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711_19 | Potential autograph buyers uncertain of the legitimacy of the seller or authenticator may research both parties, and may check any dealer who claims membership of any association. PADA, the UACC, RACC, and AFTAL include a list of dealers on their websites. This research should not be limited to a seller's or an authenticator's website which could be prejudiced. Some dealers have been known to invent their own association, e.g. "The Universal Manuscript Society", to enhance their reputations. |
711_20 | Mastro Auctions, a major sports autograph auction house which used a professional authenticator, was sued by a dealer in 2006 (Bill Daniels v. Mastro Auctions, Boone County, Indiana, case #06D01-0502 -PL- 0060). Daniels said that he had bought more than 2,000 signed photographs of athletes from Mastro and claimed that the catalog incorrectly described them as all being in color and 8" x 10" in size. Daniels also claimed that some of the autographs on the photographs may have been fakes. He produced two dealers who he said were autograph experts, but Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Kincaid excluded their testimony saying that neither Steve Koschal nor Richard Simon "possess sufficient skill, knowledge or experience in the fields in which they were asked to render opinions." The law for each state is different regarding qualifications to testify. Simon and Koschal have both testified in states where their testimony is accepted in court.
Other authenticity issues |
711_21 | Forgers buy real American Revolutionary War-era documents and surreptitiously pen a famous patriot's name between other real signatures in a manuscript in hope of deceiving an unsuspecting buyer. Others will use tea or tobacco stains to brown or age their modern missives.
Many autographed items of famous American sports players being sold over the Internet are fakes. Baseball legend Babe Ruth, for instance, has had his signature forged on old baseballs, then rubbed in dirt to make them appear to be from the 1930s.
British royal family
The British royal family is strictly forbidden from signing autographs because of the risk of the autographs being forged by others for use for their commercial gain. British royal family autographs, however, do exist, both from past royals and current ones, such as two 2010 examples when both Prince Charles and Prince Harry signed autographs to one person each. |
711_22 | Copyright status of signatures
Under British law, the appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law.
Under United States Copyright Law, "titles, names [I c...]; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring" are not eligible for copyright; however, the appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law.
Clubs |
711_23 | The Autograph Club was first seen in the 1940s, with the hobby growing different clubs began emerging onto the scene. As the autograph clubs advanced, they began developing many new strategies to help the collector. Historically, clubs occurred in many different countries. Once people started buying, selling, and trading, there was need for people with a common interest to be able to associate with one another despite having no ties other than a common hobby. Autograph clubs were created for interest and enjoyment, along with financial rewards. Involvement in autograph clubs can lead to building advanced skills, knowledge, and experience. Education is the aim of most autograph clubs. |
711_24 | Autograph collecting during the 2019 coronavirus outbreak
The 2019 coronavirus outbreak has seen normal interactions between people change in many human interacting areas, including autograph collecting. Several Major League Baseball teams, for example, employed a new strategy in which their players would sign team assigned items before their games and then have a team employee handle them to fans present near the stadium, to prevent the virus from spreading further on the communities they play at.
American Football's National Football League, on the other hand, banned all autograph signings during their games, as part of their new fans and players' safety protocol rules.
See also
Autograph Collector Magazine
Tughra
Huaya
References |
711_25 | Further reading
Forging History: The Detection of Fake Letters and Documents by Kenneth W. Rendell, University of Oklahoma Press, 1994, 173 pages.
Great Forgers and Famous Fakes by Charles Hamilton, Crown Publishers, 1980, 278 pages.
Making Money in Autographs by George Sullivan, 1977, 223 pages.
Collecting Autographs by Herman M. Darvick, Julian Messner, a Simon & Schuster Division of Gulf & Western Corporation, 1981, 96 pages.
Scribblers & Scoundrels by Charles Hamilton, Eriksson Pub., 1968, 282 pages.
Autographs: A Key to Collecting by Mary Benjamin, 1963, 345 pages
Big Name Hunting: A Beginners Guide to Autograph Collecting by Charles Hamilton, Simon & Schuster Pub., 1973, 95 pages.
The Signature of America by Charles Hamilton, Harper & Row, 1979, 279 pages.
Word Shadows of the Great: The Lure of Autograph Collecting by Thomas Madigan, Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1930, 300 pages.
Collecting Autographs For Fun and Profit by Robert Pelton, Betterway Pub., 1987, 160 pages. |
711_26 | From the White House Inkwell by John Taylor, Tuttle Co., 1968, 147 pages.
Autograph Collector's Checklist edited by John Taylor, The Manuscript Society, 1990, 172 pages.
The Autograph Collector by Robert Notlep, Crown Pub., 1968, 240 pages.
The Complete Book of Autograph Collecting by George Sullivan, 1971, 154 pages.
A Gathering of Saints by Robert Lindsey, Simon & Schuster, 1988, 397 pages.
Dönitz at Nuremberg: A Re-Appraisal by H.K. Thompson, Amber Pub., 1976, 198 pages.
Leaders and Personalities of the Third Reich by Charles Hamilton, 2 vols., Bender Pub., 1984 (Vol. 1) and 1996 (Vol. 2).
The Guinness Book of World Autographs by Ray Rawlins, 1997, 244 pages.
The Robot that Helped to Make a President by Charles Hamilton, 1965.
War Between the States: Autographs and Biographical Sketches by Jim Hayes, Palmetto Pub., 1989, 464 pages.
American Autographs by Charles Hamilton, 2 vols., Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1983, 634 pages. |
711_27 | Autographs of Indian Personalities by S.S. Hitkari, Phulkari Pub., 1999, 112 pages.
Ieri Ho Visto Il Duce: Trilogia dell'iconografia mussoliniana ed. Ermanno Alberti.
Who's Who series; Who's Who in America, etc.
Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography ed. by James Wilson, 6 vols., 1888.
Autograph, Please by Santosh Kumar Lahoti, Reesha Books International Pub., 2009, : India.
Play Ball, Mr. President: A Century of Baseballs Signed by U.S. Presidents by Dan Cohen, 2008, 48 pages.
"Signs of the Times: Autographs of luminaries: from Lincoln to Liberace", Steve Kemper, Smithsonian magazine, Nov. 1997.
"The Surreal World of Salvador Dali", Stanley Meisler, Smithsonian magazine, Apr. 2005.
"The Tumultuous Life and Love of Salvador Dali", Meryle Secrest, Smithsonian magazine, Oct. 1986.
Israel, Lee. Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger, 2008. |
711_28 | External links
Real Autograph Collectors Club (RACC), An online community of in person autograph collectors and sellers with 5,000+ members in over 100 countries.
RACC Trusted Sellers - A list of reputable autograph collectors and sellers, maintained by the largest online autograph community.
uacc.info, Universal Autograph Collectors Club, a federally approved 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 1965.
aftal.co.uk, UK based autograph dealer association.
StarTiger, online autograph community and celebrity address database
Collect autographs for profit, Free guide and tutorial
World Leaders Autograph Society, the international community of collectors who collect autographs of world leaders
Signature
Memorabilia
Collecting |
712_0 | This is a list of important publications in theoretical computer science, organized by field.
Some reasons why a particular publication might be regarded as important:
Topic creator – A publication that created a new topic
Breakthrough – A publication that changed scientific knowledge significantly
Influence – A publication that has significantly influenced the world or has had a massive impact on the teaching of theoretical computer science.
Computability
Cutland's Computability: An Introduction to Recursive Function Theory (Cambridge) |
712_1 | The review of this early text by Carl Smith of Purdue University (in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Reviews), reports that this a text with an "appropriate blend of intuition and rigor… in the exposition of proofs" that presents "the fundamental results of classical recursion theory [RT]... in a style... accessible to undergraduates with minimal mathematical background". While he states that it "would make an excellent introductory text for an introductory course in [RT] for mathematics students", he suggests that an "instructor must be prepared to substantially augment the material… " when it is used with computer science students (given a dearth of material on RT applications to this area).
Decidability of second order theories and automata on infinite trees
Michael O. Rabin
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 141, pp. 1–35, 1969 |
712_2 | Description: The paper presented the tree automaton, an extension of the automata. The tree automaton had numerous applications to proofs of correctness of programs.
Finite automata and their decision problems
Michael O. Rabin and Dana S. Scott
IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 3, pp. 114–125, 1959
Online version
Description: Mathematical treatment of automata, proof of core properties, and definition of non-deterministic finite automaton.
Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
John E. Hopcroft, Jeffrey D. Ullman, and Rajeev Motwani
Addison-Wesley, 2001,
Description: A popular textbook.
On certain formal properties of grammars
Description: This article introduced what is now known as the Chomsky hierarchy, a containment hierarchy of classes of formal grammars that generate formal languages.
On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem |
712_3 | Alan Turing
Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Series 2, vol. 42, pp. 230–265, 1937, .Errata appeared in vol. 43, pp. 544–546, 1938, .
HTML version, PDF version
Description: This article set the limits of computer science. It defined the Turing Machine, a model for all computations.
On the other hand, it proved the undecidability of the halting problem and Entscheidungsproblem and by doing so found the limits of possible computation.
Rekursive Funktionen
The first textbook on the theory of recursive functions. The book went through many editions and earned Péter the Kossuth Prize from the Hungarian government. Reviews by Raphael M. Robinson and Stephen Kleene praised the book for providing an effective elementary introduction for students. |
712_4 | Representation of Events in Nerve Nets and Finite Automata
S. C. Kleene
U. S. Air Force Project Rand Research Memorandum RM-704, 1951
Online version
republished in:
Description: this paper introduced finite automata, regular expressions, and regular languages, and established their connection.
Computational complexity theory |
712_5 | Arora & Barak's Computational Complexity and Goldreich's Computational Complexity (both Cambridge)
Sanjeev Arora and Boaz Barak, "Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach," Cambridge University Press, 2009, 579 pages, Hardcover
Oded Goldreich, "Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2008, 606 pages, Hardcover
Besides the estimable press bringing these recent texts forward, they are very positively reviewed in ACM's SIGACT News by Daniel Apon of the University of Arkansas, who identifies them as "textbooks for a course in complexity theory, aimed at early graduate… or... advanced undergraduate students… [with] numerous, unique strengths and very few weaknesses," and states that both are: |
712_6 | The reviewer notes that there is "a definite attempt in [Arora and Barak] to include very up-to-date material, while Goldreich focuses more on developing a contextual and historical foundation for each concept presented," and that he "applaud[s] all… authors for their outstanding contributions." |
712_7 | A machine-independent theory of the complexity of recursive functions
Description: The Blum axioms.
Algebraic methods for interactive proof systems
Description: This paper showed that PH is contained in IP.
The complexity of theorem proving procedures
Description: This paper introduced the concept of NP-Completeness and proved that Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) is NP-Complete. Note that similar ideas were developed independently slightly later by Leonid Levin at "Levin, Universal Search Problems. Problemy Peredachi Informatsii 9(3):265–266, 1973".
Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness
Description: The main importance of this book is due to its extensive list of more than 300 NP-Complete problems. This list became a common reference and definition. Though the book was published only few years after the concept was defined such an extensive list was found. |
712_8 | Degree of difficulty of computing a function and a partial ordering of recursive sets
Description: This technical report was the first publication talking about what later was renamed computational complexity
How good is the simplex method?
Victor Klee and George J. Minty
Description: Constructed the "Klee–Minty cube" in dimension D, whose 2D corners are each visited by Dantzig's simplex algorithm for linear optimization.
How to construct random functions
Description: This paper showed that the existence of one way functions leads to computational randomness.
IP = PSPACE
Description: IP is a complexity class whose characterization (based on interactive proof systems) is quite different from the usual time/space bounded computational classes. In this paper, Shamir extended the technique of the previous paper by Lund, et al., to show that PSPACE is contained in IP, and hence IP = PSPACE, so that each problem in one complexity class is solvable in the other. |
712_9 | Reducibility among combinatorial problems
R. M. Karp
In R. E. Miller and J. W. Thatcher, editors, Complexity of Computer Computations, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1972, pp. 85–103
Description: This paper showed that 21 different problems are NP-Complete and showed the importance of the concept.
The Knowledge Complexity of Interactive Proof Systems
Description: This paper introduced the concept of zero knowledge.
A letter from Gödel to von Neumann
Kurt Gödel
A Letter from Gödel to John von Neumann, March 20, 1956
Online version
Description: Gödel discusses the idea of efficient universal theorem prover.
On the computational complexity of algorithms
Description: This paper gave computational complexity its name and seed.
Paths, trees, and flowers
Description: There is a polynomial time algorithm to find a maximum matching in a graph that is not bipartite and another step toward the idea of computational complexity. For more information see . |
712_10 | Theory and applications of trapdoor functions
Description: This paper creates a theoretical framework for trapdoor functions and described some of their applications, like in cryptography. Note that the concept of trapdoor functions was brought at "New directions in cryptography" six years earlier (See section V "Problem Interrelationships and Trap Doors.").
Computational Complexity
C.H. Papadimitriou
Addison-Wesley, 1994,
Description: An introduction to computational complexity theory, the book explains its author's characterization of P-SPACE and other results.
Interactive proofs and the hardness of approximating cliques
Probabilistic checking of proofs: a new characterization of NP
Proof verification and the hardness of approximation problems
Description: These three papers established the surprising fact that certain problems in NP remain hard even when only an approximative solution is required. See PCP theorem.
The Intrinsic Computational Difficulty of Functions |
712_11 | Description: First definition of the complexity class P. One of the founding papers of complexity theory.
Algorithms
"A machine program for theorem proving"
Description: The DPLL algorithm. The basic algorithm for SAT and other NP-Complete problems.
"A machine-oriented logic based on the resolution principle"
Description: First description of resolution and unification used in automated theorem proving; used in Prolog and logic programming.
"The traveling-salesman problem and minimum spanning trees"
Description: The use of an algorithm for minimum spanning tree as an approximation algorithm for the NP-Complete travelling salesman problem. Approximation algorithms became a common method for coping with NP-Complete problems.
"A polynomial algorithm in linear programming"
L. G. Khachiyan
Soviet Mathematics - Doklady, vol. 20, pp. 191–194, 1979 |
712_12 | Description: For long, there was no provably polynomial time algorithm for the linear programming problem. Khachiyan was the first to provide an algorithm that was polynomial (and not just was fast enough most of the time as previous algorithms). Later, Narendra Karmarkar presented a faster algorithm at: Narendra Karmarkar, "A new polynomial time algorithm for linear programming", Combinatorica, vol 4, no. 4, p. 373–395, 1984.
"Probabilistic algorithm for testing primality"
Description: The paper presented the Miller–Rabin primality test and outlined the program of randomized algorithms.
"Optimization by simulated annealing"
Description: This article described simulated annealing, which is now a very common heuristic for NP-Complete problems.
The Art of Computer Programming
Donald Knuth |
712_13 | Description: This monograph has four volumes covering popular algorithms. The algorithms are written in both English and MIX assembly language (or MMIX assembly language in more recent fascicles). This makes algorithms both understandable and precise. However, the use of a low-level programming language frustrates some programmers more familiar with modern structured programming languages.
Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
Niklaus Wirth
Prentice Hall, 1976,
Description: An early, influential book on algorithms and data structures, with implementations in Pascal.
The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
Alfred V. Aho, John E. Hopcroft, and Jeffrey D. Ullman
Addison-Wesley, 1974,
Description: One of the standard texts on algorithms for the period of approximately 1975–1985.
How to Solve It By Computer |
712_14 | Description: Explains the Whys of algorithms and data-structures. Explains the Creative Process, the Line of Reasoning, the Design Factors behind innovative solutions.
Algorithms
Robert Sedgewick
Addison-Wesley, 1983,
Description: A very popular text on algorithms in the late 1980s. It was more accessible and readable (but more elementary) than Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman. There are more recent editions.
Introduction to Algorithms
Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein
3rd Edition, MIT Press, 2009, .
Description: This textbook has become so popular that it is almost the de facto standard for teaching basic algorithms. The 1st edition (with first three authors) was published in 1990, the 2nd edition in 2001, and the 3rd in 2009.
Algorithmic information theory
"On Tables of Random Numbers"
Description: Proposed a computational and combinatorial approach to probability. |
712_15 | "A formal theory of inductive inference"
Ray Solomonoff
Information and Control, vol. 7, pp. 1–22 and 224–254, 1964
Online copy: part I, part II
Description: This was the beginning of algorithmic information theory and Kolmogorov complexity. Note that though Kolmogorov complexity is named after Andrey Kolmogorov, he said that the seeds of that idea are due to Ray Solomonoff. Andrey Kolmogorov contributed a lot to this area but in later articles.
"Algorithmic information theory"
Description: An introduction to algorithmic information theory by one of the important people in the area.
Information theory
"A mathematical theory of communication"
Description: This paper created the field of information theory.
"Error detecting and error correcting codes"
Description: In this paper, Hamming introduced the idea of error-correcting code. He created the Hamming code and the Hamming distance and developed methods for code optimality proofs. |
712_16 | "A method for the construction of minimum redundancy codes"
Description: The Huffman coding.
"A universal algorithm for sequential data compression"
Description: The LZ77 compression algorithm.
Elements of Information Theory
Description: A popular introduction to information theory.
Formal verification
Assigning Meaning to Programs
Description: Robert Floyd's landmark paper Assigning Meanings to Programs introduces the method of inductive assertions and describes how a program annotated with first-order assertions may be shown to satisfy a pre- and post-condition specification – the paper also introduces the concepts of loop invariant and verification condition.
An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming
Description: Tony Hoare's paper An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming describes a set of inference (i.e. formal proof) rules for fragments of an Algol-like programming language described in terms of (what are now called) Hoare-triples. |
712_17 | Guarded Commands, Nondeterminacy and Formal Derivation of Programs
Description: Edsger Dijkstra's paper Guarded Commands, Nondeterminacy and Formal Derivation of Programs (expanded by his 1976 postgraduate-level textbook A Discipline of Programming) proposes that, instead of formally verifying a program after it has been written (i.e. post facto), programs and their formal proofs should be developed hand-in-hand (using predicate transformers to progressively refine weakest pre-conditions), a method known as program (or formal) refinement (or derivation), or sometimes "correctness-by-construction".
Proving Assertions about Parallel Programs
Edward A. Ashcroft
J. Comput. Syst. Sci. 10(1): 110–135 (1975)
Description: The paper that introduced invariance proofs of concurrent programs.
An Axiomatic Proof Technique for Parallel Programs I
Susan S. Owicki, David Gries
Acta Inform. 6: 319–340 (1976) |
712_18 | Description: In this paper, along with the same authors paper "Verifying Properties of Parallel Programs: An Axiomatic Approach. Commun. ACM 19(5): 279–285 (1976)", the axiomatic approach to parallel programs verification was presented.
A Discipline of Programming
Edsger W. Dijkstra
1976
Description: Edsger Dijkstra's classic postgraduate-level textbook A Discipline of Programming extends his earlier paper Guarded Commands, Nondeterminacy and Formal Derivation of Programs and firmly establishes the principle of formally deriving programs (and their proofs) from their specification.
Denotational Semantics
Joe Stoy
1977
Description: Joe Stoy's Denotational Semantics is the first (postgraduate level) book-length exposition of the mathematical (or functional) approach to the formal semantics of programming languages (in contrast to the operational and algebraic approaches).
The Temporal Logic of Programs |
712_19 | Description: The use of temporal logic was suggested as a method for formal verification.
Characterizing correctness properties of parallel programs using fixpoints (1980)
E. Allen Emerson, Edmund M. Clarke
In Proc. 7th International Colloquium on Automata Languages and Programming, pages 169–181, 1980
Description: Model checking was introduced as a procedure to check correctness of concurrent programs.
Communicating Sequential Processes (1978)
C.A.R. Hoare
1978
Description: Tony Hoare's (original) communicating sequential processes (CSP) paper introduces the idea of concurrent processes (i.e. programs) that do not share variables but instead cooperate solely by exchanging synchronous messages.
A Calculus of Communicating Systems
Robin Milner
1980 |
712_20 | Description: Robin Milner's A Calculus of Communicating Systems (CCS) paper describes a process algebra permitting systems of concurrent processes to be reasoned about formally, something that has not been possible for earlier models of concurrency (semaphores, critical sections, original CSP).
Software Development: A Rigorous Approach
Cliff Jones
1980
Description: Cliff Jones' textbook Software Development: A Rigorous Approach is the first full-length exposition of the Vienna Development Method (VDM), which had evolved (principally) at IBM's Vienna research lab over the previous decade and which combines the idea of program refinement as per Dijkstra with that of data refinement (or reification) whereby algebraically-defined abstract data types are formally transformed into progressively more "concrete" representations.
The Science of Programming
David Gries
1981 |
712_21 | Description: David Gries' textbook The Science of Programming describes Dijkstra's weakest precondition method of formal program derivation, except in a very much more accessible manner than Dijkstra's earlier A Discipline of Programming.
It shows how to construct programs that work correctly (without bugs, other than from typing errors). It does this by showing how to use precondition and postcondition predicate expressions and program proving techniques to guide the way programs are created.
The examples in the book are all small-scale, and clearly academic (as opposed to real-world). They emphasize basic algorithms, such as sorting and merging, and string manipulation. Subroutines (functions) are included, but object-oriented and functional programming environments are not addressed.
Communicating Sequential Processes (1985)
C.A.R. Hoare
1985 |
712_22 | Description: Tony Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) textbook (currently the third most cited computer science reference of all time) presents an updated CSP model in which cooperating processes do not even have program variables and which, like CCS, permits systems of processes to be reasoned about formally.
Linear logic (1987)
Description: Girard's linear logic was a breakthrough in designing typing systems for sequential and concurrent computation, especially for resource conscious typing systems.
A Calculus of Mobile Processes (1989)
R. Milner, J. Parrow, D. Walker
1989
Online version: Part 1 and Part 2
Description: This paper introduces the Pi-Calculus, a generalisation of CCS that allows process mobility. The calculus is extremely simple and has become the dominant paradigm in the theoretical study of programming languages, typing systems and program logics.
The Z Notation: A Reference Manual |
712_23 | Description: Mike Spivey's classic textbook The Z Notation: A Reference Manual summarises the formal specification language Z notation, which, although originated by Jean-Raymond Abrial, had evolved (principally) at Oxford University over the previous decade.
Communication and Concurrency
Robin Milner
Prentice-Hall International, 1989
Description: Robin Milner's textbook Communication and Concurrency is a more accessible, although still technically advanced, exposition of his earlier CCS work.
a Practical Theory of Programming
Eric Hehner
Springer, 1993, current edition online here
Description: the up-to-date version of Predicative programming. The basis for C.A.R. Hoare's UTP. The simplest and most comprehensive formal methods.
References
History of computer science
Theoretical computer science |
713_0 | Mysterious tunnels or "secret passages" are a common element of the local folklore tradition in Europe. In Norwegian a secret tunnel-like passage is called a lønngang (lønn means "hidden" or "secret", and gang means "passage") and in Swedish a lönngång. Such tunnels are said to physically link prominent places such as country houses, castles, churches, ancient monuments and other, often medieval, buildings.
Legends about the existence of secret tunnels usually involve improbably long subterranean passages, sometimes running under major obstacles such as rivers and lakes to reach their destinations. Religious buildings, monks and the landed gentry are particularly common elements in many tunnel stories. |
713_1 | It is unlikely that many of the recorded tunnels exist physically, for this is a characteristic of their very nature; their significance lies in the number of similar legends of tunnels that have arisen and in connection with the more esoteric notions of channels or paths of earth energy, and such.
The origins of secret passage myths
Underground structures have a fascination due to their being hidden from view and their contents, purpose, extent and destinations remaining unknown.
Over the centuries many underground structures have been discovered by chance, ranging from Cornish fogous, souterrains that are possibly Pictish, Roman and medieval sewers to smuggling tunnels, escape tunnels, siege tunnels, and the like. |
713_2 | On occasion, possible tunnels prove to be of purely natural origin, such as at Cleeves Cove cave in Scotland, or Kents Cavern in England. The site at Cleeves Cove cave was previously known as the 'Elfhouse' or 'Elfhame', the locals at that time believing that elves had made it their abode.
Rarely, natural caves or tunnel systems can be of great extent; the cave system with the greatest total length of passage is Mammoth Cave (Kentucky, USA) at in length, whilst the next most extensive known cave is Jewel Cave near Custer, South Dakota, USA, at . |
713_3 | Some castles really did have escape tunnels, such as possibly the short passage located at Loudoun Castle in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which leads from the old kitchens to a 'tunnel-like' bridge over the Hag Burn; this may however have been a drain of some kind. Others examples were longer: the young king Edward III was imprisoned by Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March at Nottingham Castle, and in 1330 a small group of armed supporters of Edward III made use of a long, winding secret passage which led directly into the castle, allowing them to surprise and capture Mortimer. |
713_4 | Other tunnels are products of an excessive desire for personal privacy, such as at Welbeck Abbey and Brownlow Castle. Another tunnel allowed for the supposed free and secret movement of monks, abbots and other ecclesiastics who may have had cause to keep a low profile for fear of attack or abusive treatment during periods of unrest or persecution. Smugglers at times avoided the excise man by making use of drains, sewers or water supply conduits, although in a few cases they seem to have constructed tunnels for the purpose of smuggling.
Bruce Walker, an expert on Scottish vernacular architecture, has suggested that the relatively numerous and usually long-ruined ice houses on country estates may have led to Scotland's many tunnel legends. The appearance of ice house entrance could have prompted the uninitiated to make such deductions since ice houses are often inconspicuously located in such places as ha-ha walls, house and stable basements, woodland banks, and open fields. |
713_5 | Many legends are associated with the actual and supposed activities of the Knights Templar and they are rich in stories about tunnels connecting the various properties that the order possessed up to the 12th century, when it was suppressed.
Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung and others had various psychological interpretations of the symbolic meanings of tunnels and these may have a part to play in the origins of tunnel myths.
Examples
Denmark
In the city of Aalborg a tunnel is said to have run from the convent under the fjord to another convent near Sundby. This tunnel had branches which ran to an old bridge, two churches and to the castle of Aalborghus. A student once tried to explore the tunnels with a long cord, a sword and a light. The broken cord was retrieved, but the student was never seen again.
England |
713_6 | At Furness Abbey a tunnel has been said to run underneath the Abbey to both Piel Castle and Dalton Castle. This was said to be how the monks travelled between each monument to receive foodstuffs and keep watch over the towns. It has also been rumoured that the Holy Grail and King John’s missing jewels are hidden somewhere inside it.
Richmond Castle in North Yorkshire stands in an impressive cliff-top position overlooking the River Swale. A potter named Thompson is said to have discovered a tunnel entrance at the bottom of this cliff. Following it deep into the hillside, he came to a large cavern where slept King Arthur and his knights around the famous Round Table. On the table lay an ancient horn and a mighty sword. Thompson reached out and picked up the horn, but the sleepers began to awake and, fearing for his life, the potter fled. As he raced down the tunnel back to daylight and safety, he heard a voice behind him declare: |
713_7 | "Potter Thompson, Potter Thompson!
If thou hadst drawn the sword or blown the horn,
Thou hadst been the luckiest man e'er was born."
The tunnel appears to have been well known, though the cave remains hidden. A second story tells how this subterranean passage is supposed to run from the Castle to nearby Easby Abbey. Some soldiers once sent a drummer-boy along it to test the theory and followed the sound of his drum almost halfway to the Abbey. Then the drumming stopped and the boy was never seen alive again, but his ghost is said to haunt the tunnel, from where a slow drumbeat is still sometimes heard. A memorial stone marks the spot at which the drum beat was last heard. It is believed that the legendary tunnel was constructed in medieval times as an escape route to the castle for the abbot and canons of the abbey in case of an attack from the Scots, who were continually making raids into the northern counties of England. |
713_8 | A smugglers' tunnel is said to run from Smugglers' Farm in Herstmonceux, Sussex to the Pevensey Marshes, a good distance away.
A whole network of secret Knights Templar tunnels is said to run beneath Hertford Castle, running to Dinsley and other local places.
A 'secret tunnel' exists at Pevensey Castle in East Sussex, although not open for public access. It links the keep with the former market square and is thought to be Norman in origin; it was reused during the Second World War. |
713_9 | A series of tunnels are said to lie beneath Glastonbury Tor. The most famous tale is about a tunnel from Glastonbury Abbey to the Tor. At one time some thirty monks were rumoured to have entered the Tor via this tunnel, but only three came out again, and two of them were insane and one was struck dumb. Another widely believed legend is that of a long-distance tunnel leading from the crypt of the Lady (or Galilee) Chapel, under the River Brue to a distant point, possibly to the village of Street, where a passage exists from an outlying building in the grounds of the old manor house. A dog is said to have been put into the tunnel at Street and found his way out at the Glastonbury end.
A tunnel is said to run from King's College Chapel to Granchester Manor, Cambridge, passing under the river Cam. |
713_10 | A tunnel is said to run from Newbury Town Hall to St Nicolas Church. This belief may have started because there are east-west flowing brick Victorian service tunnels running from roughly the Newbury arcade towards this church; these were exposed to the public's gaze during construction work. A tunnel is also said to run from Newbury Castle (400 ft above sea level) and Shaw House (260 ft, thus 140 ft below it). The point of entry is said to be a hollow space (now blocked) in the south-east angle of the enclosure. In 1930 workmen investigated the legend by excavating the entrance, but found nothing.
At Necton in East Anglia a tunnel is said to run from the restored 14th-century church of All Saints to Necton Hall, in possession of the Mason family since the time of Henry VII. |
713_11 | The first of a number of legendary tunnels under Norwich leads from the Castle (TM232085) to the Guildhall (TM231085) near the market-place, erected 1407-13 on the site of the old tollhouse. It still has a 14th-century vault below it that was the crypt (and prison) of the former building. A second tunnel (in which a pig was once lost) heads from the Castle for Carrow Priory (TM242073 area), a Benedictine nunnery whose scant 12th century remains on the outskirts of Norwich are incorporated into a residence of the Colman family, near the junction of King Street and Bracondale. The third tunnel from the Castle ran to the Norman cathedral to the north-east (TM235089), begun in 1096 by Bishop Herbert de Losinga and finally consecrated in 1101-2. Yet another subterranean way links the Castle with the Crown Derby near the Guildhall. |
713_12 | At Norwich Cathedral another tunnel begins, running for about nine miles to the ruins of St Benet's Abbey (TG383157) on the marshes at Ludham. A much shorter one, allegedly used by monks, was said to run from the cathedral to Samson & Hercules House. The Anglia Restaurant in Prince's Street has a splendid groined crypt for a cellar, and two tunnels from here are said to lead to the cathedral and to St. Andrew's Hall. Monks supposedly used a tunnel from the cellars of the Shrub House at the corner of Charing Cross Street to the site of St. Benedict's Gates. |
713_13 | In early January 1644, Cromwell sent his forces to Norwich to demand the surrender of a small group of Royalists, whom he heard to be present at the Maid's Head Hotel. According to legend, as the Parliamentarians entered the hotel, the Royalists retreated through a secret tunnel, stretching steel ropes across the way behind them. Many of Cromwell's men (and their horses) were beheaded as they raced through the tunnel in pursuit, and this incident is used to explain the sound of ghostly hoofbeats often heard emanating from under the ground around the Cathedral Close.
One smugglers' tunnel was rumoured to run from Kinson, now a Bournemouth suburb, to the coast some four miles away. |
713_14 | In the 19th century, it was said that an underground passage ran from the remains of the 12th century Gisborough Priory, immediately south of Guisborough parish church, to a field that lay in the parish of Tocketts. Halfway along was said to be a chest of gold guarded by a raven or crow. In Redcar and Cleveland almost every old castle and ruined monastery has its legend of a subterranean passage leading therefrom, which someone has penetrated to a certain distance, and has seen an iron chest, supposed to be full of gold, on which was perched a raven. The raven may suggest a Scandinavian origin of the legends.
Bracknell's Old Manor is a sturdy 17th century brick manor house having a priest hole and is said to have secret passages connecting to the exterior.
Droitwich Spa is said to have a passageway that leads from St Augustine’s church, Dodderhill, to Friar Street in the town centre. A system of tunnels is said to run from there to St Augustine’s and St Andrew’s churches. |
713_15 | The story that Thomas Becket fled from Northampton Castle is a well documented part of 12th century history, but how the persecuted Archbishop of Canterbury managed to flee from the fortress remains a mystery. One myth is that he fled from the clutches of Henry II through a tunnel that linked the castle to All Saints Church in Mercers Row.
At Binham Priory in Norfolk a fiddler entered the tunnel which ran beneath the building and could be heard for some distance before all sound of him suddenly ceased. The fiddler was never seen again.
The rhyme below dates from the 17th century and recalls the tradition that a tunnel connects what is now Syon House with the friary of Sheen at Richmond in Surrey, a considerable distance away.
"The Nun of Sion, with the Friar of Shean,
Went under water to play the Quean."
The origin of the legend remains a mystery. |
713_16 | In Leicestershire a subterranean passage is said to connect a nunnery which once stood near the Humber Stone with Leicester Abbey. In the cellars under Leicester Castle a witch known as 'Black' or 'Cat Anna' is said to have lived. She is said to have journeyed to the Dane Hills through an underground passage.
Ireland |
713_17 | In Lurgan a tunnel supposedly went from Brownlow House to the local police station, the courthouse and to the church in the middle of the town. Another tunnel was from Soyes Mill to Lurgan Castle. One explanation for the Brownlow tunnel was that Lord Brownlow had a very over protective wife, and after many years of a good marriage, things went sour, so Brownlow had this tunnel dug so he would be able to exit the castle after dark without his wife's finding out. Once out, he would go on the hunt for some Lurgan lassies, book a room at the Ashburn Hotel, then leave early in the morning to get back in time for breakfast at the castle with his wife. Lakafinna, to the South of Bullaun, has a castle and local folklore relates that a tunnel exists between this castle and the village of Ballyara.
Scotland |
713_18 | Blackness Castle in Lothian is said to have a tunnel linking it with the House of Binns, about three kilometres distant. A tunnel is said to run from Stanecastle near Irvine to Eglinton Castle and another from Stanecastle to Seagate Castle in Irvine, complete with a mythical piper. Monkredding was a property of Kilwinning Abbey and a tunnel is said to link the two properties. Another tunnel is said to run from Stanecastle to Dundonald. A subterranean passage was found by workmen at Stanecastle in the 19th century.
A tunnel is said to run from near Ravenscraig Castle down to the Annick Water just up stream of Lainshaw Castle. The tunnel was reportedly crawled through by the grandfather of a local man and may be related to the drainage of the nearby, now flooded, Hillhouse quarry, the Water Plantation area, and other Lainshaw estate lands.
A tunnel is said to run from Loudoun Castle under the River Irvine to Cessnock Castle in Galston, East Ayrshire, Scotland. |
713_19 | Culzean Castle in South Ayrshire was built on top of a cave system, the castle's previous name was 'Cove', Scots for cave. The Marquess of Ailsa sent his piper into the cave and he was never seen again however, according to the legend, the sound of bagpipes can still be heard at the piper's brae that lies above the caverns.
A tunnel is said to run from the old Giffen Castle near Beith to the now abandoned farm of Bank of Giffen; some years back some children are said to have found and made their way safely through the tunnel.
Cleeves Cove cave, the site of the Elfhame, is said to be connected to Loudoun Hill. It is reported that once the Laird of Auchenskeich's collie dog entered the cave at its entrance above the Dusk Water and came out at Loudoun Hill near Darvel, many miles away. The end of the Cleeves Cove system is said to have never been found. Mauchline Castle is said to be linked to Kingencleugh Castle by a tunnel. |
713_20 | A tunnel is said to run the one and a half miles from Craufurdland Castle to Dean Castle in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. It was used to provision Dean Castle when it was besieged for several months in the time of Edward I, and the siege was only abandoned when the besieged hung several freshly killed sheep over the wall and offered them to the attackers. The tunnel entrance was only blocked up in the early 19th century. Cuthbertson records the tradition of a tunnel running from Dean Castle down to the Kilmarnock Water near the old Begbie's Tavern of Burn's fame. This tunnel is said to have become a public sewer.
Greenan Castle is said to be linked by a tunnel to St John's Tower at Montgomerieston in Ayr. Stories of it containing skeletons in chains and the entrance being found circulated in the 1950s. |
713_21 | A local tradition was that an underground passage ran from Caldwell House to the old Lugton Inn (now demolished), under the Lugton Water. A search by owners in the cellars did not reveal any signs of a hidden passage.
Persistent rumours exist of a tunnel which is said to run from Kilwinning Abbey, under the 'Bean Yaird', below the 'Easter Chaumers' and the 'Leddy firs', and then underneath the River Garnock and on to Eglinton Castle. No evidence exists for it, although it may be related to the underground burial vault of the Montgomeries, which does exist under the old abbey, or to the main sewer that would have led from the monastery to the river.
In the village of Carmunnock near Glasgow a tunnel is said to have connected the parish church with dwellings used by the monks on what is now Busby Road. No sign of the tunnel has yet been found.
A submarine passage is said to run from the Monks' Cave on Little Cumbrae at Stor Hill to Kingarth on the Isle of Bute. |
713_22 | A tunnel was said to have run between James V's Boghouse Castle to the nearby village of Crawfordjohn in South Lanarkshire. King James had built the castle for his mistress the daughter of Carmichael of Crawford.
At Strathaven Castle in South Lanarkshire tunnels are recorded in local tradition as running from the castle to the Sweetie's Brae, Mill Brae, and the Tower. Road works in the 19th century did not reveal anything of their existence. |
713_23 | A tunnel is believed to exist beneath Culross Abbey in Fife and within a man is said to sit on a golden chair waiting to give valuable treasures to anyone who succeeds in finding him. Many years ago a blind piper decided to try and upon entering at Newgate with his dog he proceeded to search and could be heard playing his pipes as far as the West Kirk, three quarters of a mile away. Eventually the dog emerged into the daylight, but the piper was never seen or heard of again. The caves below Keil Point on Isle of Arran contain a slab which may have been an ancient altar. It has the prints of two right feet on it, said to be those of Saint Columba. |
713_24 | In the 19th century some women found the secret tunnel of Coupar Angus Abbey near the entrance to the churchyard. One went in and was never seen again; however, in 1982 a local mason found the entrance again and went in some distance before finding a cave-in. It is said that the tunnel ran a further two and a half miles to a souterrain at Pitcur. Fingask Castle has underground passages, still partly open in 1766, said to run to Kinnaird Castle, two kilometres away. |
713_25 | A ley tunnel is said to run under the Tay between the hospital of Seggieden and the nunnery at Elcho. Newton Castle in Blairgowrie is said to have a tunnel that runs to Ardblair. Ashintully Castle in Strathardle and Glenshee has a tunnel linking it to its predecessor, Whitefield Castle. In the Weem area, Saint David's Well is said to have a cave beneath it which connects with another cave at Loch Glassie, two kilometres away. At Monzievaird Castle in Strathearn a secret tunnel is said to run from the castle to the Turret Burn.
Near Moniaive in Dumfries and Galloway a tunnel is said to have run from under the Caitloch bridge over the Dalwhat Water to Caitloch House, some distance away. The tunnel is said to have been used by Covenanters evading the king's dragoons during those troubled days and is now blocked. |
713_26 | Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran had a tunnel which apparently ran down to the shore in Brodick Bay. Circa 1920 the duchess was renovating the castle and had a hollow-sounding section of wall opened up. This work quickly ceased when a story was remembered of two plague victims in the 18th century having been walled up in an old tunnel after they were first covered in quicklime and rubble.
Alexander Gordon in 1726 records that at Ardoch Roman Fort near Dunblane in Perth and Kinross a subterranean passage was said to run from the fort, under the River Tay to the fort or 'Keir' on Grinnin Hill. This tunnel is said to contain a great deal of treasure as recorded in these lines;
Serbia
In addition to known real tunnel networks, various legends of tunnels exist as well. According to one, Church of Saint George in Petrovaradin is connected by a tunnel under Danube with Church of Saint John of Nepomuk in Novi Sad. Similarly, Kalemegdan fortress is said to be connected with Zemun. |
713_27 | Sweden
It is said that a tunnel was constructed between the Holy Cross Priory, Dalby and Lund Cathedral to serve as an escape route for fleeing monks.
Ukraine
A mysterious tunnel said to run to Kniazh Hill was used during emergencies by the Semashko Princes and other owners of Gubkiv Castle, the powerful princes Danylovych. This tunnel, it is said, starts near the deep well in the castle yard.
Wales
Local legend states that a tunnel connects the now ruined Court Farm with the nearby church in Pembrey, South Wales.
India
Local and anecdotal traditions have long circulated in India of ley tunnels between sites such as pilgrimage sites and temples. Reports appear in contemporary newspapers from time to time of mysterious underground tunnels. |
713_28 | Subterranean passages
Tunnels differ from most of the numerous examples of actual secret passages and the like in that they are usually very long. Many examples of extensive underground passages do actually exist, built for a variety of purposes. However, they often lack a link with churches, aristocracy, or some historical event and do not necessarily involve prominent buildings.
An exception is the tunnel that is said to run from the 'bottomless' Saint Michael's Cave in Gibraltar continuing under the Strait of Gibraltar and exiting in Morocco, Africa.
Drains, sewers and water supplies
Drains, sewers and water supply tunnels often have a more than superficial resemblance to pedestrian tunnels and have added to legends of mysterious passages of secretive and ambiguous purposes. |
713_29 | An example of a medieval building with many subterranean passages is Prague Castle. In the Middle Ages underground passages were dug out mainly for purposes of defence. Later drainage conduits transported waste water to the foot of the castle wall and then let it fall freely over the slope of the bare cliff face into the bed of the Brusnice stream. The inhabitants of the castle complained of the smell of the slope, so the conduits were extended to the Brusnice stream. One leads from Hradcany Square and the other, known as the castle passage, from the second castle courtyard to the bottom of the Deer Moat. |
713_30 | At Paisley Abbey in Scotland, few of the original monastic buildings survived into the 20th century, so landscaping of the area around the church in 1990 provided an ideal opportunity to investigate the positions of those now "lost" channels. The main drain, which would have brought fresh water into the complex and taken away the effluents, would have acted as the spinal column of the buildings. Local knowledge led to the rediscovery of a substantial medieval drain with fine stonework and enough space for a person to walk through. |
713_31 | In Exeter, South Devon, medieval tunnels dating from the 14th century under the High Street are a unique ancient monument. The tunnels were built to house the pipes that brought fresh water to the city. These underground passages have long exercised a fascination over local people, bringing stories of buried treasure, secret escape routes, passages for nuns and priests—even a ghost on a bicycle. Their purpose was simple: to bring clean drinking water from natural springs in fields lying outside the walled city through lead pipes into the heart of the city.
Siege mines or tunnels |
713_32 | Such tunnels may have led to the creation and survival of local legends of subterranean passages. An example of a well documented tunnels is the one dug at St Andrews in Scotland. Cardinal Beaton in March 1546, had the Protestant preacher, George Wishart, burnt at the stake in front of his castle walls and this was subsequently used as a pretext for Beaton's murder at the hands of local Protestant lairds who captured the castle by stealth.
A long siege followed on the orders of the Regent, the Earl of Arran, but by November 1546 this had resulted in a stalemate. A determined effort to undermine the walls of the castle via a spacious tunnel large enough to take pack animals was intercepted, after several false starts, by the defenders. They dug a low, narrow and twisting countermine through the rock that eventually broke into the mine itself.
Escape tunnels |
713_33 | Many medieval buildings are said to have had escape tunnels, secret by nature and hence likely to be the stuff of myth, legend and exaggeration. One example is the escape tunnel running from Maynooth Castle with its exit at the tower in Laraghbryan. A short escape tunnel has been located at Loudoun Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland, which leads from the old kitchens to a 'tunnel-like' bridge over a burn. Other escape tunnels were longer, such as at Nottingham Castle, where the young king Edward III was imprisoned by Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. In 1330 a small group of armed supporters of Edward III used a secret passage to attack Mortimer. The attackers entered through a long, winding secret passage which led directly into the castle, allowing them to surprise and capture Mortimer, releasing the king, who was unharmed. |
713_34 | An example exists of an escape tunnel built in Covenanting times at Newholm in Dolphinton parish, Lanarkshire. This tunnel was built by Major Joseph Learmont, a leading member of the Covenanter cause who fought at Rullion Green and Bothwell Bridge. He hid within the 40 yard long stone lined tunnel when necessary and evaded capture for 16 years until traditionally said to have been betrayed by a maidservant. The stone lining was eventually used to build a walled garden; it had run from a cellar to a turf dyke in mossy ground. Remains of it may have been discovered in the 1960s, however details are sparse.
Smugglers' tunnels
Many villages on the southern coast of England have a local legend of a smugglers' tunnel; the entrances to most of the actual smuggler's tunnels have been lost or bricked up. |
713_35 | Some tunnel stories turn out to be very plausible, such as the tunnel at Hayle in Cornwall which really does seem to have been built specifically for smuggling. More modern tunnels can be found along New England's coast. In other instances the tunnel either doubles as a storm drain or some other functional channel, or else is an extension of a natural fissure in the rock, as at Methleigh and Porthcothan.
Beith in North Ayrshire was a notorious haunt of smugglers at one time, and legend has it that a tunnel ran from the town centre down to Kilbirnie Loch.
See also
Secret passage
Shanghai tunnels
Smuggling tunnel
References
Notes
Bibliography
Chambers, Robert (1828). The Picture of Scotland. Edinburgh: William Tait.
Cuthbertson, David Cuningham (1945). Autumn in Kyle and the Charm of Cunninghame. London : Jenkins.
External links
Medieval Ley Tunnels - Locations and Legends
Secret tunnels at Lainshaw Castle
Tunnels & Secret Passages
Subterranea Britannica |
713_36 | Ley lines
Tunnels
Caves |
714_0 | Tangled is a 2001 American romantic thriller film directed by Jay Lowi and starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Shawn Hatosy, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The plot is told from the end from David (Hatosy) found unable to remember what led him to be in hospital. As he begins to talk to the detective (Lorraine Bracco) the events slowly unfold. The film flicks between present and past with use of flashbacks to describe the friendship and the love triangle between David, Jenny (Cook) and Alan (Rhys Meyers).
Plot
David (Shawn Hatosy) is wheeled into the emergency room following an accident. Claiming that he and his girlfriend have been kidnapped, a frantic David is interviewed by police detectives, Anders and Nagle (Lorraine Brocco and Dwayne Hill). Because David claims memory loss, the police ask him what time he remembers waking up the day before. |
714_1 | A flashback to the day before begins. David and his girlfriend, Jenny (Rachel Leigh Cook) get up and eat breakfast. They receive a hang-up call from Alan (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who, unbeknownst to them, is observing them from across the street.
David and Jenny quarrel briefly before David leaves the apartment to go to the store. Alan slips in while Jenny draws a bath. Alan surprises Jenny as David returns. Alan and David fight; David then retrieves a gun and the two men struggle over it. A shot is fired in Jenny's direction. She hits the floor. |
714_2 | The film resumes in the present when David tells the detectives that he has known Alan for quite some time, having met him in college. Another flashback begins. David and Jenny meet in their junior year of college and strike up a friendship. David is smitten with Jenny, writing poetry for her and spending hours discussing literature with her. Although Jenny enjoys their friendship, she makes it clear that David's romantic feelings are not returned and dates many other men.
David invites Jenny along to a family function. While there, they encounter Alan, who has also been invited. Jenny and Alan feel an immediate chemistry with each other.
Alan returns to school shortly thereafter and moves into an apartment. While David and Jenny help Alan move in, they discover that Alan is in possession of a very large amount of marijuana. Alan claims to be holding it for someone who left the country and hides it in a cookie jar. |
714_3 | Alan soon asks Jenny out. Jenny accepts the date and soon the two are a couple. David resents this and begins avoiding both of them.
Eager to broker a reconciliation, Alan tricks Jenny and David into accompanying him on a trip to the woods. In the woods, Alan brings Jenny and David into a long-abandoned mansion. Alan demands that Jenny and David reconcile; when they initially refuse, Alan cuts the palm of his hand. Horrified, Jenny and David apologize to each other. Alan then takes them on a tour of the property, telling the story of the former owner, a wealthy man with two sons whose rivalry ends in murder.
The three end up staying the night in the abandoned house and have a menage a trois of sorts. When they return to school, Alan sets David up with Elise (Estella Warren), a girl who has no interest in literature or poetry. David, who is still in love with Jenny, reluctantly begins seeing Elise. |
714_4 | Shortly thereafter, Jenny receives a call from her estranged father who suggests a dinner date. She asks Alan to accompany her. Alan, who is beginning to feel suffocated in the relationship, balks. David offers to go in his place. Jenny's father never shows up for the dinner and David takes a disappointed Jenny home. David makes a play for Jenny's romantic affections; Jenny angrily rejects him and runs into her apartment where she finds Alan and Elise in bed together. |
714_5 | Jenny breaks up with Alan. Alan begins stalking her, begging her to take him back. After a confrontation in the library, David and Alan fight with David punching Alan in the mouth. David before leaving. That night, someone throws a large rock through Jenny's window. Convinced that Alan is responsible and fearing for her safety, Jenny asks David to let her stay with him. David eagerly assents. The next day, David witnesses Alan being led out of his apartment in handcuffs. Someone tipped the police about Alan's supply of drugs. Later that night, Jenny declares her affections for David and the two sleep together.
Alan is sentenced to eighteen months for drug possession and is institutionalized for a time after his release. Meanwhile, David and Jenny, who have become a couple, graduate from college and move in together, being careful to get an unlisted number. |
714_6 | The film resumes in the present. The police, who had already found Alan's car, find Jenny and Alan, both of them clinging to life. Detective Anders briefly puts David under arrest, feeling that he is responsible for what happened. David swears his innocence and asks for an opportunity to finish his story.
David claims that Alan kidnaps both he and Jenny, tying both of them up and driving them back to the abandoned mansion. Once there, he leads Jenny into the house, leaving David tied up in the car. David manages to free himself and runs inside to rescue Jenny. Once inside, he hears Alan demanding that Jenny tell him that he and their relationship had meant something to her. When Jenny does as she is asked, Alan, convinced that she was the one to call the police, asks her why she set him up. |
714_7 | As David finishes his story, a comatose Alan is wheeled into the hospital, followed by Jenny who has recovered well enough from her injuries to walk unassisted. Jenny corroborates much of David's story. The detectives opt not to charge David with a crime. After David is released from the hospital, he and Jenny look in on Alan who is still unconscious.
Jenny tells David that she had been wrong about both Alan and David and that she is glad that she is with David. She asks him to take her home. The two leave the hospital. |
714_8 | As they leave the hospital, another flashback begins from David. It is then revealed that David manipulated Elise into going to Alan's apartment during Jenny's dinner with her father and that he, not Alan, had thrown the rock through Jenny's window. And that Jenny admitted she loved Alan back. And David did not shoot Alan in self-defense, but was consumed with jealousy and shot Alan to get him out of the picture so he could have Jenny for himself. At this point, David reveals himself. The two fight and accidentally knock Jenny over the balcony. Convinced that Jenny is dead, Alan rushes down the stairs past David who follows closely. While Alan kneels over an unconscious Jenny, David pulls out his gun and trains it on Alan. It is then that he reveals that he, not Jenny, was the one who called the police. David tells Alan that he resented the fact that Jenny always rejected him in favor of inappropriate men and that he felt that Jenny would finally see that he was the best partner for |
714_9 | her if Alan was out of the picture. He then shoots Alan several times. After the shooting, David leaves the mansion in search of help for Jenny. He was then hit by a car and taken to the hospital. |
714_10 | Cast
Rachael Leigh Cook as Jenny Kelley
Shawn Hatosy as David Klein
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Alan Hammond
Lorraine Bracco as Det. Ann Anders
Dwayne Hill as Det. Dennys Nagel
Reception
Reel Film Reviews gave the film star, and wrote: "The film, which generally feels like the pilot episode of a low-rent CW series, has been padded out to a degree that inevitably becomes oppressive".
Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews gave film 2/4 and wrote: "Tangled isn't nearly tangled enough. When this lightweight thriller works at all, it is as a mildly pleasant romance".
References
External links
2001 thriller drama films
2001 films
American thriller drama films
American films
English-language films
Films shot in Toronto
Films scored by Reinhold Heil
Films scored by Johnny Klimek
2001 drama films |
715_0 | Norman Gene Macdonald (October 17, 1959 – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who was known for his deadpan style and poetic, sometimes old-fashioned turns of phrase. Throughout his career, he appeared in numerous films and was a regular favorite comedian panelist of talk show hosts, with many considering him to be the ultimate late night comedy guest. |
715_1 | Early in his career, Macdonald's first work in television included writing for such comedies as Roseanne and The Dennis Miller Show. In 1993, Macdonald was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL), spending a total of five seasons on the series, which included anchoring the show's Weekend Update segment for three and a half seasons. After being fired from SNL, he wrote and starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and headlined his own sitcom The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Macdonald was also a voice actor, best known for providing voice roles in Mike Tyson Mysteries, The Orville, and the Dr. Dolittle films. |
715_2 | Between 2013 and 2018, Macdonald hosted the talk shows Norm Macdonald Live (a video podcast) and Norm Macdonald Has a Show (a Netflix series), on which he interviewed comedians and other celebrities. In 2016, he authored Based on a True Story, a novel that presented a heavily fictionalized account of his life. In 2021, Macdonald died of leukemia, with which he was diagnosed in 2012 and had not publicly disclosed.
Early life
Macdonald was born and raised in Quebec City, Quebec. His parents, Ferne (née Mains) and Percy Lloyd Macdonald (1916–1990), were both teachers. They worked at CFB Valcartier, a military base north of Quebec City. Macdonald's father died in 1990 of heart disease. |
715_3 | He had an older brother Neil Macdonald, who is a journalist with CBC News (and is married to Joyce Napier, a journalist with CTV News) and a younger brother named Leslie. He attended Quebec High School and later Gloucester High School in Ottawa where he graduated two years early. He studied mathematics at Carleton University in Ottawa before dropping out. Macdonald was later also briefly enrolled in Algonquin College's programs for journalism and broadcasting-television, working a variety of manual labor jobs in between periods of school and before starting in comedy. |
715_4 | Career
Macdonald's first performances in comedy were at stand-up clubs in Ottawa, regularly appearing on amateur nights at Yuk Yuk's in 1985. He did not appreciate how well his first performance at the club had gone, and bolted out saying he would never do it again. The club's owner, Howard Wagman, had to persuade him to come back for more. Eventually his confidence grew. Six months later he performed at the 1986 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, and was heralded by the Montreal Gazette as, "one of this country's hottest comics." By 1990, he would perform as a contestant on Star Search. He also appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, and the host became a huge fan saying, "If we could have, we would have had Norm on every week". He was hired as a writer for the Roseanne television sitcom for the 1992–93 season before quitting to join Saturday Night Live. |
715_5 | 1993–1998: Saturday Night Live
Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt, and Bob Dole, among others. The following year during the show's twentieth season, Macdonald anchored the segment Weekend Update, a spoof news section.
His version of Weekend Update often included references to prison rape, crack whores, and the Germans' love of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. He would occasionally deliver a piece of news, then take out his personal compact tape recorder and leave a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed. He commonly used Frank Stallone as a non-sequitur punchline. |
715_6 | After the announcement that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on Weekend Update. "According to friends, the two were never a good match. She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple, Macdonald stated, "In case viewers are confused, we'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is in fact a homosexual pedophile."
Leaving Saturday Night Live
In early 1998, Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC's West Coast division, had Macdonald removed as Weekend Update anchor, citing a decline in ratings and a drop-off in quality. He was replaced by Colin Quinn at the Weekend Update desk beginning on the January 10, 1998 episode. |
715_7 | Macdonald believed at the time that the true reason for his dismissal was his series of O. J. Simpson jokes during and after the trial, frequently calling him a murderer; Ohlmeyer was a good friend of Simpson and supported him during the proceedings. After being removed from the role, Macdonald went on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and Howard Stern's syndicated radio show; in both appearances, he accused Ohlmeyer of firing him for making jokes about Simpson. The jokes were written primarily by Macdonald and longtime SNL writer Jim Downey, who was fired from SNL at the same time. Downey pointed out in an interview that Ohlmeyer threw a party for the jurors who acquitted Simpson. |
715_8 | Ohlmeyer claimed that Macdonald was mistaken, pointing out he had not censored Jay Leno's many jokes about Simpson on The Tonight Show. Ohlmeyer stated he was concerned that ratings research showed people turning away from the program during Macdonald's segment; likewise, network insiders told the New York Daily News that Ohlmeyer and other executives had tried several times to get Macdonald to try a different approach on Update.
Macdonald remained on SNL as a cast member, but disliked performing in regular sketches. On February 28, 1998, in one of his last appearances on SNL, he played the host of a fictitious TV series titled Who's More Grizzled? who asked questions from "mountain men", played by that night's host Garth Brooks and special guest Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks' character says to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replies, "A lot of people don't." He was dismissed shortly thereafter. |
715_9 | Matters intensified when Ohlmeyer prevented NBC from airing advertisements from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Macdonald's then-new film Dirty Work out of retaliation for what he saw as disparaging SNL and NBC with Letterman and Stern. Robert Wright, Ohlmeyer's boss, later overturned the decision not to show ads for the movie on NBC, but did leave in place the ban on playing it during SNL. Macdonald continued to insist that he did not personally dislike Ohlmeyer but that Ohlmeyer hated him. |
715_10 | Macdonald complained about NBC's advertising removal for his film to the New York Daily News, calling Ohlmeyer a "liar and a thug." He said he never badmouthed SNL or Michaels, who he said always supported him. Macdonald pointed out that he had only taken issue with Ohlmeyer, whereas the people taking shots at NBC and SNL were Letterman, who wanted Macdonald to come to CBS, and Stern, who wanted him to join his show opposite SNL. Macdonald also asserted that Ohlmeyer's influence had made his promotional appearances for his film be cancelled on WNBC's Today in New York, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and the syndicated Access Hollywood (a joint venture between 20th Century Television and NBC). The shows that Macdonald named denied being influenced by Ohlmeyer. Macdonald said Ohlmeyer was "about a thousand times more powerful than I am. It's difficult for anybody to take my side in this. This guy should get a life, man." |
715_11 | Members of the media found irony in the situation as Dirty Work was promoted as a "revenge comedy." When an interviewer pointed this out, Macdonald said, "It would be good revenge if everybody went and saw this movie if they want to get revenge against Don Ohlmeyer for trying to ban my ads." In a Late Show with David Letterman interview, Macdonald stated that after being dismissed from anchoring Weekend Update and leaving SNL, he could not "do anything else on any competing show." |
715_12 | In later years, he came to the conclusion that Ohlmeyer had not removed him from Update for his Simpson material; rather, he felt he was removed because he was seen as insubordinate: "I think the whole show was tired of me not taking marching orders. Lorne would hint at things... I'd do Michael Jackson jokes. And Lorne would say, 'do you really want a lawsuit from Michael Jackson?' And I'd say, 'Cool! That'd be fuckin' cool, Michael Jackson suing me!'" Elsewhere, Macdonald would concede, "In all fairness to him, my Update was not an audience pleasing, warm kind of thing. I did jokes that I knew weren't going to get bigger reactions. So I saw [Ohlmeyer's] point. Why would you want some dude who's not trying to please the audience?" |
715_13 | Macdonald returned to Saturday Night Live to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his opening monologue, he expressed resentment at being fired from Weekend Update, then concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left, echoing a perennial criticism of the show.
1998–1999: Dirty Work and The Norm Show
Soon after leaving Saturday Night Live, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" Dirty Work (1998), directed by Bob Saget, co-starring Artie Lange, and featuring Chris Farley in his last film; the film was dedicated to his memory. Later that year, Macdonald voiced Lucky in the Eddie Murphy adaptation of Dr. Dolittle. He reprised the role in both Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006). |
715_14 | In 1999, Macdonald starred in The Norm Show (later renamed Norm), co-starring Laurie Metcalf, Artie Lange, and Ian Gomez. It ran for three seasons on ABC. Earlier in 1999, he made a cameo appearance in the Andy Kaufman biographical drama Man on the Moon, directed by Miloš Forman. When Michael Richards refused to portray himself in the scene reenacting the famous Fridays incident in which Kaufman threw water in his face, Macdonald stepped in to play Richards, although he was not referred to by name. Macdonald also appeared in Forman's previous film The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) as a reporter summoned to Flynt's mansion regarding secret tapes involving automaker John DeLorean. |
715_15 | 2000–2005
In 2000, Macdonald played the starring role for the second time in a motion picture alongside Dave Chappelle, Screwed, which fared poorly at the box office. He continued to make appearances on television shows and in films. Also in 2000, Macdonald made his first appearance on Family Guy, as the voice of Death. That role was later recast to Adam Carolla. On November 12, 2000, he appeared on the Celebrity Edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, winning $500,000 for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Charity Camp, but could have won the million if he had ignored the advice of host Regis Philbin. |
715_16 | In 2003, Macdonald played the title character in the Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper, which was cancelled after six episodes. In 2005, Macdonald signed a deal with Comedy Central to create the sketch comedy Back to Norm, which debuted that May. The pilot, whose cold opening parodied the suicide of Budd Dwyer, starred Rob Schneider and never turned into a series. Later in 2005, Macdonald voiced a genie named Norm on two episodes of the cartoon series The Fairly OddParents, but could not return for the third episode, "Fairy Idol", owing to a scheduling conflict.
2006–2009 |
715_17 | In 2006, Macdonald again performed as a voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for the Canadian mobile-services provider Bell Mobility, as the voice of Frank the Beaver. The campaign was extended through 2008 to promote offerings from other Bell Canada divisions such as the Internet provider Bell Sympatico and the satellite service Bell Satellite TV. In September 2006, Macdonald's sketch comedy album Ridiculous was released by Comedy Central Records. It features appearances by Will Ferrell, Jon Lovitz, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon, and Artie Lange. On the comedy website Super Deluxe, he created an animated series entitled The Fake News. Macdonald filled in during Dennis Miller's weekly "Miller Time" segment on O'Reilly Factor, and guest-hosted Miller's radio show, on which he was briefly a weekly contributor. |
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