsor, to air before and after each episode. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who had previously appeared on Sesame Street, called for a boycott of the show, saying that the CTW was "exploiting impressionable children." In 2015, in response to funding challenges, it was announced that premium television service HBO would air first-run episodes of Sesame Street. Steve Youngwood, SW's Chief Operating Officer, called the move "one of the toughest decisions we ever made." According to The New York Times, the move "drew an immediate backlash." Critics claimed that it favored privileged children over less-advantaged children and their families, the original focus of the show. They also criticized choosing to air first-run episodes on HBO, a network with adult dramas and comedies.
## Production
### Research
Producer Joan Ganz Cooney has stated, "Without research, there would be no Sesame Street." In 1967, when she and her team began planning the show's development, combining research with television production was, as she put it, "positively heretical." Its producers soon began developing what came to be called the CTW Model, a system of planning, production and evaluation that did not fully emerge until the end of the show's first season. According to Morrow, the Model consisted of four parts: "the interaction of receptive television producers and child science experts, the creation of a specific and age-appropriate curriculum, research to shape the program directly, and independent measurement of viewers' learning."
Cooney credited the show's high standard in research procedures to Harvard professors Gerald S. Lesser, whom CTW hired to design its educational objectives; and Edward L. Palmer, who conducted the show's formative research and bridged the gap between producers and researchers. CTW conducted research in two ways: in-house formative research that informed and improved production; and independent summative evaluations, conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) during the first two seasons, which measured its educational effectiveness. Cooney said, "From the beginning, we—the planners of the project—designed the show as an experimental research project with educational advisers, researchers, and television producers collaborating as equal partners." She characterized the collaboration as an "arranged marriage."
### Writing
Sesame Street has used many writers in its long history. As Peter Hellman wrote in his 1987 article in New York Magazine, "The show, of course, depends upon its writers, and it isn't easy to find adults who could identify the interest level of a pre-schooler." Fifteen writers a year worked on the show's scripts, but very few lasted longer than one season. Norman Stiles, head writer in 1987, reported that most writers would "burn out" after writing about a dozen scripts. According to Gikow, Sesame Street went against the convention of hiring teachers to write for the show, as most educational television programs did at the time. Instead, Cooney and the producers felt that it would be easier to teach writers how to interpret curriculum than to teach educators how to write comedy. As Stone stated, "Writing for children is not so easy." Long-time writer Tony Geiss agreed, stating in 2009, "It's not an easy show to write. You have to know the characters and the format and how to teach and be funny at the same time, which is a big, ambidextrous stunt."
The show's research team developed an annotated document, or "Writer's Notebook," which served as a bridge between the show's curriculum goals and script development. The notebook was a compilation of programming ideas designed to teach specific curriculum points, provided extended definitions of curriculum goals, and assisted the writers and producers in translating the goals into televised material. Suggestions in the notebook were free of references to specific characters and contexts on the show so that they could be implemented as openly and flexibly as possible.
The research team, in a series of meetings with the writers, also developed "a curriculum sheet" that described the show's goals and priorities for each season. After receiving the curriculum focus and goals for the season, the writers met to discuss ideas and story arcs for the characters, and an "assignment sheet" was created that suggested how much time was allotted for each goal and topic. When a script was completed, the show's research team analyzed it to ensure that the goals were met. Then each production department met to determine what each episode needed in terms of costumes, lights, and sets. The writers were present during the show's taping, which for the first twenty-four years of the show took place in Manhattan, and after 1992, at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens to make last-minute revisions when necessary.
### Media
Early in their history Sesame Street and the CTW began to look for alternative funding sources and turned to creating products and writing licensing agreements. They became, as Cooney put it, "a multiple-media institution." In 1970, the CTW created a "non-broadcast" division responsible for creating and publishing books and Sesame Street Magazine. By 2019, the Sesame Workshop had published over 6,500 book titles. The Workshop decided from the start that all materials their licensing program created would "underscore and amplify" the show's curriculum. In 2004, over 68% of Sesame Street's revenue came from licenses and products such as toys and clothing. By 2008, the Sesame Street Muppets accounted for between \$15 million and \$17 million per year in licensing and merchandising fees, split between the Sesame Workshop and The Jim Henson Company. By 2019, the Sesame Workshop had over 500 licensing agreements and had produced over 200 hours of home video. There have been two theatrically released Sesame Street movies, Follow That Bird, released in 1985, and Elmo in Grouchland, released in 1999. In early 2019, it was announced that a third film, a musical co-starring Anne Hathaway and written and directed by Jonathan Krisel, would be produced. In November 2019, Sesame Street announced a family friendly augmented reality application produced by Weyo in partnership with Sesame Workshop in honor of the show's 50th anniversary.
Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, owned the trademarks to those characters, and was reluctant to market them at first. He agreed when the CTW promised that the profits from toys, books, computer games, and other products were to be used exclusively to fund the CTW and its outreach efforts. Even though Cooney and the CTW had very little experience with marketing, they demanded complete control over all products and product decisions. Any product line associated with the show had to be educational and inexpensive, and could not be advertised during the show's airings. As Davis reported, "Cooney stressed restraint, prudence, and caution" in their marketing and licensing efforts.
Director Jon Stone, talking about the music of Sesame Street, said: "There was no other sound like it on television." For the first time in children's television, the show's songs fulfilled a specific purpose and supported its curriculum. In order to attract the best composers and lyricists, the CTW allowed songwriters like Joe Raposo, Sesame Street's first musical director, to retain the rights to the songs they wrote, which earned them lucrative profits and helped the show sustain public interest. By 2019, there were 180 albums of Sesame Street music produced, and its songwriters had received 11 Grammys. In late 2018, the SW announced a multi-year agreement with Warner Music Group to re-launch Sesame Street Records in the U.S. and Canada. For the first time in 20 years, "an extensive catalog of Sesame Street recordings" was made available to the public in a variety of formats, including CD and vinyl compilations, digital streaming, and downloads.
Sesame Street used animations and short films commissioned from outside studios, interspersed throughout each episode, to help teach their viewers basic concepts like numbers and letters. Jim Henson was one of the many producers to create short films for the show. Shortly after Sesame Street debuted in the United States, the CTW was approached independently by producers from several countries to produce versions of the show at home. These versions came to be called "co-productions." By 2001 there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street, and in 2006, there were twenty co-productions around the world. By its 50th anniversary in 2019, 190 million children viewed over 160 versions of Sesame Street in 70 languages. In 2005, Doreen Carvajal of The New York Times reported that income from the co-productions and international licensing accounted for \$96 million.
### Musical
Sesame Street the Musical opened at Theatre Row off Broadway on September 8, 2022.
## Cast, crew and characters
Shortly after the CTW was created in 1968, Joan Ganz Cooney was named its first executive director. She was one of the first female executives in American television. Her appointment was called "one of the most important television developments of the decade." She assembled a team of producers, all of whom had previously worked on Captain Kangaroo. Jon Stone was responsible for writing, casting, and format; Dave Connell took over animation; and Sam Gibbon served as the show's chief liaison between the production staff and the research team. Cameraman Frankie Biondo has worked on Sesame Street from its first episode in 1969.
Jim Henson and the Muppets' involvement in Sesame Street began when he and Cooney met at one of the curriculum planning seminars in Boston. Author Christopher Finch reported that Stone, who had worked with Henson previously, felt that if they could not bring him on board, they should "make do without puppets." Henson was initially reluctant, but he agreed to join Sesame Street to meet his own social goals. He also agreed to waive his performance fee for full ownership of the Sesame Street Muppets and to split any revenue they generated with the CTW. As Morrow stated, Henson's puppets were a crucial part of the show's popularity and it brought Henson national attention. Davis reported that Henson was able to take "arcane academic goals" and translate them to "effective and pleasurable viewing." In early research, the Muppet segments of the show scored high, and more Muppets were added during the first few seasons. Morrow reported that the Muppets were effective teaching tools because children easily recognized them, they were stereotypical and predictable, and they appealed to adults and older siblings.
Although the producers decided against depending upon a single host for Sesame Street, instead casting a group of ethnically diverse actors, they realized that a children's television program needed to have, as Lesser put it, "a variety of distinctive and reliable personalities," both human and Muppet. Jon Stone, whose goal was to cast white actors in the minority, was responsible for hiring the show's first cast. He did not audition actors until Spring 1969, a few weeks before the five test shows were due to be filmed. Stone videotaped the auditions, and Ed Palmer took them out into the field to test children's reactions. The actors who received the "most enthusiastic thumbs up" were cast. For example, Loretta Long was chosen to play Susan when the children who saw her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot." Stone stated that casting was the only aspect of the show that was "just completely haphazard." Most of the cast and crew found jobs on Sesame Street through personal relationships with Stone and the other producers. According to puppeteer Marty Robinson in 2019, longevity was common among the show's cast and crew.
According to the CTW's research, children preferred watching and listening to other children more than to puppets and adults, so they included children in many scenes. Dave Connell insisted that no child actors be used, so these children were non-professionals, unscripted, and spontaneous. Many of their reactions were unpredictable and difficult to control, but the adult cast learned to handle the children's spontaneity flexibly, even when it resulted in departures from the planned script or lesson. CTW research also revealed that the children's hesitations and on-air mistakes served as models for viewers. According to Morrow, this resulted in the show having a "fresh quality," especially in its early years.
## Reception
### Ratings
When Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969, it aired on only 67.6% of American televisions, but it earned a 3.3 Nielsen rating, which totaled 1.9 million households. By the show's tenth anniversary in 1979, nine million American children under the age of 6 were watching Sesame Street daily. According to a 1993 survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, out of the show's 6.6 million viewers, 2.4 million kindergartners regularly watched it. 77% of preschoolers watched it once a week, and 86% of kindergartners and first- and second-grade students had watched it once a week before starting school. The show reached most young children in almost all demographic groups.
The show's ratings significantly decreased in the early 1990s, due to changes in children's viewing habits and in the television marketplace. The producers responded by making large-scale structural changes to the show. By 2006, Sesame Street had become "the most widely viewed children's television show in the world," with 20 international independent versions and broadcasts in over 120 countries. A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old. In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children. By the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fifteenth-most-popular children's show on television, and by its 50th anniversary in 2019, the show had 100% brand awareness globally. In 2018, the show was the second-highest-rated program on PBS Kids. In 2021, however, the Sesame Street documentary "50 Years of Sunny Days," which was broadcast nationally on ABC, did not fare well in the ratings, scoring only approximately 2.3 million viewers.
### Influence
As of 2001, there were over 1,000 research studies regarding Sesame Street's efficacy, impact, and effect on American culture. The CTW solicited the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to conduct summative research on the show. ETS's two "landmark" summative evaluations, conducted in 1970 and 1971, demonstrated that the show had a significant educational impact on its viewers. These studies have been cited in other studies of the effects of television on young children. Additional studies conducted throughout Sesame Street's history demonstrated that the show continued to have a positive effect on its young viewers.
Lesser believed that Sesame Street research "may have conferred a new respectability upon the studies of the effects of visual media upon children." He also believed that the show had the same effect on the prestige of producing shows for children in the television industry. Historian Robert Morrow, in his book Sesame Street and the Reform of Children's Television, which chronicled the show's influence on children's television and on the television industry as a whole, reported that many critics of commercial television saw Sesame Street as a "straightforward illustration for reform." Les Brown, a writer for Variety, saw in Sesame Street "a hope for a more substantial future" for television.
Morrow reported that the networks responded by creating more high-quality television programs, but that many critics saw them as "appeasement gestures." According to Morrow, despite the CTW Model's effectiveness in creating a popular show, commercial television "made only a limited effort to emulate CTW's methods," and did not use a curriculum or evaluate what children learned from them. By the mid-1970s commercial television had abandoned their experiments with creating better children's programming. Other critics hoped that Sesame Street, with its depiction of a functioning, multicultural community, would nurture racial tolerance in its young viewers. It was not until the mid-1990s that another children's television educational program, Blue's Clues, used the CTW's methods to create and modify their content. The creators of Blue's Clues were influenced by Sesame Street, but wanted to use research conducted in the 30 years since its debut. Angela Santomero, one of its producers, said, "We wanted to learn from Sesame Street and take it one step further."
Critic Richard Roeper said that perhaps one of the strongest indicators of the influence of Sesame Street has been the enduring rumors and urban legends surrounding the show and its characters, especially speculation concerning the sexuality of Bert and Ernie.
### Critical reception
Sesame Street was praised from its debut in 1969. Newsday reported that several newspapers and magazines had written "glowing" reports about the CTW and Cooney. The press overwhelmingly praised the new show; several popular magazines and niche magazines lauded it. In 1970, Sesame Street won twenty awards, including a Peabody Award, three Emmys, an award from the Public Relations Society of America, a Clio, and a Prix Jeunesse. By 1995, the show had won two Peabody Awards and four Parents' Choice Awards. It was the subject of a traveling exhibition by the Smithsonian Institution, and a film exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Sesame Street was not without its detractors, however. The state commission in Mississippi, where Henson was from, operated the state's PBS member station; in May 1970 it voted to not air Sesame Street because of its "highly [racially] integrated cast of children" which "the commission members felt ... Mississippi was not yet ready for." According to Children and Television, Lesser's account of the development and early years of Sesame Street, there was little criticism of the show in the months following its premiere, but it increased at the end of its first season and beginning of the second season. Historian Robert W. Morrow speculated that much of the early criticism, which he called "surprisingly intense," stemmed from cultural and historical reasons in regards to, as he put it, "the place of children in American society and the controversies about television's effects on them."
According to Morrow, the "most important" studies finding negative effects of Sesame Street were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons. Social scientist and Head Start founder Urie Bronfenbrenner criticized the show for being too wholesome. Psychologist Leon Eisenberg saw Sesame Street's urban setting as "superficial" and having little to do with the problems confronted by the inner-city child. Head Start director Edward Zigler was probably Sesame Street's most vocal critic in the show's early years.
In spite of their commitment to multiculturalism, the CTW experienced conflicts with the leadership of minority groups, especially Latino groups and feminists, who objected to Sesame Street's depiction of Latinos and women. The CTW took steps to address their objections. By 1971, the CTW hired Hispanic actors, production staff, and researchers, and by the mid-1970s, Morrow reported that "the show included Chicano and Puerto Rican cast members, films about Mexican holidays and foods, and cartoons that taught Spanish words." As The New York Times has stated, creating strong female characters "that make kids laugh, but not...as female stereotypes" has been a challenge for the producers of Sesame Street. According to Morrow, change regarding how women and girls were depicted on Sesame Street occurred slowly. As more female Muppet performers like Camille Bonora, Fran Brill, Pam Arciero, Carmen Osbahr, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Jennifer Barnhart, and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph were hired and trained, stronger female characters like Rosita and Abby Cadabby were created.
In 2002, Sesame Street was ranked number 27 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Sesame Workshop won a Peabody Award in 2009 for its website, sesamestreet.org, and the show was given Peabody's Institutional Award in 2019 for 50 years of educating and entertaining children globally. In 2013, TV Guide ranked the show number 30 on its list of the 60 best TV series. As of 2021, Sesame Street has received 205 Emmy Awards, more than any other television series.
## See also
- List of accolades received by Sesame Street
- List of human Sesame Street characters
- List of songs from Sesame Street
- Sesame Street (comic strip)
- Sesame Street international co-productions
- The Not Too Late Show with Elmo
- Julia (Sesame Street)
- Mecha Builders |
49,402,905 | More Hall Annex | 1,153,461,876 | Former nuclear laboratory in historic building, Seattle, Washington, U.S. | [
"1961 establishments in Washington (state)",
"1988 disestablishments in Washington (state)",
"Argonaut class reactor",
"Brutalist architecture in Washington (state)",
"Buildings and structures completed in 1961",
"Buildings and structures demolished in 2016",
"Demolished buildings and structures in Washington (state)",
"Nuclear reactors in Washington (state)",
"Nuclear research reactors",
"University of Washington campus"
]
| The More Hall Annex, formerly the Nuclear Reactor Building, was a building on the campus of the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington, United States, that once housed a functional nuclear research reactor. It was inaugurated in 1961 and shut down in 1988, operating at a peak of 100 kilowatts thermal (kWt), and was officially decommissioned in 2007.
The reactor was housed in a reinforced concrete building designed in the Brutalist architectural style by UW faculty members. They designed the reactor room with large windows that allowed observation from the outside, in an attempt to demonstrate the safety of nuclear energy.
The Nuclear Reactor Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, after a campaign led by an architecture student in response to the proposed demolition of the building. A later demolition plan prompted a lawsuit from preservation groups, which ended with a court ruling exempting the building from the city's landmarks-preservation ordinance. While this decision was eventually overturned, the university demolished the building in July 2016 and replaced it with a new computer science building that opened in February 2019.
## Design and functions
The building housed an Argonaut class reactor with an initial output of 10 kilowatts thermal (kWt), later increased to 100 kWt in 1967. It used uranium-235 as fuel and was cooled by water. The reactor's chamber, placed on the lower floor of the facility, was 15 ft (4.6 m) high, 20 ft (6.1 m) long, and 19 ft (5.8 m) wide. During its 27-year lifespan, the reactor operated for the equivalent of 140 days, running for some days at half power and for as little as 10 minutes.
The More Hall Annex was a two-story, reinforced concrete structure designed in the Brutalist style, similar to other buildings on the university campus built during the post-war era. It occupied a footprint of 69 ft 8 in (21.23 m) from north to south and 76 ft (23 m) from east to west, with a total of 7,595 square feet (705.6 m<sup>2</sup>) of interior space. The building was designed by a consortium of UW faculty members, known as The Architect Artist Group (TAAG), with input from nuclear engineering department chair Albert L. Babb. Babb requested a building that would "show the world what nuclear power looked like", desiring a prominent structure on the campus that would serve as a crown jewel for the department. The large glass walls enabled public viewing of the reactor room's interior, showcasing the activity inside.
The first floor, partly covered by the outdoor plaza, housed the reactor, laboratory, crystal spectrometer, counting room with a nuclear densometer, classrooms, restrooms, and offices. The second floor contained the control room, an observatory, and a lecture room overlooking the reactor; it was open to the outdoor plaza on three sides, with large glass windows allowing for public observation of experiments. The reactor was placed on the lower side of the building, downhill of the plaza, to allow the ground to absorb accidental radiation leaks. The structure's roof rested on a series of perpendicular beams that also supported a three-ton (2,700 kg) crane used to lift the reactor shield between experiments.
## History
During the late 1950s and 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) provided universities and colleges with grants to acquire small nuclear reactors for research programs. The University of Washington began nuclear engineering classes as part of the College of Engineering in 1953 and formed a Department of Nuclear Engineering in 1956, accepting engineers from Boeing and the nearby Hanford Site as its first students. The Nuclear Engineering department used training reactors at Bagley Hall and later proposed that the university acquire a nuclear reactor to be installed on campus. In 1957, the AEC approved \$100,000 in funding (equivalent to \$ in dollars) for the University of Washington to install a permanent nuclear reactor on the campus, the first of its kind in the United States.
The proposed 10 kW reactor was approved by the university's Board of Regents in April 1959, to be housed in a two-story reinforced concrete building with offices, workshops, a control room, and class and seminar spaces. The building was designed by TAAG architects Wendell Lovett, Gene Zema and Daniel Streissguth, all members of the UW faculty. In December, the regents awarded the construction contract to Jentoft & Forbes, paying \$308,082 (equivalent to \$ in dollars) for the project. A site at the eastern edge of the campus was chosen for its proximity to various academic engineering buildings and its visibility to the public.
The AEC granted an operating license for the reactor to the university in April 1961, and the reactor began operating with a self-sustained nuclear reaction on April 10. It was officially dedicated on June 1, in a ceremony attended by Argonne National Laboratory director Norman Hilberry, a physicist who worked on Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor to achieve criticality. During the 1962 World's Fair, hosted by the city at the Seattle Center, the reactor became the subject of group tours from professional organizations.
Throughout the 1960s, the reactor was used for medical research by the university's School of Medicine and local hospitals, with a staff of six full-time employees and four part-time staff (most of whom were students who worked for the U.S. Navy's nuclear programs). In 1966, the university and local law enforcement agencies proposed converting the reactor into a part-time laboratory for forensic science. By 1975, the reactor had only used 10 grams (0.35 oz) of its 3,300 g (120 oz) of uranium-235 fuel.
### 1972 plutonium spill
On June 13, 1972, during an experiment that used a plutonium sample, three lab workers were exposed to radiation after a capsule holding the sample spilled, requiring a full investigation of the nuclear reactor. One of the workers, graduate student W. Robert Sloan, was exposed to 42 milligrams (0.65 gr) of plutonium dust and drove to a laboratory in Richland to be tested for radiation, but was found to have not been significantly contaminated. The spill was later linked to vibrations in the capsule holding the sample, and workers credited good design and careful handling in avoiding a larger incident. A visiting class of schoolchildren from Montana, observing the reactor from the outside, were unaffected by the accident. After an inspection by teams from the Hanford Site, the lab was cleaned and wiped down while periodic radiation checks were performed. Contaminated materials were sanitized with a liquid freon solution and disposed of; the clean-up cost a total of \$30,000 in emergency funds (equivalent to \$ in dollars).
The university was cited by the AEC for violations of its reactor-operating license in connection with the incident, but none in direct connection to the immediate cause. The incident resulted in an investigation by the Nuclear Reactor Advisory Committee into its review processes for reactor experiments, after the AEC determined there was inadequate review of the UW experiment. The staff members were praised by the AEC for protecting the public by sealing the materials and evacuating the building for six hours.
### Shutdown and decommissioning
In the late 1970s, development of nuclear power in the United States slowed to a halt, as new plants were cancelled or put on hold. The 1983 financial collapse of the Washington Public Power Supply System, a government agency planning to build five large nuclear power plants throughout the state, and the Three Mile Island accident of 1979 both contributed to a decline in interest in the university's nuclear program. Student use of the reactor was replaced by commercial use to produce nuclear isotopes for medical use. By 1988, the enrollment in UW's nuclear engineering program had shrunk to 23 students, and the program was cancelled entirely in 1992.
The reactor was shut down on June 30, 1988, following a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) mandate to convert research reactors to lower-grade fuel, or shut them down entirely, after fears of possible terrorist access. The remaining 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) of enriched uranium fuel rods were transported to Idaho for processing and disposal. The building provided offices and storage space for various UW departments, including the College of Engineering's robotics laboratory. The University of Washington applied to the NRC to dismantle the reactor on August 2, 1994.
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Nuclear Reactor Building was renamed to the More Hall Annex to deter burglary, after a request from the NRC. Formal decommissioning of the site, including a \$4 million cleanup (equivalent to \$ in dollars), began in April 2006, amid student protests over the contractor hired for the work. The NRC formally terminated the university's license to operate the reactor in May 2007.
### Preservation attempts
Prior to the removal of the reactor in October 2008, the university proposed demolishing the structure and redeveloping the site for other uses. The plan was stopped after the reactor building was placed on the Washington Heritage Register, the state's list of historic buildings, a designation that was contested by the University of Washington. Preservationists suggested re-using the building as a museum dedicated to the state's nuclear history and continuing research. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, based on an application submitted by Abby Inpanbutr (née Martin), a UW architecture student, in spring 2008.
The university again proposed demolition of the structure in 2015, to clear the space for a new computer science building adjacent to the existing Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. In May 2015, the More Hall Annex was named one of Washington's "most endangered historic properties" by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, which cited its place as an early Brutalist work to justify its preservation.
The university released a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the project in October 2015, recommending the demolition of the More Hall Annex in their preferred alternative. In response to the SEIS, building conservation group Docomomo WEWA nominated the More Hall Annex for city landmark status on December 2. The University of Washington filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle and Docomomo on December 18 over the landmark nomination and whether the city could enforce its landmark preservation laws on state-owned property.
The King County Superior Court ruled in April that the university was exempt from the city's landmarks-preservation ordinance and could go ahead with demolition of the More Hall Annex. While the city and preservationists appealed the decision, they allowed the demolition of the More Hall Annex to proceed by not seeking a stay that would leave them responsible for damages compensation. The decision was appealed to the Washington Supreme Court, which ruled in the city's favor and rejected the university's claimed exemption from the city landmarks preservation ordinance.
### Demolition
On February 11, 2016, the UW Board of Regents approved a site plan that would demolish the More Hall Annex to allow for the construction of the new computer science center, to open in 2019. An attempt to incorporate elements of the nuclear reactor into the new computer science building was rejected because of the impact of potential seismic retrofits that would be required to meet modern standards. The computer science department instead plans to make a virtual tour of the building available online in a digital archive.
After the decision by the King County Superior Court to exempt the building from city preservation ordinances, the university applied for a demolition permit in May 2016. Demolition of the More Hall Annex began on July 19, and preservationists held a mock funeral for the building with Daniel Streissguth, one of the project's original architects.
### Replacement
The More Hall Annex was replaced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering, which houses part of the university's computer science program. The 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m<sup>2</sup>) building includes a 250-person lecture hall, classrooms, and lab spaces for robotics and other technologies. In January 2017, the Board of Regents approved its construction, which began later in the year. The building was topped out in December 2017, roughly marking the halfway point in construction. The Bill & Melinda Gates Center was opened to students on February 28, 2019. |
30,388 | Thylacine | 1,173,847,093 | Extinct carnivorous marsupial from Australasia | [
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"Extinct mammals of Australia",
"Extinct marsupials",
"Holocene extinctions",
"Mammal extinctions since 1500",
"Mammals described in 1808",
"Mammals of Tasmania",
"Marsupials of Australia",
"Marsupials of New Guinea",
"Pleistocene first appearances",
"Species made extinct by deliberate extirpation efforts"
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| The thylacine (/ˈθaɪləsiːn/; binomial name Thylacinus cynocephalus), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The thylacine had died out on New Guinea and mainland Australia around 3,500 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans, possibly because of the introduction of the dingo, whose earliest record dates to around the same time, but which never reached Tasmania. Prior to European settlement around 5,000 remained in the wild on Tasmania. Beginning in the nineteenth century they were perceived as a threat to the livestock of farmers and bounty hunting was introduced. The last known of its species died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The thylacine is widespread in popular culture and is a cultural icon in Australia.
The thylacine was known as the Tasmanian tiger because it displayed dark transverse stripes that radiated from the top of its back, and it was known as the Tasmanian wolf because it had the general appearance of a medium-to-large-size canid. The name thylacine is derived from thýlakos meaning "pouch" and ine meaning "pertaining to", and refers to the marsupial pouch. Both sexes had a pouch. The females used theirs for rearing young and the males used theirs as a protective sheath, covering the external reproductive organs. It also had a stiff tail and could open its jaws to an unusual extent. The thylacine was an apex predator, though exactly how large its prey had been is disputed. Its closest living relatives are the other members of Dasyuromorphia including the Tasmanian devil.
Intensive hunting on Tasmania is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors were disease, the introduction of and competition with dingoes, human encroachment into its habitat and climate change. The remains of the last known thylacine were discovered at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 2022. Since extinction there have been numerous searches and reported sightings of live animals, none of which have been confirmed.
The thylacine has been used extensively as a symbol of Tasmania. The animal is featured on the official coat of arms of Tasmania. On 7 September, the date in 1936 on which the last known thylacine died, National Threatened Species Day is commemorated in Australia. Universities, museums and other institutions across the world research the animal. Its whole genome sequence has been mapped and there are efforts to clone and bring them back to life.
## Taxonomic and evolutionary history
Numerous examples of thylacine engravings and rock art have been found, dating back to at least 1000 BC. Petroglyph images of the thylacine can be found at the Dampier Rock Art Precinct, on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia.
By the time the first European explorers arrived, the animal was already extinct in mainland Australia and New Guinea, and rare in Tasmania. Europeans may have encountered it in Tasmania as far back as 1642, when Abel Tasman first arrived in Tasmania. His shore party reported seeing the footprints of "wild beasts having claws like a Tyger". Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, arriving with the Mascarin in 1772, reported seeing a "tiger cat".
The first definitive encounter was by French explorers on 13 May 1792, as noted by the naturalist Jacques Labillardière, in his journal from the expedition led by d'Entrecasteaux. In 1805, William Paterson, the Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania, sent a detailed description for publication in the Sydney Gazette. He also sent a description of the thylacine in a letter to Joseph Banks, dated 30 March 1805.
The first detailed scientific description was made by Tasmania's Deputy Surveyor-General, George Harris, in 1808, five years after first European settlement of the island. Harris originally placed the thylacine in the genus Didelphis, which had been created by Linnaeus for the American opossums, describing it as Didelphis cynocephala, the "dog-headed opossum". Recognition that the Australian marsupials were fundamentally different from the known mammal genera led to the establishment of the modern classification scheme, and in 1796, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire created the genus Dasyurus, where he placed the thylacine in 1810. To resolve the mixture of Greek and Latin nomenclature, the species name was altered to cynocephalus. In 1824, it was separated out into its own genus, Thylacinus, by Temminck. The common name derives directly from the genus name, originally from the Greek θύλακος (thýlakos), meaning "pouch" or "sack" and ine meaning "pertaining to". The name is pronounced THY-lə-seen or THY-lə-syne.
### Evolution
The modern thylacine probably appeared about 2 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene. Specimens from the Pliocene-aged Chinchilla Fauna, described as Thylacinus rostralis by Charles De Vis in 1894, have in the past been suggested to represent Thylacinus cynocephalus, but have been shown to either have been curatorial errors, or ambiguous in their specific attribution. The family Thylacinidae includes at least 12 species in eight genera, and appears around the late Oligocene with the small, plesiomorphic Badjcinus turnbulli. Early thylacinids were quoll-sized, well under 10 kg (22 lb), and probably ate insects and small reptiles and mammals, although signs of an increasingly-carnivorous diet can be seen as early as the early Miocene in Wabulacinus. Members of the genus Thylacinus are notable for a dramatic increase in both the expression of carnivorous dental traits and in size, with the largest species, Thylacinus potens and Thylacinus megiriani both approaching the size of a wolf. In Late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, the modern thylacine was widespread (although never numerous) throughout Australia and New Guinea.
A classic example of convergent evolution, the thylacine showed many similarities to the members of the dog family, Canidae, of the Northern Hemisphere: sharp teeth, powerful jaws, raised heels, and the same general body form. Since the thylacine filled the same ecological niche in Australia and New Guinea as canids did elsewhere, it developed many of the same features. Despite this, as a marsupial, it is unrelated to any of the Northern Hemisphere placental mammal predators.
The thylacine is a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia, along with numbats, dunnarts, wambengers, and quolls. The cladogram follows:
## Description
The only recorded species of Thylacinus, a genus that superficially resembles the dogs and foxes of the family Canidae, the animal was a predatory marsupial that existed on mainland Australia during the Holocene epoch and observed by Europeans on the island of Tasmania; the species is known as the Tasmanian tiger for the striped markings of the pelage. Descriptions of the thylacine come from preserved specimens, fossil records, skins and skeletal remains, and black and white photographs and film of the animal both in captivity and from the field. The thylacine resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from the body in a way similar to that of a kangaroo. The mature thylacine ranged from 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in) long, plus a tail of around 50 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in). Adults stood about 60 cm (24 in) and they could weigh anywhere from 8 to 30 kg (18 to 66 lb). There was slight sexual dimorphism with the males being larger than females on average. Males weighed on average 19.7 kilograms (43 lb), and females on average weighed 13.7 kilograms (30 lb). The skull is noted to be highly convergent on those of canids, most closely remembling that of the red fox.
Thylacines, uniquely for marsupials, had largely cartilaginous epipubic bones with a highly reduced osseous element. This has been once considered a synapomorphy with sparassodonts, though it is now thought that both groups reduced their epipubics independently. Its yellow-brown coat featured 15 to 20 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname "tiger". The stripes were more pronounced in younger specimens, fading as the animal got older. One of the stripes extended down the outside of the rear thigh. Its body hair was dense and soft, up to 15 mm (0.6 in) in length. Colouration varied from light fawn to a dark brown; the belly was cream-coloured.
Its rounded, erect ears were about 8 cm (3.1 in) long and covered with short fur. The early scientific studies suggested it possessed an acute sense of smell which enabled it to track prey, but analysis of its brain structure revealed that its olfactory bulbs were not well developed. It is likely to have relied on sight and sound when hunting instead. In 2017, Berns and Ashwell published comparative cortical maps of thylacine and Tasmanian devil brains, showing that the thylacine had a larger, more modularised basal ganglion. The authors associated these differences with the thylacine's more predatory lifestyle. Analysis of the forebrain published in 2023 suggested that it was similar in morphology to other dasyurmorph marsupials and dissimilar to that of canids.
The thylacine was able to open its jaws to an unusual extent: up to 80 degrees. This capability can be seen in part in David Fleay's short black-and-white film sequence of a captive thylacine from 1933. The jaws were muscular, and had 46 teeth, but studies show the thylacine jaw was too weak to kill sheep. The tail vertebrae were fused to a degree, with resulting restriction of full tail movement. Fusion may have occurred as the animal reached full maturity. The tail tapered towards the tip. In juveniles, the tip of the tail had a ridge. The female thylacine had a pouch with four teats, but unlike many other marsupials, the pouch opened to the rear of its body. Males had a scrotal pouch, unique amongst the Australian marsupials, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac for protection.
Thylacine footprints could be distinguished from other native or introduced animals; unlike foxes, cats, dogs, wombats, or Tasmanian devils, thylacines had a very large rear pad and four obvious front pads, arranged in almost a straight line. The hindfeet were similar to the forefeet but had four digits rather than five. Their claws were non-retractable. The plantar pad is tri-lobal in that it exhibits three distinctive lobes. It is a single plantar pad divided by three deep grooves. The distinctive plantar pad shape along with the asymmetrical nature of the foot makes it quite different from animals such as dogs or foxes.
The thylacine was noted as having a stiff and somewhat awkward gait, making it unable to run at high speed. It could also perform a bipedal hop, in a fashion similar to a kangaroo—demonstrated at various times by captive specimens. Guiler speculates that this was used as an accelerated form of motion when the animal became alarmed. The animal was also able to balance on its hind legs and stand upright for brief periods.
Observers of the animal in the wild and in captivity noted that it would growl and hiss when agitated, often accompanied by a threat-yawn. During hunting, it would emit a series of rapidly repeated guttural cough-like barks (described as "yip-yap", "cay-yip" or "hop-hop-hop"), probably for communication between the family pack members. It also had a long whining cry, probably for identification at distance, and a low snuffling noise used for communication between family members. Some observers described it as having a strong and distinctive smell, others described a faint, clean, animal odour, and some no odour at all. It is possible that the thylacine, like its relative, the Tasmanian devil, gave off an odour when agitated.
## Distribution and habitat
The thylacine most likely preferred the dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands of mainland Australia. Indigenous Australian rock paintings indicate that the thylacine lived throughout mainland Australia and New Guinea. Proof of the animal's existence in mainland Australia came from a desiccated carcass that was discovered in a cave in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia in 1990; carbon dating revealed it to be around 3,300 years old. Recently examined fossilised footprints also suggest historical distribution of the species on Kangaroo Island. The northernmost record of the species is from the Kiowa rock shelter in Chimbu Province in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, dating to the Early Holocene, around 10,000–8,500 years Before Present. In 2017, White, Mitchell and Austin published a large-scale analysis of thylacine mitochondrial genomes, showing that they had split into eastern and western populations on the mainland prior to the Last Glacial Maximum and that Tasmanian thylacines low genetic diversity by the time of European arrival.
In Tasmania it preferred the woodlands of the midlands and coastal heath, which eventually became the primary focus of British settlers seeking grazing land for their livestock. The striped pattern may have provided camouflage in woodland conditions, but it may have also served for identification purposes. The animal had a typical home range of between 40 and 80 km<sup>2</sup> (15 and 31 sq mi). It appears to have kept to its home range without being territorial; groups too large to be a family unit were sometimes observed together.
## Ecology and behaviour
### Reproduction
There is evidence for at least some year-round breeding (cull records show joeys discovered in the pouch at all times of the year), although the peak breeding season was in winter and spring. They would produce up to four joeys per litter (typically two or three), carrying the young in a pouch for up to three months and protecting them until they were at least half adult size. Early pouch young were hairless and blind, but they had their eyes open and were fully furred by the time they left the pouch. The young also had their own pouches that are not visible until they are 9.5 weeks old. After leaving the pouch, and until they were developed enough to assist, the juveniles would remain in the lair while their mother hunted. Thylacines only once bred successfully in captivity, in Melbourne Zoo in 1899. Their life expectancy in the wild is estimated to have been 5 to 7 years, although captive specimens survived up to 9 years.
In 2018, Newton et al. collected and CT-scanned all known preserved thylacine pouch young specimens to digitally reconstruct its development throughout its entire window of growth in the mother's pouch. This study revealed new information on the biology of the thylacine, including the growth of its limbs and when it developed its 'dog-like' appearance. It was found that two of the thylacine young in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) were misidentified and of another species, reducing the number of known pouch young specimens to 11 worldwide. One of four specimens kept at Museum Victoria has been serially sectioned, allowing an in-depth investigation of its internal tissues and providing some insights into thylacine pouch young development, biology, immunology and ecology.
### Feeding and diet
The thylacine was an apex predator, though exactly how large its prey animals could be is disputed. It was a nocturnal and crepuscular hunter, spending the daylight hours in small caves or hollow tree trunks in a nest of twigs, bark, or fern fronds. It tended to retreat to the hills and forest for shelter during the day and hunted in the open heath at night. Early observers noted that the animal was typically shy and secretive, with awareness of the presence of humans and generally avoiding contact, though it occasionally showed inquisitive traits. At the time, much stigma existed in regard to its "fierce" nature; this is likely to be due to its perceived threat to agriculture.
The thylacine was exclusively carnivorous. In captivity, thylacines had a clear preference for birds (particularly chickens). In the wild, large ground-dwelling birds (such as Tasmanian nativehens) may have been their primary prey, since they are documented to have hunted a wide range of them, and its comparatively moderate bite force was more suited to hollow avian bones. During its peak occupation of the mainland, such prey would have been bountiful, and studies of their Pleistocene habitat points to a more suitable diet consisting of a range of megapodes (such as the giant malleefowl), ratites (such as the emu), and possibly dromornithids (all of which became extinct prior to European settlement). At the time of European settlement, the Tasmanian emu, a subspecies believed to be smaller than mainland emus, was common and widespread, and thylacines were known to prey on them and share the same habitat. Many early depictions of them hunting included emu. The large, flightless bird was hunted to extinction by humans within 30 years of European settlement. The extinction correlates with a rapid decline in thylacine numbers. Cassowary species of northern Australia and New Guinea coexisted with the thylacine, but had developed strong defenses against predators. However, the emu was more vulnerable to the thylacine's predatory adaptions, including endurance hunting and a bipedal hop. Dingoes, feral dogs, and red foxes have all been noted to hunt the emu on the mainland and killings of emus by dogs were noted in Tasmania. European settlers believed the thylacine to prey upon farmers' sheep and poultry. Throughout the 20th century, the thylacine was often characterised as primarily a blood drinker; according to Robert Paddle, the story's popularity seems to have originated from a single second-hand account heard by Geoffrey Smith (1881–1916) in a shepherd's hut.
There is some controversy over the preferred prey size of the thylacine. A 2011 study by the University of New South Wales using advanced computer modelling indicated that the thylacine had surprisingly feeble jaws. Animals usually take prey close to their own body size, but an adult thylacine of around 30 kilograms (66 lb) was found to be incapable of handling prey much larger than 5 kilograms (11 lb). Thus, some researchers believe thylacines only ate small animals such as bandicoots and possums, putting them into direct competition with the Tasmanian devil and the tiger quoll. Another study in 2020 produced similar results, after estimating the average thylacine weight as about 17 kilograms (37 lb) rather than 30 kilograms (66 lb), suggesting that the animal did indeed hunt much smaller prey.
However, an earlier study showed that the thylacine had a bite force quotient of 166, similar to that of most quolls; in modern mammalian predators, such a high bite force is almost always associated with predators which routinely take prey as large, or larger than, themselves. If the thylacine was indeed specialised for small prey, this specialisation likely made it susceptible to small disturbances to the ecosystem.
Analysis of the skeletal frame and observations of the thylacine in captivity suggest the species were pursuit predators, singling out a prey item and pursuing them until the prey was exhausted. However, trappers reported it as an ambush predator. The animal may have hunted in small family groups, with the main group herding prey in the general direction of an individual waiting in ambush. The predatory behaviour of the thylacine was possibly closer to the ambushing of felids than to large pursuit canids. Its stomach was muscular, and could distend to allow the animal to eat large amounts of food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce.
In captivity, thylacines were fed a wide variety of foods, including dead rabbits and wallabies as well as beef, mutton, horse, and occasionally poultry. There is a report of a captive thylacine which refused to eat dead wallaby flesh or to kill and eat a live wallaby offered to it, but "ultimately it was persuaded to eat by having the smell of blood from a freshly killed wallaby put before its nose."
## Extinction
### Dying out on the Australian mainland
Australia lost more than 90% of its megafauna around 50-40,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event, with the notable exceptions of several kangaroo and wombat species, emus, cassowaries, large goannas and the thylacine. The extinctions included the even larger carnivore Thylacoleo carnifex (sometimes called the marsupial lion) which was only distantly related to the thylacine. A 2010 paper examining this issue showed that humans were likely to be one of the major factors in the extinction of many species in Australia although the authors of the research warned that one-factor explanations might be over-simplistic. The youngest radiocarbon dates of the thylacine in mainland Australia are around 3,500 years old, with an estimated extinction date around 3,200 years ago, synchronous with that of Tasmanian devil, and closely co-inciding with the earliest records of the dingo, as well as an intensification of human activity.
A study proposes that the dingo may have led to the extinction of the thylacine in mainland Australia because the dingo outcompeted the thylacine in preying on the Tasmanian nativehen. The dingo is also more likely to hunt in packs than the more solitary thylacine. Examinations of dingo and thylacine skulls show that although the dingo had a weaker bite, its skull could resist greater stresses, allowing it to pull down larger prey than the thylacine. Because it was a hypercarnivore, the thylacine was less versatile in its diet than the omnivorous dingo. Their ranges appear to have overlapped because thylacine subfossil remains have been discovered near those of dingoes. Aside from wild dingoes, the adoption of the dingo as a hunting companion by the indigenous peoples would have put the thylacine under increased pressure.
A 2013 study suggested that, while dingoes were a contributing factor to the thylacine's demise on the mainland, larger factors were the intense human population growth, technological advances and the abrupt change in the climate during the period. A report published in the Journal of Biogeography detailed an investigation into the mitochondrial DNA and radio-carbon dating of thylacine bones. It concluded that the thylacine died out on mainland Australia in a relatively short time span, and this was due to climate change.
### Dying out on Tasmania
Although the thylacine had died out on mainland Australia, it survived into the 1930s on the island of Tasmania. At the time of the first European settlement, the heaviest distributions were in the northeast, northwest and north-midland regions of the state. There were an estimated 5,000 at this time. They were rarely sighted during this time but slowly began to be credited with numerous attacks on sheep. This led to the establishment of bounty schemes in an attempt to control their numbers. The Van Diemen's Land Company introduced bounties on the thylacine from as early as 1830, and between 1888 and 1909 the Tasmanian government paid £1 per head for dead adult thylacines and ten shillings for pups. In all, they paid out 2,184 bounties, but it is thought that many more thylacines were killed than were claimed for. Its extinction is popularly attributed to these relentless efforts by farmers and bounty hunters.
Aside from persecution, it is likely that multiple factors rapidly compounded its decline and eventual extinction, including competition with wild dogs introduced by European settlers, erosion of its habitat, already-low genetic diversity, the concurrent extinction or decline of prey species, and a distemper-like disease that affected many captive specimens at the time. A study from 2012 suggested that the disease was likely introduced by humans, and that it was also present in the wild population. The marsupi-carnivore disease, as it became known, dramatically reduced the lifespan of the animal and greatly increased pup mortality.
A 1921 photo by Henry Burrell of a thylacine with a chicken was widely distributed and may have helped secure the animal's reputation as a poultry thief. The image had been cropped to hide the fact that the animal was in captivity, and analysis by one researcher has concluded that this thylacine was a dead specimen, posed for the camera. The photograph may even have involved photo manipulation.
The animal had become extremely rare in the wild by the late 1920s. Despite the fact that the thylacine was believed by many to be responsible for attacks on sheep, in 1928 the Tasmanian Advisory Committee for Native Fauna recommended a reserve similar to the Savage River National Park to protect any remaining thylacines, with potential sites of suitable habitat including the Arthur-Pieman area of western Tasmania.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the increasing rarity of thylacines led to increased demand for captive specimens by zoos around the world, adding yet another pressure to an already small population. Despite the export of breeding pairs, attempts at rearing thylacines in captivity were unsuccessful, and the last thylacine outside Australia died at the London Zoo in 1931.
The last known thylacine to be killed in the wild was shot in 1930 by Wilf Batty, a farmer from Mawbanna in the state's northwest. The animal, believed to have been a male, had been seen around Batty's house for several weeks.
Work in 2012 examined the relationship of the genetic diversity of the thylacines before their extinction. The results indicated that the last of the thylacines in Tasmania had limited genetic diversity due to their complete geographic isolation from mainland Australia. Further investigations in 2017 showed evidence that this decline in genetic diversity started long before the arrival of humans in Australia, possibly starting as early as 70–120 thousand years ago.
The thylacine held the status of endangered species until the 1980s. International standards at the time stated that an animal could not be declared extinct until 50 years had passed without a confirmed record. Since no definitive proof of the thylacine's existence in the wild had been obtained for more than 50 years, it met that official criterion and was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1982 and by the Tasmanian government in 1986. The species was removed from Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2013.
### Last of the species
The last captive thylacine, lived as an endling (the known last of its species) at Hobart Zoo until its death on the night of 7 September 1936. The animal, a female, was captured by Elias Churchill with a snare trap and was sold to the zoo in May 1936. The sale was not publicly announced because the use of traps was illegal and Churchill could have been fined. After its death the remains of the endling were transferred to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The remains were not properly recorded by the museum, also because the animal had been illegally caught. They lay undiscovered for decades until it was noticed that a taxidermist record dated from 1936 or 1937 mentioned the animal. This led to a full audit of all thylacine remains at the museum and the endling's successful identification at the end of 2022.
In 1968, Frank Darby invented a myth that the endling was called Benjamin. The myth was widely circulated in the media, with Wikipedia itself repeating the invention. The thylacine that Darby was referring to was a male at Hobart Zoo. This animal is believed to have died as the result of neglect—locked out of its sheltered sleeping quarters, it was exposed to a rare occurrence of extreme Tasmanian weather: extreme heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. This thylacine features in the last known motion picture footage of a living specimen: 45 seconds of black-and-white footage showing the thylacine in its enclosure in a clip taken in 1933, by naturalist David Fleay. In the film footage, the thylacine is seen seated, walking around the perimeter of its enclosure, yawning, sniffing the air, scratching itself (in the same manner as a dog), and lying down. Fleay was bitten on the buttock whilst shooting the film. In 2021, a digitally colourised 80-second clip of Fleay's footage of the thylacine was released by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, to mark National Threatened Species Day. The digital colourisation process was based on historic primary and secondary descriptions to ensure an accurate colour match.
Although there had been a conservation movement pressing for the thylacine's protection since 1901, driven in part by the increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens for overseas collections, political difficulties prevented any form of protection coming into force until 1936. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government came all too late; it was introduced on 10 July 1936, 59 days before the last known specimen died in captivity.
### Searches and unconfirmed sightings
Between 1967 and 1973, zoologist Jeremy Griffith and dairy farmer James Malley conducted what is regarded as the most intensive search for thylacines ever carried out, including exhaustive surveys along Tasmania's west coast, installation of automatic camera stations, prompt investigations of claimed sightings, and in 1972 the creation of the Thylacine Expeditionary Research Team with Dr. Bob Brown, which concluded without finding any evidence of the thylacine's existence.
The Department of Conservation and Land Management recorded 203 reports of sightings of the thylacine in Western Australia from 1936 to 1998. On the mainland, sightings are most frequently reported in Southern Victoria.
According to the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, there have been eight unconfirmed thylacine sighting reports between 2016 and 2019, with the latest unconfirmed visual sighting on 25 February 2018.
Since the disappearance and effective extinction of the thylacine, speculation and searches for a living specimen have become a topic of interest to some members of the cryptozoology subculture. The search for the animal has been the subject of books and articles, with many reported sightings that are largely regarded as dubious.
A 2023 study published by Brook et al.. compiles many of the alleged sightings of thylacines in Tasmania throughout the 20th century and claims that, contrary to beliefs that the thylacine went extinct in the 1930s, the Tasmanian thylacine may have actually lasted throughout the 20th century, with a window of extinction between the 1980s and the present day and the likely extinction date being between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In 1983, the American media mogul Ted Turner offered a \$100,000 reward for proof of the continued existence of the thylacine. In March 2005, Australian news magazine The Bulletin, as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations, offered a \$1.25 million reward for the safe capture of a live thylacine. When the offer closed at the end of June 2005, no one had produced any evidence of the animal's existence. An offer of \$1.75 million has subsequently been offered by a Tasmanian tour operator, Stewart Malcolm.
## Research
Research into thylacines relies heavily on specimens held in museums and other institutions across the world. The number and distribution of these specimens has been recorded in the International Thylacine Specimen Database. As of 2022, 756 specimens are held in 115 museums and university collections in 23 countries. In 2017, a reference library of 159 micrographic images of thylacine hair was jointly produced by CSIRO and Where Light Meets Dark.
### Cloning
The Australian Museum in Sydney began a cloning project in 1999. The goal was to use genetic material from specimens taken and preserved in the early 20th century to clone new individuals and restore the species from extinction. Several molecular biologists dismissed the project as a public relations stunt. In late 2002, the researchers had some success as they were able to extract replicable DNA from the specimens. On 15 February 2005, the museum announced that it was stopping the project. In May 2005, the project was restarted by a group of interested universities and a research institute.
In August 2022, it was announced that the University of Melbourne will partner with Texas-based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences to attempt to re-create the thylacine using its closest living relative, the fat-tailed dunnart, and return it to Tasmania. The university had recently sequenced the genome of a juvenile thylacine specimen and is establishing a thylacine genetic restoration laboratory.
### DNA sequencing
A draft whole genome sequencing of the thylacine was produced by Feigin et al. (2017) using the DNA extracted from an ethanol-preserved pouch young specimen provided by Museums Victoria. The neonatal development of the thylacine was also reconstructed from preserved pouch young specimens from several museum collections. Researchers used the genome to study aspects of the thylacine's evolution and natural history, including the genetic basis of its convergence with canids, clarifying its evolutionary relationships with other marsupials and examining changes in its population size over time.
The genomic basis of the convergent evolution between the thylacine and grey wolf was further investigated in 2019, with researchers identifying many non-coding genomic regions displaying accelerated rates of evolution, a test for genetic regions evolving under positive selection. In 2021, researchers further identified a link between the convergent skull shapes of the thylacine and wolf, and the previously identified genetic candidates. It was reported that specific groups of skull bones, which develop from a common population of stem cells called neural crest cells, showed strong similarity between the thylacine and wolf and corresponded with the underlying convergent genetic candidates which influence these cells during development.
## Cultural significance
### Official usage
The thylacine has been used extensively as a symbol of Tasmania. The animal is featured on the official Tasmanian coat of arms. It is used in the official logos for the Tasmanian government and the City of Launceston. It is also used on the University of Tasmania's ceremonial mace and the badge of the submarine . Since 1998, it has been prominently displayed on Tasmanian vehicle number plates. The thylacine has appeared in postage stamps from Australia, Equatorial Guinea, and Micronesia.
Since 1996, 7 September (the date in 1936 on which the last known thylacine died) has been commemorated in Australia as National Threatened Species Day.
### In popular culture
The thylacine has become a cultural icon in Australia. The best known illustrations of Thylacinus cynocephalus were those in John Gould's The Mammals of Australia (1845–1863), often copied since its publication and the most frequently reproduced, and given further exposure by Cascade Brewery's appropriation for its label in 1987. The government of Tasmania published a monochromatic reproduction of the same image in 1934, the author Louisa Anne Meredith also copied it for Tasmanian Friends and Foes (1881). The thylacine is the mascot for the Tasmanian cricket team.
In video games, boomerang-wielding Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is the star of his own trilogy during the 2000s. Tiny Tiger, a villain in the popular Crash Bandicoot video game series, is a mutated thylacine. In Valorant, agent Skye has the ability to use a Tasmanian tiger to scout enemies and clear bomb-planting sites.
The animal has made appearance in film and television. Characters in the early 1990s' cartoon Taz-Mania included the neurotic Wendell T. Wolf, the last surviving Tasmanian wolf. The Hunter is a 2011 Australian drama film, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Julia Leigh. It stars Willem Dafoe, who plays a man hired to track down the Tasmanian tiger. In the 2021 film, Extinct, a thylacine named Burnie, along with a group of other extinct animals, help the movie's main characters travel through time to rescue their species from extinction. In the 2022 science fiction show The Peripheral the Tasmanian tiger is brought back into existence from DNA extracts.
### In Aboriginal tradition
Various Aboriginal Tasmanian names for the thylacine have been recorded, such as coorinna, kanunnah, cab-berr-one-nen-er, loarinna, laoonana, can-nen-ner and lagunta, while kaparunina is used in Palawa kani.
One Nuenonne myth recorded by Jackson Cotton tells of a thylacine pup saving Palana, a spirit boy, from an attack by a giant kangaroo. Palana marked the pup's back with ochre as a mark of its bravery, giving thylacines their stripes. A constellation, "Wurrawana Corinna" (identified as within or near Gemini), was also created as a commemoration of this mythic act of bravery.
The Kunwinjku on mainland Australia have preserved both a name for the thylacine (djankerrk) and an account of its behaviour. A Kunwinjku story tells of two ancestral thylacines hunting a kangaroo by biting at its tail, and the animals later falling from a cliff into a creek and transforming into fish. The thylacines transformed into archerfish, hence archerfish have stripes on their tails.
## See also
- Fauna of Australia
- List of extinct animals of Australia |
18,884,607 | SS Washingtonian (1913) | 1,090,811,980 | American freighter that sank off Delaware after a collision | [
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| SS Washingtonian was a cargo ship launched in 1913 by the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, near Baltimore, as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. At the time of her launch, she was the largest cargo ship under American registry. During the United States occupation of Veracruz in April 1914, Washingtonian was chartered by the United States Department of the Navy for service as a non-commissioned refrigerated supply ship for the U.S. fleet stationed off the Mexican coast.
In January 1915, after a little more than one year of service, Washingtonian collided with the schooner Elizabeth Palmer off the Delaware coast and sank in ten minutes with the loss of her \$1,000,000 cargo of 10,000 long tons (10,200 t) of raw Hawaiian sugar. In the days after Washingtonian's sinking, the price of sugar in the United States increased almost nine percent, partly attributed to the loss of Washingtonian's cargo. Lying under approximately 100 feet (30 m) of water, Washingtonian's wreck is one of the most popular recreational dive sites on the eastern seaboard.
## Design and construction
In November 1911, the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, for two new cargo ships—Panaman and Washingtonian. The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an eight percent profit for Maryland Steel, but capped at a maximum cost of \$640,000 each. The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a five percent down payment in cash and nine monthly installments for the balance. The deal had provisions that allowed some of the nine installments to be converted into longer-term notes or mortgages. The final cost of Washingtonian, including financing costs, was \$71.49 per deadweight ton, which totaled just under \$733,000.
Washingtonian (Maryland Steel yard no. 131) was the second ship built under the contract. The ship was 6,649 gross register tons (GRT), and was 360 feet 11 inches (110.01 m) in length (between perpendiculars) and 50 feet 2 inches (15.29 m) abeam. She had a deadweight tonnage of , and, at the time of her launch, was the largest American-flagged cargo ship. Washingtonian had a speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h), and was powered by a single steam engine with oil-fired boilers which drove a single screw propeller. Washingtonian's cargo holds, providing a storage capacity of 490,858 cubic feet (13,899.6 m<sup>3</sup>), were outfitted with a complete refrigeration plant so she could carry perishable products from the West Coast to the East Coast, such as Pacific Northwest salmon or fresh produce from Southern California farms.
## Service
When Washingtonian began sailing for American-Hawaiian, the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Tehuantepec Route to West Coast ports and Hawaii, and vice versa. Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route arrived at Mexican ports—Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, for eastbound cargo, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, for westbound cargo—and traversed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway. Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii, while westbound cargoes were more general in nature. Washingtonian sailed in this service, but it is not known whether she sailed on the east or west side of North America.
After the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 (which took place while six American-Hawaiian line ships were being held in various Mexican ports), the Huerta-led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping. This loss of access (the Panama Canal was not yet open until later that year) caused American-Hawaiian to return to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Strait of Magellan in late April. During the U.S. occupation, the Washingtonian was chartered by the U.S. Navy Department to serve as a non-commissioned refrigerator and supply ship for the U.S. naval fleet off Mexico. She was outfitted for her first voyage at the New York Navy Yard and sailed with 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) of fresh meat for the United States Navy and the U.S. Army. Washingtonian sailed in a rotation with the commissioned Navy stores ships USS Culgoa and USS Celtic.
With the official opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914, American-Hawaiian line ships switched to taking the isthmus canal route. In late August, American-Hawaiian announced that the Washingtonian—her Navy charter ended by this time—would sail on a San Francisco – Panama Canal – Boston route, sailing opposite vessels Mexican, Honolulan, and sister ship Pennsylvanian.
Washingtonian sailed from Los Angeles in early October with a load of California products—including canned and dried fruits, beans, and wine—for New York City and Boston. After delivering that load, Washingtonian then headed for Honolulu, Hawaii, to take on a 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) load of raw sugar valued at about \$1,000,000. Departing Honolulu on 20 December, Washingtonian arrived at Balboa on 17 January 1915 and transited the Panama Canal. Sailing from Cristóbal on the eastern end two days later, she headed for the Delaware Breakwater en route to Philadelphia.
## Collision
At 3:30 a.m. on 26 January, some 20 nautical miles (37 km) from Fenwick Island, Delaware, the American schooner Elizabeth Palmer was under full sail at 8 knots (15 km/h) on a southwest by south course. Elizabeth Palmer's captain saw a large steam vessel, Washingtonian, on an apparent collision course ahead, but did not change course since navigational rules require steam-powered vessels to yield to vessels under sail power. The captain of Washingtonian, two quartermasters, and a seaman were all on watch and saw Elizabeth Palmer, but misjudged the schooner's rapid pace. When Washingtonian, underway at 12 knots (22 km/h), did not change course or speed, Elizabeth Palmer collided with the starboard side of the steamer, leaving a large hole that sank Washingtonian ten minutes later. Less than a mile (2 km) away, Elizabeth Palmer, with her jib boom and the top of her foremast stripped away by the impact, began taking on water through her split seams. When it became apparent that the big schooner would sink, her captain ordered her abandonment, and she slowly settled and went down about an hour after the collision. After Washingtonian's crew abandoned ship, one crewman, a water tender, was found to be missing and was presumed drowned. Washingtonian's 39 survivors and all 13 crew members from Elizabeth Palmer were picked up about an hour after the collision by the passenger liner Hamilton of the Old Dominion Line, which arrived at New York the next day.
The collision had repercussions for American-Hawaiian and the world sugar market. The financial impact of the collision on American-Hawaiian, estimated at \$2,000,000, was devastating. Contemporary news reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both told of the collision's impact on the sugar market. Claus A. Spreckels, president of Federal Sugar Refining, noted that the loss of even such a large cargo would not normally have much effect on the sugar market. However, weather in Cuba, then the largest supplier of sugar for the United States, had reduced that island nation's crop by more than 200,000 tons. Further affecting the situation was World War I, then ongoing in Europe, which had reduced the tonnage of shipping available to transport commodities like sugar. With all of these factors, the asking price for sugar futures contracts for February 1915 delivery was 2.90 cents per pound (6.39 cents per kg) a week before Washingtonian's sinking, but had risen to 3.16 cents per pound (6.96 cents per kg) the day after the sinking.
Washingtonian's wreck, a skeletal framework of hull plates and bulkheads, lies upside down in about 100 feet (30 m) of water, and is one of the most-visited wreck sites along the eastern seaboard. A popular night dive, Washingtonian's wreck is also a favorite with sport divers catching lobster. |
679,610 | Walter Donaldson (snooker player) | 1,160,986,178 | Scottish snooker and billiards player | [
"1907 births",
"1973 deaths",
"British Army personnel of World War II",
"Royal Corps of Signals soldiers",
"Scottish players of English billiards",
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"Snooker players from Edinburgh",
"Sportspeople from Coatbridge",
"Winners of the professional snooker world championship"
]
| Walter Weir Wilson Donaldson (2 February 1907 – 24 May 1973) was a Scottish professional snooker and billiards player. He contested eight consecutive world championship finals against Fred Davis from 1947 to 1954, and won the title in 1947 and 1950. Donaldson was known for his long and his consistency when playing, and had an aversion to the use of . In 2012, he was inducted posthumously into the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's World Snooker Hall of Fame.
Donaldson became a professional player shortly after winning the under-16's British Junior English Billiards Championship in 1922 and won the Scottish professional billiards title six times. He first competed in the World Snooker Championship in 1933, but after a heavy defeat by Joe Davis did not enter again until 1939. After serving in the Fourth Indian Division during World War II, Donaldson entered the 1946 World Championship, where he lost to Davis in his first match. As a player that did not reach the championship final, he was eligible to enter the 1946 Albany Club Professional Snooker Tournament, which he won. Following Joe Davis's retirement from the World Championship in 1946, Donaldson practised intensively and won the 1947 Championship by defeating Fred Davis in the final. Davis won the following two championships, with Donaldson taking the next and then being runner-up to Davis for the next four years. Donaldson then retired from World Championship competition, although he continued to play in the News of the World Snooker Tournament until 1959.
## Early life
Walter Weir Wilson Donaldson was born in Edinburgh, on 2 February 1907, the son of a billiard hall manager. The family moved to Coatbridge when Donaldson was five. His father coached him in English billiards from age five, having constructed a 1 foot (30 cm) platform around one of the billiard tables so that the younger Donaldson could reach the table to play. Donaldson told an interviewer for The Billiard Player in 1939 that starting to play at a young age was a common feature among many professional players, as "when a kiddie is brought up like that, the game gets fairly into his bones, and he has much more chance than other people of becoming a good player". His father also trained Margaret Lennan, who became the unofficial "British Isles Champion" of women's billiards in 1928. Donaldson won the under-16 division of the British Junior English Billiards Championship in 1922 at the age of 15, and turned professional the following year.
## Career
### Early professional career
Donaldson moved to Rotherham in South Yorkshire, where he managed a billiard hall, and travelled to Glasgow to win the Scottish professional billiards and snooker championships in the 1928/1929 season. He later became the owner of a billiard hall in New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. He first entered the World Snooker Championship in 1933 defeating Willie Leigh 13 to 11 before losing 1–13 in the semi-finals to Joe Davis. In 1939, Donaldson said he realised from watching Davis "annihilate" him that "there was far more in the game than I had ever dreamt of". He did not participate in the championship again until 1939. His six-year absence has been attributed to a commitment to practise and improve his standard of play following the resounding defeat by Davis. In 1939, he defeated Herbert Holt and Dickie Laws in the qualifying competition, both 18–13, then Claude Falkiner 21–10 in the first round, before losing 15–16 to Sidney Smith in the quarter-finals. He finished fourth of seven players in the 1939/1940 Daily Mail Gold Cup. The BBC World Service radio station broadcast part of his match against Fred Davis.
Donaldson spoke about his playing philosophy in 1939, saying he avoided playing risky shots because he believed matches were typically lost by one player making errors: "It isn't so much that one man wins the game but that the other man loses it." Asked by the interviewer for hints for The Billiard Player's readers to help them improve their standard of play, Donaldson advised against the use of as "it spoils the shot in at least 90 per cent of cases when it's applied by any but a first class player. And generally it really isn't necessary." He also said he had claimed the title of Scottish snooker champion because despite issuing an invitation to any challenger to play for that title, no-one had taken up the challenge.
In the 1940 World Championship, he eliminated Holt 24–7 in the first round; Joe Davis then defeated him 9–22 in the semi-final. The championship was suspended for the remainder of World War II. Donaldson was called up in 1940, and served in Canada, North Africa, Greece and Italy as a sergeant in the Royal Corps of Signals attached to the Fourth Indian Division, which was an original component of the Eighth Army when it was formed in September 1941.
The championship resumed in 1946, with Joe Davis winning again, including a 21–10 victory over Donaldson in the quarter-finals. The professional players that did not reach the 1946 final were invited to participate in the 1946 Albany Club Professional Snooker Tournament. Donaldson won, some six months after being demobilised, by defeating Alec Brown 20–11 in the final. Following his 1946 World Championship win, Davis retired from the event. In November 1946, Donaldson compiled what would have been a new world record for the highest break, 142, against John Pulman, but as the billiard table being used was not of the standard type required for a record, it was not recognised as such.
### World championship finals and later professional career
Donaldson practised intensively in preparation for the 1947 World Snooker Championship, using a billiard table in a neighbour's attic. He defeated Stanley Newman 46–25 and then eliminated Horace Lindrum 39–32 to reach the final. Building refurbishment delays postponed the final, held at Leicester Square Hall, for several weeks. Donaldson used the time to continue practising. In a two-week final over 145 frames against Fred Davis, Donaldson led 4–2 after the first and 7–5 after the second, later extending his lead to sixteen frames at 35–19. After this, Davis won six successive frames to reduce the lead to 35–25. Donaldson secured victory at 73–49 and finished the match at 82–63. His tactics during the championship involved compiling breaks of around 30 to 50 points, and playing rather than attempting difficult . Davis became frustrated with the lack of scoring chances Donaldson left for him, and missed a number of difficult pot attempts allowing Donaldson chances to win frames. There were three century breaks during the match's 145 frames, all made by Davis. Joe Davis commented after the match that, "Donaldson's long potting at present is the equal of anything seen in snooker history," whilst Fred Davis said "he is playing the best snooker I have ever seen". In his book Talking Snooker, first published in 1979, Fred Davis reflected that he had probably been "perhaps overconfident" and also had not expected Donaldson's standard to have improved so much as a result of his many hours of practice. This was the first of eight consecutive finals, from 1947 to 1954, featuring the two players.
Two wins by Joe Davis in challenge matches against Donaldson after the 1947 championship reinforced the public perception that the 15-time champion Davis was still the best player. Donaldson took a playing break of several months on medical advice, having been diagnosed with conjunctivitis after experiencing headaches. In the 1948 World Snooker Championship, held only six months after the 1947 tournament, Donaldson reached the final with wins against Kingsley Kennerley and Albert Brown. Fred Davis won 84–61 against Donaldson, having reached a winning margin at 73–52. In Talking Snooker, Davis wrote that he had consciously used the same risk-averse tactics that had paid off for Donaldson in 1947. At the 1948 Sunday Empire News Tournament, which was a round-robin event with handicaps applied, Donaldson finished fourth of five players.
In the 1949 World Snooker Championship final, Fred Davis won 80–65 against Donaldson, having taken a winning lead of 73–58 on the previous day. The score had been 63–58 before Davis won 10 frames in a row to take the title. Donaldson made the highest break of the tournament with 115 on the last day of his semi-final match against Pulman. In the handicapped 1949/1950 News of the World Snooker Tournament, Donaldson won only two of his seven round-robin matches and placed seventh out of the eight participants.
Donaldson defeated Kennerley and Albert Brown to reach the 1950 world final against Fred Davis. the final was played over 97 frames. Davis led 8–4 after the first day, but after two more days Donaldson levelled the match at 18–18, including winning five of the last six that day. He took a four-frame lead the following day, and maintained it for several days, eventually extending it to six frames at 45–39 on the penultimate day. Donaldson's victory was confirmed on the last day when the score was 49–32, with the match ending at 51–46. Almost 3,000 spectators watched one session of the match in Blackpool. The Billiard Player magazine attributed Donaldson's success to his strong safety play and a below-par performance from Davis. The highest break Donaldson achieved during the match was 80, with Davis's highest break 79. A column in the Manchester Evening News, after the final, commented that, "So afraid were Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson ... of making any rash move which would cost them a frame that play was painfully slow at times."
With only one win from seven matches in the 1950/1951 News of the World Snooker Tournament, Donaldson finished joint-last. Donaldson and Fred Davis played the 1951 world final in Blackpool, again over 97 frames, in front of a record crowd for a World Snooker Championship match. From 6–6, Davis moved into a 12–6 lead, reaching a winning margin at 49–36 before the match concluded 58–39. Donaldson won half of his matches at the 1951/1952 News of the World Snooker Tournament, leading to a sixth-place ranking out of the nine players.
Following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC), which derived partly from the PBPA members feeling that the BA&CC was taking too large a share of the income from tournaments, most professional players boycotted the 1952 World Snooker Championship and competed instead in their own 1952 World Professional Match-play Championship. As this event included most of the leading players, the public perceived it as the real world championship. The World Professional Match-play Championships are now accepted by snooker historians as part of the World Snooker Championship series. The 1952 World Professional Match-play Championship final featured Fred Davis and Donaldson and was contested across 73 frames. Davis won six of the eight frames in their first session, and led 7–5 after the first day. Donaldson had compiled a break of 104. Donaldson recorded another century break of 106 in the twentieth frame, but Davis increased his lead over him to 14–10 by the end of the second day. On the third day, Davis achieved a break of 140, a new World Championship record, and Donaldson made a 111. Davis finished the day 21–15 ahead. After another day's play, Davis was 29–19 ahead, after which Donaldson won eight of the next twelve frames. Davis won the title, finishing the last day at 38–35.
The 1952/1953 News of the World Snooker Tournament finished in January 1953, with Donaldson's three wins in eight matches enough to see him finish third. The 1953 World Professional Match-play Championship final in March saw Donaldson and Davis even at 6–6 after the first day of the 71-frame match. Donaldson took a 13–11 lead after day two, despite a break of 107 by Davis. Donaldson was ahead 20–16 after day three, but Davis tied the match at 24–24 after the fourth day which included a century of 102. Davis led 28–26, but Donaldson took a 31–29 lead at the end of the fifth day. The match was again level at 33–33 after the final afternoon session, before Davis won 37–34.
Donaldson placed seventh in the 1953/1954 News of the World Snooker Tournament, having lost five of his eight matches. In the 1954 World Professional Match-play Championship, Fred Davis and Donaldson met in their eighth successive final. It was the most one-sided of the finals, with Davis leading 33–15 after four days in the 71-frame contest. Even before losing the match, Donaldson said he would not enter the World Championship again because he could not give enough time to the practice he felt was necessary. Davis secured victory by winning the first three frames on the fifth day to lead 36–15. The final score was 45–26 with Donaldson making a break of 121 on the final day.
After the 1954 World Match-play final, Donaldson announced that he would not be playing in any future World Snooker Championships, as he wanted to focus more on the management of his smallholding, although he stated his intention to continue to play in other tournaments and in exhibition matches. With three wins at the 1954/1955 News of the World Snooker Tournament, he failed to gain a high placing. He finished third in 1955/1956, and last in 1956/1957. Donaldson inflicted Fred Davis's only defeat in the 1957/1958 News of the World Snooker Tournament (21–16), before finishing third of five players in the final table. Earlier in the same tournament he defeated Joe Davis, also by 21–16, but had received a 14-point start. He did, however, make the highest break of the season, 141. He finished bottom of four players in the 1958 News of the World Snooker Tournament table, with one win in nine matches. In 1960, he retired completely from competitive play.
## Retirement and legacy
Donaldson was married to Ida, whom he met whilst working in Rotherham in the 1920s. After retiring from the sport, he converted his snooker room into a cowshed, breaking up the slates from his billiard table to make a path, and preferred to play bowls rather than snooker. In 1971, he stood as a Conservative Party candidate for the Newport Pagnell Urban District council and was elected. He died in an ambulance on his way to hospital after suffering a heart attack at his home in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, on 24 May 1973.
He was considered one of the greatest long potters of all time, and a very consistent player, partly due to his avoidance of the use of side. Joe Davis wrote of Donaldson in 1948 that:
> "He pots with great accuracy, and that cool leisurely style of his will take a lot of breaking down. Many players who watch Donaldson go away vowing to copy his square 'two-eyed' stance, but the chief merits of his style are the closeness to his body of both arms and the quiet, slow, easy-looking rhythm of his action."
Fred Davis praised Donaldson's potting ability and described him as a "fierce competitor" although "very limited technically". In noting that Fred Davis and Donaldson dominated the game of snooker for several years, Lindrum described their "new approach" to snooker of "extensive safety tactics", recalling that the pair once shared 32 strokes on a single , and suggesting that although safety play demanded skill, "if safety had continued to be used without regard to audience appreciation, it may eventually have brought about a sharp decline in popularity".
Donaldson's obituary in Snooker Scene highlighted his "imperturbability" as a playing strength and claimed "his long potting was the best the game has ever seen", whilst noting that his aversion to applying side was probably the reason that he did not achieve more century breaks, as it limited his . The 2005 book Masters of the Baize describes Donaldson as "one of the most underrated [world professional snooker] champions", who "redefined the standards of long potting", while a 1989 book by Ian Morrison describes him as "the first great Scottish snooker professional". In 2012, Donaldson was inducted into the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's World Snooker Hall of Fame.
## Career finals
### Snooker (4 titles)
### English billiards (8 titles) |
1,931,416 | Blue iguana | 1,173,378,066 | Species of reptile | [
"Cyclura",
"Endangered fauna of North America",
"Endemic fauna of the Cayman Islands",
"Reptiles described in 1940",
"Taxa named by Chapman Grant"
]
| The blue iguana (Cyclura lewisi), also known as the Grand Cayman ground iguana, Grand Cayman blue iguana or Cayman Island rock iguana, is an endangered species of lizard which is endemic to the island of Grand Cayman. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Cuban iguana, Cyclura nubila, but in a 2004 article Frederic J. Burton reclassified it as a separate species because according to him the genetic differences discovered four years earlier between the different C. nubila populations warranted this interpretation. The blue iguana is one of the longest-living species of lizard (possibly up to 69 years).
The preferred habitat for the blue iguana is rocky, sunlit, open areas in dry forests or near the shore, as the females must dig holes in the sand to lay eggs in June and July. A possible second clutch is laid in September. The blue iguana's herbivorous diet includes plants, fruits, and flowers. Its color is tan to gray with a bluish cast that is more pronounced during the breeding season and more so in males. It is large and heavy-bodied with a dorsal crest of short spines running from the base of the neck to the end of the tail.
The iguana was possibly abundant before European colonization; but fewer than 15 animals remained in the wild by 2003, and this wild population was predicted to become extinct within the first decade of the 21st century. The species' decline is mainly being driven by predation by cats and dogs, and indirectly by reduction in suitable habitat as fruit farms are converted to pasture for cattle grazing. Since 2004, hundreds of captive-bred animals have been released into a preserve on Grand Cayman run by a partnership headed by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, in an attempt to save the species. At least five non-profit organizations are working with the government of the Cayman Islands to ensure the survival of the blue iguana.
## Taxonomy
Its specific name lewisi commemorates the name of the scientist who collected the holotype of this species, Charles Bernard Lewis.
The closest relatives are the Cuban iguana (Cyclura nubila) and the Northern Bahamian rock iguana (C. cychlura). It can be genetically distinguished from the subspecies found on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac known as C. nubila caymanensis, although it can interbreed with this subspecies and produce fertile offspring.
In 1938 Lewis of the Institute of Jamaica joined an Oxford University biological expedition to the Cayman Islands. Lewis obtained two blue iguanas, a male and a female, which were later lodged with the Natural History Museum, London. Chapman Grant, in an article published in 1940, formally described the blue iguana as an separate taxon for the first time, classifying it as the trinomial C. macleayi lewisi. Albert Schwartz and Richard Thomas reclassified it as C. nubila lewisi in 1975, making it a subspecies of the Cuban iguana. In his 2004 article Frederick Burton repeatedly states Schwartz and Carey reclassified it in a 1977 publication, but he is mistaken.
Burton, who runs the captive breeding program on the island, reclassified the blue iguana as a distinct species in 2004. Although it has almost identical head scale counts and patterns as C. nubila, most individuals of this taxon often have five auricular spines in as opposed to four in caymanensis, although this is not diagnostic, and individuals of the nominate subspecies shows either morphologies in similar proportions. Also most lewisi have an extra pair scales behind the prefrontals, although not always and individuals from the other populations may also have these. Thus Burton concluded that using scale characteristics these three taxa could not be told apart in a consistent manner. According to him most important difference between the lewisi population and the other two is skin color. Although skin color is a variable characteristic that is usually considered unsatisfactory in taxonomy, Burton thought that in this instance it might be appropriate. Although all three taxa hatch with the same color, as they grow older lewisi becomes more uniformly bluish, whereas the other taxa can be more variable in coloration, although Burton states that this characteristic is not reliable in many circumstances, such as rainy weather. Other reasons Burton gave for recognising lewisi as a separate species were geography, there is at least 108 kilometres separating the forms, which Burton then interpreted to mean that the populations were reproductively isolated, despite there being no reproductive barriers between the populations. Grant reported seeing caymanensis on Grand Cayman in 1940, but Burton states that this was likely a mistaken sighting made during rainy weather. Lastly Burton points to mitochondrial DNA analysis performed by Catherine Malone et al. in 2000; although the sample size was extremely small and there was some ambiguity, the different populations did have different haplotypes. Although Malone et al. found C. nubila sensu lato to be monophyletic, Burton claimed lewisi could be separated from the other two taxa without rendering C. nubila polyphyletic. Although none of this might be used to traditionally delineate a population as a species, he proposed using the "general lineage concept" introduced by de Queiroz in 1998 to do so anyway.
## Common names
This animal was originally called the Grand Cayman rock iguana, or Grand Cayman blue rock iguana. After separating this population taxonomically from the other Cayman Islands rock iguanas, Burton proposed a set of new vernacular names for the population in 2004: Grand Cayman blue iguana, Cayman blue iguana or for local colloquial use he proposed the simple abbreviated blue iguana.
Note that the name "blue iguana" is also used for bright blue forms of the green iguana, Iguana iguana.
## Description
`An example of island gigantism, the blue iguana is the largest native land animal on Grand Cayman with a total nose-to-tail length of 5 ft (1.5 m) and weighing as much as 30 lb (14 kg). This is among the largest species of lizards in the Western Hemisphere. The largest of the Cyclura, its body length is 20–30 in (510–760 mm) with a tail equal in length. The blue iguana's toes are articulated to be efficient in digging and climbing trees. The mature male's skin color ranges from dark grey to turquoise blue, whereas the female is more olive green to pale blue. Young animals tend to be uniformly dark brown or green with faint darker banding. When they first emerge from the nest the neonates have an intricate pattern of eight dark dorsal chevrons from the crest of their necks to their pelvic area. These markings fade by the time the animal is one year old, changing to mottled gray and cream and eventually giving way to blue as adults. The adult blue iguana is typically dark gray matching the karst rock of its landscape. The animal changes its color to blue when it is in the presence of other iguanas to signal and establish territory. The blue color is more pronounced in males of the species. Their distinctive black feet stand in contrast to their lighter overall body color. The blue iguana's eyes have a golden iris and red sclera.`
Blue iguanas are sexually dimorphic; males are larger and have more prominent dorsal crests as well as larger femoral pores on their thighs, which are used to release pheromones. The male is larger than the female by one third of his body size.
## Distribution
The blue iguana is endemic to the island of Grand Cayman. As of 2012 the population can be found throughout the island Grand Cayman excluding the urban areas of Bodden Town, Gun Bay, Seven Mile Beach and West Bay. One theory for how the taxon ended up on the island is that a single female Cuban iguana, C. nubila nubila, with eggs inside her drifted across the sea, perhaps during a storm. Sometimes the Lesser Caymans iguana, C. nubila caymanensis, has been found on Grand Cayman.
## Ecology
### Habitat
The blue iguana is found only on the island of Grand Cayman. Comparison with other Cyclura species in the region strongly suggests that there was once a coastal population of blue iguanas which was gradually displaced or extirpated by human settlements and the construction of roads. The blue iguana now only occurs inland in natural xerophytic shrubland and along the interfaces between farm clearings, roads, and gardens and closed-canopy dry forest or shrubland. The interior population is believed to have been attracted to agricultural clearings and fruit farms which provide thermoregulatory opportunities, herbaceous browse, fallen fruit, and nesting soil, but this brought the blue iguana into contact with humans and feral animals. Females often migrate to coastal areas to nest. Blue iguanas released into the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman were radiotracked in 2004 to determine ranges for each animal. Females were found to occupy territories of 0.6 acres (2,400 m<sup>2</sup>) and males an average of 1.4 acres (5,700 m<sup>2</sup>) with overlap in common territories, indicating that they choose to maintain a population density of four to five animals per hectare.
The blue iguanas occupy rock holes and tree cavities, and as adults are primarily terrestrial. Although not known to be arboreal, it has been observed climbing trees 15 feet (4.6 m) and higher. Younger individuals tend to be more arboreal.
### Diet
Like all Cyclura species, the blue iguana is primarily herbivorous, consuming leaves, stems, flowers, nuts, and fruits from over 45 species of plant. The diet is very rarely supplemented with insects, crabs, slugs and fungi. Blue iguanas have also been observed ingesting small rocks, soil, feces, and bits of shedding.
### Predators
Hatchlings are preyed upon by the native snake Alsophis cantherigerus. The adults have no natural predators.
### Longevity
Longevity in the wild is unknown but is presumed to be many decades. A blue iguana named "Godzilla" captured on Grand Cayman in 1950 by naturalist Ira Thompson was imported to the United States in 1985 by Ramon Noegel and sold to reptile importer and breeder, Tom Crutchfield in 1990. Crutchfield donated Godzilla to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas in 1997 and the lizard remained there until its death in 2004. Thompson estimated Godzilla to be 15 years of age at the time of his capture. At an estimated 69 years of age (54 of which were spent in captivity), Godzilla may be the world's longest-living lizard for which there is reliable record. A closely related Lesser Caymans iguana (C. nubila caymanensis) has been documented as living 33 years in captivity.
### Reproduction
Mating occurs from May through June. Copulation is preceded by numerous head-bobs on the part of the male, who then circles around behind the female and grasps the nape of her neck. He then attempts to restrain the female in order to manoeuvre his tail under hers to position himself for intromission (copulation). Copulation generally lasts from 30 to 90 seconds, and a pair is rarely observed mating more than once or twice a day. A clutch of anywhere from 1 to 21 eggs are usually laid in June or July depending on the size and age of the female, in nests excavated in pockets of earth exposed to the sun. Several exploratory nests are begun before one is completed. These burrows can range from 16 inches (0.41 m) to over 60 inches (1.5 m) in length, with an enlarged chamber at its terminal portion to allow the female to turn around. The temperature within nests that have been monitored by researchers remained a constant 32 °C (90 °F) throughout the incubation period which ranges from 65 to 90 days. The blue iguana's eggs are among the largest laid by any lizard.
Individuals are aggressively territorial from the age of about three months onward. They typically reach sexual maturity after four years of age in captivity.
## Conservation
### Endangered status
The blue iguana is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In 1988 the British researcher Roger Avery spent two weeks on the island and only observed three animals. Surveys in 2003 indicated a total population in the range of 5–15 individuals. In 2006 the iguana was one of the most endangered lizards on Earth.
Restored free-roaming subpopulations in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park and the Salina Reserve numbered approximately 125 individuals in total after an initial release in December 2005. The restored subpopulation in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park has been breeding since 2001, and the subpopulation in the Salina Reserve was deemed to be breeding in 2006 after a nest of three hatched eggs was discovered in the wild. In April 2007, after another large-scale release, there were 299 blue iguanas living in the wild, with hundreds more being raised in captivity on Grand Cayman. In late 2012, the blue iguana recovery program estimated that the wild population had risen to approximately 750 individuals, and the IUCN subsequently downlisted the species from critically endangered to endangered.
International trade in the species is regulated due to its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
### Causes of decline
Habitat destruction is the main factor threatening extinction for this iguana. Land clearance within remnant habitat is occurring for agriculture, road construction, and real estate development and speculation. The conversion of traditional crop lands to cattle pasture is eliminating secondary blue iguana habitat.
Predation and injury to hatchlings by rats, to hatchlings and sub-adults by feral cats, and killing of adults by pet dogs are all placing severe pressure on the remaining wild population. Automobiles and motorscooters are an increasing cause of mortality as the iguanas rarely survive the collisions. Trapping and shooting is a comparatively minor concern, and has stopped according to the IUCN in 2012, but before 1995 occasional trapping may have occurred.
The common green iguana, (Iguana iguana), has been introduced from Honduras and is well-established on Grand Cayman as an invasive species. It far outnumbers the native blue iguana. No direct negative consequences on the blue iguana due to this introduction are known, but the mere presence of the green iguana confuses public attitudes and understanding. For example, the people of the island are told that blue iguanas are endangered and rare, but the green iguana looks very similar and are quite common in suburban areas.
In 2008 six blue iguanas were found dead in the preserve within Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman. The iguanas were apparently killed by human vandals armed with knives and two of the slaughtered animals were gravid females about to lay eggs.
The wild population of blue iguanas had been reduced from a near island-wide distribution to a non-viable, fragmented remnant. By 2001 no young hatched in the unmanaged wild population were surviving to breeding age, meaning the population was functionally extinct, with only five animals remaining in the wild.
### Recovery efforts
In 1990, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association designated the genus Cyclura as their highest priority for conservation. Their first project was an in situ captive breeding program for the blue iguana.
One of the early difficulties encountered was that the captive stock of the early 1990s was found not to be pure. It was discovered through DNA analysis that the captive population contained a number of animals that were hybrids with C. nubila caymanensis. These hybrids were sterilized by means of hemipenectomies so that the program contain only pure-breeds. This program was created to determine the exact genealogies of the limited gene pool of the remaining animals and DNA analysis revealed that the entire North American captive population was descended from a single pair of animals.
As a hedge against disaster striking the blue iguana population on Grand Cayman, in 2004 an ex situ captive population was established in 25 zoos in the USA. A minimum of 20 founder lines represented by at least 225 individuals is being maintained by captive breeding and recorded in a studbook for the species by Tandora Grant of the San Diego Zoo's Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species. By 2002 the Indianapolis Zoo had success with breeding the blue iguana in captivity twice since the year 2000.
In October 2006, hatchlings were released into the wild for the first time to boost the species and help bring them back from the brink of extinction. Each released blue iguana wears a string of colored beads through its nuchal crest for visual identification at a distance, backed up by an implanted microchip and a high-resolution photograph of its head scales. Head scale patterns are as unique among blue iguanas as fingerprints are among humans.
The blue iguana is established in captivity, both in public and private collections. There are very few pure-bred animals in private collections, animals in captive breeding programs are often hybrids with the Lesser Caymans Iguana (C. nubila caymanensis) and occasional hybrids with the Cuban Iguana (C. nubila nubila). Breeding in the pet trade minimizes the demand for wild-caught specimens.
#### Blue Iguana Recovery Programme
The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme grew from a small project started in 1990 within the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. It is now a partnership, linking the Trust with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, National Trust Cayman Islands, Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, International Reptile Conservation Foundation, IRCF, and the European Commission. This program operates under a special exemption from provisions in the Animals Law of the Cayman Islands, which normally would make it illegal for anyone to kill, capture, or keep iguanas. BIRP's conservation strategy involves generating large numbers of genetically diverse hatchlings, headstarting them for two years so that their chance of survival in the wild is high, and using these animals to rebuild a series of wild sub-populations in protected, managed natural areas. A rapid numerical increase from a maximum possible number of founding stock is sought to minimize loss of genetic diversity caused by a population bottleneck.
Restored sub-populations are present in two non-contiguous areas —the Salina Reserve and the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. Habitat protection is still vital, as the Salina Reserve has only 88 acres (360,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of dry shrubland, which is not enough to sustain the 1,000 blue iguanas that were planned to be restored to the wild. The 2001 plan called for additional sub-populations to be restored in one or more other areas. When the wild sub-populations have reached the carrying capacity of their respective protected areas, release of head-started animals will be phased out.
The overall captive population is likely to remain genetically fragmented in the long term. To maintain gene flow, individuals should be translocated between zoos.
According to the 2001 plan, breeding of blue iguanas in the wild will require indefinite future management. To sustain this activity, a range of commercial activities was hoped to generate the required funding. An education and awareness effort in 2007 was meant to ensure local involvement and support.
In April 2019, one iguana laid 18 eggs for possible hatching. Any survivals will be the first successful breeding since 2015. |
14,419,505 | Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall | 1,152,367,836 | 2007 live album by Rufus Wainwright | [
"2007 live albums",
"Albums produced by Phil Ramone",
"Albums recorded at Carnegie Hall",
"Covers albums",
"Geffen Records live albums",
"Judy Garland tribute albums",
"Live pop rock albums",
"Rufus Wainwright albums"
]
| Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall is the sixth album (and first live album) by the Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through Geffen Records in December 2007. The album consists of live recordings from his sold-out June 14–15, 2006, tribute concerts at Carnegie Hall to the American actress and singer Judy Garland. Backed by a 36-piece orchestra conducted by Stephen Oremus, Wainwright recreated Garland's April 23, 1961, concert, often considered "the greatest night in show business history". Garland's 1961 double album, Judy at Carnegie Hall, a comeback performance with more than 25 American pop and jazz standards, was highly successful, initially spending 95 weeks on the Billboard charts and garnering five Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year, Best Album Cover, Best Solo Vocal Performance – Female and Best Engineering Contribution – Popular Recording).
For his album, Wainwright was also recognized by the Grammy Awards, earning a 2009 nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. While the tribute concerts were popular and the album was well received by critics, album sales were limited. Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall managed to chart in three nations, peaking at number 84 in Belgium, number 88 in the Netherlands and number 171 on the United States' Billboard 200.
Guests on the album include Wainwright's sister Martha Wainwright ("Stormy Weather"), his mother Kate McGarrigle (piano, "Over the Rainbow"), along with one of Garland's daughters, Lorna Luft ("After You've Gone"). Related to the album, the February 25, 2007 tribute concert filmed at the London Palladium was released on DVD as Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live from the London Palladium on December 4, 2007.
## Conception and development
According to Pitchfork, Wainwright "started listening to the Carnegie Hall album in the weeks and months after September 11, craving some cheap showbiz cheer, but wound up discovering something deeper". The subsequent War on Terrorism and invasion of Iraq caused Wainwright to become "traumatized and disillusioned with anything American". Claiming he was reminded of how great "the US used to be", Wainwright said the following of his appreciation for the album during that turbulent time in American history:
> Somehow that album, no matter how dark things seemed, made everything brighten. She had this capacity to lighten the world through the innocence of her sound. Her anchor to the material was obviously through her devotion to music. You never feel that she didn't believe every word of every song she ever sang.
> I find the political and socioeconomic environment we live in very oppressive and very worrying, but every time I put on that live album, I was immediately put in a better mood. I was given a sense of hope and a sense of escape, only because so much of modern-day culture and radio—and what's prized by our society—is so empty. And then of course I would sing along.
Wainwright observed while driving in his car that "it [would] be funny to redo this as a song cycle". Soon afterwards, he took the idea to New York-based theatrical producer Jared Geller (who would later co-produce the tribute concert with David Foster), hoping to turn a dream into a reality. Geller initially thought the idea was "insane", but he and Wainwright continued discussing options. Eventually, Geller agreed to assist with the production and the two found space in Wainwright's schedule to book Carnegie Hall a year in advance. Once the venue was booked, staging elements such as lighting, microphone location and amplification were discussed. Stephen Oremus signed on as the conductor of the 36-piece orchestra and Phil Ramone took charge of the recording. Rehearsals began in April 2006, and while it would have been easier to practice in rehearsal rooms, large theaters such as the Lynch at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Museum of Jewish Heritage were utilized because "Rufus wanted a feel for performing this material on a stage". As a result of financial restrictions, full orchestra rehearsals took place only two days before the show and the day of each performance (practice with smaller groups of instruments began a few months before the concerts).
## Tribute concerts
Due to popular demand, Wainwright's tribute was performed a total of six times. After tickets for the first show (June 14, 2006 at Carnegie Hall in New York City) sold out, a second show was added at the same venue for the following night (June 15). Increased demand resulted in three concerts in Europe: February 18, 2007 at the London Palladium in London, February 20 at L'Olympia in Paris and February 25 once again at the London Palladium. The final performance was on September 23, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.
### Promotion, celebrity participation
Part of the success of the tribute concerts can be attributed to the amount of press attention received and the eagerness of other artists to participate in the event. As written by Gaby Wood of The Guardian, Wainwright "sparkled on the cover of Time Out New York" and was "adored in the pages of The New York Times" following the Carnegie Hall shows.
In fashion designer Marc Jacobs' menswear boutique in Greenwich Village, "virtually nothing was for sale except T-shirts advertising the show" (the bright orange shirts contained the text "RUFUS RUFUS RUFUS" and "world's greatest entertainer", mimicking promotional material used for Garland 45 years earlier). Film director Sam Mendes planned to create a documentary about Wainwright's re-creation and the work leading up to it, though the project fell through.
Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf outfitted Wainwright and his family members for the concerts. To return the favor Wainwright wrote the song "Ode to Antidote" and allowed its use in the promotion of the design duo's cologne, "Antidote". He also helped premiere the cologne at the after-party for his first Garland tribute and later performed "Over the Rainbow" at the premiere of their Spring 2007 fashion line. Wainwright wore clothing by Tom Ford at the Hollywood Bowl concert.
To promote the album, Wainwright's website linked to an online store where fans could purchase merchandise, including several shirt designs, concert posters, programs and other collectibles. Like the shirts sold by Marc Jacobs, much of the promotional material mimicked posters used for Garland's concert years before.
Celebrities attending the Carnegie Hall shows included Justin Bond ("Kiki" of Kiki and Herb), Patricia Field, Gina Gershon, Joel Grey, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Tony Kushner, Ann Magnuson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, the Proenza Schouler boys, Chloë Sevigny, John Waters and Viktor & Rolf. Famous faces turned out at the concerts in Europe as well, including Julian Barratt, Keane frontman Tom Chaplin, Julia Davis, David Furnish, Mark Gatiss, Richard E. Grant, Jeremy Irons, Lulu, Paul Morley, Siân Phillips, Imogen Stubbs and Teddy Thompson. Celebrities at the Hollywood Bowl show included Jamie Lee Curtis, Jimmy Fallon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Debbie Reynolds and Rod Stewart.
## Music
### Songs
The songs on the album are identical to those performed on Garland's 1961 album, Judy at Carnegie Hall, except Wainwright's album included "Get Happy" as a bonus track in the UK and on iTunes in the US. "Hail[ing] from a golden era dotted with trolley cars, Cadillacs, and glitzy jazz clubs", the set list included more than 25 American swing tunes, jazz and pop standards, including two Rodgers and Hart classics ("This Can't Be Love", "You're Nearer"), three from brothers George and Ira Gershwin ("Who Cares? (As Long as You Care for Me)", "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and "A Foggy Day"), two from duo Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz ("Alone Together", "That's Entertainment!"), Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Noël Coward and more. Wainwright performed the songs nearly identically to Garland, even "flubb[ing]" the lyrics purposely on "You Go to My Head" to mimic the mistake made by Garland years before.
### Orchestrations
Stephen Oremus, musical director for the tribute concerts, faced the task of resurrecting Mort Lindsey's original arrangements written for a 36-piece orchestra. Although it is no longer common to have orchestras so large (Oremus acknowledged that even Wicked on Broadway only had 22 pieces), Wainwright and Oremus insisted the full 36-piece ensemble should be utilized to create "as exact a replica as [they could] muster". Some of the arrangements had to be reconstructed, since the music was not available, and most of the songs had to be transposed, since Wainwright was performing them in a different key.
## Gay elements
Garland was a gay icon, even before Wainwright was born. Gay identification with Garland was being discussed in the mainstream as early as 1967. Time magazine, in reviewing Garland's 1967 Palace Theatre engagement, disparagingly noted that a "disproportionate part of her nightly claque seems to be homosexual". It goes on to say that "[t]he boys in the tight trousers" would "roll their eyes, tear at their hair and practically levitate from their seats" during Garland's performances. Time then attempted to explain Garland's appeal to the homosexual, consulting psychiatrists who opined that "the attraction [to Garland] might be made considerably stronger by the fact that she has survived so many problems; homosexuals identify with that kind of hysteria" and that "Judy was beaten up by life, embattled, and ultimately had to become more masculine. She has the power that homosexuals would like to have, and they attempt to attain it by idolizing her."
Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community, which includes Wainwright, who identifies as gay and came out to his parents at the age of 14. A connection is frequently drawn between the timing of Garland's death and funeral, in June 1969, and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement. Coincidental or not, the proximity of Garland's death to Stonewall has become a part of LGBT history and lore. Wainwright, having been called the "first post-liberation era gay pop star", was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz (1939) as a child and would dress in his mother's gown, "pretend[ing] to be either the Wicked Witch – melting for hours on end – or the Good Witch, depending on his mood". Wainwright also claims his mother (Canadian folk musician Kate McGarrigle) forced him to perform "Over the Rainbow" for guests while growing up, a song he often included in his concert repertoire as an adult.
Wainwright never intended to impersonate Garland or create a drag act, but rather to inhabit the songs and expose them to a new generation. However, there was a certain camp style present, of which Wainwright stated the following: "I think that any gay person in the world would be seduced at one point by a certain kind of camp. For certain people it's kind of a saving grace." Regarding the tribute concerts and homosexuality, Wainwright admitted:
> I don't think it would have been possible for anyone other than a gay male to do this concert. In a weird way, a gay man has some sort of perspective on it, I believe.
While Wainwright did not dress in drag at any of the tribute shows in New York or Europe, he did return to the stage in "Judy drag" for an encore at the Hollywood Bowl performance, "bedecked in a double-breasted tuxedo jacket sans pants, black stockings, high heels, earrings, lipstick and a tilted fedora". He also took "Get Happy" from the set and performed the tune "Summer Stock"-style during part of his Release the Stars tour to mimic the look of Garland during her performance (pictured on right).
## Critical reception
Overall, reception of the album was positive. Stephen Holden of Blender called Wainwright's tribute "a fabulous stunt in which a gay singer channeled the spirit of the ultimate gay icon", and declared the album was "as good an introduction to the great American songbook as any". Pitchfork Media's Stephen Troussé wrote that Wainwright "elegantly outdoes [Garland] on a couple of the ballads" and also compliments guest performer Martha Wainwright, "who turns in a stunning, showstopping 'Stormy Weather' in an appropriately brazen bid to steal the show". In his review for Rolling Stone, Robert Christgau stated it was "a relief to hear him essay the show tunes and Tin Pan Alley chestnuts of this tribute album". Furthermore, he wrote that the songs "expand [Wainwright's] melodic compass", allowing him to "bring something new to them too – namely, sexuality in the sensuality as opposed to gender-preference sense". Dave Hughes of Slant Magazine had positive comments about the album: "That Wainwright has the temerity to cover such a bona fide classic—and the chops to pull it off without breaking a limb or his brain—speaks both to his ambition and to his prodigious abilities."
The album did receive some criticism. After noting Garland's lifelong attempt to master pitch and articulation, Christgau claimed Wainwright's habit of "slid[ing] past notes and draw[ing] out the final syllables of lines are signatures indistinguishable from tics". Entertainment Weeklys Chris Willman wrote that Wainwright's "delicate upper range is nicely attuned to some of the ballads, but anything that requires belting is pretty much a loss". Mark Edwards of The Times called Wainwright's performance an acquired taste, stating his "trademark delivery" is "lazy and somewhat slurred". Dave Hughes' review pointed out Wainwright's "problem with the brassy high notes in an otherwise energetic take on 'That's Entertainment'", but admits it would be unfair to hold this against him since Garland's live performance was not perfect either. Hughes appropriately notes, "Ain't nobody perfect".
## Chart performance and recognition
Despite the popularity of Wainwright's tribute concerts, an abundance of press regarding the album, and generally favorable critical reception, album sales were limited. However, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall reached a peak position of number 84 in Belgium, number 88 in the Netherlands and number 171 on the United States' Billboard 200. The album was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, but lost to Natalie Cole's Still Unforgettable. In 2012, AfterElton.com included the album on its list of "10 Great Pop Culture Moments from Famous Canadians".
## Track listing
Disc 1
1. Overture: "The Trolley Song" / "Over the Rainbow" / "The Man That Got Away"
(Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) / (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg) / (Arlen, Ira Gershwin) – 4:15
2. "When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)" (Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay) – 3:44
3. Medley: "Almost Like Being in Love" / "This Can't Be Love" (Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe) / (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 6:10
4. "Do It Again" (George Gershwin, Buddy DeSylva) – 5:15
5. "You Go to My Head" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 2:40
6. "Alone Together" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) – 3:21
7. "Who Cares? (As Long as You Care for Me)" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 2:08
8. "Puttin' On the Ritz" (Irving Berlin) – 1:56
9. "How Long Has This Been Going On?" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 5:46
10. "Just You, Just Me" (Jesse Greer, Raymond Klages) – 2:03
11. "The Man That Got Away" (Arlen, I. Gershwin) – 4:59
12. "San Francisco" (Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn, Bronisław Kaper) – 4:53
Disc 2
1. "That's Entertainment!" (Dietz, Schwartz) – 2:27
2. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 8:11
3. "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 3:56
4. "You're Nearer" (Rodgers, Hart) – 1:58
5. "A Foggy Day" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 2:55
6. "If Love Were All" (Noël Coward) – 2:33
7. "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" – (James F. Hanley) – 3:48
8. "Stormy Weather" (Arlen, Ted Koehler) – 6:45 (performed by Martha Wainwright)
9. Medley: "You Made Me Love You" / "For Me and My Gal" / "The Trolley Song" (Joseph McCarthy, James V. Monaco, Roger Edens) / (George W. Meyer, Edgar Leslie, E. Ray Goetz) / (Blane, Martin) – 4:37
10. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" (Sam M. Lewis, Fred Schwartz, Joe Young) – 5:45
11. "Over the Rainbow" (Arlen, Harburg) – 4:47 (featuring Kate McGarrigle)
12. "Swanee" (Irving Caesar, G. Gershwin) – 1:54
13. "After You've Gone" (Henry Creamer, Turner Layton) – 2:57 (featuring Lorna Luft)
14. "Chicago" (Fred Fisher) – 4:30
Bonus track'
- "Get Happy" (Arlen, Koehler) – 3:12 (offered in the UK and on the US iTunes version)
Track listing adapted from AllMusic.
## Personnel
- John Engstead – photography
- Frank Filipetti – engineer
- Peter Gary – digital editing
- John Mark Harris – engineer
- Christian Hebel – concert master
- Alex Lake – photography
- John Loengard – photography
- Kate McGarrigle – performer, liner notes
- John Oddo – piano
- Stephen Oremus – conductor, director, performer, musical direction
- Jack Pierson – art direction, photography, cover photo
- Bucky Pizzarelli – guitar
- Kevin Porter – assistant engineer
- B.J. Ramone – assistant engineer
- Phil Ramone – producer
- Vincent Della Rocca – saxophone
- Jim Saporito – drums
- Richard Sarpola – bass
- Ryan Smith – mastering
- Jeanne Venton – A&R
- Martha Wainwright – performer
- Rufus Wainwright – executive producer
- Missy Webb – assistant engineer
Credits adapted from AllMusic.
## See also
- Friend of Dorothy
- List of Judy Garland performances |
29,957,469 | Ancestry of the Godwins | 1,147,509,165 | Ancestry of a noble family | [
"Anglo-Norse people",
"Anglo-Saxon people",
"House of Godwin",
"Medieval genealogies and succession lists"
]
| Very little is known for certain of the ancestry of the Godwins, the family of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II. When King Edward the Confessor died in January 1066 his closest relative was his great-nephew, Edgar the Ætheling, but he was young and lacked powerful supporters. Harold was the head of the most powerful family in England and Edward's brother-in-law, and he became king. In September 1066 Harold defeated and killed King Harald Hardrada of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and Harold was himself defeated and killed the following month by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.
The family is named after Harold's father, Earl Godwin, who had risen to a position of wealth and influence in the 1020s under Danish King Cnut the Great. In 1045 Godwin's daughter, Edith, married King Edward the Confessor, and by the mid-1050s Harold and his brothers had become dominant, almost monopolising the English earldoms. Godwin's origin is obscure. He was probably the son of Wulfnoth Cild, a South Saxon thegn, but Wulfnoth's ancestry is disputed. A few genealogists and historians argue that he was descended from Alfred the Great's elder brother, King Æthelred I (865–71), but almost all historians of Anglo-Saxon England reject this theory.
## Background
Earl Godwin is probably first recorded in 1014, when Godwin, son of Wulfnoth, was left land at a place called Compton in the will of King Æthelred the Unready's son Æthelstan Ætheling. As Earl Godwin was later recorded as holding land at Compton in Sussex it is likely that he was the Godwin mentioned in Æthelstan Ætheling's will. Historians think that he was probably the son of the outlawed South Saxon thegn Wulfnoth Cild. In 1009 Wulfnoth was accused of unknown crimes at a muster of King Æthelred's fleet, and fled with twenty ships; a force sent in pursuit was destroyed in a storm.
According to the twelfth-century chronicler John of Worcester, Godwin was the son of a Wulfnoth who was the son of Æthelmær, brother of Eadric Streona, both sons of an otherwise unknown Æthelric, but in the view of the historian Ann Williams this is chronologically impossible. If the relationship were true, the pedigree would result in a significant generational displacement, with two children of Æthelred the Unready marrying the son and great-great-granddaughter of Æthelric. Æthelred's daughter Eadgyth married Æthelric's son Eadric Streona, while Eadgyth's half-brother Edward the Confessor married Godwin's daughter Edith. If Godwin was Æthelric's great-grandson, then Edith was his great-great-granddaughter. David Kelley, however, argues that Edward, being a child of a later marriage, could have been almost a generation younger than his sister, and if both he and Eadric married much younger wives and if Eadric was among the youngest brothers of Æthelmær, this could close up the chronological differences. John of Worcester also stated that Wulfnoth's rebellion was provoked by unjust charges brought by Eadric Streona's brother, Brihtric.
The Life of Edward the Confessor, commissioned by his widow Edith, who was Harold's sister, is silent on her family's origin. In a section designed to eulogise her family, Godwin is described as "blessed in his ancestral stock", but nothing further is said of this stock. In the view of the historian Frank Barlow: "There is massive evasion here." Historians generally discount a later medieval tradition that he was the son of a churl or a farmer. In her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) article on Godwin's son, King Harold Godwinson, Robin Fleming says of Godwin: "The origins of this parvenu are extremely obscure." He was "the quintessential new man". However, Williams says that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'''s reference to "Wulfnoth cild the South Saxon" implies a man of rank (cild means child, young man, warrior); his ability to detach twenty ships from the royal fleet suggests a man of at least local importance. Frank Barlow goes further, arguing that Godwin must have been of aristocratic origin, and that the family's massive land holdings in Sussex are indisputable evidence that the Wulfnoth who was Godwin's father was the Saxon thegn.
## Æthelred I theory
A few scholars have put forward a genealogical reconstruction making the Godwins descend from Alfred the Great's elder brother, King Æthelred I of Wessex. The theory was first proposed by the historian Alfred Anscombe in 1913, and advocated by the genealogist Lundie W. Barlow in 1957 and the Mayanist scholar and genealogist David H. Kelley in 1989.
The theory depends in part on tracing the ownership of certain estates, especially Compton in West Sussex, which was probably the Compton left to Æthelred's son Æthelhelm in Alfred the Great's will. It was later in the possession of Wulfnoth, presumably confiscated after his rebellion, and left to "Godwin, Wulfnoth's son" in 1014 in Æthelstan Ætheling's will. Immediately before the bequest to Godwin is one to an "Ælmære". Calling him Ælmær, Anscombe identifies this legatee as Ealdorman Æthelmær the Stout, in his view the father of Wulfnoth Cild. He supports this relationship with two further arguments. He finds significance in the occurrence in documents of an Æthelmær with the same epithet as Wulfnoth, Cild, though another advocate of the theory, Lundie Barlow, found Anscombe's Cild argument "untenable". Anscombe also cites in support of his thesis John of Worcester's pedigree showing Godwin's father Wulfnoth as son of Agelmær, a brother of Eadric Streona. Though the Worcester chronicler gives his Agelmær a different father from the known father of Ealdorman Æthelmær, and Anscombe points out its inherent chronological problems, he argues that, though flawed, the pedigree retains the memory of a father-son relationship between Æthelmær the Stout and Wulfnoth Cild. Æthelmær was the son of the late tenth-century chronicler and ealdorman Æthelweard, whose own writings record that he was descended from Æthelred I, although the exact nature of this descent has been debated.
In his 2002 book The Godwins, Frank Barlow sympathetically examined the arguments put forward by Anscombe and Lundie Barlow. He included a family tree based on their work, showing Godwin's descent from Æthelred I, and at one point described Wulfnoth Cild as the son of Æthelmær the Stout. Elsewhere he was more cautious, describing Wulfnoth as the probable son of Æthelmær, and questioning whether a family which had used names for seven generations almost all starting with Æthel- or Ælf- would suddenly have thrown up a Wulfnoth, particularly as Æthelmær the Stout's known sons continued the tradition. He stated nevertheless that "This pedigree, even if mistaken, is of the right type."
Frank Barlow is almost alone among modern scholars in taking the theory seriously. Peter Rex, in his biography of Harold, describes Godwin as one of Cnut's new men, and dismisses claims that the family had aristocratic ancestry. Emma Mason, in her history of the Godwin family, describes Wulfnoth as a mystery man who was probably a minor figure at court in the late tenth century, and Ian Walker in his biography of Harold gives a similar description of Wulfnoth as "a relatively minor figure who attended court only infrequently". Williams in her ODNB article on Godwin, and Robin Fleming in her ODNB'' article on Harold, do not mention the theory when discussing Godwin's ancestry, and according to Stenton: "Of his origin nothing can be said with any assurance."
## Succession to the throne
Even if Harold was descended from Æthelred I, it would not have given him a hereditary claim to the throne according to the rules of royal succession in later Anglo-Saxon England. Eligibility was confined to æthelings, that is throne-worthy princes of the royal house. In earlier Anglo-Saxon times, eligibility depended on descent from the fifth- or sixth-century founder of each kingdom, but it later became more restricted. According to David Dumville: "The Anglo-Saxon ætheling in the period from the ninth-century Scandinavian settlements to the Norman Conquest was a prince of the royal house. He shared with the reigning king descent from a common grandfather at least". All known West Saxon æthelings after 900 were the sons of kings except for Harold's rival for the throne in 1066, Edgar the Ætheling, who was the grandson of King Edmund Ironside. Edgar was thus an ætheling according to Dumville's definition, but in the view of Pauline Stafford, only the son of a present or former king could be an ætheling, and when Edward the Confessor gave this designation to his great-nephew Edgar, it was a form of adoption without known recent precedent, because for the first time since the beginning of the ninth century there was no living ætheling in the strict sense of a son of a king.
## Danish ancestry
Godwin's wife, and the mother of his children including Harold and Edith, was Gytha Thorkelsdóttir. Her father was Thorgils Sprakaleg, a Dane whose origin is unknown, although he was probably a Dane from Scania, which was then in Denmark but is now part of Sweden. Gytha was very well connected as her brother Ulf married King Cnut's sister Estrith. Cnut probably arranged the marriage between Godwin and Gytha in about 1022. |
50,534 | Caroline of Ansbach | 1,169,215,391 | Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1737 | [
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| Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline; 1 March 1683 – 20 November 1737) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Electress of Hanover from 11 June 1727 until her death in 1737 as the wife of King George II.
Caroline's father, Margrave John Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach, belonged to a branch of the House of Hohenzollern and was the ruler of a small German state, the Principality of Ansbach. After Caroline was orphaned at a young age, she moved to the enlightened court of her guardians, King Frederick I and Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia. At the Prussian court, her previously limited education was widened and she adopted the liberal outlook possessed by Sophia Charlotte, who became her good friend and whose views influenced Caroline all her life.
When she was a young woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. After rejecting the suit of Archduke Charles of Austria, a claimant to the Spanish throne, she married George Augustus, who was third in line to the English throne (and subsequently the British throne) and heir apparent to the Electorate of Hanover. They had eight children, seven of whom reached adulthood. Caroline moved to Britain permanently in 1714 when her husband became Prince of Wales. As Princess of Wales she joined her husband in rallying political opposition to his father, King George I. In 1717, after a family row, her husband was expelled from court. Caroline came to be associated with Robert Walpole, an opposition politician who was a former government minister. Walpole rejoined the government in 1720 and Caroline's husband and King George I reconciled publicly on Walpole's advice. Over the next few years Walpole rose to become the leading minister.
Upon her husband's accession in 1727, Caroline became queen and electress, and her eldest son, Frederick, became Prince of Wales. He was a focus for the opposition, like his father before him, and Caroline's relationship with him was strained. As princess and as queen, Caroline was known for her political influence, which she exercised both through and for Walpole. Her tenure included four regencies, which occurred during her husband's stays in Hanover; she is credited with strengthening the House of Hanover's place in Britain during a period of political instability. After her death in 1737, Caroline was widely mourned by her political allies as well as by the King, who refused to remarry.
## Early life
Caroline was born on 1 March 1683 at Ansbach, the daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was the ruler of one of the smallest German states; he died of smallpox at the age of 32, when Caroline was three years old. Caroline and her only full sibling, her younger brother Margrave William Frederick, left Ansbach with their mother, who returned to her native Eisenach. In 1692, Caroline's widowed mother was pushed into an unhappy marriage with the Elector of Saxony, and she and her two children moved to the Saxon court at Dresden. Eleonore Erdmuthe was widowed again two years later, after her unfaithful husband contracted smallpox from his mistress. Eleonore remained in Saxony for another two years, until her death in 1696. The orphaned Caroline and William Frederick returned to Ansbach to stay with their elder half-brother, Margrave George Frederick II. George Frederick was a youth with little interest in parenting a girl, and so Caroline soon moved to Lützenburg outside Berlin, where she entered into the care of her new guardians, Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Sophia Charlotte, who had been a friend of Eleonore Erdmuthe.
### Education
Frederick and Sophia Charlotte became king and queen of Prussia in 1701. The Queen was the daughter of Sophia, Dowager Electress of Hanover, and the sister of George, Elector of Hanover. She was renowned for her intelligence and strong character, and her uncensored and liberal court attracted a great many scholars, including philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. Caroline was exposed to a lively intellectual environment quite different from anything she had experienced previously. Before she began her education under Sophia Charlotte's care, Caroline had received little formal education; her handwriting remained poor throughout her life. With her lively mind, Caroline developed into a scholar of considerable ability. She and Sophia Charlotte developed a strong relationship in which Caroline was treated as a surrogate daughter; the Queen once declared Berlin was "a desert" without Caroline whenever she left temporarily for Ansbach.
## Marriage
An intelligent and attractive woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. Dowager Electress Sophia called her "the most agreeable Princess in Germany". She was considered for the hand of Archduke Charles of Austria, who was a candidate for the throne of Spain and later became Holy Roman Emperor. Charles made official overtures to her in 1703, and the match was encouraged by King Frederick of Prussia. After some consideration, Caroline refused in 1704, as she would not convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism. Early in the following year, Queen Sophia Charlotte died on a visit to her native Hanover. Caroline was devastated, writing to Leibniz, "The calamity has overwhelmed me with grief and sickness, and it is only the hope that I may soon follow her that consoles me."
In June 1705, Sophia Charlotte's nephew Prince George Augustus of Hanover visited the Ansbach court, supposedly incognito, to inspect Caroline, as his father the Elector did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he himself had. The nephew of three childless uncles, George Augustus was under pressure to marry and father an heir to prevent endangering the Hanoverian succession. He had heard reports of Caroline's "incomparable beauty and mental attributes". He immediately took a liking to her "good character" and the British envoy reported that George Augustus "would not think of anybody else after her". For her part, Caroline was not fooled by the prince's disguise, and found her suitor attractive. He was the heir apparent of his father's Electorate of Hanover and third-in-line to the English throne, then held by his distant cousin Queen Anne, after his grandmother Dowager Electress Sophia and his father the Elector.
On 22 August 1705, Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding to George Augustus; they were married that evening in the palace chapel at Herrenhausen. By May of the following year, Caroline was pregnant, and her first child Prince Frederick was born on 20 January 1707. A few months after the birth, in July, Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox followed by pneumonia. Her baby was kept away from her, but George Augustus remained devotedly at her side, catching the infection himself. They both survived. Over the next seven years, Caroline had three more children, Anne, Amelia, and Caroline, all of whom were born in Hanover.
George Augustus and Caroline had a successful and loving marriage, though he continued to keep mistresses, as was customary for the time. Caroline was aware of his infidelities; they were well known and he told her about them himself. His two best-known mistresses were Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, and, beginning in 1735, Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth. Howard was one of Caroline's Women of the Bedchamber and became Mistress of the Robes when her husband inherited a peerage in 1731; she retired in 1734. In contrast with George Augustus and his mother, Sophia Dorothea, Caroline was known for her marital fidelity; she never made any embarrassing scenes nor did she take lovers. She preferred her husband's mistresses to be her ladies-in-waiting so that she could keep a closer eye on them.
After the union of England and Scotland in 1707, the succession of George Augustus's family to the united British throne was confirmed but insecure, since Queen Anne's half-brother James Stuart contested the Hanoverian claim, and Queen Anne had fallen out with Caroline's grandmother-in-law Dowager Electress Sophia. Anne refused permission for any of the Hanoverians to visit Britain in her lifetime. Caroline wrote to Leibniz, "I accept the comparison which you draw, though all too flattering, between me and Queen Elizabeth as a good omen. Like Elizabeth, the Electress's rights are denied her by a jealous sister [Queen Anne], and she will never be sure of the English crown until her accession to the throne." In June 1714, Dowager Electress Sophia died in Caroline's arms at the age of 83, and Caroline's father-in-law became Queen Anne's heir presumptive. Just weeks later, Anne died, and the Elector of Hanover was proclaimed her successor, becoming George I of Great Britain.
## Princess of Wales
George Augustus sailed to England in September 1714, and Caroline and two of her daughters followed in October. Her journey across the North Sea from The Hague to Margate was the only sea voyage she took in her life. Their young son, Prince Frederick, remained in Hanover for the rest of George I's reign, and was brought up by private tutors.
On the accession of George I in 1714, Caroline's husband automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. Shortly afterwards, he was invested as Prince of Wales, whereupon she became Princess of Wales. Caroline was the first woman to receive the title at the same time as her husband received his. She was also the first Princess of Wales in over two hundred years, the previous one being Catherine of Aragon in the 16th century. Since George I had repudiated his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, in 1694 before he became King of Great Britain, there was no queen consort, and Caroline was therefore the highest-ranking woman in the kingdom. George Augustus and Caroline made a concerted effort to "anglicise" by getting to know England's language, people, politics and customs. Two separate and very different courts developed: the old king's court had German courtiers and government ministers, while the Wales's court attracted English nobles who were out of favour with the King, and was considerably more popular with the British people. George Augustus and Caroline gradually became centres of the political opposition to the King.
Two years after their arrival in England, Caroline suffered a stillbirth, which her friend the Countess of Bückeburg blamed on the incompetence of English doctors, but the following year she had another son, Prince George William, in November. At the baptism, her husband fell out with his father over the choice of godparents, leading to the couple's placement under house arrest at St James's Palace prior to their banishment from court. Caroline was originally allowed to stay with their children, but refused as she believed her place was with her husband. She and her husband moved into Leicester House, while their children remained in the care of the King. Caroline fell sick with worry, and fainted during a secret visit to her children made without the King's approval. By January, the King had relented and allowed Caroline unrestricted access. In February, Prince George William fell ill, and the King allowed both George Augustus and Caroline to see him at Kensington Palace without any conditions. When the baby died, a post-mortem was conducted to prove that the cause of death was disease (a polyp on the heart) rather than the separation from his mother. Further tragedy occurred in 1718, when she miscarried at Richmond Lodge, her country residence, after being startled by a violent storm. Over the next few years, Caroline had three more children: William, Mary and Louise. In July 1725, her 11th and final pregnancy ended in a second miscarriage.
Leicester House became a frequent meeting place for the ministry's political opponents. Caroline struck up a friendship with politician Sir Robert Walpole, a former minister in the Whig government who led a disgruntled faction of the party. In April 1720, Walpole's wing of the Whig party reconciled with the governing wing, and Walpole and Caroline helped to effect a reconciliation between the King and her husband for the sake of public unity. Caroline wanted to regain her three eldest daughters, who remained in the care of the King, and thought the reconciliation would lead to their return, but negotiations came to nothing. George Augustus came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the reconciliation as part of a scheme to gain power. The prince was isolated politically when Walpole's Whigs joined the government, and Leicester House played host to literary figures and wits, such as John Arbuthnot and Jonathan Swift, rather than politicians. Arbuthnot told Swift that Caroline had enjoyed his Gulliver's Travels, particularly the tale of the crown prince who wore one high-heel and one low-heel in a country where the King and his party wore low heels, and the opposition wore high ones: a barely veiled reference to the political leanings of the Prince of Wales.
Caroline's intellect far outstripped her husband's, and she read avidly. She established an extensive library at St James's Palace. As a young woman, she corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz, the intellectual colossus who was courtier and factotum to the House of Hanover. She later facilitated the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, arguably the most important philosophy of physics discussion of the 18th century. She helped to popularise the practice of variolation (an early type of immunisation), which had been witnessed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Charles Maitland in Constantinople. At the direction of Caroline, six condemned prisoners from Newgate Prison were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived, as did six orphan children given the same treatment as a further test. Convinced of its medical value, Caroline had her children Amelia, Caroline and Frederick inoculated against smallpox in the same manner. In praising her support for smallpox inoculation, Voltaire wrote of her, "I must say that despite all her titles and crowns, this princess was born to encourage the arts and the well-being of mankind; even on the throne she is a benevolent philosopher; and she has never lost an opportunity to learn or to manifest her generosity."
## Queen consort and regent
On George I's death in 1727, George Augustus became King George II and Caroline became queen consort. The couple were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 11 October that year. Though George II denounced Walpole as a "rogue and rascal" over the terms of the reconciliation with his father, Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole as the leading minister. Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to accept him or risk ministerial instability. Walpole secured a civil list payment of £100,000 a year for Caroline, and she was given both Somerset House and Richmond Lodge. Courtier Lord Hervey called Walpole "the Queen's minister" in recognition of their close relationship. For the next ten years, Caroline had immense influence. She persuaded the King to adopt policies at the behest of Walpole, and persuaded Walpole against taking inflammatory actions. Caroline had absorbed the liberal opinions of her mentor, Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia, and supported clemency for the Jacobites (supporters of the rival Stuart claim to the throne), freedom of the press, and freedom of speech in Parliament.
Over the next few years, the King and Queen fought a constant battle against their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, who had been left behind in Germany when they came to England. He joined the family in 1728, by which time he was an adult, had mistresses and debts, and was fond of gambling and practical jokes. He opposed his father's political beliefs, and complained of his lack of influence in government. The Regency Act 1728 made Caroline rather than Frederick regent when her husband was in Hanover for five months from May 1729. During her regency, a diplomatic incident with Portugal (where a British ship had been seized on the Tagus) was defused, and the negotiation of the Treaty of Seville between Britain and Spain was concluded. From May 1732, she was regent for four months while George II was again away in Hanover. An investigation into the penal system uncovered widespread abuses, including cruel treatment and conspiracy in the escape of wealthy convicts. Caroline pressed Walpole for reform, largely unsuccessfully. In March 1733, Walpole introduced an unpopular Excise Bill to parliament, which the Queen supported, but it gathered such strong opposition that it was eventually dropped.
Caroline's entire life in Britain was spent in the South-East of England in or around London. As queen, she continued to surround herself with artists, writers and intellectuals. She collected jewellery, especially cameos and intaglios, acquired important portraits and miniatures, and enjoyed the visual arts. She commissioned works such as terracotta busts of the kings and queens of England from Michael Rysbrack, and supervised a more naturalistic design of the royal gardens by William Kent and Charles Bridgeman. In 1728, she rediscovered sets of sketches by Leonardo da Vinci and Hans Holbein that had been hidden in a drawer since the reign of William III.
Caroline's eldest daughter, Anne, married William IV of Orange in 1734 and moved with her husband to the Netherlands. Caroline wrote to her daughter of her "indescribable" sadness at the parting. Anne soon felt homesick and travelled back to England when her husband went on campaign. Eventually her husband and father commanded her to return to Holland.
## Final years
In mid-1735, Prince Frederick was further dismayed when Caroline, rather than himself, again acted as regent while the King was absent in Hanover. The King and Queen arranged Frederick's marriage, in 1736, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Shortly after the wedding, George went to Hanover, and Caroline resumed her role as "Protector of the Realm". As regent, Caroline considered the reprieve of Captain John Porteous, who had been convicted of murder in Edinburgh. Before she could act, a mob stormed the jail where he was held and killed him. Caroline was appalled. The King's absences abroad were leading to unpopularity, and in late 1736 he made plans to return, but his ship was caught in poor weather, and it was rumoured that he had been lost at sea. Caroline was devastated, and disgusted by the insensitivity of her son, who hosted a grand dinner while the gale was blowing. During her regency, the Prince of Wales attempted to start a number of quarrels with his mother, whom he saw as a useful proxy to irritate the King. George eventually returned in January 1737.
Frederick applied to Parliament unsuccessfully for an increased financial allowance that had hitherto been denied him by the King, and public disagreement over the money drove a further wedge between parents and son. On the advice of Walpole, Frederick's allowance was raised in an attempt to mitigate further conflict, but by less than he had asked. In June 1737, Frederick informed his parents that Augusta was pregnant, and due to give birth in October. In fact, Augusta's due date was earlier and a peculiar episode followed in July in which the prince, on discovering that his wife had gone into labour, sneaked her out of Hampton Court Palace in the middle of the night, to ensure that the King and Queen could not be present at the birth. George and Caroline were horrified. Traditionally, royal births were witnessed by members of the family and senior courtiers to guard against supposititious children, and Augusta had been forced by her husband to ride in a rattling carriage for an hour and a half while heavily pregnant and in pain. With a party including her daughters Amelia and Caroline and Lord Hervey, the Queen raced over to St James's Palace, where Frederick had taken Augusta. Caroline was relieved to discover that Augusta had given birth to a "poor, ugly little she-mouse", also called Augusta, rather than a "large, fat, healthy boy" as the pitiful nature of the baby made a supposititious child unlikely. The circumstances of the birth deepened the estrangement between mother and son. According to Lord Hervey, she once remarked after seeing Frederick, "Look, there he goes—that wretch!—that villain!—I wish the ground would open this moment and sink the monster to the lowest hole in hell!"
In the final years of her life, Caroline was troubled by gout in her feet, but more seriously she had suffered an umbilical hernia at the birth of her final child in 1724. On 9 November 1737, she felt an intense pain and, after struggling through a formal reception, took to her bed. Part of her small intestine had poked through the hernia opening. Over the next few days she was bled, purged, and operated on, without anaesthetic, but there was no improvement in her condition. The King refused Frederick permission to see his mother, a decision with which she complied; she sent her son a message of forgiveness through Walpole. She asked her husband to remarry after her death, which he rejected saying he would take only mistresses; she replied "Ah, mon Dieu, cela n'empêche pas" ("My God, that doesn't prevent it"). On 17 November, her strangulated bowel burst. She died on 20 November 1737 at St James's Palace.
Caroline was buried in Westminster Abbey on 17 December. Frederick was not invited to the funeral. George Frideric Handel composed an anthem for the occasion, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline. The King arranged for a pair of matching coffins with removable sides, so that when he followed her to the grave (23 years later), they could lie together again.
## Legacy
Caroline was widely mourned. The Protestants lauded her moral example, and even the Jacobites acknowledged her compassion, and her intervention on the side of mercy for their compatriots. During her lifetime her refusal to convert when offered the hand of Archduke Charles was used to portray her as a strong adherent to Protestantism. For example, John Gay wrote of Caroline in A Letter to A Lady (1714):
The pomp of titles easy faith might shake,
She scorn'd an empire for religion's sake:
For this, on earth, the British crown is giv'n,
And an immortal crown decreed in heav'n.
Caroline was widely seen by both the public and the court as having great influence over her husband. A satirical verse of the period went:
You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain,
We all know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign –
You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain.
Then if you would have us fall down and adore you,
Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you.
The memoirs of the 18th century, particularly those of John, Lord Hervey, fed perceptions that Caroline and Walpole governed her husband. Peter Quennell wrote that Hervey was the "chronicler of this remarkable coalition" and that she was Hervey's "heroine". Using such sources, biographers of the 19th and 20th centuries credit her with aiding the establishment of the House of Hanover in Britain, in the face of Jacobite opposition. R. L. Arkell wrote "by her acumen and geniality, [Caroline] ensured the dynasty's rooting itself in England", and William Henry Wilkins said her "gracious and dignified personality, her lofty ideals and pure life did much to counteract the unpopularity of her husband and father-in-law, and redeem the early Georgian era from utter grossness." Although modern historians tend to believe that Hervey, Wilkins and Arkell have overestimated her importance, it is nevertheless probable that Caroline of Ansbach was one of the most influential consorts in British history.
## Titles, styles, honours and arms
### Titles and styles
- 1683–1705: Her Serene Highness Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach
- 1705–1714: Her Serene Highness The Electoral Princess of Hanover
- 1714–1727: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales
- 1727–1737: Her Majesty The Queen
### Honours
Caroline County in the British Colony of Virginia was named in the Queen's honour when it was formed in 1727.
### Arms
The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom are impaled with those of Caroline's father. The arms of her father were quarterly of fifteen, 1st, per fess gules and argent, within a bordure counter-changed of the same (for Magdeburg); 2nd, argent, an eagle displayed sable, crowned or; 3rd, or, a griffin segreant gules, crowned; 4th and 5th, argent, a griffin segreant gules; 6th, or, a griffin segreant sable; 7th, argent, an eagle displayed sable (for Crossen); 8th, per pale argent and gules within a bordure counter-changed of the same (for Halberstadt); 9th, argent, an eagle displayed sable; 10th, or, a lion rampant sable, crowned, within a bordure goboné argent and gules (for Nuremberg); 11th, gules, two keys in saltire or (for Minden); 12th, quarterly argent and sable (for Hohenzollern); 13th, the field gules, the figure argent; 14th, per fess gules and argent; 15th, plain field of gules (for right of regalia); overall an inescutcheon, argent, an eagle displayed gules (for Brandenburg).
## Issue
Caroline's ten or eleven pregnancies resulted in eight live births, of whom one died in infancy, and seven lived to adulthood.
## Genealogical table |
31,203,181 | Oxalaia | 1,167,391,590 | Extinct genus of dinosaurs | [
"Cenomanian life",
"Cretaceous Brazil",
"Fossil taxa described in 2011",
"Fossils of Brazil",
"Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of South America",
"Spinosaurids",
"Taxa named by Alexander Kellner"
]
| Oxalaia (in reference to the African deity Oxalá) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now the Northeast Region of Brazil during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, sometime between 100.5 and 93.9 million years ago. Its only known fossils were found in 1999 on Cajual Island in the rocks of the Alcântara Formation, which is known for its abundance of fragmentary, isolated fossil specimens. The remains of Oxalaia were described in 2011 by Brazilian palaeontologist Alexander Kellner and colleagues, who assigned the specimens to a new genus containing one species, Oxalaia quilombensis. The species name refers to the Brazilian quilombo settlements. Oxalaia quilombensis is the eighth officially named theropod species from Brazil and the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered there. It is closely related to the African genus Spinosaurus, and/or may be a junior synonym of this taxon.
Although Oxalaia is known only from two partial skull bones, Kellner and colleagues found that its teeth and cranium had a few distinct features not seen in other spinosaurids or theropods, including two replacement teeth in each socket and a very sculptured secondary palate. Oxalaia's habitat was tropical, heavily forested, and surrounded by an arid landscape. This environment had a large variety of lifeforms also present in Middle-Cretaceous North Africa, due to the connection of South America and Africa as parts of the supercontinent Gondwana. As a spinosaurid, the traits of Oxalaia's skull and dentition indicate a partly piscivorous (fish-eating) lifestyle similar to that of modern crocodilians. Fossil evidence suggests spinosaurids also preyed on other animals such as small dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
## Discovery and naming
Oxalaia stems from the Alcântara Formation, a succession of sedimentary rocks that is part of the Itapecuru Group of the São Luís-Grajaú Basin, in northeastern Brazil. These rocks have been dated by scientists to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago. Outcropping at the northern coast of the formation, the Laje do Coringa locality is made up mostly of sandstones and mudstones, along with conglomerate rock layers containing fossil plant and vertebrate fragments. These sediments were deposited under marine and fluvial conditions similar to those of the Bahariya Formation in Egypt, where Spinosaurus remains have been found. In 1999, fossils of Oxalaia were recovered from the Laje do Coringa. Palaeontologist Elaine Machado, of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, was surprised to find such a well-preserved fossil at the site and stated in a press release that "this is how most scientific discoveries happen, it was by accident". The finding was a rare occurrence due to the erosive nature of the tides at the deposit, which are responsible for the fragmented state of most fossils in the bone bed; remains not found on site are often removed from the formation by wave action. Generally, the majority of fossil remains found at the Alcântara Formation consist of teeth and isolated skeletal elements, of which the Laje do Coringa site has yielded hundreds.
Oxalaia is one of three spinosaurid dinosaurs discovered in Brazil, the other two being Irritator and its possible synonym Angaturama, both of which were also initially known from partial skulls. They were discovered in the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group, part of the Araripe Basin. Microfossils date this formation to the Albian, around nine to six million years before Oxalaia. The fossil record of spinosaurids is poor compared to those of other theropod groups; very few body fossils are known and most genera have been erected from isolated elements such as vertebra or teeth. The holotype specimen of Oxalaia quilombensis, designated MN 6117-V, was found in situ (at its original place of deposition) with part of the left side embedded in the rock matrix; it consists of the fused premaxillae (frontmost snout bones) from a large individual. An isolated and incomplete left maxilla (main upper jaw bone) fragment (MN 6119-V) was referred to Oxalaia because it showed the same general traits occurring in spinosaurids, the maxilla was discovered on the rock surface, having possibly moved from its original location after erosion. Both bone fragments were found on Cajual Island, Maranhão, in the Northeast Region of Brazil, and were housed at the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro. In 2018, a fire engulfed the palace housing the museum, possibly destroying Oxalaia's specimens, along with various other fossils found in Brazil. Besides the partial skull bones, numerous spinosaurid teeth had earlier been reported from the Laje do Coringa site. Two partial caudal (tail) vertebrae from the formation have been referred to the spinosaurid species Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis''''. American palaeontologist Mickey Mortimer informally noted that these may instead belong to Oxalaia.
The discoveries of Oxalaia and of the Late Cretaceous reptiles Pepesuchus and Brasiliguana were announced in a presentation by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in March 2011. Machado described Oxalaia as "the dominant reptile of [what is now] Cajual Island". She stated that there is interest in spinosaurids in Brazil and abroad because of their debut in the Jurassic Park franchise and their distinctiveness among other carnivorous dinosaurs. The species description of Oxalaia was written by Brazilian palaeontologists Alexander Kellner, Elaine Machado, Sergio Azevedo, Deise Henriques, and Luciana Carvalho. This paper, among many others, were composed into a volume of 20 works on prehistoric biodiversity that was published by the academy in March 2011. The type species Oxalaia quilombensis is the eighth officially named species of theropod from Brazil. The generic name Oxalaia is derived from the name of the African deity Oxalá, which was introduced into Brazil during the slavery period. The specific name quilombensis refers to the quilombo settlements like those on Cajual Island, which were founded by escaped slaves.
Specimen UFMA 1.10.240, a distal caudal vertebra which was discovered in the Alcantara Formation of Brazil was assigned to Sigilmassasaurus in 2002.
## Description
The holotype premaxillae are together approximately 201 millimetres (7.9 inches) long, with a preserved width of 115 mm (4.5 in) (maximal estimated original width is 126 mm (5.0 in)), and a height of 103 mm (4.1 in). Based on skeletal material from related spinosaurids, the skull of Oxalaia would have been an estimated 1.35 metres (4.4 feet) long; this is smaller than Spinosaurus's skull, which was approximated at 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) long by Italian palaeontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso and colleagues in 2005. Kellner and his team compared the Dal Sasso specimen (MSNM V4047) to Oxalaia's original snout in 2011; from this they estimated Oxalaia at 12 to 14 m (39 to 46 ft) in length and 5 to 7 tonnes (5.5 to 7.7 short tons; 4.9 to 6.9 long tons) in weight, making it the largest known theropod from Brazil, the second largest being Pycnonemosaurus, which was estimated at 8.9 m (29 ft) by one study.
The tip of the rostrum (snout) is enlarged and the rear-end constricted, forming the terminal rosette shape that distinguishes spinosaurids; this form would have interlocked with the also-expanded front of the dentary (tooth-bearing bone of the mandible). The rostrum of Oxalaia features broad, deep foramina (holes) that are possibly nutrient canals for blood vessels and nerves; it is also rounder in side view than that of Spinosaurus, whose upper jaw ends in a more acute downward angle as shown by specimens MSNM V4047 and MNHN SAM 124. The maxillae show a pair of elongated and thin processes extending forwards along the midline of the roof of the mouth; they are encased between the premaxillae and border an elaborate, triangle-shaped pit at their front end. Similar processes are present in Suchomimus, Cristatusaurus, and MNHN SAM 124, although not as exposed. These structures compose the animal's secondary palate. The undersides of the premaxillae are greatly ornamented in Oxalaia, in contrast to the smoother condition it has in other spinosaurids.
The premaxillae have seven alveoli (tooth sockets) on each side, the same number found in Angaturama, Cristatusaurus, Suchomimus, and MNHN SAM 124 (referred to Spinosaurus); MSNM V4047, another upper jaw specimen from Spinosaurus, had only six. It cannot be confirmed whether this lower number of teeth is due to ontogeny; for that, a larger sample size is necessary. A large diastema (gap in tooth row) separates the third tooth socket from the fourth; this is observed in all other spinosaurids, being smaller in Suchomimus. Another diastema of nearly equal length is found between the fifth and sixth alveolus; this diastema is seen in MNHN SAM 124 and is much longer in MSNM V4047 but is absent from Suchomimus and Cristatusaurus. The maxilla fragment referred to Oxalaia (MN 6119-V) has two alveoli and a broken third one that includes a partial tooth. Like the premaxilla, it had preserved nutrient canals. It also features a shallow dent in the middle, suggesting it was located near the external nares (bony nostrils). Small fragments inside some of the remaining alveoli show that unlike its Early Cretaceous relatives Suchomimus and Cristatusaurus, Oxalaia lacked serrations on its teeth. Apart from the single, functional tooth in each socket, there were two replacement teeth, which according to Kellner are "a common feature in sharks or in some reptiles, but not in theropods". A cross-section of the teeth showed the typical oval shape exhibited by spinosaurs rather than the lateral compression of other theropod teeth.
The spinosaurid teeth reported from Laje do Coringa were classified into two primary morphotypes by Brazilian palaeontologist Manuel Medeiros in 2006. Both show typical spinosaurine dentition, though morphotype II has smoother tooth enamel than the first. Oxalaia's teeth display a closer morphology to morphotype I while the second grouping of teeth represent either worn down morphotype I teeth or an undescribed spinosaurine from the Alcântara Formation.
## Classification
The type elements of Oxalaia closely resemble those of specimens MSNM V4047 and MNHN SAM 124, both referred to Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Kellner and colleagues differentiated Oxalaia from it and other spinosaurids by its autapomorphic (distinguishing) craniodental features, like its sculptured palatal part of the premaxillae, and the possession of two replacement teeth in each position. More fragmentary spinosaurids such as Siamosaurus and "Sinopliosaurus" fusuiensis are based only on teeth, making them difficult to separate from other taxa. The habit of naming theropods from isolated teeth or tooth fragments has resulted in many invalid and synonymous genera; it has also occurred with spinosaurids and is compounded by the common lack of overlapping skeletal remains—a precondition of validly distinguishing taxa.
In 2017, a phylogenetic analysis by the Brazilian palaeontologists Marcos Sales and Cesar Schultz concluded that Oxalaia was more closely related to African spinosaurines than to Brazilian spinosaurines like Angaturama, as indicated by a wider snout and the lack of a dorsal sagittal crest on the premaxillae. The Brazilian genera Oxalaia and Angaturama were recovered as the two closest relatives of Spinosaurus, Oxalaia forming its sister taxon. Though fragmentary, the Brazilian material indicates that spinosaurines were more diverse than previously recognized. Spinosaurus differs from Oxalaia by its significantly more widely spaced tooth sockets, the presence of a slight narrowing between its third and fourth sockets, and the sharper slope of its snout. Oxalaia is currently assigned to the subfamily Spinosaurinae due to the morphology of its upper jaw and the absence of fine serrations on its teeth that typify baryonychines. Below is a cladogram by Sales and Schultz, in which Oxalaia is grouped in the Spinosaurinae, as a closer relative to Spinosaurus than Angaturama.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>Spinosauridae</p></td>
<td><table>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td><p>Baryonyx</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td><p>Cristatusaurus</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td><p>Suchomimus</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td><table>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td><p>Angaturama</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
In 2020, a paper by Robert Smyth and colleagues assessing spinosaurines from the Kem Kem Group did not find the autapomorphies of Oxalaia quilombensis sufficient enough to warrant a separate taxon, but instead considered them a result of individual variation. The authors thus considered the species a junior synonym of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. If supported by future studies, this would imply Spinosaurus aegyptiacus had a wider distribution and support a faunal exchange scenario between South America and Africa during the Cenomanian when there was little separation of South America and Africa by water, which allowed Spinosaurus aegyptiacus to traverse the short distance of the sea into South America.
## Palaeoecology
The Late Cretaceous deposits of the Alcântara Formation have been interpreted as a humid habitat of tropical forests dominated by conifers, ferns, and horsetails. These forests were surrounded by an arid-to-semi-arid landscape that was probably subjected to brief periods of heavy rainfall followed by lengthy dry periods. A great abundance and variety of animal taxa, such as dinosaurs, pterosaurs, snakes, molluscs, crocodilians, notosuchids, and fish have been discovered in the formation. Aquatic taxa known from the deposits include the large coelacanth Mawsonia gigas; the ray Myliobatis sp. (of uncertain species); two sclerorhynchid sawfishes; as well as several bony fish, ray-finned fish, and lungfish species. Dinosaur fossil remains suggest the presence of diplodocoids like Itapeuasaurus cajapioensis, basal titanosaurs, the giant theropod Carcharodontosaurus sp., a noasaurid closely related to Masiakasaurus, and a dromaeosaurid. Also, characteristic teeth and a vertebral centra were referred to Spinosaurus sp.
Most of the flora and fauna discovered in the Alcântara Formation was also present in North Africa in the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco during the Cenomanian; with a few exceptions including Oxalaia quilombensis, Atlanticopristis equatorialis, Equinoxiodus alcantariensis, and Coringasuchus anisodontis. According to Medeiros and colleagues, the Laje do Coringa assemblage may also be linked to the contemporaneous Bahariya Formation in Egypt, which holds a distinct combination of key taxa constituting Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, and Onchopristis numidus. This extreme similarity between the Cretaceous biota of Brazil with that of Africa is a result of their connection as parts of the supercontinent Gondwana (which comprised most landmasses of the modern southern hemisphere). This connection was broken by rifting and sea-floor spreading 130–110 million years ago. Afterwards, the transoceanic assemblages would have continued to evolve separately, contributing to small differences between taxa. Machado stated that Cajual Island was still attached to the African continent during the Cenomanian. Similarly, Medeiros and colleagues noted that the presence of an island chain or other lasting land connection during that time could explain the faunal similarities.
As a spinosaur, Oxalaia would have had large, robust forelimbs; relatively short hindlimbs; elongated neural spines (upwards projections of the vertebrae) forming a ridge or sail on its back; and tall neural spines on its caudal vertebrae which—similar to the tails of modern crocodilians—may have aided in swimming. Spinosaurids likely spent most of their time near or in water and fed mostly on aquatic animals, avoiding direct competition with other large predators but being able to sustain themselves on terrestrial animals if necessary. Such behavior is observed in cases such as juvenile Iguanodontid bones found in the stomach cavity of a Baryonyx fossil and an Irritator tooth embedded in pterosaur remains. The conical, transversely oval-shaped teeth of Oxalaia'' and its nasal openings, that were retracted further back on the skull than in most theropods (likely to avoid water entering its nostrils while fishing) are characteristic of spinosaurids. Both features are useful adaptations for catching and feeding on fish. The expanded, interlocking front jaws and piercing teeth of spinosaurs worked as an efficient fish trap, a trait also exhibited by the Indian gharial—the most piscivorous extant crocodilian. Kellner compared the general appearance of spinosaurid skulls to those of alligators. |
3,622,014 | Operation Inmate | 1,135,853,800 | World War II attack against Japanese positions on Truk Atoll | [
"History of the Federated States of Micronesia",
"June 1945 events in Oceania",
"Military operations of World War II",
"Naval battles of World War II involving Canada",
"Naval battles of World War II involving Japan",
"Naval battles of World War II involving New Zealand",
"Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom",
"Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II",
"South Seas Mandate in World War II"
]
| Operation Inmate was an attack by the British Pacific Fleet against Japanese positions on Truk Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. The attacks against the isolated islands on 14 and 15 June 1945 were conducted to provide combat experience for the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable and several of the fleet's cruisers and destroyers ahead of their involvement in more demanding operations off the Japanese home islands.
On 14 June 1945 British aircraft conducted a series of raids against Japanese positions at Truk. The next morning, several islands were bombarded by British and Canadian cruisers, though only one of the four warships involved achieved any success. Further air strikes took place in the afternoon and night of 15 June before the Allied force returned to its base.
The attack on Truk was considered successful for the Allied force, with the ships and air units gaining useful experience while suffering two fatalities and the loss of seven aircraft to combat and accidents. The damage to the Japanese facilities in the atoll, which had been repeatedly attacked during 1944 and 1945, was modest.
## Background
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was formed in November 1944 as Britain's main contribution to Allied operations against Japanese positions in the Pacific. The Fleet's base was established at Sydney, Australia, and most of its ships arrived there in February 1945. From late March to late May 1945, aircraft flying from the BPF's four fleet carriers frequently attacked Japanese airfields on islands to the south of Okinawa to support the United States military forces which were attempting to capture the island. These operations concluded on 24 May, when the Fleet began the long journey back to Naval Base Sydney for a period of rest and maintenance.
The fleet carrier HMS Implacable was dispatched from the United Kingdom in February 1945 to reinforce the BPF. The ship arrived at Sydney on 8 May. On 24 May Implacable departed Sydney, and reached the BPF's forward base at Manus Island five days later. The main body of the BPF arrived at Naval Base Manus to refuel on 30 May, and most of its ships continued to Sydney on 1 June. Implacable remained at Manus, which she and her air group used as a base for intensive training. As part of the preparations for the BPF's return to combat the commander of the fleet's combat force, Vice-Admiral Bernard Rawlings, decided at around this time to dispatch Implacable and several other recently arrived warships to attack the Japanese positions at Truk. The purpose of this operation was to ensure that the warships' crews had recent combat experience before the BPF commenced operations off Japan during July. Rawlings' initial orders for the attack specified that it was to involve two days of air strikes against Japanese airfields. The crews of the ships involved, including Implacable's aircraft pilots, were not told that the main purpose of the operation was training.
During the early years of the Pacific War, Truk Atoll in the Caroline Islands had been an important base for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), using facilities which had been constructed there before the outbreak of hostilities. However, it was isolated by the rapid Allied advances in the Pacific during 1943 and early 1944, and ceased to be a significant base after being heavily attacked by the United States Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force during Operation Hailstone in February 1944. Nevertheless, the facilities at Truk could have potentially been used to raid the important Allied facilities which had been established in the Mariana Islands or the major US Navy anchorage at Ulithi. To prevent the islands from being used for this purpose, they were repeatedly attacked by US Navy aircraft carriers which were preparing to join the Fast Carrier Task Force and United States Army Air Forces heavy bomber units; like the British operation in June 1945, these raids were conducted to provide combat experience for the American airmen. The Japanese forces at Truk conscripted local civilians to rapidly repair the damage caused to airfields by these raids. The garrison's anti-aircraft units also fired upon all of the raids, though the scale of this resistance decreased over time.
## Opposing forces
In mid-1945 the Japanese garrison at Truk remained large, but had no offensive capacity. As of May that year, the garrison comprised around 13,600 Imperial Japanese Army personnel commanded by Lieutenant General Shunzaburo Mugikura and 10,600 IJN personnel under Vice Admiral Chuichi Hara. A large number of coastal artillery batteries and anti-aircraft guns protected the islands, but no warships and only a small number of aircraft were stationed there. Radar stations on the islands provided warning of most incoming raids. The Japanese forces regarded Truk's air defences as inadequate even before the start of the Allied bombardment of the atoll.
The Truk garrison received few shipments of reinforcements or supplies following the capture of the Palau islands by US forces in September 1944. Historian David Hobbs has stated that it had been "reduced to starving impotence" by the time of Operation Inmate. The garrison's main activity from mid-1944 onwards was growing food to sustain itself. The tropical conditions and damage caused by air attacks complicated this effort, and most of the Japanese personnel were malnourished. Nevertheless, the garrison also took extensive measures to protect the atoll from invasion and placed large stores of food and other supplies in reserve for such an eventuality. Following the end of the war in August 1945, United States forces found that the garrison still held enough ammunition to supply its gun batteries for at least 30 days of combat.
The BPF's Truk attack force was designated Task Group 111.2, and comprised the 4th Cruiser Squadron and 24th Destroyer Flotilla. The ships assigned to the 4th Cruiser Squadron were Implacable, the escort carrier HMS Ruler, the British cruisers HMS Swiftsure and Newfoundland, the Canadian cruiser HMCS Uganda and the New Zealand cruiser HMNZS Achilles. The 24th Destroyer Flotilla was made up of Troubridge, Teazer, Tenacious, Termagant and Terpsichore. The Task Group was commanded from Implacable by Rear Admiral E.J.P. Brind. While Implacable, Newfoundland and the destroyers had only recently arrived in the Pacific, all the other ships assigned to Task Group 111.2 had seen combat off Okinawa. Implacable's most recent combat experience was a series of air strikes conducted against German forces in Norway during late 1944.
Implacable embarked 80 aircraft, which was the largest number to be operated by any of the BPF's aircraft carriers. The air group included 38 Naval Air Wing, whose 801 and 880 Naval Air Squadrons were equipped with 48 Supermarine Seafire fighter aircraft. The other units assigned to the carrier were 828 Naval Air Squadron with 21 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and 1771 Naval Air Squadron, which operated 11 Fairey Firefly fighters. Ruler was to be used as a "spare deck" for Implacable's air group to operate from, and embarked only a single Supermarine Walrus search and rescue aircraft from 1701 Naval Air Squadron.
## Attacks
### 14 June
Task Group 111.2 sailed from Manus Island on 12 June. While en route to Truk, its orders were broadened to also include a cruiser bombardment of Japanese positions at Truk. This change was made as the cruisers were expected to be used against shore targets during future operations. In preparation for these bombardments, the Task Group conducted gunnery exercises during its voyage north. Ahead of the attacks on Truk, a US Navy submarine took up position near the atoll to rescue any British airmen who crashed into the sea.
The Allied warships reached the flying-off position for Implacable's air group at 5:30 am on 14 June. Ten minutes later, twelve Seafires and two Fireflies were launched. The Seafires strafed a radar station and an airfield on Moen island, and the Fireflies reconnoitred the atoll. A Seafire equipped with a reconnaissance camera also photographed Japanese installations; these photos were used to plan further air attacks and bombardments. One of the Seafires was shot down and its pilot killed while attacking the airfield, the only British aircraft to be lost in combat during Operation Inmate.
Implacable launched strikes every two and a quarter hours for the remainder of 14 June. These generally comprised five Avengers armed with bombs and four Fireflies with rockets and cannon. The final attack of the day was made by twelve Seafires which dive-bombed fuel tanks on Moen island. While several of the tanks were cracked open, it appeared that they were empty. This attack was the first time that Seafires had been used as fighter-bombers in the Pacific. The British aircraft reported finding few worthwhile targets; they were fired on by Japanese anti-aircraft guns throughout the day. All of the strikes were escorted by Seafires, but no Japanese aircraft were encountered in the air. During the night of 14/15 June two Avengers operated over the atoll in an attempt to prevent the Japanese from repairing the airfield on Moen; these aircraft were fired on and tracked by searchlights, but did not suffer any casualties.
Eight Seafires at a time from 38 Naval Air Wing patrolled over Task Group 111.2 for much of 14 June without encountering Japanese aircraft. Ruler was used as the base for this task, and refuelled and rearmed Seafires between sorties. The use of the escort carrier as a "spare deck" was considered successful, especially as a group of six Seafires which were low on fuel were able to land on Ruler when Implacable was caught in a squall and became unable to receive them. During the morning of 14 June Ruler's Walrus was blown overboard by a tropical squall and destroyed. Aerial search and rescue support for the force was provided by US Navy Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats which flew in relay near Truk, but these aircraft were not required; destroyers were able to rescue the crews of ditched aircraft.
### 15 June
The surface bombardment took place during the late morning of 15 June. The bombardment force was organised into three task units comprising both cruisers and destroyers; Achilles and Uganda (with Brind embarked) operated with Tenacious, Newfoundland was accompanied by Troubridge and Swiftsure by Teazer. This left the aircraft carriers with only two destroyers for protection. Each task unit was also assigned two Seafires to spot their gunfire. The destroyers which were assigned to the bombardment task units were responsible for counter-battery fire on any Japanese guns which fired on the cruiser, and for generating smoke screens if necessary. Throughout the bombardments the carriers sailed 10 miles (16 km) to the east of Truk, and maintained a combat air patrol over the area.
The cruisers experienced differing levels of success. Newfoundland initially attacked coastal gun batteries, but these did not fire on her or her escorting destroyer. She also successfully bombarded the airfield on Eten Island. The attacks by Achilles and Uganda on a seaplane base on Dublon Island did not cause any damage and were marred by communications problems between the ships and their spotting Seafires. As Achilles sailed away from Truk, her anti-aircraft gunners fired on two aircraft which approached her from the direction of the atoll, until they were identified as British Avengers.
Swiftsure's bombardment of Moen was particularly unsuccessful. The initial rounds fired by her guns landed well away from their targets, and attempts to correct her gunfire led to a further deterioration in accuracy. Her gunnery officer judged that the ship's fire control equipment was defective, and ordered the 6-inch (15 cm) gun turrets to fire under local control. This also proved unsuccessful as the gunners were unable to sight targets on the shore. After sailing closer to Moen, the ship attempted to engage Japanese positions with several of her 4-inch (10 cm) guns. However, the ammunition for these weapons was fitted with proximity fuses intended for use against aircraft, and exploded in the palm trees above their targets. As the fallen foliage hid the Japanese positions, further attacks were ineffective. A subsequent investigation found that a faulty split pin had fallen out of Swiftsure's Admiralty Fire Control Table, most likely due to concussion from the initial shots, causing it to provide highly inaccurate results to the guns. After the bombardment ended at 11:10 am, the ships involved rejoined the carriers.
Further air attacks were conducted on 15 June. During the afternoon, two groups of Avengers attacked a floating dry dock and several oil tanks. That night six Avengers armed with bombs supported by two flare-dropping Avengers conducted the final British attack on Truk, but it is believed that most of their bombs landed in the sea. This was the BPF's first large-scale night operation.
## Aftermath
At the conclusion of the night strike Task Group 111.2 departed for Manus Island. On 16 June a Japanese aircraft was detected by radar. One of the Seafires was detached from the combat air patrol to intercept it, but the fighter's pilot had to abandon the attempt due to a mechanical problem. The Task Group arrived at Manus Island on 17 June, and continued training exercises there until the remainder of the BPF arrived on 4 July en route to further operations off Japan. All of the warships at Manus sailed on 6 July to join the Fast Carrier Task Force in attacks on the Japanese home islands. Implacable and the other ships of the BPF operated against Japan from 17 July to 12 August, during which time the Fleet conducted air attacks and participated in several bombardments of coastal Japanese cities. On 12 August most of the BPF's ships, including Implacable, departed for a period of maintenance and rest at Sydney.
A new Task Group 111.2 was formed by the BPF at Sydney on 12 August 1945. This force comprised the veteran aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, three newly arrived light fleet carriers, two battleships, two or three cruisers and nine destroyers. These ships were intended to reinforce the BPF for the planned invasion of Japan, but lacked recent combat experience. Consideration was given to using the force to attack Truk again, with this operation possibly also including an invasion of the atoll by Australian or New Zealand forces, but this was unnecessary as Japan surrendered on 15 August.
United States air units regularly attacked Truk until the end of the war. The atoll's garrison formally surrendered at a ceremony conducted on board USS Portland on 2 September 1945, the same day as the general Japanese surrender documents were signed. The Japanese soldiers and sailors on Truk were repatriated during November and December 1945.
## Assessment
During Operation Inmate, Task Group 111.2's aircraft flew 103 offensive sorties during daylight and a further 10 at night. A total of 103 defensive sorties were also conducted. In addition to the Seafire shot down on 14 June and the loss of Ruler's Walrus, five Avengers were destroyed due to accidents while taking off; one of these aircraft crashed into the sea due to an error in attaching it to Implacable's catapult, causing the death of its pilot. The other four Avengers ditched due to engine malfunctions, with no fatalities. Two Seafires, both piloted by the same airman, were also damaged in landing accidents. A book published to mark the 50th anniversary of the BPF described these losses as low by the standards of 1945.
Japanese losses were modest. The British assessed that two Japanese aircraft had been destroyed and another three damaged during attacks on airfields at Truk. Damage was also believed to have been inflicted on the airfields, floating dry dock, oil tanks, other harbour installations and ships that were attacked. Following the operation, Brind judged that rockets had proven more useful than bombs, and was critical of the gunnery of all the cruisers other than Newfoundland. Members of the Japanese garrison told US Strategic Bombing Survey investigators after the war that the British raid had resulted in almost no damage. The most significant loss was the destruction of part of the garrison's records, which led to a decision to bury the remaining files.
Historian David Hobbs has judged that Operation Inmate "provided realistic and useful training for ships that were newly arrived in the Pacific and everyone, including Swiftsure's embarrassed gunners, ... learned something". Peter C. Smith has also noted that while few targets were located, the raids provided useful experience for Implacable's air crew and "the standards of flight launch and recovery attained during the operation were to stand them in good stead in the months ahead". Similarly, British official historian Stephen Roskill concluded that Operation Inmate achieved its goals. |
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