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32,367,765 | 2005–06 S.L. Benfica season | 1,164,748,316 | null | [
"Portuguese football clubs 2005–06 season",
"S.L. Benfica seasons"
]
| The 2005–06 European football season was the 102nd season of Sport Lisboa e Benfica's existence and the club's 72nd consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. The season ran from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006; Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Liga and the Taça de Portugal and also participated in the UEFA Champions League as a result of finishing first in the Primeira Liga the previous season.
After Giovanni Trapattoni led Benfica to their first league title in 11 years, he resigned for personal reasons. To replace him, the club hired Ronald Koeman, who was assisted by Bruins Slot and Fernando Chalana. Benfica remained highly active in the transfer market, signing and releasing over twelve players. Noticeable additions were Anderson, Léo and Nélson to the back four; Karagounis and Miccoli to the offence. The departures included Miguel, the biggest loss.
Benfica started the domestic season by winning their fourth Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, beating Vitória de Setúbal one-nil. In the Primeira Liga, Benfica struggled initially, making their worst entry ever. Results improved following a European win against Lille, with Benfica climbing several places and defeating Porto in the Clássico. In late October, the team experienced a drop in form, going a month without a win. In December, Benfica's results improved in December, qualifying for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in eleven years and winning nearly ten matches in a row, allowing them to get within three points of the top of the league.
In the final match of January, Benfica lost to Sporting CP and underwent another erratic period, losing two more league matches in February. A home win against Liverpool motivated them; they beat Porto and eliminated the reigning title-holders from the Champions League. This success was not replicated domestically; in mid-March, Benfica lost further ground in the Primeira Liga and were eliminated from the Portuguese Cup. Koeman's side recovered, but they were eliminated by Barcelona from the Champions League and failed to overtake Sporting when they dropped seven points in three match-days. At the end of the season, Koeman left the club by mutual consent.
## Season summary
### Pre-season
After leading Benica to their first league title in ten seasons, Giovanni Trapattoni departed the club for personal reasons. Faced with the task of finding a new manager for a second year in a row, Luís Filipe Vieira was quick to choose Trapattoni's successor; on the 5 June 2005, he said, "I already know who's the next manager". From the list of available managers, the press speculated on Paul Le Guen, Ronald Koeman and Javier Irureta. After a failed approach to Le Guen, Benfica selected Koeman as the next manager on 8 June 2005. His assistant would be Tonny Bruins Slot, replacing Álvaro Magalhães, who left the club after two seasons. Later in the month, Fernando Chalana returned to Benfica on a 2-year contract to serve on Koeman's technical staff.
To replace the "Italian" style of Trapattoni, Koeman wanted Benfica to have a "Dutch" approach; he said, "A team like Benfica always has to play to win. In what I know of this team, we can perfectly play in a 4–3–3," and that finding the right balance between offence and defence in the playing style mattered. Vital to his new formation, Koeman asked for more wingers, such as Andy van der Meyde, and Boudewijn Zenden, but Benfica did not sign them. Instead, he received attacking midfielders Diego Souza, Andrei Karyaka and Giorgos Karagounis. To improve Koeman's options up-front, composed of Nuno Gomes and Mantorras, Benfica tried but failed to sign Jon Dahl Tomasson. Koeman instead received Italian international Fabrizio Miccoli on loan from Juventus. In defence, Benfica added Brazilians Anderson, Léo, with Nélson replacing Miguel, who moved to Valencia.
The pre-season began on 4 July 2005 with medical exams, followed by the first training session on the next day, with two thousand supporters present at the Estádio da Luz. On 6 July, Benfica travelled to Nyon for a pre-season tour until 14 July. During the eight days in Switzerland, Benfica defeated Sion and Étoile Carouge. Back in Portugal, Benfica faced two Premier League opponents, losing to Chelsea, and defeating West Bromwich. Afterwards, Benfica played three Portuguese teams, winning against Barreirense and Estoril Praia, and drawing with Vitória de Guimarães. They ended their pre-season with a presentation match against Juventus on 6 August, losing 2–0.
### August–September
Benfica began their season with the 2005 Super Cup, trying to win the trophy for the fourth time. On the 13 August, Benfica faced Vitória de Setúbal at the Estádio Algarve, winning 1–0 with a goal from Nuno Gomes. It was the first win in 15 years since 1989, breaking a five-time losing streak, all against Porto. Koeman praised his players, saying, "We played very well. I am happy with the work I have done with my players". On 20 August, Benfica began their title defence with an away game at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra. The home team, Académica, held the score to 0–0 and won a point against Benfica. After the match, Koeman said Benfica had struggled in Coimbra. On 26 August, Benfica took part in the draw for the group stage of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League; their first in the new century because they failed to qualify in the past two seasons. In 2005 the club ranked 57th in the UEFA coefficient, thus placing them on pot 4. They were drawn in Group D with Manchester United, Villarreal and Lille. The following day, Benfica hosted Gil Vicente for their final match in August. An unusual 3–4–3 formation did not work as planned; Benfica lost 2–0 and posted their worst league start since 1976–77. Koeman blamed anxiety in the players after Simão missed a penalty.
After an international break of nearly two weeks, Benfica returned to competition on 10 September with a Lisbon Derby against Sporting CP. Koeman played the same 3–4–3 as before, selecting Carlitos for the starting 11 in place of Nuno Gomes. Sporting scored first through Luís Loureiro in the first half, but Simão equalized with a free-kick in the second half. In the 75th minute, Liédson made the score 2–1 against a ten-man Benfica, ultimately winning the match for Sporting. With two losses and a draw in three match-days, Koeman broke a club record for the worst season start in history, already eight points from the top of the league. Four days later, Benfica made their seasonal European debut in the Champions League against Lille. The match was well fought between both teams, with Fabrizio Miccoli scoring a winning goal for Benfica in the 92nd minute. Koeman later said in the post-match interview, "We deserved this win because we search for it". On 18 September, Benfica hosted União de Leiria; Koeman reverted to the 4–2–3–1 formation that Giovanni Trapattoni regularly used. Benfica won 4–0 in the largest win all season, with Nuno Gomes netting a hat-trick. Koeman classified the formation as "ideal," and sid he wanted to use it more often in the future. The following Saturday, Benfica played on the road against Penafiel. A strong start put Benfica in the lead by 2–0 in the first 15 minutes, and despite conceding a goal, they won the match 3–1. Koeman attributed the win to the good momentum that Fabrizio Miccoli–Nuno Gomes were passing. On 27 September, Benfica travelled to Old Trafford to play Manchester United on the second match-day of the Champions League. United scored first through a Ryan Giggs free-kick that deflected off the wall; Simão levelled the score in the second half—also on a free kick—but United responded with a winning goal in the 85th minute through Ruud van Nistelrooy.
### October–November
October began with a home match against Vitória de Guimarães. Miccoli opened the scoring for Benfica in the 20th minute, but Tiago Targino equalized a few minutes later. Simão put Benfica back in front with a deflected shot that beat Márcio Paiva, ensuring a third consecutive win that reduced the distance to the league leader to four points. After another interruption for international football, Benfica returned to competition with a Clássico against Porto. Despite Porto being the favourite to win, Benfica won 2–0 with two goals from Nuno Gomes. It was Benfica's first away win at Porto since 1990–91, when César Brito also scored a double. On the following Thursday, Benfica visited El Madrigal to play Villarreal. On the half-hour mark, Benfica lost their goalkeeper Quim to injury and replaced him with the 19-year-old Rui Nereu. In the second half, Villarreal scored from the penalty spot. Five minutes later, Manuel Fernandes levelled the score again. The draw allowed Benfica to remain in second place in Group D; Koeman was confident he could beat the Spaniards at home. On 22 October, Benfica hosted Estrela da Amadora for the Primeira Liga. Two second-half goals by Karyaka and then Nuno Gomes, gave Benfica their fifth consecutive win in the competition. Four days later, Benfica made their Portuguese Cup debut in the fourth round. Playing in Estádio do Bessa against Leixões, Simão's decisive performance opened the scoring in the 11th minute and scored Benfica's second goal that made the score 2–1. The month ended with an away match against Naval. Benfica were surprised by the home side and dropped two points in a 1–1 draw, costing them the chance to reach second place. Koeman was unhappy with the result, saying Benfica played better and deserved to win.
Benfica began November with a home match against to Villarreal. Benfica were hoping to win and take the lead in Group D but were defeated 1-0 with a winning goal for Villarreal in the 81st minute through a 30 m (98 ft) strike from Marcos Senna. Despite the loss, Koeman remained confident in the qualification for the knockout stage; he said, "It is a very balanced group. We are missing four points to progress." On 6 November, Benfica played Rio Ave at home. The match was unusually competitive, with Benfica trailing twice and avoiding defeat with two free kicks from Petit. Koeman took the blame but criticized the referee's assistant for making several mistakes against Benfica. After a third international break, Benfica visited the Municipal de Braga on 19 November to play Braga. Benfica scored first through Anderson but could not prevent the comeback of Braga, first through Césinha and then Julio Bevacqua. Benfica responded with a Nuno Gomes goal in the 92nd minute, but Bevacqua gave the win to Braga three minutes later. It was Benfica's fourth consecutive winless game, the worst spell of the season. Three days later, Benfica played Lille on the road for match-day five of the group stage. Koeman surprised with a highly defensive team composed of four centre-backs in the back-four, two defensive midfielders, two fullbacks playing in the midfield and only two offensive players, Miccoli and Nuno Gomes. The match ended 0–0, achieving Koeman's goal of securing a point. For the final game of the month, Benfica received Belenenses on 27 November. They were unable to beat Belenenses' keeper, dropping two points in a 0–0 draw and extending their winless run to six matches, the longest dry spell since 2001–02.
### December–January
On 3 December, Benfica travelled to Barreiros to play Marítimo. Under pressure from the run of poor results, Koeman asked his players to give it all to beat Maritímo. Benfica fended off Marítimo attacks, responding with a goal through Mantorras in the 86th minute and winning for the first time since 26 October. Four days later, Benfica hosted Manchester United for the last match of the group stage. United's Paul Scholes scored first but ten minutes later, Geovanni equalized 1–1 and in the 34th minute, Beto fired a shot from outside the box to make it 2–1. The result was unchanged and Benfica qualified in second for the knockout stages for the first time since 1994–95. On 11 December, Benfica played Boavista at home. Anderson scored for Benfica off a corner-kick from Petit; the only goal of the game. Koeman was happy with the win, saying, "We played well, as did the fans, who supported us. Like this, it is very difficult to beat us." On 17 December, Benfica continued their winning run, beating Nacional 1–0 with a goal from Nuno Gomes. The goal was controversial because of an alleged infraction of Luisão over Diego Benaglio prior to the goal. Koeman said, "I agree that it should have been signalled, like it should have been in many other instances". Benfica ended 2005 with an away visit to the Estádio do Bonfim. They struggled to beat Vitória de Setúbal's goalkeeper Marcelo Moretto throughout the game, only securing the win in the 90th minute through Nuno Gomes. The win was Benfica's fifth in December; enough to place them third in the league table just before the Christmas break.
Competition resumed on 8 January with a home game against Paços de Ferreira. New signing Moretto made his first appearance for Benfica. Nélson scored early, putting Benfica in the lead, with Geovanni setting the final score in the second half. With the win, Benfica climbed to second place, four points ahead of Sporting but ten behind leaders Porto. On 11 January, Benfica played Tourizense for the 2005–06 Portuguese Cup. Recently signed Laurent Robert scored the opening goal in the second half, while Nuno Gomes scored a second, letting Benfica progress to the sixth round. Four days later, Benfica hosted Académica at home. Early in the match, Roberto Brum touched the ball with his hand inside the box, giving Simão the opportunity to score the first goal; two more goals in the second half secured a comfortable 3–0 win for Benfica. The following day, Benfica signed Académica striker Marcel on a six-month loan. On 20 January, Benfica played away to Gil Vicente. A 10th-minute goal from Nandinho meant Benfica trailed for the first time in the season at the quarter-hour mark. The Lisbon-side responded with two first-half goals from Simão and Geovanni, while an own-goal in the second half confirmed the win for Benfica. It was their seventh consecutive league win, a feat not seen in 11 years since the 1994–95 season. On 28 January, Benfica played the Derby de Lisboa against Sporting CP. Benfica scored first through Simão but they could not stop Paulo Bento's team from winning the match 3–1 at the Luz. Koeman said, "Sporting was much better on the pitch, before the 1–0 and especially after".
### February–March
Entering the decisive part of the season, and still present in all competitions, Benfica's first game of February was a visit to Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa to face União de Leiria. The home side startled Benfica, beating them 3–1. The loss, which Koeman called a small setback, granted Sporting the chance to catch Benfica in second place. On 8 February, Benfica met Nacional at home for the sixth round of the Portuguese Cup; the match ended in a goalless draw, even after extra time. Benfica won the match after a penalty shoot-out. Four days later, Benfica returned to the winning path in the Primeira Liga after beating Penafiel 4–0. Geovanni opened the scoring in the first half, after which Nuno Gomes, Simão and an own goal from Roberto set the final result. On 18 February, Benfica played on the road against Vitória de Guimarães. They did not play as expected and conceded two goals—one in each half—losing 2–0. The loss severely hampered their title defence after being overtaken by Sporting and Braga and allowing leaders Porto—their next league opponent—to gain an eight-point advantage. Three days after Guimarães, Benfica hosted Liverpool for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. According to Adrian Harte, the match was "largely disappointing", but Benfica secured a vital win against Liverpool when Luisão scored with an 84th-minute header. The final match of February was a home to Porto, the second Clássico of the season. The high-tension match was decided with a 40 m (130 ft) free kick from Laurent Robert that Vítor Baía could not stop. The win relaunched Benfica's title race and Porto's lead was reduced to five points. It was the first time in 29 years since 1976–77 Benfica had beaten Porto twice in the league and was also their first home win over Porto since 2000–01.
Benfica began March with a visit to Estádio José Gomes, home of Estrela da Amadora. The local team scored first through Paulo Machado in the first half, but Benfica scored two goals in the second half; the latter in the 91st minute. On 8 March, Benfica played the return trip of the Champions League against Liverpool. The Rafael Benítez-led side needed to recoup a 1–0 disadvantage but Benfica won the match. A long-range shot from Simão in the 36th minute and a volley from Miccoli in the 89th minute put Benfica into the quarter-finals for the first time in 11 years, eliminating the reigning Champions League title holders in the process. Koeman was thrilled with the win, saying, "This is why football is so nice—you can win against a bigger team, and anything is possible if you work for it". Four days later, on the same day they were drawn with Barcelona in the Champions League, Benfica hosted Naval at home. They failed to break Naval's resistance despite several attempts from Simão and dropped two points in a 0–0 draw. The draw threatened the hopes for a title renewal, as Porto and Sporting had distance themselves in the first two spots. On 15 March, Benfica suffered another setback at home. In the quarter-finals of the Taça de Portugal against Vitória de Guimarães, Benfica was surprised by the visitors and lost 1–0; the match's only goal was scored by Dário Monteiro. On 19 March, Benfica visited the Estádio dos Arcos to play Rio Ave. As with Estrela da Amadora, Benfica only secured the win in overtime, when Mantorras beat Mora with a 93rd-minute goal. Simão later told the press Benfica were still in the title race. Almost a week later, on the 25 March, Benfica hosted the fourth-place team Braga. The home team scored in their second attempt through Nuno Gomes and retained their slim lead until the end. Koeman was happy Benfica resolved the game so early, because in three days they met Barcelona. In the final game of March, Benfica faced Barcelona for the Champions League. Both goalkeepers were instrumental in securing a goalless draw; Moretto had the most work. Koeman was satisfied with the stalemate, predicting the second leg would be similar.
### April–May
In April, Benfica were still battling for a Champions League semi-final spot while chasing Porto and Sporting in the domestic title race. On the first day of the month, Benfica played away to Belenenses. José Pedro scored first for the home team in the 9th minute, but Benfica's Miccoli equalized and seven minutes later, Karagounis scored again. Benfica won 2–1. Assistant manager Bruins Slot said, "The win allows us to keep pressure on our opponents and give us morale for Barcelona". The following Wednesday, Benfica visited the Nou Camp in the second leg of the quarter-finals. Barcelona pressured hard and almost scored in the first five minutes with a penalty kick, with Moretto defending Ronaldinho's shot. A few minutes later, the Brazilian scored to make it 1–0 for Barça from open play. Benfica had the best chance to level in the 61st minute, but Simão missed an opportunity. Samuel Eto'o scored a late goal for Barcelona, putting Barça into the semi-finals. President Luís Filipe Vieira said, "We were hoping to reach the final. We were awakened from the dream—every supporter was".
On 9 April, Benfica hosted Marítimo at home. They were caught off guard and briefly trailed by 2–0. Petit and a 96th-minute penalty from Simão equalized for Benfica. Nonetheless, the draw granted Porto the chance to increase their lead to nine points with four games left, making the title renewal "impossible," as Koeman described it. Six days later, on 15 April, Benfica played visitor to Boavista. Hoping to take advantage of Sporting's slip hours earlier and only battling for a direct qualification for the next Champions League campaign, Benfica beat the home side 2–0, with goals from Tiago and Mantorras. The win also broke a ten-year winless streak at the Estádio do Bessa, the last win being on 30 March 1996. On 23 April, Benfica played Nacional on Estádio da Madeira. Benfica led the game most of time, but conceded a late goal from Ricardo Fernandes and lost the chance to overtake Sporting. On 30 April, Benfica hosted and defeated Vitória de Setúbal 1–0 with a first half goal from Anderson. The win meant Koeman had surpass Giovanni Trapattoni's previous points total (67–65), but without the same glory; Porto had already won the league and Sporting was in good position to finish second.
On 7 May, Benfica played their final match of the season at Estádio da Mata Real. Benfica's Manuel Fernandes scored first but could not prevent Paços de Ferreira scoring three second-half goals, thus losing the game. Benfica ended the season in third place, missing out on the title and an automatic place in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. Despite winning both games against Porto, the closest Benfica had come from them was on the 18 and 19 match-days, with only three points. Benfica closed the season 12 points behind the leader and five from Sporting. Of the Big Three, Benfica conceded the most goals (29) and scored the second-highest number of goals (51), with the worst goal-average (+22). Koeman wanted to fulfil his contract with Benfica, but after negotiations with the management and sudden interest from PSV, Benfica opted to release him on mutual terms. Koeman thanked Luís Filipe Vieira and José Veiga for their support in face of repeated criticism, and said, "This is very big club, but you cannot win all the time, although I admit, that in the Primeira Liga, he did not do everything he could. We could have done better. But I say, It was a pleasure being here, now my career will continue elsewhere."
## Competitions
### Overall record
### Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
### Primeira Liga
#### League table
#### Results by round
#### Matches
### Taça de Portugal
### UEFA Champions League
#### Group D
#### Round of 16
#### Quarter-finals
### Friendlies
## Player statistics
The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below and staff members Ronald Koeman (manager), Bruins Slot (assistant manager) and Fernando Chalana (assistant manager).
Note 1: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note 2: Players with squad numbers marked ‡ joined the club during the 2005-2006 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.
## Transfers
### In
### In by loan
### Out
### Out by loan
## See also
- 2005–06 in Portuguese football |
69,910,276 | Post-imperial Assyria | 1,167,441,413 | Fifth period of Assyrian history | [
"1st millennium BC in Assyria",
"Ancient Mesopotamia",
"Post-Imperial Assyria",
"States and territories disestablished in the 3rd century",
"States and territories established in the 7th century BC"
]
| The post-imperial period was the final stage of ancient Assyrian history, covering the history of the Assyrian heartland from the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC to the final sack and destruction of Assur, Assyria's ancient religious capital, by the Sasanian Empire c. AD 240-250, though Assyria was to endure as the geopolitical entity of Asoristan until the mid 7th century AD. There was no single independent Assyrian state during this time (apart from a patchwork of semi independent states during the Partian era), with Assur and other Assyrian cities instead falling under the control of the successive Median (615–549 BC), Neo-Babylonian (612–539 BC), Achaemenid (539–330 BC), Seleucid (312–c. 141 BC) and Parthian (c. 141 BC–AD 224) empires. The period was marked by the continuance of ancient Assyrian culture, traditions and religion, despite the lack of an Assyrian kingdom. The ancient Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language went extinct however, completely replaced by Aramaic by the 5th century BC, a process that had begun during the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
During the fall of Assyria in the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire 626–609 BC, northern Mesopotamian major cities were extensively sacked and destroyed by Median, Scythian and Babylonian forces. The Babylonian kings, who annexed large parts of Assyria cared little for economically or socially developing the region and as such there was a dramatic decline in population density in most urban regions. Many of the greatest cities of the Neo-Assyrian period, such as Nineveh, were largely deserted and others, such as Assur, temporarily decreased dramatically in size and population, although this did not affect rural regions. The region only began the process of recovery under the rule of the Achaemenid Empire. After his conquest of Babylon in 539, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great returned the cult statue of the Assyrian national deity Ashur to Assur. The Achaemenid practice of not interfering with local cultures, and the organization of the Assyrian lands into a single province, Athura, allowed Assyrian culture to revive and endure.
Assyrian cities were extensively resettled by Assyrians during the Seleucid and Parthian periods. In the last two centuries or so of Parthian rule, Assyria flourished; the great cities of old, such as Assur, Nineveh and Nimrud were resettled and expanded, old villages rebuilt and new settlements constructed. The population density of Parthian Assyria reached heights not seen since the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Much of Assyria was not ruled directly by the Parthians, but instead by a number of vassal kingdoms, such as Osroene Hatra, Beth Nuhadra, Beth Garmai, Assur and Adiabene, which had Assyrian cultural influence and retained the Akkadian influenced East Aramaic dialects that survive to this day among Assyrians. Assur, at this time at least two thirds of the size the city was during Neo-Assyrian times, appears to have been a semi-autonomous city-state, governed by a sequence of Assyrian city-lords who might have seen themselves as the successors of the ancient Assyrian kings. This latter-day Assyrian cultural golden age came to an end when Ardashir I of the Sasanian Empire overthrew the Parthians and, during his campaigns against them, extensively sacked Assyria and its cities after which Assyria together with what had been Babylonia were incorporated into the mostly Assyrian populated Sassanid province of Asoristan.
## Terminology
The centuries that followed the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire are characterized by a distinct lack of surviving sources from Assyria. The textual and archaeological evidence is so scant that the period is often referred to as a "dark age" or simply called "post-Assyrian". Because Assyria continued to be viewed by its inhabitants and by foreigners as a distinct cultural and geographical entity, and (though never again fully independent) continued to at times be administrated separately, modern scholars prefer the name "post-imperial" for the period.
## History
### Neo-Babylonian rule
The fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after its final war with the Neo-Babylonian and Median empires dramatically changed the geopolitics of the Ancient Near East; Babylonia experienced an unprecedented time of prosperity and growth, trade routes were redrawn and the economical organization and political power of the entire region was restructured. It has long been disputed whether Assyria, or at least its northernmost portions along the Taurus Mountains, fell under the control of the Medes or the Babylonians, but evidence that the Babylonian army operated in northwestern Syria and in southern portions of the northern kingdom of Urartu suggests that the Neo-Babylonian Empire annexed most, if not all, of the Assyrian core territory.
Archaeological surveys of northern Mesopotamia have consistently shown that there was a dramatic decrease in the size and number of inhabited sites in Assyria during the Neo-Babylonian period, suggesting a significant societal breakdown in the region. Archaeological evidence suggests that the former Assyrian capital cities, such as Assur, Nimrud and Nineveh, were nearly completely abandoned. Some cities had been completely destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians in the war; the level of destruction and the sacking of Assyria's temples is described with horror and remorse in some of the contemporary Babylonian chronicles. The breakdown in society does not necessarily reflect an enormous drop in population; it is clear that the region became less rich and less densely populated, but it is also clear that Assyria was not entirely uninhabited, nor poor in any real sense. Many smaller settlements were probably abandoned due to the local agricultural organization being destroyed over the decades of war and unrest. Many Assyrians are likely to have died in the war with the Medes and Babylonians or due to its indirect consequences (i.e. dying of disease or starvation) and many probably moved from the region, or where forcefully deported, to Babylonia or elsewhere. Large portions of the remaining Assyrian populace might have turned to nomadism due to the collapse of the local settlements and economy.
Although the Neo-Babylonian kings largely kept the administration of the Assyrian Empire and at times drew on Assyrian rhetoric and symbols for legitimacy, particularly in the reign of Nabonidus (r. 556–539 BC, the last Neo-Babylonian king), they also at times worked to distance themselves from the Assyrian kings that had preceded them and never assumed the title 'king of Assyria'. Throughout the time of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid empires, Assyria was a marginal and sparsely populated region, perhaps chiefly due to the limited interest of the Neo-Babylonian kings to invest resources into its economic and societal development. Individuals with Assyrian names are attested at multiple sites in Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian Empire, including Babylon, Nippur, Uruk, Sippar, Dilbat and Borsippa. The Assyrians in Uruk apparently continued to exist as a community until the reign of the Achaemenid king Cambyses II (r. 530–522 BC) and were closely linked to a local cult dedicated to the Assyrian national deity Ashur.
Though it is clear that recovery was slow and the evidence is scant, there was at least some continuity in administrative and governmental structures even within the former Assyrian heartland itself. At some point after the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC some of the faces in the reliefs of its palaces were destroyed, but there is no evidence for longer Babylonian or Median occupation of the site. At Dur-Katlimmu, one of the largest settlements along the Khabur river, a large Assyrian palace, dubbed the "Red House" by archaeologists, continued to be used in Neo-Babylonian times, with cuneiform records there being written by people with Assyrian names, in Assyrian style, though dated to the reigns of the early Neo-Babylonian kings. Two Neo-Babylonian texts discovered at the city of Sippar in Babylonia attest to there being royally appointed governors at both Assur and Guzana, another Assyrian site in the north. The cult statue of Ashur, stolen from Assur during its sack in 614, was however never returned by the Babylonians and was instead kept in the Esagila temple in Babylon. At some other sites, work was slower. Arbela is attested as a thriving city, but only very late in the Neo-Babylonian period, and there were no attempts to revive the city of Arrapha until the reign of Neriglissar (r. 560–556 BC), who returned a cult statue to the site. Harran was revitalized, with its great temple dedicated to the lunar god Sîn being rebuilt under Nabonidus. Nabonidus's fascination with Harran and Sîn have led modern researchers to speculate that he himself, a usurper genealogically unconnected to earlier Babylonian kings, was of Assyrian ancestry and originated from Harran. Nabonidus did go to some length to revive Assyrian symbols, such as wearing a wrapped cloak in his depictions, absent in those of other Babylonian kings but present in Assyrian art. Some Assyriologists, such as Stephen Herbert Langdon and Stephanie Dalley, have also gone as far as to suggest that he was a descendant of the Sargonid dynasty, Assyria's final ruling dynasty, as a grandson of either Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BC) or Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC), though this is disputed given the lack of strong evidence.
### Achaemenid rule
The Persians first entered Assyrian territory in 547 BC, when the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus the Great, crossed the Tigris river and marched south of Arbela while campaigning against the Medes. Assyria probably came under Achaemenid control in late 539, shortly after Cyrus conquered Babylon in October. Under the Achaemenids, most of Assyria was organized into the province Athura (Aθūrā), but some was incorporated into the satrapy of Media (Mada). The organization of most of Assyria into the single administrative unit Athura effectively kept the region on the map as a distinct political entity throughout the time of Achaemenid rule. In Achaemenid inscriptions on the royal tombs of the kings, Athura is consistently mentioned as one of the empire's provinces, next to, but distinct from, Babylonia. Some of the Achaemenid tombs depict the Assyrians as one of the ethnic groups of the empire, alongside the others. The Achaemenid kings interfered little with the internal affairs of their individual provinces as long as tribute and taxes were continuously provided, which allowed Assyrian culture and customs to survive under Persian rule. After the Achaemenid conquest, the inhabitants of Assur even received the permission of Cyrus the Great to at last rebuild the city's ancient temple dedicated to Ashur and Cyrus even returned Ashur's cult statue from Babylon. Cult statues might also have been returned to Nineveh, though the relevant inscription is damaged and could refer to another city. Just as during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire was Aramaic. By this time, the Aramaic script was often referred to as the "Assyrian script".
It is not known how Athura was organized internally. An Aramaic letter sent by the governor of Egypt in the late 5th century BC attests to the presence of Achaemenid officials at the cities of Arbela, Lair, Arzuhin and Matalubaš, which suggests that there was a certain level of administrative organization in the region. At Tell ed-Daim, located on the Little Zab northeast of Kirkuk, an Achaemenid administrative building of substantial size (26 by 22 meters; 85 by 72 feet), probably a palace of a local governor or official, has been excavated.
A few years after the Egyptian governor's letter, Xenophon, a Greek military leader and historian, marched with the Ten Thousand through much of the northwestern Achaemenid Empire, including Assyria, in 401 BC. In his later writings, Xenophon provided an eye-witness account of the region. Xenophon described Assyria, which he thought was a part of Media, as largely uninhabited south of the Great Zab, but dotted with many small and prosperous villages close to the Little Zab and north of Nineveh, especially in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. Xenophon mentioned three Assyrian cities along the Tigris by name, though the names he gave for them appear to be invented by himself; the cities Larissa (Nimrud) and Mespila (Nineveh) are described as ruined and deserted, but Kainai (Assur) is described as both large and prosperous, something that is not apparent from the archaeological record of the site during this time. The use of the strange names is perplexing given that later Greek and Roman authors were aware of the locations of the ancient Assyrian cities and their names; in the writings of figures such as Strabo, Tacitus and Ptolemy, Nineveh is called Ninos and is known to have been a great Assyrian capital and the region around Nimrud is dubbed Kalakēne (after the city's alternate name Kalhu). Arbela is known to have remained an important administrative center under the Achaemenid Empire, as historical accounts of the campaigns of Alexander the Great describe that city as the local base of operations of Darius III, the empire's final king.
Individuals with clearly Assyrian names are known from Achaemenid times, just as they are from Neo-Babylonian times, and they sometimes reached high positions in government. For instance, the secretary of Cyrus the Great's son Cambyses II, before Cambyses became king, was named Pan-Ashur-lumur (a name clearly incorporating Ashur). In terms of geopolitics, the Assyrians are mentioned most prominently in the reign of Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC). In 520 BC, Assyrians of both Athura and Media joined forces in an unsuccessful revolt against Darius, alongside other peoples of the Achaemenid Empire (including the Medes, Elamites and Babylonians). The Assyrians are then mentioned in the writings of the near-contemporary Greek historian Herodotus as contributing to the construction of the royal palace of Darius at Susa from 500 to 490, with Assyrians from Media contributing gold works and glazing and Assyrians from Athura contributing timber.
### Seleucid rule
In the aftermath of the Achaemenid Empire's conquest by Alexander the Great, Assyria and much of the rest of the former Achaemenid lands came under the control of the Seleucid Empire, founded by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's generals. Though Assyria was centrally located within this empire, and must have been a significant base of power, the region is mentioned very rarely in textual sources from the period. This might perhaps be explained by the political and economic centers of the Seleucid Empire being in heavily urbanized Babylonia in the south, particularly in Babylon itself and the new city Seleucia, and in Syria in the west, particularly the empire's western capital Antioch. Though the Seleucids adopted a policy of hellenization and often emphasized their Hellenic origin, they also at times took on or played into the cultures of the people they ruled. Perhaps as a result of this, and of the Seleucid Empire governing virtually all of the Assyrian Empire's old lands (other than Egypt, which was only briefly under Assyrian control), a handful of ancient documents correlate the Seleucid Empire to "Assyria".
Though the Seleucids kept the eastern satrapies of their empire largely the same as under the Achaemenid Empire, the surviving evidence suggests that the territories in northern Mesopotamia (i.e. Assyria) were politically reorganized. The historian Diodorus Siculus mentioned in his writings that a satrapy of Mesopotamia (consisting of only the northern part of that region as the southern part formed the satrapy of Babylonia) was created in 323 BC, and mentions both the satrapies Mesopotamia and Arbelitis (i.e. the region around Arbela) in 320. Though Assyria remained in the shadow of Babylonia, the region was far from wholly neglected. Nimrud was occupied throughout the Seleucid period, as the site preserves several levels from this time, and the presence of Seleucid coins and pottery at Assur demonstrates that the ancient Assyrian capital experienced the beginnings of a period of regrowth as well. It is possible that the deserted Nineveh was resettled under the Seleucids as well, given that there are sculptures of Greek mythological figures such as the god Hermes and the demigod Heracles known from the site, as well as inscriptions written by people with Greek names, though much of this evidence dates to the succeeding period of Parthian rule. Because of the distinctive appearance of Seleucid pottery, sites occupied during the Seleucid period are easily identifiable in the archaeological record. Archaeological surveys in northern Mesopotamia have been able to demonstrate that there was a widespread, though not necessarily very dense, resettlement of villages in Assyria under the Seleucids.
The Seleucid Empire fell apart due to internal strife, dynastic conflict and wars with foreign enemies. As the empire collapsed, virtually all of its eastern territories were conquered by Mithridates I of the Parthian Empire between 148 and 141 BC. The exact time when Assyria came under Parthian control is not known, but it was either during these conquests or at some point before 96, when it is securely known that the region was under Parthian rule due to records of border agreements between the Parthians and the Roman Republic.
### Parthian suzerainty
#### Organization and revival
Under Parthian suzerainty, several small and semi-independent kingdoms with Assyrian character and large populations cropped up in northern Mesopotamia, including Osroene, Adiabene and the Kingdom of Hatra. These kingdoms lasted until the 3rd or 4th centuries AD, though they were mostly ruled by dynasties of Iranian or Arab descent and culture. This is not to say that aspects of old Assyrian culture did not live on in these new kingdoms or that the rulers of their rulers were not influenced by the local populace; for instance, the main god worshipped at Hatra was the old Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash. A few exceptions to the sequences of non-native rulers also existed; the name of the earliest known king of Adiabene, Abdissares, is clearly of Aramaic origin and means "servant of Ishtar". Some portions of former Assyria were placed under direct Parthian control; Beth Nuhadra (modern Duhok) was for instance not ruled by a local dynasty but converted into a military province governed by a royally appointed Nohodar military official. Because of scarcity of documentation and the region often being politically unstable, the precise boundaries and political status of many locations is not entirely clear throughout the Parthian period; minor Armenian principalities in the highlands and mountains in far northern Mesopotamia established in the Seleucid period, such as Sophene, Zabdicene, Corduene, may have also preserved some independence or autonomy in Parthian times.
Whereas Osroene fell under Roman influence and control, most of Assyria was under Parthian control, though divided between Adiabene, which was based in Arbela, and Hatra. The region remained an integral part of the Parthian Empire until its fall in the 3rd century AD. Though some Roman authors, such as Pliny the Elder, equated Adiabene with Assyria (referring to Assyria as an older synonym of Adiabene), most contemporaries saw Adiabene as only controlling the central part of Assyria. The equation of Adiabene with Assyria would also sometimes be made in the later Sasanian period, when the Sasanian province Adiabene in some cases was called "Athuria".
The slow resettlement and recovery of Assyria under the Seleucid Empire continued under Parthian rule. Helped by favorable climate conditions and political stability, this age of recovery culminated in an unprecedented return to prosperity and a remarkable revival under the last two centuries or so of Parthian rule. Archaeological surveys of sites of the Parthian period in Assyria demonstrate an enormous density of settlements that is only comparable to what the region was like under the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Under the Parthians, intense settlement took place throughout Assyria, with new villages being constructed and old villages being expanded and rebuilt.
The Seleucid and Parthian resettlement of Nineveh involved the construction of both residential houses and new sanctuaries and temples, with archaeological evidence having survived of both. Among the temples restored were the "Ezida" temple on the Kuyunjik mound in the city, rebuilt in its original place and dedicated to the same god it was dedicated to in ancient times, Nabu. An inscription is preserved from this temple, dated to Parthian rule in 32/31 BC, by a Greek worshipper named Apollophanes, who dedicated it to the strategos of Nineveh, Apollonios. Archaeological evidence shows that the throne room of the former Southwest Palace, built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, was converted into a religious sanctuary dedicated to Heracles. Called Ninos in Greek, Nineveh was for most of the Parthian period under the control of Adiabene and though not a great political center, the city retained its local importance as a market-settlement along the Tigris river throughout this time. Nineveh was relatively Hellenized, with its population worshipping syncretistic Greco-Mesopotamian deities and many being able to speak Greek, but the predominant language in the city and in the surrounding countryside likely remained Aramaic.
#### Parthian Assur
Assur, perhaps now known under the name Labbana (derived from Libbali, "heart of the city", the ancient Assyrian name for the city's temple quarter) flourished under Parthian rule, with many buildings being either repaired or constructed from scratch. Per the historian Peter Haider, "after the Parthian conquest of Mesopotamia, Assur came to life again". From around or shortly after the end of the 2nd century BC, the city may have become the capital of its own small semi-autonomous realm, either under the suzerainty of Hatra, or under direct Parthian suzerainty. Among the buildings constructed was a new local palace, dubbed the "Parthian Palace" by historians. All in all, the buildings built under the Parthian period cover about two thirds of the area of the city as it was in Neo-Assyrian times. Stelae erected by the local rulers of Assur in this time resemble the stelae erected by the Neo-Assyrian kings, though the rulers are depicted in Parthian-style trouser-suits rather than ancient garb. The rulers used the title maryo of Assur ("master of Assur") and appear to have viewed themselves as continuing the old Assyrian royal tradition. These stelae retain the shape, framing and placement (often in city gates) of stelae erected under the ancient kings and also depict the central figure in reverence of the moon and sun, an ever-present motif in the ancient royal stelae.
The ancient temple dedicated to Ashur was restored for a second time in the 2nd century AD. Though the adornment of the buildings reflect a certain Hellenistic character, their design is also reminiscent of old Assyrian and Babylonian buildings, with some Parthian influences. Personal names in Assur at this time greatly resemble personal names from the Neo-Assyrian period, with individuals like Qib-Assor ("command of Ashur"), Assor-tares ("Ashur judges") and even Assor-heden ("Ashur has given a brother", a late version of the name Aššur-aḫu-iddina, i.e. Esarhaddon). Later Syriac Christian hagiographic sources demonstrate that the Assyrian populace of the Parthian period took great pride in their Assyrian ancestry, with some among the local nobility claiming descent from the Assyrian kings of old.
In 220, Ardashir I of the Sasanians, the king of Persis, rebelled against the Parthians and in 226, he succeeded in capturing the imperial capital of Ctesiphon. The Parthian vassal states lingered on only for a time in Assyria and Armenia. The king of Hatra, Sanatruq II, fended off a Sasanian attack in 228/229, but Hatra was defeated and conquered by Ardashir in 240/241, after a two-year long siege. Ardashir had Hatra destroyed, and the wars also caused a depopulation of the surrounding region. Assyria's last golden age came to an end with the Sasanian sack of Assur, which took place either during Ardashir's first campaign against Hatra in 228/229, or in the later campaign c. 240. During the sack, Ashur's temple was destroyed again and the city's population was dispersed. Having been firmly tied to Assur and Ashur since the foundation of their civilization, the final destruction of Ashur's temple, more than 800 years after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, represented the definitive end to the once mighty ancient Assyrian civilization. The Assyrian people survived this final end and remain an ethnic minority in the region and elsewhere to this day.
## Archaeological evidence
The periods of Babylonian and Achaemenid rule over Assyria are the most scarce when it comes to surviving sources and archaeological evidence. There is no archaeological evidence, beyond the limited evidence from Dur-Katlimmu (which only attest to a few decades of occupation at most), that any of the old Assyrian palaces were ever again used as official governmental seats after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Some archaeological evidence indicates that Assur was rebuilt at a much smaller scale in the Neo-Babylonian period, with only a few smaller structures of Babylonian character known. Evidence of squatter occupation of some sites has been uncovered, such as scant archaeological finds indicating repair-work and the construction of small houses and workshops at Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin and Assur in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods. A small collection of cuneiform texts is also known from Neo-Babylonian Assur, which among other things demonstrate that goldsmiths were active in the city.
The archaeological evidence is also scant from the Seleucid period and it consists mainly of coinage and characteristic Seleucid pottery types, such as bowls and fishplates with incurved rims. The most extensive Assyrian archaeological finds from the post-imperial period are from the time of Parthian rule over the region. At Assur, many Aramaic inscriptions have been found from the Parthian period, as well as ruins of sanctuaries and residential areas. Parthian Assur in many ways was a combination of old and new, with several ancient Assyrian temples rebuilt on top of their old foundations, though with stylistic elements combining old native Mesopotamian and new Parthian architectural styles. Exactly on top of the old temple dedicated to Ashur, a tripartite temple was constructed in the Parthian period. In shape and size, this new temple was likely similar to the Great Iwans at Hatra, a mighty temple structure. The ruins of personal houses indicate that they followed Parthian designs. The Parthians rebuilt even the old Assyrian festival house, exactly according to its original plan.
Most of the archaeological finds from Seleucid and Parthian Nineveh are from the Kuyunjik mound, with knowledge of much of the lower city itself only deriving from a small number of chance discoveries. Among these chance discoveries are the remains of an altar dedicated to the strategos Appolonios and a temple dedicated to the god Hermes, as well as traces of graves. The Kuyunjik mound was evidently covered with substantial buildings, traces of which were uncovered in the form of their stone foundations and assorted fragments. Great temples were built and maintained under both the Seleucids and Parthians, and several statues in both Greek and Parthian style, most fragmentary but a handful intact, have been found. Among the most famous discoveries from Kuyunjik is a well-preserved statue of Herakles Epitrapezios (an aspect or epithet of the demigod Heracles). In addition to great temples, the Kuyunjik mound was also covered in smaller residential buildings, evident by the presence of great numbers of small objects, including figurines and pottery. As Nineveh was located closer to the border with the Roman Empire than Assur, it frequently came into contact with the Roman world, both through trade and through Roman expeditions invading or raiding the region. Both Parthian and Roman silver coins are known from the site. Roman military equipment, including a belt fitting and a set of helmets, have also been found at Nineveh, probably lost in the confusion of war.
## Language
The official language of the Assyrian Empire was the Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language and from the time of Tiglath-Pileser III Imperial Aramaic was also used. Usage of this language was already becoming more restricted in Neo-Assyrian times due to the growth of Aramaic. By the last few decades of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Aramaic was the main spoken language of the empire. Despite the centuries of foreign rule, and influence of foreign languages such as Greek, the predominant language in the cities and countryside of Assyria likely remained Assyrian Aramaic throughout the post-imperial period. The Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language itself remained in use for some time after the fall of the Assyrian Empire, though in a much restricted capacity, probably not going extinct until around the end of the 6th century BC.
The dialects commonly spoken by modern Assyrians, Suret, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, is a Neo-Aramaic language, descended from the Aramaic dialects of the latter part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and post-imperial period of Achaemenid Assyria. Modern Assyrian Aramaic retains some ancient Akkadian influence, they retain an archaic Akkadian grammatical structure and there are a number of known examples of Akkadian loanwords in the ancient and modern Aramaic dialects. The Syriac language, an Aramaic dialect today mainly used liturgical language, has at least fourteen exclusive (i.e. not attested in other dialects) loanwords from Akkadian, including nine of which are clearly from the ancient Assyrian dialect (six of which are architectural or topographical terms).
## Religion
The Assyrians at Assur and other locations in the north continued to follow the ancient Mesopotamian religion in the post-imperial period, and continued to especially venerate their national deity Ashur. In many other parts of northern Mesopotamia, religious traditions quickly diverged and developed in different directions. In particular, there was from the time of Seleucid rule onwards significant influence of ancient Greek religion, with many Greek deities becoming syncretized with Mesopotamian deities. There was also some influence of Judaism, given that the Assyrian kings of Adiabene converted to Judaism in the 1st century AD. Though outside Assyria proper, excavations of the Parthian-age sections of the nearby site Dura-Europos found a temple with a diverse arrangement of deities, a Christian church and a Jewish synagogue, all dating to the 3rd century AD. This religious and cultural complexity is likely to also have been reflected within Assyria, as it was now a frontier region between the Roman and Parthian empires.
At Assur, both old and new gods were worshipped. Most important was Ashur, in Parthian times known as Assor or Asor, whose worship was carried out in the same way as it had been in ancient times, per a cultic calendar effectively identical to that used under the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Because personal inscriptions at the temples in Assur frequently mention the month Nisan (the first month of the year) it is evident that the traditional Mesopotamian Akitu festival (celebrated in this month) continued to be celebrated. One of the temples built in the Parthian period included in its cult room a stele with a high relief depicting the demigod Heracles with a lion's skin over his left arm and resting his right hand on a club. Based on evidence from Hatra and Palmyra, Heracles was likely identified with the Assyrian and Semitic deity of fortune, Gad. It is also apparent that Heracles was identified in Mesopotamia with the god Nergal, as attested by inscriptions found elsewhere and by inscriptions from the Parthian period at Assur mentioning Nergal, but not Heracles. Graffiti and inscriptions scratched into the floor and walls of the rebuilt Parthian era Ashur temple indicate that the most important deities were Ashur and his consort Serua, since they are the most frequently mentioned. Other deities that are mentioned, though less frequently, include Nabu and Nane ("the daughter of Bel"). The god Bel, otherwise mainly a Babylonian deity, was also worshipped in his own temple in the city. The inscriptions, temples, continued celebration of festivals and the wealth of theophoric elements (divine names) in personal names of the Parthian period illustrate a strong continuity of traditions, and that the most important deities of old Assyria were still worshipped at Assur more than 800 years after the Assyrian Empire had been destroyed.
Religious practices at the nearby Nineveh during Parthian times differed considerably from those at Assur. Whereas the deities worshipped at Assur and its surrounds were mostly old Mesopotamian ones (other than Heracles-Nergal), the deities worshipped at Nineveh were nearly all syncretistic (a melding of old Assyrian gods with goreign dieties) or outright imported figures. These figures included the syncretistic Apollo-Nabu, Heracles-Gad, and Zeus-Bel, as well as the imported Greek god Hermes and the imported Egyptian deities Isis and Serapis.
It is not clear when exactly the Assyrians were first Christianized, but Arbela was an important early Christian center. According to the later Chronicle of Arbela, Arbela became the seat of a bishop already in AD 100, but the reliability of this document is questioned among scholars. It is however known that Arbela, Mosul and Kirkuk later served as important Christian centers in the Sasanian and later Islamic periods. From the 3rd century onwards, it is clear that Christianity was becoming the major religion of the region, with the Christian god replacing the old Mesopotamian deities, including Ashur, who had just previously experienced a remarkable period of revival. The ancient Mesopotamian religion persisted in some places for much longer, such as at Harran until at least the 10th century (the "Sabians" of Harran) and at Mardin until as late as the 18th century (the Shamsīyah).
## See also
- History of Mesopotamia
- List of Mesopotamian dynasties |
67,664,994 | Leave Me Be | 1,159,893,802 | 1964 single by the Zombies | [
"1964 singles",
"1964 songs",
"British pop rock songs",
"Decca Records singles",
"Parrot Records singles",
"Songs written by Chris White (musician)",
"The Zombies songs"
]
| "Leave Me Be" (also recorded as "You'd Better Leave Me Be") is a song written by British bassist Chris White and recorded by his band the Zombies. Following the release of their debut single "She's Not There" in July 1964, White wrote a handful of songs in between performances during the band's heavy schedule. Most of the work on the song occurred in August 1964, when the Zombies recorded both a demo and the backing track for it. The instrumentation largely differs from both earlier and later Zombies records; it features electric organ played by Rod Argent, compared to his previous usage of the electric piano. Together with record producer Ken Jones, they returned in September to finish the vocal track, which was disliked by most band members for its similarity to "She's Not There"; the vocals would eventually be re-recorded a few months later.
Decca Records released the song as the follow-up to "She's Not There". Characterized by its usage of minor chords and chord progression, the song lyrically deals with loneliness, a theme previously present in the band's music. The United States release was cancelled and instead, the song appeared as the B-side of "Tell Her No" in the US. The song received mixed reviews upon release, with some critics deeming it inferior to "She's Not There". Unlike its predecessor, which was a top-20 hit in the United Kingdom, "Leave Me Be" became a commercial failure due to flopping worldwide, only gracing the lower regions of the Australian charts. First appearing on the compilation album I Love You in 1966, the song has since been re-released on several occasions. Although largely ignored and forgotten after release, the song has received retrospective praise, becoming a cult song among fans. It has been covered by several notable artists, including Ola & the Janglers, Sonny & Cher and the Posies.
## Background and composition
### Background and recording
On 24 July 1964, the Zombies released their debut single "She's Not There" in the United Kingdom. It proved to be a relatively large hit there, reaching number 12 on the Record Retailer chart. Being among the first songs written by keyboardist Rod Argent, the track largely established him as a songwriter. Chris White had composed the B-side "You Make Me Feel Good", which despite being positively reviewed sparsely, was largely ignored. This was due to it being a B-side, a side that contained songs that the British press and record-buying public oftentimes ignored. This meant that Argent, who wrote the A-side, received the majority of the acclaim from both fans and critics alike. During this time, as their popularity was growing, the Zombies managed to gain more bookings and as a result, less and less time could be wasted writing songs as the hectic schedule proved to be time-consuming. This largely led to White starting to write songs as a substitute to Argent. In July–August 1964 during the chart success of "She's Not There", he wrote an entire batch of songs intended for single and album release.
"Leave Me Be" was initially recorded as a demo at Ryemuse studios in Primrose Hill, London on 13 August 1964, together with Argent's "Kind of Girl" and "Woman". This version wasn't released for over 30 years, and instead the group entered Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London on 31 August 1964 to professionally lay down the backing track to the song. Producer Ken Jones who had previously collaborated with them was also present during the session. Both "Kind of Girl" and "Woman" were also recorded during this session, along with another of Argent's compositions "Sometimes". The group performed eight takes of the song during that session. They then didn't finish the song for another 6 days, until 5 September 1964, once again returning to Decca for recording the vocal track. This continued the Zombies style of recording, which included recording several takes of the backing track on a prior date sometime prior, before choosing the best to overdub and add the vocal track over. Jones, who liked the "whispery" singing on "She's Not There", wanted singer Colin Blunstone to have a similar vocal performance on "Leave Me Be", much to Blunstone's and the Zombies' disappointment. This led to the group re-recording the vocals during a chapter of their first United States tour.
### Composition
In the months leading up to the recording session, the Zombies had equipped themselves with several new instruments. Drummer Hugh Grundy had purchased a Ludwig drum kit, with White buying a Gibson EB-3, two instruments that would dominate the remainder of the group's output on Decca Records. For the recording, guitarist Paul Atkinson had equipped himself with a Gretsch Chet Atkins semi-acoustic guitar, an instrument he did not like, in hindsight wishing he had purchased a Gretsch Country Gentleman, played by George Harrison. However, author Claes Johansen praises Atkinson for his work on the song, writing that his playing "elevates it to another level." "Leave Me Be" also marked the first instance the Vox Continental organ appeared on a Zombies Record. Previously, Argent had played a Hohner Pianet on the group's recordings. Johansen however, stated that due to the way the Vox Continental was built, Argent was "in the dark" when using the keyboard, which in Johansens words "would have probably been a better option at the time if he had just stayed with the Pianette."
According to Johansen, "Leave Me Be" features several distinct features that connect it to "She's Not There" musically. Both songs are in the key of A minor along with the "incorporation of both D minor and D major chords. Further similarities to "She's Not There" can according to Johansen be found in the song structure, as both songs contain "three part structures" of verses "leading into an inner bridge leading into the chorus". These liknesses are most likely coincidental, as White claims he is musically illiterate. When interviewed, White stated that "something comes in my head and then I have to find it on instrument". Johansen also adds that the song is unlike White's regular songwriting since he uses an odd chord progression on it, as the chord of A-minor does not appear until the conclusion, while also using the unusual F major 7 chord. The author states that White used the tonic scale on the song in order to give comfort to the listener. He also indicates that this use of a chord progression will not leave the listener "unoccupied until the last note". Lyrically, "Leave Me Be" refers to despair and hopelessness which was also a theme found on "She's Not There". Though Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic called the song a "minor-key ballad", Johansen compares it to the soft and jazz rock that was present on "She's Not There".
## Release and commercial performance
Although recorded during August–September 1964, Decca kept "Leave Me Be" in its vaults until October. This was most likely to allow for a US-release of "She's Not There", which occurred only a few days after the vocal track for "Leave Me Be" was finished, on 7 September through Parrot Records. The song proved to be a huge chart success, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Cashbox Top 100. As "She's Not There" was more successful in the United States than in the UK, Decca decided to release "Leave Me Be" in the latter territory in order to see whether it would become a hit or not. Therefore, on 16 October 1964, Decca released "Leave Me Be" as the Zombies' second single. The B-side chosen was Argent's "Woman", which had been recorded during the same sessions as the A-side.
Unlike "She's Not There", which had reached the UK top-20, "Leave Me Be" failed to chart in Record Retailer. The reason behind this is unknown, but at the time of the single's release, "She's Not There" was still in the top-20, which meant that the two singles competed with each other, significantly reducing sales for "Leave Me Be" since record-buyers wanted the hit instead. "Leave Me Be" was issued in several other territories, including Australia, which was the only country in which the song actually landed on the national charts, Kent Music Report. The song entered the chart on 12 December 1964, at a position of number 81, which it held for two weeks before dropping out on 19 December 1964. The failure of the single led to it being withdrawn from US release and instead being relegated to the B-side of the Zombies' follow up "Tell Her No". This version features alternate vocals that were recorded during their US tour. According to White, the reason behind the disappointing chart success of "Leave Me Be" was that the song didn't have the same aura when recorded in the studio as it did during live performances. He claims that it was a fantastic track during rehearsals and on tour, but that the "produced sound" on the studio version most likely hindered further chart success.
"Leave Me Be" was not included on any original UK album releases, however, the B-side "Woman" was included on the band's debut UK album Begin Here. (1965) Although "Woman" was also included on the Zombies eponymous US album, (1965) "Leave Me Be" was left out. The song experienced its first album release on a Swedish compilation album known as I Love You in 1966. It was first issued in the US four years after the initial release, on a compilation album titled Early Days, which compiled several early recordings by the band. The song would not get a release on an album in the UK until 1973, when it was issued on Time Of The Zombies, which compiled all their 1964–66 recordings. The initial demo version was released on Zombie Heaven in 1997. Furthermore, both the stereo version and the backing track were issued in 2002 on the compilation album The Decca Stereo Anthology.
## Critical reception and legacy
### Contemporary reviews
Although not a commercially successful single, "Leave Me Be" managed to garner some positive reception. In a review for Disc and Music Echo, critic Don Nicholl writes that "Leave Me Be" seems to be self-pitying, though "it should register another hit". He notes the "soft beat" contrasting to the "orchestrated power of Colin Blunstone's vocals", further praising Argent's organ playing. Nicholl ends by stating that he prefers "Woman" due to the A-side being "too wistful". In a blind test for Melody Maker, musician Sandie Shaw states that she likes the sound of the song's introduction and almost immediately recognized it to be the Zombies. She enjoys the mysterious sound that the band established, however, deems the song inferior to "She's Not There". Shaw says it had a chance of reaching the charts, but not to the extent of their debut single.
Peter Aldersley of Pop Weekly states that he likes the song, due to the "haunting fascination springing from the melody and the vocal". Furthermore, Aldersley adds that the single is balanced and seems restrained in a positive way. He adds that the song is dance friendly and concludes that it is an "uncomplicated performance of a straightforward composition. In an anonymous review for Record Mirror, the single is described as a "a gentle medium pace ballad with some good soft vocal work". They also state that the vocals and guitar most likely will become better with each time listening, and compare the sound to that of "She's Not There".
As "Leave Me Be" was issued as a B-side in the US, it was largely ignored by the media. However, it did receive some reviews in American newspapers. Writing for Cashbox, the reviewer states that "Leave Me Be" is "whisper-like" which offers "a pleasant melody and meaningful lyrics." Though they note that both sides of the single had commercial potential, "Tell Her No" was eventually considered the superior song. According to Music Business, "Leave Me Be" proved the Zombies a "staying power", stating that it is a strong song. In Record World, it was called a "frenzy to sing", with the coupling being awarded four-stars.
### Retrospective assessment and covers
Retrospectively, Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic considered "Leave Me Be" to be among White's earlier songwriting masterpieces. He compared it to the music of the Beach Boys and positively notes the self-referencial lyrical content that "was probably deeply felt by every heartbroken teenager that ever heard it". The single became a favorite of guitarist John Du Cann of Atomic Rooster, who stated he enjoyed both the inclusion of minor chords and Blunstone's phrasing on the song, leading to him getting a copy of it signed during a Zombies concert. Vernon Joynson writes that "Leave Me Be" has a "muffled, surly feel", while Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton compared the song to "She's Not There", lacking a hook that would have made it more commercial.
The options of the Zombies members have stayed the same as they did during the time "Leave Me Be" was released. White still insists that the song was stronger on stage than on record and states his dislike for the vocal track. Argent has similarly expressed dismay regarding the vocal performance, stating that whereas on "She's Not There", the performance seemed natural which was the complete contrast to "Leave Me Be", which he believed had forcefully achieved this effect. He closed by stating that "You Make Me Feel Good" had a sound that they should have attempted on "Leave Me Be". However, engineer Gus Dudgeon stated that this was an attempt to ensure commercial success, as many follow-ups to debuts had a similar arrangement to the originals. "Leave Me Be" eventually achieved something similar to a cult status among the Zombies' fans, due to its chord progression, lyrical relevance and relative obscurity. Though not a commercially successful record upon release, the song managed to be covered by several artists only 1–2 years after initial release.
The song was initially covered by Swedish beat group Ola & the Janglers in 1965 for their debut album Surprise Surprise. Self-proclaimed Zombies fans, the group also included "Remember When I Loved Her" on the album, while a cover of "She's Not There" was their breakthrough hit. Based on the Janglers version, "Leave Me Be" was picked up by Kenneth "Kenta" Gustafsson and Gustav "Stoffe" Svensson, which was later featured in the Swedish cult film They Call Us Misfits in 1968. In April 1966, Timothy B. Schmit's first band the New Breed covered it as "You'd Better Leave Me Be." Sonny & Cher recorded a cover for their second studio album The Wondrous World of Sonny & Chér in May 1966. Critic Richie Unterberger praised their ability to find "eclectic" songs to cover, while simultaneously praising their versions. American group the Posies covered the song for the compilation album The World of the Zombies. AllMusic critic Nitsuh Abebe called the song "charming".
## Personnel
Personnel according to the liner notes of Zombie Heaven.
- Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
- Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
- Paul Atkinson – guitar
- Chris White – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Hugh Grundy – drums
## Charts |
19,984,841 | The Fame | 1,173,873,916 | null | [
"2008 debut albums",
"Albums produced by Fernando Garibay",
"Albums produced by Lady Gaga",
"Albums produced by Martin Kierszenbaum",
"Albums produced by RedOne",
"Brit Award for International Album",
"Cherrytree Records albums",
"Concept albums",
"Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album",
"Interscope Geffen A&M Records albums",
"Interscope Records albums",
"Lady Gaga albums"
]
| The Fame is the debut studio album by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008, by Interscope Records. After joining KonLive Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin Kierszenbaum, and Rob Fusari. Musically, The Fame is an electropop, synth-pop, and dance-pop record that displays influences from 1980s music. Lyrically, it visualizes Gaga's love of fame in general, while also dealing with subjects such as love, sex, money, drugs, and sexual identity. The album was primarily promoted through The Fame Ball Tour and multiple television appearances, and was reissued as a deluxe edition with The Fame Monster on November 18, 2009.
The album received generally favorable reviews from critics, who commended its lyrical content, Gaga's musicianship and vocal ability. It was a commercial success, topping the charts in several countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and Switzerland. It peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200, and also topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 175 non-consecutive weeks, the most time on top in history. It has since been certified six-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The Fame became the fifth best-selling album of 2009, and has sold over 4.9 million copies in the United States as of January 2019. Combined with The Fame Monster, the album had sold over 18 million copies worldwide as of August 2019.
The first two singles off the album, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" gained international success, topping the charts in several countries worldwide including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The subsequent singles "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi" were commercial successes as well, charting within the top-ten of over ten countries worldwide. "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" had a limited single release, while "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" served as a promotional single.
The Fame has won multiple awards since its release. The album was nominated for a total of five Grammy Awards at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It won Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording for its single "Poker Face", and also won Best International Album at the 2010 Brit Awards. In 2013 and 2022, Rolling Stone named The Fame as one of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time". As of 2023, it is the 12th biggest album of all time on the US Billboard 200.
## Background and development
While establishing herself as an artist and working her way up through the New York underground club scene, Lady Gaga released her debut studio album, The Fame. Speaking about the title and concept of the album, Gaga explained: "The Fame is about how anyone can feel famous. ... Pop culture is art. It doesn't make you cool to hate pop culture, so I embraced it and you hear it all over The Fame. But, it's a sharable fame. I want to invite you all to the party. I want people to feel a part of this lifestyle." Gaga stated in an interview with MTV UK that she had been working on the album for two and a half years and completed half of it during the first week of January 2008. As well as writing the lyrics, Gaga worked on the melodies and synth work of the album, with record producer RedOne. According to Gaga, the first track "Just Dance" is a joyous, heart-themed song, which appeals to people going through tough times in their life. "LoveGame", the second track, was inspired by Gaga's sexual crush on a stranger in a night club to whom she said, "I wanna ride on your disco stick". It was written in four minutes based on the disco stick hook. "Paparazzi" has been interpreted with different meanings. However Gaga explained in an interview with About.com, that the song was inspired by her struggles and hunger for fame and love. Essentially a love song, "Paparazzi" dealt with enticing the media and asked the question, whether one can have both fame and love.
"Poker Face" was inspired by Gaga's boyfriends who enjoyed gambling, and also dealt with her personal experience of bisexuality; her fantasies about women while having sex with men, thus representing her 'poker face'." "Boys Boys Boys" was inspired by the similarly titled Mötley Crüe song "Girls, Girls, Girls". Gaga explained that she wanted a female version of the song that rockers would like too. "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" summed up her time of self-discovery, living in the Lower East Side and dabbling in drugs and the party scene. "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" was about breaking up with a boyfriend and finding someone new. "Brown Eyes" was inspired by the British rock band Queen and, according to Gaga, is the most vulnerable song on the album.
Gaga further clarified the ideas behind The Fame, and her inspirations and visions for the album. She believed that the most important thing missing from contemporary pop music was the combination of the visual imagery of the artist with the music. Gaga incorporated theatrics in her live performances of the songs from the album. Hence she hoped that people would take notice of the performance art, which she was trying to bring back with the album and its music; according to her, the music put the lifestyle in front of it.
> "I just feel like this record is really different- you[']ve got club bangers to more 70s glam to more singer-songwriter records to rock music. ... The Fame is not about who you are—it's about how everybody wants to know who you are! Buy it and listen to it before you go out or in the car. ... I think you've really got to allow artists' creativity to marinate. It took me a while but really delving into myself I finally got it. I couldn't be more proud of it. It's not just a record[,] it's a whole pop art movement[.] It's not just about one song."
## Composition
Musically, the album combines electropop, synth-pop, and dance-pop, while drawing influences from 1980s music. Songs like "Poker Face", "Just Dance" and "LoveGame" are uptempo dance songs, with "Poker Face" carrying a dark sound with clear vocals on the chorus and a pop hook. "Just Dance" is synth-based while "LoveGame" has a more dance-oriented beat, and "Money Honey" has a moderate techno groove. All of them combined synths of clipped marching beats, sawing electronics and contained mild R&B-infused beats. "Paparazzi" carried a sultry beat while "Summerboy" had influences of the music of Blondie. "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" is credited as a ballad compared to the rest of the dance-fueled tracks from The Fame. The song has a 1980s synth-pop feel to it, while incorporating the "Eh, Eh" hook from Rihanna's single "Umbrella" (2007).
Lyrically, the songs on The Fame talk about being famous and achieving popularity; "Poker Face" is about sexual innuendo and teasing. Gaga explained to the Daily Star that the lyrics carry a bit of an undertone of confusion about love and sex. According to the BBC, the "Mum-mum-mum-mah" hook used in the song is sampled from Boney M.'s 1977 hit "Ma Baker". "Just Dance" talks about being intoxicated in a party, with lyrics like "What's going on on the floor? / I love this record, baby but I can't see straight anymore". "LoveGame" portrays a message about love, fame and sexuality. "Paparazzi" portrays a stalker who is following somebody being their biggest fan. The lyrics also portray the desire of capturing the attention of the camera as well as achieving fame. Gaga explained that,
> "This idea of The Fame runs through and through. Basically, if you have nothing—no money, no fame—you can still feel beautiful and dirty rich. It's about making choices, and having references—things you pull from your life that you believe in. It's about self-discovery and being creative. The record is slightly focused, but it's also eclectic. ... The music is intended to inspire people to feel a certain way about themselves, so they'll be able to encompass, in their own lives, a sense of inner fame that they can project to the world, and the carefree nature of the album is a reflection of that aura. I like to funnel interesting ideas to the rest of the world through a pop lens."
## Promotion
### Singles
"Just Dance" was released as the album's lead single commercially worldwide on June 17, 2008, through digital distribution. The song was critically acclaimed with reviewers complimenting its club anthem-like nature and the synth-pop associated with it. It achieved commercial success by topping charts in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as reaching the top 10 in 16 other countries. The song received a Grammy nomination in the Best Dance Recording category but lost to electronic duo Daft Punk for their song "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".
"Poker Face" was released as the second single from the album. It was also well received by critics, most of whom have praised the robotic hook and the chorus. The single achieved greater success than "Just Dance" by topping the charts in almost all the countries it was released to. "Poker Face" became Gaga's second consecutive number one on the Hot 100. On December 2, 2009, "Poker Face" received three Grammy nominations in the categories of Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and won for Best Dance Recording.
"Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" was the album's third single in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Denmark and fourth in France. The song received mixed reviews. Some critics compared it to nineties Europop while the others criticized it for bringing the party-like nature of the album to a halt. It failed to match the success of the previous singles in Australia and New Zealand by reaching 15 and nine, respectively. It peaked at two in Sweden and at seven in France.
"LoveGame" was released as the third single in the United States, Canada and some European nations. It was the fourth single in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The song was critically appreciated for its catchy tune and the "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" hook. The song has reached the top 10 in countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada and the top 20 in others.
"Paparazzi" was announced as the third single in the United Kingdom and Ireland with a release date of July 6, 2009, the fourth single in the United States, and the fifth single overall. The song has reached the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. It also reached the top 10 in the United States. The song has received critical acclaim for its fun-filled, club-friendly nature and is deemed the most memorable and telling song from the album. The associated music video for the song was shot as a mini-movie with Gaga starring as a doomed starlet who is almost killed by her boyfriend, but in the end takes her revenge and reclaims her fame and popularity.
### Live performances and media appearances
To promote the album, Gaga did several performances worldwide. Her first televised appearance was on Logo's NewNowNext Awards on June 7, 2008. She also performed on Michalsky StyleNite at Berlin Fashion Week, So You Think You Can Dance, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as in Vietnam for the 57th Miss Universe beauty pageant during the swimsuit competition. On January 31, 2009, she performed on television in Ireland on RTÉ One's show Tubridy Tonight. Three songs from The Fame were used in the second season of The CW's series Gossip Girl: "Paparazzi" in the episode "Summer, Kind of Wonderful", "Poker Face" in "The Serena Also Rises", and "Money Honey" in "Remains of the J". Gaga also performed "Poker Face" on American Idol on April 1, 2009. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the singer performed "Paparazzi". Her gig involved choreographed dance moves, playing on the piano, theatrical blood dripping from her ribcage, and ended with the singer hung lifeless with one hand rising above her dancers and blood smeared on her face. It is widely considered to be one of Gaga's greatest performances to date, and according to Billboard's Ashley Laderer, "this was the performance that really made Lady Gaga. It proved she was more than just a superficial pop star—she was an artist".
To celebrate the launch of the show Dirty Sexy Money, ABC created a music video of Gaga's song "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich", directed by Melina Matsoukas. It was initially announced as Gaga's second single, but "Poker Face" was chosen instead, with "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" being released as a promotional single. There were two videos released for the song – the first was composed of clips from Dirty Sexy Money, and the second was the actual music video. The song charted on the UK Singles Chart due to digital downloads and peaked at number 83.
### Tour
The album received further promotion from her first headlining concert tour, The Fame Ball Tour, which started on March 12, 2009, in San Diego, California. It was Gaga's first concert tour with North American shows in March, followed by dates in Oceania and a solo trek through Europe. Dates in Asia soon followed, as well as two performances at England's V Festival and two shows in North America that had been postponed from April. Gaga described the tour as a traveling museum show incorporating artist Andy Warhol's pop-performance art concept. Tickets were distributed for charity also. Alternate versions of the show with minimal variations were planned by Gaga to accommodate different venues.
The show consisted of four segments, with each segment being followed by a video interlude to the next segment, and it ended with an encore. The set list consisted of songs from The Fame only. Gaga appeared on the stage in new costumes including an innovative dress made entirely of plastic bubbles and premiered an unreleased song called "Future Love". An alternate set list with minor changes was performed for European dates. The show received positive critical appreciation with critics complimenting Gaga's vocal clarity and fashion sense as well as her ability to pull off theatrics like a professional artist.
## Critical reception
The Fame received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on 13 reviews. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "music that sounds thickly sexy with its stainless steel synths and dark disco rhythms", and wrote that it is "glorious pop trash and a wicked parody of it." Nicole Powers of URB complimented its "irony-laden lyrics, delivered in a style that owes a little something to Gwen Stefani," as well as the album's "deluxe ditties". Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly called it "remarkably (and exhaustingly) pure in its vision of a world in which nothing trumps being beautiful, dirty, and rich. In this economy, though, her high-times escapism has its charms".
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian found it "packing an immensely addictive melody or an inescapable hook, virtually everything sounds like another hit single", and predicted that it "certainly sounds like it could be big." Daniel Brockman from The Boston Phoenix wrote that "Gaga ups the ante in terms of catchy songwriting and sheer high-in-the-club-banging-to-the-beat abandon." Ben Hogwood of musicOMH praised Gaga's "blend of sassy attitude, metallic beats and sharp, incisive songwriting", elements which he felt are integral to "creating pop music".
Although he panned "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)", "Paper Gangsta", and "Brown Eyes", Evan Sawdey of PopMatters called The Fame "a solid dance album" and wrote that "much of the album's success can be attributed to rising club producer RedOne." Joey Guerra from the Houston Chronicle felt that although the songs present in the album are not innovative, Gaga deserved credit for bringing real dance music to the mass. Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club felt that the "whole point" of the album is "glitter-laced, dance-inciting energy that bodes well for extended club play". Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani viewed that Gaga's lyrics veer between "cheap" and "nonsensical drivel", while her singing is "uneven at best". He added that the highlights such as "Poker Face", "Starstruck", "Paper Gangsta", and "Summerboy" rely "almost solely on their snappy production and sing-along hooks."
Freedom du Lac from The Washington Post criticized the album for lacking originality. MSN Music's Robert Christgau gave the album an "honorable mention" and quippedly referred to it as "shallowness at its most principled." The Fame garnered five Grammy nominations at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on December 2, 2009. The album itself was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Electronic/Dance Album. It also won Best International Album at the 2010 Brit Awards. In 2013 and 2022, Rolling Stone named The Fame as one of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time".
## Commercial performance
In the United States, The Fame debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 24,000 on the issue dated November 15, 2008. After fluctuating down the charts, the album reached number 10 on the issue dated March 7, 2009. The album also topped Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart; it has stayed at the number-one spot for 175 non-consecutive weeks, as of week of November 5, 2022, and holds the record for the most time on top in the chart's history. In March 2020, the album was certified six-times Platinum for shipments of six million copies, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With the release of The Fame Monster, which was also combined with The Fame as a deluxe edition, the album jumped from 34 to 6 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 151,000. It reached its highest sales week on the issue dated January 9, 2010 with 169,000 copies sold. On the issue dated January 16, 2010, The Fame moved to a new peak of two on the Billboard 200 after being on the charts for 62 weeks. By the end of 2009, The Fame became the fifth best-selling album of the year.
The Fame has sold 4.9 million copies in the United States as of March 2019 and is the seventh best-selling digital album, selling 1.086 million digital copies. Including equivalent album units, The Fame has sold 8.8 million in the country. It was ranked at number 12 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time list. Following Gaga's Super Bowl LI halftime show performance, The Fame re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 6, selling 17,000 copies and 38,000 total album-equivalent units. It has spent over 300 weeks on the chart.
In Canada, the album reached number-one, and has been certified seven times platinum by Music Canada for shipment of 560,000 copies. It had sold 476,000 copies as of March 2011. The album debuted at number six, and peaked at number two in New Zealand as well as being certified double platinum. In Australia, the album debuted at number 12 and peaked at number three. The album has been certified sextuple platinum in Australia, by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 420,000 copies.
The Fame debuted in the United Kingdom at number three with first week sales of 25,228 copies. After spending 10 weeks in the top 10, it replaced Ronan Keating's Songs for My Mother at the top position. Since then, the album spent four consecutive weeks at the number-one spot. It has since been certified eleven-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and has sold 3 million copies as of October 2018. It also became the first album to reach the platinum certification based on digital sales after selling 300,000 units in the UK. The album is the ninth best-selling album in the UK of the 21st century, and the 31st best-selling album in UK chart history.
In France, The Fame debuted at number 73 and peaked at number two for five weeks. It has been certified diamond status by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) and, as of February 2012, has sold 630,000 copies. In Ireland, the album entered the charts at number-eight, and in its fifth week climbed to number-one for two consecutive weeks. In mainland Europe, the album peaked at number one on the European Top 100 Albums, the Austrian Albums Chart and the German Album Chart. In Germany, it became the fourth most downloaded album ever. It also reached the top 20 in Mexico, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland. Combined with its reissue, The Fame Monster, the album has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.
## Legacy and impact
With the release of The Fame, Gaga was credited for reviving electronic dance music during the late 2000s on radio. Jonathan Bogart from The Atlantic stated, "EDM came in by no back door but right through the front gate, with Lady Gaga's 'Just Dance' in 2008" and that "the sound didn't take long to spread". DJ Tommie Sunshine told MTV that "there wouldn't be a David Guetta top 10 hit... there wouldn't be this Black Eyed Peas record, if it wasn't for The Fame. The influence of that record is epic, and we are hearing talking about all of this because of that." St. Louis Post-Dispatch's journalist Kevin C. Johnson with his article "Lady Gaga helps bring EDM to the masses", acknowledges the impact. In the article, Rob Lemon said Gaga "definitely has had influence" and that she "is exposing people to the music, and anybody exposing people to it is part of the machine." Radio personality Zane Lowe and record producer/DJ Calvin Harris, addressed the impact of the album in a Beats 1 radio interview. Lowe stated: "Mike Skinner told me this, cause we were having a debate about Lady Gaga and he was like 'One thing you gotta remember about Lady Gaga, she put four-on-the-floor back on American radio'" and that "up until that moment there was nothing resembling four-on-the-floor in pop music." Harris added: "A 100%. They even had a hip-hop version of 'Poker Face', for radio" and that "it was the 4/4 one that hit, and then it just went ridiculous." In 2020, Stephen Daw from Billboard stated that "The Fame not only changed the course of Gaga's career, but corrected the course of modern pop music for generations to come."
## The Fame Monster
The Fame Monster is a reissue of The Fame, released on November 18, 2009. Initially planned solely as a part of the deluxe edition of The Fame, Interscope later decided to release the eight new songs as a standalone EP in select territories. The decision was also due to Gaga believing the re-release was too expensive and that the albums were conceptually different, describing them as yin and yang. The deluxe edition of the album contains The Fame in its entirety along with The Fame Monster. The album deals with the darker side of fame, as experienced by Gaga over the course of 2008–09 while travelling around the world, and are expressed through a monster metaphor. Cover artwork was done by Hedi Slimane and has a gothic look which Gaga had to convince her record company to allow her to shoot. The composition takes its inspiration from Gothic music and fashion shows. Contemporary critics gave mostly positive reviews of the album, with the majority of them complimenting the songs "Bad Romance", "Telephone", "Dance in the Dark", and "Monster". In some countries the album charted together with The Fame while in others like the United States, Canada and Japan, it charted as a separate album. It has reached top 10 in most of the major markets. She announced The Monster Ball Tour supporting the album, which started on November 27, 2009, in Montreal, Canada, and finished on May 6, 2011, in Mexico City, Mexico.
## Track listing
### Original version
### Revised version
Notes
- signifies an additional co-producer
- signifies an additional co-producer and remixer
- The original version of the album features earlier mixes of "LoveGame" and "Money Honey".
## Personnel
Personnel adapted from The Fame liner notes.
- Akon – background vocals
- Victor Bailey – bass guitar
- Vicki Boyd – A&R coordinator
- Troy Carter – management
- Lisa Einhorn-Gilder – production coordinator
- Flo Rida – rapping
- Rob Fusari – production, co-executive producer
- Calvin "Sci-Fidelty" Gaines – programming, bass guitar
- Gene Grimaldi – mastering
- Vincent Herbert – executive producer, A&R
- Pieter Henket – photography
- Tom Kafafian – guitar
- Dyana Kass – marketing director
- Martin Kierszenbaum – production, A&R
- Brian Kierulf – production, arrangement
- Lady Gaga – lead and background vocals, production, piano, synthesizers, keys
- Leah Landon – management
- Candice Lawler – photography
- Dave Murga – drums
- Colby O'Donis – vocals, background vocals
- Robert Orton – mixing
- Jennifer Paola – A&R admin
- RedOne – production, instruments, programming, recording, background vocals, co-executive producer
- Andrea Ruffalo – A&R coordinator
- Dave Russell – engineering
- Warwick Saint – photography
- Joshua M. Schwartz – production, arrangement
- Space Cowboy – production, vocals
- Joe Tomino – drums
- Tony Ugval – engineering
- Liam Ward – design
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Decade-end charts
### All-time charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications and sales
## Release history
## See also
- List of best-selling albums by women
- List of best-selling albums in Austria
- List of best-selling albums in the Philippines
- List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom
- List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2000s
- List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s
- List of European number-one hits of 2009
- List of European number-one hits of 2010
- List of number-one albums of 2009 (Canada)
- List of number-one albums of 2009 (Ireland)
- List of number-one albums of 2010 (Ireland)
- List of number-one albums of 2011 (Poland)
- List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2008
- List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2009
- List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2010
- List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2011
- List of Billboard number-one electronic albums of 2017
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39,450,434 | SMS Wacht | 1,163,229,636 | Aviso of the German Imperial Navy | [
"1887 ships",
"Maritime incidents in 1901",
"Ships built in Bremen (state)",
"Shipwrecks of Germany",
"Wacht-class avisos"
]
| SMS Wacht was an aviso of the Imperial German Navy, the lead ship of her class. She had one sister ship, Jagd. Wacht was built by the AG Weser shipyard; she was laid down in 1886, launched in August 1887, and commissioned in August 1888. She served in the active fleet through the 1890s and participated in numerous training exercises. Her career was cut short on 4 September 1901, when she collided with the old ironclad SMS Sachsen. The latter's ram bow holed Wacht under the waterline and caused her to rapidly sink. Her crew was safely rescued, however, and there were no casualties.
## Design
With the selection of General Leo von Caprivi to replace the former chief of the Kaiserliche Admiralität (Imperial Admiralty), Albrecht von Stosch, in 1883, the navy began to experiment more seriously with torpedo-armed warships along the lines of the Jeune École. Caprivi was a proponent of cheaper torpedo boats, and he directed that future avisos should forsake size and gun power in favor of higher speed and torpedo armament. The Wacht class was the first design prepared in accordance with Caprivi's directives, and it proved to be a failure, owing to poor seakeeping as a result of its smaller size, and a gun battery that was insufficient to allow them to engage comparable vessels in other fleets.
Wacht was 85.5 meters (281 ft) long overall and had a beam of 9.66 m (31.7 ft) and a maximum draft of 3.74 m (12.3 ft) forward. She displaced 1,246 metric tons (1,226 long tons) as designed and up to 1,499 t (1,475 long tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two angled 3-cylinder triple expansion engines. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired locomotive boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated for 4,000 metric horsepower (3,900 ihp) and provided a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) and a range of approximately 2,860 nautical miles (5,300 km; 3,290 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Wacht had a crew of 7 officers and 134 enlisted men.
As built, the ship was armed with three 10.5 cm (4.1 in) K L/35 guns placed in single pivot mounts. The guns were supplied with a total of 180 rounds of ammunition. Wacht also carried three 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tubes, one mounted submerged in the bow and the other two in deck-mounted launchers on the broadside. In 1891, four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns in single mounts were installed in place of the 10.5 cm guns. The ship was the first German aviso to carry armor: a 10 mm (0.39 in) thick deck, along with 25 mm (0.98 in) of armor plating for the conning tower.
## Service history
### Construction – 1892
The keel for Wacht was laid down in August 1886 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen. She was launched on 27 August 1887 and Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Alexander von Monts, the chief of the Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station) christened the ship. In early 1888, she was transferred to Wilhelmshaven, where her armament was installed, and she was commissioned on 9 August to begin sea trials. These concluded on 13 December in Wilhelmshaven. She was temporarily assigned to the newly created Reserve Division of the North Sea over the winter of 1888–1889 before being transferred to Kiel on 1 May to begin engine trials, after which she was assigned to the Maneuver Squadron. During training exercises with the squadron, Wacht suffered a burst boiler tube on 20 June that forced her to return to port for repairs. In early August, she joined the squadron for a visit to Britain, arriving back in Wilhelmshaven on 31 August. The fleet then conducted its annual large-scale maneuvers. After the maneuvers ended in September, Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Friedrich von Baudissin took command of the vessel.
Late in the year, Wacht joined a squadron of four old ironclads—Kaiser, Deutschland, Friedrich der Grosse, and Preussen that escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria aboard their yacht Hohenzollern to Greece for the wedding of Princess Sophie, the Kaiser's sister, to Constantine, then the crown prince of the Kingdom of Greece. Prince Heinrich also cruised with the squadron aboard the protected cruiser Irene. During the cruise, the Germans visited numerous ports in the Mediterranean, including state visits to Italy, the Ottoman Empire, followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While in Trieste in Austria-Hungary, the squadron was present for a naval review for the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser Franz Joseph I in Muggia. Wacht developed boiler problems that necessitated repairs at the naval arsenal at Pola; she remained there until 29 January 1890, when she was able to get underway again. She met the rest of the squadron in Malta on 1 February, but left for home independently, arriving in Wilhelmshaven on 22 February, while the rest of the squadron remained in the Mediterranean until April. Wacht had in the meantime been decommissioned there on 6 March.
While out of service, the ship underwent a thorough overhaul and had her gun armament replaced. On 6 October 1891, she was recommissioned for sea trials that lasted until the end of February 1892; during this period, her commander was KK Hermann da Fonseca-Wollheim. She was assigned to II Division of the Maneuver Squadron on 8 March and KK Ludwig Borckenhagen relieved Fonseca-Wollheim, Wacht thereafter taking part in exercises in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. She was detached from the unit to escort Hohenzollern from 4 to 8 June while Wilhelm II visited Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Later in the year, the ship had a minor collision with the artillery training ship Mars. Borckenhagen left the ship in September and Wacht was decommissioned on 12 October.
### 1893–1901
Wacht was recommissioned on 13 January 1893, initially serving as a training ship for engine and boiler room crews for torpedo boats. Kapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant) Alfred Ehrlich commanded the ship during the year. In early March, she was reassigned to serve as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, and in mid-April, she was once again detached to escort Hohenzollern, though this was the new yacht of that name, while it was being taken from Swinemünde to Kiel. While on the way, the vessels encountered the Flensburg-flagged merchant ship SS Electra that had run aground and Wacht pulled her free and towed er to Kiel. Ten days later, the navy established I Torpedo-boat Flotilla, based in Kiel; Wacht served as the flotilla leader and flagship of KK Gustav Schmidt. The unit consisted of two divisions and included twelve torpedo boats in total. The vessels conducted training maneuvers over the next two months and in early July, Wacht cruised with the Maneuver Squadron in the North Sea. The annual fleet maneuvers were held from 20 August to 23 September in the North and Baltic Seas, and upon their conclusion, I Torpedo-boat Flotilla was dissolved for the year. On 27 September, Wacht accompanied Hohenzollern on her sea trials that included visits to Gothenburg, Karlskrona, and Christiansand in Sweden–Norway. Wacht then returned to Wilhelmshaven, where she was decommissioned on 11 October.
In 1894, Wacht was assigned to II Division of the Maneuver Squadron; during this period, the ships conducted a lengthy cruise in the North Sea, visiting ports in Norway and the Shetland Islands from 3 April to late June. While steaming out of Kiel on 2 July, Wacht was accidentally rammed by the ironclad Deutschland. Wacht had to enter the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel for repairs that lasted until 23 July. She took part in the annual fleet maneuvers from 19 August to 21 September, after which she traded assignments with the aviso Pfeil, which had been the aviso for I Division. At the same time, KK Eduard Holzhauer took command of the vessel. Wacht did not remain in service with the unit long, owing to the poor condition of her engines, and she was decommissioned in Wilhelmshaven on 8 December for repairs.
The ship remained out of service until 18 March 1896, when she was recommissioned under the command of KK Carl Friedrich, being assigned to II Division eight days later; by this time, the Maneuver Squadron had been renamed I Squadron. The ships embarked on a cruise to the Netherlands and Norway that lasted until the end of the May. Squadron exercises followed in June and July and the fleet maneuvers were held from 9 August to 15 September. During these exercises on 5 September, Wacht damaged her screws in a collision with the torpedo boat D5, forcing her to return to Kiel for repairs, though she was able to take part in the final stage of the maneuvers in the North Sea. She thereafter cruised through the Kattegat in mid-December to return to Kiel, where Friedrich left the ship.
On 1 January 1897, her crew was reduced, though it was replenished on 1 March to take the ship back to Wilhelmshaven in 1897, where on 4 May she was decommissioned again. During that brief period in commission, KK Otto Mandt commanded the vessel. While out of service, she was reclassified as a "Kleiner Kreuzer" (small cruiser) on 27 February 1899; she was recommissioned on 6 April to replace the aviso Greif in II Division. While on maneuvers at the end of the month, she damaged one of her screws. Squadron exercises followed in July and in August, the annual fleet maneuvers began. Wacht served as a fleet scout during the exercises until 12 September, when she suffered a boiler explosion that killed four men and injured another five. The ironclad Bayern towed her to Kiel for temporary repairs before she was transferred to Wilhelmshaven. There, she was decommissioned on 27 September.
### Loss
Wacht was recommissioned on 11 August 1901 under the command of KK Hugo von Cotzhausen and was assigned to I Scouting Group six days later. The unit operated with II Squadron in the North Sea in August, and on the last day of the month, the fleet maneuvers began in the Baltic. While the ships were steaming through Danzig Bay on 4 September, the fleet commander ordered Wacht and the small cruiser Hela to pass from the seaward side of the line to the other so that signals from the ships could be relayed to shore. Wacht attempted to pass between the ironclads Sachsen and Württemberg but Wacht's helmsman misjudged the distance and passed too closely in front of Sachsen. Sachsen immediately attempted to reverse course to avoid ramming the ship, but the two vessels collided. Sachsen's ram bow tore a large hole in Wacht's port side, which began to slowly sink. The battleship Weissenburg attempted to tow Wacht to shallow water, but several of Wacht's internal bulkheads collapsed under the strain and the ship quickly sank. Nevertheless, her crew was taken off safely; neither ship suffered any casualties. The navy later attempted to raise the ship, which had sunk at a depth of more than 40 m (130 ft), but the efforts proved fruitless. A court martial was held for Cotzhausen on 8 October, who was acquitted of any wrong-doing in the accident. |
6,825,846 | Willie Irvine | 1,164,413,117 | Northern Irish footballer (born 1943) | [
"1943 births",
"Association footballers from County Antrim",
"Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players",
"Burnley F.C. players",
"English Football League players",
"First Division/Premier League top scorers",
"Great Harwood F.C. players",
"Halifax Town A.F.C. players",
"Living people",
"Men's association football forwards",
"Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland",
"Northern Ireland men's international footballers",
"Preston North End F.C. players",
"Sportspeople from Carrickfergus"
]
| William John Irvine (born 18 June 1943) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Born in Eden, County Antrim, into a large family, he grew up in the nearby town of Carrickfergus. He did well at school, but chose to pursue a career in professional football and initially played for local club Linfield. After a spell in amateur football, Irvine travelled to England for a trial with Burnley at the age of 16. He was offered a professional deal and spent three years playing for the youth and reserve teams, before making his senior debut at the end of the 1962–63 season. Over the following seasons, Irvine became a regular feature of the Burnley team and in the 1965–66 campaign, he scored 29 goals and was the highest goalscorer in the Football League First Division.
Irvine lost his place in the Burnley team after suffering a broken leg during a cup tie in 1967, and never properly regained his form for the club. He was later transfer listed, and joined local rivals Preston North End in March 1968. In the Football League Second Division, he began to score goals again and was Preston's top goalscorer in the 1968–69 season despite suffering a serious leg injury which forced him to miss much of the campaign. When Alan Ball was named Preston manager in the summer of 1970, Irvine found himself out of the team. He joined Brighton & Hove Albion in July 1971 after impressing during a loan spell earlier in the year. He moved to Halifax Town midway through the 1972–73 season, but left the club after six months. Irvine ended his football career with a spell at semi-professional Great Harwood, before retiring at the age of 29.
In addition to playing club football, Irvine also represented the Northern Ireland national football team. He won 23 caps for his country, scoring eight goals. After retiring from football, he ran his own do-it-yourself shop but suffered from severe depression when the business collapsed. Irvine spent time in hospital after taking an overdose of medication, but recovered and later worked as a community worker before becoming a window cleaner. As of 2010, he works full-time in an aerospace factory, and also gives guided tours of Burnley's stadium, Turf Moor, on matchdays.
## Early life
Willie Irvine was born on 18 June 1943 in the village of Eden, County Antrim, on the east coast of Northern Ireland. He was born to Alex and Agnes Irvine, and had 17 half-brothers and half-sisters from his mother's previous marriages. Irvine was 11 months old when his father, who had played football for Distillery, died after being involved in a motorcycle accident. He came from a poor background and when he was young the family resided in a small wooden bungalow that had neither electricity nor running water. His mother worked often, and Irvine was looked after by his elder siblings. At the age of one, he started to attend Eden School so that he could be looked after by the teachers while his sisters earned money. When he was seven years old, the family moved to the Sunnylands estate in nearby Carrickfergus after his mother was sent to Omagh Prison for falsely claiming benefits.
Irvine soon warmed to his new neighbourhood; he enjoyed visiting Carrickfergus Castle and often spent time at the harbour. In 1950, he moved to Sunnylands Primary School and began to play football seriously. He initially concentrated on playing as a goalkeeper for the school team. In 1953, the team reached the final of the County Cup, but were defeated 0–3 by an older side from Carrick Technical School. Irvine's elder brother Bobby, who went on to represent Stoke City and was also a Northern Ireland international, played for the opposition. Along with his schoolmate William Donnelly, Irvine often frequented Windsor Park to watch the Northern Ireland national team, and he idolised players such as Jimmy McIlroy and Danny Blanchflower.
At 14, Irvine enrolled at Carrick Technical School, where he studied German, physics, chemistry and woodwork. He excelled in his studies and was urged to go to university, but his family could not afford the fees. His interest in football increasing, he started to play in a midfielder position for the Carrickfergus-based Barn United and was selected to represent the East Antrim Schoolboys as well as the Irish Schools team. His performances while playing for Northern Ireland in the Victory Shield led to him signing junior terms with Belfast-based club Linfield, where his brother Bobby was the first-team goalkeeper. Several months later, Irvine left Linfield and joined local men's team Barn United, who competed in the Northern Ireland Amateur League. Several clubs, including Manchester United, Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers showed an interest in him and in 1959, Jimmy McIlroy invited Irvine to a trial at English side Burnley.
## Playing career
### Burnley
Irvine joined the Burnley youth team initially on a month's trial, along with other young players including Brian O'Neil and Willie Morgan. He suffered an injury to his ankle but recovered in time for the final trial match against local rivals Blackburn Rovers. His performances during the month had sufficiently impressed manager Harry Potts, and Irvine was offered a permanent contract. He became a full member of the youth team and was an understudy to the team that won the Football League First Division in the 1959–60 season. As an apprentice footballer he earned a basic wage of £7 per week. While in the youth squad, Irvine was converted into a centre forward and in his first match in the position scored a hat-trick for the Burnley C team. He scored more than 40 goals for the A team in the Lancashire League during the 1961–62 season, including 6 in an 8–3 win against a Blackburn Rovers representative team. On 14 October 1961, Irvine made his debut for the Burnley reserve side, scoring a hat-trick in the 6–1 victory over Barnsley. Both the A team and the reserves were crowned champions of their respective divisions at the end of the season, and Potts singled out Irvine for particular praise, stating that Burnley had not "had a more consistent goal getter than Willie for a very long time."
Going into the 1962–63 campaign, Irvine returned to the Burnley A team and scored a hat-trick against Bury early in the season. After Andy Lochhead was promoted to the first team in October 1962, Irvine became the reserve side's first-choice centre forward. He continued to score regularly, netting 8 goals in 15 appearances, although he was forced to stop playing for a period in the winter of 1963 when adverse weather caused the postponement of several matches. After his Northern Ireland debut in April that year, he made several more appearances for the reserves, and his goal against Blackpool was described by journalist Keith McNee as "the finest goal [he had] seen". On 11 May 1963, Irvine was asked by manager Potts to travel with the first team for their final away fixture of the season at Arsenal. He was a boot boy, and was originally only intended to assist Ray Bennion in transporting the team kit to and from the game. It was reported in the Burnley Express the day before the match that he would be making his professional debut against Arsenal, although Irvine himself only found out just before the match. He started at centre forward in place of Lochhead, who was unable to play because of a leg injury. Irvine had a successful introduction to senior football and scored a headed goal after 20 minutes of play, the first goal in a 3–2 win for Burnley. He was again selected three days later for the last game of the campaign at home to Birmingham City and scored a hat-trick as Burnley ended the season with a 3–1 victory.
Irvine started the first match of the 1963–64 campaign, a 1–3 defeat away to Ipswich Town. However, he suffered a broken hand during the game, which left him unable to play throughout the following months. Even after recovery, he remained sidelined, unable to regain his place in the starting eleven. Irvine did not play again for Burnley until 30 March 1964, when he was chosen to play at inside-right in the away tie against Bolton Wanderers. Despite Irvine's fifth goal in four league starts, Burnley were beaten 1–2. He retained his place in the team for the next two matches, before returning to his more preferred centre forward position for the 0–3 loss at home to Liverpool on 14 April 1964. He scored three more goals in the final two matches of the season, including two in the 7–2 win against Tottenham Hotspur. His frequent goalscoring led to him becoming a more integral part of the Burnley side during the following campaign, in which he scored three goals in the first six matches, although the team achieved only four draws and two losses. He was dropped from the starting line-up for the away match at Birmingham City on 12 September 1964. The team suffered three defeats in the following four fixtures, and Irvine was reinstated to the team for the trip to West Bromwich Albion two weeks later. He immediately marked his return with both Burnley goals in a 2–1 win, the team's first away victory of the season. Irvine retained his place in the side for most of the remainder of the campaign, and in December he scored seven goals in four games, including a hat-trick in the 4–0 win over Fulham. Despite missing a small portion of the campaign through injury, Irvine ended the season with a total of 22 goals in 37 league and cup matches, one more goal than centre forward partner Lochhead.
The Irvine–Lochhead partnership continued into the 1965–66 campaign. Irvine scored a goal in a 2–1 win against Lausanne Sports on a pre-season tour of Switzerland, and his first competitive goal of the season came on 24 August 1965 in the 3–1 home victory against Blackpool. He scored two in the return match at Bloomfield Road the following week, and two matches later he netted a hat-trick in the 4–1 defeat of Northampton Town. Between the 1–1 draw away at Leeds United on 30 October 1965 and the 5–2 win against Fulham on 11 December 1965, Irvine scored in seven consecutive league matches. In the 3–1 win against West Ham United, Irvine and Lochhead both scored in the same match for the first time, despite having played together for almost three seasons. Irvine took his goalscoring form into the cup competitions, netting five times in three FA Cup ties, and scoring the winning goals against Southampton and Stoke City as the team reached the fifth round of the EFL Cup before being knocked out by Peterborough United. During the second half of the season, he went through a somewhat barren spell, failing to score in the league between 8 January 1966 and 26 March 1966. He ended his poor run of form with a hat-trick in the 4–1 win over Nottingham Forest at Turf Moor. He subsequently got on the scoresheet in the next six league games, including two goals against Sheffield Wednesday which took him to 27 league goals, the joint-highest total since George Beel's 30 in the 1928–29 season. Irvine's 29th and final goal of the season came on 23 April 1966 in the 2–0 home victory against Liverpool. He was the highest scorer in the Football League First Division that season, the first, and to date only, time a Burnley player had achieved the feat.
In June 1966, Irvine had an altercation with Burnley chairman Bob Lord after returning late from a Northern Ireland match. Nevertheless, he retained his place in the starting line-up at the start of the 1966–67 campaign, and scored in the first match of the season against Sheffield United. After a pre-season tour of Austria, throughout which Burnley remained undefeated, the team were confident of a successful season and especially looked forward to European competition in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. On 20 September 1966, Irvine scored the sole Burnley goal in the 1–1 draw against German side VfB Stuttgart. The following month, he scored in consecutive league matches against Leicester City and Manchester City at Turf Moor. Irvine was on the scoresheet again in the next round of the Fairs Cup as Swiss team Lausanne Sports were beaten 5–0 in Burnley on 25 October 1966. By the middle of the season, Irvine had scored 13 goals in the league, four fewer than the same stage of the previous campaign. He scored his first goal of the new year on 31 January 1967 in the FA Cup third round replay against Everton at Goodison Park. However, early in the second half, Irvine was tackled by Everton defender Johnny Morrissey. The challenge—not deemed a foul by the referee—broke his shin bone, and Irvine was immediately substituted and replaced by fellow Irishman Sammy Todd. The injury meant that he did not play again for Burnley for the remainder of the season. He was forced to remain on the sidelines as Burnley finished 14th in the First Division and reached the fourth round of the Fairs Cup before being knocked out by Eintracht Frankfurt.
Irvine regained his place in the Burnley team at the start of the 1967–68 campaign, and scored in the first two league matches of the season. However, he was dropped from the starting eleven after four games. On 7 October 1967, in the 1–1 draw with Nottingham Forest, he became the first ever Burnley player to score after coming on as a substitute, after replacing Martin Dobson. Irvine made six consecutive starts throughout October and November 1967, before again being dropped following the 2–0 home win against Newcastle United. After this, he played less often and scored his final goal for the club on 5 December 1967 in the 1–2 defeat to Arsenal in the fifth round of the League Cup. Just over two months later, on 24 February 1968, Irvine made his last appearance for Burnley when he played in an unfamiliar inside-right position in the 0–1 loss away at Nottingham Forest. In the same month, he formally requested to be placed on the transfer list after becoming increasingly unhappy at Burnley. The request was granted by Potts, who set a price of £60,000 for Irvine. Altogether, he had scored 97 goals in a total of 148 first-team matches for Burnley during his eight years with the club.
### Preston North End
In March 1968, Irvine signed for Preston North End, who were struggling at the bottom of the Football League Second Division, for a transfer fee of £45,000 and a signing-on fee of £5,000. He was one of five Burnley first-team players to leave the club during that year. Irvine made his debut for Preston North End on 14 March 1968 in the 0–4 defeat away at Ipswich Town. He scored his first goal for the club in the following match, a 2–1 win against Aston Villa at Deepdale. The team subsequently went on a run of eight games without defeat in the league, including a 3–1 win over Huddersfield Town in which Irvine scored a hat-trick. On the morning of 27 April 1968, the Preston North End team were each offered £2,500 to purposely lose the match against Bristol City in order that Bristol City could improve their chances of avoiding relegation. Irvine, along with teammate Derek Temple, refused, saying: "I'm a professional. I want no part of this". Irvine scored the team's only goal in a 1–4 defeat that day, and by the end of the 1967–68 season he had scored six times in eleven matches for his new side. He carried his goalscoring form into the new campaign, scoring the winner against Oldham Athletic in the first round of the League Cup, and netting a consolation goal in the 1–3 defeat to Crystal Palace.
After 16 matches of the 1968–69 season, Irvine had scored 13 goals. However, he suffered a knee injury midway through the season in the FA Cup fourth round tie against Chelsea. He was injured ten minutes into the match but played for most of the first half before being substituted. He had a chipped bone and ligament damage, requiring him to undergo an operation in February 1969 that forced him to miss the rest of the campaign. Despite missing many games, he was Preston's top scorer that season with 20 goals in all competitions. Irvine never fully recovered from the injury, and played only 16 games the following season, scoring five goals. Preston North End were relegated to the Football League Third Division in 1970 after finishing bottom of the league. Manager Bobby Seith was dismissed following the relegation, and replaced by former Halifax Town coach Alan Ball in May 1970. Ball was reluctant to play Irvine after discovering the knee injury from the previous season. Nevertheless, he appeared in the first three matches of the 1970–71 campaign, scoring in the 1–0 win against Stockport County in the first round of the League Cup. He was dropped from the team after missing several chances in the 1–3 defeat to Torquay United on 22 August 1970. After this, Irvine did not feature regularly for Preston North End and from October 1970, he played mostly for the reserve team. He made his final senior appearance for the club on 26 December 1970 in the 3–3 draw with Tranmere Rovers at Deepdale. During a three-year spell, he played 81 league games for Preston North End, scoring 27 goals in the process.
### Later career
In March 1971, Ball offered Irvine the opportunity of a three-month loan spell at fellow Third Division side Brighton & Hove Albion. Irvine made his debut for Brighton on 10 March 1971 in the 3–2 win against Fulham. He scored in the match, and manager Pat Saward was effusive in his praise of his new signing. Irvine became a regular starter for Brighton, and scored again in the 1–1 draw with Plymouth Argyle at the Goldstone Ground on 28 April 1971. During the loan spell, he played 14 league games and scored six goals. At the end of the season, Irvine temporarily returned to Preston but a transfer fee of £7,000 took him to Brighton on a permanent deal in July 1971. Irvine became known as "late-goal Willie" after scoring a succession of last-minute goals. On 11 December 1971, he scored against Walsall in the second round of the FA Cup to take the tie to a replay. He scored the equaliser in the 2–2 draw away at Bristol Rovers on 22 January 1972, followed by a late winner in the 2–1 defeat of Wrexham two weeks later.
Irvine added to his tally with home and away goals against Halifax Town, where he would go on to play the next season, and a strike against Aston Villa that was named as runner-up in a Goal of the Season competition by television programme Match of the Day. With the forward partnership of Irvine and Kit Napier, Brighton performed better than expected in the 1971–72 season. At the end of the campaign, following a 1–1 draw with Rochdale the team was promoted to the Second Division, after finishing as runners-up behind Aston Villa. Irvine continued to score in a higher division, netting five times in the first eleven matches of the season. However, he was then dropped from the team and never regained his place in the starting line-up. Several clubs became interested in his services, including West Ham United, a number of American teams, and Scottish side Heart of Midlothian, where Bobby Seith was the manager. Irvine played his last match for Brighton on 18 November 1972, when the team lost 0–1 at home to his former club Burnley.
After turning down potential transfers to West Ham and Torquay, because neither he nor his wife wanted to live in either place, Irvine decided to sign for Third Division outfit Halifax Town in December 1972. Despite taking a considerable pay cut, he chose Halifax to enable his family to return to live near Burnley. Irvine made a total of 11 first-team appearances for Halifax Town, scoring one goal for the club. He played his last competitive game for the club in the 1–0 win against York City on 13 March 1973, after manager George Mulhall accused Irvine of not trying and not deserving his wage. At the end of the 1972–73 season, the team avoided relegation to the Fourth Division on goal difference. After failing to report for the away game at Walsall on 1 May 1973, to play in a testimonial match for Burnley defender John Angus, he was fined two weeks' wages and forced into extra training sessions. In the summer of 1973, Irvine left Halifax Town by mutual consent, his professional football career over at the age of 29. Despite having the option to sign for Rochdale, he joined semi-professional side Great Harwood, who played in the Northern Premier League. At Great Harwood, he played alongside two former Burnley teammates; goalkeeper Adam Blacklaw and midfielder Les Latcham. Irvine remained at the club for a number of months, before leaving midway through the 1973–74 season and retiring from football altogether.
## International career
Irvine's first taste of international football came in 1958, when he represented the Northern Ireland schoolboy team in the Victory Shield. Five years later, he made his debut for the Northern Ireland national under-23 football team, when he played alongside his brother Bobby in the 1–5 defeat to Wales on 27 February 1963. During the next two years, he played twice more for the under-23 team, scoring three goals for the side. Irvine received his first call-up to the Northern Ireland senior team in April 1963, one month before he made his professional debut for Burnley. He went straight into the team and won his first cap on 3 April 1963 in the 1–4 loss to Wales in the British Home Championship. He received his next cap the following month and scored his first international goal on 30 May 1963 in the 1–1 draw with Spain in the first round of the 1964 European Nations Cup. It was over a year before Irvine was selected to represent his country again, when he was included in the squad for the 1–2 defeat to Switzerland in a qualification match for the 1966 FIFA World Cup. On 25 November 1964, he scored his second Northern Ireland goal in the loss to Scotland in the British Home Championship. Irvine was involved in his first win with the Northern Ireland team when they defeated the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifying game on 17 March 1965. During the remainder of the 1964–65 season, he won a further three caps for his country.
Between 2 October 1965 and 30 March 1966, Irvine scored in four consecutive international fixtures. The run started with a goal against Scotland in the British Home Championship, followed by a goal in the 1–2 loss to England on 10 November 1965. Two weeks later, he netted in a World Cup qualifier against Albania before scoring in the 4–1 win against Wales to complete the run. Irvine continued to play for Northern Ireland, winning caps against Mexico, England and Scotland, but it was almost two-and-a-half years before he scored again in international football. His two goals in a friendly match against Israel were his last for Northern Ireland, although he did win another five caps for his country. After leaving Burnley in 1968, his inclusion in the Northern Ireland squad became less frequent and between 1969 and 1972 he did not make an appearance for the team. After three years out of the side, he returned for the 0–2 loss to Scotland on 20 May 1972. He played against England three days later before winning his 23rd and final cap in the goal-less draw with Wales, the team against which he had made his international debut, on 27 May 1972.
### International goals
#### Under–23
Scores and results list Northern Ireland U23's goal tally first.
#### Senior team
Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
## Style of play
As a youngster, Irvine played as a goalkeeper until his elder brother Bobby, who went on to keep goal for the Northern Ireland national team, threatened to "batter" him. He subsequently moved into a midfield position, before becoming a centre forward during his time in the Burnley youth team. Described as a natural and instinctive goalscorer, Irvine stated that one of his main strengths as a striker was the ability to anticipate where the ball was going to land.
## Outside football
Irvine is married to wife Rita, whom he met in a public house in Burnley. The couple were wed on 3 October 1966 and have three sons; Darren, Stephen and Jonathan, who played semi-professional football for Nelson and Colne. He has lived in the village of Worsthorne since retiring from football in 1974. Following his retirement he rented a warehouse from a friend and started a do-it-yourself retail business in the centre of Burnley. The shop was reasonably successful, and Irvine opened a second branch in Keighley, West Yorkshire. However, the business became untenable after several years and left Irvine owing £44,000 to the bank after a potential buyer for the shop pulled out of the deal. Following the collapse of the business, Irvine suffered severe depression and at one stage attempted suicide by taking an overdose of paracetamol tablets. He was discovered in time by his wife and admitted to Burnley General Hospital, where he underwent an emergency procedure to pump his stomach. After the attempt, he got a part-time job with Burnley Borough Council, working with young people at local community centres. He later worked as a window cleaner for 12 months before selling the round for a profit. Irvine then took a job in an engineering factory, where he worked for 14 years, before joining electrical firm LED. From there, he moved to Aeropia, an aircraft parts manufacturer, where he has worked as a stores manager ever since. On matchdays at Turf Moor, he gives guided tours of the ground to supporters. |
31,185,151 | Friday (Rebecca Black song) | 1,172,669,203 | 2011 single by Rebecca Black | [
"2011 debut singles",
"2011 songs",
"ARK Music Factory",
"Bubblegum pop songs",
"Compositions in B major",
"Internet memes introduced in 2011",
"Music controversies",
"Rebecca Black songs",
"Songs written by Patrice Wilson",
"Viral videos"
]
| "Friday" is a song performed by American pop singer Rebecca Black, written and produced by Los Angeles record producers Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson. Black's debut single, the song was released as a music video single on February 10, 2011; it was officially premiered as a single on iTunes on March 14, 2011. The song features a rap verse from Wilson, which was uncredited on the single. Its music video caught a sudden surge of hits after Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax comedian Michael J. Nelson called it "the worst video ever made" on Twitter and the song was featured on the Tosh.0 blog. The song's reception was highly negative, and it was parodied by numerous artists and comedians.
The original music video was removed from YouTube on June 16, 2011, due to legal disputes between ARK Music and Black. By then, it had already amassed more than 167 million views. The video was later re-uploaded to YouTube on September 16, 2011. The music video for the song is one of the most disliked YouTube videos of all time. Since the growth in popularity of the song and video, there have been numerous parody videos and remixes. Forbes stated that the notoriety of the song is another sign of the power of social media—specifically Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, in this instance—in the ability to create "overnight sensations".
On February 10, 2021, to commemorate the song's tenth anniversary, Black released an official hyperpop remix produced by Dylan Brady of 100 gecs featuring 3OH!3, Big Freedia and Dorian Electra to more positive reviews.
## Background and production
Friday co-writer Patrice Wilson, a co-founder of ARK Music Factory, explained that he "wrote the lyrics on a Thursday night going into a Friday. I was writing different songs all night and was like, 'Wow, I've been up a long time and it's Friday.' And I was like, wow, it is Friday!"
An ARK Music Factory client told Black's mother about the company's production services in late 2010; Black was 13 at the time, and living in the Anaheim Hills planned community in Anaheim, California. Black's mother, Georgina Kelly, paid ARK Music \$4,000 for a song and accompanying video that included a choice of two pre-written songs "Super Woman" and "Friday". According to Kelly, the payment covered one half or less of the production costs of the music video, and Black's family could have paid nothing in exchange for giving up all rights to the song. Black chose "Friday", as "Super Woman" "was about adult love–I haven't experienced that yet". "I felt like it was my personality in that song". ARK Music extensively used the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune. Although Kelly had some doubts over the quality of the lyrics, Black assured her that "she sang it as they wrote it."
## Composition
Friday uses the '50s progression, a I–vi–IV–V chord progression that many popular songs have used such as "Heart and Soul" and "Unchained Melody". It is performed in the key of B major at a tempo of 112 beats per minute. According to Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times, the familiar structure contributes to the song's catchiness, making it what others have called an earworm. The song also sees Black on a harmony track. In a review for Rolling Stone, writer Matthew Perpetua described the vocals as having "a peculiar tonality that inadvertently highlights the absurdity of boilerplate pop lyrics", adding that the tone in the refrain "sounds unlike anything else in pop music". He noted the sound as being not entirely agreeable to listen to, but stated that Black ultimately ends up "sounding like a distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma". The lyrics of the song speak about "hanging out with friends and having fun". The lyrics reflect the happenings of a day, in the life of a teenager like Black, like eating breakfast and going to school. "She's excited 'cause it's Friday. Which means a weekend full of possibility awaits", a Plugged In reviewer concluded.
## Critical reception
The song has received universally negative reviews from music critics, for its songwriting, instrumentation, Black's vocals, and the video choreography. Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo! Music asked if it could be "the worst song ever". On March 29, 2011, it surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" as the most disliked YouTube video, with 1.17 million dislikes, and once had over 3 million "dislikes", accounting for 88% of the total ratings of the video. The video was later removed, although it has since been officially re-uploaded. The co-writer and producer of "Friday", Clarence Jey, said about the song that "the concept we feel seems to have crossed a lot of boundaries, for the better or worse". Observers have called it "bizarre", "inept", and "hilariously dreadful". The song and Black herself were "savaged" on social networks across the Internet, while being seen as a "YouTube laughing stock". On YouTube, the video was met with negative comments and video responses, including comments interpreted as "violent". Kevin Rutherford, a columnist for Billboard magazine, wrote, "Black's video for 'Friday' is one of those rare occurrences where even the most seasoned critics of Internet culture don't know where to begin. From the singing straight out of Auto-Tuned hell to lyrics such as 'Tomorrow is Saturday/And Sunday comes afterwards/I don't want this weekend to end' and a hilariously bad rap about passing school buses, 'Friday' is something that simply must be seen and heard to be fully appreciated." Many other reviewers also singled out the lyrics in particular for criticism, which were described as "overly simple and repetitive" by TNT magazine. Jim Edwards of BNET and Doug Gross of CNN both noted that the rap break from the considerably older rapper was "creepy". Time magazine ranked it number two on a list of "Top 10 Songs with Silly Lyrics".
Despite the overwhelmingly negative reviews, a few reviewers had positive things to say about the song and video. Entertainment Weekly writer Joseph Lynch noted that there was "something sickeningly catchy about this tune that keeps you coming back for more." Rolling Stones Perpetua stated, "When you see this video, you immediately notice everything that it does wrong, but it actually gets a lot of things about pop music right, if just by accident." OK! Magazine also noted that "some are calling the 13-year-old signed singer the next Justin Bieber." After watching the video, singer Chris Brown said "Honest opinion? It was great. I'll be jammin to it on Friday, Friday." Fellow teenage singer Miley Cyrus denied that she had criticized Black, saying "I am a fan" and that she sang Friday while driving. Simon Cowell praised Black, saying "'I love her [and] the fact that she's got so much publicity...People are so upset about the song, but I think it's hysterical...Anyone who can create this much controversy within a week, I want to meet. I love people like that.'" He observed that "Any song to do with the weekend annoys you. It reminds me of 'Saturday Night'... It's what we call a 'hair-dryer song,' a song girls sing into their hair dryers as they're getting ready to go out. But the fact that it's making people so angry is brilliant." Cowell advised Black not to "listen to anyone over the age of 18. I'm being deadly serious. Whatever she's done has worked. Whether you like her or not, she's the most talked-about artist in America right now. Nobody over the age of 18 should understand her or like her. So she should just do it her way."
Patrice Wilson released his sequel to the song on May 6, 2012, titled "Happy", focusing on Saturdays. Black released her own follow-up to the song, entitled "Saturday", in December 2013.
## Chart performance
By March 21, 2011, the "Friday" music video had been viewed more than 30 million times on YouTube. Forbes estimated that as of that date, Black and ARK Music had earned \$20,000 from YouTube's revenue-sharing program, and Billboard estimated iTunes sales of approximately 43,000 copies, roughly equivalent to \$26,700 in royalties. Within a week after being released on iTunes, it had jumped to 19 on their sales chart, on March 19, 2011. "Friday" debuted on the US Hot Digital Songs chart at number 57 and went on to peak at number 38. As of 2021, the song has sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States; consequently it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"Friday" debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 33 on March 21, 2011. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 72 and rose to 58 the next week. It sold 87,000 copies in the United States over its first two weeks and has gone on to sell 442,000 copies, as of December 2013. The song also received airplay in Sweden. In the United States, it was played 12 times from March 16 to 22, considered low for a Hot 100 song. Despite the song's strong performance elsewhere, Georgina Kelly claimed in late March 2011 that her daughter had not received any money from the song's sales to that point in time, saying "We haven't received a dime from anywhere".
### Certifications
## Music video
### Development and summary
The concept for the music video is based on the lyrics and presented as a typical Friday for Black. She wakes up and goes to school, meeting her friends on the way. In the evening, after debating whether to sit in the front or back of a convertible, Black and her friends ride the car to a party at 7:45 pm. Patrice Wilson appears near the end of the song to deliver a short rap. The video was shot on January 6, 2011 at Black's father's house with friends and family as extras, and requiring multiple takes over 12 hours. ARK Music, according to Black's parents, cautioned them and her that they should not expect her to become famous. Black hoped that her friends and family would enjoy watching the video on YouTube and that it would perhaps help her to later begin a singing career.
### Reception
The music video was first posted on February 10, 2011. Following its original release, it received 4,000 views, enough to please Black, before comedian Michael J. Nelson's Twitter account and a Tosh.0 blog post, Songwriting Isn't for Everyone, drew attention to it on March 11, 2011, turning the video into a viral hit. Criticism of the song's lyrics, the use of Auto-Tune on Black's vocals, and the content of the video also caused it to become viral. On May 9, 2011, comments became subject to prior approval for posting. Two days later, commenting was disabled altogether and archives removed. By June 15, 2011, the video had more than 166 million views, and 3.2 million dislikes from YouTube users against just 454,000 likes. It also peaked in the top 20 most watched YouTube videos of all time.
After reading the harsh reviews of "Friday", Black said that "those hurtful comments really shocked me." ARK Music offered to take the video down from YouTube, but Black refused the offer, saying that she did not wish to "give the haters the satisfaction that they got me so bad I gave up." Black's father has accompanied her in public to guard against potential accosters. In response to criticism over the song's significant use of Auto-Tune, Black performed an acoustic version during an interview with ABC News, which earned over 180,000 dislikes on YouTube (84% of total ratings) by November 2011. Later in the interview Black's mother, Kelly, stated that she was angry and upset after Black was brought to tears by comments, such as "I hope you go cut yourself and die" and "I hope you cut yourself and get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty." Black said, however, that soon she was able to ignore such comments, and asked Justin Bieber, her idol, to perform a duet with her. Although Bieber did not release an official announcement regarding the offer, he posted on Twitter, "sunday comes after saturday? weird." Bieber later sang part of the chorus at one of his concerts. Rolling Stone's Perpetua again praised Black after the interview and said, She is actually a pretty decent singer. She is a total sweetheart. Black comes off as a well-adjusted, happy and grateful kid. He also pointed out Black's intention to donate part of the profits from the song to school arts programs and relief efforts in Japan following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Benni Cinkle, who became known as "that girl in pink" and appears during the second verse of the video, released her own song entitled "Can You See Me Now" and created an anti-bullying organization That Girl in Pink Foundation due to the negative response she got from "Friday".
In November 2011, NME placed the video for "Friday" at number one on their list of "50 Worst Music Videos Ever".
### Controversy
Not long after the "Friday" video went viral on YouTube, Black and her mother, Georgina Kelly, got into legal issues with ARK Music over rights to the song. In a March 29, 2011, letter from Kelly's lawyer to ARK Music, it was alleged that ARK Music failed to fulfill the terms of their November 2010 agreement by not giving her the song and video's master recordings; by claiming Black as exclusively signed to the label; and by exploiting the song without permission, selling a "Friday" ringtone, for example. while Wilson stated that Kelly "will get the masters and the song they can have it all", and agreed that Black was not exclusive to ARK, his attorney claimed that ARK owns the copyright for the song and the November agreement is invalid. In June 2011, ARK Music Factory started charging \$2.99 to watch the music video on YouTube. Black's initial response was through a message through her Twitter account saying: "Thanks for all the messages regarding the \$2.99 fee added to Friday video, I have nothing to do with this!!"
On June 16, 2011, YouTube took down the official music video for "Friday". Instead, a message in place of the video read: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black. Sorry about that." A spokesman for Rebecca Black said her legal team had asked YouTube to take the video down because of an ongoing legal dispute with the song's producers ARK Music Factory. ARK Music Factory responded by saying it was disappointed that Black decided to have the video pulled from YouTube despite the two parties being in "good faith negotiations". It added: "There's been an ongoing, open dialogue with our company. So we were blindsided to get a 'Take Down Notice' alleging copyright infringement instead of a call or e-mail from Rebecca's representatives. Our use of the video has fully been authorized (as evidenced by four uninterrupted months and 160 million-plus viewings without objection) by both Ms. Black and the copyright holder. Regardless, we are going to continue to take the high road and work out the complaint as soon as possible, so that the million-plus people who watch Friday for free each day can continue to enjoy the video." On September 16, 2011, the music video was restored to YouTube, on Black's official channel.
In June 2023, Entertainment Weekly reported on what it described as "an old meme" asserting that the song was secretly about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred on a Friday. Black herself had recently stated that she could not say whether the meme was true or not because she had not written the song. The report noted that the meme asserted some incorrect details. Specifically, the meme claimed that the Kennedy ate a bowl of cereal on that morning, and that the driver of Kennedy's vehicle was named "Samuel Kickin" (with the lyric, "Kickin in the front seat, sittin' in the back seat" therefore referring to the positions of the driver and Kennedy), when in fact Kennedy had eaten toast with marmalade and eggs for breakfast, and the driver of the vehicle was a U.S. Secret Service agent named William Greer.
## Track listing
- Digital download
1. "Friday" – 3:30
## Remix
On February 8, 2021, Rebecca Black teased a 10-year anniversary remix of "Friday" featuring "some iconic people" on Twitter. The remix was released on February 10, 2021, and features vocals from crunkcore duo 3OH!3, New Orleans's "queen of bounce" Big Freedia, and alt-pop musician Dorian Electra, alongside production from Dylan Brady of 100 gecs. Of her choice of collaborators for the remix, Black explained: "I’d had the idea to do this remix of 'Friday' for years leading up to now, but honestly it was also mildly insane for me to think anyone else would want to be a part of it".
### Composition
Opposed to the original's bubblegum style, this new "maximalist makeover", "morphs the original's simple pop aesthetic into a hyperpop overload." Black's chiptune vocals are "glitched-out" and distorted to the point of being unrecognizable, accompanied by "a pounding bass kick and pixellated synth line" from Brady. Electra's verse tells the story of the song from the perspective of another person in the car, while 3OH!3 turns the track into "an ethereal, synth-filled chorale" and Freedia "rips the song back into a thrumming dance rhythm".
### Critical reception
Ben Jolley rated the remix four stars out of five in his review for NME, calling it a "serotonin-boosting rollercoaster ride" with "endless replay value". Writing for Billboard, Stephen Daw praised Brady's production for "[giving] it a fresh, modern refurbishing". Similarly, Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone considered that it had "[warped] the sanitized mall pop into something delightfully delirious".
### Track listing
- Digital download
1. "Friday" (Remix) – 2:56
- CD
1. "Friday" (Remix) – 2:56
2. "Girlfriend" – 3:24
## Cover versions and popular culture
### Glee Cast cover
A cover version of "Friday" was released by the cast of season two of the television series Glee. The cast performed it on the show as well. The official release features cast members Puck (Mark Salling), Artie (Kevin McHale), and Sam (Chord Overstreet) on vocals, as part of the prom festivities on the "Prom Queen" episode that aired on May 10, 2011. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy explained to The Hollywood Reporter the use of the viral hit as a tribute to popular culture. He said: "There’s a rule for it that's explained in the show. The Glee Club is hired to perform songs for the prom and they were told by the principal to please do popular songs that the kids know." Murphy noted that Glee's "Friday" cover offers a different take since it's sung by males for other 17-year-olds: "The show pays tribute to pop culture and, love it or hate it, that song is pop culture."
Charts'''
### Other versions and performances
On April 1, 2011, "Friday" was performed by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Hicks, and the Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The New York Knicks City Dancers joined in. Jimmy Fallon released "Friday" as part of his 2012 Warner Records album, Blow Your Pants Off, which featured high-profile acts such as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. The album won Best Comedy Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
U.S.-born Chinese artist Dawen Wang (王大文; Wáng Dàwén) made a popular Mandarin cover of Rebecca Black's "Friday", which become a viral runaway hit in 2011.
The song has also been covered in a recording by Richard Cheese, and live in concerts by Todd Rundgren, Odd Future, Nick Jonas, and Justin Bieber. Singer Katy Perry performed the song on selected dates during her California Dreams Tour, including at the Rod Laver Arena, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, TD Garden, Air Canada Centre and the 1stBank Center. During the concert of August 5 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Rebecca Black joined Perry onstage, performing the song as a duet.
Numerous parodies of "Friday" have been uploaded to YouTube and have become viral in their own right. Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter also made a joint parody entitled "Thursday" on the Conan show on TBS. The YouTube phenomenon Bad Lip Reading was launched when an anonymous music and video producer replaced the audio to the "Friday" video with new music and lyrics about gang fighting. Gang Fight", released in March 2011, earned Bad Lip Reading a million hits and thousands of subscribers, with many spoofs soon following.
Black appears as herself in the music video of Katy Perry's single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". She appears as the host of a party in the house next door to that of "Kathy Beth Terry". At the end of the video, "Terry" attempts to blame the excesses of the party (which had subsequently moved to her own house) on Black, only for her parents (Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson) to disbelieve her.
ARK Music Factory launched its "Ark's TGI Friday Covers" project, showcasing cover versions of "Friday" by well-known artists alongside other user-submitted tributes, re-works, and parodies of the song/video and inviting users to submit their versions for relaying through ARK Music Factory's site. In November 2012, multiple outlets suggested that Nicole Westbrook was "the new Rebecca Black", on release of Patrice Wilson's "It's Thanksgiving". Kohl's Department Stores used a modified version of the song as its 2011 Black Friday advertising jingle. The hook "It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday" was changed to "It's Black Friday, Black Friday, Gotta go to Kohl's on Black Friday".
Black made her national television debut by performing a mash-up of the song along with her second single, "My Moment", during America's Got Talent's result night for the YouTube Special round on August 10, 2011, featuring various acts who had auditioned via YouTube. Black sang an acoustic version of the song on Good Morning America. Rebecca performed "Friday" along with "My Moment", live in Suncorp Place, Sydney as a part of Telstra's 4G LTE network launch. She also sang "Friday" live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
In 2018, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds included a cover version of the song in his studio album Sweet Memories''. His version is based on an earlier the Byrds live performance version of the song being a track written by Bob Dylan.
On National French Fry Day 2018, YouTube personality Miranda Sings, in collaboration with Dunkin' Donuts, released an adapted version of "Friday", as part of the Donut Fries marketing strategy. |
16,409,171 | Judgment Day (2005) | 1,171,529,183 | World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event | [
"2005 WWE pay-per-view events",
"2005 in Minnesota",
"Events in Minneapolis",
"May 2005 events in the United States",
"Professional wrestling in Minneapolis",
"WWE Judgment Day",
"WWE SmackDown"
]
| The 2005 Judgment Day was the seventh Judgment Day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown! brand division. The event took place on May 22, 2005, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The main event was an "I Quit" match featuring two wrestlers fighting until one stated "I Quit." WWE Champion John Cena defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) to retain his championship. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In respective standard wrestling matches, Rey Mysterio defeated Eddie Guerrero by disqualification and Booker T defeated Kurt Angle.
Judgment Day grossed over \$500,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 9,500, and received 220,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by \$4.7 million compared to the previous year.
## Production
### Background
Judgment Day was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the 25th In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in October 1998. It then returned in May 2000 as its own event, establishing Judgment Day as the promotion's annual May PPV. The 2005 event was the seventh event in the Judgment Day chronology and was held on May 22 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Like the previous year's event, it featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown! brand.
### Storylines
The event featured seven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often use a stage name to portray their character. All wrestlers were from the SmackDown! brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being Raw.
The main event at Judgment Day was between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) over the WWE Championship in an "I Quit" match. The previous month at WrestleMania 21, Cena defeated JBL to win the WWE Championship. On the April 7 episode of SmackDown!, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a series of number one contenders matches, after JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, The Big Show, Booker T, and Kurt Angle all demanded a WWE Championship match. The first match that Long announced was between JBL and Rey Mysterio. Mysterio was disqualified, after Eddie Guerrero interfered and attacked JBL, resulting in JBL winning the match. The following week on SmackDown!, Guerrero and Kurt Angle were scheduled for the second contender's match. Angle advanced to the finals, as he went on to defeat Guerrero. Later during the program, Cena unveiled a spinner version of the WWE championship. Before the unveiling, however, JBL came out wearing the original WWE championship. On the April 21 episode of SmackDown!, Booker T and Big Show were booked in another contenders match. After the match ended in a double disqualification, Long booked JBL, Angle, Booker T, and Big Show in a Fatal Four-Way elimination match for the following week. JBL won the match, after he last eliminated Angle and having the right to face Cena at Judgment Day for the WWE Championship. On the May 5 episode of SmackDown!, Cena proposed that he would defend the championship against JBL in an "I Quit" match. Two weeks later, on the May 19 episode of SmackDown!, JBL faced Scotty 2 Hotty, which Scotty won after JBL was disqualified. After the match, however, JBL attacked Scotty and demanded that he say "I quit." JBL further the assault, choking him with a leather belt, Scotty said "I quit." That same night, Cena defeated The Basham Brothers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham) in a handicap match. During the duration of the match, JBL, who was at ringside, yelled at Cena, telling him to say "I quit."
One of the featured preliminary matches was Rey Mysterio versus Eddie Guerrero in a singles match. One month prior to Judgment Day, at WrestleMania 21, Mysterio defeated Guerrero. In the weeks that followed, Guerrero and Mysterio were challenged by MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and Melina) to defend the WWE Tag Team Championship, which Guerrero and Mysterio accepted. MNM defeated Guerrero and Mysterio to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the April 28 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero and Mysterio were given a rematch for the WWE Tag Team Championship. During the match, however, Mysterio accidentally performed a flying body press on Guerrero which led to Guerrero abandoning Mysterio, but returned as the fans urged Guerrero to come back. MNM retained the belt after pinning Mysterio for the win. The following week, Theodore Long booked a Street Fight between Mysterio and Guerrero's nephew, Chavo Guerrero Jr. Mysterio came out as the winner of the match. After the match (which Mysterio won), Chavo, Mercury, and Nitro attacked Mysterio, which prompted Guerrero to come out and clear the ring. Guerrero, however, attacked Mysterio. The assault led to Guerrero lifting Mysterio off the ground and driving Mysterio's back on the ring steps. This angle saw Guerrero turn into a villain. As a result, the following week, Long promoted a match between Guerrero and Mysterio at Judgment Day.
The other featured preliminary match was Kurt Angle versus Booker T in a singles match. On the April 28 episode of SmackDown!, Angle, Booker T, Big Show and JBL took part in a Fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship, which JBL won. During the match, Angle hit Booker T with a steel chair to eliminate him. Booker came back and hit Angle with a chair to cause him to be eliminated. The following week, Angle challenged Booker T to a match at Judgment Day, which Booker accepted. Prior to that, Angle had insulted Booker T's wife, Sharmell, which led to Booker T attacking and accepting Angle's challenge. On the May 12 episode of SmackDown!, Angle admitted he would like to have "perverted sex" with Sharmell. That same night, Angle and Booker T were scheduled in a match, which led to Angle leaving the ring and going backstage to Sharmell. Booker T went backstage and found Sharmell on the floor crying. This led to Angle attacking Booker T from behind and pushing him towards a pair of steel lockers. The following week, Long suspended Angle and demanded that Angle apologize for his actions. Angle apologized, but admitted that he actually kissed Sharmell and let her fondle his "private parts" before Booker T made his way to the locker room. Booker T, while watching the interview kicked a television monitor down and broke it.
### \#1 contender tournament bracket
## Event
Before the Judgment Day event aired live on pay-per-view, Nunzio defeated Akio in a match that aired on Sunday Night Heat.
### Preliminary matches
After Sunday Night Heat, the pay-per-view began with a tag team match where MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) (with Melina) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against the team of Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas. The match started off with Nitro and Haas in the ring. Haas took the advantage in the match and was able to tag in Holly. There was back and forth action between the two teams, as all of the superstars were able to participate in the match. After a Snapshot to Haas, Mercury pinned Haas, which resulted in MNM retaining the tag team titles.
The second wrestling match on the pay-per-view was The Big Show versus Carlito, who was accompanied by Matt Morgan. For the duration of the match, Big Show used his body size to his advantage as he squashed, or easily and quickly performed moves on Carlito. The momentum changed, when Carlito gained control part way through the match. In the end, Big Show accidentally whipped Carlito into the referee. This saw Carlito hit a low blow on Big Show. Carlito won the match and gained the successful pinfall after Morgan delivered an F-5 to Big Show.
The next match was a standard match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, in which Paul London defended the title against Chavo Guerrero. After back and forth action between the two, London was able to perform a 450° splash. London then pinned Guerrero to retain the WWE Cruiserweight title.
The final preliminary match was Kurt Angle versus Booker T. After Booker T backed Angle into the ring ropes and executed a shoulder charge, Angle began to bleed from the mouth. The match saw exchange offense from both Angle and Booker T. The match came to an end when Angle attempted an Angle Slam, but Booker T grabbed Angle's leg and rolled him into a pinfall victory.
### Main event matches
The first featured match was for the WWE United States Championship, where Orlando Jordan defended the title against Heidenreich. As the match began, Jordan was able to perform a dropkick, sending Heidenreich through the ropes to the outside. Heidenreich, however, would gain the advantage after countering Jordan's attack from the top rope into a suplex. Afterwards, Jordan delivered a DDT and pinned Heidenreich to retain the United States title.
The next match was Eddie Guerrero versus Rey Mysterio in a standard match. In the match, Mysterio tried to counter Guerrero's offense, but Guerrero blocked all of Mysterio's attempts. Mysterio gained the advantage when he was able to execute a flying headbutt to Guerrero. Chavo ran down to the ring to distract the referee, as Eddie grabbed a chair. Guerrero then attempted to hit Mysterio with the chair, but Mysterio dodged it with a low dropkick and performed another low dropkick, setting up Guerrero on the ropes for a 619. Mysterio won after Guerrero was disqualified for attacking him with a steel chair.
The main event was the "I Quit" match for the WWE Championship, in which John Cena defended his title against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Cena came out on the flatbed of a semi truck with a DJ on a turntable mixing his theme song. During the match, both Cena and JBL were able to get in offense. Cena performed a Back Body Drop through an announce table on JBL. Shortly after, JBL struck Cena with a steel chair which caused Cena to bleed from his forehead. JBL performed a Clothesline from Hell on Cena, who later performed an FU on JBL. Later in the match, in the ramp area, Cena threw JBL through a television monitor, causing JBL to bleed. JBL quit as Cena prepared to attacked him with an exhaust pipe, which was from the semi truck, meaning Cena retained the WWE Championship. After the match, Cena struck JBL with the exhaust pipe, causing him to fall through a glass panel that was part of the entrance stage.
## Reception
The Target Center had a maximum capacity of 20,000, which was reduced for the event. This event grossed over \$500,000 from an approximate attendance of 9,500, the maximum allowed. It also received 220,000 pay-per-view buys. Judgment Day helped WWE earn \$21.6 million in revenue from pay-per-view events versus \$16.9 million the previous year, which was later confirmed by Linda McMahon on September 7, 2005 in a quarterly result. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the event a 5 out of 10 stars. The rating was lower than the Judgment Day event in 2006, which was said to be an entertaining pay-per-view to watch. The "I Quit" match between John Cena and JBL was rated an eight out of 10 stars. Additionally, the match between Orlando Jordan and Heidenreich was rated a 4 out of 10 stars.
The event was released on DVD on June 21, 2005 by Sony Music Entertainment.
## Aftermath
On the June 6 episode of Raw, one of WWE's primary television programs, John Cena's SmackDown! tenure came to an end when he became the first wrestler selected by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff in the draft lottery, a mock sports draft lottery in which wrestlers switched programs. Cena immediately entered a staged rivalry with Eric Bischoff after when he refused to participate in Bischoff's "war" against the upcoming Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) reunion show. Cena went on to resume his feud with Christian, as they had an encounter at the Royal Rumble in January. During the feud, Chris Jericho was involved as well, as he protested Bischoff's actions of scheduling a WWE championship match between Cena and Christian at Vengeance. After defeating Christian and Tyson Tomko in a tag team match, Jericho betrayed Cena. Convinced with the outcome of the events, Bischoff changed the original match between Christian and Cena to a Triple Threat Match, involving Jericho for the WWE Championship at Vengeance. At the event, Cena retained the WWE Championship.
On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, a match between six wrestlers for a new top-tier SmackDown! championship was held. JBL, one of the participants, was victorious in the match, but Theodore Long announced that he was still not the champion. Instead he had won the right to a match against the World Heavyweight champion, Batista, who was SmackDown!'s final 2005 draft pick, making the World Heavyweight Championship exclusive to SmackDown!. The following week, it was announced Batista would meet JBL at The Great American Bash with the World Heavyweight championship on the line. At the Great American Bash, Batista was disqualified for attacking JBL with a chair and JBL was declared the winner. In WWE, a title cannot be won by disqualification, but only by pinfall or submission (the normal scoring conditions in professional wrestling matches). As a result, Batista retained the title.
On the June 13 episode of Raw, Kurt Angle's tenure with SmackDown! came to an end, as he was also drafted to the Raw brand. There, he immediately continued his feud with Shawn Michaels. At the start of the year, Angle and Michaels both participated in the Royal Rumble match at the January pay-per-view event. During the match, Michaels eliminated Angle. In retaliation, Angle returned to the match and eliminated Michaels and then attacked him outside the ring. The two engaged in a feud, which led to an Interpromotional match at WrestleMania 21, as Angle was part of the SmackDown! roster and Michaels belonged to the Raw roster. At WrestleMania 21, Angle got the win over Michaels by forcing him to submit to an ankle lock submission hold. The same evening Angle was drafted, Michaels challenged Angle to a WrestleMania 21 rematch at Vengeance, in which Angle accepted. At Vengeance, the rematch saw Michaels defeat Angle.
The angle between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio continued. On an episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret concerning Mysterio's son Dominik. This led the families of both Guerrero and Mysterio pleading with Guerrero not to reveal the secret. At the Great American Bash, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a match where if Guerrero lost, he could not reveal the secret. On the July 28 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero, however, revealed the secret, claiming he was Dominick's scripted biological father. The storyline also went on that Guerrero knew Mysterio was having trouble starting his own family, so Guerrero left Dominick to be raised by Mysterio's family. In subsequent weeks, Guerrero threatened to take custody of Dominick, drawing up custody papers and having his lawyer present them to Mysterio. This led to a Ladder match, a match where the objective was to climb a ladder and reach an object hanging above the ring, between the two for the custody of Dominick at SummerSlam, which Mysterio won.
## Results |
35,440,337 | Kongsfjord Telemetry Station | 1,095,029,594 | Earth station in Svalbard, Norway | [
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| Kongsfjord Telemetry Station (Norwegian: Kongsfjord telemetristasjon) was a satellite ground station located nearby Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard, Norway. It was used between 1967 and 1974 as one of the four initial ground stations which were part of the European Space Tracking Network (ESTRACK) serving the European Space Research Organization's (ESRO) first generation of satellites. The station provided radio tracking, telemetry and commanding services as well as data download. Although owned by ESRO, the facilities were constructed and operated by the Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (NTNF).
Plans for the station's construction started in the early 1960s and negotiations between ESRO and Norwegian authorities started in 1964, despite Norway's lack of membership in ESRO. An initial disagreement of whether to locate the facility by Ny-Ålesund or Longyearbyen was overcome, and an agreement was signed on 14 December 1964. However, it was followed up by numerous protests from the Soviet Union, which claimed the installation would violate the demilitarized zone clause of the Svalbard Treaty, as the station had the potential to be used for military satellites and intelligence. The protests were rejected by Norwegian authorities, and construction started in May 1965. The Soviet Union attempted several inspections; one resulted in the crash of a Soviet helicopter. Operations commenced in 1967, but the facility was closed in 1974 as the facility was not suitable for new satellites with higher orbits.
## History
### Background
The first official inquiries into establishing ionosphere research in Svalbard was taken by Leiv Harang, then head of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), in October 1950. Two similar facilities, a completed one at Kjeller and one under construction in Tromsø, had already been initiated. The proposal, regarded by Harang as primarily a military project, was initially issued to the United States. It was considered by US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who saw it as a possible excuse to populate Spitsbergen as a counter-measure to the Soviet mining communities. However, nothing came of the plans before the International Geophysical Year in 1957–58, when an ionosphere research station was established as Isfjord Radio and moved to Ny-Ålesund in 1963. Although unrelated to the telemetry station, this was the initiation of technology services in Ny-Ålesund.
In 1960, Norway entered a cooperation with the United States, which resulted in the construction of the Norwegian Space Centre at Andøya. In 1964, ESRO was established as a Western European reaction to the rapidly developing Soviet and American space programs. Norway chose to only join as an observer, partially because of the close cooperation with the US and partially because of the cost. However, Norwegian space research scientists participated in ESRO programs.
Preliminary work in the planning of ESRO operations concluded that the ESTRACK network would initially consist of four radio tracking and telemetry stations and three optical tracking stations. In addition to Svalbard, tracking and telemetry stations were built on the Falkland Islands, in Fairbanks, Alaska and in Redu, Belgium. France actively opposed the Svalbard location, as Norway was not a member of ESRO. The ESRO secretariat wanted to quicken the location decision, as it was necessary to have all four in operation before the launch of the ESRO-1 and ESRO-2 satellites.
The initial proposal had called for locating the station in Ny-Ålesund due to its topographical advantage. In January 1964, ESRO started informal discussions with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who stated that they had no initial objections. By then, supported by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, ESRO instead proposed situating the station at Longyearbyen because it was less remote and would incur lower costs. This was opposed by Norwegian authorities; mining in Ny-Ålesund had ceased after the 1963 Kings Bay Affair and the authorities wanted permanent activity in the town. An official request was made by ESRO in February, and in May, official political support for the project was awarded. The main motivation was to establish a permanent space technology center in Norway that could stimulate further scientific growth.
### Soviet protests
The Svalbard Treaty establishes Svalbard as both a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone, allowing a Soviet presence but hindering Norway from installing military fortifications. The Soviet Union objected to the creation of the telemetry program and threatened to establish a counter-station. The basis was that the ground station was seen as having a military potential, that most ESRO members were also members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and that Norway lacked sufficient competence to control whether or not military activities would take place at the station. Norwegian authorities responded that the installation was to be used for scientific and peaceful activities under Norwegian control. Further, because of treaty only prohibited fortifications and not military activity as such, Norway held the right to conduct military scientific research and operate intelligence operations on the archipelago.
To minimize Soviet opposition, Norway attempted to move the debate from the political to the specialist scene, while at the same time establishing a protocol for Norwegian control and operation of the facility. To achieve this, Norwegian authorities worked towards establishing an inspection procedure to insure that the facilities remained solely used for 'peaceful activities'. This would particularly focus on the regular inspection of auxiliary equipment. To depoliticize the issue further, the government appointed the semi-independent NTNF as the operator of the facility. The first oral consultations between the Soviet embassy and the Norwegian government took place in November 1964.
In the Norwegian Government's internal evaluation, FFI stated that as long as regular inspections were carried out, there was little chance of military use of the installations, in particular because of the limited technical equipment which would be installed. The Norwegian Intelligence Service held a different opinion, and stated that if the right equipment was installed, the ground station could be used to listen to information from Soviet satellites in the area and that it would require a very competent inspector to find such equipment. Allowing Soviet inspectors access to the station was discussed politically, but this was quickly discarded as it would establish an unwanted precedent and would undermine the Norwegian sovereignty of the archipelago.
Discussions between ESRO and Norwegian authorities continued, with ESRO pressing for a quick decision, while Norway was stalling the negotiations. This was carried out to allow time to develop solid counter-policy against the Soviet Union as well as to gain support for the installation to be located at Kongsfjorden outside Ny-Ålesund. On the other hand, ESRO threatened to instead build the installation in northern Sweden and northern Canada and abandon the Svalbard plans. An agreement was reached between ESRO, Norwegian authorities and NTNF was on 14 December 1964. It established both the location and that NTNF would be Norway's party. The agreement allowed the station to be located in Ny-Ålesund in exchange for Norwegian authorities building and operating the facility. While ESRO accepted NTNF as the Norwegian party, they wanted to receive a guarantee from the Norwegian authorities. However, to minimize Soviet criticism, the ministry was not interested in giving direct guarantees and asked that ESRO solely negotiate with NTNF.
The official Soviet protest was issued on 17 February 1965 in a letter to the Norwegian government. Specifically, it stated that Norway would be violating Article 9 of the Svalbard Treaty, that the installation could be used for intelligence assessment and that Norway should have consulted the Soviet Union before making the decision. The issue was discussed by the Norwegian Cabinet of State six days later. Minister of Justice and acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Oscar Christian Gundersen regarded the protest as moderate and that it fell into a series of Soviet protests against any activity on Svalbard that could remotely be considered a potential cover-up for military activity. An official response was sent on 23 March, which rejected all the Soviet objections. It stated that Norwegian authorities had made agreements with ESRO that Norway would make sufficient inspections to insure that Article 9 was followed, it pointed out the open and civil nature of ESRO and rejected the Soviet claims that they had the right to be consulted in advance.
Norwegian Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen visited the Soviet Union in May 1965, in which Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin warned against the installation and stated that the Soviet Union would build a counter-station. In June, the Soviet Consul in Barentsburg came on an inspection to the installation, and on 2 July a Soviet helicopter crashed at the construction site after having, presumably unintentionally, touched a mast. Soviet demands to have permanent Soviet inspectors of the facility were rejected. The Svalbard Treaty does not include any verification procedure, and as such no signatories have the right to conduct inspections.
After the station opened, Soviet protests persisted. The issue was raised at official visits to the Soviet Union by Norwegian politicians in 1966, 1967 and 1968. The Soviet Consul in Barentsburg visited Ny-Ålesund in 1968 and attempted to make inspections of the installation. On 28 August 1968, Norway and the Soviet Union agreed for a one-time, two-day Soviet inspection of the station. The last protest against the installation was made in April 1969.
### Construction and operation
The agreement with ESRO was approved by the Parliament of Norway on 9 July 1965 and the final contract was signed on 13 August. It included clauses that secured non-members access to use the station if there was sufficient capacity, that Norwegian authorities were granted all necessary information about the installation's use, and that NTNF would approve all auxiliary installations.
For NTNF, the establishment brought by an organizational change. While it had previously also conducted space research, the operations of installations had been placed with FFI. As FFI was a branch of the military, this structure could not be used in Svalbard. Thus NTNF had to organize an operative branch for the ground station. The responsibility for operating the telecommunications facilities was awarded to the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration. The ground station needed a computer. FFI offered to deliver a Simulation for Automatic Machinery, while the alternative was to purchase a PDP-8 computer from Digital Equipment Corporation. As NTNF was responsible for the country's technological development, they chose to award the contract to FFI on the condition that they pay for a PDP-8 if they were not able to deliver a computer themselves.
Construction started in May 1965 and NTNF planned to use as much of the mining company Kings Bay's facilities as they could. NTNF was allowed to use buildings as needed for free. In exchange, NTNF maintained the entire village and paid insurance on the buildings they used. Movable property used by NTNF was bought for a moderate price. NTNF had to build several new buildings in addition to utilities such as power cables and water, sewer and heating pipes. The new pipes had to be installed after the previous pipes, installed in 1956, had been subject to frost burst. Instead of building the pipes in a culvert, they were instead placed in wooded boxes above ground. During the summer of 1965, 65 people were working on construction, although it fell to between 40 and 45 during the winter. The following winter, only five people overwintered.
To allow ease of access and in case of emergencies, an ad hoc airport was built. Originally, Ny-Ålesund Airport, Hamnerabben was simply a section of the road between the radomes and the settlement which was 850 meters (2,790 ft) long and 40 meters (130 ft) wide. The gravel was bound with waste oil and with gates at each end. To allow traffic to operate as usual during use, a small bypass road was also built.
A royal decree on 26 October 1967 established an Oslo-based chief inspector who was to inspect the facility at least once per year, and a local inspector who would inspect the facility at least once per week. The Norwegian Telecommunications Administration's assistant director of radio technology, Per Mortensen, was appointed chief inspector, while the manager of Ny-Ålesund's coast radio station was appointed assistant inspector. The ground station and auxiliary facilities were ready for operation in 1967. Through its history, the station had five managers: Henning Nielsen (1965–67), Roald Søfteland (1967–68), Ewald Øyen (1968–70), Einar Enderud (1970–72) and Kristian Sneltvedt (1972–74).
After the initial ESRO program was initiated, the agency moved towards satellites with a higher orbital eccentricity and escape orbits. The facilities in Ny-Ålesund were unsuitable for telemetry with such satellites, as they would operate at a different frequency, the size of the antenna dish was too small and the ground station's geographical position was out of range. Because of the change of ESRO's focus, the need for a telemetry station on Svalbard disappeared after the termination of ESRO's initial program, and the facility was closed in 1974.
Since the closing of the mines in 1963, the mining company Kings Bay had been working to establish Ny-Ålesund as a research town. The telemetry station acted as an important stepping stone for research activity, and the plans for development of Ny-Ålesund as a permanent research community continued past 1974. In 1997, Svalbard Satellite Station opened in Longyearbyen, which is among other stations used by ESTRACK.
## Facilities
The ground station was located at Rabben, also known as Hamnerabben, a hill 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) west of the settlement in Ny-Ålesund, at the far end of the airport. It consisted of a 360-square-meter (3,900 sq ft) one-story operations center and two antennas. The largest antenna, used for sending, had a diameter of 21-meter (69 ft), while the receiving antenna had a diameter of 17 meters (56 ft). Each was placed on a 4-meter (13 ft) cubed, 25 tonnes (25 long tons; 28 short tons) concrete foundation and surrounded with a plastic radome. Both antennas were automated to ensure that they were aimed at the satellite when they were in use. The receiving antenna was used both to download information about the satellites' condition and surroundings, as well as data download, which was stored on magnetic tape. The uplink was used to give the satellites orders.
Kongsfjord Telemetry Station constituted one of the four initial ESTRACK ground stations which provided radio tracking and telemetry communication with ESRO's low Earth orbit satellites. The ground station communicated with the satellites in the 136–137 MHz band. This was optimal for low-orbit satellites, allowed for a small antenna dish but gave a low bit rate. The various satellites using the facility conducted measurements of solar radiation, cosmic radiation, the polar ionosphere, and ionizing and dynamic effects regarding electric currents and magnetic disturbances.
The facility had a Simulation for Automatic Machinery computer built by FFI which allowed for real-time operations with the data. Telecommunications systems were operated by the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration, which established a two-way radio station at Ny-Ålesund. Communication from the satellites was relayed by radio to Ski and onwards with a leased line to the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Return information was relayed via a radio station at Jeløy. Magnetic tapes were sent to Darmstadt every other week, first via aircraft to Longyearbyen and then onwards to Germany. NTNF hired a nurse and had the Amundsen House refitted as a clinic for the duration of the telemetry station's operation. |
55,926,940 | 2001 Scottish Masters | 1,104,886,931 | null | [
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| The 2001 Scottish Masters (known as the 2001 Regal Scottish Masters for sponsorship reasons) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament which took place at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, from 18 to 23 September 2001. It was the first time the tournament was played in Glasgow since the 1989 edition. The competition was the second of four invitational World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) events of the 2001–02 season. It was broadcast on BBC Scotland and Eurosport and was sponsored by the cigarette brand Regal.
John Higgins, the top-ranked Scottish player, won the tournament, defeating the defending champion and world title holder Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–6 in the final. It was the first time that Higgins had won the competition it was the 22nd ranking tournament victory of his career. He earned £63,000 from a prize fund pool of £200,000. O'Sullivan made the highest break of the competition of 134 in his semi-final victory over Marco Fu.
## Background
The Scottish Masters was an invitational professional snooker tournament first contested in 1981. The 2001 competition was the second of four invitational World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) events of the 2001–02 season and was held from 18 to 23 September at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland. It followed the 2001 Champions Cup. This was the first time since the 1989 edition that the tournament took place in Glasgow. Sponsored by the cigarette brand Regal, it had a total prize fund of £200,000, and was televised on BBC Scotland and Eurosport. It was also broadcast on the 110Sport website with coverage provided by BBC Scotland.
The 12-player event included those who were ranked in positions one to eight in the world rankings, players who had won major tournaments from the 2000–01 season, and one qualifier. Any player who withdrew would be replaced by a reserve. The field included the tournament's defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and former Scottish Masters victors Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens. Patrick Wallace, a quarter-finalist in the 2001 world championship, qualified for the tournament by winning the Scottish Masters qualifying competition. John Higgins, Scotland's highest-ranked player and world number three, thought about withdrawing from the tournament because his wife was due to give birth to their first child imminently. She did not allow him to do so. The maximum number of in a match increased from nine in the first round to eleven in the quarter and semi-finals, leading up to the final which was played as the best-of-17 frames.
### Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the tournament was as follows:
- Winner: £63,000
- Runner-up: £31,000
- Semi-final (×2): £16,000
- Highest break (×1): £5,000
- Maximum break: Vauxhall Astra Coupé
- Total: £200,000
## Tournament summary
### Round 1
The first round of the competition took place from 18 to 19 September and was played as best-of-nine frame matches. Marco Fu, the world number 17, defeated two-time ranking event winner Peter Ebdon 5–2. Tied at 2–2 at the mid- interval after a of 126, Ebdon lost the next three frames to Fu whose highest break was a 38. Fu said he felt Ebdon had frustrated himself and that the match helped him to refine his playing ability. Hendry, who was coached by the 1979 world champion Terry Griffiths after ending his partnership with coach Frank Callan, played Jimmy White. He accumulated 13 points as White won the first three frames with breaks of no more than 74. Hendry won frame four after White missed the and made two half-centuries to level the match at 3–3. After White made it 4–3, Hendry took frames eight and nine to claim a 5–4 victory.
Stephen Lee, the world number eight, took 76 minutes to whitewash Wallace 5–0 and outscored his opponent 392–61. He used his post-match press conference to threaten a withdrawal from England's World Cup team unless Ebdon apologised for his celebrations after his 13–12 victory over Lee in the second round of the 2001 world championship, saying, "The way he reacted anyone would have thought he had won the title or was going to pick up the FA Cup." World number six Stevens defeated the 2001 Masters champion Paul Hunter 5–2 in his third try against him. The match was tied at 1–1 with a break of 66 from Stevens and a 69 from Hunter. Stevens won three successive frames, which included a to the yellow and in frame three and the fourth from the to the . Hunter took frame five before Stevens made breaks of 60 and 57 to win the match.
### Quarter-finals
The four quarter-finals were played as best-of-11 frames between 20 and 21 September. Fu played former world champion Doherty in the first quarter-final. Doherty took a 2–1 lead and held it until Fu compiled a 90 break from a to go 3–2 ahead. Doherty levelled the score at 3–3, but he was inconsistent and Fu won the match 6–3. The defending world champion O'Sullivan competed against Stevens. O'Sullivan was behind 2–1 when he produced breaks of 108 and 101 en route to a 5–2 lead. Stevens claimed frame eight with a break of 70 before O'Sullivan secured a 6–3 victory in the ninth frame. O'Sullivan said afterwards he had anticipated a tighter match after both players made errors: "I'm happy with the centuries and I don't want to give the title up without a fight."
Mark Williams, a former world champion, was drawn to play Lee. The two players shared the opening four frames as Williams' highest breaks were 59 and 56 and Lee's were 90, 86 and 82. Lee was unable to tie the match at 4–4 because he left Williams with a on the and went on the pink and then missed the black to allow Williams to win 6–3. The final quarter-final was contested between the Scottish duo of Higgins and Hendry. The first frame was won by Hendry; Higgins then won three frames in a row to lead 3–1 at the mid-session interval. Hendry claimed two more frames to tie the match, before Higgins won 6–3 with breaks of 70, 44 and 50. Higgins said after the game that with the impending birth of his child his mindset was not "100 per cent on practice", while Hendry expressed frustration that "I had 20 chances to go 4–3 up but I couldn't take them."
### Semi-finals
The best-of-11 frame semi-finals were held on 22 September. The first was between O'Sullivan and Fu. O'Sullivan held a mid-session lead of 3–1 after breaks of 46 and 58 and a of 134, the tournament's highest break. Fu won frame five after O'Sullivan went in-off on several red balls. A break of 71 and a clearance from the second-to-last red to the pink gave O'Sullivan a 5–2 lead. He look set to win 6–2 before he failed to pot the into a middle while on a break of 39. Fu made a reply break of 50 and O'Sullivan took a 6–3 win with a 77 break in the ninth frame. Post-match, O'Sullivan said a lack of pre-tournament form made him consider withdrawal, but his father advised him to go holidaying beforehand. He said he felt nervous because he thought he would lose the match: "That was horrible. I don't think I've played as solidly this time as I did when I won the title here last year. Maybe that's because I'm a little bit match-rusty."
The second semi-final was played by Higgins and Williams. A 44 clearance gave Williams the first frame. He had no further success in the match after he missed a pink ball from a long distance that would have tied the match at 2–2. Higgins made breaks of 74 and 71 to secure a 6–1 victory and the second berth in the final. Higgins commented on his chances of winning the tournament, "Ronnie has won his fair share in Scotland so it's about my turn but I'll have to raise my game a few notches to beat him. He's played well this week and he's beaten me the last few times. It won't be as one-sided here as it may have been in Motherwell, which is closer to where I live."
### Final
The final between Higgins and O'Sullivan on 23 September was played as a two-session best-of-17 frames match. The first two frames were won by Higgins with one break at 111, before O'Sullivan won four in a row from breaks of 80, 117, 50 and 57 to convert a 2–0 deficit into a 4–2 lead. O'Sullivan missed a chance to go 5–2 ahead when he was unable to pot a difficult blue ball, and Higgins claimed frame seven by potting the black ball. He took frame eight to conclude the first session tied with O'Sullivan at 4–4. After a series of errors by both players, Higgins led 7–5. O'Sullivan had reduced his deficit to one with a break of 73. O'Sullivan failed to pot a single ball thereafter, as Higgins produced a clearance of 114 that ended at the pink ball. Higgins had a 60–0 advantage in frame 15 that he kept to win the match 9–6 and the tournament after O'Sullivan was unable to pot a red ball into the top-left corner pocket.
It was the first time that Higgins had won the Scottish Masters; he had lost in the final of the 1998 and 1999 tournaments. It was his second win of the season after the 2001 Champions Cup, and the 22nd tournament victory of his career. The win ended Higgins' streak of five successive losses to O'Sullivan extending back to the 2000 Irish Masters. It was the first time since the 2000 Grand Prix 11 months earlier that O'Sullivan had been defeated in a tournament final. Higgins commented on his win, "It's been a long wait but well worthwhile. To have my friends and family here to see me win makes it really special. I was really choked at the end". He added, "Winning here in Scotland has taken a lot of pressure off me and I couldn't be happier professionally and personally." O'Sullivan said he was disappointed with his performance against Higgins' consistency. He added that he felt he played better than he had in the Champions Cup, and was happy to reach the final of the Scottish Masters.
## Main draw
Numbers given to the left of players' names show the seedings for the top eight players in the tournament. Players in bold indicate match winners.
## Final
The bold text denotes all of the winning frame scores and the winning participant. Breaks over 50 are indicated in brackets.
## Qualifying Event
Qualifying for the tournament took place amongst 16 players at the Spencer's Snooker Centre from 26 to 31 August 2001. Players who entered the tournament included three-time Scottish Masters runner-up Alan McManus, former Grand Prix champion Dominic Dale and 1997 Scottish Masters victor Nigel Bond. Bookmakers installed McManus and Anthony Hamilton as the joint favourites to win the competition. Patrick Wallace defeated Joe Swail, Hamilton, Joe Perry and Stephen Maguire to qualify for the Scottish Masters. All matches were played to the best-of-nine frames and players in bold denote match winners.
## Century breaks
The main stage of the event saw a total of seven century breaks compiled by three different players. O'Sullivan made the highest break of 134 in the third frame of his semi-final game with Fu, which earned him £5,000 prize money.
- 134, 117, 108, 101 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 126 – Peter Ebdon
- 114, 111 – John Higgins |
1,745,902 | Bruce Bowen | 1,163,885,882 | American basketball player | [
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| Bruce Eric Bowen Jr. (born June 14, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. Bowen played small forward and graduated from Edison High School and Cal State Fullerton. He went on to play for the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs and the Continental Basketball Association's Rockford Lightning, and also played abroad in France.
One of the most feared perimeter "lockdown" defenders in NBA history, Bowen was elected to the NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams eight times, and was a member of the Spurs teams that won the NBA championships in 2003, 2005, and 2007. At the same time, he was frequently accused of having a "dirty" playstyle and endangering other players. Off the court, Bowen became an informal ambassador for child obesity awareness.
## Early years
Bruce Bowen Jr. was born in Merced, California. He is the son of Bruce Bowen Sr. and Dietra Campbell. Bowen had a problematic childhood growing up in Merced. According to Bowen, his earnings from selling newspapers were taken from him by his father so that his father could buy alcohol. Bowen has also stated that he only saw his father "from time to time". He has asserted that his mother took drugs, and that she once sold the family television to feed her crack cocaine habit. Bowen has an uncle named Darryl who looked out for him as a child; he regards Darryl and his sons as brothers.
Bruce Jr. spent his days playing basketball and eventually became a star at local West Fresno Edison High School. He then played four seasons at Cal State Fullerton, appearing in 101 games, and averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. After averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36.6 minutes in 27 games as a senior in 1992–93, he was named to the All-Big West Conference First Team. Bowen ranks 12th on the Titans' all-time list in career points (1,155) and is seventh all-time in rebounds (559).
## Professional career
### Le Havre (1993–1994)
After finishing his four-year college eligibility, Bowen was eligible for the 1993 NBA draft, but went undrafted. Between 1993 and 1997, Bowen played for five different teams, starting his professional career for the French team of Le Havre in 1993–94.
### Évreux (1994–1995)
Bowen played for Évreux during the 1994–95 season.
### Rockford Lightning (1995–1996)
In 1995–96, Bowen played in the CBA with the Rockford Lightning.
### Besançon (1996–1997)
Bowen spent the next season back in France with Besançon.
### Return to the Lightning (1997)
Bowen returned to the Lightning in February 1997.
### Miami Heat (1997)
Bowen made his NBA debut when he was signed to a ten-day contract by the Miami Heat in March 1997. His output consisted of 1 game, 1 minute and 1 block.
### Boston Celtics (1997–1999)
In the 1997–98 NBA season, Bowen reappeared in the NBA, having been signed by the Boston Celtics. With the Celtics, Bowen slowly established himself in the NBA. In his first full year as an NBA player, he appeared in 61 games (nine of them as starter) with the Celtics, averaging 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.43 steals in 21.4 minutes per game, shooting .409 from the field, .339 from three-point land and .623 from the free throw line. The next year was a disappointment for him, as Bowen appeared in only 30 Celtics games, averaging 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per game.
### Philadelphia 76ers (1999–2000)
In the 1999–2000 NBA season, Bowen signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.
### Return to Miami (2000–2001)
Bowen was later traded to the Chicago Bulls and immediately waived, then picked up off waivers by the Miami Heat. In that season, he wore jersey \#12 instead of \#3 and appeared in 69 games, averaging 2.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game, and scored in double-figures six times. In the following year, Bowen was retained by the Heat. In that year, he had his breakout season. For the first time in his career, he played in all 82 regular-season games, averaged 7.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.01 steals in 32.7 minutes per game and set new single-season career-highs in games, points, rebounds, assists, blocks, minutes, field goals made and attempted, three-point goals made and attempted and free throws made and attempted. Bowen logged more minutes (2,685 vs. 2,678), scored more points (623 vs. 606) and hit more threes (103 vs. 54) than he had in his first four seasons combined. Especially, Bowen earned himself a reputation as a defensive stopper. For his strong perimeter defense, he was voted into the All-Defensive Second Team.
### San Antonio Spurs (2001–2009)
#### 2001–03: First championship
In the 2001–02 NBA season, Bowen was signed by the San Antonio Spurs. He joined a championship-caliber team, led by veteran Hall-of-Fame center David Robinson and young power forward Tim Duncan, complemented by talented role players like Steve Smith, Malik Rose, Antonio Daniels and point guards Terry Porter and Tony Parker. Bowen established himself as a starter, beginning in each of his 59 regular-season games. In that season, Bowen received his first of several fines: he had to pay \$7,500 for kicking Wally Szczerbiak in the face during a March 1, 2002 game. In the 2002 NBA playoffs, Bowen started in all 10 Spurs playoffs games, where the team eventually succumbed to the Los Angeles Lakers. For his feats, Bowen earned himself his second All-Defensive Second Team nomination, although some peers and sports analysts accused him of being a "dirty" defender.
In the next season, Bowen started in all 82 regular-season games for the second time in his career and averaged 7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 31.3 minutes per game. Again, he was voted into the All-Defensive Second Team and was a member of the Spurs team which won the 2003 NBA Finals. At age 31, the one-time journeyman Bowen had won his first championship ring as a starter. In the following three seasons, Bowen established a reputation as one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, earning three straight All-Defensive First Team elections and ending as runner-up in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award votings twice, losing to post defender Ben Wallace.
#### 2003–04: Back-to-back chase
Having established himself as the premier defensive backcourt player, Bowen's effective, but hard-nosed style of play came under discussion. In particular, rival guards Vince Carter and Steve Francis accused him of encroaching into their landing space during their jumpshot. Inside Hoops columnist M.J. Darnell commented: "They're whining because Bruce Bowen has frustrated, upset, hurt or angered them in some way.... He just plays tough, physical defense, does not play with any intent to injure, but isn't afraid to get in someone's grill". Bowen's defensive style failed to help this Spurs squad repeat in the 2004 NBA playoffs, as the team was eventually defeated 4–2 by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
#### 2005–07: Second and third championships
Bowen and the Spurs bounced back and won the NBA title in 2005, defeating the Detroit Pistons. The Spurs could not win back-to-back titles, however, and bowed out 4–3 in a seven-game series against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA playoffs. As a testament to his controversial style of play, Bowen picked up a \$10,000 NBA fine for kicking Ray Allen in the back during a March 2006 game.
In the 2007 NBA playoffs, the Spurs played against the Phoenix Suns, and Bowen became the center of controversy. His knee contacted Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash's groin, knocking Nash to the floor. Also in that series, forward–center Amar'e Stoudemire accused Bowen of kicking him during a game, but the NBA reviewed and dismissed the claim. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons commented that Bowen was "a cheap player who's going to seriously hurt someone someday", but Simmons also acknowledged that Bowen "ultimately makes his team better." The Spurs went on to beat the Suns, and Bowen's defense contributed to the Spurs winning their fourth championship in the 2007 NBA Finals.
#### 2007–09: Final years in San Antonio
In the 2007–08 NBA season, the now 36-year-old veteran Bowen played and started in 81 of 82 regular season games, earning his fifth straight nomination in the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Ever controversial, Bowen was fined \$7,000 and suspended for one game for kicking Chris Paul after Paul had fallen to the floor during a March 12, 2008 game. Bowen finished as the runner-up behind Marcus Camby for the league's defensive player of the year award. In the 2008 NBA playoffs, Bowen was unable to stop Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who averaged 28.3 points and helped L.A. beat the Spurs in five games. Bowen started in every Spurs regular season and playoff game from 2001 to 2008.
The 2008–09 NBA season was to be Bowen's last with the Spurs. Although he played in 80 regular-season games, he was no longer a starter as was the case in the previous seven San Antonio campaigns. His minutes were also greatly reduced (from 30+ to 18.9 per game), although his shooting numbers remained consistent. The Spurs went into the 2009 NBA playoffs with a 54–28 record and as the third seed. With influential shooting guard Manu Ginóbili out injured, the Spurs got off to a bad start to the series and eventually lost 4–1 against the Dallas Mavericks, bowing out of the playoffs in the first round for the first time since 2000.
On June 23, 2009, Bowen was traded along with Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto to the Milwaukee Bucks for Richard Jefferson. He was released on July 31, 2009 and retired on September 3, 2009.
On March 21, 2012, the Spurs retired Bowen's \#12 jersey. Bowen's jersey was the seventh retired by the Spurs. With Bowen's permission, the Spurs reissued the number 12 for free agent LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015.
## National team career
In 2006 U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski invited Bowen to join the United States men's national basketball team, which participated in the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan. At 35, he was the oldest player to participate; Krzyzewski said that the team needed a defensive player like Bowen. However, Bowen received little playing time, despite the injuries of fellow swingmen and guards Antawn Jamison, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. Although he participated in several training sessions and training camps, Bowen was eventually cut from the team. He expressed disappointment and said he hoped to make the 2008 Olympics squad, but was not named to the team in the end.
## Player profile
The 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), 200 lb (91 kg) Bowen played the small forward, and occasionally the shooting guard, position. He had a reputation for being one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, earning himself eight consecutive nominations for the NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams from 2001 to 2008. From 2005 to 2007, he was second in voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, beaten only by centers Ben Wallace (2005 and 2006) and Marcus Camby (2007) who are both post defenders. His accolades for defense were accompanied by persistent allegations of dirty, dangerous play.
Bowen was not known for his offensive production. He was seldom sought on offense, having never attempted more than 600 field goals in an entire 82-game regular season, and his career averages of 6.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, and .575 free throw shooting were considered mediocre, never earning him nominations for NBA All-Star or All-NBA First or Second Teams. His free throw shooting, in fact, was poor enough that he was at times been made the target of the Hack-a-Shaq defense. However, opposing teams could not leave Bowen wide open on offense, because he was also an accurate three-point shooter (.393 career average on 2,082 attempts), particularly from the corner. In addition, despite his age Bowen played 500 consecutive games between February 28, 2002, and March 12, 2008, leading Sports Illustrated to name him in 2007 the "Iron Man" of the NBA.
## Post-playing career
Bowen often speaks out against child obesity. In 2004, he started the "GET FIT with Bruce and Buddy" program for children's healthy nutrition and daily sports activities. He runs the Bruce Bowen Foundation, an organization set up to provide scholarships and bursaries. In 2006, he received a college degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton; he had also taken classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has stated that he wants to become a teacher. In 2011, Bowen was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame.
Bowen worked for ESPN as an NBA analyst after he retired. Bowen spent the 2017–18 season as a color analyst for Fox Sports West television broadcasts of the Los Angeles Clippers' games. He was relieved of his duties after making comments critical of Kawhi Leonard, a free agent and trade target of the Clippers.
In April 2019, Bowen was hired as boys' basketball coach at Cornerstone Christian School in San Antonio.
## Personal life
Bowen regards Robert and Sandra Thrash, a Los Angeles couple that he met in church during his college years, as his adoptive parents.
In 2004, Bowen married Yardley Barbon, a Miami native of Cuban descent, and the couple had two sons. The two divorced in 2012.
In 2006, he received a college degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton; he had also taken classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
## NBA career statistics
### Regular season
\|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|1996–97 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Miami \| 1 \|\| 0 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .000 \|\| .000 \|\| .000 \|\| .0 \|\| .0 \|\| .0 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .0 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|1997–98 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Boston \| 61 \|\| 9 \|\| 21.4 \|\| .409 \|\| .339 \|\| .623 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.3 \|\| 1.4 \|\| .5 \|\| 5.6 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|1998–99 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Boston \| 30 \|\| 1 \|\| 16.5 \|\| .280 \|\| .269 \|\| .458 \|\| 1.7 \|\| .9 \|\| .7 \|\| .3 \|\| 2.3 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|1999–00 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Philadelphia \| 42 \|\| 0 \|\| 7.4 \|\| .356 \|\| .500 \|\| .500 \|\| .9 \|\| .4 \|\| .2 \|\| .1 \|\| 1.4 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|1999–00 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Miami \| 27 \|\| 2 \|\| 21.0 \|\| .380 \|\| .464 \|\| .613 \|\| 2.2 \|\| .7 \|\| .5 \|\| .4 \|\| 5.1 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2000–01 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Miami \| 82 \|\| 72 \|\| 32.7 \|\| .363 \|\| .336 \|\| .609 \|\| 3.0 \|\| 1.6 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .6 \|\| 7.6 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2001–02 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 59 \|\| 59 \|\| 28.8 \|\| .389 \|\| .378 \|\| .479 \|\| 2.7 \|\| 1.5 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .4 \|\| 7.0 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2002–03† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 82 \|\| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| 31.3 \|\| .466 \|\| .441 \|\| .404 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.4 \|\| .8 \|\| .5 \|\| 7.1 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2003–04 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 82 \|\| 82 \|\| 32.0 \|\| .420 \|\| .363 \|\| .579 \|\| 3.1 \|\| 1.4 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .4 \|\| 6.9 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2004–05† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 82 \|\| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| 32.0 \|\| .420 \|\| .403 \|\| .634 \|\| 3.5 \|\| 1.5 \|\| .7 \|\| .5 \|\| 8.2 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2005–06 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| 33.6 \|\| .433 \|\| .424 \|\| .607 \|\| 3.9 \|\| 1.5 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .4 \|\| 7.5 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2006–07† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| style="background:#cfecec;"\| 82\* \|\| 30.0 \|\| .405 \|\| .384 \|\| .589 \|\| 2.7 \|\| 1.4 \|\| .8 \|\| .3 \|\| 6.2 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2007–08 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 81 \|\| 81 \|\| 30.2 \|\| .407 \|\| .419 \|\| .652 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .7 \|\| .3 \|\| 6.0 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2008–09 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 80 \|\| 10 \|\| 18.9 \|\| .422 \|\| .429 \|\| .538 \|\| 1.8 \|\| .5 \|\| .4 \|\| .2 \|\| 2.7 \|- class="sortbottom" \| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\|Career \| 873 \|\| 644 \|\| 27.6 \|\| .409 \|\| .393 \|\| .575 \|\| 2.8 \|\| 1.2 \|\| .8 \|\| .3 \|\| 6.1
### Playoffs
\|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2000 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Miami \| 10 \|\| 0 \|\| 15.7 \|\| .370 \|\| .227 \|\| .625 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .8 \|\| .7 \|\| .4 \|\| 3.5 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2001 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Miami \| 3 \|\| 3 \|\| 19.3 \|\| .313 \|\| .250 \|\| .000 \|\| .7 \|\| .7 \|\| .7 \|\| .7 \|\| 4.0 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2002 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 10 \|\| 10 \|\| 34.5 \|\| .410 \|\| .440 \|\| .500 \|\| 3.3 \|\| 1.4 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .7 \|\| 6.8 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2003† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 24 \|\| 24 \|\| 31.3 \|\| .372 \|\| .438 \|\| .548 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.6 \|\| .8 \|\| .7 \|\| 6.9 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2004 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 10 \|\| 10 \|\| 29.8 \|\| .365 \|\| .379 \|\| .231 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.0 \|\| .4 \|\| .3 \|\| 6.0 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2005† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 23 \|\| 23 \|\| 35.4 \|\| .359 \|\| .433 \|\| .647 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 1.6 \|\| .5 \|\| .6 \|\| 5.7 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2006 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 13 \|\| 13 \|\| 34.0 \|\| .525 \|\| .500 \|\| .500 \|\| 2.2 \|\| 1.2 \|\| .9 \|\| .6 \|\| 6.2 \|- \| style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"\|2007† \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 20 \|\| 20 \|\| 34.5 \|\| .395 \|\| .446 \|\| .500 \|\| 4.1 \|\| 1.3 \|\| 1.4 \|\| .2 \|\| 6.5 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2008 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 17 \|\| 17 \|\| 29.9 \|\| .398 \|\| .407 \|\| .727 \|\| 1.9 \|\| 1.4 \|\| .6 \|\| .3 \|\| 6.1 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2009 \| style="text-align:left;"\|San Antonio \| 5 \|\| 2 \|\| 26.0 \|\| .538 \|\| .556 \|\| 1.000 \|\| 3.0 \|\| .6 \|\| .6 \|\| .0 \|\| 4.2 \|- class="sortbottom" \| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\|Career \| 135 \|\| 122 \|\| 31.0 \|\| .394 \|\| .422 \|\| .553 \|\| 2.7 \|\| 1.3 \|\| .8 \|\| .5 \|\| 6.0
## See also
- List of National Basketball Association career playoff 3-point scoring leaders |
22,821,681 | 2006 Heineken Cup final | 1,159,333,679 | null | [
"2000s in Cardiff",
"2005–06 Heineken Cup",
"2005–06 in French rugby union",
"2005–06 in Irish rugby union",
"Biarritz Olympique matches",
"Heineken Cup finals",
"Munster Rugby matches",
"Sports competitions in Cardiff"
]
| The 2006 Heineken Cup Final was a rugby union match played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on 20 May 2006, to determine the winners of the 2005–06 Heineken Cup, European rugby's premier club competition. The match was contested by Irish province Munster and French side Biarritz. It was the 11th Heineken Cup final overall and the third final appearance for Munster (their first since 2002, when they lost 15–9 to Leicester Tigers), while Biarritz were competing in their first final. It was the second time the Millennium Stadium had hosted the Heineken Cup final, the other being in 2002, and the fourth to take place in Cardiff, including finals played at the old Cardiff Arms Park.
Each team needed to progress through the group stage and two knockout rounds to reach the final, playing nine matches in total. Biarritz and Munster each won their respective groups to qualify for the quarter-finals. Biarritz then beat Sale Sharks in the quarter-finals and Bath in the semis, while Munster beat Perpignan in their quarter-final and fellow Irish province Leinster in their semi. Chris White, representing the Rugby Football Union, was the referee for the match, which was played under a closed roof in front of 74,534 spectators.
Biarritz scored first through a Sireli Bobo try, converted by Dimitri Yachvili, in the 2nd minute. Munster scored a penalty goal through Ronan O'Gara in the 7th minute and took the lead 10 minutes later, when Trevor Halstead scored a try that was converted by O'Gara. Yachvili scored a penalty for Biarritz to level the match at 10–10, before Munster scored their second try courtesy of Peter Stringer (again converted by O'Gara) to give them a 17–10 half-time lead. In the second half, O'Gara extended Munster's lead to 10 points with his second penalty of the game, but Yachvili reduced Biarritz's deficit to one point with three unanswered penalties in the space of 22 minutes; however, another penalty for O'Gara in the 73rd minute pushed Munster further back in front. There were no further scores, giving Munster a 23–19 win and their first Heineken Cup title.
## Background
The Heineken Cup, the premier club competition of European rugby, was established by the Five Nations Committee in 1995 as a new competition for professional rugby clubs across Europe. Its first 10 seasons were dominated by English and French clubs, who won 9 of the 10 titles, Ulster the sole Irish victors in 1999. In 2005–06, the participating teams were drawn from the English Premiership, the Irish/Scottish/Welsh Celtic League, the Italian Super 10 and the French Top 14 based on their domestic performance the previous season. In the 10 previous Heineken Cup finals, the only previous meeting between an Irish side and a French one was in Ulster's 21–6 win over Colomiers. This was Munster's third final in the competition and their first since 2002, when they lost 15–9 to Leicester Tigers. They had also lost 9–8 to another English side, Northampton Saints, in the 2000 final. Meanwhile, Biarritz were appearing in their first Heineken Cup final and were thus also aiming to win their first Heineken Cup. The two teams had met each other twice before in the competition; Munster had won their first encounter in the competition 38–29 in the quarter-finals of the 2000–01 Heineken Cup, while Biarritz won the other match at the same stage of the 2004–05 tournament. Approximately 15,000 Munster fans watched the match on a giant screen in O'Connell Street, Limerick.
## Route to the final
The 2005–06 Heineken Cup featured 24 teams from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, who were drawn into six groups of four teams each. Teams were awarded four points for a win and two for a draw, with bonuses awarded to teams scoring four of more tries, and/or losing by seven or fewer points. The winners of each of the six groups as well as the two highest-placed runners-up qualified for the quarter-finals. The knockout stage then progressed as a single-elimination tournament.
### Biarritz
Biarritz were drawn into Pool 4 with Italian club Benetton Treviso, English side Saracens and Ulster from Ireland. Their campaign started with a 22–10 loss away to Saracens at Vicarage Road on 23 October 2005, but they responded with a bonus-point victory at home to Ulster at Parc des Sports Aguiléra six days later, winning 33–19 to go top of the pool. Two more bonus-point wins in back-to-back games against Benetton followed in December, winning 34–7 on matchday 3 with the bonus point secured shortly after half-time, before scoring six tries in the reverse fixture at Stadio Comunale di Monigo six days later as they won 38–24. On matchday 5, Biarritz faced Ulster at Ravenhill; Biarritz won 24–8 to end Ulster's run of 14 matches without defeat at home. In the final pool match at home to Saracens eight days later, Biarritz against scored six tries to win 43–13 and guarantee a place in the quarter-finals as pool winners.
Due to Heineken Cup regulations that knockout matches had to be played at a neutral venue, Biarritz's quarter-final against Sale Sharks on 2 April was played at the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastián. A penalty goal by Dimitri Yachvili gave Biarritz the lead midway through the first half. Charlie Hodgson equalised for Sale five minutes later, only for Yachvili to restore Biarritz's lead moments later. A try from Sireli Bobo gave the home side an 11–3 lead at half-time. Hodgson scored a second penalty for Sale with five minutes left to play, but Biarritz held on to win 11–6 and qualify for the semi-finals. As Biarritz were the higher-seeded team in the semi-finals, their match against Bath was again played at the Anoeta but this time in wet conditions. Yachvili scored two penalties in the first 16 minutes, before Chris Malone pulled one back for Bath. The pair then scored another penalty each to give Biarritz a 9–6 lead at the end of the first half, and they increased their advantage to nine points in the first five minutes of the second half via another Yachvili penalty and a drop goal from Damien Traille. Malone kicked a third penalty for Bath in the 64th minute, but Yachvili restored Bath's lead two minutes from the end, giving them an 18–9 win and a place in their first Heineken Cup final.
### Munster
Munster were drawn in Pool 1 with French side Castres, Newport Gwent Dragons from Wales and English club Sale Sharks. Like Biarritz, Munster began away from home against English opposition; at Edgeley Park in Stockport on 21 October 2005, Munster led 13–9 after 47 minutes, but second-half tries from Sililo Martens and Jason Robinson, and two penalties from Charlie Hodgson gave Sale a 27–13 win. A week later, Munster recorded a bonus-point 42–16 win at home to Castres at Thomond Park in Limerick to maintain their 21-match unbeaten run there in the Heineken Cup. Munster picked up another win in the first of their back-to-back games against the Dragons at Rodney Parade on 10 December, although they missed out on the try-scoring bonus point in the 24–8 victory. In the return game at Thomond Park the following week, the Dragons had an 18–17 lead going into the final 15 minutes, but two penalties from Ronan O'Gara and a try by Jerry Flannery in the final minute gave Munster a 30–18 win, although they again missed out on the bonus point. However, that was not a problem in the game against Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine on 13 January 2006, when they scored seven tries, including two each for Paul O'Connell and Tomás O'Leary, to win 46–9. Munster went into their final match at home to Sale five points behind the visitors in the pool, needing to record a bonus-point victory and also deny Sale a losing bonus point to top the pool and guarantee qualification for the quarter-finals. Victory was practically assured by half-time, as Munster took a 24–9 lead through tries from Anthony Foley, Ian Dowling and Barry Murphy, but the second half looked to be scoreless until two minutes past the regulation 80, when David Wallace scored the fourth try they needed to overtake Sale and win both the game and the pool.
As the fourth-seeded team from the pool stage, Munster were given a home draw in their quarter-final against Perpignan on 1 April, which was played at Lansdowne Road in Dublin due to the competition's neutral venue regulations. Munster took the lead midway through the first half after O'Gara converted O'Connell's try, but Perpignan wing Matthieu Bourret converted his own try and added a penalty for the away side to give them a 10–7 half-time lead; however, four penalties from O'Gara in the space of 27-second-half minutes gave Munster a 19–10 win and put them into the semi-finals for the sixth time in seven seasons. Munster's semi-final opponents were Leinster, who had home advantage after knocking out the top-seeded team, Toulouse, in the quarters, meaning Munster returned to Lansdowne Road. They had a 16–3 lead at half-time, thanks to a try from Denis Leamy and three penalties from O'Gara, while Leinster's only points came from the boot of Felipe Contepomi. The Argentine was again on target in the 71st minute, but late tries from O'Gara and Trevor Halstead gave Munster a 30–6 victory and a place in their third Heineken Cup final.
## Match
### Background
In May 2005, European Rugby Cup (ERC), the organisers of the Heineken Cup, awarded the right to host the 2006 final to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It was the second time the stadium had hosted the Heineken Cup final and the fourth time in eleven years it had been staged in Cardiff. The Millennium Stadium had previously hosted the 2002 final between Tigers and Munster. The referee for the match was Chris White representing the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The 42-year-old became the first referee to take charge of three Heineken Cup finals, having officiated the 2003 and 2005 editions. White's assistants were touch judges Dave Pearson and Tony Spreadbury also representing the RFU. The television match official was the RFU's Geoff Warren and the citing commissioner was Bill Dunlop. Both clubs received an ticket allocation of 7,650 distributable by both sides from a total of 73,300. Tickets for adults were priced at £15, £25, £35 and £45 with concessions. Munster received an extra allocation of almost 3,000 tickets in early May 2006 to accommodate an increase of stadium capacity by 600 seats. A total of 48,000 were sold to the general public, 4,100 were distributed through the ERC's partners and 2,900 were sold as general hospitality packages.
Munster captain Anthony Foley said his team had "no divine right" to win the final and they would treat it as a normal fixture with "a 50–50 chance" of victory. Lock Paul O'Connell said Munster would not alter their approach and would play with the same mindset they had in the previous rounds. He said the team were "ridiculously motivated" to win the final. O'Gara dismissed criticisms of Biarritz's style of play, saying: "I don't buy into this notion that they are a dour side." Munster coach Declan Kidney commented the fixture had "all the makings of a great game" and his club's sole option was to pay attention to themselves: "It is a pretty daunting task coming up against a side like Biarritz, and you never really know how it is going to pan out – it is just a brilliant opportunity for everyone involved."
Fly-half Julien Peyrelongue said Biarritz were ready to win their first Heineken Cup: "The objective was to be at top form on May 20 and that's what we will achieve. Since February we have been working hard physically to reach that level. We now have experience and the composure to cope with highly-pressured matches like this one." Damien Traille predicted a physical, intemperate match that would be won on finer details, adding: "we also have to perform better man for man and we have to take advantage of everything, even if we are only gaining centimetres at a time." Biarritz coach Patrice Lagisquet stated his side's recent league victory over Montpellier better prepared them to play Munster: "The fight that is awaiting us in Cardiff will be extremely difficult. The most important will be to remain concentrated and serious."
Biarritz captain and hooker Benoît August was reported by citing commissioner John West for a purported eye-gouging on Danny Grewcock in the team's semi-final with Bath. The offence would have seen August banned anywhere between three months to two years but a disciplinary hearing deemed the complaint invalid since the citing commissioner and the match referee were not from separate countries as dictated by ERC tournament rules, clearing him for selection. Both teams announced their starting lineups on 19 May. Christian Cullen was ruled unfit to play for Munster due to an ankle injury he sustained in a Celtic League match not healing sufficiently for him to play. Mike Mullins was also unavailable due to injury. Munster named Marcus Horan, John Kelly and O'Connell to the starting lineup despite all three players sustaining injuries. Federico Pucciariello was placed on reserve if Horan was deemed unfit, while Rob Henderson would replace Kelly if the latter could not play. Biarritz reported no injury worries. Thomas Lièvremont returned to play at number eight after missing Biarritz's semi-final with Bath due to injury, replacing Thierry Dusautoir.
### First half
The match kicked off at 15:00 local time on 20 May 2006, in front of a Millennium Stadium crowd of 74,534 under a closed roof. Biarritz won possession at the start but August made a weak throw allowing David Wallace to win a line-out for Munster from which was cleared by O'Gara. In the second minute, Philippe Bidabé released himself from Kelly's grip and passed to Bobo. He ran to the left-hand corner and scored a try for Biarritz. The try was awarded by White following a review by touch judge Pearson despite broadcast replays observing Bobo's feet to be on the touchline and therefore in touch. Yachvili successfully kicked the conversion from the far left touchline to give Biarritz a 7–0 lead. On six minutes, Bobo looked set to score his second try after laching onto a crossfield kick by O'Gara but Biarritz were adjudged to be offside. From the left-hand side, O'Gara successfully kicked the penalty for Munster to reduce Biarritz's lead to 7–3 in the seventh minute. Shaun Payne was ruled to be in touch by Spreadbury and thus Biarritz were awarded a line-out. In the 12th minute, Serge Betsen was penalised for foul play in a scrum and White reprimanded him. Munster were awarded a penalty, but Foley called for O'Gara to kick for touch instead of going for goal.
Munster were awarded another penalty after 14 minutes but O'Gara again decided against taking it and put the ball into the corner. Traille took possession of the ball and White had to separate him and O'Gara. On 17 minutes, Leamy found space to pass the ball to Halstead, who went past Bidabé and Jean-Baptiste Gobelet to score a try for Munster from short distance in the right-hand corner. The try was successfully converted by O'Gara whose shot from the touchline in the 18th minute went through the goal posts to give Munster a 10–7 lead. On 21 minutes, Peter Stringer injured his back and received medical treatment to continue playing. A collapsed scrum caused by Munster gave Biarritz a penalty kick. Yachvili successfully kicked the penalty to level the match at 10–10. Seven minutes later, Yachvili passed the ball to Gobelet following a line-out from 15 m (49 ft). Gobelet looked set to score Biarritz's second try but Munster defended through the boot of Ian Dowling. Not long after, O'Gara fell with a shoulder injury for which he received treatment. Munster received a penalty but again chose not to score for three points before O'Gara kicked weakly. In the 31st minute, a scrum 15 m (49 ft) from the Biarritz touchline saw Stringer collect the ball and look to his left. Stringer ran unopposed at an angle around the back of the scrum and scored Munster's second try. The try was again converted by O'Gara in the 32nd minute but no further points were scored thereafter and the first half ended 17–10 to Munster.
### Second half
O'Gara got the second half underway, and two minutes later Munster were awarded a penalty after White observed Biarritz not releasing the ball following a second high throw by Stringer. O'Gara successfully scored the penalty on 42 minutes to give Munster a 20–10 lead. Biarritz made the match's first substitution in the 45th minute, replacing David Couzinet with Olivier Olibeau. Biarritz were awarded a penalty when Hayes went offside to stop a Biarritz player gathering the ball on 47 minutes. Yachvili scored the penalty in the 48th minute to reduce Munster's lead to seven points. Two minutes later, another penalty was awarded to Biarritz after Leamy high-tackled Imanol Harinordoquy. The penalty was successfully scored by Yachvili to further decrease Munster's advantage to four points. Biarritz made a double substitution in each of the 52nd and 53rd minutes with Dusautoir replacing the injured Lièvremont and Federico Martín Aramburú coming on for the injured Traille.
On 58 minutes, Betsen was penalised for not releasing Payne in a tackle, earning Munster a penalty. A weak shot from O'Gara resulted in Peyrelongue kicking the ball up the field and won Munster a line-out. In the 63rd minute, Benoît Lecouls substituted Census Johnston at Biarritz while Munster replaced Horan with Pucciariello. In the 67th minute Biarritz replaced August with Benjamin Noirot for the remainder of the match. Biarritz were awarded a penalty two minutes later when Foley committed a foul. On 70 minutes, Yachvili attempted a kick at goal and was successful at his fourth attempt to put Biarritz 20–19 behind. Two minutes later, Johnston illegally entered a ruck from the side, earning Munster a penalty. O'Gara kicked from almost 40 m (130 ft) to score a third penalty and restore Munster's four-point advantage in the 73rd minute. Three minutes later, O'Connell sustained an injury and was replaced by Alan Quinlan. Biarritz's final attack ended in conceding a scrum to Munster for accidental offside. As the clock passed 80 minutes, Munster were awarded a penalty for an infringement by Biarritz at that scrum. Stringer immediately kicked the ball directly into touch, allowing the referee to blow the final whistle and give Munster a 23–19 victory for their first Heineken Cup.
### Details
### Statistics
## Post-match
The Heineken Cup trophy was lifted by Munster captain Foley after the match. Kindey said Munster losing in the Heineken Cup final twice before helped inspire them to win: "This bunch of guys have had tough experiences over the years but have tried to learn every time they have lost." His counterpart Lagisquet was sanguine: "I regret that we gave Munster a lot of gifts, especially at the five-meter scrum they scored from. We can't be too disappointed with the second half as Munster played with such high intensity." He admitted Munster deserved to win the final. Foley felt Munster's fans in the stadium motivated the club, adding: "I've been in a ground twice when the opposition's captain has lifted the trophy. To be the one to go up there and pick up the silverware is a great feeling." Yachvili emphasised the importance of scoring quickly but acknowledged Biarritz did not put enough pressure onto Munster and did not do not enough in attacking, saying: "We always thought we could win – we lost by only four points so it was not so far away. But they were very organised and did not make any mistakes." Lièvremont felt the deciding moment of the final was Halstead's 17th-minute try for Munster, adding: "We saw Munster were getting more and more tired. If we could have forced them into committing errors at the end there was a chance we could have snatched it." Mary McAleese, the Irish president, conveyed a tribute to Munster during a visit of the United States.
Stringer was named man of the match. L'Équipe insisted Munster defeating Biarritz would have given the losing club no shame and singled out both fans as providing inspiration during the match: "When their players were in trouble, their red army burst into their hymn, The Fields of Athenry. Munster were not on their own – they won with the help of their whole country." Le Parisien credited Munster's players for their side's victory and gave its analysis of the fixture: "The dream is over for Biarritz. The French club, who tried everything and pulled out all the stops, at the end of the match eventually lost the final at the hands of Munster, who were clearly fitter and more experienced than the Basques." Tim Glover of The Independent suggested it "would have been cruel had Munster and their magnificent supporters not taken possession of the Heineken Cup". Tom English of Scotland on Sunday asked "Can anybody with even a passing interest in the game be unaware of their struggle? Doubtful. Can anybody who witnessed it be unmoved by it? Not a chance."
On the day after the final, the Munster team returned to Limerick to celebrate their achievement and were greeted by an estimated 40,000 supporters. A civic reception was held at Limerick City Hall that day. The ERC announced on 29 May that Biarritz had lodged a formal complaint with them over the television coverage of the final. It stated Sky Television broadcast live footage of the large crowd of Munster supporters in Limerick on two large video screens inside the Millennium Stadium on two critical occasions, which they felt had provided Munster with an unfair advantage. Biarritz however accepted there was no possibility of the result being changed.
## Legacy
In 2016, Daily Telegraph writer Steve James included the final at number five in his list of "Top 10 European rugby finals". The match was included in Sky Sports' "most memorable European showpiece games down the years", and Cian Tracey for the Irish Independent named it his "most favourite game" in a 2020 article for the newspaper. It was rebroadcast by Sky Sports on 17 October 2016 in tribute to Foley who had died that weekend. |
47,595,046 | 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash | 1,172,449,338 | Aviation accident onto the A27 road in England | [
"2010s in West Sussex",
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"August 2015 events in the United Kingdom",
"Aviation accidents and incidents at air shows",
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| On 22 August 2015, a former military aircraft crashed onto a main road during an aerial display at the Shoreham Airshow at Shoreham Airport, England, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others. It was the deadliest air show accident in the United Kingdom since the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash, which had killed 31 people.
The aircraft, a Hawker Hunter T7, failed to complete a loop manoeuvre and crashed, hitting vehicles on the A27 road adjacent to the airport. The pilot, Andy Hill, was critically injured but survived. As a result of the accident, all civilian-registered Hawker Hunter aircraft in the United Kingdom were grounded, and restrictions were put in place on civilian vintage jet aircraft displays over land, limiting them to high-level flypasts and banning aerobatic manoeuvres.
The official investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that the crash resulted from pilot error. In 2018, Hill was charged with eleven counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of endangering an aircraft. He was found not guilty on all counts on 8 March 2019. The organisers of the Shoreham Airshow denied any responsibility for the crash.
An inquest into the deaths of the victims was scheduled to be held in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic until 30 November 2022, pending the outcome of some procedural issues. In December 2022, the coroner found that the victims were unlawfully killed as their deaths were caused by an incorrect manoeuvre and a series of gross errors.
After the crash, regulations for airshows were significantly tightened by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), increasing costs to organisers to fund the new safety measures to a degree that led to the cancellation of later shows.
## Aircraft and crew
The aircraft was a 1950s two-seat Hawker Hunter T7, registration G-BXFI serial 41H-670815, displaying its former military serial number WV372 as part of its livery. Having first flown for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in July 1955, it was rebuilt following a fire, returning to service in 1959 after conversion to T7 specification. It had been making civilian display flights as a warbird since 1998, under a variety of owners. At the time of the accident, it was owned by Graham Peacock, and based at North Weald Airfield, Essex. The aircraft had flown to Shoreham from North Weald and was scheduled to return there after the display.
Andy Hill, the 51-year-old pilot, was described by colleagues as experienced, with more than 12,000 flight hours. He had worked as a captain at British Airways. He had flown Hawker Siddeley Harriers and worked as an instructor for the RAF before joining the airline. As well as the Hawker Hunter, he flew a Van's RV-8 and a BAC Jet Provost at airshows.
## Airshow
The aircraft was taking part in the first day of the two-day Shoreham Airshow, held in aid of the Royal Air Forces Association. The conditions were hot and sunny, with a crosswind up to 15 knots, described as not unusual for Shoreham by the local media. The Hunter had been opening the afternoon session of displays; the morning programme up to 12:30 BST (11:30 UTC) had already featured The Blades aerobatic team (opening), Justyn Gorman Aerobatics, an AutoGyro Calidus, the Tiger 9 Aeronautical Display Team (six aircraft only), a Pitts Special, The Twister aerobatic team (one aircraft only), an RAF Tutor, and the RAF Falcons parachute display team.
## Accident
### Crash
The Hunter commenced its display with a low pass along the runway from south to north, turning for a second pass in the opposite direction. As it neared the airport, it pulled up into an inside loop. This manoeuvre started from a height of 200 feet (60 m), which leading aviation expert David Learmount later said "left no room for misjudgement". The loop should have been started at a height of 500 feet (150 m) and a speed of at least 350 knots (650 km/h), attaining a height of 4,000 feet (1,200 m) and 150 knots (280 km/h) at the top of the loop. Only 2,700 feet (820 m) and 105 knots (194 km/h) were achieved from an initial entry speed of 310 knots (570 km/h).
Before it could complete the loop, the aircraft crashed in a nose-high attitude onto the west-bound carriageway of the A27 road. The aircraft broke into four parts on impact: cockpit, left wing and main body, tail, and right wing, destroying several cars in the process. Fuel escaping from the fuel tanks ignited in a large fireball and plume of smoke immediately following the impact. The crash occurred at 13:22 BST (12:22 UTC). The first fire appliance arrived at the scene within 90 seconds of the crash. Footage of the accident was captured by spectators, as well as a dashcam mounted in a car that was travelling towards the crash site.
### Casualties
Eleven people on the ground were killed and sixteen others were injured. Those confirmed dead included two players from Worthing United F.C., a level 9 team in English football. Eight vehicles were destroyed in the crash, including a Daimler DS420 limousine which was en route to collect a bride to transport her to church for her wedding. The driver of the Daimler was subsequently confirmed as one of the victims.
The aircraft had departed from North Weald with its ejector seat in a live condition. Hill was thrown clear of the aircraft still strapped into the live seat, which posed an additional danger to rescuers. Hill survived the crash with serious injuries. He was flown to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in nearby Brighton; his condition was described as critical and he was said to be fighting for his life. He was subsequently placed in a medically-induced coma. He was released from hospital in September 2015.
After a thorough area search of the crash site, all the recovered components of the aircraft were taken to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) facility at Farnborough, Hampshire, for examination.
### Response
A de Havilland Sea Vixen was already airborne ready to perform the next display after the Hunter; instead it flew overhead at altitude and departed to the north. With an Avro Vulcan due half an hour later at 14:05, it was decided to let it perform a tribute flypast, after which the show was closed. All the aircraft at the airport were already grounded due to the lack of fire cover and the creation of an exclusion zone around the accident site.
Following the crash, the A27 was closed in both directions, stranding those attending the airshow who had travelled by road. People were unable to leave the site initially, but after a while measures were put in place to allow visitors to leave on foot, as the main access from the car parks to the A27 was closed. A West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service appliance was first on scene, closely followed by the airport emergency vehicles, and medical personnel from the British Red Cross, who were providing medical cover at the airshow. The second day of the air show on 23 August was cancelled. The A27 reopened on 30 August 2015.
Adur and Worthing Councils (Shoreham Airport is within Adur District) set up online and physical books of condolence. Together with West Sussex County Council they also opened a charitable fund to support victims of the accident, to be administered by the Sussex Community Foundation, a registered charity.
In March 2017, Adur District Council announced that a series of sculptures were to be placed along the banks of the River Adur as a memorial to the victims of the accident. In May 2019, a permanent memorial was erected near the Shoreham Tollbridge.
## Aftermath
The airshow at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, which took place the following weekend, opened with "a pause for thought" for those who died at Shoreham. The Clacton airshow takes place over the sea, similar to the Bournemouth Airshow which took place the same weekend as the accident and ran for both days.
On 24 August 2015, the CAA imposed restrictions on "vintage jet aircraft" performing over land at airshows until further notice, reducing displays to flypasts only. In addition, all Hawker Hunters on the United Kingdom civil aircraft register were grounded until further notice, although military-registered Hunters were not affected. The restrictions were to remain in place until the completion of the investigation into the accident, and a wider review of safety at airshows was to be undertaken by the CAA. In January 2016, the CAA brought in stricter requirements for airshows in the United Kingdom. The grounding of civilian Hunters was lifted on 6 July 2017; however, aircraft would be subject to enhanced maintenance and inspection regimes before a permit to fly would be granted. The ban on Hawker Hunter and other jet aircraft on the United Kingdom civil register performing aerobatic manoeuvres remained in place. On 1 March 2018, the CAA lifted its ban on straight-wing ex-military jet aircraft from performing aerobatics at airshows, with a ban on swept-wing aircraft remaining in place.
The airshow scheduled to be held at Durham Tees Valley Airport on 29 August 2015 was postponed. Organisers stated that the new regulations in place would have "severely limited" some of the displays of the jet aircraft. The airshow would have been the first in the area since 1989; it took place in 2016.
Other air shows on the following weekend were not postponed but some displays were altered to match the CAA restrictions, including the Wings and Wheels display at Dunsfold Aerodrome where a one-minute silent tribute to the victims was held before the start of the air display.
As of February 2023, no further Shoreham Airshow has taken place or been announced.
The 2016 Llandudno Airshow was cancelled, due to a lack of time to make changes in light of new regulations introduced by the CAA. For the 2016 Farnborough Airshow, the Red Arrows performed a flypast rather than an aerobatic display, stating that the latter would not be appropriate in the aftermath of the Shoreham accident.
In August 2016, it was reported that the aircraft's owners had admitted liability for the accident in late 2015. Two claims for compensation had been settled with a third in the final stages of settlement.
In March 2019 it was announced that the public flying days at the Farnborough Airshow would not continue. "Negative and vitriolic feedback" following the 2018 airshow, falling visitor numbers and tighter regulations introduced in the wake of the crash at Shoreham – which made it impossible for exhibitors such as the Red Arrows to perform aerobatics close to populated areas – were given as factors that contributed towards the decision. Farnborough would be a five-day trade show, with public admittance on the Friday only.
## Investigations
### AAIB
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom, sent a team to Shoreham. As a part of the investigation, the AAIB appealed for members of the public to contact them if they had photographs or video of the accident, and received a large number of such recordings from a variety of locations around the airport. The aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. The AAIB published an interim report on 4 September. The report stated that "To date, no abnormal indications have been identified. Throughout the flight, the aircraft appeared to be responding to the pilot's control inputs".
A second Special Bulletin was published by the AAIB on 21 December 2015. It revealed that the aircraft was not compliant with its Permit to Fly insofar as the ejection seat cartridges installed in the aircraft had passed their expiry date. The maintenance organisation had ordered new cartridges in January 2014, but they did not arrive until June 2015 (two months before the accident) and the maintainer decided to fit them at the aircraft's next annual inspection in February 2016. The maintainer stated it was acting under the privileges of its maintenance approvals. The CAA was reported to be of the view that the maintainer did not have such privilege.
An issue of compliance with a Mandatory Permit Directive (MPD) in relation to time between engine overhauls raised questions as to whether the aircraft's Permit to Fly was valid on the day that it was issued. The CAA stated that it was unclear whether an Alternative Means of Compliance (AMOC) was in effect at the time for the accident aircraft, which would mean the Permit to Fly was valid. According to the AAIB's second interim report, "On this basis [the CAA] could not determine if the aircraft met the requirements of its Permit to Fly from December 2014 onwards." The second Special Bulletin made seven safety recommendations.
A third update was published on 10 March 2016. This Special Bulletin covered the organisation of the airshow at Shoreham, and airshows in the United Kingdom in general, with particular attention to risk management. Comparison was made with how airshows are organised in Australia, Canada and the United States. British civil and military rules were examined separately. It was reported that at the 2014 Shoreham Airshow, G-BXFI had overflown Lancing with a bank angle in excess of 90°. The pilot had not been instructed to stop his display. The AAIB did not name the pilot of G-BXFI who flew the 2014 display. It was also reported that the Flying Display Director at both displays did not have prior knowledge of the display intended to be flown. The issue of low flying during air displays was investigated. A previous accident involving glider BGA 4665 at an air race in Leicestershire in August 2005 had resulted in a recommendation to the CAA to remove the exemption, enjoyed by aircraft participating in an airshow, from normal low flying rules. This had not been done, despite the CAA agreeing with the recommendation. It was noted that the police had no powers to prevent people from watching an airshow from outside the boundaries of the venue where it was taking place. In the case of Shoreham, neither Sussex Police nor the organisers had asked for such powers. Signs had been put out on the A27 by the airshow organisers stating that "viewing was prohibited and that offenders may be prosecuted". Another issue considered was how often CAA Flight Standards Officers attended airshows: only 1.4% of airshows in 2014 and 7.1% of airshows in 2015 had been attended. Fourteen recommendations were made. In January 2017, the CAA stated that it accepted all the recommendations made by the AAIB.
The final report of the investigation of the accident was published on 3 March 2017. The cause of the accident was found to be pilot error: the pilot failed to recognise that the aircraft was too low to perform the loop. In December 2019, the AAIB issued a supplement to its final report, following additional analysis of the pilot's actions. Additional evidence as to how G-forces may have affected the pilot was examined. The AAIB concluded that the findings in the final report were correct.
### Sussex Police
Sussex Police opened a criminal investigation into the accident. Hill was released from hospital in early September 2015 and was interviewed by police in December. In February 2016, it was announced that the police investigation was being extended to cover an incident at an airshow in Southport, Merseyside, in August 2014. That incident involved a BAC Jet Provost aircraft which had descended too low and got too close to the crowd line whilst being flown by Hill; he was ordered to cease flying the display by the airshow's Flying Display Director. A CAA Flight Standards Officer did not attend that airshow.
Sussex Police applied to the High Court for a disclosure of certain evidence gathered by the AAIB: copies of interviews between the AAIB and Hill, the results of tests carried out by the AAIB and video evidence filmed from inside the aircraft during its display. At the High Court on 28 September 2016, an order was made that the onboard video evidence would be released, but not copies of the interview or the results of tests. They intended to present a file to the CPS before the pre-inquest review on 20 June 2017, but stated then that their investigation was not quite complete. Hill was interviewed again under caution on 1 June 2017. It was reported on 30 November that Sussex Police had sent a file to the CPS, who would decide whether or not any criminal charges would be laid. On 21 March 2018, the CPS announced that Hill had been charged with eleven counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of endangering an aircraft contrary to Article 137 of the Air Navigation Order 2009. Owing to the prosecution, the inquest was postponed until after the trial had concluded.
## Legal
### Criminal trial
Proceedings against Hill began at Westminster Magistrates' Court, London, on 19 April 2018. Hill indicated that he would enter pleas of not guilty and was bailed to appear at the Old Bailey on 17 May. The trial there started on 15 May, when Hill pleaded not guilty, and was adjourned until 14 January 2019. Hill was granted bail. A pre-trial review took place on 8 January 2019. Hill indicated that his defence was to be that he had been disabled by g-forces during the flight.
The trial at the Old Bailey resumed as scheduled on 14 January before Mr Justice Edis. On 15 January, a jury of eight women and four men was selected from 56 members of the public, who had passed initial screening. On 17 January, the jury were shown video of the accident that had not been previously released to the media. The prosecution alleged that previous incidents Hill had been involved in showed that he appeared to have a "cavalier attitude" to safety and played "fast and loose" with the rules. On 4 February, the court decamped to Gatwick Aviation Museum, Charlwood, Surrey, which has a Hawker Hunter on display. Jurors were shown the aircraft's controls and the instruments were explained to them. They were given the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of the aircraft and touch the flying controls. Both prosecution and defence provided an expert witness to assist the jury. Hill did not attend the museum.
On 8 March 2019, Hill was found not guilty on each of the 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence. The jury reached unanimous decisions on each of the counts following seven hours of deliberation. The judge also formally acquitted Hill on the count of negligently or recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft, which had not been put to the jury. At the conclusion of the trial, Edis commended the relatives of the victims on the very dignified way they had behaved. Relatives of the victims stated that they were devastated by the verdict. Sussex Police paid tribute to their dignity, adding that they respected the jury's decision. Outside the court after the trial Hill read out the names of all those killed in the incident and said "I am truly sorry for the part I played in their deaths, and it is all I will remember for the rest of my life."
### Inquest
A coroner's inquest was opened on 2 September 2015 in Horsham, West Sussex. After the naming of all the victims and a minute's silence, the inquest was adjourned pending the AAIB and police investigations. At the pre-inquest hearing in June 2017, Sussex Police stated that its investigation was 95% complete. Due to the prosecution of Hill, the inquest was postponed. The date for the inquest, which is scheduled to last for six weeks, was set as September 2020. The inquest would be held without a jury: the senior coroner Penelope Schofield ruled that the public interest can be better served by herself sitting alone. In May 2020, it was announced that the inquest would be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow families of the deceased to attend the inquest in person. The inquest was further postponed to a date in 2022.
In February 2022, the High Court refused the coroner access to video footage shot from the cockpit of the aircraft, stating that there "is neither credible evidence nor [...] a credible suggestion that the AAIB investigations were incomplete, flawed or deficient on the issue of cognitive impairment." A wider concern was that allowing the use of the video would hamper investigations into future aviation accidents. Dame Victoria Sharp endorsed a concern that disclosure of protected materials would make witnesses less forthcoming in dealing with the AAIB.
The inquest resumed on 30 November 2022. A request by Hill that a verdict of unlawful killing be ruled out was rejected by the coroner. In December 2022, seven years after the crash, the coroner ruled that the victims were unlawfully killed. The coroner described Hill's flying as "exceptionally bad", and the airshow's safety plan as "not fit for purpose".
In February 2023, Hill applied to the High Court of Justice for permission for a judicial review of the inquest. The application was refused by the High Court. In June 2023, it was reported that the deadline to challenge the refusal had passed. Hill had not challenged the refusal.
## See also
- List of air show accidents and incidents in the 21st century |
52,608 | Sigismund III Vasa | 1,169,619,526 | Ruler of Poland-Lithuania (r. 1587–1632) and of Sweden and Finland (r. 1592–99) | [
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| Sigismund III Vasa (Polish: Zygmunt III Waza, Lithuanian: Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Religiously zealous, he imposed Roman Catholicism across the vast realm, and his crusades against neighbouring states marked Poland's largest territorial expansion. As an enlightened despot, he presided over an era of prosperity and achievement, further distinguished by the transfer of the country's capital from Kraków to Warsaw.
Sigismund was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagiellon, daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland. Elected monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1587, he sought to unify Poland and Sweden under one Catholic kingdom, and when he succeeded his deceased father in 1592 the Polish–Swedish union was created. Opposition in Protestant Sweden caused a war against Sigismund headed by Sigismund's uncle Charles IX, who deposed him in 1599.
Sigismund attempted to hold absolute power in all his dominions and frequently undermined parliament. He suppressed internal opposition, strengthened Catholic influence and granted privileges to the Jesuits, whom he employed as advisors and spies during the Counter-Reformation. He actively interfered in the affairs of neighbouring countries; his invasion of Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in brief control over Moscow and seizure of Smolensk. Sigismund's army also defeated the Ottoman forces in southeastern Europe, which hastened the downfall of Sultan Osman II. However, the Polish–Swedish conflict had a less favourable outcome. After a series of skirmishes ending in a truce, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden launched a campaign against the Commonwealth and annexed parts of Polish Livonia.
Sigismund remains a controversial figure in Poland. He is one of the country's most recognisable monarchs. His long reign partially coincided with the Polish Golden Age, the apex in the prestige, power and economic influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On the other hand, it was also during his rule that the seeds of decline surfaced. Considerable contributions to the arts and architecture as well as military victories were tarnished by intrigues and religious persecutions. He was commemorated in Warsaw by Sigismund's Column, one of the city's chief landmarks and the first secular monument in the form of a column in modern history. It was commissioned after Sigismund's death by his son and successor, Władysław IV.
## Early life
Born on 20 June 1566 at Gripsholm Castle, Sigismund was the second child and only son of Catherine Jagiellon and Grand Duke John of Finland. The couple was being held prisoner at Gripsholm since 1563 when John staged a failed rebellion against his deranged brother Eric XIV of Sweden. Although Protestant Christians were growing political wing in Poland at the time, Sigismund was raised as a Roman Catholic. His mother Catherine was the daughter of Polish king Sigismund the Old and Bona Sforza of Milan, all of whom where practicing Catholics. Sigismund's older sister Isabella died aged two in 1566. His younger sister Anna was a Lutheran, but the close relationship between the two siblings remained unchanged until her death in 1625.
In October 1567, Sigismund and his parents were released from prison at the request of his uncle Charles. In January 1569, Eric XIV was deposed and Sigismund's father ascended the throne of Sweden as John III. He maintained good relations with his father despite John's second marriage to Gunilla Bielke, a Protestant noble lady of lower status and Catherine's former maid of honour. In 1589, Sigismund's half-brother John, the future Duke of Östergötland, was born.
As a child, Sigismund was tutored in both Polish and Swedish, thus making him bilingual. He was also proficient in German, Italian, and Latin. Catherine ensured that her son was educated in the spirit of Catholicism and Polish patriotism; the young prince was made aware of his blood connection to the Jagiellonian dynasty which ruled Poland in its finest period for two hundred years. Although Sigismund in his youth enjoyed reading and learning, observers did not acknowledge his intelligence. He was handsome, rather tall, and of slim build, but timid and an introvert who became heavily influenced by the teachings of the church. Nevertheless, Sigismund was undoubtedly multitalented and artistically inclined.
## Accession
In 1587, Sigismund stood for election to the Polish throne after the death of Stephen Báthory. His candidacy was secured by Queen Dowager Anna and several elite magnates who considered him a native candidate as a descendant of the Jagiellons, though the election was openly questioned and opposed by the nobles politically associated with the Zborowski family. With the blessing of primate Stanisław Karnkowski and strong support from other people of influence he was duly elected ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on 19 August 1587. His official name and title became "by the grace of God, king of Poland, grand duke of Lithuania, ruler of Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia and also hereditary king of the Swedes, Goths and Wends"; the latter titles being a reference to the fact that he was already the Crown Prince of Sweden, and thus would lawfully succeed to the throne of Sweden upon the death of his father.
The outcome of the election was strongly contested by factions of the Polish nobility that backed the candidacy of Archduke Maximilian III of Austria, who launched a military expedition. When the news reached Sigismund in Sweden, he crossed the Baltic and landed in Poland on 7 October, immediately agreeing to grant royal privileges to the Sejm (parliament) in the hope of calming the opposition and settling the disputed election. He was proclaimed king by Treasurer Jan Dulski on behalf of Crown Marshal Andrzej Opaliński, and after arriving in the Royal Capital City of Kraków he was crowned on 27 December at Wawel Cathedral.
Sigismund's position was solidified when Zamoyski defeated Maximilian at the Battle of Byczyna and took him prisoner. At the request of Pope Sixtus V, the Archduke was then released and in turn surrendered his claim to Poland in 1589. He was also successful in maintaining peace with his powerful southern neighbour by marrying Archduchess Anne of Habsburg in 1592. Simultaneously, he secured an alliance with Catholic Austria against Protestant foes.
When his father died, Sigismund was granted permission by the Polish Diet to claim the Swedish crown, which he had inherited from his father. The Swedes, who previously declared John III a Catholic conspirator and traitor, became lenient when the new monarch pledged to respect Lutheranism as the country's new state religion. Sigismund was crowned at Uppsala on 19 February 1594, but his promise to uphold the Protestant faith in Sweden began on shaky ground, as demonstrated by the presence of a papal nuncio in the royal procession. Tensions grew following his coronation. Sigismund remained a devout Roman Catholic and left the country abruptly, which made the Swedes sceptical of their new ruler. After returning to Poland, he appointed his uncle, Duke Charles, to rule as his regent. Sigismund's ultimate intention was to reinstate Catholicism in Sweden, by force if necessary. The Jesuits often acted as agents refuting Protestantism and promoting Catholicism in the country.
## Opposition
The hostility between Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and Sigismund began as soon as he arrived in Poland from Sweden to claim the crown. Zamoyski, a patriotic brawler, along with other magnates were critical of the young king's liking for the Habsburg culture, certain habits and impassive cold character. According to historian and writer Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Zamoyski was said to have exclaimed "what a mute have you brought to us" upon meeting the king in October 1587. The Chancellor was initially supportive of Sigismund's candidacy due to his maternal lineage. During the first parliament sitting, the so-called Pacification Sejm, in March 1589, Zamoyski proposed extensive reforms of the electoral system; notably, he presented the idea that only a member of a local native dynasty should be eligible to the Polish throne in the future, entailing the permanent exclusion of any Habsburg candidates.
Sigismund saw a potential ally in Austria; he sought to establish a Catholic league that would actively engage in the Counter-Reformation. Zamoyski openly condemned Sigismund for associating with the Habsburgs, particularly Archduke Ernest, and speculated that Ernest was to be the potential successor if Sigismund abdicated and returned to Sweden. The anti-Austrian sentiment was only explicable as a circuitous attempt to traverse the Habsburg hegemony and influence in Central Europe, which Zamoyski perceived as a major threat. However, the parliament immediately rejected the proposal and ruled in favour of Austria, thus also accepting a marriage between Sigismund and Anne of Habsburg. Furthermore, the reestablishment of peaceful relations with Austria was dictated by the Treaty of Bytom and Będzin from March 1589 which was negotiated by Ippolito Aldobrandini, future Pope Clement VIII.
At the subsequent Sejm session, assembled in March 1590, Zamoyski persuaded the gathered deputies and representatives to exclude Archduke Maximilian from future candidacy to the throne, describing the possibility of Austrian intrigues and the looming threat of the Turkish Empire. His opponents, headed by Primate Karnkowski, formed an informal confederation immediately after the Sejm rose to protest the decrees. All of the decrees of the first Sejm were rescinded by a second Sejm which sat at the end of the same year: the Hetmanship was suspended, the party of Maximilian was amnestied, the Zborowskis were rehabilitated, and Zamoyski's counterparts were removed from the royal court. Tensions grew further over the ownership of Estonia between Sweden and Poland following the dissolution of the Livonian Order; Zamoyski held Sigismund accountable for the dispute.
Sigismund's leniency towards the Habsburgs also alienated some clerics; the Austrians wanted to prevent Andrew Báthory from seizing the bishopric of Kraków and succeeded in doing so by diplomatic coaxing or coercion. The new papal nuncio, Annibale di Capua, a staunch Habsburg supporter, eventually convinced Sigismund to nominate Jerzy Radziwiłł after Piotr Myszkowski died on 5 April 1591. Capua stressed that Andrew had not been an ordained priest and was not legally capable to become bishop. The decision strained the once friendly relations between Poland and Transylvania.
### Peace settlement
As outlined by Oskar Halecki, the king's friends were largely recruited from the higher clergy and the Jesuits, who violated the 1573 Warsaw Confederation guaranteeing religious freedoms in Poland and Lithuania. As persecution loomed, political dissidents grouped and formed factions which called for adherence to the laws of the Confederation. Zamoyski joined the dissidents, and, when Sigismund failed to prevent mob violence directed against non-Catholics in Vilnius and Kraków in 1591, he summoned several conventions that "demanded the guarantees of security". Sigismund yielded to their demands, however, he forbade any future conventions which could destabilize the state. The prohibition did not have a lasting effect, and gatherings of dissidents continued in the following year.
The opposition hoped to thwart the match with Archduchess Anne of Habsburg, whose state entry into Kraków at the end of May was greatly celebrated. Sigismund disregarded any protest in regards to the marriage. Consequently, on 1 June 1592 Zamoyski formed another confederation at Jędrzejów (Latin: Andreiow) attended by the most eminent and distinguished magnates, among them Mikołaj Zebrzydowski and Stanisław Żółkiewski. At Andreiow, he allegedly exposed proof concerning a plot that would place Archduke Ernest on the throne if Sigismund was to abdicate. Zamoyski's claim caused an uproar.
On 7 September, Sigismund summoned the "Warsaw Inquisition Sejm" (sejm inkwizycyjny) to inquire into the so-called "Austrian cabals". Zamoyski's strong argument against that of the monarch was so persuasive that elderly Karnkowski sided with the Chancellor and his supporters, who abstained from kissing the King's hand upon arrival as the custom required. Alleged letters and private correspondence between Sigismund and Ernest with the royal signature was presented as evidence. The King rebuked these accusations; his aides attributed the falsified signature to the court scribe, who was subsequently imprisoned at Działdowo (Soldau), tortured, but pleaded not guilty. The opposition extended their demands and asked for the immediate removal of all foreign dignitaries from the court, including mercenaries, which was not fully enforced.
The Sejm had no definite outcome; most of the gathered nobles and diplomats dispersed as further incrimination of the sovereign proved futile and detrimental to the stability of the state. There is little evidence or written works from the period concerning the terms under which the Sejm functioned or how it concluded. Niemcewicz largely attributed the victory to Sigismund – the measures of the Counter-Reformation strengthened and within a year many of the convention's attendees died; acquiescent nobles favourable to the king were appointed as their successors, thus making his position less vulnerable. The rivalry between Sigismund and Zamoyski continued until the latter's death in 1605.
## War in Sweden
### Tensions
The Uppsala Resolution of 1594 dictated the rights and securities of Protestants in Sweden; it promised to uphold the Lutheran faith in the country, forbade non-Lutherans from being appointed to office or participating in the educational system and prevented Sigismund from freely raising taxes for war. However, the resolution was undermined whenever possible. With military backing, Sigismund installed his own commanders in Swedish castles and made them responsible directly to him. He established the office of regional governor (ståthållare) and appointed Charles' lifelong enemy, Klaus Fleming, as the overlord of Finland. The governors served notice that they would abstain from persecuting Catholicism in their administered territories. Erik Brahe, a Roman Catholic, became the governor of Sweden's capital city, Stockholm, in defiance of the 1594 charter which sparked widespread anger.
On 4 August 1594 Sigismund decreed that the Swedish parliament (Riksdag) had no right to function without royal consent. Despite this, Charles summoned a parliament at Söderköping in autumn of 1595, at which he declared himself regent and head of government, who would govern Sweden reciprocally with the Privy Council during the King's absence from the realm. The Finnish nobility led by Fleming rejected this resolution and so did Sigismund's emissary who ordered him, in the name of the king, to resign. Fleming sympathised with Sigismund and considered Charles a rebel. In response, Charles instigated a brief revolt against Fleming among the peasants under Jaakko Ilkka in the province of Ostrobothnia, known today as the Cudgel War.
As outlined by historian Gary Dean Peterson, Fleming might have quelled the rebellion but it was Charles who took advantage of the brutality of Fleming's men and started a successful propaganda war. The prospects of Polish and Catholic domination over Sweden became uncertain when Klaus Fleming died on 13 April 1597. He was succeeded by Arvid Stålarm the Younger, who did not accede to Swedish demands and awaited Charles' intervention in Finland. Meanwhile, the nobility dispersed; Erik Gustafsson Stenbock, Arvid Gustafsson Stenbock, Erik Larsson Sparre, Erik Brahe and Sten Banér fled to entreat Sigismund to return and counter Charles.
### Civil war
In 1597, a civil war erupted and Duke Charles was able to assume control over a large share of the powerful castles in Sweden, and in this manner achieved control over almost all the realm. However, Finland remained loyal to Sigismund and resisted. In September 1597, he sailed for the Finnish coast and seized Åbo Castle from Fleming's widow, Ebba Stenbock, by the end of the month. Charles's troops were not prepared nor strong enough to conquer or hold Finland in its entirety – they sailed back to Stockholm in October and Stålarm retook Åbo the same year.
As noted by envoys, several high-ranking noblemen fighting for Sigismund's cause were instantaneously sent to the scaffold. Further tensions and escalation of violence as well as Charles's unpredictable stance persuaded Sigismund to intervene. Christian IV of Denmark agreed to cooperate but would not join the armed conflict. The major seaports of Danzig (Gdańsk), Lübeck and Rostock were pressured to sever trade with Sweden. Polish privateers began to violently attack Swedish vessels in the Baltic. By February 1598 Sigismund assembled an army consisting of approximately 5,000 men. On 23 July 1598 the army left Danzig (Gdańsk) with eighty transports, several warships and exiled members of the Swedish parliament. Eight days later they landed in Kalmar, which surrendered without a fight.
After the fall of Kalmar, Charles found himself with major trouble on his hands; the Polish Crown army attracted Swedish followers, and Stockholm, lacking military defence, was easily taken with the help of the nobility and officers of Götaland. The cavalry of Uppland soon joined the royalists, and new forces were mobilised in Finland and Estonia. Charles' troops were greater in numbers, but mostly comprised poorly-trained militias and peasants from the friendly provinces.
Sigismund advanced his troops towards Stångebro in Linköping where his sister Anna Vasa resided. On 8 September Charles executed a premature attack on Stångebro which was quickly repelled; his force was surrounded in the night and massacred by the Poles. Severed heads on lances and spikes startled Sigismund who ordered an end to the violence. The supposed truce did not come into effect, and, on the morning of 25 September, the armies clashed once more in a major engagement at the Battle of Stångebro. The prevailing fog was instrumental at hiding troop movement; the Swedish rebels used the opportunity to take the bridges on the river Stångån when Sigismund's men were falsely led into a truce and retreated to their camp. Their attempt to regroup and form a second defensive line proved futile and Charles emerged victorious as the Polish army was also cut off from supplies by superior Swedish warships.
### Aftermath and deposition
The peace agreement was sealed with a dinner at Linköping Castle on 28 September. Both sides agreed to lay down arms and send the troops back to their home provinces, except for the King's personal guard. Charles' appointments were to be recognized and a parliament was to be called to settle any disputes. The King, who was under pressure, fearing for his life without his army and having realised that he had lost the political battle, fled with his sister during the coming days to Poland. At the same time as the peace treaty was being signed in Linköping, conflicts were taking place in Dalarna. There, a pro-Sigismund bailiff, Jacob Näf, had tried to raise up the Dalecarlians against Duke Charles. Chaos ensued, Näf was executed, and the Dalecarlians set out on a campaign in 1598, burning and killing down to Brunnbäck ferry. In Västergötland, Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm, illegitimate son of Duke Charles, defeated the rebellion. A number of Swedes who had sided with Sigismund, including his council supporters, were handed over to Charles as part of the peace settlement. They were later killed in the Linköping Bloodbath of 1600.
Sigismund was officially deposed from the throne of Sweden by a Riksdag held in Stockholm on 24 July 1599. He was given six (or twelve depending on source) months to send his son, Prince Ladislaus (Władysław) Vasa, to Sweden as his successor, under the condition that the boy would be brought up in the Protestant faith. In February 1600, Duke Charles summoned the Estates of the Realm to Linköping. Since Sigismund had not provided a reply, the Estates elected Duke Charles as King apparent, however he would not become Charles IX until his coronation four years later. During the winter and spring of 1600, Charles also occupied the Swedish part of Estonia, as the castle commanders had shown sympathies towards Sigismund.
## Polish affairs
### Clash with England (1597)
In the 1590s, the interests of the English and the Ottoman Turks coincided in opposing the Spanish; on the other hand, Sigismund had clashed with the Turks in Poland's southeast. In the Low Countries of northwestern Europe, Protestant forces sent by Elizabeth I fought the Catholic armies of Spain's Philip II Habsburg, preventing Spain from capturing territory on the south side of the English Channel. England's naval power also prevented Spain from completely dominating the Mediterranean, to the benefit of the Turks. During this time, England purchased a great deal of grain and timber from Poland to supply its navy, necessitating good relations with Poland. Edward Barton, Elizabeth's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, had warned them that England would have to respond if the Ottomans invaded Poland.
In July 1597, the Queen's Privy Council instructed Henry Billingsley, Lord Mayor of London, to arrange housing for a Polish diplomat and report back to the Council. On 23 July, Paweł Działyński arrived in London and was accommodated at the house of Sir John Spencer. On 25 July, Działyński was granted an audience with Elizabeth and her court at the palace in Greenwich. As described by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, the ambassador out of Poland at first seemed to be "a gentleman of excellent fashion, wit, discourse, language, and person." He presented his credentials, kissed the Queen's hand, then walked to the centre of the chamber and, as outlined by Cecil, "began his oration aloud in Latin, with such a gallant countenance as in my life I never beheld."
Działyński informed Elizabeth that Sigismund was outraged that her vessels were capturing the ships of Polish and Hanseatic merchants trading with the Spanish, and indicated that Sigismund was prepared to commence hostilities over the matter unless Elizabeth immediately rescinded this policy and returned captured ships and cargo.
Elizabeth rose "lionlike" and rebuked Działyński, comparing his speech to a declaration of war and manners to that of "a herald than an ambassador." She reminded him that England was instrumental in halting the Turkish advances and added "I can hardly believe that if the King [Sigismund] himself were present he would have used such language." Sigismund emerged successful in securing trade with the Spanish Crown and with England, though the relations between the two nations became strained. According to historians Kavita Mudan Finn and Valerie Schutte, William Shakespeare might have used Elizabeth's political anger at the Polish ambassador as an inspiration for Queen Margaret who employs similar strategies in the play Richard III.
### Zebrzydowski rebellion (1606)
Sigismund's attempt to grasp unlimited authority resulted in the Zebrzydowski rebellion, an armed insurrection formed in 1606 by Hetman Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, Jan Szczęsny Herburt, Stanisław Stadnicki, Aleksander Józef Lisowski and Prince Janusz Radziwiłł in Stężyca and Lublin. It was primarily caused by the growing dissatisfaction with the monarch among the Polish szlachta and wealthy magnates. The rebels disapproved of Sigismund's efforts to weaken the diplomatic and political capabilities of the nobility and to introduce an absolute monarchy.
The participants of the rebellion formed a war council and outlined their demands in 67 articles. They demanded the dethronement of Sigismund for breaching the Henrician Articles and stipulated the expulsion of Jesuits from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Sejm was to be granted the authority of appointing state officials instead of the King, local officials were to be elected and the rights of Protestants expanded. The 1607 Parliament rejected these conditions. Meanwhile, the nobles mobilised in the village of Guzów. In 1607 the Polish Royal Army, led by Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, was sent to pacify the rebels. A full-scale battle ensued on 5 July, with 200 casualties, which resulted in the victory of the Royalist forces.
The rebellious nobles formally surrendered to the King at the 1609 meeting of the parliament, which became known as the Pacification Sejm. In return for their surrender the rebels were granted leniency. Many royal supporters, including Hetman Chodkiewicz, had exacted amnesty for the rebels. Despite the failure to overthrow Sigismund, the rebellion firmly established the rights and privileges of nobles in the Polish political system, confirmed the inviolability of the royal elections and religious tolerance.
### Sigismund's invasion of Russia (1609–1618)
Sigismund's major goals were achieving stability of government, combating Protestantism, and expanding Poland's territory. While the Russians were embroiled in a civil war known as the Time of Troubles, Sigismund saw an opportunity to invade Russia and take power. Sweden also became involved, but never made a firm alliance with any one side.
#### Background
The death of Feodor I of Russia in 1598 caused internal instability and a succession crisis upon the extinction of the Rurik dynasty. Further setbacks that contributed to the escalation of violence was the famine of 1601–1603 which killed two million Russians, around a third of the population. The new Tsar, Boris Godunov, proved to be an ineffective ruler and died after suffering a brain haemorrhage in April 1605. He left one son, Feodor II, who succeeded him and ruled for only a few months, until he and Godunov's widow were murdered under mysterious circumstances in June 1605, possibly on Sigismund's orders. Simultaneously, various impostors and pretenders to the Russian throne appeared claiming to be Dmitry Ivanovich, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible who in fact died in 1591. After the fall of Sigismund's candidates – False Dmitry I and his Polish wife Marina Mniszech (nicknamed "Marinka the Witch" by the Russians) – Vasili Ivanovich Shuysky was crowned as Vasili IV.
The death of False Dmitry and widespread chaos proved reason for Poland to prepare an invasion. Prior raids between 1605 and 1609 were conducted by Polish nobles or adventurers along with hired cossacks and foreign mercenaries. Sigismund's primary intention was to destroy the Russian state and impose Catholicism with the use of force or terror if necessary. Lew Sapieha, Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, sought neutrality by proposing to Boris Godunov an "eternal" peace treaty between Russia and Poland–Lithuania, but the idea did not gain support and was declined.
#### Campaign
The Commonwealth army under the command of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski crossed the border and on 29 September 1609 laid siege to Smolensk. On 4 July 1610, at the Battle of Klushino, the outnumbered Polish force achieved a decisive victory over Russian troops, mostly due to the tactical competence of the Polish winged hussars. The battle was a major blow to the Russians; Tsar Vasili IV was subsequently ousted by the Seven Boyars and Żółkiewski entered Moscow beginning the two-year tyrannical occupation of the Kremlin. The Seven Boyars proclaimed Polish prince Ladislaus, Sigismund's son, as the new Tsar of Russia. In June 1611 Smolensk fell to the Poles; the deposed Vasili Shuysky was transported in a caged wagon to Warsaw, where he paid tribute to Sigismund and the Senate at the Royal Castle on 29 October 1611. He eventually died in captivity at Gostynin; he was most likely poisoned as his brother died soon after. The Polish army also committed countless atrocities while stationing in Moscow.
In 1611, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky formed a new army to launch an uprising against the Polish occupiers. The Poles eventually withdrew from Moscow in September 1612 after pillaging and burning the city. When news reached Sigismund he hurried with a relief force, but was unable to commence an attack. The war continued with little military action until 1618 when the Truce of Deulino was signed, which granted Poland new territories, including the city of Smolensk. The agreement marked the greatest geographical expansion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the loss of Livonia in 1629. However, Russia was able to retain independence and Michael Romanov was crowned Tsar in 1613. This established the Romanov dynasty which ruled Russia until the February Revolution in 1917. Sigismund's personal ambition of ruling the vast lands in the east as well as converting its populace to Catholicism ended in a fiasco. According to Alexander Gillespie, approximately five million Russians died between 1598 and 1613, the result of continuous conflict, civil war, instigated famine and Sigismund's politics.
### Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)
Sigismund sought to join the Catholic side of the Thirty Years' War, but was denied by the Polish parliament. British historian Robert Nisbet Bain wrote that his plan was to invade and possibly occupy Transylvania, then an Ottoman ally and therefore considered dangerous to the Habsburg monarchy and Poland. The Rákóczis and Gabriel Bethlen were sympathetic with the Sultan and would counterattack if the opportunity arose.
Bain further highlighted that the chief pillars of military strength in Poland, including Stanisław Żółkiewski, warmly approved of the King's policy in this respect, but it proved to be impracticable. The parliament's non-interventionist stance went so far that it refused to grant any subsidies for the Swedish Wars. The indecision and political opposition weakened the alliance between the Habsburg states and the Commonwealth. Polish mercenaries did, however, join the Holy Roman Empire in combat at the Battle of Humenné against Transylvania.
### Polish–Ottoman War (1620–1621)
The Principality of Moldavia was a Polish fief since the Middle Ages and Sigismund aimed at securing that despite the growing threat from the south. With the Ottoman influence on the rise, the Sultan aimed at expanding the Ottoman Empire westward. The Ottoman–Habsburg wars, which lasted almost two centuries, were also a sign of the Sultan's desire to rule mainland Europe. Voivode Gaspar Graziani, ruler of Moldavia, decided to switch sides in favour of Poland and rebelled against the Turks. In turn, Sigismund sent an army to aid Graziani, a move which sparked the Polish–Ottoman War.
In 1620 the Polish forces were defeated at Cecora and Hetman Żółkiewski perished during the battle. In 1621 a strong army of Ottomans, led by Osman II, advanced from Edirne towards the Polish frontier. Approximately 160,000 men besieged the Khotyn Fortress in September 1621, but were defeated at the Battle of Khotyn by a Polish garrison counting no more than 50,000 soldiers. During the siege Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz died of exhaustion and illness in the camp.
The Treaty of Khotyn was signed on 9 October 1621 which resulted in no territorial gain or loss, but Sigismund was to relinquish his claims on Moldavia and the Ottoman Empire was prevented from marching into Poland. Sultan Osman himself was not fully satisfied with the war's outcome and blamed the defiant janissaries. His wish and plans to modernize the army, which was blamed for the defeat, were however opposed by the traditionalist janissary units. That opposition resulted in the 1622 rebellion in which Osman II was deposed and strangled.
### Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629)
Following a series of conflicts between Poland and Sweden in 1600–1611, 1617–1618, and 1621–1625, all of which ended in a stalemate, Gustavus Adolphus invaded in 1626 to gain control over Livonia and relinquish Sigismund's claim to the Swedish crown. Sigismund, already in advanced age, continued his long-term ambition to seize Sweden, which gave Gustavus Adolphus a reasonable casus belli and justification for war. Though the Polish army achieved major victories in the previous battles against Sweden, particularly at Kircholm in 1605, the very end proved to be catastrophic.
The first skirmish took place in January 1626 near Wallhof, in present-day Latvia, where the Swedish army of 4,900 men ambushed a Polish force of 2,000 men commanded by Jan Stanisław Sapieha, son of Lew Sapieha. Polish casualties were estimated at between 500 and 1,000 dead, wounded and captured. According to historians, the Polish-Lithuanian commander later suffered a nervous breakdown.
In May 1626 the Swedes entered Polish Ducal Prussia. Escorted by a fleet, a second Swedish army disembarked in July near the town of Piława (Pillau). The landings were a complete surprise to the Commonwealth's defences, and despite a relatively small Swedish force, Gustavus Adolphus quickly captured the coastal towns and cities, almost without a fight. Many of these were inhabited by Protestants who resisted the staunchly Catholic Sigismund and Polish domination of their lands; some towns opened their gates to the Protestant Swedish forces whom they portrayed as liberators. However, fortified Gdańsk (Danzig), which maintained its own standing army and a sizeable fleet, refused to surrender. Simultaneously, Sigismund received little to no support from his vassal George William of Brandenburg-Prussia, who, as a Calvinist, pledged neutrality in the conflict. Jędrzej Moraczewski described George's neutral stance to salvage his dukedom as "comical".
The Poles attempted to divert the Swedes from Gdańsk by deploying an army to fight at Gniew. The fighting continued for several days until 1 October, when Sigismund ordered the withdrawal of his troops, and called on reinforcements from around the country. The battle, despite a tactical victory for Sweden, was a strategic blow to Gustavus, who was subsequently unable to besiege Gdańsk. At Dirschau, in the summer of 1627, Gustavus Adolphus was seriously wounded and the Prussian campaign came to a halt. The wound forced the king to stay in bed until autumn, and his right arm was weakened with some fingers partially paralyzed. As the major trade ports on the coast of the Baltic Sea were blocked by Swedish vessels, Sigismund sent a small squadron of ten ships under Arend Dickmann to engage the Swedes at the Battle of Oliva. It was the largest naval battle fought by the Polish royal navy, which successfully defeated the enemy fleet and broke the Swedish blockade.
Although Poland emerged victorious in the final battle at Trzciana, Sigismund's exhausted camp accepted a peace offer. The Truce of Altmark signed on 26 September 1629 (16 September O.S.) granted Sweden the control of Livonia, though Prussia, Latgale and Dyneburg remained under Polish governance.
## Assassination attempt
An unsuccessful attempt on the life of the King was made on 15 November 1620. It occurred on Sunday morning when the monarch and his entourage was to attend mass at St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw.
Sigismund was to arrive by crossing the alley or passage that linked the Royal Castle with the temple. As the royal procession drew closer to the churchdoor, hidden in a nearby portal was petty nobleman Michał Piekarski, armed with a war axe. When the monarch reached the final steps, Piekarski leaped out and threw himself on the King, stabbing him twice, firstly in the back and then in the cheek, and striking him in the arm. However, he was not able to deliver a fatal blow due to the intervention of royal guardsmen as well as Court Marshal Łukasz Opaliński, who shielded the King. Concurrently, Prince Ladislaus wounded the assassin on the head with a sabre. Other accounts state that no guards were present; the cortege had a casual character and the assassin was most likely overpowered by the attendees.
Parishioners gathered around the pale and lifeless King, who collapsed to the ground after the incident. The guards and other attendants, among them Marcin Szyszkowski, were able to revive him and after a medical examination the wounds were found to be non-life-threatening. Chaos erupted when false rumours spread that the King had been murdered as his clothes were stained in blood. Initially, the townsfolk believed that the city was being attacked; the confusion arose when an Italian priest's cry traditore! (traitor) was misinterpreted as "Tatar".
The assassin was widely regarded as a mentally unstable melancholic, unrestrained in deeds. Piekarski's most probable cause for the assassination was fame and recognition; the successful assassination of Henry IV in Paris (1610) by François Ravaillac served as motivation for his actions. For the appropriate moment Piekarski waited patiently ten years. At his trial, he did not deny the crime he committed and heavily insulted the monarch, whilst blaming himself for the failed regicide. Piekarski was executed in a similar manner as Ravaillac on 27 November 1620 in Warsaw; he was publicly humiliated, tortured, and his body torn apart by horses. The dismembered remains were subsequently burned and their ashes scattered by a cannon.
## Religion
The reign of Sigismund marked the beginning of religious persecution during the Counter-Reformation and the downfall of Protestantism in Poland–Lithuania. His hate towards Evangelicals coupled with the advice of Jesuit priests led to repressions and the eventual demise of the Polish Brethren decades later; their expulsion from Poland in 1658 contributed to the spread of Unitarianism across the globe. The Polish Reformed Church, once a thriving institution and community, began to fall. Akin actions were undertaken against other minorities in the country. Sigismund's contempt for Eastern Orthodoxy was equally strong; it was his initiative that the native Ruthenian peoples inhabiting the eastern lands of the Commonwealth be forcibly converted to Catholicism, which laid the foundation for the modern Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. However, in Sweden the policies had an adverse effect; the Reformation in Northern Europe continued and anti-Catholic sentiment strengthened.
The discrimination further extended to Jews and Muslims (Tatars), whose rights were already restricted. The Warsaw Confederation of 1573 granted religious freedoms unlike elsewhere in Europe, but the degree to which those freedoms were guaranteed often varied. In 1588, Sigismund decreed that the "Israelites" and Tatars are forbidden by law to hold public office or assume political roles. Daily contact with Christians was to be limited and any attempts made at converting Christians to Judaism or Islam was punishable by death. Insubordinates were burned at the stake, or, in the case of Muslim men who married Christian women, beheaded. Circumcision of Christian children by Jews was made a capital offence. However, trade practices continued to thrive and Poland remained a safe haven for refugees fleeing oppression in other parts of the continent, chiefly during the Thirty Years' War.
Religious nepotism under Sigismund and in the years following his death was undoubtedly apparent – three of his sons, John Casimir, John Albert and Charles Ferdinand, were ordained as priests and held notable posts. Charles was appointed the bishop of Wrocław in 1625 and bishop of Płock in 1640. John Albert became bishop of Warmia at the age of nine in 1621 and cardinal-bishop of Kraków at the age of twenty in 1632. John Casimir, prior to his election to the throne, was made a cardinal at the behest of Pope Innocent X.
## Death
Towards the end of his reign, Sigismund withdrew altogether from politics and devoted himself exclusively to family matters and his interests in performing arts. Little is known about the King's wellbeing at the time suggesting that he was in good health. However, in his last days he became bedridden due to gout and joint pain, an affliction which was likely inherited from his grandfather Sigismund the Old. His uncle, Sigismund II Augustus, also suffered from long-term arthritis.
Shortly after the unexpected death of his second wife, Constance, Sigismund fell dangerously ill and experienced mental problems, notably he was struck with severe depression. In November 1631, bishop Achacy Grochowski travelled to Warsaw and wrote "the monarch is of sound mind, his heart and stomach [abdomen] are healthy". Already in advanced age for the period, on Saint Catherine's Day (25 November) he appeared "cheerful, with a ruddy face, and in good spirit hoped to leave bed". Nevertheless, the gouty arthritis progressed and medics applied red-hot iron to the painful swelling with no effect. The king sensed that death is near and ordered an immediate assembly of nobles, which convened on 1 April. The so-called 'extraordinary parliament' (sejm ekstraordynaryjny) secured the candidacy and election of his son, Ladislaus, to the throne. On Easter Sunday he participated in final prayers, whilst being supported by his sons to prevent him from collapsing.
At eight in the morning on 25 April, Kasper Doenhoff, a courtier in charge of opening curtains in the royal bedchamber and greeting the monarch, did not hear a response. Unable to see at a distance he approached Sigismund whose face was paralyzed from a stroke. Hours later he briefly recovered his speech and murmured "there is no cure against the will [power] of death". The paralysis worsened and on 27 April Urszula Meyerin acted as spokeswoman, speaking on behalf of the mumbling king. Prince Ladislaus arrived on the same day. On 28 April, Sigismund's bed was surrounded by his courtiers and the Jesuit priests, who performed exorcism-like prayers. It was his wish that the court be witness to his demise, as interpreted in the words "vanitas vanitatis", Latin for 'all is vanity'.
After days of suffering, Sigismund passed away at Warsaw's Royal Castle at approximately 2:45 am (02:45) on 30 April 1632. His close aide Albrycht S. Radziwill wrote "the autopsy on the same day in the afternoon determined that the king's internal organs were healthy. He could have lived another twenty years". His embalmed body was placed in an elaborate tin coffin decorated with soldiers, battle scenes and musical motifs, a masterpiece of 17th-century tin-making. The coffin was interred inside the royal crypt at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on 4 February 1633.
## Legacy
Sigismund's death came at a time of great divisions and constant quarrels. His rule of nearly 45 years is perceived by some as controversial – it was distinguished by considerable developments in architecture, the arts and culture coupled with conspiracies, religious antipathy and the endless conflict with Sweden. Szymon Starowolski positioned Sigismund's legacy above that of his predecessors. Others were less flattering. The decision to appoint Jesuit priests as ministers on matters which did not necessarily concern religion caused ubiquitous disapproval. Spiteful foes convinced of the damage he inflicted on the nation wrote with contempt "this man, whose knowledge exceeded in goldsmithing but not politics, lived far too long". Members of opposing camps were relieved and enthusiastic to see his progressive son, Ladislaus, take the throne. Nonetheless, the nobility and magnates from all political spheres obeyed tradition by wearing black outfits for the duration of the interregnum as a sign of mourning. The strict compliance to the practice is said to have stunned foreign dignitaries. There is no doubt that Sigismund was one of Poland's most capable and recognisable sovereigns.
Sigismund's reign arguably marked an end to the Polish Golden Age and the dawn of the Silver Age. He presided over the transition from cultural Renaissance to the Baroque, and witnessed the first stages of a nationwide literary reform. Notably, it was under his rule that Polish began to supersede Latin in academic thought and artistic expression. Some ground-breaking achievements were made, for example, the publication of Jakub Wujek's Polish translation of the Holy Bible in 1599, which remained in use until the mid-20th century. The period also saw the rise of societal satire, parody and extensive political commentaries which reflected the country's faults in hope of improvement, such as the Eight sermons before the Sejm by Piotr Skarga. However, these works were considered controversial and dangerous to publish, particularly after the failed 1606 rebellion. Józef Szujski notes that the literature became "infested with pleonasms, pasquinades and moral sermon". Consequently, regional councils imposed censorship and suppression of speech. Renowned academician Joannes Broscius (Jan Brożek) wrote a satirical lampoon Gratis directed against the Jesuit priests, which was confiscated and burnt publicly in 1625. Exposed printers and distributors were tied to a pillory and flogged or beaten mercilessly.
Franciszek Siarczyński spoke of a cultural revolution that took place at the time and shaped Poland's society for the centuries to come. The simplicity and austerity of older Polish customs faded and were replaced in favour of those from Italy or Germany. Fabrics and garments diversified, thus becoming more striking; Siarczyński writes "clothing, once wool, adorned our sides, now silk, velvet, moire, gold and silver lining. Even a commoner frowns on sheepskin coats. Our coaches and carriages turned ostentatious. We no more venture to our neighbours and camp without the splendour". Jerzy Maternicki outlined that Sigismund was instrumental in developing mining in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The memory of Sigismund III is still vivid in Warsaw, which he expanded and made the capital of Poland in 1596. Władysław IV Vasa ordered the construction of a monument dedicated to his father in the heart of the city as a reminder of the 'Sigismundian' legacy. The engineers drew inspiration from the memorials of Ancient Rome, notably the Column of Phocas. The new 22-meter Corinthian column was crowned with a bronze statue of the king wearing armour, holding a cross and a sword. Władysław personally unveiled Sigismund's Column on 24 November 1644 as the first secular column in Europe's modern history.
## Personal life
Scholars frequently noted Sigismund's extreme piety, with some calling him a fanatic even during his lifetime. Adherents, however, subtly described it as absolute devotion to religion and Roman Catholic observance, which especially drew praise from papal legates and foreign clerics who visited the court. According to Giovanni Paolo Mucante and cardinal Enrico Caetani who were sent by Pope Clement VIII, "Sigismund's behaviour was comparable to that of a priest. He fervently attends mass daily, then hears choral music, sermons and orations. He fasts, and practices sexual abstinence on Wednesdays and Fridays, two days before and after confession. This large kingdom would have no schismatics, Calvinists or Lutherans if it depended on him". Historian Paweł Fabisz writes that when James of England and Scotland sent a book with anti-papal connotations, Sigismund deemed the gift "vile" and threw it into the fireplace.
Throughout the entire reign Sigismund maintained high etiquette and courtliness. Mucante emphasized his frugality and calm nature. Nevertheless, he hosted balls and held masquerades during which he would entertain guests and play the harpsichord. The king was a skilled dancer and performed Polish folk dances as well as Italian dances like the saltarello and passamezzo. Upon the marriage to his first wife, Anne of Austria, on 25 November 1592 he ordered a themed masquerade on Kraków's Main Market Square and, to the disbelief of his subjects, danced for the public. Sigismund was also known to be physically active in his youth and enjoyed occasional hunting, ice skating and frequently played football; he is widely credited for introducing and popularising the sport in Poland. Members of the royal court disapproved of such activities which were perceived as improper and not worthy of a monarch, particularly the sports.
Sigismund's personal approach to internal affairs was unpredictable; he was said to have been somewhat temperamental and impetuous at times. Joachim Lelewel compared his character to that of the despotic Philip II of Spain, but unlike Philip who overtly ordered persecution of non-Catholics, Sigismund was more discreet. A determined and stubborn man who sought to strengthen his authority, he was reluctant to participate in pointless conferences. As recalled by his close aide Albrycht Radziwill, at one meeting the king decided to sketch an owl in his notepad rather than note important advice.
Sigismund held high regard for the arts and early Baroque architecture; he willingly sponsored foreign masters and engineers who came to Poland at his invitation. He actively took part in the designing of façades and structural elements as well as Eucharistic objects such as chalices, crucifixes, candelabra and even book covers. During a visit to the Lwów Bernardine Church in 1621 he reprimanded the chief planners for making the temple seem disproportionate. Sigismund was a gifted painter and craftsman; only a few of his works survive, among them parts of Saint Adalbert's silver reliquary at the Cathedral in Gniezno. He was also fascinated by alchemy and ancient methods of turning metals into gold; it is said he experimented with the alchemist and philosopher Michael Sendivogius.
### Marriages and children
On 31 May 1592 Sigismund married his first wife Anne of Austria (1573–1598), daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and his wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. She was well received in Poland, despite being a Habsburg. Certain leading magnates were initially opposed to the marriage, however the opinion shifted in her favour due to personal characteristics; she was known to be attentive, sharp-minded, humble, pious and kind, though of poor health. The couple led a happy but introverted life. Anne was particularly hostile towards the Swedes; her attitude was shaped by an unsuccessful visit to Sweden in 1593 where she was said to have been mistreated. She complained of the cold and general misery in Sweden, and fell ill there in October 1593. The continuous stress arising from the unpredictable behaviour of Charles Vasa (future King Charles IX and adversary of Sigismund) also contributed to her distaste. According to an account, she gave birth in Stockholm to a baby girl named Catherine who died soon after and was secretly buried upon their return to Poland. Her health rapidly deteriorated with successive pregnancies over the next four years. She died from a puerperal fever at childbirth along with the baby boy on 10 February 1598 in Warsaw. Following her death, Sigismund was in deep mourning; he expressed sorrow in private letters to his mother-in-law Maria Anna of Bavaria, and isolated himself from subjects. Anne and Sigismund had five known children during their marriage:
1. Anne Marie (Polish: Anna Maria; 23 May 1593 – 9 February 1600)
2. Catherine (Polish: Katarzyna; May 1594 – June 1594)
3. Ladislaus (Polish: Władysław; 9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648), reigned 1632–1648 as Władysław IV
4. Catherine (Polish: Katarzyna; 27 September 1596 – June 1597)
5. Christopher (Polish: Krzysztof; 10 February 1598)
Sigismund was expected to marry Anna of Tyrol in 1603, however Emperor Rudolf II did not give his consent. Instead, on 11 December 1605 he wedded Constance of Austria (1588–1631), Anne's younger sister. The match was condemned by nobles and clerics who previously opposed Anne and the Habsburg alliance; the match was savagely described as "incestuous". The death of Jan Zamoyski, leader of the opposition, in June 1605 allowed for the marriage to take place without incidents. Some threatened to abandon the royal court, notably Piotr Skarga. The marriage further fuelled the anger of Sigismund's most vocal adversaries, Nicholas Zebrzydowski. The wedding ceremony and Constance's entrance into Kraków was so ostentatious it was recorded in the form of a large gouache roll painting known as rolka sztokholmska, now housed in Sweden. Like her sister, Constance was well-educated and religious; she attended mass two to four times a day. She was also a good mother, who particularly cared for her stepson, Ladislaus, even in his twenties. On the other hand, Constance approved of her husband's struggle for absolute power; she maintained considerable influence over Sigismund and the senators. To the general public she appeared cold, strait-laced, intolerant and even antisemitic; in 1626, she forbade the Jews to settle in the town of Żywiec which she privately owned and administered. Under her patronage, Austro-German culture as well as Spanish fashion flourished at the court. Constance died on 10 July 1631 from a heat stroke she suffered after attending mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi weeks earlier. They had seven children:
1. John Casimir (Polish: Jan Kazimierz; 25 December 1607 – 14 January 1608)
2. John Casimir (Polish: Jan Kazimierz; 22 March 1609 – 16 December 1672), reigned 1648–1668 as John II Casimir
3. John Albert (Polish: Jan Albert/Olbracht; 25 May 1612 – 22 December 1634)
4. Charles Ferdinand (Polish: Karol Ferdynand; 13 October 1613 – 9 May 1655)
5. Alexander Charles (Polish: Aleksander Karol; 4 November 1614 – 19 November 1634)
6. Anna Constance (Polish: Anna Konstancja; 26 January 1616 – 24 May 1616)
7. Anna Catherine Constance (Polish: Anna Katarzyna Konstancja; 7 August 1619 – 8 October 1651), the first wife of Philip William, Elector Palatine.
### Urszula Meyerin
The nature of the relationship between Sigismund and one of his trusted courtiers, Urszula Meyerin, has been continually questioned by Polish historians. Born in Munich as Ursula Gienger, she came to Poland with the cortège of future queen Anne in 1592. The king was said to have been infatuated with Urszula, who was known to be attractive and pious. Upon her arrival, she became involved in the affairs of state and was appointed chamberlain (ochmistrzyni in Polish) at the Queen's court. To emphasize her political role and importance, she adopted the Old German equivalent to the title of chamberlain, "Meyerin", as her sobriquet and official name. She devotedly assisted in raising the children and, with time, acted as their tutor.
Meyerin's position as grey eminence and influence on the royal couple made her immensely unpopular among the nobility. Consequently, she was compared to the Spanish Duke of Lerma, who ruled in the king's stead, and contemptuously described as "the king's mistress", "ravenous gold-digger", "minister in a skirt" or "Jesuit's bigotry". Sigismund's secretary Jan Szczęsny Herburt in his memoirs called her "an obscene favourite". However, it is unknown whether the relations between the two were physical.
## Gallery
## Ancestry
## See also
- History of Poland (1569–1795)
- History of Sweden (1523–1611)
- Unions of Sweden |
71,309,080 | Northup Avenue Yard | 1,134,684,686 | Rail yard in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. | [
"Amtrak facilities",
"MBTA Commuter Rail",
"New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad",
"Providence and Worcester Railroad",
"Rail yards in Rhode Island"
]
| Northup Avenue Yard (also known as Northrup Avenue Yard) is a rail yard located in Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the United States. The location has been the site of a rail yard since at least 1899. It was significantly expanded by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between 1918 and 1921 and made into a hump yard. The hump was removed around 1970, after Penn Central Transportation Company took over the New Haven in 1969. Under Penn Central, the yard was downsized and the hump removed. Conrail superseded Penn Central in 1976 and sold off the yard to the Providence and Worcester Railroad in 1982.
In the early 1980s, Amtrak established facilities at the yard to support its maintenance of way operations along the Northeast Corridor. A layover facility for MBTA Commuter Rail was constructed at the yard in 2006.
## History
### Original Northup Avenue Yard
Northup Avenue Yard was originally built jointly by the Boston and Providence Railroad and Providence and Worcester Railroad. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (The New Haven) maintained a yard at Northup Avenue from at least 1899. A widening program was launched in May 1904, which increased the size of the yard to 112,000 square feet (10,400 m<sup>2</sup>).
### Design and construction
#### Design
A greatly enlarged Northup Avenue Yard was designed and built by the New Haven as a classification yard to sort freight trains in the Providence area. Construction was announced in 1918. The new yard's design, along with that of Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven, Connecticut, was created after a survey of recently built classification yards across the United States, to incorporate best practices. The general design of the yard was influenced by the long and narrow parcel of land the New Haven owned in Providence and Pawtucket, with 900 feet (270 m) of width available as opposed to 2 miles (3.2 km) of length. The new yard was designed as a hump yard for rapidly classifying railroad cars. Two humps were placed adjacent to one another; these were known as the 'winter' and 'summer' humps. The 'winter' hump was built several feet higher than the 'summer' hump; this extra height compensated for winter temperatures slowing the journal bearings of freight cars, as well as increased winds. If traffic warranted, both humps could be used simultaneously to increase classification speed and capacity.
#### Construction
To build the yard, it was necessary for the existing main line between Providence and Boston to be relocated. The original alignment of these tracks passed through the central portion of what was to be Northup Avenue Yard. As construction progress permitted, first the eastbound (towards Boston) tracks were realigned to the south, while the westbound (towards Providence) tracks received a new, temporary alignment that crossed through the north end of the yard, before ultimately being moved south with the eastbound tracks.
Northup Avenue Yard's construction relieved significant congestion within existing rail yards in Providence. Were it not built, the New Haven would instead have expanded six existing yards in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
### Freight operations
Upon opening, Northup Avenue Yard received up 44 freight trains per day, with a peak of five trains per hour. The two humps saw on average 2,000 railroad cars per day pass over them for classification. Two switcher locomotives operated at the yard full-time to send cars over the humps.
In 1929, the New Haven began the installation of retarders at Northup Avenue Yard, following a successful 1926 installation at Hartford Yard in Connecticut. The installation included 19 sets of retarders, plus two new control towers to operate them. As part of the project, 34 switches were also linked to the towers, enabling their remote operation by tower operators. Construction began on April 10, 1929, and the new facilities first operated on August 15 of the same year. Upon the opening of the retarders and other improvements for service, Providence newspaper The Evening Tribune described Northup Avenue Yard as "the finest in the New Haven system". The company subsequently reported in 1932 that the new retarders resulted in 35 percent less time being required to classify cars while also eliminating the need for employees to ride the cars down the hump to set their brakes manually.
The New Haven was merged into Penn Central at the end of 1968, making Penn Central the yard's new owner and operator. Around this time, the hump was removed from the yard, returning it to a flat yard with trains assembled and disassembled by switcher locomotives. When, in 1973, the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) became independent of Penn Central, some operations were transferred to Framingham, Massachusetts, as the P&W became the operator of most rail service in Providence. The P&W was also given overhead rights to enter the yard to interchange with the Moshassuck Valley Railroad. Penn Central was merged into Conrail in 1976. The Providence and Worcester Railroad became the owner of the freight portion of Northup Avenue Yard, by that point Conrail's primary yard in the state of Rhode Island, on May 1, 1982.
### Passenger use
Amtrak indicated interest in building a maintenance of way facility in Northup Avenue Yard in 1977. As part of the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, the maintenance-of-way base was constructed and opened by 1982. Amtrak built a spray wash building at this site in 2006 to clean maintenance of way and work vehicles.
A six-track layover yard was built at Northup Avenue Yard in 2006 for MBTA Commuter Rail trains to be stored. |
43,965,060 | The Boat Race 1969 | 999,505,431 | null | [
"1969 in English sport",
"1969 in rowing",
"1969 sports events in London",
"April 1969 sports events in the United Kingdom",
"The Boat Race"
]
| The 115th Boat Race took place on 5 April 1969. Held annually, it is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames. The race featured the heaviest oarsman in the history of the event in Cambridge's David Cruttenden. It was won by Cambridge who passed the finishing post four lengths ahead of Oxford, securing Cambridge's second consecutive victory. The winning time of 18 minutes 4 seconds was the third fastest in modern Boat Race history.
In the reserve race, Goldie beat Isis, and in the Women's Boat Race, Cambridge were victorious.
## Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities, followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide. Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions, having beaten Oxford by 3+1⁄2 lengths in the previous year's race, and held the overall lead, with 63 victories to Oxford's 51 (excluding the "dead heat" of 1877).
The first Women's Boat Race took place in 1927, but did not become an annual fixture until the 1960s. Until 2014, the contest was conducted as part of the Henley Boat Races, but as of the 2015 race, it is held on the River Thames, on the same day as the men's main and reserve races. The reserve race, contested between Oxford's Isis boat and Cambridge's Goldie boat has been held since 1965. It usually takes place on the Tideway, prior to the main Boat Race.
The race was umpired by Alastair Graham who had rowed for Oxford, while the timekeepers for the race were Dickie Burnell and G. G. H. Page. Oxford's coach was Derek Drury while Cambridge were led by Lou Barry.
## Crews
The Cambridge crew weighed an average of 13 st 9 lb (86.5 kg), 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg) per rower more than their opponents. At 15 st 11 lb, Cambridge's number four David Cruttenden was the heaviest oarsman to have ever participated in the race, half a stone heavier than American rower Josh Jensen who rowed for Oxford in the 1967 race. Cambridge's Robin Winckless and Nick Hornsby were rowing in their third Boat Race, while Chris Powell and Graeme Hall were also returning Light Blues. Peter Saltmarsh returned for Oxford, making his third appearance in the event. Australian Ashton Calvert, the Oxford cox, was the only non-British competitor registered in the race.
## Race
Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station. With helicopters hovering above the start, Douglas Calder of The Times reported that it was unlikely that either the crews could hear the umpire nor the umpire hear the crews at the start; instead just the flag dropping notified the strokes of the start. Cambridge took an early lead, and their advantage was compounded when the umpire warned Oxford at Beverley Brook to move away to avoid a clash of oars. Cambridge were two seconds ahead at the Mile Post; through rough water, the Light Blue boat coped better and extended their lead to six seconds ahead at Hammersmith Bridge, and at least a length clear of Oxford. While the conditions improved beyond Hammersmith, Cambridge continued to extend their lead, and held an advantage of eight seconds ahead at Chiswick Steps, increasing to eleven seconds ahead at Barnes Bridge. Cambridge won by four lengths and 14 seconds, in a time of 18 minutes 4 seconds, the third fastest time in the history of the event on the Championship Course, bettered only in the 1934 and 1948 races. Oxford's coach Derek Drury was philosophical in defeat: "That's the way the cookie crumbles."
In the reserve race, Cambridge's Goldie beat Oxford's Isis by two lengths and in a time of 18 minutes 50 seconds, in their third consecutive victory. In the 24th running of the Women's Boat Race, Cambridge triumphed, their seventh consecutive victory. |
8,088,269 | Jesús Blancornelas | 1,168,805,990 | Mexican journalist | [
"1936 births",
"2006 deaths",
"20th-century journalists",
"Deaths from cancer in Mexico",
"Deaths from stomach cancer",
"Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners",
"Mexican journalists",
"Mexican magazine founders",
"Mexican male journalists",
"People from Tijuana",
"Writers from Baja California",
"Writers from San Luis Potosí"
]
| J. Jesús Blancornelas (November 14, 1936 – November 23, 2006) was a Mexican journalist who co-founded the Tijuana-based Zeta magazine, known for its reporting on corruption and drug trafficking. His work encompassed an extensive research on how the drug industry influences local leaders and the police in the Mexican state of Baja California – topics frequently avoided by the rest of the Mexican media.
As an author of six books, Blancornelas was regarded by the press as a leading expert on organized crime and drug trafficking during his time. He was also the first man to publish a photograph of Ramón Arellano Félix, the former drug lord of the Tijuana Cartel. In response to the photo publication, the cartel attempted to kill Blancornelas in 1997, but he managed to survive the attack and continued to report on the workings of Mexico's criminal underworld.
For more than two decades, Blancornelas received several international press awards for his defiance of Mexico's old regime status quo, where bribe-taking and censorship by the government were commonplace in Mexico's media. After his death, the Los Angeles Times and the Committee to Protect Journalists described him as "the spiritual godfather of modern Mexican journalism." Blancornelas is also regarded as a pioneer in the push for press freedom in Mexico.
## Early career
A native of San Luis Potosí, Blancornelas began his career as a journalist for El Sol de San Luis in April 1955, working as a sportswriter. In 1960, he moved to Tijuana, Baja California, where he became active in reporting on corruption and the drug trade. He was promoted to news editor at the daily newspaper El Mexicano before moving to the daily La Voz de la Frontera, of which he became editor-in-chief. Unlike several other journalists during his time, Blancornelas was eager to write about drug trafficking and corruption, leading to his firing from three newspapers before deciding to create his own.
In 1977, he founded a newspaper called ABC. The paper employed future Zeta co-founder Héctor Félix Miranda, then a columnist who wrote under "Félix el Gato" ("Felix the Cat") to criticize local politicians. These columns eventually angered Baja California's state government and Mexico's former President José López Portillo to the point that the government ordered Blancornelas to fire Miranda and banned its distribution. When Blancornelas refused, a SWAT team was sent to take over the paper's offices on the pretext of settling a labor dispute. Blancornelas escaped to the United States, resettling in San Diego, California.
## Zeta
In 1980, Blancornelas re-surfaced with a new weekly publication known as Zeta, which he co-founded with Félix. The magazine printed copies in the United States and then smuggled them across the border into Mexico. After some years, they reestablished themselves in Tijuana. Through the magazine, the pair continued their investigation into organized crime and corruption. The magazine ran a cover story in 1985 about local police guarding a marijuana-filled warehouse; the story was the first to report on the future leaders of the Tijuana Cartel, the Arellano Félix brothers. After Blancornelas discovered that plainclothes police officers had bought all 20,000 copies of the issue, Zeta republished the issue under the headline "Censored!"
Héctor Félix Miranda was assassinated by multiple shotgun blasts in 1988; two guards from the Agua Caliente Racetrack were later convicted of the murder. For the next 18 years, Blancornelas left Félix Miranda's name on the Zeta masthead, marked with a black cross. He also published a full-page ad in every issue under Félix's "byline", asking the employer of the Agua Caliente Racetrack guards, Tijuana politician Jorge Hank Rhon, why Félix Miranda had been assassinated.
In 1994, Zeta published an investigation on the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio; despite the conspiracy theories about the case, the magazine concluded that the shooting had been the work of a single troubled individual.
In the 2000s, Blancornelas wanted to remove bylines from Zeta's most dangerous stories, but was persuaded not to by reporter Francisco Ortiz, who wished his to continue to run atop his stories on organized crime. In 2005, Ortiz was shot to death in front of his children, and Blancornelas began his no-byline policy. In the days after Ortiz's death, he stated, "I feel remorse for having created Zeta. After losing three colleagues, I believe the price has been too high. I would have liked to retire a long time ago ... [but] I cannot allow drug traffickers to think that they were able to crush Zeta's spirit, and our readers to believe that we are afraid."
Blancornelas covered the rise of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations for more than thirty years, but his best work in the field took place during the 1990s.
During this period, Mexico experienced the rise of three powerful drug cartels: the Tijuana Cartel in the west; the Juárez Cartel in Ciudad Juárez; and the Gulf Cartel in the east. Blancornelas' stories are reportedly so crucial that almost every written account of the Tijuana Cartel cites him.
## Assassination attempt
In November 1996, Blancornelas was planning to visit New York City to receive an international award for his work in covering the drug trade, political corruption, and the relationship between the drug lords and the police. A few days before he was about to fly, a policeman in Tijuana visited Blancornelas and warned him that he was risking his life if he decided to go. A year later, the warning proved to be true: in 1997 in Tijuana, Blancornelas was ambushed and wounded by gunmen of the Tijuana Cartel while heading to the airport for publishing a photo of the drug lord Ramón Arellano Félix. Blancornelas was nearly killed when the attackers opened fire on his car, wounding him in the abdomen and killing his driver and bodyguard, Luis Valero Elizalde, who died protecting him and managed to kill one of the shooters. Blancornelas suffered complications from the injury for the rest of his life. In the attack, Blancornelas' car was hit more than 180 times, but only four bullets penetrated the journalist's body. Elizalde, however, was hit 38 times. That same year, three other prominent journalists were killed in Mexico.
The nature of Blancornelas' work forced him to live under a "self-imposed home arrest," only traveling to his workplace and home with multiple Special Forces bodyguards from the Mexican Army, who accompanied him everywhere. While previous attacks on journalists received little coverage, Blancornelas' assassination attempt made it to the frontpage of most newspapers in Mexico, and was covered on the television and radio. The attempt also fueled interest internationally; the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, and the National Public Radio covered it extensively. Due to the public outcry, the Mexican authorities decided to report the attack to the Office of the General Prosecutor, which had greater resources than the state authorities.
After spending 20 days in the hospital, Blancornelas recovered from his wounds and returned to publishing for the Zeta magazine. He left the hospital with a walker and was escorted by municipal, judicial state, and federal policemen, along with soldiers of the Mexican Army, to his home in La Mesa delegation in Tijuana. As he got to his home, a crowd of reporters awaited Blancornelas, who allowed them to take pictures of him but refused to answer any questions. "I'll be back as soon as possible," Blancornelas said to the reporters as he entered his home. He also thanked the media for covering his assassination attempt.
The Blancornelas family erected a huge brick wall in their one-story house to increase their security measures; outside the house, a squadron of military men guarded the family, while some others protected the Zeta offices. As of 1998, the top editors of the newspaper, along with Blancornelas' three sons, were under guard by the authorities at all times.
Marco Arturo Quiñones Sánchez, whom Mexican authorities alleged to be a hit man for the Tijuana Cartel, was later charged with being one of the gunmen in the attack on Blancornelas, but was found not guilty by a judge in 2013.
## Death
In the last years of his life, Blancornelas lived as a virtual prisoner, always accompanied by an escort of fifteen armed guards. He died in the border city of Tijuana on November 23, 2006 in Del Prado Hospital, from complications of stomach cancer, possibly caused by the embedded bullets he received when he was shot. Blancornelas was taken to the hospital on November 19 after his son confessed that his father had a lung defect that dated back to his youth. Prior to his death, Blancornelas stopped reporting directly for the Zeta magazine since February 2006 but still sent information to the magazine, particularly on issues covering drug trafficking.
Beginning to doubt Zeta's ability to foster change, Blancornelas considered closing the magazine with his death. Editor Adela Navarro Bello and Blancornelas's son, César René Blanco Villalón, however, persuaded him to let the magazine continue and succeeded him as its co-publishers.
Just before his death, Blancornelas speculated that the Tijuana Cartel had placed a US\$250,000 bounty on his assassination, and publicly declared his desire to interview Enedina Arellano Félix, a female drug lord of the cartel, to confirm the information.
He was survived by his wife, Genoveva Villalón de Blanco, and their three sons: José Jesús, Ramón Tomás and César René.
While Blancornelas' reporting helped bring some drug lords to justice, the Mexican drug trafficking organizations grew more powerful after his death. As he said in an interview shortly before dying:
> El Narco used to be in certain states. But now it has grown across the whole of the Mexican republic. Soon El Narco will knock on the door of the presidential palace. It will knock on the door of the attorney general's office. And this will present a great danger.
## Awards
In 1996, he was one of four winners of the US-based CPJ International Press Freedom Awards, which honor journalists who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment. He also won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize of Columbia University and was honored as the International Editor of the Year by the World Press Review in 1998. Blancornelas was also UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 1999. In 2000 he was named one of the Austria-based International Press Institute's fifty World Press Freedom Heroes of the previous fifty years.
El Periodista ("The Journalist"), a corrido (ballad) in memory of Blancornelas, was written by members of the band Los Tucanes de Tijuana.
Zeta and Blancornelas are profiled in the Bernardo Ruiz documentary Reportero.
## In popular culture
The character of Ramón Salgado, played by Alex Furth in season three of Narcos: Mexico, is loosely based on Jesús Blancornelas.
## Published works by Jesús Blancornelas
- "The Cartel: The Arellano Félix: The Most Powerful Mafia in the History of Latin America."
## See also
- List of journalists killed in Mexico
- Mexican Drug War |
44,562,573 | Meltdown (Stromae song) | 1,142,313,272 | Song by Belgian artist Stromae | [
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"Haim (band) songs",
"Lorde songs",
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| "Meltdown" is a song by Belgian artist Stromae featuring additional vocals from New Zealand singer Lorde, American hip hop artist Pusha T, American rapper Q-Tip and indie rock band Haim. It was released on 17 November 2014 as the opening track for the soundtrack album of the motion picture The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. "Meltdown" uses the instrumentation of "Merci", taken from Stromae's second studio album Racine carrée (2013), which was produced by the lead artist, Thomas Azier and Aron Ottingnon. It was well received by music critics and charted at the top spot in several of Stromae's native charts.
## Background and composition
"Meltdown" was written by Stromae, Lorde (credited under her birth-name Ella Yelich-O'Connor), Joel Little, Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, Terrence Thornton, and Este Haim, Danielle Haim and Alana Haim from the indie rock band Haim. It was released on 17 November 2014 as the opening track for the soundtrack album of the 2014 motion picture The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1. The song was taken from "Merci", an instrumental track from Stromae's second studio album Racine carrée (2013).
Melissa Locker from Time described "Meltdown" as a "dark synth dance track" and "an '80s-influenced kinetic earworm", while NME called it a "bombastic electro stomp." Exclaim described "Meltdown" as having a "propulsive pulse that spans hip-hop and pop" and Complex characterized it as a "piano-laced, drum pounding production" track. Stromae explained that the song came together after Lorde called his manager to "get a track (for the Hunger Games: Mockingjay soundtrack)". Although the song was from Stromae's album Racine carrée, Lorde "decided to do a new track with it". Stromae said he was touched with how important it was for her to have his opinion, even with invited guests on the track. He described Lorde as being "human, simple and really nice". At one point in the song, Pusha T calls out the film's "image-obsessed bourgeoisie of the Capitol" which Billboard described as "language that would be just as appropriate for real-life society". In his verse, he sings:
>
> We're all tryna be somebody else
>
> You can't hide your tears in wealth
>
> When your heart knows you hate yourself
## Reception
"Meltdown" received generally positive reviews from music critics with several critics praising Lorde and Haim's vocal delivery but criticizing the latter's lack of vocals on the song. Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone called it a "thick, agitated groove that sounds like an all-night dance party in war-torn District 13." Time editor Melissa Locker stated that "Meltdown" would make "people [bob] their heads from here to Panem." Other critics shared mixed to positive opinions. NME praised the song but criticized Haim's contribution which was described as "limited" to backing vocals. Alex Hudson from Exclaim also noted Haim's "fairly low" contribution but were pleased when their "distinctive harmonized hooks come to the fore in the final passage."
Despite "Meltdown" not charting in many countries, it was commercially successful in Belgium. Shortly after the film's release, the song debuted and peaked at number seven in Belgium's Flanders chart component, which records music sales for the north part of the country. In Wallonia, Belgium's southern chart component, "Meltdown" peaked at number 5. It charted at number one on Belgium's Urban chart. In France, "Meltdown" had a minor chart placement at 107.
## Charts |
38,551,741 | Andre Thomas | 1,158,003,446 | American convicted murderer on death row | [
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"2004 murders in the United States",
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"Prisoners sentenced to death by Texas"
]
| Andre Lee Thomas (born March 17, 1983) is an American convicted murderer and death row inmate known for removing both of his eyeballs in separate incidents and ingesting one of them. In 2004, Thomas killed his estranged wife Laura Boren, his four-year-old son and her one-year-old daughter in Sherman, Texas. He cut open the chests of all three victims, and he removed the two children's hearts.
Thomas, whose mental health problems began with auditory hallucinations at about age ten, was in the ninth grade when Boren became pregnant with his child. They married when Thomas was 18, but they separated soon thereafter. In the weeks leading up to the murders, Thomas had suicidal thoughts, drank heavily, and used cold medication as a recreational drug. In jail a few days after his arrest, Thomas pulled one of his eyes out of its socket. A jury rejected his insanity defense and sentenced him to death on a capital murder conviction. In 2008, he removed his other eye and ingested it.
Thomas was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his arrest, and his case has raised ethical questions about executing the mentally ill. His trial verdict was upheld by a state criminal appeals court in 2008 and by a federal appeals court in 2021. While he is still under a death sentence, Thomas is housed in a Texas prison facility for inmates with psychiatric problems. Thomas was scheduled to be executed on April 5, 2023. On March 7, 2023, a judge delayed the execution date.
## Early life
Thomas was born on March 17, 1983, in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, to Rochelle and Danny Thomas. He had five brothers, and his mother raised the children mostly by herself in Sherman, Texas, which is 60 miles (97 km) from Dallas. His mother was an alcoholic, had depression, and had been sexually abused. When Thomas was a young boy, his home often had no running water, heat or electricity. Other members of Thomas's family had problems with substance abuse and violence. Ten years before Thomas was born, his uncle was fatally shot by Thomas's grandmother's husband.
Despite his domestic disadvantages, Thomas seemed to thrive for the first few years of his life. He attended a Baptist church in Sherman. A former Sunday school teacher described Thomas as a smart and respectful boy who often answered her questions before she could finish asking them. Family members said that Thomas was a curious person who enjoyed sketching futuristic cars as well as disassembling and reassembling old cars. He was in the gifted and talented program at his school.
When Thomas was around ten years old, his behavior changed. He told some of his schoolmates that he heard angels and demons arguing in his head. At one point he said he was Raiden, a fictional character from the video game Mortal Kombat, and he appeared to be sincere in his claim. He started drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, which may have been an attempt to quiet the voices he was hearing. He was placed on probation at age 12.
By the time he was 13, he had made two suicide attempts by cutting his wrists. He had a series of arrests around age 15, including one for stealing a car. He was placed on suicide watch after developing suicidal thoughts during a short stay in juvenile detention, but he did not receive ongoing mental health services following his release.
## Marriage and continued mental health concerns
After Thomas had been dating a young woman named Laura Boren (born November 7, 1983) for several years, she became pregnant and gave birth in August 1999 to a baby they named Andre Jr., after which Thomas dropped out of school in ninth grade, earned a high school equivalency diploma, and worked several jobs so that he could support Boren and the baby. He married Boren on his 18th birthday in 2001; she was 17. Thomas and Boren lived together briefly at Thomas's mother's house. Two weeks after they got married, Thomas's mother forced them to move out of her house. At that point, Boren and her son moved in with her parents, while Thomas moved in with one of his brothers. Boren and Thomas separated about four months into their marriage. Boren later moved in with a new boyfriend, and they had a child, Leyha Hughes, in February 2003.
After his marriage broke up, Thomas experienced more intense delusions and suicidal thoughts. He obsessed over apocalyptic concepts in the Book of Revelation, and he had difficulty keeping a job. Thomas was accused of stabbing his brother during a fight, but he was not indicted, and his brother was committed for psychiatric treatment. Living on his own, Thomas had difficulty keeping the utilities paid, so Boren began limiting the amount of visitation with his son. Thomas had begun to believe that his estranged wife was Jezebel and that his son was the Antichrist. He thought that the meaning of life was contained in a message within the images on a U.S. dollar bill, and he said he was experiencing déjà vu. He would sometimes cover his mouth with duct tape and refuse to speak to his family.
In the spring of 2004, still struggling with longstanding alcohol abuse and psychological difficulties, Thomas began engaging in the recreational use of Coricidin cold medication. On March 5, a friend escorted him to a mental health clinic, where Thomas told the staff that he would step in front of a bus if he could not speak to someone. Clinic staff told him he should go to the emergency room, and they had a judge prepare an emergency detention order. Thomas did not report to the emergency room that day.
About three weeks later, Thomas stabbed himself in the chest and went to the emergency room at Texoma Medical Center in nearby Denison. He told hospital personnel that he was trying to "cross over into heaven". When the wound was determined not to be life-threatening, an emergency room physician began arranging for psychiatric commitment. While these arrangements were being made, Thomas walked out of the hospital. The physician notified the Denison Police Department that Thomas might be dangerous, but they apparently had no contact with Thomas, who walked the few miles to his home in Sherman.
## Murder
On March 27, 2004, two days after coming to the emergency room, Thomas went to Boren's third-floor apartment and kicked the door open. Boren's boyfriend was at work, but Boren was home with her two children. Thomas fatally stabbed her, cut open her chest and pulled out a portion of her lung, thinking he was actually removing her heart. He went to the bedroom shared by their four-year-old son and Boren's 13-month-old daughter, fatally stabbed both children and cut their hearts out of their chests.
After he killed the children, Thomas stabbed himself three times in the chest. Expecting to die from his wounds, Thomas went into the living room and lay next to Boren's body. When he realized he was not dying, he placed the victims' organs in his pockets and walked to his house. Once he returned home, he placed the organs in a bag and threw it in the trash. Thomas called his wife's parents and left a voicemail:
> Um, Sherry, this is Andre. I need y'alls help, something bad is happening to me and it keeps happening and I don't know what's going on. I need some help, I think I'm in hell. I need help. Somebody needs to come and help me. I need help bad. I'm desperate. I'm afraid to go to sleep. So when you get this message, come by the house, please. Hello?
Thomas turned himself in at the Sherman Police Department, telling officers there that he thought God wanted him to kill the victims. He said he killed each victim with a separate knife because he thought there were demons inside the victims. If the victims' blood was allowed to mix, he reasoned, then the demons might survive. Thomas was taken to a hospital and underwent chest surgery.
## Arrest and trial
Five days after the murders, while Thomas was in jail awaiting trial, he removed his right eye with his bare hands. According to one source, he had been reading the Bible when he came to Matthew 5:29, which said, "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out." Another source said that after pulling the eye out, he quoted Mark 9:47: "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell."
Psychologists interviewed Thomas to determine his competence to stand trial, and they diagnosed Thomas with schizophrenia. Declared incompetent to stand trial, he was sent to North Texas State Hospital in mid-June 2004. After Thomas spent 47 days in the hospital, psychiatrist Joseph Black wrote to the court that Thomas had drug-induced psychosis, saying that he was competent and that he might attempt to exaggerate his mental illness by engaging in self-harm or other aberrant behavior. Defense attorney R. J. Hagood, who was ill with pancreatitis during the trial, later said he regretted not objecting to the introduction of Black's statement.
On February 15, 2005, Thomas's murder trial began. He was only tried for the death of Boren's daughter. Thomas, who is black and had been in an interracial relationship with Boren, faced an all-white jury. On a questionnaire for potential jurors, three of the selected jurors and one alternate juror indicated that they were opposed to interracial couples marrying or having children. One juror indicated vigorous opposition, noting, "I don't believe God intended for this. We should stay with our bloodline."
Sanity remained a central issue during the proceedings. Thomas's behavior in the courtroom has been described as "almost catatonic at times", and he snacked on Skittles candy during graphic testimony. Thomas's attorneys put forward an insanity defense. The state said that Thomas's mental illness was caused by or worsened by drug use, and they cited Texas law that invalidates an insanity defense if the mental condition was the result of voluntary intoxication. While the defense said that Thomas's removal of his own eye showed that he was insane, prosecutors said that the eye incident was indicative of an impulsive act rather than insanity. Thomas was convicted of capital murder and given a death sentence.
## Imprisonment
After receiving his death sentence, Thomas was sent to the Polunsky Unit, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison that houses male death row inmates. He said he continued to hear voices, and that he saw six-inch-tall demons coming out of the prison walls and playing music from the band Queen. He attempted suicide in July 2008, this time by cutting into the front of his neck with a sharp object. The wound required eight stitches.
In October 2008, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Thomas's conviction. In a concurring opinion, Judge Cathy Cochran wrote,
> Although reasonable people might well differ on the questions of whether this applicant was sane at the time he committed these murders or competent at the time he was tried, those issues were appropriately addressed by the defense, the prosecution, trial judge, and the jury during the trial ... This is a sad case. Applicant is clearly "crazy", but he is also "sane" under Texas law.
On December 9, 2008, Thomas removed his left eye and ate it. Thomas said he ingested his eye to prevent the United States federal government from reading his thoughts. He was treated at a hospital in Tyler and then transferred to TDCJ's Jester IV Unit, which houses Texas prisoners with mental health problems. Thomas's trial attorney said she was glad that Thomas would finally get the psychiatric care they had been requesting.
In early 2020, Thomas's case was brought before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Attorney Catherine Carroll said that Thomas's original legal representation was ineffective, as his trial attorneys failed to object to the selection of the three jurors with a bias against interracial marriages. She also said that trial counsel did not present an accurate account of Thomas's longstanding psychiatric problems, did not request a competency hearing, and presented a psychiatrist as an expert witness that did not have expertise in cases where mental illness was allegedly drug-induced. In response to the appeal, prosecutors said that while there was evidence to support Thomas's mental illness, he was not insane. In April 2021, the Fifth Circuit upheld the trial court's verdict.
On October 11, 2022, Thomas's petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was denied by the Supreme Court. Justice Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, upholding Thomas's claim that his counsel "fell far below an objective standard of reasonableness" (violating his right to effective counsel), and that "seating jurors opposed to interracial marriage violated his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights" (also violating his right to a trial by an impartial jury). The dissenting opinion states that Thomas's counsel failed to properly use their peremptory strikes against multiple jurors who clearly displayed racial animus and openly stated offense towards interracial marriage.
## Legislative and ethical discussions
Thomas's case has raised questions about the laws governing insanity defenses, especially on the concept of distinguishing right from wrong. The wording of Texas law was more favorable to such defenses until 1982, when there was public outcry following the acquittal of John Hinckley Jr. after his assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. Politicians have attempted legislative changes to codify the idea that a sane defendant should be one who appreciates (rather than "knows") the difference between right and wrong. Such wording changes have been rejected in the Texas legislature several times.
While a defendant acquitted on an insanity defense usually goes to a psychiatric hospital and remains under supervision of the court even if they are eventually released, Texas law prohibits the defense or the prosecution from telling jurors what will happen to a defendant in the case of such an acquittal. Texas Representative Senfronia Thompson introduced House Bill 1150, which would have included the wording change from "know" to "appreciate" and would have required that jurors were informed of the possible consequences of acquittal for defendants like Thomas who pursue an insanity defense. The bill was left pending in a subcommittee in 2009.
In a 2015 publication, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted the ethical questions in the cases of Thomas and fellow Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti, saying that "through no fault of their own, they are tormented souls suffering from devastating afflictions that leave them unable to think and reason like people who are not so afflicted ... That is greater punishment than any court can impose."
## Scheduled execution
On November 11, 2022, Thomas was scheduled for execution for April 5, 2023. On March 7, 2023, state district judge Jim Fallon delayed the execution date, giving Thomas' lawyers until July 5 to prepare a request for a competency hearing.
## See also
- List of death row inmates in the United States
- List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States |
20,908,534 | Keelin Winters | 1,159,039,323 | Association football player (born 1988) | [
"1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players",
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"University of Portland alumni",
"Western Sydney Wanderers FC (A-League Women) players",
"Women's Professional Soccer players",
"Women's association football midfielders"
]
| Keelin Winters Pattillo (born Keelin Mary Winters; December 9, 1988) is an American retired soccer defensive midfielder who last played for the Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), a team she captained to two consecutive NWSL Shield wins. She previously played for 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam in the Frauen-Bundesliga, Boston Breakers in Women's Professional Soccer, the Seattle Sounders of the American USL W-League, and Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian W-League With Turbine Potsdam, she competed in three games of the 2012–13 UEFA Women's Champions League helping lift the team to the Round of 16. She played collegiate soccer for the University of Portland and was named West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year in 2010.
Winters represented the United States on the U-20 and U-23 national teams. She was a member of the senior national team's player pool and was allocated by U.S. Soccer during the NWSL Player Allocation, but did not play during an official international match. In 2008, Winters captained the U-20 team to win gold at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile and scored the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal match against England.
## Early life
Winters was born in Cleveland, Ohio to parents Brian and Julie Winters. She has five siblings: Cara, Brendan, Kevin, Meghan and Ryan. Her father played nine years in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks and later went on to coach in both the NBA and WNBA.
Winters played one year of high school soccer at Carondelet High School in Concord, California before moving to Colorado and joining Regis Jesuit High School where she was named the team's most valuable player (MVP) all four years. Winters earned first team all-state honors from 2006 to 2007 and all-state honorable mention honors in 2005. As a freshman, she helped Carondelet reach the 2003 North Coast Section finals. She played for a regional team in the Olympic Development Program (ODP) in 2005 as well as the Colorado State Team from 2004 to 2006.
### University of Portland, 2007–2010
Winters attended the University of Portland where she played for the Pilots from 2007 to 2010. In 2007, she played a total of 1,457 minutes. She was named Soccer Buzz First Team Freshman All-America, West Coast Conference (WCC) Freshman of the Year, Soccer Buzz All-West Region Second Team, All-WCC Second Team and Nike Portland Invitational Defensive MVP. She was twice named to the National Team of the Week.
In 2008, Winters missed five games, including all playoff matches, while training and playing at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. She was named All-WCC honorable mention. In 2009, Winters started all 23 games for the Pilots, scored two goals and recorded two assists while co-captaining the team. She was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-West Region Second Team, West Coast Conference (WCC) All-Academic First Team, and All-WCC Second Team. In 2010, she was named WCC Player of the Year.
## Playing career
### Club
#### Boston Breakers, 2011
Winters was selected in the first round of the 2011 WPS Draft by the Boston Breakers. She scored her first goal in the 22nd minute of her professional debut during the Breakers' 4–1 win over the Atlanta Beat on April 9, 2011. During the 2011 WPS regular season, she recorded three goals and two assists while starting in 18 of the 19 games in which she played. Winters helped the Breakers to the playoffs where she scored the team's lone goal during the 3–1 loss to magicJack. Her season performance earned her a nomination for the WPS Rookie of the Year Award. The WPS suspended operations in early 2012.
#### Seattle Sounders Women, 2012
On March 8, 2012, Winters signed a contract with Seattle Sounders Women, under head coach Michelle French, to play with national team members Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux, and Stephanie Cox. Of her signing, she said, "Once WPS was suspended, I was obviously really disappointed. I thought about going overseas, but transfer windows were closed and things became really complicated and frustrating...Alex Morgan asked if I was interested in playing with her on the Sounders. [Alex] knew I have been living in Seattle. Right after that, I went back and sent [Michelle] an email to find out more information about the Sounders Women. So that's how it all started for me." Winters played in eight matches for the Sounders Women, scored one goal and recorded one assist. The team finished second in the Western Conference with a record. With the national teammates' presence on the team, the Sounders sold out nine of their ten home matches at the 4,500 capacity Starfire Stadium. Average attendance during the 2012 season for the Sounders Women was four times higher than the next closest team.
#### 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, 2012–2013
On May 10, 2012, it was announced that Winters would join German Bundesliga side 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam effective July 1, 2012. During the team's season opener against VfL Sindelfingen, she scored the first goal helping her team win 9–1. Her second goal on the season came during the 45th minute of Potsdam's 5–1 victory over SGS Essen on November 4, 2012. She made nine appearances for the team during the 2012–2013 season, including eight starts.
During the domestic cup, Frauen DFB Pokal, Winters scored three goals: two during Potsdam's 5–3 win over SGS Essen on October 7, 2012 and the game-winning goal against SC 07 Bad Neuenahr. During the 2012-13 UEFA Women's Champions League, she scored a goal in the team's 3–4 loss to Arsenal L.F.C. Winters made three Champions League appearances helping lift the club to the Round of 16.
#### Seattle Reign FC, 2013–2016
In 2013, after originally being allocated to the Chicago Red Stars as part of the NWSL Player Allocation, Winters was traded to Seattle Reign FC for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League. She captained the team to a seventh place standing for the season. Winters played in 19 of the team's 22 games of the season, tallying a total of 1,710 minutes as a central midfielder for the squad. She scored one goal against the Western New York Flash on June 24, 2013 with an inside-the-eighteen yard box finish off an assist from Teresa Noyola. She also had one assist on the season. In October 2013, it was announced that she had signed a two-year contract with the Reign as a free agent (non-allocated player).
During the 2014 season, Winters captained the Reign, setting a league record unbeaten streak of 16 games during the first part of the season. During the 16 game stretch, the Reign compiled a 13-0-3 record. The team finished first in the regular season clinching the NWSL Shield for the first time. After defeating the Washington Spirit 2–1 in the playoff semi-finals, the Reign were defeated 2-1 by FC Kansas City during the championship final. Winters finished the 2014 season with three goals playing primarily as a holding midfielder. She started in 22 of the 23 matches in which she played.
After returning to the Reign for the 2015 season, Winters was credited along with Jess Fishlock as being the heart of the team and a major contributor to their winning record. The Reign finished the regular season in first place clinching the NWSL Shield for the second consecutive time. After advancing to the playoffs, Seattle faced fourth-place team Washington Spirit and won 3–0, advancing to the championship final. Seattle was ultimately defeated 1-0 by FC Kansas City during the championship final in Portland. Winters, along with teammates Stephanie Cox, Kendall Fletcher, and Megan Rapinoe, were named to the NWSL Second XI team.
`During the first few months of the 2016 season, a number of offensive players became unavailable due to injury including Manon Melis, Jess Fishlock and Megan Rapinoe. During the team's last home match of the season (and Winters' last home match with the Reign) on September 11, 2016, Winters scored a goal against Washington Spirit to lift the team to a 2–0 win and keep them in contention for a playoff berth. Seattle finished the regular season in fifth place with a record, narrowly missing a playoff spot by two points. In September 2016, Winters announced her planned retirement following the end of the season.`
#### Western Sydney Wanderers, 2014–2015
In September 2014, Winters joined Western Sydney Wanderers on loan from Seattle. She made 11 appearances for the club and was the team's leading scorer with 5 goals. The Wanderers finished in last place during the regular season with a record.
### International
Winters was named captain of the United States U-20 women's national soccer team in 2008 and led the team to clinch the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile. She scored the game-winning goal in the quarterfinal match against England.
Winters was part of the United States under-23 squad for the 2011 Four Nations Tournament. On May 9, 2012, she was called up for the United States match against China, but did not play.
## Personal life
Winters started a coaching business, Pro Skills Soccer and is an ambassador for Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization that "provides public awareness campaigns, educational programming and tools and resources to foster inclusive sports communities." She is openly gay and married her longtime girlfriend Paige Pattillo on October 3, 2015. Following her retirement from professional soccer, Winters became a firefighter.
## See also
- List of University of Portland notable alumni
- List of Seattle Reign FC players
- List of Western Sydney Wanderers Women players
- List of foreign W-League (Australia) players
- List of LGBT sportspeople |
11,948,531 | 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 | 1,106,346,686 | null | [
"2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series",
"2007 in sports in California",
"June 2007 sports events in the United States",
"NASCAR races at Sonoma Raceway"
]
| The 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was the sixteenth stock car race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the first of the season's two road course events. It was held on June 24, 2007 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California before a crowd of 102,000. The 90-lap race was won by Juan Pablo Montoya of the Chip Ganassi Racing team who started from thirty-second position. Kevin Harvick finished second and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton came in third.
Although Jamie McMurray won the pole position, he was passed by Robby Gordon on the first lap. Gordon held the position until the first round of green-flag pit stops, and Carl Edwards took over the first position. He held it for twelve laps until Gordon got ahead of Edwards. At the race's final restart on lap 70, Tony Stewart took over the lead when he passed Gordon, but ceded it to McMurray after Stewart made a pit stop. McMurray slowed on lap 97 as he attempted to conserve fuel which allowed Montoya to close the gap. Montoya got ahead of McMurray for the lead after a seven-lap battle and held it to win the race. There were seven cautions and eleven lead changes by eight drivers.
It was Montoya's first win in the Nextel Cup Series, and became the first foreign driver since 1974 to win in the series. After the race Jeff Gordon's lead in the Drivers' Championship was reduced because he, along with his teammate Jimmie Johnson, were penalized for a car infringement. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 49 points ahead of their nearest rival Ford with twenty races remaining in the season. The race attracted 6.5 million television viewers.
## Background
The 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was the sixteenth of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. It took place on June 24, 2007, in Sonoma, California, at Infineon Raceway, one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other is Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Infineon Raceway is a twelve-turn course that is 2.52 miles (4.06 km) long; the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns five and six, shortening the course to 1.95 miles (3.14 km). The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of 1.99 miles (3.20 km).
Before the race, Jeff Gordon led the Drivers' Championship with 2,392 points, with Denny Hamlin in second and Jimmie Johnson third. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton were fourth and fifth, and Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top twelve. Chevrolet led the Manufacturers' Championship with 129 points, 47 ahead of their nearest rival Ford in second. Dodge was third on 73 points, and Toyota was fourth on 47. Jeff Gordon was the race's defending champion.
Several teams chose to temporarily replace their regular drivers with road course ringers. Michael Waltrip Racing replaced Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann with two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Terry Labonte and the 1993 24 Hours of Daytona winner P. J. Jones. BAM Racing chose to replace Mike Bliss (who was competing at The Milwaukee Mile) with the 2005 Trans-Am Series champion Klaus Graf, while Hall of Fame Racing replaced Tony Raines with endurance driver Ron Fellows. Former SCCA Trans-Am champion Brian Simo was selected by Front Row Motorsports to drive the No. 37 Dodge, while American Le Mans Series and Busch Series East race winner Butch Leitzinger was selected to replace Bill Davis Racing driver Jeremy Mayfield. Brandon Ash attempted to qualify in his self-owned No. 02 car, and endurance racing driver Marc Goossens was entered in the No. 91 Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports Toyota. Scott Pruett announced he would not participate for the Chip Ganassi Racing team due to a scheduling conflict; Former V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose, who was scheduled to drive the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car withdrew.
Rookie of the Year competitor Juan Pablo Montoya made his NASCAR début on a road course after leaving Formula One in 2006, and was considered by several drivers to be a contender to win the race despite no previous experience of driving at Infineon Raceway. Montoya said he hoped to have a chance of winning, and expected his main rival to be Jeff Gordon. After he finished with a top-ten at the previous round (the Citizen Bank 400) Jamie McMurray hoped to continue his momentum into Sonona, and move up in the Drivers' Championship standings.
## Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: one on Friday and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second 50 minutes and the third 60 minutes. Gordon and Johnson were prohibited from competing in the first practice session and Friday's qualifier because their right-front fenders were deemed too wide by race officials during a pre-event inspection, and both drivers were required to start at the rear of the field for the race. Bobby Labonte was fastest in the first practice session with a time of 77.539 seconds; Robby Gordon was second and Kurt Busch third. Stewart took fourth position, and McMurray placed fifth. Fellows, Edwards, Ryan Newman, Harvick and Kasey Kahne rounded out the session's top-ten fastest drivers. Said, Dave Blaney and Stewart went off the track but continued.
Fifty-two drivers were entered in the qualifier on Friday evening; due to NASCAR's qualifying procedure forty-three were allowed to race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. McMurray clinched the third pole position of his career, and his first since the 2005 Pennsylvania 500, with a time of 77.521 seconds. He had an advantage because he recorded his lap when weather conditions were cooler. McMurray was joined on the grid's front row by Robby Gordon and had the pole position until McMurray's lap. Earnhardt qualified third, Said fourth and Stewart started fifth. Burton, Bill Elliott, Kahne, Newman and Bowyer rounded out the top ten qualifiers. The nine drivers who failed to qualify were Ward Burton, Scott Riggs, Ash, Paul Menard, Brian Vickers, A. J. Allmendinger, Simo, Kenny Wallace and Graf. After the qualifier McMurray said that he was slightly nervous and felt another driver could record a faster lap time, "I definitely felt with Juan and Ryan going out later, I would definitely get beat. I kept telling everybody that. My heart was definitely beating faster this morning when I got up, looking forward to this."
On Saturday afternoon in cool weather conditions Montoya was fastest in the second practice session with a lap of 77.591 seconds, ahead of Harvick and Jeff Gordon. Stewart was fourth-fastest; Fellows was fifth and Kyle Busch sixth. Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Bobby Labonte and Edwards followed in the top ten. David Ragan stalled after he spun. Afterward, Edwards and Ragan left the track and flew to Milwaukee Mile to participate in the AT&T 250 Busch Series race; both drivers returned to Sonoma after the race's completion. Later that day, Hamlin paced the final practice session with a time of 78.219; Stewart was second and Robby Gordon third. Harvick was fourth-fastest, ahead of Sadler and Newman. Fellows was seventh-fastest, McMurray eighth, Johnson ninth and Jeff Gordon tenth. Hamlin was afflicted with an electrical issue which was corrected after his team installed a new distributor. J. J. Yeley damaged his car's sheet metal structure in an accident at turn ten, while Jeff Gordon spun and hit the turn eleven tire barrier and sustained minor damage. Dale Jarrett and Kyle Busch both went off track but did not damage their cars.
### Qualifying results
## Race
Live television coverage of the race began at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the United States on TNT. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny, clear, and breezy. Tina Coleman began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Actress and singer-songwriter Emmy Rossum performed the national anthem, and retired football wide receiver Jerry Rice along with Mike Wells of the Northern California Toyota Dealers commanded the drivers to start their engines. No drivers moved to the rear of the field.
The race started at 5:22 p.m. McMurray maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner, while Stewart fell down the field after he ran wide at the second turn but did not damage his car. Robby Gordon and Earnahrdt moved into the first and second positions, as McMurray dropped to third. The race's first caution was prompted on lap two when Goossens, Kenseth and Kyle Petty made contact in the eleventh turn; Goossens was unable to restart his car. Some drivers made pit stops for fuel and tires under caution. Kenseth and Petty had damage to their cars repaired. Robby Gordon maintained his lead at the lap-five restart, ahead of Earnhardt and McMurray. Three laps later, Earnhardt attempted to pass Robby Gordon at the esses but was unable to complete the manoeuvre. After starting from 32nd, Montoya had moved up into 20th by the 13th lap. Sterling Marlin's engine failed on lap 14, and the race's second caution was issued one lap later because he stopped in turn eight. Some drivers elected to make pit stops during the caution.
Robby Gordon remained the leader for the lap-17 restart, followed by Earnhardt and McMurray. Kyle Busch attempted to pass Montoya in turn eleven but locked his brakes and spun; he avoided contacting the wall but fell to the rear of the field. McMurray passed Earnhardt for second on the following lap. Eight laps later, a brake duct was located in turn four, which triggered the third caution. Robby Gordon led the field back up to speed at the lap-30 restart. Montoya and Johnson made contact on the 32nd lap. Green-flag pit stops began on the next lap when Earnhardt made a pit stop for tires and fuel. McMurray reclaimed the first position when Robby Gordon made his pit stop on lap 35; McMurray held it for the next lap and succeeded it to Johnson as other lead lap drivers made similar pit stops. Hamlin took over the lead when he out-braked Johnson in turn eleven on lap 37. Stewart took over the lead on the 41st lap when Hamlin made his pit stop. Fellows took over the position on the next lap, before the fourth caution was displayed on lap 44 when a large piece of metal was located at the start-finish line.
Fellows chose to pit under caution, and Edwards led the field at the lap-46 restart; he was followed by Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Jones and David Stremme. On lap 49, Kahne and Bobby Labonte made contact which resulted in Labonte spinning; similarly, Joe Nemechek spun at turn eleven and his rear-end hit the tire barriers, all three drivers continued. Robby Gordon moved back up into second when he passed Kyle Busch three laps later. Jarrett battled with Johnny Sauter for position on lap 53, and both drivers made contact; Jarrett spun in turn four and subsequently stalled. The incident prompted the race's fifth caution. Edwards led the field at the lap-56 restart, followed by Robby Gordon. On the same lap, Robby Gordon passed Edwards to retake the lead. The sixth caution was triggered on the next lap when Ragan spun on the chute before entering turn ten; he went through the grass, and was unable to restart his engine. Robby Gordon led the field back to racing speed on the lap-59 restart, followed by Edwards, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Said. McMurray moved up into second position by lap 62 after he passed Kyle Busch and Edwards.
Leitzinger spun into the grass on lap 61, but rejoined the track. On the following lap, Kurt Busch spun sideways in turn eleven after Montoya got into his rear-end and managed to restart his engine despite falling down the order. Sorenson spun off the track, and hit the wall. He continued but spun a second time in turn seven after he clipped a curb which caused the race's seventh (and final) caution. Several drivers chose to pit under caution. McMurray and Edwards made pit stops for fuel and tires, while Said stalled which required his pit crew to push-start his car. Jeff Green collided with teammate Sauter on pit road and damaged his right-front fender. Green was observed speeding, but his race ended after his right-front tire caught fire. Robby Gordon elected not to make a pit stop and remained the leader at the lap-70 restart. Stewart out-braked Robby Gordon to take over the lead on the same lap, while Gordon lost a further position to Earnhardt when he was passed in turn eleven. Earnhardt ceded second position when he made a scheduled pit stop for four tires and fuel two laps later. Robby Gordon made a similar stop on the 75th lap, and Stewart did the same which allowed McMurray to reclaim the lead.
Kenseth spun off into the grass on lap 75; he recovered after correcting his car and continued. Nemechek spun a second time at turn eleven but restarted his car on the following lap. By the 86th lap, McMurray led Harvick, Montoya, Kyle Busch and Burton, and the gap between the top three drivers was at 1.3 seconds five laps later. Harvick was passed by Montoya around the inside at turn eleven on lap 92. Five laps later, McMurray reported his car's engine was cutting out at several points around the track. Montoya made contact with McMurray while attempting to pass him, but McMurray held the first position. Montoya tried again on lap 102 by taking the inside line into turn eleven and momentarily moved in front of McMurray, but ran deep into the corner which allowed McMurray to retain the lead. Two laps later, Montoya passed McMurray around the inside entering turn four to take over the lead. Stewart moved ahead of Jeff Gordon but slid and made contact with Gordon on the 106th lap. Fourth-place runner Edwards ran out of fuel two laps later and drove to pit road; McMurray slowed after running low on fuel. Montoya conserved fuel for the remaining two laps to win his first career victory in the Nextel Cup Series. He became the first foreign-born driver to win in the series since Earl Ross won the 1974 Old Dominion 500, as well as the first Hispanic, and was Chip Ganassi Racing's first victory since October 2002. Harvick finished second, ahead of Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton in third, Bowyer in fourth and Greg Biffle fifth. Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Said and Hamlin rounded out the top ten finishers. The race had seven cautions and eleven lead changes by eight different drivers during the race.
### Post-race comments
Montoya appeared in victory lane to celebrate his first career victory in the Nextel Cup Series in front of the crowd; earning \$310,600 for the victory. He said that he was "more relieved than excited" as he was given high expectations that he would perform well in NASCAR. He also stated: "It's huge. I would say right now it's the biggest thing I've done. In open-wheel, that's what I was meant to be winning in. In stock cars, I wasn't. To get our first win in our first year is huge. We know we're a little bit behind on some of the ovals, but I think this is a big boost for everybody working in the shop." Harvick, who finished in second, felt Montoya did not have sufficient fuel to reach the race's conclusion: "I've been a big fan of Montoya's since he came over. He's a great road racer, but he wasn't the fastest. The strategy won it for him today." Third-place finisher Burton was happy with his finishing position: "Obviously we worked really hard all last year and this year on fuel mileage and it paid off for us today. It was a good run for us. We ran competitive all race long."
Jeff Gordon was happy with the way his race was run: "I thought (crew chief) Steve Letarte and everyone on our team just called this race perfectly to come from that far back to a top 10. We played the (pit) strategy the best way we possibly could and we had some cautions fall our way, which was some good fortune for us to gain some spots." Fifth-place finisher Biffle said his car felt good but felt it was difficult to overtake other drivers. Robby Gordon, who led 48 laps (the most of any driver) was disappointed by finishing in 16th position: "Not to make excuses, but we were gonna run out of fuel. It’s disappointing that we had a car as fast as we had, started on the front row, and not just get beat but finish 16th." He said he hoped any problems with his fuel mileage would be resolved by the season's second road course event at Watkins Glen.
Two days after the race, Hendrick Motorsports was given penalties for Jeff Gordon's and Johnson's cars. The penalties, for actions detrimental to stock car racing, car, car parts, components and/or equipment used that did not conform to NASCAR rules, parts or car components not previously approved by NASCAR that were installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance, and unauthorized alterations to the car's fender, included a \$100,000 fine for crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus who were placed on probation until December 31, 2007, and were suspended from the next six races, and the loss of 100 drivers and owners points for Rick Hendrick, Gordon and Johnson. Nextel Cup Series director John Darby said there was flaring on Johnson's and Gordon's front fenders that increased their width by one inch longer than the regulations allowed. On June 28, Hendrick Motorsports announced they would not appeal the penalties, and Johnson and Gordon later stated that they accepted the decision although they felt the penalties were harsh.
The result kept Gordon in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 2,438 points, ahead of Hamlin in second. Kenseth and Burton moved up one positions into third and fourth, while Johnson fell to fifth position. Stewart moved in front of Edwards for sixth, while Harvick and Bowyer remained in eighth and ninth positions. Kyle Busch, Truex and Earnhardt rounded out the top twelve. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship 135 points; Ford remained in second with 86 points. Dodge maintained third position, and Toyota remained in fourth. The race attracted a television audience of 6.5 million people. It took two hours, fifty-six minutes, and eleven seconds to complete the event, and the margin of victory was 4.097 seconds.
### Race results
## Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings
- Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the driver standings. |
34,591,691 | December 1992 nor'easter | 1,171,148,788 | null | [
"1992 meteorology",
"1992 natural disasters in the United States",
"December 1992 events in the United States",
"Nor'easters"
]
| The December 1992 nor'easter produced record high tides and snowfall across the northeastern United States. It developed as a low pressure area on December 10 over Virginia, and for two days it remained over the Mid-Atlantic states before moving offshore. In Maryland, the snowfall unofficially reached 48 in (1,200 mm); if verified, the total would have been the highest in the state's history. About 120,000 people were left without power in the state due to high winds. Along the Maryland coast, the storm was less severe than the Perfect Storm in the previous year, although the strongest portion of the storm remained over New Jersey for several days. In the state, winds reached 80 mph (130 km/h) in Cape May, and tides peaked at 10.4 ft (3.2 m) in Perth Amboy. The combination of high tides and 25 ft (7.6 m) waves caused the most significant flooding in the state since the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962. Several highways and portions of the New York City Subway and Port Authority Trans-Hudson systems were closed due to the storm. Throughout New Jersey, the nor'easter damaged about 3,200 homes and caused an estimated \$750 million in damage (1992 USD).
The nor'easter increased tides across the northeastern United States for several days due to its slow movement. In New York City, tides reached 8.04 ft (2.45 m) at Battery Park, which flooded Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. Along Long Island, the nor'easter destroyed over 130 homes and left 454,000 people without power. In New England, 230,684 people lost power during the storm. Five houses were destroyed in Massachusetts, and flooding reached 5 ft (1.5 m) deep in Boston. Further inland, the storm produced significant snowfall, estimated at around 4 ft (1.2 m) in The Berkshires. The high snow totals closed schools for a week in western Massachusetts. Overall, the storm caused between \$1–2 billion in damage (1992 USD) and 19 deaths, of which four were directly related to the storm. In March of the following year, the Storm of the Century caused worse damage across a larger region of the eastern United States.
## Meteorological history
A storm complex moved eastward from the Texas coast into Georgia on December 9. On December 9, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a coastal flood watch in anticipation of the developing storm. On December 10, an upper-level trough was located along the East Coast of the United States. At around 1200 UTC that day, cyclogenesis – the development of a low pressure area – occurred over southeastern Virginia. The cyclone moved quickly northward through the Chesapeake Bay until reaching a position just west of Chestertown, Maryland on December 11. By that time, the system had intensified to a pressure of 985 mbar (29.1 inHg), while the parent trough extended from Maryland through the New York metropolitan area to around Cape Cod. On December 11, the NWS issued gale warnings and advised for boats to avoid the ocean. The storm turned to the southeast and briefly stalled near Georgetown, Delaware. This was due to a high pressure area north of Maine halting its motion. The interaction between the two systems produced strong easterly winds from Virginia to New England. The nor'easter finally moved offshore on December 12, and later that day passed to the southeast of Long Island.
## Impact
The storm affected a large region of the northeastern United States from West Virginia to Massachusetts with heavy snowfall, sleet, rain, and high winds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed four deaths to the nor'easter, but only included those directly related; the agency did not include storm-induced traffic accidents or heart attacks. The National Climatic Data Center reported 19 deaths related to the nor'easter, although news reports shortly after the storm reported 20 deaths. Overall damage was estimated between \$1–2 billion (1992 USD), mostly in New England.
The storm's widespread snowfall ranked it as the equivalence of a Category 2, or "significant", on the Regional Snowfall Index scale.
### Mid-Atlantic
In the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, the nor'easter dropped over 30 in (760 mm) of snow. Officials restricted travel on roads to emergency vehicles only in the state's two easternmost counties. In the state, the storm left 15,000 people without power. In northern Virginia, 2 ft (0.61 m) of snow stranded 2,500 people in Winchester. In western Maryland, snowfall totals unofficially reached 42 in (1,100 mm) in Garrett County. If verified, the total would have been the highest snowfall amount in the state's history. High winds produced up to 20 ft (6.1 m) snow drifts, which stranded trucks on Interstate 68. High winds knocked down trees and power lines, leaving 120,000 people across the state without power, including some without any heat. At least 10 people required rescue from their homes. In the Washington Metropolitan Area, the mixture of rain and snow caused hundreds of traffic accidents.
The nor'easter struck about 14 months after the 1991 Perfect Storm produced similarly high tides across the region, and only 11 months after another nor'easter in January 1992. In Wilmington, North Carolina, the storm dropped 1.79 in (45 mm) of rainfall, which broke the daily rainfall record set in 1888. High tides damaged much of the dune system along the Assateague Island National Seashore and about a third of the newly installed dunes in Ocean City, Maryland. Along the Maryland coast, the storm dropped heavy rainfall, with a total of 2.90 in (74 mm) in Salisbury; the high rains flooded local streams. At Assateague National Seashore, wind gusts peaked at 54 mph (87 km/h). The storm struck shortly after a full moon, and the combination of high tides and waves breached dunes in some locations. Despite its longevity, the nor'easter was less severe than its predecessors along the Delaware Bay, mostly because the stronger northeast quadrant was over the coastline for one tidal cycle, and the predominant southeast winds were blocked by Cape Henlopen. However, there were still high tides and flooding along the Delaware Bay. In Lewes, the nor'easter produced a high tide of 6.33 ft (1.93 m), which at the time was the seventh highest on record. High tides continued in Delaware until December 15. Several days of high tides caused minor beach erosion and damaged dune systems. In Dewey Beach, there was property damage from coastal flooding. The storm produced significantly more rainfall than the storm in January 1992, including a total of 3.12 in (79 mm) in Wilmington, Delaware. A station in New Castle County reported a record 24‐hour rainfall total of 3.25 in (83 mm). The rains caused flooding and the third highest discharge on record at Duck Creek in Smyrna. Wind in Delaware peaked at 46 mph (74 km/h) at a station along the Indian River. Further north along the Delaware River, a high tide of 7.69 ft (2.34 m) was reported in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. High winds in the city broke the steeple of a church, and the resulting debris briefly closed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Hurricane-force wind gusts left about 160,000 residents without power. Heavy snowfall spread across the state, reaching 37 in (940 mm). State College reported a total of 18.1 in (460 mm), which contributed to its snowiest December on record.
In contrast to Delaware and Maryland, the strong northeast portion of the nor'easter affected New Jersey for several days, producing strong winds and record high tides. Wind gusts reached 80 mph (130 km/h) in Cape May, which were the strongest winds in association with the storm. Sustained winds were around 30 mph (48 km/h) in the region. High winds in Atlantic City destroyed the windows of storefronts. Along the Jersey coast, the nor'easter produced waves of up to 25 ft (7.6 m) in height. About 25 mi (40 km) offshore Long Branch, waves reached heights of 44 ft (13 m). In South Jersey, the storm surge struck the coast near low tide, which restricted flooding. The highest tide in South Jersey was 7.89 ft (2.40 m) in Ocean City, which broke the previous record of 7.53 ft (2.30 m) set in 1984. Further north, the surge coincided with several days of high tides and a lunar tide, causing significant flooding and beach erosion. The highest tide was 10.4 ft (3.2 m) in Perth Amboy along the Raritan River, which broke the record set in 1960. In many locations, the storm produced the highest tides since the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962. The storm also dropped rainfall across the state, peaking at 3.80 in (97 mm) in Morristown, along with gusts peaking at 58 mph (93 km/h) at Morristown Municipal Airport. The rainfall caused higher discharge rates along rivers. The storm also produced high snowfall totals, including 14 in (360 mm) in Sussex County. Throughout the coastline, the cost to replace the lost beach from erosion was estimated at \$300 million (1992 USD).
Most of the impact in New Jersey was from the high tides, which caused the worst flooding in 30 years in some locations. In Hoboken, high tides flooded portions of the New York City Subway and Port Authority Trans-Hudson systems, leaving them closed for a few days. High tides destroyed portions of the boardwalks in Bradley Beach and Belmar, and also destroyed a century-old fishing pier in Ocean Grove. Flooding closed portions of roads across North Jersey, including the Garden State Parkway near Cheesequake State Park and six state highways. At Newark International Airport, dozens of flights were canceled. The storm left 102,000 customers of Jersey Central Power & Light without power. Damage to short circuits caused house fires in Monmouth County. Damage was heaviest near Raritan, Newark, and Sandy Hook along Raritan Bay. High winds in Jersey City destroyed the roof of an apartment; the debris struck and killed a woman walking along a nearby sidewalk. Throughout the state, the nor'easter damaged about 3,200 homes, primarily in Monmouth and Ocean counties, and caused an estimated \$750 million in damage (1992 USD). Then-governor Jim Florio declared a state of emergency and activated the New Jersey National Guard. About 19,000 people were evacuated in six towns in Monmouth County. Statewide, about 2,000 people in 20 towns had to be evacuated by helicopter or National Guard truck. The American Red Cross opened at least 30 shelters across the state, housing over 5,000 people affected by floods or lack of heat. Damage in the state was less than the nor'easter of 1962 due to 30 years of disaster mitigation, including beach replenishment, dune construction, and improved building codes.
### New York and New England
Before the storm's circulation passed the New York area, its associated trough produced sustained easterly winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) along Long Island. Wind gusts reached 77 mph (124 km/h) at LaGuardia Airport. The strong easterly winds produced high tides in the region that increased gradually after three consecutive tidal cycles; this was due to the nor'easter's slow movement. There was a storm surge of about 3 ft (1 m) at Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan. The same station reported a high tide of 8.04 ft (2.45 m) above sea level, which was high enough to surpass the sea walls for a few hours. The ensuing flooding submerged portions of Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive to about 4 ft (1.5 m) deep. At least 50 cars were stuck, and some drivers required rescue. Low-lying neighborhoods of New York City were also flooded. High waves canceled Staten Island Ferry service. A power outage closed the New York City Subway system for about five hours. The highest tide in Long Island was 11.27 ft (3.44 m) at Willets Point, Queens. The tides and flooding decreased after the winds shifted to the north, ending on December 14. High tides canceled ferry service to Fire Island, and the only bridge onto the island was closed to all but emergency personnel and homeowners. High waves washed away dunes and severely eroded beaches along the island, destroying over 100 summer homes. On nearby Westhampton Beach, 30 homes were destroyed, and about 100 houses were isolated due to two new inlets created during the storm. Flooding closed all three bridges connecting Long Beach Island to the mainland. Flooding up to 8 ft (2.4 m) forced about 3,000 people to evacuate from one village on northern Long Island. About 700 homes were damaged in Bayville along the north coast. High winds downed trees and power lines, leaving more than 454,000 Long Island Lighting Company customers without power. In Mamaroneck to the northeast of New York City, a man drowned after being swept away by floodwaters. In the Albany area, where the storm was known as the Downslope Nor'easter, there was little snow accumulation during the storm's closest approach due to above freezing temperatures. After the storm moved by the region and the winds shifted to the north, about 6 in (150 mm) fell in the city. To the west of Albany in the Helderberg Escarpment and the Catskill Mountains, snowfall totals reached 39 in (990 mm). Heavy snowfall spread across the state, including a total of 14 in (360 mm) in Niagara Falls.
In Connecticut, local TV stations named the storm Beth. Across the region, the Northeast Utilities power company reported that 230,684 customers lost electricity during the storm, although all outages were restored within three days. In Connecticut, the nor'easter produced a storm surge of about 3 ft (1 m), and a high tide of 7.2 ft (2.2 m) was reported in Bridgeport. This was the highest tide since Hurricane Carol in 1954. The rising tides killed one man in the state, and there was also one fatality in neighboring Rhode Island. Along Cape Cod, 15 ft (4.6 m) waves eroded beaches, and evacuations were recommended in two cities. The storm destroyed severely damaged two houses and destroyed six houses on Nantucket and one in Plymouth. During the storm, more than 20 pilot whales were beached along the cape, of which seven died. Boston reported a peak tide of 9.35 ft (2.85 m), which was 1.05 ft (0.32 m) less than the record set in 1978. The high tides caused up to 5 ft (1.5 m) of flooding. The nor'easter produced 27 in (690 mm) of snowfall in a 24 period to the west of the city. Further west, snowfall totals reached around 4 ft (1.2 m) in The Berkshires, which created 10 ft (3.0 m) snow drifts. The high accumulations closed schools for a week in the Berkshires, and the cities required National Guard assistance to remove the snow. To the west of the Berkshires, strong east winds prevented significant snow accumulation in valleys. High tides extended as far north as Portland, Maine, which reported a peak of 7.71 ft (2.35 m).
## Aftermath
On December 17, President George H. W. Bush declared three Connecticut counties as disaster areas. The next day, the president declared 12 New Jersey counties as disaster areas, including all of the counties along the Atlantic coast. The declaration allowed for \$46 million in relief for public damages and \$265 million for insured damage in the state. On December 21, the president declared 9 Massachusetts counties and 5 New York counties as disaster areas. On January 15, 1993, Sussex County, Delaware was also declared a disaster area. Across the nor'easter's path, 25,142 people received assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency, equating to \$346,150,356 in federal aid. Only three months after the nor'easter struck, another nor'easter caused more severe damage across a larger region of the eastern United States. The March nor'easter, known as the Storm of the Century, killed 310 people and left over \$1.5 billion in damage (1993 USD).
## See also
- 1991 Perfect Storm
- January 1992 nor'easter
- 1993 Storm of the Century
- Hurricane Sandy |
20,895,301 | Landing at Lae | 1,170,893,126 | Amphibious landing of World War II | [
"1943 in Papua New Guinea",
"Battles and operations of World War II involving Papua New Guinea",
"Battles of World War II involving Australia",
"Battles of World War II involving Japan",
"Conflicts in 1943",
"History of Papua New Guinea",
"September 1943 events",
"South West Pacific theatre of World War II",
"Territory of New Guinea"
]
| The Landing at Lae was an amphibious landing to the east of Lae and then the subsequent advance on the town during the Salamaua–Lae campaign of World War II. Part of Operation Postern, which was undertaken to capture the Japanese base at Lae, the landing was undertaken between 4 and 6 September 1943 by Australian troops from the 9th Division, supported by US naval forces from the VII Amphibious Force. The first major amphibious operation undertaken by the Australian Army since the failed Gallipoli Campaign, the Australians invested a significant amount of effort into planning the operation.
The initial landing saw one brigade and supporting elements being landed at two beaches about 27 kilometres (17 mi) east of Lae. Once this brigade had secured the beachhead, a second brigade was landed to follow them up and help expand the beachhead. In the days following the landing the division's third and final brigade was brought ashore. The landing was carried out in conjunction with the airborne landing at Nadzab, and was followed by a drive on Lae by the 7th Division from Nadzab and the 9th from the landing beaches, which advanced with two brigades while one held the landing beach. Hampered by bad weather, logistical difficulties, and stiff resistance by the Japanese defenders, the 9th Division's advance stalled and ultimately troops from the 7th Division entered Lae first, entering the town on 16 September, the day before the 9th.
## Strategy
### Allied
In July 1942, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff approved a series of operations (collectively called Operation Cartwheel) by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA), against the Japanese bastion at Rabaul, which blocked any Allied advance along the northern coast of New Guinea toward the Philippines or north toward the main Japanese naval base at Truk. In keeping with the overall Allied grand strategy of defeating Nazi Germany first, the immediate aim of these operations was not the defeat of Japan but merely the reduction of the threat posed by Japanese base at Rabaul to air and sea communications between the United States and Australia.
In 1942 and early 1943, MacArthur's forces fought off a series of Japanese offensives in Papua in the Kokoda Track campaign, Battle of Milne Bay, Battle of Buna–Gona, the Battle of Wau and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Following these victories, the initiative passed to the Allies. At the Pacific Military Conference in Washington, D.C., in March 1943, MacArthur's plans were reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chiefs were unable to supply all the requested resources, so the plans had to be scaled back, with the capture of Rabaul postponed to 1944. On 6 May 1943, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane officially informed subordinate commands of the next phase of operations, which were to:
1. Occupy Kiriwina and Woodlark Islands and establish air forces thereon.
2. Seize the Lae–Salamaua–Finschhafen–Madang area and establish air forces therein.
3. Occupy western New Britain, establishing air forces at Cape Gloucester, Arawe and Gasmata.
The second part was assigned to General Sir Thomas Blamey's New Guinea Force, which was a mainly Australian formation. As a result, "it became obvious that any military offensive in 1943 would have to be carried out mainly by the Australian Army, just as during the bitter campaigns of 1942."
### Japanese
In early 1942, the Japanese began making plans for the capture of the Salamaua–Lae area, which according to Kengoro Tanaka they desired as part of plans "to control the sea area to the east and north of Australia" due to the airfields located in the region. Lae was subsequently secured by a battalion of naval troops in February–March 1942. Lae was then developed into a significant forward base for Japanese aircraft, while Salamaua was invested with a naval garrison. In December that year, the Japanese began reinforcing Lae as they sought to shore up their southern flanks after the failure of operations to capture Port Moresby. By January 1943, the total strength of Japanese forces around Salamaua–Lae was around 6,500. Its strategic position, adjacent to the Solomon Sea, meant that it was the main Japanese base in the region, and throughout 1943 plans were made to hold both Lae and Salamaua.
By 1943, the Japanese maintained separate army and navy headquarters at Rabaul which cooperated with each other but were responsible to different higher authorities. Naval forces came under the Southeast Area Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka. Army forces came under General Hitoshi Imamura's Eighth Area Army, consisting of the XVII Army in the Solomon Islands, Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi's XVIII Army in New Guinea, and the 6th Air Division, based at Rabaul. As a result of the destruction of a convoy carrying reinforcements in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese decided not send any more convoys to Lae, but instead to land troops at Hansa Bay and Wewak and move them forward to Lae by barge or submarine. In the long run they hoped to complete a road over the Finisterre Range and thence to Lae through the Ramu and Markham Valleys.
Imamura ordered Adachi to capture the Allied bases at Wau, Bena Bena and Mount Hagen. To support these operations, Imperial General Headquarters transferred the 7th Air Division to New Guinea. On 27 July 1943, Lieutenant General Kumaichi Teramoto's Fourth Air Army was assigned to Imamura's command to control the 6th and 7th Air Divisions, the 14th Air Brigade and some miscellaneous squadrons. By June, Adachi had three divisions in New Guinea: the 41st Division at Wewak and the 20th Division around Madang, both recently arrived from Palau, and the 51st Division in the Salamaua area, a total of about 80,000 men. Of these only the 51st Division was in contact with the enemy. Like Blamey, Adachi faced formidable difficulties of transportation and supply just to bring his troops into battle.
## Geography
Lae lies on the western base of the Huon Peninsula, on the southern side of the Huon Gulf. The area was flat, and generally well-drained. It had been developed as a port to meet the needs of the gold fields to the south, but there was no harbour, and deep water offshore meant that the anchorages were limited. The tidal range was small, with 3-foot-3-inch (0.99 m) spring tides and 2-foot (0.61 m) neaps, and there were no coral reefs. The beaches to the east of Lae were suitable for landing craft. They were composed of firm black sand or shingle, and were about 20 yards (18 m) wide. But they had few exits, and for the most part were backed by dense jungle and mangrove swamps. There were no roads. The area was intercut by streams and rivers, the most important of which were the Burep and Busu Rivers. While neither wide nor deep, with firm, stoney bottoms, they were swift-flowing, with no fords, and so presented an obstacle to troops crossing.
## Planning
The landing would be made by Major General George Wootten's 9th Division, veterans of the siege of Tobruk and the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. It had returned to Australia from the Middle East after El Alamein, and been re-equipped, re-organised and re-trained for jungle operations around Kairi on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland. Training in amphibious warfare was conducted nearby at Trinity Beach in Cairns with the American 2nd Engineer Special Brigade. This brigade was a large formation, with an establishment strength of 354 officers, 16 warrant officers and 6,806 enlisted men. Each of its three boat battalions had 120 small LCVPs and 12 larger LCMs, which they assembled themselves at a facility near Cairns. The 2nd Engineer Special Brigade was trained and equipped for "shore-to-shore" operations, over a maximum distance of 60 miles (100 km).
The original concept was for a brigade of the 9th Division to be ferried along the coastline of New Guinea from a forward base at Morobe. The more Blamey thought about the prospect of doing this under the noses of the Japanese air base at Lae, the more hazardous it seemed. In May he went back to MacArthur and obtained approval for the operation to be modified to employ the entire 9th Division, and that they be carried in additional large landing craft operated by the VII Amphibious Force. Also known as Task Force 76, this was part of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet. It was commanded by Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, and operated large ocean-going landing ships such as the LST, LCI and LCT. The ships' greater range meant that the entire force could stage at Milne Bay and travel directly to Lae from there. In July and August 1943, the 9th Division moved up to Milne Bay, where Barbey had already established his headquarters on board the USS Rigel.
As it was the first significant amphibious operation mounted by Australian forces since Gallipoli, extensive planning was put into the capture of Lae. Indeed, it was the first major operation for which the Australian Army was able to conduct long term forward planning, with deliberate planning beginning six months prior. Wooten deliberately chose landing sites beyond the range of Japanese artillery in Lae. "Red Beach" was to the east of the mouth of the Busu River, 27 kilometres (17 mi) east of Lae, and "Yellow Beach" near Malahang. This was the first time in SWPA that beaches were designated with colours. The left end of the beach was marked with a solid red panel mounted on tent poles, the right with one alternating red and white. At night, the left would have a red light, and the right one alternating red and white. Yellow beach was marked the same way, with yellow instead of red. Maps and models of the landing sites were made, and kept closely guarded. Soldiers were made familiar with models of the beaches where they would be landing, but the names were kept secret. Rehearsals were conducted on Normanby Island.
A series of meetings involving Wooten, Barbey, Edmund Herring (Wooten's superior as commander of I Corps), Colonel Merian C. Cooper from the Fifth Air Force, and Air Commodore Joe Hewitt from the RAAF, reached agreement, or at least compromise, on many points. Wooten wanted at least 10 days' reserve rations. This meant that some stores would have to be transported in bulk, and not pre-loaded on trucks as Barbey initially wanted. Loading the stores onto trucks was an inefficient use of shipping space, but permitted quick unloading of the LSTs, as the trucks could simply be driven off. The 9th Division did not have sufficient trucks for this, but 200 trucks earmarked for the US Advanced Base at Lae were borrowed from USASOS. Barbey would not allow loaded vehicles on the tank decks of the LSTs, as this was a fire hazard, so bulk stores were carried there instead.
Ammunition requirements were based on experience in the desert, there being no reliable data on usage in SWPA due to acute supply difficulties. Some 1,200 long tons (1,200 t) of ammunition was drawn from the 10th Advanced Ammunition Depot at Milne Bay for the 25-pounders of the 2/12th Field Regiment and the Bofors 40 mm guns of the 2/4th Light Antiaircraft Regiment. The 9th Division also had two shore fire control parties from the 1st Australian Naval Bombardment Group to coordinate naval gunfire support, who had been specially trained at the Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria.
Wooten initially wanted a night landing, which would give tactical surprise and maximise the time for unloading the landing ships before Japanese aircraft put in an appearance; but there would be no moon on 4 September, so Barbey was uncertain that he would be able to correctly locate the beaches. H-Hour was therefore set at 06:30, which was twenty minutes after sunrise. Because the air force had commitments to support the 7th Division's landing at Nadzab the following day, air cover would not be available in the afternoon. Barbey therefore wanted the ships to depart at 11:00. This raised the question of whether the ships could be unloaded in just 41⁄2 hours. Barbey gave assurances that unloading would continue even under Japanese air attack. For Australian officers with memories of the Tobruk Ferry Service, where the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy had lost 25 ships keeping the port's garrison supplied, the US Navy's attitude was not good enough.
A key part of Blamey's plan was for Australian and US forces to maintain pressure on the Japanese garrison around Salamaua to the south-west in the lead up to the landing in an effort to draw Japanese reinforcements away from Lae. In this they were completely successful; the Japanese 51st Division continued to reinforce the position around Salamaua, with thousands of Japanese troops, including elements of several infantry regiments and an artillery regiment, being moved to the area throughout the campaign. Allied intelligence estimated that there were 7,250 Japanese soldiers in Lae, of whom 5,100 were in combat units.
## Battle
### Landing
Brigadier Victor Windeyer's 20th Infantry Brigade departed Milne Bay on 2 September. The first waves were carried in destroyer transports (APDs), old destroyers that had been converted to use as high-speed amphibious ships; the USS Brooks, Gilmer, Humphreys and Sands. Amphibian engineer scouts from the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade's 532nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment (EBSR) accompanied them. The rest of the 20th Infantry Brigade travelled less comfortably in the VII Amphibious Force's LCIs and LSTs. The Fifth Air Force carried out raids on the Japanese bases at Madan on 1 September and Wewak on 2 September in support of the operation, sinking a couple of merchant ships totalling 10,000 tons in Wewak harbour.
The convoy stopped for a few hours at Buna on 3 September, where men on the LCIs were allowed to disembark. At around 12:15, nine Japanese Betty bombers attacked the landing craft at Morobe, but inflicted no damage or casualties. On the night of 3/4 September, the final voyage to the landing beaches began. The landing was preceded by a short naval bombardment from five US destroyers. It was unopposed by Japanese land forces, with the small number of Japanese that were guarding the shore choosing to abandon their posts rather than fight.
There was resistance from the air, though. As the fifth wave of seven LCIs was coming in to Red Beach, they were attacked by six Zeke fighters and three Betty bombers that dropped twelve bombs. One hit the deck of USS LCI-339 forward of the conning tower; another two were near misses. Badly damaged and riddled by bullets and fragments, the ship caught fire. LCI-339 remained on the beach, where she served as a landmark for Japanese aircraft. She was eventually towed off the beach, but then drifted onto a reef and became a total loss. USS LCI-341 suffered a near miss that tore a huge hole in its side. Eight Australians were killed, including Lieutenant Colonel R. E. Wall, the commanding officer of the 2/23rd Infantry Battalion, and 45 were wounded.
The landing operation continued despite the air attacks and within four hours of the first landing craft being lowered into the water, around 8,000 men had been put ashore. During the initial phase of the landing the 2/13th Infantry Battalion landed at Yellow Beach securing the beachhead, after which it pushed patrols to the west, to link up with the 2/15th Infantry Battalion – which had landed at Red Beach – before advancing east towards the Hopoi Mission Station to secure the right flank of the Allied lodgement. The 2/17th Infantry Battalion came ashore on Red Beach behind the 2/15th, and pushed itself towards the west to force its way across the Buso River, and establish a beachhead on its opposite bank. The 26th Infantry Brigade then followed the 20th Brigade ashore, conducting a passage of lines with the 20th Brigade, moving through their position and then pushing west, temporarily assuming control of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion.
Engineers laid wire mesh on the beaches, felled trees, built roads and established supply dumps. While the LSTs were unloaded quickly enough, the seven bulk loaded LCTs were not, due to insufficient troops being designated to help unloading. The last was not unloaded until 14:30. At 13:00, six LSTs heading for Red Beach were attacked by a force of about 70 Japanese aircraft. Some 48 Lockheed P-38 Lightnings were vectored to assist. USS LST-473 was rocked by two bomb hits and two near misses from Val dive bombers. Eight Americans were killed and 37 Americans and Australians wounded. USS LST-471 was torpedoed on the port side aft by a Betty bomber; 43 Americans and Australians were killed and 30 were wounded. Particularly hard hit were the commandos of the 2/4th Independent Company, which lost 34 dead and 7 wounded.
The remaining ships continued to Red Beach, arriving on schedule at 23:00. On their way back USS LST-452 and LST-458 took the two crippled LSTs in tow, and brought them back to Morobe. They then took on their cargo, and later took it to Red Beach. The wounded were taken to Buna by Humphreys. Japanese aircraft attacked the beach at 15:30. An ammunition dump exploded and a fuel dump was set on fire. The 532nd EBSR lost one man killed and 12 wounded.
The following day, after the 26th Brigade had advanced the beachhead about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the initial lodgement, the divisional reserve – the 24th Infantry Brigade – was brought ashore on the evening of 5/6 September. In the days following the landing, the Australians advanced with two brigades forward: the 24th on the coast and the 26th about 4 miles (6.4 km) inland. On the right of the 26th Brigade, flank security was provided by the 2/4th Independent Company, while the 20th Brigade remained behind to secure the beachhead.
### Advance on Lae
Following the landing east of Lae, the 7th Division, having concentrated in Port Moresby, was flown into Nadzab following its capture by the US 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment (503rd PIR) on 5 September. Tasked with advancing from the north-west, its main role was to act as a buffer between the 9th Division and Japanese reinforcements which might try to move down through the Markham and Ramu Valleys. The 9th Division's initial advance along the coast met with limited resistance, with the largest Japanese elements being mainly company-sized. In response to the landing at Nadzab, the Japanese command ordered Lieutenant General Hidemitsu Nakano's 51st Division to reinforce Ryoichi Shoge's heavily entrenched garrison at Lae, falling back from the Salamaua region. There were numerous small creeks and rivers west of the Buso, including four major rivers and on the inland route, the 2/23rd Infantry Battalion, having crossed the Buso on the first day, began a series of what author Joseph Morgan has described as "treacherous river crossings and hard slogs...through the jungle".
Pushing their way across the Bunga and Buiem Rivers, the 2/23rd fanned out through Apo village while maintaining contact with the 2/17th Infantry Battalion by signal cable. Around the Burep River, the 2/23rd was held up by the terrain and as a result the commander decided to halt and form a battalion defensive position. A platoon under Sergeant Don Lawrie was pushed forward near the mouth of the river as a protection measure to provide early warning. On 6 September, a company of Japanese attacked the 2/23rd's main defensive position south of the Singaua Plantation on the western side of the Buiem River, alongside a company from the 2/24th Battalion. Having been alerted by Lawrie's platoon who had sent back two runners, the battalion was able to repel the attack, although numerous casualties were inflicted on the 2/23rd and the 2/17th by Japanese mortars. The Japanese company, numbering about 60 men, subsequently fell back towards Lawrie's platoon near the Bunga. Positioned on the Japanese line of retreat, the Australian platoon was subjected to six attacks. These were fended off over the course of the afternoon, and by evening, as heavy rain began to fall, the Australian platoon was able to break contact and withdraw back to the 2/23rd's main defensive position.
The Japanese assault on the 2/23rd subsequently delayed the 9th Division's advance for several days, and these would eventually prove significant as in that time, the rain set in, flooding the numerous waterways that forked inland from the coast. Covered with heavy fire from the opposite bank, they would prove difficult for the Australians to cross. As the advance continued, stores were pushed forward from Red Beach, and landed by LCVs and LCMs around Apo Fishing Village on 6/7 September, and then again on 7 September around the Singaua Plantation, from where both the 24th and 26th Infantry Brigades undertook a resupply before the advance continued. The going was slow, with the ground saturated, and the thick jungle and kunai grass along the route of advance delayed the troops who had to cut several tracks through the foliage. On the inland route, the 2/24th led the way towards the Burep River, while along the coast the 2/28th relieved the 2/32nd. As they reached the Burep, the two brigades separated, with the 26th advancing alongside the Burep for several miles before crossing it further inland and then driving towards the Busu.
By 8 September, the commander of the Japanese 51st Division, Nakano, gave the order for his forces and those in Lae to begin their withdrawal northwards, as it became clear that the twin drives on the town threatened them with encirclement. The same day, though, the Australians came up against the most significant obstacle to their advance on Lae – the Busu River – which at its widest was 700 metres (2,300 ft) across, and 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) deep. Three days of heavy rain had flooded the river, making it treacherous to cross; however, the need to maintain the initiative forced the Australians to launch a hazardous crossing without bridging equipment or boats. On the coast, the 2/28th Infantry Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Colin Norman, attempted to run a cable across the river. This failed after the soldier who made the crossing was killed on the opposite bank by a squad of Japanese. Norman then shifted his focus to the mouth of the river, where there was a small central island that could be exploited to provide some cover for the assaulting troops. Covered by mortars and heavy machine guns, the Western Australians fixed bayonets and advanced in company lots, with the men strung out in extended line. The Japanese opened up with their own mortars and machine guns from well concealed positions on the opposite bank. Thirteen Australians drowned in the crossing, while dozens more were swept away and had to be rescued by troops from neighbouring units. Nevertheless, the 2/28th pushed through, subsequently securing a beachhead on the opposite bank.
The weather continued to hamper the 9th Division's advance. The 26th Brigade, further inland, remained stuck on the eastern side of the Busu. On 10 September, the commandos providing flank security managed to get across the Sankwep River, close to its confluence with the Busu, pushing a kunda bridge across. Shortly afterwards, they clashed with a small party of Japanese attempting to advance towards the bridge, and several Japanese were killed. To reinvigorate the 26th, engineer support was brought up. The 2/7th Field Company was pushing a jeep track forward with the help of the 2/48th, and they subsequently arrived with boats, ropes and cables, and several attempts were made to get across, all of which eventually failed as the engineers came under fire from the opposite bank. Heavy clashes later took place as the Australians and Japanese fought desperately in the swamp around the crossing. As it became uncertain whether the 26th would be able to force their way across, a company from the 2/48th was sent south to use the 24th Brigade's crossing and then advance north along the western bank of the Busu to help secure the brigade's beachhead when it finally did get across. on 13 September further engineer stores arrived, including bridging equipment and folding boats, and the following day a Small Box Girder bridge was pushed across despite heavy fire from the opposite bank, allowing the 26th Brigade to get across the Busu on 14 September.
The 26th Infantry Brigade's leading elements immediately clashed with the Japanese on the opposite bank, as they worked to push two battalions towards Kamkamun and the Malahang Mission, to secure the sawmill to the south-west and the northern end of the Malahang airfield. Meanwhile, the 24th Infantry Brigade had pushed the 2/28th along the coast with a view advancing towards Malahang Anchorage, while the 2/32nd and 2/43rd invested Wagan to the south of Malahang airfield. In addition to the weather, the Allied supply situation also proved problematic, with the geography making resupply efforts difficult, while service politics led to arguments between military and naval commanders developing over misunderstandings about the capabilities of the navy and the risks involved in operating close to the shore. These factors combined to stymie the 9th Division's progress and as a result, the 7th Division's troops eventually beat the 9th in reaching the town, with its 25th Infantry Brigade – having fought a sharp action around Jensen's and Heath's Plantations – entering Lae on the morning of 16 September, just ahead of the 24th Infantry Brigade, which had taken the airfield around Malahang the day before.
## Base development
Brigadier David Whitehead of the 26th Infantry Brigade assumed responsibility for Lae after its capture. Under his direction, garbage was burned, Japanese bodies were cremated, and bomb craters, shell holes and Japanese trench latrines were filled in. American and Australian malaria control units sprayed mosquito breeding grounds. He handed over responsibility for the town to US Brigadier General Carl W. Connell, the commander of US Base E. The advance party of Lieutenant Colonel O. A. Kessels' Australian Lae Base Sub Area headquarters arrived by air on 18 September, followed by the main body by sea on 30 September. To control the Australian and American bases, Herring created the Lae Fortress under Major General Edward Milford.
Lae was not intended to be an air base, but the 9th Division wanted to use the Lae Drome for casualty evacuation and artillery spotting by No. 4 Squadron RAAF. By 18 September, it had been extended to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and widened to 200 feet (61 m), allowing four of No. 4 Squadron's CAC Wirraways to land. The closure of the Markham Valley Road on 7 October due to heavy rainfall meant that the airbases at Nadzab and Gusap had to be maintained by air. Fuel was shipped to Lae in 44-gallon drums, and then flown to Nadzab. At one point, there was a take off or landing at Lae Drome every 26 seconds. Only after a Herculean effort by the US 842nd Engineer Aviation Battalion was the road reopened on 15 December.
Development of Lae as a port, on the other hand, was envisaged from the start; but when the town was captured, the port was blocked by sunken barges and debris. The only discharge facilities were two rickety jetties unable to hold trucks. The first cargo was delivered by LST, and brought ashore over the beach by DUKWs, LCMs and lighters. Australian and American DUKWs were operated as a common pool. Initially, the US Navy would only allow the LSTs to arrive at night, and they had to shove off before daybreak. Only in November did it allow them to operate in daylight. Sunken Japanese barges were cleared away by a 150-ton floating crane. American engineers then installed a floating dock, which was towed to Lae in sections. It opened on 20 October, and a Type C1 ship, the Cape Kreig, discharged there that day. A new dock was completed on 23 November, although it was used to unload the Liberty ship Fremont Older on 15 November. A fuel jetty was built, along with a bulk petroleum storage facility, and the first tanker discharged there on 20 November. A 4-inch pipeline was run through to Nadzab.
## Aftermath
After the capture of Lae, the Japanese high command determined that a withdrawal to a new line of defence was required. A total of about 9,000 Japanese troops subsequently began withdrawing across the Busu River and then through the Saruwaged and Finisterre Ranges to the north-east coast, while efforts were made to reinforce the Huon Peninsula, with the 20th Division being transferred from Madang to Finschhafen. The Allies, who had captured a copy of Nakano's withdrawal order when troops from the 2/25th Infantry Battalion clashed with a Japanese force on 13 September, attempted to cut off the withdrawing troops and subsequently there were heavy clashes along the Markham Valley Road, with troops from the Australian 25th Infantry Brigade and 503rd PIR engaged. During the withdrawal many Japanese troops ran short of food and abandoned essential equipment, including artillery, small arms and load carriage equipment; they subsequently reached their objective in the middle of October, having lost a further 600 to 1,000 men on the march. Japanese strength returns indicated that the 51st Division had 6,417 men, of whom 1,271 were sick. The 9th Division lost 77 killed, 397 wounded and 73 missing.
The Allies subsequently launched a follow-up campaign on the Huon Peninsula, with a landing at Scarlet Beach by the 20th Infantry Brigade. At the same time, the 22nd Infantry Battalion, an Australian Militia unit that had landed as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade on 10/11 September to relieve the 2/13th and 2/15th Infantry Battalions around the beachhead to free them up for the advance west on Lae, followed the Japanese that were withdrawing to the east, marching from Hopoi Mission Station to Finschhafen, with a view to placing pressure on the Japanese southern flank. This feat was described by the Kalgoorlie Miner as the "greatest march" of the New Guinea campaign and in 10 days the battalion covered 50 miles (80 km) of rugged terrain.
The 7th Division would later advance on Dumpu through the Markham and Ramu Valleys, and over the Finisterre Range on their way towards Madang during the Finisterre Range campaign. This advance, coupled with the US seizure of New Georgia gave the Allies access to vital airfields from which they were able to project air power. |
16,738,000 | Marcellus Formation | 1,170,123,416 | Middle Devonian age unit of sedimentary rock | [
"Devonian Canada",
"Devonian Maryland",
"Devonian Ohio",
"Devonian Ontario",
"Devonian Pennsylvania",
"Devonian System of North America",
"Devonian United States",
"Devonian West Virginia",
"Devonian geology of New Jersey",
"Devonian geology of New York (state)",
"Devonian geology of Pennsylvania",
"Devonian geology of Virginia",
"Devonian southern paleotemperate deposits",
"Middle Devonian Series",
"Oil shale formations",
"Oil shale in Canada",
"Oil shale in the United States",
"Oil-bearing shales in Canada",
"Oil-bearing shales in the United States",
"Sandstone formations of the United States",
"Shale formations",
"Shale formations of the United States",
"Tuff formations"
]
| The Marcellus Formation or the Marcellus Shale is a Middle Devonian age unit of sedimentary rock found in eastern North America. Named for a distinctive outcrop near the village of Marcellus, New York, in the United States, it extends throughout much of the Appalachian Basin.
The unit name usage by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) includes Marcellus Shale and Marcellus Formation. The term "Marcellus Shale" is the preferred name throughout most of the Appalachian region, although the term "Marcellus Formation" is also acceptable within the State of Pennsylvania. The unit was first described and named as the "Marcellus shales" by J. Hall in 1839.
## Description
The Marcellus consists predominantly of black shale and a few limestone beds and concentrations of iron pyrite (FeS<sub>2</sub>) and siderite (FeCO<sub>3</sub>). Like most shales, it tends to split easily along the bedding plane, a property known as fissility. Lighter colored shales in the upper portion of the formation tend to split into small thin-edged fragments after exposure. These fragments may have rust stains from exposure of pyrite to air, and tiny gypsum (CaSO<sub>4</sub>·2H<sub>2</sub>O) crystals from the reaction between pyrite and limestone particles. Fresh exposures of the pyriteiferous shale may develop the secondary mineralization of orange limonite (FeO(OH)·nH<sub>2</sub>O), and the pale yellow efflorescence or bloom of sulfur, associated with acid rock drainage.
Pyrite is especially abundant near the base, and the upper contacts of limestones, but framboidal microcrystals and euhedral crystals of pyrite occur throughout the organic-rich deposits. The Marcellus also contains uranium, and the radioactive decay of the uranium-238 (<sup>238</sup>U) makes it a source rock for radioactive radon gas (<sup>222</sup>Rn).
Measured total organic content of the Marcellus ranges from less than 1% in eastern New York, to over 11% in the central part of the state, and the shale may contain enough carbon to support combustion. The more organic-rich black shales can be bituminous, but are too old to contain bituminous coal formed from land plants. In petroleum geology, these black shales are an important source rock that filled conventional petroleum reservoirs in overlying formations, are an unconventional shale gas reservoir, and are an impermeable seal that traps underlying conventional natural gas reservoirs. To the west the formation may produce liquid petroleum; further north heating during deeper burial more than 240 million years ago cracked this oil into gas.
## Geographic extent
The Marcellus is found throughout the Allegheny Plateau region of the northern Appalachian Basin of North America. In the United States, the Marcellus Shale runs across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions of New York, in northern and western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, through western Maryland, and throughout most of West Virginia extending across the state line into extreme western Virginia. The Marcellus bedrock in eastern Pennsylvania extends across the Delaware River into extreme western New Jersey. It also exists in the subsurface of a small portion of Kentucky and Tennessee. Below Lake Erie, it can be found crossing the border into Canada, where it stretches between Port Stanley and Long Point to St. Thomas in southern Ontario.
### Outcrops in New York
The Marcellus appears in outcrops along the northern margin of the formation in central New York. There, the two joint planes in the Marcellus are nearly at right angles, each making cracks in the formation that run perpendicular to the bedding plane, which lies almost level. These joints form smooth nearly vertical cliffs, and the intersecting joint planes form projecting corners in the rock faces. Once exposed, the weathered faces lose most of their organic carbon, turning from black or dark gray to a lighter shade of gray.
Outcrops of the Marcellus can contain very small beds that resemble coal. The New York outcrops, and others further south in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, were extensively excavated in the early 19th century, sometimes at great expense, in the false hope of finding minable coal seams. In Perry County, Pennsylvania along the Juniata River the false coal beds become up to .3 m (1 ft) thick, but they did not produce a valuable fuel, despite the considerable effort expended to mine it from the surrounding hills. Seaweed and marine plants probably formed the false coal. True coal is formed from terrestrial plants, which only began to appear in Marcellus and later fossils.
Close proximity to the surface of Marcellus bedrock south of the New York outcrops makes an east–west band running through the city of Syracuse a high-risk area for radon as an indoor air pollutant. From the surface exposures along the northern and eastern margins, the formation descends to depths of over 2,700 m (8,900 ft) below the surface in southern Pennsylvania.
## Geomorphological expression
Upturned beds are exposed in sections of the folded Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, including exposures on the flanks and axis of the Broad Top Synclinorium in south central Pennsylvania. Exposed beds are nearly horizontal on the Allegheny Plateau, but upturned to form slightly overturned beds found along the Allegheny Front. From Wind Gap, Pennsylvania heading south, the dip of the beds steepens, becoming vertical at Bowmanstown on the Lehigh River. Nearby, in the Lehigh Gap area of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus is extensively faulted, and the beds are steeply overturned, with a reverse dip angle of up to 40° south.
The Marcellus Shale and the fine-grained shales near the middle of the Mahantango Formation are classified by geologists as slope-formers. Marcellus and Mahantango shale beds dipping at 60° to 75° to the west form the west facing slopes of Tonoloway Ridge on the west flank of the Cacapon Mountain anticline in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. On the eastern limb of this anticline, beds of these shales dipping to the east at a shallower angle also form the steep slopes on the east side of Warm Springs Ridge.
The Marcellus is easily eroded, and is also found underlying low areas between some Appalachian ridges, forming linear valleys of moderate relief. These bedrock surfaces are typically covered with colluvium from erosion of stratigraphically higher and more erosion-resistant strata that form the surrounding higher ground. The soils formed from the Marcellus and the overlying Hamilton shales are deep, free of stones, and well suited for agriculture. Sampling of soil formed on the Marcellus bedrock showed the dominant mineralogy consisted of quartz, illite, montmorillonite, muscovite, and biotite, with phases of todorokite and trona appearing at depths closer to the bedrock.
Upturned beds of the soft shale also capture streams and rivers with relatively straight segments in strike valleys such as the Aquashicola Creek and McMichael Creek at the foot of The Poconos, and the long, straight section of the Lost River in West Virginia. Below Port Jervis, New York, the Walpack Ridge deflects the Delaware River into the Minisink Valley, where it follows the southwest strike of the eroded Marcellus beds along the Pennsylvania – New Jersey state line for 40 km (25 mi) to the end of the ridge at Walpack Bend in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The Minisink is a buried valley where the Delaware flows in a bed of glacial till that buried the eroded Marcellus bedrock during the last glacial period. This buried valley continues along the strike of the Marcellus southwest from the bend through Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and northeast from Port Jervis toward the Hudson River, along the route of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.
## Stratigraphy
Stratigraphically, the Marcellus is the lowest unit of the Devonian age Hamilton Group, and is divided into several sub-units. In the first Pennsylvania Geological Survey, begun in 1836, Henry Darwin Rogers classified the Marcellus as the "Cadent Lower Black Slate" which he numbered "No. VIII b." In the first New York State Geological Survey, also begun that year, James Hall established the term "Marcellus Shale" in his 1839 report titled "Marcellus Shales in Seneca County." Professor Hall also argued in 1839 against formulating geological names based on observed characteristics that may vary from place to place or need revision in the future, and in favor of location-based nomenclature where "the rock or group will receive its name from the place where it is best developed." His arguments proved persuasive, and the location-based name for this, and many of the other group names he published based on exposures in New York, were adopted in the second Pennsylvania survey, and are now widely accepted.
### Overlying units
In the first New York survey, the Marcellus Shale was placed below the Hamilton Group at the base of the Erie division of the New York system, but this taxonomy is obsolete.
In current practice, the Marcellus Shale (abbr. Dm or Dms) is classified as the basal unit of the Hamilton Group (Dh), lying beneath the Mahantango Formation (Dmh) member of this group in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In New York, the Mahantango, also of Middle Devonian age, is further divided. There the Marcellus is separated from the overlying Skaneateles Formation, a more clastic and fossiliferous dark shale, by the thin Stafford or Mottville Limestone bed.
In West Virginia, the Marcellus may be separated from the brown shales of the Mahantango by occasional sandstone beds and concretions, or it may lie directly below the younger Late Devonian Harrel Formation (or its lateral equivalents) because of a disconformity, which represents a gap in the geological record due to a period of erosion or non-deposition. In eastern Ohio the Hamilton Group also lies disconformably beneath the Rhinestreet Shale Member of the West Falls Formation, another transgressive black shale tongue with similar characteristics to the Marcellus.
### Underlying units
The Marcellus Shale is typically found deposited on the limestone of the Onondaga Formation (Don), which extends down to the end of the Early Devonian period. The contact between them may be sharp, gradational, or erosional. In southwestern Ontario, Canada, north of Lake Erie, the Marcellus overlies the Dundee Formation, a lateral equivalent of the Onondaga. In Pennsylvania, the Marcellus forms a sharp conformable contact with the Onondaga's Selinsgrove Limestone member. A thin pyrite-carbonate bed is also found at the base of the Marcellus black shale in the exposures of south central Pennsylvania, above a thin calcerous green shale bed, which lies upon the Onondaga limestone.
In eastern New York, the contact between the Marcellus and Onondaga (where present) is gradational. In western New York, the Union Springs member of the Marcellus conformably overlies the Seneca member of the Onondaga Limestone, or the stratigraphically higher Cherry Valley Limestone member may rest directly and unconformably upon the Onondaga in the absence of the Union Springs shale. The local disappearance of units of the Onondaga suggests that its upper contact with the Marcellus can be erosional. In Erie County in western New York, both the upper and lower contact of the Marcellus are eroded away.
In eastern West Virginia the Marcellus overlies the Onesquethaw Group, consisting of the dark gray or green, calcitic, mostly nonfissil Needmore Shale, which grades westward into the Huntersville Chert. To the south and west, the Hamilton Group grades laterally into the Millboro Shale formation in southern West Virginia and Virginia, which grades into the lower part of the Chattanooga Shale of Tennessee.
The Milboro is gradational with the underlying Needmore Formation shale. South of the Mason-Dixon line, due to the difficulty in differentiating the Millboro and Needmore shales with the limited exposures available, and initial uncertainty in correlation with the New York survey, they were mapped as the Romney Formation, a unit containing all the Middle Devonian strata, named for an exposure at Romney, West Virginia. The correlations were established by 1916 through tracing the New York exposures across Pennsylvania and Maryland into West Virginia, so under the principle of scientific priority, the Romney classification is now obsolete; but its Marcellus and underlying Needmore shale members are still found grouped in an undifferentiated map unit (Dmn).
#### Tioga ash beds
Tioga metabentonite or K-bentonite–stratigraphic unit about .6 m (2 ft) thick that consists of several discrete, relatively thin volcanic ash falls–is also included at the base of the Marcellus in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1843 it was described without being named by Hall, and more than 100 years passed before it was eventually named for the natural gas field in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where it was encountered when drilling gas wells. It is a regional stratigraphic marker, used by geologists to identify the Marcellus, and correlate laterally equivalent strata. Difficulty in correctly identifying the more than 80 different ash falls during the Devonian period, collected in 15 or more beds, has also led to many miscorrelations.
From Virginia to New York the Tioga is widely distributed, running across the central and northern parts of the Appalachian basin, an areal extent exceeding 265,000 km<sup>2</sup> (102,000 sq mi). Explosive eruptions associated with the Acadian orogeny originating near present-day central Virginia released the ash into the atmosphere. It was dispersed across the Appalachian, Michigan, and Illinois Basins by the southern trade winds, because this area was in the southern hemisphere during the Devonian period. The volcanic origin of the ash is evidenced by its distinctive mineralogy–the ash was deposited directly upon the water, so its angular quartz grains differ from the clastic sediments rounded through the erosion process that carries them to the sea. As the volcanic ash settled to the bottom, it was admixed with these terrigenous components, producing a distinctive lithology in the sedimentary rock.
The Tioga may appear in the formation as a gray, brown, black, or olive bed, or parting, consisting of coarse crystal tuff or tuffaceous shale, thinly laminated, with sand-sized mica flakes. The Tioga ash bed zone consists of eight ash beds labeled according to their stratigraphic order from A (oldest) to H (youngest), and another bed known as the Tioga middle coarse zone. Its basal beds are found within the uppermost beds of the Onondaga Limestone or Needmore Shale, and the uppermost ash bed within the lowermost part of the Marcellus or Millboro Shale. In western New York state, the Tioga Ash Bed B marks the boundary between the Moorehouse and Seneca Members of the Onondaga Formation, but in the central part of the state, and the southern part of the basin, the ash beds are actually in the Marcellus. This indicates that deposition of the Marcellus there began earlier, since the ash beds represent a single epoch in geologic time.
### Thickness
Maximum thickness of the Marcellus ranges from 270 m (890 ft) in New Jersey, to 12 m (40 ft) in Canada. In West Virginia, the Marcellus Shale is as much as 60 m (200 ft) thick. In extreme eastern Pennsylvania, it is 240 m (790 ft) thick, thinning to the west, becoming only 15 m (49 ft) thick along the Ohio River, and only a few feet in Licking County, Ohio. The thinning, or stratigraphic convergence, from east to west is caused by decreasing grain size in the clastic deposits, which entered the basin from the east. The beds finally "pinch out" westward because deposition was limited by the Cincinnati Arch, the bulge that formed the west shore of the basin. Where the formation is relatively thick, it is divided into several members, and as the formation continues to thicken to the east, these members are further divided. Some workers chose to classify the Marcellus as a subgroup, and classify some of the members as separate formations.
### Named members
A local Purcell limestone member, 15 to 30 m (49 to 98 ft) of inter-bedded calcitic shale and limestone, divides the Marcellus in eastern Pennsylvania. The Purcell is stratigraphically equivalent to the Cherry Valley Limestone member in New York, a bioclastic packstone, consisting of skeletal limestones, with shaly intervals between its lower massive limestone layer, thick nodular limestone/marlstone, and upper limestone layer. Other named members include the Bakoven Shale, Cardiff Shale, Chittenango shale, Solsville sandstone, Union Springs shale and limestone, and Stony Hollow shale and limestone. The Union Springs, Cherry Valley, and Oatka Creek merge beneath Lake Erie, into the Bell Shale, Rockport Quarry Limestone, and Arkona Shale of Ontario.
The Union Springs is an organic-rich, pyritiferous, thinly bedded, blackish gray to black shale with mudstone concretionary layers, and thin silt bands at the bottom. To the east, it becomes the Bakoven Member, a darker, less organic shale with fewer limestone layers. To the west the Union Springs beds thin, with its upper limestones merging with the overlying calcareous Cherry Valley Member. A regional unconformity appears in western New York, as the Union Springs lenses in and out, and then reappears in northwest Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio between the Onondaga and Cherry Valley.
In Western and central New York, the uppermost member is the dark grey to black organic-rich Oatka Creek shale. Unlike the other Devonian shales in this region, the gray shale at the top of the Oatka Creek thickens gradually to the west, as well as the east, where it divides into the Cardiff member lying above the Chittenango member in central New York. Organic-rich, fissile, sooty black shales make up the Chittenango Member. At the base of the Chittenango, above the Bierne Member shale, lies the Halihan Hill Bed, a highly bioturbated bioclastic limestone.
Further east, the homogeneous Cardiff divides into the Bridgewater, Solsville, and Pecksport shale members, from base to top. The Bridgewater is a fissile dark silty shale with relatively rare fossils. A thin concretionary zone lies above, then the Solsville grades from a gray calcareous shale, to sandy siltstones and fine sandstones at the top, with the gray shale of the Pecksport shale and siltstone overlying it.
In south central Pennsylvania, the Marcellus is mapped with three members, from top to base: The Mahanoy Member (Dmm), a dark gray to grayish black silty shale and siltstone; the Turkey Ridge Member (Dmt), an olive to dark-gray fine to medium grained sandstone; and the Shamokin Member (Dms), a dark gray to grayish black fissile carbonaceous shale that is calcareous in places near the base. The Turkey Ridge is commonly mapped in the Mahantango Formation, or included in the Montebello Formation (Dmot), and only the Shamokin correlates with the Marcellus on adjacent map sheets. In extreme eastern Pennsylvania, the Broadhead Creek member, a dark gray silty shale with dark gray shaly limestone concretions, appears above the Stony Hollow and Union Springs, in a layer up to 275 m (902 ft) thick.
## Fossils
There are relatively sparse inclusions of fossilized marine fauna found in the Marcellus, but these fossils are still important to paleontology. For example, the Marcellus contains the oldest known diverse collection of thin-shelled mollusks still having well preserved shell microstructure. It is also where goniatites, an extinct shelled swimmer similar to a squid, make their first appearance in the fossil record. Life on land also enters the fossil record in the Marcellus, with the trunks of branchless conifer trees that floated out to sea to be preserved in the black shale.
Marcellus fossils include specimens of the large clam-like brachiopod Spinocyrtia. External molds of crinoids, plant-like animals related to starfish also known as "sea lilies," are found in the formation, with the molds partially filled with limonite; brachiopod and bivalve (clam) molds have also been found in the shale. Small conical tentaculitids are commonly found in the Chittenango Member. The Halihan Hill bed contains styliolinids and macrofauna including brachiopods, coral-like bryozoans, small bivalves and gastropods (snails), incorporated after the faunal turnover when Emsian and Eifelian Schoharie/Onondaga fauna were replaced by the Givetian Hamilton fauna.
The Solsville member contains well preserved bivalves, gastropods, and brachiopods. These shellfish lived in the benthic zone at the bottom of marginal marine to open marine environments that existed west of the ancient Catskill Delta. The fossil record in this member shows the base was dominated by deposit feeders, while the upper layers were dominated by filter feeders. This can be correlated to the lithology: the finer sediments of the shales at the base of this member would contain abundant adherent organic matter for deposit feeders, but would tend to foul the gills of filter feeders when suspended; the coarser sediments of the sandstones at the top would have contained less organic matter to support deposit feeders. Below the Solsville, at the base of the Otsego in eastern New York, a coral bed is found; another coral bed can be seen at the top of the Marcellus near Berne, New York.
A diverse, eel-like conodont fauna occurs in the limestone of the Cherry Valley Member, which is also known for its rich nautiloid and goniatite cephalopod fauna. Originally named the Goniatite Limestone, it produces their fossilized remains with shells that can be larger than .3 m (1 ft) across. It also contains the "Cephalopod Graveyard" in the Schoharie Valley of eastern New York, an unusual accumulation of abundant coiled and straight shells of several types of large adult cephalopods. This bed lacks juvenile fossils, indicating that if their behavior was similar to modern squid, this may have been an area where these Devonian cephalopods reproduced and died. This stratigraphic interval also provides an excellent example of incursion epiboles, which are sudden appearances and disappearances of fossil taxa in relatively thin sections of the rock unit. In the Cherry Valley, the taxa do not reoccur; instead each thin concretionary limestone bed contains different species of goniatites. The Cherry Valley and Union Springs also contain well-preserved anarcestida.
## Age
On the geological timescale, the Marcellus occurs in the Middle Devonian epoch, of the Devonian period, in the Paleozoic era, of the Phanerozoic eon. Radiometric dating of a Marcellus sample from Pennsylvania placed its age at 384 million years old, and a sample from the bentonite at the top of the Onondaga at 390 ± 0.5 million years old.
Relative age dating of the Marcellus places its formation in the Cazenovia subdivision of the Givetian faunal stage, or 391.9 to 383.7 million years ago (Ma). The Union Springs member, at the base of the Marcellus in New York, has been dated to the end of the Eifelian, the stage which immediately preceded the Givetian. Anoxic dark shales in the formation mark the Kačák Event, a late-Eifelian-stage marine anoxic event also associated with an extinction event. In 2012, Read and Erikson also depicted the formation as Eifelian.
## Interpretation of depositional environment
Although black shale is the dominant lithology, it also contains lighter shales and interbedded limestone layers due to sea level variation during its deposition almost . The black shale was deposited in relatively deep water devoid of oxygen, and is only sparsely fossiliferous. Most fossils are contained in the limestone members, and the fossil record in these layers provides important paleontological insights on faunal turnovers.
Early in the Acadian orogeny, as the Acadian Mountains were rising up, the black and gray shales of the Hamilton Group began accumulating as erosion of the mountains deposited terrigenous sediments from the land into the sea. The Marcellus Shale was formed from the very first deposits in a relatively deep, sediment- and oxygen-starved (anoxic), trough that formed parallel to the mountain chain. These clastic fragments of rock were carried in braided streams to the ancient Catskill Delta, a river delta probably similar to the present day Niger Delta of Africa.
Smaller particles remained suspended longer in this epeiric sea, flowing offshore as turbidites in a slow but persistent underwater avalanche. They finally came to rest at the bottom of the Acadian foredeep in the Appalachian Basin, hundreds of meters from shore, at depths that may have been 150 m (490 ft) or more beneath the surface. Alternatively, the basin may have been as shallow as 50 m (160 ft) or less, if the warm water was sufficiently stratified so that oxygen rich surface water did not mix with the anoxic bottom water. The Marcellus deposition produced a transgressive black shale, because it was deposited in deepening conditions when the basin floor dropped as the mountains rose up.
The dark shale facies of the Marcellus were formed from flysch, a fine mud deposited in deep water; the deepening sea that deposited the Marcellus cut off the supply of carbonates that form limestone and the fine-grained flysch sediments buried the Onondaga limestone beds.
Organic matter, probably dominated by plankton, also settled to the bottom, but the normal aerobic decay process was inhibited in the anaerobic environment thereby preserving the organic carbon.
Uranium was also incorporated in these organic muds syndepositionally, meaning it was deposited at the same time, rather than being introduced to the formation later. The organic matter scavenged trace elements from the seawater, including the redox-sensitive elements uranium, rhenium, molybdenum, osmium, chromium, and selenium.
The Marcellus was deposited during the development of land plants, when atmospheric oxygen was increasing, resulting in a reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the seawater where it was deposited. Named members of the Marcellus reflect two composite depositional sequences, with a general coarsening upward cycle that continues into the base of the overlying Mahantango Formation. The interbedding of lighter shale and limestone members is attributed to relatively short-term oscillations in basin depth. Later deep water depositional sequences formed the overlying Brallier Formation and Harrell Formation.
## Economic resources
### Natural gas
The shale contains largely untapped natural gas reserves, and its proximity to the high-demand markets along the East Coast of the United States makes it an attractive target for energy development and export.
The Marcellus natural gas trend, which encompasses 104,000 square miles and stretches across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and into southeast Ohio and upstate New York, is the largest source of natural gas in the United States, and production was still growing rapidly in 2013. The Marcellus is an example of shale gas, natural gas trapped in low-permeability shale, and requires the well completion method of hydraulic fracturing to allow the gas to flow to the well bore. The surge in drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale since 2008 has generated both economic benefits and environmental concerns—and thus, considerable controversy.
### Iron
The black shales also contain iron ore that was used in the early economic development of the region, and uranium and pyrite which are environmental hazards. At the base of the Marcellus, in the pyrite-carbonate bed between the carbonaceous black shale and a green calcareous shale bed, pyrite, carbonate, and groundwater reacted to form gossan iron oxide and gypsum. As far as the ground water necessary for the conversion could penetrate, the pyrite-carbonate was converted to a usable brown hematite iron ore along the outcrops and near the bedrock surface. The Marcellus iron ore was actively mined in south Central Pennsylvania from its discovery in the late 18th century, until it was supplanted by the rich ore beds of the Iron Range of Minnesota in the early 20th century. The ore was easily located and worked from shallow pits and shafts, but once the usable upper deposits were removed, or if a mine shaft entered the bed too far below the surface, only unusable unconverted pyritic deposits were found.
Hematite ore was converted to pig iron in charcoal-fired stone blast furnaces that were constructed throughout the Juniata River region near the workable ore deposits from the Marcellus and other formations. Iron products from this area, known as "Juniata Iron," were produced during the period between the American Revolution and the American Civil War. These blast furnaces were important to the economy of the region at the time, but the cold blast stone furnaces typically employed were inefficient, and consumed significant amounts of timber from the nearby hardwood forests, which ultimately led to their demise. A typical furnace used 2,400 kg (5,300 lb) of hematite ore and 7.3 m<sup>3</sup> (200 imp bu) of charcoal to produce 910 kg (2,010 lb) of pig iron, and could produce several thousand pounds per day, which required logging more than 4,000 m<sup>2</sup> (1 acre) of forest daily.
The ore from the Marcellus varied in thickness, becoming unworkably thin, and even disappearing altogether in places between the workable beds. The quality of the ore also varied, and it was not always profitable to smelt, as several furnaces built near iron ore mines in the Marcellus were abandoned before the ore and timber resources used to fuel them became scarce.
Ore found interbedded in the black slaty shale contained a relatively high proportion of carbon which was burned in the furnace, and sulfur, which produced a usable but "red-short" iron. Red-short iron has the undesirable properties of oxidizing more easily, and a tendency to crack, especially when heated to a red-hot state. In some locations in Pennsylvania the quality of the ore was quite good, with relatively deep veins containing 45% iron, and very low sulfur. In Virginia, the Marcellus ore occasionally contained zinc, which produced a characteristic green flame in the furnace as it was consumed, but deposited a hard mass of impure zinc oxide known as cadmia, which built up over time near the top of the flue, and had to be removed periodically to keep it unobstructed.
#### Iron pigments
Drainage that reacted with the pyrite inclusions also deposited a form of bog iron near several outcrops of the Marcellus. In the 19th century, iron ore from these deposits was used as a mineral paint pigment. After being heated in a kiln and finely ground, it was mixed with linseed oil, and used to paint exterior wood on barns, covered bridges, and railroad cars. In addition to the bog iron, at several sloped locations in eastern Pennsylvania brown hematite was found lying on the Marcellus bedrock buried beneath the soil. These deposits were also excavated and used for mineral paint during that time. A bed of hematite paint ore is also found almost directly below the Marcellus, but it is actually part of the underlying Oriskany Formation.
#### Chalybeate
Iron rich "ferruginous waters" emanating from chalybeate springs near the base of the Marcellus in Bedford, Pennsylvania were believed to have healing powers by Native Americans. The Bedford Springs Hotel was a mineral spa built in 1802 around a series of mineral springs, including one of these, its "iron spring". The Chalybeate Springs Hotel, built nearby in 1851 around three other mineral springs including another chalybeate spring, became a "resort for invalids". The iron-rich waters were prescribed for anemia and related complications. Both of these mineral springs contain iron in the form of dissolved iron carbonate, which gives these waters a "slightly inky taste".
### Other uses
The Marcellus has also been used locally for shale aggregate and common fill, although the pyritic shales are not suitable for this purpose because of acid rock drainage and volumetric expansion. In the 19th century, this shale was used for walkways and roadways, and was considered superior "road metal" because the fine grained fragments packed together tightly, yet drained well after a rain.
The dark slaty shales may have the necessary cleavage and hardness to be worked, and were quarried for low grade roofing slate in eastern Pennsylvania during the 19th century. The slates from the Marcellus were inferior to the Martinsburg Formation slate quarried further south, and most quarries were abandoned, with the last significant operation in Lancaster County. The Marcellus black slate was also quarried in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, for school slates used by students in 19th-century rural schools.
Carbonaceous shales, such as the Marcellus, are a possible target for carbon capture and storage for mitigation of global warming. Because carbon adsorbs carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) at a greater rate than methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), carbon dioxide injected into the formation for geological sequestration could also be used to recover additional natural gas in a process analogous to enhanced coal bed methane recovery, but the practical value of this theoretical technique is not yet known. Scientists believe that adsorption would allow sequestration at shallower depths than absorption in deep saline formations, which must be at least 800 m (2,600 ft) below the surface to maintain liquid CO<sub>2</sub> in a supercritical state.
## Engineering issues
The fissile shales are also easily eroded, presenting additional civil and environmental engineering challenges.
Exposures from cut and fill road construction in Virginia and Pennsylvania have resulted in localized acid rock drainage due to oxidation of the pyrite inclusions. The newly exposed shale on the cut face weathers rapidly, allowing air and water into the unexcavated rock, resulting in acidic surface runoff after precipitation events. Acidic runoff disrupts aquatic ecosystems, and highly acidic soil contaminated by this runoff will not support vegetation, which is unsightly, and can lead to problems with soil erosion.
Natural decomposition of the shale into smaller fragments can affect slope stability, necessitating shallower slopes that require more material be disturbed in cut and fill work, exacerbating the acid rock drainage problem. The cut material cannot be used as fill beneath roads and structures due to volumetric expansion, compounding the problem. The Tioga ash beds contain bentonite clay which presents a landslide hazard in the unexcavated rock as well.
Damage to structures constructed on fill consisting of pyritic Marcellus shale has been caused by expansion from sulfuric acid (H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) runoff reacting with the calcite (CaCO<sub>3</sub>) in the shale to produce gypsum (CaSO<sub>4</sub>), which has double the molar volume. Other sulfate minerals that can be produced by reactions with pyrite include anhydrite, melanterite, rozenite, jarosite, and alunite. The reactions have generated a heave pressure on the order of 500 kPa (10,000 pounds per square foot), but may be able to generate four times this pressure enough to heave foundations in a 5-story building. Limestone, which is used to neutralize the acid drainage, can actually exacerbate the expansion problem by promoting sulfate–sulfate reactions that form the minerals thaumasite and ettringite, which have even higher molar volumes.
Drilling boreholes through the Hamilton Group shales in the subsurface can be problematic. The Marcellus has a relatively low density, and these shales may not be chemically compatible with some drilling fluids. The shale is relatively fragile, and may fracture under pressure, causing a problem in circulating the drilling fluid back up through the borehole known as lost circulation. The formation may also be under-pressurized, further complicating the drilling process.
## See also
- Geology of New Jersey
- Geology of Pennsylvania
- List of mapped rock formations in Pennsylvania
- Geology of West Virginia
- Interactive timeline of gas production from the Marcellus Formation
- Pittsburgh Association of Petroleum Geologists
- Shale gas
- Shale gas in the United States |
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"April 1975 events in Asia",
"Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1975",
"Battles involving South Vietnam",
"Battles involving Vietnam",
"Conflicts in 1975",
"History of South Vietnam",
"History of Đồng Nai Province"
]
| The Battle of Xuân Lộc (Vietnamese: Trận Xuân Lộc) was the last major battle of the Vietnam War that took place at Xuân Lộc, Đồng Nai Province. Over a period of twelve days between 9 and 21 April 1975, the outnumbered South Vietnamese reserves attempted to stop the North Vietnamese forces from overunning the town and breaking through towards South Vietnam's capital, Saigon. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) committed almost all their remaining mobile forces, especially the 18th Division, under Brigadier General Lê Minh Đảo, to the defence of the strategic crossroads town of Xuân Lộc, hoping to stall the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) advance. The battle ended when the town of Xuân Lộc was captured by the PAVN 4th Army Corps led by Major General Hoàng Cầm.
From the beginning of 1975, PAVN forces swept through the northern provinces of South Vietnam virtually unopposed. In the Central Highlands, the ARVN II Corps was completely destroyed, whilst attempting to evacuate to the Mekong Delta region. In the cities of Huế and Da Nang, ARVN units simply dissolved without putting up resistance. The devastating defeats suffered by the ARVN prompted South Vietnam's National Assembly to question President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's handling of the war, thereby placing him under tremendous pressure to resign.
The ARVN III Corps' last defensive line east of Saigon connected the city of Bình Dương, Bien Hoa Air Base, Vũng Tàu, Long An and the lynchpin centered on the strategic town of Xuân Lộc, where the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff committed the nation's final reserve forces in Saigon's defense. In the last-ditch effort to save South Vietnam, Thiệu ordered the 18th Infantry Division to hold Xuân Lộc at all costs. The PAVN, on the other hand, was ordered to capture Xuân Lộc in order to open the gateway to Saigon. During the initial stages of the battle, the 18th Division managed to beat off early attempts by the PAVN to capture the town, forcing PAVN commanders to change their battle plan. However, on 19 April 1975, Đảo's forces were ordered to withdraw after Xuân Lộc was almost completely isolated, with all remaining units badly mauled. This defeat also marked the end of Thiệu's political career, as he resigned on 21 April 1975. Once Xuân Lộc fell, the PAVN battled with the last remaining elements of III Corps Armored Task Force, remnants of the 18th Infantry Division and depleted Marine, Airborne and Ranger Battalions in a fighting retreat that lasted nine days, until they reached Saigon and PAVN armored columns crashed through the gates of South Vietnam's Presidential Palace on 30 April 1975, effectively ending the war.
## Background
In the first half of 1975, the government of the Republic of Vietnam was in deep political turmoil, which reflected the military situation on the battlefield. At least two assassination attempts specifically targeting President Thiệu were foiled. On 23 January an ARVN officer tried to shoot Thiệu with his pistol but failed. The officer was subsequently tried by a military court. On 4 April a Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) pilot Nguyen Thanh Trung bombed the Independence Palace with his F-5 Tiger. It later turned out that the pilot had been an undercover member of the Viet Cong since 1969. Following those failed assassination attempts, Thiệu grew suspicious of his own military commanders.
On 2 April, the South Vietnamese Senate recommended the formation of a new government with Nguyễn Bá Cẩn as the new leader. As a result, Prime Minister Trần Thiện Khiêm resigned from his position. Thiệu, in response to the Senate's recommendations, immediately approved Tran Thien Kiem's resignation and swore in Nguyễn Bá Cẩn as the new Prime Minister. On 4 April, while announcing the changes of government on Saigon television, Thiệu also ordered the arrest of three army commanders: Major General Phạm Văn Phú for the loss of Ban Me Thuot, General Phạm Quốc Thuần for his failure to hold Nha Trang and Lieutenant General Dư Quốc Đống for the loss of Phước Long. General Ngô Quang Trưởng, commander of I Corps, was spared as he was undergoing medical treatment.
During a meeting with the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General Frederick C. Weyand on 3 April, Thiệu outlined his strategy to defend South Vietnam, vowing to hold what was left of his country. In his strategy, Thiệu decided that Xuân Lộc would be the center of his country's resistance, together with Tây Ninh and Phan Rang on either side. Eventually, the meeting became more intense when Thiệu produced a letter written by former U.S. President Richard Nixon, which promised military retaliation against North Vietnam if they violated the terms of the Paris Peace Accords. The meeting then concluded with Thiệu accusing the United States Government of selling out his country the moment they signed the Paris Peace Accords.
In contrast to the situation faced by their opponents in Saigon, the North Vietnamese government were buoyed by the victories achieved by their armies since December 1974. By 8 April 1975, the PAVN had captured all of South Vietnam's I and II Corps, as well as Phước Long Province. While the South Vietnamese forces were disintegrating all over the country, North Vietnam had two army corps moving towards the last South Vietnamese stronghold at Xuân Lộc. The PAVN 4th Army Corps, which overran Phước Long several months earlier, approached Xuân Lộc from the north-east after they captured Tây Ninh, Bình Long and Long Khánh. The 3rd Army Corps, moved towards Xuân Lộc from the north-west after they defeated the ARVN in the Central Highlands. Xuân Lộc was at the crossroads of Highway 1 (which ran the length of South Vietnam) and Highway 20 (which ran from the Central Highlands through Da Lat) and it controlled the eastern approach to the huge military bases at Bien Hoa/Long Binh and then Saigon.
## Order of battle
### South Vietnam
On 8 April 1975, the ARVN 18th Division was the main unit defending Xuân Lộc, composed of three infantry regiments: the 43rd, 48th and 52nd. There were also five armored brigades, four regional force battalions (340th, 342nd, 343rd and 367th Battalions), two artillery units (181st and 182nd Artillery Battalions) equipped with a total of forty-two artillery guns, and two companies of the People's Self-Defense Force. On 12 April Xuân Lộc was reinforced with the 1st Airborne Brigade, three armoured brigades (315th, 318th and 322nd Armored Brigades), the 8th Task Force from the 5th Division and the 33rd Ranger Battalion. Air support came in the form of two RVNAF divisions; the 5th Air Force Division based at Bien Hoa Air Base, and the 3rd Air Force Division at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The commander at Xuân Lộc was Brigadier General Lê Minh Đảo.
### North Vietnam
As the PAVN 4th Army Corps was the first PAVN formation to arrive at Xuân Lộc, the PAVN Central Military Committee decided that it would lead the assault. The 4th Army Corps fielded three divisions (6th, 7th and 341st Infantry Divisions). Those divisions had support from the 71st Anti-Aircraft Regiment, two combat engineering regiments (24th and 25th Engineering Regiments), the 26th Communications Regiment, two armored battalions, two artillery battalions, and two Long Khánh provincial infantry battalions. On 3 April 1975, the 4th Army Corps Command came up with two options for attack; the first option would involve capturing all ARVN outposts in the surrounding areas and isolating the town center in the process; if the opportunity arose, the 4th Army Corps would launch a full frontal assault on the town center to capture all of Xuân Lộc. In the second option, if ARVN forces in Xuân Lộc did not have the strength to resist, the 4th Army Corps would strike directly at the town center using infantry units, with armored and artillery units in support.
## Prelude
In March 1975, as the PAVN 3rd Army Corps attacked Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands, the PAVN 4th Army Corps initiated their own operations against South Vietnamese forces in Tây Ninh and Bình Dương, in the southwestern regions of South Vietnam. Unlike in the previous three years, South Vietnamese defences around Tây Ninh and Bình Dương were significantly weakened due to a lack of manpower and resources. Even though Tây Ninh and Bình Dương did not play a significant role in the defensive posture of South Vietnam, large ARVN units made their way into those areas as a result of the early defeats in 1975. Tây Ninh became a refuge for elements of the ARVN 25th Division, four armored brigades and two Ranger battalions. Bình Dương hosted the ARVN 5th Division, one Ranger battalion and one armored brigade. To stop ARVN units from gathering in Tây Ninh and Bình Dương, and thereby regrouping for further resistance, the North Vietnamese decided to capture those regions.
The PAVN 4th Army Corps Command selected Dầu Tiếng–Chon Thanh as the first target for their operation, as it was the weakest point in the South Vietnamese defensive line in the north-west area. South Vietnam maintained four Regional Force (RF) battalions (35th, 304th, 312th and 352nd Battalions) totalling 2,600 soldiers in the area, along with one armored brigade and ten 105 mm artillery guns. The military zone of Dầu Tiếng–Chơn Thành was located adjacent to the three provinces of Tây Ninh, Bình Dương and Binh Long. The task of capturing Dầu Tiếng–Chon Thanh was entrusted to the PAVN 9th Infantry Division, whose strength were bolstered by the 16th Infantry Regiment, the 22nd Armored Battalion, one artillery battalion and one air-defence battalion. At 05:00 on 11 March the 9th Infantry Division commenced its attack on Dầu Tiếng. ARVN artillery positions in Rung Nan, Bau Don and Cha La were the primary targets of the 9th Infantry Division on the first day of the attack.
On the afternoon of 11 March, ARVN General Lê Nguyên Khang ordered the 345th Armored Squadron to move out from Bau Don to relieve the military zone of Dầu Tiếng, but they were defeated by the PAVN 16th Infantry Regiment at Suoi Ong Hung, and forced to retreat to their base. At the same time, ARVN artillery units at Bau Don and Rung Nan were subdued by elements of the 9th Infantry Division, so they were unable to return fire. By 13 March, the PAVN was in complete control of the Dầu Tiếng military zone. After three hours of fighting, the PAVN 9th Infantry Division also captured ARVN positions at Vuon Chuoi, Nga ba Sac, Cau Tau and Ben Cui. The ARVN 3rd Brigade had planned to retake Dầu Tiếng using elements of the 5th Division, but Thiệu ordered them to pull back and defend Truong Mit, Bau Don and Tây Ninh instead.
On 24 March, two regiments from the PAVN 9th Infantry Division, in coordination with two provincial infantry battalions from Bình Phước, attacked Chơn Thành with full force but were repeatedly driven back from the ARVN defensive lines. On 31 March, the PAVN 4th Army Corps sent the 273rd Regiment and one artillery battalion equipped with 15 artillery guns to bolster the 9th Infantry Division. Following the arrival of these reinforcements, the PAVN continued their assault on the military zone of Chơn Thành. South Vietnam responded by deploying the 3rd Armored Brigade to relieve Chơn Thành, but they were stopped by elements of the 9th Infantry Division along Route 13. To avoid destruction, all surviving members from the ARVN 31st Ranger Battalion retreated to Bau Don in the east. On 2 April, the PAVN captured Chơn Thành; they claimed to have killed 2,134 ARVN soldiers, as well as capturing 472, and to have shot down 16 aircraft. In addition, North Vietnam captured 30 military vehicles (including eight tanks) and about 1,000 guns (including five artillery pieces) of various kinds. With the province of Binh Long firmly in their hands, the PAVN then set their sights on Xuân Lộc.
## Battle
The PAVN began their Long Khánh-Bình Tuy campaign with strong attacks against ARVN positions on the two principal lines of communication in the region, Highways 1 and 20, striking outposts, towns, bridges and culverts north and east of Xuân Lộc. On 17 March, the PAVN 209th Infantry Regiment and the 210th Artillery Regiment, 7th Division, opened what was to become the Battle of Xuân Lộc. The 209th struck first at Định Quán, north of Xuân Lộc, and at the La Nga bridge, west of Định Quán. Eight tanks supported the initial assault on Định Quán and PAVN artillery fire destroyed four 155 mm howitzers supporting the RF. Anticipating the attack, Đảo had reinforced the La Nga bridge the day before, but the intense fire forced a withdrawal from the bridge. After repeated assaults, the 209th Infantry penetrated Định Quán and the 2nd Battalion, 43rd Infantry, as well as the RF battalion were forced to withdraw with heavy losses on 18 March.
Also on 17 March, the 3rd Battalion, 43rd Regiment killed 10 PAVN in heavy fighting northwest of Hoai Duc. At the same time another outpost of Xuân Lộc District, Ong Don, defended by an RF company and an artillery platoon, came under artillery and infantry attack. The PAVN assault was repulsed with heavy losses on both sides, and another RF company, sent to reinforce, ran into strong resistance on Highway 1 west of Ong Don. North of Ong Don, Gia Ray on Route 333 was under attack by the PAVN 274th Infantry Regiment, 6th Division. The 18th Division headquarters therefore realized that two PAVN divisions, the 6th and the 7th, were committed in Long Khánh. While the battle raged at Gia Ray, another post on Highway 1 west of Ong Don came under attack. Meanwhile, a bridge and a culvert on Highway 1 on each side of the Route 332 junction were blown up by PAVN sappers. Thus, all ARVN forces east of Route 332 were isolated from Xuân Lộc by formidable obstacles and PAVN roadblocks. North from Xuân Lộc, on Route 20, hamlets along the road were occupied to varying degrees by PAVN soldiers, and the RF outpost far to the northeast near the Lam Dong boundary was overrun. Đảo decided to counterattack up Route 20 with his 52nd Regiment, minus one battalion but reinforced with the 5th Armored Cavalry Squadron from Tây Ninh Province. The regiment was ordered to clear the road as far as Định Quán, but the attack quickly stalled as it met heavy resistance well short of its objective.
Evidence of increasingly heavy PAVN commitments in Long Khánh flowed into III Corps headquarters in Bien Hoa. The PAVN 141st Regiment, 7th Infantry Division had apparently participated in the attack on Định Quán. Hoai Duc was overrun by the PAVN 812th Regiment, 6th Infantry Division, while that division's other two regiments, the 33rd and 274th, seized Gia Ray. The ARVN outpost on the conical peak of Chua Chan, standing 2,200 ft (670 m) above Xuân Lộc and providing excellent observation, also fell to PAVN 6th Infantry Division forces and Xuân Lộc itself began to receive artillery fire, including 105 mm fire. III Corps commander Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn Toàn responded to the burgeoning threat on his eastern flank first by sending the 5th Armored Cavalry Squadron and then one battalion of the 48th Regiment from Tây Ninh to Long Khánh. The rest of the 48th Regiment was still heavily engaged near Go Dau Ha. The 3rd Battalion made contact with a PAVN company west of the Vàm Cỏ Đông River on 17 March, killed 36, and captured a number of weapons. On 26 March, Toàn sent the headquarters and two battalions of the 48th Regiment to reinforce Khiem Hanh.
After capturing all key objectives surrounding Xuân Lộc in Long Khánh Province, the PAVN 4th Army Corps spent four days preparing for the final push against the ARVN 18th Division. PAVN Major General Hoàng Cầm personally took control of the operation; he decided to launch a full-frontal assault on Xuân Lộc using his infantry, tank and artillery units from the north and northwest. Colonel Bui Cat Vu, deputy commander of the 4th Army Corps, would direct operations from the east. While the PAVN were closing in on Xuân Lộc, Đảo and the chief of Long Khánh Province, Colonel Nguyen Van Phuc, were also busy lining up their units in anticipation of the PAVN onslaught. Prior to the battle, Đảo told foreign media that: "I am determined to hold Xuân Lộc. I don’t care how many divisions the Communist will send against me, I will smash them all! The world shall see the strength and skill of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam".
On 1 April, Toàn returned the headquarters and two battalions of the 48th Regiment to the 18th Division. The regiment moved to the Xuân Lộc area but sent its 2nd Battalion to Hàm Tân District on the coast of Bình Tuy Province to secure the city and port. Large numbers of refugees poured into the province from the north. About 500 troops, survivors of the ARVN 2nd Division, were among those arriving from I Corps. When reorganized and reequipped, they would take over the security mission in Hàm Tân. The 52nd Regiment meanwhile was pressing forward on Route 20 south of Định Quán and in sharp fighting on 1 April killed over 50 PAVN troops. The 43rd Regiment was fighting east along Highway 1, near Xuân Lộc and in contact with a major PAVN force.
After the first PAVN attempt to seize Xuân Lộc had been repulsed, the PAVN began a second assault on the town. At 05:40 on 9 April 1975, the PAVN 4th Army Corps began bombarding South Vietnamese positions around Xuân Lộc firing about 4,000 rounds, in one of the heaviest artillery bombardments of the war. North of the town, the PAVN 341st Infantry Division captured the ARVN communications center and the local police station after more than an hour of heavy fighting. However, all PAVN units moving down from the north were forced to stop when elements of the ARVN 52nd Task Force counter-attacked from the south. From the east, the PAVN 7th Infantry Division advanced on ARVN positions without tank support, so they sustained heavy casualties in the initial stages of the fighting. At 08:00, the 4th Army Corps Command sent eight tanks to support the 7th Infantry Division, but three were destroyed by entrenched ARVN soldiers at Bao Chanh A. By midday, the PAVN 209th and 270th Infantry Regiments captured the 18th Division headquarters and the Governor's Residence, which was defended by the ARVN 43rd and 48th Infantry Regiments, setting ablaze seven ARVN tanks in the process. In the south, the PAVN 6th Infantry Division attacked ARVN positions on Highway 1 from Hung Nghia to Me Bong Con, where they destroyed 11 tanks from the ARVN 322nd Armored Brigade. Throughout the day on 9 April, the 18th Division staged counter-attacks on the PAVN flanks to slow down their momentum, especially movements from the north and northwest.
The PAVN resumed the attack on 10 April, this time committing the 165th Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division along with regiments of the 6th and 341st Divisions; again the attack failed. West of Xuân Lộc, between Trảng Bom and the intersection of Highways 1 and 20, the ARVN 322nd Task Force and 1st Airborne Brigade (two battalions) were trying to force their way east against stiff resistance. The PAVN attacked the rear base of the 52nd Regiment on Route 20, the 43rd Infantry in Xuân Lộc and the 82nd Ranger Battalion on 11 April, the third day of the battle. At that time the battalion of the 48th Regiment securing Hàm Tân went back to Xuân Lộc and the 1st Airborne Brigade moved in closer to the town. Task Force 322 was making very slow progress opening the road from Trảng Bom to Xuân Lộc and Toàn ordered Task Force 315 from Cu Chi to reinforce it.
On 12 April, the battalions of the 52nd Regiment were still engaged in heavy fighting north of Xuân Lộc, but the town, although demolished, was still held by the 43rd Regiment. PAVN losses to that point were probably in excess of 800 killed, 5 captured, 300 weapons captured and 11 T-54 tanks destroyed. ARVN casualties had been moderate. Most of the 43rd Regiment was holding east of the town; the 48th was southwest; the 1st Airborne Brigade was south but moving north toward the 82nd Ranger Battalion; and the 322 Task Force was on Route 1 west of the Route 20 junction attacking toward Xuân Lộc. Two resupply missions were flown into the besieged town; on 12 April CH-47 helicopters brought in 93 tons of artillery ammunition and followed with 100 tons the next day. Meanwhile, RVNAF airplanes flying against intense antiaircraft fire, took a heavy toll on the PAVN divisions around Xuân Lộc flying over 200 sorties. At 14:00 on 12 April, RVNAF C-130 Hercules dropped two BLU-82 bombs on PAVN positions in the town of Xuan Vinh, close to Xuân Lộc, killing about 200 PAVN soldiers. The Joint General Staff made the decision to bolster the defences at Xuân Lộc with units drawn from the general reserve. Subsequently, the ARVN 1st Airborne Brigade arrived at the Bao Dinh rubber plantation, while two Marine battalions defended the eastern corridor leading to Bien Hoa. In addition, Tan Phong and Dau Giay received reinforcements from the 33rd Ranger Battalion, 8th Battalion, 5th Division, 8th Artillery Battalion and three armored brigades (315th, 318th and 322nd Armored Brigades). As the reinforcements were making their way onto the battlefield, RVNAF fighter-bombers from Bien Hoa and Tan Son Nhat flew between 80 and 120 combat sorties per day to support the defenders at Xuân Lộc.
On 13 April, Lieutenant General Trần Văn Trà, arrived at the headquarters of the 4th Army Corps. During the meeting with other commanders, Trần Văn Trà decided to alter certain aspects of the attack; the 6th Infantry Division and elements of the 341st Infantry Division would attack Dau Giay, which was the weakest point in the defensive line around Xuân Lộc, set up blocking positions along Highway 2 leading to Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, and along Highway 1 between Xuân Lộc and Bien Hoa. On the same day, the PAVN 2nd Army Corps ordered the 95B Infantry Regiment to join the 4th Army Corps in its efforts to capture Xuân Lộc. As PAVN commanders began to implement their new strategy, the South Vietnamese military declared it had successfully repulsed the "Communist attack" on Xuân Lộc, thereby ending a period of continuous defeats. Thiệu, buoyed by the fierce resistance of his army at Xuân Lộc, announced that the ARVN had "recovered its fighting ability" to defend the country. The new attack began at 04:50 against the headquarters and 1st Battalion, 43rd Regiment, and lasted until 09:30. When the PAVN withdrew, they left 235 dead and about 30 weapons on the field. The attack picked up again at midday and lasted until 15:00, but the 43rd, with heavy RVNAF support, held. Meanwhile, the 1st Airborne Brigade continued to attack north toward Xuân Lộc and Task Force 322, now reinforced by the 315th and 316th Task Forces, struck from the west. RVNAF observers had discovered two batteries of 130 mm guns northeast of Xuân Lộc and attacked them. The PAVN continued sending additional forces into III Corps with the 320B and 325th Divisions moving to Long Khánh where they entered the battle on 15 April.
On 15 April, the situation on the battlefield began to change as PAVN artillery stopped their shelling of Xuân Lộc, but started pounding Bien Hoa Air Base instead. In just one day, the RVNAF 3rd Air Force Division at Bien Hoa was forced to cease all operations due to continuous PAVN artillery bombardments. To continue their support of ground troops at Xuan Loc, the RVNAF mobilised the 4th Air Force Division based at Binh Thuy Air Base to conduct further missions. On the same day, an artillery bombardment of 1,000 rounds fell on the headquarters and 3rd Battalion, 52nd Regiment, an artillery battalion, and elements of the 5th Armored Cavalry Squadron, four 155 mm and eight 105 mm howitzers were destroyed, and the PAVN 6th Infantry Division and the 95B Infantry Regiment defeated a combined ARVN formation which included the 52nd Task Force and the 13th Armored Squadron west of Xuân Lộc. On 16 and 17 April, the PAVN 6th Infantry Division and the 95B Infantry Regiment defeated the ARVN 8th Task Force and 3rd Armored Brigade, when the ARVN tried to recapture the military zone of Dau Giay. Around Xuân Lộc, the ARVN 43rd and 48th Infantry Regiments, as well as the 1st Airborne Brigade, suffered heavy casualties as PAVN infantry units attacked them from all sides. The armored task forces on Route 1 had to pull back; half of their equipment had been destroyed. The 1st Airborne Brigade, frustrated in its attack toward Xuân Lộc, withdrew through the plantations and jungles toward Bà Rịa in Phước Tuy Province.
With Dau Giay and all the main roads under PAVN control, Xuân Lộc was completely isolated, the 18th Division was cut off from reinforcements and surrounded by the PAVN 4th Army Corps. On 19 April, the Joint General Staff ordered Đảo to evacuate the 18th Division and other support units from Xuân Lộc to a new defensive line formed east of Bien Hoa at the town of Trảng Bom which was defended by the remnants of the Division, the 468th Marine Brigade and the reconstituted 258th Marine Brigade. On 20 April, under the cover of heavy rain, South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians began pulling out from Xuân Lộc, in a convoy of about 200 military vehicles. On 21 April, Xuân Lộc was completely abandoned, with the ARVN 1st Airborne Brigade being the last unit to be evacuated from the area. At 04:00 on 21 April, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Airborne Brigade was completely destroyed by the PAVN at the hamlet of Suoi Ca. By the end of the day Xuân Lộc was under North Vietnamese control and the gateway to Saigon was open.
## Aftermath
### Military outcome
Following their costly victory at Xuân Lộc, the PAVN effectively controlled two-thirds of South Vietnam's territory. The loss of Xuân Lộc dealt a severe blow to the military strength of South Vietnam, which had lost almost every unit from its general reserve. On 18 April 1975, III Corps commander Toàn, informed Thiệu that the South Vietnamese forces at Xuân Lộc had been beaten and South Vietnam's armed forces could only hold out for a few more days as a result of their losses on the battlefield. According to North Vietnam's official account of the battle, about 2,036 South Vietnamese soldiers were either killed or wounded and another 2,731 were captured. Total casualties on the North Vietnamese side are unknown, but the 4th Army Corps alone claimed to have suffered 460 killed in action, and another 1,428 wounded. While Đảo claimed that the battle cost the PAVN over 50,000 killed and 370 tanks destroyed, American estimates only put PAVN casualties at around 10 percent of those figures with 5,000 troops killed or wounded and 37 tanks destroyed.
### Political outcome
In the days following the loss of Xuân Lộc, there was still much debate in both houses of South Vietnam's National Assembly about the country's wartime policies. Pro-war elements in the National Assembly argued South Vietnam should fight until the very end, in the belief that the United States would eventually give the country the necessary aid to resist the North Vietnamese. Anti-war elements, on the other hand, strongly opposed the idea. They believed the Government should negotiate with the North Vietnamese, in order to avoid a catastrophic defeat. Despite their differences of opinion, members in both houses of South Vietnam's National Assembly agreed that Thiệu should be held responsible for the country's dire military and political situation, because his policies had allowed the North Vietnamese to easily penetrate South Vietnam's military defences.
Finally at 20:00 on 21 April 1975, Thiệu officially resigned as the president of the Republic of Vietnam upon learning that Xuân Lộc had fallen that morning. In his final effort to save South Vietnam, Thiệu gambled his political career by sending the last units of the ARVN to Xuân Lộc in an attempt to hold off the PAVN. Ultimately, however, Thiệu's effort came too late. Trần Văn Hương was appointed president, and he was ordered by the National Assembly to seek a negotiated peace with North Vietnam at any cost, to the disappointment of many in South Vietnam's political elite, who argued that the situation could have been different if Thiệu had gone earlier. |
10,940,326 | Delaware Route 52 | 1,159,388,186 | State highway in New Castle County, Delaware, United States | [
"State highways in Delaware",
"Transportation in New Castle County, Delaware",
"Turnpikes in Delaware"
]
| Delaware Route 52 (DE 52) is a state highway in New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from U.S. Route 13 Business (US 13 Bus.) in downtown Wilmington north to Pennsylvania Route 52 (PA 52) at the Pennsylvania border near Centerville. DE 52 runs through the city of Wilmington and passes through areas of the Brandywine Valley north of Wilmington. DE 52 intersects Interstate 95 (I-95)/US 202 and DE 2 in Wilmington and DE 100/DE 141 and DE 82 in Greenville. The entire route is designated as part of the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway and Delaware Byway, while most of the route is also designated as part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway of the Delaware Byways system. The road was built as the Kennett Pike, a turnpike, between 1811 and 1813. The Kennett Pike was bought by Pierre S. du Pont in 1919 and was widened and paved before being sold to the State of Delaware for \$1. The road received the DE 52 designation by 1936.
## Route description
DE 52 begins at US 13 Bus., which is routed on the one-way pair of North Walnut Street northbound and North King Street southbound, in the downtown area of the city of Wilmington. From here, DE 52 follows the one-way pair of East 11th Street southbound and East 12th Street northbound to the northwest, forming the northern boundary of Rodney Square along East 11th Street between North King and North Market streets. The route becomes West 11th Street southbound and West 12th Street northbound at the North Market Street intersection. The one-way pair carries three lanes in each direction and heads northwest past downtown high-rise buildings, passing to the north of the DuPont Building along West 11th Street between North Market and North Orange streets and passing to the south of 1201 North Market Street along West 12th Street just west of North Market Street. The northbound direction passes south of Wilmington Hospital between North Washington and North Jefferson streets. Both directions of DE 52 merge onto Delaware Avenue, an eight-lane divided highway, and the route reaches an interchange with I-95/US 202. Past this interchange, the route narrows to six lanes and leaves downtown Wilmington. DE 52 splits from Delaware Avenue by continuing northwest on Pennsylvania Avenue, a four-lane undivided road that heads to the north of the Ursuline Academy and passes through urban areas of homes and businesses. The road intersects the eastern terminus of DE 2 in a commercial area on the northern edge of the Little Italy neighborhood and passes under CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision railroad line. The route runs through more residential areas north of the Wawaset Park neighborhood, passing to the northeast of the Wilmington Campus of the University of Delaware.
DE 52 leaves Wilmington and becomes Kennett Pike, heading through wooded areas of suburban homes. The road passes north of a park and ride lot at the North Dupont Road intersection before it comes to a junction with Montchanin Road, which heads north to provide access to DE 100/DE 141. The road continues into Greenville and widens into a divided highway as it comes to a partial cloverleaf interchange with DE 100/DE 141. This interchange has no access from DE 100/DE 141 southbound to DE 52 southbound or from DE 52 to DE 100/DE 141 northbound. Past this interchange, the route continues into business areas, crossing an East Penn Railroad line at-grade before passing to the east of Alexis I. duPont High School. DE 52 leaves Greenville and narrows to a two-lane undivided road as it heads into wooded areas then open fields, intersecting the southern terminus of DE 82. The road continues through more forested suburban areas, passing to the west of the Wilmington Country Club and to the east of the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science. A park and ride lot located at a church is situated west of the roadway north of the Old Kennett Road intersection. The route passes to the west of the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate and heads into the community of Centerville. DE 52 heads northwest to its northern terminus at the Pennsylvania border, where the road continues into that state as PA 52 to Longwood Gardens and the borough of West Chester.
The entire length of DE 52 is part of the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway and Delaware Byway. The route between Washington and West streets in Wilmington and the Pennsylvania border is also part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway of the Delaware Byways system. DE 52 has an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 28,106 vehicles at the Jefferson Street intersection in Wilmington to a low of 7,122 vehicles at the southern terminus at US 13 Bus. All of DE 52 is part of the National Highway System.
## History
On January 21, 1811, the Wilmington and Kennett Turnpike Company was incorporated by the Delaware State Legislature to build a turnpike from Wilmington to the Pennsylvania border at Centerville. The turnpike was intended to provide a connection between Wilmington, which was a growing industrial city, and nearby areas in southeastern Pennsylvania, where it would connect to other turnpikes leading to western Pennsylvania. The road was built between 1811 and 1813 at a cost of \$30,000. The Kennett Pike was built with a 100-foot (30 m) wide right-of-way, with a 20-foot (6.1 m) travel surface. The charter of the turnpike gave Christiana Hundred the option to purchase the road in 1820 and remove the tolls. The Kennett Pike had two toll gates north of Wilmington. Tolls along the turnpike were charged based on the type of carriage or vehicle and the amount and type of cargo being carried. People who used the roadway to travel between different parts of their property, along with people traveling to a house of worship or funeral, were not charged tolls.
In the 20th century, the automobile rose to prominence and travelers demanded better roads. The alignment of Kennett Pike became home to the estates of many executives from the DuPont Company and other corporations in the early part of the century. Among the executives was DuPont Company secretary and treasurer Pierre S. du Pont, who came up with a plan to modernize Kennett Pike. In 1916, du Pont's plan to modernize the road would widen the turnpike to the same width as Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington, eliminate hazards such as narrow bridges, widen culverts, build a bridge near Brecks Lane in Wilmington, widen it to an improved road between 18 feet (5.5 m) and 25 feet (7.6 m), and grade the roadway to make it smooth and safe. Pierre S. du Pont's cousin, Colonel Henry A. du Pont, owned half the shares of the Wilmington and Kennett Turnpike Company and sold his shares to Pierre S. du Pont; he encouraged other shareholders to do so. Work on improving the highway would be delayed by World War I. By April 1919, Pierre S. du Pont owned nearly all the shares of the turnpike company. As a result of the acquisition of the road by du Pont, the toll gates were removed.
Following the acquisition of the turnpike company, du Pont began widening and resurfacing the road. The engineering department of the DuPont Company laid out and design the roadway while subcontractors constructed the road. Work on improving the Kennett Pike began just north of the Pyles Ford Road intersection near Winterthur. By July 1919, 2,700 feet (820 m) of concrete had been poured along the road while right-of-way acquisition took place in Centerville. Grading of the northern section of the roadway from Winterthur to Centerville occurred by August of that year. By the end of September, excavation was almost finished and homes began to be moved for paving along the northern portion of the Kennett Pike. Also at this time, plans were made for the bridge at Brecks Lane and land acquisition took place along the road in Greenville. In the later part of 1919, final grading occurred in Centerville while excavation commenced in Greenville. On December 13, 1919, construction paused for the winter. Work on improving the Kennett Pike resumed in April 1920, with the sides of the road between Greenville and the Pennsylvania border dressed. By the end of the spring, nearly all the right-of-way had been acquired and paving of the roadway was being finished. The Kennett Pike opened partially to vehicles on June 12, 1920; the road would be fully opened by the end of July. The widening and paving of Kennett Pike cost \$764,000. The roadway was 24 feet (7.3 m) wide and had a 3-foot (0.91 m) wide macadam shoulder. Following the completion of the project, du Pont sold the Kennett Pike to the Delaware State Highway Department for \$1. In addition to improving Kennett Pike, du Pont also widened Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington, which connected the end of Kennett Pike at Greenhill Avenue to Delaware Avenue, which led to downtown Wilmington. Planning on improving the street began in 1917 and work began in 1919, starting near Riverview Avenue. Work on improving Pennsylvania Avenue progressed from north to south. Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington was widened during the 1920s.
When Delaware designated state highways by 1936, DE 52 was designated to run from US 13 (French Street) in Wilmington north to PA 52 at the Pennsylvania border in Centerville, following 11th Street, Delaware Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington and Kennett Pike between Wilmington and the state line. In 1939, the route was widened to four lanes between Rising Sun Lane and Barley Mill Road to alleviate traffic congestion during peak hours. The portion of DE 52 along Delaware Avenue was widened to four lanes in November 1940. By 1957, DE 52 was split into a one-way pair to reach its southern terminus at US 13 (now US 13 Bus.). In 2002, DE 52 was designated as part of the Brandywine Valley Scenic Highway in the Delaware Scenic and Historic Highways system; it was designated a National Scenic Byway in 2005.
## Major intersections
Mileposts run from north to south.
## See also |
28,614,772 | NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma | 1,172,555,233 | null | [
"1984 in United States case law",
"College football controversies",
"Georgia Bulldogs football",
"National Collegiate Athletic Association litigation",
"Oklahoma Sooners football",
"United States Supreme Court cases",
"United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court",
"United States antitrust case law",
"University of Georgia",
"University of Oklahoma"
]
| NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, 468 U.S. 85 (1984), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) television plan violated the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts, which were designed to prohibit group actions that restrained open competition and trade.
The NCAA is an organization that regulates college athletics, and membership is voluntary, although NCAA schools are not allowed to play against non-NCAA teams. The case dealt with television rights to college football games, which were controlled by the NCAA and limited the appearance of university teams in each season. The NCAA believed that their control of television rights protected live attendance, which was disputed by a number of colleges.
These larger colleges formed the College Football Association to negotiate television contracts, until the NCAA advised the colleges that they would be banned from all NCAA competitions, not just in football. The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia Athletic Association sued to force the NCAA to stop the practice. The Supreme Court held that the NCAA's actions were a restraint of trade and ruled for the universities.
## Background
### Antitrust law
The Sherman Antitrust Act was enacted in 1890 to oppose the use of combinations, monopolies or cartels that harmed free and open trade. It prohibited the restraint of trade. The Clayton Antitrust Act was enacted in 1914 to address shortcomings discovered in the Sherman Act. It specified the prohibited conduct, an enforcement scheme, and remedial measures. The Clayton Act allows for private parties to bring suit for treble damages and for injunctive relief. From 1922 (when Federal Baseball Club v. National League ruled that baseball was not considered interstate commerce) until the late 1950s, sporting events were considered to be exempt from both acts, until the Supreme Court decision in International Boxing Club v. United States.
### Control of televised games
The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) is a private non-profit organization founded in 1910 to regulate collegiate athletics. In the 1980s it consisted of approximately 900 college and university members, although only 187 participated in Division I football. In 1938, the first college football game was commercially televised by the University of Pennsylvania. From 1940 to 1950, all of Pennsylvania's home games were televised. Beginning in 1952 and continuing through 1957, the NCAA commissioned a study by National Opinion Research Center to determine the effect of televising college football games on a number of areas, including live attendance. The studies indicated that live television coverage of college football decreased attendance for teams that were not being televised. Based on these studies, the NCAA began to institute controls beginning in 1953 through its Football Television Committee (Committee). The Committee initially determined that there would be only one televised game every Saturday and that no team would appear in a televised game more than once per season. In addition, it was determined that the revenue would be shared by the teams playing the televised game and the NCAA.
The initial restriction was supported by all of the NCAA member schools with the exception of Pennsylvania, who stated that they would continue to televise their home games. The NCAA declared that Pennsylvania was a member in bad standing, and the four schools scheduled to play them at home refused to do so. Pennsylvania then agreed to abide by the NCAA rules on televising games. From 1952 to 1977, the NCAA submitted an annual plan to all member schools, who voted on it by mail. After 1977, the member schools voted on "Principles of Negotiation" instead of the actual plan. Only one network would hold a contract with the NCAA to broadcast games at a time. Although all major television networks had held the contract at various times, from 1965 to 1981, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) had held the contract.
### College Football Association
Partially as a result of dissatisfaction with the NCAA's control of the television market, the College Football Association (CFA) was formed, consisting of major college football programs. In 1979, the CFA, through its executive director Chuck Neinas, began to negotiate a television contract for its members with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), despite the then ongoing NCAA negotiations with both ABC and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). On learning of the CFA's negotiations, the NCAA issued an "Official Interpretation" stating that "The Association shall control all forms of televising of the intercollegiate football games of member institutions during the traditional football season..." The CFA continued to work on a contract with NBC and came to an agreement on August 8, 1981. The NCAA swiftly stated that universities that participated in the CFA contract would face NCAA sanctions, not just in football, but in all other sports as well. Two member schools of the CFA, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma seeking an injunction to prevent the NCAA from taking action against CFA members.
### District court
On being filed on September 8, 1981, District Judge Lee Roy West recused himself from the case, being an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma for both his undergraduate and law degrees. Judge Juan Guerrero Burciaga of New Mexico was then appointed to hear the case. During the trial, the NCAA claimed that it was a voluntary organization and if the plaintiffs or other schools did not wish to abide by the NCAA rules, they were free to terminate their membership. It was shown that the amount of money paid by ABC to teams appearing on television was established by Thomas C. Hansen, the NCAA Television Program Director. Universities were not allowed to negotiate their own terms. Burciaga pointed out an example of the control and price fixing by noting that in 1981, Oklahoma and the University of Southern California (both then ranked in the top 5 of the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll) appeared on 200 stations in a regional broadcast. On the same weekend, ABC televised a game between The Citadel and Appalachian State on four stations. All four teams received the same amount of money for appearing.
Burciaga found that not only did the NCAA engage in price fixing, they acted to limit production by restricting the number of games that could be broadcast. The NCAA further threatened universities with a group boycott if they did not agree to the terms dictated by the NCAA. He noted that ABC had encouraged the NCAA to seek an exemption from antitrust laws from Congress, but that the NCAA did not believe that they could obtain the exemption.
Burciaga then examined the conduct of the NCAA under both the per se rule and the rule of reason. Finding that the NCAA violated antitrust laws under both evaluations, Burciaga issued both a declaratory judgment and a permanent injunction prohibiting the NCAA from interfering with the individual universities' television contracts and declaring the NCAA-ABC contract null and void. The NCAA then appealed the decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
### Circuit Court of Appeals
The Tenth Circuit heard the case before Chief Judge James E. Barrett and Judges James K. Logan and Stephanie K. Seymour. In the appeal, the NCAA argued that Oklahoma and Georgia did not have standing to bring the suit, claiming that the schools suffered no actual injury. Logan, who wrote the opinion, flatly rejected that argument.
The court then turned to whether the case should be evaluated under the per se rule or the rule of reason. Deciding on the per se rule, the court rejected the NCAA arguments that the television plan promoted live attendance, that it promoted balanced athletic competition, and that televised football competed with other, non-sports programs. The court noted that the NCAA plan restricted output and affirmed the trial court's per se ruling, while also holding that the district court erred in ruling television plan and contract constituted a group boycott.
Chief Judge Barrett dissented, believing that the restraints were reasonable under the rule of reason and that the NCAA has an overwhelming interest in preserving the amateur nature of intercollegiate athletics. He would have reversed the district court, quashed the injunction, and held that there was no antitrust violation.
The NCAA again appealed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari to hear the case.
## Opinion of the Court
### Arguments
Frank H. Easterbrook argued the case for the NCAA and Andy Coats represented Oklahoma and Georgia. The United States Solicitor General, Rex E. Lee, filed an amicus curae brief in support of Oklahoma and Georgia, and argued the cause to the court. Other amicus briefs were filed by the National Federation of State High School Associations (supporting the NCAA) and the Association of Independent Television Stations (supporting Oklahoma and Georgia).
### Majority opinion
Justice John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the court. Stevens stated that "There can be no doubt that the challenged practices of the NCAA constitute a 'restraint of trade'" but noted not all restraints of trade were unreasonable, and that only an unreasonable restraint was prohibited by the Sherman Antitrust Act. Stevens noted that a league governing body was necessary for sporting events to take place and determined that the rule of reason, not per se rules applied to the case. Stevens determined that since the NCAA restrained price and output, it created a system that was unrelated to a free and competitive market. Since the NCAA television plan constituted a restraint of trade on its face, it placed the burden on the NCAA of establishing an affirmative defense that would justify the deviation from a free market.
Stevens then went through the justifications that were offered by the NCAA. First, although the NCAA claimed that the television plan was a joint venture, he noted that unlike Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcast System, Inc., the NCAA was not acting as a selling agent and that the sales occurred in a noncompetitive market. Stevens evaluated the NCAA's claim that the television plan enhanced the competitiveness of college football. Since the district court found no procompetitive efficiencies from the arrangement, Stevens rejected this justification. He also said that there was no need to penetrate the market against "nonexistent" competitors. Stevens likewise rejected the defense that the television plan was designed to protect live attendance, stating " The NCAA's argument that its television plan is necessary to protect live attendance is not based on a desire to maintain the integrity of college football as a distinct and attractive product, but rather on a fear that the product will not prove sufficiently attractive to draw live attendance when faced with competition from televised games."
The NCAA position that an interest in maintaining a competitive balance justified the television plan was also rejected. While agreeing with the desire to maintain such a balance, Stevens noted that there was no evidence that the plan succeeded in that effort. The decision of the circuit court was affirmed.
### Dissent
Justice Byron White, joined by Justice William Rehnquist, dissented from the majority opinion. White, a former college football star at Colorado, stated that while intercollegiate athletics bore a superficial resemblance to professional sports, it was clear that other, non-commercial goals played the main role. Its actions are based on the unique nature of college athletics, and White felt that the restrictions were reasonable. He would have overturned the circuit court. White did not find the majority's deference to the District Court's economic findings, and was not convinced that Oklahoma nor Georgia had shown either an increase in prices or a decrease in output.
## Subsequent developments
As a direct result of this ruling, more games were televised which had the initial effect of driving television revenues down. This trend reversed, and by 2005, Notre Dame had signed a contract with NBC to broadcast all home games for a five-year period. In 2009-10, the University of Texas at Austin reported profits of almost \$69 million just from football. Most of this money was earned in television contracts before UT added its own Longhorn Network which will pay approximately \$15 million per year. The major conferences have reshuffled multiple times, most dramatically in the early 2010s and early 2020s, and the landscape of college football has changed significantly. Individual universities, their associated athletic conferences, and the individual bowl games continue to increase their revenue streams from television. As the profits for the universities and their athletics departments have grown, some have argued that the sense of exploitation of the amateur athlete has also grown. In 2023, Andy Coats, the lawyer who had represented Oklahoma and Georgia, admitted to NBC News that the ruling "screwed up college football across the board ... [B]ut I don’t think anyone could have predicted what would happen".
## See also
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 468
- National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith |
38,274,888 | Botik of Peter the Great | 1,102,464,988 | 17th-century Russian ceremonial warship | [
"1640s ships",
"Museum ships in Russia",
"Peter the Great",
"Russian Navy"
]
| The Botik of Peter the Great (also called St. Nicholas) is a miniaturized scaled-down warship discovered by Peter the Great at the Royal Izmaylovo Estate in 1688. It was restored by Karshten Brandt, and Peter learned to sail using the boat on waters near Moscow. It was stored in the Kremlin of Moscow by Peter and later enshrined in St. Petersburg. Peter continued to use it in state ceremonies and ordered that the boat be sailed down the Neva River on 30 August of every year. It was used in state ceremonies of later Russian monarchs, including the wedding of Catherine the Great and Peter III of Russia, as well as the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg. Catherine built a boathouse in the 1760s to store it.
The boat became less important under Soviet rule, along with other objects from the Russian Empire; however, patriotism during the outbreak of the Second World War led to a renewal of the importance of Peter the Great and the botik along with him. The boat was moved by the Soviets to the Central Naval Museum where it remains today. In 1997, the boat left Russia for the first time to be displayed at the World Financial Center.
## Construction and design
The botik (small boat) was constructed, either in England or by Danes in Russia using an English design, in the 1640s, and was then called the St. Nicholas. The boat originally belonged to Peter the Great's grandfather; an earlier theory held that the boat was a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Ivan the Terrible in the 1580s. It is the last remnant of the fleet of wooden boats maintained by Peter's father, Alexis; the rest rotted from neglect or were destroyed during the rebellion of Stenka Razin.
The boat has a shallow draft and a single mast; it measures 7 metres (23 ft) by 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). It was steered using a tiller connected to a rudder attached to the sternpost. It also has four miniature cannons. Unlike Russian vessels of the time, the boat was designed with the ability to sail against the wind.
## History
### Discovery
The boat was rediscovered at the Royal Izmaylovo Estate in 1688 by Peter the Great, then aged about sixteen. The derelict boat was pulled from a pile of debris in either a barn or a storeroom. Peter asked Franz Timmerman, a Dutch seaman, what advantage the newly discovered boat had over Russian boats. Timmerman responded that the boat could sail with or against wind and at Peter's direction sought out another Dutch seaman, Karshten Brandt, to restore it. Peter learned to sail the ship on waters near Moscow.
### Peter the Great
In 1701, Peter had the botik stored in the Kremlin's Dormition Cathedral. Peter referenced the boat in a draft preface to his 1720 Naval Statute. The published preface was written by Archbishop Feofan Prokopovich who wrote that "the botik served him not only as a childhood pastime, but became the cause of his building a navy, as we now see with wonder" and illustrated this with the metaphor, "great oaks from little acorns grow". In September of the same year, Prokopovich gave a "Sermon in Praise of the Russian Fleet" where he stated that the boat was "to the navy what the seed is to the tree" and that the boat was "worthy of being clad in gold".
Peter the Great ordered that the boat be displayed in the Kremlin in 1722 in honor of the Peace of Nystad. It was moved from there to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in May 1723. Peter sailed the boat down the Neva River on his birthday, 30 May 1723, along with a convoy of yachts and other ships of the Admiralty. In August of the same year, Peter sailed the boat in a regatta of the Baltic Fleet from St. Petersburg to Kronshtadt. The boat was placed in the kronverk of the Peter and Paul Fortress on a plinth, inscribed with the words "From the amusement of the child came the triumph of the man". After the boat took part in ceremonies on the third anniversary of the Peace of Nystad, 30 August 1724, Peter ordered that it be sailed or rowed to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery every year on 30 August.
### Later Russian monarchs
The botik was used in many state ceremonies by later Russian monarchies. The boat appeared in a regatta during the 1745 wedding of Peter III of Russia and Catherine the Great. Wearing naval uniform, Empress Elizabeth escorted the botik. Catherine had a boathouse built inside the fortress to house the botik in the 1760s. The boathouse became a major tourist attraction. In 1803, during the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg under Alexander I, the boat was featured in a flotilla on the Neva; it was referred to as the "grandfather of the Russian navy" a name originally given to it by Peter I.
In 1872, the boat was brought to Moscow in a cortege led by a brother of Alexander II of Russia for the bicentennial celebration of Peter's birth. It was received by a 101-gun salute and displayed in the great Moscow fair.
### Soviet era
The importance of the boat, like most other memorials from Imperial Russia, was reduced in the early Soviet era. Guidebooks to Leningrad at the time did not reference the boat. The boat was moved to Peterhof in 1928 and remained there until World War II. During the outbreak of World War II, patriotism related to Peter the Great resurfaced. He was referenced as conqueror of Germans and the founder of what became the Soviet Navy. The importance of the boat increased with him, and it was moved to the Central Naval Museum of the St. Petersburg Bourse in September 1940.
### Post-Soviet era
The boat made its first foray outside Russia in 1997 when it was displayed in the Winter Garden Atrium of the World Financial Center in New York City. While being displayed as part of the "St. Petersburg: A Cultural Celebration" festival, the boat was attended to by two preservationists. The preservationists attempted to identify the species of oak used in the boat so that the country of origin could be determined in addition to scraping off dirt and patching cracks. |
31,164,132 | Justin De Fratus | 1,162,756,378 | American baseball player (born 1987) | [
"1987 births",
"American expatriate baseball players in Mexico",
"Arkansas Travelers players",
"Baseball players from Oxnard, California",
"Baseball players from Whittier, California",
"Catholics from California",
"Clearwater Threshers players",
"Florida Complex League Phillies players",
"Harrisburg Senators players",
"Lakewood BlueClaws players",
"Lehigh Valley IronPigs players",
"Living people",
"Major League Baseball pitchers",
"Mesa Solar Sox players",
"Minor league baseball coaches",
"Oklahoma City Dodgers players",
"Philadelphia Phillies players",
"Reading Phillies players",
"Rio Mesa High School alumni",
"Round Rock Express players",
"Southern Maryland Blue Crabs players",
"Syracuse Chiefs players",
"Tacoma Rainiers players",
"Tulsa Drillers players",
"Ventura Pirates baseball players",
"Williamsport Crosscutters players",
"Águilas de Mexicali players"
]
| Justin Andrew De Fratus (born October 21, 1987), is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, from (–).
De Fratus grew up in Oxnard, California and played baseball in high school prior to playing at Ventura College. The Philadelphia Phillies selected him in the 11th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft. De Fratus methodically moved his way up through the Phillies farm system, spending about one year at each level, from rookie to Class A, and then moving through two levels per season in and . In 2011, De Fratus made his MLB debut and, by , he was a regular member of the Phillies bullpen after a few years of splitting time between the big leagues and Triple-A. In , De Fratus used his slider to "dominate the league", and establish himself as a reliable reliever, capable of pitching in late-inning situations.
De Fratus has a two-pitch repertoire that consists of a fastball and a slider, the latter of which is his out pitch. He embraces a propensity to work quickly on the mound, and use a lower arm slot. Off the field, De Fratus is a member of the Roman Catholic church, and uses baseball to strengthen his faith. He sees evangelism as a duty of Christians, and would like to go to seminary when he finishes his baseball career.
## Early life
Before High School, De Fratus attended Mesa Union School District. He then attended Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California, from which he graduated in 2005; he was a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His high school coach, David Soliz, asserted that he could pitch in the major leagues for a long time, saying, "He definitely has the stuff to pitch in the majors. Justin has the stuff, but he also has the confidence. The odds were against him being drafted in the 11th round out of Ventura College." De Fratus was the first Mesa Union, and Rio Mesa player to reach the majors during Soliz's tenure. He went on to attend Ventura College where, like at Rio Mesa, he was a starting pitcher.
## Professional career
### Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies selected De Fratus with the 353rd overall pick in the 11th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft, and assigned him to the Gulf Coast League Phillies, the Phillies' rookie level minor league affiliate, with whom he went 2–3 with a 4.30 earned run average (ERA) in 10 games (eight starts). The next season, 2008, he advanced to the Williamsport Crosscutters, and went 6–5 with a 3.67 ERA in 14 starts. He led the New York–Penn League in innings pitched, pitching at least six in almost 65% of his starts; the Phillies named him their minor league player of the week in mid-June. Before the 2009 season, at the decision of Phillies minor league pitching coordinator Gorman Heimueller and assistant general manager Chuck LaMar, De Fratus became predominantly a relief pitcher so he was "not sitting down four games out of the week" and could be a more focused pitcher. He took his first crack at relief pitching with the Lakewood BlueClaws, and ultimately began to flourish, earning Phillies minor league player of the week honors, and a spot in the South Atlantic League all-star game. On the season, he posted a 5–6 record with a 3.19 ERA in 36 games (though still with 12 starts). After the season, he participated in the Florida Instructional League. He had a successful 2010 season, splitting time between the High-A Clearwater Threshers and Double-A Reading Phillies, and posting a 1.94 ERA with 21 saves in 49 games.
De Fratus began the 2011 season with Double-A Reading, and was promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on June 16 after much success in Reading. He recorded seven saves with Lehigh Valley, and was named the Phillies minor league player of the week in late August, before making his MLB debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on September 18, 2011, after joining the team as a September callup. During his debut, an opposing batter fouled a ball off, and De Fratus's brother caught the ball. Ultimately, it was a scoreless debut, and he went on to pitch four more big-league games that season. At the end of the season, Baseball America rated him the seventh-best prospect in the Phillies' minor league system. Before 2012, like in 2011, he was given an opportunity to open the season in the Phillies bullpen, but ended up injuring his shoulder, and missing much of the season. He called the injury a "beat down" both physically and mentally, but he returned and pitched with the big-league club in September. At the conclusion of the season, he was mentally exhausted and used golf to help "divert" his attention from baseball, playing over 50 rounds in the offseason; he credited golf with helping him overcome the mental exhaustion he faced after the season, and entered 2013 in a relaxed frame of mind.
By 2013, De Fratus was a regular member of the bullpen, pitching in 58 games with the big-league club; he performed well enough to be considered likely to open the 2014 season firmly implanted in the Phillies bullpen. He broke spring training 2014 with the major league team, but after four appearances, he was optioned back to the minor leagues to work on commanding his pitches, notwithstanding the Phillies' dearth of other right-handed relieving options. While at Lehigh Valley, he spent a significant amount of time reviewing film from his outings in 2011 and 2012, from which he learned that he had a faster pace when pitching, a more aggressive pitching style, and a lower arm slot. Just under a month later, in late May, he was recalled to the major league team, and had much success (11 consecutive scoreless appearances) as part of a Phillies' bullpen that drastically improved from the beginning of the season, and, statistically, was among the best in the major leagues in early June. De Fratus' drastically improved command helped him halve his career walk rate – he walked just 5.5% of batters he faced in 2014, which contributed to a "breakout" season. Although he was overshadowed by the emergence of fellow relief pitcher Ken Giles, De Fratus established himself as a reliable late-innings reliever for the future.
### Seattle Mariners
A free agent following the 2015 season, De Fratus signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners on December 2. He was released on March 16, 2016, and re-signed to a minor league contract the following day.
### Texas Rangers
On June 11, 2016, De Fratus was traded to the Texas Rangers.
### San Diego Padres
On February 28, 2017, De Fratus signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres. He was released a month later.
### Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
On April 6, 2017, De Fratus signed with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
### Seattle Mariners (Second Stint)
On May 9, 2017, De Fratus signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017.
### Los Angeles Dodgers
On February 17, 2018, De Fratus signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was named to the mid-season Texas League All-Star Game as a member of the Tulsa Drillers. Overall he made 11 starts for Tulsa and 12 for the AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers, with a 7–9 record and 4.74 ERA. He became a free agent after the season ended and re-signed with the Dodgers on a minor-league deal on January 26, 2019. He again split the season between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, pitching in 25 games (22 starts) with a 5.60 ERA and a 9–13 record.
## Coaching career
After the 2019 season, he chose to retire from playing to become a minor league coach in the Dodgers system.
## Pitching style
A fastball and a slider comprise De Fratus's pitching repertoire; his fastball averages about 93 miles per hour (150 km/h), but occasionally touches 95 miles per hour (153 km/h), while his slider is about 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) slower than that. His slider was able to "dominate the league" in 2014, and although he does not total as many strikeouts as some relievers, he has established himself as a dependable piece in the Phillies' bullpen. Early in his career, De Fratus aspired to be a closer, but after realizing that an "all-or-nothing" mentality was not necessarily conducive to success, he sought to relax more and focus on being a quality setup reliever, projecting confidence on the mound. Especially in the Phillies' young bullpen, the need for reliable late-innings relievers was great, underscoring the importance of De Fratus's emergence. He is most successful when he utilizes a lower arm angle, and works quickly on the mound.
## Personal life
De Fratus is a devout Roman Catholic who, though he was raised in a large Catholic family, struggled with his faith after an injury early in his career, but ultimately determined the injury was a gift from God to help him better understand his faith: "I really feel that the setback was God telling me, ‘Hey you are not done. You are not done yet figuring out what you need to figure out, and I am going to give you a little more time.’ There is a big reason why that injury happened and I feel that I used it as best as I could have." He noted that he would like to take classes at a seminary to help proselytize to others. Early in his professional career, he struggled to find fellow Catholics, and noted that most of his teammates were either Protestants or not religious. Moreover, in many small towns that house minor league teams, there are no Catholic churches, so De Fratus found it easy to slide away from leading a Catholic lifestyle. However, upon realizing that there is more to life than material success, he discovered a need for God, and has thus developed his faith. Aside from his faith, he enjoys writing and recording music, and playing the guitar. He has two brothers, the older of whom, Steve, played in the minor leagues, and the younger of whom, Chris, caught a foul ball during De Fratus's major league debut.
During the offseason preceding the 2015 season, De Fratus became involved in some controversy involving Phillies blogger Bill Baer and the Black Lives Matter campaign when he tweeted, "I'm sick of this black vs white and men vs women garbage that's been going on. We're just people. \#AllLivesMatter," to which Baer responded with a scathing column on Crashburn Alley, a blog affiliated with ESPN, in which he stated that De Fratus is "complicit in perpetuating a system which inflicts violence on those who didn’t have the luxury of being born white and male and straight and in an economically-stable area." Subsequently, De Fratus penned a retort to Baer via Facebook, in which he commented, "I sincerely hope that you will take the time to talk to me personally next time before you decide to hide behind your computer screen and criticize me, my upbringing and my character based on 140 characters. I do not apologize for anything I have said. I have a platform and I WILL use it for the agenda of love." |
1,866,239 | Hurricane Isbell | 1,171,663,952 | Category 3 Atlantic hurricane in 1964 | [
"1964 Atlantic hurricane season",
"1964 in Florida",
"1964 natural disasters in the United States",
"Category 3 Atlantic hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Florida"
]
| Hurricane Isbell was the final hurricane to affect the United States during the 1964 season. The eleventh tropical storm and sixth hurricane of the season, Isbell developed from a dissipating cold front in the southwestern Caribbean on October 8. The depression initially remained disorganized as it track northwestward, but strengthened into Tropical Storm Isbell on October 13. Re-curving northeastward, Isbell quickly strengthened further and reached hurricane status by later that day. Late on October 13, Isbell made landfall in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. The storm continued strengthening and peaked as a Category 3 hurricane on the following day. Isbell moved northeastward and made landfall near Everglades, Florida, late on October 14. After reaching the Atlantic on the following day, the storm began to weaken. Isbell turned northward and continued weakening, before transitioning to an extratropical cyclone while located just offshore eastern North Carolina on October 16.
The storm produced strong winds throughout western Cuba. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, as were several tobacco warehouses. There was at least \$20 million in damage and four deaths in Cuba, three of them caused by collapsing houses in the Guane area. Several tornadoes in Florida caused significant damage. Throughout the state, 1 house was destroyed, 33 were severely damaged, and 631 suffered minor impact. Additionally, 66 trailers were destroyed and 88 were inflicted with major damage. Three deaths occurred in the state, one due to a heart attack and two from drowning in Florida Keys when their shrimp boat sank. Because the storm weakened considerably, impact in North Carolina was generally minor. The storm also spawned at least nine tornadoes in the state, which demolished trailers and unroofed homes and other buildings in several communities. Damage throughout the United States totaled \$10 million.
## Meteorological history
Hurricane Isbell was first identified as a weak tropical disturbance on October 7, 1964 over the western Caribbean. Situated to the south of a diffuse trough, the system remained weak and relatively disorganized as it moved generally northwest near Honduras and Nicaragua. Despite the presence of an upper-level anticyclone, which promotes favorable outflow for tropical cyclones and aids in tropical cyclogenesis, a lack of distinct low-level inflow inhibited intensification. Additionally, an area of warm mid-tropospheric air was present within the cyclone. Though a disheveled system, it is analyzed to have become a tropical depression by 12:00 UTC on October 8. The following day, the depression skirted the eastern coast of Honduras. Operationally, it was not until October 10 that the Weather Bureau initiated advisories on the depression. On that date, a weather reconnaissance mission into the system found a weak low-level circulation with a barometric pressure of 1007.3 mb (hPa; 29.75 inHg) and winds of 20–30 mph (32–48 km/h) in squalls. Throughout October 11 and 12, the depression slowly executed a tight cyclonic loop over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. It finally organized into a tropical storm and was given the name Isbell by 00:00 UTC on October 13 after completing the loop and acquiring a north-northeast trajectory.
Throughout October 13, marked intensification of the cyclone occurred. Over a 24‐hour span, ending at 18:00 UTC, its central pressure fell from 1005 mb (hPa; 29.68 inHg) to 979 mb (hPa; 28.91 inHg) which was reflected in Isbell's winds more than doubling from 35 to 90 mph (56 to 145 km/h). Shortly thereafter, the storm made landfall in extreme western Cuba, near Guane, before emerging over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Isbell's brief stint over land did not hinder development, which continued unabated until 12:00 UTC on October 14 at which time it reached its maximum intensity. Situated to the south of Key West, Florida, Isbell attained winds of 125 mph (201 km/h) which ranks it as a Category 3 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Additionally, its central pressure bottomed out at 964 mb (hPa; 28.47 inHg). Around this time, a new low-pressure area formed 300 mi (480 km) to Isbell's northwest over the Gulf in response to a powerful cold-core low over the Mississippi Valley. The cyclonic flow of this second system brought cool, dry air from the north and circulated it into the hurricane. This in turn caused the storm to become asymmetric in structure with radar imagery indicating little to no reflectivity along the western periphery of the hurricane.
The degrading structure of Isbell resulted in some weakening as it accelerated toward Florida. At 22:00 UTC on October 14, the hurricane made landfall near Everglades City as a Category 2 with sustained winds between 100 and 110 mph (160 and 180 km/h). Within five hours, the system cleared the Florida Peninsula and emerged over the western Atlantic Ocean north of West Palm Beach. The storm's passage over land resulted in notable weakening, though Isbell remained of hurricane-strength. During the afternoon of October 15, the low that had formed the previous day induced a northward turn of the cyclone and directed it toward North Carolina, a result of what is known as the Fujiwhara effect. Thereafter, the two systems began to intertwine as Isbell began transitioning into an extratropical cyclone; rapid weakening accompanied this phase. Isbell completed this process by 12:00 UTC on October 16 as it moved onshore near Morehead City, North Carolina. On October 17 the two non-tropical systems merged into a single storm over the Outer Banks. Isbell's remnants emerged back over the Atlantic Ocean on October 18 near the Delmarva Peninsula before accelerating northeast. The system was last noted on October 19 as it moved over Atlantic Canada.
## Preparations
In Cuba, thousands were evacuated due to flooding lowlands. Advisories were broadcast and issued warning of the possibility of heavy rains and winds, isolated small hail, and possible isolated tornadoes in Florida from 21:00 UTC on October 14 to 02:00 UTC on October 15. The aviation severe weather forecast also warned residents in south and central Florida of up to 0.75 in (19 mm) of hail, gusts of up to 53 mph (85 km/h), and the potential for tornadic activity. Flood warnings were also issued, with predictions of flooding 4 ft (1.2 m) above flood stage. Emergency preparations at Key West's weather office were made. In the morning hours of October 13, the office alerted city, county, and military officials. In the afternoon, they completed office preparations and scheduling. On October 14, the office requested radio stations to stay on the air and relayed hourly reports.
In North Carolina, some tidal flooding was also forecast. People were warned to tune to television and radio broadcasts. On October 15, as Isbell rapidly crossed Florida, forecasters at the Charleston, South Carolina Weather Bureau warned of high tides of up to 12 ft (3.7 m), 5 ft (1.5 m) above flood-stage, from South Carolina into North Carolina. Owing to the continued northeastward movement of the storm, tides ultimately did not exceed 2 ft (0.61 m) in South Carolina. Across coastal areas of North Carolina, alerts for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and high tides were raised; however, the storm greatly diminished before reaching shore and little damage materialized. Moderate rains along the lower Neuse River basin were expected to prolong flooding triggered by Hurricane Hilda and its remnants earlier in October. Small craft advisories were raised northward to Provincetown, Massachusetts, through October 18.
## Impact
### Cuba
Skirting the extreme western coast of Cuba on October 13, the storm produced gusts estimated at 100 mph (160 km/h) in Pinar del Río Province. The highest measured sustained winds were 85 mph (137 km/h) in Guane and 70 mph (110 km/h) at Rancho-Boyeros Airport in the capital city of Havana. Additionally, pressures at the city fell to 979 mbar (hPa; 28.91 inHg). Heavy rains caused rivers to over-top their banks, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Three fatalities occurred in Guane due to collapsing homes. A fourth fatality took place elsewhere in Cuba. Numerous homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm, with exact numbers unknown. The region's tobacco crop also sustained considerable losses with fields and warehouses destroyed. The damage to agriculture compounded economic losses in Cuba that resulted from Hurricane Flora in September 1963, which devastated the nation, as well as impacts from Hurricanes Cleo and Hilda earlier in 1964. The combined effects of Cleo, Hilda, and Isbell resulted in economic losses of approximately \$100 million in the country, of which at least \$20 million was directly attributed to Isbell.
### Florida
Though Isbell struck the state as a Category 2 hurricane, no winds in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h) were reported. Measurements peaked at 90 mph (140 km/h) at both Everglades City and Indiantown. Hurricane-force gusts were measured in Belle Glade, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Pompano Beach, and West Palm Beach. Atmospheric pressures fell to 970.7 mb (hPa; 28.67 inHg) in the Dry Tortugas and 977.5 mb (hPa; 28.87 inHg) on the mainland in Juno Beach. Rainfall in the state was relatively limited owing to the brisk movement of the storm, though a frontal system immediately preceding the hurricane brought heavy rains to the state. A peak total of 9.46 in (240 mm) was measured in West Palm Beach, though an estimated 80% of this was attributable to the front. Amounts from the hurricane itself were likely around 5 in (130 mm). No major storm surge was reported during Isbell's passage due to greatly weaker winds in the back half of the storm. Tides in Key West rose 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m) above normal.
Throughout Florida, three people were killed in relation to the storm and no more than \$10 million in damage occurred, with more than half of which was attributed to agricultural losses. In addition, 76 people were injured, 12 of whom required hospitalization. Structural damage was relatively limited, with only 63 homes and businesses, mostly trailers, being destroyed; 159 other structures sustained major damage while a further 631 experienced minor damage. The majority of damage from Isbell was not from the hurricane itself but rather tornadoes spawned by its outer bands. At least nine, and as many as twelve, tornadoes affected the state with the greatest effects being felt in the Miami metropolitan area. All storm-related injuries were attributed to these tornadoes as well as the majority of structural damage. According to the National Climatic Data Center, four of these tornadoes were of F2 intensity.
Despite the close passage of the storm to the Florida Keys, damage in the area was light and amounted to \$175,000. Of this, \$125,000 was attributed to structural damage. Hurricane-force winds in the archipelago only lasted 15 minutes and gale-force winds occurred over a 5-hour span. The brevity of damaging winds limited the effects of the storm. Most damage was constrained to downed trees, signs, and power poles. Two trailers were overturned, however, and an oil barge sank in the Key West Harbor. Two people drowned after their shrimp boat was destroyed. In and around the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Royal Palms, and Royal Poincianas were defoliated by the hurricane's winds. Downed trees and power lines in Collier County temporarily left many customers without phone and electrical service. Residents in nearby Lee Cypress stated that the effects from Isbell were worse than Hurricane Donna which struck the region as a Category 4 in September 1960.
Palm Beach County was the most affected area, accounting for more than half of the losses, and approximately \$700,000 in damage. One indirect death occurred when a man suffered a heart attack in Lake Worth while installing storm shutters. At least three tornadoes were spawned in Palm Beach County. The strongest was an F2 that struck a trailer park in Briny Breezes, damaging numerous trailers and injuring 22 people. Shortly thereafter the same tornado or possibly a second one struck Boynton Beach, injuring three people and damaging several structures. The event lasted roughly 20 minutes and the tornadoes moved along a path 10 mi (16 km) long. Another tornado in Boca Raton caused a number of minor injuries. In West Palm Beach, a twister that crossed the intersection of State Roads 802 and 809 damaged adjacent properties and injured several people. Throughout Palm Beach County, 492 homes suffered damage, while 36 mobile homes were demolished and 60 others were inflicted major impact. Additionally, 33 farm buildings and 9 small businesses were severely damaged or destroyed.
In Martin County, an F2 was spawned in Hobe Sound and affected the area near U.S. Route 1. About 39 homes and 13 mobile homes were damaged, while two farm buildings and two businesses also received impact. The fourth F2 tornado was spawned in Brevard County near Eau Gallie. It caused extensive damage and injured 17 people in the Orange Court trailer park. Collectively, 35 homes in Flagler and Volusia counties were damaged.
### The Carolinas and elsewhere
Heavy rains associated with Isbell and a nearby non-tropical low resulted in heavy rains across The Carolinas on October 15 and 16. In and around the Columbia, South Carolina area, 3 to 6 in (76 to 152 mm) of rain fell, with a peak of 6.11 in (155 mm) in the city itself. Significant flooding took place along all rivers in the state; the Broad River crested at 32.1 ft (9.8 m), its highest level since 1940, in Blair. The Pee Dee River rose to 39 ft (12 m) at Cheraw by October 18, roughly 9 ft (2.7 m) above flood-stage. The cotton crop sustained the greatest losses during the event, with damage estimated in excess of \$1 million. Along the coast, tides rose to 6.2 ft (1.9 m), 2.1 ft (0.64 m) above normal, in Charleston Harbor. What little coastal flooding took place mostly resulted from wave run-up rather than tidal flooding. Some beach erosion occurred in exposed areas.
Much of North Carolina was affected by Isbell with rain extending into interior parts of the state. Totals were generally light, however, and peaked at around 5 in (130 mm) in eastern areas. Some flash flooding took place in the Piedmont, though overall effects were minimal. In the Blue Ridge Mountains, the French Broad River topped its banks and prompted evacuations in Hot Springs and Marshall. The greatest impacts were felt along the Neuse River in Kinston within Lenoir County. Rains from Isbell exacerbated ongoing floods in the area, resulting in heavy damage to many homes. A man was swept away by swift currents near a Duke Energy steam plant in Cliffside; however, it is unknown if he perished or was later rescued. Losses to the peanut crop were extensive, though no monetary value is available. With the storm arriving at low-tide, no notable coastal flooding occurred. The significant weakening of Isbell prior to landfall also lessened the effects from wind as gale-force winds were mostly constrained to coastal areas; a peak gust of 75 mph (121 km/h) was measured in Elizabeth City.
Elsewhere along the East Coast, the remnants of Isbell produced generally light to moderate rain. A localized maximum of around 5 in (130 mm) occurred in Massachusetts as the system began to dissipate. Immediately following the storm, an unseasonably strong cold front brought near-freezing temperatures to Virginia, resulting in frost. The combination of the cold air and the hurricane prevented any peanut bumper crop harvesting in the state.
## See also
- List of Florida hurricanes
- Tropical Storm Barry (2007)
- Hurricane Wilma
- Hurricane Dennis (1981)
- Hurricane Charley |
43,292,372 | Live in Atlantic City (Beyoncé video) | 1,153,117,583 | 2013 live video album by Beyoncé | [
"2013 video albums",
"Albums produced by Beyoncé",
"Beyoncé albums",
"Beyoncé video albums",
"Culture of Atlantic City, New Jersey",
"Live video albums"
]
| Live in Atlantic City is a live video album by American recording artist Beyoncé. It was released on November 22, 2013 through Columbia Records and Parkwood Entertainment as a part of the home video release of her autobiographical television film Life Is But a Dream. The concert film contains footage from Beyoncé's four-night residency show at Revel Casino Hotel Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey, titled Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live between May 25–28, 2012, and was directed by Ed Burke and Beyoncé herself. It encompasses live performances of twenty-one songs, in addition to Beyoncé's then-new song "God Made You Beautiful".
After the film was released, videos of three performances from the concert were released online on Beyoncé's YouTube channel—"Schoolin' Life", "Dance for You" and "Party". Live in Atlantic City was commercially successful, peaking within the top ten on various DVD charts worldwide. The two-disc set of Life Is But a Dream/Live in Atlantic City peaked atop the US Top Music Videos and the UK Music Video Chart, becoming Beyoncé's fourth and first chart-topper in the countries, respectively. It was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
## Background
On February 16, 2013, Beyoncé released Life Is But a Dream, an autobiographical television film. It premiered on HBO, garnering 1.8 million viewers for the initial broadcast, becoming the largest audience for a documentary since Nielsen Media Research revised its method of measuring viewership in 2004. However, critical commentary towards Life Is But a Dream was mixed with divided opinions by critics.
## Film synopsis
Live in Atlantic City contains live performances of twenty-one songs along with a new song "God Made You Beautiful", written by Australian singer-songwriter Sia. Several short excerpts of the performances found on the film are also featured in Life Is But a Dream itself. The film opens with Beyoncé appearing in front of a large screen with her silhouette being seen. As the music of "End of Time" starts, she performs a choreography with her female dancers and French duo Les Twins on stage further singing the song's lyrics. "Get Me Bodied" follows with a similarly choreographed performance and for the third song "Baby Boy", the singer dances with her background dancers in front of a holographic background performing a Dutty Wine dance at the end. "Crazy in Love" and "Diva" are featured as the fourth and fifth song, respectively. "Naughty Girl" is preceded by a video projection with a voice-over by Beyoncé talking about female sexuality. A snippet of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" is interpolated within it and the singer performs the song with her female dancers. She continues with "Party" for which a prominent Las Vegas showgirl theme is featured.
Prior to starting "Dance for You", Beyoncé announces to the audience that she is going to dance to the song without singing it. "Freakum Dress" opens with a short interlude during which several dancers appear onstage dancing with long dresses. Beyoncé appears and performs the song, interacting with her guitarist towards the end. "I Care" is performed by the singer alone on stage and during "Schoolin' Life" a laser show is displayed for a choreographed dance. "1+1" sees Beyoncé singing the song atop a piano and "Flaws and All" follows. "Run the World (Girls)" is preceded by a video interlude set to the music of "Countdown", shown on the screen onstage. A video featuring various footage from Beyoncé's life follows as she recites the lyrics from her song "I Was Here". After that, she performs the opening lines of "I Will Always Love You" a cappella as a tribute to Whitney Houston and continues with her own song "Halo". "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) is performed afterwards with the same choreography from its music video and "Green Light" is used as the encore. "Love on Top" is the last song on Live in Atlantic City, performed by Beyoncé and her dancers as the credits for the concert film are shown.
"God Made You Beautiful" is featured as a bonus audio song on the album and it premiered online on November 22, 2013. It is a down-tempo ballad, with a staccato beat and a gospel-tinged chorus. Instrumentally, it consists of drums, strings, pianos, runs and hand claps. It opens with an "echoey" a cappella choir and it lyrically talks about Beyoncé and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy as the singer tells that she "brought me back to life/you bring me back to life."
## Release
Live in Atlantic City's home video release for DVD and Blu-ray formats was announced on October 30, 2013 along with a trailer. During the video, it was revealed that the release included a two-disc set, with the second part, Live in Atlantic City, being bonus concert footage filmed during Beyoncé's four-night residency show Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live at Revel Atlantic City between May 25–28, 2012. A new song, titled "God Made You Beautiful", was also featured on the concert film and heard as the background music in the trailer. The home media release was made available for pre-order on November 1, 2013. Live in Atlantic City was first released in Germany and the Netherlands on November 22, 2013 as part of the two-disc set of Life Is But a Dream. Three days later, the DVD was also released in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the Blu-ray edition was released in the latter country the same day. In the United States, the Blu-ray edition was released on December 17, 2013.
After the film was released, videos of the performances of three songs were released online. The performance of "Schoolin' Life" from the film was previewed on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel on November 25, 2013. A writer of Vibe magazine felt that the laser light show from the performance "brighten[ed] up Atlantic City". The performance of "Dance for You" was also uploaded to the singer's channel two days later. The live rendition of "Party" was the final uploaded video from the concert film on December 2. John Walker of MTV reviewed it positively writing: "The sparkling, goddess-like centerpiece in a swirling sea of pink feathers, Beyoncé shines like a true showgirl on stage. Thankfully, unlike the 1995 camp classic, none of her backup dancers look nefarious enough to try anything funny". Walker further praised Beyoncé's vocals and dance moves as "on point as always" and the "flawlessly areolicious bustier" she wore.
## Commercial performance
On November 30, 2013, Live in Atlantic City debuted at number four on the Dutch Music DVD Chart and later peaked at number two. The same week it also debuted at number ten on the Belgian Music DVD Chart in Flanders and at number thirty on the French Music DVD Chart. The next week, the album moved to number nine on the French Music DVD Chart, setting a new peak position in that country. On the Spanish Music DVD Chart it peaked at number eleven on November 25, 2013, which became its only placement outside of the top ten on a DVD chart.
The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2013, becoming Beyoncé's first UK Music Video Chart number-one. It remained at the top in its second week, before falling to number two by One Night at the Palladium (2013) by Robbie Williams the following week. It spent six more weeks within the top five on the chart and it was seen for the last time on May 31, 2014 at number forty, having spent a total of twenty-six weeks on the chart. On December 27, 2013 the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album platinum for shipments of 50,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Live in Atlantic City became Beyoncé's fourth number-one album on the Top Music Videos chart, debuting on top for the week of December 14, 2013. In Australia, the album peaked at number two on the chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 7,500 copies.
## Track listing
## Personnel
Credits for Live in Atlantic City taken from the album's liner notes and Beyoncé's official website.
- Creative director – Beyoncé
- Director of choreography – Frank D. Gatson Jr.
- Musical director – Kim Burse, Derek Dixie
- Visual content directors – Beyoncé, Ed Burke
- Lighting designer – LeRoy Bennett
- Band – Rebecca Buxton, Cora Coleman-Dunham, Kiku Collins, Bibi McGill, Katty Rodríguez-Harrold, Lauren Taneil Robinson, Rie Tsuji, Britanni Washington
- Background vocals – Crystal Collins, Montina Donnell, Tiffany Riddick
- Dance captain – Ashley Everett
- Dancers – Larry Bourgeois, Laurent Bourgeois, Sarah Burns, Anthony Burrell, Tanesha Cason, Olivia Cipolla, Hannah Douglas, Amandy Fernández, Kimmie Gipson, Christina Owens, Ryan Ramírez
- Co-choreographers – Chris Grant, JaQuel Knight
- Assistant choreographer – Danielle Polanco
- Contributing choreographers – Beyoncé, James Aslop, Larry Bourgeois, Laurent Bourgeois, Anthony Burrell, Rhapsody James, Jonte Moaning, Sheryl Murakami, Christian Owens, Michelle Robinson, Ebony Williams
- Assistant to choreographers – Kristopher Mohfanz
- Director of wardrobe – Tina Knowles
- Head stylist – Ty Hunter
- Stylist – Raquel Smith
- Wardrobe assistants – Enid Gayle, Amber Glaspie, Taneka McLeod, Kwasi Fordjour
- Designers – Swarovski Crystals provided by Ralph & Russo, Dolce & Gabbana, David Koma, The Blonds, Stuart Weitzman and Scott Nylund, Timothy White and Enid Gayle for Tina Knowles
- Make-up artist – Francesca Tolot
- Hair stylist – Neal Farinah
- Nail stylist – Lisa Logan
- Band/dancers make-up – Crissy Gómez, Erica Martínez, Rashad Taylor, Yuki Ara
- Band/dancers hair – Yolanda Ward, Nikki Nelms, Eric Williams
- Additional show content – Alexander Hammer, Melina Matsoukas
- Show content writer – Angela Beyincé
- Additional content assistant – William Boisture
- Light board operator – Cory Fitzgerald
- Image director – Kevin Carswell
- Video server operation – Marc Andre Tremblay
- Digital media operator – Kevin Ryan
- Guitar tech – Sean O'Brian
- Keyboard tech – Cody Orell
- Drum tech – Marco Zambrano
- Crew chief/FOH cam – John Dennis Bedell
- LED tech/FOD cam – Russell Wingfield
- LED tech/dolly cam – Jeffrey Michael Gainer
- LED tech – Chad McClymonds
- Projectionist – Craig Leibowitz
- Projectionist/handheld cam – Christopher Alan Campbell
- LED/KI pro recording tech – Tyler Munson
- Engineer – Randall Schaffer
- LED engineer – Dustin King
- Project manager video – Barry Claxton
- FOH engineer – Christopher Rabold
- Band monitor engineer – Chauncey Burney
- Beyoncé monitor engineer – James Berry
- System engineer – Christopher Berry
- Monitor tech – John Switzer
- RF/P.A. – Victor Arko
- Head electric – David Bergeron
- Electricians – Antoine Malette, Scott Allan Walsh, Jean Francois Malette, Alex Boldue, Eric Cere
- Automation operator – Eric Pelletier
- Head rigger – Pat Ryan
- Head carpenter – William Shewmaker
- Project manager set & props – Tim Fallon
- Sets – Bryan Alexander Schluntz, Kevin William Levasseur, Bobby Lee Marshall
- Production assistant – Ashlee Senser
- Venue security – Pete Beattle
- Tour manager – Alan Floyd
- Visual content – Breathe Editing Inc.
- Show production manager – Alex Miasnikof
- Assistant show production manager – Shari Weber
- Set designer – Florian Weider
- Supervising art director – Talyn Wright
- Stage manager – Terry Cooley
- Theatrical director – Jennita Russo
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history |
71,192,183 | Touch the Sky Tour | 1,173,393,717 | 2005–06 concert tour by Kanye West | [
"2005 concert tours",
"2006 concert tours",
"Concert tours of Australia",
"Concert tours of Canada",
"Concert tours of Hong Kong",
"Concert tours of Japan",
"Concert tours of North America",
"Concert tours of the United Kingdom",
"Concert tours of the United States",
"Kanye West concert tours"
]
| The Touch the Sky Tour was the second tour by American rapper Kanye West, in support of his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). Def Jam announced the first tour dates across North America in September 2005, three months before West announced the second leg in the United Kingdom. The rapper explained that he saw his fans as motivation for the tour, while he also detailed his love for performing. The tour's stage design was handled by Es Devlin, who West hired after firing the initial designer. It began on October 11, 2005, at the University of Miami Convocation Center, and finished at the University of North Carolina Wilmington on April 22, 2006, spanning 57 dates. As well as the United States and UK legs, West traveled a third leg across Australia in March 2006.
West was frequently accompanied by Fantasia, Keyshia Cole, and Lupe Fiasco on the tour, with a few additional appearances from originally scheduled support act Common. The Touch the Sky Tour received positive reviews from critics, who generally praised West's performances. Some appreciated the guest performers, while other reviewers complimented the stage lighting. After 46 dates, the tour had reportedly grossed US\$8 million. In February 2006, two people were shot at the last concert date in the UK, causing West to cancel a performance in Milan.
## Background
On September 14, 2005, West's record label Def Jam announced dates across North America for the first leg of the Touch the Sky Tour, titled after his song from Late Registration (2005). The tour dates ran from October to December 2005 and West was set to be supported by fellow rapper Common, American Idol winner Fantasia, and singer Keyshia Cole, who previously sang for the rapper's 2005 sets with R&B singer Usher. It marked West's second tour, though stood as his first major headlining one, with him playing large venues across the United States. The tour was sponsored by Verizon. Hours before the first concert was set to take place, Common canceled his involvement because of a demanding schedule for his role in a film with Taraji P. Henson. West was shooting a music video in New York for "Heard 'Em Say" the night before the kickoff show at the University of Miami Convocation Center in Miami on October 11, 2005, and also had a lack of rehearsal time. He went against the notion that the first show would pose a challenge: "Fuck that! We not gonna wait for 10 shows from now, we gonna touch the sky tonight." Common ultimately appeared to perform with West at the concert, declaring that he "couldn't miss Miami" and had "gotta see if Miami is ready to go", though he had officially pulled out of the tour and was only set to support shows when his schedule allowed it. On October 29, 2005, it was reported that West had added a one-off live show on November 28 in Hong Kong to the tour at West Kowloon's Hong Kong Drive In, a newly constructed outdoor venue. The show was presented by Hong Kong-based streetwear and fashion label CLOT, with an opening act from local musician Edison Chen, who was backed by the Hong Kong Orchestra.
On December 3, 2005, West asked fellow rapper Lupe Fiasco to replace Common as a support act, which he accepted. Five dates across the United Kingdom in February 2006 for the tour's second leg were announced by West on December 1, after he had previously said he would play a one-off concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London in February. Tickets for the dates were made available a day after the announcement and on December 16, West extended his stop at London's Hammersmith Apollo from one concert to three due to demand. In March 2006, it was confirmed by tour promoter Michael Coppel that West would be playing five dates in Australia that month, with the rapper later adding a concert at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney after a "special request". West came third in a survey of who University of North Carolina Wilmington students wanted to perform on campus, but he was the only available act from the top three. This led to an additional tour date there on April 22, 2006, with the university paying him over US\$100,000 to appear.
## Inspiration and development
After sometimes being vocal about his detractors, West made a statement in September 2005 about his motives for the Touch the Sky Tour, saying things have "never been about the critics or the album sales", rather than "about the fans". He said that he loves being able "to bring this music — that I've poured my heart and soul into — to them", recalling considering how audiences will respond to hooks, intros, and specific lines when working on his music. West concluded, "Bringing these songs to the stage is the ultimate fulfillment of the creative process." The rapper subsequently declared his love of performing, appreciating the feeling of his songs playing, "getting the opportunity to hear them really loud and see what's connecting with people the most". West told an MTV reporter that making "the world better" is one of the missions with the music and visuals, calling his pain "everybody else's pleasure—how I stress, how I was up all last night, how I'm about to kill myself because it's not perfect. Well, maybe people can feel that when they're in the audience, like, 'Yoooooo! [...] He really put a lot of work in this.'" He also declared that those who have gone backstage "or seen a lot of shows" are "gonna give this show credit for being so different", while saying he was not captured by any television as a child. West explained that he has a "really high bar and low tolerance", admitting his small gauge of good content made him become the artist he is and finalizing, "Basically, I think 99 percent of the shit is wack. I don't want to be in that 99 percent."
West fired his first stage designer for the tour two weeks before the first show in Miami, yelling at him over the phone, "The visual...I'm not excited about going on tour. All y'all have is moving lights!" Despite English artist Es Devlin's lack of experience in staging popular music concerts, West recruited her as a production adviser to revamp the stage design. The collaboration came about after West's colleague Richard Brown recommended him to work with Devlin, who studied the rapper's previous work and was impressed that he could not speak after his mouth was wired shut due to the near-fatal car accident that created "Through the Wire" (2002). Devlin presented West with a few sketches of her ideas, which he disliked and saw as inferior to the content on her website; eventually, they started over because only 10 days remained until the tour. West was intent on the set featuring nature, requesting trees, rocks, and volcanoes, yet the artist struggled to work with replica natural displays. He had first discovered Devlin's work earlier in 2005, viewing images of the installation she created with the Chapman Brothers for English band Wire. After the Touch the Sky Tour, Devlin remained as West's stage designer, designing all of his succeeding tours, as of 2016. It was reported by The New Yorker after visiting Devlin in the summer of 2015 that she kept a backstage pass for the tour in her studio.
## Concert synopsis
On the Touch the Sky Tour, West was accompanied by a six-piece all-female string section on a platform and Canadian DJ A-Trak. The rapper wore six different costume pieces for the tour, such as an outfit consisting of a light-colored shirt and pants, a suit jacket, and white-framed sunglasses at the kickoff show in Miami. Prior to the concerts, the lights dimmed and a video reenactment of a Late Registration comedy skit appeared on the screen. Negative reviews of West's music and personality were projected onto a scrolling screen behind him as he performed, including when he collapsed during a performance of "Bring Me Down" at New York City's Madison Square Garden. One of the reviews started with, "The second release by the most obnoxious, egotistical, self-centered hip hop artist in the history of obnoxious..." Also behind the stage, live footage was projected of the concerts. Lighting backed West on stage, such as four large translucent light boxes, featuring his band that included his DJ and an orchestra led by a violinist. At certain points, white flood lights shone over the audience. When performing "Roses", West would often kneel down onstage.
## Reception
The Touch the Sky Tour was met with positive reviews from critics. The staff of The Oklahoman highlighted Fantasia's "same soulful delivery" that made her "an instant favorite" with American Idol viewers and also commended Cole's appearances during the concerts. Reviewing the Miami kickoff show, MTV writer Shaheem Reid was impressed by West's outfit that made it look like he had "stepped directly out of a photo shoot" and heavily appreciated his ability to captivate the audience. Reid also praised Common's appearance, the lack of audio problems, West's song choices, and the vocal performances from Cole and Fantasia. Nathan Brackett from Rolling Stone applauded West's ability to work the crowd at the concert in Madison Square Garden and commented that "he may be only an average rapper and a spazzy dancer", but he seemingly tried harder than many other acts via actions such as going through four different outfits and "employ[ing] a six-person string section". Brackett focused praise on West's stage acting and the atmosphere created by him performing hit singles, though was uninterested in the performances of some songs. After attending the tour stop at East Lansing's Michigan State University Breslin Center, Chicago music writer Tre G described it as "greatest thing [he] had ever seen at the time", feeling impressed by the lighting and visuals, saying it was clear West had consistently been "all about production". He gladly remembered a part of the show when West "displayed on the screen what critics and magazines were saying about him at the time", and was satisfied with his performance. Jason Allen provided a review of the show at San Jose's HP Pavilion for IGN, appreciating Lupe Fiasco's presence and Cole's passionate vocals that he compared to Mary J. Blige. Allen was taken aback by Fantasia's visual appearance and high energy, while he lauded the stage design's lighting and West's performance, being impressed after having once doubted him.
In a 2016 retrospective piece, the staff of Pigeons & Planes noted the Touch the Sky Tour's "glamorous six-piece string section". After its first 46 dates, the tour was reported to have grossed \$8 million.
### Controversy
During the tour's last stop in the UK at the NEC Arena in Solihull on February 28, 2006, two security guards were shot while people tried to enter without tickets. West Midlands Police were called to the site slightly after 10p.m. (GMT), reaffirming it "involved individuals who had been ejected" due to attempting to enter with no tickets. Following the incident, West's performance in Milan two days after the concert was canceled.
## Set list
The respective set lists given below for West and Cole are representative of the first show on October 11, 2005, in Miami, per MTV. This does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour. West often performed "Roses" during his concerts, as well as "Diamonds from Sierra Leone". In his 2015 book God & Monster, journalist Mark Beaumont recalls West as having performed a 20-song set throughout the tour. During the sets, he would occasionally perform the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" (1966) or Twista's "Overnight Celebrity" (2004).
Kanye West set
1. "Touch the Sky"
2. "Late"
3. "Drive Slow"
4. "Spaceship"
5. "Get 'Em High" (performed with Common)
6. "Go!" (performed with Common)
7. "All Falls Down"
8. "Through the Wire"
9. "Gold Digger"
10. "Jesus Walks"
11. "We Major"
Keyshia Cole set
1. "I Changed My Mind"
2. "I Should Have Cheated"
## Shows |
4,448,088 | 33 (Battlestar Galactica) | 1,165,589,022 | Pilot episode of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica | [
"2004 American television episodes",
"American television series premieres",
"Battlestar Galactica (season 1) episodes",
"Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form-winning works",
"television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore"
]
| "33" is the first episode of the first season and the pilot episode of the reimagined military science fiction television show Battlestar Galactica, immediately following the events of the 2003 miniseries. "33" follows Galactica and its civilian fleet as they are forced to contend with constant Cylon pursuit for days without sleep; they are forced to ultimately destroy one of their own ships to foil the Cylons and earn their first respite of the series.
The episode was written by series creator Ronald D. Moore, and the television directoral debut of Michael Rymer. Moore and executive producer David Eick made the decision to slot this episode as the first of the season because of its potential impact on the audience. "33" distinguished the themes of the new Battlestar Galactica series by following characters on the spaceships, on the planets that were fled, and in the minds of other characters. Attention to detail was prevalent in this first episode; the production team, the editing team, and even the actors themselves strove for authenticity of specific portrayals and moments.
Though there were compromises made due to concerns of the episode being too dark for audiences, the episode was lauded by both cast and crew in addition to winning the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. "33" originally aired on Sky One in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004, and subsequently aired on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States on January 14, 2005, alongside the following episode "Water".
## Plot
Having fled the besieged Ragnar Anchorage, the convoy of refugee spaceships is relentlessly pursued and attacked by Cylons. The colonial fleet must execute a faster-than-light (FTL) jump every 33 minutes to escape the Cylons, who consistently arrive at the new jump coordinates approximately 33 minutes later. After over 130 hours and 237 jumps, the fleet's crew and passengers, particularly those aboard Galactica, have been operating without sleep while facing the strain of nearly constant military action.
Upon the 238th consecutive jump, Olympic Carrier (a commercial passenger vessel with 1,345 souls aboard) is left behind and the attacks unexpectedly cease, allowing the fleet some respite. When the vessel arrives three hours later, President Laura Roslin and Commander Adama order Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama and Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace to destroy it, believing that it has been infiltrated by Cylons and now poses a threat to the fleet's safety. The colonial pilots destroy Olympic Carrier while the rest of the colonial fleet jumps away. Baltar's internal Number Six explains to him that God is looking after his interests, implying that a scientist aboard Olympic Carrier was preparing to reveal Baltar's unwitting collusion with the Cylon attack on the colonies.
After the fleet's last jump, the Cylons do not return, and the President's survivor whiteboard aboard Colonial One, the result of a fleetwide census, is updated with one additional soul (to 47,973) with the birth of the fleet's first child aboard Rising Star—a boy.
Meanwhile, on Caprica, Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon is captured by a Cylon patrol and then "rescued" from his Cylon captors by a Number Eight in the guise of his crewmate Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, who shoots a Number Six to free him.
## Writing
While preparing for production of Battlestar Galactica's first season, writer and series creator Ronald D. Moore wrote a short list of potential storylines, one of which was "the fleet jumps every 33 minutes; because the Cylons are relentlessly pursuing them, the crew gets no sleep." Conferring with fellow executive producer David Eick, the two decided that this story would be "the best way to kick off the season". Moore described writing "33" as a great experience; he wrote the whole script without a story outline or much structure, because he was excited to begin the first episode of the first season already "at the end of the road". Moore wrote the episode over his Christmas break before the series was officially picked up, and he later said that this aspect was what made the episode "one of the more fun projects that [he] wrote all of the first season."
David Eick called the episode a "standalone concept" that did not require having seen the miniseries to understand it. Because the miniseries ended "at a very happy place", starting the series in the middle of a crisis without explanation, and showing the audience that "actually, while you—the audience—were away, really bad things have been happening" made for a much more intriguing and interesting story. "33"'s complex storyline was a harbinger for episodes to come, and laid the groundwork with the network and audiences alike.
Moore explained on his blog that the number 33 had no hidden meaning or significance, it was just sufficiently long to allow minor functions like snacking, showering, or napping, but was too short to allow anybody to gain any meaningful sleep and recharge their batteries. Further, Moore intentionally gave the number no meaning to avoid including unnecessary technobabble into a drama-driven episode.
## Production
"33" was director Michael Rymer's first television episode. He accepted the job without reading the script, saying that based on his writing experience, "33" went well beyond his expectations and excited him. Bear McCreary originally composed the musical theme "Boomer Theme" for this episode; it was later expanded for use with the Athena character, before becoming the de facto "Hera Theme" for the character Hera Agathon in the fourth season episode, "Islanded in a Stream of Stars". Joel Ransom was the director of photography for the miniseries, but when Eick learned he was unavailable for the series, he turned to Stephen McNutt, with whom he had worked on American Gothic. In the interim, McNutt had moved on to shooting in high-definition video; this was fortuitous for the production team because, while Ransom had filmed the miniseries on 35 mm film, the production team was switching to high-definition video for the series.
Executive producer David Eick opined that "33" was the "silver bullet" that ultimately tipped the scales in their favor and convinced the Sci Fi Channel to pick up the series. The network's biggest concern in picking up the series was that Battlestar Galactica would fall victim to the same trappings of space opera as other television properties (Star Trek, Andromeda, Stargate). Two aspects that assuaged these concerns were specifically discussed in the episode's DVD commentary. First, "33" went into Gaius Baltar's (James Callis) mind and visited his house on Caprica (shot in Lions Bay, British Columbia); being swept away by the blue skies and beaches in his fantasy was not the sort of imagery expected of space opera-type shows. Second was going back to the devastated Caprica and following-up with Helo's (Tahmoh Penikett) story.
As sleep deprivation was a major plot point of the episode, actor Edward James Olmos (William Adama) liaised with an expert on the subject and the crew to best depict the actual effects realistically. Following up, director Michael Rymer gave each main cast member a specific symptom to emphasize to avoid repetition on screen. To aid a realistic portrayal, Olmos and several other cast members took their study a step further by restricting their sleep patterns to about three hours a night.
In the episode's DVD commentary, Moore and Rymer related how there were endless discussion about the clocks to feature in this episode. Concerns over digital versus analog, size and shape, the ratio of digital to analog clocks, whether they should run forwards or backwards, and whether any labels should be stenciled or hand-drawn were all brought up. David Eick also noted that as of the commentary's recording, the clock at Felix Gaeta's (Juliani) station still had its "33" label affixed.
### Editing
The first cut of "33" was ten minutes too long. Despite this, the production crew took extra care not to eliminate "human moments" in their efforts to trim the episode. These included a shot of Galen Tyrol (Douglas) and Cally Henderson (Clyne) walking across Galactica's hangar bay, a shot of Crewman Socinus (Oyarzun) giving a bedraggled look over the shoulder of another crewmember, and a shot of PO2 Dualla (McClure) walking through Galactica's remembrance corridor.
In a question-and-answer session, Moore revealed a scene written for, but cut from, the episode. In the cut scene, the recurring prop in the characters' briefing room was to have been explicitly introduced and explained; the prop remained in the series, but its backstory was cut.
> There was a scene cut from "33" where we saw Laura being given her copy of the photo along with a card that said it was taken on the roof of the capitol building on Aerilon during the attack. The photo was inspired by the famous shot of the fire-fighters raising the flag at Ground Zero that became iconic. I thought the Colonies would have their own version of this—a snapshot taken in the moment that becomes a symbol of the day they can never forget and of all they had lost. The photo itself is of a soldier falling to his knees (possibly shot or simply overcome by emotion) as he stands on the rooftop over looking the devastation of his city, while the Colonial flag waves at the edge of frame. The inscription below the photo on Laura's plaque reads, "Lest We Forget" in itself a reference to the inscription on the watch presented to John Wayne's character in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
Other cut scenes included one shot in the pilots' head, showing the pilots "wrecked and exhausted [...] with an exchange between Starbuck and Apollo", as well as several shots of Commander Adama (Olmos) gagging and vomiting because of acid reflux brought on by sleep deprivation. A line of Olmos'—an ad-lib about suicides in the fleet—was cut so as not to alienate audiences by being "too dark".
As originally written and shot, when Apollo (Jamie Bamber) fires on Olympic Carrier, it was made clear that he sees people inside. Moore wrote the scene to be strong and clear that the characters were making the decision to fire on the passenger liner in full awareness of the consequences to illustrate and emphasize "the uncompromising nature of the show." This was an "enormous fight" between Moore and the network, with the latter feeling this was another scene that was "too dark" and had the potential to turn away audiences; the network further implied that if the scene were left intact, they may have been compelled to air the episodes out of order. To placate the network, Moore and Eick changed the ending of the episode and "cheated". Instead, when Apollo flies by other ship, it is unclear whether or not there is anybody inside. In a "small act of defiance", visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel snuck in small, indeterminate movement behind one or two of Olympic Carrier's windows on behalf of the production and writing teams. The episode also originally ended with Helo's escape from the Cylons on Caprica; again tasked by the network to keep the episode from being "too dark", Moore wrote in an additional scene—President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) learning of the newborn—upon which to end the episode with a hopeful note.
## Release and reception
"33" first aired in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2004 (2004-10-18), and in the United States on January 14, 2005 (2005-01-14), almost three months later. UK viewers obliged US Battlestar Galactica fans by illegally copying the episode—via BitTorrent—within hours of its Sky One airing. As of May 2009, "33" has been released thrice on home video as part of the first season collected sets; on July 26, 2005 (2005-07-26) as a Best Buy exclusive, again on September 20, 2005 (2005-09-20), and finally as an HD DVD set on December 4, 2007 (2007-12-04). The episode was also released on July 28, 2009 (2009-07-28) as part of the entire series' home video set on both DVD and Blu-ray.
Both series creator Ronald D. Moore and star Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama) claim "33" as their favorite episode. Bamber described it as "...the perfect episode of Battlestar Galactica." Emphasizing the dark, gritty, and nightmarish aspects of the episode, the actor felt it was a microcosm of the series as a whole. In interviews with Wired UK and the Los Angeles Times, Moore opined that the episode subverted viewers' expectations and was a "fantastic way to open that first year."
"33" won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and drew a 2.6 household Nielsen rating, attracting 3.1 million viewers and making it the number-two program on cable (8pm–11pm). At the website Television Without Pity, the staff review rated the episode an "A+", while (as of November 2010) 546 of their readers awarded it an average grade of "B". The New York Post's "10 Most Dramatic Moments of the '00s" included "33" in its \#10 spot, describing it as the premiere episode of "a sci-fi show with high stakes and serious guts." |
9,306,179 | History of The Simpsons | 1,171,916,396 | Aspect of history surrounding The Simpsons | [
"History of The Walt Disney Company",
"History of television in the United States",
"The Simpsons"
]
| The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom starring the animated Simpson family, which was created by Matt Groening. He conceived of the characters in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and named them after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show called The Simpsons, which debuted on December 17, 1989. The show was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the top 30 ratings in a season (1990).
The show was controversial from its beginning and has made the news several times. In the early seasons, some parents characterized Bart as a poor role model for children and several United States public schools even banned The Simpsons merchandise and T-shirts. In January 1992, then-President George H. W. Bush made a speech during his re-election campaign in which he said: "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." In 2002, the show was nearly sued by the Rio de Janeiro tourist board for creating an unreal image of the city on the show.
The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and 27, 2007. Previous attempts to create a film version of The Simpsons failed due to the lack of a script of appropriate length and production crew members. Eventually, producers Brooks, Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, and Richard Sakai began development of the film in 2001. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with Groening's being the one developed into a film. The script was re-written over a hundred times, and this creativity continued after animation had begun in 2006. The film was a box office success, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The Simpsons eventually became the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast episodes and its 35th season will begin airing on October 1, 2023.
## The Tracey Ullman shorts (1987–1989)
When producer James L. Brooks was working on the television variety show The Tracey Ullman Show for the fledgling Fox network, he decided that he wanted to include small animated sketches before and after the commercial breaks. After Polly Platt gifted James L. Brooks the original "The Los Angeles Way of Death" comic from cartoonist Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strips, Brooks asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Life in Hell series. Groening later realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, and passed on the offer. Richard Sakai contacted Groening to see if he had any other characters he would be willing to let Fox merchandise, and, in short, Groening developed a dysfunctional family that became the Simpsons. Garth Ancier contends that Groening created the characters at home and brought them the next day, while Phil Roman claims Groening sketched out the characters on the drive to Fox. Groening's account states he hurriedly formulated The Simpsons while waiting in the lobby of Brooks's office for the pitch meeting, which is the most common and famous story. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name, adapting an anagram of the word "brat".
Fox negotiated a deal which would prove extremely lucrative for Groening, in which he retained a large portion of revenue from merchandising. To animate the short segments, Brooks and company settled on Klasky Csupo, a small animation house who offered to produce the cartoons cheaply. Brooks initially just wanted to animate the shorts through the basic line drawings, and Klasky-Csupo offered color for the same cost. The studio only employed three young animators—CalArts graduates Bill Kopp, Wes Archer, and David Silverman—who adapted Groening's scripts for animation in one week, doing layouts, animation and inbetweening by hand in a very short amount of time. Groening submitted only basic sketches to the three, and assumed that the figures would be cleaned-up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes. Colorist Gyorgyi Peluce was the person who decided to make the characters yellow.
Appearing initially alongside cartoons by M. K. Brown, the Simpson family first appeared in short subjects in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987, and were featured the first three seasons. The actors who voiced the characters would later reprise their roles in The Simpsons. Dan Castellaneta, a Tracey Ullman cast member, performed the voices of Homer Simpson, Abraham Simpson, and Krusty the Clown. Homer's voice in the shorts is a loose impression of Walter Matthau, whereas it became more robust and humorous on the half-hour show, allowing Homer to cover a fuller range of emotions. Julie Kavner (another Tracey Ullman cast member), Nancy Cartwright, and Yeardley Smith performed the voices of Marge Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Lisa Simpson respectively. The crew began to string the clips together on tape to play for the show's live audience, and The Simpsons generated "the biggest laughs of the show" according to John Ortved, author of The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History. The writing staff of Ullman soon began to view The Simpsons as poor relations due to the popularity, and Brooks began to consider adapting the shorts for its own half-hour series. Brooks' decision was partly inspired by the cheerleading of David Silverman, who drunkenly approached him at a Christmas party and suggested the idea, passionately emphasizing what a primetime series would mean for the animation industry.
## The Groening, Brooks, and Simon years (1989–1991)
In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. Due to the increased workload of the full-length episodes, production was subcontracted to South Korean animation studio AKOM. While character and background layout is done by the domestic studio, tweening, coloring and filming is done by the overseas studio.
The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. Groening said his goal was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash". Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content. The Fox network was unsure if the show could sustain the audience's attention for the duration of the episode. They proposed doing three seven-minute shorts per episode and four specials until the audience adjusted, but the producers gambled by asking Fox for 13 full-length episodes.
Simon assembled and led the initial team of writers, and has been credited as "developing [the show's] sensibility". Writer Ken Levine says he "brought a level of honesty to the characters" and made them "three-dimensional", adding that Simon's "comedy is all about character, not just a string of gags". Simon saw The Simpsons as a chance to solve what he did not like about Saturday-morning cartoon shows. He wanted all the actors in a room together, instead of reading their lines separated from each other. In addition to Castellaneta, Kavner, Cartwright and Smith, actors Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria were added to the show's cast.
Groening developed a lengthy opening sequence to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week. In the first gag, the camera zooms in on Springfield Elementary School, where Bart can be seen writing a message on the chalkboard. This message, which changes from episode to episode, has become known as the "chalkboard gag". The other gag is known as a "couch gag", in which a twist of events occur when the family meets to sit on their couch and watch television. Groening, who had not paid much attention to television since childhood, was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time. The theme, which plays over the sequence, was composed by Danny Elfman in 1989, after Groening approached him requesting a "retro-style" theme. The piece, which took two days to create, has been noted by Elfman as the most popular of his career.
The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989, with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The series was originally set to debut in the fall of 1989 with the episode "Some Enchanted Evening", but the producers discovered that the animation was so appalling that 70 percent of the episode needed to be redone. At the time there were only a few choices for animation style; usually, they would follow the style of Disney, Warner Bros., or Hanna-Barbera. The producers wanted a realistic environment in which the characters and objects could not do anything that was not possible in the real world. They considered aborting the series if the next episode "Bart the Genius" turned out as bad, but it only suffered from easily fixable problems. The debut was moved to December, and "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" became the first episode of the series. In some of the episodes of the first season, the characters act completely differently from in later seasons; Lisa, for example, is undisciplined and short-tempered, while Homer is the voice of reason; these roles are reversed in later episodes.
During the second season, The Simpsons aired the first Halloween special, "Treehouse of Horror". The annual series typically consist of four parts: an opening and Halloween-themed version of the credits, followed by three segments. These segments usually have a horror, science fiction or supernatural theme and quite often are parodies of films, novels, plays, television shows, Twilight Zone episodes, or old issues of EC Comics. Part of the attraction for the writers is that they are able to break the rules and include violence that would not make a regular episode. In some cases, the writers will have an idea that is too violent and far-fetched or too short for a normal episode, but can be used as a segment in the seasonal special. The first "Treehouse of Horror" episode was the first time that an alternate version of the theme airs over the end credits.
### Bartmania and criticism
The show was controversial from its beginning. The rebellious lead character at the time, Bart, frequently received no punishment for his misbehavior, which led some parents to characterize him as a poor role model for children. Several US public schools banned The Simpsons merchandise and T-shirts, such as one featuring Bart and the caption "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')". In the season two opening episode "Bart Gets an 'F', Bart fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade. Several critics thought that the episode "Bart Gets an 'F'" was a response to these controversies. However, Brooks denied that it was a response and added, "we're mindful of it. I do think it's important for us that Bart does badly in school. There are students like that. Besides, I'm very wary of television where everybody is supposed to be a role model. You don't run across that many role models in real life. Why should television be full of them?"
In the October 1, 1990, edition of People, First Lady Barbara Bush called The Simpsons "the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen" which led to the writers sending a letter to Bush posing as Marge Simpson. Bush immediately sent a reply in which she apologized. A few years later, on January 27, 1992, then-President of the United States George H. W. Bush made a speech during his re-election campaign where he said, "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." The writers decided that they wanted to respond by adding a response to the next broadcast of The Simpsons, which was a rerun of "Stark Raving Dad" on January 30. The broadcast included a new tongue-in-cheek opening where they watch Bush's speech. Bart replies, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too". The criticism eventually led to the idea for the episode "Two Bad Neighbors", which has George and Barbara move into the house across the street from the Simpsons.
### Competing with The Cosby Show
The Simpsons first season was the Fox network's first TV series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows. Due to its success, the Fox network decided to switch The Simpsons timeslots in hopes that it would result in higher ratings for the lead out shows. It would move from 8:00 PM on Sunday night to the same time on Thursday where it would compete with The Cosby Show, the number one show at the time. Many of the producers were against the move, as The Simpsons had been in the top 10 while airing on Sunday and they felt the move would destroy its ratings.
"Bart Gets an 'F' was the first episode to air against The Cosby Show and averaged an 18.4 Nielsen rating and 29% of the audience. In the weeks ratings, it finished tied for eighth behind The Cosby Show which had an 18.5 rating. However, an estimated 33.6 million viewers watched the episode, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. At the time, it was the most watched episode in the history of the Fox Network and still remains the most watched episode in the history of The Simpsons. Ratings wise, new episodes of The Cosby Show beat The Simpsons every time during the second season and The Simpsons eventually fell out of the top 10. At the end of the season Cosby averaged as the fifth highest rated show on television while The Simpsons ranked 38th. It would not be until the third-season episode "Homer at the Bat" that The Simpsons would beat The Cosby Show in the ratings. The show remained in its Thursday timeslot until the sixth season, when it moved back to its original timeslot on Sundays.
### Music release and "Do the Bartman"
David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records, had the idea to record the album The Simpsons Sing the Blues based on The Simpsons, to be released in time for Christmas 1990. The writers wrote humorous lyrics for the actors to perform over blues and hip hop. The album faced great publicity before its release. One particular element that was highly publicized was Michael Jackson's involvement, which was denied around the time of the album's release. Early published reports attributed Jackson as the composer of "Do the Bartman", which Groening denied in a press release. However, Groening revealed in 1998 that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and co-produced by Jackson, but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to another record label. Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons, especially Bart, and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show, which is how "Do the Bartman" came about. Jackson eventually guest-starred in the episode "Stark Raving Dad".
The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 3 million copies. The producers followed up on the album with The Yellow Album in 1998, which featured original recordings by Prince, Linda Ronstadt, C+C Music Factory, and George Clinton of Funkadelic as well as the cast of The Simpsons. The soundtrack albums Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997), Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999), The Simpsons Movie: The Music (2007), and The Simpsons: Testify (2007) were also released.
## The Jean and Reiss years (1991–1993)
Although they initially worked well together, Simon and Groening's relationship became "very contentious" according to Groening. According to John Ortved's book The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History, Simon resented the media attention Groening received, particularly the praise for the show's writing; Simon felt that Groening's involvement was limited, and that he should have been the one receiving credit for the show. As well as Groening, Simon was often at odds with Brooks and production company Gracie Films and left the show in 1993. Before leaving, he negotiated a deal that saw him receive a share of the show's profits every year, and an executive producer credit despite not having worked on the show since. Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had written for The Simpsons since the start of the show, took over as showrunners for the third season. Compared to being an executive producer, the showrunner position is more involved with the show and acts as head writer and manages the show's production for an entire season. As well as a turnover in the staff, The Simpsons moved the production of the animation from Klasky Csupo to Film Roman in season four.
During the fourth season the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" was produced. The musical within the episode contains a controversial song about New Orleans, which describes the city as a "home of pirates, drunks and whores", among other things. Jeff Martin, the writer of the episode, had meant the song to be a parody of the opening number in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which speaks of London in unflattering terms. A New Orleans critic viewed "A Streetcar Named Marge" and published the song lyrics in his newspaper before the episode aired. Many readers took the lyrics out of context, and New Orleans' Fox affiliate, WNOL, received about one hundred complaints on the day the episode aired. Several local radio stations also held on-air protests in response to the song. The Simpsons' producers rushed out an apologetic chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic", which aired a week after "A Streetcar Named Marge". It read, "I will not defame New Orleans".
Ullman filed a lawsuit in 1992, claiming that her show was the source of The Simpsons' success and therefore should receive a share of the show's profit. "I breast-fed those little devils," Ullman once said of The Simpsons. She wanted a share of The Simpsons''' merchandising and gross profits and believed she was entitled to \$2.5 million of Fox's estimated \$50 million in 1992. The Fox network had paid her \$58,000 in royalties for The Simpsons as well as \$3 million for the 31⁄2 seasons her show was on the air. Eventually the courts ruled in favor of the network.
## The Mirkin years (1993–1995)
Several of the show's original writers who had worked on The Simpsons since the first season had left following the completion of season four. David Mirkin took over as showrunner and executive producer for the fifth and sixth season. In The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History (2009), John Ortved describes Mirkin as an "outsider" on the show as, unlike the bulk of the writing staff, Mirkin was not a Harvard University graduate. The writing staff were, at least initially, divided on Mirkin's abilities as a leader. Mirkin conducted the show's writing sessions in one room, rather than splitting the writers into two groups as other showrunners had done, and often worked late into the night. Writer Richard Appel praised Mirkin's leadership and comedy style, saying that "the shows were great under him." In contrast to much of Ortved's account, in a 2004 interview with Animation Magazine, Mirkin stated that he "really wasn't at all intimidat[ed] to join [the show's writing] crew," because he "had worked with and written with" many of his fellow writers previously.
Mirkin said that he "brought [the show] back to a more story-oriented" approach and increased the character and emotion focus, while "at the same time still keeping it surreal and weird". During his tenure, Mirkin moved the show's focus towards Homer, and developed some of the secondary characters, such as Apu. He also strongly opposed censorship and network interference. Mirkin's era and style of humor are popular amongst the show's fans, but the writing staff were divided on his style of humor, which saw the show move away from more "realistic" emotional and character based stories to "pure comedy" and "surreal" humor. The episode "Deep Space Homer" was controversial when the episode was in production. Some of the writers felt that having Homer go into space was too "large" of an idea and Groening felt that the idea was so big that it gave the writers "nowhere to go".
The writing staff wanted to do an episode where the Simpsons family traveled to Australia. They had previously poked fun at several American institutions and thought it would be interesting to poke fun at a whole nation. They purposefully designed Australia and the Australian people very inaccurately and many things were completely made up for fun. The episode "Bart vs. Australia" received a mixed reception in Australia, with some Australian fans saying the episode was a mockery of their country. Shortly after it had aired, the Simpsons staff received over 100 letters from Australians who were insulted by the episode. Reiss claimed that this episode is Australia's least favorite, and that "whenever we have the Simpsons visit another country, that country gets furious, including Australia". He also claimed that they were "condemned in the Australian Parliament after the episode had aired". However, It has been accepted as typical American satire and laughed off.
Former showrunners Jean and Reiss had left to produce their own series, The Critic, along with The Simpsons co-creator Brooks. The Critic was a short-lived animated series that revolved around the life of movie critic Jay Sherman. For the second season of The Critic, Brooks cut a deal with the Fox network to have the series switch over. The episode "A Star Is Burns" was pitched by Brooks, who had wanted a crossover that would help launch The Critic on Fox, and he thought having a film festival in Springfield would be a good way to introduce Sherman. In addition, Jean and Reiss returned to produce two episodes ("A Star is Burns" and 'Round Springfield") with the staff of The Critic, to relieve some of the stress on The Simpsons' writing staff. Groening felt that the crossover was a thirty-minute advertisement for another show and blamed Brooks, calling it an attempt to get attention for one of his unsuccessful shows. After unsuccessful attempts to get the episode pulled, he decided to go public with his concerns shortly before the episode aired and had his name removed from the credits. In response, Brooks said, "for years, Al [Jean] and Mike [Reiss] were two guys who worked their hearts out on this show, staying up until 4 in the morning to get it right. The point is, Matt's name has been on Mike's and Al's scripts and he has taken plenty of credit for a lot of their great work. In fact, he is the direct beneficiary of their work. 'The Critic' is their shot and he should be giving them his support."
Groening conceived the idea of an episode in which the character Mr. Burns was shot, which could be used as a publicity stunt. The writers decided to write the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" in two parts with a mystery that could be used in a contest. Part one was the final episode of the sixth season and originally aired on the Fox network on May 21, 1995. Part two was the premiere of the seventh season and originally aired on September 17, 1995. It was important for the writers to design a mystery that had clues, took advantage of freeze frame technology, and was structured around one character who seemed the obvious culprit. In the months following the broadcast of the first part, there was widespread debate among fans of the series as to who shot Mr. Burns. Fox offered a contest to tie in with the mystery where the viewers could guess who the culprit was. It ran from August 13 to September 10 and was one of the first contests to tie together elements of television and the internet. Fox launched a new website, www.Springfield.com, devoted to the mystery which got over 500,000 hits during the summer of 1995. The winner would be animated on an episode of the show. No one, however, was ever animated on the show. This was because no one officially guessed the right answer, so the chosen winner did not have the right answer and was paid a cash prize in lieu of being animated.
## The Oakley and Weinstein years (1995–1997)
After season six, Mirkin suggested that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein take over as showrunners, but remained on the show in an advisory capacity, helping them with technical aspects of the show such as editing and sound mixing, and attending the scripts' table readings. Oakley and Weinstein wanted to produce Treehouse of Horror episodes, episodes about Sideshow Bob, Itchy & Scratchy and several "format-bending" episodes such as "22 Short Films About Springfield". They aimed for "at least two episodes per season that 'pushed the envelope', [and] expanded the definition of what an episode could be." Season eight featured several episodes in which focus was given to secondary characters and in which new issues, such as divorce, were explored. Their preferred choice of guest stars were those with unique and interesting voices, and several of their guest stars were "old grizzled men with distinctive voices".
Their goal for the episodes was to be realistic and focus more on the five members of the Simpson family and explore their feelings and emotions towards each other. Oakley considered season three to be the single greatest comedic season of television ever produced and so attempted to recreate the feel of that season, focusing on stories with real emotions and situations, as well as some off-the-wall episodes. Season three was their basis for Homer: "We liked Homer the way he was in the second and third seasons. That was what we consciously used as our model. Dimwitted, loving, hyper-enthusiastic, creatively goofy, parody of the American father – drawn with real emotions, though admittedly amplified."
The script supervisor for the show and voice of the character Lunchlady Doris, Doris Grau, died on December 30, 1995. The episode "Team Homer", which aired eight days later, was one of the last episodes to feature her voice and featured a dedication to her. From season nine until season eighteen, Lunchlady Doris appeared only as a background character. She returned as a speaking character in several episodes since "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", and is now voiced by Tress MacNeille.
The episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" featured a permanent character development when Lisa becomes a vegetarian. The story had been pitched by David S. Cohen and the producers felt it would be a surefire way to get Paul McCartney to guest star. McCartney agreed, but only on the condition that Lisa would stay a vegetarian and not revert. The trait stayed and is one of the few permanent character changes made in the show. In the season 13 episode "She of Little Faith", Lisa underwent another permanent character change when she converted to Buddhism.
On February 9, 1997, The Simpsons surpassed The Flintstones with the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" as the longest-running prime-time animated series in the United States. The producers took this milestone and made the episode deal with the issue of longevity and the problems that arise when the producers try to make a show "fresh" again; themes commonly known as "jumping the shark". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger, in a review printed two days after the episode originally aired, praised the writers for not airing a "very special" episode to celebrate the milestone of overtaking The Flintstones. He noted "[the episode is] so self-aware it put the best in-jokes on St. Elsewhere to shame."
## The Scully years (1997–2001)
Oakley and Weinstein stood down as showrunners after season eight because they "didn't want to break [the show]" and Mike Scully took over as showrunner in 1997. As showrunner and executive producer, Scully said his aim was to "not wreck the show", Scully was popular with the staff members, many of whom praised his organization and management skills. Writer Tom Martin said he was "quite possibly the best boss I've ever worked for" and "a great manager of people" while writer Don Payne commented that for Scully "it was really important that we kept decent hours". Scully noted: "I wrote a lot of Lisa's shows. I have five daughters, so I like Lisa a lot. I like Homer, too. Homer comes very naturally to me: I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. A lot of my favorite episodes are the ones when Homer and Lisa are in conflict with each other... They're very human, I think that's their appeal."
Despite this, Scully's tenure as showrunner of The Simpsons has been the subject of criticism from the show's fans. John Ortved wrote "Scully's episodes excel when compared to what The Simpsons airs nowadays, but he was the man at the helm when the ship turned towards the iceberg." The BBC noted "the common consensus is that The Simpsons' golden era ended after season nine", while an op-ed in Slate by Chris Suellentrop argued The Simpsons changed from a realistic show about family life into a typical cartoon during Scully's years. The Simpsons under Scully has been negatively labelled as a "gag-heavy, Homer-centric incarnation" by Jon Bonné of MSNBC, while some fans have bemoaned the transformation in Homer's character during the era, from dumb yet well-meaning to "a boorish, self-aggrandizing oaf", dubbing him "Jerkass Homer". Martin said that he does not understand the criticism against Scully and that he thinks the criticism "bothered [Scully], and still bothers him, but he managed to not get worked up over it." Ortved noted in his book that it is hard to tell how much of the decline is Scully's fault, and that blaming a single showrunner for lowering the quality of the show "is unfair."
UGO Networks' Brian Tallerico has defended the season against the criticism. He wrote in a 2007 review that comparing "tenth season Simpsons episodes to the prime of the series (3–7) is just unfair and really kind of self-defeating. 'Yeah, I laughed, but not as hard as a couple of years ago. So it sucks.' That's nonsense. The fact is that even the tenth season of The Simpsons was funnier than most [other] show's best years." PopMatters' Hassenger commented in his review that although the show had declined in quality, "this is not to say that these episodes are without their charm; many, in fact, are laugh-out-loud funny and characteristically smart."
On May 28, 1998, Phil Hartman, voice actor of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, was shot and killed by his wife while he slept in their Encino, Los Angeles, home. His wife, Brynn Omdahl, then committed suicide several hours later. In the weeks following his death, Hartman was celebrated in a wave of tributes. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly opined that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper...a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with". After Hartman's death in 1998, rather than replace him with a new voice actor, the production staff retired McClure and Hutz from the show. McClure last appeared in the season ten episode "Bart the Mother", which was dedicated to Hartman.
In the season 10 episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", the family travels to Japan. The episode references and mocks several aspects of Japanese and American culture, as well as differences between the two. At a sumo wrestling match, Bart and Homer encounter the Japanese emperor, Akihito. After Homer throws him into a trunk of sumo thongs, Bart and Homer are put in jail, where they have to re-enact a kabuki play about the forty-seven Ronin, do origami, flower arranging and meditation. The episode also references the Japanese's adaption to American culture. Although all other episodes of The Simpsons have been dubbed and broadcast on Japanese television, "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" has never aired in Japan. The episode, which contains a scene showing Homer throwing the Emperor of Japan into a box filled with sumo thongs, was considered disrespectful.
### Labor difficulties
Up until the production of season ten in 1998, the six main voice actors were paid \$30,000 per episode. In 1998, a salary dispute between them and the Fox Broadcasting Company arose, with the actors threatening to strike. Fox went as far as preparing for casting of new voices, but an agreement was soon made and their salaries were raised to \$125,000 per episode. Groening expressed his sympathy for the actors in an issue of Mother Jones a while after the salary dispute had been settled. He told the magazine: "[The cast members] are incredibly talented, and they deserve a chance to be as rich and miserable as anyone else in Hollywood." The show also made a change for the writers to become covered under a Writers Guild of America (WGA) agreement. Most writers on primetime series television belong to the WGA, but The Simpsons as well as other animated shows on Fox were different. Scully commented that "everyone expected a big fight with the studio" and continued that "it never materialized, because they conceded that prime-time animation was successful and everyone was benefiting."
Voice actress Maggie Roswell left The Simpsons in spring 1999 after a pay dispute with Fox. The network originally reported that she decided to quit only because she was tired of flying between Denver and Los Angeles for the recording sessions. It was then announced by Roswell that she had asked for a raise, not only because she was tired of the traveling, but because of the increasing cost of flight tickets. Roswell was paid \$1,500 to \$2,000 per episode during the three seasons before she left, and she asked Fox for a raise to \$6,000 per episode. However, Fox only offered her a \$150 raise, which did not even cover the travel costs, so she decided to quit. As a result of Roswell's departure, the Maude Flanders character was killed off in the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily". Voice actress Marcia Mitzman Gaven was hired to fill in for Roswell's other characters. Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002 in the season premiere of the fourteenth season. She reached a deal with Fox to record her lines from her Denver home and thus the dispute ended.
## The return of Jean (2001–2007)
Jean returned full-time to The Simpsons during the tenth season. He once again became showrunner with the start of the thirteenth season in 2001, this time without Reiss. Jean said that "the hardest thing at this point is just thinking of fresh ideas. People are so on top of things that we've done before, so the challenge now is to think of an idea that's good, but hasn't been seen." In April 2001, in an interview with The New York Times, Jean stated that he wanted "to take the show back to the family". His return was welcomed, with MSNBC's Jon Bonné stating: "[Jean] has guided the show away from its gag-heavy, Homer-centric incarnation... these are certainly brighter days for the show's long-time fans." Bill Gibron of PopMatters.com noted that "the show corralled much of its craziness for more personal stories" and that "Homer's Neanderthal nonsense and bratty Bart gave way to 'softer' episodes focusing on Marge and Lisa."
In the season 13 episode "Blame It on Lisa", The Simpsons visit Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In the week following the episode's original broadcast, it faced intense controversy involving the country of Brazil, most specifically the Rio de Janeiro Tourist Board (Riotur). The board claimed that the city was portrayed as having rampant street crime, kidnappings, slums and a rat infestation. The tourist board asserted that the show "went too far" and undermined an \$18m (£12.5m) advertising campaign to attract visitors to the city. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, then the president of Brazil, stated that the episode "brought a distorted vision of Brazilian reality." By April 9, Riotur, was preparing to sue the producers and Fox, for damage to its international image and loss of revenue. The issue threatened to become a diplomatic incident. Upon knowledge of an impending lawsuit, the show's producers contacted Fox lawyers, who informed them that a city could not technically sue for defamation. In response, executive producer Brooks apologized, stating "we apologize to the lovely city and people of Rio de Janeiro". Jean commented that it was "one of the biggest controversies in the history of the show".
In season 14, production switched from traditional cel animation to digital ink and paint. The first episode to experiment with digital coloring was "Radioactive Man" in 1995. Animators used digital ink and paint during production of the season 12 episode "Tennis the Menace", but Gracie Films delayed the regular use of digital ink and paint until two seasons later. The already completed "Tennis the Menace" was broadcast as made.
As the show's revenue continued to rise through syndication and DVD sales, the main cast stopped appearing for script readings in April 2004. The work stoppage occurred after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with Fox, in which the cast asked for an increase in their pay to \$360,000 per episode, or \$8 million over a 22-episode season. The strike was resolved a month later and their salary was raised to something between \$250,000 and \$360,000 per episode.
Season 16 featured one of the few major character developments since the show's inception. It was reported a long time in advance of the airing of the episode "There's Something About Marrying" that a major character would come out as gay during the episode. At the San Diego Comic-Con International convention in July 2004, Al Jean revealed: "We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield legalises gay marriage. Homer becomes a minister by going on the internet and filling out a form. A long-time character comes out of the closet, but I'm not saying who." This led to much media speculation and publicity in the press for the episode. Many fans correctly guessed that it would be one of Homer's sisters-in-law, either Patty or Selma, while others believed it to be Waylon Smithers.
## Film (2007)
20th Century Fox, Gracie Films, and Film Roman produced an animated The Simpsons film that was released on July 27, 2007. The production staff of The Simpsons had entertained the thought of a film since early in the series, but production never came together. Groening felt a feature-length film would allow them to increase the show's scale and animate sequences too complex for a TV series. The film was directed by David Silverman and written by a team of Simpsons writers comprising Groening, Brooks, Jean, Reiss, Mirkin, Scully, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, Matt Selman, and Ian Maxtone-Graham. Work continued on the screenplay from 2003 onwards and did not cease, taking place in the small bungalow where Groening first pitched The Simpsons in 1987. Groening read about a town that had to get rid of pig feces in their water supply, which inspired the plot of the film. He also wanted to make the film dramatically stronger than a TV episode, as "we wanna really give you something that you haven't seen before." Production of the film occurred alongside continued writing of the series despite long-time claims by those involved in the show that a film would enter production only after the series had concluded.
After winning a Fox and USA Today competition, Springfield, Vermont hosted the film's world premiere. The Simpsons Movie grossed a combined total of \$74 million in its opening weekend in the US, taking it to the top of the box office, and set the record for highest grossing opening weekend for a film based on a television series, surpassing Mission: Impossible 2. It opened at the top of the international box office, taking \$96 million from seventy-one overseas territories — including \$27.8 million in the United Kingdom, making it Fox's second highest opening ever in that country. In Australia, it grossed A\$13.2 million, the biggest opening for an animated film and third largest opening weekend in the country. As of November 23, 2007, the film has a worldwide gross of \$525,267,904. The film garnered a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 171 of a total 191 reviews being determined as positive. It received a rating of 80 out of 100 (signifying "generally favorable reviews") on Metacritic from 36 reviews.
## Post movie seasons (2007–19)
Jean continued as showrunner after the movie. Critics have argued that the quality of the show has declined in Jean's tenure. Jacob Burch, an administrator of the website NoHomers.com, said in an interview that the show "seems less cohesive, more about trying to get the jokes in there, instead of make a story and let the jokes come off of that" and adds "I just think there's only so much you can do [with the characters]." Steven Hyden of The A.V. Club argues in an online debate over this issue that "The Simpsons has come to rely too much on wacky Homer shtick and tired, meaningless guest stars" and that the writers are "content to amuse themselves with in-jokes, non sequiturs, and self-consciously silly plot twists." Jean responded to this criticism by saying: "Well, it's possible that we've declined. But honestly, I've been here the whole time and I do remember in season two people saying, 'It's gone downhill.' If we'd listened to that then we would have stopped after episode 13. I'm glad we didn't."
The writers of The Simpsons went on strike together with the Writers Guild of America at the end of 2007. The broadcasting of The Simpsons was not affected by the strike. Since it takes a long time to produce an episode of an animated show, the episodes are written up to a year in advance. So the strike would have had to go on for a while for the show to have run out of new episodes. Production of season 19 was further delayed because of contract negotiations with the six main voice actors. The dispute was resolved, and the actors' salary was raised to \$400,000 per episode. The delay in production has caused the planned 22 episodes to be shortened to 20.
### 20th anniversary and run length record
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The Simpsons, Fox announced a year-long celebration of the show titled "Best. 20 Years. Ever.", which ran from January 14, 2009, to January 14, 2010. Morgan Spurlock, an Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker (Best Documentary Feature for Super Size Me in 2004) and fan of The Simpsons since his college days, was asked to direct the special The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! in February 2009. Spurlock believes "the reason [the producers] called [him] to begin with was to not have a show that would be a glad-hand, pat-everyone-on-the-back special, that's why rooting it in the people who kept this show on the air for the last 20 years is important." It was shown on January 10, 2010, alongside "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", which was promoted as the 450th episode of the series.
The episode "Million Dollar Maybe" featured a new character created by the winner of the "Best. Character. Ever." contest, in which fans could submit their own ideas for a new, and possibly recurring, Simpsons character. Over 25,000 entries were sent in. The winner of the contest was Peggy Black from Orange, Connecticut, who created the character Ricardo Bomba. She described Ricardo as "someone that all the women love and all the men want to be" and "something like a Casanova." Jean was one of the judges of the contest, which he described as "a thank you to loyal fans." He also noted that there is a possibility the Ricardo character might appear on the show again. Another change was to air The Simpsons in 720p high-definition television with the episode "Take My Life, Please" on February 15, 2009. With the new broadcasting system came a new opening sequence. It was the first major permanent change to the show's introduction since the beginning of the show's second season in 1990; previous changes have included variations in the duration of the intro. This new intro also includes some 3D animation when the camera pans over Springfield.
To commemorate the show's twentieth anniversary, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44 cent stamps featuring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The stamps, designed by Groening, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009 and approximately one billion stamps were printed. The Simpsons is the first television series still in production to receive this recognition. After entering its 21st season in late 2009, the show beat Gunsmoke's record as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series.
### Cancellation threat
On October 4, 2011, 20th Century Fox Television released a statement saying: "23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come." One of the problems was that The Simpsons was possibly worth more cancelled than on the air. A 17-year-old syndication deal with local TV stations prohibits Fox from selling the show to cable networks. As long as The Simpsons still produces new episodes, Fox cannot break this deal. In the meantime, cable networks have grown to become just as big a market as the local TV stations. Another consideration was that Fox's parent company News Corp was having meetings discussing the possibility of a cable channel that would only air The Simpsons episodes. Analysts consider a cancellation and subsequent second-run deal that includes cable networks to be worth \$750 million. On this issue, Jean commented in an interview with TV Guide that "It's a big company, and there are definitely people whose interests would have been better served by ending it. Those interests were superseded because we're still valuable to the network in terms of our ratings."
For the negotiations, the studio requested that the cast members accept a 45 percent cut of their salaries so that more seasons could be produced after season 23, or else that season would be the series' last. The actors were willing to take a pay cut, but wanted a percentage of the back-end payments instead. At one point Shearer even offered a 70 percent pay cut in exchange for back-end percentages, but the studio was unwilling to make any deal involving back-end percentages. In the end, the studio and the actors reached a deal, in which the actors would take a pay cut of 30 percent, down to just over \$300,000 per episode, prolonging the show to its 25th season. As well as the voice actors, everybody involved in the show took a pay cut. This included animators, writers, the post-production crew and even Jean himself. The further use of digital animation also saves money, as the animation of the show becomes more efficient.
In 2013, FXX purchased the exclusive American cable rights to the series. In August 2014, a new website and app was launched called Simpsons World, which contained every episode from the show's first 25 seasons that were available for viewing with a valid cable login. The website, which updated regularly, was only available in the United States.
In 2016, The Simpsons moved the production of the animation from Film Roman to Fox Television Animation in season 28.
In February 2019, the series was renewed for a 31st and 32nd season bringing the series up to 713 episodes, making it the first scripted primetime series to surpass 700 episodes.
In March 2019, the episode Stark Raving Dad was pulled from circulation following the release of the Leaving Neverland documentary and renewed discussion of Michael Jackson's sexual abuse allegations.
## Acquisition by Disney and future (2019–present)
In March 2019, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, The Simpsons, among other franchises and studios owned by 21st Century Fox, became properties of The Walt Disney Company.
On April 11, 2019, it was announced that the series would stream exclusively on Disney+ at launch; as a result, Simpsons World was officially shut down on November 16 of that year, four days after Disney+'s launch. Initially, episodes from the first 20 seasons that were originally broadcast in the 4:3 aspect ratio were only available in a cropped 16:9 format, a move which received heavy criticism from fans. On May 28, 2020, Disney+ introduced a new feature that allows viewers to toggle between the original 4:3 aspect ratio and the remastered 16:9 ratio for seasons 1–20.
In May 2019, FXX's sister network Freeform began sharing the off-network rights to the series and began airing it on October 2, 2019.
As part of the series' 30th anniversary, FXX (in association with Disney+) aired a fourteen-day marathon titled The Simpsons: Plus Sized Holiday Marathon, airing 661 episodes and the movie. The marathon premiered exactly 30 years after the series premiere on December 17, 2019, at 8pm ET and concluded on January 1, 2020.
On February 27, 2020, Disney announced that a second short film based on the series, titled Playdate with Destiny, would release ahead of Pixar's Onward, making it the third piece of Simpsons media to be released in theaters.
On March 3, 2021, The Simpsons was renewed for a 33rd and 34th season, with a further extension for a 35th and 36th season on January 26, 2023.
## See also
- Historiography of The Simpsons'' |
12,626,087 | The Clean Tech Revolution | 1,166,376,734 | Book by Ron Pernick | [
"2007 in the environment",
"2007 non-fiction books",
"Appropriate technology",
"Books about energy issues",
"Economics of sustainability",
"HarperCollins books",
"Renewable energy commercialization",
"Sustainability books"
]
| The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity is a 2007 book by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, who say that commercializing clean technologies is a profitable enterprise that is moving steadily into mainstream business. As the world economy faces challenges from energy price spikes, resource shortages, global environmental problems, and security threats, clean technologies are seen to be the next engine of economic growth.
Pernick and Wilder highlight eight major clean technology sectors: solar power, wind power, biofuels, green buildings, personal transportation, the smart grid, mobile applications, and water filtration. Six major forces, which they call the six C's, are pushing clean technology into the mainstream: costs, capital, competition, China, consumers, and climate. Very large corporations such as GE, Toyota and Sharp, and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are making multibillion-dollar investments in clean technology.
The book has been reviewed in USA Today, Business Week, Energy Priorities, Sustainability Investment News and several other magazines, and has been translated into seven languages. Clean Tech Nation is the sequel to The Clean Tech Revolution.
## Themes
Pernick and Wilder explain that, in the 1970s, clean technology was considered "alternative", the province of back-to-the-land lifestyle advocates, altruistic environmentalists, and lab scientists on research grants. Such technology was in an early stage of development, was too expensive, did not have widespread political support, and very few large, established companies were embracing the sector. Even at the start of the 21st century, the term clean tech was not yet in the financial or business community's vocabulary. But now, throughout much of the world, in trends large and small, there is "the beginning of a revolution that is changing the places where we live and work, the products we manufacture and purchase, and the development plans of cities, regional governments, and nations around the globe."
Pernick and Wilder define "clean tech" as "any product, service, or process that delivers value using limited or zero non-renewable resources and/or creates significantly less waste than conventional offerings." They highlight eight major clean technology sectors: solar power, wind power, biofuels, green buildings, personal transportation, the smart grid, mobile applications (such as portable fuel cells), and water filtration. The authors explain how investors, entrepreneurs, and individuals can profit from technological innovation in these areas. Pernick and Wilder identify some specific clean technologies, companies, and regions that are leading the way.
The authors present a list of drivers for clean tech: "high energy prices, depleted natural resources, volatile sources of foreign oil, record deficits, and unprecedented environmental and security challenges".
Pernick and Wilder present examples which show that the "clean tech revolution" is already underway. Very large corporations such as GE, Toyota and Sharp, and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are making multibillion-dollar investments in clean technology.
The authors claim that nuclear power and clean coal are not clean technologies. Apart from the risks associated with nuclear power, "multibillion-dollar nuclear plants are simply not cost-effective when compared with other energy sources." The authors also believe that clean coal is an oxymoron for a myriad of reasons, including the sheer number of coal mine-related deaths and the fact that coal-fired plants, even some cleaner ones, are major contributors to serious illnesses such as asthma, heart disease, and mercury poisoning.
## Six C's
Pernick and Wilder identify six major forces, which they call the six C's, that are pushing clean technology into the mainstream and driving rapid growth and expansion: costs, capital, competition, China, consumers, and climate.
- Costs. "Perhaps the most powerful force driving today's clean-tech growth is simple economics. As a general trend, clean-energy costs are falling as the costs of fossil fuel energy are going up. The future of clean tech is going to be, in many ways, about scaling up manufacturing and driving down costs."
- Capital. "An unprecedented influx of capital is changing the clean tech landscape, with billions of dollars, euros, yen, and yuan pouring in from a myriad of public and private sector sources."
- Competition. "Governments are competing aggressively in the high-stakes race to dominate in the clean-tech sector and build the jobs of the future."
- China. "Clean tech is being driven by the inexorable demands being placed on the earth not only by mature economies but also by the explosive demand for resources in China, India, and other developing nations. Their expanding energy needs are driving major growth in clean-energy, transportation, building, and water-delivery technologies."
- Consumers. "Savvy consumers are demanding cleaner products and services that use resources efficiently, reduce costs, and embrace quality over quantity."
- Climate. "The debate around climate change has gone from question mark to peer-reviewed certainty, and smart businesses are taking heed."
## Release and reception
The Clean Tech Revolution was published by Collins as a 320-page hardcover book on June 12, 2007. An e-book version was published by HarperCollins on June 7, 2007. In 2008, a revised paperback edition was published, with a new sub-title: Discover the Top Trends, Technologies and Companies to Watch. The book has been translated into seven languages.
Paul Gruber from the Erb Institute states that The Clean Tech Revolution is logically organized and is "an excellent resource for those who would like a solid understanding of clean tech and the potential of each sector".
The physicist and environmentalist, Joseph Romm, has recommended The Clean Tech Revolution to people who are looking for one book to help them understand what is happening in clean technology. He says The Clean Tech Revolution is the only book that covers the whole gamut of the latest in clean energy.
Russ Juskalian from USA Today says The Clean Tech Revolution shows the green movement not in "heartstring terms" but as economically profitable. The real power players are the mainstream consumers, investors, entrepreneurs, governments and multinational corporations whose "eyes are trained on that most crucial of economic fundamentals: the bottom line".
According to Reena Jana from Business Week, The Clean Tech Revolution is a "readable, straightforward guide to earth-friendly business strategies". The authors explain how businesses can follow the lead of companies such as Toyota by designing, selling, or funding inventive eco-friendly products and services. Jana says that the Toyota Prius is just one well-known example of successful clean technology in action.
Denis Du Bois, editor of Energy Priorities magazine, commented on the realistic and comprehensive coverage of the book. However, he suggests that The Clean Tech Revolution is not an explanation of the technologies and how they work, nor is it an analysis of energy or environmental policy. Policy is complicated and the authors avoid discussing it in detail. Little discussion ties the various clean technologies together and a "single-minded American focus" dominates. There is very little on the influence of mass transit and urban planning in Europe and other progressive regions. The chapter on water focuses on filtration, which is already an area of considerable opportunity, affecting even "green" industries, such as photovoltaics manufacturing.
Francesca Rheannon in Sustainability Investment News says that the book does not ask the most challenging question of all: is "clean growth" an oxymoron? She says that at a time when some experts say carbon emissions will need to be cut by 80 to 90% by 2050, the world may have to accept steady or even decreasing energy production, no matter how clean it is. Rheannon also states that there is little coverage of social issues. For example, nowhere is there mention of how water supply privatization and delivery by multinational corporations could affect the poor people of the world.
The Clean Tech Revolution was followed by the 2012 book Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy.
## Authors
Author Ron Pernick is co-founder and managing director of Clean Edge, a research and strategy firm in the United States which focuses on the commercialization of renewable energy and other clean technologies. Clint Wilder is senior editor at Clean Edge, and a veteran business and technology journalist. Both authors have been mapping clean technology trends for many years, and identifying business opportunities for prospective investors.
## See also
- List of books about renewable energy
- List of books about energy issues
- Renewable energy commercialization
- Renewable energy policy
- Sustainable business
- Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit |
13,940,089 | Ugly (House) | 1,092,546,932 | null | [
"2007 American television episodes",
"House (season 4) episodes"
]
| "Ugly" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of House and the seventy-seventh episode overall. It aired on November 13, 2007. The episode revolves around a teenager named Kenny Arnold with a major facial deformity. He is set to get surgery in order to remove the deformity, but has a heart attack just prior to the surgery. Dr. Gregory House, who still has not hired a new diagnostic team out of six interns, tries to figure out what is wrong with Kenny. Kenny was being filmed by a documentary crew during the process of the surgery. House has to find out what is wrong with Kenny while being filmed by the crew.
The episode was watched by 11.4 million viewers, making it the eighth most-watched program of the week. The episode gained positive reviews by critics, who were surprised by the story surrounding Dr. Chris Taub, one of the fellowship applicants, in the episode.
## Plot
A documentary film crew is chronicling a teenager named Kenny with a major facial deformity who opts to undergo a dramatic reconstructive procedure. When Kenny suffers a heart attack just prior to the surgery, House and the team are called in to determine the cause.
As the film crew continues to document Kenny, House becomes increasingly annoyed and tries to avoid them by briefing his team by the MRI machine and in surgery. However, ultimately he cannot escape the cameras and the candidates find themselves acting self-consciously in front of the lens. Meanwhile, House begins to regret recruiting former CIA doctor Samira Terzi when she fails to demonstrate the intelligence he witnessed at Langley. During the episode the film crew also interviews Cameron, asking why she resigned and making it look like she was romantically attracted to House.
Dr. Taub, using his experience as a plastic surgeon, gains Kenny's and his father's trust and frequently clashes with House on the diagnosis. House believes Kenny is suffering from Juvenile idiopathic arthritis while Taub believes it is merely the side effects of increased intracranial pressure. By persuading Kenny's father not to follow House's treatment and by attempting to kick him off the case, House fires Taub, only to have his decision reversed by Cuddy. Ultimately both House and Taub are proven wrong when Thirteen realizes Kenny is suffering from Lyme disease, with the telltale rash hidden by his hair.
In the end, Taub is not fired, but Dr. Terzi is let go and House's request for a date is turned down. Cuddy and House watch an early cut of the documentary, which has been edited to portray House as a compassionate, sympathetic doctor. House is aghast and leaves the room, questioning whether he can still trust Michael Moore movies. The documentary continues, revealing that the surgery was successful, and that Kenny thanks Dr. House.
## Production
The episode was written by Sean Whitesell, who had previously worked as co-executive producer on the series. To date, this is the only House episode Whitesell has written. The episode became the second House episode to be directed by David Straiton, who had previously directed "Family". "Ugly" featured the second appearance of Dr. Samira Terzi (Michael Michele), who made her first appearance in "Whatever it Takes". Michele had previously played a doctor named Cleo Finch on the medical drama ER. Omar Epps, who stars in House as Dr. Eric Foreman, also starred on ER, but two years before Michele. As usual, the filming took place on the Fox lot in Century City. This episode contained the song 'My home is your head' by Joseph Arthur.
## Reception
The episode was the eighth most-watched program of the week along with NBC's Sunday Night Football, with 11.4 million viewers, it received a 17 share in the ratings. Overall, the episode was well received by critics. Nina Hämmerling Smith of TV Guide quoted: "Perhaps the best thing about the episode was the amount of screen time given to old favorites like Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). The show's most convincing writing has always been in the scenes when those two spar with House, and I was thrilled to see more of that". Most critics were surprised and interested by the performance of Chris Taub in this episode. Richard Keller of TV Squad, wrote that he was almost certain of the fact that Taub was going to be fired and he was glad that he wasn't. He also quoted, "For some reason I like Taub. Maybe because he's not pretty like the rest of them. He's just an everyday schlub who's a pretty decent doctor".
Buzz Byrne from Critics rant called Taub, "interesting". James Chamberlin of IGN did not think that the black and white documentary really worked for him, and when it was over he didn't feel like he had just watched an episode of House. Chamberlin graded the episode with a 7.7. Michelle Romero, of Entertainment Weekly commented "I loved it when House told his crew that she Dr. Terzi got the gig because she had more experience than the swimsuit model". Television without Pity graded the episode with a B− (out of 84 votes). According to Glen L. Diaz, of BuddyTV, various fans think that the smile on Cuddy's face at the end of the episode explains everything about how she thinks of House. Peter Jacobson submitted the episode for a Primetime Emmy Award on his behalf in the category Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Sean Whitesell submitted the episode on his behalf in the category Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. Neither nomination came through. |
22,312,705 | Caloscypha | 1,133,816,014 | Genus of fungi | [
"Fungi described in 1822",
"Fungi of Asia",
"Fungi of Europe",
"Fungi of North America",
"Inedible fungi",
"Monotypic Ascomycota genera",
"Pezizales",
"Snowbank fungi",
"Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon"
]
| Caloscypha is a fungal genus in the family Caloscyphaceae (order Pezizales). A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Caloscypha fulgens, commonly known as the spring orange peel fungus, the golden cup, or the dazzling cup. It is a cup fungus, typically up to 4 centimetres (1+5⁄8 in) in diameter, with a bright to pale orange interior and orange; specimens that are old or bruised often have an olive-green discoloration, especially around the edges. In North America, it is usually found on the ground in forest litter near conifers. Fruiting occurs in early spring following snow melt. The asexual (imperfect), or conidial stage of C. fulgens is the plant pathogenic species Geniculodendron pyriforme, known to infect dormant seeds of the Sitka spruce.
## Taxonomy
This species was first described by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1822 as Peziza fulgens, and has been grouped in several different genera since its original description. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data shows that within the order Pezizales, Caloscypha fulgens belongs in an evolutionary lineage with the families Helvellaceae, Morchellaceae, and Tuberaceae. Since 1968, Caloscypha had been placed in the family Pyronemataceae, a small grouping of fungi distinguished from other Pezizales by their relatively undeveloped peridium. In 2002, the new family Caloscyphaceae was described to contain the monotypic genus Caloscypha.
The distinctive orange-yellow color of the fungus has earned it the common names "spring orange peel fungus", the "golden cup", and the "dazzling cup". The specific epithet means "bright colored", while the genus name Caloscypha means "beautiful cup".
## Description
The fruiting body of C. fulgens is roughly cup-shaped, although the cup may be somewhat flattened, lopsided or split; the size is up to 6 centimetres (2+3⁄8 in) in diameter. The inner surface of the cup is orange-yellow, while the external surface is pale yellow. Either the margin around the rim or the entire outer surface may be stained olive-green. The green or bluish staining that occurs upon injury or with age is unique within the order Pezizales. The stem, if present, is rather short. The spore deposit is white.
A single specimen of an albino form, 2 cm (3⁄4 in) in diameter, was discovered in Northern Idaho; it was found to be lacking the pigment responsible for staining the outer surface olive-green.
The spores are translucent (hyaline), roughly spherical, thin-walled and smooth, with dimensions of 6–8 μm in diameter. The asci, the spore-bearing cells, are cylindrical and 80–100 by 7–8 μm; the paraphyses are thin and filamentous and contain orange granules. This fungus is considered nonpoisonous but inedible.
## Habitat and distribution
This species is usually found in the spring, often on duff under conifers shortly after the snow melts. In North America, where it has been noted to occur only between March and July, it is widespread in the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest. C. fulgens has been collected in Britain, and possibly arrived there from imported infected seeds. It has also been collected from Japan, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Turkey. It is listed on the Red List of protected species in Slovakia.
## Imperfect state
The life cycle of this fungus allows for both an imperfect (making asexual spores, or conidia ) or perfect (making sexual spores) form; as has often happened in fungal taxonomy, the imperfect form was given a different name, because the relationship between the perfect and imperfect forms of the same species was not then known. The imperfect, or conidial stage of this fungus is the plant pathogen Geniculodendron pyrofirme, first reported in 1964, and known to infect dormant seeds of the Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis. A 1978 study showed that about a third of Sitka spruce seed lots stored by the British Columbia Forest Service (Canada) contained diseased seeds, and these diseased seeds failed to germinate when sown in local nurseries. The fungus can grow at low temperatures, contributing to its ability to kill seeds before they have a chance to germinate. Infected seeds tend to shrivel and dry up rather than rot. It was also demonstrated that seed lots from squirrel seed caches have increased incidence of C. fulgens infection. Squirrels tend to cache pinecones repeatedly in the same location, and in cool, moist conditions favorable for fungus growth. In 2002, G. pyriforme was found on imported conifer seeds in Germany, the first such report in continental Europe.
## Similar species
Caloscypha fulgens bears some resemblance to the orange-peel fungus (Aleuria aurantia); however, A. aurantia does not have the characteristic bluing reaction upon bruising or with age, and it fruits later in the season (usually in autumn). |
646,061 | Galloway cattle | 1,159,413,395 | Breed of beef cattle originating in Scotland | [
"Cattle breeds originating in Scotland",
"Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy",
"Galloway"
]
| The Galloway is a Scottish breed of beef cattle, named after the Galloway region of Scotland, where it originated during the seventeenth century.
It is usually black, is of average size, is naturally polled and has a thick coat suitable for the harsh climate of Scotland. It is reared mainly for beef.
In 2022 the Galloway was reported by twenty-three countries. The worldwide population stood at about 26800 head, of which the majority were in Northern Europe, with the largest populations in Denmark and Germany.
## Etymology
The word 'Galloway' derives from the name of a people, the Gall Gaidheil, meaning 'Scandinavian Gaels'.
## History
Polled black cattle were known in Scotland by the sixteenth century at the latest; one is mentioned in an instrument of sasine dated 1523.
The Galloway breed comes from the cattle native to the south-west region of Scotland, first fully developed in the seventeenth century. Originally, there was much variation within this breed, including many different colours and patterns. The original Galloway herd book only registered black cattle, but the recessive gene for red colour persisted in the population, and eventually dun Galloways were also allowed into the herd book. As a result, although black is still the most common colour for Galloways, they can also be red and several shades of dun. In 1877, the Galloway Cattle Society was formed.
The Galloway was introduced in Canada in 1853, first registered in 1872, and the first Galloway registry was introduced in the United States in 1882. In 1911, 35000 cattle were registered in the American Galloway Herd Book which was first created in 1882. The British Galloway Society was founded in 1908. They did not recognise dun coloured Galloway cattle, which was met with outrage and this ban was later lifted. In 1951, Galloway cattle were introduced to Australia.
In the 1950s, the breed enjoyed much success because the beef market demanded low input (feed) cattle with high quality meat. However, the BSE crisis (or mad cow disease) caused an export ban in 1990, although there were no cases of BSE found in Galloway cattle. This created a fear associated with cattle, so breed numbers declined.
Since then, there has been a change in demand as bigger leaner carcasses are now favoured. Some of the adjustments made were the adoption of AI and Embryo Transfer. The breed's original characteristics are now back in demand. This is due to the demand of high quality meat that requires economical production.
From the early nineteenth century, in south-western Scotland and north-western England, Galloway cows were commonly put to Shorthorn bulls to produce a vigorous hybrid. If the bull was white, the calf was blue roan in colour – the Blue Grey. These were easily recognisable and were much in demand. In the later nineteenth century, selection of the Whitebred Shorthorn was begun specifically for production of white sires for these calves.
In 2022 the Galloway was reported to DAD-IS by twenty-three countries, of which seventeen reported population data. The reported worldwide population stood at about 26800 head, of which the majority were in Northern Europe; the largest populations were in Denmark and Germany. The breed is 'rare' in the United States and the Livestock Conservancy classifies it as a breed to 'watch'.
## Characteristics
Galloway cows are of small to medium size, with weights in the range 450–600 kg; bulls normally weigh approximately 800 kg, but may may reach weights of over 1000 kg. Heifer calves are born at a weight of some 35 kg, and reach a weight of about 250 kg at an age of thirteen or fourteen months.
Galloways have a thick double-layered coat that is wavy or curly. The coat of hair insulates their bodies so well that they have a minimal outer layer of fat on their bodies, which would otherwise create waste at slaughter. This coat sheds out in the summer months and in warmer climates.
It is naturally polled, without horns. This breed's shaggy coat has both a thick, woolly undercoat for warmth and stiffer guard hairs that help shed water, making them well adapted to harsher climates.
## Use
There is evidence of Galloway herds being milked in Cumberland for cheese production.
## See also
- Belted Galloway
## Societies
- Galloway Cattle Society of New Zealand
- American Galloway Breeders Association
- The Galloway Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland
- Australian Galloway Association
[Cattle breeds originating in Scotland](Category:Cattle_breeds_originating_in_Scotland "wikilink") [Galloway](Category:Galloway "wikilink") [Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy](Category:Conservation_Priority_Breeds_of_the_Livestock_Conservancy "wikilink") |
35,823,787 | Golf Ball | 1,020,587,121 | Painting by Roy Lichtenstein | [
"1962 paintings",
"Golf culture",
"Paintings by Roy Lichtenstein",
"Sports paintings",
"Still life paintings"
]
| Golf Ball (sometimes Golfball) is a 1962 painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is considered to fall within the art movement known as pop art. It depicts "a single sphere with patterned, variously directional semi-circular grooves." The work is commonly associated with black-and-white Piet Mondrian works. It is one of the works that was presented at Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition and one that was critical to his early association with pop art. The work is commonly critiqued for its tension involving a three-dimensional representation in two dimensions with much discussion revolving around the choice of a background nearly without any perspective.
## History
When Lichtenstein had his first solo show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in February 1962, it sold out before opening. Golf Ball was one of the works that Lichtenstein exhibited. Later, Lichtenstein included Golf Ball in Still Life with Goldfish Bowl, 1972, and Go for Baroque, 1979. The painting exemplifies the novel superimposition of abstraction and figuration. The work also represents abstraction as a result of elimination of three-dimensionality, chiaroscuro and a landscape context.
The use of black and white is regarded as dramatic, and although it may have been influenced by 1940s and 1950s works of Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell, it is more likely a commentary on Mondrian's 1917 Composition in Black and White. Alternatively, it may have been a reference to another of Mondrian's pre-World War I black and white oval paintings, such as Pier and Ocean, 1915. This complementary source art was common of Lichtenstein's 1960s work on frequently advertised objects. Lichtenstein describes his sources as Mondrian Plus and Minus paintings.
## Description
In 1962, Lichtenstein produced several works in which he depicted "the repetitive regularity of their patterned surfaces." Golf Ball is a depiction of a golf ball using a Mondrianesque set of black and white arcs to depict the three-dimensionality of the subject. However, the neutral background manipulates the image and diminishes the volumetric characteristics by stripping the viewer of his perspective. It is described as a "pure graphic mark on a gray ground" as well as a "totality of abstract marks." Lichtenstein described Golf Ball as "the antithesis of what was thought of as having 'art meaning'" because of its lack of perspective.
Golf Ball is an example of the emerging "confident authority" of his single-image paintings with its "Rock of Gibraltar-like thereness". The "frontal and centralized presentation"'s directness lacked the sophistication to market the images of household goods for advertising but was considered daring artistically. The black and white painting on a grey background challenges both the natural perception of realism and the boundaries of abstraction. The work "gives us both the impression of space and the fact of surface".
Golf Ball was one of the bases by which "critics aligned him with other practitioners of Pop Art", although much is made about the painting's references to abstract painting, especially its likeness to Mondrian's works. Furthermore, the painting leverages tensions regarding three-dimensional representation in two dimensions resulting from spatial ambiguities caused by the lack of cues in the background.
## Reception
Diane Waldman refers to the subject of Golf Ball as a freestanding form. This is one of the figures in which Lichtenstein demonstrates his draftsman experience. This work demonstrated his maturation as an artist with standardized contours that present uniformity and solidified inflections. This is a strong example of presenting the tension of volumetric potential balanced against two-dimensional presentation. It also shows how placement against a neutral background diminishes three-dimensionality. Despite Lichtenstein's techniques to display/minimize dimensionality, the viewer imposes his or her own visualization experiences on the painting, which minimizes the effect of spatial illusion.
## See also
- 1962 in art |
2,292,838 | Bras Basah MRT station | 1,167,914,195 | Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore | [
"Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations",
"Museum Planning Area",
"Railway stations in Singapore opened in 2010",
"WOHA"
]
| Bras Basah MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Circle line (CCL) located in the Museum planning area, Singapore. It is underneath Bras Basah Road, bordering Waterloo Street and Queen Street. Located next to the Singapore Management University (SMU), this station is in proximity to the National Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Art Museum, Peranakan Museum and the Singapore School of the Arts. The station is connected to the nearby Bencoolen station on the Downtown line (DTL) via an unpaid link.
Initially announced as Museum MRT station as part of the Marina MRT line, it was later incorporated into the CCL Stage 1. Along with the other stations on Stages 1 and 2 of the CCL, the station started operations on 17 April 2010. The design of the station by WOHA was commissioned through the Marina line Architectural Design Competition and was awarded the "Best Transport Building" in 2009 at the World Architecture Festival. The CCL station features an Art-in-Transit video work The Amazing Neverending Underwater Adventures! by Tan Kai Syng.
## History
The station was first announced as Art Museum station in November 1999 as part of the Marina MRT line (MRL). The MRL consisted of six stations from the Dhoby Ghaut to Stadium stations. In 2001, the station working name was revised to "Museum" and would be part of CCL Stage 1 when the MRL was incorporated into the CCL. Contract 825 for the design and construction of Bras Basah station and associated tunnels was awarded to Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. (Singapore) Pte Ltd and a joint venture with Woh Hup and NCC at a sum of on 19 December 2001. The contract also included the construction of the Dhoby Ghaut, Esplanade and Promenade stations.
To facilitate the construction, on 10 June 2002, part of Bras Basah Road had to be temporarily realigned. On 15 March 2003, the junctions of Queen Street/Bras Basah Road and Waterloo Street/Bras Basah Road were temporarily closed and the service road adjacent to Oxford Hotel was converted into one-way road in the direction from Queen Street to Waterloo Street. In 2007, the diverted roads have been reinstated as the station undergoes architectural, electrical and mechanical works. On 17 April 2010, the station opened as part of Stages 1 and 2 of the CCL.
## Station details
### Etymology
The name Bras Basah (Modern Spelling: Beras Basah) means "wet rice" in Malay – beras means harvested rice with husk removed, and basah means wet. The station initially had the working name "Museum", which was subsequently changed to its current name in 2005 through a public poll.
### Services and location
The station serves the Circle line, situated between the Dhoby Ghaut and Esplanade stations. The official station code is CC2. The station operates daily between 5:39 am (6:06 am on Sundays and Public Holidays) and 12:03 am. Train frequencies varies from 5 to 7 minutes depending on peak hours. Bras Basah station has an unpaid link to the nearby Bencoolen station on the DTL.
The station is located underneath Bras Basah Road between the Singapore Art Museum and the Li Ka Shing library of the Singapore Management University. As its working name suggests, the station serves various museums including the Peranakan Museum, the China Cultural Centre, the Philatelic Museum and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts National Museum, and various cultural landmarks such as Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Fort Canning, Chijmes, Bencoolen Mosque and Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple. Other surrounding developments include Bras Basah Complex, Carlton Hotel, Fairmont Hotel, Peace Centre and the Rendezvous Hotel.
### Architecture
The station is 35 metres (115 ft) below ground and was the deepest station when it first opened until the completion of the DTL platforms at Promenade station in 2013, which has a depth of 42 metres (138 ft). The station was constructed deep underground as the line has to cross underneath the East West Line beneath Victoria Street to reach the station. It is also the station with the longest escalator in the MRT network at 41 metres (135 ft), stretching from the ticket concourse to the transfer level and takes approximately one minute to travel.
The station design by WOHA resolves two conditions needed for the station: allowing a visual connection to the exterior to enhance the travel experience for the commuters, and enabling the station to blend into the landscape in the historic district and park location. A reflection pool, which also acts as the station roof, allows skylight to enter the station, and functions as a landscape element on the surface. With skylight entering the station, minimal artificial light is required for the station during the day. The natural light improves way-finding and safety for the commuters. The ventilation shafts of the station blends into the landscape, avoiding obstruction of the view across the site to the surrounding civic buildings.
The station design was commissioned through the Marina line Architectural Design Competition jointly organised by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA). At the 2001 SIA Awards, the SIA had given a prize to LTA for ‘Excellence in Architectural Design Competitions’. In 2009, the station was awarded the "Best Transport Building" at the World Architecture Festival, on the basis that the design gives "precedence to the surrounding, historically important, colonial structures, creating a piazza-like urban space to the station underneath" and noted the design's functionality to allow natural light into the station. The station later won the Award for International Architecture at the Australian Institute of Architects' (AIA's) 2010 National Architecture Awards. In addition, it won the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and International Architecture Awards in 2011.
### Public artwork
A video work, The Amazing Neverending Underwater Adventures! by Tan Kai Syng, is displayed at the station. The work was installed as part of the Art-in-Transit (AiT) programme — a showcase that integrates public artwork in the MRT network. The video depicts the protagonist Desyphus, a "perpetual commuter", on a quest aboard the Circle line. During the journey, the protagonist fights against "Life's Big Quirks, Ecstasies and Agonies", while exploring points of interest and creating "smaller tales" that will contribute to the "(hi-)stories" of Bras Basah. Projected on the wall below the reflecting pool of the station every evening from 7.29 pm to 10 pm, the video intends to depict the themes of travel, time, memory and the MRT line.
The work incorporates riddles with lines taken from literature such as Alice in Wonderland, cliché Greek quotes and other works by famous authors such as Samuel Beckett. Tan decided to incorporate riddles after seeing poetry in the London Underground commissioned by the British Transport for London. The scenes in the videos were taken from several sources, including the artist's own travels to London and Tokyo, an underwater shoot and rare archival footage showing the demolition of the old national library near the station.
While juxtaposing the text, visuals and audio, Tan intended to show the complex relationship and tension between words and images. The work is thus fragmented and not intended to be viewed in one sitting; different styles and subjects are shown at different times since the work is meant to appeal to a wider audience. Curator Karen Lim as well as station architect WOHA, which reserved space specifically for such a work, both praised the piece for its perfect integration with the minimalist station architecture. As the sunlight interferes with the video projection, the work is displayed only during the evenings. The audio is restricted to the concourse to prevent conflict with regular station announcements. |
791,531 | Volusianus | 1,124,396,522 | Roman emperor from 251 to 253 | [
"230 births",
"253 deaths",
"3rd-century Roman emperors",
"3rd-century murdered monarchs",
"Crisis of the Third Century",
"Imperial Roman consuls",
"Murdered Roman emperors",
"Sons of Roman emperors",
"Vibii",
"Year of birth uncertain"
]
| Gaius Vibius Volusianus (died August 253) was a Roman emperor from 251 to 253, ruling with his father Trebonianus Gallus.
After Emperor Decius and his son and co-ruler Herennius Etruscus died in battle in June 251, Trebonianus Gallus was elected emperor in the field by the legion. Gallus raised Hostilian, the younger son of Decius, to augustus (co-emperor) and elevated Volusianus to caesar. After the death of Hostilian in July or August 251, Volusianus was raised to augustus. The short reign of Gallus and Volusianus was notable for the outbreak of a plague, which is said by some to be the reason for Hostilian's death, and for hostilities with the Sasanian Empire and the Goths. Volusianus and his father were killed in August 253 by their own soldiers, who were terrified of the forces of the usurper Aemilian which were marching towards Rome.
## History
Gaius Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumnianus Volusianus was the son of Trebonianus Gallus, who was named emperor in July 251 after his predecessors, Decius and Herennius Etruscus, died fighting the Goths at the Battle of Abritus. Elected by the troops in the field, Gallus signed a treaty, decried by contemporary historians as "shameful", which promised tribute to the Goths if they abstained from raiding. He subsequently made a bid for popularity by declaring Hostilian, the surviving son of Decius, augustus (emperor) with him, voluntarily sharing his power with the prior imperial family. Later, still in July 251, Gallus elevated Volusianus to caesar (heir-apparent). Volusianus was wed to Hostilian's sister, of an unknown name.
Hostilian died in July or August 251. The reason for his death is disputed: Aurelius Victor and the author of the Epitome de Caesaribus both say that Hostilian died of a plague, but Zosimus claims that Trebonianus Gallus murdered the young augustus so that Volusianus could take his place. Regardless of circumstances, Volusianus subsequently received the rank of augustus. He was made consul in 252, alongside Trebonianus Gallus, and in 253, alongside Valerius Maximus. The same plague that killed Hostilian devastated the rest of Rome, although Trebonianus Gallus gained much popularity by ensuring that all of the plague victims were given proper burials, regardless of their social status. During the reign of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus, the persecution of Christians was not as extreme as it was under Decius, although Pope Cornelius was exiled in 252 AD. Novatian was also forced to flee Rome during this period of persecution. Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus issued only two imperial rescripts during their reign.
During the shared reign of Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus, the Roman Empire was invaded by both the Goths and the Sassanids. Both co-emperors chose to stay in Rome rather than confront the invasions themselves. The Sassanids attacked in 252, quickly overrunning Mesopotamia, and defeated the Romans at the Battle of Barbalissos, near Barbalissos in the province of Euphratensis (modern day Syria). They advanced into Roman territory as far as Antioch, which was captured in 253 after a prolonged siege. In 253, the Goths invaded Moesia Inferior, as the new governor, Aemilian, had refused to pay the tribute to them. The Goths split into two bands, with one raiding the cities of Moesia Inferior and Thracia, and the other crossing into Asia Minor as far as Ephesus.
Aemilian succeeded in repelling the Goths, slaughtering many and forcing the rest back across the Danube. The prestige of this victory was so great that Aemilian's soldiers spontaneously declared him emperor, in opposition to Trebonianus Gallus and Volusianus. When the news reached Rome, Gallus and Volusianus called for reinforcements from Valerian, the future emperor, who had been strengthening the empire's defences on the Rhine. Aemilian marched to Italy at a rapid pace, arriving before Valerian could such send any assistance. The troops available to the co-emperors feared fighting the much stronger forces of Aemilian. To forestall the battle, they mutinied, killing Gallus and Volusianus at Interamna, in Umbria, in August 253. The Chronography of 354 says the co-emperors ruled for a total of two years, four months, and nine days.
## Numismatics
The aurei of Volusianus fell into two types. There were five styles of coins which featured his bust on the obverse, with the reverse showing: Aequitas sitting, Aeternitas standing, Apollo standing, Juno sitting inside a rounded temple, or Victoria standing. There were a further six styles of coins which featured his bust with a Radiate on the obverse, with the reverse displaying: Concordia sitting, Felicitas standing, Libertas standing, Providence standing, Salus standing, or a helmeted Virtus standing. The coins of Volusianus occasionally bore the inscription Saeculum nouum (new age), alongside the traditional inscriptions Romae aeternae (eternal Rome) and Pax aeternae (eternal peace).
## Family tree
## See also
- List of Roman emperors |
36,910,668 | New Guys | 1,138,659,963 | null | [
"2012 American television episodes",
"The Office (American season 9) episodes"
]
| "New Guys" is the first episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 177th episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on September 20, 2012. The episode was written and directed by series creator Greg Daniels; this is his first writing credit for the series since the seventh season episode "Goodbye, Michael", and his first directing credit since "PDA".
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, two new employees (Clark Duke and Jake Lacy) are hired by the Scranton branch and cause trouble for Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski). Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) returns from manager training, hoping for revenge on Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate). Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) considers adopting Angela Lipton's (Angela Kinsey) cat. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) tries to save a turtle.
"New Guys" was the inception of several story arcs and saw the departures of Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor and B. J. Novak as Ryan Howard, due to their involvement in the former's own sitcom The Mindy Project. "New Guys" received largely positive pre-release reviews from television critics. Post-release reviews were mixed; while many felt that the episode was a distinct step in the right direction for the show, others took issues with some of the comedic aspects of the episode. "New Guys" was viewed by 4.28 million viewers and received a 2.1 rating among adults between the age of 18 and 49, making it the show's lowest-rated season premiere. The episode ranked second in its timeslot and was also the highest-rated NBC series of the night.
## Synopsis
Various workers in the office explain what they did over the summer: Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) tried to save a turtle that he ran over, making a new shell after he cannot put the old one back together. He broke the new one as well, so made a second one, but found the turtle was already dead, likely from when he ran it over the first time. Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) moved to Ohio with her fiancé Ravi and Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) also moved to Ohio for "unrelated reasons". Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) made a new “energy drink” from beet run-off and also learned that he is not the biological father of Angela Lipton's (Angela Kinsey) baby. Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) reveal that Jim was offered an entrepreneurial sports job by an old college friend based on an idea the two had in college. Jim tells the camera that he turned it down, because the long distance would not be good for his family. Pam and Jim begin to take off their microphones and Pam makes a remark, noting that, after nine years, the cameramen should have enough footage for a documentary. One of the cameramen then addresses the two, saying that they are more interested in the developments of the office workers themselves, especially Jim and Pam, rather than the office now. Jim looks pensive when Pam tells the cameramen that they expect to live a calm, normal life, given their work and children, and that “nothing interesting is going to happen to [them] for a long, long time.”
Two new employees, Clark Green (Clark Duke) and Pete Miller (Jake Lacy), who are quickly dubbed "Dwight, Jr." and "The New Jim" based solely on their respective visual similarities, are hired by the Scranton branch and cause trouble for Jim and Dwight. At first, Dwight is happy to have a protégé, acting as a fatherly figure to Clark (which disturbs Clark), but soon begins to fear that Clark is after his job. Jim, on the other hand, does not feel that he and Pete have anything in common. However, after hearing Pete discuss his future plans, Jim realizes that he used to have Pete's ambition but has become stuck at the same job for over nine years. Angela puts one of her cats, Comstock, up for adoption as her baby is allergic to it. Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) initially refuses to adopt Comstock despite Angela's pleas, but agrees to adopt it after learning that it is her husband Robert's (Jack Coleman) favorite cat. It is implied that Robert and Oscar are having an affair, as Robert told Angela he was having a business dinner on the night he actually had plans with Oscar.
Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) returns from Outward Bound manager training — where he became more "decisive and confident" — hoping for revenge on Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) for commandeering his job during the previous spring. To do this, Andy sets up a slackline in the parking lot and makes the employees walk across it, humiliating Nellie as she insists on walking in her heels (due to disliking her feet) and fails to keep her balance (due to Andy pushing her). After Clark proves that he is talented at balancing, Dwight attempts to one-up him, but ends up failing repeatedly and hurting himself. Eventually, Dwight tries to prove his superiority by riding a bicycle across a tight-rope suspended between the roof and a telephone pole, but the printer he is using as a counterweight is not heavy enough and he ends up losing his balance and hanging from the bicycle above the parking lot, while his coworkers who were leaving look on in horror. Much to his embarrassment, he has to be rescued by a team of firefighters, while Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) mistakenly believes the incident to be a circus act, erroneously commenting that this was "not bad for a day in the life of a dog food company." While everyone is outside crowding around Dwight, Jim calls up his old college friend and tells him that he wants to be involved in the new business deal, even though he did not have Pam's approval.
## Production
On May 11, 2012, NBC renewed The Office for a ninth season and it was later announced that Greg Daniels, who had been the series showrunner from season one through five, would be returning. "New Guys" was written and directed by Daniels. This is his first writing credit for the series since the seventh season entry, "Goodbye, Michael", and his first directing credited since season seven's "PDA". This also marks the third time he has both written and directed an episode, after the first season episode "Basketball" and the fourth season opener, "Fun Run". Daniels later revealed that "New Guys" would be the inception of big season arcs. He went on the record saying "I'll tell you that the last couple of years, I don't think we did any big arc-type things in the way that we used to in the beginning, I think the thing we're going to do is bring back a lot of arcs". Jenna Fischer later stated that part of the Jim and Pam arc would be dependent on "things that happened in seasons past that didn't seem very relevant at the time and [that] they're going to become important this season."
"New Guys" featured one of the final few performances of Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor, who left the series to star in her own comedy television series The Mindy Project, which was created for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Both Novak and Kaling appeared in two episodes of the season—"New Guys" and "Finale". The episode features both Clark Duke and Jake Lacy as two new Dunder Mifflin employees who have been hired to "go through the back log of over 4,000 unanswered customer complaints that" Kelly has ignored the past few years. Duke noted that filming the slack lining scene "was not that fun; it was really hard". He did, however, state that Helms was able to do it well "with no practice". The voice of the documentarian that responds to Jim is that of series director David Rogers. Rogers also voiced the same character in the penultimate episode opener "A.A.R.M.". Originally, Daniels had re-recorded the line in "New Guys", but ended up liking Rogers' voice better. He asked him to reprise the role in "A.A.R.M." to preserve continuity.
The official website of The Office included several cut scenes from "New Guys" within a week of the episode's release. In the first 40-second clip, Dwight tries to bond with Clark by discussing an article he read in Time magazine about dub-step. Clark teases Dwight for reading the magazine, something he considers for older audiences, but Dwight is oblivious. In the second 75-second clip, Toby calls a workplace bullying meeting and the office discusses how Andy has been harassing various people. Kevin declares that Angela bullies him, and states that she will not give him her cat because he killed his turtle "a few times". In the third and final 30-second clip, Jim tries to convince Dwight that the relationship Dwight shares with Clark is similar to that of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, characters from the popular science fiction movie franchise Star Wars.
## Cultural references
Much like the sixth season starter "Gossip"—which featured parkour in the cold opening—the seventh season opener "Nepotism"—which started with a lip dub—and the eighth season premiere "The List"—which opened with a bit about planking—"New Guys" also contains a plot involving a popular Internet meme, in this case slacklining, which is a practice in balance that typically uses nylon webbing tensioned between two anchor points. When Ryan is leaving, he claims he is going to Ohio because "they call it the Silicone Prairie," a reference to Silicon Valley, a part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States that is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations. Andy returns from Outward Bound, an organization that aims to foster the personal growth and social skills of participants by using challenging expeditions in the outdoors. Dwight tries to talk to Clark about the heavy metal band Slayer, noting that he has tickets for a show in ten months. Jim asks Pete if he likes the Philadelphia Phillies, but Pete mistakes his reference to mean horses.
Erik Adams of The A.V. Club compared Dwight and Clark's relationship to that of the mythical characters of King Laius and Oedipus, respectively. The story, which was later turned into a popular play Oedipus Rex by Greek writer Sophocles, tells of how Laius hears of a prophecy that his son will kill him. Fearing the prophecy, Laius abandons his son, Oedipus', who is raised in the city of Thebes. Oedipus later crosses paths with Laius and gets into a fight and, not knowing that Laius is his father, kills him. Adams argues that the "break-room conversation" Dwight and Clark share echoes the myth of Oedipus, given that it starts to make Dwight paranoid and fear that Clark is after his job.
Many reviewers noted that the episode made references to previous episodes of the series. The ending, featuring Dwight riding a bicycle on the roof, was positively compared to the third season episode "Safety Training". Adams wrote that many of the scenes "take characters to corners of the office tied to memories of episode's [sic] past", such as Oscar's phone call, which takes place in the stairwell where Dwight pumped himself up for his work review in the second season episode "Performance Review", and Pam climbing up the rooftop access ladder, which is reminiscent of Pam and Jim's first "date" in the second season episode "The Client".
## Broadcast and reception
### Ratings
"New Guys" originally aired on NBC on September 20, 2012. The episode was viewed by 4.28 million viewers and received a 2.1/6 percent share in the 18–49 demographic. This means that it was seen by 2.1 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a 46 percent drop in viewership from the season eight premiere "The List" and made it the lowest-rated premiere of The Office to air. The Office finished second in its time slot, being beaten by an episode of the Fox series Glee, which received a 2.9/8 percent rating. "New Guys", however, finished ahead of repeats of the CBS show Two and a Half Men and the ABC series Grey's Anatomy and a new episode of The CW show The Next. The Office was also the highest-rated NBC television program of the night. "New Guys" was the twenty-first most-watched show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49. This marked a slight improvement from the season eight premiere, "The List", which ranked as the twenty-second. When DVR numbers were included, the episode increased its ratings up 52 percent to a 3.2, meaning it was seen by, in total, 3.2 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds.
### Reviews
Several pre-release reviews of the episode were generally positive. Bruce Miller of the Sioux City Journal gave the episode a largely positive review and noted that "If you can erase last season from your mind, you'll see this ... is exactly how The Office should have carried on after Steve Carell left." Furthermore, he praised the addition of Duke and Lacy, calling their performances "so good you could see them become the centerpiece of a new series." Verne Gay of Newsweek awarded the episode an "A−" and called the installment "very (very) funny." He was especially happy about the addition of Lacy and Duke, calling them "flashbacks to a younger Jim and Dwight." Furthermore, he noted that "the ninth and final season actually may offer completion" of a show that has just "merely offered variations on [the characters'] tics" for the past eight seasons. Bob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the episode "generally funnier than [the show] was last season" and wrote that the episode would be a good opportunity "for viewers who quit the [series] last year ... to come back to the show." Particularly, he was excited to "see the seeds of the show's end planted."
Entertainment Weekly writer Ken Tucker concluded that "New Guys" has "a lot more snap and vigor than most of last season's episodes." He was extremely complimentary towards the Pam and Jim story arc that was hinted at, noting that, after settling into a comfortable marriage, the show was finally trying to make them interesting again. David Silverberg of DigitalJournal.com called the entry "one of the show's best [premieres] in recent years" and concluded that the addition of Duke and Lacy "work as a better foil than Nellie and the creepy boss played by James Spader." Adams awarded the episode a "B+" and called it "a fresh start" for the series after the eighth season. Adams also complimented the show for "stop[ing] every so often to acknowledge the fans that have stuck with the series [and] also mak[ing] subtler callbacks to the show's glory days." He was also complimentary towards the fact that Duke and Lacy have not been thrown into stories of their own, rather, they "serve as parallels and stimulants to Dwight and Jim."
Nick Campbell of TV.com called the episode "a decent" and "moderately sharp" season premiere. He concluded that, "While the episode still wasn't on par with those of the show's earliest seasons, ... The episode wasn't lazy—and for The Office, that's a win." Other reviews were slightly more mixed. TV Fanatic reviewer Dan Forcella awarded the episode a three out of five, but was appreciative of the additions to the cast, as well as many of the actors story lines. Jeffrey Hyatt of Screencrave noted that the episode was similar in tone to the season eight finale, "Free Family Portrait Studio", but that "the addition of Lacy and Duke pay quick dividends as the opener provides flashes of comedy moxie, while helping wash away painful memories of last season." David Hinckley of the New York Daily News awarded the episode three stars out of five and wrote that "The deadpan goofiness remains fresh enough to keep fans interested" and that "the fact that this whole drama doesn't feel new and shiny anymore isn't anyone's fault. ... All The Office needs to do now is march out proudly random, zany and off-center." HitFix's Alan Sepinwall, however, was critical of the episode's humor, noting that it "didn't give me a lot of hope for a last-minute resurgence". Matt Roush of TV Guide wrote that the "one interesting storyline" may make him watch the remainder of Pam and Jim's story, but not "the rest of this sadly played-out workplace comedy."
Many reviews were complimentary towards the interaction Pam and Jim had with the cameramen. Silverberg called it "a nice surprise". Tucker called the sequence one of the "biggest reveals" in the episode. Sepinwall, despite being critical of the episode's humor, found the sub-plot "interesting". He called it "a character arc I've been waiting for the show to remember to do for years now, and the scenes here were promising (if not incredibly funny)". |
3,827,673 | Washington State Route 31 | 1,146,676,945 | Highway in Washington | [
"State highways in Washington (state)",
"Transportation in Pend Oreille County, Washington",
"Washington State Scenic and Recreational Highways"
]
| State Route 31 (SR 31) is a Washington state highway located entirely in Pend Oreille County. The highway, which is 26.79 miles (43.11 km) long, starts at an intersection with SR 20 in Tiger and travels north to the Canada–US border north of Metaline Falls. At the border, SR 31 becomes British Columbia Highway 6 (BC 6). The route parallels the Pend Oreille River for most of its route and the primary functions of the highway is to serve and connect Tiger, Ione, Metaline and Metaline Falls with British Columbia.
Before 1964, the route from Newport to BC 6 was the northernmost section of Primary State Highway 6, which ran from Spokane to BC 6. Originally created in 1964, SR 31 extended southeast to an intersection with U.S. Route 2 (US 2, formerly US 195) in Newport. The North Cascades Highway (SR 20) was extended to Newport in 1973 and SR 31 from Newport to Tiger became SR 20. SR 31 had one auxiliary route, SR 311, which became SR 211 after SR 20 was extended.
## Route description
State Route 31 (SR 31) is 26.79 miles (43.114 km) long within Pend Oreille County, Washington from SR 20 in Tiger north to British Columbia Highway 6 (BC 6) at the Canada–US border, located north of Metaline Falls. The highway parallels the Pend Oreille River for most of its route and connects Tiger, Ione, Metaline and Metaline Falls with British Columbia. The route also parallels the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad from Tiger to Metaline Falls; the railroad extends south to Newport along SR 20 and east to Dover, Idaho.
SR 31 starts at an intersection with SR 20 and Tiger East Road in the small community of Tiger. The road turns northwest after the intersection and then curves north after intersecting Vogel Road. After crossing the railroad, the highway forms the eastern boundary of Ione Municipal Airport and later passes Sullivan Lake Road. At the Sullivan Lake Road junction, SR 31 is named McKay Road and crosses the Ione Millpond to enter the city of Ione. There, the route is renamed Second Street and leaves the city to parallel the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad and the shoreline of the Pend Oreille River. The name of the road changes to Lehigh Avenue, a name that stays with SR 31 until the Canada–US border. The railroad crosses the road and later bridges the Pend Oreille River, as the highway turns northwest and reverts northeast. The route reaches Metaline and curves southeast to cross the Pend Oreille River on the Pend Oreille Bridge into Metaline Falls. After turning south and back north, the highway starts to curve multiple times until intersecting Sullivan Lake Road and being directed northeast. The road turns north and crosses two streams before curving northwest and then northeast to Lake Lucerene. After passing Lake Lucerene, SR 31 passes Crescent Lake and Boundary Lake before ending at the Canada–US border. SR 31's northern end at the Canada–US border is the easternmost crossing in Washington and is located east of Crawford State Park.
## History
### Pre–SR 31 (1923–1964)
In 1923, a system of roads to connect cities throughout Washington was established. One of the roads, State Road 6, followed a route from Spokane to the Canada–US border. The road was named the Pend O'Reille Highway, a name that would identify the route until 1964. The state road system was later expanded into a new system in 1937.
During the creation of the Primary and Secondary Highways in 1937, the road that was State Road 6 became Primary State Highway 6 (PSH 6). PSH 6 ran from U.S. Route 10 (US 10) and US 195 (future US 2), north to the Canada–US border; the route was co-signed as US 195 from Spokane to Newport. US 2 was signed over PSH 6 from Spokane to Newport in 1948 and the route became SR 31 from Newport to the Canada–US border during the 1964 highway renumbering. During the renumbering, WSDOT replaced the previous system of Primary and Secondary Highways with a new system called state routes, which is still in use today.
### SR 31: Newport–BC 6 (1964–1973)
SR 31's previous route ran a total of 73.31 miles (117.98 km) from Newport northwest to Tiger and north to the Canada–US border at BC 6. The route started in Newport at the intersection of W. Walnut Street (SR 31 northbound and US 2 eastbound) and N. Union Avenue (US 2 westbound). Next, the highway went northwest and left Newport to parallel the Pend Oreille River for the rest of its route. The road would also join the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad north to the current southern terminus. SR 31 turned west and passed Lake Newport State Park, located on the shores of the river, before curving northwest and entering the community of Dilkena. From Dilkena, the road goes north to pass SR 311's northern terminus in Usk and pass the towns of Cusick, Locke and Jared. The highway turned east at Jared and back northwest at Ruby. After Blue Slide and Lost Creek, SR 31 would continue north out of Tiger, which was the eastern terminus of SR 294. SR 31 from Newport to Tiger later became SR 20 after it was extended on SR 294 and SR 31 in 1973.
#### SR 311 (1964–1973)
From 1964 until 1973, SR 31 had an auxiliary route called State Route 311. The highway ran from US 2 west of Newport, north 15.24 miles (24.53 km) to SR 31 in Usk. The road was entirely located within Pend Oreille County; the southern terminus was located east of Pend Oreille State Park on US 2 and west of Diamond Lake and the community of the same name. SR 311 advanced north past Sacheen Lake and Davis Lake to the northern terminus, which was 2.39 miles (3.85 km) south of Cusick. SR 311 was established as SSH 6B in 1937 during the creation of the primary and secondary highway system. In the 1964 renumbering, SR 311 was created over SSH 6B. When SR 20 was extended over SR 294 and SR 31, SR 311 became SR 211, which it is still currently designated as.
## Major intersections |
70,908,282 | Molly White (writer) | 1,173,589,236 | American Wikipedian (born 1993) | [
"1993 births",
"21st-century American engineers",
"21st-century American women",
"American bloggers",
"American editors",
"American software engineers",
"American women bloggers",
"American women critics",
"American women editors",
"American women engineers",
"Living people",
"Northeastern University alumni",
"People associated with cryptocurrency",
"Wikipedia people",
"Writers from Massachusetts"
]
| Molly White (born 1993) is an American software engineer, Wikipedia editor, and crypto skeptic. A critic of the decentralized blockchain (Web3) and cryptocurrency industries, she runs the website Web3 Is Going Just Great, which documents malfeasance in that technology space. She has appeared in Web3-related news, consulted on federal legislation for regulating the crypto industry, and successfully proposed that the Wikimedia Foundation cease to collect crypto donations. White additionally volunteers as a Wikipedia editor and is among the site's most active women. She has edited a range of articles on right-wing extremism.
## Wikipedia editing
White began editing Wikipedia at the age of 13, and became a site administrator while still in high school. Initially, White wrote articles about her favorite emo bands and women scientists, but she came to write about right-wing extremismsuch as Gamergate, the Boogaloo movement, Gab, Parler, and Jacob Wohlduring the Donald Trump administration. She received mainstream news coverage for her work editing the article about the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Under the username "GorillaWarfare", she had made over 100,000 edits by early 2022. This work, she said, fulfills her interest in validating information online and her belief that spreading information produces societal change. She served six years on the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, which adjudicates editor disputes.
As one of Wikipedia's most active female editors, White has been a regular target of online harassment, threats of violence, doxxing, and hounding both on Wikipedia and off-site. Her experience was the subject of a 2016 speech on editor harassment by Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher. White had previously been targeted after her photograph was featured in a Foundation fundraising campaign. The harassment escalated in 2018 after she began editing Wikipedia articles on incels and other contentious topics.
## Cryptocurrency criticism
In late 2021, White noticed a public tone shift around cryptocurrencies with a push to take crypto mainstream as a default technology. This grew her concerns for the suitability of cryptocurrency in general, based on the performance of past projects. In her research, she started with the Wikipedia article on Web3, an idea for a Web based on decentralized blockchains. Despite the concept's hype on social media with sizable venture capital investment, she found the term to be ill-defined and associated with numerous scams, frauds, and "rug pulls" affecting consumer investors. She created a website, Web3 Is Going Just Great, in December 2021 to document these cases. The website provides a timeline of Web3 and cryptocurrency projects and the losses to their investors. Many of its stories are not covered in the mainstream press, and unlike press coverage of Web3, its headlines are unsensational. The Verge described her writing as "dryly funny, almost clinical" in its documentation. A running total of dollars lost to crypto failures runs in the website's corner. The site also includes a glossary of jargon, curated resources about the blockchain, and an annotated critique of Kevin Roose's New York Times article, "The Latecomer's Guide to Crypto", which she considered a "grossly irresponsible" advertisement for cryptocurrencies. The website's traffic grew quickly after it was listed on Hacker News, Reddit, and multiple news publications, growing to 60,000 and 100,000 monthly visitors by the end of the year. During this time, she worked for several hours a day on the blog.
By mid-2022, White was known among the most prominent and knowledgeable critics of the crypto and Web3 industries. On those topics, White lectured at Stanford University, counseled U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on legislation, and provided fact checks for inquiring journalists. Her appearances on Web3-related news sites, podcasts, and technology mailing lists made her into an "unofficial Web3 ombudsperson", according to The Information. She has a large following among cryptocurrency skeptics and, in late 2022, was recognized among both Forbes's "30 Under 30" people in Social Media and Prospect's list of the world's top thinkers.
White's Twitter thread on flaws in the proposed cryptocurrency project Cryptoland went viral and led to large-scale ridicule of the now-inactive project. In early 2022, she proposed that the Wikimedia Foundation cease accepting cryptocurrency donations, which she argued were associated with predatory technologies and no longer ethical. Following a community vote with majority support among participating Wikipedia editors, the Foundation adopted her proposal in May 2022. She also sees privacy and harassment implications with having an individual's entire transaction history permanently available and accessible to the public via blockchain, and has been surprised by how few companies consider vectors for abuse. According to White, "Any time you're talking about taking user-generated content and putting it into immutable storage, you're going to have really serious problems." She holds that crypto has not democratized the web but has exacerbated inequalities, stating that Web3 technologies have actually re-centralized power under the control of a few wealthy investors, many of whom are already very influential in shaping the current web tech landscape, according to White. She also says that positive use cases for the technology have largely consisted of situations in which "any replacement is better than what exists", such as sending funds to people struggling to live in sanctioned states.
White has called for federal regulation of the crypto industry. She signed a June 2022 letter to the U.S. Congress with 25 other technologists urging regulation. The letter states, in part, that blockchain technology is "poorly suited for just about every purpose currently touted as a present or potential source of public benefit." White opposed a cryptocurrency regulatory proposal by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis for its leniency on the industry. Cryptocurrencies are treated as consumer investments, more like a security than a commodity, she argued, and should be handled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, not the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
At a March 2023 SXSW talk, White claimed that the tech industry's shift to artificial intelligence displayed a similar pattern of hype and uncritical media coverage as happened with blockchain technology.
## Personal life and career
White was born in 1993 and raised in Maine. While attending Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, White interned at a NASA-funded University of Maine lab that researched lunar habitat module sensors. She attended Boston's Northeastern University, where she participated in two co-ops with the marketing software developer HubSpot. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in computer science in 2016, she continued to work there as a software engineer for six years, through May 2022, when she resigned to recover from burnout. As of late 2022, she is an affiliate of Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
White lives in the Greater Boston area. She holds left-wing views that skew towards socialism.
## See also
- Cryptocurrency bubble
- List of Wikipedia people
- David Gerard (author), another crypto skeptic and Wikipedia volunteer |
33,664,216 | Cyclone Keila | 1,162,346,596 | North Indian cyclone in 2011 | [
"2011 North Indian Ocean cyclone season",
"2011 in Oman",
"Cyclonic storms",
"Tropical cyclones in 2011",
"Tropical cyclones in Oman"
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| Cyclonic Storm Keila (IMD designation: ARB 02, JTWC designation: 03A) was the first named storm of the 2011 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. A weak system for much of its duration, Keila developed in the western Arabian Sea in late October 2011, amid an area of marginally favorable conditions. On November 2, it briefly organized enough to be classified as a cyclonic storm, which has maximum sustained winds of at least 65 km/h (40 mph). Given the name Keila by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the storm quickly moved ashore southern Oman near Salalah, and weakened while meandering over the country. The remnants soon after moved offshore, dissipating on November 4.
The storm brought heavy rainfall to Oman, reaching just over 700 mm (28 in) in the mountains near Salalah. Moisture from the storm spread across most of the country, causing flash flooding near the capital Muscat. Floods from the storm killed 14 people, injured over 200, washed away hundreds of cars, and damaged many buildings. Two hospitals were damaged, forcing 60 patients to be evacuated elsewhere by helicopter. Overall damage was estimated at US\$80 million (2011 USD). Offshore, Keila capsized a boat originating from India, killing five of the crew and leaving another nine missing; six sailors were rescued by the Omani Coast Guard.
## Meteorological history
The Intertropical Convergence Zone produced an area of convection in the southeastern Arabian Sea toward the end of October 2011. The overall system moved west-northwestward, developing a distinct low-pressure area on October 27. By that time, the thunderstorm activity was still disorganized and associated with a weak circulation. Environmental conditions were unfavorable initially, consisting of strong wind shear and dry air. An anticyclone over the system caused the shear to decrease by October 28, amid warm water temperatures of 29 °C (84 °F), both more favorable conditions. By that time the circulation became well-defined, although still elongated, and the convection was still scattered. On October 29, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) designated the system as Depression ARB 02 about 885 km (550 mi) east of the Yemeni island of Socotra.
Convection continued to organize and deepen as the nascent depression continued west-northwestward, steered by a ridge to the north. However, dry air from the Arabian Peninsula and cooler waters proved deleterious to the system, and the circulation became more disorganized on October 30. Despite the marginally favorable conditions, the overall structure improved on November 1, with pronounced outflow developing along the western periphery. A nearby buoy reported a barometric pressure of 998 mbar (29.5 inHg), which confirmed the increasing organization. At 03:00 UTC on November 1, the IMD upgraded the depression to a deep depression, and 24 hours later to Cyclonic Storm Keila. By that time, the agency estimated peak 3 minute sustained winds of 65 km/h (40 mph) while the storm was just 150 km (95 mi) southeast of Oman. The American-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) also designated the system as Tropical Cyclone 03A at 03:00 UTC on November 2.
With cool waters and an unfavorable phase of the Madden–Julian oscillation, Keila failed to intensify significantly as it approached the southeastern Arabian Peninsula. An irregular central dense overcast developed over the circulation, consisting of shallow convection. A passing trough weakened the ridge to the north, steering Keila toward the north. After weakening to a deep depression again, Keila made landfall near Salalah, Oman around 18:00 UTC on November 2. Around that time, the JTWC discontinued advisories, once the storm was weakening rapidly over land. With a ridge to the north and east, Keila followed the track of the anticyclone aloft, which brought it back offshore Oman on November 3. Such looping near the coast was considered rare by the IMD. According to the agency, the system continued eastward and dissipated on November 4. However, the JTWC tracked the system further in a post-season analysis, estimating that Keila intensified once offshore and attained peak winds of 100 km/h (60 mph) on November 3. The agency assessed that the storm turned to the southwest and weakened, only to turn back to the northwest and dissipate over extreme eastern Yemen on November 5.
## Preparations and impact
There was confusion in the country over Keila's intensity; the IMD classified it as a cyclonic storm, while officials in Oman designated it as a deep depression, based on available observations. Officials warned residents of the potential for heavy rainfall. The Pakistani government also warned fishermen not to venture to the open seas, due to the uncertain effects of the storm.
While Keila was offshore and still in its developmental stages, it brought winds of 41 km/h (25 mph) to Salalah International Airport, and at the time of landfall, the station reported slightly stronger winds of 43 km/h (26 mph). However, the storm's most severe effects were related to the heavy rainfall it produced over Oman, which peaked at just over 700 mm (28 in) in the mountains near Salalah. In southern Oman, Keila dropped 50 to 100 mm (2.0 to 3.9 in) of rainfall at Salalah, the equivalent of a year's worth of precipitation. Moisture from the storm coalesced over the Al Hajar Mountains in northern Oman, producing severe thunderstorms that led to flash flooding. Across southern Oman where the storm crossed, there were no deaths; all of the deaths occurred due to the flash floods in northern Oman, where 14 people lost their lives. Three people were killed due to electrocutions, another two were crushed to death by large objects, and nine drowned. Overall damage was estimated at US\$80 million, and over 200 people were injured nationwide.
The rains caused wadis – typically dry riverbeds – to accumulate with floodwaters, washing away hundreds of cars and disrupting traffic. Police officers helped rescue victims who were stranded in flooded wadis. Some drivers rode out the floods on the roofs of their cars. The deluge also damaged crops and farm buildings elsewhere in the country. Damage was heaviest near the capital city Muscat, where houses and businesses were damaged by the floods, and there were many traffic accidents. A school bus was swept away in Wadi Kabir, although the students were soon after rescued by local authorities. Several buildings collapsed in Sur due to the rains. In the valley near Al-Rustaq, floodwaters swept away cars, dead animals, and property, with water levels reaching 1.8 m (5.9 ft) high in some places. The floods damaged two hospitals in northern Oman; police helicopters transferred 60 patients after the facilities were closed for maintenance, and other patients were moved to other local hospitals. Just days after Keila dissipated, another deep depression threatened Oman and brought additional rainfall.
Sailing from the Indian state of Gujarat to Dubai, a ship with the call sign MSV Shiv Sagar MNV 2169 encountered Keila offshore southern Oman. The storm's high winds caused the boat to capsize, killing five of the sailors, and leaving nine others missing. Six of the crew were rescued by the Omani Coast Guard.
## See also
- List of Arabian Peninsula tropical cyclones
- 2008 Yemen cyclone – slow-moving storm that produced deadly flooding in Yemen, killing 180 people |
303,961 | Mother (video game series) | 1,172,568,027 | Video game series | [
"Mother (video game series)",
"Nintendo franchises",
"Video game franchises introduced in 1989",
"Video games about magic",
"Video games about psychic powers",
"Video games about shapeshifting"
]
| (known as EarthBound outside Japan) is a video game series that consists of three role-playing video games: Mother (1989), known as EarthBound Beginnings outside Japan, for the Family Computer; Mother 2 (1994), known as EarthBound outside Japan, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; and Mother 3 (2006) for the Game Boy Advance.
Written by Shigesato Itoi, published by Nintendo, and featuring game mechanics modeled on the Dragon Quest series, Mother is known for its sense of humor, originality, and parody. The player uses weapons and psychic powers to fight hostile enemies, which include animated everyday objects, aliens and brainwashed people. Signature elements of the series include a lighthearted approach to the plot, battle sequences with psychedelic backgrounds, and the "rolling HP meter": player health ticks down like an odometer rather than instantly being subtracted, allowing the player to take preventative action, such as healing or finishing the battle, before the damage is fully dealt. While the franchise is popular in Japan, in the Anglosphere it is best associated with the cult following behind EarthBound.
While visiting Nintendo for other business, Itoi approached Shigeru Miyamoto about making Mother. When approved for a sequel, Itoi increased his involvement in the design process over the five-year development of EarthBound. When the project began to flounder, producer and later Nintendo president Satoru Iwata rescued the game. EarthBound's English localizers were given great liberties when translating the Japanese game's cultural allusions. The American version sold poorly despite a multimillion-dollar marketing budget. Mother 3 was originally slated for release on the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD disk drive accessory, but was cancelled in 2000. Three years later, the project was reannounced for the Game Boy Advance alongside a rerelease of Mother and Mother 2 in the combined cartridge Mother 1 + 2. Mother 3 abandoned the 3D graphics progress for a 2D style, and became a bestseller upon its release. EarthBound was rereleased for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013, and Mother received its English-language debut for the same platform in 2015, retitled EarthBound Beginnings. In 2022, Nintendo released Mother 1 and 2 to their Nintendo Switch Online service.
EarthBound is widely regarded as a video game classic, and is included in multiple top-ten lists. In absence of continued official support for the series, members of the EarthBound fan community organized online to advocate for further series releases through petitions and fan art. Their projects include a full fan translation of Mother 3, a full-length documentary, and a fangame sequel-turned-spiritual successor called Oddity. Ness, the protagonist of EarthBound, received exposure from his inclusion in all five entries of the Super Smash Bros. series. Other Mother series locations and characters have made appearances in the fighting games.
## Gameplay
The series is known for its combination of humorous and emotionally evocative tones. Itoi wanted to tell Mother 3 through a technique that swapped the active player-character, which he first attempted in EarthBound. The two games also share similar visual styles, both with psychedelic battle backgrounds and cartoonish art. While Mother 3's music is both similar in tone to its predecessors and completely new, it features similar sound effects. EarthBound characters such as Mr. Saturn recur, and RPGamer wrote that Mother 3's final chapter is "full of blatant links" between the games of the series. Mother also shares similarities with its sequel, such as the game save option through phoning Ninten's father, an option to store items with Ninten's sister at home, and an automated teller machine for banking money. Additionally, the members of the party follow behind the protagonist on the overworld screen in the first two games. Ninten's party members in Mother are analogous to those of EarthBound in style and function.
While Mother's battles were triggered through random encounters, EarthBound and early Mother 3 shared battle scene triggers, where physical contact with an enemy in the overworld began a turn-based battle scene shown in the first-person. Apart from Mother 3's rhythm and combo battle mechanic, the two game's battle systems are similar. Mother 3 also retains the "rolling HP meter" of EarthBound (where health ticks down like an odometer such that players can outrun the meter to heal before dying/fainting) but removes the feature where experience is automatically awarded before battles against much weaker foes. Recurring through the series is its signature "SMAAAASH" text and sound, which show when the player registers a critical hit.
Some characters are present in multiple entries of the series, such as Giygas, Mr. Saturn, and Pokey/Porky. Giygas is the primary antagonist in both Mother and EarthBound. The alien creature's emotional complexity deviates from genre norms. Giygas shows internal conflict in Mother and has no appearance but as an "indescribable" force in EarthBound's final boss battle. In both final battles, Giygas is defeated through love and prayer instead of through a tour de force of weaponry, unlike the endings of other period games. Nadia Oxford wrote for IGN that nearly two decades later, EarthBound's final fight against Giygas continues to be "one of the most epic video game standoffs of all time" with noted emotional impact. This battle's dialogue was based on Itoi's recollections of a traumatic scene from the Shintoho film The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty that he had accidentally seen in his childhood. Oxford wrote for 1UP.com that Itoi intended to show the alien's yearning for love in "a manner ... beyond human understanding". Despite EarthBound and Mother 3's dissimilar settings, the Mr. Saturn fictional species appear in similar Saturn Valleys in both games. The Mr. Saturn look like an old man's head with feet, a large nose, and bald except for a single hair with a bow. Though they are a technologically advanced and peaceful species with a pureness of heart, they are under constant attacks from encroaching enemies. Nadia and David Oxford of 1UP.com considered the Mr. Saturn to be aliens despite their human-like and fleshy appearance, as described a piece arguing the central theme of aliens in the Mother series. They compared the Mr. Saturn to Kurt Vonnegut's Tralfamadorian alien species. Finally, Pokey begins as Ness's child neighbor who "cowers" and "refuses to fight" in EarthBound, but grows into a "vicious control freak with no regard for human life", Porky, by the end of the series' Mother 3.
### Music
The soundtracks for Mother and EarthBound were composed by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. The Mother soundtrack was likened by RPGFan reviewer Patrick Gann to compositions by the Beatles and for children's television shows. He found the lyrics "cheesy and trite" but appreciated the "simple statements" in "Eight Melodies" and the "quirky and wonderful" "Magicant". The Mother soundtrack contains several tracks later used in subsequent series games. When Suzuki and Tanaka were unavailable to commit to Mother 3's soundtrack, Itoi chose Shogo Sakai for his experience with and understanding of the series. Sakai worked to make the music feel similar to previous entries in the series. Kyle Miller of RPGFan wrote that the game retained the quirkiness of the previous soundtracks in the series despite the change in composers. He felt that the second half of the album, which included reinterpreted "classics" from the series, to be its strongest. RPGamer's Jordan Jackson too found that the music was "just as catchy as previous games" despite being "almost completely new". Luke Plunkett of Kotaku credited Suzuki's background outside of games composition as a rock star and film scorer for making the music of Mother and EarthBound "so distinct and memorable" as "a synthesized tribute to 20th-century pop music".
## Development
### Mother
While visiting Nintendo for other work, celebrity copywriter Shigesato Itoi pitched to the company's lead designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, his idea for a role-playing game set in modern times. The contemporary setting worked against role-playing genre norms, and while Miyamoto liked the idea, he was hesitant until Itoi could show full commitment to the project. Itoi reduced his workload, formed a team, and began development in Ichikawa, Chiba. Nintendo tried to accommodate Itoi's ideal work environment to feel more like an extracurricular club of volunteers. Itoi wrote the game's script. The game, titled Mother, was developed by Ape, published by Nintendo, and released in Japan on July 27, 1989, for the Famicom (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan). The game was slated for an English-language localization as Earth Bound, but was abandoned when the team chose to localize Mother 2 instead. Years later, the complete localization was recovered by the public and distributed on the Internet, where it became known as EarthBound Zero. Mother received its English language debut in June 2015 as EarthBound Beginnings for the Wii U Virtual Console.
Mother is a single-player role-playing video game set in a "slightly offbeat", late 20th-century United States (as interpreted by Itoi). Unlike its Japanese role-playing game contemporaries, Mother is not set in a fantasy genre. The player fights in warehouses and laboratories instead of in dungeons and similar fantasy settings, and battles are fought with baseball bats and psychic abilities instead of swords and magic. Mother follows the young Ninten as he uses psychic powers to fight hostile, formerly inanimate objects and other enemies. The game uses random encounters to enter a menu-based, first-person perspective battle system.
### EarthBound
Mother 2 was made with a development team different from that of the original game, and most of its members were unmarried and willing to work through nights on the project. Itoi again wrote the game's script and served as a designer. The game's five-year development exceeded time estimates and came under repeated threat of cancellation. It was in dire straits until producer Satoru Iwata joined the team. Mother 2 was developed by Ape and HAL, published by Nintendo, and released in Japan's Super Famicom on August 27, 1994. The game was translated into English for North American audiences whereupon it became the only Mother series game to be released in North America until the later localization of Mother as EarthBound Beginnings. The localizers were given liberties to translate the Japanese script's cultural allusions to Western audiences as they pleased, and symbolism was also modified between the versions to adapt to Western sensitivities. To avoid confusion about the series' numbering, its English title was changed to EarthBound, and was released on June 5, 1995, for the North American Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Though Nintendo spent about \$2 million on marketing, the American release was ultimately viewed as unsuccessful within Nintendo. EarthBound was released when role-playing games were not popular in the United States, and visual taste in role-playing games was closer to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. EarthBound's atypical "this game stinks" marketing campaign was derived from the game's unusual humor and included foul-smelling scratch and sniff advertisements. 1UP.com called the campaign "infamously ill-conceived". Between the poor sales and the dwindling support for the Super NES, the game did not receive a European release.
The Mother series titles are built on what Itoi considered "reckless wildness", where he would offer ideas that encouraged his staff to contribute new ways of portraying scenes in the video game medium. He saw the titles foremost as games and not "big scenario scripts". Itoi has said that he wanted the player feel emotions such as "distraught" when playing the game. The game's writing was intentionally "quirky and goofy" in character, and written in the Japanese kana script so as to give dialogue a conversational feel. Itoi thought of the default player-character names when he did not like his team's suggestions. Many of the characters were based on real-life personalities. Itoi sought to make the game appeal to populations that played games less, such as girls.
Earthbound's story is a continuation of Mother's, featuring many of the same antagonists and monsters. By default, the player starts as a young boy named Ness, who finds that the alien force Giygas (/ˈɡiːɡəs, ˈɡaɪɡəs/ GHEE-gəs, GHY-gəs) has enveloped the world in hatred and consequently turned animals, humans, and objects into malicious creatures. Buzz Buzz, a bee from the future, instructs Ness to collect melodies in a Sound Stone to preemptively stop the force. While visiting the eight Sanctuaries where the melodies are held, Ness meets three other kids named Paula, Jeff, and Poo—"a psychic girl, an eccentric inventor, and a ponytailed martial artist", respectively—who join his party. Along the way, Ness encounters the cultists of Happy Happy Village, the zombie-infested Threed, the Winters boarding school, and the kingdom of Dalaam. When the Sound Stone is filled, Ness visits Magicant alone, a surreal location in his mind where he fights his dark side. Upon returning to Eagleland, he prepares to travel back in time to fight a young Giygas, a battle known for its "feeling of isolation, ... incomprehensible attacks, ... buzzing static" and reliance on prayer.
EarthBound plays as a Japanese role-playing game modeled on Dragon Quest. The game is characterized by its contemporary, satirical Western world setting and its unconventional characters, enemies, and humor. Examples of the game's humor include untraditional enemies such as "New Age Retro Hippie" and "Unassuming Local Guy", snide dialogue, frequent puns, and fourth wall-breaking. The game also plays self-aware pranks on the player, such as the existence of the useless ruler and protractor items that players and enemies can unsuccessfully try to use nonetheless.
### Mother 3
In 1996, Mother 3 (EarthBound 64 in North America), was announced. It was slated for release on the 64DD, a disk drive expansion peripheral for the Nintendo 64. Itoi's expansive ideas during development led the development team to question whether fans would still consider the game part of the series. The game entered development hell and struggled to find a firm release date and in 2000, despite its level of completion, was later cancelled altogether with the commercial failure of the 64DD.
The project was reannounced three years later as Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance alongside a combined Mother 1 + 2 cartridge for the same handheld console. Itoi had been working on porting Mother and Mother 2 to the Game Boy Advance, and based on encouragement what he predicted to be further pressure, decided to release Mother 3. The new Mother 3 abandoned the Nintendo 64 version's 3D graphics, but kept its plot. The game was developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory, published by Nintendo, and released in Japan on April 20, 2006, whereupon it became a bestseller. It did not receive a North American release on the basis that it would not sell.
'' was released in Japan on June 20, 2003. The combined cartridge contains both Mother and EarthBound. Mother uses the extended ending of the unreleased English language prototype, but is still only presented in Japanese.
Unlike earlier games in the series, Mother 3 is presented in chapters. When the Pig Mask Army starts a forest fire and imposes police state-like conditions on a "pastoral forest village", a father, Flint, ventures out to protect his family (twin sons Lucas and Claus and wife Hinawa), but the rest of the world is eventually implicated in the plot. Lucas, the game's hero, does not become prominent until the fourth chapter. Along with his dog, a neophyte thief, and a princess, Lucas fulfills a prophecy of a "chosen one" pulling Needles from the Earth to wake a sleeping dragon and determine the fate of the world. The game features a lighthearted plot, with characters such as "partying ghosts" and "talking rope snakes".
Mother 3, much like its predecessors, is a single-player role-playing video game played with two buttons: one for starting conversations and checking adjacent objects, and another for running. The game updates the turn-based Dragon Quest-style battle system with a "rhythm-action mechanic", which lets the player take additional turns to attack the enemy by chaining together up to sixteen taps in time with the background music. Apart from this, the battle system and "rolling HP meter" (where health ticks down like an odometer such that players can outrun the meter to heal before dying) are similar to EarthBound.
### Future of the series
Around Mother 3's 2006 release, Itoi stated that he had no plans to make Mother 4, which he has reaffirmed repeatedly. Itoi has said that, of the three, he had the strongest drive to create the first Mother video game, and that it was made for the players. He made the second game as an exploration of his personal interests, and wanted to run wild with the third. While reflecting on Mother 3's 2000 cancellation, Itoi recounted the great efforts the team made to tell small parts of the story, and felt this was a core theme in the series' development.
In the absence of continued support for the series, an EarthBound fan community coalesced at Starmen.net with the intent to have Nintendo of America acknowledge their interest in Mother series. They drafted petitions for English language releases and created a full-color, 270-page anthology of fan art, Upon "little" response from Nintendo, they localized Mother 3 by themselves and printed a "professional quality strategy guide" through Fangamer, a video game merchandising site that spun off from Starmen.net. The Verge cited the effort as proof of the fan base's dedication. Other fan efforts include EarthBound, USA, a full-length documentary on Starmen.net and the fan community, and Oddity, a fan-produced sequel to the Mother series that went into production when Itoi definitively "declared" that he was done with the series.
IGN described the series as neglected by Nintendo in North America, as Mother 1, Mother 1+2, and Mother 3 were not released outside Japan. Despite this, Ness's recurrence in the Super Smash Bros. series signaled favorable odds for the future of the Mother series. IGN and Nintendo Power readers anticipated a rerelease of EarthBound on the Wii's Virtual Console upon its launch in 2006, but it did not materialize. A Japanese rerelease was announced in 2013 for the Wii U Virtual Console as part of a celebration of the anniversaries of the NES and Mother 2. North American and European releases for the same platform followed, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata crediting fan interest on the company's Miiverse social platform. The game was a "top-seller" on the Wii U Virtual Console, and Kotaku users and first-time EarthBound players had an "overwhelmingly positive" response to the game. Simon Parkin wrote that the game's rerelease was a "momentous occasion" as the return of "one of Nintendo's few remaining lost classics" after 20 years. In an interview in late November 2015, Shigesato Itoi has once again denied plans to create a Mother 4, despite fan feedback.
## Reception
In 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Christian Donlan wrote that the Mother series is a "massive RPG franchise" in Japan comparable to that of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, though it does not enjoy the same popularity in the West. IGN described the series as neglected by Nintendo in North America, which only received one of the three Mother releases. Donlan added that the series' oddities did not lend towards Western popularity. RPGamer's Jordan Jackson noted that the series is "known for its wacky sense of humor, originality, and its very young protagonists", and Kotaku's Luke Plunkett said that the games were distinct from all other video games in that they stirred "genuine emotion in players beyond ... 'excited' and 'afraid'" with a "charming", "touching", and "tragic" story, which he credited to its creators' pedigrees from outside the video game industry.
Mother was the sixth best-selling game of 1989 in Japan, where it sold about 400,000 copies. It received a "Silver Hall of Fame" score of 31/40 from Japanese magazine Famitsu. Critics noted the game's similarities with the Dragon Quest series and its simultaneous "parody" of the genre's tropes. They thought the game's sequel, EarthBound, to be very similar and a better implementation of Mother's gameplay ideas, overall. Reviewers also noted the game's high difficulty level and balance issues. USgamer's Jeremy Parish said that Mother's script was "as sharp as EarthBound's", but felt that the original's game mechanics were subpar, lacking the "rolling HP counter" and non-random encounters for which later entries in the series were known. Parish wrote earlier for 1UP.com that in comparison to EarthBound, Mother is "worse in just about every way", and important less for its actual game and more for the interest it generated in video game emulation and the preservation of unreleased games.
EarthBound sold about 440,000 copies worldwide, with approximately 300,000 sold in Japan and about 140,000 in the United States. It originally received little critical praise from the American press, and sold poorly in the United States: around 140,000 copies, as compared to twice as many in Japan. Kotaku described EarthBound's 1995 American release as "a dud" and blamed the low sales on "a bizarre marketing campaign" and graphics "cartoonish" beyond the average taste of players. Multiple reviewers described the game as "original" or "unique" and praised its script's range of emotions, humor, cheery and charming ambiance, and "real world" setting, which was seen as an uncommon choice. Since its release, the game's English localization has found praise, and later reviewers reported that the game had aged well.
Prior to its release, Mother 3 was in the "top five most wanted games" of Famitsu and at the top of the Japanese preordered game charts. It sold around 200,000 units in its first week of sales in Japan, and was one of Japan's top 20 bestselling games for the first half of 2006. In comparison, the 2003 Mother 1 + 2 rerelease sold around 278,000 copies in Japan in its first year, and a reissue "value selection" of the cartridge sold 106,000 copies in Japan in 2006. Mother 3 received a "Platinum Hall of Fame" score of 35/40 from Famitsu. Reviewers praised its story (even though the game was only available in Japanese) and graphics, and lamented its 1990s role-playing game mechanics. Critics also complimented its music. Jackson said that the game was somewhat easier than the rest of the series and somewhat shorter in length.
## Legacy
The series has a legacy as both "one of Japan's most beloved" and the video game cognoscenti's "sacred cow", and is known for its long-lasting, resilient fan community. At one point leading up to Mother 3's release, the series' "Love Theme" played as music on hold for the Japan Post. Similarly, the Eight Melodies theme used throughout the series has been incorporated into Japanese elementary school music classrooms. Donlan of 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die wrote that EarthBound is "name-checked by the video gaming cognoscenti more often than it's actually been played".
Critics consider EarthBound a "classic" or "must-play" among video games. The game was included in multiple top 50 games of all time lists, including that of Famitsu readers in 2006 and IGN readers in 2005 and 2006. IGN ranks the game 13th in its top 100 SNES games and 26th among all games for its in-game world, which was "distinct and unforgettable" for its take on Americanism, unconventional settings, and 1960s music. And Gamasutra named it one of its 20 "essential" Japanese role-playing games. The rerelease was Justin Haywald of GameSpot's game of the year, and Nintendo Life's Virtual Console game of the year. GameZone said it "would be a great disservice" to merely call EarthBound "a gem". In the United Kingdom, where EarthBound had been previously unreleased, GamesTM noted how it had been "anecdotally heralded as a retro classic". IGN's Scott Thompson said the game was "the true definition of a classic". Kotaku wrote that the game was content to make the player "feel lonely", and, overall, was special not for any individual aspect but for its method of using the video game medium to explore ideas impossible to explore in other media.
Multiple critics wrote that Mother 3 was one of the best role-playing games for the Game Boy Advance. GamePro's Jeremy Signor listed it among his "best unreleased Japanese role-playing games" for its script and attention to detail. Video game journalist Tim Rogers posited that Mother 3 was "the closest games have yet come to literature". There are no plans for an official Mother 4.
The series, and specifically EarthBound, is known for having a cult following that developed over time well after its release. Colin Campbell of Polygon wrote that "few gaming communities are as passionate and active" as EarthBound's, and 1UP.com's Bob Mackey wrote that no game was as poised to have a cult following. Starmen.net hosted a Mother 25th Anniversary Fanfest in 2014 with a livestream of the game and plans for a remixed soundtrack. Later that year, fans released a 25th Anniversary Edition ROM hack that updated the game's graphics, script, and gameplay balance. The Verge cited the two-year-long Mother 3 fan translation as proof of the fan base's dedication, and Jenni Lada of TechnologyTell called it "undoubtably one of the best known fan translations in existence", with active retranslations into other languages. Frank Caron of Ars Technica said that the fan translation's "massive undertaking ... stands as a massive success", and that "one cannot even begin to fathom" why Nintendo would not release their own English localization.
### Super Smash Bros.
EarthBound's Ness became widely known due to his later appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series. He appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. and its sequels: Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, and Ultimate. In Europe, which did not see an original EarthBound release, Ness is better known for his role in the fighting game than for his original role in the role-playing game. He returned in the 2001 Melee with EarthBound's Mr. Saturn, which could be thrown at enemies and otherwise pushes items off the battlefield. Melee has an unlockable Fourside level based on the EarthBound location.
When Melee was in development, Ness was not supposed to return as a playable character and would have been replaced by Lucas, the main character of Mother 3. However, Mother 3's original Nintendo 64 release was cancelled, though it was later successfully revived as a project for the Game Boy Advance. As a result, Ness was featured in Melee instead of Lucas.
Ness was later joined by Mother 3's Lucas in Brawl, and both characters returned in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate. Players can fight in the 3DS's Magicant stage, which features clips from the Mother'' series in its background. |
66,299 | Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor | 1,173,826,279 | American air superiority fighter by Lockheed Martin | [
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"Aircraft first flown in 1997",
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"Mid-wing aircraft",
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"Twinjets",
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| The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, supersonic all-weather stealth fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As a product of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program the aircraft was designed as an air superiority fighter, but also incorporates ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence capabilities. The prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, built most of the F-22's airframe and weapons systems and conducted final assembly, while Boeing provided the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration, and training systems.
The aircraft first flew in 1997 and was variously designated F-22 and F/A-22 before it formally entered service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Although the USAF had originally planned to buy a total of 750 ATFs, the program was cut to 187 production aircraft in 2009 due to high costs, a lack of air-to-air missions at the time of production, and the development of the more affordable and versatile F-35. The last F-22 was delivered in 2012.
While it had a protracted development and initial operational difficulties, the F-22 has become a critical component of the USAF's tactical airpower. The fighter's combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance, and mission systems enabled a leap in air combat capabilities and set the benchmark for its generation.
## Development
### Origins
In 1981, the U.S. Air Force identified a requirement for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) to replace the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. Code-named "Senior Sky", this air-superiority fighter program was influenced by intelligence reports of emerging worldwide threats emanating from the Soviet Union, including new developments in Soviet air defense systems, the introduction of the Beriev A-50 "Mainstay" airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, and the proliferation of the Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker"- and Mikoyan MiG-29 "Fulcrum"-class of fighter aircraft. The ATF would have to perform offensive and defensive counter-air operations (OCA/DCA) in this highly contested environment; to do so, it would make an ambitious leap in performance by taking advantage of the new technologies in fighter design on the horizon, including composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight control systems and avionics, more powerful propulsion systems for supersonic cruise (or supercruise) over Mach 1.5, and most importantly, stealth technology.
The USAF initiated an ATF request for information (RFI) to the aerospace industry in May 1981 as well as a subsequent concept development team (CDT) to manage concept and technology development. In 1983, the CDT became the ATF System Program Office (SPO) and managed the program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Following a period of concept refinement and system requirements definition, the demonstration and validation (Dem/Val) request for proposals (RFP) was issued in September 1985, with requirements placing a strong emphasis on stealth and supercruise. The RFP would see some alterations after its first release; stealth requirements were drastically increased in December 1985, and the requirement for flying technology demonstrator prototypes was added in May 1986. Additionally, the U.S. Navy, under the Navalized Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF) program, eventually announced that it would use an ATF derivative to replace its F-14 Tomcat. Owing to the immense investments required to develop the technology needed to achieve performance requirements, teaming between companies was encouraged. Of the seven bidding companies, Lockheed and Northrop were selected on 31 October 1986. Lockheed, through its Skunk Works division, then teamed with Boeing and General Dynamics while Northrop teamed with McDonnell Douglas, and the two contractor teams undertook a 50-month Dem/Val phase, culminating in the flight test of two technology demonstrator prototypes, the YF-22 and the YF-23, respectively. Concurrently, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric were contracted to develop the propulsion systems for the ATF engine competition.
Dem/Val was focused on system engineering, technology development plans, and risk reduction over point aircraft designs; in fact, after the down-select, the Lockheed team completely redesigned the airframe configuration in the summer of 1987 due to weight analysis during detailed design, with notable changes including the wing planform from swept trapezoidal to diamond-like delta and a reduction in forebody planform area. Contractors made extensive use of analytical and empirical methods, including computational fluid dynamics, wind-tunnel testing, and radar cross-section (RCS) calculations and pole testing; the Lockheed team would conduct nearly 18,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing for Dem/Val. Avionics development was marked by extensive testing and prototyping and supported by ground and flying laboratories. During Dem/Val, the SPO used the results of performance and cost trade studies conducted by contractor teams to adjust ATF requirements and delete ones that were significant weight and cost drivers while having marginal value. The short takeoff and landing (STOL) requirement was relaxed to delete thrust-reversers, saving substantial weight. As avionics was a major cost driver, side looking radars were deleted, and the dedicated infrared search and track (IRST) system was downgraded from multicolor to single color and then deleted as well. Space and cooling provisions were retained to allow for the later addition of these components. The ejection seat requirement was downgraded from a fresh design to the existing McDonnell Douglas ACES II. Despite efforts by the contractor teams to rein in weight, the takeoff gross weight estimate was increased from 50,000 to 60,000 lb (23,000 to 27,000 kg), resulting in engine thrust requirement increasing from 30,000 to 35,000 lbf (130 to 160 kN) class.
Each team built two prototype air vehicles for Dem/Val, one for each of the two engine options. The YF-22 had its maiden flight on 29 September 1990 and in flight tests successfully demonstrated supercruise as well as the firing of air-to-air missiles from internal weapons bays. After the Dem/Val flight test of the prototypes, on 23 April 1991, Secretary of the USAF Donald Rice announced the Lockheed team and Pratt & Whitney as the winners of the ATF and engine competitions for full-scale development. The YF-23 design was considered stealthier and faster, while the YF-22, with its thrust vectoring nozzles, was more maneuverable as well as less expensive and risky. The press also speculated that the Lockheed team's design was also more adaptable to the Navy's NATF, but by fiscal year (FY) 1992, the Navy had abandoned NATF.
### Full-scale development
As the program moved to full-scale development, or Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD), the production F-22 design evolved to have notable differences from the immature YF-22 demonstrator, despite having a similar configuration. The wing's leading edge sweep angle was decreased from 48° to 42°, while the vertical stabilizers were shifted rearward and decreased in area by 20%. The radome shape was changed for better radar performance and the wingtips were clipped for antennas. To improve pilot visibility and aerodynamics, the canopy was moved forward 7 inches (18 cm) and the engine inlets moved rearward 14 inches (36 cm). The shapes of the fuselage, wing, and stabilator trailing edges were refined to improve aerodynamics, strength, and stealth characteristics. The production airframe was designed with a service life of 8,000 hours. Increasing weight during EMD caused slight reductions in projected range and maneuver performance.
Aside from advances in air vehicle and propulsion technology, the F-22's avionics and software were unprecedented in terms of complexity and scale, with the fusion of multiple sensors systems and software integration of 1.7 million lines of code. To enable early looks and troubleshooting for mission software development, the software was flight-tested on a Boeing 757 modified with F-22 mission systems to serve as the Flying Test Bed avionics laboratory.
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 reduced the Department of Defense's (DoD) urgency for new weapon systems and the following years would see successive reductions in DoD spending; this resulted in the F-22's EMD being rescheduled and lengthened multiple times. The roughly equal division of work amongst the team largely carried through from Dem/Val to EMD, although prime contractor Lockheed acquired General Dynamics' fighter portfolio at Fort Worth, Texas in 1993 and thus had the majority of the airframe manufacturing; Lockheed would merge with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form Lockheed Martin. While Lockheed primarily performed Dem/Val work at its Skunk Works sites in Burbank and Palmdale, California, it would shift its program office and EMD work from Burbank to Marietta, Georgia, where it performed final assembly; program partner Boeing provided additional airframe components as well as avionics integration and training systems in Seattle, Washington. The first F-22, an EMD aircraft with tail number 4001, was unveiled at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta on 9 April 1997 and first flew on 7 September 1997.
The numerous new technologies needed for the F-22's ambitious performance requirements resulted in substantial cost overruns and delays; issues with meeting scheduled milestones were exacerbated by post-Cold War funding cuts in the 1990s. Furthermore, many capabilities were deferred to post-service upgrades, reducing the initial cost but increasing total program cost. Following extensive tests and evaluations, EMD transitioned to full-rate production in March 2005 while Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RTD&E) activity continued for upgrades and modifications. In 2006, the F-22 development team won the Collier Trophy, American aviation's most prestigious award. Due to the aircraft's sophisticated capabilities, contractors have been targeted by cyberattacks and technology theft.
### Production and procurement
The USAF originally envisioned ordering 750 ATFs at a total program cost of \$44.3 billion and procurement cost of \$26.2 billion in FY 1985 dollars, with production beginning in 1994 and service entry in the late 1990s. The 1990 Major Aircraft Review led by Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney reduced this to 648 aircraft beginning in 1996 and in service in the early-to-mid 2000s. After the end of the Cold War, this was further curtailed to 442 in the 1993 Bottom-Up Review while the USAF eventually set its requirement to 381 to adequately support its Air Expeditionary Force structure with last delivery in 2013. However, funding instability had reduced the total to 339 by 1997 and production was nearly halted by Congress in 1999. Although production funds were eventually restored, the planned number continued to decline due to delays and cost overruns during EMD, slipping to 277 by 2003. In 2004, with its focus on asymmetric counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, the DoD under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld further cut the planned F-22 procurement to 183 production aircraft, despite the USAF's requirement for 381. A multi-year procurement contract was awarded in 2006 to bring the number to 183, which would be distributed to seven combat squadrons; total program cost was projected to be \$62 billion. In 2008, Congress passed a defense spending bill that raised the total orders for production aircraft to 187.
F-22 production would support over 1,000 subcontractors and suppliers from 46 states and up to 95,000 jobs, and spanned 15 years at a peak rate of roughly two airplanes per month, about half of the initially planned rate; after EMD aircraft contracts, the first production lot was awarded in September 2000. As production wound down in 2011, the total program cost was estimated to be about \$67.3 billion (about \$360 million for each production aircraft delivered), with \$32.4 billion spent on Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) and \$34.9 billion on procurement and military construction (MILCON) in then year dollars. The incremental cost for an additional F-22 was estimated at \$138 million in 2009.
In total, 195 F-22s were built. The first two were EMD aircraft in the Block 1.0 configuration for initial flight testing and envelope expansion, while the third was a Block 2.0 aircraft built to represent the internal structure of production airframes and enabled it to test full flight loads. Six more EMD aircraft were built in the Block 10 configuration for development and upgrade testing, with the last two considered essentially production quality jets. Production for operational squadrons consisted of 74 Block 10/20 training aircraft and 112 Block 30/35 combat aircraft for a total of 186 (or 187 when accounting for production representative test vehicles); one of the Block 30 aircraft is dedicated to flight sciences at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Block 20 aircraft from Lot 3 onward were upgraded to Block 30 standards under the Common Configuration Plan, increasing the Block 30/35 fleet to 149 aircraft while 37 remain in the Block 20 configuration.
### Ban on exports
The F-22 cannot be exported under US federal law to protect its stealth technology and classified features. Customers for U.S. fighters are acquiring earlier designs such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon or the newer F-35 Lightning II, which contains technology from the F-22 but was designed to be cheaper, more flexible, and available for export. In September 2006, Congress upheld the ban on foreign F-22 sales. Despite the ban, the 2010 defense authorization bill included provisions requiring the DoD to report on the costs and feasibility for an F-22 export variant, and another report on the effect of F-22 export sales on the US aerospace industry.
Some Australian politicians and defense commentators proposed that Australia should attempt to purchase F-22s instead of the planned F-35s, citing the F-22's known capabilities and F-35's delays and developmental uncertainties. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) soon determined that the F-22 was unable to perform the F-35's strike and close air support roles.
The Japanese government also showed interest in the F-22 for its Replacement-Fighter program. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) would reportedly require fewer fighters for its mission if it obtained the F-22, thus reducing engineering and staffing costs. In 2009 it was reported that acquiring the F-22 would require increases to the Japanese government's defense budget beyond the historical 1 percent of its GDP. With the end of F-22 production, Japan chose the F-35 in December 2011. Israel also expressed interest, but eventually chose the F-35 because of the F-22's price and unavailability.
### Production termination
Throughout the 2000s when the Department of Defense was primarily fighting counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the USAF's procurement goal of 381 F-22s was questioned over rising costs, initial reliability and availability problems, limited multirole versatility, and a lack of relevant adversaries for air combat missions. In 2006, Comptroller General of the United States David Walker found that "the DoD has not demonstrated the need" for more investment in the F-22, and further opposition was expressed by Bush Administration Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and his successor Robert Gates, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, and Chairman of U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Senators John Warner and John McCain. Under Rumsfeld, procurement was severely cut to 183 aircraft. The F-22 lost influential supporters in 2008 after the forced resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley. In November 2008, Gates stated that the F-22 lacked relevance in asymmetric post-Cold War conflicts, and in April 2009, under the Obama Administration, he called for production to end in FY 2011 after completing 187 F-22s.
The loss of staunch F-22 advocates in the upper DoD echelons resulted in the erosion of its political support. In July 2008, General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated to the SASC his reasons for supporting the termination of F-22 production, including shifting resources to the multi-service F-35 and preserving the F/A-18 production line for the EA-18G Growler's electronic warfare capabilities. Although Russian and Chinese fighter developments fueled concern for the USAF, Gates dismissed this and in 2010, he set the F-22 requirement to 187 aircraft by lowering the number of major regional conflict preparations from two to one, despite an effort by Moseley's successor General Norton Schwartz to raise the number of aircraft to 243. After President Barack Obama threatened to veto further production at Gates' urging, the Senate voted in July 2009 in favor of ending production and the House agreed to abide by the 187 cap. Gates highlighted the F-35's role in the decision, and in 2011, he explained that Chinese fighter developments had been accounted for when the F-22 numbers were set, and that the U.S. would have a considerable advantage in stealth aircraft in 2025 even with F-35 delays. In December 2011, the 195th and final F-22 was completed out of 8 test and 187 production aircraft built; the jet was delivered on 2 May 2012. The curtailed procurement would force the USAF to operate the F-15C/D into the 2020s in order to retain adequate numbers of air superiority fighters.
Although production ended, F-22 tooling was retained for supporting repairs and maintenance as well as the possibility of a production restart or a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). A RAND Corporation paper from a 2010 USAF study estimated that restarting production and building an additional 75 F-22s would cost \$17 billion, resulting in \$227 million per aircraft, \$54 million higher than the flyaway cost. At that time, Lockheed Martin stated that restarting the production line itself would cost about \$200 million. Production tooling and associated documentation were subsequently stored at the Sierra Army Depot to support the fleet life cycle while its Marietta plant space was repurposed to support the C-130J and F-35; engineering work for sustainment and upgrades continued at Fort Worth, Texas and Palmdale, California.
In April 2016, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, citing advances in air warfare systems of Russia and China, directed the USAF to conduct a cost study and assessment associated with resuming production of the F-22. On 9 June 2017, the USAF submitted their report to Congress stating they had no plans to restart the F-22 production line due to economic and logistical challenges; it estimated it would cost approximately \$50 billion to procure 194 additional F-22s at a cost of \$206–216 million per aircraft, including approximately \$9.9 billion for non-recurring start-up costs and \$40.4 billion for aircraft procurement costs with the first delivery in the mid-to-late 2020s. The long time gap since the end of production meant hiring new workers and sourcing replacement vendors, contributing to the high start-up costs and lead times. The USAF believed that the funding would be better invested in its next-generation Air Superiority 2030 effort, which evolved into the Next Generation Air Dominance.
### Continued developments and upgrades
The F-22 and its subsystems were designed to be upgraded over its life cycle in anticipation for technological advances and evolving threats. The modernization and upgrades consist of software and hardware modifications captured under numbered Increments, originally called Spirals, as well as software-only Operational Flight Program (OFP) Updates. Amid debates over the airplane's relevance in asymmetric counterinsurgency warfare, the first Increments and OFP Updates primarily focused on ground attack, or strike capabilities. Increment 2, the first upgrade program, was implemented in 2005 for Block 20 aircraft onward and enabled the employment of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM). The improved AN/APG-77(V)1 radar, which incorporates air-to-ground modes, was certified in March 2007 and fitted on airframes from Lot 5 onward. Increment 3.1 and Updates 3 and 4 for Block 30/35 aircraft improved ground-attack capabilities through synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mapping and radio emitter direction finding, electronic attack and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) integration; testing began in 2009 and the first upgraded aircraft was delivered in 2011. To address oxygen deprivation issues, F-22s were fitted with an automatic backup oxygen system (ABOS) and modified life support system starting in 2012.
In contrast to prior upgrades, Increment 3.2 for Block 30/35 aircraft emphasized air combat capabilities and was a two-part process. 3.2A focused on electronic warfare, communications and identification, while 3.2B included geolocation improvements and full integration of the AIM-9X and AIM-120D; fleet releases began in 2013 and 2019, respectively. Concurrent with Increment 3.2, Update 5 in 2016 added Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS), datalink updates, and more. Update 6, deployed in tandem with 3.2B, incorporated cryptographic and avionics stability enhancements. Following 3.2B, an open mission system (OMS) processor module and architecture were added and an agile software development process was implemented to enable faster enhancements from additional vendors. The Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Joint Tactical Radio System (MIDS-JTRS) for Tactical Mandates, including Mode 5 IFF, and Link 16 traffic was installed starting in 2021, and the airplane can also use the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) as a two-way communication gateway.
Additional modernization and enhancements are under development, with funding currently extending to 2031. Upgrades currently being tested include new sensors and antennas as well as reliability improvements such as more durable stealth coatings; the dedicated advanced IRST, originally deleted during Dem/Val, is one of the new sensors added. Other enhancements being developed include all-aspect IRST functionality for the Missile Launch Detector (MLD), manned-unmanned teaming capability with collaborative combat aircraft or "loyal wingmen", and cockpit improvements. To preserve the aircraft's stealth while enabling additional payload and fuel capacity, stealthy external carriage has been investigated since the mid-2000s, with a low drag, low-observable 600-gallon external tank and pylon currently under development. The planned Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) integration was cut due to development delays and lack of proliferation among USAF platforms. Although the Thales Scorpion helmet-mounted cuing system (HMCS) was successfully tested on the F-22 in 2013, funding cuts prevented its deployment. Lockheed Martin has proposed upgrading all Block 20 training aircraft to Block 30/35 in order to increase numbers available for combat. The F-22 has also been used to test technology for its eventual successor from the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program; some advances are expected to be applied to the F-22 as well.
Aside from capability upgrades, the F-22 fleet underwent a \$350 million "structures retrofit program" to address improper titanium heat treatment in the parts of certain airframe batches. By January 2021, all aircraft had gone through the Structural Repair Program to ensure full lifetimes for all aircraft. In the long term, the F-22 is expected to eventually be succeeded by the NGAD's crewed fighter component.
## Design
### Overview
The F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation air superiority fighter that is considered fourth generation in stealth aircraft technology by the USAF. It is the first operational aircraft to combine supercruise, supermaneuverability, stealth, and sensor fusion in a single weapons platform to enable it to conduct missions, primarily counter-air operations, in highly contested environments.
The F-22's shape combines stealth and aerodynamic performance. Planform and panel edges are aligned and surfaces have continuous curvature to minimize its radar cross-section. Its clipped diamond-like delta wings are smoothly blended into the angular fuselage with four empennage surfaces and leading edge root extensions running to the upper outboard corner of the caret inlets; the inlet upper edges also meet the fuselage's forebody chines. Flight control surfaces include leading-edge flaps, flaperons, ailerons, rudders on the canted vertical stabilizers, and all-moving horizontal tails (stabilators); for speed brake function, the ailerons deflect up, flaperons down, and rudders outwards to increase drag. Owing to the focus on supersonic performance, extensive area-ruling is applied to the airplane's shape and nearly all of the fuselage volume lies ahead of the wing's trailing edge, with the stabilators pivoting from tail booms extending aft of the engine nozzles. Weapons are carried internally in the fuselage for stealth. The aircraft has a refueling boom receptacle centered on its spine and retractable tricycle landing gear as well as an emergency tailhook; fire suppression system and fuel tank inerting system are installed for survivability.
The aircraft's dual Pratt & Whitney F119 augmented turbofan engines are closely spaced and incorporate pitch-axis thrust vectoring nozzles with a range of ±20 degrees; the nozzles are fully integrated into the F-22's flight controls and vehicle management system. Each engine has maximum thrust in the 35,000 lbf (156 kN) class. The F-22's thrust-to-weight ratio at typical combat weight is nearly at unity in maximum military power and 1.25 in full afterburner. The caret inlets are offset from the forward fuselage to divert the boundary layer and generate oblique shocks with the upper inboard corners to ensure good total pressure recovery and efficient supersonic flow compression. Maximum speed without external stores is approximately Mach 1.8 at military power and greater than Mach 2 with afterburners. With 18,000 lb (8,165 kg) of internal fuel and an additional 8,000 lb (3,629 kg) in two 600-gallon external tanks, the jet has a ferry range of over 1,600 nmi (1,840 mi; 2,960 km).
The F-22's high cruise speed and operating altitude over prior fighters improve the effectiveness of its sensors and weapon systems, and increase survivability against ground defenses such as surface-to-air missiles. The ability to supercruise, or sustain supersonic flight without using afterburners, allows it to intercept targets that afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach. The use of internal weapons bays permits the aircraft to maintain comparatively higher performance over most other combat-configured fighters due to a lack of parasitic drag from external stores. The F-22's thrust and aerodynamics enable regular combat speeds of Mach 1.5 at 50,000 feet (15,000 m), thus providing 50% greater employment range for air-to-air missiles and twice the effective range for JDAMs than with prior platforms. Its structure contains a significant amount of high-strength materials to withstand stress and heat of sustained supersonic flight. Respectively, titanium alloys and bismaleimide/epoxy composites comprise 42% and 24% of the structural weight.
The airplane's aerodynamics, relaxed stability, and powerful thrust-vectoring engines give it excellent maneuverability and energy potential across its flight envelope. Its large control surfaces, vortex-generating chines and LERX, and vectoring nozzles provide excellent high alpha (angle of attack) characteristics, and is capable of flying at trimmed alpha of over 60° while maintaining roll control and performing maneuvers such as the Herbst maneuver (J-turn) and Pugachev's Cobra. The triplex-redundant fly-by-wire control system and full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) make the aircraft highly departure resistant and controllable, thus giving the pilot carefree handling.
### Stealth
The F-22 was designed to be highly difficult to detect and track by radar, with radio waves reflected, scattered, or diffracted away from the emitter source towards specific sectors, or absorbed and attenuated. Measures to reduce RCS include airframe shaping such as alignment of edges and continuous curvature of surfaces, internal carriage of weapons, fixed-geometry serpentine inlets and curved vanes that prevent line-of-sight of the engine faces and turbines from any exterior view, use of radar-absorbent material (RAM), and attention to detail such as hinges and pilot helmets that could provide a radar return. The F-22 was also designed to have decreased radio frequency emissions, infrared signature and acoustic signature as well as reduced visibility to the naked eye. The aircraft's flat thrust-vectoring nozzles reduce infrared emissions of the exhaust plume to mitigate the threat of infrared homing ("heat seeking") surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles. Additional measures to reduce the infrared signature include special topcoat and active cooling to manage the heat buildup from supersonic flight.
Compared to previous stealth designs like the F-117, the F-22 is less reliant on RAM, which are maintenance-intensive and susceptible to adverse weather conditions. Unlike the B-2, which requires climate-controlled hangars, the F-22 can undergo repairs on the flight line or in a normal hangar. The F-22 incorporates a Signature Assessment System which delivers warnings when the radar signature is degraded and necessitates repair. While the F-22's exact RCS is classified, in 2009 Lockheed Martin released information indicating that from certain angles the airplane has an RCS of 0.0001 m<sup>2</sup> or −40 dBsm – equivalent to the radar reflection of a "steel marble"; the aircraft can mount a Luneburg lens reflector to mask its RCS. Effectively maintaining the stealth features can decrease the F-22's mission capable rate to 62–70%.
The effectiveness of the stealth characteristics is difficult to gauge. The RCS value is a restrictive measurement of the aircraft's frontal or side area from the perspective of a static radar. When an aircraft maneuvers it exposes a completely different set of angles and surface area, potentially increasing radar observability. Furthermore, the F-22's stealth contouring and radar-absorbent materials are chiefly effective against high-frequency radars, usually found on other aircraft. The effects of Rayleigh scattering and resonance mean that low-frequency radars such as weather radars and early-warning radars are more likely to detect the F-22 due to its physical size. These are also conspicuous, susceptible to clutter, and have low precision. Additionally, while faint or fleeting radar contacts make defenders aware that a stealth aircraft is present, reliably vectoring interception to attack the aircraft is much more challenging. According to the USAF an F-22 surprised an Iranian F-4 Phantom II that was attempting to intercept an American UAV, despite Iran's assertion of having military VHF radar coverage over the Persian Gulf.
Beginning in 2021, the F-22 has been seen testing a new chrome-like surface coating. This highly polished surface appears to change color based on the viewer's orientation to the aircraft. It is speculated that the new coating will help to reduce the F-22's detectability by IRST and other infrared tracking systems and missiles. This coating has also been seen on some F-35 and F-117 test aircraft.
### Avionics
The aircraft has an integrated avionics system where through sensor fusion, data from all onboard sensor systems as well as off-board inputs are filtered and processed into a combined tactical picture, thus enhancing the pilot's situational awareness and reducing workload. Key mission systems include Sanders/General Electric AN/ALR-94 electronic warfare system, Martin Marietta AN/AAR-56 infrared and ultraviolet Missile Launch Detector (MLD), Westinghouse/Texas Instruments AN/APG-77 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, TRW Communication/Navigation/Identification (CNI) suite, and long range advanced IRST currently being tested. The F-22's baseline software has some 1.7 million lines of code, the majority involving the mission systems such as processing radar data. The integrated nature of the avionics, as well as the use of Ada, has made the development and testing of upgrades challenging. To enable more rapid upgrades, the avionics suite added an open mission systems (OMS) processor, as well as an open-source Kubernetes platform called the Open Systems Enclave (OSE) to enable the use of containerized software from third-party vendors.
The APG-77 radar has a low-observable, active-aperture, electronically scanned antenna with multiple target track-while-scan in all weather conditions; the antenna is tilted back for stealth. Its emissions can be focused to overload enemy sensors as an electronic-attack capability. The radar changes frequencies more than 1,000 times per second to lower interception probability and has an estimated range of 125–150 mi (201–241 km) against an 11 sq ft (1 m<sup>2</sup>) target and 250 mi (400 km) or more in narrow beams. The upgraded APG-77(V)1 provides air-to-ground functionality through synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mapping, ground moving target indication/track (GMTI/GMTT), and strike modes. Alongside the radar is the ALR-94 electronic warfare system, among the most technically complex equipment on the F-22, that integrates more than 30 antennas blended into the wings and fuselage for all-round radar warning receiver (RWR) coverage and threat geolocation. It can be used as a passive detector capable of searching targets at ranges (250+ nmi) exceeding the radar's, and can provide enough information for a radar lock and cue emissions to a narrow beam (down to 2° by 2° in azimuth and elevation). Depending on the detected threat, the defensive systems can prompt the pilot to release countermeasures such as flares or chaff. The MLD uses six sensors to provide full spherical infrared coverage while the advanced IRST, housed in a stealthy wing pod, is a narrow field-of-view sensor for long-range passive identification and targeting. To ensure stealth in the radio frequency spectrum, CNI emissions are strictly controlled and confined to specific sectors, with tactical communication between F-22s performed using the directional Inter/Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL); the integrated CNI system also manages TACAN, IFF (including Mode 5 through the MIDS-JTRS terminal), and communication through HAVE QUICK/SATURN and SINCGARS. Radar and CNI information are processed by two Hughes Common Integrated Processor (CIP)s, each capable of processing up to 10.5 billion instructions per second. The aircraft has also been upgraded to incorporate an automatic ground collision avoidance system (GCAS).
The F-22's ability to operate close to the battlefield gives the aircraft threat detection and identification capability comparative with the RC-135 Rivet Joint, and the ability to function as a "mini-AWACS", though its radar is less powerful than those of dedicated platforms. This allows the F-22 to rapidly designate targets for allies and coordinate friendly aircraft. Data can be transferred to other aircraft through a BACN or via Link 16 through MIDS-JTRS. The IEEE 1394B bus developed for the F-22 was derived from the commercial IEEE 1394 "FireWire" bus system. In 2007, the F-22's radar was tested as a wireless data transceiver, transmitting data at 548 megabits per second and receiving at gigabit speed, far faster than the Link 16 system. The radio frequency receivers of the electronic support measures (ESM) system give the aircraft the ability to perform intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks.
### Cockpit
The F-22 has a glass cockpit with all-digital flight instruments. The monochrome head-up display offers a wide field of view and serves as a primary flight instrument; information is also displayed upon six color liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels. The primary flight controls are a force-sensitive side-stick controller and a pair of throttles. The USAF initially wanted to implement direct voice input (DVI) controls, but this was judged to be too technically risky and was abandoned. The canopy's dimensions are approximately 140 inches long, 45 inches wide, and 27 inches tall (355 cm × 115 cm × 69 cm) and weighs 360 pounds. The canopy was redesigned after the original design lasted an average of 331 hours instead of the required 800 hours.
The F-22 has integrated radio functionality, the signal processing systems are virtualized rather than as a separate hardware module. The integrated control panel (ICP) is a keypad system for entering communications, navigation, and autopilot data. Two 3 in × 4 in (7.6 cm × 10.2 cm) up-front displays located around the ICP are used to display integrated caution advisory/warning (ICAW) data, CNI data and also serve as the stand-by flight instrumentation group and fuel quantity indicator for redundancy. The stand-by flight group displays an artificial horizon, for basic instrument meteorological conditions. The 8 in × 8 in (20 cm × 20 cm) primary multi-function display (PMFD) is located under the ICP, and is used for navigation and situation assessment. Three 6.25 in × 6.25 in (15.9 cm × 15.9 cm) secondary multi-function displays are located around the PMFD for tactical information and stores management.
The ejection seat is a version of the ACES II commonly used in USAF aircraft, with a center-mounted ejection control. The F-22 has a complex life support system, which includes the onboard oxygen generation system (OBOGS), protective pilot garments, and a breathing regulator/anti-g (BRAG) valve controlling flow and pressure to the pilot's mask and garments. The pilot garments were developed under the Advanced Technology Anti-G Suit (ATAGS) project and protect against chemical/biological hazards and cold-water immersion, counter g-forces and low pressure at high altitudes, and provide thermal relief. Following a series of hypoxia-related issues, the life support system was consequently revised to include an automatic backup oxygen system and a new flight vest valve. In combat environments, the ejection seat includes a modified M4 carbine designated the GAU-5/A.
### Armament
The F-22 has three internal weapons bays: a large main bay on the bottom of the fuselage, and two smaller bays on the sides of the fuselage, aft of the engine inlets; a small bay for countermeasures such as flares is located behind each side bay. The main bay is split along the centerline and can accommodate six LAU-142/A launchers for beyond-visual-range (BVR) missiles and each side bay has an LAU-141/A launcher for short-range missiles. The primary air-to-air missiles are the AIM-120 AMRAAM and the AIM-9 Sidewinder, with planned integration of the AIM-260 JATM. Missile launches require the bay doors to be open for less than a second, during which pneumatic or hydraulic arms push missiles clear of the aircraft; this is to reduce vulnerability to detection and to deploy missiles during high-speed flight. An internally mounted M61A2 Vulcan 20 mm rotary cannon is embedded in the airplane's right wing root with the muzzle covered by a retractable door. The radar projection of the cannon fire's path is displayed on the pilot's head-up display.
Although designed for air-to-air missiles, the main bay can replace four launchers with two bomb racks that can each carry one 1,000 lb (450 kg) or four 250 lb (110 kg) bombs for a total of 2,000 pounds (910 kg) of air-to-surface ordnance. While capable of carrying weapons with GPS guidance such as JDAMs and SDBs, the F-22 cannot self-designate laser-guided weapons.
While the F-22 typically carries weapons internally, the wings include four hardpoints, each rated to handle 5,000 lb (2,300 kg). Each hardpoint can accommodate a pylon that can carry a detachable 600-gallon (2,270 L) external fuel tank or a launcher holding two air-to-air missiles; the two inboard hardpoints are "plumbed" for external fuel tanks. The two outboard hardpoints have since been dedicated to a pair of stealthy pods housing the IRST and mission systems. The aircraft can jettison external tanks and their pylon attachments to restore its low observable characteristics and kinematic performance.
### Maintenance
Each airplane requires a three-week packaged maintenance plan (PMP) every 300 flight hours. The stealth coatings of the F-22 were designed to be more robust and weather-resistant than those used in earlier stealth aircraft. However, early coatings failed against rain and moisture when F-22s were initially posted to Guam in 2009. The stealth system account for almost one third of maintenance, with coatings being particularly demanding; more durable coatings are being developed in order to reduce maintenance efforts. F-22 depot maintenance is performed at Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill AFB, Utah, and considerable care is taken during maintenance due to the limited attrition reserve aircraft numbers of the small fleet size.
F-22s were available for missions 63% of the time on average in 2015, up from 40% when the aircraft was introduced in 2005. Maintenance hours per flight hour was also improved from 30 early on to 10.5 by 2009, lower than the requirement of 12; man-hours per flight hour was 43 in 2014. When introduced, the F-22 had a Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM) of 1.7 hours, short of the required 3.0; this rose to 3.2 hours in 2012. By fiscal year 2015, the cost per flight hour was \$59,116.
## Operational history
### Designation and testing
The YF-22 was originally given the unofficial name "Lightning II", from the World War II Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter which persisted until the mid-1990s, when the USAF officially named the F-22 "Raptor". The "Lightning II" name was later given to the F-35. The aircraft was also briefly dubbed "SuperStar" and "Rapier". In September 2002, USAF changed the Raptor's designation to F/A-22, mimicking the Navy's McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and intended to highlight a planned ground-attack capability amid debate over the aircraft's role and relevance. The F-22 designation was reinstated in December 2005, when the aircraft entered service.
The F-22 flight test program consisted of flight sciences, developmental test (DT), and initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) by the 411th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California, as well as follow-on OT&E and development of tactics and operational employment by the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Flight testing began in 1997 with Raptor 4001, the first EMD F-22, and eight more EMD jets assigned to the 411th FLTS would participate in the test program under the Combined Test Force (CTF) at Edwards. The first two aircraft conducted envelope expansion testing such as flying qualities, air vehicle performance, propulsion, and stores separation. The third aircraft, the first to have production-level internal structure, tested flight loads, flutter, and JDAM separation, while two non-flying F-22s were built for testing static loads and fatigue. Subsequent EMD aircraft and the Boeing 757 FTB tested avionics, CNI, environmental qualifications, and observables, with the first combat-capable Block 3.0 software flying in 2001. Raptor 4001 was retired from flight testing in 2000 and subsequently sent to Wright-Patterson AFB for survivability testing, including live fire testing and battle damage repair training. Other retired EMD F-22s have been used as maintenance trainers.
The F-22's numerous technological leaps required extensive testing that would result in repeated delays. While the first production aircraft was delivered to Edwards in October 2002 for IOT&E and the first aircraft for the 422nd TES at Nellis arrived in January 2003, IOT&E was pushed back from its planned start in mid-2003, with avionics stability being particularly challenging. Following a preliminary assessment, called OT&E Phase 1, formal IOT&E began in April 2004 and was completed in December of that year. This marked the successful demonstration of the jet's air-to-air mission capability, although it was also more maintenance intensive than expected. A Follow-On OT&E (FOT&E) in 2005 cleared the F-22's air-to-ground mission capability. Delivery of operational aircraft for pilot training at Tyndall AFB, Florida began in September 2003, and the first combat ready F-22 of the 1st Fighter Wing arrived at Langley AFB, Virginia in January 2005. As the F-22 was designed for upgrades throughout its lifecycle, the 411th FLTS and 422nd TES would continue the DT/OT&E and tactics development of these upgrades. The 411th FLTS' fleet was further augmented by a dedicated Block 30 test aircraft in 2010.
In August 2008, an unmodified F-22 of the 411th FLTS performed the first ever air-to-air refueling of an aircraft using synthetic jet fuel as part of a wider USAF effort to qualify aircraft to use the fuel, a 50/50 mix of JP-8 and a Fischer–Tropsch process-produced, natural gas-based fuel. In 2011, an F-22 flew supersonic on a 50% mixture of biofuel derived from camelina.
### Training
The 43rd Fighter Squadron was reactivated in 2002 as the F-22 Formal Training Unit (FTU) for the type's basic course at Tyndall AFB. Following severe damage to the installation in the wake of Hurricane Michael in 2018, the squadron and its aircraft were relocated to nearby Eglin AFB; the storm had also damaged several F-22s, which were later repaired. The FTU and its aircraft were reassigned to the 71st Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB in 2023. To reduce operating costs and prolong the F-22's service life, some pilot training sorties are performed using flight simulators, while the T-38 Talon is used for adversary training. The advanced F-22 weapons instructor course at USAF Weapons School is conducted by the 433rd Weapons Squadron at Nellis AFB.
### Introduction into service
In December 2005, the USAF announced that the F-22 had achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) with the 94th Fighter Squadron. The unit subsequently participated in Exercise Northern Edge in Alaska in June 2006 and Exercise Red Flag 07–1 at Nellis AFB in February 2007, where it demonstrated the F-22's greatly increased air combat capabilities when flying against Red Force Aggressor F-15s and F-16s and also refined operational tactics and employment.
The F-22 achieved Full Operational Capability (FOC) in December 2007, when General John Corley of Air Combat Command (ACC) officially declared the F-22s of the integrated active duty 1st Fighter Wing and Virginia Air National Guard 192d Fighter Wing fully operational. This was followed by an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) of the integrated wing in April 2008, in which it was rated "excellent" in all categories, with a simulated kill-ratio of 221–0.
### Initial operational problems
During the initial years of service, F-22 pilots experienced symptoms as a result of oxygen system issues that include loss of consciousness, memory loss, emotional lability and neurological changes as well as lingering respiratory problems and a chronic cough; the issues resulted in a four-month grounding in 2011. In August 2012, the DoD found that the BRAG valve, used to inflate the pilot's vest during high-g maneuvers, was defective and restricted breathing and the OBOGS (onboard oxygen generation system) unexpectedly reduced oxygen levels during high-g maneuvers. The Raptor Aeromedical Working Group had recommended several changes in 2005 regarding oxygen supply issues that were initially unfunded but received further consideration in 2012. The F-22 CTF and 412th Aerospace Medicine Squadron eventually determined that breathing restrictions were the root cause. The coughing symptoms were attributed to acceleration atelectasis from high g exposure and the OBOGS delivering excessive oxygen concentration at low altitudes. The presence of toxins and particles in some ground crew was deemed to be unrelated. Modifications to the life-support equipment and oxygen system allowed the distance and altitude flight restrictions to be lifted on 4 April 2013.
### Operational service
Following IOC and large-scale exercises, the F-22 flew its first homeland defense mission in January 2007. In November 2007, F-22s of 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, performed their first North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) interception of two Russian Tu-95MS bombers. Since then, F-22s have also escorted probing Tu-160 bombers.
The F-22 was first deployed overseas in February 2007 with the 27th Fighter Squadron to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. This first overseas deployment was initially marred by problems when six F-22s flying from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, experienced multiple software-related system failures while crossing the International Date Line (180th meridian of longitude). The aircraft returned to Hawaii by following tanker aircraft. Within 48 hours, the error was resolved and the journey resumed. Kadena would be a frequent rotation for F-22 units; they have also been involved in training exercises in South Korea and Malaysia.
Defense Secretary Gates initially refused to deploy F-22s to the Middle East in 2007; the type made its first deployment in the region at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE in 2009. In April 2012, F-22s have been rotating into Al Dhafra, less than 200 miles from Iran. In March 2013, the USAF announced that an F-22 had intercepted an Iranian F-4 Phantom II that approached within 16 miles of an MQ-1 Predator flying off the Iranian coastline.
On 22 September 2014, F-22s performed the type's first combat sorties by conducting some of the opening strikes of Operation Inherent Resolve, the American-led intervention in Syria; aircraft dropped 1,000-pound GPS-guided bombs on Islamic State targets near Tishrin Dam. Between September 2014 and July 2015, F-22s flew 204 sorties over Syria, dropping 270 bombs at some 60 locations. Throughout their deployment, F-22s conducted close air support (CAS) and also deterred Syrian, Iranian, and Russian aircraft from attacking U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and disrupting U.S. operations in the region. F-22s also participated in the U.S. strikes that defeated pro-government and Russian Wagner Group paramilitary forces near Khasham in eastern Syria on 7 February 2018. These strikes notwithstanding, the F-22's main role in the operation was conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
In late 2014, the USAF tested a rapid deployment concept involving four F-22s and one C-17 for support, first proposed in 2008 by two F-22 pilots. The goal was for the type to be able to set up and engage in combat within 24 hours. Four F-22s were deployed to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany in August, Łask Air Base in Poland, and Ämari Air Base in Estonia in September 2015, to train with NATO allies.
In November 2017, F-22s operating alongside B-52s bombed opium production and storage facilities in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan. In 2019, the F-22 cost US\$35,000 per flight hour to operate.
On 4 February 2023, an F-22 of the 1st Fighter Wing shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon within visual range off the coast of South Carolina at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 ft. The wreckage landed approximately 6 miles offshore and was subsequently secured by ships of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. F-22s shot down additional high-altitude objects near the coast of Alaska on 10 February and over Yukon on 11 February.
## Variants
YF-22A
Pre-production technology demonstrator for Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) demonstration/validation phase; two were built.
F-22A
Single-seat version, was designated F/A-22A in early 2000s; 195 built, consisting of 8 test and 187 production aircraft.
F-22B
Planned two-seat version, cancelled in 1996 to save development costs with test aircraft orders converted to F-22A.
Naval F-22 variant
Planned carrier-borne variant of the F-22 with variable-sweep wings for the U.S. Navy's Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF) program to replace the F-14 Tomcat. Program was cancelled in 1991.
### Proposed derivatives
The FB-22 was a proposed medium-range supersonic stealth bomber for the USAF. The design was projected to carry up to 30 Small Diameter Bombs to about twice the range of the F-22A. The FB-22 proposals were cancelled with the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and subsequent developments, in lieu of a larger subsonic bomber with a much greater range.
The X-44 MANTA, or multi-axis, no-tail aircraft, was a planned experimental aircraft based on the F-22 with enhanced thrust vectoring controls and no aerodynamic surface backup. The aircraft was to be solely controlled by thrust vectoring, without featuring any rudders, ailerons, or elevators. Funding for this program was halted in 2000.
In August 2018, Lockheed Martin proposed an F-22 derivative to the USAF and JASDF that would combine an improved and modified F-22 airframe with the avionics and improved stealth coatings of the F-35. The proposal was not considered by the USAF or JASDF due to cost as well as existing export restrictions.
## Operators
The United States Air Force is the only operator of the F-22. As of August 2022, it has 183 aircraft in its inventory.
### Air Combat Command
- 1st Fighter Wing - Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia
- 27th Fighter Squadron
- 71st Fighter Squadron (Formal Training Unit)
- 94th Fighter Squadron
- 49th Wing - Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico
- 7th Fighter Squadron
- 8th Fighter Squadron
- 53d Wing - Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
- 422d Test and Evaluation Squadron
- 57th Wing - Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
- 433d Weapons Squadron
- 325th Fighter Wing - Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
- 43d Fighter Squadron - Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
- 95th Fighter Squadron
### Pacific Air Forces
- 3rd Wing - Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska
- 90th Fighter Squadron
- 525th Fighter Squadron
- 15th Wing - Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii
- 19th Fighter Squadron (active associate unit)
### Air National Guard
- 154th Wing - Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii
- 199th Fighter Squadron
- 192d Fighter Wing - Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia
- 149th Fighter Squadron (associate unit)
### Air Force Reserve Command
- 477th Fighter Group – Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska
- 302d Fighter Squadron (associate unit)i
### Air Force Material Command
- 412th Test Wing - Edwards Air Force Base, California
- 411th Flight Test Squadron
## Accidents
The first F-22 crash occurred during takeoff at Nellis AFB on 20 December 2004, in which the pilot ejected safely before impact. The investigation revealed that a brief interruption in power during an engine shutdown prior to flight caused a flight-control system malfunction; consequently the aircraft design was corrected to avoid the problem. Following a brief grounding, F-22 operations resumed after a review.
On 25 March 2009, an EMD F-22 crashed 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Edwards AFB during a test flight, resulting in the death of Lockheed Martin test pilot David P. Cooley. An Air Force Materiel Command investigation found that Cooley momentarily lost consciousness during a high-G maneuver, or g-LOC, then ejected when he found himself too low to recover. Cooley was killed during ejection by blunt-force trauma from windblast due to the aircraft's speed. The investigation found no design issues.
On 16 November 2010, an F-22 from Elmendorf AFB crashed, killing the pilot, Captain Jeffrey Haney. F-22s were restricted to flying below 25,000 feet, then grounded during the investigation. The crash was attributed to a bleed air system malfunction after an engine overheat condition was detected, shutting down the Environmental Control System (ECS) and OBOGS. The accident review board ruled Haney was to blame, as he did not react properly to engage the emergency oxygen system. Haney's widow sued Lockheed Martin, claiming equipment defects, and later reached a settlement. After the ruling, the emergency oxygen system engagement handle was redesigned; the system was eventually replaced by an automatic backup oxygen system (ABOS). On 11 February 2013, the DoD's Inspector General released a report stating that the USAF had erred in blaming Haney, and that facts did not sufficiently support conclusions; the USAF stated that it stood by the ruling.
During a training mission, an F-22 crashed to the east of Tyndall AFB, on 15 November 2012. The pilot ejected safely and no injuries were reported on the ground. The investigation determined that a "chafed" electrical wire ignited the fluid in a hydraulic line, causing a fire that damaged the flight controls.
On 15 May 2020, an F-22 from Eglin Air Force Base crashed during a routine training mission shortly after takeoff; the pilot ejected safely. The cause of the crash was attributed to a maintenance error after an aircraft wash resulting in faulty air data sensor readings.
## Aircraft on display
- 91-4002 – Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum in Ogden, Utah
- 91-4003 – National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio
## Specifications (F-22A)
## See also |
55,818,423 | Manjappada | 1,172,469,377 | Supporters' group of Kerala Blasters Football Club | [
"2014 establishments in Kerala",
"Association football supporters' associations",
"Football in India",
"Indian football supporters' associations",
"Kerala Blasters FC",
"Ultras groups"
]
| Manjappada (transl. Yellow Army; ) are an organised supporters' group of the Kochi based professional football club Kerala Blasters FC, which competes in Indian Super League, the top-tier league of Indian football. One of the largest and most active fan groups in the country, Manjappada received the Indian Sports Honours Fan Club of the Year award two times, in 2017 and 2019.
Founded in 2014 as a Facebook page, Manjappada later expanded and have branches in each of Kerala's 14 districts and in 12 other Indian states; Keralites in 64 other countries are also part of the group. Manjappada is also known for having one of the largest groups of travelling fans in the country, and their presence in the stadium is often called a yellow sea as they wear as much yellow as possible during the matches of the Blasters. In the 2022–23 Indian Super League season, they displayed a 11752 sq ft tifo, which is so far the largest tifo displayed during a football match in Asia.
The group have also been supporting the India national football team in matches at home and abroad. They were recognised by the Asian Football Confederation for their support of the Indian team at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Manjappada is also known for their engagement in activities other than supporting the Blasters. Since 2017, the group have developed a rivalry with the supporters group of Bengaluru FC, West Block Blues.
## History
Manjappada, which means 'Yellow Army' was founded on 27 May 2014 with a Facebook page created by three fans. Kerala Blasters had an average attendance of 49,000 during the inaugural season of the Indian Super League. By 2015, Manjappada began to co-ordinate more fans. The group played an important role, supporting Kerala Blasters during the 2015 Indian Super League season despite the club's poor performance. During that season, the Blasters recorded an average attendance of 52,000: the highest in Indian Super League (ISL) history. Most of their games had an attendance of over 60,000.
By 2016, Manjappada became better organised; they expanded through a WhatsApp group which initially consisted of 50 members. Fans throughout Kerala were connected with WhatsApp and branches were established in all the 14 districts of Kerala by 2020. Later the group started expanding outside of Kerala which led to the founding of 12 states chapters across India. Keralites in 64 other countries also became active in the fan club's international groups. Manjappada also have one of India's largest travelling fan bases. Manjappada have a women's group, with members of various ages. The idea originated in early 2016, with the intention of developing football culture in the women in Kerala and eventually, the first WhatsApp group was formed in 2018. Around the same time, Manjappada had evolved into an ultras group and began using flares and smoke during matches. In October 2019, Manjappada coordinated and brought forty-one busloads of their fans across Kerala to the venue of 2019–20 season opener match. In 2020, It was announced that the 2020–21 ISL season would be played at three empty stadiums in Goa due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain enthusiasm, Manjappada distributed about 2,500 yellow flags to members and hung about 600 banners throughout Kerala before the season began. In December 2020, Manjappada released a musical album called 'Padayani' to motivate Kerala Blasters. The album picturises the empty stands of Jawaharlal Nehru stadium during the COVID-19 pandemic and the pain that has caused the fans. In May 2022, Manjappada was featured in a forty-minute documentary titled "Maitanam" (Ground), released on FIFA+, which showcases Kerala's passion for football.
## Culture
From the third season onwards, the East Gallery of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium came to be known as the "Manjappada stand", because the Manjappada members occupy it during the club's home games. The group wear as much yellow as possible during all the games which includes scarves and flags. Members begin their preparations almost a month before the season starts, with branches meeting to plan the group's major activities. Activities begin with welcoming the team at the airport. The group often conduct roadshows during important away matches. Before each match, members arrive at the stadium early and set up tifos, banners, and balloons. Manjappada have members who coordinate the group's waves, flashlights and Viking claps. In 2017, the group cleaned the stadium after a match and started a campaign in 2018 to clean the stadium after each game. They released their theme song around that time, written by Manu Manjith and composed by Manjappada member Nikhil Thomas. The song was performed by Shabareesh Varma. Thanks to the Kerala Gulf diaspora, Manjappada members are present wherever the Blasters play; in September 2019, when the Blasters played a pre-season friendly against Dibba FC in Dubai, a large number of Manjappada members supported the team. Players and coaches, acknowledging their support, refer to them as "The 12th Man".
## Chants and tifos
### Chants
Manjappada's official anthem was released in August 2017 before the start of 2017–18 Indian Super League season. The anthem, which was released on the group's official YouTube channel had inspirational clips from the previous seasons.
Apart from their official anthem, Manjappada have a chant specially dedicated to their club in the local language, Malayalam, which goes as "Niram Manjayaane" (The colour is yellow). The group also have chants specially dedicated to the players.
### Tifos
Manjappada has displayed various tifos during the matches. One of their best-known tifo was displayed during the 2018–19 season opener against Mumbai City on 5 October 2018; reading "In Unity Lies Our Greatness", it was a tribute to fishermen who saved thousands of lives during the 2018 Kerala floods. Manjappada unveiled another tifo, reading "Rise Like A Phoenix", during the Blasters' season opener against ATK on 20 October 2019.
During the Southern Derby against Bengaluru FC on 11 December 2022, Manjappada displayed the largest tifo in Asia and Indian football history, showing the concept that "football is for everyone". It was a 103 metre long tifo with a total area of 11752 sq ft.
## Rivalry with West Block Blues
They developed a rivalry with the West Block Blues, the supporters' group of Bengaluru FC, before the Blasters and Bengaluru played against each other. The rivalry began in 2017, the first Indian football rivalry before the clubs had played against each other. Bengaluru FC joined the Indian Super League in a league expansion that year, and it was announced that C. K. Vineeth (who had played for Kerala Blasters in 2016 on loan from Bengaluru) would sign permanently with the Blasters. Another Bengaluru loan, Rino Anto, was also signed by the Blasters as a result of the 2017–18 Indian Super League Players Draft. On 23 August 2017, Bengaluru played at home against North Korean side April 25 SC in the first leg of the Inter-zone AFC Cup. Both Vineeth and Anto were at Sree Kanteerava Stadium for the game. The West Block Blues began chanting for Vineeth and Rino Anto, acknowledging their contributions to Bengaluru. A group of West Block Blues also began an abusive chant against Kerala Blasters. "What happened has happened and I can only wish it won't happen again", Rino posted about the incident on social media, provoking Manjappada and beginning a social-media dispute between the groups. Manjappada members accused Bengaluru FC in November 2017 of blocking Kanteerava Stadium's East Upper Stand to prevent the group from supporting their team, increasing tensions and bantering between the groups. The clubs played against each other on 31 December 2017; matches since then between the Blasters and Bengaluru, in what is known as the South Indian Derby, are some of the league's most anticipated.
## Other activities
Manjappada is also involved in a number of other activities. In July 2018, they initiated a "Save the Kochi turf" campaign to preserve the FIFA-approved football pitch at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. During the 2018 Kerala floods, the group supplied relief materials to flood-affected areas. That year, they honoured the Indian Blind Football team. In 2018, Manjappada's Delhi branch organised the local Manjappada Dilli Soccer League. The following year, they began a "stop cyber abuse" campaign against the online abuse of footballers. In February 2020, Manjappada announced a partnership with the Delhi Senior Division's Delhi City FC. The club, now known as Manjappada Delhi City FC, is operated and managed by the group. In May 2020, Manjappada organised a Pro Evolution Soccer tournament in return for donations to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund or the PM Cares fund. Manjappada have a blood-donors forum in each branch which encourages blood donation. On 1 November 2021, ahead of the 2021–22 season, Manjappada announced that for every goal scored by the Blasters in the season, they would plant tree saplings in each of the fourteen districts of Kerala.
### Support for Indian National Team
Manjappada also supports the India national football team. When the Indian team plays outside India, Manjappada are often seen supporting the Indian team. In 2017, they successfully promoted their own campaign to get people to buy tickets and watch Indian under-17 team at the U-17 World Cup in Delhi. In 2019, India coach Igor Štimac noted about Manjappada's enthusiasm at home and abroad.
## Controversy
In February 2019, Kerala Blasters player C. K. Vineeth filed a complaint against a Manjappada member for spreading false information. Vineeth said a WhatsApp voice message accused him of shouting at a ball boy during a match against Chennaiyin in Kochi: "The fans have been behaving like this way for far too long. They have been rude against all players, especially Kerala players". Responding to Vineeth's complaint, Manjappada said that the opinions expressed in the WhatsApp voice message are those of a fan and do not reflect the views of the group: "Not everyone who comes to the stadium is part of Manjappada. Not everyone's opinion is our opinion. Vineeth could have said that certain Kerala Blasters fans turned on him but he named Manjappada ... Any comments or statements made by an individual should not be considered as the voice of Manjappada. All our views and statements will only be made public through our official social media handles. Manjappada should not be held accountable for any remarks made by an individual on our platform". This sparked the group's "Stop Cyber Abuse" campaign in July of that year.
## Awards and recognition
In 2017, Manjappada won the 'Fan Club of the Year' award at the inaugural Indian Sports Honours. The event was an initiative aimed at honouring sports-related persons and groups for their outstanding achievements. The group won the award for the second time in 2019. In 2019, the Asian Football Confederation honoured Manjappada with a Recognition Award for their support of the Indian national team and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. |
3,356,547 | Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho | 1,169,162,261 | Portuguese military officer, politician, and terrorist | [
"1936 births",
"2021 deaths",
"Arms traders",
"Candidates for President of Portugal",
"Carnation Revolution",
"People convicted on terrorism charges",
"People from Maputo",
"Portuguese people of Goan descent",
"Portuguese revolutionaries",
"Portuguese soldiers"
]
| Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho, GCL (; 31 August 1936 – 25 July 2021) was a Portuguese military officer. He was the chief strategist of the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. After the Revolution, Otelo assumed leadership roles in the first Portuguese Provisional Governments, alongside Vasco Gonçalves and Francisco da Costa Gomes, and as the head of military defense force COPCON. In 1976, Otelo ran in the first Portuguese presidential election, in which he placed second with the base of his support coming from the far-left. Otelo was tried and sentenced for being a leading member of the terrorist group Forças Populares 25 de Abril, which killed 19 people in several terrorist attacks. In 1996, the Portuguese Parliament voted to pardon him and several others who had been sentenced for FP-25 activities. The pardons were promoted by President Mário Soares as a gesture of democratic reconciliation.
## Early life
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique (now Maputo, Mozambique) on 31 August 1936, of Luso-Goan (Portuguese India) ancestry. Named by his theatre-minded parents after Shakespeare's Othello, he completed his secondary education at a state school in Lourenço Marques. His father was a civil servant and his mother a railway clerk. He entered the Military Academy in Lisbon in 1955, at the age of nineteen.
Otelo spent many years in the colonial wars in Africa. He served in Portuguese Angola from 1961 to 1963 as a second lieutenant, and as a captain from 1965 to 1967. He was posted to Portuguese Guinea in 1970 as a captain, under General António de Spínola, in charge of civilian affairs and the propaganda campaign Hearts and Minds.
On 5 November 1960, he married Maria Dina Afonso Alambre with whom he had two daughters and a son.
In 1970, Otelo attended the funeral of António de Oliveira Salazar, the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. At the funeral, Otelo was seen weeping over the casket of Salazar.
## Carnation Revolution and PREC
Otelo joined the underground Movement of Armed Forces (Movimento das Forças Armadas - MFA), which carried out a coup d'état in Lisbon on 25 April 1974, in which he played a directing role.
In July 1974, Otelo was made a brigadier and placed in command of the special military Command for the Continent COPCON, which was set up to secure order in the country and to promote the revolutionary process. In 1975, infighting in the MFA intensified with Otelo representing the left-wing of the movement. After the Carnation Revolution, the tension In between communist and noncommunist forces started to increase as MFA was deeply turning left as a consequence of communist party and the extreme left forces were becoming more intervening.
On his attempt to revert President António de Spínola tried to actively intervene appealing to «silent majority» against the political radicalization that was being lived to. On 28 September, He tried to convene a large popular demonstration in Lisbon that aimed to thwart the movement and show to the loss of influence of moderate forces. After the failure of his movement, Spinola resigned, and Costa Gomes was nominee for the role.
However, MFA soldiers and left-wing parties, led by the PCP, blocked access to Lisbon the previous morning, with barricades at various points. The atmosphere was close to civil war and at the end of the day Otelo, then commander of COPCON, announced: "The Armed Forces Movement is in complete control of the situation."
A right-wing putsch attempt, led by António de Spínola, was thwarted by the timely intervention of COPCON in March 1975. Otelo became part of the Council of the Revolution which was created on 14 March 1975. In May 1975 he was temporarily promoted to General and, together with Francisco da Costa Gomes and Vasco Gonçalves, formed the Directório (Directorate).
The prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves decreed "victory over reaction" and the country would live another troubled reddish year. In a memo to American President Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger states that “perhaps the most important lesson from the Portuguese weekend's events is the close coordination between MFA and the Communist Party. Between them their control of the situation was so complete that in all practical respects the country was in their hands” Kissinger wrote to the President.
In July 1975, Otelo visited Cuba with a delegation of Portuguese military officers to meet Fidel Castro. Otelo participated in the Cuban 26 of July celebrations with Castro. During this trip, Castro informed Otelo of his intention to send Cuban troops to Angola to support MPLA. In response, Otelo assured Castro that the Portuguese government would have no objection to the involvement of Cuba there.
The period In between 11 March and 25 November was later called the “Hot Summer of 1975” due to the number of clashes and force measurement between communist and non communists.
Costa Gomes, aligned with the communist party Otelo's success led to his being named the commander of the newly created Continente Operational Command (Comando Operacional do Continente - COPCON) for Lisbon Region. Created in July 1974 by President António Spínola to enforce the MFA program, COPCON brought together soldiers from the various branches of the armed forces and was composed of two divisions: one for Information and the other for operations.
This was a troubled period, with major social and political upheavals, clashes between the military and the emergence of various extreme leftist movements. Otelo told in an interview that, at that time, various social problems began to appear at COPCON, with workers seeing their bosses flee and becoming unemployed, for example. Then they began to receive rural workers who were unhappy with the agrarian reform. All sorts of problems came.
At the head of COPCON, Otelo begins to make controversial decisions. Among these controversial measures are the blank arrest warrants, without the intervention of the judiciary, which Otelo signed and which were later executed by his subordinates, often during the night without the victims even knowing why they were being detained.
In an interview he gave and in response to whether COPCON was concerned about the advance of counter-revolutionary forces, which were assaulting, destroying, burning down the headquarters of left-wing parties, the Communist Party, the MDP, and other left-wing parties, Otelo says a phrase that would also become famous for its controversy: “Look, we are, in fact, very worried. This is growing very fast, and I hope we don't have to put the counter-revolutionaries in Campo Pequeno before they put us there”.
On 25 November 1975, an extreme left-wing coup was attempted. Those who took part in the attempt were members of the MFA, the Portuguese Army Commandos, and COPCON. The coup, orchestrated by Otelo, failed to take control of the Portuguese government. Because of this failure, Otelo was imprisoned, COPCON was disbanded, and António Ramalho Eanes rose to power. As punishment for participation in the coup, Otelo was imprisoned for three months.
## 1976 presidential campaign and following years
In 1976, Otelo unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for president against Eanes. Throughout his campaign, Otelo campaigned on a platform promoting socialism, national independence, and popular power. Otelo's support came from the Portuguese working class, specifically in Setúbal and Alentejo. A notable supporter and organizer of Otelo's campaign was Zeca Afonso, a popular Portuguese revolutionary songwriter. Otelo finished second in the election, with 792,760 votes (16.46%) and António Ramalho Eanes was elected president with 61,59%.
Still in the second half of the 70s, Otelo actively participated in the creation of the GDUP - Grupos Dinamizadores de Unidade Popular - popular action groups, similar to what Otelo had seen in Cuba. GDUP grew throughout the country, fueled by Otelo's run for Presidency of the Republic. They majority of members were in favor of armed struggle as a political weapon.
From the success from the presidential election, the Unitary Organization of Workers (OUT) emerges on April 78, having Otelo as one of its first supporters and promoter's. Because OUT did not identify itself with the new parliamentary democratic regime, which emerged on the 25th of November 1975, it didn't constitute itself as a political party. Instead, it was only a political association. Among the approved motions, on first OUT congress, in Marinha Grande, the defense of violence as a political weapon stands out: «people's power will only be possible (...) through the recourse (...) to armed revolutionary violence» and it can only be a reality. ...if the workers are armed, constituting a (...) people's army", and "Only with violence (...) is it possible for the people to conquer political power."
Most OUT structure and leadership was filled by PRP leaders, a party that shared some of its headquarters, allowing Otelo, who despite his military condition, was entitled to be considered a permanent guest, be present at the meetings, although without any voting rights. Less than two months after the aforementioned OUT congress, Revolutionary Party of the Proletariat / Revolutionary Brigades PRP/BR main leaders Isabel do Carmo and Carlos Antunes were arrested. During the same police operation, a PJ agent was killed.
With Isabel do Carmo and Carlos Antunes imprisonment and the consequent power vacuum on PRP leadership, a rupture was generated between them, who advocated this was not the time to develop OUT project and the other militants, led by Pedro Goulart, who defended greater violence, namely assassinations, in an attempt to radicalize the armed struggle. That later was materialized in the Projecto Global/FUP/FP-25 de Abril.
Meanwhile, Otelo was penalized by the Superior Council of Discipline of the Army with the consequent passage to the situation of compulsory reserve, for having an active participation in politics, incompatible with his military status.
## 1980 presidential campaign
In 1980, Otelo was a candidate in the Portuguese presidential elections .He was nominated for the presidential race by the far-left political party which he was one of the founders - Força de Unidade Popular (FUP). He continued to base his campaign upon building socialism in Portugal. Once again, Otelo received support and advice from Portuguese musician José Afonso throughout the campaign. This time, Otelo did not fare nearly as well as he had done four years beforehand. He finished a poor third, with 85,896 votes (1.4%). After the election, Otelo confessed that he voted for his rival Eanes in the election, "to avoid the victory of the right-wing candidate Soares Carneiro".
## Terrorism and imprisonment
After the defeat in the presidential elections, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, together with Pedro Goulart, Mouta Liz created the Global Project (Projeto Global). It, "...had as purposes, among others, to create conditions that would allow its members, in the long term and through the armed insurrection, to seize the State and install popular power through the institutionalization of what they called direct and basist democracy and subvert the functioning of the institutions of the State enshrined in the Constitution, as this is one of the adequate conditions for the aforementioned armed insurrection..." It brought together the most radical sectors of the revolutionary far left, which were opposed to the establishment of a party base parliamentary representative system, the restoration of the capitalist economic and social system. This was a superstructure without legal existence and consisted of several components:
1. Mass Political Organization - legal component constituted by a legal political party, the Popular Unity Force (FUP);
2. Armed Civilian Structure (Estrutura Civil Armada/ECA) - which corresponded to the terrorist group Forças Populares 25 de Abril, responsible for the assaults, bombings, and murders.
3. Military headquarters, led by Otelo and aimed recruiting military personnel for the project, standing in the background and would support the insurrection, when asked for.
4. OSCAR, which was none than Otelo himself and which sought to capitalize on his high awareness, seeking to attract elements of civil society to the project;
The Global Project (Projecto Global) coordinated the clandestine and subversive component of the terrorist group FP-25, using armed violence as a political weapon, and the political party Força de Unidade Popular (FUP), which gave it political and legal coverage. The distinction between the FUP and the FP-25 was similar to the one existing in Northern Ireland between Sinn Féin and the IRA or in Spain between Herri Batasuna and ETA.
Global Project's first step was the creation of a political party – FUP/Força de Unidade Popular (Popular Unity Force) on March 28, 1980, two months after Otelo's defeats in the 1980 presidential elections and less than one month before the first attacks by FP-25. FUP, despite inheriting part of the physical and human structures of the former PRP/BR, the party from which most of the operatives came, never came to run for any legislative or municipal elections.
As so, on 20 April 1980, five days before the Carnation Revolution anniversary, FP-25 de Abril initiate its activity with dozens of bomb attacks across the country, against government, police or military buildings. Join with the initial announcement a document named "''Manifesto ao Povo Trabalhador''“, mentioned serious deviations from the 1976 Constitution, namely the abandonment of socialism, the abandonment of the land ownership nationalization (“Reforma Agrária”) and the loss of the people's decision-making process.
Just two weeks later, a GNR soldier was killed during a bank robbery. Over 7 years, they were responsible for 19 deaths, including a four-month-old baby, a General Director of Prison Service, a dissident/repentant terrorist, several National Republican Guards (GNR) soldiers and five terrorists killed during robberies or clashes with security forces. FP-25 ́s last action resulted in the death of a Judiciary Police officer, in August 1987. The violence was partially stopped in June 1984, with a secret police operation under a code name "Orion", which resulted in the arrest of most of its leaders and operatives. They would be later tried in October 1986.
### The Arrest and Judgment
On June 20, 1984, Otelo was arrested under the charge of being Forças Populares 25 de Abril founding member and leader. During "Orion" police operation, various incriminating documents were seized at Força de Unidade Popular/(FUP) headquarters - the organization's legal political party, as well as at Otelo ’s residence. Among the seized documents were the two notebooks handwritten by Otelo, one green and one red, with several detailed reports of operations and meetings, namely the famous Conclave meeting in Serra da Estrela. Cândida Almeida, prosecutor in the trial recalls one of the most famous meetings, held in Serra da Estrela where everyone was hooded, Otelo had the number seven. Today it would be possible to do the DNA of the hood, but Otelo also never denied that he had been there”.
On Conclave, a discussion was held regarding future strategy, one of its most important document was the no 16. It's a guideline for violence defining who and how should be carried out the robberies and homicides, Otelo has written with his hand that he was content to know what the profile of the individual to be slaughtered. So he knew perfectly well, he and the others in the military political leadership knew perfectly well who did what, so it can be said that they were moral authors. Those handwritten notebooks by Otelo are part of the case file and were reproduced in several books alluding to the process. Otelo himself acknowledges having been present with a hood at the Conclave meeting, held in Serra da Estrela. According to him, in an interview with Expresso newspaper, it would have been a requirement of the ECA (Armed Civilian Structure), known as Forças Populares 25 de Abril.
Usually, Otelo recorded in his personal notebook everything that was said at the meetings of Political-Military Board Projecto Global (FP-25) identifying all the people present by abbreviations and very enlightening and detailing everything that had been said by each of the authors. Otelo's notebooks were, in fact, responsible for incriminating him as well as many of the detainees, as well as clarifying many of the organization's actions. At the hearings, in addition to confessing almost the entirety of the facts, Otelo was unable to provide the least plausible explanation for the crimes he was accused of and it turned out that they were not only false accusations that supported the accusation, but a source of evidence, in which his manuscript stands out, where everything is reported with acronyms and names, which he was unveiled during the hearings.
In October 1985, Otelo was tried and convicted in court for his role in leading the FP 25 de Abril and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The sentence would be confirmed by the Court of Appeal, which increased the sentence to 18 years and later the Supreme Court of Justice would fix it at 17 years in prison.
He would appeal the sentence to the Constitutional Court. As the period of preventive detention had expired, since the sentence had not yet become final, he was released on May 17, 1989, after five years in prison, awaiting trial on parole. He was also demoted to lieutenant-colonel.
### Pardon and Amnesty
The various appeals filed, as well as the constant transition of the process between each of the courts, made it impossible for the sentence to become final, confirming the definitive arrest of the defendants. The President, Mario Soares has always tried to preserve the historic memory of Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho as a Carnation revolution hero and has always tried to pursue a political solution instead a letting flow judicial and criminal processes against him. As so, he pushed parliament whose left wing majority was supported by the socialist PS and the communist party PCP, to approve an amnesty. Although his connection with the terrorist organization has been proved in court, in 2004 the Parliament approved the pardon, followed by an amnesty “for politically motivated offenses committed between 27 July 1976 and 21 June of 1991”, which naturally included those committed by the FP 25 de Abril. Outside were the so-called "blood crimes".
Some of the beneficiaries were now granted amnesty for the second time after being pardoned in the late 1970s as members of the PRP/BR. Even so, the amnesty also did not please the terrorists, who soon came to demand that it be extended to blood crimes, since without the political component, whitewashed in the amnesty, these would be judged as crimes of common crime.
### Assassinations and Blood Crimes
However, the various crimes committed and spread across the various districts are unified in a single process. There are more than 150 cases, two of which 10 completed homicides and 7 attempted, to be judged. It is from here that process 396/91 is created, which will bring together the judgment of blood crimes, which took place later and had the sentence handed down on April 6, 2001 and confirmed by the Lisbon Court of Appeal in June 2003. By the time of the trial, almost 20 years had passed since some crimes, the repentant were in Brazil or Mozambique and the defendants opted for silence. Even so, evidence was produced in relation to the crime of terrorist association, which was not being tried and which had already been amnestied. “The judgment detailed the crimes of blood, also listing all the names of the organization's members and leaders, including Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho:
“The court proves everything in the steps that are taken for this or that murderer, even how decisions are made by the terrorist organization, the same is no longer true when it comes to identifying who pulls the trigger, who sets the bomb, who kills, who tries”
“They belonged to the same terrorist organization, called «Forças Populares 25 de Abril – FP25»:”... Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho...”
“...all those defendants, and other unidentified individuals, at the end of 1979, beginning of 1980, were grouped together, of their own free will and perfectly conscious, with the shared intention of all to carry out a plan, which was engendered by some and then accepted by the others, all acting in concert to implement this plan, in an articulated and structured way, and continued over time, through insertion in their own structures”.
“... the defendant Otelo, had top seat within Projecto Global /FP-25 highest decision-making committee. This body was the military political direction (called DPM) responsible for strategic direction and coordination between the political party (FUP), the military organization (PF-25) and all other components....”
Even with the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court of Justice, the Public Prosecutor's Office allowed the appeal period to pass when it had committed to the repentant ones to fight until the last instance for their exemptions from punishment. This led the Attorney General's Office to launch an inquiry to determine responsibilities. A prosecutor was held responsible for having been responsible for this prescription.
## Later life and death
While imprisoned for his involvement with FP-25, Otelo met Maria Filomena Morais and began a Ménage à trois with her and his wife Maria Dina Afonso Alambre, spending Monday to Thursday with Filomena and from Friday to Sunday with Dina.
Otelo retired from military service and public life in 1989. Following his retirement, Otelo remained a political activist and was featured in multiple documentaries about the Carnation Revolution.
In 2011, during the Portuguese financial crisis when the country was nearing the end of the center-left government of José Socrates and had to request international financial assistance, Otelo stated that he wouldn't have started the revolution if he had known what the country would become after it. He also stated that the country would need a man as honest as Salazar to deal with the crisis, but from a non-fascist perspective.
In March 2020, he was hospitalized in Lisbon for heart failure. On 10 July 2021, Otelo was hospitalized again, at Army Hospital, in Lisbon. Otelo died fifteen days later on 25 July, aged 84.
## Influence
Otelo is still an icon for activists of the left in Portugal, but is hated by many right-wingers who consider him a terrorist who tried to seize power in the country in order to become Portugal's Fidel Castro.
In 2006, Otelo was voted the 68th greatest Portuguese in the Os Grandes Portugueses competition.
## Election results
### Presidential elections of 27 June 1976
\|- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" rowspan="2"\|Candidates !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left rowspan="2"\|Supporting parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right colspan="2"\|First round \|- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right\|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right\|% \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|António Ramalho Eanes \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|2,967,137 \|align="right" \|61.59 \|- \|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|792,760 \|align="right" \|16.46 \|- \|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|José Pinheiro de Azevedo \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|692,147 \|align="right" \|14.37 \|- \|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=red align="center" \| \|align=left\|Octávio Rodrigues Pato \|align=left\|Portuguese Communist Party \|align="right" \|365,586 \|align="right" \|7.59 \|- \|colspan="3" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|Total valid \|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|4,817,630 \|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|100.00 \|- \|align=right colspan="3"\|Blank ballots \|width="65" align="right" \|43,242 \|width="40" align="right" \|0.89 \|- \|align=right colspan="3" \|Invalid ballots \|width="65" align="right"\|20,253 \|width="40" align="right"\|0.41 \|- \|colspan="3" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|Total (turnout 75.47%) \|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|4,881,125 \|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\| \|- \|colspan=5 align=left\|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
### Presidential elections of 7 December 1980
\|- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" rowspan="2"\|Candidates !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left rowspan="2"\|Supporting parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right colspan="2"\|First round \|- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right\|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right\|% \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|António Ramalho Eanes \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|3,262,520 \|align="right" \|56.44 \|- \|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#00FFFF align="center" \| \|align=left\|António Soares Carneiro \|align=left\|Democratic Alliance \|align="right" \|2,325,481 \|align="right" \|40.23 \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho \|align=left\|Força de Unidade Popular \|align="right" \|85,896 \|align="right" \|1.49 \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|Carlos Galvão de Melo \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|48,468 \|align="right" \|0.84 \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=gray align="center" \| \|align=left\|António Pires Veloso \|align=left\|Independent \|align="right" \|45,132 \|align="right" \|0.78 \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=red align="center" \| \|align=left\|António Aires Rodrigues \|align=left\|Workers Party of Socialist Unity \|align="right" \|12,745 \|align="right" \|0.22 \|- \|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=red align="center" \| \|align=left\|Carlos Brito \|align=left\|Portuguese Communist Party \|colspan="2" align="center" \|left the race \|- \|colspan="3" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|Total valid \|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|5,780,242 \|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|100.00 \|- \|align=right colspan="3"\|Blank ballots \|width="65" align="right" \|44,014 \|width="40" align="right" \|0.75 \|- \|align=right colspan="3" \|Invalid ballots \|width="65" align="right"\|16,076 \|width="40" align="right"\|0.28 \|- \|colspan="3" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|Total (turnout 84.39%) \|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\|5,840,332 \|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"\| \|- \|colspan=5 align=left\|Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
## Publications
- Cinco meses mudaram Portugal (1975)
- Contribuiçāo para uma alternativa popular à crise da economia em Portugal: texto de apoio da candidatura à Presidência da República de Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (1976)
- Otelo: o povo é quem mais ordena (1977)
- Memorias de abril (1978)
- Alvorada em abril (1984)
- Presos por um Fio, Portugal e as FP-25 de Abril, de Nuno Gonçalo Poças, Casa das Letras, 4-2021,
- Viver e morrer em nome das FP-25, de António José Vilela, Casa das Letras, 6-2004,
- "Caso FP-25 de Abril": Alegações do Ministério Público, Ministério da Justiça, 1987 |
2,475,586 | Toussidé | 1,153,395,406 | Stratovolcano in Chad | [
"Dormant volcanoes",
"Holocene stratovolcanoes",
"Mountains of Chad",
"Stratovolcanoes of Africa",
"Tibesti Mountains",
"VEI-6 volcanoes",
"Volcanoes of Chad"
]
| Toussidé (also known as Tarso Toussidé) is a potentially active stratovolcano in Chad. Toussidé lies in the Tibesti Mountains, the large Yirrigué caldera and the smaller Trou au Natron and Doon Kidimi craters are close to it. It has an elevation of 3,265 m (10,712 ft) above sea level. The volcano is the source of a number of lava flows, which have flowed westward away from Toussidé and east into the Yirrigué caldera.
Trou au Natron, the depression southeast of the volcano, measures approximately 8 by 6 kilometres (5.0 mi × 3.7 mi) in diameter and 700–1,000 metres (2,300–3,300 ft) in depth. During the last glacial maximum or the early-middle Holocene, it was filled with a lake. A number of volcanic cones have developed within Trou au Natron. Fumarolic activity on the peak of Toussidé and geothermal manifestations within Trou au Natron represent signs of volcanic activity at Toussidé.
## Names
Toussidé is also known as Tarso Toussidé. "Trou au Natron" refers to the springs which have deposited white trona in the caldera. "Toussidé" translates as "Which killed the local people (Tou) with fire".
## Geography and geomorphology
### Regional
Toussidé is part of the western Tibesti mountains in Chad, Africa. The Tibesti mountains reach elevations of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) and are surrounded by the Sahara. The towns of Bardai and Zouar lie east-northeast and south of Toussidé, respectively, and a road between the two passes just southeast from Trou au Natron.
Another volcano in Tibesti is Emi Koussi, which is the highest mountain of the Tibesti and of the entire Sahara region. The volcano Tarso Toh lies northwest of Toussidé, the Botoum and Botoudoma/Petit Botoum rhyolite extrusions are located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Trou au Natron. The origin of volcanism in Tibesti is unclear; both a hotspot-related mechanism and tectonic effects of the collision between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate have been proposed.
### Local
Toussidé is a symmetrical 3,265-metre (10,712 ft) high stratovolcano, the second highest peak in Tibesti and the highest peak in the western Tibesti mountains. In the past it was considered to be lower, only 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), before a higher summit height was determined by Jean Tilho and W.G. Tweedale (1920). It rises 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above the surrounding landscape and covers a base of 8 by 9 kilometres (5.0 mi × 5.6 mi), dominating the surroundings. The summit cone is formed by lapilli, pyroclastics and scoria, one half has a white colour and the other half is black; some areas are white from fumarolic alteration. Lava flows emanate from Toussidé in a radial pattern and reach lengths of 25 kilometres (16 mi), covering an area of 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi). These flows descended valleys towards the west and may have buried an older volcanic edifice of Toussidé. The flows have a ropy appearance with a diverse surface texture, including bubbly, glassy and porphyric textures, which are very fresh and free of erosion. The surface of the flows is rough and can be a problem to climbers. The relatively steep slopes of Toussidé may reflect the existence of a lava dome underneath the younger lavas; some flows may have originated from parasitic vents.
Toussidé itself lies in part within an even larger caldera, the 14-by-13-kilometre (8.7 mi × 8.1 mi) "pre-Toussidé" (also known as "Yirrigué") caldera which is in part filled by the lava flows from Toussidé and eruption products from the more recent explosion craters, as well as debris that fell from the steep caldera margin. Toussidé is located on the caldera's western side, and the smaller Trou au Natron caldera cuts into the flanks of Yirrigué. Yirrigué contains a small cinder cone and an associated 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long lava flow, as well as an alluvial plain. The "Yirrigué" caldera is part of a large rhyolitic shield-shaped volcano that developed on top of a tectonic horst, which in turn may have been formed by intrusion of magmas. The ignimbrites have buried older terrain and filled valleys.
Southeast of Toussidé lies the 8-by-6-kilometre (5.0 mi × 3.7 mi) wide caldera Trou au Natron (also known as Doon or Doon Orei). Its 700–1,000-metre (2,300–3,300 ft) high rim is cut into sequences of lavas and older volcanic cones. In places it is almost vertical. Inside of Trou au Natron are four recent basaltic volcanic cones, the most remarkable of which is the 75-metre (246 ft) high Moussosomi, which has erupted a lava flow. Three of these cones are deeply eroded. Cones are also located outside of the Trou au Natron, and their eruption products have in part flowed into the crater. Like Toussidé, the position of Trou au Natron appears to be controlled by the ring fault of the "pre-Toussidé" caldera. A salty swamp lies within Trou au Natron, whose floor is in part covered by evaporites, mainly sodium sulfate.
Another 1,500-metre (4,900 ft) wide and 300-metre (980 ft) deep crater, Doon Kidimi (also known as Petit Trou or Doon Kinimi), lies northeast of Trou au Natron; it is among the most pristine volcanic features in the region. Additional volcanoes in the neighbourhood are the 3,040-metre (9,970 ft) high Ehi Timi northeast and the 2,515-metre (8,251 ft) high Ehi Sosso/Ehi Soso east of Toussidé, the former of which features lava domes. The river Enneri Oudingueur originates closely in the area and becomes a tributary of the Enneri Bardagué, which drains the Tibesti northward.
### Paleolake
Trou Au Natron was once filled by a freshwater lake during the last glacial maximum. Fed by meltwater from snow, this lake persisted for several thousands of years. Aside from a lake level drop between 14,900–14,600 years before present, the lake existed until about 12,400 years before present. Later analysis suggested that there was no late Pleistocene lake stage and that Trou au Natron was filled with water between 8,645 calibrated radiocarbon years ago to about 4,425 calibrated radiocarbon years ago, thus at the same time as lakes in the lowland. Charophyte algae (such as Chara globularis and Chara vulgaris), diatoms, gastropods, golden algae, sponges and stromatoliths lived in the lake. Ferns and mosses colonized the margins of the crater.
The lake reached maximum depths of at a minimum 300–350 metres (980–1,150 ft), at least once reaching 500 metres (1,600 ft). Such a large size, relative to its catchment, has raised the question of where this water came from. The formation of such a lake during the glacial maximum was probably dependent on orographic precipitation transported by the subtropical jet stream.
## Geology
The Tibesti mountains are part of a volcanic province that reaches from Libya into Chad and covers a total surface area of about 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi). The Tibesti Mountains have been volcanically active since the late Cenozoic, with one old volcanic unit being dated to 17 million years ago. While all the higher peaks are volcanoes, not all of Tibesti is formed by volcanic material; the volcanoes have developed on top of a basement uplift.
The terrain beneath Toussidé is formed by Precambrian schists and sandstones, including the Nubian Sandstone. A thick layer of ash has covered much of the terrain and with the exception of the younger volcanoes only few parts of the terrain crop out. Several of these outcrops can be found east of Trou au Natron. The volcanism of the Tibesti has been subdivided into several series.
The volcano has erupted rhyolite, trachybasalt bordering on trachyandesite, which define a subalkaline/hyperalkaline suite. The lavas contain phenocrysts of augite, olivine, plagioclase and sanidine. The cones in Trou au Natron are andesitic. Yirrigué conversely has erupted peralkaline rhyolite, while Ehi Timi erupted rhyolite and trachyte and Ehi Sosso only rhyolite. The formation of Trou au Natron has been accompanied by the eruption of bedrock material.
## Climate and vegetation
Annual temperatures at Trou au Natron fluctuate between 27 – −8 °C (81–18 °F), with a daily temperature variation of 8.8 °C (15.8 °F); this is less than in the lowlands. At higher altitudes frost can be expected. Precipitation amounts to 93.3 millimetres per year (3.67 in/year) at Trou au Natron. Most of it falls as frontal precipitation during summer, and it is more copious than in the lowlands; the Tibesti mountains are the sources for wadis. Other, more indirect estimates yield precipitation of 150–250 millimetres (5.9–9.8 in) per year at Toussidé.
A characteristic vegetation has been discovered on the fumaroles of Toussidé. It ranges from cyanophyceae, ferns, mosses, Oldenlandia and Selaginella within the fumarole vents to small meadows consisting of mosses and Campanula monodiana, Fimbristylis minutissima, Lavandula antineae, Mollugo nudicaulis, Oxalis corniculata, Satureja biflora and other species. The growth of these plants is favoured by the water emanating from the fumaroles. The plant Erodium toussidanum is endemic at the fumaroles of Toussidé, and the mountain is the type locality of Salvia tibestiensis. Trou au Natron also has its own unique flora, including many Sahelian species.
## Eruption history
Volcanic activity at Toussidé appears to be of Quaternary age. The "pre-Toussidé" caldera is considered to be the source of numerous local ignimbrites, including the 430,000 ± 110,000 year old Yirrigué ignimbrite. This ignimbrite covers a surface area of 3,200 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi) with about 150 cubic kilometres (36 cu mi) of rock. The eruption that generated this ignimbrite also led to the formation of the Yirrigué caldera.
Trou au Natron probably formed through two or three separate phreatic eruptions that deposited large blocks around the crater, while an alternative proposal that considers it a collapse caldera appears to not be consistent with field evidence. It formed after the "pre-Toussidé" caldera considering that its caldera rim is cut by Trou au Natron, at a time where part of the Toussidé volcano already existed, but before the Würm glaciation. Doon Kidimi on the other hand may have formed during the Neolithic Subpluvial, and after Trou au Natron.
Toussidé is among the youngest volcanoes in Tibesti, and may have erupted in historical time. A large number of fumaroles are active on its summit, exhaling mainly water vapour at temperatures of 40–60 °C (104–140 °F); thus it is considered to be the only active Tibesti volcano. Likewise, the volcanic cones in Trou au Natron are considered to be recent, lake deposits underneath the cones have been radiocarbon-dated to be between 15,000 and 12,500 years old. Finally, in Trou au Natron there are hot springs that deposit trona and fumarolic activity has been reported there.
## See also
- List of volcanoes in Chad
- List of Ultras of Africa
## Other sources
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- High-resolution NASA photograph
[Tibesti Mountains](Category:Tibesti_Mountains "wikilink") [Holocene stratovolcanoes](Category:Holocene_stratovolcanoes "wikilink") [Mountains of Chad](Category:Mountains_of_Chad "wikilink") [Volcanoes of Chad](Category:Volcanoes_of_Chad "wikilink") [Dormant volcanoes](Category:Dormant_volcanoes "wikilink") [VEI-6 volcanoes](Category:VEI-6_volcanoes "wikilink") [Stratovolcanoes of Africa](Category:Stratovolcanoes_of_Africa "wikilink") |
33,103,485 | The Ten-Per-Cent Solution | 1,160,993,872 | null | [
"2011 American television episodes",
"The Simpsons (season 23) episodes"
]
| "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" is the eighth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 4, 2011. In the episode, Krusty the Clown becomes depressed after getting fired from his television show for being unpopular with children. The Simpson family encourages him to make a comeback, suggesting that he seek help from an agent they met earlier at a television museum. This agent turns out to be Annie Dubinsky, who was Krusty's first agent and former girlfriend. Krusty left her when he became successful but now he begs her to take him as a client again. She accepts and together they are able to get him back on television, hosting a show for adults that features his clown tricks. However, Annie soon begins to interfere too much, which frustrates the network executives.
The episode, which contains parodies of films such as The King's Speech, The Social Network, and Black Swan, was written by cast member Dan Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta. Comedian and actress Joan Rivers, who was a big fan of The Simpsons, guest starred as the character Annie. Other guest performances in the episode came from Kevin Dillon and Janeane Garofalo as themselves and Jackie Mason as Krusty's father. Reception of "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" from television critics has been mixed, with praise directed at Rivers' appearance and the development of Krusty's character. The episode was criticized by the Parents Television Council for containing sexual dialogue. During its original American broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately nine million people.
## Plot
During an episode of The Krusty the Clown Show, three Itchy & Scratchy cartoons are shown. This angers Krusty, the host of the show, since he thinks he should be the star of the show and not the Itchy and Scratchy characters. Meanwhile, the Simpsons visit a television museum that is soon to be closed. After a while, they come to an exhibit displaying The Adventures of Fatso Flanagan, which is one of Homer's favorite television shows. There, the family is approached by Annie Dubinsky, the agent of the actor who played Fatso Flanagan. They start chatting and become acquainted. At the Channel 6 studios, during a board meeting, Krusty is fired because "Today's children are uncomfortable with a clown whose every reference they have to look up on Wikipedia", and because Itchy and Scratchy are shown to be more popular with the children. Krusty goes to his current agent, hoping to get a new job, but the agent drops him since he got fired.
After the Simpsons have left the museum, they head for Krusty Burger where they discover Krusty crying in a ball pit. Krusty is encouraged by them into making a comeback, and they inform him that they met an agent that can help him out. However, when they all go to Annie's office, Annie instantly recognizes Krusty and angrily slams the door before he gets a chance to enter. It is revealed that Annie was the one who discovered Krusty, became his first agent, and was responsible for his rise to success. They also had a romantic relationship together. However, once he achieved fame, Krusty fired Annie and replaced her with a more acclaimed agent, and as a result their relationship ended. Back in the present, he begs her to take him back as a client, and she eventually accepts.
Krusty starts performing his clown tricks at a theater in front of adults, and not children like before. This is because Annie knows that there is nothing adults enjoy more than the things they liked as children. The performances are praised by both the audience and the critics, and Krusty and Annie initiate a relationship again. Soon, a premium cable television network called HBOWTIME (an obvious portmanteau of HBO and Showtime, straight down to their parody of HBO's longtime slogan, "It's not just TV, it's more expensive.") gives Krusty his own show and Annie is hired as the producer on his demand. The stars of the series Entourage, such as Kevin Dillon, become Krusty's assistants. The network executives soon become frustrated with Annie for meddling too much in the show. For example, she refuses to let Janeane Garofalo appear only because Garofalo is funnier than Krusty. She also runs over an intern with a stage car for sharpening her pencil too much. The executives decide to fire Annie, but Krusty refuses to continue without her. The couple therefore turns to another network where they start a show called Sex Over Sixty, with them as the stars. While doing the show, Annie dies of cardiac arrest while during a taping of one of their episodes.
## Production
"The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" was written by Dan Castellaneta, who voices characters such as Homer and Krusty on The Simpsons, and his wife Deb Lacusta. American comedian and actress Joan Rivers guest starred in the episode as Annie. She recorded her lines in March 2011. In an interview with E! News at that time, Rivers noted that this was not her first animated voice-over role, though it was her biggest one yet. She further added that she is a fan of the show because it is "so clever and so funny on so many levels. So when they called and said, 'Do you want to do it?' without even reading a script I said, 'Absolutely.'" Adam Buckman, a former television columnist at the New York Post, noted on his blog that the story of the episode is similar to a period in Rivers' life at the end of the 1980s. At that time, she was hosting The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers on the Fox network. When Rivers challenged Fox executives who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's executive producer, the network fired them both. Rosenberg committed suicide just three months later. Buckman wrote that the story of "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" was "no doubt devised with Rivers’ approval and possibly with her input", and that "only a comedian of her stature and experience" would attempt to spoof a personal tragedy such as this one. Other guest stars in the episode include actor Kevin Dillon and stand-up comedian Janeane Garofalo as themselves, and stand-up comedian Jackie Mason in a minor reprisal of his role as Krusty's father, speaking only one line.
Several references to popular culture, including a meta-reference to The Simpsons, are included in "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution". The three The Itchy & Scratchy cartoons that are shown at the beginning of the episode as Krusty is hosting his show are all parodies of films released in 2010: the first one, titled The Cat's Speech, is a parody of The King's Speech; the second one, titled The Social Petwork, parodies The Social Network in that the storyline is partially explained through the use of screens containing nothing but text; and the final one, titled Black and Blue Swan, references Black Swan. After the three cartoons are shown, Krusty points out that "It’s like those parodies were written when the movies came out, but it took so long to animate them that we look dated and hacky!" This is a reference to the long time it takes to produce an episode of The Simpsons—hence why cultural references on the show can often be seen as dated. Pop culture allusions at the television museum include a brief appearance by the main characters of the animated series King of the Hill as cardboard cutouts being taken down in a process similar to the opening of the show, an exhibit devoted to the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, and the showing of one of Homer's favorite television shows, Fatso Flanagan, which is a knockoff of the sitcom The Honeymooners.
The music that is played during the parody of The King's Speech is "Symphony No. 7" by Ludwig van Beethoven, and a musical piece from the Swan Lake ballet is played during the Black Swan parody. For the King of the Hill visual gag, the Simpsons staff acquired the rights to use the actual theme song from that show. The music that is played as Krusty performs his new show in front of adults at the theater is a mixture of the old Krusty theme and the theme from Playboy After Dark, a television show hosted by Hugh Hefner that started airing in the 1960s and featured parties from a Playboy club. This musical combination was composed by Alf Clausen after The Simpsons music editor Chris Ledesma came with the suggestion. On his blog, Ledesma wrote that theme for Playboy After Dark "was cool and jazzy and just right for its time. Alf’s homage to that theme, wrapped around Krusty’s theme was very clever indeed." For the 2nd time in the show's history, a joke regarding Krusty and the Paul Reubens masturbation scandal was made (the first one was in I Love Lisa; when Annie says that doing a children's show helped Pee-wee Herman bounce back after his scandal, Krusty asks what Pee-wee did and after Annie tells him he says "That's all? I did that while you were on the phone!"
## Release and reception
"The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 4, 2011. It was watched by approximately nine million people during this broadcast. In the demographic for adults aged 18–49, the episode received a 4.0 Nielsen rating (a fifty-four percent increase over the previous episode) and a ten percent share. The high rating was the result of the episode being preceded by a popular National Football League game. The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night in terms of both total viewers and in the 18–49 demographic, finishing ahead of new episodes of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and Allen Gregory. For the week of November 28 – December 4, 2011, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" placed seventh in the ratings among all prime-time broadcasts in the 18–49 demographic.
Since airing, the episode has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club praised the choice of having Rivers guest star since she was able to "employ her trademark humor within the world of The Simpsons without hijacking the plot or satire." He also noted that while the Simpson family does not appear heavily, "Krusty is such a large part of the supporting cast that he carries this episode well. While it may seem a little funny that Castellaneta, who voices Krusty, wrote such a large part for himself, it is also a testament to his empathy for Krusty that this episode both deepens our understanding of Krusty and actually allows him growth as a character in an organic fashion." Ology's Josh Harrison similarly praised "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" for having "some wonderful Krusty the Klown moments and some clutch guest star appearances". He also cited the visual gags in the episode as "clever". Harrison concluded his review by writing that though the episode "wasn't Simpsons gold, it was a great chance to focus on a secondary character and an opportunity for Joan Rivers to, um, be Joan Rivers. I imagine your assessment of the episode may be based largely on your opinion of the guest star. That said? I dug it."
AOL TV's Jason Hughes was more negative, criticizing the episode for taking a "soft approach" to the television industry when it "had a chance for some sharp satire". He elaborated that the writers "had a little bit of fun talking about networks meddling in shows – as well as agents trying to control content as when Joan Rivers booted Janeane Garofalo for being funnier than Krusty – and the differences between cable original programming and broadcast programming. But they had the potential they had to make some bold statements about television and how the industry works throughout, and simply didn't." Hughes did, however, like the King of the Hill appearance, which he described as a "fun nod". Further criticism came from the conservative Parents Television Council (PTC), which named The Simpsons the "Worst TV Show of the Week" because "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" contains "content inappropriate for the Family Hour". The group wrote that the "frank sexual dialogue warranted a TV-14 rating, but the episode was rated TV-PG. Fox network executives surely know that almost nothing that comes out of Joan Rivers’ mouth is rated PG; but they chose to rate the program inappropriately anyway, thus blindsiding parents and children with crude content." PTC cited examples such as Annie saying that every night in his early days, Krusty "had [his audience] rolling in the aisles, followed by a roll in the hay with me," and that "Today's kids are less sensitive than an Army condom. They see more on TV than my mother did on her wedding night. And they don't complain about it for the next 50 years."
## See also
- The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (film) |
2,381,651 | The Boy Who Knew Too Much (The Simpsons) | 1,150,207,827 | null | [
"1994 American television episodes",
"Juries in fiction",
"Television shows written by John Swartzwelder",
"The Simpsons (season 5) episodes"
]
| "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" is the twentieth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1994. In the episode, Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy is wrongly accused of assaulting a waiter, with Bart (who is playing truant from school) being the sole witness to the true course of events. Since Bart cannot reveal what he knows without admitting that he skipped school, he faces the dilemma of either testifying on Freddy's behalf and facing punishment himself, or staying silent and allowing a miscarriage of justice.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. The new character Freddy, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. The episode features cultural references to films such as Westworld, Last Action Hero, and Free Willy, and the fictional characters Huckleberry Finn, Eddie, and Darwin. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver are also referenced in the episode.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 10.1, and was the fifth-highest rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
## Plot
Bart forges a dental appointment note so he can skip school. Convinced the note is forged, Principal Skinner chases Bart through Springfield. As Skinner is about to corner him, Bart jumps into a passing convertible car driven by Freddy Quimby, Mayor Quimby's nephew, as he is driving to the Quimby Compound.
At lunch, Freddy is served chowder, but he ridicules the waiter for pronouncing "chowder" with a French accent and demands he say it with a Boston accent. Freddy follows the waiter into the kitchen and appears to beat him up. Bart, hiding under a kitchen table, secretly witnesses the true turn of events.
Freddy is charged with assault and battery and put on trial. The whole town seems to believe Freddy is guilty, especially after Freddy loses his temper with his own attorney and the jury after he does not pronounce the word "chowder" in a Boston accent. Bart is reluctant to testify to prove Freddy's innocence because it would mean admitting that he skipped school and being punished by Skinner for it.
The jury intends to convict Freddy, with the exception of Homer, who casts the lone dissenting vote to cause a deadlock so he can enjoy the deluxe accommodations offered to the sequestered jury at a hotel. Bart tells the court that Freddy did not assault the waiter; instead, Freddy left with a bottle of champagne, and the waiter injured himself in a series of clumsy actions after slipping on a half-eaten mouthful that Bart had taken out of a giant Rice Krispies square. The waiter indignantly denies he is clumsy. Rising to protest, he trips over a chair and falls out the window into an open-roof truck filled with rat traps. When asked how he witnessed the incident when he was supposed to be in class, Bart reluctantly admits that he skipped school. Freddy is cleared of all charges. Skinner gives Bart four months' detention for skipping school, but still praises him for his honesty.
## Production
"The Boy Who Knew Too Much" was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Jeffrey Lynch. Executive producer David Mirkin "loved" that the whole situation of Bart seeing the waiter injure himself and not telling the truth ties together with the Homer plot in that it causes Homer to get jury duty and then only caring about going to the hotel. Mirkin thought it "worked really well". The new character Freddy was voiced by The Simpsons cast member Dan Castellaneta, who also provides the voice of Mayor Quimby. Freddy was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. When Bart is fleeing from Skinner, a shot of Bart running down a hill from the season four episode "Kamp Krusty" was re-used along with a shot of Bart running away from the season three episode "Dog of Death".
## Cultural references
While riding on the prison bus, Bart looks out the window and has a dream that features him, Huckleberry Finn and Abraham Lincoln on a raft going down a river in Springfield. Mirkin said Swartzwelder had always enjoyed putting presidents into his jokes, and this was only one of his many references to Lincoln. Bart's claim to film star and recurring character Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger) that his "last movie really sucked" and Chief Wiggum's subsequent claim of "magic ticket, my ass" are in reference to Last Action Hero, a Schwarzenegger film featuring magic tickets that was panned by critics. Additionally, Wolfcastle's wife is named Maria; Schwarzenegger's wife at the time was Maria Shriver.
Series creator Matt Groening has a cameo appearance as the court illustrator in the Quimby trial. He can be seen signing his name on his sketch. During the trial, Bart quips "the system works. Just ask Claus von Bülow". This is a reference to the British socialite who was accused of attempted murder, but was acquitted after two trials. Of the twelve jurors, Homer is the only one to vote "not guilty", angering the other eleven; the trial ends with Freddy being found not guilty. This is a reference to the film 12 Angry Men. During the trial, Homer sings the jingle of the cat food company Meow Mix in his head. Jasper, one of the jurors, wants the trial to be over so that he can go home and watch television. He says that tonight "the dog from Frasier will ride the dolphin from seaQuest". Both Frasier and seaQuest DSV were very popular on NBC, the highest-rated network in the United States for most of the 1990s.
At the hotel, Homer watches a new "director's cut" of the 1993 family film Free Willy that features Jesse being crushed by the titular whale. Homer is saddened by this, and says, "Oh, I don't like this new director's cut!" Homer rooms with Skinner at the hotel, and in a reference to the television series The Odd Couple, Skinner picks up a cigar butt from the floor with his umbrella while cleaning the room, just as Tony Randall does in the opening credits of that series.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, praised the episode for containing "a memorable guest character in the French waiter Monsieur Lacosse, two great slapstick sequences involving the same, and displays Principal Skinner — pursuing Bart across the mountains like 'a non-giving-up school guy', and confessing that in some ways he's "a small man; a petty, small man" — in particularly fine form."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought Freddy Quimby "may well be the most unpleasant character to grace the series — in an amusing way, though Freddy’s edginess makes him less amusing than his uncle. It’s rather startling to see Skinner so rapidly resume his dislike of Bart after the last episode, though. It’s fun to see his superhuman powers in the pursuit of Bart, and the mystery aspects of the show help make it a very good one. Add to that Homer on jury duty for even more entertainment."
Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A for its "excellent bits thrown together to make this one, joke for joke, one of the season's funniest".
In 2007, Patrick Enright of Today.com called it his tenth favorite episode of the show. He said it was a perfect example of the show's "hilarious randomness" because of jokes such as Homer singing the Meow Mix cat food jingle, and the scene in which Homer discovers that if the jury’s deadlocked, they will be sequestered in a luxury hotel. Homer justifies his decision to be the lone dissenting voice by saying, "I’m only doing what I think is right. I believe Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel (when he should have said a 'free man')."
Entertainment.ie named it among the 10 greatest Simpsons episodes of all time.
### Ratings
In its original broadcast, "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" finished fiftieth in the ratings for the week of May 2–8, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 10.1, equivalent to approximately 9.5 million viewing households. It was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Married... with Children, Living Single, Melrose Place and Beverly Hills, 90210. |
30,034,267 | Themes in Minority Report | 1,169,872,766 | Academic analyses of Minority Report | [
"2000s American films",
"2000s political films",
"2002 science fiction films",
"Films about technology",
"Genetic engineering in fiction",
"Minority Report (film)",
"Science fiction studies",
"Themes in works of fiction"
]
| The plot of the 2002 science fiction neo-noir film Minority Report, based on the 1956 short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick, includes a number of themes. The film's plot centers around a trio of psychics called "precogs", who see future images called "previsions" of crimes yet to be committed. These images are processed by "Precrime", a specialized police department, which apprehends the criminals based on the precogs' foreknowledge. The cast includes Tom Cruise as Precrime officer John Anderton, Colin Farrell as Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer, Samantha Morton as the senior precog Agatha, and Max von Sydow as Anderton's superior Lamar Burgess. The film is a combination of whodunit, thriller, and science fiction.
Spielberg has characterized the movie's story as "fifty percent character and fifty percent very complicated storytelling with layers and layers of murder mystery and plot." The film's central theme is the question of free will vs. determinism. It examines whether free will can exist if the future is set and known in advance. It also concerns itself with the role of preventative government in protecting its citizenry, which was apt at the time of the picture's release given America's debates over the government's expanding powers after 9/11.
Minority Report presents a future of increasing electronic surveillance, personalized advertising, and it analyzes the role of media in a future state where electronic advancements make its presence nearly boundless, the potential legality of an infallible prosecutor, and Spielberg's repeated theme of the broken family. Spielberg's analysis of the familial aspect was motivated by his own parent's divorce when he was a child.
## Free will vs. determinism
The main theme of Minority Report is the classic philosophical debate of free will vs. determinism. One of the main questions the film raises is whether the future is set or whether free will can alter the future. As critic C. A. Wolski commented, "At the outset, Minority Report... promises to mine some deep subject matter, to do with: do we possess free will or are we predestined to our fate?" However, there is also the added question of whether the precogs' visions are correct. As reviewer James Berardinelli asked, "is the Precogs' vision accurate, or has it in some way been tampered with? Perhaps Anderton isn't actually going to kill, but has been set up by a clever and knowledgeable criminal who wants him out of the way." The precog Agatha also states that since Anderton knows his future, he can change it. However, the film also indicates that Anderton's knowledge of the future may actually be the factor that causes Leo Crow's death. Berardinelli describes this as the main paradox regarding free will vs. determinism in the film, "[h]ere's the biggest one of all: Is it possible that the act of accusing someone of a murder could begin a chain of events that leads to the slaying. In Anderton's situation, he runs because he is accused. The only reason he ends up in circumstances where he might be forced to kill is because he is a hunted man. Take away the accusation, and there would be no question of him committing a criminal act. The prediction drives the act – a self-fulfilling prophecy. You can see the vicious circle, and it's delicious (if a little maddening) to ponder." Film scholar Dean A. Kowalski argues that in this scenario free will still exists, as the perpetrators control their actions, and the precogs' visions are but the facts that resulted from their choices.
The central theme of the movie is discussed in the film's fourth scene. Witwer discusses the PreCrime system with the division's staff. He believes that its main "legalistic drawback" is that it "arrests individuals who have broken no laws." Jad responds, "But they will!" When Anderton later arrives upon this discussion, he acknowledges the paradox Witwer raises; that the precogs' prevent an event accepted as fact, but one which will never happen. To show him that people regularly use predetermination, Anderton picks up a wooden ball and rolls it toward Witwer, who catches it before it lands on the ground. When asked why he caught the ball, Witwer says "Because it was going to fall." Anderton replies, "But it didn't." Then confidently tells him, "The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen." Kowalski feels this example is faulty in the sense that the ball has no free will; it merely acts according to the laws of physics, but he acknowledges that if an individual were to have freely chosen to commit murder, then it would hold. Film scholar Stephen Mulhall points out that unlike the laws of physics which have a series of scientifically testable causal laws, Anderton merely has the visions of the precogs', whose psychic abilities are not fully explained by science.
Another quandary is that if the precogs' visions are infallible then the future cannot be otherwise, while if they are incorrect people will be punished for crimes they will never commit. Kowalski contends that the precogs only attain knowledge of what he calls the "conditional future". He cites as evidence two examples: the scene where Agatha steers Anderton through the mall by foreseeing dangerous events and helping him circumnavigate them, and a later scene where she tells Anderton and his ex-wife what would have happened to their child if he had lived. In the first example, Agatha knows what Anderton will freely choose to do when presented with specific facts so she provides them to him, and, in the second, she knows what will have happened to the Anderton's son based on specific scenarios throughout his life, in which she can see what he would have freely chosen to do, and what selections various people in his life would have freely made. According to Kowalski, the PreCrime unit therefore removes individuals from precise situations where they would freely choose to become a murderer.
Philosophy professor Michael Huemer says "that the only way the otherwise predetermined future seen by the precogs can be averted, we are led to believe, is by the influence of the precogs themselves." He argues that their "knowledge of their would-be future" enables them to make changes to prevent its occurrence. This means that Howard Marks, the arrested potential killer from the film's opening scene, is destined to his fate and no action he could undertake would change it. Individuals with minority reports however, have a chance to change their futures according to Huemer, and since there was no minority report (i.e.; no possible alternative fate) for Anderton, he could only change his future by having access to the precogs' visions. Huemer compares the humans situation to that of a robot; since a robot controls itself, but has a set number of programmed actions, its fate falls within those actions. It lacks free will in the sense that it cannot choose any action outside of its programming, even if one may exist. He also considers a decaying atom which has a 50% chance of survival within the next hour, since the atom has no actions which it can undertake to change those odds, its fate is pure chance. Thus he believes a person needs a set of options, the knowledge of those options, and the ability to choose between them to have free will.
## Political and legal
Spielberg said that the arrest of criminals before they have a chance to commit their crimes in the movie had some real-world background in post-9/11 America, saying that "[w]e're giving up some of our freedom so that the government can protect us." The future world in Minority Report of retinal scans, robotic human inspectors, and intrusive, individualized, public advertising arrived in American theaters as the country was debating how much governmental intrusion into personal matters was necessary to ensure safety of its citizens. Spielberg said he would be against a PreCrime system if it were ever possible, as he believes that if it did exist, those in control of it would undoubtedly abuse its powers. Kowalski questions what the benevolent precogs in the film could become in the hands of those who trained their skills for political intrigue. Science fiction scholar Gary Westfahl asserts that in a political context, PreCrime may be seen "a metaphor for racial profiling, and one could view the liberation of the precogs as the end of a form of slavery."
Kowalski feels the isolation of the precogs ensures that they see their visions merely as facts, and removes them from having to justify them. The precogs' ignorance of the results of their visions prevents them from knowing the effectiveness of the program. He feels the PreCrime officers are thus more qualified to evaluate their efficacy "than the precogs themselves." In the December 2003 edition of the academic journal Film Criticism, scholar Mark Garrett Cooper moved past that point by asserting that not only have the precogs "yet to fully understand" their visions, but that the process by which the images are interpreted makes it so that no one individual could understand them without the use of the apparatus. The machinery is so effective and precise according to Cooper however, that the "omnipresent system effectively makes capture more certain than the crime." When the system targets Cruise, instead of fleeing, he remains in the vicinity in the belief that the system will, in its inexorable logic, correct itself. The apparatus is considered so infallible according to Cooper that Cruise knows once he is cleared by it, his life can immediately return to normal. In this respect, Cooper feels that "far from indicting a security state, the film legitimates one." Gareth Higgins argues that "[t]he government is playing God, using an all-seeing eye to prevent murder."
The film presents a legal system where the PreCrime office gathers the images from the minds of the precogs then organizes them into a coherent order for display in front of a set of judges. The judges appear via video feeds, analyze the images, and according to Cooper, they view the images, listen to Anderton rattle off "a string of legalistic verbiage", then give it a "pro forma ratification." Thus the accused is never present, is not allowed a defense, and is convicted before he is aware he is on trial. The program is marketed in a similar basic fashion, as in its tag line: "It works." Cooper says that in a typical American courtroom drama, the audience is treated as if it were the jury, but in this system, instead of desiring the hero be proven innocent, the audience seeks instead to have the guilt transferred from Anderton to Burgess. But to do so, Anderton has to disprove the system, which he does by proving the existence of the minority report. This renders the PreCrime justice system inoperable, as if there is doubt related not merely to the gathering of the images, or their ability to be interpreted, but their ability to be correct even in perfect circumstances, then the system of infallible guilt can not exist.
## Media
Spielberg conceived of the idea of a future world permeated with intrusive capitalism and government surveillance after everyone at the "think tank summit" told him that "the right of privacy is a diminishing commodity" which will soon be thrown "right out the window." According to film critic J. Hoberman, Minority Report "visualizes (as well as demonstrates) a future where the unconscious has been thoroughly colonized." When the movie first appeared in theaters a common source of reviewers' complaints was the film's product placement, which they found intrusive. Film scholar Martin Hall says that the purpose of the advertisements Anderton runs into are "encouraging him to buy certain products and, by extension, affirm his place in society." The personalized advertising is disconcerting partly because of the invasion of privacy, but also, argues Cooper, because it is cold, impersonalized, and insincere.
Cooper discusses how he feels Minority Report emphasizes the future importance over the control of imagery. According to him, the images captured from the precogs' visions in the film bestow power on those who control their processing. He says the film warns viewers that those who control images must be carefully overseen so as to prevent the abuse of power, and that the film presents "governance as a problem of image arrangement." The film also presents a future world where government probes use advanced media technology to monitor its citizenry. Cooper says the quandary arises when the film intimates that there were will be no way to escape the media industry's omnipotence in the future, while at the same time defending "the need for image manipulating institutions." He feels that this logically raises another issue in that the same concern could be leveled towards image-makers such as DreamWorks, and he says the "film's virtue lies in provoking this question." He notes that the film's tranquil ending concludes with the Andertons looking out into a peaceful exterior with only rain visible, and the precogs reading in their isolated, idyllic farm, and both families apparently free of electronic surveillance.
## Self-perception
Writing in the academic journal Rhizomes, scholar Martin Hall, while analyzing the film, discusses the self-perception an individual develops based on the views of those outside of themselves. The academician notes that when a child first comprehends the function of a mirror, they begin to develop the understanding that their perception of themselves is not self-contained, and learn partly they are what they see in the mirror. He contrasts this to when Anderton discovers the precogs' vision of his future self. At the beginning of the film, Anderton shows little concern for the precogs; when Witwer feels pity for them, he responds: "It's better if you don't think of them as human." Shortly thereafter, however, Anderton is shown in tears at his home, high on the hard drug neuroin while mourning the loss of his son. Agatha enters a similar period of self-examination when she has visions of her mother's death, and is informed they are merely "echoes" i.e. a faulty image in her memory. Anderton becomes flustered when he begins to interpret the images which show him about to commit murder and begins to frantically sort through, According to Hall he begins "searching for whatever possible versions of this representation are available to him, other than the one that represents him as a murderer." Hall says that he is sorting through the images so feverishly, as he is convinced once they are sorted properly and understood, they will not show him to be the murderer, because he is convinced that he is not a murderer. He literally becomes obsessed with himself, seeking to resolve these images with put him at "discordance with his own reality." Previously, at peace with himself, Hall says Anderton cannot accept the image he sees in the precogs' visions. Unable to reconcile the two, Hall says that he is forced to decide that "it is likely that errors have occurred" in the PreCrime system.
When he escapes the building and enters the mall, Hall feels he is disturbed by advertisements calling to him by name not only because they will give away his presence, but also because they remind him of his lost place in society, and he begins "to see through the false consciousness his (illusory) previous position as fixed subject had allowed him." Spielberg said that Anderton is being punished for his previous callous unconcern for anything but the effectiveness of the PreCrime program. "He's dirtied by the fact that he doesn't spend much time thinking about the moral consequences. It's just like a sporting event almost — and then suddenly that whole sporting event makes him the soccer ball." His doubts about his own future lead him to examine his previous life to better understand himself according to Hall. He runs through his role in the PreCrime system, and his son's disappearance "to reconstruct his past." After Leo Crow in fact kills himself, Anderton becomes healed, and later has "recreated himself as the subject he was previously through the knowledge that he is not a killer." Although he has satisfactorily repaired his self-image, Anderton is not the same person, as he not longer believes in the PreCrime system. Hall says that Burgess' final dilemma; namely, his desire to keep PreCrime running, his inability to bring himself to kill Anderton, and his desire to live, drives him to see his only suitable action to be suicide. "Burgess has been left truly alone by events," argues Hall. "His wife fainted when she saw the images of the murder and Anderton has been the cause of this rupture."
## Broken family
> I still carry my childhood along with me. I'm old enough now to compartmentalise it—so I consciously try not to go too far back into my childhood, but the subconscious part of me still creates traces of it in Minority Report.
>
> Tom Cruise has suffered a tragic personal loss—he has lost his child and his wife has left him. It still reminds me of the divorce of my parents. As much as I try to get away from it I still can't avoid it.
Minority Report also continues Spielberg's tradition of depicting broken families. In Dick's short story, Anderton is a childless, married man whose main motives are self-preservation and preventing the disassembly of the PreCrime division. While he is also trying to save himself in the movie, his greater concern is uncovering the story behind his son's disappearance. Spielberg would later transform his next science fiction film, War of the Worlds, from a story about a single man to one about a divorced father concerned with protecting his children. Buckland notes that the two tragic parent-child relationships in the picture (Agatha and Ann Lively, John and Sean Anderton) have a common element. The movie has four shots of them submerged in water. Agatha's face is shown in a close up shot, taken from directly above her, when she is submerged in her photon milk, nutrient bath. When photos of her mother's submerged corpse are shown to her, the emphasized photograph is a similar image of her face taken from directly above. Anderton and his son are shown together in a pool flashback scene in which they have a contest to see who can hold their breath longest. John is underwater when his son is taken, and later in the apartment he is shown lying motionless, immersed in a filled bathtub, in a manner Buckland finds similar to the shots of Agatha and Ann. Buckland notes that co-screenwriter Frank introduced the water theme, as he wrote Agatha and her mother's back stories while adding the bathtub scene. |
1,105,036 | Louis Nolan | 1,173,601,776 | British Army officer | [
"15th The King's Hussars officers",
"1818 births",
"1854 deaths",
"19th-century Austrian military personnel",
"British Army personnel of the Crimean War",
"British military personnel killed in the Crimean War",
"British military writers"
]
| Lewis Edward Nolan, known to his family as Louis Nolan and in Austrian service as Ludwig Nolan (4 January 1818 – 25 October 1854) was a British Army officer and cavalry tactician best known for his role and death in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. Born to a infantry officer and minor official and his wife, Nolan was educated at the Austrian Inhaber Pioneer School at Tulln, where he was noted as an enthusiastic horseman and military theorist. After early graduation he was commissioned as a subaltern in the 10th Austrian Hussar regiment, serving in Austria, Hungary and on the Polish frontier, where he again became known for his horsemanship and was promoted to senior lieutenant. Due to the nepotism in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, Nolan transferred to the British Army as a cornet in the 15th Light Dragoons.
Deployed in India, Nolan was eventually made the regimental riding master and an aide-de-camp to General George Berkeley, commander-in-chief in Madras, accompanying him on horse trials to evaluate the use of geldings as cavalry mounts rather than stallions, and was made a captain in 1850. Returning to Great Britain in 1851, he toured continental Europe and wrote two books on horsemanship and cavalry theory, the second of which, Cavalry: Its History and Tactics, was universally acclaimed and led to the adoption of a Nolan-designed saddle by the British Army. A trusted voice on cavalry matters, Nolan was dispatched to the Middle East in the early days of the Crimean War to hunt for appropriate mounts. After returning he was attached to the staff of General Richard Airey, and in this role delivered the order that led to the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Forty per cent of the Light Brigade's soldiers were killed, wounded, captured or rendered unfit for service, including Nolan, who was the first casualty of the charge. Contemporary accounts blamed Nolan for failing to properly communicate the order, either accidentally or deliberately, while some modern historians apportion the blame not only to Nolan but also Lord Raglan, commander of the British forces in the Crimea, and the cavalry commander, Lord Lucan.
## Early life and education
Nolan was born on 4 January 1818 to Captain John Babington Nolan (1786–1850), of the 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot, and Elizabeth (née Hartley), in York County, Upper Canada. Following his father's dismissal from his minor consular post as vice-consul at the British consulate in Milan, Nolan was accepted into the Austrian Inhaber Pioneer School at Tulln, where he was known as Ludwig by his fellow cadets. The Nolans had a family tradition of military service; his grandfather Babington Nolan, whose family came from County Carlow, Ireland, had served in the 13th Light Dragoons. His father's desire to see him given a chance to enter a prestigious branch of the armed forces meant that Nolan was regularly transferred to other cadet schools to learn more about the military. Enthusiastic about the cavalry, he was noted as an excellent horseman and student of military theory, as well as history. With the multi-lingual nature of Austria-Hungary, he also studied languages, including Hungarian. Other subjects studied there included fortification, water engineering, mathematics, fencing, swimming and bridge-building. Nolan graduated from the Pioneer School a year early in May 1835, probably following a recommendation from Prince Liechtenstein, and was made a subaltern in the 10th Austrian Hussar regiment.
Nolan served in Austria, Hungary and on the Polish frontier, and was again noted for his horsemanship and language skills. His confidential report from 1838 commended his "great zeal and application", and he was highly popular within the regiment, rising to become the senior lieutenant. Despite this, his status as a foreigner and a commoner limited his opportunities for promotion. Although promotions in the Austrian Army theoretically were merit-based, in practice favours and money were unofficially exchanged to secure them. Nolan's father attempted to get him a commission with the British Army, with little success until Nolan's return to the United Kingdom for the coronation of Queen Victoria in July 1838. While there, he secured an interview with Lord Fitzroy Somerset while his father negotiated with the Austrian General Clam-Gallas to permit Nolan to leave the Austrian armed forces. Eventually, following the payment of £450, Nolan was granted a commission as a Cornet in the 15th Light Dragoons of the British Army on 23 April 1839. His resignation from the Austrian army was never formally accepted, and he was struck off the rolls on 31 October 1899, 45 years after his death.
## 15th Light Dragoons
### India
Despite the negative associations with service there, Nolan had deliberately transferred to a regiment operating in India. He initially travelled to Maidstone, where the 15th maintained a troop to train new recruits, under the command of Captain George Key. He then caught a troopship to Bombay, the Malabar, which arrived on 9 November. Soon after arrival he fell ill and was granted two years of sick leave, starting from 26 March 1840, and returned to Britain. He returned to active service in June 1841, again to the Maidstone depot, and became a Lieutenant on the 19th. He went on leave again in August to take the riding master's course and exam, and returned on 8 March 1842, newly qualified.
His attachment to the Maidstone depot gave Nolan the opportunity to further study and practice cavalry theory; he met several other officers with a similar interest, including Captain Key, with whom he became close friends. By 1842 his time at Maidstone had ended, and he departed for India in October, arriving at Madras on 9 May 1843. The 15th Light Dragoons were stationed in Bangalore, a relatively peaceful area, and Nolan did not see action during his time there. He was appointed regimental riding master on 13 August 1844, in recognition of his expertise at horsemanship. In his spare time, Nolan raced his horse Arab Beauty. At the Bangalore Cantonment Races in October 1846, he placed second in two races, and won both the Galloway Stakes and Ladies' Purse. A year later he entered Sahagun, without success.
As regimental riding master he introduced substantial changes to the cavalry training programme, reintroducing the use of leaping bars, training individual soldiers before teaching formation riding to entire squads, and appointing a dedicated soldier in each troop who was trained to break in new horses. Over the next few years the regiment's standard of horsemanship rose, increasing Nolan's reputation. When the regiment was inspected by Major General John Aitchison, a man known for his high standards, he wrote that:
> Nolan's system of training horses and teaching riding is worthy of being more generally known. The seat of the men is more uniform and the hand light and firm, and as the hand and heel work together the horses in the ranks are steady to a degree I did not expect to see on a regiment mounted on entire horses.
Nolan then became a staff officer, joining the staff of General George Berkeley, commander-in-chief in Madras, as an aide-de-camp in January 1849. He quickly became close friends with Berkeley's two sons, Charles and George, who were also enthusiastic about horse-racing. In 1850 Nolan accompanied Berkeley on a tour of the region, conducting horse trials to evaluate the use of geldings as cavalry mounts rather than stallions, and was also promoted, purchasing a Captaincy on 8 March. Despite these successes, Nolan recognised that his prospects were far more limited in India than in England, and he could not afford the increased costs of serving in the colonies. At the same time, service in India was not taken seriously by many of the officers in high command, and would not be sufficient on its own to advance him. Accordingly, he obtained two years sick leave on 16 January 1851 and returned to England, intending to tour Europe and write a book on cavalry theory.
### Grand tour and cavalry theory
After a brief period in England, Nolan and Colonel George Key toured the continent, visiting countries including France, Russia, Sweden and the German states. The Swedish Horse Guards under Curt von Stedingk left a particular impression, with Nolan later writing that they were "one of the best regiments of foreign cavalry I have ever seen", and he was also impressed by François Baucher, initially considering simply translating Baucher's Méthode d'équitation into English. In Russia, he attended a military review of Cossack and Circassian cavalry, and passing through Germany, observed the Saxon dragoons. Eventually, following his return to Maidstone in October 1852 (and promotion to commander of the regiment's troop there), he published his first book, The Training of Cavalry Remount Horses: A New System, through Parker, Furnivall & Parker. Dedicated to Berkeley, the book was highly specialised and intended for practical use, aimed specifically at cavalry officers rather than equestrians generally.
The reaction to the book was limited, partly because of its specialised nature. His second book, Cavalry: Its History and Tactics, covered cavalry theory more widely and made a series of recommendations, including the use of carbines on foot rather than from the saddle, and substantial improvements to the cavalry saddle itself. The existing saddle, in use since 1796, was considered too high, restricting the use of a rider's lower legs, leading to instability. Accordingly, he designed a new saddle, with the assistance of the saddler sergeant at Maidstone depot, which focused on reducing rubbing against the horse, improved comfort and weighed less than the existing design. The resulting saddle was tested in April 1853, with attendance by the Duke of Cambridge, inspector general of cavalry. The reaction was positive, and the army commissioned it as a new model for the cavalry, known as the Universal Wood Arch Pattern design, but informally referred to as "Nolan's saddle".
Cavalry: Its History and Tactics received a much warmer reception than Training, with the Illustrated London News praising his knowledge and enthusiasm while recommending it for civilians as well as the military. Another review in The Times was also approving. Over the next few decades it continued to be well received, and was seen as "an important, even ground-breaking, work". The book gave him substantial prominence, both in Britain and the United States. It was also discussed in India, where it was praised as "the manual for a cavalry officer who would understand his profession and reflect honour upon it". A copy was sent to Bonneau du Martray of the French Imperial Staff by Major-General Wetherall of the British staff; Du Martray, having read the book, translated the entire work as Histoire et Tactique de la Cavalerie.
## Crimean War
### Remount mission
With the Crimean War fast approaching, the British Army needed some way of obtaining cavalry horses in Turkey. One method was simply to ship horses from Britain, but this was time-consuming and expensive, and would result in a large number dying. Alternatively, horses could be bought in the Middle East, if suitable ones could be identified. The Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for War, needed an experienced cavalry officer to undertake such a search. With Nolan's new-found reputation he was a logical choice, and Newcastle had him struck off from the 15th Hussars and made aide-de-camp to General Richard Airey, backdated to 17 March 1854. Issued with a "special service" passport, he departed to Constantinople, meeting the steamship Thabor at Marseilles.
After arriving in Turkey he met with Skene, the British Vice-Consul, who had him introduced to Omar Pasha and invited to view the Turkish regiments. Nolan was not particularly impressed by them, judging the irregulars incapable of withstanding a Russian cavalry charge and finding the horses too small. He ordered 250 of them anyway, finding them appropriate for the British artillery if not for the cavalry. His report to Somerset (now Baron Raglan, and commander of the British forces in Turkey) included a proposal for a trip to Syria, where he claimed the horses were more appropriate. This proposal was eventually agreed to, and he went to İskenderun on 9 May. When they arrived they discovered that Turkish officials had already bought most of the army horses in northern Syria, and so they continued on to Beirut and then Damascus. Even there, they failed to find horses of sufficient quality, and so they left the city on 21 May in hopes of making contact with the Bedouin. They left with a train of 292 horses, mostly bought from the 'Anizzah, and were met at Beirut by the steamship Trent and transported back to Turkey.
### Staff officer
Nolan returned to the British forces to join the Light Division at Devna as aide-de-camp to Airey. The Royal Navy had control over the Black Sea, and with a Russian treaty with Turkey and Austria, the enemy forces were withdrawing from Eastern Europe. Despite this favourable outcome, the British government wished to negotiate with the Russians from a strong position. The decision was taken to invade the Crimea itself, with the objective of destroying or capturing the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. Raglan personally considered this unrealistic – British forces knew little about the region, the port's defences, or the strength of the Russian military, with estimates of troop numbers varying between 45,000 and 140,000. It was also quite a distance away, causing logistical difficulties.
With the Crimea identified as the target, Nolan and his fellow staff officers had to plan the assault, which eventually included 30,000 infantry, 1,240 cavalry and 54 guns, along with 24,000 French soldiers and 70 of their guns. The cavalry alone required 3,379 horses, and with such a small number of ships available the Heavy Brigade would be part of a second wave – until it arrived, the Light Brigade would be relied on as the sole unit of cavalry. The force departed for the Crimea on 2 September 1854, and began landing at Kalamita Bay, 35 miles north of Sevastopol itself. Airey (now Quartermaster-General) had the light cavalry engage in reconnaissance and screening while the rest of the force moved off the transports, and they were fully ashore by the 18th. On the 19th, they began marching to Sevastopol – still without the Heavy Brigade.
The force reached the Bulganak River that day, where skirmishers found a force of Cossacks and Russian infantry, with a light battery of artillery. The infantry and artillery had been hidden in a dip in the terrain while the British formed up, and their placement put the British cavalry in heavy danger. Raglan decided to withdraw, and sent a troop forward to cover the retreat; this body's confidence deceived the Russians into thinking that there was a larger British force than there was, and they failed to pursue the retreating cavalry. A day later, the British force, together with the French under General St Arnaud, defeated the Russians at the Battle of Alma. Nolan spent the battle as a liaison due to his fluent French, and was often galloping between the two allied armies. They resumed marching on 26 September and entered the plains of Balaclava, near Sevastopol.
### Balaclava
The British camp in Balaclava was on a plateau, with two approaches – the South and North valleys – and a small hill, known as the Causeway Heights, between them. At Balaclava, the force waited for supplies while the allied ships bombarded the forts surrounding Sevastopol, starting on 17 October. The forts proved to be particularly strong, but some damage was caused and Admiral Kornilov killed. From then on, time and time again, the allied navy would bombard the forts, causing damage, which the Russians would then repair each night. While the allied armies waited to strengthen their positions and increase their resources, Prince Menshikov, commander of the Russian forces, had a desire to provide a victory to the Tsar following his defeat at Alma. He formed a plan to cut the British Army off from the harbour at Balaclava, with a secondary objective of capturing the harbour itself. The Russian forces assembled on 24 October, and attacked at around 7am on the 25th. General Gribbe covered the Russian left flank, with Semiakin, Levoutsky and Scudery on his right: General Ryzhov waited behind them, prepared to support any individual force that came under trouble. The Turkish forces in the first redoubts were quickly overwhelmed and forced to flee.
At 8am Raglan ordered the Heavy and Light cavalry brigades, under Lord Lucan, to move into line with the second set of Turkish-occupied redoubts. The order confused and infuriated Lucan – there was only one set of redoubts that had been occupied by the Turks, and it was now abandoned. Doing so also meant leaving the Turks and 550 British infantry to meet the Russian charge alone, without any cavalry support. Despite Raglan's "lackadaisical wording", Lucan interpreted the order (correctly) to require him to place the Light Brigade at the mouth of the North Valley to Balaclava, a position that left the cavalry dangerously exposed: because of the terrain, they would not be able to see advancing Russian troops until they were less than 50 feet away. As Raglan watched the cavalry form up at the mouth of the North Valley, 30 minutes after giving the order, he changed his mind and had them returned to their original position.
At the same time, Raglan wished to reinforce the Turks and British infantry, and ordered Lucan to detach four of the five Heavy Brigade cavalry regiments and send them to the defensive line. This further angered Lucan, since splitting the force in half merely reduced the cavalry's overall effectiveness, but he again complied. The result was that the first fork of the Russian cavalry attack encountered The Thin Red Line and were driven off, while the second fork, crossing the heights above the plain, encountered four regiments of the Heavy Brigade. The Russians – with between 1,500 and 2,000 men – were initially surprised to see the 800 British cavalry approaching, allowing Scarlett, the commander of the Heavy Brigades, to charge the Russians uphill. By this point Lucan had left Lord Cardigan in charge of the Light Brigade and raced over to the Heavies, later claiming that his duty trumpeter had ordered the British charge, which eventually forced the Russians to flee.
### The Light Brigade
When Lucan left the Light Brigade idling on the plateau, he instructed Cardigan to defend the position against attack. Cardigan interpreted this to mean that he should not leave the plateau, and the Brigade remained mostly immobile while the Heavy Brigade engaged the Russian cavalry (over the objection of some of the Light Brigade's officers). This prevented the British cavalry from adequately pursuing the Russians, and no attacks were mounted down the North Valley through which they had retreated. Due to the failure of their attack, the Russians chose not to advance further, leading to Raglan deciding to attempt to retake the captured Turkish fortifications using the Light and Heavy brigades with two divisions of infantry. Although the 1st Division advanced swiftly, the 4th Division was deliberately slow, making Raglan increasingly impatient. He dispatched an aide to Lucan ordering that "Cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. They will be supported by the infantry which have been ordered to advance on two fronts". Lucan interpreted this to mean he should await the infantry support before attacking.
About 40 minutes later, with the infantry still having not arrived, Raglan's staff officers spotted Russian artillery teams approaching the fortifications with equipment to remove captured guns. To avoid the guns being taken, Raglan dispatched Nolan to carry a message to Lucan that read:
> Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop of horse-artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate.
As Nolan rode towards Lucan's position, Raglan shouted that he should "Tell Lord Lucan the cavalry is to attack immediately"; his fourth order. The Russian forces included the Don Cossack field artillery battery, containing between eight and twelve guns, drawn up at the bottom of the North Valley, with regiments of cavalry waiting behind it. Nolan carried the message to Lucan; when Lucan asked what guns were referred to, Nolan is said to have indicated, by a wide sweep of his arm, not the Causeway redoubts but the Don Cossack battery in the North Valley, around a mile away. After a brief debate, Lucan ordered the Light Brigade forward. Cardigan claimed that Lucan had ordered him to attack without quarter given, despite him pointing out the Russian artillery; Lucan, on the other hand, claimed he told Cardigan to retire from battle "if no opportunity to take his objective presented itself".
Regardless, the Brigade drew swords and was ordered by Cardigan to advance down the valley. Nolan had explicitly asked to join the Brigade for the fight, and was allowed to.
#### The Charge
The Light Brigade set off down the valley with Cardigan out in front, riding Ronald, leading the charge. Almost at once Nolan was seen to rush across the front, passing in front of Cardigan. It may be that he then realised the charge was aimed at the wrong target, and was attempting to stop or turn the brigade, but the Russian guns opened fire, and an artillery shell splinter mortally wounded Nolan in the chest. As the cavalry continued on its course, Nolan's horse carried him back almost to the Brigade's starting point before he finally fell from the saddle, dead. Captain Godfrey Morgan (subsequently 1st Viscount Tredegar), who was close by and saw what happened, later recounted:
> The first shell burst in the air about 100 yards in front of us. The next one dropped in front of Nolan's horse and exploded on touching the ground. He uttered a wild yell as his horse turned round, and, with his arms extended, the reins dropped on the animal's neck, he trotted towards us, but in a few yards dropped dead off his horse. I do not imagine that anybody except those in the front line of the 17th Lancers (13th Light Dragoons) saw what had happened.
>
> We went on. When we got about two or three hundred yards the battery of the Russian Horse Artillery opened fire. I do not recollect hearing a word from anybody as we gradually broke from a trot to a canter, though the noise of the striking of men and horses by grape and round shot was deafening, while the dust and gravel struck up by the round shot that fell short was almost blinding, and irritated my horse so that I could scarcely hold him at all. But as we came nearer I could see plainly enough, especially when I was about a hundred yards from the guns. I appeared to be riding straight on to the muzzle of one of the guns, and I distinctly saw the gunner apply his fuse. I shut my eyes then, for I thought that settled the question as far as I was concerned. But the shot just missed me and struck the man on my right full in the chest.
>
> In another minute I was on the gun and the leading Russian's grey horse, shot, I suppose, with a pistol by somebody on my right, fell across my horse, dragging it over with him and pinning me in between the gun and himself. A Russian gunner on foot at once covered me with his carbine. He was just within reach of my sword, and I struck him across his neck. The blow did not do much harm, but it disconcerted his aim. At the same time a mounted gunner struck my horse on the forehead with his sabre. Spurring "Sir Briggs," he half jumped, half blundered, over the fallen horses, and then for a short time bolted with me. I only remember finding myself alone among the Russians trying to get out as best I could. This, by some chance, I did, in spite of the attempts of the Russians to cut me down.
Russian artillery continued to fire on the Light Brigade. As Lucan advanced after them with the Heavy Brigade, he saw the Light Brigade being overwhelmed by the Russian artillery and ordered the Heavies back, saying that "They have sacrificed the Light Brigade; they shall not the Heavy, if I can help it". Lucan's subsequent explanation was that he saw no point in having a second brigade mown down, and he was best positioned where he was to render assistance to Light Brigade survivors returning from the charge. The French light cavalry, the Chasseurs d'Afrique, was more effective in that it cleared the Fedyukhin Heights of the two half batteries of guns, two infantry battalions, and Cossacks to ensure the Light Brigade would not be hit by fire from that flank, and it later provided cover for the remaining elements of the Light Brigade as they withdrew.
The remainder of the Light Brigade eventually reached the Russian artillery, wreaking havoc on the fleeing gunners, before pursuing the Russian cavalry behind the artillery down the remainder of the valley. Despite being outnumbered five to one, the British cavalry who pursued the Russians managed to disrupt the enemy for some time before being killed or captured. Of the cavalry who had stayed with the abandoned artillery guns, 60 or 70 were collected by George Paget, who retired back to the British lines despite Russian cavalry harrying them. The result was 110 dead, 130 wounded, and 58 missing or captured – 40 per cent losses in an action that lasted 20 minutes.
Despite the heavy losses amongst the men he led, Lord Cardigan survived the battle. Although stories circulated afterwards that he was not actually present, he led the charge from the front and, never looking back, did not see what was happening to the troops behind him. He reached the Russian guns, took part in the fight, and then returned alone up the valley without bothering to rally or even find out what had happened to the survivors. He afterwards said all he could think about was his rage against Nolan, who he thought had tried to take over the leadership of the charge from him. After riding back up the valley, he considered he had done all that he could and then, with considerable sang-froid, left the field and went on board his yacht in Balaclava harbour, where he ate a champagne dinner.
In December 2016, it was reported that a letter was found in the British Library, written by Lieutenant Frederick Maxse, who was on Lord Raglan's staff at Balaclava, stating that Lord Raglan had sent an order for the Light Brigade to "follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy from carrying away the guns"; those guns were some British artillery guns which were at risk. Raglan having sent Nolan to give the order, Nolan, instead of passing on the order verbatim complete as given, passed it on to Lord Lucan orally as "There, my lord, is your enemy! There are your guns!", and added the word "attack", when Raglan had intended merely a show of force. Nolan's version of the order and accompanying gesture were misunderstood, causing the disaster. Maxse's letter said that Nolan was annoyed at how little the Light Brigade had done previously, and that Nolan was angry against Lord Lucan. Nigel Kingscote (another of Raglan's staff officers) agreed that the fault was Nolan's, and said that Nolan, if he had lived, would have been "broke by court martial".
## Legacy
At the time of his death, Nolan was the last male member of his family. His cousins, the Neylans, adopted his surname and have carried his name on since then in the form of Nolan-Neylan. Some friends had a plaque erected in his memory at Holy Trinity Church in Maidstone, although his body remained in the Crimea. Most of his possessions were given to Colonel Key, including the copyright on Cavalry: Its History and Tactics, his house in London and his interests in the Adelphi Estate in Tobago.
The Charge itself and the tragedy that resulted was blamed on both Lucan and Nolan by William Howard Russell – Nolan, for misunderstanding the order and issuing a confusing message, and Lucan, for not properly keeping an eye on the terrain. Raglan himself primarily blamed Lucan, who was infuriated by this and wrote a letter to Horse Guards disputing Raglan's claim. This was too much for Viscount Hardinge, the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, who had Lucan resign his command and return to Britain. With Hardinge unwilling to give him a court martial, Lucan wrote a pamphlet titled A Vindication of the Earl of Lucan from Lord Raglan's Reflections and a series of letters to The Times that revealed Raglan's order to have been highly ambiguous and "not the kind of dispatch required by an officer on the battlefield". At the same time, Nolan's method of delivery had been imperious, and he had insisted the urgency of the attack – something clear in Raglan's verbal order to him, but not in the written order. Public opinion became divided; people both attacked Nolan and rallied to his defence. The major newspapers, at least, maintained that with Nolan's status as a mere messenger it was inconceivable that he alone could have destroyed the Light Brigade without failings by Lucan. Lord Cardigan defended Nolan by saying the Captain "did not have the least idea of the mistake which was about to be perpetrated." Within the Crimea, however, the majority "roundly damned" Nolan. The Charge was soon overshadowed by other scandalous and bloody military failures such as the continued failure of the siege of Sevastopol.
Terry Brighton writes in Hell Riders that "in the 150 years since the charge historians have generally agreed that the blunder was indeed Nolan's. Most argue that he misunderstood the order, and when asked by Lord Lucan what Raglan intended by it pointed towards the wrong enemy guns and sent the Light Brigade to its destruction. In recent years it has even been suggested that he deliberately misled Lucan about which guns were to be attacked". Brighton himself distributes the blame more widely, holding that Raglan, Lucan and Nolan were at fault, but that the vast majority of the blame lies with Lucan. David Buttery, in Messenger of Death, agrees that the blame was at least partially Lucan's for failing to conduct adequate reconnaissance.
Nolan was played by David Hemmings in the 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade. In the film Nolan is portrayed as a haughty, glory-hungry officer, but also a "symbol of youth, energy and professionalism ... desperate ... to reform the army". A more sympathetic, though still impetuous, portrayal of Nolan was created by George MacDonald Fraser in his picaresque novel of 1973, Flashman At The Charge. A totally fictitious "Major Geoffrey Vickers", standing in for Nolan but with utterly different motives in ordering the charge, was played by Errol Flynn in the 1936 film, The Charge of the Light Brigade. |
19,625,113 | Chris Turner (American football) | 1,166,695,043 | American football player (born 1987) | [
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]
| Christopher Evenson Turner (born September 8, 1987) is an American football quarterback. He played quarterback for the Maryland Terrapins at the University of Maryland from 2007 to 2009. Turner began his career at Maryland as a redshirt in 2005 and then served as a reserve quarterback before he earned the starting position.
After a redshirt season in 2005, Turner saw no playing time as the third-string quarterback the following year. In 2007, he replaced the injured starter during the game against 10th-ranked Rutgers and led the Terrapins to an upset victory. After that, he remained as the team's leader for the remainder of the season, and against eighth-ranked Boston College, engineered another upset victory. Turner also helped Maryland secure an appearance in the Emerald Bowl. At the start of the 2008 season, he was relegated to backup status, but soon regained the starting position. That year, he led Maryland in wins over four of their five ranked opponents and to an appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl. He returned as the starter for the 2009 season, but suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Jamarr Robinson.
## Early years
Turner was born in Simi Valley, California to parents John and Grace Turner. His father was the original drummer of the glam metal band Ratt. Chris Turner attended high school at the Chaminade College Preparatory School, where he was a three-year letterwinner and starting quarterback in football and pitcher in baseball. As a sophomore, he was on the junior varsity football team until midseason when the varsity quarterback suffered an injury against Valencia High School, a regional powerhouse. Turner described the incident as the last time that he was nervous during a game and said, "It got pretty ugly to be honest. Ever since then, I've always thought to myself, 'It can't get worse than that.'"
At Chaminade, he led a pass-oriented offense and, during his senior year, accumulated 139 completions on 265 attempts, 2,047 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He was named to the All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) second team as a senior and the All-Mission League team as both a junior and senior. SuperPrep picked him as a Far West all-region selection and PrepStar as an all-region selection. Turner was assessed as a Rivals.com three-star and Scout.com two-star recruit. He received scholarship offers from Boise State, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Oregon, Utah, and UTEP. Maryland offered him after another Californian recruit, Josh Portis, chose Florida instead—although Portis later transferred to Maryland and served as a backup alongside Turner. Turner ultimately chose Maryland, which is located just outside Washington, D.C., partly due to his interest in politics.
## College career
### Experience
Turner sat out his true freshman year during the 2005 season on redshirt status. In 2006, he served as the third-team quarterback behind starter Sam Hollenbach and reserve Jordan Steffy, but Turner saw no playing time during that season.
#### 2007 season
In 2007, as the second-string quarterback, he saw his first action against Villanova when he was substituted for injured starter Jordan Steffy. Turner executed a scoring drive and completed four of six passes, but also threw two interceptions. He sat out the next two games and then took one snap against Wake Forest. When the unranked Terps faced 10th-ranked Rutgers, Steffy suffered a concussion and Turner again filled in. He led drives for two touchdowns and two field goals in an upset of the Scarlet Knights, 34–24. About the then relatively unknown Turner, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said, "I wish I would have seen this guy before." Turner started for the remaining eight games of the season. In his career-first start, he passed for 255 yards in a win against Georgia Tech, 28–26. In the game, he threw a 78-yard touchdown pass, which was caught by tight end Jason Goode rather than his intended receiver, Darrius Heyward-Bey. After a three-game losing streak, Turner led another upset win over a top-ten team, this time against eighth-ranked Boston College, 42–35. In the 24–16 loss to Florida State, Turner had his worst performance of the season. Late in the second quarter, he was benched and replaced by Steffy for two possessions. Turner said, "I didn't know that my leash was that short in the first place, to be honest. I didn't think it would come to this. I guess I should have." After an uneven performance by Steffy, Turner played the entire second half and showed improvement. The following week Maryland played their regular season finale against NC State and both teams needed an additional win to attain bowl eligibility. Maryland led in the second quarter, 3–0, but was struggling offensively. Turner, a generally immobile pocket quarterback, invigorated the offense when he executed a 41-yard option run for a first down. He completed 19 of 24 passes for 206 yards and led a shutout of NC State, 37–0. With the sixth win, Maryland was invited to the Emerald Bowl, where they were beaten by Oregon State, 21–14. Turner finished the season as the third-most efficient passer in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
#### 2008 season
In 2008, Maryland hired a new offensive coordinator, James Franklin, who installed a West Coast offense. That season started with some controversy when head coach Ralph Friedgen initially selected senior Jordan Steffy as the starting quarterback. Turner considered returning home with a transfer to a Californian school, but ultimately decided against it. When Steffy was injured again in the season-opener against Delaware, Turner was awarded the starting job for the rest of the season. After Maryland defeated 21st-ranked Wake Forest, 26–0, Turner was voted the ACC Player of the Week and ESPN named him an "On the Mark" quarterback. Against 16th-ranked North Carolina, Turner's split-second decision to hold onto the ball for a nine-yard run on fourth down and five put the team within range for the game-winning field goal, 17–15. For that, he was nominated for the week's Pontiac Game Changing Performance. The win improved Maryland's record to 7–3 and reasserted control over their ACC championship destiny, although they lost the next game against Florida State, 37–3, which ended the Terrapins' title hopes. The following week against Boston College, Turner set career highs with 33 completions, 57 attempts, and 360 passing yards, but the effort fell short and Maryland lost, 28–21. In the postseason, the Terrapins played Nevada in the Humanitarian Bowl where Turner threw for 198 yards, one interception, two touchdowns including a 59-yard long, and a two-point conversion. At the end of the season, Maryland had beaten four out of their five Top 25-ranked opponents, a feat that was surpassed only by the teams in the BCS Championship Game: Florida and Oklahoma.
#### 2009 season
Fifth-year senior Turner entered the 2009 season as the uncontested starter at quarterback for the first time in his career. He was backed-up by sophomore Jamarr Robinson and true freshmen C. J. Brown and Danny O'Brien. Turner's seniority was called critical for the performance of the team's relatively youthful offensive line. Head coach Friedgen said, "If I had to choose between a veteran offensive line and an inexperienced quarterback, or an inexperienced line with a veteran quarterback, I think I'd go with the veteran quarterback." Upon the conclusion of preseason camp, the coaching staff praised his progress, particularly his game-planning, for which he had been criticized in the past. Turner said, "Mentally, I am way further ahead than where I was last year." Physically, he dropped 16 pounds by adding muscle and losing body fat, and weighed 220 pounds before the start of the season. Offensive coordinator Franklin said, "You look at him, he was kind of mushy last year. You look at him now and he's muscular and shaped. He looks more athletic."
Before the season, Turner was added to the watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, an annual honor bestowed upon the nation's top senior quarterback. At that time, he ranked as the school's fourth all-time quarterback in terms of completion percentage, fifth in completions, seventh in total offensive yards, and he is tied for 11th in number of touchdown passes. In June 2009, Turner stated that he wanted to leave a "legacy" at Maryland in his final season. He also expressed a desire to pursue a professional playing career in the National Football League (NFL) if possible. The NFL Draft Scout assessed Turner as the 16th-ranked quarterback out of the 135 available for the 2010 NFL Draft and projected him as a potential seventh-round selection.
### Playing style and personality
Prior to his senior year, Jeff Barker of The Baltimore Sun noted that Turner's strengths were "poise, smarts, [and] toughness," while he had room for improvement in arm strength and mobility. Barker said, "He's a bit streaky—he calls himself a 'rhythm' passer ... But he doesn't quit when things go poorly. His coolness can be mistaken for apathy." Turner typically confines himself to the pocket, as his ability to run the ball himself is limited by his speed. He has made light of his own lack of quickness by saying that he runs a "flat 5.0"-second 40-yard dash. The CBS Sports-affiliated NFL Draft Scout records his actual time as ranging from a low of 4.89 to a high of 5.16 seconds, while Scout.com reports his 40-yard time as 4.8 seconds. Turner's supposedly one-dimensional nature, however, has occasionally allowed him to make unexpected plays with his feet. The most noteworthy of these were the momentum-changing 41-yard option run against NC State in 2007, and the fourth-down nine-yard scramble into field goal range against North Carolina in 2008.
Pundits and coaches sometimes characterized Turner as a quarterback who did not excel during practices, but executed well on game-day. Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen said "He's pretty go-with-the-flow. And that's his greatest strength and maybe his greatest weakness. The bottom line is, he plays well in games." The Baltimore Sun wrote that he "seems to play his best when it counts—and his worst when it doesn't." Regarding the 2008 summer practices, offensive coordinator James Franklin said Turner ranked in the middle compared with Jordan Steffy and Josh Portis in terms of completion percentage, fewest interceptions, and "explosive" plays that gained 16 yards or more. Turner conceded that Steffy was a better game-planner during practices. Head coach Ralph Friedgen who had offered critical or subdued assessments of Turners' practice, said his intensity grew after losing the starting position to Steffy prior to the 2008 season. Turner said, "It lit a fire in me in the sense that I had to be ready."
Among his Maryland teammates and coaches, Turner earned a reputation as an archetypal "laid-back" Californian and for remaining calm under pressure. After the 2007 win over Rutgers, offensive tackle Scott Burley described his roommate Turner as "real calm [in the huddle] . . . He would say, 'Guys, are you ready to score again? Are you ready to run the ball on these guys?' And we're like, 'Yeah, let's do that.'" Turner received the nicknames "Sunshine" and "Napoleon Dynamite", in reference to his similar appearance to the fictional characters in the films Remember the Titans and Napoleon Dynamite, respectively.
## Personal life
Turner graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2009 with a bachelor's degree in government and politics. His strong interest in politics factored into his decision on where to attend college. He chose the University of Maryland partly based on its close proximity to Washington, D.C. Turner's political views are liberal; he is registered as a Democrat, and has described himself as an idealist.
During the 2008 season, political discussions were common in the Maryland locker room because of the presidential election. Turner and fellow quarterback Jordan Steffy, a conservative and supporter of presidential candidate Senator John McCain, were the most frequent debaters, while defensive tackle Dean Muhtadi was described as the primary instigator. During the summer of 2009, Turner held an internship on Capitol Hill working for Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader and Maryland's fifth district congressman. Turner had previously considered volunteering for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which he said probably annoyed his conservative father, John Turner. Describing his experience during the internship, Turner said, "It's funny to compare how serious politics is and how serious football is. Depending on who you talk to, they're both pretty big deals . . . There's more to life than football."
Turner's favorite sport, incidentally, is soccer, not football. He is also interested in foreign cultures and expressed regret at being unable to spend a semester abroad because of college football. Turner said that, dependent upon the outcome of his football career, he would like to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was able to attend that event and also got to meet his childhood idol David Beckham.
## Statistics |
72,151,918 | Butterfly Soup 2 | 1,167,978,359 | 2022 video game | [
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| Butterfly Soup 2 is a visual novel developed by Brianna Lei and published in October 2022 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is the sequel to the 2017 Butterfly Soup, and begins shortly after the conclusion of the first game. It has the player follow the perspectives of four LGBT Asian-American girls in Fremont, California, alternating between their first year of high school in 2009 and when they were young children. The coming-of-age story centers on the romance between Akarsha and her friend Noelle, their struggles with their parents' expectations and influence, and their experiences as second-generation immigrants.
Lei developed the game over the five years after the original, beginning with plotlines and elements that she had cut from the first game. She wanted to focus on a less straightforward relationship than in Butterfly Soup, as well as relate the characters to her personal experience as an LGBT, second-generation Asian-American. Critics praised the game's story and writing, especially for its exploration of its themes and nuanced characterization. It was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative award at the 2023 Independent Games Festival, and for the "Best LGBTQ Indie Game" of 2022 by Gayming Magazine.
## Gameplay
Butterfly Soup 2 is a visual novel, wherein the player advances through scenes with static two-dimensional images of characters. Its gameplay follows the same template as the original Butterfly Soup. The player's primary interaction with the game is selecting dialogue options and deciding the order of actions. The game is mostly linear, with the exception of scenes where the player can select the next location or object to engage with. Unlike many visual novels, Butterfly Soup 2 does not feature a branching narrative; the player's choices can impact the wording of individual scenes but do not change the overall story. The game's plot alternates its focus between four major protagonists, with the player taking the role of the four different viewpoint characters from a first-person perspective.
## Plot
The game is set in Fremont, California, in 2009. The plot of Butterfly Soup 2 starts a few months after the first game ended. It follows four LGBT Asian-American girls as they attend their first year of high school and bond as members of a baseball club. The four protagonists are the strong and shy Indian-American Diya, the short and aggressive Korean-American Min-Seo, the quirky and energetic Indian-American Akarsha, and the smart and dedicated Chinese-American Noelle. Additional characters include Min's twin brother Jun-Seo and baseball captains Chryssa and Liz.
The narrative focuses on each of the four girls in turn, alternating between the present day and when they were younger. It opens with Akarsha in 2009, at a surprise party for Noelle's birthday. Diya and Min, who began a relationship at the end of the previous game, are shown to be very affectionate with each other. However, Akarsha plays pranks on Noelle, leading Noelle to yell at her. After meeting Akarsha's parents, Noelle says that Akarsha uses humor to avoid being seen trying something and failing. Akarsha privately agrees; she has a crush on Noelle, and thinks she may like her back due to understanding her so well. When Noelle doesn't respond to Akarsha's text asking for a date, Akarsha pretends this was a joke by her brother and continues to play pranks on Noelle.
Diya's chapter begins as a flashback to the third grade, when she is picked up by her mother from school; while they talk, her mother tells her to stay away from Min because she is a "freak" for not looking feminine. In 2009, Diya is once again picked up from school, but she is much less talkative around her mother and hides that she is dating Min. Diya thinks to herself that she is scared of her mother's reactions, particularly if she says something that disagrees with her mother's culture from India. Min's section begins in the fourth grade, where she argues with her racist classmates. Soon after, she rides home with her father, who experiences road rage while shouting at her to stop reacting outwardly to racism. Min notes that he seems to instead take his anger out on his children. In the present day, the baseball club is making a film project for class. When Min is unintentionally racist to Ester, a half-Black, half-Chinese girl, this leads to an argument between the two girls. Min talks about it with Diya and Noelle, and realizes that she is upset and disinclined to apologize because she experiences unapologetic racism from many people. The three discuss how much it is possible to change their beliefs from what they are taught as children.
In Noelle's section, she is shown being bad at Chinese language classes in fifth grade. Her parents insist that she continue classes to avoid embarrassing them to their family friends, but ultimately allow her to quit to not waste money. In the present day, they travel to Taiwan to see their family. Noelle likes the country, but finds that she cannot communicate with her family as they do not speak English and has no relationship with them as she has never met them before. She does not know much about the culture or her parent's history, and cannot pretend to be Taiwanese like her parents want her to be. At school, Akarsha is hurt at a baseball game, and after crying over her, Noelle realizes over the next week that she has a crush on her. At a school multicultural fair, Akarsha and Noelle realize that their romantic style is less overt than Diya and Min's. Akarsha admits that she sent the texts asking out Noelle, and Noelle admits she likes her back. The game ends with the four deciding that they cannot be exactly what their parents want them to be, but that they can be happy regardless. In an after-credits scene, adult Akarsha and Noelle lose the key to their sex handcuffs, forcing them to go to the fire department with Akarsha half-dressed, as the two flirt antagonistically with each other.
## Development
Butterfly Soup 2 was developed by Brianna Lei between 2017 and its release in October 2022. After finishing Butterfly Soup in September 2017, Lei planned to create a sequel that would include the parts of the game that were cut from the original design. The first draft of the original game had been intended to be much longer than the final result, covering the characters' entire freshman year. Lei decided early on in development, however, that the game was too long for her background in creating short stories and games, and ended it halfway through the school year. When Butterfly Soup was released, Lei had a 141-page document of cut and unused ideas. She announced plans to work on the sequel in late 2017, and in February 2018 she suggested the game might be completed by the following summer, while also warning that development could take longer.
With Butterfly Soup 2, Lei wanted to explore Noelle and Akarsha's relationship, as well as the experience of being a second-generation immigrant. Akarsha and Noelle's dynamic was based on her experience with school-age crushes, with several of Akarsha's attempts at attracting Noelle drawn from her own as a child. Akarsha's attempt to ask out Noelle over text and then blame her brother was inspired by a friend having done the same to Lei, using some of the actual wording from those real-life chat messages. Lei additionally wanted the start of a relationship that was less straightforward than Diya and Min's from the first game, with the two people not being interested in each other at the same time. She has explained that Diya and Min do not recognize that Akarsha or Noelle like each other romantically until the end of the game because they "would never ever treat each other the way Noelle and Akarsha do". Lei was hesitant about adding the after-credits scene due to its implied sexual nature, but decided to include it to avoid "doing the same thing as Noelle's mom" by not treating sex as "just a normal part of life".
Lei explored her experience as a second-generation immigrant, finding a great deal of commonality between her life as Chinese-American and that of other second-generation immigrant friends. Although each of the four main characters has a different relationship with their parents and their ancestral cultures, she found similarities in how children from different cultures were alienated from both their birth and historical cultures, as well as how that strained their relationships. Noelle's story became the heart of this concept, as a journey of self-discovery outside of parental and cultural expectations. Lei used Noelle's story to show the tension between rejecting Noelle's parents' expectations and losing her connection to her Taiwanese culture and family, and that she was inversely rejecting her own homosexuality because of her parents' expectations, and regretting that as well. Lei originally planned for Noelle's attempt to translate her mother's poem in Taiwan to be successful, but after two months of trying and failing to learn Mandarin, she felt that it would be "insincere" to give that plotline a happy ending.
Lei found it cathartic to write a story about the characters finding happiness regardless of the similar issues from her own life. She has said that there is not much media about the experience of being a "queer Asian American girl", and she wanted to write a story that would have been helpful for understanding her situation growing up. Diya was the most difficult character to write, as her general quietness could make writing her conversations "like pulling teeth". Some of the baseball elements were inspired by the documentary The History of the Seattle Mariners. The monologue at the end of the game was inspired by the lyrics of the song "You! Me! Dancing!", while the quote used in it—"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made"—was taken from No Straight Thing Was Ever Made by Urvashi Bahuguna; the dual meaning of "straight" was based on Lei's own original misinterpretation of the meaning in the title.
Lei released the game on itch.io on October 29, 2022. It was originally released in English for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with fan-made translations to several other languages added later. It also has unofficial web browser and Android ports. Lei allowed players to purchase the game for any price. Although she has ideas for a third game in the series, she intends to make other games before returning to it.
## Reception
Butterfly Soup 2 was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative award at the 2023 Independent Games Festival, the same award the original game was nominated for at the 2018 festival. It was nominated for the "Best LGBTQ Indie Game" of 2022 by Gayming Magazine. Digital Spy listed it as one of the best games of 2022, Kotaku described it as one of the "most heartfelt" and "funniest" games of the year, and TheGamer said it had one of the best romance stories in video games.
Critics were very positive towards the game, focusing primarily on the story and its complex characters and themes. Rock Paper Shotgun's review said that the game was deeper and more nuanced than its prequel, and Jess Lee of Digital Spy called it "just as good and perhaps more confidently written". Khee Hoon Chan of Gayming Magazine praised the writing, particularly the interactions between the different personalities of the characters and the game's exploration of issues around race, heritage, and sexuality. Liv Ngan of Eurogamer applauded the "authentic and impactful representation" of Asian and Asian-American characters. Carolyn Petit of Kotaku also greatly liked the writing and the multi-dimensional characters.
Jay Castello of Rock Paper Shotgun and Jade King of TheGamer both applauded the characterization and the game's willingness to sympathetically explore the flaws and strengths of the four main characters. Andrew King of TheGamer appreciated that Diya and Min's relationship was still interesting while also being stable instead of using tropes around relationship drama. The Kotaku reviewer also positively noted the art style, which she felt made the situations feel both real and universal. Kotaku's reviewer felt that the relationship between Akarsha and Noelle was less believable than Diya and Min's from the first game and the overall conclusion more happy than realistic. They concluded, however, that "these feel like nitpicks in the face of how moving, funny, observant, and nourishing so much of Butterfly Soup 2 is." |
1,058,620 | Alan Kulwicki | 1,169,684,677 | American racecar driver (1954–1993) | [
"1954 births",
"1993 deaths",
"Accidental deaths in Tennessee",
"American Speed Association drivers",
"American people of Polish descent",
"Burials in Wisconsin",
"Catholics from Wisconsin",
"Hooters people",
"International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees",
"International Race of Champions drivers",
"NASCAR Cup Series champions",
"NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees",
"NASCAR drivers",
"NASCAR team owners",
"People from Greenfield, Wisconsin",
"Racing drivers from Milwaukee",
"Racing drivers from Wisconsin",
"Sportspeople from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin",
"University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni",
"Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1993",
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]
| Alan Dennis Kulwicki (December 14, 1954 – April 1, 1993), nicknamed "Special K" and the "Polish Prince", was an American auto racing driver and team owner. He started racing at local short tracks in Wisconsin before moving up to regional stock car touring series. Kulwicki arrived at NASCAR, the highest and most expensive level of stock car racing in the United States, with no sponsor, a limited budget and only a racecar and a borrowed pickup truck. Despite starting with meager equipment and finances, he earned the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award over drivers racing for well-funded teams.
After Kulwicki won his first race at Phoenix International Raceway, he debuted what would become his trademark "Polish victory lap". Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup Championship by what was then the closest margin in NASCAR history. He died early in 1993 in a light aircraft accident and therefore never defended his championship. He has been inducted into numerous racing halls of fame and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers.
Kulwicki was known for being a perfectionist and doing things his own way. An engineer by trade, his scientific approach to NASCAR racing inspired the way teams are now run. Despite lucrative offers from top car owners, he insisted on driving for his own race team, AK Racing, during most of his NASCAR career. Described by his publicist as "a real hard type of person to get to know", he remained a bachelor throughout his life.
## Early life
Kulwicki grew up in Greenfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee known for its Polish-American neighborhoods, near the Milwaukee Mile racetrack. After his mother died, his family moved in with his grandmother, who died when Kulwicki was in seventh grade. A year later, his only brother died of a hemophilia-related illness. Kulwicki attended Pius XI High School, a Roman Catholic high school in Milwaukee and received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1977. His knowledge of engineering has been cited as a contributing factor to his success as a driver, as it helped him better understand the physics of a racecar. He first raced on local tracks as an amateur while in college before becoming a full-time professional racer in 1980. A devout Roman Catholic, Kulwicki always competed with a Saint Christopher (the patron saint of travelers) devotional medal in his car.
## Racing career
### Early racing career
Kulwicki began his racing career as a 13-year-old kart racer. His father built engines as the crew chief for Norm Nelson and Roger McCluskey's United States Automobile Club (USAC) racecars. Because his work involved travel, Kulwicki's father was unable to help his son at most kart races, so Kulwicki's resourcefulness was often tested trying to find someone to transport his kart to the track. Even when Kulwicki asked his father for advice, he typically ended up doing most of the work himself. "I showed him how", Gerry Kulwicki said. "And he said: 'Why don't you do it? You can do it better.' And I said, 'Well, if you do it for a while, you can do it better.'"
Many local-level American racetracks host their own season championships. In Wisconsin, numerous locations held dirt and asphalt short track racing. Kulwicki started driving stock cars at the local level at the Hales Corners Speedway and Cedarburg Speedway dirt oval tracks. In 1973 he won the rookie of the year award at Hales Corners and the next year started racing late models – the fastest and most complicated type of stock cars raced at the local level – at the same track. That season, he won his first feature race, at Leo's Speedway in Oshkosh.
Kulwicki moved from dirt tracks to paved tracks in 1977. He also teamed up with racecar builder Greg Krieger to research, model, engineer and construct an innovative car with far more torsional stiffness than other late models. The increased stiffness allowed the car to handle better in the corners, which increased its speed. Racing at Slinger Super Speedway, he won the track championship in 1977. In 1978, Kulwicki returned to Slinger; that same year he started racing a late model at Wisconsin International Raceway (WIR), finishing third in points in his rookie season at the track. In 1979 and 1980, he won the WIR late model track championships.
In 1979, Kulwicki began competing in regional to national level events sanctioned by the USAC Stock Car series and the American Speed Association (ASA), while remaining an amateur racer through 1980. When Kulwicki raced against future NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace in the ASA series, the two became friends. Kulwicki's highest finish in the ASA season points championship was third place, which he accomplished in both 1982 and 1985, with five career victories and twelve pole positions.
### NASCAR career
#### 1980s
Kulwicki raced in four NASCAR Busch Grand National Series (now Xfinity Series) races in 1984. At the time, the Busch Grand National Series was considered NASCAR's feeder circuit, a proving ground for drivers who wished to step up to the organization's premiere circuit, the Winston Cup (now NASCAR Cup Series). Kulwicki qualified second fastest and finished in second place at his first career NASCAR race, which took place at the Milwaukee Mile, several city blocks from where he grew up. Later that year, he finished seventh at Charlotte and fifth at Bristol. The following year, Kulwicki placed sixteenth in the season-opening Busch Series race at Daytona. Although he won the pole position at that year's event in Milwaukee, he finished fourteenth because of engine problems. Kulwicki's Busch Series successes caught car owner Bill Terry's eye and he offered Kulwicki a chance to race for him in several Winston Cup events.
In 1985, Kulwicki sold most of his belongings, including his short track racing equipment, to move approximately 860 miles (1,380 km) to the Charlotte area in North Carolina. He kept only a few things; his pickup truck was loaded to tow a trailer full of furniture and tools. An electrical fire two days before he left destroyed his truck, so Kulwicki had to borrow one to pull the trailer. After arriving in the Charlotte area, he showed up unannounced at Terry's shop ready to race. Veteran NASCAR drivers were initially amused by Kulwicki's arrival on the national tour: He was a driver from the northern United States when the series was primarily a southern regional series, he had a mechanical engineering degree when few other drivers had completed college and, with only six starts, had limited driving experience in the junior Busch Series. Kulwicki was described as very studious, hard working, no-nonsense and something of a loner. He frequently walked the garage area in his racing uniform carrying a briefcase. Kulwicki made his first career Winston Cup start at Richmond on September 8, 1985, for Bill Terry's No. 32 Hardee's Ford team. That season he competed in five races for Terry, with his highest finish being 13th.
Kulwicki started his rookie season in 1986 with Terry. After Terry decided to end support for his racing team mid-season, he sold the team to his driver. Kulwicki as an owner started out as essentially a one-man team, as he had to serve as driver, team administrator, crew chief and chief mechanic. Kulwicki had difficulty acquiring and keeping crew members because he found it difficult to trust them to do the job with the excellence that he demanded and because he was hands-on in the maintenance of racecars to the point of being a "control freak". He sought out crew members who had owned their own racecars, believing they would understand what he was going through: working long hours and performing his own car maintenance with a very limited budget. Notable crew members include his crew chief, Paul Andrews and future Cup crew chiefs, Tony Gibson and Brian Whitesell. Future crew chief and owner, Ray Evernham, lasted six weeks with Kulwicki in 1992. Evernham later said, "The man was a genius. There's no question. It's not a matter of people just feeling like he was a genius. That man was a genius. But his personality paid for that. He was very impatient, very straightforward, very cut-to-the-bone." With one car, two engines, and two full-time crew members, Kulwicki won the 1986 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. He had competed in 23 of 29 events, with four top 10 finishes, three races not completed (Did Not Finish – DNF), an average finish of 15.4, and had only one result below 30th place. Kulwicki finished 21st in the Winston Cup points standings for the season.
For the 1987 season Kulwicki secured primary sponsorship from Zerex Antifreeze and changed his car number to seven. He picked up his first career pole position in the season's third race, at Richmond. Later that season, he again qualified fastest at Richmond and Dover. Kulwicki came close to winning his first Winston Cup race at Pocono, finishing second after winner Dale Earnhardt passed him on the last lap. With nine top 10 finishes, eleven DNFs and an average finish of 18.2 in 29 events; Kulwicki finished 15th in the Winston Cup points standings for the season.
In 1988 Kulwicki hired Paul Andrews as his crew chief after Andrews was recommended by Rusty Wallace at the 1987 NASCAR Awards banquet. That year Kulwicki won his first NASCAR Winston Cup race in the season's second-to-last race at Phoenix International Raceway after race leader Ricky Rudd's car had motor problems late in the race. Kulwicki led 41 laps and won by 18.5 seconds. After the race finished, he turned his car around and made, what he called, a "Polish victory lap" by driving the opposite way (clockwise) on the track, with the driver's side of the car facing the fans. "This gave me the opportunity to wave to the crowd from the driver's side", Kulwicki explained. Andrews recalled, "He had wanted to do something special and something different for his first win and only his first."
> It's been a long road and it's taken a lot of hard work to get here, but this has made it all worthwhile. When you work for something so hard for so long, you wonder if it's going to be worth all of the anticipation. Believe me, it certainly was. And what do you think of my Polish victory lap? There will never be another first win and you know, everybody sprays champagne or stands up on the car. I wanted to do something different for the fans.
He finished the 1988 season with four pole positions in 29 events, nine top 10 finishes including two second-place finishes, twelve DNFs, and an average finish of 19.2. Kulwicki finished 14th in the Winston Cup points standings for the season.
Kulwicki started his own engine-building program for the 1989 season. He had four second place finishes that season and held the points lead after the fifth race of the season. The team dropped from fourth to fifteenth in points by suffering nine engine failures during a sixteen-race stretch in the middle of the season. In 29 races, he had six pole positions, nine top 10 finishes, and finished 14th in season points. The team had a new workshop built during the season.
#### 1990s
Junior Johnson, owner of one of the top NASCAR teams, approached Kulwicki at the beginning of the 1990 season to try to get him to replace Terry Labonte in the No. 11 Budweiser Ford. Kulwicki declined, stating that he was more interested in running his own team. He won his second Cup race at Rockingham on October 21, 1990, and finished eighth in points that year, his first finish in the top 10 points in a season. In 29 races, he had thirteen top 10 finishes and one pole position.
After the 1990 season, Kulwicki lost his primary sponsor when Zerex’s parent company, Valvoline, chose instead to begin sponsoring Mark Martin at Roush Racing. He once again received an offer from Junior Johnson, this time for \$1 million, but as he had before he rejected the overture. Part of the reason for Kulwicki’s decision was tied to a sponsorship deal with Kraft General Foods to carry the company’s Maxwell House Coffee brand, which had yet to be finalized. Johnson, angry at being spurned again by Kulwicki, then went to Maxwell House himself and obtained the sponsorship for his new car, which Sterling Marlin was hired to drive instead. Kulwicki was forced to begin the season without a sponsor, paying all of the team's expenses out of his own pocket.
At the opening race of the season, the 1991 Daytona 500, five cars raced with paint schemes representing different branches of the United States military to show support for the American forces involved in the Gulf War in what was the first ever instance of special liveries being used in NASCAR; Kulwicki was one of the five drivers, striking an agreement with the Army to sponsor his car for the race. He went on to finish in eighth place, climbing from 27th. Kulwicki then finished fifth at Richmond and seventeenth at Rockingham, running a plain white car carry only his team’s insignia on it.
The next race, the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500, was at Atlanta, and Kulwicki caught a break that would result in a long-term partnership. Kulwicki placed his unsponsored \#7 on the pole for the race, for which 47 cars attempted to qualify. Among these was the \#82 Hooters Ford, which was being driven by Mark Stahl (like Kulwicki, an owner-driver) and had failed to qualify for the first three events of the season. Atlanta Motor Speedway was considered to be Hooters’ home track, as the restaurant chain is based in Atlanta, and having a car make the event would help give them some visibility both at the track and for the home television audience. They would not get it from Stahl, as he once again failed to qualify.
Since Hooters executives desired a spot in the race, and Kulwicki needed a sponsor, both sides met to discuss terms for the polesitter. The principals agreed to at least a one-race deal, which became a much longer term deal when Kulwicki recorded an eighth-place finish in the race. Later in the season, Kulwicki won the Bristol night race for his third career win. In 29 races, he had eleven top 10 finishes, four poles, and finished 13th in the points.
##### 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship
Kulwicki started out the year by having to take one of two provisional starting positions at the Daytona 500; he ended up finishing fourth. He passed Dale Jarrett with 27 laps left at the Food City 500 race on April 5 at Bristol to take a narrow victory. It was his fourth Winston Cup victory. After that race, he never left the top five in season points. Andrews attributed Kulwicki's consistently strong finishes to the steady performance of newly adopted radial tires throughout their lifespan. He said, "It was hard to control them, and the driver's ability to work with that car during practice in order to get the car set up meant so much more than it ever did." Kulwicki's second victory in the season was at the first race at Pocono. Discounted as a contender for the season championship during the year, Kulwicki was expected to fade from contention as Bill Elliott and Davey Allison, both of whom had won more races than Kulwicki and who had traded the points lead between them, were both having strong seasons and looked to be the favorites for the Winston Cup. He did not, however, and remained in the top 5 in the series standings.
He qualified on the pole position for the Peak AntiFreeze 500 race on September 20 at Dover, but crashed early in the race and finished 34th. At the conclusion of the race, Kulwicki trailed points leader Elliott by 278 points. He seemed to resign himself to another season without a championship, saying to reporters, "This probably finishes us off in the championship deal."
However, Kulwicki was able to benefit from bad fortune that would befall Elliott in the weeks ahead. The next week at Martinsville, Elliott crashed out of the race while Kulwicki finished fifth. Kulwicki followed that up with a twelfth-place run at North Wilkesboro, a second place at Charlotte, and another twelfth-place finish at Rockingham. While Elliott managed a fourth place finish at Rockingham, he ran twenty-sixth at North Wilkesboro and thirtieth at Charlotte. Then, at Phoenix, Kulwicki ran fourth while Elliott suffered overheating problems and a cracked cylinder head and once again finished outside of the top 30. Allison won the race, retaking the points lead, but Kulwicki’s performance left him within striking distance of the points lead. When the points standings were tabulated after the race, Kulwicki had surpassed Elliott in the standings and stood thirty points behind Allison.
Thus, the stage was set for the final race of the season, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta. Before the race, Kulwicki received approval from NASCAR and Ford to change the "Thunderbird" lettering on his bumper for the race to "underbird" because he felt like the underdog in the contention for the championship.
Kulwicki qualified for the race in fourteenth position, three spots behind Elliott and three spots ahead of Allison. Allison simply needed to finish fifth or better to clinch the Cup, regardless of what his cohorts did. Atlanta, however, was not one of his better tracks, as he had a string of inconsistent finishes there. He had, however, finished fourth in the spring race won by Elliott. Kulwicki needed to outpace both Elliott and Allison and put as much distance as he could between the two drivers because he not only had to make up the thirty points on points leader Allison, but also needed to put distance between himself and Elliott, who trailed him by only ten points.
Kulwicki narrowly avoided an incident on the second lap of the race as front row starters Rick Mast and Brett Bodine spun out. However, trouble would eventually find him on the first round of pit stops. As Kulwicki was getting ready to leave his pit box after service, he shifted into first gear and his car stalled. He got a push start from his crew and upshifted into fourth gear, which enabled him to refire the car and head back out. Andrews later said, "We had to leave pit road in fourth gear, because we had broken metal parts in there, and only by leaving it in fourth are you not going to move metal around as much. We could only hope that the loose piece of metal didn't get in there and break the gears in half. We had three or four pit stops after it broke. I held my breath all day long." While Kulwicki had no choice but to keep his car in top gear, which caused his pit stop times to be much slower than usual, he was one of the faster drivers on track that day and he quickly gained positions once back up to speed. He eventually caught up to Elliott, who was also running well, and the two began jockeying back and forth for positions; eventually, Kulwicki found his way to the front of the field and held onto the lead despite the best efforts of the \#11 team. Then, on lap 255, Kulwicki got a break he desperately needed. Allison was running in sixth place at the time, and since he had led a lap during the course of the event was still leading the championship. As he was coming off of turn four, Ernie Irvan spun out in front of the field on the frontstretch. Irvan, who had been running three laps down at the time, came down in front of Allison, who was unable to avoid him and the two made contact and crashed into the inside wall near the start/finish line. Allison’s car was badly damaged in the incident, and although the damage would be able to be repaired in the garage his chances of winning the Winston Cup were over.
Under the ensuing caution, Kulwicki and Andrews went to work on discussing strategy for the remainder of the race. With Allison now out of the championship picture, maximizing track position and points became Kulwicki’s focus. He and Elliott had each gained five bonus points for leading a lap, and five additional bonus points were available for the driver who led the most laps during the race. However, despite the possibility for more caution periods, Kulwicki would have to pit at some point to get enough fuel in the car to make it to the advertised distance. Therefore, Kulwicki and Andrews decided to stay out as long as they could and lead as many laps as possible. Once the race resumed, Kulwicki was able to maintain his lead on Elliott despite the best efforts of the latter.
On lap 310, after leading 101 consecutive laps and 103 overall, Kulwicki came down pit road for a fuel-only stop. Since the team did not need a full twenty-two gallon load of fuel to make it to the end and they needed to save as much time as they could, Andrews made the determination to put approximately half a can of gasoline into Kulwicki’s tank; this could be done in a little over three seconds and with only two crew members. Fuel man Tony Gibson and catch can man Peter Jellen waited as Kulwicki pulled in. There was a problem with the fuel relay, however, and Gibson was not certain of the amount of gasoline that made it into the tank. Kulwicki came back onto the track in third place, behind front runner Elliott and second place Terry Labonte. He had not fully secured the five bonus points for leading the most laps, since Elliott had an opportunity to tie Kulwicki’s total. In that case, both drivers would receive the points. Elliott also had to come down to top off his fuel tank.
But as he had done with the adjustment following the broken gearbox and the accident that took Allison out of the race, Kulwicki once again caught a break that affected his chances in a significant way. Tim Brewer, Elliott’s crew chief, had lost track of Labonte and waited an additional lap to bring Elliott in. Labonte was able to pass Elliott while he pitted, then pitted himself. Elliott reassumed the point with twelve laps remaining, which when added to the ninety he had already led would only add up to 102.
Kulwicki was told that he had clinched the five extra points several laps later. Andrews warned him of the fuel relay issue, however, and told Kulwicki to conserve whatever fuel he could as no one knew for certain whether or not Gibson had done the job. Kulwicki was running in second, far enough ahead of third place Geoff Bodine that he was not a factor, and thus all he had to do was hold position in order to win the championship. Elliott won the race and Kulwicki stretched his fuel to finish second. Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup Championship by maintaining his 10-point lead over Elliott. He celebrated the championship with his second Polish victory lap. Always conscious of his appearance for potential sponsors, Kulwicki combed his hair, making a national television audience wait for him to emerge from his car.
Kulwicki had overcome the 278-point deficit in the final six races of the season by ending with a fifth, a fourth, and two second-place finishes. Kulwicki won the championship because of his consistent high finishes. It was the closest title win in NASCAR Cup Series history until the implementation of the Chase for the Cup format in 2004. Kulwicki was the last owner-driver to win the title for nearly two decades, the first Cup champion with a college degree, and the first Cup champion born in a northern state. He started from the pole position six times during the season, which was the most for any driver. The song that played during a short salute to Kulwicki at the year-end awards banquet was Frank Sinatra's "My Way".
###### Championship honors
Kulwicki returned to his hometown, Greenfield, for Alan Kulwicki Day in January 1993. The gymnasium at Greenfield High School was filled and surrounded by four to five thousand people. Local television crews filmed the event. Kulwicki signed autographs for six hours.
In celebration of his championship, sponsor Hooters made a special "Alan Tribute Card" that was used at all of the autograph sessions during the 1993 season.
##### 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship
Kulwicki did not significantly change his spending habits after winning the 1992 championship. "The only thing I really wanted to buy was a plane", he said, "but it turns out Hooters has a couple I can use." Kulwicki negotiated a lease agreement with Hooters Chairman Robert Brooks for the use of one of his aircraft. The Swearingen Merlin III twin turboprop Kulwicki leased was painted with Hooters livery, and its FAA registry changed from N300EF (for Eastern Foods, another of Brooks's companies) to N300AK.
After the first five races of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series had been completed, Kulwicki was 9th in overall points. Kulwicki had concerns about how often he was being allowed to use the airplane he had leased, and other financial concerns he wanted to bring up with his sponsor, Hooters. The PR representative for both Hooters and Kulwicki, Tom Roberts, suggested that Kulwicki bring up his concerns to Hooters leadership while in flight from Knoxville to Bristol on the evening of April 1, 1993, en route to the 1993 Food City 500. Roberts himself, in an attempt to avoid a conflict of interest between the two sides, did not board the chartered flight, and took a commercial flight to Bristol instead.
## Death
Kulwicki died in an airplane crash on Thursday April 1, 1993. He was returning from an appearance at the Knoxville Hooters on the Kingston Pike, in a Hooters corporate plane on a short flight across Tennessee before the Sunday spring race at Bristol. The plane slowed and crashed just before final approach at Tri-Cities Regional Airport in a field off of Interstate 81 near Blountville. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the crash to the pilot's failure to use the airplane's anti-ice system to clear ice from the engine inlet system.
Kulwicki was buried at St. Adalbert's Cemetery in Milwaukee; the funeral was attended by NASCAR President Bill France Jr. and numerous drivers. Kulwicki's racecar transporter was driven from the rainy track later that Friday morning while other teams and the media watched it travel slowly around the track with a black wreath on its grille. As the transporter passed the start / finish line, the flagman waved a checkered flag. In 2008, Kyle Petty described the slow laps as "the saddest thing I've ever seen at a racetrack... We just sat and cried." Kulwicki had competed in five NASCAR races that season with two Top 5 finishes, and was ranked ninth in points at his death. In his career, he had won five NASCAR Winston Cup races, 24 pole positions, 75 Top 10 finishes, and one championship in 207 races.
His car was driven by road course specialist Tommy Kendall on road courses and by Jimmy Hensley at the other tracks. It was raced for most of the 1993 season until the team was sold to Geoff Bodine, who operated it as Geoff Bodine Racing.
Kulwicki had been selected to compete in the 1993 International Race of Champions (IROC) series as the reigning Winston Cup champion. He competed in two IROC races before his death, finishing ninth at Daytona and eleventh at Darlington. Dale Earnhardt raced for Kulwicki in the final two IROC races, and the prize money for those races and their fifth place combined points finish was given to the Winston Cup Racing Wives Auxiliary, Brenner Children's Hospital and St. Thomas Aquinas Church charities.
## Legacy
Three days after Kulwicki's death, Bristol race winner Rusty Wallace honored his former short track rival by performing Kulwicki's trademark Polish victory lap. Davey Allison died on July 13, 1993; competitors who had been carrying a No. 7 sticker in memory of Kulwicki added a No. 28 sticker for Allison. After the final race of the season, series champion Dale Earnhardt and race winner Wallace drove a side-by-side Polish victory lap carrying flags for Kulwicki and Allison. Kulwicki finished 41st in the final points standings despite competing in only five races. Racing Champions issued a die-cast version of Alan Kulwicki's No. 7 car that was a tribute to Kulwicki's 1992 title.
The USAR Hooters Pro Cup championship (now CARS Tour) held the "Four Champions Challenge" in memory of the four victims of the plane crash. Established in 1997, the challenge was a four-race series, with each race named after one of the four who died in the crash: Kulwicki, Mark Brooks (son of Hooters owner Bob Brooks), Dan Duncan, and pilot Charles Campbell.
Milwaukee County honored Kulwicki in 1996 by creating Alan Kulwicki Memorial Park, located near the corner of Highway 100 and Cold Spring Road in Greenfield (Area Map). Hooters chairman Robert Brooks donated \$250,000 to build the 28-acre (0.11 km<sup>2</sup>) park, which features a Kulwicki museum inside the Brooks Pavilion.
Since 1994, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has awarded the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Scholarship to one incoming student each year. Scholarship winners are outstanding high school seniors who plan to major in mechanical engineering. By 1998, UNC Charlotte created an automotive and motorsports engineering program.
In October 2009, the Kulwicki family donated nearly \$1.9 million to benefit motorsports engineering education at UNC Charlotte. In honor of the gift, the university's Board of Trustees renamed the existing motorsports research facility the Alan D. Kulwicki Motorsports Laboratory. The donation funded the construction of a second motorsports engineering building, which opened in January 2012.
Bristol Motor Speedway named its grandstand in turns one and two in honor of Kulwicki, as well as a terrace above the grandstand. The 2004 Busch Series race at the Milwaukee Mile was named the "Alan Kulwicki 250" in honor of Kulwicki. Wisconsinite Paul Menard turned his car around after winning the 2006 Busch Series event and performed a Polish victory lap to honor Kulwicki. Slinger Super Speedway has held an annual Alan Kulwicki Memorial race since 1994.
Kulwicki was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted in the Lowe's Motor Speedway Court of Legends in 1993, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993, Talladega-Texaco Hall of Fame in 1996, Bristol Motor Speedway Heroes of Bristol Hall of Fame in 1997, the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2010. Kulwicki was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019.
Kulwicki's success as an owner-driver sparked a small trend among NASCAR veterans. Geoff Bodine, his younger brother Brett, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, and Joe Nemechek all began racing teams shortly after Kulwicki's death. However, none were as successful as Kulwicki's. Robby Gordon frequently mentions Alan as an inspiration for him as an owner-driver, and selected car No. 7 as a tribute to Kulwicki.
Slinger Super Speedway began an Alan Kulwicki Memorial night in 1993; it has continued the annual memorial as of 2016. In 2010, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee created the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Student Center in their Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Building. The center, along with a scholarship for engineering students, was made possible in part by a donation from Thelma H. Kulwicki, the late racer's stepmother, who also donated numerous items of memorabilia located in the center.
In May 2012, the Milwaukee County Historical Society announced plans for a special exhibit celebrating the life and career of Kulwicki to open in early 2013. The exhibit is called "Alan Kulwicki: A Champion's Story".
### Alan Kulwicki Driver Development Program
In 2015, Kulwicki's friends began the Alan Kulwicki Driver Development program to "help worthy drivers along the way in reaching their dream...while at the same time keep Alan Kulwicki's memory and legacy alive." The field is narrowed to 15 applicants and the program gives \$7777 to support seven drivers' career advancement. Drivers are judged based on their on-track performance as well as off-track activities, social media presence, and community involvement. The winner receives seven times \$7777 (\$54,439) and a trophy. It was cancelled for the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns. The program winners were:
## Media
Father Dale Grubba, the priest who had presided over Kulwicki's funeral, released a biography of his friend entitled Alan Kulwicki: NASCAR champion Against All Odds in 2009. The book was the basis for a low-budget feature film, Dare to Dream: The Alan Kulwicki Story, released on April 1, 2005. The film chronicles Kulwicki's life from racing late models at Slinger Super Speedway, through his rise to NASCAR champion, and ends with his death. The movie was created by Kulwicki's Wisconsin fans for less than \$100,000. The star of the film, Brad Weber, was a Kulwicki fan and credits the late driver with being his inspiration to become an actor.
## Motorsports career results
### NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. \* – Most laps led.)
#### Winston Cup Series
##### Daytona 500
#### Busch Series
### International Race of Champions
(key) (Bold – Pole position. \* – Most laps led.) |
24,662,653 | Worcester Castle | 1,162,257,560 | Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester, England | [
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| Worcester Castle was a Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester, England by Urse d'Abetot on behalf of William the Conqueror. The castle had a motte-and-bailey design and was located on the south side of the old Anglo-Saxon city, cutting into the grounds of Worcester Cathedral. Royal castles were owned by the king and maintained on his behalf by an appointed constable. At Worcester that role was passed down through the local Beauchamp family on a hereditary basis, giving them permanent control of the castle and considerable power within the city. The castle played an important part in the wars of the 12th and early 13th century, including the Anarchy and the First Barons' War.
In 1217, Henry III's government decided to break the power of the Beauchamps and reduce the ongoing military threat posed by the castle by returning much of the castle's bailey to the cathedral. Without an intact bailey the castle was no longer valuable militarily, although it played a small part in the Second Barons' War in the 1260s. A gaol had been built in the castle by the early 13th century and the castle continued to be used as Worcestershire's county gaol until the 19th century, when a new prison was built on the north side of Worcester and the old site completely redeveloped. Today nothing remains of Worcester Castle with the exception of Edgar's Tower, a cathedral gatehouse built on the former entrance to the castle.
## History
### 11th century
Worcester Castle was built after the Norman conquest of England in the Anglo-Saxon city of Worcester. The castle was constructed between 1068 and 1069 on the orders of William the Conqueror as part of a wave of royal castle building in major Roman or Anglo-Saxon towns across England. Constructed in timber, the castle had a motte-and-bailey design, with a bailey to the north and south of the motte. The top of the motte was later recorded as being around 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter. The castle was defensively well situated on the eastern bank of the River Severn in the south-west corner of the borough, taking advantage of the old burh walls and ditches. Urse d'Abetot was appointed as the sheriff of Worcester and the constable of the new castle.
Worcester was an urban castle, built within an existing settlement. Many such castles required the clearance of local properties, but unusually at Worcester Castle the ditch of the outer bailey cut through part of Worcester Cathedral's cemetery. It is unclear whether the cemetery was still in use at that time, but the desecration resulted in Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, with extensive interests in Worcester, complaining about the seizure of the land and formally cursing Urse.
### 12th–13th centuries
Worcester remained a royal castle, but within a few years the post of sheriff and that of constable became hereditary in the Beauchamp family, the successors to Urse d'Abetot. Urse's son, Roger, inherited them, followed by Walter de Beauchamp, who married Urse's daughter, and William de Beauchamp. The castle was effectively run by the Beauchamps, largely independent of the king. Despite controlling Worcester, the Beauchamps preferred to use Elmley Castle, 12 miles (20 k) away, as their main residence. In 1113 Worcester was attacked by Welsh raiders, who broke into the outer bailey of the castle and set fire to the buildings there; the timber castle was destroyed and had to be rebuilt, again in wood.
In the late 1130s a period of civil war – the Anarchy – broke out in England, in which the rival factions of King Stephen and the Empress Matilda contested the kingdom; Worcestershire proved to be a key battleground in the war. The first attack on Worcester itself occurred in late 1139, when an Angevin army from Gloucestershire assaulted the city; after an attempt to take the castle on the south side of the city, the Gloucester forces entered from the north, looting and burning the city. As a result, Walter de Beauchamp chose to side with Matilda. Worcester became a base for Stephen's forces for a period, with Stephen replacing Walter as the constable with Waleron de Beaumont, before the city and castle were reclaimed for the Empress by Robert of Gloucester. In response, Stephen first stormed and burnt the city in 1148, and then attacked it again in 1150, shortly before the end of the conflict. Two neighbouring siege castles were built by Stephen as part of these operations, designed to contain Worcester Castle itself, one at Henwick Hill the other at Red Hill. After the conflict, Walter was finally reaffirmed as the constable of Worcester Castle by Henry II, the Empress's son.
By the end of the 13th century, William de Beauchamp – the grandson of Walter de Beauchamp – controlled the castle on behalf of the king. In the 12th century there was a trend in England for stone castles to replace their earth and timber counterparts, and in 1204 King John ordered the sheriff of Worcester to rebuild the gatehouse "which is now of timber, with good and fine stone". John's work cost £25, and was one of a number of repairs and improvements during the period: £12 was spent maintaining the castle in 1183, for example, while in 1192 £5 4s was spent on the internal buildings and in 1203 work on the stables came to £6 3s.
Civil war broke out again in England in 1215 between forces loyal to King John and rebel barons, supported in due course by Prince Louis of France. John annexed the castle in 1214 and William sided with the rebels in 1216. King John responded by sending forces to attack the castle and successfully retook it. Despite John's death, the war continued until forces loyal to John's young son, Henry III, finally achieved victory over the rebels in 1217.
Meanwhile, the 11th century dispute over the cathedral graveyard had continued unabated and in 1217 Henry III's government decided to announce that the disputed land would be granted to the cathedral. A panel met to agree exactly how the land should be divided, concluding that the division should run straight across the bailey; the far side was returned to the cathedral, making the remainder of the castle unusable from a military perspective. Henry thus ingratiated himself with the church and broke the power of the Beauchamps in the city by crippling their local fortress.
The castle nevertheless continued in use for a time, partially because the Worcestershire County gaol was situated in the outer bailey; the earliest record of this gaol is from 1221, when a porter was recorded as being employed as a gaoler. The gaol appears to have been built of wood during the medieval period. Escapees remained a problem; some were recorded during the 1220s, and during Second Barons' War, Worcester was captured and all the prisoners released. Later in the same war, Henry III was imprisoned there for a period by Simon de Montfort. The castle was also used as one of the locations for the Worcestershire county court and election of local officials.
### 14th–19th centuries
The sheriffs of Worcestershire continued to control the castle as constables, and the property passed along hereditary lines from the Beauchamps to the Earls of Warwick until Richard Neville, also known as the "Kingmaker", died during the Wars of the Roses in 1471. The victorious Edward IV divided up the various estates that Neville had owned and gave the castle to his son, severing the link between Worcester and the earldom of Warwick. The final constables were appointed during the 1540s, after which the practice of appointing constables ceased altogether. The castle's walls were quarried for stone, the motte was used to keep animals on and only the sheriff's county gaol remained intact. The antiquarian John Leland recorded in the 1540s that the castle was "now clean down", and that the motte was still of an impressive size but heavily overgrown. A gatehouse known as Edgar's Tower was built by the cathedral on the site of the earlier castle gatehouse, to control access to the former bailey.
In 1628 the castle site was granted by the Crown to Giles Clutterbuck; the local gentry complained, leading to a legal case in which the county successfully reclaimed the site. In 1642 England descended into a period of civil war between the Royalist supporters of Charles I and the supporters of Parliament. Worcester's city walls were refortified and a sconce, or small fort, was built on top of the motte of Worcester Castle.
The castle continued to be used as the county gaol after the war and in 1653 a new gaol, built from stone and brick, was constructed in the castle grounds. In the 1770s the prison reformer John Howard inspected the gaol and was very critical of the facility. In particular he complained about the castle's underground dungeon, accessed down a flight of 26 steps; the room was circular, 18 feet (5.5 m) across, and guarded by an iron grill. Worcester conducted extensive work after the report at a cost of £3,431 (£364,000 at 2009 prices), and by 1788 the prison had 18 new cells for men and two for women, in addition to the dungeon and the sick-rooms. Nevertheless, it was housing 74 inmates at the time of Howard's inspection, with two prisoners routinely sharing each cell, sleeping together on the floor. Like other prisons of the time, Worcester Castle was run as a private enterprise, in this case by a local butcher, who was paid £150 a year (£15,400) to run the facility. The prison was known to suffer from outbreaks of gaol fever (Typhus), which claimed the life of a local doctor who visited the facility.
A new county gaol was built in 1814, at a cost of £20,000 (£1.1m) with a more modern system of radiating wings; this was constructed on the north side of Worcester where the local street was named "Castle Street" as a result. The Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral acquired the old gaol in 1823. The outer bailey of the castle became known as the College Green; the College Green was accessed through Edgar's Tower. The motte was slowly demolished between 1823 and 1846.
## See also
- Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
- List of castles in England |
70,940,381 | Martha Yujra | 1,171,427,426 | Bolivian politician (born 1964) | [
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"21st-century Bolivian politicians",
"21st-century Bolivian women politicians",
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]
| Martha Yujra Apaza (born 19 January 1964) is a Bolivian politician and trade unionist who served as minister of cultures and tourism from 2019 to 2020. A prominent trade union leader in El Alto, Yujra was the only indigenous member of the Jeanine Áñez Cabinet and was the final official to head the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism; the institution was abolished during her term. During her tenure, Yujra's office primarily dealt with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cultural sector, devising means of alleviating the economic ramifications of quarantine measures on artisans and entertainers. She subsequently served as a counselor at the Embassy of Bolivia in Quito from July to November 2020. Prior to serving as minister, Yujra gained notoriety for her fierce opposition to the government of Evo Morales. In 2017, she led a breakaway faction of the pro-government El Alto Regional Workers' Center. As its executive secretary, Yujra aligned the union with the Bolivia Says No alliance, running unsuccessfully to represent La Paz in the Chamber of Deputies in the annulled 2019 general elections.
## Early life and career
Martha Yujra was born on 19 January 1964 in La Chojlla, a small mining community situated in the La Paz Yungas. An ethnic Aymara by descent, Yujra's mother died when she was seven; consequently, she was raised by her father, a local mineworker. From the age of 17, she was trained in trade union leadership, serving as a student representative in the Chojlla mine. There, she actively rebelled against the traditional machismo gender roles imposed by her community, seeking to pursue a career in the organized labor movement.
In her adolescence, Yujra moved to El Alto, where she studied at the Eduardo Abaroa School, later graduating from the Simón Bolívar Educational Unit. Some time thereafter, Yujra began a lengthy career in trade unionism; in 2000, she joined the Parent Federation before briefly becoming a member of the Bartolina Sisa Federation. Later on, Yujra became an active member of the Regional Workers' Center of El Alto (COR-El Alto), remaining involved in that organization for over a decade. Despite her tenure, she often faced typical patriarchal attitudes from her comrades: "at first, in the COR, my colleagues sent me to the store [even though] I was their peer. Until I stopped and said: women are to be respected". As a member of the COR, Yujra was present during the turbulent period of social unrest that El Alto experienced during the Bolivian gas conflict, which culminated in the fall from power of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003.
Through her activism, Yujra came to be well-known in El Alto, gaining particular notoriety for her vocal criticism of President Evo Morales, a figure typically revered by labor sectors. As such, her positions occasionally put her at odds with the COR, which aligned itself with Morales's party, the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP). In 2015, Yujra actively opposed Mayor Edgar Patana in his COR-supported bid for reelection, stating that his management had set the city back by half a decade. As a representative of the Neighborhood Civic Movement, she signed a political alliance to support the mayoral campaign of Soledad Chapetón, who ultimately denied Patana a second term in that year's municipal election.
Yujra's definitive break with the COR came in June 2017, when she was declared executive secretary of the COR in a congress she herself convened, challenging the rule of Eliseo Suxo, a former pro-government parliamentarian, who had enacted a series of mechanisms to prolong his term in power. The move split the COR into two factions, with both Yujra and Suxo declaring themselves the legitimate executive secretaries of the entire organization. To this was added a third faction led by Pedro Chinche, affiliated with the Chapetón administration. On 8 December, the COR's pro-government faction expelled Yujra from its ranks, accusing her of making commitments with political parties in violation of the union's statute of neutrality.
Despite her removal, Yujra's rival union continued to operate in the city. In the leadup to the 2019 general election, Yujra's COR participated in numerous opposition-led mobilizations, rejecting President Morales's re-nomination to a fourth term, which contravened a 2016 referendum that voted down the abolition of term limits. With the slogan of 21F, Yujra led marches across El Alto, stating that "the Alteño people have joined this fight because democracy also belongs to the Alteños". In January of that year, Yujra participated in a seven-day hunger strike against the president, only lifting the measure at the urgent request of medical staff. During the campaign, she supported the presidential candidacy of Senator Oscar Ortiz, with her faction of the COR becoming a component of his Bolivia Says No (BDN) alliance. BDN nominated Yujra as a candidate for deputy from La Paz, placing her second on its electoral list.
Ultimately, the BDN alliance failed to gain substantial traction in the La Paz Department, attaining only 1.19 percent of the vote. By the time the official count in La Paz concluded, however, Bolivia had entered a period of widespread unrest driven by accusations of electoral fraud at the national level. Amid nationwide civic strikes, Yujra's COR led demonstrations in El Alto, demanding the resignation of the members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, whom she referred to as "traitors of the homeland". After twenty-one days of protests, the so-called Pitita Revolution culminated in the resignation of Morales and his government.
## Minister of Cultures
Morales was succeeded by opposition senator Jeanine Áñez, who quickly moved to form an ad hoc cabinet to oversee a caretaker government. On 14 November 2019, two days after assuming office, Áñez appointed Yujra to head the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism. Yujra was the only indigenous member of the Áñez Cabinet, a point she highlighted at her swearing-in ceremony, where she "[committed], as a woman in a pollera, ... to continue fighting for a country united in diversity". In her speech, she also declared that "it is women's time. We are the ones who take the reins of this country"; in its history, Áñez was only Bolivia's second female head of state.
Following her inauguration, amid continued social unrest in the country, Yujra presented herself as a mediator in the government's dialogue with labor sectors in El Alto. On 18 November, she traveled to the city to meet with leaders of neighborhood associations, seeking to negotiate an end to antigovernment demonstrations. Talks were partially successful, with most of El Alto's labor leaders agreeing to demobilize. However, more radical sectors maintained pressure measures, culminating in a police-led massacre in the Senkata barrio. Yujra blamed much of the unrest on supporters of the previous government, accusing ruling party members of forcing Alteños to participate in protests. Additionally, Yujra's administration cooperated with prosecutors in a criminal process against her predecessor, Wilma Alanoca, who stood accused of directing acts of violence in the city.
In her first major action as minister, Yujra endeavored to achieve official State recognition of Bolivia's indigenous chola community. On 27 January 2020, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries of various chola groups, Áñez signed a draft bill commemorating cholas from five departments and the Afro-Bolivian community, recognizing their identities as part of the country's intangible cultural heritage. For her part, Yujra—herself a chola—stated that "with this law, women in polleras are going to have a place that corresponds to us".
Under the slogan "a culture of peace and unity to heal", the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism launched the 2020 carnival celebration. The festival's inaugural act was held at the Viru Viru International Airport, featuring a flash mob of dancers, invited authorities—including Yujra—and other guests, all of whom shared in the festivities inside commercial aircraft. Throughout the celebration, Yujra's ministry worked in partnership with the private sector, seeking to promote tourism to the country.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yujra's administration faced the impact of quarantine measures on the country's artists and entertainers. On 28 April, the Ministry of Cultures held a web conference with delegates from different entertainment sectors, in which viable solutions to face the difficult situation were outlined. Nonetheless, Yujra was criticized for failing to adequately meet the needs of artists, with opponents stating that her ministry lacked sound management throughout the pandemic. Additionally, the Federation of Neighborhood Councils of El Alto accused Yujra of not coordinating anti-COVID measures with local authorities, despite her being appointed as a presidential delegate to the city for that very purpose.
In the final days of her administration, Yujra authorized the grant, on a ninety-year loan, of La Sombrerería Cultural Center to the Central Bank of Bolivia's Cultural Foundation. Located in Sucre, La Sombrerería is the country's largest piece of cultural infrastructure, equipped with multiple theater rooms, a children's museum, and outdoor venues, all capable of housing hundreds of people. The cultural center was inaugurated in October 2019 but remained closed since, coinciding with the political crisis initiated at the time. Yujra considered that the loan—authorized through Supreme Decree N° 4243—would charge more capable officials with maintaining the property, allowing it to finally reopen after months of disuse.
Yujra's term in office lasted until 4 June, when it was terminated following Áñez's decision to permanently abolish three ministries; among them, the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism, which was merged with the Ministry of Education. The president characterized the decision as a cost-saving measure intended to conserve resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with Página Siete, Yujra noted that she had not been consulted about the decision to close the ministry: "the truth, it [was] a surprise for me, ... I just had to accept it". The ex-minister considered the decision a mistake, expressing her hope that the ministry be reinstated, perhaps merged with the Ministry of Sports, which was also abolished. Yujra was nominally succeeded by Víctor Hugo Cárdenas, minister of education, though the vice ministry of interculturality—charged with heading the cultures portfolio—remained vacant for three months, with Marcelo Bazán being appointed to head it in September.
Two months after her removal from office, in late July, Áñez appointed Yujra to serve as a counselor in the Bolivian Embassy in Quito, Ecuador. Following the snap 2020 general elections and the return to power of the MAS, pro-government sectors from El Alto, La Paz, and surrounding provinces profiled Yujra among their list of more than thirty collaborators in the "coup d'état" of 2019, requesting that the Prosecutor's Office initiate criminal investigations against them. For her part, following her term as a counselor, Yujra retired to her residence in El Alto, affirming that she had no intention of leaving the country or going into hiding: "he who does nothing fears nothing. I have no reason to hide, why hide?"
## Electoral history |
31,159,079 | SMS Friedrich Carl (1867) | 1,172,519,833 | Armored frigate of the German Imperial Navy | [
"1867 ships",
"Ironclad warships of the Imperial German Navy",
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]
| SMS Friedrich Carl was an ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in the mid-1860s. The ship was constructed in the French Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in Toulon; her hull was laid in 1866 and launched in January 1867. The ship was commissioned into the Prussian Navy in October 1867. The ship was the third ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, though the fourth ship to be acquired, Kronprinz, was ordered after but commissioned before Friedrich Carl.
Friedrich Carl served with the fleet from her commissioning in 1867 until 1895, when she was removed from front-line service to serve as a training ship. During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871, the ship formed part of the main German squadron commanded by Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Eduard von Jachmann. Engine trouble, however, plagued the ship and two of the other three vessels in the squadron; as a result, they made only two sorties from the port of Wilhelmshaven to challenge the French blockade. Neither resulted in combat.
Friedrich Carl was also deployed to Spain during an insurrection in 1873, during which she assisted in the seizure of three rebel vessels in two engagements. The ship was refitted at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven in the 1880s. She was renamed Neptun in 1902 and used as a harbor ship until June 1905, when she was removed from the naval register. The following year, she was sold to ship breakers in the Netherlands and dismantled for scrap.
## Design
Following the acquisition of the small ironclad warships Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, which were only usable in coastal areas, the Prussian Navy sought to acquire armored vessels capable of operations on the high seas. The purpose of the new ships would be primarily directed against Prussia's primary naval rival, Denmark, which in the recent Second Schleswig War had imposed a blockade of German ports that Prussia had not been able to break. Ironclads were at that time a recent development and the only option for sea-going warships was the armored frigate, modeled on traditional sailing ships with a battery on the broadside. The navy requested approval from the Landtag (Parliament) in 1865 for an expanded budget to acquire the needed vessels, but the parliament refused, prompting King Wilhelm I to circumvent the legislature with a decree on 4 July authorizing the purchase of two armored frigates.
At that time, Britain and France had the shipbuilders most experienced with the type, so the navy decided to order one vessel from each country. The contract for Friedrich Carl was placed on 9 January 1866 followed by that for Kronprinz four days later, from France and Britain respectively. The French-built Friedrich Carl was modeled on Couronne, albeit a smaller version of the French ironclad.
### General characteristics
Friedrich Carl was 91.13 meters (299 ft) long at the waterline and 94.14 m (308 ft 10 in) long overall. She had a beam of 16.60 m (54 ft 6 in) and a draft of 6.90 m (22 ft 8 in) forward and 8.05 m (26 ft 5 in) aft. The ship was designed to displace 5,971 metric tons (5,877 long tons) at a normal loading, and up to 6,932 t (6,823 long tons) with a full load. The ship's hull was constructed with transverse and longitudinal iron frames. It contained eight watertight compartments and had a double bottom that ran for 76 percent of the length of the vessel.
Friedrich Carl was an excellent sea boat; the ship was responsive to commands from the helm and had a moderate turning radius. Steering was controlled with a single rudder. She was somewhat unbalanced, however, and a 6 degree rudder to port was required to keep the ship on a straight course. The ship's crew numbered 33 officers and 498 enlisted men, and while serving as a flagship, the crew was augmented with a command staff of 6 officers and 35 enlisted men. Friedrich Carl carried a number of smaller boats, including a large tender, two launches, a pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and one dinghy.
A horizontal, two-cylinder single-expansion steam engine powered the ship. It drove a four-bladed screw propeller 6 m (19 ft 8 in) in diameter. Six trunk boilers, divided into two boiler rooms with eleven fireboxes in each, supplied steam to the engine at 2 standard atmospheres (200 kPa). Both boiler rooms were vented into a single funnel. The propulsion system was rated at 3,300 metric horsepower (3,255 ihp) and a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), though on trials Friedrich Carl managed to make 3,550 PS (3,501 ihp) and 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph). The ship carried 624 t (614 long tons) of coal, which enabled a maximum range of 2,210 nautical miles (4,090 km; 2,540 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). A barque rig with a surface area of 2,010 square meters supplemented the steam engine, though in service they added little to the ship's performance.
### Armament and armor
As built, Friedrich Carl was equipped with a main battery of twenty-six rifled 72-pounder cannon. After her delivery to Germany, these guns were replaced with a pair of 21-centimeter (8.3 in) L/22 guns and fourteen 21 cm L/19 guns. The L/22 gun could depress to −5 degrees and elevate to 13 degrees, which provided a range of 5,900 m (6,500 yd). The shorter barreled L/19 guns had a wider range of elevation, from −8 to 14.5 degrees, but the shorter barrel imposed a lower muzzle velocity, which correspondingly reduced the range of the gun to 5,200 m (5,700 yd). The two types of gun fired the same shell, of which the total supply numbered 1,656 rounds of ammunition. The fourteen L/19 guns were placed in a central battery amidships, seven on either broadside. The L/22 guns were placed on either end of the ship to serve as chase guns.
Later in her career, six 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon were added to provide a defense against torpedo boats. Five 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes were also installed at that time. Two of the tubes were placed in the bow, two on the ship's sides, and one in the stern on the port side. All were placed above the waterline, and were supplied with a total of twelve torpedoes.
Friedrich Carl's armor consisted of wrought iron backed with heavy teak planking. The waterline armored belt consisted of 114 millimeters (4.5 in) of iron backed with 254 mm (10 in) of teak. Above the belt was a strake of iron plate of the same thickness of the belt, on 260 mm (10.2 in) of teak, which covered the central battery. The battery's roof was protected by 9-millimeter-thick (0.35 in) iron plating, intended to deflect shots that passed over the side of the ship or fragments from explosions. The ship's conning tower had 114 mm thick iron armor mounted on 400 mm (15.7 in) of teak.
## Service history
The Prussian Navy ordered Friedrich Carl from a French shipbuilder in 1865. She was laid down at the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in Toulon the following year. The ship was launched on 16 January 1867; fitting out work was completed rapidly, and the ship was completed before the end of the year. Friedrich Carl was delivered to Prussia in October 1867 and commissioned into the fleet on the 3rd of the month. Crews for Friedrich Carl and Kronprinz were carried to the ships by the screw frigate Hertha and the screw corvette Medusa. Both ironclads were laid up without any armament on entering service, as the new guns that had been intended to have been installed suffered serious failures during testing in 1867–1868; the Kreiner breech blocks proved to be prone to failure and so Krupp-designed guns were installed instead, with the work completed by July 1869. in June 1870, Friedrich Carl collided with the Danish schooner Auguste Robert in the Dogger Bank. The schooner was abandoned; Dutch fishermen rescued her crew.
### Franco-Prussian War
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the greatly numerically inferior Prussian Navy assumed a defensive posture against a naval blockade imposed by the French Navy. Friedrich Carl and the broadside ironclads Kronprinz and König Wilhelm, along with the small ironclad ram Prinz Adalbert, had been steaming in the English Channel before the French declared war; they had left Plymouth on 10 July with the intention of steaming to Fayal in the Azores. On the 13th, however, they put into port and learned of the rising tension between France and Prussia. The ships therefore returned to Wilhelmshaven immediately, arriving on 16 July. France declared war on Prussia three days later on 19 July. Friedrich Carl, Kronprinz, and König Wilhelm were concentrated in the North Sea at the port of Wilhelmshaven. They were subsequently joined there by the turret ship Arminius, which had been stationed in Kiel.
Despite the great French naval superiority, the French had conducted insufficient pre-war planning for an assault on the Prussian naval installations, and concluded that it would only be possible with Danish assistance, which was not forthcoming. The four ships, under the command of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Eduard von Jachmann, made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank, though they encountered no French warships. Friedrich Carl and the other two broadside ironclads thereafter suffered from chronic engine trouble, which left Arminius alone to conduct operations. Friedrich Carl, Kronprinz, and König Wilhelm stood off the island of Wangerooge for the majority of the conflict, while Arminius was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river. On 11 September, the three broadside ironclads were again ready for action; they joined Arminius for another major operation into the North Sea. It too did not encounter French opposition, as the French Navy had by this time returned to France.
Through the 1870s, the German armored fleet typically saw active service during the summer months. Over the winter, most of the vessels were placed in reserve with one or two kept in a state of reduced commission as guard ships. In June 1871, the screw corvette Nymphe was in Brazil while on an overseas cruise; some of her crew had been arrested following a fistfight in the country. The Germans threatened to deploy Kronprinz, three more corvettes, and two gunboats, which convinced the Brazilian government to release the crewmen. Beginning in September 1872, Friedrich Carl embarked on a world cruise with the screw frigate Elisabeth and the gunboat Albatross. They were joined by Elisabeth's sister ships Vineta and Gazelle while cruising through the Caribbean Sea.
### Deployment to Spain
In early 1873, the First Spanish Republic was beset with the Cantonal Revolution. Friedrich Carl, under the command of Vizeadmiral Reinhold Werner, steamed to Spanish waters along with a pair of unarmored vessels. The ships joined a British squadron that had been patrolling the southern Spanish coast. A rebel faction of the Spanish Navy had seized four of the country's seven ironclads. Werner, the senior commander in the group, was given command of the Anglo-German force. The squadron blockaded two rebel ironclads in the port of Cartagena after they had bombarded a coastal town. While steaming off Alicante, Friedrich Carl encountered the rebel armed steamer Vigilante, seized the vessel, and returned it to the national government.
Friedrich Carl and the British ironclad HMS Swiftsure attacked two of the rebel ships—Vitoria and Almansa—without authorization from London or Berlin. The rebel vessels had attempted to extort the port of Almería. In the brief engagement, the Anglo-German force overwhelmed the rebels and seized both ships, which were subsequently turned over to the Spanish government. The rebels considered declaring war on Germany over the affair, but eventually decided against it. A captured rebel leader was briefly held on board Friedrich Carl. Werner's blockade eventually forced the rebels to surrender, after which Friedrich Carl returned to Germany. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ordered a court-martial for Werner, whose actions Bismarck considered to be excessive. Bismarck prohibited the Imperial Navy from conducting "gunboat diplomacy" in the future.
### Later service
In 1876, the ironclad squadron—Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, and the new ironclads Kaiser and Deutschland—were sent to the Mediterranean Sea in response to the murder of the German consul in Salonika in the Ottoman Empire. The German ships were joined by French, Russian, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian warships in an international demonstration condemning the murder. The Germans returned home in August and, after arriving in September, were laid up for the winter. The squadron went to the Mediterranean again in 1877, though this time it included Friedrich Carl, Kaiser, Deutschland, and the turret ship Preussen, along with the aviso Falke. During the cruise, the ships visited various ports in the Aegean Sea and along the Levant. Friedrich Carl remained laid up for the 1878 training cruise that saw the loss of the brand-new ironclad Grosser Kurfürst in an accidental collision with Kaiser. She returned to service in May 1879, serving as the flagship of the training squadron, which also included Kronprinz, Preussen, and Friedrich der Grosse. The ship remained in service through 1883; later that year, the training cycle concluded with a large-scale simulated attack on Kiel, with Friedrich Carl and the other ironclads acting as an "eastern" opponent. The defenders, led by the corvettes Luise and Blücher, were judged to have been victorious. The armored fleet operated entirely under steam power that year, the first time it did so.
In 1885, Friedrich Carl had torpedo nets installed; these remained on the ship until 1897. During the 1885 refit, she also received new boilers and a modified funnel that had a second uptake installed. The battery of six 37 mm Hotchkiss guns and five torpedo tubes were also fitted during this modernization. The ship took part in the 1885 maneuvers with the armored corvettes Bayern and Hansa. In 1887, she was present for the ceremonies marking the beginning of construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which was to link the Kiel with the North Sea. In 1895, the ship was disarmed; she was placed into service as a torpedo test ship on 11 August of that year. She served in this capacity until 21 January 1902, when she was renamed Neptun and used as a harbor ship. Her name was then freed to be reused on the new armored cruiser Friedrich Carl, which was launched on 22 June 1902. Neptun was formally stricken from the naval register on 22 June 1905 and sold to a Dutch ship-breaking firm in March 1906 for 284,000 gold marks. The ship was then towed to the Netherlands and broken up for scrap. |
69,172,178 | Smokin out the Window | 1,164,980,291 | null | [
"2021 singles",
"2021 songs",
"Aftermath Entertainment singles",
"Anderson .Paak songs",
"Atlantic Records singles",
"Bruno Mars songs",
"Silk Sonic songs",
"Songs written by Anderson .Paak",
"Songs written by Bruno Mars",
"Songs written by D'Mile"
]
| "Smokin out the Window" is a song by American superduo Silk Sonic, which consists of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. It was released on November 5, 2021, by Aftermath Entertainment and Atlantic Records as the third single from their debut studio album An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021). The song was written by the artists alongside Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II, who produced it with Mars. An R&B and soul song, it was inspired by music from the 1970s. The lyrics are humorous and describe the narrator's heart being broken by an unfaithful lover.
Music critics gave "Smokin out the Window" mixed reviews; some critics praised the duo's delivery while others criticized the song's "playful" lyrics. "Smokin out the Window" reached the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and was certified twice-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore, and was certified platinum by Music Canada (MC).
The accompanying music video was directed by Mars and John Esparza, and was released along with the song. The video depicts Silk Sonic performing the song on "an old-school TV set"; at one point, .Paak pretends to "drop dead mid-performance". It won Video of the Year at the BET Awards 2022 and Video of the Year at the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards, whilst being nominated for Best Dance Performance. To promote "Smokin out the Window", Silk Sonic performed it at the American Music Awards of 2021 and 2021 Soul Train Music Awards, attracting praise for the duo vocal's ability and comparisons to a 1970s Soul Train telecast. They also performed the song during their concert residency An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022).
## Background
American singers Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak met in 2017 while touring together on the European leg of Mars's 24K Magic World Tour (2017–18). Mars and .Paak were in a studio working with Nile Rodgers and Guy Lawrence of Disclosure. The studio session, which took place after spending a week together, had no intent besides the duo's mutual appreciation and affection. During the tour, one of them began saying the phrase "Smoking out the Window"; they created an amusing, "stressed-out" man who smokes cigarettes as he tries to find his way out of "anxious" situations. According to Mars, the song "was an idea we started four or five years ago on tour. It didn't sound nothing like it does now, but we just had the 'Smokin Out the Window' idea". Once the tour ended, recording sessions were put on hold.
In February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mars was listening to their recordings, which "hit the right chord" so he asked .Paak to join him in the studio. Mars said "Yo, I want to finish that song", to which .Paak replied "I'm drunk! What do you mean? Come on!". Despite being drunk, .Paak met Mars at the studio. During the song-making session .Paak said: "I'm the king of R&B! Tell me I ain't the hottest in the game!" When they started to write the song, a competitive, friendly spirit emerged as they tried to improve on the work. Once they finished the song .Paak said; "I'm out, what we doing tomorrow?" According to Mars, it was the first song he and .Paak wrote together.
## Production and release
"Smokin out the Window" was written by Mars, .Paak and Dernst Emile II. The track was produced by Mars and D'Mile; Mars played guitar and was in charge of percussion, while D'Mile played bass and piano. Vocals by Bootsy Collins were recorded by Tobe Donohue at Rehab Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Homer Steinweiss played drums while Ella Feingold played vibraphone. In the horn section, Kameron Whalum played trombone, Marc Franklin played trumpet, Kirk Smothers played alto and bari saxophone, and Lannie McMillan played tenor saxophone. The horns were recorded by Boo Mitchell at Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The drums were recorded by Jens Jungkurth at The Legendary Diamond Mine, Long Island City, New York. Blake Espy, Emma Kummrow and Christopher Jusell played violin with Natasha Colkett, Tess Varley and Luigi Mazzocchi. Jonathan Kim and Yoshihiko Nakano played viola and Glenn Fischbach played cello. Larry Gold arranged and conducted strings at Milkboy Studios, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Jeff Chestek recorded the strings. Charles Moniz, with engineering assistant Alex Resoagli, engineered and recorded the song at Shampoo Press & Curl Studios. Serban Ghenea mixed "Smokin out the Window" at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach; John Hanes served as the mix engineer and Bryce Bordone as mixing assistant. The track was mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound, NYC.
On November 5, 2021, Silk Sonic released "Smokin out the Window", under Aftermath Entertainment and Atlantic Records, as the third single from An Evening with Silk Sonic in several countries via digital download and streaming services. On the same date, Warner Music Group issued the track for radio airplay in Italy. On November 8, 2021, Atlantic Records sent the track to American adult contemporary, hot adult contemporary and modern adult contemporary radio stations, and a day later to US contemporary hit radio. On January 28, 2022, a CD single with the original version of the song was released in several countries.
## Composition
"Smokin out the Window" is a R&B, soul. It has been described as a "buttery ballad", a "requisite breakup song" and "smooth". Jacob Uitti writing for American Songwriter said the song draws inspiration from the 1970s sound and that Silk Sonic sing "about the realization that a lover is not being faithful and has many other men on the side". The lyrics are about a man who has pampered a woman too much, and she is using the man and having relationships with other men. Paak croons as he recalls a former lover, singing "Just the other night she was gripping on me tight, screaming 'Hercules!'", and "drawing out the melody over a weighty bassline".
Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone noted the song's "deceptively" title because it tells the story of a "stressed-out boyfriend" complaining about his girlfriend's "badass kids" and "a jam with her ex-man in the UFC". Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt said "Even Casanovas get the blues, though; "Smoking Out the Window" pines prettily for a girl who can't stop stepping out." According to Wongo Okon writing for Uproxx, Silk Sonic show their "spite towards a former lover that walked out of them" [sic], and the single "finds Bruno and .Paak venting about their former lovers' actions". Jon Pareles of The New York Times said the song is "bitter but still lovelorn song about a gold-digger ex". Erika Marie from HotNewHipHop said Silk Sonic are "dealing with women whose demands are stressing them out".
Ross Scarano from Pitchfork described the song as a "heartbroken lament". Billboard's Jason Lipshutz called it "an amiable slow jam with a slightly higher spring in its step than "Leave the Door Open". Elijah Watson of Okayplayer found similarities between "Smokin out the Window" and "Leave the Door Open" due to its "steady and downtempo groove". Watson said the track details an ended relationship, and finds Mars and .Paak "heartbroken and hurt"; Watson also said the song sounds sad but most of the lyrics are funny, and the "scenarios the pair's lovers have put them in leav[e] them stressed out".
## Critical reception
"Smokin out the Window" was met with mixed reviews from most music critics. Regina Cho writing for Revolt praised the duo, who she said "bounce off of each other's energy perfectly as soon as the opening drums hit". Dolan stated the track shows a "lovingly winking post-hip-hop playfulness". Devon Jefferson of HipHopDX found the song to be Silk Sonic's "new groove". In a mixed review, Lipshutz complemented Silk Sonic's "smooth move" with "Smokin Out The Window" and stated despite their new songs enhancing Mars's and .Paak's "solid-gold impulses, their chemistry now sounds like a foregone conclusion". Paste's Candace McDuffie criticized the song's "playful lyricism that borders on parody" but said Silk Sonic "hyperbolic" delivery saves the track. In a negative review, Hot Press's Pat Carty said the single "has its tongue so firmly in its cheek, it's poking clean through" and labeled it "as groovy as a country lane". Scarano did not enjoy the track, saying "this is a cartoon revival of a well-worn aesthetic".
### Accolades
Billboard magazine listed "Smokin out the Window" as one of the year's best songs and placed at number 63 on its list of the "100 Best Songs of 2021". Rania Aniftos wrote; "the success of 'Smokin out the Window' can be attributed to the fact that Silk Sonic can make calling a woman 'this b—h' weirdly attractive". Vibe's staff placed "Smokin out the Window" among "picks for the songs you should check out" on November 5, 2021, and Mya Abraham describing it as a "hilarious jam ... and it's just perfect. The song is a hoot". The song was also included on Under the Radar's Songs of the Week on November 5, 2021; Redfern said; "Smoking Out the Window is another winning and smooth retro '70s soul cut featuring amusing lyrics". "Smokin out the Window" received a nomination for Favorite R&B Song at the American Music Awards of 2022. At the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards, the single was nominated for R&B Song of the Year.
## Commercial performance
"Smokin out the Window" debuted at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 21 million streams, 5.9 million radio impressions and 9,300 downloads on its first tracking week. The following week, the single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 with 23.8 million streams and 13.7 million in airplay audience. The song debuted at its peak of number two on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and eventually topped the Rhythmic chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it twice-platinum. "Smokin out the Window" peaked at number 10 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, having charted at number 23 on November 29, 2021. Music Canada (MC) certified it platinum.
In Israel, "Smokin out the Window" peaked at number five on the week of December 19, 2021. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, the song debuted at number ten on November 15, 2021, and peaked at number four the following week. Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) certified it gold. In Australia, the song charted at number 34 on November 21, 2011 and peaked at number eight on the ARIA Singles Chart the next week. The single peaked at number 11 in Denmark and Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. The track debuted at number 53 on the Portuguese Singles Chart and peaked at number 15. "Smokin out the Window" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Global 200.
## Music video
On November 1, 2021, Silk Sonic teased their fans by tweeting a muted clip of a music video showing Silk Sonic driving as they sing vocals while smoking and eating pizza. However, the clip lip-synced the second chorus of the song. The official music video for "Smokin out the Window" was released alongside the song on November 5, 2021, and was directed by Mars and John Esparza.
In the retro 70's retro "stylized like a vintage television performance" music video, the duo is wearing wide "old-school" lapel tuxedo jackets. They perform a choreography on an old-school TV set, in which the stage is decorated with large light-up stars, alongside backup singers and a band. During their performance .Paak and Mars are singing and smoking cigarettes. At one point, the former pretends to "drop dead mid-performance".
Cho praised the duo saying they showcased their "performance skills". Watson affirmed the duo looks "incredibly dapper". The music video for "Smokin out the Window" won Video of the Year at the BET Awards 2022, in a tie with Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar's "Family Ties" (2021). At the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards, the clip won Video of the Year, whilst being nominated for Best Dance Performance.
## Live performances and other uses
On November 21, 2021, Silk Sonic performed "Smokin out the Window" live for the first time as the opening act of the American Music Awards of 2021. Silk Sonic wore velvet red-suits and sunglasses, and their live band included "backing vocalists, a trumpet player, and saxophonist". The act, which drew inspiration from the 1970s, included "retro dance moves, glowing stage lights, big sunglasses" and "the hints of chest hair". David Renshaw, writing for The Fader, considered Sonic's act one of the best of the show because they opened the ceremony "in smooth fashion". Curto said Silk Sonic's performance was one of the highlights of the ceremony; he complemented the duo's "vocal runs" and their "silky smoothness". Billboard's Carl Lamarre praised the duo's "velvety smooth vocal" and "shifty footwork". ET Canada wrote Silk Sonic demonstrated "swagger and flawless vocals", and "set the bar high for the rest of tonight's performers". Ryan Reed from Rolling Stone called the performance "ultra-smooth".
A week later, Silk Sonic opened the 2021 Soul Train Music Awards at Apollo Theater in New York with two pre-recorded performances: "Fly as Me" and the show-closer "Smokin out the Window". The duo decided to pay "homage to Soul Train's height" and performed "Smokin out the Window " with the "iconic Soul Train backdrop", restating "the set of the old TV show". Silk Sonic wore "white blazers, white shirts and black slacks" as they performed alongside their live band. Vulture's Bethy Squires found the set to be "lovingly redone" and called it "gorgeous". Prezzy Brown Vibe found the duo were "controlling the crowd and taking ownership of the stage". Debbie Carr writing for NME dubbed their act "grin-inducing" and "vintage-influenced". Mars and .Paak also performed "Smokin out the Window" during their concert residency An Evening With Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022).
## Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of An Evening with Silk Sonic.
- Bruno Mars – vocals, songwriting, production, guitar, percussion
- Anderson .Paak – vocals, songwriting
- Bootsy Collins – vocals
- D'Mile – songwriting, production, bass, piano
- Homer Steinweiss – drums
- Ella Feingold – vibraphone
- Kameron Whalum – trombone
- Marc Franklin – trumpet
- Kirk Smothers – alto, bari sax
- Lannie McMillan – tenor sax
- Larry Gold – strings conduction, arrangement
- Emma Kummrow – violin
- Luigi Mazzocchi – violin
- Blake Espy – violin
- Christopher Jusell – violin
- Tess Varley – violin
- Natasha Colkett – violin
- Jonathan Kim – viola
- Yoshihiko Nakano – viola
- Glenn Fischbach – cello
- Boo Mitchell – horns recording
- Tobe Donohue – vocal recording of Bootsy Collins
- Jens Jungkurth – drums recording
- Jeff Chestek – strings recording
- Charles Moniz – recording, engineering
- Alex Resoagli – engineering assistant
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- John Hanes – mixing engineering
- Bryce Bordone – mixing assistant
- Randy Merrill – mastering
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history |
1,600,769 | Tonight, Tonight (The Smashing Pumpkins song) | 1,166,127,368 | 1996 single by the Smashing Pumpkins | [
"1995 songs",
"1996 singles",
"Georges Méliès",
"Hut Records singles",
"MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction",
"MTV Video of the Year Award",
"Music videos directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris",
"Number-one singles in Iceland",
"Song recordings produced by Alan Moulder",
"Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan",
"Song recordings produced by Flood (producer)",
"Songs written by Billy Corgan",
"The Smashing Pumpkins songs"
]
| "Tonight, Tonight" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, written by the band's frontman, Billy Corgan. It was the fourth single and second track on the their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was released in May 1996 in Europe. "Tonight, Tonight" was critically acclaimed and commercially well-received upon its release, reaching number one in Iceland, number two in New Zealand, number seven in the United Kingdom and number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The music video accompanying the song was also successful and won several awards.
A shorter acoustic version of the song, "Tonite Reprise", was included as a B-side to the single and on the triple LP version of Mellon Collie. This single also later appeared in an extended form on the box set The Aeroplane Flies High. Additionally, the song appears on the band's greatest hits release, Rotten Apples. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) used the song in their closing montage for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs and ITV used the song in their montage for the 2012 Euros.
## Song history
Billy Corgan began writing for the follow-up to Siamese Dream after the tour in support of that album; however, the recording of "Tonight, Tonight" first began while the Pumpkins were still on the Siamese Dream tour when Corgan booked the band into a local Chicago studio to record all of their song ideas on tape.
On The Howard Stern Show, Corgan has said that the song pays homage to Cheap Trick, with its black humoresque lyrics and theme, and that the song is addressed to himself, who escaped from an abusive childhood against all odds, so as to keep him believing in himself.
## Composition and lyrics
"Tonight, Tonight" is written in the key of G, performed on instruments tuned down a half-step so the actual pitch is G/F \#. In the original recording sessions, "Tonight, Tonight" was initially written in the key of C instead of G. However, since Corgan was unable to sing the song in C, he wrote a version during the Mellon Collie recording sessions to suit his range. The strings for the song were arranged by Billy Corgan and Audrey Riley, and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Corgan said that recording with a 30-piece string-section for the song "was probably one of the most exciting recording experiences I have ever had."
Lyrically, "Tonight, Tonight" hangs together with the rest of the Mellon Collie. The lyrics of the song have been compared to Robert Herrick's poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time".
## Reception
"Tonight, Tonight" was met with critical acclaim. AllMusic reviewer Amy Hanson stated that the song "packs an emotional punch". Jim Alexander of NME regarded the song as "swirling [and] grand". Music Week rated it four out of five, adding, "A powerful vocals-led single with ferocious driving guitars. Their most commercial release to date which should gain a high chart placing." Time'''s reviewer Christopher John Farley called the song "an expansive rock anthem, complete with soaring guitars and a 30-piece string section." Entertainment Weeklys reviewer David Browne praised the use of strings in the song, saying that it was "whipped into a frenzy by hurricane-like strings". On Mellon Collie's entry in Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, "Tonight, Tonight" was praised as "the Pumpkins at their finest".
While "Tonight, Tonight" never approached the chart success of "1979", it was among the most successful singles from Mellon Collie. Its highest position on any national chart was a number two peak on the New Zealand Singles Chart. Its highest position in the United States was at number four on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks. It also achieved number five on the Modern Rock Tracks and number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also charted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number 21 on the Australian Singles Chart on June 9, 1996. It placed at 50th in a list of best rock songs of all time broadcast by Kerrang! TV.
## Music video
The music video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, starred Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, a married couple who were, at the time, cast members on the sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David and would later gain international fame for their voicework on SpongeBob SquarePants. The original idea for the music video was for a Busby Berkeley-style video, complete with "people diving into champagne glasses". The band was set to begin production on the video when they discovered that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had done a similarly styled video for their song "Aeroplane", which was almost identical to what they had wanted to do. The second idea for the video was that as the band played on a surreal stage, the camera would go into audience members' eyes and the viewer would see that person's vision of the song. The third and final concept, inspired by Georges Méliès's silent film A Trip to the Moon, came from directors Dayton and Faris, whose inspiration for the video came from the album cover for Mellon Collie, which reminded them of early silent films. Hence, the video was filmed much like a turn-of-the-century silent film using theater-style backdrops and primitive special effects, with most of the backdrops and puppetwork created by artist Wayne White.
Dayton and the production crew initially had problems locating costumes for the video because the movie Titanic was being shot at the same time in Los Angeles. Titanic director James Cameron rented nearly every turn-of-the-century prop and costume in the city, leaving the "Tonight, Tonight" production crew little to work with. Dayton and Faris compromised by renting the leftover costumes and hiring designers to remake them into the elaborate period clothing seen in the video, which took three days to shoot.
The video, which debuted in May 1996, begins with a group of people celebrating the launch of a zeppelin to the moon. Kenny's character kisses Talley's character's hand as the two enter the zeppelin, which was being held to the ground by people dressed as sailors using rope. The zeppelin approaches the Moon, which has a face like the Moon's face in A Trip to the Moon. Shots of the band performing in similar, turn-of-the-century attire using older, acoustic instruments are interspersed. The two characters jump off the zeppelin and land onto the Moon's surface, slowing their descent using umbrellas. Suddenly, several hostile humanoid aliens appear, surrounding the couple. Kenny's character gets ready to defend them, but Talley's character intervenes and hits a few creatures with her umbrella, which vaporizes them, but the two are trapped and tied. The two form a plan, and then break free of the ropes and attack the aliens with their umbrellas. The couple escapes on a rocket similar to the one in A Trip to the Moon and land in the sea, where a merman resembling the sea-god Poseidon puts on a performance for them, including an octopus, singing mermaids, and starfish, before sending them back to the surface in a bubble. In the end, the ship "S.S. Méliès", named after the movie director, rescues the couple.
In addition to being heavily aired on MTV, the video received positive reviews and won several awards. Corgan remarked that "I don't think we've ever had people react [like this]...it just seemed to touch a nerve." It won six awards at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards: Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction in a Video (Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris), Best Special Effects in a Video (Special Effects: Chris Staves), Best Art Direction in a Video (Art Director: K. K. Barrett and Wayne White) and Best Cinematography in a Video (Director of Photography: Declan Quinn). "Tonight, Tonight" was nominated for Best Editing in a Video (Editor: Eric Zumbrunnen) and Viewer's Choice, and was also nominated for Best Music Video, Short Form at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards. It is still considered one of the greatest music videos of all time, ranking number 40 on Stylus Magazine's list of the top 100 music videos of all time.
Though regular 6-string acoustic guitars and electric bass guitar was used in the original studio recording of the song, in the music video, befitting the turn-of-the-century theme, some interesting instruments were used as 'props'; James Iha can be seen using a Gibson harp guitar and D'arcy Wretzky is seen playing an instrument that resembles the 1924 Gibson mandobass.
## Single track listings
The Tonight, Tonight single was released with two different versions containing different b-sides, one as a standard single and the other as a CD included in the singles box set, The Aeroplane Flies High. All songs written by Billy Corgan.
- US single release
1. "Tonight, Tonight" – 4:15
2. "Meladori Magpie" – 2:41
3. "Rotten Apples" – 3:02
4. "Medellia of the Gray Skies" – 3:11
- The Aeroplane Flies High track listing'
1. "Tonight, Tonight" – 4:15
2. "Meladori Magpie" – 2:41
3. "Rotten Apples" – 3:02
4. "Jupiter's Lament" – 2:30
5. "Medellia of the Gray Skies" – 3:11
6. "Blank" – 2:54
7. "Tonite Reprise" – 2:40
## Personnel
- Billy Corgan – vocals, guitar, producer, artwork
- James Iha – guitar on "Tonight, Tonight" and "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
- D'arcy Wretzky – bass on "Tonight, Tonight" and "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
- Jimmy Chamberlin – drums on "Tonight, Tonight"
- Dennis and Jimmy Flemion – instrumentation on "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
- Jeff Moleski – engineer
- Flood – producer of "Tonight, Tonight"
- Alan Moulder – producer of "Tonight, Tonight"
- Howie Weinberg – mastering
- Gustav Alsina – set design
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history
## Cover versions
"Tonight, Tonight" has been covered by electropop band Passion Pit, whose version was featured on Levi's Pioneer Sessions 2010 Revival Recordings and was also featured during the season 1, episode 3 of MTV's Teen Wolf (Pack Mentality.); Their cover plays near the end of the movie 10 Years. Panic! at the Disco, as a live recording, wherein they replaced the lyrics "The place where you were born" with "The place where Jon Walker [former Panic! at the Disco bassist] was born", and The Voice U.S'' contestant Katrina Parker, who covered this song on the show's first live round. Pop punk band Real Friends have also covered the song, releasing their version in 2021 as one of their first songs with singer Cody Muraro. |
8,716,691 | George Washington in the American Revolution | 1,170,510,217 | Overview of George Washington's position in the American Revolution | [
"American Revolutionary War",
"George Washington",
"Military careers by individual"
]
| George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After serving as President of the United States (1789 to 1797), he briefly was in charge of a new army in 1798.
Washington, despite his youth, played a major role in the frontier wars against the French and Indians in the 1750s and 1760s. He played the leading military role in the American Revolutionary War. When the war broke out with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Congress appointed him the first commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army on June 14. The task he took on was enormous, balancing regional demands, competition among his subordinates, morale among the rank and file, attempts by Congress to manage the army's affairs too closely, requests by state governors for support, and an endless need for resources with which to feed, clothe, equip, arm, and move the troops. He was not usually in command of the many state militia units.
In the early years of the war Washington was often in the middle of the action, first directing the siege of Boston to its successful conclusion, but then losing New York City and almost losing New Jersey before winning surprising and decisive victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of the 1776 campaign season. At the end of the year in both 1775 and 1776, he had to deal with expiring enlistments, since the Congress had only authorized the army's existence for single years. With the 1777 establishment of a more permanent army structure and the introduction of three-year enlistments, Washington built a reliable cohort of experienced troops, although hard currency and supplies of all types were difficult to come by. In 1777 Washington was again defeated in the defense of Philadelphia, but sent critical support to Horatio Gates that made the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga possible. Following a difficult winter at Valley Forge and the entry of France into the war in 1778, Washington followed the British army as it withdrew from Philadelphia back to New York, and fought an ultimately inconclusive battle at Monmouth Court House in New Jersey.
Washington's activities from late 1778 to 1780 were more diplomatic and organizational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Major General Henry Clinton's army that occupied the city. Washington strategized with the French on how best to cooperate in actions against the British, leading to ultimately unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the British from Newport, Rhode Island, and Savannah, Georgia. His attention was also drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York. When Major General Clinton sent the turncoat Brigadier General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, Washington began to detach elements of his army to face the growing threat there. The arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. Washington's army and the French army moved south to face Cornwallis, and a cooperative French navy under Admiral de Grasse successfully disrupted British attempts to control of the Chesapeake Bay, completing the entrapment of Cornwallis, who surrendered after the siege of Yorktown in October 1781. Although Yorktown marked the end of significant hostilities in North America, the British still occupied New York and other cities, so Washington had to maintain the army in the face of a bankrupt Congress and troops that were at times mutinous over conditions and pay. The army was formally disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23, 1783.
## Military experience
Born into a well-to-do Virginia family near Fredericksburg in , Washington was schooled locally until the age of 15. The early death of his father when he was 11 eliminated the possibility of schooling in England, and his mother rejected attempts to place him in the Royal Navy. Thanks to the connection by marriage of his half-brother Lawrence to the wealthy Fairfax family, Washington was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County in 1749; he was just 17 years old. Washington's brother had purchased an interest in the Ohio Company, a land acquisition and settlement company whose objective was the settlement of Virginia's frontier areas, including the Ohio Country, territory north and west of the Ohio River. Its investors also included Virginia's Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington a major in the provincial militia in February 1753.
Washington played a key role in the outbreak of the French and Indian War, and then led the defense of Virginia between 1755 and 1758 as colonel of the Virginia Regiment. Although Washington never received a commission in the British Army, he gained valuable military, political, and leadership skills, and received significant public exposure in the colonies and abroad. He closely observed British military tactics, gaining a keen insight into their strengths and weaknesses that proved invaluable during the Revolution. He demonstrated his toughness and courage in the most difficult situations, including disasters and retreats. He developed a command presence—given his size, strength, stamina, and bravery in battle, he appeared to soldiers to be a natural leader and they followed him without question. Washington learned to organize, train, and drill, and discipline his companies and regiments. From his observations, readings and conversations with professional officers, he learned the basics of battlefield tactics, as well as a good understanding of problems of organization and logistics.
He gained an understanding of overall strategy, especially in locating strategic geographical points. He developed a very negative idea of the value of militia, who seemed too unreliable, too undisciplined, and too short-term compared to regulars. On the other hand, his experience was limited to command of at most 1,000 men, and came only in remote frontier conditions that were far removed from the urban situations he faced during the Revolution at Boston, New York, Trenton and Philadelphia.
## Political resistance
In December 1758 Washington resigned his military commission, and spent the next 16 years as a wealthy Virginia plantation owner; as such he also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Although he expressed opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the colonies, he did not take a leading role in the growing colonial resistance until protests of the Townshend Acts (enacted in 1767) became widespread. In May 1769, Washington introduced a proposal, drafted by his friend George Mason, calling for Virginia to boycott British goods until the Acts were repealed. Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770, and, for Washington at least, the crisis had passed. However, Washington regarded the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 as "an Invasion of our Rights and Privileges". In July 1774, he chaired the meeting at which the "Fairfax Resolves" were adopted, which called for, among other things, the convening of a Continental Congress. In August, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress. As tensions rose in 1774, he assisted in the training of county militias in Virginia and organized enforcement of the boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.
## Major roles
General Washington, the Commander in Chief, assumed five main roles during the war.
- First, he designed the overall strategy of the war, in cooperation with Congress. The goal was always independence. When France entered the war, he worked closely with the soldiers it sent—they were decisive in the great victory at Yorktown in 1781.
- Second, he provided leadership of troops against the main British forces in 1775–1777 and again in 1781. He lost many of his battles, but he never surrendered his army during the war, and he continued to fight the British relentlessly until the war's end. Washington worked hard to develop a successful espionage system to detect British locations and plans. In 1778, he formed the Culper Ring to spy on enemy movements in New York City. In 1780 it discovered Benedict Arnold was a traitor. The British intelligence system was completely fooled in 1781, unaware that Washington and the French armies were moving from the Northeast to Yorktown, Virginia.
- Third, he was charged selecting and guiding the generals. In June 1776, Congress made its first attempt at running the war effort with the committee known as "Board of War and Ordnance", succeeded by the Board of War in July 1777, a committee which eventually included members of the military. The command structure of the armed forces was a hodgepodge of Congressional appointees (and Congress sometimes made those appointments without Washington's input) with state-appointments filling the lower ranks. The results of his general staff were mixed, as some of his favorites never mastered the art of command, such as John Sullivan. Eventually, he found capable officers such as Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, Henry Knox (chief of artillery), and Alexander Hamilton (chief of staff). The American officers never equaled their opponents in tactics and maneuver, and they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes at Boston (1776), Saratoga (1777), and Yorktown (1781) came from trapping the British far from base with much larger numbers of troops.
- Fourth, he took charge of training the army and providing supplies, from food to gunpowder to tents. He recruited regulars and assigned Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff, to train them, who transformed Washington's army into a disciplined and effective force. The war effort and getting supplies to the troops were under the purview of Congress, but Washington pressured the Congress to provide the essentials. There was never nearly enough.
- Washington's fifth and most important role in the war effort was the embodiment of armed resistance to the Crown, serving as the representative man of the Revolution. His long-term strategy was to maintain an army in the field at all times, and eventually this strategy worked. His enormous personal and political stature and his political skills kept Congress, the army, the French, the militias, and the states all pointed toward a common goal. Furthermore, he permanently established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs by voluntarily resigning his commission and disbanding his army when the war was won, rather than declaring himself monarch. He also helped to overcome the distrust of a standing army by his constant reiteration that well-disciplined professional soldiers counted for twice as much as poorly trained and led militias.
### Intelligence
George Washington was a skilled manager of intelligence. He utilized agents behind enemy lines, recruited both Tory and Patriot sources, interrogated travelers for intelligence information, and launched scores of agents on both intelligence and counterintelligence missions. He was adept at deception operations and tradecraft and was a skilled propagandist. He also practiced sound operational security. His main failure was missing all the signals in 1780 that Benedict Arnold was increasingly disaffected and had Loyalist connections.
As an intelligence manager, Washington insisted that the terms of an agent's employment and his instructions be precise and in writing. He emphasized his desire for receiving written, rather than verbal, reports. He demanded repeatedly that intelligence reports be expedited, reminding his officers of those bits of intelligence he had received which had become valueless because of delay in getting them to him. He also recognized the need for developing many different sources so that their reports could be cross-checked, and so that the compromise of one source would not cut off the flow of intelligence from an important area.
Washington sought and obtained a "secret service fund" from the Continental Congress. He strongly wanted gold or silver. In accounting for the sums in his journals, he did not identify the recipients: "The names of persons who are employed within the Enemy's lines or who may fall within their power cannot be inserted." He instructed his generals to "leave no stone unturned, nor do not stick to expense" in gathering intelligence, and urged that those employed for intelligence purposes be those "upon whose firmness and fidelity we may safely rely."
## Boston
After the Battles of Lexington and Concord near Boston in April 1775, the colonies went to war. Washington appeared at the Second Continental Congress in a military uniform, signaling that he was prepared for war. Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, and discussed who should lead it. Washington had the prestige, military experience, charisma and military bearing of a military leader and was known as a strong patriot; he was also popular in his home province. There was no other serious competition for the post, although Washington did nothing to actively pursue the appointment. Massachusetts delegate John Adams nominated Washington, believing that appointing a southerner to lead what was then primarily an army of northerners would help unite the colonies. Washington reluctantly accepted, declaring "with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the Command I [am] honored with."
Washington assumed command of the colonial forces outside Boston on July 3, 1775, during the ongoing siege of Boston, after stopping in New York City to begin organizing military companies for its defense. His first steps were to establish procedures and to weld what had begun as militia regiments into an effective fighting force. He was assisted in this effort by his adjutant, Brigadier General Horatio Gates, and Major General Charles Lee, both of whom had significant experience serving in the British Army.
When inventory returns exposed a dangerous shortage of gunpowder, Washington asked for new sources. British arsenals were raided (including some in the West Indies) and some manufacturing was attempted; a barely adequate supply (about 2.5 million pounds) was obtained by the end of 1776, mostly from France. In search of heavy weapons, he sent Henry Knox on an expedition to Fort Ticonderoga to retrieve cannons that had been captured there. He resisted repeated calls from Congress to launch attacks against the British in Boston, calling war councils that supported the decisions against such action. Before the Continental Navy was established in November 1775, Washington, without Congressional authorization, began arming a "secret navy" to prey on poorly protected British transports and supply ships. When Congress authorized an invasion of Quebec, believing that province's people would also rise against British military control, Washington reluctantly went along with it, even authorizing Benedict Arnold to lead a force from Cambridge to Quebec City through the wilderness of present-day Maine.
As the siege dragged on, the matter of expiring enlistments became a matter of serious concern. Washington tried to convince Congress that enlistments longer than one year were necessary to build an effective fighting force, but he was rebuffed in this effort. The 1776 establishment of the Continental Army only had enlistment terms of one year, a matter that would again be a problem in late 1776.
Washington finally forced the British to withdraw from Boston by putting Henry Knox's artillery on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city, and preparing in detail to attack the city from Cambridge if the British tried to assault the position. The British evacuated Boston and sailed away, although Washington did not know they were headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Believing they were headed for New York City (which was indeed Major General William Howe's eventual destination), Washington rushed most of the army there.
## New York and New Jersey Campaign
Washington's success in Boston was not repeated in New York. Congress insisted that he defend it and recognizing the city's importance as a naval base and gateway to the Hudson River, Washington delegated the task of fortifying New York to Charles Lee in February 1776. The faltering military campaign in Quebec also led to calls for additional troops there, and Washington detached six regiments northward under John Sullivan in April. The wider theaters of war had also introduced regional frictions into the army. Somewhat surprised that regional differences would be a problem, on August 1 he read a speech to the army, in which he threatened to punish "any officers or soldiers so lost to virtue and a love of their country" that might exacerbate the regional differences. The mixing of forces from different regions also brought more widespread camp diseases, especially dysentery and smallpox.
Washington had to deal with his first major command controversy while in New York, which was partially a product of regional friction. New England troops serving in northern New York under General Philip Schuyler, a scion of an old patroon family of New York, objected to his aristocratic style, and their Congressional representatives lobbied Washington to replace Schuyler with General Gates. Washington tried to resolve the issue by giving Gates command of the forces in Quebec, but the collapse of the Quebec expedition brought renewed complaints. Despite Gates' experience, Washington personally preferred Schuyler. To avoid a potentially messy situation, General Washington gave Schuyler overall command of the northern department, but assigned Gates as second in command with combat authority. The episode exposed Washington to Gates' desire for advancement, possibly at his expense, and to the latter's influence in Congress.
### Loss of New York City
General Howe's army, reinforced by thousands of additional troops from Europe and a fleet under the command of his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, began arriving the entrance of New York Harbor (at the Narrows), in early July, and made an unopposed landing on Staten Island. Without intelligence about Howe's intentions, Washington was forced to divide his still poorly trained forces, principally between Manhattan and Long Island. The Howes, who were politically ambivalent about the conflict, had been authorized to act as peace commissioners, and attempted to establish contact with Washington. However, they refused to address their letters to "General George Washington", and his representatives refused to accept them.
In August, the British finally launched their campaign to capture New York City. They first landed on Long Island in force, and flanked Washington's forward positions in the Battle of Long Island. Major General Howe refused to act on a significant tactical advantage that could have resulted in the capture of the remaining Continental troops on Long Island, but he chose instead to besiege the fortified positions to which they had retreated. Although Washington has been criticized by many historians for sending additional troops to reinforce the redoubts on Long Island, it was clear to both Washington and the Howes that the Americans had successfully blocked the East River against major shipping by sinking ships in the channel, and that he was consequently not risking the entrapment of additional men. In the face of a siege he seemed certain to lose, Washington then decided to withdraw. In what some historians call one of his greatest military feats, he executed a nighttime withdrawal from Long Island across the East River to Manhattan to save those troops and materiel.
The Howe brothers then paused to consolidate their position, and the admiral engaged in a fruitless peace conference with Congressional representatives on September 11. Four days later the British landed on Manhattan, a bombardment from the river scattering inexperienced militia into a panicked retreat, and forcing Washington to retreat further. After Washington stopped the British advance up Manhattan at Harlem Heights on September 16, Howe again made a flanking maneuver, landing troops at Pell's Point in a bid to cut off Washington's avenue of retreat. To defend against this move, Washington withdrew most of his army to White Plains, where after a short battle on October 28 he retreated further north. This isolated the remaining Continental Army troops in upper Manhattan, so Howe returned to Manhattan and captured Fort Washington in mid November, taking almost 3,000 prisoners. Four days later, Fort Lee, across the Hudson River from Fort Washington, was also taken. Washington brought much of his army across the Hudson into New Jersey, but was immediately forced to retreat by the aggressive British advance.
During the campaign a general lack of organization, shortages of supplies, fatigue, sickness, and above all, lack of confidence in the American leadership resulted in a melting away of untrained regulars and frightened militia. Washington grumbled, "The honor of making a brave defense does not seem to be sufficient stimulus, when the success is very doubtful, and the falling into the Enemy's hands probable." Washington was fortunate that General Howe was more focused on gaining control of New York than on destroying Washington's army. Howe's overly rigid adherence to his plans meant that he was unable to capitalize on the opportunities that arose during the campaign for a decisive action against Washington.
### Counterattack in New Jersey
After the loss of New York, Washington's army was in two pieces. One detachment remained north of New York to protect the Hudson River corridor, while Washington retreated across New Jersey into Pennsylvania, chased by Major General Charles Cornwallis. Spirits were low, popular support was wavering, and Congress had abandoned Philadelphia, fearing a British attack. Washington ordered General Gates to bring troops from Fort Ticonderoga, and also ordered General Lee's troops, which he had left north of New York City, to join him. Lee, whose relationship with Washington was at times difficult, made excuses and only traveled as far as Morristown, New Jersey. When Lee strayed too far from his army on December 12, his exposed position was betrayed by Loyalists, and a British company led by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton surrounded the inn where he was staying and took him prisoner. Lee's command was taken over by John Sullivan, who finished marching the army to Washington's camp across the river from Trenton.
The capture of Lee resulted an important point in negotiations between the sides concerning the treatment of prisoners. Since Lee had previously served in the British Army, he was treated as a deserter, and threatened with military punishments appropriate to that charge. Even though he and Lee did not get on well, Washington threatened to treat captured British officers in the same manner Lee and other high-profile prisoners were treated. This resulted in an improvement in Lee's captivity, and he was eventually exchanged for Richard Prescott in 1778.
Despite the loss of troops due to desertion and expiring enlistments, Washington was heartened by a rise in militia enlistments in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These militia companies were active in circumscribing the furthest outposts of the British, limiting their ability to scout and forage. Although Washington did not coordinate this resistance, he took advantage of it to organize an attack on an outpost of Hessians in Trenton. On the night of December 25–26, 1776, Washington led his forces across the Delaware River and surprised the Hessian garrison the following morning, capturing 1,000 men.
This action significantly boosted the army's morale, but it also brought Cornwallis out of New York. He reassembled an army of more than 6,000 men, and marched most of them against a position Washington had taken south of Trenton. Leaving a garrison of 1,200 at Princeton, Cornwallis then attacked Washington's position on January 2, 1777, and was three times repulsed before darkness set in. During the night Washington evacuated the position, masking his army's movements by instructing the camp guards to maintain the appearance of a much larger force. Washington then circled around Cornwallis's position with the intention of attacking the Princeton garrison.
On January 3, Hugh Mercer, leading the American advance guard, encountered British soldiers from Princeton under the command of Charles Mawhood. The British troops engaged Mercer and in the ensuing battle, Mercer was mortally wounded. Washington sent reinforcements under General John Cadwalader, which were successful in driving Mawhood and the British from Princeton, with many of them fleeing to Cornwallis in Trenton. The British lost more than one quarter of their force in the battle, and American morale rose with the victory.
These unexpected victories drove the British back to the New York City area, and gave a dramatic boost to Revolutionary morale. During the winter, Washington, based in winter quarters at Morristown, loosely coordinated a low-level militia war against British positions in New Jersey, combining the actions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania militia companies with careful use of Continental Army resources to harry and harass the British and German troops quartered in New Jersey.
Washington's mixed performance in the 1776 campaigns had not led to significant criticism in Congress. Before fleeing Philadelphia for Baltimore in December, Congress granted Washington powers that have ever since been described as "dictatorial". The successes in New Jersey nearly deified Washington in the eyes of some Congressmen, and the body became much more deferential to him as a result. John Adams complained of the "superstitious veneration" that Washington was receiving. Washington's performance also received international notice: Frederick the Great, one of the greatest military minds, wrote that "the achievements of Washington [at Trenton and Princeton] were the most brilliant of any recorded in the history of military achievements." The French foreign minister, a strong supporter of the American cause, renewed the delivery of French supplies.
## Philadelphia and Valley Forge
### Early maneuvers
In May 1777, uncertain whether General Howe would move north toward Albany or south toward Philadelphia, Washington moved his army to the Middlebrook encampment in New Jersey's Watchung Mountains. When Howe then moved his army southwest from New Brunswick, Washington correctly interpreted this as a move to draw him out of his strong position, and refused to move. Only after Howe apparently retreated back toward the shore did Washington follow, but Howe's attempt to separate him from his mountain defenses was foiled in the Battle of Short Hills in late June. Howe, who had already decided to campaign against Philadelphia, then withdrew from New Jersey, embarked much of his army on ships in late July, and sailed away, leaving Washington mystified as to his destination.
Washington's difficulty in discerning Howe's motives was due to the presence of a British army moving south from Quebec toward Fort Ticonderoga under the command of General John Burgoyne. Howe's departure was in part prompted by the successful capture of the fort by Burgoyne in early July. Although there had been an expectation on Burgoyne's part that Howe would support his campaign to gain control of the Hudson, Howe was to disappoint Burgoyne, with disastrous consequences to the British. When Washington learned of the abandonment of Ticonderoga (which he had been told by General Anthony Wayne "can never be carried, without much loss of blood"), he was shocked. Concerned that Howe was heading up the Hudson, he ordered three of his best officers northwards, Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Lincoln, and Daniel Morgan and his corps of riflemen. He also sent 750 men from Israel Putnam's forces north to assist General Gates with the defense of the Hudson.
Washington had had some difficulty with General Arnold in the spring. Congress had adopted a per-state scheme for the promotion of general officers, which resulted in the promotion of several officers to major general ahead of other officers with more experience or seniority. Combined with the commissioning of foreign officers to high ranks, this had led to the resignation of John Stark. Arnold, who had distinguished himself in the Canadian campaign, had also threatened to resign. Washington wrote to Congress on behalf of Arnold and other officers who were disgruntled by this promotion scheme, stating that "two or three other very good officers" might be lost because of it. Washington had also laid the seeds for conflict between Arnold and Gates when he gave Arnold command of forces in Rhode Island in late 1776; because of this move Gates came to view Arnold as a competitor for advancement, and the previously positive relationship between Gates and Arnold cooled. However, Arnold put aside his complaints when the news of Ticonderoga's fall arrived, and agreed to serve.
Congress, at the urging of its diplomatic representatives in Europe, had also issued military commissions to a number of European soldiers of fortune in early 1777. Two of those recommended by Silas Deane, the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Conway, would prove to be important in Washington's activities. Lafayette, just twenty years old, was at first told that Deane had exceeded his authority in offering him a major general's commission, but offered to volunteer in the army at his own expense. Washington and Lafayette took an instant liking to one another when they met, and Lafayette became one of Washington's most trusted generals and confidants. Conway, on the other hand, did not think highly of Washington's leadership, and proved to be a source of trouble in the 1777 campaign season and its aftermath.
### Fall of Philadelphia
When Washington learned that Howe's fleet was sailing north in Chesapeake Bay, he hurried his army south of Philadelphia to defend the city against Howe's threat. Major General Howe turned Washington's flank at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and marched unopposed into Philadelphia on September 26 after some further maneuvers. Washington's failure to defend the capital brought on a storm of criticism from Congress, which fled the city for York, and from other army officers. In part to silence his critics, Washington planned an elaborate assault on an exposed British base in Germantown. The October 4 Battle of Germantown failed in part due to the complexity of the assault, and the inexperience of the militia forces employed in it. Over 400 of Washington's men were captured, including Colonel George Mathews and the entire 9th Virginia Regiment. It did not help that Adam Stephen, leading one of the branches of the attack, was drunk, and broke from the agreed-upon plan of attack. He was court martialed and cashiered from the army. Historian Robert Leckie observes that the battle was a near thing, and that a small number of changes might have resulted in a decisive victory for Washington.
Meanwhile, Burgoyne, out of reach from help from Howe, was trapped and forced to surrender his entire army on October 17, ten days after the Battle of Bemis Heights. The victory made a hero of General Gates, who received the adulation of Congress. While this was taking place Washington presided from a distance over the loss of control of the Delaware River to the British, and marched his army to its winter quarters at Valley Forge in December. Washington chose Valley Forge, over recommendations that he camp either closer or further from Philadelphia, because it was close enough to monitor British army movements, and protected rich farmlands to the west from the enemy's foraging expeditions.
### Valley Forge
Washington's army stayed at Valley Forge for the next six months. Over the winter, 2,500 men (out of 10,000) died from disease and exposure. The army's difficulties were exacerbated by a number of factors, including a quartermaster's department that had been badly mismanaged by one of Washington's political opponents, Thomas Mifflin, and the preference of farmers and merchants to sell their goods to the British for hard currency instead of the nearly worthless Continental currency. Profiteers also sought to benefit at the army's expense, charging it 1,000 times what they charged civilians for the same goods. Congress authorized Washington to seize supplies needed for the army, but he was reluctant to use such authority, since it smacked of the tyranny the war was supposedly being fought over.
During the winter he introduced a full-scale training program supervised by Baron von Steuben, a veteran of the Prussian general staff. Despite the hardships the army suffered, this program was a remarkable success, and Washington's army emerged in the spring of 1778 a much more disciplined force.
Washington himself had to face discontent at his leadership from a variety of sources. His loss of Philadelphia prompted some members of Congress to discuss removing him from command. They were prodded along by Washington's detractors in the military, who included Generals Gates, Mifflin, and Conway. Gates in particular was viewed by Conway and Congressmen Benjamin Rush and Richard Henry Lee as a desirable replacement for Washington. Although there is no evidence of a formal conspiracy, the episode is known as the Conway Cabal because the scale of the discontent within the army was exposed by a critical letter from Conway to Gates, some of whose contents were relayed to Washington. Washington exposed the criticisms to Congress, and his supporters, within Congress and the army, rallied to support him. Gates eventually apologized for his role in the affair, and Conway resigned. Washington's position and authority were not seriously challenged again. Biographer Ron Chernow points out that Washington's handling of the episode demonstrated that he was "a consummate political infighter" who maintained his temper and dignity while his opponents schemed.
## French entry into the war
The victory at Saratoga (and to some extent Washington's near success at Germantown) were influential in convincing France to enter the war openly as an American ally. French entry into the war changed its dynamics, for the British were no longer sure of command of the seas and had to worry about an invasion of their home islands and other colonial territories across the globe. The British, now under the command of Major General Henry Clinton, evacuated Philadelphia in 1778 and returned to New York City, with Washington attacking them along the way at the Battle of Monmouth; this was the last major battle in the north. Prior to the battle Washington gave command of the advance forces to Charles Lee, who had been exchanged earlier in the year. Lee, despite firm instructions from Washington, refused Lafayette's suggestion to launch an organized attack on the British rear, and then retreated when the British turned to face him. When Washington arrived at the head of the main army, he and Lee had an angry exchange of words, and Washington ordered Lee off the command. Washington, with his army's tactics and ability to execute improved by the training programs of the previous winter, was able to recover, and fought the British to a draw. Lee was court martialed and eventually dismissed from the army.
Not long after Clinton's return to New York, a French fleet arrived off the North American coast. Washington was involved in the discussion on how to best use this force, and an attack was planned against the British outpost at Newport, Rhode Island. Despite the presence of two of Washington's most reliable subordinates, Lafayette and Greene, the attempt at cooperation was a dismal failure. British and Indian forces organized and supported by Sir Frederick Haldimand in Quebec began to raid frontier settlements in 1778, and Savannah, Georgia, was captured late in the year.
During the comparatively mild winter of 1778–1779, Washington and Congress discussed options for the 1779 campaign season. The possibility of a Franco-American campaign against Quebec, first proposed for 1778, had a number of adherents in Congress, and was actively supported by Lafayette in Washington's circle. Despite known weaknesses in Quebec's provincial defenses, Washington was adamantly opposed to the idea, citing the lack of troops and supplies with which to conduct such an operation, the nation's fragile financial state, and French imperial ambitions to recover the territory. Under pressure from Congress to answer the frontier raids, Washington countered with the proposal of a major expedition against the Iroquois. This was approved, and in the summer of 1779 a sizable force under Major General John Sullivan made a major expedition into the northwestern frontier of New York in reprisal for the frontier raids. The expedition successfully drove the Iroquois out of New York, but otherwise had little effect on the frequency and severity of frontier raids.
Washington's opponent in New York, however, was not inactive. Clinton engaged in a number of amphibious raids against coastal communities from Connecticut to Chesapeake Bay, and probed at Washington's defenses in the Hudson River valley. Coming up the river in force, he captured the key outpost of Stony Point, but advanced no further. When Clinton weakened the garrison there to provide men for raiding expeditions, Washington organized a counterstrike. General Anthony Wayne led a force that, solely using the bayonet, recaptured Stony Point. The Americans chose not to hold the post, but the operation was a boost to American morale and a blow to British morale. American morale was dealt a blow later in the year, when the second major attempt at Franco-American cooperation, an attempt to retake Savannah, failed with heavy casualties.
## British southern strategy
The winter of 1779–80 was one of the coldest in recorded colonial history. New York Harbor froze over, and the winter camps of the Continental Army were deluged with snow, resulting in hardships exceeding those experienced at Valley Forge. The war was declining in popularity, and the inflationary issuance of paper currency by Congress and the states alike harmed the economy, and the ability to provision the army. The paper currency also hit the army's morale, since it was how the troops were paid. Congress fixed the rate between paper and gold dollars at 40-to-1 in March 1780, but many merchants refused to accept the Continental currency at the official exchange rate. One Loyalist wrote, "Mock-money and mock-states shall melt away // And the mock troops disband for want of pay."
The British in late 1779 embarked on a new strategy based on the assumption that most Southerners were Loyalists at heart. General Clinton withdrew the British garrison from Newport, and marshaled a force of more than 10,000 men that in the first half of 1780 successfully besieged Charleston, South Carolina. In June 1780, he captured over 5,000 Continental soldiers and militia in the single worst defeat of the war for the Americans. Washington had at the end of March pessimistically dispatched several regiments troops southward from his army, hoping they might have some effect in what he saw as a looming disaster. He also ordered troops stationed in Virginia and North Carolina south, but these were either captured at Charleston, or scattered later at Waxhaws and Camden. Camden saw the ignominious defeat of General Gates, who had been appointed to the southern command by Congress without Washington's advice or knowledge beforehand. Gates famously abandoned his army and retreated 180 miles (290 km) by horse after his battle lines were broken. The debacle ended Gates' career as a field officer, but he eluded formal inquiries into his behavior because of his political connections.
Washington's army suffered from numerous problems in 1780: it was undermanned, underfunded, and underequipped. Because of these shortcomings Washington resisted calls for major expeditions, preferring to remain focused on the principal British presence in New York. Knowledge of discontent within the ranks in New Jersey prompted the British in New York to make two attempts to reach the principal army base at Morristown. These attempts were defeated, with significant militia support, in battles at Connecticut Farms and Springfield.
## Arnold's treason
The British withdrew from Philadelphia, in June 1778, and Washington appointed Major General Benedict Arnold as military commander of the city. Historian John Shy states:
Washington then made one of the worst decisions of his career, appointing Arnold as military governor of the rich, politically divided city. No one could have been less qualified for the position. Arnold had amply demonstrated his tendency to become embroiled in disputes, as well as his lack of political sense. Above all, he needed tact, patience, and fairness in dealing with a people deeply marked by months of enemy occupation.
September 1780 brought a new shock to Washington. British Major John André had been arrested outside New York, and papers he carried exposed treason by Arnold. Washington greatly respected Arnold for his military skills, and with his serious injuries saw he was not ready for a combat command so he gave him a role in Philadelphia. During his administration there, Arnold entertained lavishly in high society yet had made many political enemies. He married vivacious Peggy Shippen, who had been courted by British Major André. After the wedding she kept in contact with André, who in 1779 became the head of British spy operations in New York City. Arnold in 1779 began secret negotiations with General Clinton. André was his contact, and Peggy passed the messages. Arnold pleaded with Washington, who appointed him commander of West Point, the major Patriot strong point in New York. He agreed to surrender it to the British for £20,000. Arnold was alerted to André's arrest and escaped with only to spare. Everyone on both sides admired André and despised Arnold; Washington offered to exchange André for Arnold, but Clinton could not go that far. André was hanged as a spy, and Arnold became a brigadier general in the British Army. Washington organized an attempt to kidnap Arnold from New York City; it was frustrated when Arnold was sent on a raiding expedition to Virginia.
## Yorktown
The early months of 1781 continued to be difficult for the American cause. Troops mutinied in Pennsylvania, inspiring troops in New Jersey to also do so. Washington was uninvolved in resolving the Pennsylvania troops' demands, but he sent troops under General Robert Howe that harshly put down the New Jersey mutiny, hanging two men.
General Arnold's raiding expedition to Virginia was a notable success, ravaging the countryside and destroying military and economic infrastructure and supplies. He was ineffectually opposed by Virginia militia and Continental recruits under Baron von Steuben. Washington ordered Lafayette and additional Continental troops south, and convinced French Admiral Destouches to send his Newport-based fleet to the Chesapeake. Destouches was however opposed by the British fleet of Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot at the Battle of Cape Henry in March 1781, and was unable to gain entry to the bay. General Clinton thereafter sent more troops to Virginia under General William Phillips, who resumed raiding operations in central Virginia.
In the early months of 1781 the French foreign minister, the Comte de Vergennes, realized that the war, now being conducted on a global stage, could not last much longer without decisive action in North America. To this end, the French army at Newport was ordered to join Washington's outside New York, and the Comte de Grasse, commander of that year's West Indies fleet, was ordered to assist in operations in North America. France also gave six million livres to the United States to assist in the war effort.
In May 1781, Washington and the French army command met at Wethersfield, Connecticut, after the French instructions arrived. They discussed options for joint operations, with Washington arguing for an assault on New York, and Rochambeau for operations in Virginia against General Phillips. Rochambeau agreed to bring his army to New York, and dispatches were sent to the West Indies outlining the options to de Grasse.
General Clinton had turned over command of the southern army to General Cornwallis. After the defeat of Gates at Camden, he had nominally gained control over South Carolina, although there was significant militia skirmishing, led by partisan fighters like Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter. Cornwallis then attempted to extend British authority into North Carolina, but one wing of his army was defeated in the October 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain, and another was defeated in the January 1781 Battle of Cowpens. Kings Mountain in particular proved a decisive blow to further attempts to recruit Loyalists, and force Cornwallis had been instructed to rely upon. In the wake of Camden, Washington had selected Nathanael Greene to replace Gates at the head of the southern Continental forces, and Greene waged an effect partisan campaign against Cornwallis. When he finally reached sufficient strength, Greene offered Cornwallis open battle at Hillsboro, North Carolina, in March. Although he lost the Battle of Guilford Court House, Greene inflicted significant casualties on Cornwallis while retaining his own army intact.
Cornwallis moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, to regroup, and then made the controversial decision to bring his army into Virginia, which he saw as the supply base for Greene's army. Joining with the army of Phillips, he maneuvered against the growing Continental presence led by Lafayette, while continuing to raid and destroy economic and military targets in the state. Eventually his decision to enter Virginia reached Clinton, who was surprised at the move. After a series of confusing and sometimes contradictory suggestions, Clinton in late July issued firm orders to Cornwallis to establish a fortified deep-water port in Virginia. Cornwallis informed Clinton that he would do so at Yorktown.
### Siege and victory
Admiral de Grasse received the dispatches of Washington and Rochambeau in mid-July. He immediately sent dispatches north indicating that he would be sailing for the Chesapeake Bay to assist in operations there. When Washington learned of this decision, he reluctantly abandoned the idea of attacking New York. In a brilliant but risky strategic move, he marched 6,000 soldiers from New York to Virginia, leaving the New York highlands only lightly defended. Washington would in later years claim that early preparations to operate against New York were intended to deceive Clinton, but the documentary record of 1781 did not support him. Later operations, as the march got underway, did involve deliberate deception. As part of the march troops appeared to establish camps and other works on the west side of the Hudson, as if preparing for an attack on New York. By the time Clinton saw through the deception, Washington had already crossed the Delaware.
De Grasse sailed north with his entire fleet (28 ships of the line), while his British counterpart, Admiral Rodney (not expecting de Grasse to take his entire fleet) sent only 15 ships in pursuit. In early September, while the French and Continental armies marched south, de Grasse and the British fleet (enlarged by the inclusion of ships from New York to 19 ships) met in the Battle of the Chesapeake. The French victory was strategically vital, for it denied the British control of the Chesapeake and set the stage for the encirclement of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Upon his arrival at Yorktown Washington had command of 5,700 Continentals, 3,200 militia and 7,800 French regulars. On September 28 the Franco-American army blockaded Yorktown, and began digging siege trenches on October 6. By the 9th guns had been emplaced on the first parallel, and began firing on the entrenched British camp. Work proceeded rapidly thereafter on the second parallel, only 300 yards (270 m) from the British defenses. On the 14th two outer redoubts of the British defenses were stormed, and the entirety of the British camp was with range of the French and American cannons. After a failed attempt to escape across the York River, Cornwallis opened negotiations on October 17. Two days later terms were agreed, and his 8,000 men paraded in surrender. Despite the size of the contending forces, and the importance of the siege, there were only 260 allied and 550 British casualties. One of the American casualties was Washington's stepson and aide-de-camp John Parke Custis, who died of a camp disease during the siege.
The disaster at Yorktown broke the morale of the governing class in London and paralyzed Britain's national will to make war. The war party in Britain lost control of Parliament, and the new government opened peace talks. These came to fruition in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris, in which Britain recognized American independence.
## Waiting for peace
Following Yorktown, Washington's army returned to New York, while Rochambeau's remained in Virginia. Washington, concerned that Congress "may think our work too nearly closed", worked to make sure that the army would be prepared for a campaign in 1782. Although British ship movements caused Washington some concerns during the winter of 1781–2, he was able to enjoy relative comfort in Philadelphia. He returned to his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, in March 1782, where he had to deal with greedy military supply contractors. The execution of militia officer Joshua Huddy by Loyalists occasioned an exchange between Washington and Clinton, and led to the so-called "Asgill Affair", after the officer selected to be executed in retaliation for Huddy's hanging. Despite the onset of peace negotiations in the second half of 1782, Washington remained vigilant, treating with suspicion assertions on the part of General Clinton's replacement, Sir Guy Carleton, that he had suspended "all hostilities". To boost morale, Washington introduced the Badge of Military Merit, to be awarded for "unusual gallantry" or "extraordinary fidelity and essential service". The badge, a purple-colored cloth in the shape of a heart, is a precursor to the modern American Purple Heart.
In 1783, Washington continued to keep the army ready at Newburgh, although some of his officers made veiled threats to Congress about long-overdue pay. Washington diffused this hint at mutiny with an address to the troops on March 15 recommending patience. On March 26 he was informed that France and Spain had made peace with Britain, one of the last preconditions for a final peace. Thereafter he was occupied with the logistics of prisoner exchanges, and pressed Congress to ensure soldiers being furloughed or discharged received at least some of their back pay. Washington met with Carleton to discuss the Treaty of Paris, during which he pressed Carleton to support the return of fugitive slaves which had joined the British to their American enslavers. Carleton refused to budge and informed Washington, much to his chagrin, that the British had transported 6,000 formerly enslaved Black people to Nova Scotia and he would refuse to support any effort by Americans to re-enslave their former property. In June, nearly 400 Continental Army soldiers in Pennsylvania mutinied, marching on Philadelphia and surrounding the State House where Congress sat. In response, Congress temporarily relocated to Princeton, and Washington dispatched troops south from New York. After action by Congress addressed their concerns, the mutineers returned to their posts.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. On November 25, the British evacuated New York City, and Washington and Governor George Clinton took possession of the city, ending large-scale British occupation of American territory. (Britain continued to occupy frontier forts that had been ceded to the United States until the mid-1790s.)
## Resignation and post-war career
Washington's contribution to victory in the war was not that of a great battlefield tactician. He has been characterized, according to historian Edward G. Lengel, in many different ways: "charismatic hero, master of guerrilla warfare, incompetent or infallible battlefield commander, strategic genius, nationalist visionary, fanatical micromanager, and lucky dog". Although he has frequently been said to engage in the Fabian strategy of wearing his opponent down, the truth is more nuanced. On a number of occasions his subordinates convinced him to hold off on plans of attack they saw as rash. Washington only really adopted a Fabian strategy between late 1776 and the middle of 1777, after losing New York City and seeing much of his army melt away. Trenton and Princeton were Fabian examples. By August 1777, however, Washington had rebuilt his strength and his confidence and stopped using raids and went for large-scale confrontations, as at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and Yorktown.
Washington is often characterized as complaining about undisciplined militia forces, but he understood that they were a vital part of the nation's defenses, since regular army troops could not be everywhere. He was also at times critical of the mercenary spirit and "the dearth of public spirit" that often underlay difficulties in recruiting for the army.
One of Washington's important contributions as commander-in-chief was to establish the precedent that elected civilian officials, rather than military officers, possessed ultimate authority over the military. Throughout the war, he deferred to the authority of Congress and state officials, and he relinquished his considerable military power once the fighting was over. This principle was especially visible in his handling of the Newburgh conspiracy, and in his "Farewell Orders". The latter document was written at his final wartime headquarters, a house on the outskirts of Princeton owned by the widow Berrien (later to be called Rockingham), but was sent to be read to the assembled troops at West Point on November 2. At Fraunces Tavern in New York City on December 4, he formally bade his officers farewell. On December 23, 1783, Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief to the Congress of the Confederation at Annapolis, Maryland, and retired to his home at Mount Vernon. Washington also became the first President General of the Society of the Cincinnati.
After the war Washington chaired the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution, and was then elected the first President of the United States, serving two terms. He briefly engaged in additional military service during a threatened war with France in 1798, and died in December 1799. He is widely recognized as the "Father of his country".
In 2012, a poll conducted by the British National Army Museum recognized Washington as "Britain's Greatest Military Enemy." He beat out Atatürk, Irish independence hero Michael Collins, Erwin Rommel, and Napoleon.
## See also
- List of George Washington articles
- List of Washington's Headquarters during the Revolutionary War
- Bibliography of George Washington
- Haym Solomon
- Robert Morris |
34,078,652 | An Empty Bliss Beyond This World | 1,166,127,445 | null | [
"2011 albums",
"Hauntology",
"Plunderphonics albums",
"The Caretaker (musician) albums",
"Works about Alzheimer's disease"
]
| An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (stylized as “An empty bliss beyond this World”) is the ninth studio album by the Caretaker, an ambient music project of English musician Leyland Kirby, released on 1 June 2011 through History Always Favours the Winners.
The record is based on a study regarding people with Alzheimer's disease being able to remember music they listened to when they were younger, as well as where they were and how they felt listening to it. The album samples pre-World War II ballroom records Kirby bought in Brooklyn in December 2010. This theme of Alzheimer's in music would be greatly expanded upon through 2016 to 2019 through Kirby's final series of albums as The Caretaker, Everywhere at the End of Time.
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World was the Caretaker's breakthrough album, garnering critical acclaim upon its release and earning several year-end accolades. Pitchfork has called it the 75th best album of the first half of the 2010s as well as the 14th best ambient album of all time.
## Concept
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World reflects, with broken sounds, the mind of an Alzheimer's patient who struggles to remember parts of their life. The record was based on a 2010 study about the ability of people with the disease to remember music from their time, as well as their context within the patient's life. The Caretaker project was inspired by the ballroom music in films such as Carnival of Souls (1962), The Shining (1980), and the television series Pennies from Heaven (1978), which drew Kirby to themes of memory loss: "Famously, people as they got older have started seeing dead people, people from the past, and that's their reality because the brain's misfiring. I'm very interested in these kinds of stories. Music's probably the last thing to go for a lot of people with advanced Alzheimer's."
Critic Rowan Savage compared the album to Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves (2000) due to its "endless and fearfully cavernous space (the ballroom) existing concealed by the deceptive limitations of familiar domesticity" represented with a deep resonant sound. Some tracks on An Empty Bliss appear twice but are sampled differently, such as the title track and "Mental Caverns Without Sunshine." Kirby explained this was done to give it a déjà vu vibe: "Immediately upon first listen, you’re already questioning where you have heard this song before." The second version of "Mental Caverns Without Sunshine" is only half as long as the first. According to Savage, the repetitive aspects of the album question the listener if "[their] sense of familiarity spring[s] from the loop[s] [themselves] or from the very patina that inheres in the scratchy turntable record as such".
An Empty Bliss has retrofuturistic themes of disputes between the distant past and the envisioned future similar to Into Outer Space with Lucia Pamela (1969). Savage labeled the album a commentary on modern music that "coloni[zes]" and "dehistoricize[s]" works from the past. He compared the album to when Gary Numan sang "I'm Vera Lynn" on the track "War Songs." Describing "War Songs" as a "peculiar evocation of the 30s and 50s as vocodered through eerie 80s electro," Savage explained:
> It's as if Kirby, speaking to a postmodern generation steeped in Stone-cold revivalism [...] is asking: "You call that retro? This is retro" (but also, this is what retro is, and that may not be the comfortable appropriation you're familiar with).
## Production
Initially, Kirby did not plan out making An Empty Bliss. Its making started when he shopped at a Brooklyn store in December 2010 and bought a ten-dollar collection of numerous ballroom records. The records would be left unused for a while until he was in a Berlin flat, where he spent around a month tracking them by playing them on a broken turntable. He then transferred the recordings to a digital recorder he obtained while vacationing in Spain during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. By the time he moved to another flat, he edited and mixed the recordings. The artwork, named Happy In Spite, was painted in 2010 by Kirby's long-time friend Ivan Seal.
## Composition
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World uses snippets of several 78-rpm ballroom records. It drew comparisons to William Basinski's album series The Disintegration Loops (2002) and the music for the BioShock series, as well as the works of Philip Jeck, Ekkehard Ehlers and Gavin Bryars. The first tracks in An Empty Bliss feature the most prominent samples. Surrounding these samples are vinyl scratches, as well as click and pop sounds; these, in Savage's opinion, are "steampunk glitches." The sounds become more filtered in echo as each track goes on. It is unknown if Kirby added these echo filters or if they are a part of the original recordings, which Savage interpreted as giving the album an "affective" vibe. As the album progresses, the samples become more fragmented and unnoticeable, the sounds stop staying at both stereo channels, and the tracks become shorter. This is all until "Camaraderie at Arms Length," which ends the album with a clear repeat of the samples heard in the first tracks.
The focus of the album is how the audio sources are altered and edited. As Powell wrote, An Empty Bliss has a "mindless" method of editing audio sources to represent "the fragmented and inconclusive ways our memories work." The tracks "never feel filled-in from start to finish, and they tend to linger on moments that feel especially comforting or conclusive." The album also has a "jump cut" method of transitioning between each track and noticeable skipping through melodic samples; some songs end abruptly in what feels like their mid-way point. The album slowly develops changes in reverb, echo, and noise. The echo was noted by some critics to give the album a ghost-like ominous feel, while Powell wrote that the crooked editing is what gave the album its eerie feel: "The source material is music designed not only to comfort, but to sound like it existed before you: hymns, love songs, lullabies. Bliss is eerie because it takes the seduction of those forms and turns it slightly askew." Bussolini analysed that the samples have a timeless feel to them, which is also what gives the album its ghostly vibe: "The music allows for just enough change to hold our interest, but after the party's over...well, the party's never over and it's never quite present. [...] the album ends, but whatever it conjured can't."
While Andrew Ryce of Resident Advisor felt An Empty Bliss as "overbearingly depressive," others described the album in a brighter tone. Savage said the record differs from the Caretaker's past "dissonant and reverberated" releases in that it has a tone more "subtle and disconcertingly reassuring — as if the shades of the Overlook Hotel, in imploring the caretaker to join them, were to ask that he should do so through the medium of suicide rather than murder." This was similarly remarked in Powell's review of the album, in which he wrote that "there's something at least metaphorically beautiful-- even slightly funny-- about living inside a locked groove, dancing with nobody." PopMatters critic D. M. Edwards opined, opined that while some tracks, such as "All You're Going to Want to Do Is Get Back There" and "Mental Caverns Without Sunshine," are "sublime rather than weird or unnerving," others are "uncomfortable as being ten years old and required to kiss your grandmother on her overly lipsticked mouth." In addition to its bright feel, An Empty Bliss also differs from past Caretaker works in that, whereas samples were obscured via extensive pitch-shifting and reverb, samples are much clearer here. While most of the tracks on the album end suddenly, the album's closer fades out, representing, in Savage's opinion, a "memento mori that must go hand-in-hand with the resurrection of sounds as temporally distant as these, with the re-giving of the name and hence finitude, the entry (or, rather, re-entry) into mercilessly linear history."
## Critical reception
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World was the Caretaker's breakthrough album. Nick Butler of Sputnikmusic called it one of the most "beguiling" albums of 2011. He highlighted the album's mixture of two different vibes, that the samples used are "often jolly and very dated to the point of arguably being irrelevant to modern ears," and the overall music is "very modern [...] and very depressing." He analysed that these two tones "don't match at all, and it sends [the listener's] brain into overdrive trying to figure it all out, trying to work out where the link is between those two extremes is." James Knapman of Igloo magazine labeled it Kirby's most "endearing" work due to its combination of light and haunting tones: "What it asks of the listener is a sense of humour and the ability to actively enjoy the aged source material that Kirby has spliced and looped together. It’s a truly haunting experience that is buoyed up by a heady dose of nostalgia and affection that bestows upon it an oddly lilting quality."
Simon Reynolds labeled An Empty Bliss an "excellent" example of a record using hauntology themes. Michael Lovino, writing for No Ripcord, analysed, "there’s a mysterious sense that what we're listening to is pure fantasy, designed to perplex our constant perception of our reality, of the moment, now, as we experience it, right now. This may just be the first record that emits such a strange feeling with such sublime ghostliness." He highlighted the album's ability to achieve a "perplexing and strenuous" task of inducing many emotions into the listener, writing that "Kirby does it with a special kind of grace." Ryce called An Empty Bliss "evocative, heart-tugging stuff," stating that "when knowledge of Kirby's intent lurks underneath the damaged acetate grooves, it becomes something else entirely: A poignant interrogation of memory loss and aging." He opined it was far superior to most other ambient albums that "get lost in their own delusions of grandeur vis a vis elaborate concepts," describing the edits done to the samples as "simplistic" but "so horrifyingly effective it's hard to feel anything but awestruck."
Andrew Hall of Coke Machine Glow described An Empty Bliss as "a remarkably cohesive listen and one that achieves its goals, but whether or not it, in and of itself, is an entirely creative work is another question entirely." He praised the album's unique sampling style and "careful" sequencing. However, he also felt it was "like a glorified mix with a handful of treatments made to emphasize specific elements of the music being manipulated," writing that "it already has prompted difficult to address questions over ownership, credit, and just how much work actually goes into creating a finished product when working through a method like Kirby's." In an October 2014 BDCwire article, Tyler Cumella labeled An Empty Bliss Beyond This World one of the most "fascinating" records of the 2010s. He stated that the album "has the overall quality of something slipping through your fingers, like a memory that you are struggling to cling onto. Rarely has an album created such a haunting, insular look at the life of the mind." He compared the record to The Shining, the film that helped inspire the album, in that they "perfectly capture the sense of a faltering mind, with past and present blurring together into a beautifully eerie whole."
Retrospectively reviewing the album for AllMusic, Paul Simpson awarded it five stars and summarised that it "quickly became a cult classic, and has since been regarded as one of the defining works of hauntology, a concept evoking cultural memory, which has also been present in discussions of other British artists such as Burial and the Ghost Box label." Simpson also called it "a profoundly beautiful, thought-provoking work of art." The concept of An Empty Bliss would eventually be expanded to six albums on Everywhere at the End of Time, a series exploring the mental deterioration of dementia through six stages.
## Accolades
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World landed at number 22 on Pitchfork's list of the "Top 50 Albums of 2011". It later made its way to number 75 on the publication's list of the best albums of the first half of the 2010s decade (2010 to 2014) and number 14 on their list of the greatest ambient albums of all time. Gorilla vs. Bear ranked it 14th on their list of the best albums of 2011, with writer Chris calling it "some of the loveliest, most heartbreaking anonymous music we never knew we needed," while Uncut magazine placed it at number 47 on their year-end list. In 2013, the album was ranked 79th on a list of "The Top 130 Albums" of the previous five years by Beats per Minute.
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World was ranked fourth on a year-end list by Tiny Mix Tapes of 2011's best releases, with journalist Embling describing the LP as "relevant and necessary" due to the year's rise in the number of films that were "antique revisions, early 20th-century histories made conveniently, divertingly neat" and "tinsel-toned recreations of a world that never actually was, much as we sometimes wish it had been." These films included Captain America: The First Avenger, Midnight in Paris, The Artist, and Hugo. Embling wrote that with the album, "Leyland Kirby presented pre-war 78s in their current, decaying condition, as a testament to the things that cannot be restored, those people, moments, and memories lost to time, out of reach and forever unrecoverable."
## Track listing |
3,615,873 | Ampelosaurus | 1,171,083,119 | Extinct genus of dinosaurs | [
"Cretaceous France",
"Fossil taxa described in 1995",
"Fossils of France",
"Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe",
"Maastrichtian life",
"Titanosaurs"
]
| Ampelosaurus (/ˌæmpɪloʊˈsɔːrəs/ AM-pi-loh-SOR-əs; meaning "vine lizard") is a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now France. Its type species is A. atacis, named by Le Loeuff in 1995. Its remains were found in a level dating from 71.5 million years ago representing the early Maastrichtian.
Like most sauropods, it would have had a long neck and tail but it also carried armor in the form of osteoderms. In 2005, over 500 bones have been assigned to Ampelosaurus and additional material has been found since, including a partially articulated skeleton with skull, which makes it one of the best known dinosaurs in France. However, recent studies suggest that the type locality is not a monospecific titanosaur bone bed and that part of the bones attributed to Ampelosaurus probably belong to a second titanosaurian taxon.
Ampelosaurus lived on what was the Ibero-Armorican Island, a landmass including much of present-day France and Iberian Peninsula. Histological studies show characteristics related to an island environment such as a slowed growth rate. However, with a size of about 14 m (46 ft) in length for the largest known individual, Ampelosaurus was not an insular dwarf unlike some other Ibero-Armorican titanosaurs like Lirainosaurus and Atsinganosaurus, or the genus Magyarosaurus from the Hateg island.
Several specimens found elsewhere in France and Spain were referred to Ampelosaurus but were later identified as belonging to other titanosaurs.
## Discovery and naming
Ampelosaurus is known by abundant remains from the Bellevue site near the village of Campagne-sur-Aude in the Upper Aude Valley, in Aude department in Occitania region. It was recovered in the lower levels of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation, which belong to the early Maastrichtian epoch of the Late Cretaceous Period, \~ 70 million years ago. These sediments represent an ancient floodplain with numerous river channels. Historically, the dinosaurs of the Upper Aude Valley were first reported by Paul Gervais in 1877 from two vertebrae discovered in the commune of Fa. The first discoveries of dinosaur bones at Campagne-sur-Aude date back to the beginning of the twentieth century, but they remained isolated and were quickly forgotten. It was not until 1982 that dinosaurs localities of the Upper Aude Valley were rediscovered by local amateurs, Pierre Clottes and Christian Raynaud, following the accidental discovery of a fossil bone in Campagne-sur-Aude by a hunter a year earlier. Clottes and Raynaud mainly discovered caudal vertebrae and limb bones during simple surface collecting carried out at several sites around the villages of Campagne-sur-Aude and Espéraza. In 1989, the first systematic excavations carried out by professional paleontologists began on the main site, located at the Bellevue farm. Several excavation campaigns brought to light numerous bones of an unknown sauropod. This new dinosaur was named Ampelosaurus atacis by the French paleontologist Jean Le Loeuff in a preliminary description published in 1995. Ampelosaurus is derived from the Greek αμπελος, "the vine" and the Latinised Greek saurus, "reptile". Therefore, Ampelosaurus means "vineyard lizard" after the Blanquette de Limoux vineyard. The vineyard is located on the south side of the region Ampelosaurus was found in. The specific name is based on the Latin atax, the "Aude river". Only one tooth, three articulated dorsal vertebrae (the holotype MDE-C3-247), and the neural spine of another dorsal vertebra were illustrated, whereas the material known at that time also included other dorsal and caudal vertebrae, ribs, chevrons, limb bones, shoulder and pelvis bones, from several individuals. Four osteoderms discovered at Bellevue and described in 1994 were also attributed to Ampelosaurus in 1995. In 2005, Le Loeuff published a more complete description of the bones discovered since 1989 including a braincase and a right dentary. In 2001 was found a relatively complete skeleton of a young adult about 10 m long, nicknamed "Eva" after the name of Eva Morvan the student who discovered the first elements. Several excavation campaigns were necessary (until 2006) to extract this skeleton. This specimen, which as yet to be described, includes an almost complete disarticulated skull of which only a few elements are currently on display in the Dinosaur Museum of Espéraza. In 2007, the remains of a larger specimen were discovered, including a sternal plate, a scapula, a 1.20 m femur, a pubis, a caudal vertebra and a chevron.
For more than twenty years, Ampelosaurus atacis was considered the only titanosaur present at Bellevue. Observed differences in long bones proportions have been interpreted as examples of individual variations. However, in 2012, a morphometric study of titanosaur femurs from France and Spain suggested the presence of three morphotypes at Bellevue, one of which was tentatively assigned to the genus Lirainosaurus. In 2013 Veronica Díez Díaz et al., however, noted that these femora differed from L. astibiae in several features. In 2021, Díez Díaz and colleagues also agree on the existence at this site of a second titanosaur but find it more similar to the genus Garrigatitan from the Upper Campanian of Provence. The recognition of the presence of a second species of titanosaur at Bellevue in addition to Ampelosaurus atacis creates a high level of uncertainty in the attribution to one or the other of these species of isolated remains found at this site. Díez Díaz et al. thus underline the need to revise all the titanosaur bones found at Bellevue to clarify their taxonomy. In 2023, at the Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Bernat Vila and colleagues presented preliminary results of a comprehensive study of the abundant titanosaur remains from Bellevue which confirms the presence at this locality of a new titanosaur species whose description is in progress. This study will also lead to an emended diagnosis of Ampelosaurus.
### Puported Ampelosaurus remains from other localities
The presence of Ampelosaurus has also been reported in other parts of southern France, as well as in Spain, but their identification has so far been shown to be erroneous (or has not been demonstrated in the case of the Labarre sandstone formation). In a short note published in 1998, Jean Le Loeuff stated that Ampelosaurus was known not only from the upper Aude Valley, but also the Petites Pyrénées (Ariège department), and the Chaînon de Saint-Chinian (Hérault department). However this has never been confirmed by a publication. Previously, Le Loeuff had recognized the presence of two different titanosaurs in the Grès de Labarre formation (Ariège) based on two different types of caudal centra and two very different tibiae. But he then considered that, given the fragmentary nature of the material, the specimens should be considered indeterminate titanosaurs. In the same way, in 1999 Eric Buffetaut and colleagues attributed to Ampelosaurus atacis teeth and postcranial bones discovered in the Grès à Reptiles formation at Cruzy (located in the area called Chaînon de Saint-Chinian) in Hérault department. A later study showed that Cruzy's titanosaur teeth are different from those of Ampelosaurus, and belong to a new taxon whose description is in progress. In 2009, Fernando Barroso-Barcenilla and colleagues reported in the Spanish site of Lo Hueco, in Cuenca province, the discovery of spatulate teeth with the same morphology as those of Ampelosaurus. However, the detailed description of the titanosaur teeth from Lo Hueco refuted this interpretation. In 2013, Fabien Knoll and colleagues tentatively attributed to Ampelosaurus sp. a braincase also from the Lo Hueco site. In 2019, Knoll and colleagues finally referred this braincase to Lohuecotitan pandafilandi, which was described in 2016 from a postcranial skeleton. Two types of titanosaur braincase are present in Lo Hueco. This attribution to the genus Lohuecotitan is based on the fact that the other braincase morphotype was found to be associated with a titanosaur skeleton distinct from Lohuecotitan, and because none of the very abundant titanosaur postcranial remains of Lo Hueco (represented by more than twenty partially articulated skeletons) belong to Ampelosaurus.
## Description
Like most sauropods, Ampelosaurus would have had a long neck and tail, but it also carried armor in the form of osteoderms 25 to 28 cm long. The four osteoderms found have three different morphologies, they are plate, bulb, and spine-shaped. Ampelosaurus is thought to have measured 15–16 m (49–52 ft) in length and about 8 metric tons (8.8 short tons) in body mass. In 2022, Vila and colleagues assign a size of 13.9 m (46 ft) long and a weight of 9.98 metric tons (11.00 short tons) for the largest individual based on the femur MDE-C3-174 (Vila et al. Supplementary Information). Ampelosaurus atacis is known from many unattached bones and teeth. It is one of the best-known dinosaurs from France. It is considered to be a dwarf sauropod by Coria et al. (2005) because it has a smaller size in comparison with its ancestors. However, according to Klein et al. (2012), Ampelosaurus is not an insular dwarf since its adult size is much greater than that of Europasaurus or Magyarosaurus.
### Skeleton
Ampelosaurus is one of the most completely known titanosaurian sauropods from Europe. Since 1989, over 500 bones discovered at the Upper Cretaceous Bellevue locality of southern France have been assigned to A. atacis. In 2023 Vila and colleagues increase this number to 1400 dinosaur bones known at Bellevue, the majority belonging to titanosaurs. An abundant amount of well-preserved elements have been uncovered at Bellevue. In the original description, only a tooth and some vertebrae were examined. In 2005, a complete description was made by Le Loeuff of all known material, allowing Ampelosaurus to be much better understood. In 2001 a partially articulated skeleton was found, including a disarticulated skull. This specimen, nicknamed "Eva", has not yet been described. All the material has been assigned to A. atacis, the observed differences in the proportions of limb bones being at the time interpreted by Le Loeuff as related to individual variation. In 2023 however, examination of the material by Vila et al. revealed that many of the bones assigned to Ampelosaurus belong to a distinct titanosaur making it uncertain the assignment of isolated bones to either of these two species. This study will lead to the erection of a new titanosaur species and to emended the diagnosis of Ampelosaurus. The description of Ampelosaurus below is provisional since some specimens referred to it may belong to another species.
A. atacis is known from a few, well-preserved teeth and some cranial material, a tooth of which was described in its original description. The teeth differentiate Ampelosaurus from Magyarosaurus and Lirainosaurus, both of which are also from Europe. The teeth are different from the two later genera as Ampelosaurus has teeth that are roughly cylindrical in the top with thin expansions at the bottom. They are 21 millimetres (0.83 in) high and about 6 millimetres (0.24 in) wide. Those expansions give its teeth a slight constriction between the root and the crown. The teeth are also quite different from the peg-like teeth of titanosaurids. The teeth, have a general morphology similar to titanosaurians Antarctosaurus and a braincase from Dongargaon. Another skull was described from southern France, but showed some differences, meaning there could have been at least two different titanosaurians in France during the Late Cretaceous.
The scapula was found attached to a coracoid. In the longer direction, the bone is 72 centimetres (28 in) long. The blade of the scapula, contrary to titanosaurs, is triangular, larger closer to the base. The blade narrows distally instead of showing an expansion. Differing from Magyarosaurus and Saltasaurus, the scapula does not have the dorsal crest at the base of the scapular blade. The shape of the coracoid is quadrangular, and the coracoid has a thickened cranial margin.
Ampelosaurus is also known from a pubis, about 75 centimetres (30 in) long. It has a strong distal expansion, that is similar to a titanosaur from Brazil, and a large foramen. Contrary to the South American titanosaurs, the ilium does not have an expansion on the side. The ischium, known from a shaft, is unexpanded distally and very well developed. It is also very flat. An incomplete radius is also known. It lacks the proximal and distal ends, and possesses a very prominent ridge along it. The largest and best-preserved specimens are both ulnas. The right ulna has a total length of 395 millimetres (15.6 in). The right ulna is small and slender, is missing an olecranon, and has a well-marked ridge. The left ulna is larger, with a length of 725 millimetres (28.5 in). The ulna has a deep radial fossa.
About 27 femora are known from Bellevue, making them the most common bone, most of them more-or-less complete. They are very flat craniocaudally but otherwise, lack any unusual features. In a study of its bone physiology, it was found that the maximum known femur length was 1,100 millimetres (43 in), which is much larger than previously known (802 millimetres (31.6 in)). That means, that the ancestors Ampelosaurus were slightly smaller than itself. 18 humeri are also known, but none of them approach the size of the largest femur. The humeri do not have a free medullary cavity. The humeri are robust, about 63 centimetres (25 in) long, with very expanded distal and proximal ends.
Three different types of osteoderms have been recovered at Bellevue. Two with large spines have been uncovered. At the base of each spine, which is about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) tall, are two large foramina. The internal faces are all concavo-convex and have a ridge opposite the spine. In side view, they have two sections, a low half that progressively thickens, and a spine.
#### Vertebrae
The holotype specimen of A. atacis is a group of three connected dorsal vertebrae. Cervical vertebrae are uncommon from Bellevue and most of them are poorly preserved. The vertebrae are opisthocoelous, with centra that lengthen toward the rear. Neural spines have been preserved on the vertebrae, and they face toward the rear. Two dorsal vertebrae were preserved with a complete, but very crushed neural arch, a neural spine with a characteristic shape: it is very widened distally and narrows downwards. The vertebrae also have an internal structure that is spongy, with very large cells. The caudal vertebrae are all strongly procoelous and are compressed on the sides. The neural spines of the caudal vertebrae are very narrow and very tall and point toward the rear. The middle caudal vertebrae are more compressed on the sides that the others. Also, the centrum of middle caudal vertebrae is longer proportionally. Two sacral vertebrae were known from Bellevue. They are poorly preserved, and are thought to belong to a juvenile. A complete sacrum was also found in 2002.
### Distinguishing anatomical features
This set of characters was identified by Le Loeuff in his description of Ampelosaurus to distinguish it from all other genera: teeth that weakly spatulate; a laterally widening distal extremity of neural spines on the dorsal vertebrae; neural arch of the dorsal vertebrae inclining strongly towards the rear; the lack of a distal expansion on the scapular blade; the presence of a light, ventral crest on top of the scapula; the presence of plate, bulb, and spine shaped osteoderms; and, in 2005, Le Loeuff added that the constriction of the neural spine on the dorsal and cervical vertebrae was also probably a characteristic of Ampelosaurus.
## Classification
Characteristics of the tail vertebrae and the presence of osteoderms indicate that Ampelosaurus belongs to Lithostrotia, a group of derived titanosaurians which also includes Alamosaurus and Saltasaurus. Many other paleontologists have classified Ampelosaurus as belonging to Titanosauria, Saltasauridae, and Titanosauridae. Ampelosaurus may have an uncertain classification, but it is clearly a titanosaur, with many features found in titanosaurs.
More recently, Ampelosaurus has been put in a clade with other French and Spanish titanosaurs from the late Campanian to Maastrichtian, which was named Lirainosaurinae by Díez Díaz et al. in 2018. Ampelosaurus nested as sister taxon to Atsinganosaurus also from France, and the entire clade was placed in between the taxa commonly classified as Saltasauridae and taxa normally in either Aeolosaurini or Lognkosauria.
## Paleobiology
### Growth
Ampelosaurus seems to have grown in a way similar to more basal sauropods. After a certain point in its development, the microscopic material of the bone became very different from more basal Sauropoda. Ampelosaurus grew more slowly once the bone microstructure became unique among sauropods. Although Diplodocoidea and basal Macronaria also show an increase in bone growth and a decrease in growth rate around the presumed onset of sexual maturity, it is much more gradual than Ampelosaurus. The process of growing, which in other sauropods started around sexual maturity, was clearly delayed in Ampelosaurus. The period of growth after sexual maturity seems to be shortened in Ampelosaurus and is dominated by slow bone building instead of fast growth. Growth marks are generally rare in sauropods or appearing only late in ontogeny, if at all. The lack of growth marks is suggestive of fast and continuous growth in sauropods, which supports the hypothesis that they achieved large body size through because of fast growth. Ampelosaurus does not show growth marks on any bone sample. This is unusual to be found with the apparently reduced growth rate and high level of bone growth seen in it, as those features are often associated with the occurrence of growth marks.
### Histology
EFS, a system found on the surface of bones, is thought to show a growth plateau which indicates that maximum body size and skeletal maturity is reached in an individual. Ampelosaurus has not been known to have EFS, found on most non-titanosaurian sauropods. Magyarosaurus, a closely related titanosaur, Lirainosaurus, a titanosaur related to saltasaurids, Alamosaurus, a saltasaurid, and Phuwiangosaurus, a very basal titanosaur, were also found to have lacked EFS. However, the basal macronarian Europasaurus has been shown to have had EFS, so it was likely just titanosaurians that did not have them. The outer edge of the bones, were EFS would have been found, was well-preserved, and still lacked any fossilized proof of them being present for Ampelosaurus. However, in the PLoS ONE study that found the lack of EFS, the larger specimens were not tested, so Ampelosaurus might have had EFS. This is characteristic of titanosaurs, as diplodocoids and basal macronarians seem to have EFS. A majority of all Ampelosaurus specimens have been found with secondary osteons placed densely in the inner regions of bones, and lightly in outer regions. The osteon orientation found in Ampelosaurus of osteons not only facing across the bone is not typical of Neosauropoda. Also, there is no medullary cavity in any bones of Ampelosaurus. Ampelosaurus seems to have had many ontogenetic stages in its life based on its bone histology.
## Paleoecology
Ampelosaurus atacis is only known with certainty at the base of the Marnes de la Maurine Member of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation in the Upper Aude Valley in southwestern France (Aude department). Ampelosaurus was also reported in other localities in France and Spain (notably Massecaps and Lo Hueco) but these specimens were found to belong to different titanosaurs. The age of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation, which is divided in four members, extends from the late Campanian, 75 million years ago (for the Marnes Rouges de Campagne Member dated by palynology), to the end of the early Maastrichtian, 70 million years ago (for the Poudingue Fleuri Member). Magnetostratigraphic studies indicate an age of 71.5 million years (top of chron C32n.1n) for the localities of the basal part of the Marnes de la Maurine Member (including the Bellevue locality), which corresponds to the early Maastrichtian. At that time Europe was an archipelago made up of islands of varying sizes and changing geography over time. Ampelosaurus roamed the vast plains of the Ibero-Armorican Island, an emergent landmass made up of much of the present day France and Iberian Peninsula. The sediments of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation consist of mudstones, sandstones, conglomerates, and siltstones, of fluvial and alluvial origin.
Fauna associated with Ampelosaurus atacis included another yet unnamed titanosaur, the ornithopod Rhabdodon priscus (represented by teeth, jaws, and postcranial bones), an indeterminate nodosaurid ankylosaur (known only by dermal scutes), an indeterminate Dromaeosauridae ( represented by teeth), the giant ground bird Gargantuavis philoinos, an undetermined pterosaur, the turtles Foxemys mechinorum (known by an incomplete skull and shell elements) and a new yet unnamed compsemydid (one skull and an isolated costal plate), an undescribed allodaposuchid eusuchian (represented by many elements including a complete skull showing similarities with Musturzabalsuchus and Allodaposuchus subjuniperus), and fisches (a lepisosteid and the coelacanth Axelrodichthys megadromos). Dinosaurs eggshells and nests are also present in the Marnes de la Maurine Member. They are represented by the oospecies Cairanoolithus roussetensis, C. dughii, and Megaloolithus siruguei in the lower part, M. siruguei and Montanoolithus labadousensis in the middle part, M. siruguei and M. mamillare in the upper part. Fusioolithus baghensis is recorded in the Poudingue Fleuri Member. Megaloolithus and Fusioolithus are titanosaur eggs. The oogenera Cairanoolithus and Montanoolithus are referred respectively to nodosaurids and dromaeosaurids. A few invertebrate and plant remains are also known. The macroflora, notably found at Bellevue, is represented by leaves of palm trees and cycads, as well as fragments of angiosperm wood from trees 10 to 15 m high.
### Biogeography
Titanosaurians were a flourishing group of sauropod dinosaurs during Cretaceous times. Fossils of titanosaurians have been found on all continents and their remains are abundant in a number of Late Cretaceous sites. Titanosaurian sauropods were among the most common dinosaurs in the ibero-Armorican island during the Campanian-Maastrichtian times. In this island a shift in the dinosaur fauna known as the Maastrichtian Dinosaur Turnover is observed in which a late Campanian-early Maastrichtian pre-turnover dinosaur fauna was replaced by an early-late Maastrichtian post-turnover assemblage. Concerning the titanosaurs the pre-turnover assemblage included small-sized species such as Atsinganosaurus and Garrigatitan (latest-middle Campanian to early-late Campanian in age) from southeastern France (Bouches-du-Rhône department) and Lirainosaurus (latest Campanian in age, 72 to 73.5 Ma) from north-central Spain (Burgos province, Treviño enclave), and moderate-sized forms such as Lohuecotitan (late Campanian-early Maastrichtian) from central Spain (Cuenca province) and Ampelosaurus (early Maastrichtian 71.5 Ma) from southwestern France (Aude department). The post-turnover assemblage is dominated by larger forms such as Abditosaurus (mid-early Maastrichtian, 70.5 Ma) from northeastern Spain (Lleida province). The latter is closely related to Gondwanan titanosaurs and does not show reduced growth rate or reduced body size, two common traits found in pre-turnover titanosaurs assemblages. It belongs to a distinct immigrant clade of large titanosaurs that reached the Ibero–Armorican island during the early Maastrichtian, being a member of the post-turnover titanosaurian assemblage of this island. This dispersal event from the southern landmasses, probably Africa, took place probably during the called KMa2 regressive event (which occurred about 70.6 million years ago during the Lower Maastrichtian), a eustatic event that affected the central Tethyan margin and northern Africa. |
39,369,330 | Weronika Rosati | 1,171,898,322 | Polish actress and activist | [
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]
| Weronika Anna Rosati (; born 9 January 1984) is a Polish actress. She made her acting debut in 2000, and first gained recognition playing Ania in the Polish soap opera M jak miłość (2002–2005, 2018–2020). She appeared in several other Polish television series, before acquiring her first feature film role in Patryk Vega's 2005 action drama Pitbull, which went on to become a cult film in Poland. Her most critically acclaimed films include Obława (2012), which earned her a Polish Film Award nomination for Best Actress, and Never Gonna Snow Again (2020).
Rosati launched her international career with a small uncredited role in David Lynch's 2006 film Inland Empire. She has since played numerous minor roles in English-language films including The Iceman (2012), Bullet to the Head (2012), and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016), and made guest appearances on television. She had a recurring role on the HBO original television series Luck in 2012. In her native country, she has starred in the films Obce ciało (2014) and Porady na zdrady (2017), and in television in Majka (2009–2010), Czas honoru (2010), Hotel 52 (2013), Strażacy (2015–2016) and Zawsze warto (2019–2020). Aside from acting, Rosati is an active advocate for domestic abuse victims.
## Life and career
### Early life and education
Weronika Anna Rosati was born on 9 January 1984 in Warsaw, to Polish-Italian father Dariusz Rosati, a professor of economics and former member of the European Parliament, and his wife Teresa, a Polish fashion designer. She has an older brother named Marcin, who is 12 years her senior. When she was two, she moved with her family to Princeton, New Jersey, where her father worked as a lecturer, and when she was six, they relocated to Switzerland for five years, before returning to Poland. Having spent much of her childhood abroad, she is fluent in English and French. Upon being confirmed, she took Dolores as her confirmation name.
As a teenager, Rosati attended a theatre club at the Warsaw Ochota Theatre and trained in dancing and acrobatics at the Warsaw Studio Buffo Theatre. She also studied at the Halina and Jan Machulski Private Acting School in Warsaw. In 2003, she started an acting degree at the National Film School in Łódź, but after one and a half years, she suspended her studies due to M jak miłość filming commitments, and never returned. At 21, she moved to New York, where she studied at various acting schools, including the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatres, the Larry Moss Studio, and the Ivana Chubbuck Studio, and graduated from the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
### Acting career
Rosati made her acting debut in 2000 as "Niki" in the Polish television series Klasa na obcasach, which she followed with numerous guest appearances in other Polish television productions. She first gained recognition in 2002, playing Ania in the Polish soap opera M jak miłość (L for Love). She left the series in 2005, before returning in 2018 and leaving again in 2020. Her cinematic debut came in Patryk Vega's 2005 Polish action drama Pitbull, which was a critical success and has become a cult film. For her portrayal of Gemma, the main character's (Marcin Dorociński) love interest, Rosati received two Golden Duck Award nominations. She reprised the role in the film's television adaptation between 2005 and 2008.
Rosati launched her international career with a small uncredited role in David Lynch's 2006 film Inland Empire, followed by an appearance as Mrs. Lawdale in the 2008 horror film House, which was panned by critics, receiving an approval rating of 0% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. In 2009, she joined the main cast of the Polish adaptation of the Venezuelan soap opera Jane the Virgin titled Majka, in which she played Dagmara between 2009 and 2010. In 2010, she portrayed Rojza, one of the girls working at a fur workshop in Warsaw Ghetto who are terrorised by a Nazi guard "Mongoł", in season three of the Polish World War II television drama series Czas honoru (Days of Honour). She starred as a serial-killer Magdalena in the France 2 2011 television thriller film Dame de pique (Dame of Spades), an adaptation of Alexis Lecaye's novel of the same name, which was reviewed well by the French newspaper Le Monde. She also played a journalist named Anna in the 2011 action thriller Largo Winch II, and made a cameo appearance in Agnieszka Holland's Academy Award-nominated 2011 period drama In Darkness. In 2012, Rosati was cast in the recurring role of a poker dealer Naomi in the HBO original television series Luck, and starred as "Pestka", a girl trying to save her younger sister from death, in Obława (Manhunt), a Polish war thriller directed by Marcin Krzyształowicz. The latter earned Rosati critical praise, and a nomination for the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress. Rosati also began making more appearances in American films that year. She played Livi in the biopic The Iceman, Irena in the crime comedy Stand Up Guys, and Lola in the action film Bullet to the Head.
In 2013, she appeared as Jolene in the dance film Battle of the Year, and as a waitress at a nightclub named Veronica in the blockbuster Last Vegas. She also made a guest appearance as Rivka David, Ziva David's (Cote de Pablo) mother, in the episode of the American action police procedural television series NCIS titled "Berlin". In her native country, she voiced Dottie in the Polish-language version of the animated film Planes, a role she reprised in its 2014 sequel, and joined the main cast of season seven of the television series Hotel 52 portraying Maria Jordan. That May, she was honoured with the Pola Negri award "Politka", which recognises Polish actors who achieved international success. In 2014, she made a cameo appearance as a girl at a nightclub named Ginger in the HBO miniseries Rosemary's Baby, and took on another voice role as Ilona in the Polish-language version of the animated film The Nut Job. She also starred as Mira, Kris' (Agnieszka Grochowska) assistant, in Krzysztof Zanussi's psychological drama Obce ciało (Foreign Body). The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews. Rosati and Grochowska were nominated for the Polish Snake Award for Worst On-Screen Duet.
In 2015, Rosati was cast in the role of Kamila in the TVP1 original television series Strażacy (Firefighters), and made an appearance as prostitute Agnes in season two of the HBO anthology crime drama television series True Detective. The following year, she guest-starred as French agent Delphine Seydoux in an episode of season 11 of the American dark fantasy television series Supernatural, and played Russian man-eater Oksana in a "two-show arc" of season one of the TBS comedy series The Detour. Collider described her performance in the former as "positively dazzling". She also appeared opposite Nicolas Cage as his character's wife Louise McVay in Mario Van Peebles' 2016 war disaster film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, and voiced Princess Shallia in the Polish-language version of the comedy film The New Adventures of Aladdin. In 2017, Rosati starred in the Polish romantic comedy film Porady na zdrady for which she received her second Polish Snake Award nomination, this time for Worst Actress. She then joined the cast of the Polish television medical drama Diagnosis in the recurring role of Beata. In the period drama I'll Find You, set in the 1930s and 1940s Poland, directed by Martha Coolidge, she played Ms. Huber, the wife of General Huber (Stephen Dorff). The film premiered at the 2019 Taormina Film Fest. In 2019, Rosati began portraying Marta, one of three lead roles, in the Polish television series Zawsze warto, which spanned two seasons between 2019 and 2020.
Rosati starred in the 2020 drama Never Gonna Snow Again directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, which premiered in the Main competition of the 77th Venice International Film Festival to critical acclaim. She lent her likeness to Marianne in the 2021 psychological horror video game The Medium, for which she was fully motion-captured. Rosati also appeared as Vanya in season 12 of NCIS: Los Angeles that year.
### Personal life and non-acting work
In 2005, Rosati was in a relationship with Polish-American journalist Max Kolonko. In 2010, Polish director Andrzej Żuławski, whom she dated between 2007 and 2008, released a book titled Nocnik, which included a character allegedly based on Rosati named Esther. She sued Żuławski and the book's publisher for violating her right to privacy and dignity as a woman as the book included intimate details about her. She won the case in 2015. In September 2013, Rosati was a passenger in a car driven by her then-partner, Polish actor Piotr Adamczyk, which was involved in a road accident. Due to a leg injury sustained in the accident, she was unable to walk and required several surgeries and continual long-term physiotherapy, which prevented her from working for several months. Rosati and Adamczyk broke up in 2015. She was engaged to Polish orthopedic surgeon Robert Śmigielski with whom she was in a relationship between 2016 and 2018. She gave birth to their daughter, Elizabeth Valentina, on 11 December 2017. As of 2020, Rosati splits her time between homes in Warsaw and Los Angeles.
While in a relationship with Śmigielski, Rosati experienced domestic abuse. She later became an advocate for domestic abuse victims. In 2019, she founded the Siła Kobiety Foundation (Woman's Strength Foundation), which offers help and support to women affected by domestic abuse. She has been credited with influencing the Me Too movement in Poland, and was honoured with the Polish Glamour Woman of the Year award for Activism.
Rosati was included on the annual list of the 100 most valuable stars of the Polish show business compiled by the Polish edition of Forbes magazine between 2012 and 2014. She ranked 84th, 85th, and 83rd, respectively. She was the Polish ambassador of Procter and Gamble hair products Pantene (2004), Dr Irena Eris skin care line and fragrance Sin Skin (2007–2008), and Avon Products fragrance Femme (2014). She participated in season 10 of Taniec z gwiazdami (Polish version of Dancing with the Stars) in 2009, was a guest judge alongside her mother on the second season of Project Runway Poland in 2015, and guest-hosted SNL Poland in 2018. Rosati has also written articles about Hollywood stars and cinema for the website Stopklatka.pl and the magazine Film, among others. In 2021, she launched a vegan skin care brand Lajuu.
## Filmography
### Film
### Television
### Video games |
24,192,005 | 2003 Football League Second Division play-off final | 1,170,272,821 | null | [
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| The 2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final was a football match played at the Millennium Stadium on 25 May 2003, at the end of the 2002–03 season. The match determined the third and final team to gain promotion from the English Second Division to the First Division, and was contested by fourth-placed Queens Park Rangers and sixth-placed Cardiff City. The teams reached the final by defeating Oldham Athletic and Bristol City respectively in the play-off semi-finals.
The redevelopment of Wembley Stadium meant that Football League play-off final matches held between 2001 and 2006 were played in Cardiff. Both teams were playing at the Millennium Stadium for the first time. The only goal of the game was scored in extra time by Cardiff substitute Andy Campbell who chipped opposition goalkeeper Chris Day to secure promotion for the club to the second tier for the first time since 1985.
## Route to the final
The Second Division title was won by Wigan Athletic, who accumulated a club record 100 points. Crewe Alexandra claimed the second automatic promotion place with Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Oldham Athletic and Cardiff City finishing between third and sixth to enter the play-offs.
Queens Park Rangers, who had been relegated to the Second Division two years before, finished the 2002–03 season in fourth place with 83 points. In the play-off semi-finals, QPR faced fifth placed side Oldham Athletic. The first leg was played at Oldham's Boundary Park on 10 May 2003, David Eyres giving Oldham the lead direct from a free-kick. Early in the second half, QPR midfielder Richard Langley equalised before being sent off with ten minutes remaining after a second bookable offence following a confrontation with Eyres. The second leg was played three days later and ended in a 1–0 victory for QPR after Paul Furlong scored the only goal of the game in the 82nd minute, giving his side a 2–1 aggregate victory.
Cardiff City finished the regular season in sixth place with 81 points, securing the final play-off place with a 1–1 draw against already promoted Crewe Alexandra. Robert Earnshaw's goal in the match broke Stan Richards' club record for league goals scored in a single season and ensured Cardiff gained the single point needed to finish above seventh placed Tranmere Rovers. In the play-off semi-final, Cardiff met Severnside rivals Bristol City. Peter Thorne headed in a Willie Boland cross to score the only goal of the first leg and give Cardiff a 1–0 advantage. Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander was credited with a series of saves in the second leg to deny Bristol an equaliser as the match finished goalless, allowing Cardiff to advance after winning the tie 1–0 on aggregate.
## Pre-match
The two teams were competing for promotion to the First Division, the second tier of the English football league system. Traditionally, play-off final matches were held at Wembley Stadium in London but the redevelopment of the ground saw the matches moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff during the construction works. Neither Cardiff or QPR had ever played a match at the ground.
In previous years, the British national anthem God Save the Queen had been sung by during the pre-match ceremony. As Cardiff are a Welsh team, enquiries were made to the Football League regarding the Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau also being sung but was rejected with the Football League stating that the match was "a club game, not an international fixture." This was despite both anthems being played prior to the 1997 Football League Third Division play-off final when another Welsh team, Swansea City, played at the original Wembley Stadium. First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan criticised the decision commenting that anthems should not be a part of the match but if they were then both should be played. Three days before the match, the Football League announced that no anthems would be played before the match or the First Division and Third Division play-off finals, spokesman John Nagle commenting "playing of the anthem this weekend has become a subject of some controversy. This has begun to detract from both the games themselves [...] this should clearly not be the case." The teams were instead allowed to play their club songs 30 minutes prior to kick-off, Cardiff selecting Men of Harlech and QPR Pig Bag.
QPR manager Ian Holloway made one change from the side that started their play-off semi-final second leg with Richard Pacquette replacing Andy Thomson, while Richard Langley served the second match of his ban following his sending off in the first leg. Before the match, striker Paul Furlong stated his belief that the pressure was on Cardiff to win and described Rangers as underdogs. As Cardiff won a coin toss to decide which team would wear their home colours, QPR chose to wear an all white strip rather than their normal red and black away kit in reference to the strip worn by the QPR side that won the 1967 Football League Cup Final.
The night before the match, members of QPR's team were woken at 3am by a fire alarm being triggered at their hotel, the Celtic Manor Resort. The perpetrator was later arrested and named as Neil McNamara, a Cardiff City fan who had previously worked for the club as a minder for chairman Sam Hammam. He was charged with criminal damage and making a false and malicious fire call. McNamara pled guilty to the charges and was given a five-year banning order after judges ruled the act was committed deliberately to disrupt the QPR squad. QPR player Richard Langley described the actions as "very unsporting".
Hammam stated before the game that he would provide a £30 million transfer budget if the club achieved promotion and a planned new stadium at Leckwith received approval. Hammam also called on fans of Cardiff's South Wales rivals Swansea City to support the side and described the match as "for the whole of Wales". However, Holloway refuted Hammam's call for Swansea fans to back Cardiff, calling them something "that should be in a Mills & Boon novel".
Although playing in their home city, Cardiff players stayed at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel and Country Club the night prior to the match. Defender Andy Legg commented that the team was "a bag of nerves" beforehand but believed that the match being played in the city of Cardiff made the occasion "extra special". Striker Andy Campbell was a major doubt to feature in the match having struggled with a hernia during the season. Several days prior to the match he decided to have an operation in the hope of being fit to play and was passed fit just before kick-off to take a place on the bench. Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence made no changes from the second-leg of their play-off semi-final against Bristol and named the same starting eleven and substitutes from the match, choosing to leave out loan player Gareth Ainsworth who missed both legs of the play-off semi-final through suspension.
## Match
### Summary
Cardiff started the better of the two sides as Robert Earnshaw, Graham Kavanagh and Peter Thorne all had chances at goal in the opening ten minutes of the match. Kevin Gallen forced a save from Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander from a free-kick soon after and a slip by Danny Gabbidon in the 26th minute allowed Paul Furlong space to shoot but he was unable to hit the target. Cardiff had the majority of possession during the first-half but strikers Earnshaw and Thorne struggled to beat QPR's central defenders Danny Shittu and Clarke Carlisle who received significant praise for their control of the game. The match remained 0–0 at half-time, both sides being described as "tense" and "nervy".
In the second half, QPR began to seize control and Gallen wasted an early chance by shooting straight at Alexander after being played through by Furlong. The pair both missed chances in the second half as QPR began to dominate the match. In the 79th minute, Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence decided to substitute Earnshaw in place of Andy Campbell. The substitution was seen as a significant gamble by Lawrence, Earnshaw's 35 goals in all competitions during the season had broken a club record that had stood since 1927 and Campbell had not scored since January 2003. However, Cardiff's approach to the game had limited Earnshaw and Thorne's support to high passes that favoured QPR's physically larger defenders. In the final minute of the game, a misjudged header by Cardiff defender Spencer Prior fell to opposition substitute Andy Thomson but he could only direct his header wide of the goal.
After finishing 0–0 after 90 minutes, the match entered extra time. In the first half of extra time, QPR goalkeeper Chris Day produced a save to deny Prior from scoring with a header. With less than ten minutes remaining of extra time, Carlisle's forward pass was intercepted by Cardiff midfielder Gareth Whalley who played a long pass over the head of Shittu, into the path of Campbell. Hitting the ball with his left foot, Campbell lifted the ball over Day and into the net. Once the teams restarted, Cardiff defended their lead for the remaining six minutes to win the match.
### Details
## Aftermath
The match attendance was recorded as 66,096. Around 8,000 seats were kept empty by organisers in order to ensure sufficient segregation between opposition fans and QPR returned around 1,000 of their 32,000 ticket allocation that were unsold. Cardiff sold out their 33,903 ticket allocation. The two clubs both received 25% of the ticket sales with the remaining half going to the Football League.
Following their victory, Cardiff manager Lawrence stated "It wasn't a classic match, but no one connected with Cardiff will ever forget it". In the ensuing celebrations, chairman Hammam was thrown into the team bath in the dressing room. The match would be defender Andy Legg's last for Cardiff as a contract dispute led to him leaving the club the following month.
Lawrence would remain with Cardiff for two further seasons in the First Division before being replaced at the end of the 2004–05 season. Cardiff would remain in the First Division (later renamed the Championship) for ten seasons before winning promotion to the Premier League in 2013.
After suffering defeat, QPR went on to win automatic promotion to the First Division the following season after finishing second behind Plymouth Argyle. Bristol City would again miss out on promotion after finishing third for the second consecutive season, finishing one point behind QPR. After achieving an 11th placed finish in their first season, Ian Holloway left the club during the following year having been placed on gardening leave due to continued speculation linking him with a job at Leicester City. Seven years later, Holloway met Cardiff in the 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final while manager of Blackpool, winning promotion to the Premier League following a 3–2 victory. QPR went on to win promotion to the Premier League in 2012.
## See also
- 2003 Football League play-offs
- 2003 Football League First Division play-off final
- 2003 Football League Third Division play-off final |
53,447,985 | Battle of Surabaya (1677) | 1,153,119,042 | Battle during the Trunajaya rebellion | [
"1670s in Indonesia",
"Battles involving the Dutch East India Company",
"Conflicts in 1677",
"History of Surabaya",
"Trunajaya rebellion"
]
| The Battle of Surabaya was fought in May 1677 during the Trunajaya rebellion, in which the Dutch East India Company (known by its Dutch acronym "VOC") defeated the forces of Trunajaya and took Surabaya on behalf of its ally, the Mataram Sultanate.
## Background
The Trunajaya rebellion began in 1674 as rebel forces conducted raids against the cities of the Mataram Sultanate. In 1676, a rebel army of 9,000 invaded Java from their base in Madura and shortly after took Surabaya, the principal city of eastern Java. Mataram sent a much larger army to suppress them, but Trunajaya's forces routed this army at the Battle of Gegodog. The rebels continued to win victories and gain territories in the following month, taking most of the northern coast of Java as far west as Cirebon. Facing the imminent collapse of his authority, the Mataram King Amangkurat I sought help from the VOC in Batavia. On 20 January 1677, Admiral Cornelis Speelman, recently named commander of the VOC's forces in Java's north coast, arrived in Jepara to negotiate with Wangsadipara, the Mataram governor of the north coast. They agreed to a contract in February, which was ratified by the king in March.
### VOC arrival off Surabaya
Speelman's fleet left Jepara, anchored off Surabaya in early April and tried to start negotiations with Trunajaya. Trunajaya was initially friendly towards the VOC, but he refused to meet Speelman on board a VOC ship. The VOC's impression of Trunajaya declined after he failed to keep an appointment on neutral waters, and after emissaries reported that he was a drunkard. By the end of April, Speelman had decided to attack Surabaya over negotiations.
## Battle
### Forces and terrain
Speelman had around 1,500 men under his command, including about 400 VOC troops from Jepara; the remainder had sailed with him from Batavia. The force from Batavia included 600 sailors, 310 European soldiers, and four "companies" (each about 50 strong) of Ambonese, Malays, Balinese and Mardijkers.
Surabaya was defended by fortifications, artillery and a "substantial" number of men. The defenders had at least 120 cannons. Trunajaya's forces were technologically on par with those of the VOC, since VOC technical innovations had been quickly adopted in Java. Two rivers, the Kali Mas and Kali Pegirian, flowed through the city into the Madura Strait in the north. Trunajaya established his court in an old royal citadel (around the location of today's East Java Governor's office) and diverted the Kali Mas to form a moat around it. However, during the battle, the moat was dry because of the dry season during the east monsoon. Trunajaya established his main line of defence along the river north of the citadel, building elevated fortifications and palisade barriers, and emplacing two artillery batteries. The more easterly Kali Pegirian flowed through Ampel, a district of Surabaya containing the grave of Sunan Ngampel-Denta, one of the Wali Songo. In contrast to the western sector, this sector (Trunajaya's right flank) was lightly defended; only palisade barriers were built across the river. The distance from the coast to Trunajaya's main defenses, around 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi), mostly consisted of marshy ground covered with scrub, and were underwater at high tide.
### Main fighting
VOC forces landed on 4–5 May on Trunajaya's right flank. Trunajaya did not expect an attack on this flank, and consequently it was only lightly defended. VOC took Ampel after little resistance. In the following days, the VOC established its battery in Ampel, simultaneously conducting desultory negotiations with Trunajaya. Trunajaya accused Speelman of being unknightly by attacking his right flank instead of his main position. Both Trunajaya and VOC moved their works forward until their artillery batteries faced each other at pistol-shot distance. Trunajaya dammed the river, the VOC's source of fresh water; afterwards, the VOC troops were limited to brackish water, and diseases soon spread.
At this point, time appeared to be on Trunajaya's side, as further delay would allow him to strengthen his fortifications and reinforcements, while disease would weaken the VOC's forces. Therefore, Speelman decided to attack. On 12–13 May, the VOC delivered a heavy artillery bombardment on Trunajaya's main works, followed by an assault. The attack succeeded after hard fighting, and Trunajaya retreated inland to establish his new capital at Kediri, capital city of the ancient Kediri Kingdom. In the retreat, he left behind sixty-nine iron cannons and thirty-four bronze cannons (twenty of them small ships' cannons, bassen) and only saved twenty bronze pieces.
### Follow-up
VOC forces proceeded to clear the rebels from the area surrounding Surabaya. Two VOC detachments—Indonesian companies led by Dutch captains—were sent northwest along the coast, clearing the rebels in the areas surrounding Sidayu, Tuban and the Kendeng mountains with no losses. Speelman also sent envoys, including Indian traders, to Kraeng Galesong at Pasuruan. Galesong was a former ally of Trunajaya who had quarreled with him and remained neutral during the battle in Surabaya. This negotiation failed in early May, and Galesong refused to submit even after Trunajaya's defeat in Surabaya. The VOC also tried to gain the loyalties of the lords of Madura, Trunajaya's home island across the strait from Surabaya. Several Madurese lords submitted to the admiral as the representative of the Mataram king in late May, and Speelman tried to install one of them, Raden Martapati, as a proxy. However, Martapati's authority collapsed in the face of Trunajaya loyalists as soon as his VOC escorts left Madura, and he was forced to flee to Surabaya. Subsequently, Speelman himself sailed to Madura, defeated Trunajaya's allies there, and razed his residence, Maduretna. However, in late June the court of Mataram itself fell to Trunajaya's forces, and the king fled. Upon receiving this news, Speelman decided to sail immediately to defend the strategic point of Jepara and link up with the retreating royal forces.
## Aftermath
Speelman planned to follow his victory with a further advance towards the interior of Java, but his campaign was cut short by the news of the Mataram capital's fall, after which he immediately sailed to defend Jepara. Furthermore, Speelman's superiors in the VOC hesitated to continue further involvement in the war. At the time, Batavia itself was facing threats from the Banten Sultanate in West Java, and the VOC post at Malacca was threatened by the Johor Sultanate. On 6 July, the VOC ordered a halt to Speelman's operation: "Not one of our people, great or small, is to go to Mataram".
Historian of Indonesia M. C. Ricklefs argued that the VOC victory in Surabaya probably accelerated the fall of Mataram. The defeated rebel forces retreated inland, driving closer to Mataram's capital and triggering an early attack on the court. Secondly, the alliance between the king and the foreign, Christian VOC strengthened the Islamic character of the rebellion. Amangkurat I's successor, Amangkurat II, later told the VOC that the alliance with the VOC pushed his cousin Pangeran Purbaya towards the rebel side, and Purbaya's forces were among those who later overran the capital.
The Trunajaya rebellion continued until 1680, when it was ultimately defeated by the Mataram-VOC alliance. |
13,479,944 | Hurricane Naomi | 1,171,927,354 | Category 1 Pacific hurricane in 1968 | [
"1968 Pacific hurricane season",
"1968 in Mexico",
"1968 natural disasters in the United States",
"Category 1 Pacific hurricanes",
"Hurricanes in Texas",
"Pacific hurricanes in Mexico"
]
| Hurricane Naomi was a short-lived Category 1 hurricane that made landfall in Mexico's Pacific coast during the 1968 Pacific hurricane season. After rapidly intensifying before its landfall in Sinaloa, Naomi caused rainfall throughout northern Mexico and the U.S. state of Texas in association with a frontal system, with the highest measurement occurring in Corpus Christi. Four people perished in Mexico due to Naomi's effects with ten more missing, all in Sinaloa. The only reported injury in Texas due to the remnants was a factory worker who was injured when the roof of the plant they were working in collapsed due to rainfall.
Naomi was the seventeenth tropical depression, fourteenth tropical storm and the fourth hurricane of the 1968 Pacific hurricane season. Its precipitation on the Mexican Altiplano briefly threatened the unfinished Lázaro Cárdenas dam on the Nazas River. If the dam failed, the twin cities of Gómez Palacio, Durango, and Torreón, Coahuila, would have been inundated. On the other hand, releasing water from the dam would have saved Torreón by submerging Gómez Palacio with the dam's runoff. From help with satellite imagery, the authorities decided to keep the dam closed—risking its possible failure—saving both towns.
## Meteorological history
The disturbance that developed into Hurricane Naomi was reported in the Intertropical Convergence Zone on September 8 at 12 °N, 98 °W. At that time, a ship called the Avisfaith reported winds to the south-southwest of force 7 on the Beaufort Scale 30 mi (48 km) south of this position, the equivalent of a strong tropical depression on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. On September 9, six more ships reported winds of 35 mph (56 km/h) from the system, which was at 13°N, 101°W at the time, and the system was given depression status on the same day. Later that day, satellite pictures clearly showed the vortex and center of the developing cyclone, and on September 10, the first report of tropical storm force winds were reported south of the low by the ship Builder, which showed winds of 40 mph (64 km/h). The depression continued to develop at a rapid pace, with large feeder bands which helped to absorb moisture to strengthen the cyclone extending from the center, which was becoming better defined. One of the feeder bands developed near Manzanillo, Colima, which reported winds of 45 mph (72 km/h) from the band prior to daybreak. Towards the end of the day, the Allison Lykes reported 60 mph (97 km/h) winds from the cyclone and, early on September 11, sufficient evidence that the depression had reached tropical storm status resulted in the cyclone being upgraded and named "Naomi".
For the next twelve hours, Naomi continued to rapidly intensify, with feeder bands flowing into a tightening spiral structure in the center of the storm. Ship reports around this time showed winds of 60 mph (97 km/h) to 65 mph (105 km/h). Towards midnight, a computerized mosaic showed a clear eye and Naomi was upgraded to hurricane strength early on September 12 while at 19.8°N, 106.8°W based on the mosaic, an intensity that was verified by the Meisei Maru, which reported winds of 75 mph (121 km/h) at 6:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). After being upgraded, the hurricane moved to the north at a pace of 9 mph (14 km/h) before making a slow northeastward turn. The turn had the hurricane passing 30 mi (48 km) – 40 mi (64 km) west of Mazatlán, Sinaloa. The hurricane then began to accelerate, landfalling on Sinaloa near Punta Piaxtla at 3:00 GMT on September 13. Shortly after landfall, the Sierra Madre Occidental took a toll on the hurricane, causing it to dissipate later that day while midway between Chihuahua, Chih., and Piedras Negras, Coah., with the remnants moving over Texas. In total, the hurricane travelled 1,100 mi (1,800 km) while active.
## Impact
### Mexico
A dispatch from the Associated Press to Mexico City reported that 20,000 citizens from villages in Durango, Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco evacuated due to the threat of flooding and high winds from Naomi. The damage from Naomi in Mexico was moderate, although no monetary figures have ever been released. The Associated Press dispatch also reported that Naomi was responsible for knocking out communications over a large area in Mazatlán as well as downing power lines and damaging houses. At least 2000 people were reported homeless in Durango due to the hurricane. The hurricane also caused damage to Highway 15 between Mazatlán and Tepic. Although the highway reopened soon afterward, some areas that were struck by the hurricane were still rough. Naomi's most notable impact in Mexico involved the Lázaro Cárdenas Dam on the Nazas River, which was not complete by the time the hurricane hit. The dam, upriver from Gómez Palacio and Torreón, was feared to break down from the water being built up behind it, influenced by the hurricane. The two options were to either open the dam, saving Torreón by inundating Gómez Palacio, or risk inundating both towns by keeping the dam closed. The decision was made harder by the fact that, if the dam was released and no rain fell to refill the basin behind the dam, the farms would have insufficient water for agricultural growth. Photography from the Environmental Science Services Administration's Automatic Picture Transmission based on the ESSA-6 weather satellite showed that the clouds from Naomi responsible for the rain had almost moved over the area near the dam. Based on the images, the authorities decided to gamble on the dam to successfully hold up, and it managed to hold back the waters without breaking. The hurricane caused four drowning deaths and \$16 million in damage in Sinaloa.
### Texas
In Texas, the remnants of Naomi coupled with a frontal system resulted in prolonged rains over the state. The hardest hit city was Corpus Christi, which reported over 8 inches (200 mm) of rain in relation to the disturbance as well as funnel clouds to the south and west of the city, resulting in many roads being stopped to traffic. Accumulated rainfall caused the roof of a tortilla plant to collapse, slightly injuring a worker. Although the range of heavy rains was large, only minor rains were reported in Andrews, Crane, Monahans, Kermit, Wink, Stanton, and Pecos. Despite the totals, the rain proved beneficial as well, helping saturate areas of grassland in need of water.
### Naming
This was the second time an East Pacific storm was named Naomi and the only time that a storm named Naomi in the basin reached hurricane strength. Because the effects from the hurricane were minor, the name was not retired after this hurricane and was re-used in the 1976 season. However, a name change in 1978 dropped the name Naomi, and the name has not been used since.
## See also
- Other tropical cyclones named Naomi
- List of Pacific hurricanes
- Malpasset—A French dam that broke in 1959 due to circumstances similar to those that affected the Lázaro Cárdenas Dam, killing 421. |
9,710,926 | Stuart Tomlinson | 1,171,483,438 | British wrestler and football player (born 1985) | [
"1985 births",
"21st-century professional wrestlers",
"Altrincham F.C. players",
"Barrow A.F.C. players",
"Burton Albion F.C. players",
"Crewe Alexandra F.C. players",
"English Football League players",
"English male professional wrestlers",
"English men's footballers",
"Expatriate professional wrestlers",
"Footballers from Cheshire",
"Living people",
"Men's association football goalkeepers",
"National League (English football) players",
"People from Ellesmere Port",
"Port Vale F.C. players",
"Stafford Rangers F.C. players"
]
| Stuart Charles Tomlinson (born 22 May 1985) is an English former professional wrestler and professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
As a footballer, Tomlinson progressed from the Crewe Alexandra youth team to turn professional in 2003. He spent the next six years with the club, spending part of 2004 on loan at Stafford Rangers, and playing once on loan for Burton Albion in 2008. He spent the 2009–10 campaign at Conference club Barrow, where he shared goalkeeping responsibilities with Tim Deasy. He then signed with Port Vale, and was favoured ahead of Chris Martin for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 campaigns, before choosing to leave the club in July 2012. He signed with Burton Albion in September 2012, but retired through injury in July 2013.
In December 2013, Tomlinson began training as a professional wrestler on a developmental contract with WWE. In November 2014, he made his debut at a NXT live event, under the ring name Hugo Knox. In September 2016, he was released from his contract. In March 2017, Tomlinson briefly returned to football to play for Altrincham.
## Football career
### Crewe Alexandra
Having graduated through the club's youth academy, Tomlinson made his senior debut for Crewe Alexandra in a Second Division clash with Oldham Athletic on 25 January 2003, replacing Danny Milosevic on 51 minutes after the Australian suffered an injury. He conceded a goal to Chris Armstrong after his view was obscured by a group of players, though Crewe ran out 3–1 winners at Boundary Park. At the end of the season he signed his first professional contract, and Crewe were promoted into the First Division as runners up in the Second Division.
His second game came on 17 March 2004 at the Boleyn Ground; he replaced Clayton Ince after 86 minutes with the score 4–2 to West Ham United, after Ince was stretchered off with a knee injury. The eighteen-year-old held his nerve in front of over 30,000 spectators and no goals were scored in the brief period he was on the pitch. Later in the year he had a loan spell at local non-League side Stafford Rangers.
After recovering from a twisted ankle, Tomlinson's next senior game was at Sincil Bank on 23 August 2005, where he replaced loanee Ben Williams at half-time. Lincoln City knocked the "Railwaymen" out of the League Cup, putting two past Williams and three past Tomlinson for a 5–2 victory. His first start came in the FA Cup Third Round clash at Deepdale on 7 January 2006, the home side coming out 2–1 winners. He played his first Championship game on 28 January, replacing Ross Turnbull at half-time; Watford put two past each men for a 4–1 win. After signing a one-year contract extension in March, Tomlinson got his first league start on 30 April, as Crewe beat Millwall 4–2, Ben May scoring both of the "Lions" goals.
In May 2006, Burton Albion put in a request to sign Tomlinson to a season long loan. The move was delayed after Tomlinson picked up a calf injury, before he managed to join Burton in time for a pre-season friendly with Sheffield Wednesday. However Crewe reconsidered the loan deal and so Nigel Clough instead signed aged veteran Kevin Poole. Clough was still keen to sign Tomlinson, with the saga continuing well into the season, though no deal was made. Tomlinson picked up his first senior clean sheet on 22 August 2006, during a 3–0 win at Grimsby Town's Blundell Park in the League Cup First Round. The Crewe website described a "heroic effort" from Tomlinson in the Football League Trophy tie with Rochdale on 31 October, as he managed to three of Rochdale's four penalties (the penalty he did not save was a miss). Dario Gradi said: "Stuart is outstanding on penalties because he is positive and doesn't flop over". He went on to play seven League One games, and also made one appearance in the FA Cup. However he did not play in the 2007 end of the season, partly due to a tore groin that kept him out of action for a number of weeks. In the summer there was once again talk of a possible loan move to Burton.
He was only used by Steve Holland once throughout the 2007–08 season, playing in a 1–1 draw with Chester City in the Football League Trophy on 4 September; Chester won the game 4–3 on penalties. Not long after this he was on the sidelines with a broken thumb. In February, Tomlinson finally joined Conference club Burton Albion on a one-month loan. He played 90 minutes for "Brewers" in a 3–1 defeat to Histon on 1 March, and was forced to make numerous saves. He played no further part of Burton's season after he sustained an injury to his cruciate ligaments.
After six months of rehab he recovered earlier than expected. His 2008–09 season started on 25 November, as Gradi gave him a start at the Walkers Stadium, where Leicester City won 2–1. The next month he played six games, keeping four clean sheets (against Carlisle United, Cheltenham Town, Swindon Town and Millwall). However he attracted criticism from his manager at the end of January following heavy defeats to Northampton Town and Peterborough United, and was subsequently dropped. New manager Gudjon Thordarson told him that he would not be offered a new contract at the end of the season, thus ending Tomlinson's long association with the club.
### Barrow
In July 2009, he joined Port Vale for pre-season training, playing 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly. Micky Adams considered signing Tomlinson up whilst first choice keeper Joe Anyon was out injured. He impressed on his trial and would have been signed to a contract if the cash-strapped club could find the finance, instead Adams considered offering Tomlinson non-contract terms. However, Tomlinson left the club to search for a more permanent offer elsewhere. In August 2009, he joined Barrow of the Conference, just two days before the start of their season. Sharing first team duties with Tim Deasy, he appeared 27 times for Barrow in the 2009–10 campaign. He also won the FA Trophy with the club, appearing in the final at Wembley Stadium, where the "Bluebirds" beat Stevenage Borough 2–1.
### Port Vale
Tomlinson chose not to renew his Barrow contract at the end of the season, and instead signed a one-year contract at Port Vale in May 2010. Anyon had at by this time left Vale Park for Lincoln City, and Tomlinson was brought into provide competition for teenager Chris Martin. This required him to accept a lower wage than he would have got at Barrow.
> He is a keeper with tremendous agility, who is renowned for his shot-stopping, and we have the benefit of knowing all about him after working with him for a short spell last season. Stuart is aware that he will have tough competition for the number one spot in Chris Martin, but he is ready for the challenge and looking forward to being back in the Football League.
: : – Micky Adams on Tomlinson.
Adams surprised many by selecting Tomlinson as the goalkeeper in the opening game of the season, and Tomlinson rewarded his manager by keeping a clean sheet. Tomlinson praised his defence for his solid start to the season. With five clean sheets in his first ten games, Tomlinson was offered a one-year contract extension in September 2010. Two months later he was reported in the Daily Star and the Daily Mirror to be a £250,000 transfer target for Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers. Adams dismissed such speculation with the comment "that amount of money wouldn't buy Stuart's left hand". Sent off on New Year's Day after a collision with Rotherham United's Marcus Marshall, Tomlinson lost his place in the first XI due to injury and suspension, but then won back his place after Martin conceded a comical own goal in a 3–1 defeat to Stevenage on 22 February. It was an eventful return for Tomlinson, who broke the story of Jim Gannon and Geoff Horsfield's bust-up on the pre-match coach trip to Aldershot via Twitter. The game itself was also eventful, as Tomlinson gave away a penalty, which he then saved, only to leave the pitch due to a hip injury. Martin regained his first team place after the game, only to be replaced by Tomlinson at half-time during a 2–1 loss at home to Oxford United on 12 March, after Martin committed another blunder.
Following the return of Micky Adams as Port Vale manager, Tomlinson held on to his first team place at the start of the 2011–12 season, though Martin was used in cup games. Neither Tomlinson or Martin could find the consistency to secure their first team place though; Tomlinson conceded twelve goals in his first seven games of the season, whilst Martin conceded ten times in his first five games. Assistant manager Mark Grew told the media that "they've both been disappointing". On 29 October, Tomlinson was embarrassed to be caught off his line by Oxford United's Peter Leven, who found the net with a 'sensational 45 yards (41 m) strike'. Adams said "...in the division, he's the only player who would have scored that... [but] you have to question the keeper's starting position." He was still preferred to Martin though, and only a thigh injury kept him out of two league games in January. He returned to the first team, and was heading for a third consecutive clean sheet on 14 February when he committed an "injury-time howler" to allow Bradford City a share of the points at Valley Parade. On 10 March he spilled a cross to hand Barnet striker Ben May an easy winner at Vale Park. He vowed to improve his consistency, saying "I'm a pretty confident person and it will take a lot to stop me bouncing back." At the end of the season he rejected the club's offer of a new contract, and his departure was announced on 3 July. He said that he was "not particularly worried" about his free agent status, and that he would turn down similar offers from other clubs and wait until as late as the start of the following season until the "right opportunity" came about.
### Burton Albion
In September 2012, Tomlinson signed a four-month contract with Burton Albion, having previously been on trial at Preston North End. He joined the "Brewers" after manager Gary Rowett was dissatisfied with the performances of Ross Atkins and Dean Lyness. After keeping a clean sheet on his debut, in a 1–0 win over Rochdale at Spotland on 8 September, assistant manager Kevin Summerfield said that "the biggest difference for me was that we were playing the game in their half and they were defending corners because he [Tomlinson] can kick the ball so far up the pitch". He was aiming for a longer stay at the Pirelli Stadium, but a knee injury sustained in a home draw with former club Port Vale left him sidelined for up to six months. He recovered to full fitness in half that time, and signed a new contract in February to extend his stay at Burton until summer 2014. Burton reached the play-offs at the end of the 2012–13 season, but were defeated 5–4 by Bradford City at the semi-final stage. Tomlinson retired in July 2013 after surgeons advised him that scar tissue damage and a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) meant that his left knee was in poor shape and was vulnerable to further damage.
### Altrincham
In March 2017, and after almost four years away from the sport, Tomlinson returned to football to play for Altrincham; he was signed to cover for former Barrow teammate Tim Deasy, who was ruled out injured for at least a month. The "Robins" were relegated after finishing bottom of the National League North at the end of the 2016–17 season.
## Style of play
A goalkeeper with a flair for shot-stopping, Tomlinson could kick the ball with either foot. Due to his muscular physique, he was given the nickname "the Tank".
> Stuart's a great lad who works really hard in training... he's got a great physique and commands his box very well. Keepers can always make mistakes, but he made very few for us. He's not got a weak point in his game. He's a good all-round keeper, which is why we were lucky to get him last summer.
: : – Barrow manager David Bayliss upon losing Tomlinson to Port Vale in June 2010.
## Professional wrestling career
### WWE (2013–2016)
In December 2013, Tomlinson travelled to the United States to be trained as a professional wrestler on a developmental contract by WWE. He was assigned to the WWE Performance Center, where he took the ring name Hugo Knox. He stated that "Hugo Knox is a lively, high-energy and bubbly guy" with "the smallest polka dot pants possible!". He made his in-ring debut for WWE's developmental territory, NXT, at a live event on 8 November 2014. On 30 September 2016, it was reported that Tomlinson had been released from his WWE contract.
## Modelling career
Tomlinson has worked as a professional model, appearing on the front cover of Men's Health.
## Career statistics
## Honours
Crewe Alexandra
- Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 2002–03
Barrow
- FA Trophy: 2010 |
49,508,667 | Arrivé | 1,147,278,726 | High-rise hotel and residences in Seattle, Washington, US | [
"2019 establishments in Washington (state)",
"Hotel buildings completed in 2019",
"Residential buildings completed in 2019",
"Residential skyscrapers in Seattle",
"Skyscraper hotels in Seattle"
]
| Arrivé (/ɑːriːˈveɪ/ ah-ree-VAY) is a 440-foot (130 m), 41-story skyscraper in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The \$190 million project, originally named Potala Tower after the Potala Palace in Tibet, was designed by Weber Thompson and consists of 342 apartments and a 142-room hotel. It was financed partially by Chinese nationals through the EB-5 visa program and began construction in April 2015.
Construction was put on hold in August 2015, when the assets of project developer Lobsang Dargey were frozen by a court order after a civil fraud suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC alleges that Dargey diverted funds from the project for his own personal uses, including the purchase of his Bellevue home and gambling. The project was then transferred to a court-appointed receiver and later stripped of its EB-5 eligibility. In May 2016, the presiding judge approved a plan by two firms to buy out Dargey's share of the project and restart construction, pending approval from EB-5 investors; in October, the two companies signed an agreement to restart construction and re-brand the project. The tower was completed and opened in February 2019.
## Design and architecture
Arrivé was designed by Seattle architecture firm Weber Thompson with elements referencing the Seattle Cinerama movie theater, located adjacent to the property. The project was originally called "Cinema Tower", prior to its transfer to Dargey Development.
The tower itself is 41 stories, including 2,743 square feet (254.8 m<sup>2</sup>) of retail space at ground level, 329 parking spaces, 142 hotel rooms, and 344 apartments comprising floors 11 through 41. Amenities include a 7th floor deck for the hotel and a rooftop terrace for apartment residents; the original design for the rooftop deck included an outdoor movie theater. The Sound Hotel operates within the tower, occupying floors 2 through 10, and includes a lounge, meeting spaces, a fitness center, and a bistro. The apartments range from 520-square-foot (48 m<sup>2</sup>) studio to a 1,869-square-foot (173.6 m<sup>2</sup>) penthouse.
The project is seeking a LEED Silver certification.
## History
### Planning and construction
The 1⁄3-acre (0.13 ha) site, facing 4th Avenue between Blanchard and Lenora streets and located adjacent to the Seattle Cinerama theater in Belltown, was bought by HAL Real Estate Investments in 2008 for \$5 million. HAL applied for permits to build a 38-story building with 365 apartments, called the "Cinema Tower".
In 2013, developer Lobsang Dargey bought the property from HAL for \$11.5 million, and announced his intention to build a mixed-use tower on the site. Dargey, a former Tibetan Buddhist monk who immigrated to Seattle in 1997, planned to finance the project with EB-5 visas through his company, Path America. The project's approach to EB-5 financing was also promoted by Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen during a state trip to Shanghai in 2014. The proposed tower, now named "Potala Tower" after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, was unveiled in July 2014; Hotel Indigo was identified as the operator of the 142-hotel in the tower. Construction on the project was scheduled to begin later that year and end by 2017.
Dargey was joined by Mayor Ed Murray and actor Tom Skerritt, a personal friend of his, at a groundbreaking ceremony for the project on August 28, 2014. The ceremony, which included a blessing from Buddhist monks and participants wearing traditional khatas (a type of ceremonial Buddhist scarf), marked the beginning of demolition for the Dean Transmissions building on the site. Site excavation, marking the actual start of construction, began the following April under the direction of PCL Construction. A construction permit to build the tower was issued on August 17, 2015.
### Halt in construction
On August 24, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in a civil securities fraud complaint in the U.S. District Court against Dargey and Path America, the company managing the EB-5 financing of the Potala Tower project and several others in the region. The following day, Dargey's assets were seized, forcing construction on the tower to halt; by then, excavation had reached a depth of 60 feet (18 m) and PCL announced that it would stop construction. The SEC alleged that Dargey diverted \$17.6 million of at least \$125 million raised through the EB-5 program and misused them on himself, including the purchase of his Bellevue home, transfers between projects, and gambling at casinos as far away as Las Vegas.
In October, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart ordered that Path America and its assets be removed from Dargey's control and placed into receivership, including the Potala Tower project. A recovery plan was filed in January by the court receiver, proposing to sell all of Path America's projects, which Dargey and several investors opposed on the grounds of possible loss of EB-5 eligibility. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services instead revoked the Potala Tower project of EB-5 eligibility in March 2016, closing the possibility of granting green cards for project investors. The receiver was granted partial approval to sell the project in April; 13 bids were received for the property and/or project, including from local firm Vulcan Real Estate, Las Vegas-based Molasky Group, and Chinese developer Binjiang Tower Corporation (an original investor in the project). On May 20, 2016, Judge James Robart approved a plan submitted by the receiver on behalf of Molasky and Binjiang, committing \$30 million to the project and allowing for construction to resume pending final approval by foreign investors; Dargey approved the plan after a deal was struck with the new developers to pay \$1.8 million of the attorney fees he had accrued during the trial.
### Resumption of construction
On October 6, Molasky and Binjiang signed an agreement to restart construction of the project, which would be renamed and rebranded. Work on the project resumed later that month, and is scheduled to be completed in January 2019. In February 2017, Molasky and Binjiang announced that the project had raised \$325 million in funds to continue work on the project. The project was rebranded as "Arrivé" in May 2017 and was topped out the following year. The hotel portion, operated by Hilton Worldwide under their Tapestry Collection brand as The Sound Hotel, opened on February 12, 2019. The project's construction loan was retired in September 2021 and allowed to regain its EB-5 eligibility under a new financing agreement for \$102.7 million by Gantry. |
48,648 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | 1,173,071,765 | 1997 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling | [
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"Children's fantasy novels",
"Fiction about alchemy",
"Fiction set in 1981",
"Fiction set in 1991",
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| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school and with the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents, but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.
The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999 and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the third best-selling book of all time.
Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors; Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-teller Homer. While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as overcoming obstacles like bullying.
The Harry Potter series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis and marketing.
## Synopsis
Harry Potter lives with his abusive aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying son, Dudley. On Harry's eleventh birthday, Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant, delivers an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, revealing that Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter, were wizards. When Harry was one year old, powerful dark wizard Lord Voldemort murdered his parents. Harry survived Voldemort's killing curse that rebounded and seemingly destroyed the Dark Lord, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Unknown to Harry, this act made him famous in the wizarding world.
Hagrid escorts Harry to Diagon Alley, the hidden wizard commerce and retail section in London. Harry's parents have left him a fortune kept in Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which he uses to buy school supplies and a wand from Ollivander's. The cores of Harry and Lord Voldemort's wands have feathers from the same phoenix bird, making them "brothers". Hagrid gifts Harry an owl as a birthday present. Harry names her Hedwig. A month later, Harry boards the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross railway station's secret Platform 9+3⁄4. En route to Hogwarts, Harry befriends fellow first year Ron Weasley and meets Hermione Granger, whom the two boys initially dislike.
Harry runs afoul of Draco Malfoy, the spoiled son of a prominent wizard. At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat sorts the first years among four school Houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) that best suit their personalities and talents. Draco joins Slytherin, known for producing dark wizards, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sorted into Gryffindor.
Harry's broomstick flying ability earns him a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. Harry comes to dislike Potions master Severus Snape, who favours Slytherin while seeking to fail Harry. Malfoy tricks Harry and Ron into risking expulsion by leaving their common room after curfew. Hermione, unable to stop them, tags along. Realising Malfoy's ruse, they hide in a forbidden corridor and discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. Harry and Ron later save Hermione from a troll during a Halloween celebration and the three become best friends. Coupled with Snape's recent leg injury and suspicious behaviour, Harry, Ron, and Hermione believe he is attempting to enter the trapdoor.
During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to buck him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione he jinxed Harry's broom. Harry receives an anonymous Christmas gift – his father's invisibility cloak. Using it to explore the school, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows what the viewer most desires. Harry sees his parents.
A newspaper report later describes an attempted robbery at the same vault in Gringotts from which Hagrid retrieved an item for Hogwarts' headmaster Albus Dumbledore on the same day. The object beneath the trapdoor is the philosopher's stone, which grants its user immortality and the ability to turn any metal into pure gold. Firenze, a forest centaur, warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the stone to restore his body. When Dumbledore is lured from Hogwarts under false pretences, Harry, Hermione, and Ron fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor.
Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry proceeds. Harry encounters Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He jinxed Harry's broom and let the troll into the school; Snape was protecting Harry. Voldemort, whose face has regrown on the back of Quirrell's head, is revealed to be the professor's secret master. Harry is forced to stand before the Mirror of Erised. It recognises Harry's lack of greed for the stone and deposits it into his pocket. Quirrell attempts to seize the stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. Harry's scar begins hurting, and he passes out.
Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. He survived Voldemort because his mother sacrificing her life for him left a magical protective charm. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry; Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore reveals he sent Harry the invisibility cloak, while the philosopher's stone, that had been keeping the long-lived Nicolas Flamel alive, has been destroyed with Flamel's consent to prevent its being stolen. During the school's year-end feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry returns to the Dursleys at Privet Drive until the next school year.
## Characters
- Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard." She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there. Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.
- Ron Weasley is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him". He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizards Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
- Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness". Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
- Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
- Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, with tangled black hair and beard, was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), however Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's gamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
- Professor Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".
- Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teaches Transfiguration and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
- Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
- Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
- Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.
- Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been bewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
- Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
- Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
- Professor Severus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in Slytherin, his own House and seizes every opportunity to humiliate others, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
- Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school's secret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.
Other members of staff include: the dumpy Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitable Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporific History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeist Peeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.
In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero [Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard" and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him. During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him". Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".
Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness". His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.
The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate, and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:
> The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard. ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.
## Development, publication and reception
### Development
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product." Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels. She sent the book to an literary agent and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words. Barry Cunningham, who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors for Bloomsbury Children's Books, recommended accepting the book and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".
### Publication and reception in the United Kingdom
Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance and Cunningham sent proof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched. He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the pen name J. K. Rowling just before publication.
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.) The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers. Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US\$471,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction. Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.
Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments, wrote what is thought to be the first published review, in The Scotsman on 28 June 1997. She described Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children". Another early review, in The Herald, said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews in The Guardian and The Sunday Times and in September 1997 Books for Keeps, a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five. Sunday Times said:"comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" and The Scotsman said it had "all the makings of a classic".
In 1997 the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The Smarties award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years. The following year, Philosopher's Stone won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children. It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults, but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards – for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association / Bookseller Author of the Year. By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001. A Braille edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.
Platform 9+3⁄4, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.
### US publication and reception
Scholastic Corporation bought the US rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US\$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book. Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"), the American edition was published in September 1998 under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time. Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy and the meaning of some other terms changed in translation, for example from "crumpet" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of Philosopher's Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits. Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.
At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one by Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers. Although The Boston Globe and Michael Winerip in The New York Times complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book, they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise. A year later, the US edition was selected as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and a New York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year and won Parenting Magazine's Book of the Year Award for 1998, the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
In August 1999, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped the New York Times list of best-selling fiction and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until the New York Times split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings. Publishers Weekly's report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6 million copies).
In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that was released on 1 October 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release. For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-released Sorcerer's Stone, along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art by Kazu Kibuishi in 2013.
### Translations
By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".
## Style and themes
Philip Nel highlighted the influence of Jane Austen, whom Rowling has greatly admired since the age of twelve. Both novelists greatly encourage re-reading, because details that look insignificant foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story-line – for example Sirius Black is briefly mentioned near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and then becomes a major character in the third to fifth books. Like Austen's heroines, Harry often has to re-examine his ideas near the ends of books. Some social behaviour in the Harry Potter books is reminiscent of Austen, for example the excited communal reading of letters. Both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that express their personalities. However, in Nel's opinion Rowling's humour is more based on caricature and the names she invents are more like those found in Charles Dickens's stories, and Amanda Cockrell noted that many of these express their owners' traits through allusions that run from ancient Roman mythology to eighteenth-century German literature. Rowling, like the Narnia series' author C. S. Lewis, thinks there is no rigid distinction between stories for children and for adults. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines literary genresfantasy, young adult fiction, boarding school stories, Bildungsroman and many others.
Some reviewers compared Philosopher's Stone to the stories of Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of Philosopher's Stone, seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other really popular children's author of the late 1990s was an American, R. L. Stine. Some of the story elements in Philosopher's Stone resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero of James and the Giant Peach lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant auntsone fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.
Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley. Tad Brennan commented that Rowling's writing resembles that of Homer: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression". Stephen King admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.
Nicholas Tucker described the early Harry Potter books as looking back to Victorian and Edwardian children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, including Argus Filch's cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak. Several other commentators have stated that the books present a highly stratified society including many social stereotypes. However Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.
Susan Hall wrote that there is no rule of law in the books, as the actions of Ministry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This provides an opportunity for Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the highly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.
Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the extremely conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", while the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards are based on affection and loyalty. This is reflected in his happiness whenever he is a temporary member of the Weasley family throughout the series, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as father-figures.
## Legacy
### Sequels
The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and later, in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version. It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.
### Illustrated version
An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations by Jim Kay. The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.
### Podcast version
In May 2020, a reading podcast by Spotify was created and entitled Harry Potter at Home: Readings. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises.
### Film adaptation
In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first two Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million. Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books. After extensive casting, filming began in September 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London, with production ending in July 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in London on 14 November 2001. Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and by a score of 65% at Metacritic, representing "generally favourable reviews".
### Video games
Five unique video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, that were loosely based on the film and book:
### Uses in education and business
Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as an . Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand, illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors. Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".
Stephen Brown noted that the early Harry Potter books, especially Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names. For example, a real-world analogue of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was introduced under licence in 2000 by toymaker Hasbro.
## Release history |
49,930,428 | Watch Me Do | 1,148,270,136 | null | [
"2016 songs",
"American hip hop songs",
"Meghan Trainor songs",
"Songs written by Jacob Kasher",
"Songs written by LunchMoney Lewis",
"Songs written by Meghan Trainor",
"Songs written by Ricky Reed"
]
| "Watch Me Do" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor from her second major-label studio album, Thank You (2016). It was released on March 25, 2016, to digital download platforms by Epic Records as the album's first promotional single. Produced by Ricky Reed, he co-wrote the song with Trainor, Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Gamal Lewis. "Watch Me Do" is a hip hop-influenced pop song, with lyrics about female empowerment. The track received mixed reviews from music critics, with some of them appreciating its empowering theme but others being critical of Trainor's rapping skills. It was performed during Trainor's The Untouchable Tour (2016).
## Background and composition
"Watch Me Do" was written by Meghan Trainor along with Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Gamal Lewis and Ricky Reed, with the latter also having produced the song. The song was released as the first promotional single from Trainor's second major-label studio album Thank You (2016), on March 25, 2016, by Epic Records. It is an upbeat, brass-heavy pop track where Trainor references a number of rap songs, containing "90s hip hop throwback vibes" according to MTV News. Colin Stutz of Billboard noted the presence of "swagger" and "groove", and writing "she opens the track singing over a funky drum beat before going on to gloat". Entertainment Weekly's Dana Rose Falcone described it as a "female-empowerment" track, adding that she "peppers her new song with some hip-hop and doesn't play the modesty card".
Music Times' Carolyn Menyes described the track as a notable departure from Trainor's previous work, writing "it differs greatly from the doo-wop influences of Trainor's first album and few hit singles" and compared it to the works of Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child. Sam Warner of Digital Spy described it as a "2000s banger", and "a typically Trainor-esque empowering anthem". He likened it to the early work of Britney Spears. Idolator's Carl Williott wrote that Trainor was in "full flaunt mode", adding "she preens over a syncopated synth-horn-snare beat".
## Critical reception
"Watch Me Do" received mixed reviews from music critics. Spin'''s Dan Weiss was positive of the song, and compared it to Mark Ronson's work. Entertainment Weekly's Isabella Biedenharn called it one of the best tracks on Thank You, and said that Trainor "brings hip-hop flavor to this booty-shaking banger". Writing for USA Today, Patrick Ryan was positive about "Watch Me Do", stating that it makes clear that Trainor can "successfully do" several genres. Writing for The New York Times, Jon Caramanica called the song "tough-stand", likening it to Destiny's Child's "Independent Women (Part 1)". Bustle's Amy Roberts included "I ain't saying I'm the besteses / But I got nice curves, nice breasteses/ I don't erase the textes from my exeses/ All in my DMs, leaving messages" and "I'm the shh, be quiet/ I've been on a low-hater diet" in her list of the most empowering lyrics on Thank You.
Writing for PopMatters, Chris Conaton said that "Watch Me Do" has a "pretty strong" hook and called the James Brown references catchy, but noted that its lyrics shift from "ingénue to braggadocious star". Slant Magazine writer Alexa Camp was critical of the song, saying that it confuses "delusional self-importance with self-worth". Allison Weintraub of The Oklahoma Daily criticized it, describing it as "terrible pseudo-rap", with "weirdly pluralized words". Bustle's Mary Grace Garis criticized Trainor's use of the term "nice breasteses", and called "Watch Me Do" one of the weakest tracks on its parent album.
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Thank You''.
- Meghan Trainor – songwriting, background vocals, lead vocals
- Ricky Reed – songwriting, production, bass, guitar, keyboards, programming
- Tom Peyton – drums
- Jacob Kasher Hindlin – songwriting
- Gamal Lewis – songwriting
## Charts |
39,761,968 | Empire Theatre (42nd Street) | 1,155,827,657 | Movie theater in Manhattan, New York | [
"1912 establishments in New York City",
"2000 establishments in New York City",
"42nd Street (Manhattan)",
"AMC Theatres",
"Former Broadway theatres",
"Relocated buildings and structures in New York City",
"Theater District, Manhattan",
"Theatres completed in 1912",
"Theatres completed in 2000",
"Thomas W. Lamb buildings",
"Times Square buildings"
]
| The Empire Theatre (originally the Eltinge Theatre) is a former Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1912, the theater was designed by Thomas W. Lamb for the Hungarian-born impresario A. H. Woods. It was originally named for female impersonator Julian Eltinge, a performer with whom Woods was associated. The theater was relocated 168 feet (51 m) west of its original location in 1998. Since 2000, the original theater building has served as the entrance to the AMC Empire 25, a multiplex operated by AMC Theatres.
The facade of the Empire Theatre is made of terracotta and is square in shape, with relatively little ornamentation. The center of the facade contains a three-story arch, which was intended to resemble a Roman triumphal arch; a fourth story was used as offices. The theater had about 900 seats in its auditorium, spread across three levels. It was decorated with ancient Egyptian and Greek details, as well as a sounding board depicting three dancing women. During the late 1990s, the former auditorium was converted into a lobby and lounge for the AMC Empire 25, and most of the original detail was restored.
Woods leased the site in August 1911, and the Eltinge Theatre opened on September 11, 1912, with the play Within the Law. In its early years, the Eltinge was known as a "lucky house", with many long-running plays. The theater was less successful during the 1920s and was leased to various theatrical personalities. Due to a lack of theatrical productions, Max Rudnick leased the Eltinge for burlesque in 1931, and he operated it as such until 1942. Afterward, the Eltinge became a movie theater, the Laff-Movie, operated by the Brandt family and leased to J.J. Mage. The Brandts renamed the theater the Empire in 1954 and continued to present movies there until the late 20th century. The city and state governments of New York acquired the theater as part of the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project in 1990. Forest City Ratner developed an entertainment and retail complex on the site in the 1990s, relocating and renovating the Empire.
## Site
The Empire Theatre is on the south side of 42nd Street, between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue near the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was originally located at 236–242 West 42nd Street, but it has been moved 168 feet (51 m) west of its original location. The Empire's modern-day site was formerly occupied by the Lew Fields Theatre, which was demolished in 1997. The theater is part of an entertainment and retail complex at 234 West 42nd Street, which includes the former Liberty Theatre and the Madame Tussauds New York museum. The complex's land lot covers 54,060 square feet (5,022 m<sup>2</sup>) and extends 200 feet (61 m) between its two frontages on 41st and 42nd Streets, with a frontage of 270 feet (82 m) on 41st Street and 350 feet (110 m) on 42nd Street.
The city block includes the Candler Building, New Amsterdam Theatre, and 5 Times Square to the east, as well as Eleven Times Square to the west. The E-Walk entertainment complex is directly across 42nd Street to the north. The American Airlines Theatre, Times Square Theater, Lyric Theatre, New Victory Theater, and 3 Times Square are to the northeast. In addition, the Port Authority Bus Terminal is to the west, the New York Times Building is to the south, and the Nederlander Theatre is to the southeast. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal stations, served by the , is just west of the theater.
The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues for legitimate theatre were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris, Liberty, Eltinge (now Empire), and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into the current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now American Airlines), and Victoria theaters, occupied the north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them had been relegated to showing pornography by the 1970s.
## Design
The Empire Theatre, originally the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre, was designed by Thomas W. Lamb for the Hungarian-born impresario A. H. Woods. In the late 1990s, the former auditorium was converted into a lobby and lounge for a 25-screen multiplex operated by AMC Theatres. Known as the AMC Empire 25, it was AMC's first theater in New York City. The AMC Empire 25 complex was designed by a joint venture between Benjamin Thompson, Beyer Blinder Belle, Gould Evans Goodman, and the Rockwell Group. The Empire 25 is part of a larger retail and entertainment complex on the south side of 42nd Street, which covers 335,000 square feet (31,100 m<sup>2</sup>). The theater itself covers 140,000 square feet (13,000 m<sup>2</sup>) and was New York City's largest multiplex movie theater at the time of its construction.
### Facade
The square facade of the Empire Theatre is made of terracotta and has little ornamentation compared with other theaters built around the same time. The center of the facade contains a three-story arch, which originally illuminated the rear of the auditorium. The arch was intended to resemble a Roman triumphal arch. It is surrounded by an ornately carved frame. The outermost sections of the facade are slightly projecting piers, which flank the arch. According to Christopher Gray of The New York Times, the facade was typical of Lamb's 1910s theater designs, which "emphasized broad swaths of cream- or white-colored glazed terra cotta with a bit of polychromy and deep dramatic piers, window recesses and other large elements".
In the original design, there were four pairs of doors at ground level, underneath a steel-and-glass marquee that protruded onto the sidewalk. Both the entrance and the stage door were on 42nd Street, in contrast to other theaters along the same block (including the New Amsterdam and Harris), which had their stage doors on 41st Street. On either side of the main entrance, the lowest section of the ground-level facade contained a granite water table, above which were doorways set within a rusticated stone facade. The original water table was removed when the theater was relocated in 1998. The second and third floors are mostly devoid of ornamentation. The center of the arch is topped by a cartouche, and the outer piers also contain cartouches at the third story. A carved cornice runs above the third story.
The fourth story contains six recessed rectangular windows, which overlooked the offices of the theater's manager A. H. Woods and his brother Martin Woods. The theater was topped by a mansard roof. By 1993, the original facade had become so dilapidated that Columbia Pictures covered the original facade with a stucco-and-plywood replica for the film The Last Action Hero. The modern multiplex contains a five-story glass facade that rises above the original Empire Theatre's facade.
### Interior
The superstructure of the theater is composed of a steel frame with brick walls measuring 18 inches (460 mm) thick. The Eltinge Theatre could not contain interior columns because they would obstruct audience members' sightlines, so the side walls and the ceiling were designed to be stronger and more rigid than in a conventional building. Above the auditorium was Woods's office, which had green carpets and walnut-paneled walls.
#### Original design
The theater had 750 seats on three levels. These were proportioned in "slender", "medium", and "stout" widths for patrons of different sizes. The side walls were steeply angled to give the impression that the auditorium was larger than it actually was. The auditorium was decorated with ancient Egyptian and Greek details. These included a proscenium arch decorated with sphinxes and winged disks. The proscenium was flanked by smaller arches, each of which contained two levels with two boxes each. The boxes stepped down toward the stage, and the fronts of each box were decorated with sculpted medallions, flanked by sculpted figures. The boxes were removed in the 1930s when the theater was converted into a burlesque venue.
The sounding board above the proscenium arch contained a mural, which depicted three robed women dancing to music and was painted by French artist Arthur Brounet. According to The New York Times, the women depicted in the mural may have been based on different outfits Eltinge wore. The auditorium contains a domed ceiling. There was originally a chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling, but it was removed in the 1930s.
#### Current design
When the theater was renovated, the steeply-raked balcony levels were replaced with mezzanines that contained restaurants. Escalators pass through the former proscenium arch to the newer multiplex screens above. There are three levels of lobbies, which lead to the screening rooms. The former auditorium comprises the first two stories, while the concession stand is on the third story. The movie screens are spread across five stories, connected by 14 escalators. The multiplex contains an additional six mezzanines, which are connected by elevators. In addition to the proscenium arch, other decorative details remain intact within the multiplex's lobby. A portion of the AMC multiplex is located on a truss above the original Empire Theatre building, which measures 20 feet (6.1 m) deep and is placed 60 feet (18 m) above ground level.
The screening rooms originally had 4,916 seats in total, although this had been reduced to 4,764 seats by 2011. Each of the 25 rooms contains a curved screen spanning the width of the room. The rooms contain stadium seating, with each row being 18 inches (460 mm) higher than the one in front of it. The rooms each contain up to 600 seats. On the sixth story are seven smaller screens, which are used for independent, foreign-language, and art films. Two of the screening rooms include leather seats, which were intended for large gatherings such as business presentations and private parties. In addition, there is a private 60-seat screening room that can be rented out for events. In total, the multiplex had 34 plasma screens and seven projectors when it opened; some of the screens were located within the lobby. When the theater opened, all of its screening rooms contained digital audio systems.
## History
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. Furthermore, A. H. Woods and American actor Julian Eltinge signed a contract in 1909, wherein Woods acted as Eltinge's manager for seven years. Both men earned several hundred thousand dollars from the contract. Eltinge, who gained fame as a female impersonator, never performed there.
### Legitimate shows
#### 1910s
In August 1911, Woods announced that he had signed a 21-year lease for an 80-by-100-foot (24 by 30 m) plot just west of the Liberty Theatre. Woods planned to build a 1,000-seat theater named in honor of Julian Eltinge. It would be the eighth theater to be constructed on 42nd Street, after the New Amsterdam, Liberty, Harris, American, Lyric, Republic, and Victoria theaters. The George A. Just Company received the contract for the theater's structural steel, while the Fleischmann Brothers received the general construction contract. By January 1912, Variety magazine reported that the Eltinge Theatre was nearly completed and was ready to open that April. Woods moved his executive offices from the Putnam Building to the entire upper floor in August 1912.
The Eltinge Theatre opened on September 11, 1912, with Bayard Veiller's melodrama Within the Law. The drama had previously been successful in Chicago, and it ran at the Eltinge for 541 performances through the end of 1913. Many of the Eltinge's early productions were similarly successful. The next hit at the Eltinge was the play The Yellow Ticket, featuring Florence Reed and John Barrymore, which opened in January 1914 and ran for 183 performances. Later the same year, Edward Sheldon's play The Song of Songs opened at the Eltinge, running for six months. The theater also hosted Fair and Warmer, which opened in December 1915 and transferred to the Harris Theatre after seven months. The Max Marcin play Cheating Cheaters opened at the Eltinge in August 1916, with 286 performances over the next several months. Within five years of its opening, the Eltinge Theatre was known as a "lucky house", in part because Woods often booked or produced popular comedies and melodramas.
The Eltinge screened films in early 1917, such as the documentary Birth and the educational movie Trip Through China. The same year, the Eltinge's stage was enlarged in advance of the 1917–1918 theatrical season. The theater's next hit was Business Before Pleasure, starring Barney Bernard and Alexander Carr, which ran from August 1917 to June 1918. This was followed by the play Under Orders, which opened in September 1918; it ran for several months despite having only two performers, in contrast to many contemporary productions that enjoyed large casts. The Eltinge also hosted Wilson Collison's Up in Mabel's Room, which opened in January 1919, and Collison and Avery Hopwood's The Girl in the Limousine, which opened the same October.
#### 1920s
The Eltinge did not host many long-lasting productions during the 1920s, likely because of the growing popularity of larger theaters and because Woods was busy producing other shows. With only 829 seats in 1919, the Eltinge was smaller than most of the area's other theaters. The play Ladies' Night, which opened in 1920, was the theater's first hit of that decade, running for nearly a year. In July 1921, Samuel Augenblick and Louis B. Brodsky bought the Liberty and Eltinge theaters from the heirs of Charlotte M. Goodridge, although this had no effect on Woods's lease. Later the same year, the theater hosted The Demi-Virgin, which transferred from the Times Square Theatre to finish its 268-performance run. The Demi-Virgin was the subject of a lengthy legal dispute regarding whether it was an "indecent" show, which Woods ultimately won. After The Demi-Virgin closed, most of the Eltinge's productions ran for fewer than 200 performances, including East of Suez in 1922 and The Woman on the Jury in 1923. One of the exceptions was Archibald and Edgar Selwyn's comedy Spring Cleaning, which opened in November 1923 and ran for seven months.
The firm of Mandelbaum & Lewine, along with Max N. Natanson, bought the Liberty and Eltinge theaters in November 1923 and immediately resold the theaters to Maximilian Zipkes. The Eltinge continued to host plays, although they were often not very popular. In early 1925, the theater hosted Leon Gordon's play The Piker, which was so negatively received that its leading performer, Lionel Barrymore, seldom appeared on Broadway again. That September, the Shubert brothers bought a 50-percent stake in Woods's lease. As part of the agreement, all productions staged at the Eltinge Theatre also had to be presented at one of the Shubert family's theaters. The Shubert family withdrew from the theater's operation in February 1926, leaving Woods with complete control over the house's bookings. By then, Woods was busy with other projects, having leased the Martin Beck Theatre and owning a half-stake in the Broadhurst Theatre. In the mid-1920s, Woods continued to produce short-lived plays at the Eltinge, which featured several young actresses. These included Stolen Fruit (1925) with Ann Harding, The Ghost Train (1926) with Claudette Colbert, and Crime (1927) with Sylvia Sidney.
Woods leased the Eltinge in March 1927 to Lester Bryant, who was sponsored by a group of wealthy men. By then, Woods was producing multiple large shows, which the theater's small capacity could not accommodate. The Lambert Theatre Corporation, a venture in which Bryant was a partner, leased the Eltinge during the 1927–1928 theatrical season, hosting seven shows in eight months. Louis I. Isquith leased the theater during mid-1928, presenting a series of plays with low ticket prices. Woods subsequently took back the theater's lease and produced the revue Blackbirds of 1928, which transferred from the Liberty and ran until June 1929. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Woods produced several plays, which all had short runs. The play Murder on the Second Floor, featuring Laurence Olivier, opened in late 1929. This was followed the next year by Love Honor and Betray with Clark Gable; the Theatre Guild's production of A Month in the Country; and the play The Ninth Guest. The theater's last-ever legitimate show was First Night, produced by Richard G. Herndon, which closed in February 1931. By then, there were rumors that the Eltinge could be converted to a movie theater or burlesque house.
### Burlesque
Woods subleased the Eltinge Theatre to Max Rudnick in February 1931, although Woods continued to occupy the fourth-floor offices, as his lease did not expire for another two years. Rudnick converted the Eltinge into a stock burlesque theater, and launched his first burlesque shows there on March 6. The Eltinge was the second theater on 42nd Street to feature burlesque, following Minsky's Republic Theater (now the New Victory) in February. The Eltinge's conversion to burlesque was due in part to the Depression and in part to a general decline in the Broadway theater industry in the mid-20th century; from 1931 to 1950, the number of legitimate theaters decreased from 68 to 30.
The Eltinge and the Republic were financially successful by mid-1931, but local business owners opposed burlesque, claiming that the shows encouraged loitering and decreased property values. In New York, theater licenses were subject to yearly renewal, and opponents of burlesque tried to have the licenses revoked. The nearby Republic and other theaters had been raided by police, but these actions only boosted the theaters' popularity. The Eltinge's operating license was temporarily revoked in September 1932, only to reopen the next month. The Eltinge toned down its shows whenever it was raided, but reverted to form soon after. By 1933, Rudnick had taken over the theater building, and Woods relocated his office to the New Amsterdam.
After he was elected mayor in 1934, Fiorello La Guardia began a crackdown on burlesque and appointed Paul Moss as license commissioner. Rudnick, his assistant manager, and several performers were arrested on indecency charges in November 1934, but were ultimately exonerated. The Eltinge continued to operate as a burlesque house for several more years. However, after a series of sex crimes in early 1937, the La Guardia administration ordered all burlesque houses to remove the word "burlesque" from their marquees that June. The Eltinge continued to host burlesque performances, which were billed as variety shows. The theater operated without a permit for several weeks in late 1937 before its license was renewed at the end of that year. Even without burlesque on its marquee, the Eltinge remained popular, although it was only one of three remaining burlesque theaters in the city by 1940. Moss again refused to renew the Eltinge's operating license in early 1942, marking the permanent end of burlesque at the Eltinge.
### Movie theater and decline
After the Eltinge's burlesque license expired, J. J. Mage leased the theater from the Brandts. Mage reopened the Eltinge as the Laff-Movie in July 1942, with 759 seats. The new name reflected the fact that it showed only comedic shorts and feature films. The Brandt family took over the Laff-Movie, along with the neighboring Liberty Theatre, in December 1944. By the mid-1940s, the ten theaters along 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues were all showing movies; this led Variety to call the block the "biggest movie center of the world". The Brandt family operated seven of these theaters, while the Cinema circuit operated the other three. The Brandt theaters included the Selwyn, Apollo, Times Square, Lyric, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street, as well as the Laff-Movie and the Liberty Theatre on the south side. Several producers offered to stage legitimate productions in the Brandt theaters, but none of the offers were successful.
William Brandt said in 1953 that any of his 42nd Street theaters could be converted into a legitimate house within 24 hours' notice, but producers did not take up his offer. Brandt announced in August 1953 that he would renovate the Laff-Movie, showing feature films exclusively. The theater was renamed the Empire in 1954; the name had previously been used by a theater on 41st Street that had just been demolished. By the late 1950s, the Empire was classified as a "reissue house", displaying reruns of films and changing its offerings twice a week. Tickets cost 25 to 65 cents apiece, the cheapest admission scale for any theater on 42nd Street. The Empire and the other 42nd Street theaters operated from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., with three shifts of workers. The ten theaters on the block attracted about five million visitors a year between them.
The 42nd Street Company was established in 1961 to operate the Brandts' seven theaters on 42nd Street. By the early 1960s, the surrounding block had decayed, but many of the old theater buildings from the block's heyday remained, including the Empire. Martin Levine and Richard Brandt took over the 42nd Street Company in 1972. At the time, the Empire was presenting "showcase films". The other six theaters showed a variety of genres, though Levine said none of the company's 42nd Street theaters showed hardcore porn. The Brandts' theaters had a combined annual gross of about \$2 million and operated nearly the entire day. However, the area was in decline; the Brandts' theaters only had three million visitors in 1977, about half of the number in 1963. The Brandts' movie theaters on 42nd Street continued to operate through the mid-1980s, at which point the Empire was showing kung-fu and horror films.
### Restoration
#### Preservation attempts
The 42nd Street Development Corporation had been formed in 1976 to discuss plans for redeveloping Times Square. The same year, the City University of New York's Graduate Center hosted an exhibition with photographs of the Empire and other theaters to advocate for the area's restoration. One plan for the site, in 1978, called for razing several buildings in the area, including the Empire, to create a park. Another plan, called the City at 42nd Street, was announced in December 1979 as part of a proposal to restore West 42nd Street around Times Square. Under the plan, five theaters would have been converted back to legitimate use, and the facades of three other theaters, including the Empire, would be restored. The Empire's small capacity made it unsuitable as a legitimate theater, so the interior was likely to be demolished and renovated into a restaurant. Mayor Ed Koch wavered in his support of the plan, referring to it as a "Disneyland on 42nd Street". Subsequently, Hugh Hardy conducted a report on 42nd Street's theaters in 1980. His report, in conjunction with a movement opposing the demolition of the nearby Helen Hayes and Morosco theaters, motivated the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to survey fifty of Midtown Manhattan's extant theaters in the early 1980s.
The LPC started to consider protecting theaters, including the Empire Theatre, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC granted landmark status to many Broadway theaters starting in 1987, it deferred decisions on the exterior and interior of the Empire Theatre. Further discussion of the landmark designations was delayed for several decades. In late 2015, the LPC hosted public hearings on whether to designate the Empire and six other theaters as landmarks. The LPC rejected the designations in February 2016 because the theaters were already subject to historic-preservation regulations set by the state government.
#### Initial plans
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. The plan centered around four towers that were to be built at 42nd Street's intersections with Broadway and Seventh Avenue, developed by Park Tower Realty and the Prudential Insurance Company of America. The Brandt family planned to submit a bid to redevelop some of the theaters they owned on 42nd Street. In June 1982, the Brandts' five theaters on the north side of 42nd Street were added to the redevelopment plan. Despite the Brandts' insistence that the Empire and Liberty theaters also be included in the redevelopment, the two theaters were leased to New York Mart Inc. as part of a separate plan. Ultimately, the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project was delayed for several years due to lawsuits and disputes concerning the towers.
The New York Mart plan consisted of a garment merchandise mart on Eighth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, opposite Port Authority Bus Terminal. The project was to be completed by the Times Square Redevelopment Corporation, comprising members of the New York state and city governments. Under this plan, the Empire and Liberty theaters would be renovated, although the extent of the renovations was unclear. David Morse and Richard Reinis were selected in April 1982 to develop the mart, but they were removed from the project that November due to funding issues. Subsequently, the state and city disputed over the replacement development team, leading the city to withdraw from the partnership in August 1983. The state and city reached a compromise on the development team that October, wherein the mart would be developed by Tishman Speyer, operated by Trammell Crow, and funded by Equitable Life Assurance.
The Brandts leased all their movie theaters on 42nd Street, including the Empire, to the Cine 42nd Street Corporation in 1986. Cine 42nd Street subleased the theater to Sweetheart Theatres Inc., which screened pornographic movies. The Empire Theatre was still part of the mart project in 1987. Though the theater was tentatively slated to be used for fashion shows and other events, the city and state governments had not reached an agreement with private developers regarding the mart. The merchandise mart was ultimately never built; the northern part of the site became 11 Times Square, while the southern part became the New York Times Building.
In 1989, The Durst Organization acquired the leases to eight theaters in Times Square, including the Empire. It subsequently announced plans to renovate the eight theaters in February 1990. The New York state government acquired the theater sites that April via eminent domain. The city had planned to buy out the theaters' leases but withdrew after the 42nd Street Company indicated it would lease the theaters to another developer. Although Durst protested the move, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the sites could be acquired by condemnation. Government officials hoped that the development of the theaters would finally allow the construction of the four towers around 42nd Street, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue. Even though the Empire Theatre was abandoned, government officials continued to heat the theater to preserve the plasterwork. The exterior of the unused theater was used as the Pandora Theater for the film Last Action Hero in 1993. After Disney committed to restoring the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1994, most of the other theaters around 42nd Street were quickly leased.
#### Relocation and restoration
By 1995, real-estate development firm Forest City Ratner was planning a \$150 million entertainment and retail complex on the site of the Empire, Harris, and Liberty theaters. Madame Tussauds and AMC leased space in the complex that July. Madame Tussauds would occupy the eastern section of the site, using the entrance of the former Harris Theatre; Bruce Ratner wanted to develop a similarly ornate gateway for AMC on the western end of the site. Forest City Ratner was not permitted to destroy or dismantle the Empire, which was protected by historic-preservation regulations. In June 1996, Ratner proposed relocating the theater 170 feet (52 m) westward at a cost of \$1.2 million, using tracks to move the structure. AMC finalized its lease the same month. According to New 42nd Street president Cora Cahan, news articles about the proposed relocation were largely "filled [...] with wonder", in contrast to the mostly negative characterizations of Times Square. Urban Foundations was hired to relocate the building.
Engineers were preparing to raze several buildings along the south side of 42nd Street by mid-1997, including the Lew Fields Theatre, whose site would be occupied by the relocated Empire. The rear of the theater was braced because workers had to remove the stage and the fly systems, and the removal would undermine the building's structural integrity. Workers installed piles on the adjacent lots to the west, which had previously contained residences with basements. The basements were demolished, allowing the theater building to rest directly on Manhattan's bedrock instead of atop an unstable layer of dirt. There were 430 piles in total, which supported a set of eight parallel tracks. Workers also poured 70 concrete caps inside the theater building. After the tracks had been installed, workers placed a dolly of steel beams above the tracks, which in turn traveled above a series of 250 rollers. The perimeter of the dolly contained load-bearing beams that supported the weight of the theater. The lowest portions of the walls were removed, detaching the theater from the original foundations. The theater was then lifted about 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) so it could be hoisted onto the dolly. Workers used hydraulic jacks to lift the theater.
The theater's relocation required several months of preparation. The entire relocation was supposed to have occurred on February 17, 1998, but this was postponed because New York City officials wanted to perform the relocation on a weekend. As such, the structure was initially moved 30 feet (9.1 m) on February 22, while the rest of the relocation occurred during a five-hour period on March 1. Hydraulic jacks moved the theater in five-minute bursts, moving the theater about 5 feet (1.5 m) during each burst. Two large balloons representing Abbott and Costello, who first performed together at the theater in 1935, were rigged to appear as if they were dragging the theater westward. Large construction markers, referencing Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" comedy routine, were placed along the construction fence to mark the move's progress. Two portable heaters continued to heat the empty auditorium as it was being relocated. The event attracted several hundred spectators. Until 2022, the 3,700-short-ton (3,300-long-ton; 3,400 t) structure was the heaviest building in New York City to have been relocated.
After the theater was relocated, Forest City Ratner planned to recreate stonework on the facade, which at several places had been stripped to a layer of brick. At the time of the relocation, its interior was in poor condition, with peeling paint and missing boxes, but the auditorium retained most of its plasterwork. The theater's facade was cleaned, while the interior was adapted to become the lobby of the AMC multiplex. Midway through the project, Forest City Ratner decided to add a 455-room hotel above the new entertainment and retail spaces to the east. The hotel was built atop a large truss, which in turn was supported by reinforced-concrete walls and eight large steel columns, since the hotel was structurally separate from the rest of the development. The large size of the steel columns necessitated that the architects slightly reduce the size of the AMC multiplex.
### Multiplex
The AMC Empire 25 opened in April 2000, being the second multiplex to open on the block, after the E-Walk complex. Theatrical insiders claimed that the Empire 25 had cost \$70 million, which might have made it the most expensive movie theater ever built, but AMC refused to disclose the construction cost. In its first year of operation, the Empire 25 struggled to compete with the E-Walk; it had not screened many major films in part because of a lack of successful feature films. By 2001, the Empire 25 had become one of the most popular in the world, grossing over \$500,000 a week. The Times Square Cafe opened on the multiplex's balcony level in 2001 and later closed. The Hollywood Reporter, in 2005, quoted a Focus Features executive as saying that the Empire 25 was "one of the best art houses in the country". A digital IMAX screen, the first in New York City, opened at the Empire 25 in September 2008.
The multiplex remained one of the United States' most profitable movie theaters in the mid-2000s. It was especially popular on holiday weekends; for instance, it hosted 131 screenings of 14 separate films on Christmas Day in 2009. The Hollywood Reporter reported in 2011 that the Empire 25 had two million guests per year or an average of 40,000 guests per week. By contrast, the average multiplex in the United States had a third as many visitors. The Empire 25's success was attributed not only to its central location near Times Square but also because it offered independent and art films in addition to major features. Because of varying patronage throughout the week, the number of employees varied widely, from 20 workers on a typical weekday to nearly 140 during the summer. AMC also rented out the Empire 25's space for various events, such as a showcase of 3D films and an experimental-music festival.
The Empire 25, along with other movie theaters in New York state, was temporarily closed during much of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater reopened in March 2021 after being dark for nearly a year. The Empire 25 remains AMC's flagship multiplex in the 2020s.
## Notable productions
Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway shows; it does not include burlesque shows or films.
- 1912: Within the Law
- 1914: The Yellow Ticket
- 1914: The Song of Songs
- 1915: See My Lawyer
- 1915: Fair and Warmer
- 1916: Cheating Cheaters
- 1919: Up in Mabel's Room
- 1919: The Girl in the Limousine
- 1920: Ladies' Night
- 1921: Back Pay
- 1921: The Demi-Virgin
- 1922: East of Suez
- 1923: The Woman on the Jury
- 1923: Spring Cleaning
- 1925: The Fall Guy
- 1926: The Ghost Train
- 1927: The Love Thief
- 1929: Murder on the Second Floor
- 1930: A Month in the Country
- 1930: The Ninth Guest
## See also
- List of Broadway theaters |
3,212,507 | The Fat Guy Strangler | 1,166,192,057 | null | [
"2005 American television episodes",
"Family Guy (season 4) episodes"
]
| "The Fat Guy Strangler" is the 17th episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 27, 2005. In the episode, Lois discovers she has a long-lost brother, Patrick who was institutionalized after seeing his mother being seduced. Lois gets him released, but after a childhood flashback induced by Peter, Patrick becomes traumatized and starts murdering overweight people.
The episode was written by Chris Sheridan and directed by Sarah Frost, whilst guest stars were Bob Barker, Dave Boat, Max Burkholder, Barclay DeVeau, Robert Downey Jr., Margaret Easley, Kim Parks, Will Sasso, Anne-Michelle Seiler and Tara Strong.
## Plot
Instead of going to his physical, Peter goes out with Brian, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe to eat steaks. When Lois finds out, she takes him to the doctor herself. Dr. Hartman pronounces him healthy, but fat. Peter takes this badly, even accidentally smashing a picture of Lois' family. Trying to salvage it, Lois discovers another child in the picture: a boy. She telephones her father Carter, who tells her she doesn't have a brother and quickly terminates the call, but she persists: she breaks into her parents' house. She finally learns that her brother Patrick has been living in a mental hospital for decades, ever since he suffered a nervous breakdown as a young child, upon walking in on his mother having an affair with Jackie Gleason.
Meanwhile, Peter announces to the family that he is fat and decides to create the "National Association for the Advancement of Fat People" (NAAFP). Peter hosts the first meeting of the association, but it is unsuccessful due to those attending were making too much noise, such as breathing heavily, passing gas, and munching junk food the entire way through.
Believing Patrick to be sane, Lois authorizes his release, and arranges for Patrick to stay with the family. Patrick soon announces he has a wife, Marion, although she is imaginary and nobody else other than him can see her. This leads Brian and Stewie to believe he is crazy. Lois attempts to overlook the evidence, and instead tries to persuade Peter not to encourage people to be fat. Later Peter unintentionally frightens Patrick by dressing up like Ralph Kramden and repeatedly using one of Kramden's catchphrases "Pow, right in the kisser!" which brings back memories of Gleason telling him to get out. This triggers Patrick to start killing fat people.
Lois' father, Carter, calls her and tells her how violent Patrick is, but she assures him Patrick is safe, although she becomes worried after seeing on the news that a fat man has been murdered. Lois remains in denial as more murders are committed, even though Brian tries to convince her that Patrick is the killer.
Peter brings the fat men back to his home to protect them, but after learning from Brian that Patrick is the killer, a chase between the fat men and Patrick ensues. Brian, still at the house, shows Patrick's room to Lois, where several of his victims are either deceased or had been left for dead, and photographic evidence of Patrick killing them. Lois continues to make exaggerated excuses, still wanting to believe her brother is a nice person, but ultimately she snaps out of her denial and realizes that Patrick is a threat. Lois and Brian pursue Patrick and Peter into the woods, where Patrick is strangling Peter. Patrick quickly releases Peter after Lois threatens to stab Marion, his imaginary wife. Patrick apologizes, telling Lois that he never meant to hurt her, and the two agree he should be sent back to the mental hospital, where Lois and the family plan to visit him once a month.
## Cultural references
The episode's premise (a pleasant uncle revealed to be a strangler) is similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock's film Shadow of a Doubt. Patrick was traumatized as a child by Jackie Gleason after seeing him seduce his mother, Barbara, in front of him. While at the mental hospital, Stewie makes a reference to the movie Sling Blade. Peter says that he once “slayed a dragon,” which to cuts to Peter, in medieval armor, fighting and killing Cybill Shepherd. In one scene, Peter seen is talking to a pie. He says that “He knows what it wants,” as “He saw it in that movie,” and it's not worthy to have sex with him, referencing a scene in which the film’s protagonist masturbates with an apple pie. Brian makes a reference to season-three Family Guy episode "To Love and Die in Dixie". Lois is shown watching the game show The Price Is Right. The cavemen who "invented singing" initially grunt "Mary Had A Little Lamb" before quickly evolving into an a cappella version of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time."
## Production
The origins of the episode and the character of Patrick began when Robert Downey, Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode creation, as his son is a fan of the show, so the producers came up with the character of Patrick for Downey. Show producer Seth MacFarlane believes Downey "did a great job," and brought a "very kind of half crazy, and maybe just eccentric personality to that character that really worked out great." When Patrick makes his second appearance in season 10's "Killer Queen", he is not voiced by Downey. Instead, he is voiced by Oliver Vaquer. Bob Barker voiced himself presenting The Price Is Right; but the actual sequence took years to make. Barker has provided his voice for the show twice, although MacFarlane has never met him. John Veiner voiced Bobby McFerrin falling down a flight of stairs. The ball-in-a-cup scene is commented upon by MacFarlane, where he states that "the voice-overs work, the drawings work" and that Walter Murphy "did a great job of creating a piece of deliberately annoying music." Several jokes had been pitched for Peter's words after killing an evil dragon, but all were dropped, as they weren't deemed funny enough by production staff.
MacFarlane notes that he was surprised they were allowed to do the pickle gag, which consisted of Stewie placing a cucumber on the sofa where Patrick's imaginary wife is sitting, but inserting it into her imaginary vagina (to see if it would turn into a pickle), but suggests that maybe broadcasting standards did not fully understand the scene. The music song by the overweight people at a funeral for a murdered obese man was only shown on the DVD version and not televised, for timing purposes, and for potential boredom to viewers. The musical composition was recorded at Fox studios on the Gary Numan stage. George W. Bush is portrayed hiding in a tree house and being informed by Brian of Hurricane Katrina. Bush was offered the opportunity to voice himself, but declined.
A deleted scene had been made which showed the family traveling on board an airplane on which Peter, rather than using the airplane toilet as "he is too fat to get out of his seat," urinates in his seat, but unknowingly urinates on Brian in the process, as he is in a dog cage below Peter's seat. If this scene had been used in the episode, it was intended for Brian, after throwing a rock aimed at Peter's head, to say "that's for pissing on me!"
## Reception
In a review of the episode, TV Squad commented positively about the storyline, noting that "Unlike The Simpsons tonight, Family Guy actually did work their two storylines together. Their first big one, was about Peter's ever increasing weight problem. He skips out on going to his physical, so that he and Brian can go meet the guys at an all-you-can-eat steak restaurant." In a review of Family Guy, Volume 4, Nancy Basile regards "The Fat Guy Strangler" as one of her favorite episodes, as well as "PTV." Basile moves on to comment that "Being prejudiced against fat people just isn't talked about, but this episode sheds a harsh light on that problem. At times the episode tries to show people who are fat as being victims of unfair bias, but other times just out and out makes fun of them." |
11,824,995 | Thomas Holley Chivers | 1,173,255,009 | American poet | [
"1809 births",
"1858 deaths",
"19th-century American poets",
"American male poets",
"Edgar Allan Poe",
"Poets from Georgia (U.S. state)",
"Transylvania University alumni"
]
| Thomas Holley Chivers (October 18, 1809 – December 18, 1858) was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death.
Born into a wealthy Georgia family, Chivers became interested in poetry at a young age. After he and his first wife separated, he received a medical degree from Transylvania University but focused his energy on publishing rather than medicine. In addition to submitting poems to various magazines and journals, Chivers published several volumes of poetry, including The Lost Pleiad in 1845, as well as plays. Edgar Allan Poe showed an interest in him and encouraged his work. Chivers spent the last few years of his life defending the reputation of Poe, who had died in 1849, though he also thought Poe had been heavily influenced by his own poetry. Chivers died in Georgia in 1858.
As a literary theorist, Chivers believed in divine inspiration. He encouraged the development of a distinctive American style of literature and especially promoted young writers. His poems were known for religious overtones with an emphasis on death and reunions with lost loved ones in the afterlife. Though he built up a small reputation in his day, he was mostly forgotten after his death.
## Life and work
Chivers was born on October 18, 1809, at Digby Manor, his father's plantation near Washington, Georgia. At age seven, he was introduced to poetry when he read William Cowper's "The Rose". In 1827, Chivers married his 16-year-old cousin Frances Elizabeth Chivers. The two soon separated due to alleged meddling by Frances Chivers Albert, the wife of the poet's uncle, prior to the birth of their daughter in 1828. It has also been suggested their separation was due to abuse, though these rumors originated from the same uncle. After this incident, Chivers compared himself to Lord Byron, whose wife had also left him. Chivers went on to receive a degree in medicine in 1830 from Transylvania University in Kentucky. His thesis was titled "Intermittent and Remittent Fevers".
Chivers wandered throughout the West and North of the United States, publishing poetry in various places before returning to Georgia. In 1832, Chivers published The Path of Sorrow, a collection of poetry based on the events of his troubled first marriage. Two years later, he published Conrad and Eudora; or, The Death of Alonzo, the first fictionalized account of the actual 1825 murder case nicknamed the "Kentucky Tragedy". The work was later renamed Leoni, The Orphan of Venice. On November 21, 1834, Chivers married Harriet Hunt of Springfield, Massachusetts and the couple had four children, though all died young. Chivers and his first wife never legally divorced—one such suit was dismissed in court in 1835—but Georgia law invalidated marriage after a spouse's absence of five years or more. Though Chivers contributed to various newspapers and magazines, his poetry was turned down for publication by the Southern Literary Messenger in March 1835, which suggested he return to medicine and the "lancet and pill-box". Though the poems were not printed, unsigned commentary on them was presented in an editorial, referring to verses submitted by "T. H. C., M. D." The Lost Pleiad was self-published in New York in 1845 to initial success, though sales rapidly declined. In 1837, Chivers self-published Nacoochee; or, the Beautiful Star, With Other Poems. The volume was dedicated to his mother, who died a year later.
### Relationship with Edgar Allan Poe
Chivers is best known for his association with Edgar Allan Poe and, in fact, it is through this relationship that Chivers and his work was rediscovered in the 20th century. The first interaction between the two was in 1840 though they did not meet until 1845 in New York. The two became friends and Chivers was willing to give Poe lifetime financial support if he moved to the South. Chivers appreciated Poe's ability and wrote that George Rex Graham was seriously underpaying Poe for his work on Graham's Magazine. "He ought to give you ten thousand dollars a year... It is richly worth it... [Graham] is greatly indebted to you. It is not my opinion that you have ever been, or ever will be, paid for your intellectual labours. You need never expect it, until you establish a Magazine of your own", he wrote, referring to Poe's plans to begin The Stylus. Even so, Chivers was concerned about Poe's reputation as a severe literary critic, cautioning him about "when you tomahawk people". Poe, in fact, had been hoping Chivers would lend his wealth as a financial backer for The Stylus and possibly even serve as a co-editor in its early planning stages. Chivers considered Poe's proposal but was not able to accept because of the death of his three-year-old daughter just over a week later.
Poe had written about Chivers in the second part of his "Autography" series, published in Graham's Magazine in December 1841. Poe said:
> His productions affect one as a wild dream — strange, incongruous, full of images of more than arabesque monstrosity, and snatches of sweet unsustained song. Even his worst nonsense (and some of it is horrible) has an indefinite charm of sentiment and melody. We can never be sure that there is any meaning in his words — neither is there any meaning in many of our finest musical airs — but the effect is very similar in both. His figures of speech are metaphor run mad, and his grammar is often none at all. Yet there are as fine individual passages to be found in the poems of Dr. Chivers, as in those of any poet whatsoever.
The two had corresponded through letters but finally met in June or July 1845. Chivers visited Poe when Poe was sick and bedridden and when Poe's wife Virginia was in an especially difficult period of her struggle with tuberculosis. Chivers later recalled that Poe's voice was "like the soft tones of an Aeolian Harp when the music that has been sleeping in the strings is awakened by the Breezes of Eden laden with sweet Spices from the mountains of the Lord".
By September 1845, however, Chivers was lecturing Poe on the dangers of alcohol. A Prohibitionist, he said Poe was wasting his God-given talents by indulging in drink. "Why should a Man whom God, by nature, has endowed with such transcendent abilities, so degrade himself into the veriest automaton as to be moved only by the poisonous steam of Hell-fire?" he said. While Poe's wife Virginia was sick, Chivers had to carry Poe home after a night of excess.
Moreover, as attested to in an 1848 pamphlet titled Search After Truth, Chivers disagreed with Poe regarding aesthetics. This small booklet presents a series of dialogues between the Seer [Chivers] and Politian [Poe]. For Chivers, a poet should be a Shelleyan or Swedenborgian visionary intent on capturing mystic realms of experience in language. For Poe, the poet is merely a superior wordsmith. The wise Seer ultimately leads Politan to the truth.
### After Poe's death
After Poe's death, Chivers accused Poe of plagiarizing both "The Raven" and "Ulalume" from his own work though other critics suggested Chivers's Eonchs of Ruby were a "mediocre restatement" of Poe's poems. The first poem of the collection, "The Vigil of Aiden", was an homage to Poe, using names like "Lenore" and the refrain "forever more!" On July 30, 1854, Chivers published an essay called "Origin of Poe's Raven" under the pseudonym Fiat Justitia, claiming that he inspired Poe to use trochaic octameter and the word "nevermore" in "The Raven". Chivers also suggested in the Georgia Citizen that Poe learned to write poetry from him. As literary scholar Randy Nelson wrote: "anybody who's read both Poe and Thomas Holley Chivers can see that one of them 'influenced' the other, but just who took what from whom isn't clear."
Even so, Chivers continued to praise and admire Poe (albeit careful to point out Poe's literary debt to him) and was one of the first to present a picture of the "real Poe" in the face of the sustained attacks on Poe's reputation by the Reverend Rufus Wilmot Griswold, the poet's literary executor. This correction took the form of a memoir now titled Chivers' Life of Poe, not published until 1952. Chivers said of Griswold that he "is not only incompetent to Edit any of [Poe's] works, but totally unconscious of the duties which he and every man who sets himself up as a Literary Executor, owe the dead." Chivers continued to defend Poe's reputation until the end of his life.
### Final years and death
From 1845 to 1850, Chivers had been living with his wife in Georgia, then spent the next five years in the North. His poetry collection Eonchs of Ruby, A Gift of Love was published in 1851 with a subtitle meant to capitalize on the gift book trend. Chivers explained the title: "The Word Eonch is the same as Concha Marina—Shell of the Sea. Eonch is used... merely for its euphony." Throughout the collection, Chivers experiments with the sonic effects of words rather than their literal meaning. Atlanta: or the True Blessed Island of Poesy: A Paul Epic in Three Lustra was first published in three installments in the Georgia Citizen beginning in January 1853. Later that year, Memoralia; or, Philas of Amber Full of the Tears of Love was printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and generally received unfavorably. Very shortly after, the same publisher brought out Virginalia; or, Songs of My Summer Nights, a collection made up of poems that were generally under 200 lines each, about half of which had previously been published in magazines.
By 1855, Chivers and his wife had moved back to Georgia and he predicted that the slavery issue would soon force his home state to break from the United States. A slaveholder himself, Chivers did not believe that slaves should be abused, though he still defended the institution against abolitionists. Struck with sudden illness, Chivers wrote his will before dying on December 18, 1858, in Decatur, Georgia. His last words were, "All is perfect peace with me." His last published work, a drama titled The Sons of Usna, had been published earlier that year. At the time of his death, Chivers had prepared several manuscripts of his literary theory with the intention of publishing them in several volumes of books and as part of a lecture series. In his will, he left one dollar for his first wife and their daughter. He is buried in Decatur Cemetery.
## Poetic theory and literary reputation
In his poetry, Chivers made use of legends and themes from Native American culture, particularly the Cherokee, though often with Christian overtones. He was also heavily influenced by the work of François-René de Chateaubriand and Emanuel Swedenborg. Many of Chivers's poems included themes of death and sorrow, often using images of shrouds, coffins, angels, and reunions with lost loves in the afterlife. Religious conventions at the time made discussion of death popular, as was reflected in poetry. Because of his background as a doctor, Chivers was able to graphically depict the last moments before someone's death.
Chivers believed in a close connection between poetry and God and that true poetry could only be written through divine inspiration. He once wrote: "Poets are the apostles of divine thought, who are clothed with an authority from the Most High, to work miracles in the minds of men". He also wrote: "Poetry is the power given by God to man of manifesting... the wise relations that subsist between him and God", and it "is that crystal river of the soul which runs through all the avenues of life, and after purifying the affections of the heart, empties itself into the Sea of God". In Nacoochee, the preface states: "Poetry is that crystal river of the soul which runs through all the avenues of life, and after purifying the affections of the heart, empties itself into the Sea of God." In his introduction to Atlanta, written in 1842 but not published until 1853, Chivers gives a lengthy discussion of his poetic theory, pre-dating many ideas Poe would suggest in "The Poetic Principle" (1850). Chivers, for example, suggests that poems should be short to be successful: "No poem of any considerable length... can be pleasing to any well-educated person for any length of time". He also experimented with blank verse as early as 1832 and his 1853 collection, Virginalia, included mostly poems using blank verse.
At least for a time, he considered Elizabeth Barrett Browning the best contemporary English poet. Like many from his time, Chivers called for the development of a distinctive American literature and he especially encouraged young writers. Poe called the 1845 poetry collection The Lost Pleiad "the honest and fervent utterance of an exquisitely sensitive heart." Overall, he called Chivers "one of the best and one of the worst poets in America". William Gilmore Simms offered conditional praise of Chivers's poetry as well: "He possesses a poetic ardor sufficiently fervid, and a singularly marked command of language. But he should have been caught young, and well-bitted, and subjected to the severest training... As an artist, Dr. Chivers is yet in his accidence." Simms also commented that his works were too gloomy and melancholy. Chivers was one of a group of poets criticized for "intensity of epithet" in Bayard Taylor's verse parody The Echo Club and Other Literary Diversions (1876).
Though Chivers built up a mild reputation during his lifetime, counting Algernon Charles Swinburne among his admirers, his fame faded away quickly after his death. Other writers that acknowledged his influence included Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti. Others, however, were more critical. One anonymous reviewer, possibly Evert Augustus Duyckinck, joked that Chivers was formulaic and suggested the formula included 30% Percy Bysshe Shelley, 20% Poe, 20% "mild idiocy", 10% "gibbering idiocy", 10% "raving mania" and 10% "sweetness and originality". Literary scholar S. Foster Damon wrote that Chivers would have had a stronger reputation if he were born in the North and "the literary coteries there would surely have pruned and preserved him... But the time and space were against him."
## List of works
- The Path of Sorrow; or, the Lament of Youth (1832)
- Conrad and Eudora; or, the Death of Alonzo (1834)
- Nacoochee; or, the Beautiful Star With Other Poems (1837)
- The Lost Pleiad, and Other Poems (1845)
- Search After Truth; or, A New Revelation of the Psycho-Physiological Nature of Man. (1848)
- Eonchs of Ruby: a Gift of Love (1851)
- The Death of the Devil, A Serio-Ludicro, Tragico-Comico, Nigero-Whiteman Extravaganza (1852)
- Atlanta; or, the True Blessed Island of Poesy, a Paul Epic (1853)
- Memoralia; or, Phials of Amber Full of the Tears of Love (1853)
- Virginalia; or, Songs of My Summer Nights (1853)
- The Sons of Usna: a Tragic Apotheosis in Five Acts (1858) |
1,784,796 | Babe Siebert | 1,173,914,015 | Canadian ice hockey player (1904-1939) | [
"1904 births",
"1939 deaths",
"Accidental deaths in Ontario",
"Boston Bruins players",
"Canadian ice hockey coaches",
"Canadian ice hockey left wingers",
"Deaths by drowning in Canada",
"Detroit Red Wings players",
"Hart Memorial Trophy winners",
"Hockey Hall of Fame inductees",
"Ice hockey people from Ontario",
"Kitchener Greenshirts players",
"Montreal Canadiens coaches",
"Montreal Canadiens players",
"Montreal Maroons players",
"New York Rangers players",
"Sportspeople from Huron County, Ontario",
"Sportspeople from Oxford County, Ontario",
"Stanley Cup champions"
]
| Charles Albert "Babe" Siebert (January 14, 1904 – August 25, 1939) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger and defenceman who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Maroons, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. He won the 1926 Stanley Cup championship with the Maroons, and was a member of the famous "S Line", and another with the Rangers in 1933.
A physical forward known for his fighting ability while with the Maroons and Rangers, an apparent decline in his play was reversed when he switched to defence after he was traded to the Bruins. Siebert was named an all-star three times after the switch and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1937 as a member of the Canadiens.
Siebert was named the head coach of the Canadiens upon his retirement as a player in 1939. He never coached a game as he drowned in Lake Huron prior to the 1939–40 NHL season. The league organized an all-star benefit game that raised \$15,000 for Siebert's family. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964.
## Early life
Born in Plattsville, Ontario, Siebert grew up in the nearby community of Zurich, located on the eastern shores of Lake Huron. He became obsessed with hockey at an early age, playing the game nearly every day. He played intermediate hockey in Zurich and Exeter before moving to Kitchener to play junior hockey. Though his elder brothers mocked his simple playing style—he used his size and strength to push his way through opponents—Siebert was invited to join the Kitchener Greenshirts in 1922. He won the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and eastern Canadian junior championships with Kitchener in 1922–23, but lost the Memorial Cup final to the University of Manitoba. After a year of senior hockey in Kitchener, he moved on to the Niagara Falls Cataracts, winning the OHA senior championship in 1924–25.
## Professional career
Siebert was signed by the Montreal Maroons in 1925 and made his professional debut that same year. He finished second on the team with 16 goals as the Maroons finished second in the NHL standings. Montreal defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates and Ottawa Senators in the playoffs to win the NHL championship. Siebert scored three points in the 1926 Stanley Cup Final as the Maroons defeated the Western Hockey League champion Victoria Cougars to win the Stanley Cup.
When Hooley Smith arrived in Montreal in 1926–27, Siebert was paired with Smith and Nels Stewart. The trio were known as the "S Line" and emerged as one of the top scoring lines in the NHL. Stewart was the goal scorer on the line while Smith set him up with his passing game, but it was Siebert who used his strength and speed to move the puck out of their defensive zone and to create space for his line mates. His physical style of play occasionally resulted in Siebert being brought in front of league president Frank Calder for supplementary discipline, as in December 1927 when he was suspended for a time following a violent melee with Billy Boucher of the New York Americans. When Boucher responded to an elbow by slashing Siebert over the head, the latter player responded with repeated wild swings of his own stick at Boucher, injuring him.
Siebert's best offensive season came in 1931–32 when he finished eighth in league scoring with 39 points. It proved to be his last season with the Maroons, as the team was struggling financially and chose to sell him to the New York Rangers for cash. He went on to win his second Stanley Cup that year. He struggled offensively for much of the season, however, and it was rumoured he would be traded. The trade finally happened early in the 1933–34 season as he was sent to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Vic Ripley and Roy Burmeister. The deal reunited Siebert with former S Line member Nels Stewart.
After Eddie Shore was suspended for his assault on Ace Bailey, Bruins coach Art Ross shifted Siebert from left wing to defence. The switch rejuvenated his career; he enjoyed a comeback season in 1934–35. Frequently remaining on the ice for entire games as one of Boston's key players, Siebert earned five votes in a 1935 Associated Press poll naming the top comeback player in sport for that year. He later scoffed at the legend of his comeback in Boston, stating that he never lost his ability to play at the same level he did with the Maroons, instead blaming Lester Patrick for improperly utilizing him in New York.
While Shore and Siebert were an effective pairing on defence, tensions between the two were evident. They shared a violent feud when they were opponents, and never spoke a word to the other as teammates. Though he was named a first team all-star in 1935–36, the Bruins decided Siebert's career was in decline and chose to trade him to the Montreal Canadiens along with Roger Jenkins in exchange for Leroy Goldsworthy, Sammy McManus and cash following the season. He was immediately named the team's captain, a position he retained until his retirement. In his first season with the Canadiens, Siebert earned his second all-star selection and won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL. He earned his third consecutive all-star selection in 1937–38. Plagued by injuries in his final season, Siebert announced his retirement in 1939 to become the head coach of the Canadiens.
## Death and family
Siebert never had the opportunity to take up his new post. On August 25, 1939, while vacationing with his family and swimming with his daughters at Lake Huron, he drowned attempting to retrieve an inflatable tire they were playing with. Shocked by the news, Siebert's peers lauded his character and play, indicating that his death was a considerable loss to the game of hockey. Among them, his former manager with the Maroons, Tommy Gorman, remarked that Siebert was popular with his fellow players and was a great defenceman who "lost fairly and won modestly".
At the time of his death, Siebert was visiting his cottage to celebrate the 80th birthday of his father, William. He cherished the time he had with his two daughters Judy and Joan, who were 11 and 10 years old respectively, when they witnessed his drowning. His loss represented a significant financial burden for his family as he spent nearly all of his income paying for his paraplegic wife's medical costs.
The league organized an all-star benefit game to aid Siebert's widow with the goal of raising \$15,000. It was the third such benefit game in NHL history. The Montreal Canadiens faced an all-star team composed of the best players from the remaining teams. The all-stars defeated the Canadiens 5–2 in the game held on October 29, 1939. Though organizers were disappointed with the attendance of just 6,000 fans, they met their \$15,000 target.
A physical player and fighter on the ice, Siebert was a soft-spoken family man off it. He was especially faithful to his wife, Bernice, who was left a paraplegic following complications during the birth of their second child. Fans at the Montreal Forum routinely saw him carry his wife to her seat before every home game, and then carry her out after. At home, he did the housework that his wife was unable to do. As a result, he was immensely popular with his peers and fans.
Siebert was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964, and is an honoured member of the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.
## Career statistics
Statistics sourced from NHL.com.
## See also
- Captain (hockey)
- List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame |
1,937,700 | Affliction (Star Trek: Enterprise) | 1,172,114,970 | null | [
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| "Affliction" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and originally aired on February 18, 2005. The script was written by Mike Sussman from a story by executive producer Manny Coto. It was the second episode of Enterprise to be directed by Michael Grossman. The episode is the first of a two-part story, which concludes with "Divergence".
Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise, registration NX-01. In Affliction, the crew investigate the kidnapping of Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley), and the ship is attacked by a new type of Klingon. Meanwhile, Phlox is taken to a Klingon colony to work on a cure for a plague whose effects include the disappearance of the Klingon's cranial ridges.
The episode sought to answer the question of why Klingons looked different in Star Trek: The Original Series than in other series of the franchise. It also introduced Section 31, originally seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, to an earlier time in the Star Trek canon.
The episode featured a number of guest stars who had previous connections to the franchise, including James Avery who was in the running for the part of Worf in The Next Generation, John Schuck who played a Klingon Ambassador in two Star Trek films, and Eric Pierpoint who had appeared in several other episodes of Star Trek previously. Some of the standing sets were redressed to appear as the interior of the Columbia, and some scenes were filmed outside at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles, California.
## Plot
Enterprise returns to Earth in time for the launch of the second NX class starship, Columbia, and Commander Tucker prepares for his transfer. Meanwhile, Ensign Sato and Doctor Phlox are attacked in San Francisco, and Phlox is kidnapped. Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed investigate the scene, and Reed is given a secret assignment by a secretive agent that he seems to know. Commander T'Pol, seeking information from Sato, conducts her first mind-meld, and the two realize that the attackers spoke Rigelian. They discover that a Rigelian freighter recently left orbit and head off in pursuit.
On Columbia, Tucker ruffles a few feathers of his new team, and Captain Hernandez asks the reasons behind his transfer. Later, T'Pol, in her quarters, begins to meditate and mentally goes to her white cloud quiet place only to have a slightly confused, but still amused, Tucker show up there and start arguing with her. The moment of the shared vision (despite being on different ships) is broken when a disoriented Tucker appears to come out of a momentary daydream on Columbia. Enterprise locates a destroyed Rigelian ship, and while investigating, they are suddenly attacked and boarded. MACOs repel the attack and a captured alien is taken to Sickbay, where scanners show that despite his human appearance, he is in fact Klingon. Archer then discovers Reed's complicity in evidence tampering and confines him to the brig. Archer also learns that the boarders sabotaged the ship, and he orders maximum speed in order to prevent the warp core from overloading. The ship increases speed to warp 5.2, the fastest it has ever been.
Phlox is taken to Qu'Vat, a Klingon colony where General K'Vagh and Doctor Antaak seek his help to cure a Klingon plague. To Phlox's horror, K'Vagh kills an infected Klingon so that an autopsy can be performed. Phlox determines that the victim's DNA has been supplemented with that of a genetically augmented human. Phlox also learns from Antaak that they experimented with augmented DNA after the events seen in "Borderland", but it self-mutated and escaped. Antaak and Phlox are told that they have five days to cure the outbreak before it is too late. Antaak suggests that the only course of action is to create stable augmented Klingons, but Phlox refuses to assist further.
## Production
The storyline in "Affliction" answers an ongoing question which had begun with the pilot episode of Enterprise, "Broken Bow". In The Original Series, Klingons appeared mostly human, with no applied prosthetics. However, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, they first appeared with forehead ridges and continued to appear this way through the remaining movies as well as The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. The DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" references the change, with Chief O'Brien suggesting that Klingons had been genetically modified and Doctor Bashir assuming a viral mutation had taken place.
Theories created by fans included the idea that the ridgeless Klingons were from a specific part of the home world, but this was discounted when three ridgeless Klingons from The Original Series appeared with ridges in the Deep Space Nine episode "Blood Oath". The Original Series had a restricted budget, and there was no funding for any prosthetic make-up for the Klingons until The Motion Picture. During The Original Series, it was decided to use them more frequently than the Romulans, whose prosthetics were more expensive. The original ridgeless design was created after suggestions by John Colicos, who based them on Genghis Khan and the people of the 13th and 14th century Mongol Empire. When "Broken Bow" aired, it featured Klingons with forehead ridges, despite the series being set prior to The Original Series. On the episode's script, the old style Klingons were referred to as "type-two" and "semi-Klingons".
The storyline was one of several in the fourth season of Enterprise which show runner Manny Coto sought to connect the series to The Original Series. Coto also revealed in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that the episode would see the start of Section 31. The episode also featured the first appearance on-screen of the Rigelians, despite first being mentioned in The Original Series and again in DS9. "Affliction" marks the fifth writing credit of the fourth season for Michael Sussman, while director Michael Grossman had previously directed the episode "Hatchery".
Filming took place from December 3, 2004, through to December 12. Several of the standing sets were redressed to appear as the locations on the USS Columbia, including the bridge, Captain's mess and the engineering section. The exterior scenes where Phlox and Hoshi were attacked were filmed on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. As the New York streets backlot had already been used earlier in the season for the opening episode "Storm Front", this sequence was instead filmed in the area between the studio's Administration building and a building which had previously doubled for the high school in the sitcom Happy Days.
### Casting
James Avery was cast as the Klingon General K'Vagh. He underwent a three-hour make-up process for the role, something he later described as a nightmare. He had previously been involved with Star Trek in 1987, when he was the runner up to Michael Dorn to be cast as Worf in The Next Generation. He became better known as Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. "Affliction" also featured a cameo by Marc Worden as a Klingon prisoner, who had previously appeared in the Deep Space Nine episodes "Sons and Daughters" and "You Are Cordially Invited" as Worf's son, Alexander Rozhenko.
John Schuck was cast as the Klingon doctor Antaak, having previously appeared as the Klingon Ambassador in both Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Schuck had also appeared in episodes of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Eric Pierpoint had previously appeared in several episodes of Star Trek across the various television series, including the TNG episode "Liaisons" as well as episodes of DS9 and Voyager. He had also appeared in the Enterprise episode "Rogue Planet".
Brad Greenquist appeared as a Rigelian in this episode in his second appearance on Enterprise, he too had also previously appeared in episodes of DS9 and Voyager. The other Rigelians were played by stuntmen Brian Williams and Tom Dupont, whilst Linda Park was stunt-doubled by Diana Inosanto. It was the second appearance of Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the animated television show Family Guy, in a role in Enterprise. He had previously appeared as an unnamed character in the third-season episode "The Forgotten" but gains the name Ensign Rivers in "Affliction".
## Reception
"Affliction" originally aired on UPN, on February 18, 2005. It received a 1.8/3% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 1.8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and three percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This equals the ratings received by the previous episode, "The Aenar", which received the highest ratings of the fourth season so far. It finished behind programs on NBC, The WB, ABC, CBS and Fox.
IGN gave the episode 3.5 out of five, and called it "Another strong, solid episode of a series that is only getting better from week to week." Michelle Erica Green reviewed this episode for TrekNation, and described it as a "rollicking good ride". She thought that linking the reason for the Klingons' appearance change to the augmented humans from earlier in the season was a clever idea, but the introduction of Section 31 was suspect as they hadn't been mentioned at all through the season three Xindi arc. She was pleased with the level of detail shown on screen, such as the computer-generated targs and Tucker changing the patch on his uniform when he transfers to the Columbia. Green said that John Billingsley "excels" in this episode, and that the ending was "perfect". Jamahl Epsicokhan on his website Jammer's Reviews, gave the episode a score of three out of four, saying that it was "solid and entertaining, but with no real signs of greatness" and thought that the cliffhanger ending was unnecessary. The two part story featuring the episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" were subsequently ranked the fifth best story of Enterprise by Den of Geek writer James Hunt. Variety commended the performance of James Avery, noted for his role on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, as a Klingon General.
In a 2015 interview with some of the show's cast with SyFy, this episode was a recommended favorite of theirs.
Den of Geek recommended "Singularity" and this episode for development of the character Malcolm Reed.
## Home media release
This episode was released on home media on DVD, as part of the season four box set on November 1, 2005, in the United States, and on Blu-ray, released on April 1, 2014. |
21,904,043 | Zoltán Meskó (American football) | 1,172,973,538 | American football player (born 1986) | [
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| Zoltán Meskó (/ˈzoʊltɑːn ˈmɛskoʊ/; ; born 6 March 1986) is a former American football punter. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan. Born in Romania, Meskó emigrated with his family to the United States and eventually settled in Ohio. There he was discovered as a potential kicker for his school's football team, the Twinsburg Tigers, and became one of the best high school football kickers in the nation, excelling as both a punter and placekicker. After earning top honors in his state, Meskó was recruited by several college football teams. He selected Michigan over several schools including Indiana, Ohio State, and USC.
At Michigan, Meskó did not win the starting job as a punter right away. He redshirted his freshman year and won a battle for the kicking duties on the field in 2006. Meskó then went on to excel on the field as a three-time Ray Guy Award watchlist candidate and off the field as a four-time Academic All-Conference selection. He was also recognized for his character and community service by numerous organizations. As a redshirt junior in 2008, Meskó endured the dynamics of a coaching change, became Michigan's all-time leader in punts and punting yardage, and was named to 2008 All-Big Ten first-team. As a fifth-year senior in 2009, he made a number of preseason All-American teams and achieved the highest punting average of his college career at 44.5 yards per punt. Meskó concluded his season as a 2009 All-Big Ten first-team selection by both the coaches and the media. He was also selected as a first-team Academic All-American and as a second-team All-American by several publications. He holds the career and single-season records for punts and punting yards at Michigan.
In the NFL, Meskó set a rookie record for net punting yard average.
## Early years
Meskó, who comes from the Hungarian minority in Romania, was born in Timișoara, where he lived with his family in 1989 during the revolutions leading to the fall of communism in the former Eastern Bloc and the overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania. The family was so immersed in the middle of the crossfire that they often dodged bullets by getting on the floor in their apartment. Zoltán was just passing through toddlerhood at the time of the revolution so he does not remember much of the details, but the family stuffed windows with pillows during the conflict. As a child, Meskó had a strong interest in soccer. His childhood heroes were Gheorghe Hagi and former NBA star Gheorghe Mureșan. At the age of twelve, he immigrated with his family to Ohio and Meskó was introduced to American football when he was spotted as a potential kicker in eighth grade gym class when he knocked out a light during a kickball game. Meskó is a left-footed kicker. Meskó, who could not distinguish a football from a rugby ball when he first arrived in the states, familiarized himself with the sport of American football via the television.
In 2003, Meskó earned Northeast Ohio Inland All-District Division II football team honorable mention recognition from the media while performing as a punter and placekicker for Twinsburg High School. He was also selected as Western Reserve North Division First-team by the coaches as well as the All-Summit County Team kicker. The Plain Dealer listed him as their first team kicker. During the year, he was 10 for 14 on field goals, while only missing one point after touchdown attempt and averaging 36 yards per punt. He placed 80% of his kickoffs in the end zone and maintained a 4.0 grade point average. During the season, he made a 41-yard field goal and a game-winning 31-yard field goal. By the end of the season, he had started 31 consecutive games. Twinsburg qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in ten years thanks in part to a solid kicking game. During his junior year, he got his first recruiting feeler from Division III Mount Union College.
After his junior season, he compiled tapes of his best punts, field goals, and kickoffs and sent them to 86 schools, hoping for ten responses. As a result of his tapes, he received 14 invitations for campus visits. He attended 16 kicking camps during his junior/senior summer. On 6 June he attended an Indiana University camp and received a full scholarship offer from the Hoosiers. Subsequently, at the University of Michigan camp, he averaged 48.5 yards per punt and a 4.6 second average hang time and was offered a scholarship. During the visit he impressed coaches when he saw fifth-year punter Adam Finley kicking balls on the roof of the Michigan indoor practice facility and joined in by kicking four in a row over the building. He was also admitted to all of the Ivy League schools.
Meskó had a successful high school career and was ranked second among kickers in the 2005 recruiting class by Rivals.com and fourth among punters by Scout.com. He committed to Michigan on 28 June 2004, just before his senior year of high school. He committed to Michigan mainly as a punter. After committing to Michigan, he continued to be recruited by the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the USC Trojans. Over the course of his high school career, he evolved from a 155-pound (70.3 kg), 6-foot-3-inch (1.91 m) freshman into a 240-pound (108.9 kg), 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) senior.
As a senior, Meskó once punted a ball 70 yards in the air. As a senior punter and placekicker, Meskó was a part of the focus of opposition game plans. He averaged 44 yards per punt as a senior and dropped 16 inside the 10-yard line according to The Plain Dealer and 15 inside the 15-yard line according to the Ann Arbor News. He was selected to play on 15 January 2005 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a punter. During the game, he drew a roughing the kicker penalty and posted seven punts including kicks of 56, 48 and 47 yards and a pooch punt that he placed inside the 15-yard line. He was named an Associated Press Division II All-Ohio first-team punter. He was also selected to numerous local area All-star teams as both a punter and a placekicker. He served as both punter and kicker for the Ohio team during the 2005 Big 33 Football Classic in which he was 4 for 5 on PATs. He was recognized as the 2004 Northeast Inland All-District Division II first team punter by the media. He was selected as the All-Akron Beacon Journal team placekicker and the all-Summit County punter. The Akron area coaches selected him as both the punter and kicker for the All-Western Reserve Conference, North Division first-team. He was selected to the combined Summit-Medina-Portage Counties All-Area team as the first team punter by The Plain Dealer. He was the first team punter for The Plain Dealer All-area team. Although Meskó's high school required 40 hours of community service, he performed over 300 hours.
## College career
### Lloyd Carr era
Prior to the 2005 season, it appeared that the Michigan Wolverines would use three kickers: Garrett Rivas for field goals and extra points, Ross Ryan for kickoffs and Meskó for punting, but redshirt junior Ryan beat out Meskó and junior Mark Spencer for the punting duties. Meskó redshirted as a freshman at Michigan in 2005, while Ryan ranked last in the Big Ten for the 2005 season with a 38.3 yard average.
Entering the 2006 season for Michigan, head coach Lloyd Carr could not decide between Meskó and Ryan. In the team's opening game against Vanderbilt, Meskó punted three times and Ryan once. The two shared the kicking duties for the first four games with Meskó recording 12 punts and Ryan recording 9. In the fifth game of the season, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the Little Brown Jug, Meskó handled all of the punting duties. Ryan punted only five more times the rest of the season. Meskó finished the season fourth in the Big Ten and 38th in the nation in punting average. Meskó earned Academic All-Big Ten Conference recognition for earning a letter while maintaining a 3.0+ average during the fall.
Prior to the 2007 season, Meskó adjusted his kicking technique to a straight motion instead of a cross-over like National Football League punters. He was a preseason Ray Guy Award watchlist nominee. After Rivas graduated, the 2007 Michigan Wolverines football team had a battle for the placekicking duties for the 2007 season between redshirt freshman Bryan Wright and two walk-ons. When the team had two fourth quarter field goal attempts blocked during their season-opening 34–32 loss to the two-time defending FCS champion Appalachian State Mountaineers, Meskó was an uninvolved third stringer but handled punting duties. Meskó finished the season fifth in the Big Ten in punting average, and was again Academic All-Conference.
### Rich Rodriguez era
When Rich Rodriguez arrived to replace the retired Carr prior to the 2008 season, he announced the Wolverines would be using a new punting formation along with the spread offense. Instead of using two gunners, the team switched to using six, and Meskó switched to rolling out and using directional kicks. The plan called for a mixture of employing traditional pocket punts and roll out for rugby style ones. Meskó said the changes to the team were so drastic under Rodriguez that he felt like he had transferred. On all seven of his punts in the opening game against Utah, Meskó rolled out to his left before punting. The new punt scheme was part of the option offense and could have resulted in a fake punt. In Michigan's third game against Notre Dame on 13 September, Meskó executed an option run for 13 yards and a first down. Meskó also executed a seven-yard option run for a first down against Minnesota on 8 November in the Little Brown Jug game. Meskó had a couple of punts blocked during the season, and one was returned for a touchdown during the Michigan – Ohio State game. During the season, Meskó served as K.C. Lopata's holder on placekicks. Meskó repeated a Guy Award watchlist candidate in 2008. After the list was narrowed from fifty to ten, Meskó was a semifinalist for the award. Meskó led the Big Ten in punting average and finished twentieth in the nation. He was named to the Big Ten All Conference First-Team in 2008. He was recognized by Phil Steele as a fourth team All-American for 2008. Meskó was Academic All-Conference for a third time. At the conclusion of the 2008–09 academic year, the inaugural class of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars was recognized for having attained a 3.7 GPA for the academic year while earning varsity letters, and Meskó was among the honorees.
As a senior, Meskó entered the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season opener with the most career starts (38) on the 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team. He served as the first special teams performer to be captain in the 130-year history of Michigan football. In 2009, Meskó was again a Guy Award watchlist candidate for the Wolverines. He was also a pre-season Playboy All-American and NationalChamps.net first-team All-American. On 11 October 2009, he was named Big Ten Conference special teams player of the week for averaging 53.8 yards on five punts at Iowa. He was a 2009 Allstate Good Works Team honoree for his outstanding civic contributions to the local community and a 2009 Lowe's Senior Class Award Finalist for classroom, community, character and competition excellence. At the midpoint in the Wolverines' Big Ten schedule, Meskó ranked fifth in the nation and first in the Big Ten in punting average. In November, Meskó was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award and one of 12 finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy. In eight conference games Meskó averaged 45.2 yards/punt, which was the first time a Michigan punter led the Big Ten in Conference game punting average since Paul Staroba in 1970. Although the team played twelve games, Meskó only accumulated stats in eleven since the team did not punt a single time in its 17 October 63–6 victory against the . He was selected by both the coaches and the media to the first-team All-Big Ten Conference team. Meskó was named one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award along with Drew Butler and Chaz Henry. Meskó was honored as a fall term of the 2009-10 Academic All-Conference selection. He was also one of fifteen Football Bowl Subdivision athletes and six Big Ten athletes selected as a first-team Academic All-American. He was the second-team All-American punter selection by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Associated Press, Scout.com, and Rivals.com. He was an honorable mention All-American by Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Weekly, and College Football News. He finished the season ranked eighth in the nation and first in the Big Ten in punting average. On 31 December 2009, he was one of 22 players recognized as a member of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which rewards public service and volunteer work.
Meskó is Michigan's career leader in punts and punting yardage and is second only to Monte Robbins in punting average. He is also the Michigan single-season punts (80) and punting yards (3436) record holder. His 44.46 was a school single-season record that lasted three years until Will Hagerup surpassed it. Meskó ranks ninth all-time in career punts and seventh in punting yardage in Big Ten Conference history. At the close of his collegiate career, Meskó was rated the number one punter prospect for the 2010 NFL draft by Scouts.com.
### Statistics
## Professional career
Meskó ranked second among all specialists at the NFL Combine with 16 repetitions on the bench press.
### New England Patriots
#### 2010 to 2012
Meskó was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round (150th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was the first punter or placekicker drafted and the second Wolverine drafted (Brandon Graham was the first) in the 2010 draft. He signed a four-year contract on 16 June 2010.
In Week 6 of his rookie season, Meskó set a season-long record with a 65-yard punt in overtime that gave the Baltimore Ravens the ball at their own 19-yard line. The Ravens failed to gain a first down and punted back to the Patriots, who scored to win the game on the ensuing drive.
The 2010 Patriots were the seventh-highest scoring team in NFL history; as a result, Meskó punted just 58 times, 26th in the league. Of those punts, 19 were downed inside the 20, while 5 were touchbacks. Meskó finished his rookie season with a gross punting average of 43.2 yards, and net average of 38.4 yards, the highest net average for a rookie in NFL history. During the 2011 NFL lockout, Meskó, a finance and marketing major in college, interned as a private equity analyst with Graham Partners in Philadelphia. Meskó also served as the Patriots' holder.
At the end of the 2011 season, Meskó and the Patriots appeared in Super Bowl XLVI. He had three punts for 123 net yards (41.0 average), but the Patriots lost 21–17 to the New York Giants.
#### 2013 preseason
Meskó was fighting for the punter position with undrafted rookie Ryan Allen. Meskó did not survive the final cuts. Bleacher Report stated that the reason for the cut was that if Meskó had stayed for his fourth year, he would have made \$1.3 million, while Allen would only cost \$405,000.
### Pittsburgh Steelers
On 2 September 2013, Meskó was signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers active roster. Meskó had grown up a Steelers fan although he lived in Cleveland and wore a Steelers jacket during his youth. Meskó was released from the Steelers on 29 October 2013. Meskó's punting had been statistically poor and he had some troubles on specific plays that upset Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Meskó was replaced by Mat McBriar.
### Cincinnati Bengals
On 31 December 2013, after a punt by Shawn Powell went only 10 yards, Meskó was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals. His contract was not renewed at the end of the season, becoming a free agent. He had workouts with the New York Jets and Washington Redskins in early 2014, but was not signed.
## Personal life
Meskó is of Hungarian descent. In the mid-1990s, his parents, Mihály and Erzsébet Meskó, were highly educated engineers in Romania. The family supplemented its income selling homemade clothes in the market. His father was also a professional nine-pin bowler. On 8 May 1997, when Zoltán was 11, his family moved from his native Romania after Mihály Meskó won a United States Permanent Resident Card (green card) in the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery for the single child family to move to the United States. The Meskós now have jobs that pay well. The family spent the first year and half in New York City before moving to Ohio for better jobs. Zoltán speaks Hungarian, Romanian, German and English and is conversant in Spanish. He learned to speak English by watching television. He was schooled at a German school in Timișoara, which was then Romania's second-largest city. His parents taught him Hungarian and he spoke Romanian with his friends.
Meskó completed a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and marketing from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in 2009. He completed a master's degree in sports management from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology in April 2010. Meskó is Roman Catholic and wears a medallion of his patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. In June 2013, he appeared on Barstool Sport's Bro Show, punting to the bloggers.
Meskó married his wife Haley in 2014.
After retiring from the NFL, Meskó started Exero Labs with business partner Ben Rizzo, a company that aims to create devices attached to football helmets to make the game safer. They were featured on the NFL's technology startup competition "1st and Future" the weekend of Super Bowl LII. |
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"Republican Party governors of Wisconsin",
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| Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. A Republican for most of his life, he ran for president of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history".
Born and raised in Wisconsin, La Follette won election as the Dane County District Attorney in 1880. Four years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he was friendly with party leaders like William McKinley. After losing his seat in the 1890 election, La Follette regrouped. As a populist he embraced progressivism and built up a coalition of disaffected Republicans. He sought election as governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the 1900 gubernatorial election. As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform.
La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904, but in 1905 the legislature elected him to the United States Senate. His populist base was energized when he emerged as a national progressive leader in the Senate, often clashing with conservatives like Nelson Aldrich. He initially supported President William Howard Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in tariff rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1912 presidential election, but his candidacy was overshadowed by that of former President Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt alienated many progressives, and, though La Follette continued to serve in the Senate, he lost his stature as the leader of that chamber's progressive Republicans. La Follette supported some of President Woodrow Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy. During World War I, La Follette was one of the most outspoken opponents of the administration's domestic and international policies and was against the war.
With the Republican and Democratic Parties each nominating conservative candidates in the 1924 presidential election, left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's third-party candidacy. With the support of the Socialist Party, farmer's groups, labor unions, and others, La Follette briefly appeared to be a serious threat to unseat Republican President Calvin Coolidge. La Follette stated that his chief goal was to break the "combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of the American people", and he called for government ownership of railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, protections for civil liberties, and a 10-year term for members of the federal judiciary. His complicated alliance was difficult to manage, and the Republicans came together to win the 1924 election. La Follette won 16.6% of the popular vote, one of the best third party performances in U.S. history. He died shortly after the presidential election, but his sons, Robert M. La Follette Jr. and Philip La Follette, succeeded him as progressive leaders in Wisconsin.
## Early life
Robert Marion La Follette Sr. was born on a farm in Primrose, Wisconsin, on June 14, 1855. He was the youngest of five children born to Josiah La Follette and Mary Ferguson, who had settled in Wisconsin in 1850. Josiah descended from French Huguenots, while Mary was of Scottish ancestry. La Follette's great-great-grandfather, Joseph La Follette emigrated from France to New Jersey in 1745. La Follette's great-grandfather moved to Kentucky, where they were neighbors to the Lincoln family.
Josiah died just eight months after Robert was born, and in 1862, Mary married John Saxton, a wealthy, seventy-year-old merchant. La Follette's poor relationship with Saxton made for a difficult childhood. Though his mother was a Democrat, La Follette became, like most of his neighbors, a member of the Republican Party.
La Follette began attending school at the age of four, though he often worked on the family farm. After Saxton died in 1872, La Follette, his mother, and his older sister moved to the nearby town of Madison. La Follette began attending the University of Wisconsin in 1875 and graduated in 1879 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was a mediocre student, but won a statewide oratory contest and established a student newspaper named the University Press. He was deeply influenced by the university's president, John Bascom, on issues of morality, ethics, and social justice. During his time at the university, he became a vegetarian, declaring that his diet gave him more energy and a "clear head".
La Follette met Belle Case while attending the University of Wisconsin, and they married on December 31, 1881, at her family home in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She became a leader in the feminist movement, an advocate of women's suffrage and an important influence on the development of La Follette's ideas.
## Early political career
### House of Representatives
La Follette was admitted to the state bar association in 1880. That same year, he won election as the district attorney for Dane County, Wisconsin, beginning a long career in politics. He became a protégé of George E. Bryant, a wealthy Republican Party businessman and landowner from Madison. In 1884, he won election to the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member of the subsequent 49th Congress. His political views were broadly in line with those of other Northern Republicans at the time; he supported high tariff rates and developed a strong relationship with William McKinley. He did, however, occasionally stray from the wishes of party leaders, as he voted for the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. He also denounced racial discrimination in the Southern United States and favored the Lodge Bill, which would have provided federal protections against the mass disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South. Milwaukee Sentinel referred to him as being "so good a fellow that even his enemies like him". Views on racial and ethnic matters were not central to La Follette's political thinking. His wife was a stronger proponent of civil rights.
At 35 years old, La Follette lost his seat in the 1890 Democratic landslide. Several factors contributed to his loss, including a compulsory-education bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 1889. Because the law required major subjects in schools to be taught in English, it contributed to a divide between the Catholic and Lutheran communities in Wisconsin. La Follette's support for the protective McKinley Tariff may have also played a role in his defeat. After the election, La Follette returned to Madison to begin a private law practice. Author Kris Stahl wrote that due to his "extraordinarily energetic" and dominating personality, he became known as "Fighting Bob" La Follette.
### Gubernatorial candidate
In his autobiography, La Follette explains that he experienced a political epiphany in 1891 after Senator Philetus Sawyer attempted to bribe him. La Follette claimed that Sawyer offered the bribe so that La Follette would influence his brother-in-law, Judge Robert G. Siebecker, who was presiding over a case involving state funds that Republican officials had allegedly embezzled. La Follette's public allegation of bribery precipitated a split with many friends and party leaders, though he continued to support Republican candidates like John Coit Spooner. He also strongly endorsed McKinley's run for president in the 1896 election, and he denounced Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan as a radical. Rather than bolting the party or retiring from politics, La Follette began building a coalition of dissatisfied Republicans, many of whom were relatively young and well-educated. Among his key allies were former governor William D. Hoard and Isaac Stephenson, the latter of whom published a pro-La Follette newspaper. La Follette's coalition also included many individuals from the state's large Scandinavian population, including Nils P. Haugen, Irvine Lenroot, and James O. Davidson.
Beginning in 1894, La Follette's coalition focused on winning the office of Governor of Wisconsin. With La Follette serving as his campaign manager, Haugen sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1894, but he was defeated by William H. Upham. La Follette ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1896, but he was beaten by Edward Scofield; La Follette alleged that Scofield only won the nomination after conservative party leaders bribed certain Republican delegates. La Follette declined to run as an independent despite the pleas of some supporters, and after the election, he turned down an offer from President William McKinley to serve as the Comptroller of the Currency. In 1897, La Follette began advocating the replacement of party caucuses and conventions, the traditional method of partisan nominations for office, with primary elections, which allowed voters to directly choose party nominees. He also denounced the power of corporations, charging that they had taken control of the Republican Party. These progressive stances had become increasingly popular in the wake of the Panic of 1893, a severe economic downturn that caused many to reevaluate their political beliefs.
La Follette ran for governor for the second time in 1898, but he was once again defeated by Scofield in the Republican primary. In 1900, La Follette made a third bid for governor, and won the Republican nomination, in part because he reached an accommodation with many of the conservative party leaders. Running in a strong year for Republicans nationwide, La Follette decisively defeated his Democratic opponent Louis G. Bomrich in the general election, winning just under 60 percent of the vote.
## Governor of Wisconsin (1901–1906)
Upon taking office, La Follette called for an ambitious reform agenda, with his two top priorities being the implementation of primary elections and a reform of the state's tax system. La Follette initially hoped to work with the conservative faction of the Republican Party to pass these reforms, but conservatives and railroad interests broke with the governor. La Follette vetoed a primary election bill that would have applied only to local elections, while the state Senate voted to officially censure the governor after he attacked the legislature for failing to vote on his tax bill. Conservative party leaders attempted to deny La Follette renomination in 1902, but La Follette's energized supporters overcame the conservatives and took control of the state convention, implementing a progressive party platform. In the 1902 general election, La Follette decisively defeated the conservative Democratic nominee, Mayor David Stuart Rose of Milwaukee.
In the aftermath of the 1902 election, the state legislature enacted the direct primary (subject to a statewide referendum) and La Follette's tax reform bill. The new tax law, which required railroads to pay taxes based on property owned rather than profits, resulted in railroads paying nearly double the amount of taxes they had paid before the enactment of the law. Having accomplished his first two major goals, La Follette next focused on regulating railroad rates, but the railroads prevented passage of his bill in 1903. During this period, La Follette became increasingly convinced of the need for a direct income tax in order to minimize tax avoidance by the wealthy. During his governorship, La Follette appointed African-American William Miller for a position in his office.
After the legislature adjourned in mid-1903, La Follette began lecturing on the Chautauqua circuit, delivering 57 speeches across the Midwest. He also earned the attention of muckraker journalists like Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens, many of whom supported La Follette's progressive agenda. La Follette's continued movement towards progressivism alienated many Republican Party leaders, and La Follette's followers and conservative party leaders held separate conventions in 1904; ultimately, the state Supreme Court declared that La Follette was the Republican Party's 1904 gubernatorial nominee. In the general election in Wisconsin that year, La Follette won 51 percent of the vote, but he ran far behind Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, who took 63 percent of the Wisconsin's vote in the national election by comparison. In that same election, Wisconsin voters approved the implementation of the direct primary.
During the 1904 campaign, La Follette pledged that he would not resign as governor during his term, but after winning re-election he directed state representative Irvine Lenroot, a close political ally, to secure his election to the United States Senate. Shortly after La Follette delivered the inaugural message of his third term as governor, Lenroot began meeting with other legislators to assure that La Follette would be able to win election to the Senate; at that time, the state legislature elected senators. La Follette was formally nominated by the Republican caucus on January 23, 1905, and the state legislature chose him the following day. La Follette delayed accepting the nomination and continued to serve as governor until December 1905, when he announced his resignation. Throughout 1905, La Follette continued to push his progressive policies, including the state regulation of railroad rates. The state legislature passed a relatively weak regulation bill that La Follette considered vetoing, but he ultimately signed the law. Lieutenant Governor James O. Davidson succeeded La Follette as governor and went on to win re-election in 1906.
## Senator (1906–1925)
### Roosevelt administration (1906–1909)
La Follette immediately emerged as a progressive leader in the Senate. At first, he focused on a railroad regulation bill making its way through the Senate; he attacked the bill, eventually known as the Hepburn Act, as a watered-down compromise. He also began campaigning across the country, advocating for the election of progressive senators. Conservative party leaders, including Spooner and Nelson W. Aldrich, detested La Follette, viewing him as a dangerous demagogue. Hoping to deprive La Follette of as much influence as possible, Aldrich and his allies assigned La Follette to insignificant committees and loaded him down with routine work. Nonetheless, La Follette found ways to attack monopolistic coal companies, and he pressed for an expansion of the railroad regulation powers of the Interstate Commerce Committee.
With the help of sympathetic journalists, La Follette also led the passage of the 1907 Railway Hours Act, which prohibited railroad workers from working for more than 16 consecutive hours. Though he initially enjoyed warm relations with President Roosevelt, La Follette soured somewhat on the president after Roosevelt declined to support some progressive measures like physical valuation of Railroad properties. When Roosevelt did not support La Follette's bill to withdraw mineral land from corporate exploitation, La Follette told to Belle that Roosevelt "throws me down every day or so". Meanwhile, La Follette alienated some of his supporters in Wisconsin by favoring Stephenson, his main donor, over Lenroot in an election to fill the seat of retiring Senator John Coit Spooner. After the Panic of 1907, La Follette strongly opposed the Aldrich–Vreeland Act, which would authorize the issuance of \$500 million in bond-backed currency. He alleged that the panic had been engineered by the "Money Trust", a group of 97 large corporations that sought to use the panic to destroy competitors and force the government to prop up their businesses. La Follette was unable to prevent the passage of the bill, but his 19-hour speech, the longest filibuster in Senate history up to that point, proved popular throughout the country.
Beginning in 1908, La Follette repeatedly sought election as the president. La Follette hoped that the backing of influential journalists like Lincoln Steffens and William Randolph Hearst would convince Republican leaders to nominate him for president in 1908, but he was unable to build a strong base of support outside of Wisconsin. Though he entered the 1908 Republican National Convention with the backing of most Wisconsin delegates, no delegates outside of his home state backed his candidacy. At the start of the convention, Secretary of War William Howard Taft was President Roosevelt's preferred choice, but Taft was opposed by some conservatives in the party. La Follette hoped that he might emerge as the Republican presidential nominee after multiple ballots, but Taft won the nomination on the first ballot of the convention. La Follette was nonetheless pleased that the party platform called for a reduction of the tariff and that Taft indicated that he would emulate Roosevelt's support for progressive policies. Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election, and several progressives were victorious in the concurrent congressional elections. In early 1909, La Follette launched La Follette's Weekly Magazine, which quickly achieved a circulation of well over 30,000. In March 1924, La Follette contributed to the appointment of African-American Walter I. Cohen as Comptroller of the Port of New Orleans.
### Battling the Taft administration (1909–1913)
Along with Jonathan P. Dolliver, La Follette led a progressive faction of Republicans in the Senate that clashed with Aldrich over the reduction of tariff rates. Their fight for tariff reduction was motivated by a desire to lower prices for consumers, as they believed that the high rates of the 1897 Dingley Act unfairly protected large corporations from competition and thereby allowed those corporations to charge high prices. Despite a widespread desire among consumers for lower prices, and a party platform that called for tariff reduction, Aldrich and other party leaders put forward the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act, which largely preserved the high tariff rates of the Dingley Act. With the support of President Taft, the Payne–Aldrich Tariff passed the Senate; all Republican senators except for La Follette's group of progressives voted for the tariff. The progressives did, however, begin the process of proposing the Sixteenth Amendment, which would effectively allow the federal government to levy an income tax.
In late 1909, Taft fired Louis Glavis, an official of the Department of the Interior who had alleged that Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger favored the illegal expansion of coal mining on government land in Alaska. The resulting Pinchot–Ballinger controversy pitted Ballinger and Taft against Gifford Pinchot, the head of the United States Forest Service and a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's progressives strongly criticized the Taft administration for its handling of the controversy and initiated a congressional investigation into the affair.
La Follette's successful re-election campaign in early 1911 further bolstered his position as the leader of the progressive faction of the Republican Party. In January 1911, after consulting with sympathetic journalists and public officials, La Follette launched the National Progressive Republican League, an organization devoted to passing progressive laws such as primary elections, the direct election of U.S. senators, and referendums. La Follette hoped that the league would also form a base of support for a challenge against Taft for the 1912 Republican presidential nomination. The league won the endorsement of nine senators, 16 congressmen, four governors, and well-known individuals such as Pinchot and Louis Brandeis, but notably lacked the support of former President Roosevelt. Explaining his refusal to join the league, Roosevelt asserted that he viewed the organization as too radical, stating his "wish to follow in the path of Abraham Lincoln rather than in the path of John Brown and Wendell Phillips".
By mid-1911, most progressives believed that the battle for the 1912 Republican nomination would be waged between La Follette and Taft, but La Follette himself feared that Roosevelt would jump into the race. Many progressive leaders strongly criticized La Follette for focusing on writing his autobiography rather than on campaigning across the country. La Follette believed that his autobiography would help him win votes, and said: "Every line of this autobiography is written for the express purpose of exhibiting the struggle for a more representative government which is going forward in this country, and to cheer on the fighters for that cause." Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in early 1912, but La Follette rejected the request of Pinchot and some other progressive leaders to drop out of the race and endorse the former president.
In Philadelphia on February 2, 1912, La Follette delivered a disastrous speech to the Periodical Publishers Banquet. He spoke for two hours before an audience of 500 nationally influential magazine editors and writers. Congressman Henry Cooper, a friend and ally of the senator, was there and made a memorandum:
> La Follette killed himself politically by his most unfortunate (worse than that speech). It was a shocking scene. He lost his temper repeatedly—shook his fist—at listeners who had started to walk out too tired to listen longer—was abusive, ugly in manner....From the very outset his speech was tedious, inappropriate (for a banquet occasion like that), stereotyped; like too many others of his [it was] extreme in matter and especially in manner....LaFollette's secretary, came over to me...and with a dejected, disgusted look said softly to me—"This is terrible—he is making a d\_\_\_d fool of himself." It ends him for the Presidency.
Most of the audience decided La Follette had suffered a mental breakdown, and most of his supporters shifted to Roosevelt. La Follette's family said he was distraught after learning that his daughter, Mary, required surgery. She recovered but his candidacy did not. Nonetheless, La Follette continued to campaign, focusing his attacks on Roosevelt rather than Taft.
La Follette hoped to rejuvenate his campaign with victories in the 1912 Republican primaries, but was able to win in only Wisconsin and North Dakota. He continued to oppose Roosevelt at the 1912 Republican National Convention, which ultimately re-nominated Taft. Roosevelt's supporters bolted the Republican Party, established the Progressive Party, and nominated Roosevelt on a third party ticket. La Follette continued to attack Roosevelt as a traitor to the progressive cause. He remained neutral in the three-way general election contest between Roosevelt, Taft, and the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson. With the Republican Party split, Wilson emerged triumphant in the 1912 election. La Follette's conduct during the campaign destroyed his standing as the leader of progressive Republicans in the Senate, as many progressives believed that La Follette's refusal to work with Roosevelt had damaged the progressive cause and abetted Taft's re-nomination as Republican candidate.
### Wilson administration (1913–1921)
La Follette initially hoped to work closely with the Wilson administration, but Wilson ultimately chose to rely on congressional Democrats to pass legislation. Nonetheless, La Follette was the lone Republican senator to vote for the Revenue Act of 1913, which lowered tariff rates and levied a federal income tax. La Follette, who wanted to use the income tax for the purpose of income redistribution, influenced the bill by calling for a higher surtax on those earning more than \$100,000 per year. La Follette and his fellow progressives challenged Wilson's proposed Federal Reserve Act as being overly-friendly towards the banking establishment, but Wilson convinced Democrats to enact his bill. La Follette also clashed with Southern Democrats like James K. Vardaman, who directed the farm benefits of the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 away from African-Americans. In 1915, La Follette won passage of the Seamen's Act, which allowed sailors to quit their jobs at any port where cargo was unloaded; the bill also required passenger ships to include lifeboats.
In the 1914 mid-term elections, La Follette and his progressive allies in Wisconsin suffered a major defeat when conservative railroad executive Emanuel L. Philipp won election as governor. La Follette fended off a primary challenge in 1916 and went on to decisively defeat his Democratic opponent in the general election, but Philipp also won re-election. By 1916, foreign policy had emerged as the key issue in the country, and La Follette strongly opposed American interventions in Latin America. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, La Follette praised the Wilson administration's policy of neutrality, but he broke with the president as Wilson pursued policies favorable to the Allied Powers. Theodore Roosevelt called him a "skunk who ought to be hanged" when he opposed the arming of American merchant ships.
`La Follette opposed United States entry into World War I. On April 4, 1917, the day of the vote on a war declaration by the US Congress, La Follette in a debate before the US Senate said, "Stand firm against the war and the future will honor you. Collective homicide can not establish human rights. For our country to enter the European war would be treason to humanity." Eventually, the U.S. Senate voted to support entry to the war 82–6, with the resolution passing the House of Representatives 373–50 two days later. La Follette faced immediate pushback, including by the Wisconsin State Journal, whose editorial claimed La Follette to be acting on behalf of German interests. The newspaper said, "It reveals his position to be decidedly pro-German (and) un-American... It is nothing short of pathetic to witness a man like La Follette, whose many brave battles for democracy have endeared him to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Americans, now lending himself to the encouragement of autocracy. And that is all it is". After the U.S. declared war, La Follette denounced many of the administration's wartime policies, including the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Espionage Act of 1917. This earned the ire of many Americans, who believed that La Follette was a traitor to his country, effectively supporting Germany.`
After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in late 1917, La Follette supported the Bolsheviks, whom he believed to be "struggling to establish an industrial democracy". He denounced the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919, which he thought stemmed from Wilson's desire to prevent the spread of socialism. During the First Red Scare, a post-war period in the United States marked by the widespread fear of socialism and anarchism, La Follette condemned the Palmer Raids, sought the repeal of the Espionage Act, and proposed amnesty for political prisoners like Eugene V. Debs. Along with a diverse array of progressive and conservative Republican senators, he helped prevent the U.S. from ratifying the Treaty of Versailles. La Follette believed that the League of Nations, a vital component of the Treaty of Versailles, was primarily designed to protect the dominant financial interests of the United States and the Allied Powers.
### Harding–Coolidge administration (1921–1924)
La Follette retained influence in Wisconsin after the war, and he led a progressive delegation to the 1920 Republican National Convention. Nationwide, however, the Republican Party had increasingly embraced conservatism, and La Follette was denounced as a Bolshevik when he called for the repeal of the 1920 Esch–Cummins Act. After the Republican Party nominated conservative senator Warren G. Harding, La Follette explored a third-party presidential bid, though he ultimately did not seek the presidency because various progressive groups were unable to agree on a platform. After the 1920 presidential election, which was won by Harding, La Follette became part of a "farm bloc" of congressmen who sought federal farm loans, a reduction in tariff rates, and other policies designed to help farmers. He also resisted the tax cuts proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, and his opposition helped prevent Congress from cutting taxes as deeply as had been proposed by the secretary of the treasury.
In 1922, La Follette decisively defeated a primary challenge from conservative allies of President Harding, and he went on to win re-election with 81 percent of the vote. Nationwide, the elections saw the defeat of many conservative Republicans, leaving La Follette and his allies with control of the balance of power in Congress. After the Supreme Court struck down a federal child labor law, La Follette became increasingly critical of the Court, and he proposed an amendment that would allow Congress to repass any law declared unconstitutional. La Follette also began investigations into the Harding administration, and his efforts ultimately helped result in the unearthing of the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding died in August 1923 and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who was firmly in the conservative wing of the Republican Party.
In 1920–21, La Follette continued his support for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, in addition to his vigorous denunciation of imperialism and militarism in that conflict and beyond. In the American and British versions, he continued to oppose the treaty oversight settlement and continued to reject the League of Nations. He advocated self-government for Ireland, India, Egypt, and withdrawal of foreign interest from China. By 1922, he focused primarily on domestic affairs.
## 1924 presidential campaign
By 1924, conservatives were ascendant in both major parties. In 1923, La Follette began planning for a third party run for the presidency, sending his allies to various states to build up a base of support and ensure ballot access. In early 1924, a group of labor unions, socialists, and farm groups, inspired by the success of Britain's Labour Party, established the Conference for Progressive Political Action (CPPA) as an umbrella organization of left-wing groups. Aside from labor unions and farm groups, the CPPA also included groups representing African Americans, women, and college voters. The CPPA scheduled a national convention to nominate a candidate for president in July 1924. La Follette had changed his previous pro-Bolshevik stance after visiting the Soviet Union in late 1923, where he had seen the impact of Communism on civil liberties and political rights. During that same time, La Follette visited England, Germany and Italy, where he expressed his dismay at the lack of freedom in the press to leader Benito Mussolini. With other left-wing groups supporting La Follette, the Communist Party nominated its first ever candidate for president, William Z. Foster.
On July 3, 1924, one day before the CPPA convention, La Follette announced his candidacy in the 1924 presidential election, stating that, "to break the combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of the American people is the one paramount issue." The CPPA convention, which was dominated by supporters of La Follette, quickly endorsed his presidential bid. La Follette's first choice for his running mate, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Louis Brandeis, refused to join the campaign. The convention instead nominated Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, a progressive Democrat who had refused to endorse John W. Davis, the Democratic nominee for president. Though the Socialists pushed for a full slate of candidates, at La Follette's insistence, the CPPA did not establish a formal third party or field candidates for races other than the presidency. La Follette would appear on the ballot in every state except Louisiana, but his ticket was known by a variety of labels, including "Progressive", "Socialist", "Non-Partisan", and "Independent".
After the convention, the Socialist Party of America, acting on the advice of perennial presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, endorsed La Follette's candidacy. The American Federation of Labor and numerous other worker's groups also threw their support behind La Follette. Among the notable individuals who endorsed La Follette were birth control activist Margaret Sanger, African-American leader W. E. B. Du Bois, economist Thorstein Veblen, and newspaper publisher E. W. Scripps. Harold L. Ickes and some other progressives who had supported Roosevelt's 1912 candidacy threw their backing behind La Follette, though others, including Gifford Pinchot, endorsed Coolidge. Another group supporting La Follette was the Steuben Society, a German-American organization that claimed a membership of six million.
La Follette's platform was based on many of the issues that he had been campaigning on throughout his political career. He called for government ownership of the railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a referendum before any president could again lead the nation into war.
Professional gamblers initially gave La Follette a 16-to-1 odds of winning, and many expected that his candidacy would force a contingent election in the House of Representatives. As election day approached, however, those hoping for a La Follette victory became more pessimistic. The various groups supporting La Follette often clashed, and his campaign was not nearly as well-financed as those of Davis and especially Coolidge. Corporate leaders, who saw in La Follette the specter of class warfare, mobilized against his third-party candidacy. Republicans campaigned on a "Coolidge or chaos" platform, arguing that the election of La Follette would severely disrupt economic growth. Having little fear of a Democratic victory, the Republican Party mainly focused its campaign attacks on La Follette.
In August and September, La Follette expressed his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, describing the organization as containing "seeds of death" in its own body and his hatred for immigration quotas on the basis of racial discrimination, while defending control of immigration regarding economic issues. In response to La Follette's statements regarding the Klan, Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans denounced La Follette as being the "arch enemy of the country".
Ultimately, La Follette took 16.6 percent of the vote, while Coolidge won a majority of the popular and electoral vote. La Follette carried his home state of Wisconsin and finished second in eleven states, all of which were west of the Mississippi River. He performed best in rural areas and working-class urban areas, with much of his support coming from individuals affiliated with the Socialist Party. La Follette's 16.6 percent showing represents the third best popular vote showing for a third party since the American Civil War (after Roosevelt in 1912 and Ross Perot in 1992), and with him winning of his home state of Wisconsin. The CPPA dissolved shortly after the election as various groups withdrew support.
## Death and legacy
La Follette died in Washington, D.C., of a cardiovascular disease, complicated by bronchitis and pneumonia, on June 18, 1925, four days after his 70th birthday. He was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery on the near west side of Madison, Wisconsin. After his death, his Senate seat was offered to his wife, Belle Case La Follette, but she declined the offer. Subsequently, his son Robert M. La Follette Jr. was elected to the seat.
After her husband's death, Belle Case remained an influential figure and editor. By the mid-1930s, the La Follettes had reformed the Progressive Party on the state level in the form of the Wisconsin Progressive Party. The party quickly, if briefly, became the dominant political power in the state, electing seven Progressive congressmen in 1934 and 1936. Their younger son, Philip La Follette, was elected Governor of Wisconsin, while their older son, Robert M. La Follette Jr., succeeded his father as senator. La Follette's daughter, Fola La Follette, was a prominent suffragette and labor activist and was married to the playwright George Middleton. A grandson, Bronson La Follette, served several terms as the Attorney General of Wisconsin and was the 1968 Democratic gubernatorial nominee. La Follette has also influenced numerous other progressive politicians outside of Wisconsin, including Floyd B. Olson, Upton Sinclair, Fiorello La Guardia, and Wayne Morse. Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has frequently been compared to La Follette.
In 1957, a Senate Committee chaired by Senator John F. Kennedy selected La Follette to be one of the five senators to be listed in the Senate "Hall of Fame", along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert A. Taft. A 1982 survey asking historians to rank the "ten greatest Senators in the nation's history" based on "accomplishments in office" and "long range impact on American history", placed La Follette first, tied with Henry Clay. Writing in 1998, historian John D. Buenker described La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history". La Follette is represented by one of two statues from Wisconsin in the National Statuary Hall. An oval portrait of La Follette, painted by his cousin, Chester La Follette, also hangs in the Senate. The Robert M. La Follette House in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, is a National Historic Landmark. Other things named for La Follette include La Follette High School in Madison, the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the town of La Follette, Wisconsin.
The Fighting Bob Festival is an annual September tribute event held by Wisconsin progressives, sponsored by The Progressive and The Capital Times. It was founded in 2001 by Wisconsin labor lawyer and activist Ed Garvey. The Chautauqua-inspired Fighting Bob Fest has been held in Baraboo, Madison, La Crosse, Milwaukee, and Stevens Point. Speakers have included Wisconsin figures like Rep. Mark Pocan, former Sen. Russ Feingold, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and journalist John Nichols, other noted mid-westerners, as well as national progressive populist figures, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jim Hightower, Nina Turner and Jesse Jackson.
## See also
- History of Wisconsin
- La Follette family
- The Rhetorical Presidency |
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"Ralph Thomas Walker buildings",
"Residential buildings completed in 2006",
"Residential buildings in Brooklyn",
"Telephone exchange buildings"
]
| The BellTel Lofts (formerly the New York Telephone Company Building, 101 Willoughby Street, and 7 MetroTech Center) is a mostly residential building at 101 Willoughby Street and 365 Bridge Street in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. Constructed from 1929 to 1931 as the headquarters for the New York Telephone Company, it is located at the northeast corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets. It was one of several Art Deco-style telecommunications buildings designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the early 20th century. The building was renovated into a residential complex in the mid-2000s.
The BellTel Lofts measures 348 ft (106 m) tall, with 27 above-ground stories and three basements. Its design is influenced by German Expressionism, with Art Deco detailing, and derives much of its decoration from the arrangement of the bricks. The building's shape features a largely symmetrical massing and numerous setbacks with decorative parapets. At ground level, the main entrance is recessed at the center of the western facade on Bridge Street, while most of the remaining ground-story openings are metal-and-glass storefronts. On the upper stories, the facade is divided vertically into multiple bays and taper to a tower on the top nine stories. When 101 Willoughby Street was constructed, the ground story contained a lobby and auditorium, while the upper stories were used as offices. Since the 2000s, the building has contained 250 residential units, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle.
In 1929, the New York Telephone Company decided to construct 101 Willoughby Street, consolidating operations from several other buildings, including the company's old headquarters at 81 Willoughby Street. Plans for the new structure were filed in November 1929, and the building formally opened on October 28, 1931, as New York Telephone's second-largest building. The New York Telephone Company continued to occupy the building through the late 20th century, with thousands of employees there. Part of the building was renovated into a training center in the late 1980s, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2004. The building was sold in February 2005 to David Bistricer for \$68 million, and his company Clipper Equities converted the structure to a residential condominium complex. Although sales of the condo units began in October 2006, many of the apartments remained unsold for several years.
## Site
The BellTel Lofts is located at 101 Willoughby Street in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. It occupies a rectangular land lot on the northeastern corner of Bridge and Willoughby Streets. The site has frontage of 255 ft (78 m) on Bridge Street to the west and 100 ft (30 m) on Willoughby Street to the south, with an area of 25,500 sq ft (2,370 m<sup>2</sup>). Nearby buildings include the Brooklyn Commons (formerly MetroTech) to the north; the Duffield Street Houses to the east; 388 Bridge Street and AVA DoBro to the south; and the Brooklyner and 81 Willoughby Street to the west. In addition, entrances to the New York City Subway's Jay Street–MetroTech station, served by the , are just outside the building.
## Architecture
The building was designed by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the Art Deco style. The BellTel Lofts was one of several Art Deco buildings in the New York City area that Walker designed, after the Barclay–Vesey Building (1927), the New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building (1929), and 60 Hudson Street (1930). It was followed by 1 Wall Street (1931) and 32 Avenue of the Americas (1932), as well as telephone buildings in Upstate New York. The structure is 348 ft (106 m) tall, with 27 stories.
### Form and facade
The building's facade is made largely of reddish-brown brick, and its massing contains multiple setbacks. Though setbacks in New York City skyscrapers were mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution in order to allow light and air to reach the streets below, they later became a defining feature of the Art Deco style. Some sections of the building are set back at a higher story than others, which gives the massing an irregular appearance, even though Walker had placed the setbacks symmetrically along the exterior. The building contains 27 above-ground stories, with a nine-story base and subsequent setbacks at the 9th, 12th, and 15th stories. Above the 18th floor, the building rises into a smaller "tower". The massing is akin to that at 32 Avenue of the Americas.
A brick facade was used for the BellTel Lofts and for Walker's other communications buildings, since he preferred the material for its texture and its flexibility in color combinations. The BellTel Lofts' facade incorporated about 2.649 million bricks and 1,141 windows. The building's decoration was largely derived from subtle changes in the color of the brick, as well as the placement of the bricks themselves. The main elevations of the facade, on Willoughby and Bridge Streets, both contain a central section where the bricks are laid at slightly different depths, giving a curtain-like appearance. In an allusion to German Expressionism, several of the entrances have stepped entrance arches and are surrounded by brickwork laid in a pattern suggestive of weaving. Additionally, the parapets atop some of the setbacks have interlocked, three-dimensional vertical and horizontal motifs and are topped by cast-stone copings. Unlike in his earlier Barclay–Vesey Building where Walker used organic decorations, the BellTel Lofts' design incorporates geometric shapes such as lozenges, starbursts, and chevrons.
#### Ground level
The water table just above the ground is made of granite, while the rest of the facade is clad in orange brick. The bricks on the ground story are laid such that the header, the narrowest surface of each brick, faces outward. The headers are interrupted at regular intervals by horizontal bands of bricks in which the stretcher, or long narrow surface, of each brick faces outward; the stretchers are laid vertically. At ground level, the western elevation, facing Bridge Street, is divided into twelve double-width openings; each of the ground-story openings corresponds vertically to two bays on the upper stories. The main entrance is the sixth opening from the south and is flanked by a single-width bay on either side. The southern elevation, along Willoughby Street, is divided into four double-width openings; the two outermost openings contain entrances.
On the building's western elevation, facing Bridge Street, the main entrance is near the center of the facade. The entrance is through a double-height recessed doorway that contains four doors made of metal and glass. A sign with the words "Bell Telephone" is placed above the center two doors, and a glass-and-metal transom window stretches across the entire doorway. Above the transom window, the bricks are laid in vertical patterns. There are six openings to the left (north) and five to the right (south) of the main entrance. The northernmost openings contains a service entrance with metal doors, framed by brickwork in a woven pattern. The remaining openings on Bridge Street contain tripartite display windows and transom windows with metal frames. Above the transom windows are decorative abstract metalwork that is placed in front of the brick facade.
On Willoughby Street, there are four openings at ground level. The two center openings contain tripartite display and transom windows with metal frames, similar to those on Bridge Street. The two outer openings contain entrances, which are framed by brickwork in a woven pattern, similar to the service entrance on Bridge Street. The doorway to the left (west) contains four metal-and-glass doors topped by transom windows. The doorway to the right (east) is similar but is recessed within a vestibule and has a bronze gate. The vestibule in the easternmost opening is illuminated by a bronze chandelier and contains a set of metal-and-glass doors and transom windows.
#### Upper stories
On Bridge Street, the upper stories are divided slightly asymmetrically into 26 bays: a northern section of eight bays, a center section of 12 bays, and a southern section of six bays. Each bay contains one aluminum sash window per story. The brickwork in the center section is laid vertically in a manner that resembles undulating curtains. Walker had used a similar effect in his designs for 60 Hudson Street and 1 Wall Street. The middle eight bays of the central section set back at the 9th and 12th stories, while the two bays on either side continue as bulkheads that set back at the 13th story. The center six bays set back again at the 15th story, flanked by two-bay-wide bulkheads that set back at the 17th story. The bulkheads were intended to draw attention to the central bays of the center section. Further setbacks occur at the 18th, 23rd, and 26th stories, where the building tapers into a tower that is only four bays wide.
The northern and southern sections on Bridge Street both contain flat facades, which derive their ornamentation by the orientation of the brick. Much of the brickwork on both sections is composed of stretcher bricks (which are laid flat with their long narrow sides exposed). On each story, the sills below the windows and lintels above the windows are connected horizontally by courses of soldier bricks (which are laid vertically with their long narrow sides exposed). The northern and southern sections contain symmetrical setbacks at the 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th stories; each setback contains parapets with brick patterns.
The southern elevation on Willoughby Street is ten bays wide above the first story. The six center bays have an undulating brick facade, with setbacks at the 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th stories; each of these setbacks has a parapet with undulating brick bands. The two outer bays on either side have a flat brick facade, ornamented only by courses of stretcher and soldier bricks. These outer bays set back at the 9th, 12th, and 15th stories. Above the 18th story, the southern elevation of the tower is only four bays wide. The eastern elevation has both undulating and flat brick decoration, similar to the Willoughby and Bridge Street elevations, but the eastern wall does not have many walls. There are several setbacks on the eastern elevation, which taper into the tower above the 18th story. The northern elevation cannot be seen from the street level but has windows. Various equipment is placed above each setback.
### Interior
The superstructure of the BellTel Lofts contains 6,571 short tons (5,867 long tons; 5,961 t) of steel, while the building was illuminated by 3,300 lighting fixtures. It had a total floor area of 320,000 sq ft (30,000 m<sup>2</sup>) when completed. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the modern-day building contains 401,418 sq ft (37,293.0 m<sup>2</sup>) in gross floor area.
#### Original use
When the building was constructed, the ground story was intended as a business center for Downtown Brooklyn office workers. According to contemporary sources, was "arranged to provide a convenient and comfortable place for patrons to conduct their telephone business transactions". The main entrance was placed on Willoughby Street, where a corridor connected with an elevator lobby. Another corridor led from the entrance on Bridge Street to the elevator lobby. Twelve elevators connected the ground story with the upper stories, operating at a speed of 700 ft/min (210 m/min); the elevators were grouped in two banks of six cabs. A 400-seat auditorium was placed near the rear of the ground story. There were also movie projection rooms, a check room, and dressing rooms. By the 2010s, the lobby retained its original design.
The building had three basement levels. The lowest two basements had boiler and machine rooms, storage space, and kitchens. The first basement, the shallowest below ground, contained employee cafeterias. The general offices of the New York Telephone Company occupied the intermediate stories, while the top stories were used as executive offices. The second through 20th stories were used as general offices. Managers occupied the next three stories, with executive offices on the 23rd floor. Although most of the building's restrooms were for male employees, there were women's restrooms on the fourth, ninth, and 15th floors.
#### Residential conversion
The current design of the building's interiors dates to a 2000s renovation by Beyer Blinder Belle. Since that renovation, the building has contained 250 residential units. The smallest units are studio apartments covering 600 sq ft (56 m<sup>2</sup>), while the largest units are duplex apartments covering 2,700 sq ft (250 m<sup>2</sup>). Fifty-eight apartments have outdoor terraces on the setbacks. Design elements of each apartment include bamboo floors, open-plan kitchens, full-height kitchens, and 11-foot (3.4 m) ceilings. There are 21 penthouses starting at the 19th story, which range from 1,178 to 2,715 sq ft (109.4 to 252.2 m<sup>2</sup>) and have ceilings of between 12 and 14 ft (3.7 and 4.3 m). Each of the 20th through 26th stories have only three apartments, which share a bank of four elevators. Two of the penthouses are duplex units covering 2,700 sq ft (250 m<sup>2</sup>), with 500-square-foot (46 m<sup>2</sup>) private terraces and their own elevators.
Because the building's mechanical core could not be rebuilt, many of the apartments contained long, narrow spaces that measure up to 70 ft (21 m) long. The units also have 100 different floor plans, and some of the lower-story apartments do not have natural illumination. The 19th-floor setbacks were converted to roof decks, while the spaces at the building's base were converted to retail spaces, offices, fitness rooms, and yoga rooms. Other amenities in the building include a media room, a playroom, a bike room, storage space, and a serviced office.
## History
The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 and merged with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1879 to form the National Bell Telephone Company. One of the subsidiaries of the combined firm was the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company, which was created in 1883. The company had 16,000 subscribers by 1897; this was one of the reasons for the construction of the company's earlier building at 81 Willoughby Street, which was finished in early 1898. As early as 1922, the New York Telephone Company had sought to construct a six-story annex to its building at the northwest corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets, extending 107 ft (33 m) along Willoughby Street and 250 ft (76 m) along Bridge Street.
### Development
In September 1929, the New York Telephone Company announced that it had acquired twelve houses at the northeast corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets, occupying a lot measuring 100 by 225 ft (30 by 69 m). The houses were to be replaced by a 23-story building at 101 Willoughby Street, which was to cost \$4.5 million. New York Telephone would relocate 3,500 employees from various buildings to the new structure. The houses at Willoughby and Bridge Streets had been razed by November 1929, when the Cauldwell–Wingate Company received the construction contract. By then, the structure was to rise 27 stories and cost about \$5.5 million; the structure was to include about 320,000 sq ft (30,000 m<sup>2</sup>). Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker filed plans for the structure at the end of the month. The architects submitted an alteration plan to the Brooklyn Bureau of Buildings in August 1930, which called for three elevators to be installed at a cost of \$472,000. During the building's construction, a worker died after falling down the elevator shaft.
Contractors ordered 8,000 short tons (7,100 long tons; 7,300 t) of structural steel for the building in January 1930. The steel frame had been finished by September 1930, and the facade of the lower floors had been installed. By the following January, the brickwork had been completed, and the floor slabs had been poured. In May 1931, the New York Building Congress gave awards to 27 mechanics who had helped construct 101 Willoughby Street. The structure was formally opened on October 28, 1931, as New York Telephone's second-largest building, behind the company's headquarters at the Barclay–Vesey Building in Manhattan. It was one of several skyscrapers that had been constructed in Downtown Brooklyn during the early 1930s. Workers were relocated from seven other buildings in Brooklyn, and New York Telephone's other nearby structures at 360 Bridge Street and 81 Willoughby Street continued to accommodate central office equipment.
### Telecommunications use
At the time of 101 Willoughby Street's dedication, it was known as the Long Island headquarters of the New York Telephone Company, with 2,200 employees working there. The building also hosted events such as meetings of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council of Brooklyn. The first basement also had a dark room for the company's camera club. 101 Willoughby Street was originally fueled by oil, but, during World War II, the building switched to coal to reduce energy costs. A 1941 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted that 101 Willoughby Street and the neighboring 360 Bridge Street employed 3,500 people, comprising more than half of the 5,500 employees that the company employed in Brooklyn. By 1946, the Long Island office of the New York Telephone Company had a million subscribers, nearly half of which were in Brooklyn. The number of subscribers had doubled to two million within seven years. The New York Telephone Company continued to occupy the building through the late 20th century. In the mid-1960s, the company sunk a 92-foot-deep (28 m) well so the building's air conditioning system could use groundwater.
When NYNEX was formed as a result of the breakup of the original AT&T in 1984, it occupied the New York Telephone Company's Long Island headquarters. By the late 1980s, the buildings at 101 Willoughby Street and 360 Bridge Street were used as customer service offices and contained some telephone switching equipment, although parts of these buildings were unoccupied. In conjunction with the development of MetroTech Center, NYNEX announced in early 1989 that it would renovate parts of both buildings as a training center. The refurbished space, covering 260,000 sq ft (24,000 m<sup>2</sup>), would be known as the New York Telephone Learning Center at MetroTech, which would train about 35,000 workers annually. The project cost about \$30 million, including the price of moving equipment from Manhattan. NYNEX later became known as Bell Atlantic New York by 1997, then Verizon New York by 2000.
After MetroTech was completed, the structure was known as 7 MetroTech Center, although it was not related to MetroTech itself. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce occupied 7 MetroTech Center during the late 1990s. The Municipal Art Society's Preservation Committee, along with local civic group Brooklyn Heights Association, began petitioning the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate over two dozen buildings in Downtown Brooklyn as landmarks in 2003. The LPC designated 101 Willoughby Street as a landmark in September 2004, along with New York Telephone's earlier building at 81 Willoughby Street later the same year. The buildings were designated shortly after the city government had approved a development plan for Downtown Brooklyn. At the time, there was high demand for residential development in Downtown Brooklyn, and developers sought to convert office structures such as 101 Willoughby Street to residential structures.
### Conversion to condominiums
The building was sold in February 2005 to David Bistricer, who paid Verizon \$74 million. Bistricer's company Clipper Equity converted the New York Telephone Building into a residential condominium development, the BellTel Lofts, which had an address of 365 Bridge Street. The development was named after the Bell Telephone sign hanging over the Bridge Street entrance. Clipper Equity received permission from a state court to modify an injunction that had been placed against the company, allowing it to sell condos there. BellTel Lofts received a J-51 tax abatement that ran through 2024. Sales at the building began in October 2006, when the developers placed 25 units for sale. BellTel Lofts was one of several luxury developments in Downtown Brooklyn during that decade. It was also one of several commercial buildings in the neighborhood to be converted to residential use, as well as one of Downtown Brooklyn's first condominium developments.
The upper floors remained unfinished two years after sales commenced. The production team of the TV show The Real World leased one of the penthouses in 2008, during the show's 21st season, but the lease was canceled due to issues in obtaining construction permits for the show. The surrounding streets were closed to most traffic because of the presence of the MetroTech complex, so the developers advertised the building by emphasizing the "tranquility" of the area. The developers initially had a difficult time selling the apartments, as the residential conversion had been completed at the height of the 2000s United States housing bubble, and there was an overabundance of apartments in the neighborhood. The developers also had trouble leasing out 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m<sup>2</sup>) of storefronts, and they sought a small tenant for the retail space.
By 2009, about 55 percent of the units had been sold, and BellTel's developers rented out 30 of the apartments under a program in which the renters could eventually buy the units. To attract residents, BellTel's developers offered gifts such as spa products. The General Services Administration ultimately leased the ground-floor storefronts for 10 years in 2010, using the space as a child care center for 76 children. Interest in the building's residences increased in the early 2010s after the Federal Housing Administration began offering loans to prospective buyers, allowing would-be residents to make down payments of less than \$20,000. Over 130 units at the building had been sold by 2011, a number that had grown to 175 by 2013.
## Critical reception
When the building opened, it received the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce's 1931 award for the best "business structure" in Brooklyn. Robert A. M. Stern, in his 1987 book New York 1930, said the massing of 101 Willoughby Street resembled that of the Paramount Building in Times Square, designed by Rapp and Rapp. Stern wrote: "Walker succeeded (where Rapp & Rapp had failed) in deftly synthesizing the individual masses."
Francis Morrone wrote in 2001 that 101 Willoughby Street "and the earlier telephone building at the northeast corner of Lawrence Street make Willoughby one of the most exciting streets in downtown Brooklyn". Christopher Gray of The New York Times referred to the building in 2008 as "a mesmerizing tower with faceted planes of orange brick, mottled in color so it reads like an undulating tapestry". According to Gray, the two telephone buildings at 81 and 101 Willoughby Street were one block apart physically but "eons apart in their architecture", contrasting number 81's Beaux-Arts design with number 101's Art Deco design. Although Jeff Vandam, also of the Times, described the BellTel Lofts in 2006 as being more obscure than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, he called the BellTel Lofts "no less impressive in its Art Deco grace".
## See also
- Art Deco architecture of New York City
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn
- List of tallest buildings in Brooklyn |
41,288,553 | Atari Games Corp. v. Oman | 1,166,973,679 | 1992 court case regarding video game copyright law | [
"1992 in United States case law",
"Atari",
"United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cases",
"United States copyright case law",
"Video game copyright case law"
]
| Atari Games Corp. v. Oman was a series of court cases where Atari, a video game developer, challenged the United States Copyright Office for refusing copyright registration for their arcade game Breakout. The Register of Copyrights first rejected Atari's registration in 1987, determining that Breakout lacked sufficient creativity to qualify as an audiovisual work. Atari twice appealed the register's decision before their copyright was granted. Decided in 1992, the case affirmed that video games are protected from clone developers who mimic a game's audiovisual aspects.
Breakout was a single player ball-and-paddle game developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, based on a design specifications from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. Atari sought registration for the game a decade later, after several courts had established that copyright applied to video games. However, Register of Copyrights Ralph Oman determined that the game did not have enough creative authorship to qualify as a copyrightable work, since the images were simple geometric shapes, and the audiovisual display was the dynamic creation of code rather than a fixed work created by an author. The decision was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg indicated that the Register needed to consider the work as a whole and not just its individual elements. The Register denied the registration again, citing the lack of creativity in the abstract geometric shapes. On a second appeal, Judge Ginsberg concluded that there was sufficient creativity in the graphical representations of a wall, a ball, and a paddle, as they looked and behaved in a way that was not standard or obvious. The court established an "extremely low" level of creativity required for copyright, and Atari was finally granted their registration for Breakout.
The decision builds on early copyright cases that treat video games as an audiovisual work, including Atari v. Amusement World (1981), Atari v. North American Phillips (1982), Stern Electronics, Inc. v. Kaufman (1982), and Midway v. Artic (1983). The series of decisions became influential on the copyrightability of software more generally. Decades later, the United States Copyright Office has continued to cite Atari v Oman for the principle that an audiovisual work only requires a modicum of human creative authorship to be copyrightable. Several participants in the case later became notable figures in their own right: Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Inc., Bushnell founded Chuck E. Cheese, and Judge Ginsberg was appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
## Background
In 1974, Steve Jobs was hired by Atari, a developer of arcade games. Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell requested a single player arcade game based on Pong (1972), where the player uses a paddle to hit a ball towards bricks. Jobs recruited friend Steve Wozniak to assist with the project, developing the concept into Breakout (1976), after four days and four nights of hardware engineering. In the game, the player uses a rectangular paddle to hit a square bouncing ball against a wall of red, amber, green, and blue bricks. Wozniak worked to minimize the number of microchips while still meeting the design specifications from Atari. Soon after, Wozniak and Jobs left Atari to commercialize the Apple I personal computer, founding Apple Inc. on April 1, 1976.
On May 13, 1976, Breakout was launched in arcades. The game became a commercial success, becoming one of the top five highest-earning arcade games in America for 1976, 1977, and 1978. Breakout had a total arcade production run of 11,000 cabinets manufactured by Atari, estimated to have generated over \$11 million (\$million adjusted for inflation) in sales revenue. This success led to sequels such as Super Breakout and Breakout 2000, as well as adaptations to other game devices.
## Legal process
### Copyright registration
By the early 1980s, courts had decided that video games may qualify for copyright registration as audiovisual works, in cases such as Stern v. Kaufman (1982), Midway v. Artic (1983), and Midway v. Dirkschneider (1983). On February 5, 1987, Atari filed for an expedited copyright registration for Breakout, in anticipation of litigation to protect their work. Atari received a reply from the United States Copyright Office dated February 13, saying that there was "not enough original authorship to register a claim". Atari requested reconsideration, but was refused in May, and again in December. The copyright examiners explained that copyright does not protect common geometric shapes, nor the simple audio tones in the game. Moreover, the arrangements of those shapes "are also not registrable since they are created randomly by the player and not by the author of the video game". The Copyright Office also explained that the visual "arrangement is basically dictated by the functional requirements of this or similar backboard type games".
### Judicial review and second refusal
By the end of 1987, Atari sought court review of the Copyright Office's decision, challenging it as "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law". The Copyright Register at the time was Ralph Oman, who made arguments before the court on behalf of the Copyright Office. In May 1988, the district court found that the Register's decision was not an abuse of discretion, and that the Copyright Office had reasonably applied the law.
Atari succeeded on appeal in 1989, with then-Judge (later Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsberg writing for the majority of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The appeal court noted that simple shapes could be combined in a distinctive manner to indicate ingenuity, and that the register may have failed to focus on the work as a whole, instead focusing solely on its components. Judge Ginsberg concluded that the Copyright Office had not explained what standard of originality was needed for copyright registration. The Register was ordered to give renewed consideration to Atari's copyright application, consistent with the opinion of the appeal court.
After their successful appeal, Atari tried again to register Breakout for copyright. The Copyright Office responded with a second refusal on April 30, 1990, writing that "the display screens both individually and as a whole simply lack sufficient creativity to make them registrable as audiovisual works". Their letter explained that if they were to grant copyright in a painting of flat geometric shapes, the copyright would be based on the brush strokes, depth, and perspective, and not the shapes themselves. Atari sought court review for a second time, but the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed Atari's claim in 1991, once again deferring to the Register. Atari appealed the decision.
### Final appeal
In 1992, the United States Court of Appeals reviewed the second decision of the trial court and the Register of Copyrights. Writing again for the majority, Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg granted Atari's appeal, holding that Breakout was a copyrightable work.
During this legal dispute, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the question of how much originality is needed for a valid copyright registration, in the 1991 case Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. The decision in Feist became central to the question of copyrightability, establishing that "the requisite level of creativity is extremely low; even a slight amount will suffice." When the Register said that the Feist decision confirmed the Copyright Office's understanding of what constitutes an original work of authorship, the Appeal Court said they could not comprehend how to reconcile Feist with the Register's analysis. Citing Feist, the appeal court explained that a copyrighted work only needed to be more than something "so commonplace that it has come to be expected as a matter of course".
Judge Ginsberg stated that it would be improper to "focus on the individual screens, rather than the flow of the game as a whole," because the expression of a video game is "found in the entire effect of the game as it appears and sounds, its sequence of images." Counsel for the Register argued that the use of non-representational, abstract images showed a lack of creativity. However, the appeal court responded that there was nothing obvious or commonplace about the abstract representation chosen for the game design. In oral arguments, the court responded that the game has "a ball that doesn't operate in any standard way, a wall that doesn't look like a wall. Those are fanciful elements. Are they not?". The court further noted that the colors of the bricks were not typical of a standard wall. In finding that the minimal threshold of creativity had been met, the court mentioned the synchronization of graphics and sound, the ball's changing speed and fanciful physics, and the design and placement of the scoreboard.
The appeal court ruled that the Register was unreasonable in rejecting the copyright application, measured against the "extremely low" level of creativity suggested by the Supreme Court in Feist.
## Impact
Atari received a copyright registration, which could be used to prevent competition from alleged Breakout clones. When Breakout-style games for the iPhone began to appear on the App Store in 2008, Atari sent takedown notices to have them removed. In 2017, Atari sued Nestle for using the likeness of Breakout in an ad, replacing the images of bricks with small Kit Kat bars.
Building on video game case law such as Atari v. Amusement World (1981), Atari v. North American Phillips (1982), and Midway v. Artic (1983), the decision in Atari v. Oman established that copyright law applies to the audiovisual outputs of video games. Granting copyright to the audiovisual display is important to protect games not just from clone developers who copy the game's code verbatim, but also those who write distinct code to mimic the audiovisual aspects. The copyrightable creativity described in Atari v. Oman can be found in the selection and arrangement of graphic elements on the screen, as well as the sequence of these screens.
The case is also influential for shaping the legal understanding of originality required for copyright. In several software cases that followed Atari v Oman, courts interpreted the originality requirement with the same minimalist standard. Tracy Lea Meade in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law notes that the Supreme Court did not set out a test for copyright originality in Feist, leaving other courts to develop this logic. As one of the first copyright cases after Feist, Atari v. Oman is remembered for creating a test for originality from words such as "obvious" or "mechanical", granting copyright to Breakout for surpassing a "negative" definition of what it is not. Katherine McDaniel in the Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property states that Atari v. Oman established that an arrangement of simple geometric shapes may be eligible for copyright protection if it involves a modicum of creativity.
The role of the Register of Copyrights was also impacted by Atari v Oman, challenging their discretion on the issue of copyrightability. After the first Atari v. Oman appeal, the Nebraska Law Review suggested that the courts had provided little guidance about the standard of creativity required for copyright protection. But the second Atari v. Oman appeal was a break from the past, according to Kevin Hooper in IDEA: Journal of Law and Technology, increasing the chances that a copyright claimant would succeed in registration. Decades later, the U.S. Copyright Office cites Atari v. Oman for the principle that an audiovisual work needs only sufficient amount of original and creative human authorship to be copyrightable.
The case is also known for its participants, several of whom later became notable figures in their own right: Breakout creators Jobs and Wozniak also founded Apple Inc., Atari founder Bushnell later founded Chuck E. Cheese, and Judge Ginsberg was eventually appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Ginsberg's pattern of support for authors and copyright owners is highlighted by The Nevada Law Journal, remembering both these decisions as Atari v Oman I and II. |
36,348,129 | Nicole Esdaile | 1,156,714,740 | Australian female goalball Paralympian (born 1987) | [
"1987 births",
"Goalball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics",
"Goalball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics",
"Living people",
"Paralympic goalball players for Australia"
]
| Nicole Esdaile (born 1 June 1987) is an Australian goalball player and is classified as a B2 competitor. She took up the sport in 1999, and made her national team debut in 2010. Subsequently, she has competed at the 2010 Goalball World Championships, 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Champions and 2011 IBSA Goalball World Cup. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in goalball .
## Personal life
Esdaile was born on 1 June 1987, and has a visual disability called oculocutaneous albinism.
## Goalball
Esdaile is a goalball player, and is classified as a B2 competitor. Her introduction to the sport was in primary school in 1999. She has continuously played it since then.
Esdaile made her national team debut in 2010 at the Goalball World Championships. In a game against Greece, she scored a goal immediately following a penalty. As a member of the 2011 team, she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup. Her team made it the quarter finals before losing to Russia 3–6. Her team then met the Spain women's national goalball team to try to earn a spot in the fifth/sixth place match. Australia walked away 8-7 victors, but lost the fifth/sixth place match to the Israel women's national goalball team 6–8.
She was with the team during the 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Champions, which served as the Paralympic qualifying tournament. In her first game against New Zealand, her team won 11-4 after leading 7–1 at the half. She scored three goals in the team's victory. She also played in a match against Germany, and in the final match against New Zealand women's national goalball team, which Australia won, with Esdaile scoring a pair of goals.
Esdaile was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics. That the team qualified for the Games came as a surprise, as the Australian Paralympic Committee head been working on player development with the idea of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics, when they earned an automatic selection as hosts, and the team finished last in the competition. The country has not medalled in the event since 1976. Going into the Paralympics, the team was ranked eighth in the world. In the 2012 Summer Paralympics tournament, the Belles played games against Japan, Canada, the United States and Sweden. They lost every game, and did not advance to the finals. Esdaile was the team's lead scorer, with four goals.
The Belles originally failed to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics after finishing third at the IBSA Goalball Asia Pacific Championships in Hangzhou, China. They were displaced to allow for an African team, Algeria as it turned out, to compete in goalball for the first time. But following the re-allocation of Russia's spot, the Belles found themselves getting a last minute invite to Rio.They entered the tournament ranked ninth in the world. They performed better this time, fighting Uzbekistan to a draw, but they needed a win or draw in their final game against Canada to progress to the quarter finals, but lost 6–0, ending their second Paralympic campaign. |
17,682,339 | Xgrid | 1,172,935,329 | Distributed computing protocol created by Apple | [
"Apple Inc. software",
"Cluster computing",
"Grid computing",
"Job scheduling",
"MacOS Server",
"Proprietary software"
]
| Xgrid is a proprietary grid computing program and protocol developed by the Advanced Computation Group subdivision of Apple Inc.
It provides network administrators a method of creating a computing cluster, which allows them to exploit previously unused computational power for calculations that can be divided easily into smaller operations, such as Mandelbrot maps. The setup of an Xgrid cluster can be achieved at next to no cost, as Xgrid client is pre-installed on all computers running Mac OS X 10.4 to Mac OS X 10.7. The Xgrid client was not included in Mac OS X 10.8. The Xgrid controller, the job scheduler of the Xgrid operation, is also included within Mac OS X Server and as a free download from Apple. Apple has kept the command-line job control mechanism minimalist while providing an API to develop more sophisticated tools built around it.
The program employs its own communication protocol layered on top of a schema to communicate to other nodes. This communication protocol interfaces with the BEEP infrastructure, a network application protocol framework. Computers discovered by the Xgrid system, that is computers with Mac OS X's Xgrid service enabled, are automatically added to the list of available computers to use for processing tasks.
When the initiating computer sends the complete instructions, or job, for processing to the controller, the controller splits the task up into these small instruction packets, known as tasks. The design of the Xgrid system consists of these small packets being transferred to all the Xgrid-enabled computers on the network. These computers, or nodes, execute the instructions provided by the controller and then return the results. The controller assembles the individual task results into the whole job results and returns them to the initiating computer.
Apple modeled the design of Xgrid on the Zilla program, distributed with NeXT's OpenStep operating system application programming interface (API), which Apple owned the rights to. The company also opted to provide the client version of Mac OS X with only command-line functions and little flexibility, while giving the Mac OS X Server version of Xgrid a GUI control panel and a full set of features.
## History
Xgrid's origins can be traced back to NeXT's Zilla application created by scientist Richard Crandall in the late 1980s. Zilla was the first distributed computing program released on an end-user operating system and which used the idle screen-saver motif, a design feature since found in widely used projects such as Seti@Home. Zilla won the national Computerworld Smithsonian Award (Science Category) in 1991 for ease of use and good design. Apple acquired Zilla along with the rest of NeXT in 1997, and used Zilla as inspiration for Xgrid. Xgrid Technology Preview 1 was released in January 2004, followed by Technology Preview 2 in November 2004. Xgrid 1.0 was released as part of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger in April 2005.
Several organizations have adopted Xgrid in large international computing networks. One example of an Xgrid cluster is MacResearch's OpenMacGrid, where scientists can request access to large amounts of processing power to run tasks related to their research. Another was the now defunct Xgrid@Stanford project, which used a range of computers on the Stanford University campus and around the world to perform biochemical research.
In a report covering the announcement, Macworld cited Xgrid among the Unix features in "10 Things to Know about Tiger", calling it "handy if you work with huge amounts of experimental data or render complex animations". After Xgrid's introduction in 2004, InfoWorld noted that it was a "'preview' grade technology" which would directly benefit from the Xserve G5's launch later that year. InfoWorld commentator Ephraim Schwartz also predicted that Xgrid was an opening move in Apple's entry into the enterprise computing market.
Apple discontinued Xgrid with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, along with dependent services such as Podcast Producer.
## Protocol
The Xgrid protocol uses the BEEP network framework to communicate with nodes on the network. The system's infrastructure includes three types of computers which communicate over the protocol:
- The client, which submits calculation jobs to the controller
- The controller, which segregates the jobs into tasks, and assigns these tasks to agents
- The agents, which process their own allocated part of the calculation and return results to the controller, which returns them to the client.
A computer can act as one or all three of these components at the same time. The Xgrid protocol provides the basic infrastructure for computers to communicate, but is not involved in the processing of the specified calculation. Xgrid is targeted towards time-consuming computations that can be easily segregated into smaller tasks, sometimes called embarrassingly parallel tasks. This includes Monte Carlo calculations, 3D rendering and Mandelbrot maps.
Within the Xgrid protocol, three types of messages can be passed to other computers on the same cluster: requests, notifications and replies. Requests must be responded to by the recipient with a reply, notifications do not require a reply, and replies are responses to sent messages. They are identified by their name, type (request/notification/reply) and contents. Each message is encapsulated in a BEEP message (BEEP MSG) and is acknowledged on receipt by an empty reply (RPY). Xgrid does not leverage BEEPs message/reply infrastructure. Any received message which requires a response merely generates an independent BEEP message containing the reply. The Xgrid messages are encoded as dictionaries of key/value pairs which are converted to XML before being sent across the BEEP network.
## Architecture
The architecture of the Xgrid system is designed around a job based system; the controller sends agents jobs, and the agents return the responses. The actual computation that the controller executes in an Xgrid system is known as a job. The job contains all the files required to complete the task successfully, such as the input parameters, data files, directories, executables and/or shell scripts, the files included in an Xgrid job must be able to be executed either simultaneously or asynchronously, or any benefits of running such a job on an Xgrid is lost. Once the job completes, the controller can be set to notify the client of the task's completion or failure, for example by email. The client can leave the network while the tasks are running. It can also monitor the job status on demand by querying the controller, although it cannot track the ongoing progress of individual tasks.
The controller is central to the correct function of an Xgrid, as this node is responsible for the distribution, supervision and coordination of tasks on agents. The program running on the controller can assign and reassign tasks to handle individual agent failures on demand. The number of tasks assigned to an agent depend on two factors: the number of agents on an Xgrid and the number of processors in each node. The number of agents on an Xgrid determines how the controller will assign tasks. The tasks may be assigned simultaneously for a large number of agents, or queued for a small number of agents. When a node with more than one processor is detected on an Xgrid, the controller may assign one task per processor; this only occurs if the number of agents on the network is lower than the number of tasks the controller has to complete.
Xgrid is layered upon the Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP), an IETF standard comparable to HTTP, but with a focus on two-way multiplexed communication, such as that found in peer-to-peer networks. BEEP, in turn, uses XML to define profiles for communicating between multiple agents over a single network or internet connection.
Xgrid agent software was available for Unix and Linux systems.
## Interface
While it is possible to access Xgrid from the command line, the Xgrid graphical user interface, a program bundled with Mac OS X Server and, as of March 2009, available online, is a much more efficient way of administering an Xgrid system. Originally, the Xgrid agent was included in all Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger installations but the GUI was reserved for users of Mac OS X Server. This decision limited the efforts of the computer community to embrace the platform. Eventually, Apple released the Mac OS X Server Administration Tools to the public, which included the Xgrid administration application bundled with Mac OS X Server.
Despite the lack of a graphical controller interface in the standard (non-server) Mac OS X distribution, it is possible to set up an Xgrid controller via the command line tools `xgridctl` and `xgrid`. Once the Xgrid controller daemon is running, administration of the grid with Apple's Xgrid Admin tool is possible. Some applications, such as VisualHub, provided Xgrid controller capability through their user interfaces.
## See also
- Condor High-Throughput Computing System |
25,887,660 | ROH World Television Championship | 1,173,659,866 | Championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor | [
"2010 in professional wrestling",
"Ring of Honor championships",
"Television wrestling championships"
]
| The ROH World Television Championship is a professional wrestling world television championship in the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. With the introduction of the ROH World Television Championship, the television type championship returned to national exposure. The current champion is Samoa Joe, who is in his first reign.
## History
On January 20, 2010, the creation of the ROH World Television Championship was announced via ROH's official website. An eight-man single elimination tournament was then planned to determine the inaugural champion. The tournament was to start on February 4 and conclude on February 6 at The Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the tapings of ROH's television program Ring of Honor Wrestling. Regarding the new championship addition, ROH President Cary Silkin said: "We've been talking about adding a secondary championship for some time. Not only will this give the athletes of Ring of Honor another tremendous goal to work towards, it will also give our great partner, HDNet, a championship that is sure to be defended on the television program. We’re happy to publicly give thanks to HDNet for giving us the chance to add this title to the television show."
It is ROH's second secondary singles championship in their history. The first secondary singles championship, the ROH Pure Championship, was initially used from February 14, 2004, until it was unified with the ROH World Championship on August 12, 2006. The ROH Pure Championship would ultimately return as a secondary singles championship in January 2020. After the ROH World Television Championship announcement, wrestling columnist James Caldwell gave his comments: "I like the idea. It gives mid-card wrestlers on ROH's roster something to fight for in the context of trying to win a wrestling match to "move up the company ladder." Caldwell further remarked that "ROH bringing back the TV Title to national TV is consistent with ROH's current marketing under Jim Cornette to "re-capture an old-school flavor" to their product."
After the Ring of Honor Wrestling show was canceled in March 2011, the title became inactive. Although Daniels stopped defending it, he still carried the belt with him as part of his villainous character. With the sale of ROH to the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and a new television show scheduled to air in September, ROH reinstated the title for June's Best in The World event.
## Inaugural championship tournament (2010)
The inaugural championship tournament was scheduled to span over a two-day weekend, starting on February 5, 2010, and ending on February 6 at events recorded for later broadcast on Ring of Honor Wrestling. However, due to severe weather conditions in the Philadelphia area, the second day of taping was canceled. It was not until almost a month later, on March 5, that ROH held the second recorded event, which closed out the tournament. The first four seeds of eight in the tournament were announced on January 22, 2010: Rhett Titus (8), El Generico (7), Eddie Edwards (6), and Delirious (5). The other four seeds were announced on January 26, 2010: Kevin Steen (1), Kenny King (2), Colt Cabana (3), and Davey Richards (4). The first round was determined at the first event on February 5, with Steen, King, Richards, and Edwards all advancing to round two. On March 5, Edwards and Richards both advanced to the final, where Edwards defeat Richards to be crowned the first ROH World Television Champion. The matches were scheduled to span over six episodes of Ring of Honor Wrestling. The first match from round one that aired pitted Steen against Titus, which Steen won, on the March 8 episode. On the same episode, King versus El Generico was featured, with King advancing. Cabana versus Edwards was the third match from round one to air, when it was broadcast on the March 15 episode. Richards defeated Delirious in the final match from round one, which aired later in the same episode. The first match from round two, Steen versus Edwards, was featured on the April 12 episode, in which Edwards advanced to the final. On the April 19 episode, Richards defeated King to advance to the final. On the April 26 episode, Edwards defeated Richards in the final of the tournament to become the first ROH World Television Champion.
Tournament Bracket
## Belt designs
The first championship belt design was introduced on March 5, 2010, when it was given to the newly crowned inaugural champion Eddie Edwards. The physical championship belt was designed by All Star Championship Belts d/b/a ASCB, LLC. The title's base was a black leather strap that was covered with four small silver plates. The center of the title had one large silver plate. All plates had an inner blue covering. The two small outer plates had a caricature of the earth and a satellite in orbit. The middle plates had figures resembling a cameraman filming a television production. Underneath each figure were the ROH logo and the words "Ring of Honor Wrestling". The central plate had the engravings of the ROH logo as well as the statement "World Television Wrestling Champion" hovering above the backdrop of a city, with a television lying on top of a globe with an overhead shot of a wrestling ring between them in front of the skyline.
In November 2012, the design was changed during the reign of Adam Cole. The new design seemed to be based on the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
Between 2014 and 2015, during Jay Lethal's second record-setting reign, the belt design was modified to emphasize the "ROH Champion" portion of the title. Lethal claimed the Television championship was more prestigious than the ROH World Championship since he was the champion.
In January 1, 2018, in addition to other ROH championship belts, the ROH World Television Championship received a new design.
On June 22, 2023, a new and fourth design of the championship belt was presented to champion Samoa Joe on Ring of Honor Wrestling.
## Reigns
As of September , 2023, there have been 30 reigns between 25 champions. Eddie Edwards was the inaugural champion. Jay Lethal's second reign is the longest at 567 days, while Will Ospreay's reign is the shortest at two days. Lethal also has the longest combined reign at 798 days. Minoru Suzuki is the oldest champion, winning the title at the age of 53, while Adam Cole is the youngest when he won the title at 22 years.
Samoa Joe is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Minoru Suzuki on April 13, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana on AEW Dynamite. |
20,132,567 | Peter Isaacson | 1,173,198,284 | Australian pilot and publisher | [
"1920 births",
"2017 deaths",
"Australian World War II pilots",
"Australian newspaper publishers (people)",
"British emigrants to Australia",
"Members of the Order of Australia",
"Military personnel from London",
"People educated at Brighton Grammar School",
"Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal",
"Royal Australian Air Force officers",
"Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II"
]
| Peter Stuart Isaacson, AM, DFC, AFC, DFM (31 July 1920 – 7 April 2017) was an Australian publisher and decorated military pilot. He was the owner of Peter Isaacson Publications, publisher of various trade journals and suburban newspapers including the Southern Cross and the Sunday Observer in Melbourne. During World War II, he served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a pilot with RAF Bomber Command and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Cross and the Distinguished Flying Medal.
Isaacson grew up in Melbourne and started working for a newspaper when he was sixteen. He joined the RAAF in 1940. Following his stint in Bomber Command, he became well known in Australia for his tours in the Avro Lancaster Q-for-Queenie to promote the sale of war loans and, in particular, for flying his plane under the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1943. He transferred to the RAAF Reserve after the war, retiring as a wing commander in 1969. From 1956 he served as a Trustee, Chairman, and finally Life Governor of the Victorian Shrine of Remembrance. In 1991 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his publishing and community work.
## Early life
Isaacson was born in London on 31 July 1920 to an Austrian mother, Caroline "Lynka" (née Jacobson) and an Australian father, Arnold Isaacson; his parents moved to Australia with him when he was six years old. Growing up in Melbourne, he was educated at Brighton Grammar School and started work at sixteen as a messenger boy on The Age, where his mother Caroline edited women's features. All of Isaacson's immediate family would eventually serve in World War II: his father, Arnold, a World War I veteran, joined the Volunteer Defence Corps, his mother became Public Relations Officer in the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), and his sister Joan became a photographer with the AWAS.
## World War II
On 8 December 1940, the nineteen-year-old Isaacson enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). After completing his training in Australia and Canada, he was posted to the United Kingdom and joined No. 460 Squadron RAAF at RAAF Breighton, Yorkshire, as a sergeant pilot. Operating Vickers Wellington medium bombers, No. 460 Squadron had been raised under the Article XV provisions of the Empire Air Training Scheme and was one of a number of nominally Australian formations taking part in RAF Bomber Command's strategic air campaign against Germany. The squadron commenced operations in March 1942 and participated in 1,000-bomber raids against Cologne, Essen and Bremen in May and June. It converted to Avro Lancaster heavy bombers in October. Isaacson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 6 November 1942 for "many successful night attacks on the enemy" with No. 460 Squadron. The following month his Lancaster was damaged by a Junkers Ju 88 night fighter after a raid on Munich.
Commissioned as a pilot officer, Isaacson was subsequently posted to No. 156 Squadron RAF of the Pathfinder Force, based at RAF Warboys, Huntingdonshire. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 30 March 1943 for his actions during a raid on Berlin. His citation, promulgated in the London Gazette, read:
> One night in March 1943, this officer was detailed for an attack on Berlin. Following the attack and while still over the target area, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and severely damaged. The mid-upper turret frame was twisted, the perspex and 2 engine cowlings blown off, the aileron controls damaged and the aircraft forced down to 4,000 feet. On the return journey the aircraft was driven off the route and held in a cone of searchlights for 15 minutes; during this time a further loss of height down to 900 feet occurred. In the face of this perilous situation Pilot Officer Issacson, showing coolness, resolution and skilful airmanship, succeeded in flying his aircraft back to base. This officer is an outstanding captain of aircraft who has a fine record of many successful operational sorties.
Isaacson completed forty-five sorties with Bomber Command, when the likelihood of surviving an operational tour of thirty missions was never more than 50% and, at times, much less. Promoted to acting flight lieutenant, he was chosen in May 1943 to captain Lancaster Q-for-Queenie on a landmark flight from England to Australia across the Pacific Ocean, and then from Melbourne to New Zealand and back, non-stop in both directions. He was awarded the Air Force Cross on 27 August 1943 for this mission, the citation noting that it was "the first occasion on which an aircraft has flown to Australia by this route and the direct flights between Melbourne and New Zealand are the first of their kind". The Lancaster was brought to Australia so that it could serve as a template for local production of the type, but this never took place and it was instead used for exhibition flights to encourage purchase of war bonds. On 22 October 1943 Isaacson flew Q-for-Queenie under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, flouting a 1931 regulation that prohibited such activity; the Lancaster remains the largest aircraft to have been flown under the bridge. Isaacson gave his crew no warning of what he was about to do and when asked later why he did it, replied "Because it was there". It was, however, reported at the time that he undertook the stunt to support the war loan effort for which he and his crew were actively fundraising.
Notwithstanding the publicity the escapade generated for war loans, Isaacson recalled that when he landed at Mascot afterwards:
> I was threatened with a court martial. Two authorities wanted to court martial me: Eastern Area in which the crime was committed and Southern Command to which I was attached at the time. I was told later there was a great fight among the bureaucrats of each of these commands as to which would court martial me. Apparently they could not agree on which should be the prosecutor and the idea either lapsed – or maybe is still being pursued by the successors to each of these commands!
In December 1943, following his promotional tour with his crew in Q-for-Queenie, he settled down to instructional work at an operational training unit before undertaking a further tour in the Lancaster commencing in March 1944.
## Post-war career
Isaacson stood as the Liberal candidate for Prahran in the November 1945 Victorian state election, but was defeated by Labor's Bill Quirk. His wartime commission was terminated on 21 February 1946 and he transferred to the RAAF Reserve. He was state commandant of the Victorian Squadron of the Air Training Corps from 1950, and commandant of No. 21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron from 1961, before retiring in 1969 with the rank of wing commander. He also served as an honorary aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II from 1963 to 1965.
After working as aviation correspondent for The Argus in Melbourne, Isaacson set up his first newspaper, the Advertiser, in 1947; he established Peter Isaacson Publications the same year. The Advertiser took over other community newspapers and became the Southern Cross, which Isaacson edited and published along with Sunday Observer and various business and industry magazines. In 1986 Peter Isaacson Publications took over the Asher Joel Media Group. Southern Cross was bought by APN News & Media in 1993 and Isaacson became APN's director, serving until 1998. He chaired TW Media from 1997 to 2005.
Isaacson married Anne McIntyre in Melbourne on 21 December 1950. The couple, who had known each other since their teens, had delayed their wedding during Anne's five-year struggle with polio and Isaacson carried his future bride to the registry office on the day. The marriage produced two sons. On 10 June 1991 Isaacson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia "for services to the print media and the community". He published As I Remember Them: Men and Women Who Shaped a Life, a collection of eulogies he had delivered for friends and colleagues, in 2012. In May of that year he was among a group of thirty-two veterans selected to attend the dedication of the RAF Bomber Command Memorial in London as part of the official Australian delegation. Isaacson was a Life Governor of the Victorian Shrine of Remembrance, having previously served as a Trustee from 1956 to 2000, and Chairman from 1983 to 2000. He and his wife lived in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak. Isaacson died on 7 April 2017 in Melbourne at the age of 96, following a short illness. He was survived by his sons; Anne had died the year before. |
48,675,695 | Alban Lafont | 1,171,121,592 | French footballer (born 1999) | [
"1999 births",
"21st-century Burkinabé people",
"ACF Fiorentina players",
"Black French sportspeople",
"Burkinabé men's footballers",
"Burkinabé people of French descent",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Italy",
"FC Nantes players",
"Footballers from Ouagadougou",
"France men's under-21 international footballers",
"France men's youth international footballers",
"French expatriate men's footballers",
"French expatriate sportspeople in Italy",
"French men's footballers",
"French sportspeople of Burkinabé descent",
"Ligue 1 players",
"Living people",
"Men's association football goalkeepers",
"Serie A players",
"Sportspeople of Burkinabé descent",
"Toulouse FC players"
]
| Alban Marc Lafont (born 23 January 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as goalkeeper for club Nantes. Born in Burkina Faso, he represents France at international level.
Having progressed through the academy of AS Lattoise, Lafont signed for Toulouse in 2014 where he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to play in Ligue 1 upon making his debut the following year. He went on to make over 100 appearances for the club across all competitions before joining Fiorentina in 2018. In 2019, he returned to France in a loan deal to Nantes; the deal was made permanent in 2021.
Lafont has also represented France at various youth levels, and featured for the nation at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
## Early life
Lafont was born in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to a French father and Burkinabe Dyula mother. His parents separated when he was nine years old and Lafont moved to France to live with his father in Herault. His mother remained in Burkina Faso, where she later became a Member of Parliament for the People's Movement for Progress in the Burkina Faso National Assembly. Lafont comes from a sporting family. His maternal grandfather played football for ten years and later served as president of Ouagadougou Shooting Star while his mother was a member of the national handball team. His father also played tennis.
## Club career
### Toulouse
Lafont started his career at amateur side AS Lattoise where he initially began playing as an attacking midfielder, before converting to a goalkeeper. He spent six years with Lattoise before signing with Ligue 1 side Toulouse in 2014.
#### 2015–16 season
Lafont spent little more than a year in the academy at Toulouse before club manager Dominique Arribagé handed him his Ligue 1 debut on 28 November 2015 against OGC Nice. Upon doing so, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in Ligue 1 at the age of 16 years and 310 days, surpassing the record previously held by Mickaël Landreau. Having replaced Ali Ahamada and Mauro Goicoechea as Toulouse's starting goalkeeper, Lafont kept clean sheets in his first two competitive fixtures before finally conceding in a 3–2 loss against Lorient on 5 December 2015. In January 2016, Lafont was named as the 34th best U-20 player in the world by Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport and featured as one of only two goalkeepers on the list alongside A.C. Milan's Gianluigi Donnarumma. Having been 10 points adrift of safety at the time of Lafont's introduction into the first team, Toulouse managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, thanks in part to the eight clean sheets he kept in his 24 appearances for the campaign. He was rewarded for his form on 30 June 2016 when he signed a new contract with Toulouse, extending his stay with the club until 2020.
#### 2016–17 season
Lafont retained the number one spot for Toulouse in the following season and started the campaign by keeping a clean sheet against Marseille on the opening weekend. On 22 October he was named as the man of the match for his performance in Toulouse's 0–0 draw with Angers, with his form in goal earning him his fourth clean sheet in only his tenth league appearance for the campaign. Lafont's previous three clean sheets had come against esteemed opposition in the form of Marseille, Saint-Étienne and defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain. Four days later, Lafont made his Coupe de la Ligue debut and kept another clean sheet in a 1–0 win over Ligue 2 side Auxerre. He then made his first ever appearance in the Coupe de France on 8 January 2017, starting in a 2–1 extra-time defeat to Marseille. The following month, he became the youngest goalkeeper in 30 years to reach 50 Ligue 1 appearances, achieving the milestone in a 0–0 draw with PSG. He ended the campaign with 38 appearances to his name across all competitions, and having kept 11 clean sheets, as Toulouse ended the Ligue 1 season in 13th position.
#### 2017–18 season
In February 2018, having continued to impress in goal for Toulouse, Lafont was named by the CIES Football Observatory as the world's second-most promising footballer under the age of 20. Gianluigi Donnarumma was the only player rated higher than him while countryman and Golden Boy winner Kylian Mbappé was ranked third. He made his 100th appearance for the club on 29 April 2018, starting in a 2–1 league defeat to Rennes. He kept 12 clean sheets for the season and featured in Toulouse's play-off victory over Ajaccio to help the club avoid relegation.
### Fiorentina
On 2 July 2018, Lafont signed a five-year deal with Italian side Fiorentina for a reported fee €7 million plus bonuses. His debut followed on 26 August when he started in a 6–1 win over ChievoVerona on the day of Fiorentina's 92nd anniversary. He ultimately made 38 appearances for the season but the campaign was one of indifference, with Lafont's impressive repertoire of saves matched by a string of high-profile errors.
### Nantes
On 29 June 2019, having lost his place to Bartłomiej Drągowski, Lafont returned to France where he joined Nantes on a two-season-long loan as a replacement for the departing Ciprian Tătărușanu. Nantes also secured an option to sign Lafont permanently for a €7 million transfer fee.
On 26 May 2021, Nantes made Lafont's deal a permanent one, triggering his €7 million option to buy clause.
## International career
Lafont has represented France at various youth levels. He made six appearances for the France U16 team and captained the side on three occasions. He then made his debut for France U17 on 20 October 2015 against Northern Ireland, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Lafont was, however, not selected for France's 2016 European Under-17 Championship squad after Toulouse lobbied for him to remain with the club for their last two games of the season to aid their relegation battle.
In September 2016, Lafont was named in the 20-man France U18 squad by manager Bernard Diomède for the 2016 Limoges Tournament. He was an ever-present as France ended the tournament on top of the standings having won 2 out of their 3 matches and drawn the other. He was promoted to the U20 side the following year and made his debut against England on 25 March. In May the same year, he was named in the France squad for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. Throughout the tournament, he alternated with Paul Bernardoni as France's starting 'keeper before the nation was eliminated by Italy in the Round of 16.
On 19 September 2022, Lafont received his first France national team call-up for two UEFA Nations League matches, replacing the injured Hugo Lloris.
## Personal life
In January 2016, relatives of Lafont were among the 30 people killed in the Ouagadougou attacks when a group of armed gunmen opened fire in a Cappuccino restaurant.
On 25 September 2016, Lafont became the youngest ever footballer to be invited as a guest on French football programme Téléfoot.
## Career statistics
### Club
## Honours
Nantes
- Coupe de France: 2021–22 |
41,261,634 | Conrad I of Salzburg | 1,065,240,876 | 12th-century archbishop of Salzburg | [
"1070s births",
"1147 deaths",
"11th-century German nobility",
"12th-century German Roman Catholic bishops",
"Roman Catholic archbishops of Salzburg"
]
| Conrad I [of Abenberg] (German: Konrad von Abenberg, c. 1075 – 9 April 1147) was Archbishop of Salzburg, Austria, in the first half of the 12th century.
Born into the Abenberg-Frensdorf nobility, Conrad was raised for a clerical career at the court of Emperor Henry IV, where he was a member of the court chapel. He became a canon in Hildesheim. After escorting Emperor Henry V in July 1110, Conrad sided with the Pope in the Investiture Controversy, which eventually led to his exile for several years. He returned to Salzburg in 1121 and played an important role in the major political events of the day, including the election of Lothair of Supplinburg as King of Germany in 1125 and the papal schism of 1130 in which he played a role in the recognition of Pope Innocent II by the king.
During the absence of Lothair of Supplinburg in Italy, Conrad was ordained as the archbishop of Salzburg on 4 June 1133. As a prince-bishop, he was influential in German politics and was an extremely energetic reformer who is often called "the second founder of the Church of Salzburg." He presided over an assembly that supervised the affairs of the religious houses, maintained strong control over tithes, and was responsible for building Salzburg Cathedral and the cemetery in 1140. Conrad also supervised the construction of numerous other monasteries and the castles of Hohensalzburg, Werfen, and Friesach.
## Early life and work
Conrad of Abenberg came from the family of the Counts of Abenberg-Frensdorf, and had many distinguished relatives in Germany. He was born around 1075, son of Count Wolfram I von Abenberg. His mother was probably the daughter of Heinrich I, viscount of Regensburg. Conrad had two older brothers, Otto and Wolfram. He was raised for a clerical career at the court of the Emperor Henry IV, where he was a member of the court chapel. He became a canon in Hildesheim.
## Archbishop of Salzburg
### Military and political endeavors
Conrad seems to have been involved when Henry V revolted against his father in 1105. This would explain his election as Archbishop of Salzburg at the Diet of Mainz on 7 January 1106. At that time the anti-Archbishop Berthold von Moosburg was installed in Salzburg. Conrad came to Salzburg accompanied by his brothers, the counts Otto and Wolfram, with an escort of 1,000 soldiers. Some of these soldiers may well have been servitors, servile rather than free vassals. With this display of force, he was able to force Berthold to abdicate. Pope Paschal II consecrated him as bishop on 21 October 1106 and gave him the pallium.
In July 1110, Conrad accompanied Emperor Henry V to Italy. Conrad brought a strong military escort on this visit. However, Conrad sided with the Pope in the Investiture Controversy. Due to further conflicts with imperial officials, Conrad had to flee in 1112 and was not able to return to Salzburg until 1121. While in exile, he lived in Tuscany, Admont in Styria, and Saxony.
Conrad played an important role in the major political events of the day, including the election of Lothair of Supplinburg as King of Germany in 1125, whom he supported during the fight against the Hohenstaufen usurpation. During the papal schism of 1130 he played a role in the recognition of Pope Innocent II by the king. After this, tensions rose between Conrad and Lothair due to diverging views on church politics. Lothair visited Italy in 1132-33, and was crowned emperor by Innocent II on 4 June 1133. In his absence, Conrad was ordained an archbishop. This directly infringed on the emperor's right, recently confirmed by the Pope, to invest a bishop with his regalia before he was ordained. It earned a stern rebuke from Lothair.
When Lothair died, Conrad initially resisted the election of the Hohenstaufen Conrad III and supported Henry X, Duke of Bavaria instead. Conrad later came round to support the king.
### Reform and administration
On his return from exile in 1121 or 1122, Conrad found his diocese "very poor and greatly devastated." Conrad worked with notables such as Hartmann von Brixen and Gerhoh von Reichersberg to reform the clergy in his archdiocese. In particular, he undertook a major reform of the cathedral clergy. Conrad presided over an assembly that supervised the affairs of the religious houses, including the cathedral, and used the canons to help administer his possessions. He maintained strong control over tithes, allocating them between the monasteries and parish priests to avoid disputes over their distribution. During his administration, clerics of servile origin steadily gained in status, now called ministerialis rather than servitor.
Between 1125 and 1130, he began minting coins at Friesach, which helped fund his projects. This served to revolutionise finance. In turn, he inspired the King of Hungary, Andrew II, to begin his own minting centres.
Conrad rebuilt and expanded Salzburg Cathedral and built the cathedral chapter house, and in 1140 he created the cathedral cemetery. He built hospitals for the poor of the city, and commenced construction of St. Peter's monastery where his former residence stood, moving to a new archbishop's residence nearer the cathedral. Conrad founded several monasteries and reformed others, a total of 17 in which the rule of the Augustinian Canons Regular prevailed. These included St. Zeno, Gurk, Reichersberg, Berchtesgaden, Baumburg, Gars am Inn, Au am Inn, Ranshofen, Höglwörth, Herrenchiemsee, Seckau and Suben. The archbishop supported the Benedictines.
During his exile, Duke Henry III of Eppenstein, brother of Ulrich I, patriarch of Aquileia (r. 1086–1121), had seized property belonging to the Salzburg diocese in Friuli and Carinthia. Conrad excommunicated him and sent a force of 1,000 soldiers to Carinthia, forcing the duke to return the properties. Later, Conrad reached an agreement of "peace and friendship" (pax et amicitia) with the Patriarch Pellegrino I of Aquileia (r. 1130–1161) whereby he agreed to pay tithes to Aquileia for those properties which the archdiocese held in the patriarchate. Conrad's example was followed by pledges to pay their tithes from the others present when the agreement was reached.
Conrad completed construction of the castles of Hohensalzburg, Werfen, and Friesach, which Archbishop Gebhard had started to build in 1077. In Styria, he reformed the military organization and administration of church properties, and built strong fortresses. For defense against Hungary, he built strongholds at Leibnitz (Seggau) and Pettau (Ptuj), and Brestanica castle. He also expanded the Burg Deutschlandsberg castle at the center of the Salzburg possessions in western Styria. In 1131, he made peace with King Béla II of Hungary, which was followed by a long period of stability in the border region.
Conrad died on 9 April 1147 in Lungau, Salzburg. An anonymous biography, known as the Vita Chuonradi archiepiscopi Salisburgensis, was composed in the 1170s. It portrays Conrad as a man of peace. His role in the royal elections of 1125 and 1138 place him among the leading German Prince-bishops in the High Middle Ages. He earned the title of "second founder of the Salzburg church." |
3,531,464 | Team Homer | 1,172,699,361 | null | [
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| "Team Homer" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 7, 1996. In the episode, Homer starts a bowling team with Moe, Apu, and Otto. When Mr. Burns discovers the team was funded with his money, he insists on joining, but the team fears he will cost them the league championship. In the subplot, Bart's "Down with homework" T-shirt incites a school riot, so Principal Skinner implements a uniform dress code.
The episode was written by Mike Scully and directed by Mark Kirkland. Scully came up with the idea for it when he went bowling one day. The episode features cultural references to Mad magazine and the film Caddyshack.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 9.4, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
## Plot
Homer and his teammates — Moe, Apu and Otto — are unable to afford the \$500 fee to join a bowling league. Homer asks his boss to sponsor the team while he is anesthetized, so Mr. Burns unwittingly signs a check. The newly named Pin Pals enter a bowling competition. They beat three teams and move to second place in their league. After recovering from his ether-induced stupor, Burns discovers he wrote a check to Homer and insists on joining the Pin Pals, replacing Otto. Homer and the team fear they will lose the championship, since Burns can barely bowl due to his frail physique.
Burns gives the Pin Pals new bowling shirts before the championship game. Two pins away from victory, Burns takes his turn on the lane. When Otto tips over a claw arcade machine by accident, the vibrations knock down the pins and the Pin Pals win. As the team celebrates, Burns takes the trophy and keeps it for himself. Encouraged by his teammates, Homer attempts to break into Burns' mansion to recover the trophy; this ends disastrously when Burns releases the hounds and Homer is severely mauled.
At school, Bart's Mad iron-on "Down with homework" T-shirt incites a student riot, so in order to prevent another similar incident, Principal Skinner forces students to wear uniforms. Before that, however, Skinner explains to Bart that those t-shirts also resulted in his capture by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War where, in his prisoner-of-war camp, he was forced to subsist on a fish and vegetable stew and that he came close to madness trying to find its recipe at home. The new dress code demoralizes the students until a rainstorm soaks through the uniforms, causing their grey dye to run and separate into vivid tie-dye color patterns that revive the students' spirits and disregard of Skinner's authority.
## Production
The episode was written by Mike Scully. He was bowling "a lot" at the time, and one day when he was bowling, he came up with the idea for "Team Homer". The idea for the school plot came later in production when the school that Scully's children went to was thinking of introducing school uniforms. Both Scully and his children were against it so he decided to put it in the episode.
Former show runner of The Simpsons David Mirkin thought the episode was "really fun" because there were "lots of characters" in it and it featured "lots of terrific animation". Mirkin liked that viewers could see the different characters "team up" and how they pair off. "It's kind of cool to see them hang around like this. Particularly Homer's group which has some nice emotion and they really comes together as a group", Mirkin commented.
The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland. When he first read the script, he thought the challenge of the episode was that the bowling theme had already been covered in the season one episode "Life on the Fast Lane". Since it had been done before, Kirkland felt pressure to make the bowling alley look "really good". Kirkland and his team of The Simpsons animators at Film Roman all went over to a local bowling alley and had lunch. They inspected the whole alley for inspiration and drew sketches. "Life on the Fast Lane" deals with Marge becoming infatuated with Jacques, a French bowling instructor. Mirkin points out that Jacques makes a brief appearance in this episode, but without a speaking role. Also appearing with non-speaking roles are Mindy Simmons, Lurleen Lumpkin, and Princess Kashmir, the three women who almost broke up Marge and Homer's marriage.
Mirkin remembered the episode "very fondly" because when it was finished, the staff received customized The Simpsons bowling balls, bowling bags, and Pin Pal shirts as gifts. Scully said the bowling balls were "really cool" because they were yellow and had The Simpsons logo on them.
Doris Grau, script supervisor for the show and voice of Lunchlady Doris, died on December 30, 1995, from respiratory failure at a hospital in Los Angeles, California. "Team Homer" was one of the last episodes to feature her voice, and included a dedication to her.
In one scene, Homer tells Marge: "We were so close to winning the championship. Now, thanks to Burns, it's never going to happen. And I spent so much time building that trophy case." The scene then cuts to the trophy case with an Academy Award in it that Homer has stolen. In the original Fox broadcast, the name in the inscription on the Academy Award was Haing S. Ngor. In American syndication and the season seven DVD, the name was changed to Don Ameche (who had won for Cocoon). Ngor, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1984 film The Killing Fields, was murdered on February 25, 1996, between the original and the syndicated broadcast. Producers were concerned the syndicated episode would imply Homer had murdered Ngor to steal the statue.
## Cultural references
Bart and Milhouse buy an issue of Mad magazine. Bart also puts a Mad iron-on reading "Down with Homework" on one of his T-shirts, which causes controversy at school. Milhouse is shocked to see the new school uniforms, and his jaw drops, a "Woody Allen-esque" type of joke. The final bowling scene is similar to the final golfing scene in the 1980 film Caddyshack. Homer references the song "Mr. Roboto" by Styx. Moe's unsuccessful attempt to sideline Mr. Burns by hitting his leg with a crowbar is done in a similar manner to Shane Stant's attempt in 1994 to sideline figure skater Nancy Kerrigan by physical assault. "Spanish Flea" plays while Martin and Lisa model the new uniforms. Mr. Burns' ether-induced hallucinations cause him to perceive Homer as Poppin' Fresh and Hans Moleman as "that delightful TV leprechaun."
## Reception
In its original broadcast, "Team Homer" finished 58th in the ratings for the week of January 1–7, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 9.4. The episode was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Married... with Children.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics.
It was named the fifth best episode of the show by MSNBC. They praised how the episode utilized Burns's physical weaknesses for laughs, and Homer's line; "I guess some people never change. Or, they quickly change and then quickly change back."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said that to his surprise, "the dress code plot works the best". He liked the mockery of Mad magazine and the "overemphasis on the way it disrupts the educational process". Jacobson thought the bowling plot had plenty of "nice moments" too, and "these add up to a solid show".
Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Homer ends a phone conversation with the "highly quotable" line, "I gotta go. My damn wiener kids are listening." Malkowski concluded her review by giving the episode a grade of A−. Mirkin described the episode as "excellent", and praised Scully's "great" script.
The episode received criticism from the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, who said that "Team Homer" is one of their least favorite episodes. They thought the school uniform plot was "a lot more satisfying than the bowling story". They added that the scene where Martin and Lisa model the new uniforms is the highlight of the episode. |
2,059,521 | Trash of the Titans | 1,169,583,694 | null | [
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"Linda McCartney",
"Television controversies in the United Kingdom",
"Television episodes about elections",
"Television episodes about the environment",
"The Simpsons (season 9) episodes",
"U2"
]
| "Trash of the Titans" is the twenty-second episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The 200th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 26, 1998. The episode, which was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and directed by Jim Reardon, sees Homer Simpson run for the job of Springfield's Sanitation Commissioner. Steve Martin guest stars as Ray Patterson, the incumbent commissioner, while U2 play themselves after requesting an appearance on the show.
Inspired by a friend's experience in politics, Maxtone-Graham decided to have Homer run for Sanitation Commissioner, although one draft of the episode saw him running for mayor. The staff also wanted the episode to be about trash, and created the concept of "Love Day" as a means of generating waste. The episode's resolution was discussed extensively by the staff, with one proposed idea being that Springfield would be raised up and the excess rubbish swept underneath it. The episode also features a parody of the song "The Candy Man" and an incident involving comedian Redd Foxx.
"Trash of the Titans" won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less), something the staff believe was due to the environmental message at the end. Over 10 years after the original broadcast, an airing of the episode in the United Kingdom courted controversy when it was aired on Channel 4 in April 2008 before the 9pm watershed, with the word "wankers" left unedited.
The episode is dedicated to the memory of Linda McCartney, who appeared alongside her husband Paul in the episode "Lisa the Vegetarian."
## Plot
Local department store Costington's launches a new August holiday called Love Day intended to boost summer sales. The Simpsons celebrate it, but the vast amount of packaging and unwanted gifts it produces causes the garbage to build up. When Homer Simpson overloads the trash and is forced to take it out, he fails to make it to the curb in time. As the garbage men drive away without collecting his trash, Homer angrily shouts insults at them, causing a fight that leads to the family's garbage service being cut off. Garbage gradually piles up on their front lawn and despite Marge's pleas, Homer refuses to apologize to the garbage men.
Homer awakens one morning to find the pile of trash gone and believes he has beaten City Hall, only to learn that Marge wrote a letter of apology to the Springfield Sanitation Commissioner Ray Patterson, forging Homer's signature. Outraged by this, Homer goes to see Patterson, demanding the letter be returned. Patterson does so and tries to be civil with Homer, but Homer insists he will fight the department and decides to run for Commissioner.
Homer's campaign starts badly with him being beaten up after interrupting U2's PopMart Tour concert but picks up when bartender Moe suggests that Homer use his off-hand comment of "Can't someone else do it?" as a slogan. Homer spreads his message to the town and promises expensive services such as round-the-clock garbage service and sanitation workers doing all possible household cleaning, as well as providing garbage men stylish new uniforms. After a town hall debate during which Homer belittles Patterson to the amusement of the assembled townspeople, Homer wins the election by a landslide victory. Whilst clearing out his office, Patterson warns Homer that he will "crash and burn". After being sworn in, he shows his plans by singing a parody of "The Candy Man" entitled "The Garbage Man."
However, fulfilling these promises proves costly and Mayor Quimby reprimands Homer for spending the department's annual budget in only a month. Homer gets cities all over the United States to pay him to store their excess garbage in an abandoned mine shaft on the outskirts of Springfield. Despite the budget crisis having ended and the workers receiving their salaries as promised, the garbage builds up underground and eventually erupts, pouring trash all over the town. At a town hall meeting, Homer is removed from office and ordered to be horsewhipped, and replaced with Ray Patterson, who declines reinstatement and relishes in the disastrous consequences of the town's decision to elect Homer over him. With no other options left, Quimby moves the entire town five miles down the road. However, Lisa worries that such a drastic move will make no difference if the same lackadaisical attitude towards waste management continues. Homer nonchalantly throws away a bag of potato chips, and it lands next to a Native American, who sheds a tear before being warned by a fellow tribe member not to turn around. He does so anyway, and screams out loud on seeing Springfield's former site, which is now swamped with garbage for miles around.
During the credits, U2 is flying to their next stop on the tour when bassist Adam Clayton shows off his Springfield souvenir spoon to Bono and The Edge. Clayton hands Bono the spoon, who throws it behind them. The spoon hits Mr. Burns on the head, who proceeds to call the band "Wankers".
## Production
The production team wanted the episode to be about trash, and show runner Mike Scully pitched the idea that Homer should run for office. Writer Ian Maxtone-Graham had a friend who had made their way in Chicago politics, through the Sanitation Commission, and so he decided that Homer should run for Sanitation Commissioner. They then spent a lot of time trying to get to the point that Homer would have an "over-filled trash can," and through its extensive use of packaging, the concept of Love Day was formed. Originally the episode saw Homer running for mayor, but this idea was abandoned. The ending was talked about for a while, with the original idea being that the whole town would be raised up and the rubbish be swept underneath. The ending was not intended to carry an environmental message, but it played well and is what the staff believe won the episode an Emmy. In a July 28, 1997 interview with USA Today, Scully remarked that it was chosen to be the 200th episode of the series since, "I thought it had all the elements of what The Simpsons does best: corporate satire, political satire, a production number, a great story with Homer, and the family is involved. It seemed to represent a lot of what we do, so I decided to hold it until May." In this interview, Scully hinted that the episode would feature a "big-name movie star and a big-name rock band", adding that these guest stars couldn't be announced at this stage because it hadn't been recorded yet.
U2 contacted the show about doing a guest spot, rather than the other way around. The writers immediately wrote them one, in case they changed their minds. They recorded their lines for the episode in October 1997. The band's head of Principal Management Paul McGuinness and Susie Smith, an employee of Principal Management, also make brief appearances in the episode. U2's drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. appears in the episode, although he has no dialogue. Steve Martin guest stars as Ray Patterson.
The episode marked the first appearance of Costington's department store, whose slogan is "Over a Century Without a Slogan." It took "a lot of wasted man-hours" to come up with both the name and slogan.
## Cultural references
Love Day is a reference to Valentine’s Day being created by greeting card companies. The episode’s title references the 1981 film Clash of the Titans. “The Garbage Man” song is a parody of “The Candy Man” from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. During “The Garbage Man”, Oscar the Grouch appears. The name Sir Loves-a-Lot is a reference to Sir Lancelot.
The scene where Ray Patterson is reinstated (to which he enters and exits to the Sanford and Son theme song) was a reference to a moment that occurred during a stand-up show of comedian Redd Foxx (who starred on Sanford and Son). During a show in Las Vegas, Redd Foxx came on stage to the Sanford and Son theme song, only to find that there was only a handful of people in the audience. Foxx angrily stated that he wasn't going to perform with such a small audience and walked off stage. The house orchestra, puzzled by Foxx's behavior, simply played him off with the Sanford and Son theme song again. The same incident was the basis for a joke in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", where Moe Szyslak walks onto the stage and, without breaking stride, walks off.
## Reception
In its original broadcast, "Trash of the Titans" finished 16th in ratings for the week of April 20–26, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating King of the Hill.
This episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998. Jim Reardon won the Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production".
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said: "Although not a great episode, this one has a series of high points that keep you amused until the end." In a 2006 article in USA Today, "Trash of the Titans" was highlighted as one of the six best episodes of The Simpsons season nine, along with "The Joy of Sect", "The Last Temptation of Krust", "The Cartridge Family", "Dumbbell Indemnity", and "Das Bus."
During Toronto City Council deliberations over the proposal to turn the abandoned Adams Mine in Northern Ontario into a massive dump site for Toronto's garbage, then-councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow surprised their council colleagues by playing "Trash of the Titans." "It was absolutely stunning," Layton later told The Globe and Mail. "It was so accurate to what was going on." Layton, who would later become leader of Canada's New Democratic Party and Leader of the Official Opposition, called The Simpsons "the single most important influence on progressive social commentary in the world."
In 2016, the episode received a new wave of commentary from observers of the US presidential election, who compared Homer's campaign to that of Donald Trump. Stephen Sander wrote, "Homer makes crazy promises, and panders to the lowest common denominator in the citizens of Springfield, telling everyone what they want to hear in order to win. And he does win."
### Controversy
On April 15, 2008, "Trash of the Titans" was broadcast on Channel 4 at 6pm, with both mentions of the word "wankers" broadcast. Although the word has a less offensive meaning in American English compared to British English, its use by U2 suggested the British English meaning was intended. Ofcom, which deals with television complaints in the United Kingdom, received 31 complaints from viewers who felt that the episode should not have been shown before the 9pm watershed. Channel 4 said that the error was caused by a member of the compliance staff, who had incorrectly certified the program as suitable to be shown from 6pm. The error was not corrected by the acquisitions department. Ofcom said that while they were "concerned," it would not look into the incident any further because it was "an isolated incident."
## Availability
On December 19, 2006, the DVD boxset for season nine was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada. “Trash of the Titans” features an optional audio commentary track with Matt Groening, Mike Scully, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Ian Maxtone-Graham, and Yeardley Smith. The boxset also includes deleted scenes as well as a video from the recording with U2, with commentary by Dan Castellaneta and Yeardley Smith.
## See also
- Hallmark holiday
- Waste management
- Politics in “The Simpsons” |
39,711,940 | New York Court of Appeals Building | 1,173,893,133 | Offices of New York state's highest court in Albany | [
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| The New York Court of Appeals Building, officially referred to as Court of Appeals Hall, is located at the corner of Eagle and Pine streets in central Albany, New York, United States. It is a stone Greek Revival building built in 1842 from a design by Henry Rector. In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of seven buildings housing a state's highest court currently so recognized. Seven years later it was included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed on the Register.
When built it was known as the State Hall, housing not the court (which sat in the state capitol) but its clerks. In addition to them, it was the offices of several other officials of the state's executive branch. Four years after its completion, a new state constitution was adopted, uniting two separate court hierarchies into one with the Court of Appeals as the highest court in the state.
Rector's design incorporates all three classical orders in the building's rotunda and uses stone arches to support the ceilings in an early attempt at fireproofing. It is one of only two extant buildings known to have been designed by him. Other architects were involved in later work on the building. Henry Hobson Richardson designed the courtroom, originally located in the nearby state capitol in the 1880s and described by a visiting Lord Coleridge as "the finest ... in the world".
Lewis Pilcher oversaw a rear addition in the early 20th century when the courtroom was moved as it had outgrown its traditional space in the capitol, taking Richardson's courtroom along with it except for the ceiling. The building has been through two more renovations since. In the late 1950s it was refaced and the original foundation replaced. An early 21st-century project removed the cupola, added small wings on both sides and completely overhauled the building's internal infrastructure as well as restoring much of the original interior decoration.
## Building
The courthouse occupies half of the block between Columbia, Eagle, Lodge and Pine streets. The building itself takes up the southwestern quadrant; its parking lot, the southeast. The land slopes gently to the east, reflecting the proximity of the Hudson River one-half mile (800 m) in that direction.
In the surrounding neighborhood are many similarly large buildings, most of them governmental or institutional and contributing properties to their historic districts. On the northern half of the block is the Albany County courthouse, an early 20th-century neoclassical building architecturally sympathetic to the Court of Appeals building. South, across Pine, is Albany's City Hall, a stone Romanesque Revival building by Henry Hobson Richardson from the 1880s, also listed on the Register individually. Just to its south, visible from the Court of Appeals building through Corning Park behind City Hall, is St. Peter's Episcopal Church, a French Gothic-style edifice by Richard Upjohn and his son. It is a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as well as a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, which borders the Lafayette Park Historic District to the east at this point.
Across Eagle Street is the two-acre (0.81 ha) open space of Academy Park. Across it, slightly to the northwest, straddling the boundary between it and the larger Lafayette Park beyond, is the Old Albany Academy Building, an 1815 stone Federal-style work by Philip Hooker that now serves as administrative offices of the City School District of Albany. Its modest scale is in contrast to the monumental New York State Education Department Building, visible across Lafayette Park. Above it the Alfred E. Smith Building's 34 stories tower over the New York State Capitol, also an NHL, across Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) to the west. The taller towers of the modernist Empire State Plaza are to the southeast. East of the Court of Appeals building, across Lodge Street, is St. Mary's Church, home to the city's oldest Roman Catholic congregation and another listed property that contributes to the Downtown Albany Historic District.
### Exterior
The building itself is a three-story, 11-by-7-bay structure with a wing on the north, two small wings on the east and a larger addition from the exposed basement on that side. It is faced with load-bearing marble blocks, laid as thick as five feet (1.5 m) at the basement level, on a concrete foundation. At the top is a flat roof with a copper-sheathed dome in the center.
In the middle of the east (front) facade is a five-bay projecting portico. Six round fluted Ionic columns support a pediment with plain entablature. On the building itself 12 square smooth Doric pilasters divide the bays. Above the main entrance is a relief of the state seal. Both stories are set with narrow nine-over-nine double-hung sash windows.
Above the columns and pilasters is a plain frieze divided by a small molded cornice. On the portico, the upper portion of the frieze has the legend "Court of Appeals State of New York" engraved in it. Above it is another, broader, overhanging cornice, also found on the pediment. The third story has the same nine-over-nine double-hung sash. Above it is a smaller cornice and parapet. In the middle of the roof is the dome, clad in stainless steel, with an oculus and gold leaf finial at the top.
### Interior
Inside the ceilings are supported by groin-vaulted stone arches rather than timber framing. Floors and stairs are laid in marble flagstone. The first floor has a library and lounge for attorneys, and the John Jay Room, for public events and overflow viewing of oral arguments via closed-circuit television. It and other public areas of the first floor have teak paneling and molding.
All seven judges' chambers are on the second floor, along with their library and the conference room where they meet to cast votes on cases after hearing arguments. The chambers are finished in wooden paneling. A modern Art Deco chandelier lights the conference room. The third floor has some additional library space along with the offices of court and individual judges' clerks.
Under the dome, the rotunda's decorative work uses all three classical orders. Plain Doric columns and capitals on the first floor are topped by carved Ionic columns on the second story. They support ornate Corinthian columns at the top. In the ceiling is The Romance of the Skies, a 1,000-square-foot (93 m<sup>2</sup>) painting depicting the three seasons when the court is in session.
In the rear wing is the courtroom, its interior decorated in ornately hand-carved brown oak, similar to its furniture. Oil portraits of past Court of Appeals judges line the walls up to the 22-foot (6.7 m) carved plaster ceiling. A fireplace of bronze, marble and Mexican onyx is in one wall. The floor has a red carpet decorated with geometric patterns.
## History
Originally, the building housed various state officials rather than the court. Insufficient space at the capitol led to the court's takeover of the building in the 1910s, the first of three major renovations in a century.
### 1842–1917: State Hall
Created in 1777 during the Revolution, the state of New York did not assume full governmental responsibilities for its territory until the end of the war and independence. After several other cities had held the title, Albany, the longtime colonial capital, was formally established as the state capital in the 1790s. The new state government did not need many buildings. Both houses of the state legislature met in Albany's City Hall until the first state capitol was built in 1819; governors rented residences in the city; and the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol. For those officials who needed a dedicated workspace, the first state office building, Old State Hall, was erected in the early 1800s at what is now the corner of Lodge and State streets.
In 1833, the occupants complained that the building was running out of space and inadequate in other ways—in particular, they said, the many records kept within it could be destroyed in a fire. The legislature directed the capitol's trustees to find land for a new building. The trustees acquired the current land and commissioned local architect Henry Rector to design the building.
According to architectural critic Talbot Hamlin, Rector's design "proclaimed the complete triumph of the Greek Revival in the Albany region." The column bases and capitals on the exterior were copied from the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis. Marble for the building, mandated by the legislature, was quarried by inmates at the new Sing Sing Prison near the present-day village of Ossining in Westchester County and shipped up the Hudson River on barges. It was completed by 1842 at a total cost of \$350,000 (\$ in dollars). No other buildings of Rector's survive except for a row of houses on Westerlo Street in Albany's Pastures Historic District.
In addition to its architecture, the building would be notable for two aspects of its engineering as well. One was the use of the stone groin vaults to support the ceilings instead of the timber framing common at the time, an early attempt at fireproofing. The other was the stone staircase in the middle of the rotunda, which started at the first floor and cantilevered out up to the third floor with no visible means of support.
After the building's completion, the state chancellor, Register of Chancery, clerk of the Court of Appeals and its Supreme Court moved in. The state's executive branch was represented by the attorney general, auditor, canal appraisers and commissioners, comptroller and state engineer and surveyor-general. In 1846, a new state constitution reformed the courts, eliminating the Court of Chancery and relegating the Supreme Court to its current role of both appellate and trial court, supreme in that it has the last word on findings of fact but deferring to the new Court of Appeals on questions of law.
However, the tenants of the building remained unchanged. The Court of Appeals sat in the state capitol, both the former building and the current one. In the latter, Henry Hobson Richardson, supervising a construction process that had become delayed since it began in the early 1870s from Thomas Fuller's original plan, designed an ornate wooden courtroom with carved oak walls and furniture. The judges began hearing oral arguments there in 1884. It was described by a visiting Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, as "the finest courtroom in the world."
As the 19th century became the 20th, the state grew and, with it, its government. By 1909 the judges and lawyers alike were complaining that the court's capitol space was inadequate to its modern legal needs. The following year the legislature directed the court to appoint one of its judges to work with the state architect, then Franklin B. Ware, to determine whether the old State Hall could be renovated into an adequate facility. The court appointed Judge William E. Werner. He and Ware commissioned a report from a Rochester architect who concluded that such a renovation was possible.
Even though the fire that ravaged the capitol in 1911 made the need for new court space more pressing, Ware refused to endorse the report, saying the renovation proposed was inadequate. Instead, he proposed redeveloping the entire area around the capitol (today the Lafayette Park Historic District) similarly to Capitol Hill in Washington, including a new courthouse on Swan Street.
Ware's plan was rejected, and Lewis Pilcher replaced him as state architect. He proceeded with the planned renovation of State Hall. In keeping with the wishes of Chief Judge Willard Bartlett, Pilcher's most significant change to the building was a wing on the east to accommodate Richardson's courtroom, which could be moved to State Hall with the exception of its original ceiling. On the interior of the existing building, the rotunda was faced in dark yellow faux Caen stone, and the judges' library, conference room and individual chambers were all painted in shades of cream and lit with pendant drop-globes.
The court approved the redesign in 1914. Work began after the contract was signed the next year; it was complete in time for a formal dedication at the beginning of 1917. The building was at that time officially renamed Court of Appeals Hall, the legend still on its pediment. Governor Charles S. Whitman spoke at the ceremony, saying the building was now dedicated to "the noblest purpose to which a building or a life can be dedicated, the administration of justice."
### 1918–1959: Second renovation
For 30 years the converted State Hall served the needs of judges and lawyers alike. By the late 1940s its age was becoming evident. The state's Department of Public Works reported that the portico was in danger of collapsing, the interior was looking shabby, and the electrical wiring and heating needed to be replaced. Nothing would be done about this situation until Governor Averell Harriman made a surprise inspection of the building in 1956. Two years later another renovation began under state architect Carl Larson and Judge Charles W. Froessel.
The work had been delayed while the judges considered, and rejected, building an entirely new courthouse, as their predecessors had in 1917. They heard cases in the Appellate Division courtroom at the nearby county courthouse, while they received temporary chambers at the capitol. The clerk of courts and his staff took their temporary quarters at an old storage building at Lodge Street and Maiden Lane. The reporter relocated to 6 Elk Street.
Early in the renovation, a short circuit in the elevator machine room started a serious fire that destroyed the roof and dome and badly damaged the rotunda. Work continued, and shortly afterward another serious problem was discovered when excavations around the foundation disclosed that the eastern corners of the building had each sunk 5 inches (13 cm) since 1842, resulting in severe damage to floors, windows, lintels and the interior arches. The original foundations of rubble on clay were replaced with concrete.
A larger new dome, 64 feet (20 m) wide and 23 feet (7.0 m) high, built of steel beams and light concrete planks, replaced the original. It was sheathed in lead-coated copper and topped with a wooden cupola. Inside the dome a 34-foot–wide (10 m) mural by Eugene Savage, The Romance of the Skies, depicts the three seasons—fall, winter and spring—during which the court sits. Except for the removal of the cantilevered stone staircase, now deemed too structurally unstable to use, the rotunda remained unchanged.
It was the only space inside that did. Many rooms received new coats of paint, and the ceiling arches were hidden from view by new walls. New elevators and stairs were installed to replace the original stone stair. Additional amenities, such as air conditioning, an enamel-walled kitchen and television in the reception room, were added for the judges. Their robing room was paneled in birch. Two of the seven judges had chambers on the first floor; the rest were upstairs. The paintings that hung in Robertson's courtroom were cleaned and rehung; a new carpet was installed.
On the outside much of the original marble was removed and replaced with stone quarried in Vermont. Six Ionic columns and new stairs were built for the reconstructed portico. Above the main entrance, an 8-ton (7.3 t) emblem of the state seal sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein was installed.
Despite the fire and the structural issues, the project was finished ahead of schedule in 1959. Nelson Rockefeller, who had succeeded Harriman, gave the court his full support. At the rededication ceremony that October, Chief Judge Albert Conway symbolically accepted the keys from him. Conway observed as he did that the new building reflected the "permanence of an ideal".
### 1960–present: Third renovation
As it had following the 1917 work, the courthouse continued to serve its purpose for the next three decades. By 1999, however, it once again seemed inadequate to the needs of its users. The thick walls made it difficult to adapt for modern electrical and telecommunications purposes. The infrastructure within was almost half a century old, making it difficult to heat and cool the building. The space taken up by those walls meant that the courtroom was the only place the judges and all their combined staff could hold meetings. There were also very few spaces for the public within the building, frustrating attempts to make the court and its history transparent and accessible.
The judges decided that it was necessary to make some small additions to the building along with the infrastructure upgrades. Chief Judge Judith Kaye designated Judge Richard C. Wesley, later elevated to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as the court's liaison to the project, now managed by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York as the state architect's position had been abolished. After the necessary appropriations from the legislature, work began in 2001. During the 17 months it took, the judges continued to hear arguments in the courtroom but worked out of temporary quarters outside the city. Project architects were DeWolff Partnership Architects LLP of Rochester.
As the building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, since its last renovation, preservation and restoration were as important as the expansions. The State Historic Preservation Office was closely involved with the process. It mandated that the newly installed wings on the sides of the building be distinguishable from the original facades after the marble was once again replaced with newly quarried Vermont stone, even though they were architecturally sympathetic to Rector's original design. As a result, they have narrower bays and pilasters, smooth at the base rather than fluted, to subtly distinguish them from the original building.
Elsewhere on the exterior, the dome was made over. The lead-plated copper installed in 1959 was replaced with stainless steel and the cupola from that renovation replaced with the current oculus. Its high-performance glass keeps out ultraviolet light and reduces heat inside. The gold-plated sphere that had topped the cupola remains above the oculus.
Inside, the renovations once more made the ceiling groin vaults visible. The entire infrastructure was replaced, and the newly created space in the main building, plus the additional space in the wings, brought the building to 93,000 square feet (8,600 m<sup>2</sup>) of total floor space. The Red Room and the Jay Room were created on the first floor to host public functions and exhibits on the history of the court, as well as providing overflow space for those who wished to hear oral arguments in cases that attracted significant interest. All the judges' chambers were now located on the second floor, a change that Kaye had particularly sought.
Photographs and other historical records were studied closely for information about interior decoration that matched earlier eras. The rotunda was done in shades of beige, cream and yellow, as it had appeared to be originally. On the first floor carpets, blues and reds were used following early 20th-century practices. The Red Room and all offices similarly have a painted faux-finish on the walls. Since the third floor is now largely new construction, it uses green primarily. Lighting used throughout duplicates the 1959 renovation, except in the courtroom, where reconstructions of the 1884 chandeliers complement a newly designed carpet.
## See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York
- Architecture of Albany, New York |
67,661,629 | Build a Bitch | 1,171,409,945 | null | [
"2021 debut singles",
"2021 songs",
"Bella Poarch songs",
"Body image in popular culture",
"Songs with feminist themes",
"Songs written by Bella Poarch",
"Warner Records singles"
]
| "Build a Bitch" is the debut single by Filipino-American internet celebrity Bella Poarch from her debut extended play, Dolls (2022). The song was written alongside Salem Ilese and producers David Arkwright, Justin Gammella, Elie Rizk, and Sub Urban, with Stefan Max also receiving a producer credit. Warner Records released it on May 14, 2021 for digital download and streaming. After achieving success on TikTok, Poarch signed a record deal with Warner in May 2021 to launch her music career. A dark pop and pop track, Poarch has stated that the song is about one embracing oneself. A few music critics have suggested that it also contains feminist themes.
Upon release, "Build a Bitch" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its sound. The song reached the top 10 in India, Malaysia, and Singapore. It also peaked within the top 30 in multiple countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The song was awarded platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada (MC) in the United States and Canada, respectively.
An accompanying music video directed by Andrew Donoho was released alongside the single. It features a factory similar to a Build-A-Bear Workshop where men can create their ideal woman. Various internet celebrities appear in the visual, including Valkyrae and Bretman Rock. The music video received nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, 2021 UK Music Video Awards, and 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
## Background and release
Prior to joining the online video platform TikTok, Poarch enrolled in the United States Navy when she was 17 and left it when she was 23. The celebrity joined the platform in January 2020 and in August, she published the most-liked TikTok video, which depicts her lip synching to Millie B's "M to the B (Soph Aspin Send)". In May 2021, Poarch signed a record deal with Warner Records, stating in an interview with Billboard that she "feel[s] like [she] found [her] family and part of that family is the label" and how Warner "has helped" several artists which "meant the most to [her]", including Prince, Dua Lipa, and Madonna. "Build a Bitch" was released on May 14, 2021 by Warner for digital download and streaming in various countries. The aforementioned label also sent it for radio airplay in Italy on May 24 and to contemporary hit radio stations in the US on June 1.
## Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Build a Bitch" has been described as a dark pop and pop song. Poarch co-wrote it with Salem Ilese, Sub Urban, David Arkwright, Justin Gammella, and Elie Rizk, while the latter five produced it alongside Stefan Max. Jaycen Joshua mixed the track and Colin Leonard mastered it. Writing for The New York Times, Jon Pareles noticed that the track contains "tinkly toy-piano sounds" and "perky la-las" that "accompany [Poarch] as she points out that women aren't consumer products". Zoe Haylock from Vulture observed that Poarch sings the chorus "to the lilting lullaby beat". A hoax later went viral on TikTok, accusing Poarch of stealing a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the song.
Talking to Billboard, she revealed that the song is mainly "about accepting yourself and embracing imperfections and your flaws", while also saying she wants "people to realize that [they] don’t have to be perfect". In the song, Poarch references fictional character Bob the Builder, and dolls Barbie and Ken. I-D's George Griffiths declared that Poarch "coos over the unrealistic standards men hold women to", while Robin Murray of Clash opined that the song "focusses [sic] on female empowerment". During the nursery rhyme chorus, the singer affirms, "This ain't build a bitch / You don't get to pick and choose."
## Reception
The song was met with positive reviews from music critics who complimented its sound. Griffiths deemed it "bratty" and "a candy-coated pop track". Pareles declared that "Poarch is making a move into her own music [and] 'Build a Bitch' comes across cute and furious". Haylock called the track "[a] cutesy pop song". Billboard's Jason Lipshutz considered it "an audacious, darkly comic slice of new-school pop". Hattie Collins of Vogue said that the song "demonstrates both her innate musical talent and ambitions as an artist" and noted Poarch is "deftly dismantling the impossible standards of beauty that we are put under". Collins also noted that "Build a Bitch" is "incredibly catchy". The track was used in around a million videos on TikTok within a week following its release.
On the Billboard Hot 100, "Build a Bitch" debuted at number 58 on the week ending May 29, 2021. The song reached its peak position of 56 two weeks later, and attained a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the US. "Build a Bitch" reached the top ten in India, Malaysia, and Singapore. It further peaked within the top 30 in Australia, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, and on the Billboard Global 200. The track also reached the top 30 in Canada and United Kingdom, where it received a platinum certification from Music Canada (MC) in the former and a silver one in the latter from the British Phonographic Industry. In Poland, the song reached number 60 and was certified platinum by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV).
## Music video
Directed by Andrew Donoho, the music video for "Build a Bitch" premiered alongside the single on May 14, 2021. The video depicts a factory where men can create their ideal woman, akin to a Build-A-Bear Workshop. Poarch subsequently begins a revolution and burns the factory down, escaping to freedom. The music video features cameos from several internet celebrities such as Valkyrae, Bretman Rock, Larray, and ZHC. Speaking to Vogue, Poarch admitted that she "really believe[s] the people in the video embody the message of the song and being imperfect, being different, being themselves".
### Reception
Griffiths deemed the video to be "provocative", while Haylock found the song to "juxtapose" with the visual. Griffiths and Pareles compared the video to American dystopian science fiction, neo-Western television series Westworld, with Haylock further comparing Poarch to the series' character, Dolores Abernathy. Within less than a week, it received 70 million views on YouTube. The music video received nominations for Best Visual Effects at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, for Best Pop Video – International at the 2021 UK Music Video Awards, and Best Music Video at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
## Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.
- Bella Poarch – lead vocals, songwriter
- David Arkwright – songwriter, producer
- Justin Gammella – songwriter, producer
- Salem Ilese – songwriter
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing
- Colin Leonard – mastering
- Stefan Max – executive producer
- Elie Rizk – songwriter, producer
- Sub Urban – songwriter, producer
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications
## Release history |
2,773,899 | Burmese Indians | 1,172,495,439 | Ethnic community | [
"Anti-Indian sentiment",
"Burma in World War II",
"Burmese people of Indian descent",
"Culture of Indian diaspora",
"Ethnic groups in Myanmar",
"History of Myanmar",
"Indian diaspora by country",
"Indian diaspora history",
"Indian diaspora in Asia",
"Indian diaspora in Myanmar"
]
| Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India and Bangladesh. While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century to the separation of British Burma from British India in 1937. During colonial times, ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil servants, merchants, moneylenders, mobile laborers and dock workers. A series of anti-Indian riots in the 1930s and mass emigration at the onset of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 were followed in the 1960s by the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, exacerbated by internal conflict in Myanmar.
Burmese Indians today are estimated to account for approximately 5% (about 2,000,000-2,500,000) of the population of Burma and are concentrated largely in the two major cities (Yangon and Mandalay) and former colonial towns (Pyin U Lwin and Kalaw). They wield considerable influence and control over the Burmese economy and have a major socio-cultural presence within the country. Amongst the well-known Burmese Indians is S N Goenka, a leading practitioner and teacher of vipassanā meditation and Helen, a well-known Bollywood film actress who is also of Anglo-Burmese descent.
## Etymology
In the Burmese language, Indians are typically called kalar (, spelt kula:). The origins of the term itself are disputed. The Myanmar Language Commission officially traces the etymology of the word kalar to the Pali term (ကုလ), which means "noble," "noble race", or "pure." Folk etymology ascribes the origins of this term to a calque of two Burmese words: ကူး+ လာ (lit. "to cross over [from the sea]"), although this etymology has no scholarly basis. The term kalar also phonetically resembles the word for "black" in several Indic languages, including Hindi and Urdu (cf. Sanskrit ), and is used by Indians as an ethnic slur for dark-skinned people and Africans.
The Burmese language term kalar has been borrowed into a number of regional languages, including Shan (ၵလႃး, kala), Mon (ဂလာ, h'lea), S'gaw Karen (kola), and Khmer (កុឡា, kola). The Khmer term kola refers to the Kula people, a diverse community of migrants from present-day Shan State.
The term kalar has a long history; it is attested in Pagan Kingdom stone inscriptions dating to the 1100s, and was the name of a prominent 17th century Burmese historian, U Kala. During the pre-colonial era, Westerners, including those from the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and Europe, were collectively known as kalar, an exonym used by Burmese speakers. For instance, kalaphyu (ကုလားဖြူ, lit. 'white kalar') or bayinngyi kalar (ဘရင်ဂျီကုလား, lit. 'Frank kalar') were used as Burmese exonyms for Europeans. To this day, the word kalar features in many Burmese compound words, including kalahtaing (ကုလားထိုင်, lit. 'kalar seat' or 'chair') and kala be (ကုလားပဲ, lit. 'kalar bean' or 'chickpea')" By 1886, the conventional use of kalar in reference to a "native of continental India" was documented in dictionaries. Burma was administered as a part of British India for the majority of its time under British occupation between 1826 and 1948. Colonial exploitation during British Burma engendered nationalist and anti-Indian sentiment among locals, which was reinforced in the use of kalar as an exonym with negative connotations. The term kalar is now considered pejorative by some members of the Burmese Indian community.
## History
### Indian immigration
Before the British conquest, the Indians in Lower Burma primarily engaged in trade. The small Indian community was located almost wholly in during and preceding eras. After 1852, they migrated to Lower Burma because of the jobs available in the expanding economy and the new provincial bureaucracy of the British Raj. Their population rapidly rose from 37,000 in 1871 in Lower Burma to 297,000 in 1901 with 86% being born outside Burma by that year. Most Indians were from Madras Presidency and Bengal Presidency. Over 60% in the last decades of 19th century were from Madras (present Chennai). 30% were from Bengal in 1881 and 25% in 1901.
There were no effective curbs on Indian immigration until the eve of World War II despite the implementation of the Government of Burma Act. By 1931, there were more than one million Indians in Burma, about 7% of the population, and were mostly concentrated in Lower Burma. The census of 1931 enumerated 1,017,825 Indians in Burma with 617,521 born in India. Per the census of 1931, the total population of Rangoon was 400,415 out of which comprised 212,929 Indians. They comprised 2.5% of population in Upper Burma and 10.9% in Lower Burma.
The majority of Indians arrived in Burma whilst it was part of British India. Starting with the annexation of Tenasserim and Western Burma after the First Anglo-Burmese War, a steady stream of Indians moved to Burma as civil servants, engineers, river pilots, soldiers, indentured labourers, and traders. Following the annexation of Upper Burma in 1885, numerous infrastructure projects started by the British colonial government and increases in rice cultivation in the delta region caused an unprecedented economic boom in Burma that drew many Indians, particularly from southern India, to the Irrawaddy Delta region.
### Anti-Indian sentiments
After the First World War, anti-Indian sentiments began to rise for a number of reasons. The number of ethnic Indians was growing rapidly (almost half of Yangon's population was Indian by the Second World War). Indians played a prominent role in the British administration and became the target of Burmese nationalists. Racial animosity toward Indians because of their skin-colour and appearance also played a role. Meanwhile, the price of rice plummeted during the economic depression of the 1930s and the Chettiar from South India, who were prominent moneylenders in the rice belt, began to foreclose on land held by native Burmese.
In May 1930, a British firm of stevedores at the port of Rangoon employed Burmese workers in an attempt to break a strike organised by its Indian workers. When, on 26 May, the strike ended and the Indians returned to work, clashes developed between the returning Indian workers and the Burmese workers who had replaced them. The clashes soon escalated into large-scale anti-Hindu riots in the city. Over 200 Indians were killed and their bodies flung into the river. Authorities ordered the police to fire upon any assembly of five or more who refused to lay down their arms, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Within two days the riot spread throughout the country to locations such as Maymyo.
### The Second World War and after
At the start of World War II, almost half of Rangoon's (modern-day Yangon) population was Indian, and about 16% of the population of Burma was ethnically Indian. As a consequence of the Japanese invasion of 1942, half a million members of the Indian community fled Burma overland into Assam, largely on foot. The refugees suffered terribly and thousands died. Some of the Indian community remained in Burma during the war; others returned after the war, although many never did. After independence, Burmese law treated a large percentage of the Indian community as 'resident aliens.' Though many had long ties to Burma or were born there, they were not considered citizens under the 1982 Burma citizenship law which restricted citizenship for groups immigrating before 1823.
After he seized power through a military coup in 1962, General Ne Win ordered a large-scale expulsion of Indians. Although many Indians had been living in Burma for generations and had integrated into Burmese society, they became a target for discrimination and oppression by the junta. This, along with a wholesale nationalisation of private ventures in 1964, led to the emigration of over 300,000 ethnic Indians from Burma. Indian-owned businesses as well as Burmese businesses were nationalised due to the so-called "Burmese way to Socialism". Many Indians returned and were given 175 kyat for their trip to India. This caused a significant deterioration in Indian-Burmese relations and the Indian government arranged ferries and aircraft to lift Burmese of Indian ethnicity out of Burma.
## Culture
India has been particularly influential in Burmese culture as the cradle of Buddhism, and ancient Hindu traditions can still be seen in Brahmans presiding over important ceremonies such as weddings and ear-piercings but most notably in Thingyan, the Burmese New Year festival. The Burmese poetry tradition of niti (notably the Dhammaniti) also has Indian origins. Traditions of kingship including coronation ceremonies and formal royal titles as well as those of lawmaking were also Hindu in origin. Many Burmese dishes and breads came as a result of Indian influence, prominently reflected in the Burmese version of Indian biryani.
Burmese Indians came from various groups from different parts of India, including Tamils (majority) and also minority groups such as Telugus, Bengalis, Hindustani speakers, Gujaratis and Punjabis. Today they form approximately 2% (about 950,000) of the population, according to the CIA World Factbook 2006, although exact figures do not exist due to uncertainties over census results and methods in Myanmar. Disaffected young Indians often flee the cities and join ethnic resistance movements. The All Burma Muslim Union whose members consist largely of Muslims of Indian origin is routinely labelled by the government as "Muslim terrorist insurgents". It operates alongside the Karen National Union which has a militant wing and, despite a swelling of its ranks following anti-Muslim riots in the eighties, remains a very minor force.
### Religion
Burmese Indians practise Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity. Burmese-Indian Hindus have good and peaceful relationships with the native Burmese.
Predominantly, Burmese Indians are Hindu. The practice of Hinduism among Burmese Indians is also influenced by Buddhism. In addition of Hindu deities, the Buddha is also worshiped and many Hindu temples in Myanmar house statues of the Buddha.
Burmese Muslims, some of them of mixed blood born of Burmese mothers and some of them with full Burmese blood, (); with small numbers of Twelvers. The Burmese call them Zaydabayi.
The constitution grants limited rights to freedom of religion; however, some articles in the constitution, as well as other laws and policies, restrict those rights. In practice the government enforced those restrictions. "Muslims continue to experience the most severe forms of legal, economic, religious, educational, and social restrictions and discrimination". The military dictatorship rejects or ignores their requests when they want to build mosques in the country or to go abroad for religious ceremonies. Although there is limited freedom of religion in Burma, Muslims decided not to hold Eid al-Adha in 2012 due to Rakhine-Rohingya strikes in Rakhine State.
### Languages
Burmese Indians are from an array of linguistic groups, mostly are Tamils from Tamil Nadu. There is also significant population of the Meiteis (Manipuris), coming from Myanmar's western neighborhood Manipur state. Other minorities are Telugus from Andhra Pradesh and Marwaris from the Marwar region of India's Rajasthan state as well as Bengalis hailing from the Indian state of West Bengal as well as the present-day independent nation of Bangladesh. Prior to the expulsion of Indians, there were also Malayalis from Kerala, Odias from Odisha, Punjabis from the state of Punjab who are mostly Sikhs and two groups of Gujaratis, both Gujarati-speaking Parsis and Gujaratis proper who are mostly Hindus or Muslims by faith hailing from the state of Gujarat. All can and were able to communicate in Burmese due to years of assimilation and lack of education in languages other than English. Tamil is the most spoken Indian language in Myanmar. Other minority Indian languages are quite frequently used.
## Economic role
Historically, Burmese Indians have made their livelihoods as merchants, traders and shopkeepers as well as manual labourers such as coolies, dockers, municipal workers, rickshaw men, pony cart drivers, malis and durwans. They were also heavily represented in certain professions such as civil servants, university lecturers, pharmacists, opticians, lawyers and doctors. They dominated several types of businesses such as auto parts and electrical goods, ironmongery and hardware, printing and bookbinding, books and stationery, paper and printing ink, tailoring and dry-cleaning, English tuition, and money lending. They traded in textiles, gold and jewellery, where the market was traditionally dominated by Burmese women. The Chettiars of Burma functioned as moneylenders and have been thought crucial in the growth in agricultural output of Burma during the colonial era. Today, many Indians live in central Rangoon on both sides of the Su Lei Paya Road and are largely involved in businesses, including restaurants, jewellery shops and money exchanges.
## Notable Burmese Indians and others
- Alan Basil de Lastic - (1929–2000) was the fourth Archbishop of Delhi. He was born in Maymyo of mixed Burmese, Irish and French ancestry.
- Bhanumati Devi, an Odia film and theatre actress who was born in Burma.
- Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint, martyred after failed attempt of coup d'état
- Daw Tint Tint Usha, the wife of former President of India, K R Narayanan
- Dr Nath (Tun Maung), a communist leader and founding member killed in the 1960s
- H N Goshal (Thakin Ba Tin), a leader of Communist Party of Burma and founding member from the 1940s to the 1960s, killed in an internal purge in 1967. was an ethnic Bengali.
- Helen of Bollywood, born Helen Jairag Richardson Khan in Rangoon on 14 July 1938, she fled to India during World War II and became famous for playing the vamp in Indian cinema.
- Karim Ghani was born in Sodugudi, Ilayangudi, a politician in South-East Asia of Indian origin. Before the Second World War Karim Ghani was a parliamentary secretary in Burma under Dr Ba Maw.
- S N Goenka, a vipassana meditation teacher (born 1924)
- Saya Rajan aka Aung Naing, a communist trade union leader captured in the 1950s
- Sultan Mahmud, Minister of Health of Burma from 1960-1962.
- T S S Rajan, an Indian freedom fighter and Minister of Health in Madras Presidency from 1937 to 1940.
- Ko Ni, prominent Burmese lawyer and an expert on constitutional law, legal advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi until 2017 when he was assassinated.
- U A Khader (1935-2020) is a noted Malayali novelist
- U Razak (20 January 1898 – 19 July 1947; Arabic: Abdul Razak) Burmese politician
- Nalini Joshi, mathematician
## See also
- Anglo-Burmese
- Burmese Chinese
- Burmese community in India
- Greater India
- Indian people
- Indosphere
- List of ethnic groups in Burma
- Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin
- Pakistanis in Burma
- Burma Bazaar |
200,385 | Albert Kesselring | 1,173,072,464 | German military officer (1885–1960) | [
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| Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German military officer and convicted war criminal who served in the Luftwaffe during World War II. In a career which spanned both world wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated commanders.
Kesselring joined the Bavarian Army as an officer cadet in 1904, serving in the artillery branch. He completed training as a balloon observer in 1912. During World War I, he served on both the Western and Eastern fronts and was posted to the Army Staff, despite not having attended the War Academy. Kesselring served in the Reichswehr after the war, but was discharged in 1933 to become head of the Department of Administration at the Ministry of Aviation, where he became involved in the re-establishment of the German aviation industry and the laying of the foundations for the Luftwaffe, serving as its chief of staff from 1936 to 1938.
During World War II, he commanded Luftwaffe forces in the German invasions of Poland and France, the Battle of Britain and the invasion of the Soviet Union. As Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief South, he was the overall German commander in the Mediterranean theatre, which included the North African campaign. Kesselring conducted a defensive campaign against Allied forces in Italy, being involved in ordering several massacres, until he was injured in an accident in October 1944. In his final campaign of the war, he commanded German forces on the Western Front. During the war, he won the respect of his Allied opponents for his military accomplishments.
After the war, Kesselring was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death for ordering the murder of 335 Italian civilians in the Ardeatine massacre, and for inciting and ordering his troops to kill civilians as part of reprisals against the Italian resistance movement. The sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. A political and media campaign resulted in his release in 1952, ostensibly on health grounds. He published his memoirs, Soldat bis zum letzten Tag ("A Soldier to the Last Day"), in 1953. Kesselring accepted the honorary presidency of three veterans' organisations: the Luftwaffenring, consisting of Luftwaffe veterans; the Verband Deutsches Afrikakorps, the veterans' association of the Afrika Korps; and, most controversially, the right-wing Der Stahlhelm before dying in 1960.
## Early life
Albert Kesselring was born in Marktsteft, Bavaria, on 30 November 1885, the son of Carl Adolf Kesselring, a schoolmaster and town councillor, and his wife Rosina, Carl's second cousin. Albert's early years were spent in Marktsteft, where relatives had operated a brewery since 1688.
Graduating from the Christian Ernestinum Secondary School in Bayreuth in 1904, Kesselring joined the German Army as a Fahnenjunker (officer cadet) in the 2nd Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment. The regiment was based at Metz and was responsible for maintaining its forts. He remained with the regiment until 1915, except for periods at the Military Academy from 1905 to 1906, after which he received his commission as a Leutnant (lieutenant), and at the School of Artillery and Engineering in Munich from 1909 to 1910.
In 1910, Kesselring married Luise Anna Pauline (Liny) Keyssler, the daughter of an apothecary from Bayreuth. Their marriage was childless, but in 1913 they adopted Rainer, the son of Albert's second cousin Kurt Kesselring. In 1912, Kesselring completed training as a balloon observer in a dirigible section—an early sign of an interest in aviation. Kesselring's superiors considered posting him to the School of Artillery and Engineering as an instructor because of his expertise in "the interplay between tactics and technology".
## World War I
During World War I, Kesselring served with his regiment in Lorraine until the end of 1914, when he was transferred to the 1st Bavarian Foot Artillery, which formed part of the Sixth Army. On 19 May 1916, he was promoted to Hauptmann (captain). In 1916 he was transferred again, to the 3rd Bavarian Foot Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Arras in 1917, "by his tireless and assiduous work, and by the preparation of clear and carefully constructed orders", despite being on duty for over twenty hours, and succeeded in halting the British advance. For his services on the Western Front, he was decorated with the Iron Cross, 1st Class.
In 1917, he was posted to the General Staff, despite not having attended the Bavarian War Academy. He served on the Eastern Front on the staff of the 2nd Bavarian Landwehr Division. His experience here shaped his subsequent anti-communist political outlook. In January 1918, he returned to the Western Front as a staff officer with the II and III Royal Bavarian Corps.
## Between the wars
### Reichswehr
After the war, Kesselring was involved in the demobilisation of III Royal Bavarian Corps in the Nuremberg area, as mandated by the Treaty of Versailles. A dispute with the leader of the local right-wing paramilitary Freikorps led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in a putsch against the command of III Bavarian Corps, and Kesselring was thrown into prison. He was soon released, but his superior, Major Hans Seyler, censured him for having "failed to display the requisite discretion".
From 1919 to 1922, Kesselring served as a battery commander with the 24th Artillery Regiment. He joined the Reichswehr on 1 October 1922 and was posted to the Military Training Department at the Ministry of the Reichswehr in Berlin. He remained at this post until 1929 when he returned to Bavaria as commander of Wehrkreis VII in Munich. In his time with the Reichswehr Ministry, Kesselring was involved in the organisation of the army, trimming staff overheads to produce the best possible army with the limited resources available. He helped re-organise the Ordnance Department, laying the groundwork for the research and development efforts that would produce new weapons. He was involved in secret military manoeuvres held in the Soviet Union in 1924 and the so-called Great Plan for a 102-division army, which was prepared in 1923 and 1924. Following the recommendation of a commission headed by Kesselring in 1929, aviation officers and agencies were consolidated into an inspectorate of aviation. After another brief stint at the Ministry of the Reichswehr, Kesselring was promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) in 1930 and spent two years in Dresden with the 4th Artillery Regiment.
### Luftwaffe
Kesselring was discharged from the Reichswehr in 1933 against his wishes, and appointed head of the Department of Administration at the Reich Commissariat for Aviation (Reichskommissariat für die Luftfahrt), the forerunner of the Reich Air Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) (RLM), with the rank of Oberst (colonel) in 1934. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany from establishing an air force, this was nominally a civilian agency. The Luftwaffe was not formally established until 26 February 1935. He was involved in the re-establishment of the aviation industry and the construction of secret factories, forging alliances with industrialists and aviation engineers.
Promotion in the Luftwaffe was rapid; Kesselring was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 October 1934, and Generalleutnant on 1 April 1936. Like other generals of Nazi Germany, he received personal monthly payments from Adolf Hitler, in Kesselring's case , a considerable sum at the time.
At the age of 48, Kesselring learned to fly, following the old military doctrine that officers should not ask their men to do anything they would not do themselves. He later stated that first-hand knowledge of all aspects of aviation was essential to being able to command airmen, although he was well aware that latecomers like himself did not impress the old pioneers or the young aviators. He qualified in various single- and multi-engine aircraft and continued flying three or four days per week until March 1945.
Following the death of Generalleutnant Walther Wever in an air crash, Kesselring became Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe on 3 June 1936. In that post, he oversaw the expansion of the Luftwaffe, the acquisition of new aircraft types such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive-bomber, and the development of paratroops.
Kesselring's main operational task during this time was the support of the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War. His tenure was marred by personal and professional conflicts with his superior, General der Flieger Erhard Milch, and Kesselring asked to be relieved. His conflict with Milch was in contrast to his predecessor, Wever. Overall it has been surmised that Kesselring was not an effective chief of staff, primarily because he lacked Wever's strategic insight. Kesselring requested a transfer to a field command, and the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, gave him command of Luftgau III (Air District III) in Dresden. Kesselring was promoted to General der Flieger in 1937, and became commander of Luftflotte 1' in 1938, until January 1940.
### Impact on Luftwaffe doctrine
In the area of aerial doctrine, Kesselring has been described by James Corum as a "worthy successor" to Wever. Like many ex-Army officers, Kesselring saw the importance of airpower in the tactical role, providing support to land operations. In the historiography of the Luftwaffe, Kesselring and Hans-Jürgen Stumpff are usually blamed for neglecting strategic bombing while over-focusing on close air support for the army. However, the two most prominent enthusiasts for the focus on ground-support operations (either close air support or air interdiction) were Hugo Sperrle and Hans Jeschonnek. These men were long-time professional airmen involved in German air services since their early careers.
Kesselring strongly supported the program to produce a long-range heavy bomber. As chief of staff he supported new technologies and training for bomb aimers and navigators to carry out effective long-range bombing missions and at high altitude. In March 1939 Kesselring expressed his doubt this could be done accurately at night or in bad weather. German scientists succeeded in proving otherwise, and developed a successful radio navigation system.
The Luftwaffe was not pressured into ground support operations due to demands from the army, or because it was led by ex-army personnel. Interdiction and close air support were operations that suited the Luftwaffe's existing approach to warfare: a culture of joint inter-service operations rather than independent strategic air campaigns. Moreover, many officers in the Luftwaffe command believed medium bombers to be sufficient in power for use in strategic bombing operations against Germany's most likely enemies; Britain and France. The cancellation of Wever's long-range Ural bomber project in April 1937 was opposed by Kesselring. On 2 June the RLM relented and ordered a better performing design, which became the Heinkel He 177. The project took shape as Kesselring left office.
## World War II
### Poland
In the Polish campaign that began World War II, Kesselring's Luftflotte 1 operated in support of Army Group North, commanded by Generaloberst Fedor von Bock. Kesselring had 1,105 aircraft in comparison to Alexander Löhr's 729 with Luftflotte 4 in support of Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South. Kesselring gave a high priority to attacks on airfields. Strategic targets like aircraft and aircraft-related armament factories were attacked during the air superiority mission and formed part of it. Once the air battle was won, only then did the Luftwaffe direct its attention to close air support and air interdiction.
The tactical and operational focus of the Luftwaffe in the first days of the campaign was not a repudiation of strategic bombardment. The planned strategic bombing of Warsaw (Operation Wasserkante), scheduled to commence from 1 September, was postponed due to bad weather. By the time the weather cleared, the army support operations were going so well there was a reluctance to shift emphasis.
The Luftwaffe had difficulty locating the dispersed Polish airfields, and only 24 Polish aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The counter-air campaign was not as successful as it may have been due to faulty fuses on bombs–a lesson soon rectified. Air superiority was accomplished through destroying communications, which increased the pace of the army advance and enabled ground forces to overrun Polish airstrips and early warning sites. Sporadic Polish aerial resistance continued until 14 September. The Polish Air Force earned Kesselring's respect and he considered that Polish pilots and aircraft were not inferior. Kesselring himself was shot down during the campaign, the first of the five times he was shot down during World War II.
Although not under Bock's command, Kesselring's purpose was to support Army Group North in closing the Polish Corridor from the third day, with emphasis thereafter on supporting the 3rd Army as it advanced along the Vistula to isolate Warsaw from the east. From 8 September Kesselring began interdiction operations against bridges as German forces advanced on Warsaw. When a powerful Polish counter-attack created a crisis, he contributed Fliegerdivision 1 to the Battle of the Bzura. The division contained 70 per cent of his dive-bombers and was assigned to Löhr on 6 September. The air attacks assisted in the destruction of two Polish armies.
On 16/17 September the air fleets were notified of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Luftflotte 1 support operations against troop concentrations ceased in central and southern Poland to avoid friendly-fire incidents. Kesselring attempted to crush Polish resistance by making a series of air attacks against Warsaw in the final week of September. With the military campaign virtually over, Polish resistance was confined to the Hel Peninsula, Warsaw, and Modlin. Kesselring's air fleet was assigned to the north of the city. In the ensuing attacks, approximately 10 per cent of the city's buildings were destroyed and 40 per cent damaged. The bombing killed between 20,000 and 25,000 civilians. Kesselring insisted that only military targets were attacked, but the lack of precision munitions made the bombing indiscriminate and militarily ineffective. For his part in the Polish campaign, Kesselring was personally awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Hitler.
### France and Low Countries
Kesselring's Luftflotte 1 was not involved in the preparations for the campaigns in the west. Instead, it remained in the east on garrison duty, establishing new airbases and an air-raid precautions network in occupied Poland. However, after the Mechelen Incident, in which an aircraft made a forced landing in Belgium with copies of the German invasion plan, Göring relieved the commander of Luftflotte 2, General der Flieger Hellmuth Felmy, of his command and appointed Kesselring in his place on 15 January 1940. Arriving in the west, Kesselring found Luftflotte 2 assigned to support Bock's Army Group B.
Kesselring was more heavily committed in the Low Countries, with elements of his air command underpinning the attack on the Netherlands—Battle of the Netherlands—and Battle of Belgium. This included an airborne operation around Rotterdam and The Hague to seize airfields and bridges in the "Fortress Holland" area. The paratroopers were from General der Flieger Kurt Student's airborne forces. Air and ground operations were to commence simultaneously, on Hitler's orders. Bock showed little interest in the Hague operation and viewed the capture of the Dutch government as nothing more than a bonus. He preferred the seizure of the Moerdijk bridges to breach Fortress Holland. Kesselring promised his air fleet would prevent the French Army advancing from Antwerp and intervening.
The Battle of the Netherlands commenced on 10 May 1940. Kesselring's air operation was successful against the small Belgian Aviation Militaire, which was rendered ineffective, and Royal Netherlands Air Force, though the Dutch harassed the Luftwaffe until their surrender. The paratroopers, while initially successful, ran into fierce opposition in the Battle for The Hague, and the Battle of Rotterdam. The Luftwaffe lost 54 per cent of the transport aircraft committed; 125 destroyed, 53 bogged down, and 47 severely damaged. Some 4,000 paratroops (1,200 prisoners) became casualties.
On 14 May 1940, responding to a call for assistance from Student and demands for the bombing of the city by Georg von Küchler, commanding the 18th Army, Kesselring ordered the bombing of Rotterdam city centre. Fires raged out of control, destroying much of the city. An estimated 800 civilians were killed and 78,000 made homeless.
Wartime Allied newspapers predicted that Kesselring "will go down in history as the man who directed the bombing of the helpless Dutch city of Rotterdam, and slaughtered thousands of civilians." Under the Hague Convention of 1907, bombardment itself was not forbidden since Rotterdam was not an undefended city, but other aspects of the bombardment may have violated the laws of war. Historians are divided as to whether the bombing was an act of terror or served a tactical purpose.
After the surrender of the Netherlands on 14 May 1940, Luftflotte 2 attempted to move forward to new airfields in Belgium while still providing support for the fast-moving ground troops. The Battle of France was going well, with General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian forcing a crossing of the River Meuse at Sedan on 13 May 1940. To support the breakthrough, Generalleutnant Wolfram von Richthofen's [Fliegerkorps VIII](8th_Air_Corps_(Germany) "wikilink") was transferred to Luftflotte 3. By 24 May, the Allied forces had been cut in two, and the German Army was only 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Dunkirk, the last port on the English Channel available to the cut-off Allied forces. However, that day Rundstedt ordered a halt.
Göring promised the encircled enemy could be destroyed by aerial bombardment. Kesselring and Richthofen protested. They argued their commands had suffered heavy losses in two weeks of incessant fighting and the fighter and dive-bombers would be forced to operate at their maximum range. Neither man was confident of gaining air superiority. The protests were disregarded. It left the burden of preventing the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk to Kesselring's air fleet. Hampered by poor flying weather and staunch opposition from the Royal Air Force (RAF), the German operation failed.
Kesselring and his air commanders turned their attention to the final phase of the battle for France; Case Red. On 3 June, in a prelude to Red, the Luftwaffe conducted Operation Paula, a strategic air offensive against factories and airfields in and around Paris. Though German losses were minimal, the results were disappointing. The Luftwaffe high command (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe) (OKL) wrongly perceived the operation a success. The campaign proceeded rapidly; the Luftwaffe gained air superiority and held it. Kesselring's air fleet spent June attempting to prevent a second evacuation. Kesselring's bombers ranged further afield and contributed to Fliegerdivision 9's (Flying Division 9) minelaying operations in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay—one of his bomber wings attacked shipping an hour after the armistice came into effect.
For his role in the campaign in the west, Kesselring was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony.
### Battle of Britain
Following the campaign in France, Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 was committed to the Battle of Britain. Luftflotte 2's headquarters was located in Brussels. Kesselring's air fleet was numerically the strongest in the Luftwaffe in mid–1940. He controlled formations in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France north of the Seine. Kesselring was initially responsible for the bombing of southeastern England and the London area, but as the battle progressed, command responsibility shifted, with Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle's Luftflotte 3 assuming responsibility for the night-time "blitz" attacks while Luftflotte 2 conducted the main daylight operations.
Kesselring was sceptical about attacking Britain. He advocated capturing Gibraltar (Operation Felix), encouraging the British Government to negotiate, then turning against London if necessary. Sperrle favoured attacking ports and shipping. Göring overruled them because he was sure the RAF Fighter Command was weak and could be defeated quickly. The Luftwaffe air fleet commanders did not collaborate with each other to devise an air superiority plan, much less conduct inter-service conferences with the army and navy to develop a joint strategy. Kesselring, in particular, did not understand how the RAF fighter defences worked, and even after the war held the naïve assumption Fighter Command could simply have been destroyed in dogfights.
The first phase of the battle—the Kanalkampf (Channel Battles) was marginally successful. Operation Eagle and the 18 August battles failed to break British air defences. The German attacks on RAF airfields reached a peak in the first week of September 1940. On the third day, Göring met with Sperrle and Kesselring. Göring was convinced Fighter Command was exhausted and favoured attacking London to draw out the last of the British fighter reserves. Kesselring enthusiastically agreed; Sperrle did not. Kesselring urged Göring to carry out an all-out attack, based on the unproven assertion that Fighter Command had been virtually destroyed. Sperrle dismissed Kesselring's optimism and put British strength at the more accurate figure of 1,000 fighters. Nevertheless, Kesselring's perception prevailed. The disagreement between the two air fleet commanders was not uncommon, and although they rarely quarrelled, their commands were separate and they did not coordinate their efforts. Instead, they fought separate campaigns.
The focus of air operations changed to destroying the docks and factories in the centre of London. The change in strategy has been described as militarily controversial. The decision certainly relieved the pressure on Fighter Command, but wartime records and post-war analysis has shown that Fighter Command was not on the verge of collapse as assumed by German intelligence.
On 7 September Kesselring's air fleet was still the largest in the Luftwaffe. At his command were 1,311 aircraft from an operational German total of 1,895. Eight days later his air fleet alone carried out a daylight air attack on London which is considered the climax of the battle. In staging a two-pronged, predictable set-piece attack, he played into Fighter Command's hands. As one analyst wrote, Kesselring was "back where he started" before the battle. The consequences for Luftwaffe airmen were severe on 15 September 1940. German aviators met a prepared enemy and lost 5.5 per cent of the committed force. In the afternoon loss rates of German bomber crews reached 18 per cent of the force sent out. German crew losses were seven times that of the British. Furthermore, Fighter Command did not commit its reserve during the main attacks as the German command predicted.
Luftflotte 2 continued The Blitz on British cities until May 1941. The zone of operations extended on a line from Selsey Bill, to Oxford, Birmingham–Manchester and Carlisle. Everything west of that line was Sperrle's responsibility. On 20 October, the OKL ordered Sperrle to take on most of the burden of night operations. Kesselring was instructed to concentrate on ports in Eastern England and carry out at least 50 airstrikes in London per night. The air fleet deployed single-engine aircraft, including dive-bombers, nicknamed "Leichte Kesselringe" (light Kesselrings) in hit-and-run raids. These tactics became a feature of the later phases of the Blitz.
The air fleet played a large role in the Birmingham and Coventry Blitz, with support from Luftflotte 3, which provided 304 of the 448 bombers in the attack. Surviving German records suggest that the aim of the Coventry raid was to disrupt production and reconstruction critical to the automotive industry, but also to dehouse workers. In the area of operations of 'Luftflotte 2 were two other armament hubs—both the port of Hull and industrial city of Sheffield were heavily bombed by units under the air fleet's command. Many of the fleet's units were involved in the attack known as the Second Great Fire of London, on the 29/30 December 1940.
### Invasion of the Soviet Union
Although earmarked for operations against the Soviet Union, Luftflotte 2 remained in the west until May 1941. The maintenance of pressure on British cities was a deception measure to mask the eastward deployment of the Luftwaffe. German airfield construction had also fallen behind schedule and they could not host combat units until May, although they were ready for the commencement of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941. Kesselring arranged with Göring for Luftflotte 2 to be allocated additional transport to allow it to keep up with fast-moving armoured columns. The failure of German logistics left only 15 per cent of the Luftwaffe's 100,000 vehicles operational by the end of 1941.
Luftflotte 2 operated in support of Army Group Centre, commanded by Bock, continuing the close working relationship between the two. Kesselring's mission was to gain air superiority, and if possible air supremacy, as soon as possible while still supporting ground operations. For this he had a fleet of 1,223 aircraft, which made up half of the Luftwaffe's commitment. Kesselring later remarked he "instructed my air force and flak generals to consider the wishes of the Army as my orders."
The German attack caught large numbers of Soviet Air Force aircraft on the ground. Faulty tactics—sending unescorted bombers against the Germans at regular intervals in tactically unsound formations—accounted for many more. Kesselring reported that in the first week of operations Luftflotte 2 had accounted for 2,500 Soviet aircraft in the air and on the ground. Even Göring found these figures hard to believe and ordered them to be checked. As the ground troops advanced, the figures could be directly confirmed and were found to be too low. Kesselring wrote that within days, he was able to fly over the front in his Focke-Wulf Fw 189 reconnaissance aircraft to observe the terrain and advance.
With air supremacy attained, Luftflotte 2 concentrated on ground operations, particularly guarding the flanks of the armoured spearheads, without which the rapid advance was not possible. When enemy counterattacks threatened, Kesselring threw the full weight of his force against them. Now that the Army was convinced of the value of air support, units were all too inclined to call for it. Kesselring now had to convince the Army that air support should be concentrated at critical points. He strove to improve army–air cooperation with new tactics and the appointment of Oberst Martin Fiebig as a special close air support commander.
By 26 July, Kesselring had reported the destruction of 165 tanks, 2,136 vehicles and 194 artillery pieces. His fleet also claimed 915 aircraft destroyed (823 on the ground) and 60 locomotives in 1,574 sorties. Kesselring's air fleet provided support in the battle of Białystok–Minsk and Smolensk. Minsk was devastated by German air raids. A sudden transfer of his air power north to Luftflotte 1, bad weather, and the resurgence of the Red Air Force in his sector, led to the a defeat at Yelna in September. The cost of the successful encirclement battles was severe. In a thirteen-day period during the battle for Smolensk, from 6–19 July, Kesselring's air fleet lost 447 aircraft.
In late 1941, Luftflotte 2 supported the final German offensive against Moscow, Operation Typhoon. Raids on Moscow proved hazardous. Kesselring rated the opposition from both fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Kesselring began bombing raids on the capital on 21 July with four bomber wings numbering 195 aircraft—the largest during the period. Strategic bombing operations were intensive in October 1941, but diverted from the army support sphere, and dissipated the air effort. Militarily they had no effect and were considered prestige operations. Kesselring was uncharacteristically pessimistic about the results of the raids.
In the initial stages Kesselring's air fleet carried out effective support operations. On 3 October, it claimed 679 vehicles destroyed in 984 sorties, and 450 vehicles and 22 tanks the following day. The bad weather that hampered ground operations in Operation Typhoon from October on impeded air operations even more, but Luftflotte 2 continued to fly critical reconnaissance, interdiction, close-air support and aerial resupply missions. The intensity of attacks was evident in the number of combat operations flown: 690 on 7 October, and 537 on 10 October, and approximately 900 on 12 and 13 October. The 10 October missions resulted in claims of 450 vehicles and 150 artillery pieces destroyed. Over-confidence in victory caused the withdrawal of Kesselring's air fleet to the Mediterranean. The air corps belonging to Luftflotte 2 were sent to Germany or other sectors.
Between 22 June and 5 December 1941, the Luftwaffe lost 2,093 aircraft. Soviet sources give Red Air Force total aircraft losses as 21,200, of which at least 10,000 were destroyed in air combat. Despite the impressive statistics, on 5 December, the Red Army began a large-scale counter offensive which ended the threat to Moscow and Barbarossa. The decision to remove Kesselring's air fleet in November irretrievably weakened German air power in the Soviet Union. The air supremacy Germany enjoyed in June and July 1941 dissipated due to the strain of maintaining a presence along a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) front. Increased commitments in other theatres prevented the Luftwaffe from fielding adequate reserves to sustain prolonged periods of close air support along the Eastern Front. The Red Air Force remained a viable threat which only heightened as the war continued.
### Mediterranean and North Africa
In November 1941, Kesselring was appointed Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief South and was transferred to Italy along with his Luftflotte 2 staff, which for the time being also functioned as his Commander-in-Chief South staff. Only in January 1943 did he form his headquarters into a true theatre staff and create a separate staff to control Luftflotte 2. As a theatre commander, he was answerable directly to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and commanded ground, naval and air forces, but this was of little importance at first as most German units in the theatre were under Italian operational control.
In 1941 it was clear whoever controlled Malta held an advantage. The island sat in the middle of the Mediterranean in the path of maritime trading routes—and Maltese–based British forces had taken a heavy toll of Axis shipping. which provided a base from which British aircraft and submarines could interdict Axis convoys headed for North Africa. Without the vital supplies they carried, particularly fuel, the Axis forces in North Africa could not conduct operations. In October 1941, 63 per cent of Axis supply ships had been sunk, and in November it was 77 per cent. Periodically, Kesselring established local air superiority and neutralised Malta. Kesselring ordered attacks on the island's airfields, ports and infrastructure, along with Malta Convoys, which provided food and war materials to the island.
Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 made an immediate impact. The offensive formally opened on 20 March 1942. One third of the bombing effort was directed against airfields. Conflicting Axis priorities, insufficient forces, and concentration of force, coupled with British determination to reinforce and supply Malta, defeated Kesselring. After May 1942 the British air defences were not seriously threatened, and by August, the air battle over the island had subsided. Kesselring's air fleet flew 11,000 sorties against the island from early April to 10 May, placing the garrison and population in dire straits. Approximately 30,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 1,300 civilians were killed. The Allied losses in airmen, fighter aircraft, warships and transport ships were high. The effectiveness of the attacks brought the population to the brink of starvation. Axis shipping losses fell to 20–30 per cent.
Through suppressing Maltese–based forces, Kesselring managed to deliver an increased flow of supplies to Generaloberst Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in Libya. The Axis lost only three per cent of their seaborne supplies and the central Mediterranean was closed, once again, to Allied shipping. With his forces thus strengthened, Rommel prepared an attack on the British positions around Gazala, while Kesselring planned Operation Herkules, an airborne and seaborne attack on Malta with the Italian 185 Airborne Division Folgore and the German Ramcke Parachute Brigade. Kesselring hoped to thereby secure the Axis line of communication with North Africa.
For the Battle of Gazala, Rommel divided his command in two, taking personal command of the mobile units of the Afrika Korps and Italian XX Motorised Corps, which he led around the southern flank of Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie's British Eighth Army. Rommel left the infantry of the Italian X and XXI Corps under General der Panzertruppe Ludwig Crüwell to hold the rest of the Eighth Army in place. This command arrangement went awry on 29 May 1942 when Crüwell was shot down and he was taken prisoner. Lacking an available commander of sufficient seniority, Kesselring assumed personal command of Gruppe Crüwell, placing himself under Rommel's command even though he was the senior officer. It was the first time Kesselring had held a senior ground command, albeit a temporary one. He was able to relieve Rommel's logistical problems by pushing a supply convoy through the British minefields.
Kesselring was critical of Rommel's performance in the Battle of Bir Hakeim, a vital position held by the 1st Free French Brigade that formed the southern pivot of the British Gazala Line. Rommel called for, and Kesselring provided, air support, but the infantry assaults failed to capture the position. Kesselring attributed this to faulty coordination between the ground and air attacks. The Luftwaffe lost 14 aircraft on 3 and 4 June, and Kesselring was concerned that the Army planned to have the Luftwaffe starve the position out. After a ground assault led by Rommel in person, and air strikes by 124 Stukas and 76 Junkers Ju 88s escorted by 170 Bf 109s, Bir Hakeim was evacuated by the Free French on 10 June. For Rommel's capture of Tobruk on 21 June, Kesselring brought in additional aircraft from Greece and Crete. In June over 260 German aircraft were in North Africa, and 7,035 sorties were flown. Over 33,000 prisoners were taken when Tobruk fell. For his part in the campaign, Kesselring was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, but he lost his one-rank advantage over his subordinates; Rommel was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall on 22 June, and Ugo Cavallero became a Marshal of Italy on 1 July, followed by Ettore Bastico on 12 August.
In the wake of the victory at Tobruk, Rommel persuaded Hitler to authorise an attack on Egypt instead of Malta, over Italian and Kesselring's objections. Cavallero's diary and Generalmajor Friedrich von Mellenthin's account in Panzer Battles support this version of events, but on 24 June 1942 Bastico and Kesselring approved Rommel's request to pursue the British Eighth Army into Egypt. The Malta operation never had wholehearted support of OKW, and historians remain doubtful that it would have been successful. The parachute troops assembled for Operation Herkules were sent to Rommel. The failure to eliminate Malta was a crucial blow to Axis ambitions in North Africa. Kesselring claimed he had recognised and pressed for the elimination of Malta by invasion, and blamed Rommel, the OKW and the Italians for the failure to act.
Things went well at first, with Rommel winning the Battle of Mersa Matruh. But as Kesselring and Italian commanders argued, the logistical difficulties mounted and the result was the disastrous fighting of the First Battle of El Alamein and Battle of Alam el Halfa. When Rommel arrived at Alamein he had only 6,500 men and 85 tanks–only 1,500 of the infantry and 55 of the tanks were German.
Kesselring supported Rommel's decision to withdraw. He considered Rommel to be a great general leading fast-moving troops at the corps level of command, but felt that he was too moody and changeable for higher command. For Kesselring, Rommel's nervous breakdown and hospitalisation for depression at the end of the North African campaign only confirmed this.
Kesselring was briefly considered as a possible successor to Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel as Chief of Staff of the OKW in September 1942, with General der Panzertruppe Friedrich Paulus replacing Generaloberst Alfred Jodl as Chief of the Operations Staff at OKW. That Kesselring was considered for this appointment demonstrated the high regard in which Kesselring was held by Hitler. Nevertheless, Hitler decided that neither Kesselring nor Paulus could be spared from their current posts. In October 1942, Kesselring was given direct command of all German armed forces in the theatre except Rommel's German-Italian Panzer Army in North Africa, including General der Infanterie Enno von Rintelen, the German liaison officer at the Italian Comando Supremo. Kesselring's command also included the troops in Greece and the Balkans until the end of the year, when Hitler created another army group headquarters under Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List, naming him Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief South East.
### Tunisia
Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, precipitated a crisis in Kesselring's command. He ordered Generalleutnant Walther Nehring, the former commander of the Afrika Korps who was returning to action after recovering from wounds received at the Battle of Alam el Halfa, to proceed to Tunisia to take command of a new corps (LXXXX Corps). Kesselring ordered Nehring to establish a bridgehead in Tunisia and then to press west as far as possible so as to gain freedom to manoeuvre. By December, the Allied commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was forced to concede that Kesselring had won the race; the final phase of Torch had failed and the Axis could only be ejected from Tunisia after a prolonged struggle.
With the initiative back with the Germans and Italians, Kesselring hoped to launch an offensive that would drive the Allies out of North Africa. At the Battle of the Kasserine Pass his forces gave the Allies a beating, but in the end strong Allied resistance and a string of Axis errors stopped the advance. Kesselring now concentrated on shoring up his forces by moving the required tonnages of supplies from Italy but his efforts were frustrated by Allied aircraft and submarines. An Allied offensive in April finally broke through, leading to a collapse of the Axis position in Tunisia. Some 275,000 German and Italian troops were taken prisoner. In return, Kesselring had, however, held up the Allies in Tunisia for six months. The delay ended any prospect of an Allied invasion of Northern France in 1943, although it was not the only reason for its postponement to the middle of 1944.
The question of Tunisian Jews and their treatment by German forces has also been raised. According to one source, German forces exploited Tunisian Jews for slave labour, though no evidence has surfaced to suggest they were murdered in Africa.
By this time, Kesselring was derisively nicknamed "Smiling Albert" by the Allies, but was known as "Uncle Albert" by his troops. He was one of the most popular generals of World War II with the German rank and file. His popularity was enhanced by frequent, often unannounced, visits to the front line. Hans von Luck wrote that Kesselring was respected because he was the only senior commander to visit the front in North Africa.
### Italian campaign
#### Sicily
Kesselring expected that the Allies would next invade Sicily, as a landing could be made there under fighter cover from Tunisia and Malta. He reinforced the six coastal and four mobile Italian divisions there with two mobile German divisions, the 15th Panzergrenadier Division and the Hermann Göring Panzer Division, both rebuilt after being destroyed in Tunisia. In his memoirs, Kesselring wrote that he was well aware that while this force was large enough to stop the Allies from simply marching in, it could not withstand a large scale invasion. He therefore pinned his hopes on an immediate counterattack, which he ordered Oberst Paul Conrath of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division to carry out the moment the objective of the Allied invasion fleet was known, with or without orders from the island commander, Generale d'Armata Alfredo Guzzoni.
The Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943 was stubbornly opposed. Kesselring hoped that the Allied invasion fleet would provide good targets for U-boats, but they met with few successes. Pressure from the Allied air forces forced Luftflotte 2, commanded since June by Richthofen, to withdraw most of its aircraft to the mainland. Unaware that Guzzoni had already ordered a major counterattack on 11 July, Kesselring bypassed the chain of command to order the Hermann Göring Panzer Division to attack that day in the hope that a vigorous attack could succeed before the Americans could bring the bulk of their artillery and armoured support ashore. Although his troops gave the Americans "quite a battering", they failed to capture the Allied position.
According to Kesselring, he flew to Sicily himself on 12 July to survey the situation and decided that no more than a delaying action was possible and that the island would eventually have to be abandoned. Nonetheless, he intended to fight on, and he reinforced Sicily with the 1st Parachute Division and the 29th Panzergrenadier Division. Kesselring returned to Sicily on 16 July to confer with Guzzoni and the senior German commander, General der Panzertruppe Hans-Valentin Hube. Kesselring and Guzzoni still did not believe all was lost, and agreed not to evacuate Sicily, despite the danger of it being cut off by another Allied amphibious operation. Unable to provide much more in the way of air support, Kesselring gave Hube command of the heavy flak units on the island, although this was contrary to Luftwaffe doctrine. Generalmajor Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin late wrote that he thought that Kesselring was pursuing an "eye-catching defensive success" after the disaster in Tunisia.
Kesselring managed to delay the Allies in Sicily for another month; the Allied conquest of Sicily was not complete until 17 August. His evacuation of Sicily, which began a week earlier on 10 August, was perhaps the most brilliant action of the campaign. In spite of the Allies' superiority on land, at sea, and in the air, Kesselring was able to evacuate not only 40,000 men, but also 9,605 vehicles, 94 guns, 47 tanks, 1,100 tons of ammunition, 970 tons of fuel, and 15,000 tons of stores. He was able to achieve near-perfect coordination among the three services under his command while his opponent, Eisenhower, could not.
#### Allied invasion of Italy
With the fall of Sicily, OKW feared that Italy would withdraw from the war, but Kesselring remained confident that the Italians would continue to fight. OKW regarded Kesselring and Rintelen as too pro-Italian, and began to bypass them, sending Rommel to northern Italy, and Student to Rome, where his I Parachute Corps was under OKW orders to occupy the capital in case of Italian defection. Benito Mussolini was removed from power on 25 July 1943, and Rommel and OKW began to plan for the occupation of Italy and the disarmament of the Italian Army. Kesselring was not informed of these plans for the time being. Kesselring claimed in his memoirs that Hitler's assessment was that "Kesselring is too honest for those born traitors down there".
On the advice of Rommel and Jodl, Hitler decided that the Italian Peninsula could not be held without the assistance of the Italian Army. The plan was not to give up the whole of Italy and retreat to the Alps, but to hold the Po Valley. Kesselring was ordered to withdraw from southern Italy and consolidate his forces with Rommel's Army Group B in Northern Italy, where Rommel would assume overall command. Kesselring was slated to be posted to Norway.
For his part, Kesselring was convinced that all was well, that the Italians would continue to fight, and that there was no threat to his troops or his communications. He was appalled at the prospect of abandoning Italy, which he felt was completely unnecessary, as he was certain that Italy south of the northern Apennine Mountains could be held for six to nine months. This assessment was based on his belief that the Allies would not conduct operations outside the range of their air cover, which could only reach as far as Salerno. Kesselring submitted his resignation on 14 August 1943, but SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Italy, intervened on Kesselring's behalf with Hitler. Wolff painted Rommel as "politically unreliable", and argued that Kesselring's presence in southern Italy was vital to prevent an early Italian defection. On Wolff's advice, Hitler refused to accept Kesselring's resignation.
Italy withdrew from the war on 8 September, and the Germans executed Operation Achse, in which they disarmed Italian units. How Operation Achse played out depended on the location and the ratio of German to Italian forces, and the attitude of Italian division commanders. Kesselring immediately moved to secure Rome. He ordered the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division and 2nd Parachute Division to close on the city, while a detachment made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Italian Army staff at Monterotondo in a coup de main operation. Kesselring's two divisions were faced by five Italian divisions, including the Ariete and Centauro armoured divisions, but using bluff, negotiation, appeals to brothers in arms from the fighting in North Africa, and occasionally brute force, he managed to overcome the opposition, disperse the Italian forces and secure the city in two days.
Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in Unternehmen Eiche, a raid planned by Student and carried out by SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny on 12 September, the details of which were deliberately, though unsuccessfully, kept from Kesselring, according to his memoirs. Rommel deported Italian soldiers, except for those willing to serve in German units, to Germany for forced labour, whereas Italian units in Kesselring's area were initially disbanded and their men permitted to go home. A massacre outside his command would nonetheless have consequences for Kesselring. Foreign ministers from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were meeting in Moscow when they received the news that 100 Italian officers had been killed in the aftermath of the Battle of Kos. Appalled, they then issued the Moscow Declaration on 31 October 1943, which laid out the criteria for the punishment of crimes committed by Germany and its allies.
Italy now effectively became an occupied country, as the Germans poured in troops, although neither side accorded it that status. The Allies accorded Italy a status of "co-belligerent" rather than that of an ally, which meant that Italians could still be tried for war crimes. According to his memoirs, Kesselring blamed the Allies for the tragedy that unfolded in Italy. He felt that Hitler would have been willing to allow Italy to withdraw from the war had the Allies agreed to respect its neutrality and not use it as a base for operations against Germany.
#### Salerno
Kesselring claimed in his memoirs that his command was already "written off", but he intended to fight. Eisenhower had excellent intelligence through Ultra, the decryption of German Enigma machine signals and Japanese Purple diplomatic messages, and from the Italians themselves, and was aware of the German plans to withdraw from southern Italy. He therefore adopted a risky strategy of making a series of landings in Italy rather than concentrating his forces. Kesselring inadvertently misled him better than the best deception plan could have.
At the Battle of Salerno in September 1943, Kesselring launched a full-scale counterattack against the US Fifth Army landings there with Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff's Tenth Army. The counterattack inflicted heavy casualties on the Allies, forced them back in several areas, and, for a time, made Allied commanders contemplate evacuation. The short distance from German airfields allowed Luftflotte 2 to put 120 aircraft over the Salerno area on 11 September 1943. The German offensive ultimately failed to throw the Allies back into the sea because of the intervention of Allied naval gunfire which decimated the advancing German units, stubborn Allied resistance and the advance of the British Eighth Army. On 17 September 1943, Kesselring gave Vietinghoff permission to break off the attack and withdraw.
Kesselring had been defeated but gained precious time. Already, in defiance of his orders, he was preparing a series of successive fallback positions on the Volturno Line, the Barbara Line and the Bernhardt Line. The port of Naples was therefore denied to the Allies until October. The Apennine Mountains run along the centre of the Italian Peninsula, and therefore the rivers and gorges radiate down to the sea on both coasts. The mountains gave the Germans good observation, and allowed them to conduct a classic reverse slope defence, with the forward slopes thinly manned, but covered by machine guns with interlocking fields of fire, minefields, and in some cases deliberately flooded valleys. Allied artillery was reduced in effectiveness due to the poor observation of well-concealed German positions, and the need to fire at high angles to clear the mountain tops. The onset of wet autumn weather and inadequate road network also favoured the defence. Low cloud cover hampered observation from the air, and muddy roads slowed the delivery of ammunition and supplies to forward areas.
Only in November 1943, after a month of hard fighting, did the Allies reach Kesselring's main position, the Gustav Line. This was the narrowest part of the peninsula. Kesselring estimated that it could be held with just eleven divisions, with a couple of mobile divisions in reserve to guard against an Allied amphibious landing, whereas the position in the Northern Apennines would require up to twenty divisions. Kesselring accepted the risk of being outflanked by an amphibious landing, which he believed would be Eisenhower's best move. He was not aware that the necessary amphibious lift had been sent to the Indian Ocean for Operation Buccaneer, a landing in southern Burma, which was eventually cancelled. According to his memoirs, Kesselring felt that even more could have been accomplished if he had been given access to the troops held "uselessly" under Rommel's command.
In November 1943, Kesselring met with Hitler. Kesselring gave an optimistic assessment of the situation in Italy and gave reassurances that he could hold the Allies south of Rome on the Gustav Line. Kesselring further promised that he could prevent the Allies reaching the Northern Apennines for at least six months. As a result, on 6 November 1943, Hitler ordered Rommel and his Army Group B headquarters to move to France to take charge of the Atlantic Wall and prepare for the Allied attack that was expected there in the spring of 1944. On 21 November 1943, Kesselring resumed command of all German forces in Italy, combining Commander-in-Chief South, a joint command, with that of Army Group C, a ground command. "I had always blamed Kesselring", Hitler told a conference in August 1944, "for looking at things too optimistically ... events have proved Rommel wrong, and I have been justified in my decision to leave Field Marshal Kesselring there, whom I have seen as an incredible political idealist, but also as a military optimist, and it is my opinion that military leadership without optimism is not possible."
The Luftwaffe scored a notable success on the night of 2 December 1943 when 105 Junkers Ju 88s struck the port of Bari. Skilfully using chaff to confuse the Allied radar operators, they found the port packed with brightly lit Allied shipping. The result was the most destructive air raid on Allied shipping since the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Hits were scored on two ammunition ships and a tanker. Burning oil and exploding ammunition spread over the harbour. Some 16 ships were sunk and eight damaged, and the port was put out of action for three weeks. Moreover, one of the ships sunk, SS John Harvey, had been carrying mustard gas, which enveloped the port in a cloud of poisonous vapours.
#### Cassino and Anzio
The first Allied attempt to break through the Gustav Line in the Battle of Monte Cassino in January 1944 met with early success, with the British X Corps breaking through the line held by the 94th Infantry Division and imperilling the entire Tenth Army. Kesselring rushed his reserves, the 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions, to the Cassino front. They were able to stabilise the German position there but left Rome poorly guarded.
Kesselring wrote in his memoirs that he felt that he had been out-generalled when the Allies landed at Anzio. A few days before, he had told Jodl that he did not consider a mid-winter Allied amphibious operation likely. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, advised that it was out of the question for four to six weeks. Although taken by surprise, Kesselring moved rapidly to regain control of the situation, summoning Generaloberst Eberhard von Mackensen's Fourteenth Army headquarters and the 65th and 362nd Divisions from northern Italy, the 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions from the Cassino front, and the 26th Panzer Division from Tenth Army. OKW contributed some troops from other theatres, and by February Kesselring was able to take the offensive at Anzio. His forces were unable to crush the Allied beachhead, and in his memoirs Kesselring blamed himself, OKW and Mackensen for avoidable errors.
Meanwhile, costly fighting at Monte Cassino in February 1944, brought the Allies close to a breakthrough into the Liri Valley. To hold the bastion of Monte Cassino, Kesselring brought in the 1st Parachute Division, an "exceptionally well trained and conditioned" formation, on 26 February. Despite heavy casualties and the expenditure of enormous quantities of ammunition, an Allied offensive in March 1944 failed to break the Gustav Line position.
One disadvantage of the geography of the Italian peninsula that otherwise favoured the defence was that it constricted the German line of communication. The Allies took advantage of this with Operation Strangle, an intensive air interdiction campaign. Through Ultra they knew precisely how much tonnage was needed to support the Tenth Army at Cassino and the Fourteenth Army at Anzio. Between 15 March and 10 May 1944, US Lieutenant General Ira Eaker's Mediterranean Allied Air Forces flew 21,688 interdiction sorties, during which it dropped 25,375 short tons (23,020 t) of bombs. This left Army Group C critically short of fuel and ammunition.
On 11 May 1944 General Sir Harold Alexander, commanding the Allied Armies in Italy, launched Operation Diadem, which finally broke through the Gustav Line and forced the Tenth Army to withdraw. Due to fuel and transportation shortages, units had to be moved piecemeal. Kesselring appealed to the Kriegsmarine to move more supplies by sea, and urged his corps and division commanders to conserve ammunition. In the process, a gap opened up between the Tenth and Fourteenth Armies, threatening both with encirclement. For this failure, Kesselring relieved Mackensen of his command, replacing him with General der Panzertruppe Joachim Lemelsen.
Fortunately for the Germans, Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the U.S. Fifth Army, obsessed with the capture of Rome, failed to take advantage of the situation. Kesselring diverted troops to oppose Clark's attack, and the result was three days of bloody and fruitless American assaults, while the gap between the Tenth and Fourteenth Armies was poorly defended. In the end, it was an advance in this sector that opened the gate to Rome, and Tenth Army was able to link up with the Fourteenth Army, and conduct a fighting withdrawal to the next line of defence, the Trasimene Line. Whether Clark would have been able to trap Kesselring had he tried still remains an open question. Robert Citino noted that: "Slithering out of a trap by the skin of their teeth was just another day at the office for German commanders by 1944. In Italy, facing two Allied armies coming on from opposite directions, the Wehrmacht did it again, surviving yet another near death experience and living to fight another day."
For his part in the campaign, Kesselring was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds by Hitler at the Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg, East Prussia on 19 July 1944. The next day, Hitler was the target of the 20 July plot. Informed of this event that evening by Göring, Kesselring, like many other senior commanders, sent a telegram to Hitler reaffirming his loyalty.
#### Actions affecting population and cultural objects
Kesselring, during the campaign, as far as he was able, attempted to avoid the destruction of many artistically important Italian cities, including Rome, Florence, Siena and Orvieto. In some cases, historic bridges—such as the Ponte Vecchio—were booby trapped rather than blown up. However, other historic Florentine bridges were destroyed on his orders and, in addition to booby trapping the old bridge, he ordered the demolition of the ancient historical central borough at its two ends, in order to delay the Allied advance across the River Arno.
Kesselring supported the Italian declaration of Rome as an open city on 14 August 1943, after Rome was bombed for the first time on 19 July with over 700 civilian deaths. The unilateral declaration was never accepted by the Allies as the city remained centres of government and industry, and while the Americans supported accepting the open city status of Rome, the British remained implacably opposed. The replacement of the American Eisenhower with the British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson as theatre commander loosened restrictions at that level. As a result, Rome was bombed by the Allies many times.
For Kesselring, the open city status held many advantages, as it promised a means of quelling unrest in Rome and scored a propaganda triumph. Moreover, as Operation Strangle took its toll, trains ceased to move through Rome and German vehicle convoys routinely bypassed the city. Kesselring later wrote that when the fighting drew close to Rome in May 1944, there were considerable tactical advantages to be had from defending the Tiber bridges, but the German ambassador to the Vatican, Ernst von Weizsäcker, urged Kesselring not to do so, and Kesselring withdrew from Rome without mounting a defence there, saving the city. After the Allies occupied Rome, the open city declaration was disregarded, and they made full use of Rome for military purposes.
Kesselring tried to preserve the monastery of Monte Cassino by avoiding its military occupation even though it offered superb observation over the battlefield. Ultimately this was unsuccessful, as the Allies believed the monastery would be used to direct the German artillery against their lines. On the morning of 15 February 1944, 142 B-17 Flying Fortress, 47 B-25 Mitchell and 40 B-26 Marauder medium bombers deliberately dropped 1,150 tons of high explosives and incendiary bombs on the abbey, reducing the historic monastery to a smoking mass of rubble. Kesselring was aware that some artworks taken from Monte Cassino for safekeeping wound up in the possession of Hermann Göring. Kesselring had some German soldiers shot for looting. German authorities avoided giving the Italians control over artworks because they feared that "entire collections would be sold to Switzerland". A 1945 Allied investigation reported that Italian cultural treasures had suffered relatively little war damage. Kesselring received regular updates on efforts to preserve cultural treasures and his personal interest in the matter contributed to the high proportion of art treasures that were saved.
#### War crimes
By 24 September 1943, Herbert Kappler, the German police attaché who represented the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Rome, had learned that Heinrich Himmler wanted him to round up and deport the Jews of Rome. Kappler was concerned about a rise of anti-German sentiment among the Italian population. The German consul in Rome and then senior embassy diplomat, Eitel Friedrich Möllhausen, also learned of the order. According to writer Robert Katz, who interviewed Möllhausen in 1968, Kappler suggested that they go to Kesselring to recommend that the Jews should be used for forced labour on fortifications in Rome (as he had done with those in Tunisia). If Kesselring would agree to that solution, Kappler would consider his orders to be countermanded. In his memoirs of 1948 Möllhausen recounts that he and Kappler met with Kesselring within an hour. Upon hearing how many men Kappler would need for the roundup, Kesselring declared that he could not spare a single man, and approved of the idea of using Jewish labour.
On 9 October Möllhausen was advised that the Roman Jews were to be deported and that he had not to interfere in any way. On 16 October 1,259 Jews were rounded up in Rome, and 1,007 of them were sent to Auschwitz. Upon arrival all but 196 were immediately gassed. Only 15 survived the war. Some 6,806 Jews were arrested and deported during the German occupation of Italy, of whom 5,969 died in Nazi concentration camps. Historian Andrew Sangster argues that while Kesselring never played an active role in The Holocaust, he must have known of these crimes and his guilt lies "in his unquestioning support of Hitler who had made the Holocaust a priority."
On 22–23 March 1944, a 15-man American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Operational Group landed in inflatable boats from US Navy PT boats on the Ligurian coast as part of Operation Ginny II, a mission to blow up the entrances of two vital railway tunnels. Their boats were discovered and they were captured by a smaller group of Italian and German soldiers. On 26 March, they were executed under Hitler's "Commando Order", issued after German soldiers had been bound and shot by commandos during the Dieppe Raid and the Raid on Sark. Kesselring was in Liguria in 23 and 24 March, where he inspected the harbour defences.
In Rome on 23 March 1944, 33 policemen of the Police Regiment Bozen from the German-speaking population of the Italian province of South Tyrol and three Italian civilians were killed by a bomb blast and the subsequent shooting. In response, Hitler approved the recommendation of Mackensen, who was responsible for the sector including Rome, that ten Italians should be shot for each policeman killed. The task fell to SS Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler who, finding there were not enough condemned prisoners available, made up the numbers using Jewish prisoners and civilians taken from the streets. The result was the Ardeatine massacre.
The fall of Rome on 4 June 1944 placed Kesselring in a dangerous situation as his forces attempted to withdraw from Rome to the formidable Gothic Line north of Florence. That the Germans were especially vulnerable to Italian partisans was not lost on Alexander, who appealed in a radio broadcast for Italians to kill Germans "wherever you encounter them". Kesselring responded by authorising the "massive employment of artillery, grenade and mortars, armoured cars, flamethrowers and other technical combat equipment" against the partisans.
On 17 June, Kesselring issued a directive, "New Measures for Combating Partisans" (Bandenbekämpfung), in which he authorised measures of "utmost severity", while extolling his troops to act irrespective of "mistaken" actions they may be responsible for. The order promised indemnity to soldiers who "exceed our normal restraint in the choice of severity of the methods against the partisans". He also authorised construction of transit camps to hold suspected partisans and civilians. Three days later, Kesselring issued an order authorising reprisals against the civilian population and public executions of captured partisan leaders.
Subsequently, massacres were carried out by the Hermann Göring Panzer Division at Stia in April, Civitella in Val di Chiana in June and Bucine in July 1944, by the 26th Panzer Division at Padule di Fucecchio on 23 August 1944, and by the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS at Sant'Anna di Stazzema in August 1944 and Marzabotto in September and October 1944.
In August 1944 Kesselring was informed by Rudolf Rahn, the German ambassador to the rump Italian Social Republic (RSI), that Mussolini had filed protests about the killing of Italian citizens. In response, Kesselring rescinded his order and issued another edict to his troops on 21 August, acknowledging incidents that had "damaged the German Wehrmacht's reputation and discipline and which no longer have anything to do with reprisal operations", and launched investigations into specific cases that Mussolini cited. Between 21 July and 25 September 1944, 624 Germans were killed, 993 wounded and 872 missing in partisan operations, while some 9,520 partisans were killed. During the occupation of Italy, the Germans and their fascist allies are believed to have killed some 22,000 Italian civilians.
Throughout July and August 1944, Kesselring conducted a stubborn delaying action, gradually retreating to the Gothic Line. There, he was able to halt the Allied advance. Holding the Allies south of the Arno River for so long was another defensive success. Some partisan bands declared the area they occupied to be independent republics, including Domodossola in northern Italy on 26 September. Four days later Kesselring instructed Wolff to conduct an "anti-partisan week". By the end of October, 1,539 partisans were dead, another 1,248 were captured, 1,973 suspects had been arrested, and 2,012 had been handed over to Organisation Todt. A further blow to the partisans came from Alexander. In a radio broadcast on 13 November, he conceded that the Germans would not be driven from their positions until spring, and asked the partisans to lay down their arms until then.
Casualties of the Gothic Line battles in September and October 1944 included Kesselring himself. On 23 October 1944, his car, travelling at night under blackout conditions, collided with a towed artillery piece coming out of a side road. Kesselring suffered serious head and facial injuries. He was taken to hospital in Ferrara, and did not return to his command until January 1945.
### Central Europe
As he later wrote, after he recovered from the car accident, Kesselring was summoned by Hitler to relieve now Generalfeldmarschall Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief West on 10 March 1945, following the disastrous loss of the intact Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine during the Battle of Remagen. On arrival, he told his new staff, "Well, gentlemen, I am the new V-3", referring to the Vergeltungswaffe ("vengeance" weapons). Given the desperate situation of the Western Front, this was another sign of Kesselring's proverbial optimism. Kesselring still described Hitler's analysis of the situation as "lucid", according to which the Germans were about to inflict a historical defeat upon the Soviets, after which the victorious German armies would be brought west to crush the Allies and sweep them from the continent. Therefore, Kesselring was determined to hold in the west and await a victory in the east. Kesselring endorsed Hitler's order that deserters should be hanged from the nearest tree. When a staff officer sought to make him aware of the hopelessness of the situation, Kesselring told him that he had driven through the entire army rear area and not seen a single hanged man.
The Western Front at this time generally followed the Rhine with two important exceptions: the American bridgehead over the Rhine at Remagen, and a large German salient west of the Rhine, the Saar–Palatinate triangle. In his memoirs, Kesselring stated that he gave consideration to evacuating the triangle, but OKW ordered it held. When Kesselring paid his first visit to the German First and Seventh Army headquarters there on 13 March 1945, the army group commander, SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS Paul Hausser, and the two army commanders all affirmed the defence of the triangle could only result in heavy losses or complete annihilation of their commands. General der Infanterie Hans Felber of the Seventh Army considered the latter the most likely outcome. Nonetheless, Kesselring insisted that the positions had to be held.
The triangle was already under attack from two sides by Lieutenant General George Patton's US Third Army and Lieutenant General Alexander Patch's US Seventh Army. The German position soon crumbled and Kesselring later wrote that Hitler reluctantly sanctioned a withdrawal. The First and Seventh Armies suffered heavy losses: around 113,000 German casualties at the cost of 17,000 on the Allied side. Nonetheless, they had avoided encirclement and managed to conduct a skilful delaying action, evacuating the last troops to the east bank of the Rhine on 25 March 1945.
As Germany was cut in two, Kesselring's command was enlarged to include Army Groups Centre, South and South-East on the Eastern Front, along with Army Group C in Italy, and his own Army Group G and Army Group Upper Rhine. On 30 April, Hitler committed suicide in Berlin. The next day, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz was designated Reichspräsident) and the Flensburg government was created. One of the new president's first acts was the appointment of Kesselring as Commander-in-Chief Southern Germany, with plenipotentiary powers.
#### Chaotic surrender
Meanwhile, in Italy, Wolff and Vietinghoff, now commander of Army Group C, had almost concluded a preliminary surrender agreement with the OSS chief in Switzerland, Allen Dulles. Known as Operation Sunrise, these secret negotiations had been in progress since early March 1945. Kesselring was aware of them, having previously consented to them, although he had not informed his own staff. According to his memoirs, Kesselring did later inform Hitler. At the last minute, Kesselring had a change of heart and decided not to accept the agreement, as he felt it might imperil Army Group G. On 30 April, he relieved both Vietinghoff and his chief of staff, General der Panzertruppe Hans Röttiger, putting them at the disposition of the OKW for a possible court martial. They were replaced by General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz and Generalmajor Friedrich Wenzel respectively.
The next morning, 1 May, Röttiger reacted by placing both Schulz and Wenzel under arrest, and summoning Lemelsen to take Schulz's place. Lemelsen initially refused, as he was in possession of a written order from Kesselring which prohibited any talks with the enemy without his explicit authorisation. By this time, Vietinghoff and Wolff had concluded an armistice with Alexander, who was now a field marshal and the Allied Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Theatre. The armistice became effective at 14:00 on 2 May. Lemelsen reached Bozen, and Schulz and Wenzel regained control, this time agreeing with the officers pushing for a quick surrender. The German armies in Italy were now utterly defeated by the Allies, who were rapidly advancing from Garmisch toward Innsbruck. Kesselring remained opposed to the surrender, but was finally won over by Wolff on the late morning of 2 May after a two-hour phone call to Kesselring at his headquarters in Pullach.
North of the Alps, Army Group G followed suit on 6 May. According to his memoirs, Kesselring now decided to surrender his own headquarters. He ordered Hausser to supervise the SS troops to ensure that the surrender was carried out in accordance with his instructions. Kesselring then surrendered to an American major at Saalfelden, near Salzburg, in Austria on 9 May 1945. He was taken to see Major General Maxwell D. Taylor, the commander of the US 101st Airborne Division, who treated him courteously, allowing him to keep his weapons and field marshal's baton, and to visit the Eastern Front headquarters of Army Groups Centre and South at Zeltweg and Graz unescorted. Taylor arranged for Kesselring and his staff to move into a hotel at Berchtesgaden. Photographs of Taylor and Kesselring drinking tea together created a stir in the United States.
In his post-war memoirs, Kesselring said he envisaged making a start on the rehabilitation of Germany following the end of the war. Instead, he was arrested. On 15 May 1945, Kesselring was taken to Mondorf-les-Bains where his baton and decorations were taken from him and he was incarcerated. He was held in American POW camps before being transferred to British custody in 1946. He testified at the Nuremberg trial of Göring, but his offers to testify against Soviet, American and British commanders were declined.
## Post-war
### Trial
By the end of the war, for many Italians, the name of Kesselring, whose signature appeared on posters and printed orders announcing draconian measures adopted by the German occupation, had become synonymous with the oppression and terror that had characterised the German occupation. Kesselring's name headed the list of German officers blamed for a long series of atrocities perpetrated by the German forces.
The Moscow Declaration of October 1943 promised that "those German officers and men and members of the Nazi party who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in the above atrocities, massacres and executions will be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged and punished according to the laws of these liberated countries and of free governments which will be erected therein." However, the British, who were the driving force in moulding the war crimes trial policy that culminated in the Nuremberg trials, explicitly excluded high-ranking German officers in their custody.
The British held two major trials against the top German war criminals who had perpetrated crimes during the Italian campaign. For political reasons it was decided to hold the trials in Italy, but a request by Italy to allow an Italian judge to participate was denied on the grounds that Italy was not an Allied country. The trials were held under a royal warrant dated 18 June 1945, thus under British military law. This decision put the trials on a shaky legal basis, as foreign nationals were being tried for crimes against foreigners in a foreign country. The first trial, held in Rome, was of Mackensen and Generalleutnant Kurt Mälzer, the military commandant of Rome, for their part in the Ardeatine massacre. Both were sentenced to death on 30 November 1946.
Kesselring's own trial began in Venice on 17 February 1947. The British military court was presided over by Major General Sir Edmund Hakewill-Smith, assisted by four lieutenant colonels. Colonel Richard C. Halse—who had already obtained the death penalty for Mackensen and Mälzer—was the prosecutor. Kesselring's legal team was headed by Hans Laternser, a skilful German lawyer who specialised in Anglo-Saxon law, had represented several defendants at the Nuremberg trials, and later represented Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein. Kesselring's ability to pay his legal team was hampered because his assets had been frozen by the Allies, but his legal costs were eventually met by friends in South America and relatives in Franconia.
Kesselring was arraigned on two charges: the shooting of 335 Italians in the Ardeatine massacre, and incitement to kill Italian civilians. He did not invoke the "Nuremberg defence" (although Laternser did in his closing arguments). Rather, Kesselring maintained that the order to kill ten Italian civilians for each German soldier killed by partisans was "just and lawful". On 6 May 1947, the court found him guilty of both charges and sentenced him to death by firing squad, which was considered more honourable than hanging. Although the court accepted the legality of the taking of hostages, it left open the question of the legality of killing innocent persons in reprisals; the distinction between the two was later clarified in the High Command Trial.
The planned major trial for the campaign of reprisals never took place, but a series of smaller trials were held instead in Padua between April and June 1947 for SS-Brigadeführer Willy Tensfeld, Navy Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Krumhaar, the 26th Panzer Division's Generalleutnant Eduard Crasemann, and SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon of the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS. Tensfeld was acquitted; Crasemann was sentenced to 10 years; and Simon was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted. Simon's trial was the last held in Italy by the British. By 1949, British military tribunals had sentenced 230 Germans to death and another 447 to custodial sentences.
The only trial of German generals held by U.S. military tribunals in Italy were that of General der Infanterie Anton Dostler, the commander of the LXXV Army Corps, and Generalleutnant Kurt Mälzer. Dostler stood trial in October 1945 for the execution of the 15 members of the US 2677th Special Reconnaissance Battalion during Operation Ginny. He was found guilty and shot on 1 December 1945. Mälzer stood trial in September 1946 for parading U.S. POWs through the streets of Rome in an abusive manner. Mälzer was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, albeit he was later transferred to British custody.
Several officers, all below the rank of general, including Kappler, were transferred to the Italian courts for trial. These applied very different legal standards from the British—ones which were often more favourable to the defendants. Ironically, in view of the repeated attempts by senior Wehrmacht commanders to shift blame for atrocities onto the SS, the most senior SS commanders in Italy, Wolff and Heinrich Himmler's personal representative in Italy, SS-Standartenführer Eugen Dollmann, escaped prosecution. In 1964, after Dulles had retired as head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Wolff was convicted of genocide by a German court. He was released in 1969.
### Commutation and release from prison
The death verdict against Kesselring generated outrage in the United Kingdom, where Kesselring was viewed sympathetically by his former foes, including the former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Alexander, who sent a telegram to Prime Minister Clement Attlee in which he expressed his hope that Kesselring's sentence would be commuted. "As his old opponent on the battlefield", he stated, "I have no complaints against him. Kesselring and his soldiers fought against us hard but clean." Alexander had expressed his admiration for Kesselring as a military commander as early as 1943. In his 1961 memoirs, Alexander paid tribute to Kesselring as a commander who "showed great skill in extricating himself from the desperate situations into which his faulty intelligence had led him".
Alexander's sentiments were echoed by Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, who had commanded the British Eighth Army in the Italian Campaign. In a May 1947 interview, Leese said he was "very sad" to hear of what he considered "British victor's justice" being imposed on Kesselring, an "extremely gallant soldier who had fought his battles fairly and squarely". Churchill remarked that "Kesselring was a good general, with a competent staff" in Triumph and Tragedy, the final volume of his History of the Second World War. Lord de L'Isle, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry at Anzio, raised the issue in the House of Lords.
The Italian government refused to carry out death sentences, as the death penalty had been abolished in Italy in 1944 and was regarded as a relic of Mussolini's Fascist regime. The Italian decision was very disappointing to the British government because the trials had partly been intended to meet the expectations of the Italian public. The War Office notified Lieutenant General Sir John Harding, who had succeeded Alexander as commander of British forces in the Mediterranean in 1946, that there should be no more death sentences and those already imposed should be commuted. Accordingly, Harding commuted the death sentences imposed on Mackensen, Mälzer and Kesselring to life imprisonment on 4 July 1947. Mälzer died while still in prison in February 1952, while Mackensen, after having his sentence reduced to 21 years, was set free in October 1952.
In May 1947, Kesselring was moved from Mestre prison near Venice to Wolfsberg, Carinthia. While in Wolfsberg he was approached by a former SS major who had an escape plan prepared. According to Kesselring, he declined the offer on the grounds that it would be seen as a confession of guilt. Other senior Nazi figures did manage to escape from Wolfsberg to South America or Syria. In October 1947 he was transferred for the last time, to Werl Prison, in Westphalia.
Kesselring resumed his work on a history of the war that he was writing for the US Army Historical Division. This effort, working under the direction of Generaloberst Franz Halder in 1946, brought together a number of German generals for the purpose of producing historical studies of the war, including Gotthard Heinrici, Heinz Guderian, Lothar Rendulic, Hasso von Manteuffel and Küchler. Kesselring contributed studies of the war in Italy and North Africa and the problems faced by the German high command. Kesselring also worked secretly on his memoirs. The manuscript was smuggled out by Irmgard Horn-Kesselring, Rainer's mother, who typed it at her home.
An influential group assembled in Britain to lobby for his release from prison. Headed by Lord Hankey, the group included politicians Lord de L'Isle and Richard Stokes, Alexander and Admiral of the Fleet The Earl of Cork and Orrery, and military historians Basil Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller. Upon regaining the prime ministership in 1951, Winston Churchill, who was closely associated with the group, gave priority to the quick release of the war criminals remaining in British custody.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the release of military prisoners had become a political issue. With the establishment of West Germany in 1949, and the advent of the Cold War between the former Allies and the Soviet Union, it became inevitable that the German armed forces would be revived in some form, and there were calls for amnesty for military prisoners as a condition for German military participation in the Western Alliance. A media campaign gradually gathered steam in Germany. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung published an interview with Liny Kesselring and Stern ran a series about Kesselring and Manstein entitled "Justice, Not Clemency". The pressure on the British government was increased in 1952 when the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer made it clear that West German ratification of the European Defence Community Treaty was dependent on the release of German military figures.
In July 1952, Kesselring was diagnosed with a cancerous growth in his throat. During World War I, he had frequently smoked up to twenty cigars per day but had quit smoking in 1925. Although the British were suspicious of the diagnosis, they were concerned that he might die in prison as Mälzer did, which would be a public relations disaster. Kesselring was transferred to a hospital, under guard. In October 1952, he was released from his prison sentence on the grounds of ill-health. His release unleashed a storm of protest in Italy.
### Later life
In 1952, while still in the hospital, Kesselring accepted the honorary presidency of three veterans' organisations. The first was the Luftwaffenring, consisting of Luftwaffe veterans. The Verband deutsches Afrikakorps, the veterans' association of the Afrika Korps, soon followed. More controversial was the presidency of the right-wing veterans' association, Der Stahlhelm. The leadership of this organisation tarnished his reputation. He attempted to reform the organisation, proposing that the new German flag be flown instead of the old Imperial Flag; that the old Stahlhelm greeting Front heil! be abolished; and that members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany be allowed to join. The response from the organisation was unenthusiastic.
Kesselring's release caused outcry and indignation in the Italian Parliament. Kesselring reacted provocatively, asserting that he had saved the lives of millions of Italians by not following certain orders and that they ought to build him a monument. In response, on 4 December 1952, Piero Calamandrei, an Italian jurist, soldier, university professor, and politician, who had been a leader of the Italian resistance movement, penned an anti-fascist poem, Lapide ad ignominia ("A Monument to Ignominy"). In the poem, Calamandrei stated that if Kesselring returned he would indeed find a monument, but one stronger than stone, composed of Italian resistance fighters who "willingly took up arms, to preserve dignity, not to promote hate, and who decided to fight back against the shame and terror of the world". Calamandrei's poem appears on monuments in the towns of Cuneo, Montepulciano and Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
Kesselring's memoirs were published in 1953, as Soldat bis zum letzten Tag (A Soldier to the Last Day). The English edition was published a year later as A Soldier's Record. Kesselring's contentions that the Luftwaffe was not defeated in the air in the Battle of Britain and that Operation Sea Lion—the invasion of Britain—was thought about, but never seriously planned, were controversial. During the 1950s, in the absence of other sources, military historians often used memoirs as sources. An important flaw in his memoirs was a reluctance to criticise others, to the extent of representing decisions with which he strongly disagreed at the time as being the product of consensus.
The book sold well, but critics were cautious. While recognising his talents as a general, Die Zeit noted that Kesselring "clearly never posed himself the question: 'Where does blind obedience end and a sense of responsibility start to take effect, if not at the highest levels of command?'" Reviewing the English edition, Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., who had commanded the US 3rd Infantry Division, VI Corps and Fifth Army in Italy, reviewed the book for The New York Times. He noted the esteem in which Kesselring was held by his enemies, but also the "thread of self-justification for the indifference of himself and fellow officers to Nazi excesses." In 1955, Kesselring published a second book, Gedanken zum Zweiten Weltkrieg (Thoughts on the Second World War).
Kesselring protested what he regarded as the "unjustly smirched reputation of the German soldier". In November 1953, testifying at a war crimes trial, he warned that "there won't be any volunteers for the new German army if the German government continues to try German soldiers for acts committed in World War II". He enthusiastically supported the European Defence Community, and suggested that the "war opponents of yesterday must become the peace comrades and friends of tomorrow". On the other hand, he also declared that he found "astonishing" those who believe "that we must revise our ideas in accordance with democratic principles ... That is more than I can take."
In March 1954, Kesselring and Liny toured Austria, ostensibly as private citizens. He met with former comrades-in-arms and prison-mates, some of them former SS members, causing embarrassment to the Austrian government, which ordered his deportation. He ignored the order and completed his tour, before leaving a week later, as he had intended. His only official government service was on the Medals Commission, which was established by President Theodor Heuss. Ultimately, the commission unanimously recommended that medals should be permitted to be worn—but without the swastika. He was an expert witness for the "Generals' Trials". The Generals' Trials were trials of German citizens before German courts for crimes committed in Germany, the most prominent of which was that of Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner.
Kesselring died in a sanatorium at Bad Nauheim in West Germany, on 16 July 1960 at the age of 74, following a heart attack. He was given a quasi-military Stahlhelm funeral and buried in Bergfriedhof Cemetery in Bad Wiessee. Members of Stahlhelm acted as his pallbearers and fired a rifle volley over his grave. His former chief of staff, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, spoke for the veterans of North Africa and Italy, describing Kesselring as "a man of admirable strength of character whose care was for soldiers of all ranks". Inspekteur der Luftwaffe Josef Kammhuber spoke on behalf of the Luftwaffe and Bundeswehr, expressing the hope that Kesselring would be remembered for his earlier accomplishments rather than for his later activities. Also present were the former SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, ex-Chancellor Franz von Papen, Schörner, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Otto Remer, SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper and Rahn.
In 2000, a memorial event was held in Bad Wiessee marking the fortieth anniversary of Kesselring's death. No representatives of the Bundeswehr attended, on the grounds that Kesselring was "not worthy of being part of our tradition". Instead, two veterans groups, the Deutsche Montecassino Vereinigung (German Monte Cassino Association) and the Bund Deutscher Fallschirmjäger (Association of German Paratroopers), took on the task of remembering Kesselring. To his ageing troops, Kesselring remained a commander to be commemorated.
### Baton
Kesselring's Generalfeldmarschall's baton was seized by a private serving as a scout with the US 2nd Armored Division, the first US division to enter Berlin, in July 1945. He was ordered to search castles that had been used by high-ranking German officers and found the baton. It remained in his possession until his death in 1977, when it passed to his widow, and then to his son, who put it up for auction by Alex Cooper auctioneers in 2010. Expected to fetch between US\$10,000 and \$15,000, it was sold to a private bidder for \$731,600. |
10,128,009 | John Andrew Barnes III | 1,173,084,202 | American private first class during the Vietnam War | [
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]
| John Andrew Barnes III (April 16, 1945 – November 12, 1967) was a soldier of the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Dak To.
Adopted as a child, Barnes joined the army after graduating from Dedham High School in 1964. After serving in the Dominican Civil War and completing a tour of duty in Vietnam, he volunteered to go back to the war. During Barnes' second tour, his unit came under attack during the Battle of Dak To. Barnes was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save the lives of wounded comrades. For "conspicuous gallantry" that was "above and beyond the call of duty", Barnes received the Medal of Honor.
## Early life and education
Barnes was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 16, 1945. When he was two years old, he was adopted by John A. Barnes, Jr. and his wife, Katherine (née Hermes). Their 18-year-old daughter, Carson, was a freshman in college at the time. From a young age, Barnes expressed an interest in joining the Army.
As a child, Barnes lived in Belmont before moving to Dedham during his sophomore year of high school. He wanted to leave Dedham High School early to become a Marine aviator, but his parents talked him into finishing. He graduated in 1964. Barnes was described by his sister as "an average student, quiet, and shy," as well as "very dedicated, very patriotic." While in high school, Barnes served in the Civil Air Patrol and drilled at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station.
## Career
Shortly after graduating from Dedham High School, Barnes enlisted in the United States Army and went through basic training at Fort Pickett. Carson was surprised that Barnes enlisted so soon after graduation, but said that he "felt determined that it was the right thing to do." Barnes also trained at the engineering school at Fort Benning. He served for a year in Santo Domingo during the Dominican Civil War.
### Vietnam War
Barnes was dispatched to Vietnam as part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade on May 31, 1966, during the Vietnam War. Serving in Company C of the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, he was assigned as a grenadier. Soldiers of the brigade became involved in Operation Attleboro in fall of 1966, an operation that started out as a small search and destroy mission north of Saigon but eventually involved 22,000 troops from 21 battalions. After serving a single tour, Barnes was sent home, but volunteered to return to Vietnam and was sent back in the fall of 1967. According to Carson, his mother was very upset that he had volunteered to go back.
On November 12, 1967, while patrolling in Dak To District of Kon Tum Province during the Battle of Dak To, Barnes' unit was attacked by a North Vietnamese battalion. During the battle, Barnes manned a machine gun that had lost its crew to enemy fire and was credited with nine enemy kills. While retrieving more ammunition, Barnes dived on top of a grenade that had landed among American wounded in order to use his body to protect them from the blast. The grenade exploded, killing Barnes.
### Medal of Honor
The commanding officer of Task Force Black, Captain Thomas McElwain, and Lt. Col. David J. Schumacher later clashed over McElwain's recommendation for a decoration for Barnes. Schumacher refused to endorse the recommendation, stating that he did not think medals were for "men who committed suicide."
Two years later, Barnes was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. His parents accepted the award on his behalf from Spiro Agnew in the Vice President's executive office in Washington, D.C. Carson and her husband, James Fleming, and the oldest four of their seven children also attended. The ceremony also honored Fr. Charles J. Watters and Robert F. Stryker.
Barnes was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and several other medals.
#### Citation
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, First Battalion, 503d Infantry 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and date: Dak To, Republic of Vietnam, November 12, 1967. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Born: April 16, 1945, Boston, Mass.
## Legacy
Barnes was buried in Brookdale Cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts. His name is inscribed on Panel 29E – Row 084 of the Vietnam War Memorial. Carson Barnes Fleming believed that the distress of the loss of Barnes contributed to the deaths of their parents in the years that followed.
Within hours of learning that Barnes was to be awarded the Medal of Honor, a Blue Ribbon Commission was established by the Town of Dedham to make plans for a "John A. Barnes Memorial Day." The Dedham High School class of 1968 established a scholarship in his name. On April 19, 1970, The Town of Dedham rededicated Memorial Field as John A. Barnes III Memorial Park. At the ceremony, dignitaries, V.F.W. members from dozens of towns, and local marching bands proceeded to the intersection of East Street and Eastern Ave., where a marble monument was unveiled in Barnes' honor. Among the speakers that day was Congressman James A. Burke.
A building used by the United States Navy, located at 495 Summer Street in Boston, was renovated and renamed for Barnes. The street sign on Colwell Drive also now indicates that Barnes lived there.
## See also
- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Vietnam War |
42,003,757 | Ryan Arcidiacono | 1,164,395,881 | Italian-American basketball player | [
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"Windy City Bulls players"
]
| Ryan Curran Arcidiacono (/ˌɑːrtʃiːdiˈɑːkənoʊ/ AR-chee-dee-AH-kə-noh; born March 26, 1994) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Arch of Dimes", he has represented Italy in international competition. He attended Neshaminy High School, where he averaged 20.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior to lead Neshaminy to the PIAA playoffs.
As a freshman at Villanova, Arcidiacono was named to the Big East Conference All-Rookie Team. As a junior, he was co-winner of the conference's Player of the Year award. As part of Villanova's 2016 national championship team, Arcidiacono was awarded the Most Outstanding Player award and assisted on the game-winning basket to Kris Jenkins as time expired in the championship game.
## Early life
Arcidiacono was born on March 26, 1994, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has three older siblings, Sabrina, Nicole, Michael; and younger twin siblings, Christopher and Courtney. His parents, Joe and Patti Arcidiacono, met at Villanova University, where Joe was an offensive lineman on the football team.
His father installed a 6-foot plastic hoop in the family living room. Young Arcidiacono would often practice shooting jump shots and hitting layups on the small hoop before progressing to an actual basketball court. At one AAU game, Arcidiacono scored 50 points. At another, he hit eight three-pointers in a row. When he was in 7th grade at a basketball camp, Villanova coach Jay Wright said he would one day play for the Wildcats. Growing up, his favorite athletes were the 76ers' Allen Iverson and the Eagles' Brian Dawkins. In eighth grade, Arcidiacono trained with former Penn State player Ben Luber.
## High school career
Arcidiacono attended Neshaminy High School, where he was coached by Jerry Devine. Arcidiacono led the team to a PIAA Class AAAA tournament as a sophomore. In a playoff game against Bartram High School, he tallied a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. He averaged 18 points per game and was named to the Class AAAA second team. At the end of his sophomore season, Arcidiacono travelled with his AAU team, the PA Playaz, to North Carolina for the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. In the first game of the tournament, he crashed into the floor face-first, an injury that required eight stitches. Despite the advice of doctors, he decided to play in the following game, and responded with 35 points. He continued to score at the same pace for the remainder of the tournament, and major college programs took notice. Arcidiacono received recruiting offers from Syracuse, Florida, Texas, and Villanova, among others. In October 2010, after attending Villanova's Hoops Mania event, he committed to play for the Villanova Wildcats.
As a junior, Arcidiacono guided Neshaminy to a 22–7 record while averaging 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.2 steals. He surpassed the 1,000 point mark in a game against Pennsbury, scoring 29 points in an 83–52 win.
The Neshaminy Redskins reached the state quarterfinals in 2011 before losing to Penn Wood. At the conclusion of his junior season, he was named the Bucks County Courier Times player of the year. The Philadelphia Inquirer selected him to the first-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania.
He began to feel pain in his lower back shortly after the end of his junior season. In May 2011, while attending a basketball camp at the Deron Williams Academy in Chicago, Arcidiacono complained of poor mobility and soreness. He was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back, forcing him to miss his senior season. Arcidiacono had surgery to repair the disk on December 21, and he could not leave his house for two weeks thereafter. Arcidiacono finished his career at Neshaminy High School as the program's all-time leading scorer. He tallied 1,498 points, 449 rebounds, 378 assists, 178 steals, and 160 three-pointers. Despite missing the season, ESPNU ranked him among the top 50 seniors in the country.
## College career
### Freshman season (2012–2013)
Arcidiacono began his freshman season not fully recovered from his back injury. He made his college debut scoring 11 points against the University of the District of Columbia. In the following game against Marshall, Arcidiacono became the first Wildcat freshman to score 25 points since Scottie Reynolds.
Arcidiacono garnered his first Big East rookie of the week honors on November 18, after an 18-point six-assist performance in an overtime win against Purdue. He was again named Big East rookie of the week on December 31 after a 17-point performance against NJIT. He had a career-high 32 points on January 2, 2013, to propel Villanova to a 98–86 overtime victory over St. John's. This performance earned Arcidiacono Big East rookie of the week honors for the week of January 6. In the January 26 contest against third-ranked Syracuse, Arcidiacono made a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 61. The Wildcats ended up defeating Syracuse in overtime 75–71. Arcidiacono earned his fourth rookie of the week honors in the last week of the regular season.
Led by Arcidiacono, Villanova enjoyed a 20–14 season and reached the NCAA tournament where they were seeded ninth and matched up with eight seed North Carolina in the first round. Arcidiacono had 10 points, but his Wildcats lost to the Tar Heels 78–71. He posted averages of 11.9 points, 3.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game. Arcidiacono started all 34 games and played an average of 34.0 minutes per game, which led the team. He was named Philadelphia Big 5 rookie of the year and was selected to the Big East All-Rookie team.
### Sophomore season (2013–2014)
Going into his sophomore campaign, Arcidiacono focused on improving his footwork and shooting mechanics. Arcidiacono hit a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left in a November 29 matchup against Kansas despite not making a shot until that point. The Wildcats held on to upset the second-ranked Jayhawks 63–59. Arcidiacono had his first double-double with 20 points and 11 assists in a 94–85 overtime win over Marquette on January 25, 2014. He recorded a season-high 21 points in the February 18 game against Providence. With 3.1 seconds left in double overtime, Arcidiacono completed a three-point play to help the Wildcats to an 82–79 victory.
He was an honorable mention all-Big East selection at the conclusion of the regular season. He joined teammate Darrun Hilliard on the All-Big 5 Second Team. He posted averages of 9.9 points, 3.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds per contest. Arcidiacono started 33 games and played an average of 31.1 minutes per game, leading the team.
### Junior season (2014–2015)
Arcidiacono was selected to the preseason second team All-Big East. In its preseason top 100 college basketball player rankings, ESPN ranked Arcidiacono \#84. Arcidiacono was named to the 36-man Bob Cousy Award preseason watch list. On November 14, Arcidiacono scored 16 points in his season debut, a 77–66 victory over Lehigh. He had 10 points in an 80–54 victory over Seton Hall on February 17, 2015, and received a hit on the nose from the forearm of Seton Hall guard Sterling Gibbs, who was suspended and subsequently apologized. On March 3, Arcidiacono scored 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer, in a 76–72 win over Creighton. In the semifinals of the Big East tournament, Villanova defeated Providence 63–61 after Arcidiacono hit a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining.
After overcoming a nagging right wrist injury in December, Arcidiacono averaged 12.9 points and 3.6 assists and made 45.5 percent of his attempts from the floor and 44.4 percent from the three-point arc in Big East conference play. He shared Big East Player of the Year honors with Providence guard Kris Dunn, feeling "kind of shocked" about the selection. Arcidiacono was a 2014–15 Men's All-District II Team selection by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He was named to the Second Team All-District V by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He was named to the All-Big 5 First Team.
### Senior season (2015–2016)
Going into his senior year at Villanova, Arcidiacono was named to the Preseason First Team All-Big East. He was listed on the Oscar Robertson Award preseason watchlist as well as the Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist. In his season debut, a 91–54 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on November 13, Arcidiacono had 12 points. On December 31, in a 95–64 victory over sixth-ranked Xavier, he connected on seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points.
He was named one of the ten finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. At the conclusion of the regular season, Arcidiacono was selected to the Second Team All-Big East. Arcidiacono helped lead Villanova to the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship, where he had the game-winning assist to Kris Jenkins in the title game against North Carolina, and was named Most Outstanding Player for his performance. Arcidiacono averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a senior, shooting 39.4 percent from three-point range.
On February 12, 2020, he had his number 15 jersey retired at Villanova.
## Professional career
### Austin Spurs (2016–2017)
After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Arcidiacono joined the San Antonio Spurs for the 2016 NBA Summer League. On July 14, 2016, he signed with the Spurs, but was waived on October 22 after appearing in three preseason games. Seven days later, he was acquired by the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League as an affiliate of San Antonio.
For the 2017–18 season, Arcidiacono originally signed with the Italian team Juvecaserta Basket. However, on July 14, 2017, it was announced that Juvecaserta would not be accepted in Serie A, as it was rejected by Com.Tec. (Commission of control on the companies' financial statements). As a result, he voided the contract with the Italian company.
### Chicago Bulls (2017–2021)
On July 25, 2017, Arcidiacono signed a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls, the team he played with the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas As a result, he would split time between Chicago and their G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls throughout the season, with Arcidiacono spending most of his time out in the Windy City. He also became the first player in franchise history to sign a two-way deal. After playing sparingly with Chicago, Arcidiacono averaged 13.8 points, 5 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game with Windy City. He posted 7.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and four assists per game in the 2018 NBA Summer League with Chicago.
On July 31, 2018, Arcidiacono signed a standard contract with the Bulls. On October 18, he recorded eight points, four rebounds and a career-high eight assists in the season-opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. With three starters injured early in the season, he started to see an increase in playing time. On November 26, 2018, Arcidiacono scored a career-high 22 points with four rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 107–108 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
On July 2, 2019, Arcidiacono signed a three-year contract with the Bulls.
### Maine Celtics (2021–2022)
On September 28, 2021, Arcidiacono signed with the Boston Celtics. However, he was waived on October 16. On October 23, he signed with the Maine Celtics as an affiliate player. On January 6, 2022, Arcidiacono signed a 10-day contract with the New York Knicks. On January 13, without appearing in a game, Arcidiacono was waived by the Knicks. On January 19, Arcidiacono signed a standard 10-day contract with the team, but didn't play a game for them again. On January 31, 2022, Arcidiacono was reacquired by the Maine Celtics.
### New York Knicks (2022–2023)
On February 13, Arcidiacono was signed by the New York Knicks for the rest of the 2021–22 season.
On September 17, 2022, Arcidiacono re-signed with the Knicks.
### Portland Trail Blazers (2023)
On February 9, 2023, Arcidiacono was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in a four-team trade involving the Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers. On April 1, he was waived by the Trail Blazers.
## National team career
In June 2012, Arcidiacono was called up to the United States national under-18 team. In June 2013, he was called up as one of the candidates to join the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship.
In May 2015, he was selected to play for the Italian "experimental" national team in international friendly tournaments. However, he was unable to represent Italy in official competition, as his claim to Italian citizenship by Jus sanguinis was denied on the grounds that one of his ancestors had previously renounced it.
## Career statistics
### NBA
#### Regular season
\|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2017–18 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Chicago \| 24 \|\| 0 \|\| 12.7 \|\| .415 \|\| .290 \|\| .833 \|\| 1.0 \|\| 1.5 \|\| .5 \|\| .0 \|\| 2.0 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2018–19 \| style="text-align:left;"\| Chicago \| 81 \|\| 32 \|\| 24.2 \|\| .447 \|\| .373 \|\| .873 \|\| 2.7 \|\| 3.3 \|\| .8 \|\| .0 \|\| 6.7 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2019–20 \| style="text-align:left;"\| Chicago \| 58 \|\| 4 \|\| 16.0 \|\| .409 \|\| .391 \|\| .711 \|\| 1.9 \|\| 1.7 \|\| .5 \|\| .1 \|\| 4.5 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2020–21 \| style="text-align:left;"\| Chicago \| 44 \|\| 0 \|\| 10.2 \|\| .419 \|\| .373 \|\| .650 \|\| 1.5 \|\| 1.3 \|\| .2 \|\| .0 \|\| 3.1 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2021–22 \| style="text-align:left;"\| New York \| 10 \|\| 0 \|\| 7.6 \|\| .500 \|\| .444 \|\| \|\| .8 \|\| .4 \|\| .1 \|\| .0 \|\| 1.6 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2022–23 \| style="text-align:left;"\| New York \| 11 \|\| 0 \|\| 2.4 \|\| .200 \|\| .333 \|\| \|\| .4 \|\| .2 \|\| .2 \|\| .0 \|\| .3 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\| 2022–23 \| style="text-align:left;"\| Portland \| 9 \|\| 4 \|\| 16.2 \|\| .250 \|\| .350 \|\| \|\| 1.2 \|\| 2.3 \|\| .3 \|\| .0 \|\| 2.6 \|- class="sortbottom" \| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\|Career \| 237 \|\| 40 \|\| 16.4 \|\| .424 \|\| .373 \|\| .807 \|\| 1.9 \|\| 2.0 \|\| .5 \|\| .0 \|\| 4.4
### College
\|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2012–13 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Villanova \| 34 \|\| 34 \|\| 34.1 \|\| .380 \|\| .327 \|\| .824 \|\| 2.1 \|\| 3.5 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .0 \|\| 11.9 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2013–14 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Villanova \| 34 \|\| 33 \|\| 31.1 \|\| .395 \|\| .345 \|\| .703 \|\| 2.4 \|\| 3.5 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .0 \|\| 9.9 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2014–15 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Villanova \| 36 \|\| 36 \|\| 30.4 \|\| .394 \|\| .372 \|\| .813 \|\| 1.7 \|\| 3.6 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .1 \|\| 10.1 \|- \| style="text-align:left;"\|2015–16 \| style="text-align:left;"\|Villanova \| 40 \|\| 40 \|\| 32.1 \|\| .500 \|\| .394 \|\| .836 \|\| 2.9 \|\| 4.2 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .0 \|\| 12.5 \|- class="sortbottom" \| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"\|Career \| 144 \|\| 143 \|\| 31.9 \|\| .397 \|\| .358 \|\| .800 \|\| 2.3 \|\| 3.7 \|\| 1.1 \|\| .0 \|\| 11.1 |
3,298,595 | Carcinus maenas | 1,167,037,444 | Species of crab | [
"Crustaceans described in 1758",
"Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean",
"Portunoidea",
"Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus"
]
| Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab. It is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab, or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name European green crab.
C. maenas is a widespread invasive species, listed among the 100 "world's worst alien invasive species". It is native to the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, but has colonised similar habitats in Australia, South Africa, South America and both Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America. It grows to a carapace width of 90 mm (3+1⁄2 in), and feeds on a variety of mollusks, worms, and small crustaceans, potentially affecting a number of fisheries. Its successful dispersal has occurred by a variety of mechanisms, such as on ships' hulls, sea planes, packing materials, and bivalves moved for aquaculture.
## Description
C. maenas has a carapace up to 60 mm (2.4 in) long and 90 mm (3.5 in) wide, but can be larger outside its native range, reaching 100 mm (3.9 in) wide in British Columbia. The carapace has five short teeth along the rim behind each eye, and three undulations between the eyes. The undulations, which protrude beyond the eyes, are the simplest means of distinguishing C. maenas from the closely related C. aestuarii, which can also be an invasive species. In C. aestuarii, the carapace lacks any bumps and extends forward beyond the eyes. Another characteristic for distinguishing the two species is the form of the first and second pleopods (collectively the gonopods), which are straight and parallel in C. aestuarii, but curve outwards in C. maenas.
The colour of C. maenas varies greatly, from green to brown, grey, or red. This variation has a genetic component, but is largely due to local environmental factors. In particular, individuals which delay moulting become red-coloured rather than green. Red individuals are stronger and more aggressive, but are less tolerant of environmental stresses, such as low salinity or hypoxia. Juvenile crabs on average display greater patterning than adults.
## Native and introduced range
C. maenas is native to European and North African coasts as far as the Baltic Sea in the east, and Iceland and Central Norway in the north, and is one of the most common crabs throughout much of its range. In the Mediterranean Sea, it is replaced by the closely related species C. aestuarii.
C. maenas was first observed on the east coast of North America in Massachusetts in 1817, and may now be found from South Carolina northwards; by 2007, this species had extended its range northwards to Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. In 1989, the species was found in San Francisco Bay, California, on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Until 1993, it was not able to extend its range, but reached Oregon in 1997, Washington in 1998, and British Columbia in 1999, thus extending its range by 750 km (470 mi) in 10 years. As of December 2020 they were just south of Alaska, and were expected to enter Alaska next. By 2003, C. maenas had extended to South America with specimens discovered in Patagonia.
In Australia, C. maenas was first reported "in the late 1800s" in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, although the species was probably introduced as early as the 1850s. It has since spread along the south-eastern and south-western seaboards, reaching New South Wales in 1971, South Australia in 1976 and Tasmania in 1993. One specimen was found in Western Australia in 1965, but no further discoveries have been reported in the area since.
C. maenas first reached South Africa in 1983, in the Table Docks area near Cape Town. Since then, it has spread at least as far as Saldanha Bay in the north and Camps Bay in the south, over 100 km (62 mi) apart.
Appearances of C. maenas have been recorded in Brazil, Panama, Hawaii, Madagascar, the Red Sea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar; however, these have not resulted in invasions, but remain isolated findings. Japan has been invaded by a related crab, either C. aestuarii or a hybrid of C. aestuarii and C. maenas.
Based on the ecological conditions, C. maenas could eventually extend its range to colonise the Pacific Coast of North America from Baja California to Alaska. Similar ecological conditions are to be found on many of the world's coasts, with the only large potential area not to have been invaded yet being New Zealand; the New Zealand government has taken action, including the release of a Marine Pest Guide in an effort to prevent colonisation by C. maenas.
In 2019 C. maenas was first found in Lummi Bay, Lummi Indian Reservation, Whatcom County, Washington, USA. The Nation began trapping and removing the crabs in an effort to get rid of them. Then in 2020 hundreds were found in traps, and it became clear that more intensive trapping will be necessary to keep their numbers down. Eradication will not be possible.
Over a 19-year study concluding in 2020, Oregon's Coos Bay was found to have an established and increasing population.
While in 2020 less than 3,000 were trapped, trapping yielded \>79,000 in 2021. This led the Lummi Indian Business Council to declare a disaster in November 2021 and the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to request emergency funding from the Governor.
## Ecology
C. maenas can live in all types of protected and semiprotected marine and estuarine habitats, including those with mud, sand, or rock substrates, submerged aquatic vegetation, and emergent marsh, although soft bottoms are preferred. C. maenas is euryhaline, meaning that it can tolerate a wide range of salinities (from 4 to 52 ‰), and survive in temperatures of 0 to 30 °C (32 to 86 °F). The wide salinity range allows C. maenas to survive in the lower salinities found in estuaries, and the wide temperature range allows it to survive in extremely cold climates beneath the ice in winter. A molecular biological study using the COI gene found genetic differentiation between the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay, and even more strongly between the populations in Iceland and the Faroe Islands and those elsewhere. This suggests that C. maenas is unable to cross deeper water.
Females can produce up to 185,000 eggs, and larvae develop offshore in several stages before their final moult to juvenile crabs in the intertidal zone. Young crabs live among seaweeds and seagrasses, such as Posidonia oceanica, until they reach adulthood.
C. maenas has the ability to disperse by a variety of mechanisms, including ballast water, ships' hulls, packing materials (seaweeds) used to ship live marine organisms, bivalves moved for aquaculture, rafting, migration of crab larvae on ocean currents, and the movement of submerged aquatic vegetation for coastal zone management initiatives. C. maenas dispersed in Australia mainly by rare long-distance events, possibly caused by human actions.
C. maenas is a predator, feeding on many organisms, particularly bivalve molluscs (such as clams – up to 40 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) clams per day, oysters, and mussels), polychaetes, and small crustaceans – including other crabs up to their own size. They are primarily diurnal, although activity also depends on the tide, and crabs can be active at any time of day. In California, preferential predation of C. maenas on native clams (Nutricola spp.) resulted in the decline of the native clams and an increase of a previously introduced clam (the amethyst gem clam, Gemma gemma), although C. maenas also voraciously preys on introduced clams such as Potamocorbula amurensis. The soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria) is a preferred prey species of C. maenas. Consequently, it has been implicated in the destruction of the soft-shell clam fisheries on the east coast of the United States and Canada, and the reduction of populations of other commercially important bivalves (such as scallops, Argopecten irradians, and northern quahogs, Mercenaria mercenaria). The prey of C. maenas includes the young of bivalves and fish, although the effect of its predation on winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus is minimal. C. maenas can, however, have substantial negative impacts on local commercial and recreational fisheries, by preying on the young of species, such as oysters (adults' shells are too tough for C. maenas to crack) and the Dungeness crab, or competing with them for resources Colder water temperatures reduce overall feeding rates of C. maenas. and eating the Zostera marina that Dungeness and juvenile salmon depend upon for habitat.
To protect itself against predators, C. maenas uses different camouflage strategies depending on their habitat: crabs in mudflats try to resemble their surroundings with colours similar to the mud while crabs in rock pool use disruptive coloration.
## Control
Due to its potentially harmful effects on ecosystems, various efforts have been made to control introduced populations of C. maenas around the world. In Edgartown, Massachusetts, a bounty was levied in 1995 for catching C. maenas, to protect local shellfish, and 10 tons were caught.
Some evidence shows that the native blue crab in eastern North America, Callinectes sapidus, is able to control populations of C. maenas; numbers of the two species are negatively correlated, and C. maenas is not found in the Chesapeake Bay, where C. sapidus is most frequent. On the west coast of North America, C. maenas appears to be limited to upper estuarine habitats, in part because of predation by native rock crabs (Romaleon antennarium and Cancer productus) and competition for shelter with a native shore crab, Hemigrapsus oregonensis. Host specificity testing has recently been conducted on Sacculina carcini, a parasitic barnacle, as a potential biological control agent of C. maenas. In the laboratory, Sacculina settled on, infected, and killed native California crabs, including the Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister (formerly Cancer magister), and the shore crabs Hemigrapsus nudus, Hemigrapsus oregonensis and Pachygrapsus crassipes. Dungeness crabs were the most vulnerable of the tested native species to settlement and infection by the parasite. Although Sacculina did not mature in any of the native crabs, developing reproductive sacs were observed inside a few M. magister and H. oregonensis crabs. Any potential benefits of using Sacculina to control C. maenas on the west coast of North America would need to be weighed against these potential nontarget impacts.
### Use as a food
In its native range, European green crab is mostly used as an ingredient in soups and sauces. However, the closely related Mediterranean green crab (C. aestuarii) has a thriving culinary market in Italy where fishermen known as moecante cultivate soft-shell green crabs (moeche in Venetian, moleche in Italian) and sell hard-shell crabs for their roe (masinette). Several groups in New England have successfully adapted these methods to produce soft-shell green crabs from the invasive species.
In New England where invasive green crab populations are high, various groups have looked into utilizing green crabs in cuisine. In 2019, The Green Crab Cookbook was released and included recipes for soft-shell green crab, green crab roe, green crab stock, and green crab meat. One of the book's co-authors went on to found Greencrab.org, an organization dedicated to developing culinary markets for the invasive green crab. In addition to partnering with local chefs and wholesalers for supply chain development and market studies, Greencrab.org has continued to develop green crab recipes and processing techniques.
Researchers at the University of Maine have actively been developing value-added green crab products, with the goals of driving business interest, stimulating a commercial green crab fishery, and alleviating predation effects. Specifically, one study evaluated the consumer acceptability of empanadas (fried, stuffed pastries) which contained varying amounts of green crab mince meat. The empanadas were rated between "like slightly" and "like moderately" for overall acceptability by a consumer panel (n=87). Furthermore, about two-thirds of the panelists would "probably" or "definitely" buy the empanadas if available locally. Additionally, the same researchers developed a patty product made from green crab mince meat using restructuring additives (transglutaminase, dried egg white, isolated soy protein). Although a successful green crab patty was developed, the restructuring additives may have had greater functionality in a raw crab meat system, as opposed to the fully cooked mince that was used in the present study. The results from both studies are considered promising, especially considering that these were initial rounds of green crab product development.
In the past, Legal Sea Foods, an East Coast restaurant chain, experimented with green crabs, creating a green crab stock in their test kitchen during the winter of 2015. In June 2022 Tamworth Distilling, a New Hampshire distillery, teamed up with the University of New Hampshire's NH Green Crab Project to develop House of Tamworth Crab Trapper, which is billed as being "made with a bourbon base steeped with a custom crab, corn and spice blend mixture".
## Fishery
C. maenas is fished on a small scale in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, with about 1200 tonnes being caught annually, mostly in France and the United Kingdom. In the northwest Atlantic, C. maenas was the subject of fishery in the 1960s, and again since 1996, with up to 86 tonnes being caught annually.
## Taxonomic history
Carcinus maenas was first given a binomial name, Cancer maenas, by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. An earlier description was published by Georg Eberhard Rumphius in his 1705 work De Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, calling the species Cancer marinus sulcatus, but this antedates the starting point for zoological nomenclature. A number of later synonyms have also been published:
- Monoculus taurus Slabber, 1778
- Cancer granarius Herbst, 1783
- Cancer viridis Herbst, 1783
- Cancer pygmaeus Fabricius, 1787
- Cancer rhomboidalis Montagu, 1804
- Cancer granulatus Nicholls, 1943
- Megalopa montagui Leach, 1817
- Portunus menoides Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1817
- Portunus carcinoides Kinahan, 1857
The lectotype chosen for the species came from Marstrand, Sweden, but it is assumed to have been lost. In 1814, writing for The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, William Elford Leach erected a new genus, Carcinus to hold this species alone (making it the type species of the genus, by monotypy). In 1847, Nardo described a distinct subspecies occurring in the Mediterranean Sea, which is now recognised as a distinct species, Carcinus aestuarii.
## Neurochemistry
Particular amino acids in particular signaling peptides of C. maenas are protonated by pH changes currently (as of 2020) occurring or likely to be reached in the course of future climate change. This significantly alters peptide structure and peptide-mediated behaviours (brood care and egg ventilation requiring \~10x the normal peptide concentration). The requirement of higher concentration may be due to lowered binding affinity in the sensory epithelium. This effect is very reversible.
## Physiochemistry
The usual decrease in extracellular chloride due to increased extracellular bicarbonate is avoided if C. maenas is first acclimated to the increased <sub>p</sub>CO<sub>2</sub>. While this may be due to the already-high extracellular chloride levels in this species, it may instead be because moderately higher <sub>p</sub>CO<sub>2</sub> increases these levels through some unrelated mechanism.
Changes in pH due to sodium and magnesium can alter extracellular iron concentrations.
## See also |
88,833 | Olivia de Havilland | 1,173,483,195 | British and American actress (1916–2020) | [
"1916 births",
"2020 deaths",
"20th-century American actresses",
"20th-century English actresses",
"20th-century French women",
"21st-century American women",
"Actresses awarded damehoods",
"Actresses from Paris",
"Actresses from Tokyo",
"Actresses from the San Francisco Bay Area",
"American Episcopalians",
"American anti-communists",
"American centenarians",
"American emigrants to France",
"American expatriate actresses in France",
"American film actresses",
"American people of Guernsey descent",
"American radio actresses",
"Best Actress Academy Award winners",
"Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners",
"Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners",
"British people of Guernsey descent",
"Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire",
"De Havilland family",
"English centenarians",
"English emigrants to France",
"English emigrants to the United States",
"English film actresses",
"English radio actresses",
"French centenarians",
"Knights of the Legion of Honour",
"Paramount Pictures contract players",
"People from Los Feliz, Los Angeles",
"People from Saratoga, California",
"People with acquired American citizenship",
"People with acquired French citizenship",
"United States National Medal of Arts recipients",
"Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners",
"Warner Bros. contract players",
"Western (genre) film actresses",
"Women centenarians"
]
| Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland DBE (/də ˈhævɪlənd/; July 1, 1916 – July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. At the time of her death in 2020 at age 104, she was the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner and was widely considered as being the last surviving major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Her younger sister was Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine.
De Havilland first came to prominence with Errol Flynn as a screen couple in adventure films such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). One of her best-known roles is that of Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which she received her first of five Oscar nominations, the only one for Best Supporting Actress. De Havilland departed from ingénue roles in the 1940s and later distinguished herself for performances in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949), receiving nominations for Best Actress for each and winning for To Each His Own and The Heiress. She was also successful in work on stage and television. De Havilland lived in Paris from the 1950s and received honours such as the National Medal of the Arts, the Légion d'honneur, and the appointment to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the age of 101.
In addition to her film career, de Havilland continued her work in the theatre, appearing three times on Broadway, in Romeo and Juliet (1951), Candida (1952), and A Gift of Time (1962). She also worked in television, appearing in the successful miniseries Roots: The Next Generations (1979) and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Movie or Series. During her film career, de Havilland also collected two New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup. For her contributions to the motion picture industry, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She and her sister remain the only siblings to have won major acting Academy Awards.
## Early life
By birth, Olivia was a member of the de Havilland family, which belonged to landed gentry that originated from mainland Normandy. Her mother, Lilian Fontaine (née Ruse; 1886–1975), was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a stage actress. Lilian also sang with the Master of the King's Music, Sir Walter Parratt, and toured the United Kingdom with the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Olivia's father, Walter de Havilland (1872–1968), served as an English professor at the Imperial University in Tokyo City before becoming a patent attorney. Her paternal cousin was Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882–1965), an aircraft designer and founder of the de Havilland aircraft company.
Lilian and Walter met in Japan in 1913 and married the following year; the marriage was not a happy one, owing in part to Walter's infidelities. Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916. They moved into a large house in Tokyo City, where Lilian gave informal singing recitals. Olivia's younger sister Joan (Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland)later known as actress Joan Fontainewas born 15 months later, on October 22, 1917. Both sisters became British subjects automatically by birthright.
In February 1919, Lilian persuaded her husband to take the family back to the United Kingdom for a climate better suited to their ailing daughters. They sailed aboard the SS Siberia Maru to San Francisco, where the family stopped to treat Olivia's tonsillitis. After Joan developed pneumonia, Lilian decided to remain with her daughters in California, where they eventually settled in the village of Saratoga, 50 miles (80 km) south of San Francisco. Her father abandoned the family and returned to his Japanese housekeeper, who eventually became his second wife.
Olivia was raised to appreciate the arts, beginning with ballet lessons at the age of four and piano lessons a year later. She learned to read before she was six, and her mother, who occasionally taught drama, music, and elocution, had her recite passages from Shakespeare to strengthen her diction. During this period, her younger sister Joan first started calling her "Livvie", a nickname that would last throughout her life. De Havilland entered Saratoga Grammar School in 1922 and did well in her studies. She enjoyed reading, writing poetry, and drawing, and once represented her grammar school in a county spelling bee, coming in second place. In 1923, Lilian had a new Tudor-style house built, where the family resided until the early 1930s. In April 1925, after her divorce was finalised, Lilian married George Milan Fontaine, a department store manager for O. A. Hale & Co. in San Jose. Fontaine was a good provider and respectable businessman, but his strict parenting style generated animosity and later rebellion in both of his new stepdaughters.
De Havilland continued her education at Los Gatos High School near her home in Saratoga. There she excelled in oratory and field hockey and participated in school plays and the school drama club, eventually becoming the club's secretary. With plans of becoming a schoolteacher of English and speech, she also attended Notre Dame Convent in Belmont.
In 1933, a teenage de Havilland made her debut in amateur theatre in Alice in Wonderland, a production of the Saratoga Community Players based on the novel by Lewis Carroll. She also appeared in several school plays, including The Merchant of Venice and Hansel and Gretel. Her passion for drama eventually led to a confrontation with her stepfather, who forbade her from participating in further extracurricular activities. When he learned that she had won the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet in a school fund-raising production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, he told her that she had to choose between staying at home or appearing in the production and not being allowed home. Not wanting to let her school and classmates down, she left home, moving in with a family friend.
After graduating from high school in 1934, de Havilland was offered a scholarship to Mills College in Oakland to pursue her chosen career as an English teacher. She was also offered the role of Puck in the Saratoga Community Theater production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. That summer, Austrian director Max Reinhardt came to California for a major new production of the same play to premiere at the Hollywood Bowl. After one of Reinhardt's assistants saw her perform in Saratoga, he offered her the second understudy position for the role of Hermia. One week before the premiere, the understudy Jean Rouverol and lead actress Gloria Stuart both left the project, leaving 18-year-old de Havilland to play Hermia. Impressed with her performance, Reinhardt offered her the part in the four-week autumn tour that followed. During that tour, Reinhardt received word that he would direct the Warner Bros. film version of his stage production, and he offered her the film role of Hermia. With her mind still set on becoming a teacher, de Havilland initially wavered, but eventually, Reinhardt and executive producer Henry Blanke persuaded her to sign a five-year contract with Warner Bros. on November 12, 1934, with a starting salary of \$200 a week, marking the beginning of a professional acting career which would span more than 50 years.
## Career
### 1935–1937: Early films
De Havilland made her screen debut in Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), which was filmed at Warner Brothers studios from December 19, 1934, to March 9, 1935. During the production, de Havilland picked up film acting techniques from the film's co-director William Dieterle and camera techniques from cinematographer Hal Mohr, who was impressed with her questions about his work. By the end of filming, she had learned the effect of lighting and camera angles on how she appeared on screen and how to find her best lighting. Following premieres in New York City and Beverly Hills, the film was released on October 30, 1935. Despite the publicity campaign, the film generated little enthusiasm with audiences. While the critical response was mixed, de Havilland's performance was praised by The San Francisco Examiner critic. In his review in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Winston Burdett wrote that she "acts graciously and does greater justice to Shakespeare's language than anyone else in the cast". Two minor comedies followed, Alibi Ike (1935) with Joe E. Brown and The Irish in Us (1935) with James Cagney. In both films, she played the sweet and charming love interesta role into which she would later become typecast. After the experience of being a Reinhardt player, de Havilland felt disappointed being assigned these routine heroine roles. In March, de Havilland and her mother moved into an apartment at the Chateau des Fleurs at 6626 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.
Although Warner Brothers studio had assumed that the many costumed films that studios such as MGM had earlier produced would never succeed during the years of the American Great Depression, they nonetheless took a chance by producing Captain Blood (1935). The film is a swashbuckler action drama based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini and directed by Michael Curtiz. Captain Blood starred a then little-known contract bit-part actor and former extra, Errol Flynn, with the equally little-known de Havilland. According to film historian Tony Thomas, both actors had "classic good looks, cultured speaking voices, and a sense of distant aristocracy about them". Filmed between August 5 and October 29, 1935, Captain Blood gave de Havilland the opportunity to appear in her first costumed historical romance and adventure epic, a genre to which she was well suited, given her beauty and elegance.
In the film, she played Arabella Bishop, the niece of a Jamaica plantation owner who purchases at auction an Irish physician wrongly condemned to servitude. The on-screen chemistry between de Havilland and Flynn was evident from their first scenes together, where clashes between her character's spirited hauteur and his character's playful braggadocio did not mask their mutual attraction to each other. Arabella is a feisty young woman who knows what she wants and is willing to fight for it. The bantering tone of their exchanges in the filmthe healthy give-and-take and mutual respectbecame the basis for their on-screen relationship in subsequent films. Captain Blood was released on December 28, 1935, and received good reviews and wide public appeal. De Havilland's performance was singled out in The New York Times and Variety. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The popular success of the film, as well as the critical response to the on-screen couple, led to seven additional collaborations: The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939, although de Havilland played a supporting role with Bette Davis as Flynn's leading lady), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941).
De Havilland appeared in Mervyn LeRoy's historical drama Anthony Adverse (1936) with Fredric March. Based on the popular novel by Hervey Allen, the film follows the adventures of an orphan raised by a Scottish merchant whose pursuit of fortune separates him from the innocent peasant girl he loves, marries, and eventually loses. De Havilland played a peasant girl, Angela, who after being separated from her slave-trader husband becomes opera star Mademoiselle Georges, the mistress of Napoleon. The film earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It garnered de Havilland good exposure and the opportunity to portray a character as she develops over time. Howard Barnes of the New York Herald Tribune found her later scenes as Mademoiselle Georges "not very credible", but Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called her "a winsome Angela". That same year, she was re-united with Flynn in Michael Curtiz's period action film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), featuring Flynn look-alike Patric Knowles (playing Flynn's brother) and David Niven. The picture was set during the Crimean War and became a major box office hit.
During the film's production, de Havilland renegotiated her contract with Warner Bros. and signed a seven-year contract on April 14, 1936, with a starting weekly salary of \$500 (). Toward the end of the year, 20-year-old de Havilland and her mother moved to 2337 Nella Vista Avenue in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
De Havilland had her first top billing in Archie Mayo's comedy Call It a Day (1937), about a middle-class English family struggling with the romantic effects of spring fever during the course of a single day. De Havilland played daughter Catherine Hilton, who falls in love with the handsome artist hired to paint her portrait. The film did not do well at the box office and did little to advance her career. She fared better in Mayo's screwball comedy It's Love I'm After (1937) with Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. De Havilland played Marcia West, a debutante and theatre fan enamoured with a Barrymore-like matinee idol who decides to help the girl's fiancé by pretending to be an abominable cad. The film received good reviews, with Variety calling it "fresh, clever, excellently directed and produced, and acted by an ensemble that clicks from start to finish" and praising de Havilland.
Also released during 1937 was another period film with de Havilland, beginning with The Great Garrick, a fictional romantic comedy about the 18th-century English actor's encounter with jealous players from the Comédie-Française who plot to embarrass him on his way to Paris. Wise to their prank, Garrick plays along with the ruse, determined to get the last laugh, even on a lovely young aristocrat, de Havilland's Germaine Dupont, whom he mistakenly believes to be one of the players. With her refined demeanour and diction, de Havilland delivers a performance that is "lighthearted and thoroughly believable", according to Judith Kass. Variety praised the film, calling it "a production of superlative workmanship". Despite the positive reviews, the film did not do as well at the box office. The Michael Curtiz-directed romantic drama Gold Is Where You Find It is a film about the late 19th-century conflict in the Sacramento Valley between gold miners and their hydraulic equipment and farmers whose land is being flooded. De Havilland played the daughter of a farmer, Serena Ferris, who falls in love with the mining engineer responsible for the flooding portrayed by George Brent. The picture also stars Claude Rains. The film was released in February 1938, and was her first appearance in a Technicolor film but not her last. She would make three more Technicolor films within the next two years, two of which would arguably remain her most fondly remembered by audiences across the decades since their release.
### 1938–1940: Movie stardom
In September 1937, de Havilland was selected by Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner to play Maid Marian opposite Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Principal photography for this Technicolor production took place between September 26, 1937, and January 14, 1938, including location work at Bidwell Park, Busch Gardens in Pasadena, and Lake Sherwood in California. Directed by William Keighley and Michael Curtiz, the film is about the legendary Saxon knight who opposes the corrupt and brutal Prince John and his Norman lords while good King Richard is away fighting in the Third Crusade. The king's ward Maid Marian initially opposes Robin Hood, but she later supports him after learning his true intentions of helping his oppressed people. No mere bystander to events, Marian risks her life to save Robin by providing his men with a plan for his escape. As defined by de Havilland, Marian is both a beautiful fairy-tale heroine and a spirited, intelligent woman "whose actions are governed by her mind as well as her heart", according to author Judith Kass. The Adventures of Robin Hood was released on May 14, 1938, and was an immediate critical and commercial success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It went on to become one of the most popular adventure films of the Classical Hollywood era.
The success of The Adventures of Robin Hood raised de Havilland's status, but this was not reflected in her subsequent film assignments at Warner Bros. Her next several roles were more routine and less challenging. In the romantic comedy Four's a Crowd (also 1938), she played Lorri Dillingwell, a flighty rich girl being romanced by a conniving public relations man looking to land an account with her eccentric grandfather. In Ray Enright's romantic comedy Hard to Get (1938), she played another frivolous rich girl, Margaret Richards, whose desire to exact revenge on a gas station attendant leads to her own comeuppance. In the summer of 1938, she portrayed the love interest between two U.S. Navy pilot brothers in Wings of the Navy, released in early 1939. While de Havilland was certainly capable of playing these kinds of characters, her personality was better suited to stronger and more dramatic roles, according to Judith Kass. By this time, de Havilland had serious doubts about her career at Warner Bros.
Some film scholars consider 1939 to be the high point of the golden age of Classic Cinema, producing award-winning, box office hits in many genres, including the Western. Warner Bros. produced Michael Curtiz's Technicolor adventure Dodge City (1939), Flynn and de Havilland's first Western film. Set during the American Civil War, the film is about a Texas trailblazer who witnesses the brutal lawlessness of Dodge City, Kansas, and becomes sheriff to clean up the town. De Havilland played Abbie Irving, whose initial hostility towards Flynn's character Wade Hatton is transformed by events, and the two fall in loveby now a proven formula for their on-screen relationships. Curtiz's action sequences, Sol Polito's cinematography, Max Steiner's expansive film score, and perhaps the "definitive saloon brawl in movie history" all contributed to the film's success. Variety described the film as "a lusty western, packed with action". For de Havilland, playing yet one more supporting love interest in a limited role, Dodge City represented the emotional low point of her career to that point. She later said, "I was in such a depressed state that I could hardly remember my lines."
In a letter to a colleague dated November 18, 1938, film producer David O. Selznick wrote, "I would give anything if we had Olivia de Havilland under contract to us so that we could cast her as Melanie." The film he was preparing to shoot was the Technicolor epic Gone with the Wind, and Jack L. Warner was unwilling to lend her out for the project. De Havilland had read the novel, and unlike most other actresses, who wanted the Scarlett O'Hara role, she wanted to play Melanie Hamiltona character whose quiet dignity and inner strength she understood and felt she could bring to life on the screen.
De Havilland turned to Warner's wife Anne for help. Warner later recalled: "Olivia, who had a brain like a computer concealed behind those fawn-like eyes, simply went to my wife and they joined forces to change my mind." Warner relented, and de Havilland was signed to the project a few weeks before the start of principal photography on January 26, 1939. Set in the American South during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, the film is about Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner in love with the husband of her sister-in-law Melanie, whose kindness stands in sharp contrast to those around her. According to film historian Tony Thomas, de Havilland's skillful and subtle performance effectively presents this character of selfless love and quiet strength in a way that keeps her vital and interesting throughout the film. Gone with the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 15, 1939, and was well received. Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times wrote that de Havilland's Melanie "is a gracious, dignified, tender gem of characterization", and John C. Flinn Sr. in Variety called her "a standout". The film won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and de Havilland received her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
> Melanie was someone different. She had very, deeply feminine qualities ... that I felt were very endangered at that time, and they are from generation to generation, and that somehow they should be kept alive, and ... that's why I wanted to interpret her role. ... The main thing is that she was always thinking of the other person, and the interesting thing to me is that she was a happy person ... loving, compassionate.
Within days of completing her work in Gone with the Wind in June 1939, de Havilland returned to Warner Bros. and began filming Michael Curtiz's historical drama The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (also 1939) with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. She had hoped her work on Selznick's prestige picture would lead to first-rate roles at Warner Bros., but instead, she received third billing below the title as the queen's lady-in-waiting. In early September, she was lent out to Samuel Goldwyn Productions for Sam Wood's romantic caper film Raffles (also 1939) with David Niven, about a high-society cricketer and jewel thief. She later complained, "I had nothing to do with that style of film."
In early 1940, de Havilland refused to appear in several films assigned to her, initiating the first of her suspensions at the studio. She did agree to play in Curtis Bernhardt's musical comedy drama My Love Came Back (1940) with Jeffrey Lynn and Eddie Albert, who played a classical music student turned swing jazz bandleader. De Havilland played violinist Amelia Cornell, whose life becomes complicated by the support of a wealthy sponsor. In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther described the film as "a featherlight frolic, a rollicking roundelay of deliciously pointed nonsense", finding that de Havilland "plays the part with pace and wit".
That same year, de Havilland was re-united with Flynn in their sixth film together, Michael Curtiz's Western adventure Santa Fe Trail, set against the backdrop of abolitionist John Brown's radical anti-slavery attacks in the days leading up to the American Civil War. The mostly fictional story follows West Point cadets J. E. B. Stuart, played by Flynn, and George Armstrong Custer, played by Ronald Reagan, as they make their way west, both vying for the affection of de Havilland's Kit Carson Halliday. Playing Kit in a provocative, tongue-in-cheek manner, de Havilland creates a character of real substance and dimension, according to Tony Thomas. Following a world premiere on December 13, 1940, at the Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe, New Mexicoattended by cast members, reporters, the governor, and over 60,000 fans Santa Fe Trail became one of the top-grossing films of 1940. De Havilland, who accompanied Flynn on the well-publicised train ride to Santa Fe, did not attend the premiere, having been diagnosed with appendicitis that morning and rushed into surgery.
### 1941–1944: War years and lawsuit
Following her emergency surgery, de Havilland began a long period of convalescence in a Los Angeles hospital during which time she rejected several scripts offered to her by Warner Bros., leading to another suspension. She appeared in three commercially successful films released in 1941, beginning with Raoul Walsh's romantic comedy The Strawberry Blonde with James Cagney. Set during the Gay Nineties, the story involves a man who marries an outspoken advocate for women's rights after a rival steals his glamorous "strawberry blonde" girlfriend, and later discovers he ended up with a loving and understanding wife. The film was a critical and commercial success. In Mitch Leisen's romantic drama Hold Back the Dawn with Charles Boyer for Paramount Pictures, she transitioned to a different type of role for heran ordinary, decent small-town teacher whose life and sexuality are awakened by a sophisticated European gigolo, whose own life is positively affected by her love. Leisen's careful direction and guidance appealed to de Havillandmuch more than the workman-like approach of her Warner Bros. directors. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that the actress "plays the school teacher as a woman with romantic fancies whose honesty and pride are her ownand the film'schief support. Incidentally, she is excellent." For this performance, she garnered her second Academy Award nominationthis time for Best Actress.
De Havilland was re-united with Flynn for their eighth movie together, Raoul Walsh's epic They Died with Their Boots On. The film is loosely based on the courtship and marriage of George Armstrong Custer and Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon. Flynn and de Havilland had a falling out the previous yearmainly over the roles she was being givenand she did not intend to work with him again. Even Flynn acknowledged, "She was sick to death of playing 'the girl' and badly wanted a few good roles to show herself and the world that she was a fine actress." After she learned from Warner that Flynn had come to his office saying he needed her in the film, de Havilland accepted. Screenwriter Lenore Coffee was brought in to add several romantic scenes and improve the overall dialogue. The result is a film that includes some of their finest work together. Their last appearance on screen is Custer's farewell to his wife. "Errol was quite sensitive", de Havilland would later remember, "I think he knew it would be the last time we worked together." Flynn's final line in that scene would hold special meaning for her: "Walking through life with you, ma'am, has been a very gracious thing." They Died with Their Boots On was released on November 21, 1941, and while some reviewers criticised the film's historical inaccuracies, most applauded the action sequences, cinematography, and acting. Thomas M. Pryor of The New York Times found de Havilland "altogether captivating". The film went on to earn \$2,550,000 (), Warner Bros' second-biggest money-maker of that year.
De Havilland appeared in Elliott Nugent's romantic comedy The Male Animal (1942) with Henry Fonda, about an idealistic professor fighting for academic freedom while trying to hold onto his job and his wife Ellen, portrayed by de Havilland. While her role was not particularly challenging, de Havilland's delineation of an intelligent, good-natured woman trying to resolve the unsettling circumstances of her life played a major part in the film's success, according to Tony Thomas. The film was a critical and commercial success, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times noting that de Havilland "concocts a delightfully pliant and saucy character as the wife". Around the same time, she appeared in John Huston's drama In This Our Life (also 1942) with Bette Davis. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Ellen Glasgow, the story is about two sisters whose lives are destroyed by the anger and jealousy of one of the sisters. Crowther gave the film a negative review, but praised de Havilland's "warm and easy performance". During production, de Havilland and Huston began a romantic relationship that lasted three years.
According to de Havilland, one of the few truly satisfying roles she played for Warner Bros. was the title character in Norman Krasna's romantic comedy Princess O'Rourke (1943), with Robert Cummings. Filmed in July and August 1942, the story is about a European princess in New York City visiting her diplomat uncle, who is trying to find her an American husband. Intent on marrying a man of her own choosing, she boards a plane heading west and ends up falling in love with an American pilot, who is unaware of her true identity. The film was released on October 23, 1943, and did well at the box office. Bosley Crowther called it "a film which is in the best tradition of American screen comedy", and found de Havilland's performance "charming".
> I wanted to do complex roles, like Melanie for example, and Jack Warner saw me as an ingénue. I was really restless to portray more developed human beings. Jack never understood this, and ... he would give me roles that really had no character or quality in them. I knew I wouldn't even be effective.
After fulfilling her seven-year Warner Bros. contract in 1943, de Havilland was informed that six months had been added to her contract for the times that she had been suspended. At the time, the studios had adopted the position that California law allowed them to suspend contract players for rejecting a role, and the period of suspension could be added to the contract period. Most contract players accepted this, but a few tried to challenge this assumption, including Bette Davis, who mounted an unsuccessful lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the 1930s. On August 23, 1943, acting on the advice of her lawyer Martin Gang, de Havilland filed suit against Warner Bros. in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking declaratory judgment that she was no longer bound by her contract on the grounds that an existing section of the California Labor Code forbade an employer from enforcing a contract against an employee for longer than seven years from the date of first performance. In November 1943, the court found in de Havilland's favour, and Warner Bros. immediately appealed.
A little over a year later, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District ruled in her favour. The decision was one of the most significant and far-reaching legal rulings in Hollywood, reducing the power of the studios and extending greater creative freedom to performers. California's resulting "seven-year rule", as articulated by the Court of Appeal in analysing Labor Code Section 2855 in the De Havilland case, is still known as the De Havilland Law. Her legal victory, which cost her \$13,000 () in legal fees, won de Havilland the respect and admiration of her peers, among them her own sister Joan Fontaine, who later commented, "Hollywood owes Olivia a great deal." Warner Bros. reacted to de Havilland's lawsuit by circulating a letter to other studios that had the effect of a "virtual blacklisting." As a consequence, de Havilland did not work at a film studio for nearly two years.
De Havilland became a naturalized citizen of the United States on November 28, 1941, 10 days before the United States entered World War II militarily. During the war years, she actively contributed to the war effort. In May 1942, she joined the Hollywood Victory Caravan, a three-week train tour of the country that raised money through the sale of war bonds. Later that year, she began attending events at the Hollywood Canteen, meeting and dancing with troops. In December 1943, de Havilland joined a USO tour that travelled throughout the United States and the South Pacific, visiting wounded soldiers in military hospitals. She earned the respect and admiration of the troops for visiting the isolated islands and battlefronts in the Pacific. She survived flights in damaged aircraft and a bout with viral pneumonia requiring several days' stay in one of the island barrack hospitals. She later remembered, "I loved doing the tours because it was a way I could serve my country and contribute to the war effort."
### 1945–1952: Vindication and recognition
After the California Court of Appeal ruling freed her from her Warner Bros. contract, de Havilland signed a two-picture deal with Paramount Pictures. In June 1945, she began filming Mitchell Leisen's drama To Each His Own, (1946) about an unwed mother who gives up her child for adoption and then spends the rest of her life trying to undo that decision. De Havilland insisted on bringing in Leisen as director, trusting his eye for detail, his empathy for actors, and the way he controlled sentiment in their previous collaboration, Hold Back the Dawn. The role required de Havilland to age nearly 30 years over the course of the filmfrom an innocent, small-town girl to a shrewd, ruthless businesswoman devoted to her cosmetics company. While de Havilland never formally studied acting, she did read Stanislavsky's autobiography My Life in Art and applied one of his "methods" for this role. To help her define her character during the four periods of the story, she used a different perfume for each period. She also lowered the pitch of her voice incrementally in each period until it became a mature woman's voice. Her performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1946her first Oscar. According to film historian Tony Thomas, the award represented a vindication of her long struggle with Warner Bros. and confirmation of her abilities as an actress.
Her next two roles were challenging. In Robert Siodmak's psychological thriller The Dark Mirror (also 1946), de Havilland played twin sisters Ruth and Terry Collinsone loving and normal, the other psychotic. In addition to the technical problems of showing her as two characters interacting with each other on screen at the same time, de Havilland needed to portray two separate and psychologically opposite people. While the film was not well received by criticsVariety said the film "gets lost in a maze of psychological gadgets and speculation"de Havilland's performance was praised by Tony Thomas, who called her final scene in the film "an almost frighteningly convincing piece of acting". In his review in The Nation, James Agee wrote that "her playing is thoughtful, quiet, detailed, and well sustained, and since it is founded, as some more talented playing is not, in an unusually healthful-seeming and likable temperament, it is an undivided pleasure to see". Later that year while appearing in a summer stock production of What Every Woman Knows in Westport, Connecticut, her second professional stage appearance, de Havilland began dating Marcus Goodrich, a U.S. Navy veteran, journalist, and author of the novel Delilah (1941). The couple married on August 26, 1946.
De Havilland was praised for her performance as Virginia Cunningham in Anatole Litvak's drama The Snake Pit (1948), one of the first films to attempt a realistic portrayal of mental illness and an important exposé of the harsh conditions in state mental hospitals, according to film critic Philip French. Based on a novel by Mary Jane Ward and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, the film is about a woman placed in a mental institution by her husband to help her recover from a nervous breakdown. Virginia Cunningham was one of the most difficult of all her film roles, requiring significant preparation both mentally and physicallyshe deliberately lost weight to help create her gaunt appearance on screen. She consulted regularly with psychiatrists hired as consultants for the film, and visited Camarillo State Mental Hospital to research her role and observe the patients. The extreme physical discomfort of the hydrotherapy and simulated electric shock therapy scenes were especially challenging for the slight 5-foot-3-inch (160 cm) actress. In her performance, she conveyed her mental anguish by physically transforming her face with furrowed brow, wild staring eyes, and grimacing mouth.
> I met a young woman who was very much like Virginia, about the same age and physical description, as well as being a schizophrenic with guilt problems. ... What struck me most of all was the fact that she was rather likable and appealing. It hadn't occurred to me before that a mental patient could be appealing, and it was that that gave me the key to the performance.
According to author Judith Kass, de Havilland delivered a performance both "restrained and electric", portraying varied and extreme aspects of her characterfrom a shy young woman to a tormented and disorientated woman. For her performance in The Snake Pit, de Havilland received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup.
De Havilland appeared in William Wyler's period drama The Heiress (1949), the fourth in a string of critically acclaimed performances. After seeing the play on Broadway, de Havilland called Wyler and urged him to fly to New York to see what she felt would be a perfect role for her. Wyler obliged, loved the play, and with de Havilland's help arranged for Paramount to secure the film rights. Adapted for the screen by Ruth and Augustus Goetz and based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James, the film is about a naïve young woman who falls in love with a young man (Montgomery Clift), over the objections of her cruel and emotionally abusive father, who suspects the young man of being a fortune seeker. As she had done in Hold Back the Dawn, de Havilland portrayed her character's transformation from a shy, trusting innocent to a guarded, mature woman over a period of years. Her delineation of Catherine Sloper is developed through carefully crafted movements, gestures, and facial expressions that convey a submissive and inhibited young woman. Her timid voice, nervous hands, downcast eyes, and careful movements all communicate what the character is too shy to verbalise. Throughout the production, Wyler pressed de Havilland hard to elicit the requisite visual points of the character. When Catherine returns home after being jilted, the director had the actress carry a suitcase filled with heavy books up the stairs to convey the weight of Catherine's trauma physically instead of using a planned speech in the original script. The Heiress was released in October 1949 and was well received by critics. For her performance, she received the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actressher second Oscar.
After giving birth to her first child, Benjamin, on September 27, 1949, de Havilland took time off from making films to be with her infant son. She turned down the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, later explaining that becoming a mother was a "transforming experience" and that she could not relate to the character. In 1950, her family moved to New York City, where she began rehearsals for a major new stage production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; it was her life-long ambition to play Juliet on the stage. The play opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on March 11, 1951, to mixed reviews, with some critics believing the 35-year-old actress was too old for the role. The play closed after 45 performances. Undaunted, de Havilland accepted the title role in the stage production of George Bernard Shaw's comedy Candida, which opened at the National Theatre on Broadway in April 1952. While reviews of the play were mixed, de Havilland's performance was well received, and following the scheduled 32 performances, she went on tour with the company and delivered 323 additional performances, many to sold-out audiences. While de Havilland achieved major accomplishments during this period of her career, her marriage to Goodrich, 18 years her senior, had grown strained because of his unstable temperament. In August 1952, she filed for divorce, which became final the following year.
### 1953–1962: New life in Paris
> Of course the thing that staggers you when you first come to France is the fact that all the French speak Frencheven the children. Many Americans and Britishers who visit the country never quite adjust to this, and the idea persists that the natives speak the language just to show off or be difficult.
In April 1953, at the invitation of the French government, she travelled to the Cannes Film Festival, where she met Pierre Galante, an executive editor for the French journal Paris Match. Following a long-distance courtship and the requisite nine-month residency requirement, de Havilland and Galante married on April 12, 1955, in the village of Yvoy-le-Marron, and settled together in a three-storey house near the Bois de Boulogne park in Paris' 16th Arrondissement. That same year, she returned to the screen in Terence Young's period drama That Lady (1955), about a Spanish princess and her unrequited love for King Philip II of Spain, whose respect she earned in her youth after losing an eye in a sword fight defending his honor. According to Tony Thomas, the film uses authentic Spanish locations effectively, but suffers from a convoluted plot and excessive dialogue, and while de Havilland delivered a warm and elegant performance as Ana de Mendoza, the film was disappointing. Following her appearances in the romantic melodrama Not as a Stranger (1955) and The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)neither of which were successful at the box officede Havilland gave birth to her second child, Gisèle Galante, on July 18, 1956.
De Havilland returned to the screen in Michael Curtiz's Western drama The Proud Rebel (1958), a film about a former Confederate soldier (Alan Ladd) whose wife was killed in the war and whose son lost the ability to speak after witnessing the tragedy. De Havilland played Linnett Moore, a tough yet feminine frontier woman who cares for the boy and comes to love his father. The movie was filmed on location in Utah, where de Havilland learned to hitch and drive a team of horses and handle a gun for her role. The Proud Rebel was released May 28, 1958, and was well received by audiences and critics. In his review for The New York Times, A. H. Weiler called the film a "truly sensitive effort" and "heartwarming drama", and praised de Havilland's ability to convey the "warmth, affection and sturdiness needed in the role".
One of de Havilland's best received performances during this period was in Guy Green's romantic drama Light in the Piazza (1962) with Rossano Brazzi. Filmed in Florence and Rome, and based on Elizabeth Spencer's novel of the same name, the film is about a middle-class American tourist on extended vacation in Italy with her beautiful 26-year-old daughter (Yvette Mimieux), who is mentally disabled as a result of a childhood accident. Faced with the prospect of her daughter falling in love with a young Italian, the mother struggles with conflicting emotions about her daughter's future. De Havilland projects a calm maternal serenity throughout most of the film, only showing glimpses of the worried mother anxious for her child's happiness. The film was released on February 19, 1962, and was well received, with a Hollywood Reporter reviewer calling it "an uncommon love story ... told with rare delicacy and force", and Variety noting that the film "achieves the rare and delicate balance of artistic beauty, romantic substance, dramatic novelty and commercial appeal". Variety singled out de Havilland's performance as "one of great consistency and subtle projection".
In early 1962, de Havilland traveled to New York City, and began rehearsals for Garson Kanin's stage play A Gift of Time. Adapted from the autobiographical book Death of a Man by Lael Tucker Wertenbaker, the play explores the emotionally painful struggle of a housewife forced to deal with the slow death of her husband, played by Henry Fonda. The play opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway to positive notices, with de Havilland receiving her best reviews as a stage actress. Theatre critic Walter Kerr praised her final scene, writing, "As darkness gathers, the actress gains in stature, taking on the simple and resolute willingness to understand." The New York World Telegram and Sun reviewer concluded: "It is Miss de Havilland who gives the play its unbroken continuity. This distinguished actress reveals Lael as a special and admirable woman." She stayed with the production for 90 performances. The year 1962 also saw the publication of de Havilland's first book, Every Frenchman Has One, a lighthearted account of her often amusing attempts to understand and adapt to French life, manners, and customs. The book sold out its first printing prior to the publication date and went on to become a bestseller.
### 1963–1988: Later films and television
De Havilland appeared in her final motion picture leading roles in two films released in 1964, both of which were psychological thrillers. In Walter Grauman's Lady in a Cage, she played a wealthy poet who becomes trapped in her mansion's elevator and faces the threat of three terrorising hooligans in her own home. Critics responded negatively to the graphic violence and cruelty shown on screen. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called it a "sordid, if suspenseful, exercise in aimless brutality". That same year, de Havilland appeared in Robert Aldrich's Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte with her close friend Bette Davis. After Joan Crawford left the picture owing to illness, Davis had Aldrich fly to Switzerland to persuade a reluctant de Havilland to accept the role of Miriam Deering, a cruel, conniving character hidden behind the charming façade of a polite and cultured lady. Her quiet, restrained performance provided a counterbalance to Davis. Film historian Tony Thomas described her performance as "a subtle piece of acting" that was "a vital contribution to the effectiveness of the film". The film was mainly well received and earned seven Academy Award nominations. In 1965 she served as the President of the Jury of the 18th Cannes Film Festival, the first woman to do so.
As film roles became more difficult to find, a common problem shared by many Hollywood veterans from her era, de Havilland began working in television dramas, despite her dislike of the networks' practice of breaking up story lines with commercials. Her first venture into the medium was a teleplay directed by Sam Peckinpah called Noon Wine (1966) on ABC Stage 67, a dark tragedy about a farmer's act of murder that leads to his suicide. The production and her performance as the farmer's wife Ellie were well received. In 1972, she starred in her first television film, The Screaming Woman, about a wealthy woman recovering from a nervous breakdown. In 1979, she appeared in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations in the role of Mrs. Warner, the wife of a former Confederate officer played by Henry Fonda. The miniseries was seen by an estimated 110 million peoplenearly one-third of American homes with television sets. Throughout the 1970s, de Havilland's film work was limited to smaller supporting roles and cameo appearances. Her last feature film was The Fifth Musketeer (1979). During this period, de Havilland began doing speaking engagements in cities across the United States with a talk entitled "From the City of the Stars to the City of Light", a programme of personal reminiscences about her life and career. She also attended tributes to Gone with the Wind.
In the 1980s, her television work included an Agatha Christie television film Murder Is Easy (1982), the television drama The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982) in which she played the Queen Mother, and the 1986 ABC miniseries North and South, Book II. Her performance in the television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), as Dowager Empress Maria, earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In 1988, de Havilland appeared in the HTV romantic television drama The Woman He Loved; it was her final screen performance.
### 1989–2020: Retirement and honors
In retirement, de Havilland remained active in the film community. In 1998, she travelled to New York City to help promote a special showing of Gone with the Wind. In 2003, she appeared as a presenter at the 75th Academy Awards, earning an extended standing ovation upon her entrance. In 2004, Turner Classic Movies produced a retrospective piece called Melanie Remembers in which she was interviewed for the 65th anniversary of the original release of Gone with the Wind. In June 2006, she made appearances at tributes commemorating her 90th birthday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
On November 17, 2008, at the age of 92, de Havilland received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people of the United States. The medal was presented to her by President George W. Bush, who commended her "for her persuasive and compelling skill as an actress in roles from Shakespeare's Hermia to Margaret Mitchell's Melanie. Her independence, integrity, and grace won creative freedom for herself and her fellow film actors." The following year, de Havilland narrated the documentary I Remember Better When I Paint (2009), a film about the importance of art in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
In 2010, de Havilland almost made her return to the big screen after a 22-year hiatus with James Ivory's planned adaptation of The Aspern Papers, but the film was never made. On September 9, 2010, de Havilland was appointed a Chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur, the highest decoration in France, awarded by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who told the actress, "You honor France for having chosen us." In February the following year, she appeared at the César Awards in France, where she was greeted with a standing ovation. De Havilland celebrated her 100th birthday on July 1, 2016.
In June 2017, two weeks before her 101st birthday, de Havilland was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama by Queen Elizabeth II. She is the oldest woman ever to receive the honor. In a statement, she called it "the most gratifying of birthday presents". She did not travel to the investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace and received her honor from the hands of the British Ambassador to France at her Paris apartment in March 2018, four months before her 102nd birthday. Her daughter Gisèle was by her side.
## Personal life
### Relationships
Although known as one of Hollywood's most exciting on-screen couples, de Havilland and Errol Flynn were never involved in a romantic relationship. Upon first meeting her at Warner Bros. in August 1935, 26-year-old Flynn was drawn to the 19-year-old actress with "warm brown eyes" and "extraordinary charm". In turn, de Havilland fell in love with him, but kept her feelings inside. Flynn later wrote, "By the time we made The Charge of the Light Brigade, I was sure that I was in love with her." Flynn finally professed his love on March 12, 1937, at the coronation ball for King George VI at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where they slow danced together to "Sweet Leilani" at the hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub. "I was deeply affected by him," she later remembered, "It was impossible for me not to be." The evening ended on a sobering note, however, with de Havilland insisting that despite his separation from his wife Lili Damita, he needed to divorce her before their relationship could proceed. Flynn re-united with his wife later that year, and de Havilland never acted on her feelings for Flynn.
In July 1938, de Havilland began dating business tycoon, aviator, and filmmaker Howard Hughes, who had just completed his record-setting flight around the world in 91 hours. In addition to escorting her about town, he gave the actress her first flying lessons. She later said, "He was a rather shy man ... and yet, in a whole community where the men every day played heroes on the screen and didn't do anything heroic in life, here was this man who was a real hero."
In December 1939, she began a romantic relationship with actor James Stewart. At the request of Irene Mayer Selznick, the actor's agent asked Stewart to escort de Havilland to the New York premiere of Gone with the Wind at the Astor Theater on December 19, 1939. Over the next few days, Stewart took her to the theatre several times and to the 21 Club. They continued to see each other back in Los Angeles, where Stewart provided occasional flying lessons and romance. According to de Havilland, Stewart proposed marriage to her in 1940, but she felt that he was not ready to settle down. Their relationship ended in late 1941 when de Havilland began a romantic relationship with film director John Huston while making In This Our Life. "John was a very great love of mine", she would later admit, "He was a man I wanted to marry."
### Marriages and children
On August 26, 1946, she married Marcus Goodrich, a U.S. Navy veteran, journalist, and author of the novel Delilah (1941). The marriage ended in divorce in 1953. They had one child, Benjamin Goodrich, who was born on September 27, 1949. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 19 and graduated from the University of Texas. He worked as a statistical analyst for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale, California, and as an international banking representative for the Texas Commerce Bank in Houston. He died on September 29, 1991, in Paris at the age of 42 of heart disease brought on by treatments for Hodgkin's disease, three weeks before the death of his father.
On April 2, 1955, de Havilland married Pierre Galante, an executive editor for the magazine Paris Match. Her marriage to Galante prompted her relocation to Paris. The couple separated in 1962, but continued to live in the same house for another six years to raise their daughter together. Galante moved across the street and the two remained close, even after the finalisation of the divorce in 1979. She looked after him during his final bout with lung cancer prior to his death in 1998. They had one child, Gisèle Galante, who was born on July 18, 1956. After studying law at the Université de Nanterre School of Law, she worked as a journalist in France and the United States. From 1956, de Havilland lived in a three-storey house near the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.
### Religion and politics
De Havilland was raised in the Episcopal Church and remained an Episcopalian throughout her life. In the 1970s, she became one of the first women lectors at the American Cathedral in Paris, where she was on the regular rota for Scripture readings. As recently as 2012, she was doing readings on major feast days, including Christmas and Easter. "It's a task I love", she once said. In describing her preparation for her readings, she once observed, "You have to convey the deep meaning, you see, and it has to start with your own faith. But first, I always pray. I pray before I start to prepare, as well. In fact, I would always say a prayer before shooting a scene, so this is not so different, in a way." De Havilland preferred to use the Revised English Bible for its poetic style. She raised her son Benjamin in the Episcopal Church and her daughter Gisèle in the Roman Catholic Church, the faith of each child's father.
As a United States citizen, de Havilland became involved in politics as a way of exercising her civic responsibilities. She campaigned for Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's ultimately successful reelection bid in 1944. After the war, she joined The Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, a national public-policy advocacy group that included Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Groucho Marx, and Humphrey Bogart in its Hollywood chapter. In June 1946, she was asked to deliver speeches for the committee that reflected the Communist Party line, and the group was later identified as a communist front organisation. Disturbed at seeing a small group of communist members manipulating the committee, she removed the pro-communist material from her speeches and rewrote them to reflect Democratic President Harry S. Truman's anti-communist platform. She later recalled, "I realised a nucleus of people was controlling the organisation without a majority of the members of the board being aware of it. And I knew they had to be Communists."
She organised a fight to regain control of the committee from its pro-Soviet leadership, but her reform efforts failed. Her resignation from the committee triggered a wave of resignations by 11 other Hollywood figures, including future president Ronald Reagan. In 1958, she was secretly called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and recounted her experiences with the Independent Citizens' Committee.
### Relationship with Joan Fontaine
De Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine are the only siblings to have each won Academy Awards in a lead acting category. According to biographer Charles Higham, the sisters always had an uneasy relationship, starting in early childhood when Olivia had trouble accepting the idea of having a younger sister and Joan resented that her mother favoured Olivia. Olivia would tear the clothes that her sister was given to wear as hand-me-downs, forcing Joan to stitch them together again. This tension was made worse by Fontaine's frequent childhood illnesses, which led to her mother's overly protective expression "Livvie can, Joan can't." De Havilland was the first to become an actress, and for several years Fontaine was overshadowed by her sister's accomplishments. When Mervyn LeRoy offered Fontaine a personal contract, her mother told her that Warner Bros. was "Olivia's studio" and that she could not use the family name of de Havilland.
In 1942, de Havilland and Fontaine were both nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actressde Havilland for Hold Back the Dawn and Fontaine for Suspicion. When Fontaine's name was announced as winner, de Havilland reacted graciously saying "We've got it!" According to biographer Charles Higham, Fontaine rejected de Havilland's attempts to congratulate her, leaving de Havilland offended and embarrassed.
Their relationship was strained further in 1946 when Fontaine made negative comments to an interviewer about de Havilland's new husband Marcus Goodrich. When she read her sister's remarks, de Havilland was deeply hurt and waited for an apology that never was offered. The following year after accepting her first Academy Award for To Each His Own, de Havilland was approached backstage by Fontaine, who extended her hand to congratulate her; de Havilland turned away from her sister. The two did not speak for the next five years after the incident. This may have caused an estrangement between Fontaine and her own daughters, who maintained a covert relationship with their aunt.
Following her divorce from Goodrich, de Havilland resumed contact with her sister, visiting Fontaine's New York apartment and spending Christmas together in 1961. The final break between the sisters occurred in 1975 over disagreements regarding their mother's cancer treatment; de Havilland wanted to consult other doctors and supported exploratory surgery but Fontaine disagreed. Fontaine later claimed that de Havilland had not notified her of their mother's death while she was touring with a play, but de Havilland in fact had sent a telegram, which took two weeks to reach her sister. However, according to Fontaine in a 1979 interview with the CBC, de Havilland did not bother to phone to find out where she could be reached. The sibling feud ended with Fontaine's death on December 15, 2013. The following day, de Havilland released a statement saying that she was "shocked and saddened" by the news.
### Death
De Havilland died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes at her home in Paris on July 26, 2020, at the age of 104. Her funeral was held on August 1, 2020, at the American Cathedral in Paris. After cremation, her ashes were placed in the crematorium-columbarium of the cemetery of Père-Lachaise; the urn containing them will later be transferred to a family burial place on the British island of Guernsey in the English Channel.
## Legacy
De Havilland's career spanned 53 years, from 1935 to 1988. During that time, she appeared in 49 feature films. She began her career playing demure ingénues opposite male stars such as Errol Flynn, with whom she made her breakout film Captain Blood in 1935. They would go on to make eight more feature films together, and became one of Hollywood's most successful on-screen romantic pairings. Her range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Following her film debut in the Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night's Dream, de Havilland achieved her initial popularity in romantic comedies, such as The Great Garrick and Hard to Get, and Western adventure films, such as Dodge City and Santa Fe Trail. In her later career, she was most successful in drama films, such as In This Our Life and Light in the Piazza, and psychological dramas playing non-glamorous characters in films such as The Dark Mirror, The Snake Pit, and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.
During her career, de Havilland won two Academy Awards (To Each His Own and The Heiress), two Golden Globe Awards (The Heiress and Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna), two New York Film Critics Circle Awards (The Snake Pit and The Heiress), the National Board of Review Award, and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup (The Snake Pit), and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination (Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna).
For her contributions to the motion picture industry, de Havilland received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6762 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960. Following her retirement in 1988, her lifetime contribution to the arts was honored on two continents. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in 1998 and another from Mills College in 2018. She was one of 500 stars nominated for the American Film Institute's list of 50 greatest screen legends.
In 2006, she was inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Award Film Hall of Fame.
The moving-image collection of Olivia de Havilland is held at the Academy Film Archive, which preserved a nitrate reel of a screen test for Danton, Max Reinhardt's never-produced follow-up to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).
De Havilland, as a confidante and friend of Bette Davis, is featured in the series Feud: Bette and Joan, portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones. In the series, de Havilland reflects on the origins and depth of the Davis–Crawford feud and how it affected contemporary female Hollywood stars. On June 30, 2017, a day before her 101st birthday, she filed a lawsuit against FX Networks and producer Ryan Murphy for inaccurately portraying her and using her likeness without permission. Although FX attempted to strike the suit as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Holly Kendig denied the motion in September 2017, and also granted de Havilland's request to advance the trial date (a motion for preference) and set trial for November 2017. An interlocutory appeal of Judge Kendig's ruling was argued in March 2018. A three-justice panel of the California Court of Appeal for the Second District ruled against the defamation suit brought by De Havilland (that is, by ruling the trial court erred in denying the defendants' motion to strike), in a published opinion by Justice Anne Egerton that affirmed the right of filmmakers to embellish the historical record and that such portrayals are protected by the First Amendment. De Havilland appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in September 2018, which declined to review the case.
She was also portrayed by Ashlee Lollback in the 2018 Australian biographical film In Like Flynn.
On de Havilland's death, the oldest living Academy Award winner became Eva Marie Saint, who won the award for Best Supporting Actress in On the Waterfront (1954) and Glynis Johns, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Sundowners (1960) became the oldest living nominee.
In 2021, the Olivia de Havilland theater was inaugurated at the American University of Paris.
## Awards
## Honours
### National honours
### Honorary degrees
### Memberships and fellowships
## Filmography
- Alibi Ike (1935)
- The Irish in Us (1935)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
- Captain Blood (1935)
- Anthony Adverse (1936)
- The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
- Call It a Day (1937)
- The Great Garrick (1937)
- It's Love I'm After (1937)
- Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Four's a Crowd (1938)
- Hard to Get (1938)
- Wings of the Navy (1939)
- Dodge City (1939)
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Raffles (1939)
- My Love Came Back (1940)
- Santa Fe Trail (1940)
- The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
- Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
- They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
- The Male Animal (1942)
- In This Our Life (1942)
- Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
- Princess O'Rourke (1943)
- Government Girl (1944)
- To Each His Own (1946)
- Devotion (1946)
- The Well Groomed Bride (1946)
- The Dark Mirror (1946)
- The Snake Pit (1948)
- The Heiress (1949)
- My Cousin Rachel (1952)
- That Lady (1955)
- Not as a Stranger (1955)
- The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)
- The Proud Rebel (1958)
- Libel (1959)
- Light in the Piazza (1962)
- Lady in a Cage (1964)
- Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
- The Adventurers (1970)
- Pope Joan (1972)
- The Screaming Woman (1972)
- Airport '77 (1977)
- The Swarm (1978)
- The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
- I Remember Better When I Paint (2009)
## See also
- List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
## Explanatory notes |
7,005,031 | Lithium (Evanescence song) | 1,172,185,922 | 2006 single by Evanescence | [
"2000s ballads",
"2006 singles",
"2006 songs",
"Evanescence songs",
"Gothic metal songs",
"Heavy metal ballads",
"Songs about drugs",
"Songs written by Amy Lee"
]
| "Lithium" is a song by American rock band Evanescence from their second studio album, The Open Door. It was released by Wind-up Records on December 4, 2006 as the album's second single. "Lithium" was written by singer and pianist Amy Lee and produced by Dave Fortman. Lee initially wrote it on guitar when she was 16 years old, and later reworked it on piano, recording it with the band's performance. The song is a power ballad with lyrics about uncertainty between feelings of sorrow and happiness.
"Lithium" received generally positive reviews from music critics. The single entered the top 40 in multiple countries, where it spent several weeks charting. The music video was directed by Paul Fedor, and features Lee and the band performing the song in a dark snowy forest, where Lee sinks in a lake of black water. An alternate version of the song appears on the band's fourth studio album, Synthesis (2017).
## Composition
Lee had originally composed the song on guitar when she was 16 years old, but never used it despite liking its chorus. While writing the album, she completed the song on piano, finishing the verses. Lee used the word "Lithium" as a "metaphor for numbness" for herself, adding that she's known people on the medication and seen its effects. She described the song's theme as a representation of "happiness from a negative point of view", viewing it as "I don't want to numb myself and not feel anymore". Her inspiration for the song was the feeling that she was "in love with my sorrow". Elaborating in an interview, she stated: "I get into these moods where I write music. It's not about so much about being depressed, it's just the strange low that I ride. But at the same time I want to be free and break through and be happy. I think that was kind of me, getting ready to play [and saying], 'That's it, drop the ball and just change and move on.'" The song is about wanting to "break free" from cycles of being stuck in negative situations.
"Lithium" is a power ballad with "cinematic production, gripping orchestration and Amy Lee's voice gliding through verses and soaring over choruses", wrote Billboard. It depict's the singer's love-hate relationship with sadness. Entertainment Weekly writer Jon Dolan described the song as a "tortured Queensrÿche-style pain strummer" in which Lee explores a form of addiction. Kerrang!'s Sam Law said it utilizes "tinkling piano", Lee's "wide-ranging vocals", and "crashes of metallic instrumentation" layered onto the composition, thematically "drawing comparisons between a medicated state and the numbness of uncertainty and depression." Lee employs her lower vocal register, with her vocals spanning from the low note of A3 to the high note of G5. According to the sheet music published on the website Musicnotes.com, the song is written in the key of B minor.
## Release
Lee initially considered four different album tracks for the second single, and ultimately decided on "Lithium". "Lithium" was made available for digital download on December 4, 2006. "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You", a song Lee wrote while touring Fallen, is the single's B-side. The song was later included as a bonus track on several editions of The Open Door.
In 2017, a reworked orchestral version of the song was recorded and included on Evanescence's fourth studio album Synthesis. It was performed during the band's Synthesis Tour in support of the album.
## Critical reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine described "Lithium" as a "churning" song. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield viewed it as Lee's ode to Kurt Cobain. Andy Gill from The Independent said it captures the album's mood "wreathed in the genre staples of black-clad, mascara'd gloom", naming it one of the standout tracks. In an album review, Sara Berry from St. Louis Post-Dispatch deemed it a "reflective, piano-heavy ballad". Alex Nunn of musicOMH disliked the song, calling it a "bloated rocker". Writing for BBC Radio 1, Fraser McAlpine felt it "seemed have lost what we liked about their singles – a bit of oomph". A Stornoway Gazette writer dubbed the song an "extreme-power-ballad maelstrom" and a "rare instance of when pop metal actually does justice to both musical genres."
IGN's Ed Thompson wrote that Lee's piano playing on songs like "Lithium" completes the album. Mark Daniell of Jam! called it a "full-bodied" song. A writer from the Leader-Post praised Lee's "stunning notes" on "Lithium", which he considered the equivalent of "My Immortal" from debut album Fallen. Writing for Revolver, Eli Enis said "Lithium" is "a prime example of Lee skillfully using her voice as an instrument that perfectly complements everything else going on around her." Billboard regarded it as "the kind of number Evanescence was born to perform: cinematic production, gripping orchestration and Amy Lee's voice gliding through verses and soaring over choruses", concluding that Lee's "latest musical affair with darkness is captivating" and would almost make listeners "wish [their] heart was broken".
In 2011, Loudwire journalist Mary Ouellette, placed the song at number nine on her list of 10 Best Evanescence Songs, and praised Lee's "sweeping" vocals which "complement" her piano playing, adding that "Lithium" was one of the many highlights on The Open Door. In 2016, Brittany Porter from AXS listed it at number six on her list of the band's ten best songs. Kerrang!'s Sam Law ranked the song at number four on his list of the 20 greatest Evanescence songs, calling it "a showcase for [Lee] as the classical powerhouse", noting that its "icy" music video "perfectly compliments one of their most cinematically sweeping works."
## Commercial performance
In the week ending of February 10, 2007, "Lithium" peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, a chart which acts as a 25-song extension to the Billboard Hot 100. The song also charted on two other Billboard component charts in the U.S, peaking at number 39 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, where it spent a total of four weeks, and at number 37 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks where it spent a total of three weeks. In Australia, the song debuted at its peak position of number 28 on the ARIA Singles Chart for the chart issue dated January 28, 2007. It spent an additional week at the same position and a total of eight weeks on the chart, last seen at 49 on March 18, 2007. It achieved a higher position of 16 on the New Zealand Singles Chart on January 29, 2007 in its second week of charting there.
"Lithium" charted in various countries across Europe, peaking within the top 50. In the UK, it debuted at number 32 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending January 14, 2007. The following week, it moved to a position of number 52, and exited the chart after this week. On the UK Rock Singles Chart, it debuted at number three for the week ending January 7, 2007. It moved to the top of the chart the following week, where it spent an additional week on the chart issue dated January 27, 2007. In Ireland, the song debuted and peaked at number 30 on the Irish Singles Chart for the week ending January 11, 2007. In continental Europe, "Lithium" achieved its highest peak in Italy where it debuted at number two for the week of February 8, 2007. It spent a total of ten weeks on the chart and marks the band's second highest-charting single on the single charts in Italy after "Bring Me to Life" peaked at number one in 2003. The single further peaked at number 23 in Sweden, 40 in Switzerland, 41 in Austria and 44 in Germany.
## Music video
The music video was directed by Paul Fedor. Lee wrote the treatment for the video, which features a winter backdrop, with Lee in all-white and all-black, and includes scenes of her under the surface of a lake in a forest. Lee said it represents the happiness and sorrow "almost singing to each other, trying to figure out how both of us can work." She expressed that it's "all about touching somebody and I hope it does that". Fake snow and trees were used on the set along with various other objects to create a "frozen, gothic, cemetery feel". For the scenes filmed in water, the lake was dyed black, and a hydraulic lift was used for Lee to easily sink in the water.
The music video was available online on November 27, 2006, and posted on Evanescence's official website in December. The clip peaked at number four on Total Request Live's countdown list of the best music videos in January 2007. A behind-the-scenes clip from the filming set of the music video was posted on January 12, 2007 on the band's official YouTube channel.
## Track listing
\*; Single (Part 1)
1. "Lithium" - 3:44
2. "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You" - 4:07
\*; Maxi single (Part 2)
1. "Lithium" - 3:44
2. "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You" - 4:07
3. "All That I'm Living For" (Acoustic version) - 4:33
4. "Lithium" (Video/Acoustic version) - 3:50
\*; 7" Vinyl Picture Disc
1. "Lithium" - 3:44
2. "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You" - 4:07
\*; EP single
1. "Lithium" - 3:46
2. "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You" - 4:07
3. "All That I'm Living For" (Acoustic version) - 4:31
## Charts
## See also
- List of UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart number ones of 2007 |
69,583 | Hlín | 1,144,747,613 | Norse deity | [
"Frigg",
"Ásynjur"
]
| In Norse mythology, Hlín is a goddess associated with the goddess Frigg. Hlín appears in a poem in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in kennings found in skaldic poetry. Scholars have debated whether the stanza referring to her in the Prose Edda refers to Frigg. Hlín serves as a given name in Iceland, and Hlín receives veneration in the modern era in Germanic paganism's modern extension, Heathenry.
## Etymology
Scholars frequently explain the meaning behind the goddess's name as 'protector'. The Prose Edda section Gylfaginning derives the name from a verb found in a proverb in an obscure and otherwise unattested Old Norse proverb: Þiaðan af er þat orðtak at sá er forðask hleinir. Scholars generally accept that the theonym Hlín derives from the verb hleina. However, the verb hleina in which the section claims a derivation is obscure (a hapax legomenon), and translators have attempted to work around it in a variety of manners, in some cases leaving the verb untranslated. Examples include the translations of Anthony Faulkes ("From this comes the saying that someone who escapes finds refuge (hleinir)", 1995 [1987]) and Jesse Byock ("From her name comes the expression that he who escapes finds hleinir [peace and quiet]", 2005).
Scholars have proposed a variety of derivations for the verb. The verb is most commonly linked to Old English hlinian and hlænan, ancestors to the modern English verb lean. 19th century scholars, including Jacob Grimm, linked hleina to the rare Old Norse noun hlynr, meaning 'maple tree'. Grimm links this derivation to a variety of tree figures found in folklore from the modern era in northwest Europe. Joseph Hopkins (2017) comments that this derivation may deserve further investigation in light of the potential connection between the Old Norse goddess name Ilmr and the Old Norse common noun almr (Elm tree), and says that "the potential of a protective tree goddess brings to mind a mysterious passage in the Prose Edda involving the rowan, in which the tree is referred to as [Thor's] bjǫrg ['aid, help, salvation, rescue']".
## Attestations
In the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, Hlín receives a mention regarding the foretold death of the god Odin during the immense battle waged at Ragnarök:
>
> Then is fulfilled Hlín's
>
> second sorrow,
>
> when Óðinn goes
>
> to fight with the wolf,
>
> and Beli's slayer,
>
> bright, against Surtr.
>
> Then shall Frigg's
>
> sweet friend fall.
The death of Odin (the stanza's "second sorrow") implies a first death. Scholars all but universally view this as a reference to the death of the god Baldr, Frigg and Odin's son. Some translators replace the reference of Hlín to a mention of Frigg due to their interpretations of the stanza (see discussion in Scholarly reception and interpretation section below).
In chapter 35 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Hlín is listed twelfth among a series of sixteen goddesses. High tells Gangleri (earlier in the book described as King Gylfi in disguise) that Hlín "is given the function of protecting people whom Frigg wishes to save from some danger." High continues that, from this, comes the saying that "someone who escapes finds refuge (hleinar)." The verb hleina in this passage is obscure and has yielded a variety of translations (see etymology section above).
In chapter 51, the above-mentioned Völuspá stanza is quoted. In chapter 75 of the book Skáldskaparmál Hlín appears within a list of 27 ásynjur names.
In skaldic poetry, the name Hlín is frequent in kennings for women. Examples include Hlín hringa ('Hlín of rings'), Hlín goðvefjar ('Hlín of velvet') and arm-Hlín ('arm-Hlín'). The name is already used frequently in this way by the 10th-century poet Kormákr Ögmundarson and remains current in skaldic poetry through the following centuries, employed by poets such as Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Gizurr Þorvaldsson and Einarr Gilsson. The name remained frequently used in woman kennings in rímur poetry, sometimes as Lín.
In a verse in Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings, the phrase á Hlín fallinn ("fallen on Hlín") occurs. Some editors have emended the line while others have accepted the reading and taken Hlín to refer to the earth.
## Modern influence
In line with a cultural practice to use Old Norse theonyms as personal names, Hlín appears as a given name for females in Iceland. Like other goddesses from the North Germanic corpus, Hlín receives veneration in Heathenry.
## Scholarly reception and interpretation
Although the Prose Edda identifies Hlín as a separate goddess than Frigg, many scholars identify Hlín as another name for Frigg. For example, Andy Orchard says that in Völuspá, Hlín appears to be just another name for Frigg, and adds that "the numerous occurrences of the name in skaldic poetry in poetic periphrases or kennings for women do nothing to dispel the confusion." Rudolf Simek agrees that Hlín seems to appear as another name for Frigg in Völuspá, and that in skaldic poetry Hlín was a well-known mythological figure by the 10th century. Simek states that Hlín is likely simply another name for Frigg, and that Snorri "misunderstood her to be a goddess in her own right in his reading of the Völuspá stanza."
However, in the same work, Simek also says that the goddesses Sága, Hlín, Sjöfn, Snotra, Vár, and Vör should be considered vaguely defined figures who "should be seen as female protective goddesses" that are all responsible for "specific areas of the private sphere, and yet clear differences were made between them so that they are in many ways similar to matrons."
Some scholars express uncertainty at identifying Hlín as another name for Frigg, and others reject the identification altogether. In a 2017 paper on the topic, Hopkins agrees with Simek's comparison to the matrons and compares the scholarly reception of the goddess Fulla, another goddess closely associated with Frigg, to that of Hlín:
>
> "Like Hlín, the name Fulla ['full, bountiful'] may be tempting to dismiss as a reading error on the part of a Prose Edda author or as a poetic invention ... Were it not for the preservation of the cognate theonym Volla in the Second Merseburg Charm, Fulla would remain in a similarly ambiguous position like that of Hlín, easily overlooked, dismissed, or deconstructed ... the correlations between the Prose Edda and the Second Merseburg Incantation provide something of a cautionary tale: namely, by dismissing information found solely in the Prose Edda, one risks violating the foundational maxim of absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is no reason to doubt that Hlín was an independent entity in Old Norse mythology and no positive evidence to suggest that Hlín was merely a by-name of Frigg."
Referencing the iconography of the early Germanic matrons, Hopkins proposes an alternate reading of the Völuspá stanza in line with the Gylfaginning description of the goddess. In Hopkins's reading of the stanza, Hlín's sorrows are her inability to protect figures close to Frigg: the first sorrow would therefore be the death of Baldr, and the second sorrow the foretold death of Odin.
## See also
- Ilmr, an Old Norse goddess whose name may mean 'elm tree'
- Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology |
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