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307_4 | As of the 2006 census, the population of Kanata had increased to 85,000, and was most recently estimated to be just over 90,000. The city became an important hi-tech centre. DEC was one of the pioneer technology companies in Kanata. The DEC campus has been successively Digital, Compaq, and HP, and is now occupied by the Gilmore Printing group of companies. Kanata remains home to many of the major hi-tech employers of Ottawa, such as Ericsson, Avaya, Juniper Networks, Research In Motion (now BlackBerry), Mitel, March Networks, Nokia, Bridgewater Systems, DragonWave, Solace, Protecode, Dell Canada, HP, Smart Technologies, Norpak, MDS Nordion, Breconridge, AMCC, Cisco Systems, Inc., and Ciena. Nortel Networks and the former Bell-Northern Research had a major campus of buildings just outside the Kanata boundary to the east. The hi-tech industry is clustered along March Road, in the Kanata North Business Park and Kanata Research Park, and along Eagleson Road, in the Kanata South Business |
307_5 | Park. |
307_6 | Location
Situated in the Ottawa Valley, Kanata is about west-southwest of Downtown Ottawa along Highway 417 at a latitude of 45°18' North and a longitude of 75°55' West, with an area of . Its northern end is just to the west of the Ottawa River.
To the east, Kanata is separated from the former City of Nepean by the National Capital Commission's Greenbelt. The community of Bells Corners borders the inner side of the Greenbelt. Bells Corners is itself a hi-tech suburb that was established around 1950, and was home to such Canadian technology icons as Computing Devices Canada, the Ottawa-based defence electronics company (bought by General Dynamics), which blazed the trail for later defence technology firms, in what is now unofficially known as Silicon Valley North, or Kanata. |
307_7 | To the south of Kanata is Stittsville, Ontario. First a farming community, then a village, then part of the township of Goulbourn, Stittsville is now a large suburb which was amalgamated into the new City of Ottawa in 2001, and largely employed by the hi-tech industry.
Further to the south of Kanata is the former village of Richmond, Ontario, which pre-dated what is now the City of Ottawa.
Main neighbourhoods (North to South) |
307_8 | South March: This area of Kanata is north of the Kanata North Business Park on either side of March Road and is bounded by Terry Fox Drive to the south and the urban boundary, which basically runs along the Old Carp Road to the north. Extensive developments are underway towards the north. The development area along the west side of March Road is often referred to as Morgan's Grant, while the development area along the east side of March Road can be referred to as BriarBrook, BriarRidge and Brookside (depending on what area one is referring to). Many developers have developed the land along the east side. |
307_9 | Kanata North Business Park: Frequently referred to as Silicon Valley North during the late 1990s, this area is bounded by Terry Fox Drive to the north, Herzberg Road to the east, March Road to the south and Goulbourn Forced Road to the west. Many high-tech companies reside in this area including MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, BlackBerry, Nokia, Dell, Mitel, Bridgewater Systems, Solace, AMD, Protecode, Inphi Corporation, Ciena, and Cisco. The 18-story, luxury Brookstreet Hotel is in the middle of the Kanata Research Park, surrounded by the first of two urban 18-hole golf courses, called the Marshes Golf Club. Unlike the members-only Kanata Lakes Golf & Country Club, the Marshes Golf Club is open to the general public. |
307_10 | Marchwood Lakeside : Frequently referred to as Kanata Lakes, this area is bounded by Campeau Drive to the south, Knudson Avenue & Weslock Way to the east, Terry Fox Drive to the west and Terry Fox Drive to the north. It has a main arterial street called Kanata Ave. which runs north–south all the way to the 417 (where it then switches to Castlefrank Road that continues south past Glen Cairn). This area has the second of two urban, 18-hole golf courses in Kanata. Unlike the Marshes Golf Course in the Kanata North Business Park, this golf course is not open to the public.
Beaverbrook: Bounded by the Kanata North Business Park to the north, March Road to the east, Campeau Drive to the south and Knudson Avenue & Weslock Way to the west. The first and oldest neighbourhood in Kanata, Beaverbrook is known for its hedged houses and community facilities. Beaverbrook is also home to Canadian businessman Terry Matthews. |
307_11 | Kanata Town Centre: Bounded by Campeau Drive to the north, March Road to the east, Katimavik Road to the south and Terry Fox Drive to the west. The provincial highway 417 bisects this neighbourhood, with most of the undeveloped areas on the north side of the 417. North of the 417, this area has a large mix of high density homes (townhomes and stacked townhomes) to the east, as well as Kanata's major shopping area called Kanata Entertainment Centrum which houses many big-box stores, as well as Landmark Cinemas and its own shopping centre. Between the commercial development and the residential developments to the east, there is a large undeveloped area zoned for high density residential, institutional and commercial spaces. South of the 417, this area again has a mix of residential, institutional and commercial spaces, although the amount of commercial spaces seems to have moved to the newer section of Kanata Town Centre, north of the 417. Again, most of the high density homes are to |
307_12 | the east, mainly consisting of townhome developments. As one ventures further to the west, towards Terry Fox Drive, the residential switches from townhomes developments to single family homes. |
307_13 | Terry Fox Business Park: Bounded by the provincial highway 417 & Terry Fox Drive to the north, Terry Fox Drive to the east, Maple Grove Road to the south and Huntmar Drive to the west. Canadian Tire Centre, home arena of the Ottawa Senators, is in the neighbourhood, as well as many newer big-box stores such as Home Depot, Staples, Canadian Tire and more recently Costco. The Bell Sensplex is also in this area, providing Kanata with an additional Olympic sized rink, three NHL sized rinks and an indoor soccer/lacrosse field.
Katimavik-Hazeldean: Bounded by Katimavik Road to the north, Eagleson Road to the east, by Hazeldean Road to the south and Terry Fox Drive to the west.
Kanata West: A new community under construction situated along the Stittsville/Kanata boundary. Bounded by Maple Grove Road to the north, Hazeldean Road to the south, and Terry Fox Drive to the east, this neighbourhood also contains big-box stores such as Lowe's. |
307_14 | Glen Cairn: Bounded by Hazeldean Road to the north, Eagleson Road to the east, the Trans Canada Trail to the south, and Terry Fox Drive to the west. Glen Cairn features some low income housing, and is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Kanata, along with Beaverbrook.
Kanata South Business Park: Bounded by the Trans Canada Trail to the north, Eagleson Road to the east, Fernbank Road to the south and Terry Fox Drive to the west. Again, many smaller high-tech companies are home to the KSBP. Most of this area was undeveloped until just recently. A Real Canadian Superstore recently opened and a large residential/small office development is under construction in the south end of the KSBP. |
307_15 | Bridlewood: Bounded by the National Capital Commission Green Belt to the north and east, Hope Side Road to the south, and Eagleson Road to the west. This area was part of the City of Nepean, but was transferred to the new City of Kanata when it was incorporated in 1978. Still under development, there are several residential projects underway in the core and to the south end of Bridlewood. Parts of southern Bridlewood may also be referred to as Emerald Meadows or Monahan Landing. |
307_16 | Politics
Until 2015, Kanata was in the federal and provincial riding of Carleton—Mississippi Mills. Kanata was the largest centre in the riding, with more than half the population being in Kanata. Both federally and provincially, the riding had tilted strongly conservative, with greater Liberal support in Kanata itself being swamped by more conservative voters in the rest of the riding. Norm Sterling represented the area for decades in the Ontario legislature for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario until he lost the nomination to Jack MacLaren in 2011. Federally, the area went Liberal for most of the 1990s, but in 2000, the riding, then known as Lanark—Carleton, was one of only two in Ontario to elect a Canadian Alliance MP. it was easily won by Conservative Gordon O'Connor in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011. O'Connor served as a cabinet minister under Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2013. |
307_17 | In 2015, Liberal candidate and Canadian Forces veteran Karen McCrimmon won the newly created riding of Kanata—Carleton, as the new riding had largely become devoid of more conservative rural areas due to population growth. |
307_18 | On the municipal level, the area has been more competitive. From 1994 to 2000, the area was represented on regional council by Kanata native Alex Munter, then a member of the New Democratic Party. In 2000, Munter was elected as the representative to the new Ottawa City Council. Munter retired in 2003 and was replaced by another progressive, Peggy Feltmate. Redistricting prior to the 2006 Ottawa election has seen Kanata divided into two wards, Kanata North and Kanata South. On November 13, 2006, Munter lost to Larry O'Brien in his bid to be mayor of Ottawa, though he carried Kanata. Feltmate won in the ward of Kanata South, and Marianne Wilkinson, seen as one of the more right-wing, developer-friendly members of council, was elected Councillor of Kanata North. Feltmate retired in 2010 and the Kanata South seat was won by Allan Hubley.
Economy
First Air, a Canadian airline, has its headquarters in Kanata. |
307_19 | The Kanata Research Park, Canada's largest technology park, is mostly along Terry Fox Drive in the north end of Kanata. Kanata Research Park is a significant location for several hi-tech companies, including Mitel, Ericsson, Blackberry Canada, Halogen Software, DragonWave, Wesley Clover, Ciena and Nokia.
Notable buildings and institutions |
307_20 | Canadian Tire Centre, 1000 Palladium Drive. Home arena of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League, some Ottawa 67's hockey games, and many large concerts, such as Bryan Adams, who opened the arena with a show on 15 January 1996, it was known as the Palladium (pre-construction-1996), the Corel Centre (1996–2006), and Scotiabank Place (2006–2013). For several years before the merger, the Canadian Tire Centre was in the City of Kanata, which was in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton.
The Kanata Recreation Complex, 100 Charlie Rogers Place; has two skating rinks, a toboggan hill and a splash pad.
The Kanata Leisure Centre and Wave Pool, 70 Aird Place
The Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive
The Kanata Centrum power centre; together with adjacent developments, Ottawa's third largest shopping centre. |
307_21 | The Royal Canadian Legion's national headquarters, near the Kanata Leisure Centre and the bridge over Hwy. 417 which links Castlefrank Road and Kanata Avenue. The Department of National Defence named the Valour Bridge on 1 December 2006, in an official naming ceremony to honour Canada's Armed Forces.
Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Place. The 350-seat theatre was completed in 1996, and was funded by an all-volunteer theatre company which was founded in 1968 in the homes of original Kanata residents.
Bell Sensplex, 1565 Maple Grove Road. Houses four ice rinks (three NHL sized and one Olympic sized), an indoor soccer pitch, Stanley's restaurant, several meeting rooms, and Peak Centre for Performance.
Landmark Cinemas Kanata 24, in the Kanata Centrum, the largest movie theatre in Ottawa (formerly AMC Kanata 24 and Empire Theatres Kanata 24).
Jack Charron Arena (formerly The Glen Cairn Arena) on Castlefrank Road at McKitrick Drive
Hazeldean Branch – Ottawa Public Library |
307_22 | Glen Cairn Tennis Courts – Four hard-courts plus a practice wall with a clubhouse.
Hazeldean Mall – indoor shopping mall bounded by Hazeldean Road, Eagleson Road, Carbrooke Street and Abbeyhill Drive
Tanger Outlet Mall – a large shopping complex across from Highway 417, Canadian Tire Centre and Palladium Auto Park which opened in October 2014. |
307_23 | Media
Kanata's community newspaper is The Kanata Community Voice, distributed every second week to all homes, apartments and businesses in the area. This newspaper was started in March 2018.
The Kanata Kourier-Standard newspaper, Kanata's former community newspaper, was the result of a merger in 1989 between two longtime community newspapers: the Kanata Kourier, launched in 1983 by Alex Munter; and the Kanata Standard, launched in 1965 by Kanata's community association. The paper was sold in November 27, 2017 by Torstar Metroland to Postmedia, who closed the publication January 2018. |
307_24 | Sports
Kanata is home to the Ottawa Senators professional ice hockey team, who play at Canadian Tire Centre. A women's Ottawa Senators team plays at the Bell Sensplex. The annual Bell Capital Cup youth minor amateur ice hockey tournament is held at the Sensplex during the Christmas holiday break. The Kanata Lasers, formally known as the Kanata Stallions (and Valley Lasers), is the junior team that plays at the Kanata Recreational Complex. The Kanata Soccer Club is the largest sports club in Kanata and the second largest in the city with close to 4,500 players. The Kanata Rhythmic Gymnastics Club is the largest rhythmic gymnastics club in Ontario, and was founded by Head Coach Dasa Lelli in 1975. Following the first rhythmic gymnastics club, Olympia Gymnastics, the first artistic gymnastics and recreational centre in the area, was founded in 2005 on Iber Road. |
307_25 | Kanata is also home to the Kanata Knights football club, one of the 16 teams that play in the National Capital Amateur Football Association (NCAFA). The Knights play and practice at Robert Barr field on 573 Hazeldean Rd. They are rivals of the Bell Warriors, West-Carleton Wolverines and other sports franchises.
Arts
Arts groups in Kanata include the Kanata Symphony, Kanata Civic Art Gallery and Kanata Theatre.
Schools
Elementary schools
English public elementary schools
Bridlewood Community Elementary School
Castlefrank Elementary School
Glen Cairn Public School
Jack Donohue Public School
John Young Elementary School
Kanata Highlands Public School
Katimavik Elementary School
Roch Carrier Elementary School
Roland Michener Public School
South March Public School
Stephen Leacock Public School
W. Erskine Johnston Public School
W. O. Mitchell Elementary School |
307_26 | English Catholic elementary schools
Georges Vanier Catholic School
St. Anne Catholic School
St Gabriel Catholic School
St Isidore Catholic School
St James Catholic School
St Martin de Porres Catholic School
French Catholic elementary schools
École élémentaire catholique Élisabeth-Bruyère
École élémentaire catholique Roger-Saint-Denis
École élémentaire catholique Saint-Remi
French public elementary schools
Ecole Elementaire Publique Julie-Payette
École élémentaire publique Maurice-Lapointe
Montessori schools
Becca's Home Montessori
Kanata Montessori School
March Montessori School and Childcare Centre Kanata (Ottawa)
High schools
Public high schools
A.Y. Jackson Secondary School
Earl of March Secondary School
Catholic high schools
All Saints Catholic High School
Holy Trinity Catholic High School
French Catholic high schools
École Secondaire Catholique Paul-Desmarais |
307_27 | Demographics
Population history for the former City of Kanata
Population (2011): 80,781
Population (2006): 70,078
Population (2001): 58,636
Population (1996): 47,909
Population (1991): 37,344
% change (2001–2006): 19.5
Dwellings: 24,044
Area (km²): 132.21
Density (persons per km²): 530.1
Population by neighbourhood
Mayors
Marianne Wilkinson (1978–1985)
Des Adam (1985–1991)
Merle Nicholds (1991–2000)
Kanata was amalgamated with the City of Ottawa in 2001, so it no longer has its own mayor.
References
External links
Primary schools
Former municipalities now in Ottawa
Neighbourhoods in Ottawa
Former cities in Ontario
High-technology business districts in Canada
Populated places disestablished in 2000 |
308_0 | Panam Padaithavan () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language film produced and directed by T. R. Ramanna, and written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Sowcar Janaki and K. R. Vijaya. It was released on 27 March 1965.
Plot
While making his way to Calcutta, accompanied by his young brother, Balu, for an athletic championship, Raja, an accomplished sportsman, stemming from a rich rustic Tamil family. Raja and Balu met Shanti's father, Masilamani in accident. Masilamani is a drunkard got addicted to liquor due to his wife death. Raja shows mercy towards them and got acquainted with Shanti and with her father, Masilamani, in very modest condition. Between Raja and Shanti, it is love at first sight. |
308_1 | Having won the championship, Raja and Balu meets Rama and Uma, two sisters were accompanied by their wealthy father G.R. Pillai. Shanthi happens to work as servant in Rama and Uma's house. Eventually, Balu and Uma, fall in love each other. Rama has difficulty in seducing Raja for a very good reason, he thinks only of Shanti. Rama is an overly social lady, which Raja dislikes, so he avoids her. G.R. Pillai happens to be distant relative and good friend of Raja and Balu's father Shanmuga Pillai, invites Raja and Balu parents to fix her daughters marriage to Raja and Balu. However, Raja reject Rama. Indeed, because he refuses the hand of Rama, his father also refuses to give Uma to Balu. He wants his two daughters to marry both brothers. |
308_2 | Meanwhile, a mysterious man Kuppan, off and on black-mail Shanmuga Pillai. Balu, then, sinks into alcohol to drown his sorrows and accuses Raja that because of him, Balu and Uma are unable to marry. For the happiness of his younger brother, he skips the one that he loves and resigns to marry Rama. However, Raja heart-brokenly informs his decision to Shanthi. Shanthi is unable to bear this and decides to kill herself. |
308_3 | After Raja and Balu marriage, Raju receives a phone call that Shanthi was admitted in hospital due to seriousness of her suicide attempt, which irritates Rama. The next day, everyone leaves to Raja's native place, except Raja and Rama. Rama who still hates Raja, plays a prank that she receives call from Joker that he is serious. Rama rushes to the club house to meet Joker. Soon Rama have guilty feeling on cheating Raja and her own behaviour. Joker misbehaves towards Rama. Raja arrives there and fight between Raja and Joker ensues. In the fight, Joker shoots Rama, Rama succumbs to her injury and dies. Before she dies, she repent her mistakes to Raja. The police soon arrest the Joker. Raja heart-broken joins military. |
308_4 | After few years, Raja got injured in the battlefields and return to his village. There, Balu found out that his brother still in love with Shanthi. Balu goes to Calcutta and invites Shanthi and her father, Masilamani to get Shanthi and Raja married. Once they arrived there, Raja and everyone shocked to hear, that Shanthi's father, Masilamani is low-caste person, and used to worked Shanmuga Pillai's farm. Shanthi's father, Masilamani eloped with Shanmuga Pillai's own sister (Raja's aunt). Soon or later, Shanthi is born and her mother passed away. Due to this, Shanmuga Pillai hates Shanthi's father and chases away Raja, Shanthi and her father. |
308_5 | Raja and Shanthi soon decide to marry, but during the ceremony, Kuppan tries to stop them, but Raja overcomes Kuppan and marries Shanthi. Balu supports his brother Raja's marriage. Raja gets job in a gym. Shanthi gets pregnant. Shanmuga Pillai informs Balu that, if he didn't get child soon, his property will be given to charity. He informs Shanthi to support him in order for their family unity. Balu schemes. Balu and Uma lies to Shanmuga Pillai that Uma is pregnant. Balu sends Uma to Calcutta her (fake) pregnancy. Shanthi delivers a baby boy. Balu and Uma comes while Raja away to his work and persuade Shanthi to give her child to Balu and Uma. Balu reveals his plan to Shanthi that to bring Raja's son like Balu's son. Shanthi half-hearted let Balu take his son. Shanmuga Pillai delighted to see the baby, thinking it is Balu's son. |
308_6 | Raja came to know the about this later. He also reluctantly agrees to their plan. As the days goes by, Raja and Shanthi misses their son. Seeing this, Masilamani goes see Balu. However, Shanmuga Pillai came to know the incident from Masilamani, gives the baby to Shanthi's father. Shanmuga Pillai, however, misses Raja's son and decides to go to see Raja's son. Soon Raja and Shanmuga Pillai realises, that Raja's son and Masilamani were kidnapped by Kuppan the mysterious man who, blackmail Shanmuga Pillai earlier on.
Shanmuga Pillai reveal to Raja, before coming to the village, he was collaborating with Kuppan in smuggling business and eventually jailed for two months. Using this Kuppan often black-mail Shanmuga Pillai for money. Raja finally saves the baby from Kuppan.
The films end where, all the family members unite, whereby Balu reveals, Uma is pregnant.
Cast |
308_7 | Production
Panam Padaithavan was produced and directed by T. R. Ramanna under R. R. Pictures, and written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy. Cinematography was handled by M. A. Rehman, and editing by M. S. Money.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy. Ramachandran said the song "Enakkoru Mahan", which had the lyrics "Ennakoru mahan pirappaan! – Avan Ennaipolave iruppan! Thanakkoru paathaiyai vahukaamal – En Thalaivan vazhiyile nadappan!" (A son will be born to me- and he will resemble me; Rather than treading on his own path – he will follow the route of my leader) was the inverse of his real self since he had no biological children.
Release and reception
Panam Padaithavan was released on 27 March 1965. The film ran for over 100 days in theatres.
References
External links
1960s Tamil-language films
1965 films
Films directed by T. R. Ramanna
Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Indian films |
309_0 | The Affair of Agbeluvoe (Agbéluvhoé, Beleaguer or the Battle of Tsewie, was fought during the First World War between invading British Empire soldiers of the West African Rifles and German troops in German Togoland (now Togo) on 15 August 1914. British troops occupying the Togolese capital of Lomé on the coast, had advanced towards a wireless station at Kamina, inland on hills near Atakpamé. The only routes inland were by the railway and road, which had been built through dense and almost impassable jungle. |
309_1 | Two trainloads of German troops steamed south to engage the British and delay the Anglo-French invasion but were ambushed at Agbulovhoe, suffered many casualties and fled, leaving of railway to the north intact. After a halt of three days to accumulate supplies, the British advance resumed with support from French . The German colonial forces were capable of only one more defensive action at the Affair of Khra on 22 August. The Germans blew up the wireless transmitter at Kamina on the night of and the colony was surrendered the next day.
Background |
309_2 | Strategic developments
An Offensive Sub-Committee of the British Committee of Imperial Defence was appointed on 5 August and established a principle that command of the seas was to be ensured. Territorial objectives were considered if they could be attained with local forces and if the objective assisted the priority of maintaining British sea communications, as British army garrisons abroad were returned to Europe in an "Imperial Concentration". Attacks on German coaling stations and wireless stations were considered to be important, to clear the seas of German commerce raiders. Objectives at Tsingtau, Luderitz Bay, Windhoek, Duala and Dar-es-Salaam were considered and a German wireless station in Togoland, next to the British colony of Gold Coast (now Ghana) on the Gulf of Guinea, was considered vulnerable to attack by local forces. |
309_3 | The high-power wireless transmitter had been built at Kamina and controlled German communication in the Atlantic Ocean, by linking a German transmitter at Nauen near Berlin with German colonies in west Africa and south America. At the outbreak of war, the German acting-Governor of Togoland, who had police, police and guards but no regular army forces, had proposed neutrality to the British and French colonial authorities under the Congo Act 1885 and then withdrawn from Lomé and the coastal region, when the British demanded unconditional surrender. The acting-Governor, Major Hans-Georg von Döring had sent an un-coded wireless message to Berlin disclosing his plan to retreat to Kamina, which had been intercepted by the British and led to offensive operations against Kamina being authorised by the Colonial Office on 9 August. Anglo-French expeditions from northern Dahomey, Nigeria and the Gold Coast began on 12 August. |
309_4 | Tactical developments |
309_5 | On 6 August 1914, the British and French governments summoned the German authorities in Togoland to surrender; Anglo-French forces invaded the colony and occupied Lomé unopposed on 7 August and by 12 August, the southern portion of the colony was under Anglo-French control. In northern Togoland British and French troops, police and irregulars occupied Yendi and Mango on 14 August. In the south, the had withdrawn to the wireless station at Kamina, about inland. As British and French forces advanced towards Kamina, the German commanders, acting-Governor Major Hans-Georg von Döring and the military commander, Captain Georg Pfähler attempted to delay the Allied advances by blowing bridges. The main British and French thrusts came from the south, where well built roads and railways from the coast made movement easy for both sides. To harass the West African Rifles of the West African Frontier Force (WAFF), German commanders filled two trains with soldiers and sent them south to raid the |
309_6 | Allies on 15 August 1914. |
309_7 | Engagement
By 14 August the British had reached Tsevié unopposed and patrols reported the country south of Agbeluvoe clear of German forces. The main British force assembled at Togblekove and "I" Company (Captain H. B. Potter) was sent forward by road to Agbeluvoe, followed by the main body on 15 August. When the main force reached Dawie, civilians reported that a train full of Germans had shot up the station at Tsevié earlier that morning. At Tsevié the British found that the train had steamed north and hurried on to support "I" Company. "I" Company had heard the train run south at while halted on the road near Ekuni. A section was sent to cut off the train and the rest of "I" Company pressed on to Agbeluvoe. A local civilian guided the section to the railway, where Lieutenant H. S. Collins and the section piled stones and a heavy iron plate on the tracks, about north of the bridge at Ekuni, a village about south of Agbeluvoe and then set an ambush. |
309_8 | A second train, carrying Captain Georg Pfähler, commander of the German forces in Togoland, stopped in front of the obstacle and managed to reverse before the ambushers reached it. The rest of "I" Company had heard the train pass, set another ambush and riddled the engine with bullets as it travelled past at full steam. The British parties rendezvoused and advanced to Agbeluvoe, where another road and rail block was established. Both trains were south of Agbeluvoe and the convoy of carriers with "I" Company's supplies was harassed by German attacks for two hours before they arrived at the British position. The position at Agbeluvoe had been attacked several times from the south; more attacks overnight were repulsed. As the main British force drew close, the Germans retired towards their train and eventually surrendered. The main force under Colonel F. C. Bryant had been engaged by a German party on the afternoon of 15 August at the Lila river, where the Germans blew the bridge and |
309_9 | then retired to a ridge where they fought a delaying action holding up the British until Three German dead were left behind; the British lost one man killed and three wounded. When the advance resumed the British reached Ekuni and found twenty railway carriages, which had been derailed by the obstruction near the bridge. |
309_10 | Many of the German soldiers reportedly took off their uniforms, threw down their guns and ran into the bush at the sight of the British ambush. The remaining Germans retreated northwards to Agbeluvoe where further fighting ensued, in which Pfähler was killed. A German prisoner wrote an account in September, which described the German force at Agbeluvoe as two companies of local soldiers, commanded by Pfähler. An attempt to break through the "I" Company road and rail block collapsed when the Togolese troops refused orders and then began shooting in all directions. Six Germans were killed including Pfähler, after which the troops fled; the remnants failed to contact Kamina and news of the disaster was eventually delivered by a German train driver who had been fired on at Agbeluvoe. |
309_11 | Next morning Baron Cordelli von Fahnenfeldt, who had designed the wireless station at Kamina and the German explosives expert were captured; the column set off for Agbeluvoe, no news having arrived from "I" Company. Slight opposition was met half way to the station and much abandoned equipment was found. Firing was heard until about from Agbeluvoe, where most of the German troops from the trains were found to have been captured, along with two trains, wagons, a machine-gun, rifles and much ammunition. The Germans who escaped proved too demoralised to conduct demolitions and of track were taken undamaged. The British lost six killed and some of whom had injuries which raised suspicions that the Germans had used soft-nosed bullets, which was later discovered to have been partly true, as some hurriedly incorporated reservists had used their civilian hunting ammunition.
Aftermath |
309_12 | Analysis |
309_13 | The Germans lost a quarter of their troops in the attempt to use the railway to harass British forces to the south. It was considered a great failure and defeat for the Germans in Togoland. Although it may briefly have delayed the British northward advance, which was not resumed until 19 August, the Affair of Agbeluvoe had no lasting effect on the advance of the Allies. The wireless station at Kamina was demolished by the Germans, which cut off German ships in the South Atlantic from communication with Europe and influenced the Battle of the Falkland Islands (8 December 1914). On 26 August, eleven days after the battle, Döring surrendered. The German force of comprising one German and seven Togolese companies, had been expected to be most difficult to defeat, given the terrain and the extensive entrenchments at Kamina. A German prisoner later wrote that few of the Germans had military training, the defences of Kamina had been too large for the garrison to defend and were ringed by |
309_14 | hills. The Germans were not able to obtain information about the British in the neighbouring Gold Coast (Ghana) and instructions by wireless from Berlin only insisted that the transmitting station be protected. In the first three weeks of August, the transmitter had passed from Nauen to German colonies and German shipping. Defence of the transmitter had wider operational effects but Döring made no attempt at protracted resistance. |
309_15 | Casualties
The British suffered and the German forces at the Affair of Agbeluvoe.
Subsequent operations
On 22 August the Affair of Khra was fought by the Anglo-French invaders and the Germans on the Khra River and in Khra (Chra) village. The German forces had dug in and repulsed the Anglo-French attack. A new attack on 23 August found that the Germans had retired further inland to Kamina. By the end of the campaign, six of seven provinces had been abandoned by the Germans, bridges had not been blown and only the Khra river line among the three possible water obstacles had been defended. The speed of the invasion by several British and French columns, whose size was over-estimated and lack of local support for the colonial regime, had been insuperable obstacles for the German colonialists. Togoland was occupied by the British and French for the duration of the war.
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
Books
Websites
Further reading
External links |
309_16 | Togoland 1914 Harry's Africa Web 2012
Funkentelegrafie Und Deutsche Kolonien: Technik Als Mittel Imperialistischer Politik. Familie Friedenwald
Schutzpolizei uniforms
Battles of World War I involving Germany
Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom
Military history of Togo
West Africa
1914 in Africa
Battles of the African Theatre (World War I)
20th century in Togo
August 1914 events |
310_0 | An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama film based on the true story of a chance meeting of actress Coral Browne with Guy Burgess (Alan Bates), a member of the Cambridge spy ring who spied for the Soviet Union while an officer at MI6. The production was written by Alan Bennett and directed by John Schlesinger. Browne stars as herself.
Plot
The film is set in Moscow in 1958, after Burgess had defected to the Soviet Union in 1951 with Donald Maclean when it became apparent that Maclean was about to be investigated by British intelligence. Burgess barges into Browne's dressing room in the interval of a touring Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production of Hamlet, in which she portrayed Gertrude, and charms her. Later on she is invited to his Moscow flat, finding it with some difficulty, to measure him for a suit that he would like ordered from his London tailor. On returning to London, she visits several high-class gentlemen's outfitters to purchase his requirements.
Film cast |
310_1 | Alan Bates as Guy Burgess
Coral Browne as herself
Charles Gray as 'Charles' playing Claudius
Harold Innocent as Rosencrantz
Vernon Dobtcheff as Guildenstern
Czeslaw Grocholski as general
Matthew Sim as boy
Mark Wing-Davey as Hamlet
Faina Zinova as hotel receptionist
Douglas Reith as Toby
Peter Chelsom as Giles
Judy Gridley as Tessa
Bibs Ekkel as scarf man
Alexei Jawdokimov as Tolya
Molly Veness as Mrs Burgess
Denys Hawthorne as tailor
Roger Hammond as shoe shop assistant
Charles Lamb as George
Trevor Baxter as pyjama shop manager |
310_2 | Charles Gray's character was simply named 'Charles' but in the real events on which the play is based, his character would have been the actor Mark Dignam. During the film, Burgess refers to one of the actors in the version of 'Hamlet' he's just seen, playing the part of Laertes. "I like the look of Laertes. He goes rather well in to tights" says Burgess. "That's what he thinks" replies Browne, to which Burgess responds: "Looks like he put a couple of King Edward's down there". The actor they were discussing would have been Edward Woodward in the Moscow production. Michael Redgrave, Dorothy Tutin, Julian Glover, Anthony Nicholls, Eileen Atkins, Ian Holm and Edward de Souza were all members of the Shakespearean troupe involved with this tour of Russia, but they play no part in Bennett's storyline. |
310_3 | Production
Rather than film in the Soviet Union, Schlesinger used several locations in Scotland. The Caird Hall and Whitehall Theatre in Dundee stood in for the Moscow theatre, and the grand marble staircase of Glasgow City Chambers played the part of the British Embassy. Additional filming was done at Glasgow's St. Andrew's Suspension Bridge ("luckily, in a snowstorm" Bennett later wrote) and the Moss Heights flats in Cardonald, which represented Burgess' Moscow apartment. |
310_4 | Writing
Several plot changes were made from the true story told by Browne to Bennett. Burgess in fact threw up in the dressing room of Michael Redgrave, who asked for Browne's help. Redgrave documented the incident in his autobiography without mentioning Browne's involvement with the incident. Browne addressed some press speculation that she had in fact plagiarized Redgrave's story in various interviews to promote the film's first broadcast, explaining Bennett's dramatic changes. The play also contained scenes in Moscow's British Embassy and in London shops where Browne encountered resistance to helping Burgess, none of which happened in reality.
Bennett gives the date of Browne's meeting with Burgess as 1958 in the introduction to his Single Spies, which contains the text of An Englishman Abroad in the stage play version and the text of A Question of Attribution about Anthony Blunt. |
310_5 | The play was also adapted for radio on the BBC World Service in 1994 starring Michael Gambon as Burgess and Penelope Wilton as Coral Browne. It was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC Radio 7 and BBC Radio 4 Extra, most recently in 2013 as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra's Cambridge Spies season.
Reception
Both Browne and Bates were winners of the BAFTA awards for acting for their roles in the production.
On the BFI TV 100, a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened, An Englishman Abroad was listed at number 30.
The U. S. film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1985 that An Englishman Abroad "is probably the finest hour of television I've ever seen."
See also
Cambridge Spies, a 2003 BBC TV play about the Cambridge Ring
References
External links
British Film Institute Screen Online |
310_6 | 1983 television films
1983 films
1983 LGBT-related films
BBC television dramas
British LGBT-related television films
British films
Films scored by George Fenton
LGBT-related films based on actual events
Films directed by John Schlesinger
Films set in 1958
Films set in Moscow
Films set in the Soviet Union
Films with screenplays by Alan Bennett
Cultural depictions of the Cambridge Five
Spy drama television films |
311_0 | An Awfully Big Adventure is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story concerns a teenage girl who joins a local repertory theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue.
The title is an ironic nod to the original Peter Pan story, in which Peter says, "To die will be an awfully big adventure." Set in 1947, the film was adapted from the Booker Prize-nominated 1989 novel of the same name by Beryl Bainbridge.
Plot
In the film's prologue, a hotelier ushers a child into a bomb shelter during the Liverpool Blitz. We see a brief flashback to a woman leaving her baby in a basement surrounded by flickering candles. Before departing from the house, she quickly drops a string of pearls on the child's pillow, twined around a single rose. |
311_1 | Years later, 16-year-old Stella Bradshaw lives in a working class household with her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Lily in Liverpool. Lacking an adult in her life to whom she feels close, she frequently goes into phone booths to "speak with her mother", who never appears in the film. Her uncle, who sees a theatrical career as being her only alternative to working behind the counter at Woolworth's, signs her up for speech lessons and pulls strings to get her involved at a local repertory theatre. After an unsuccessful audition, Stella gets a job gofering for Meredith Potter, the troupe's sleazy, eccentric director, and Bunny, his faithful stage manager. |
311_2 | The impressionable Stella develops a crush on the worldly, self-absorbed Meredith, whose homosexuality completely eludes her. Amused, he gives her the small role of Ptolemy the boy-king in Caesar and Cleopatra but ignores her otherwise. Meredith reveals himself to be an amoral, apathetic man who treats Stella and everyone else around him with scorn and condescension. He reserves his greatest cruelty for Dawn Allenby, a desperate older actress whom he callously dismisses from the company; she later attempts suicide.
Meredith also has a long history of preying upon young men. Stella is quickly caught up in the backstage intrigue and also becomes an object of sexual advances from men in and around the theatre company, including P. L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman), a brilliant actor who has returned to the troupe in a stint playing Captain Hook for its Christmas production of Peter Pan. In keeping with theatrical tradition, O'Hara also doubles as Mr. Darling. |
311_3 | O'Hara carries himself with grace and charisma, but privately is as troubled and disillusioned as the other members of the cast. Haunted by his wartime experiences and a lost love who he believes bore him a son, O'Hara embarks on an affair with Stella, to whom he feels an inexplicably deep emotional connection. Stella, who is still determined to win over Meredith, remains emotionally detached, but takes advantage of O'Hara's affections, seeing an opportunity to gain sexual experience. |
311_4 | The last straw for Stella is during a cast outing when Geoffrey, a fellow teenage stagehand whom Potter has been sexually toying with, bursts out and hits him in the nose. The cast rushes to comfort Geoffrey, but Stella exclaims that he ought to be sacked. O'Hara explains to her that Meredith has spent his life harming people like Geoffrey and causing pain to people like Bunny who really love him: "believe it or not, it doesn't much matter him or her, old or young to Meredith. What he wants is hearts." |
311_5 | Concerned, O'Hara visits her aunt and uncle, who disclose Stella's history. He finds out that Stella's long-missing mother was his lost love, whom he then knew by the nickname Stella Maris, making Stella — whom he's been sleeping with — his child, a daughter rather than the son he had imagined. Keeping his discovery to himself, O'Hara gets on his motorcycle and drives back out to the seaport. Distracted by his new findings, he slips on a wet gangplank, hits his head, and is pitched into the water. Before he drowns, he sees the woman from earlier flashbacks, clutching the infant. Stella is later seen hastening to the phone booth to confide her woes over the phone. The absent Stella Maris had years ago won a nationwide contest to be the voice of the speaking clock. It is her recorded voice that provides the only response to her daughter's confidences. |
311_6 | Cast
Alan Rickman as P.L. O'Hara
Hugh Grant as Meredith Potter
Georgina Cates as Stella Bradshaw
Alun Armstrong as Uncle Vernon
Peter Firth as Bunny
Carol Drinkwater as Dawn Allenby
Rita Tushingham as Aunt Lily
Prunella Scales as Rose Lipton
Edward Petherbridge as Richard St. Ives
Nicola Pagett as Dotty Blundell
Clive Merrison as Desmond Fairchild
Alan Cox as Geoffrey
James Frain as John Harbour
Production
Georgina Cates, whose real name is Clare Woodgate, was initially declined when she first auditioned for the film. Upon rejection, she dyed her hair red, changed her name and reinvented herself as a teenage girl from Liverpool with no acting experience and applied again. The second time she got the role. Alan Rickman was reportedly miffed when he found out her true age. According to Mike Newell, he "treated her very tactfully, presuming that she was sexually inexperienced and could get upset by the scene." |
311_7 | Hugh Grant based his characterization of Meredith on Richard Digby Day, a past director of his from Nottingham Playhouse.
Principal photography took place mostly in Dublin; the playhouse in the film was the Olympia Theatre.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album was released on 20 June 1995 by Silva Screen Records. In addition to the original film score composed by Richard Hartley, the Irish folk song "The Last Rose of Summer" is used as O'Hara's theme music throughout the film.
Release
Box office
The film did not perform well at the box office, grossing only $593,350 in the United Kingdom and $258,195 in the United States. It grossed $2 million worldwide. However, Georgina Cates received a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Actress of the Year and Mike Newell was nominated for a Crystal Globe Award for Best Director at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Critical reception |
311_8 | On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 36% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.
Although Rickman and Grant were unanimously praised, many were indifferent to the film's bleak, subtle humor and episodic structure. Lisa Schwartzenbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Rickman... is the most interesting thing going in this unwieldy muddle... There's a creepy allure to O'Hara, and it is his energy that moves the story along to its unsettling surprise ending." Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "This isn't a sentimental slice of British eccentricity, or a gentle glance at amateur theatricals and the oddballs who inhabit them... Instead, it's a sour, unpleasant experience that gives us every reason not to become involved. Newell, who directed Four Weddings with such a light touch and such fondness, leaves the impression here that he doesn't like his characters and doesn't mind if we don't, either." |
311_9 | Janet Maslin of The New York Times, however, felt that it captured "Mr. Grant as the clever, versatile character actor he was then becoming, rather than the international dreamboat he is today... [the film] isn't overly concerned with making its stars look good. Mr. Grant wears a monocle, has nicotine-stained fingers and appears in one scene looking dissolute and vomit-stained... As it turns out, a public relations blackout is only the least of this admirable film's problems. Its Liverpool accents are thickly impenetrable. And Ms. Bainbridge's book is elliptical to begin with, which guarantees that some of its fine points will be lost in translation. Mr. Newell directs his actors beautifully, but the screenplay by Charles Wood echoes Ms. Bainbridge in letting important information fly by obliquely. So listen closely. This is a dark, eccentric film that both requires and rewards keen attention." |
311_10 | Similarly, Joel Pearce of DVD Verdict commented that "An Awfully Big Adventure is disappointing, but not because it's a bad movie... In fact, it's a good movie that's been the victim of extremely bad marketing... Hugh Grant is at his sleazy, sardonic best... Some elements of the film are too subtle, so it takes a while to figure out what's really going on."
Alan Rickman later said that he felt the film suffered comparisons to Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Honours
Crystal Globe - Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic (nominated)
Actress of the Year (Georgina Cates) - London Film Critics Circle (nominated)
References
External links |
311_11 | 1995 films
1995 LGBT-related films
British films
British comedy-drama films
British coming-of-age films
British independent films
British LGBT-related films
1990s English-language films
Films about actors
Films based on British novels
Films set in 1947
Films set in Liverpool
Films directed by Mike Newell
Incest in film
Juvenile sexuality in films |
312_0 | "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s British synthpop songcraft", it was written and produced by George Michael, and has been covered by many artists since its original release. |
312_1 | Upon its initial release in 1984, "Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart—it was held off the top spot at Christmas by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (on which Michael also performed). After many chart runs in subsequent years, which included three more weeks at number two, and which saw the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release. In doing so, it became the fifth UK number one single for the duo and surpassed Tony Christie's almost 16 year-long record for the longest time a single has taken to top the UK Singles Chart after its initial release with "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo?" in March 2005, which had itself taken 33 years 4 months to top the chart (with Peter Kay, though credited, only actually appearing in the video). Prior to it reaching number |
312_2 | one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company (OCC) with 1.9 million copies sold (not including streams). This record is now held by "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. The tune reached number one in the UK after it was streamed 9.2 million times in the last week of 2020 and sold 1,555 downloads, resulting in a total of 40,149 combined sales. |
312_3 | Outside the United Kingdom, the song topped the charts in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, and Sweden and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries including Australia and the United States. Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eighth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song and was voted most popular song of the 1980s in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite 80's Songs. It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" in 2015.
Background and composition
The song has a tempo of 107 beats per minute. It is written in the key of D♭ Major.
Development |
312_4 | "Last Christmas" had its beginnings in 1984, while George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were visiting Michael's parents. It was written by Michael in his childhood bedroom. Michael played Ridgeley the introduction and chorus melody to "Last Christmas", which Ridgeley later called "a moment of wonder".
Recording
The song was recorded in August 1984, at Advision Studios, London, England. George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on the track. With a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno-60 synth and sleigh bells, they began recording the song in the summer, Michael having "plastered [the studio] in Christmas decorations to set the mood". The only other people in the studio were engineer Chris Porter and two assistants. According to Porter, lyrically "you've got the happiness of the rhythm track, but against that you've got the sadness of the unrequited love".
Chart performance
United Kingdom |
312_5 | Wham! already had two number one singles on the UK Singles Chart during 1984, and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a battle for the coveted Christmas number one spot in Britain seemed set to be between Wham! and the year's other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who had achieved a third No. 1 in early December with "The Power of Love". However, the Band Aid single written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, produced the No. 1 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", while Wham!'s offering peaked at No. 2 for much of the period. Wham! donated all "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" royalties to the Ethiopian famine. |
312_6 | In subsequent years, the song entered the UK top 40 on 15 occasions, reaching the top 10 no less than 6 times (including a run of 5 consecutive years between 2016 and 2020). In 1985 and 2017 it equalled its best ever chart position of number two, before finally topping the charts on 1 January 2021, 36 years after its original 1984 release. In the process, "Last Christmas" achieved the chart record for the longest time taken for a single to peak at the top of the UK Singles Chart after its first release, a feat that had previously been held by "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo? by Tony Christie, which topped the chart in March 2005, 33 years and 4 months after its initial release in November 1971. |
312_7 | Coincidentally with the sudden death of George Michael on December 25, 2016, "Last Christmas" reach number 7 on the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks (8 December 2016 - 5 January 2017). On January 8, 2021, "Last Christmas" became the very first record to disappear completely from number one spot, exiting the Official Charts Company Top 100 chart with no placing on the chart (week ending 14 January 2021). As "Last Christmas" replaced "Don't Stop Me Eatin'" by LadBaby, which had dropped down the singles chart to number 78 on January 1, it was the first time in chart history that two back-to-back number ones had disappeared not only from the BBC Radio 1 Top 40, but the Top 75 as well
"Last Christmas" had sold over 1.90 million copies, being at that time the biggest-selling single in UK chart history not to reach number one, and the 10th best-selling UK single overall. It was certified quadruple platinum in December 2021. |
312_8 | In December 2019, it peaked at No. 1 on both the UK Official Vinyl Singles Chart and on the Official Video Streaming Chart. The following week, the song set a new UK chart record and was streamed 17.1 million times, the most number of plays in a week. It became the UK's best-selling vinyl single release in 2019.
Other territories
In Germany, the song is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 153 weeks on the German Singles Chart and attained a peak position of number one on 24 December 2021. It has charted every year since 1997. In January 2008, the song fell from No. 4 to No. 64 there, also making it the biggest fall out of the top 10 on the singles chart. |
312_9 | The single was originally released in two different formats in Japan with different cover art, a 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl (Long version) both with "Credit Card Baby" as their B-side. The former entered the top 20 of the Oricon Singles Chart peaking at No. 15, while the latter reached No. 47. The single was released in 1993 on CD single in the country and peaked at No. 17, selling nearly 40,000 copies that week. It was reissued in November 2001 and 2004 as a 2-track CD with the single edit and the "Pudding Mix".
As a result of the success, "Last Christmas" is the eighth best-selling single of all time in Japan released by a non-Japanese act, with total physical sales of 683,000 units. |
312_10 | In the Netherlands, the song never reached No. 1, peaking at No. 2 in January 1985 (behind Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). In the Dutch Singles Top 100 (one of three charts in the Netherlands that claims to be the "official" chart, but it is the only one that is not broadcast and remains unpublished except on its own official web page), the song has now entered on 16 different occasions, including every year since 2006. Its highest position after 1984 was No. 4 (during the 2016 and 2018 Christmas season). In the Dutch Mega Top 50 (which was first published in 1993), the song re-appeared in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008, and 2013. |
312_11 | "Last Christmas" was not released commercially as a single in the United States until November 2014, when it was made available on 12" vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive. Since then, the song has re-entered the Billboard Holiday Songs Chart on a regular basis, peaking at No. 3 on 7 December 2019.
In Deleware a special remix of "last christmas" is used for all radio play, it is similar to the original but different enough that it should not be counted for any holiday games involving accidental listening. |
312_12 | As of 25 November 2016, total US sales of the digital track stand at 751,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it 10th on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in US SoundScan history. The song debuted at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart dated 7 January 2017, after George Michael died.
In December 2018, the song re-entered the Hot 100, reaching No. 25 in January 2019, and then a new peak of No. 11 in the first issue of 2020. On the issue dated 2 January 2021, "Last Christmas" reached number nine on the Hot 100, its first foray into the top 10 and returning Wham! to the top 10 after a 35-year break. The following year, on the issue dated 1 January 2022, the song reached number seven. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it was certified double platinum in December 2019 and has sold 2 million digital units. |
312_13 | In December 2017, 28 December 2018 and December 2019 "Last Christmas" reached No. 1 in the Swedish singles chart.
Music video
The video to "Last Christmas" directed by Andrew Morahan, shows Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at an unspecified ski resort cottage: the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the video was filmed. It becomes clear early on that the character of Ridgeley's girlfriend (played by model Kathy Hill) was previously in a relationship with Michael and that the song is aimed at her. She can be spotted throughout the video by the fact that she is usually wearing red, but everyone else is wearing more muted colors. |
312_14 | There is a brief flashback to a prior Christmas, showing Michael's character presenting Kathy Hill's character with a jewelled brooch. In the present time, Ridgeley is wearing the brooch, suggesting that Hill gave the same gift (perhaps by regifting it) to her new love after she and Michael parted ways. When Hill wears the brooch after receiving it from Michael's character, it is "right side up", and when Ridgeley's character wears it, he wears it "upside down". On numerous occasions, Michael presents a thoughtful expression, suggesting his conflicting emotions. As Michael is decorating the Christmas tree some decoration falls to the floor where Michael's ex-girlfriend is sitting and the ex-couple shares a few seconds of a knowing look at each other. |
312_15 | Her seeming indifference to Ridgeley's open displays of affection makes the viewer wonder if Ridgeley's heart is the next to be broken. At the end of the video, everyone leaves the cottage and when the group get out of the cable-car, they are all properly "paired off" with Michael and his new girlfriend looking happy.
The video also featured the duo's erstwhile backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie.
It has since been rescanned in 4K definition from the original 35mm film. The music video, originally shot on film, was released on 13 December 2019 in 4K Ultra HD resolution. The music video's original film director Andy Morahan found the original 35mm rushes and worked closely with teams at Cinelab London and VFX artist Russ Shaw at Nice Biscuits post production to recreate the video using the higher-resolution film.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Release history |
312_16 | Note: When released in 1984 "Last Christmas" and "Everything She Wants" were a double A-side. In some countries, the longer edit (4:34) of "Last Christmas" from 1984 was used on side two of the second 12-inch.
The only difference between the 1988 and 1989 reissues is the text (Christmas '88" and Christmas '89") on the back of the record.
In other media
The film Last Christmas (2019) prominently features the music of George Michael, including this song and a previously unreleased track.
The song is featured in the video game Just Dance 2017 as a duet between two dancers, one of whom is dressed as Santa Claus. |
312_17 | Plagiarism allegations
On behalf of the writers of the song "Can't Smile Without You", made popular by Barry Manilow, publishing company Dick James Music sued Michael for plagiarism in the mid-1980s, claiming that "Last Christmas" lifted its melody from the former. The case was dismissed when a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.
Whigfield version |
312_18 | In the UK, the following single planned after "Close to You" was "Big Time"; however, it was suggested that Whigfield should record a version of "Last Christmas" to go with the release of "Big Time", as a double A-side single. The single was also released as a double A-side single in Germany with "Close to You". In other countries, "Last Christmas" was released on its own with various remixes. The single reached number 21 in the UK, which was Whigfield's final release on Systematic Records. It also features on various Special Edition versions of her debut album Whigfield and also on Whigfield II. The EP was released on 10 November 1995 in Australia. A UK single was released on 3 December 1995. |
312_19 | Whigfield's cover of "Last Christmas" was a moderate success in Europe. It managed to climb into the Top 10 in both Denmark and Spain, peaking at number
6 and 5. Additionally, it was a Top 20 hit in Finland and a Top 30 hit in Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. In the latter, the single was released as a double single with "Big Time". It peaked at number 21 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart, on 10 December 1995. It was also a Top 40 hit in Belgium, as well as on the European Hot 100 Singles, where the song reached number 38.
The music video for Whigfield's cover was directed by Italian director Giacomo De Simone. It features Whigfield performing the song in a winter landscape.
Track listing
Charts (Whigfield)
Ashley Tisdale version |
312_20 | "Last Christmas" was recorded in 2006 for Warner Bros. Records by Ashley Tisdale. The song was released to US radios on 11 November 2006 and as a digital download on 21 November 2006. This song was the first single released by Ashley Tisdale in her deal with Warner Bros. Records and became her official first holiday single. Tisdale performed the single in 2007 on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Christmas in Rockefeller Center, and in 2009 in the Citadel Outlets of Los Angeles, California. The song was one of the B-sides on the European CD singles of Tisdale's first single "Be Good to Me" and Tisdale's second single "He Said She Said", from the album Headstrong. The song has been included on several compilation albums, including Disney Channel Holiday and A Very Special Christmas 7.
Crazy Frog version |
312_21 | "Last Christmas" was covered in 2006 by Crazy Frog and released as a Christmas single. In Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and France, "Last Christmas" was released 12 months before in other countries.
Cascada version
"Last Christmas" was recorded in 2007 by Cascada. It was released on iTunes in November 2007. The single had only a digital release but six days later, it was released on the single "What Hurts the Most" which was the first single from their second album. It was also released as part of their Christmas album, It's Christmas Time. In the UK, despite it being a B-side track, the song is regularly played throughout music channels during the festive season.
* Based on downloads alone, but did chart at number 10, as it was the B-side to "What Hurts the Most". |
312_22 | {|class="wikitable sortable"
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! Chart (2010)
! style="text-align:center;"| Peakposition
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| US [[Dance/Electronic Digital Songs|Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales (Billboard)]]
| style="text-align:center;"|43
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Glee cast version
The song was covered by the cast of Glee, led by Lea Michele, Cory Monteith with Amber Riley, and was released in 2009 exclusively on iTunes as a charity single, then in 2010 on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first time a cover version of the song appeared on the chart.
Joe McElderry version
British singer Joe McElderry covered the song in 2011. This version was released as a single on 19 December 2011, an EP was also released digitally in Ireland on 4 November 2011, and in the UK on 7 November 2011. Joe McElderry's version is taken from his third studio album, Classic Christmas, released 28 November 2011. 7th Heaven Remix & Production have done a remix for the song. |
312_23 | A short music video was made using footage which was filmed for the Classic Christmass album advertising, it features McElderry outside in the snow, collecting logs and taking them to a large house preparing for a Christmas party, a similar video was made for McElderry's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". The advert and both videos were directed by Steve Lucker.
Ariana Grande version
"Last Christmas" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande. The song serves as the lead single from Grande's Christmas Kisses. It was released on 19 November 2013 in the iTunes Store.
Grande's cover draws primarily from pop music, contemporary R&B and soul and also includes newly written lyrics in place of some of the originals. The verses have been described as "bouncier" than the original melody.
Carly Rae Jepsen version |
312_24 | "Last Christmas" was covered by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen in 2015 and was released to digital retailers on 20 November 2015 through 604 Records (in Canada) and Interscope Records and School Boy Records (internationally). Jepsen's rendition was praised by critics for combining stylistic elements similar to the original with modern production. She performed the song live at the annual NBC television special Christmas in Rockefeller Center airing on 2 December 2015, and on the episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden airing on 16 December 2015. |
312_25 | Bianca Gracie of Idolator described the song as "quintessential Carly" for highlighting Jepsen's unique vocals and synth production and wrote that her cover will "charm your... socks off". Nolan Feeney of Time echoed those sentiments, noting that "Last Christmas" is "the kind of brokenhearted yet warm and sweet song [Jepsen] excels at". Jackson McHenry of Vulture applauded Jepsen for her straightforward approach to the song and avoiding the "vocal gymnastics" that bog down some Christmas covers.
A more critical review came from music blog Popcrush, who deemed the cover overproduced, saying "The slick production is a disservice to both Carly's vocals and the original's emotional heft.". |
312_26 | Other notable cover versions
Billie Piper originally recorded a cover of the song as a B-side of her single "She Wants You". It was released as CD single in limited areas of Europe, charting at #47 in Sweden. The single was also released as a promotional vinyl single in the UK, limited to 500 copies and therefore could not chart there.
Jimmy Eat World covered "Last Christmas" as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition of 2001's Bleed American.
Taylor Swift, on her 2007 EP The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in January 2008).
JLS, on the final of The X Factor on 13 December 2008.
The Puppini Sisters, on their 2010 album Christmas with The Puppini Sisters.
Hilary Duff covered the song for her debut album, Santa Claus Lane. This version peaked at number 68 on the South Korean Gaon Chart in 2012.
Electric Six, produced by Fall On Your Sword in 2013.
Helene Fischer and Ricky Martin, on Fischer's 2015 album Weihnachten. |
312_27 | Postmodern Jukebox, as a 2015 single featuring Sara Niemietz, Christina Gatti and Ariana Savalas singing Andrews Sisters style harmonies and Melinda Sullivan performing a tap dance solo.
Rita Ora, in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge on 11 December 2017. It was later included on the album The Sound of Christmas: Live & Exclusive at the BBC'', released on 30 November 2018.
Former Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke, on 16 November 2018.
James TW's version peaked number 38 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart. |
312_28 | See also
List of songs which have spent the most weeks on the UK Singles Chart
Whamageddon
References |
312_29 | Songs written by George Michael
Song recordings produced by George Michael
1984 singles
1995 singles
1999 singles
2006 singles
2009 singles
2011 singles
2013 singles
2015 singles
Aid songs for Africa
Wham! songs
Ashley Tisdale songs
Billie Piper songs
The Collective (band) songs
Crazy Frog songs
Kimberley Locke songs
Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Denmark
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in Iceland
Number-one singles in Sweden
British Christmas songs
Jimmy Eat World songs
Ariana Grande songs
Taylor Swift songs
Gwen Stefani songs
Carly Rae Jepsen songs
Kids United songs
1984 songs
Republic Records singles
Columbia Records singles
Epic Records singles
Innocent Records singles
Warner Records singles
Ministry of Sound singles
All Around the World Productions singles
Decca Records singles
604 Records singles
Interscope Records singles
School Boy Records singles |
312_30 | Songs involved in plagiarism controversies
Music videos directed by Giacomo De Simone
UK Singles Chart number-one singles |
313_0 | Le Talisman is a ballet in 4 Acts and 7 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa, and music by Riccardo Drigo. Libretto by Konstantin Augustovich Tarnovsky and Marius Petipa. It was premièred on at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia This ballet gave rise to the so-called Talisman Pas de Deux, which is today danced by many ballet companies.
Roles and original cast
Revivals/restagings |
Subsets and Splits
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